Being sick sucks

I woke up Wednesday morning not feeling well. I was sick enough to call Juliana and cancel my private yoga session. You know that I must have been really sick to do that. She was very understanding considering I gave her less than an hours notice that I was cancelling. I layed around in bed most of the day in hopes that I would feel better the next day.

I woke up yesterday feeling worse than I did on Wednesday. That blew off another yoga practice and once again I spent the whole day in bed. I drank tea, took aspirin for the aches and pains and curled up with Rigby. Once again I was hoping that I would feel better when I woke up today. Well, that didn't happen. I am still feeling pretty crappy. I have a headache, my throat is sore and my nose is clogged and I can't breathe too well. Someone get the Afrin.

The main problem with being sick is that with nothing else to do I find myself with my head in the fridge. You would think that not feeling well I would not have any appetite. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I have yet to be too sick to eat. The last two days have been horrible eating days. I need to get back on track with my food.

Work just called to see if I could come in this morning. Michelle didn't recognize my voice. She thought I was a man. Well, that's not good. Too bad. I could have used the extra hours. I am on the schedule for tonight so I am going to hang out in bed this morning and hope that I am feeling better later on in the day.

Next year I am getting a flu shot. Being sick sucks.

Shopping With The Kid

Kerry and I bond as mother and daughter by shopping. This is something that we have done as long as I can remember. We always have a great time and Kerry usually ends up with something new. Our trip to the Town Center Mall yesterday was no exception.

Entering Town Centre Mall

The first store we hit was Abercombie and Fitch. We always shop the sale racks there.

Kerry liked this tank top

She liked this one too!

This one was a NO!

This one was a definite maybe!

We ended up buying 3 tops but got very hungry shopping so we hit the food court. When we go to this mall we always make our own salads at Salad Creations.

This is my salad with low fat ranch and Caribbean mango dressing. Yum!

Kerry eating her greek salad.

When we finished lunch we hit Bloomingdales. It is one of our favorite stores. Great stuff and great sale racks.

Free People is one of Kerry's favorite line of clothes

Off to Juicy Couture !

Then to Tiffany's

And Saks Fifth Avenue. They have a really nice bathroom.

Note the Dr Seigal's Cookie Diet kiosk. You gotta be kidding me. Richard, where are you?

Then it was time to go to American Eagle. Kerry needed jeans but there were more shirts that needed to be tried on!

We both liked this one.

This was my favorite of the day.

We stopped for coffee and took a picture together. We are a happy couple.

It was time to leave and we were shopped out. When we got there the parking lot was full. Now my car was the only one left in the lot. I guess we shopped for a long time.

So that is a typical shopping trip with me and the kid. It's the best time in the world.

My Job At Curves

Today is a work day for me. I will be reporting in at 3:30 and work until 8:00. I will be standing on my feet and exercising the whole time I am there. Needless to say I am bushed by the end of my shift but I am always happy and feeling good about what I do when it is time to go home.

As you can see from the picture above, there are 24 stations which consist of 12 platforms and 12 machines which are all arranged in a circle. The client starts their workout on one of the platforms and no, it doesn't matter which one. There are signs taped to the floor in front of the platforms which give a "suggested activity" such as "jog in place" or "do the swim" or "do the twist". The platforms are to get your heart rate up and to keep it up during the workout. The music (it is basically disco music for Curves) is playing and every 30 seconds a woman's voice says "change stations now". That is the cue for the ladies to move one station to their left and they keep going until they have gone around the circuit 2 or 3 times.

I can see why this franchise is so popular around the country. First of all the demographic is the over 40 overweight woman who feels overwhelmed at a large gym like Bally's. These are ladies who have no desire to have the guys looking at them or to hang out with the 20's spandex crowd. When they come in the door they are greeted by a friendly "Hi, how are you Sarah" (or whoever). They like being welcomed by everyone who is already working out and you can see that some friends have been made in this little ladies gym.

Having the stations in a circle promotes talking and most everyone joins in on the subject of the moment. By now I know a little about their lives so the conversation flows pretty easily. Well, anyone who knows me knows that conversation flow is not a problem. LOL We talk about all kinds of things. Husbands, kids, work, food (lots of talk about food), exercise, Paul, Britney and just about anything that you can think of. This conversation helps the time go by so that the ladies go around the circuit a couple of times, get in their exercise and it is over before they know it. It is actually (dare I use the word?) fun. After the workout is over we suggest that they stretch in our designated stretching area. Then they are done and they can go home feeling as if they have accomplished something to help themselves get fit.

Most of the ladies who join are also looking for motivation to keep them on track. I have my before and after pictures up on the board so that everyone can see that I have been where they are now. Of course, Richard is always in the discussion. He is really well loved by all these ladies and they are all jealous that I know him and that we actually email and party together at his yearly retreats. I tell them what Richard always told me. I tell them that they are worth the effort and that they really can do it. We always talk about how hard it is to get a grip on food and I tell them that I am right there with them struggling every day. They appreciate the fact that I feel their pain and have been where they are now. Of course, some do better than others.

It goes both ways though. Not only do I help them but they help me too. I have gotten some fantastic advice about how to bring down my astronomical homeowner's insurance. I have been told about the best shoe sales coming up at our local Dillards and I have also been motivated by the same ladies that I am getting paid to motivate. Just watching them come in that door every day and work so hard makes me think twice about straying from my food plan. I still stray but at least I think about it more.

So, yeah. This is my workplace. This is my Curves where I work with my clients who are now my friends.

My double yoga days

Yesterday was my very favorite exercise day. It was my double yoga day. First I had my private practice which lasted for an hour. After my private came the group practice which always lasts for about an hour and a half. That makes two and a half hours of yoga. I always look forward to these double days.

Juliana said that we should take some pictures to put here on my blog so I dressed in black and brought my camera. Here are a few of the pictures that we took. I hope you enjoy them.

This is my beautiful and most wise yoga teacher, Juliana

This is the yoga studio complete with the Om on the wall and the gong which is used at the end of the practice during meditation. Feel the vibrations traveling through you.

This asana is called pigeon pose.

Next is a spinal twist.

This is a side angle pose

Here I am doing a downward facing dog.

This is called tree pose.

This is a toughie. It's called wheel pose. Be careful of your back.

This is my favorite picture. It is me doing a full forward bend holding my feet and spreading my toes.

Namaste

I love yoga so much. It always leaves me feeing peaceful, happy and mindful. I hope you will all give it a try. It really is easy to do if you find the best yoga teacher. Oh, you can't. I've got her. LOL

Talking It Out Is A Good Thing

As soon as Kerry could talk I told her that we could talk about anything and I meant anything. I always told her that no subject was off limits. Through the years we talked about all kinds of things usually over breakfast. Sex, drugs, age, college, dating, clarinet, soccer, teacher, friends, family......you name it and we talked about it.

Kerry called me on Saturday and told me that she wanted to talk to me. It turned out that she realized that she had hurt my feelings the other day when she decided to go to Cincinnati. She had been thinking about it and came up with a way that she could spend time with her boyfriend and come home to see us too. I was thrilled to hear this.

We had a wonderful conversation about everything and I feel much better about things. Kerry assured me that she was not going to run off and get married. Now, there's some good news. :) She said that she doesn't plan on getting married until after med school. More good news. She also said that she is just having fun dating. Both she and Sean(present boyfriend) are thinking more about their working futures than their romantic futures. Oh yeah, I am feeling good about this. She also apologized to me for doing what seemed to be picking Sean over me. Jewish mom guilt works. :) :)

This conversation made me realize how lucky I really am. Most kids Kerry's age are so self absorbed that they don't even consider whether or not they hurt Mom's feelings. They don't bother to make time for family and just go along their merry way partying and lying. Kerry is not a liar and is very good about taking my feelings into consideration.

Yes, I was feeling sorry for myself the other day when I felt that I was being taken advantage of. Like Angie had said, I felt as if I had been fired from being Kerry's Mom. I told her how I felt and she just broke out laughing. She told me that I will never be fired and I need to understand that this is a job I have taken on for life. OMG!!! I am so glad to have that lifetime job. I don't ever want to collect unemployment. Me with my lifetime job. Pretty nice workif you can get it!

Letting Go Or Not

I was 34, almost 35 when I gave birth to my daughter Kerry Leigh. She was perfect with all ten toes and fingers, chubby cheeks and a big curl of brown hair on the top of her head. She came at 10:10pm on a Monday night. I remember this because the Dolphins were playing the NY Jets on the labor room TV while I was squeezing this amazing human being out of my body. She was gorgeous and I was thrilled.

Kerry at 7 months old. Cute or what??
I remember looking out the window from my hospital bed with this baby lying on my chest. It was around 4:00am and the hospital was quiet. I looked down at my new daughter and told her that I wanted her to be a free spirit. I told her that I wanted her to make her own decisions. I told her that I would never tell her what to do but only guide her in the right direction. YEAH, RIGHT!!! I brought her up telling her what to do every step of the way. "Clean your room". "Do your homework." "Try out for the soccer team". I'm sure I drove her crazy telling her what to do.

My mom had warned me about this. When I was 40 years old my mom still used to tell me what to do. She told me that she couldn't stop telling me what to do because "it's the mom thing." "Someday you'll understand". Boy, was she right about that?

Kerry is now 21 and in college. She makes up her own mind about everything. What to wear, where to go, what to eat, who to date, who not to date. It's all up to her now because it is her own life. I am having real trouble with all of this. How do I go from telling her everything to telling her nothing? It's a hard transition and I am not transitioning well.

Kerry on her 21st birthday

The hardest part so far for me is her choosing her boyfriend over me. Yeah, I know how this sounds but it is true. Pat and I both work in order to keep her in money and in college. We have mortgaged our house to pay for Kerry's housing, books, tuition, food, trips, and fun however when it became time to plan her spring break she decided to fly to Cincinnati ($500 , thank you very much) and spend it with her boyfriend. It's looking like we won't see her at all.

Now, I do remember young love. I really do. I drove my parents crazy when it came to Pat. They didn't like him and I was determined to be with him. I remember the power struggle very well. It was hard but we made it through the hard times. My parents ended up looking at Pat as their other son and having a wonderful loving relationship with him.

I am not trying to go through the same power struggle with Kerry. I have a totally different relationship with her than I did with my parents. As close as I was to my mom, it is nothing compared to the closeness that I share with my wonderful daughter. With this closeness comes hurt feelings and that is how I am feeling right now. I can't help it. I know I need to get over it but it is hard to do. I guess it's the mom thing.

Now Claudia, don't jump into that chocolate cake. It won't help a thing. OK, Richard. I hear ya.

Hair Today

Every 6 weeks or so it becomes time to dye my hair again. When I was young I had long, beautiful very dark brown almost black hair that reached down my back almost to my waist. It was my best feature. Well, that may be because I weighed 225 pounds and I was unhappy with all of my other features. My hair never let me down. It never looked fat no matter what I wore and if it got a little out of hand an old fashioned iron would do the trick. If nothing else at least my hair looked like Cher's.

When I reached 40 or so I decided to take some length off and cut my hair up to my shoulders. I had heard that once a woman is over 40 she should not wear her hair any longer than that. It makes her look old. Oh No!! Not that!! On top of that I also noticed grays invading my beautiful dark brown almost black hair. That really bothered me until I finally decided to do something about it. I found Preference by L'oreal. Oh yeah, Preference #4 was the one for me. I tried other colors but always came back to good old #4.

When I woke up this morning I looked in the mirror and saw the dreaded gray hair that makes me feel as old as the hills. I pulled out my old friend Preference #4 and am at this moment sitting and typing with this horrible smelling goop on my head. I know I will feel better about myself once I wash it all out and my hair is back to dark brown almost black. Begone gray hair!!

The Farmer's Market

I was reading the newspaper yesterday and came across an ad for a farmer's market that had recently opened up fairly close to where I live. I was thrilled. My good friend L has taken me to some of the best markets in the world and I have been searching for a good one around here for years. You would think that we would have many to chose from being in South Florida but that is not the case. I couldn't even find one.

I got in my car and did the 20 minute drive to find this new market. When I finally found it there were employees in the parking lot directing traffic because it was so busy. I felt like I was in Disney World. I parked in Goofy 22! LOL! It was so busy you would think that they were giving stuff away for free. NOT!!

Once I got inside the disappointment hit me like a ton of bricks. The produce was small and the prices were big. I was able to get some inexpensive Florida grown oranges, mushrooms and red peppers but everything else was below expectation. I would have been better off doing my produce shopping at my usual grocery store, Publix.

I will continue on my search for a good farmer's market. I hope I don't have to wait to go back to LA to find one.