Back at "0"

What happened to the 1500 miles that I ran from January-September? Gone after October's sabbatical from exercise. Why? Why did I lose momentum? A friend told me, "Everyone needs a break." But a whole month? She reassured me that time off was good. "The body needs to recover and have a break. You had been exercising non-stop for nine months. At least you aren't at the starting point of the "Infamous Dana Point Turkey Trot Photo." She did have a great point. I was not at that "square 1," but merely mile "0." So, now I am facing my next attempt to motivate myself to get running. I know I tried to motivate myself a few weeks ago, but with the wildfires in Southern California and poor air quality, my week long attempt, became a "weak" attempt because I certainly couldn't force myself to breathe in all that ash! So, today I started at mile "0" and made it to mile "2.113." I am on my way baby!

The Final Score: Patriots 24, Colts 20!

While my predication of the final score was not accurate- the Patriots won! 9-0 baby! My man Tom Brady is now at 33 passing touchdowns with seven games to go! 16 away from tying Peyton Manning and 17 away from setting his own record! I would say he's well on his way to making history. Four Superbowl Rings and a Passing Touchdown Record! Tom's the man. Not to be confused with my blog "Boston Red Sox Tom!"

I had to stop the madness....

In order to stop the madness, the Halloween candy is gone, all thirty or so pounds of it! I had already eliminated the "dental nightmare candy" like Skittles, Starbursts, Gum, Caramel, Gummies, but had saved the chocolate. To avoid the California ant problem and for my husband's preference, I stuck the chocolate in the freezer. Then two nights ago, I was watching some television and I am sure some subliminal message in a commercial told me to go for the "Midnight Milky Way Bars." Before I knew it, I had a pile of those mini-cellophane wrappers in my lap and I was feeling the after effects of having too much sugar. I felt like crap. Anyway, I vowed that there would be no more trips to the freezer, but then last night after eating healthy all day, my body was craving sugar and once again the freezer beckoned me to take some "Mini-Snickers Bars." So today, I had no choice, I took action. There will be no more trips to the freezer. The chocolate is gone. I put a stop to any future madness!

My Prediction: The winner is the New England Patriots!

The Colts are supposedly loving all of this attention over "how great the Patriots are" and they are waiting to surprise everyone and "beat the Patriots because they were the Superbowl Champions." My opinion, "were" is the operative word. The Colts "were" Superbowl Champions. What always makes me frustrated is that all the so-called football experts (with the exception of a few) call "Peyton Manning" the greatest quarterback in NFL History, but who is the one with three Superbowl rings and is well on his way to beating the "Passing Touchdown Record?" The answer: The one and only Tom "McDreamy" Brady. Peyton has one ring and one record, but has consistently shown he can lose "it" to the best, Tom Brady. This season the Patriots' numbers show. Eight wins. Zero losses. Points for: 331 and points against: 127. Leaving a net of 204. The Colts' numbers. Seven wins. Zero losses. (Note one less game) Points for: 224 and points against: 102. Leaving a net of 122. Let's face it, no matter what people say, the Colts' schedule has not been that tough and we are looking at a new "Patriot offense" and a consistently great and versatile defense. The Patriots are coming out on top. Patriots 49, Colts 33.

A Blog Thank You!

As if being my personal shopping advisor was not enough, my friend Cindy has once again gone way beyond the friendship call of duty! I was prepared to wear my probably out of fashion shirt to the baptism tomorrow, when I received a phone call from Cindy saying she had been at the early bird shopping sale at "Kohl's" and found some suitable church shirts for me and when could I come over to try them on? I immediately started thinking about the day's schedule. When could I meet her at Kohl's? Possibly between soccer games or maybe after dinner, and then she stopped me, "Wait, I already bought the shirts. You just need to come to my house or I to yours."

Were mine ears deceiving me or did she just say she bought all the shirts? Wow, it was true. The shirts were in her home and the least I could do to hold up my end of our friendship was to make the trip to her house. I quickly said one of those prayers I often find myself saying when I need to have some kind of good karma. "And please God, may at least one of those shirts she bought fit right and not make me look too busty or like a linebacker or that I have sausages for arms or something like that. After all my friend did wake up early and go shopping for me and at this point I would like to think her efforts weren't for not."

I was at her house within the hour trying on the shirts, the skirt and the dress she picked out. She then informed me that whatever fit I was going to keep as "everything was such a bargain." God answered my prayers, because not only did one shirt look good, two others did as well, as did the skirt and I got to try them all on in the comfort of a home. What a luxury. As I was leaving her house, I actually turned around and went back in to tell her, "That was the best shopping experience of my life, not only did I not have to think about what to buy, I loved not being in a tiny cubicle looking in a mirror that makes me look less than desirable and that I knew who I would be bringing to Chicago when I have my "Oprah Interview" about my New York Times Bestseller." Here's a blog thank you to my friend Cindy!

Who loses pants?

Okay, my husband recently bought a pair of pants and now the pants are gone. I will admit that in the past I have done my husband a favor by elimninating expired fashions from past decades, but the new khaki pants he bought recently, I actually liked. He went on a business trip and swears he checked the hotel before he left, but those pants are gone, not to be found anywhere in our house or in our mountain of laundry! Who loses pants? My husband!!!!! (And no ladies, I can say with confidence he does not have a girlfriend!)

The Bounds of Friendship and Shopping Truths

Only a true friend would volunteer to help me pick out "proper church clothes" for my children's baptism or a friend who has seen my "church wardrobe" (which is nonexistent.) I received an e-mail invite earlier in the week. The message started off subtle and ended with the obvious (I don't have church clothes in my wardrobe.) "By the way, do you have something to wear to the baptism event of the year? If not I am taking you shopping for something "suitably churchy." Maybe Thursday after hours or Friday when all the kids are off and driving us crazy. Let me know."

When I called to arrange the date, my friend talked about how hard it was for her, finding clothes being petite, and that I must have the same problem. That old light bulb flashed on, that's my problem! I am shopping in the wrong department. Although I am not sure The Gap and Old Navy have departments? I always seem to forget that I fall into that category of being vertically challenged at 5'3". I never shop in petites and that is probably why I always end up tripping in pants that are too long. Besides with four children, who has time for alterations and department shopping?

Shopping with children is stressful. I pretty much gave up shopping for myself by child number three. I can't even remember the last time I bought clothes for myself (other than at Target?) If the fashion police came to my house they would probably be able to tell me, 2001 or 2002. But now, I had the opportunity to go shopping without my children and with a fashion advisor.

Thursday evening it was! A miracle. No kids, shopping! Before I knew it, I had piles of clothes in my arms. How she did it, amazed me. She was going through the racks of clothes pulling out skirts, shirts and trousers. Without her help, I would probably still be standing there trying to figure which ones to try on. She knew. Macy's petite section, 70% off sale. As she handed me another shirt she informed me, "If this fits you, you are buying it! If only because it will cost you about $5 after the sale price, which you can't even do at Target.

When I had about thirty items in my arms, we moved on to the dressing room. I commented on how spacious the little cubicle seemed without four children and a stroller. I wouldn't have to stand on the bench to try on clothes. My friend then offered to pretend to be one of my children, so I wouldn't feel like I was in some alternate universe. I told her I would let her know if I felt the need to hear some complaining or have some resistance to staying in the dressing room.

Overwhelmed, I was not sure what to try on first. What shirt with what bottom? As I was hanging the clothes on the hooks, I grabbed a pair black of pants. I figured it would make trying on all of the shirts easy. What does not go with black? Very little. Immediately I could see the benefits of shopping in the petite section. There would be no tripping on these pants. The length was perfect. I then said a silent prayer for my friend.

"Thank you God, not only giving me a such a great friend, but one that can help me in my time of shopping need. Never in my thirty plus years have I had a friend who picked clothes out for me and then could say as I stepped out of the dressing room in a scooped neck shirt, "The pants are great, but the shirt makes your shoulders look wider than those of a linebacker in the NFL. Besides, I think you can fit Jack's sippy cup in that scoopy neck thing that is going on." Later it would be "no ruffles and no horizontal lines or anything that makes the buttons on the shirt look like the are going to bust open, no pun intended."

Finding a shirt proved to be harder than we thought. I did buy the bargain shirt, but it was a bit bright for a baptism. I left with great pants and some borrowed shoes to boot, literally and figuratively. After two hours of shopping it was clear to me why I never do this with my children. Luckily, I have two more days before the Baptism, enough time to find a shirt. I hope. If not, because the pants are black, I definitely have a shirt from a few fashion years ago that will work in a pinch, especially at my church, St. Clement's, where "there shall be no outcasts" and I assume that pertains to "fashion faux pas."