Break out the flood pants...

I live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I don't know how many of you have seen the news about Cedar Rapids but we have been having the flood of the Century. The flood waters have actually gone high enough to force an area hospital to evacuate. Luckily there is another down the street from it!

I have not posted recently because I have been helping out at the hospital that flooded. I helped with all of the sandbagging efforts to try and help save this hospital. The hospital staff was nice enough to give me a pair of scrubs to wear for my efforts (to try and save my own clothing). You know how scrubs always seem just hang on actors/actresses on the tv shows? No matter how much I tried, I couldn't get that look. I asked for a XXL (which didn't fit) so then I had to go up to a XXXL for pants. Since they were skin tight around my hips I didn't exactly tie them. I grabbed an XXL scrub shirt (that barely fit around my hips but fit nicely over my 42AA chest. I guess you aren't supposed to be able to see an hour-glass figure under scrubs but everyone sure saw my figure.

You know what I found out about my butt-shelf? Scrubs don't cover my underwear over the top of my shelf. My underwear sticks out bad!

The good thing though? I was able to sandbag for 4 hours with minimal breaks in work. I stood with a line full of other people and was able to keep up with out lacking due to my less-than-in-shape-self. Of course, yesterday and today I am paying for all of the heavy lifting. My biceps (who knew I even had any under that flab?) hurt something fierce! And, I made sure to pick the best "healthiest" snacks I could during the past two days of utter chaos. Lots of fruit, water, and yogurt.

Anyway, the weight loss efforts are still in full force! I will do it this time. I will own up to what I eat. I won't hide.

"It is time for us all to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever - the one who recognizes the challenge and does something about it." ~ Vincent Lombardi

Soccer Mom??

We just bought a minivan!! What the hell?! When did a morph into a minivan-buying, “I want more room” mom? I remember a time, not all that long ago, that I was making out in the back seat of a minivan with a guy who borrowed his parents’ minivan to come and take me out on a date. Rather than going any where on our date, we sat in my driveway and made out for, like, 3 hours or something crazy like that!

How did I get from being a teenager in the back seat of a minivan to a mom who can’t wait to drive one with her kids in the backseat? OK, sure, I really wanted it because what mother wants to listen to her kid cry for an hour while on a road trip? It isn’t like you can convince an infant not to cry. Right? (If I am wrong about this I would love to know your secrets!)
Ok, imagine this: You are in your Hyundai Santa Fe with your adoring husband who is always too happy to drive (because your driving tends to make him sick). You are sitting in the passenger seat with a little 10 pound Yorkie in your lap. (Heaven forbid you don’t take him anywhere – that is why you go the little dog, right?) You have a four-year-old in the back seat, kicking the back of your brand new “what-the-hell-were-you-thinking-car-buying-tan-interior” driver’s seat (who also gets carsick by the way) and the baby is facing the rear of the car as the law says and hates being strapped in his car seat. You are driving along, kids are sleeping, and the back is full. You and your husband are having a pleasant conversation about how long it will take you to get to your parent’s house (9 HOURS!) and what you will be doing once you get there (up for at least 24 hours because your kids slept most of the way). All of a sudden you hear the paci drop in the backseat. You know it is a matter of minutes before the wailing.

Do you:
A) give the dog to your husband, unbelt (uh, oh breaking the law already), and lean over the seat to use the mirror to figure out where the paci is in correlation to the baby’s mouth
B) crawl into the backseat and wedge your hips in between the two car seats to help baby feel better because then he can see your face (*disclaimer* if you pick this one – you did not read my first post on this blog)
C) listen to the baby cry until you want to either pull out your hair, cry yourself to sleep, or jump out of the said moving SUV
D) get a minivan so you have a third row of seats so if A doesn’t work you can go on with B in some way.

We chose D. We all know I am not the first mom to succumb to the horror of a minivan. Heehee, my best friend succumbed first! But I did succumb. The ease of having two doors that open, that my four-year-old cannot smash into the car next to us no less, will be helpful not to mention if we have company – we don’t have to take two vehicles just because there is one or two extra people. Unless of course it is my in-laws, then I foresee way too much stuff in the back that it would be inconvenient to move just for one trip across town to that pizza shop that I am totally NOT going to eat in, just pick at my food because I am losing weight!

My journey into adulthood is complete…I have gone from a teenager making out in the back of the van to Soccer Mom in as little as 10 (ok…maybe 15) years.

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." ~ Lao Tsu