What should I do today?

Work, work, work. It seems that's all I have been doing lately. I have been working doubles now for two weeks and I'm ready to collapse. I haven't been able to get to the track in the mornings because I have been working. I haven't been able to get to yoga because I have been working. I haven't even been able to see much of Pat because I have been working. Oy Vey!

I finally have a day off today. Yay! OK, now, do I go to the casino or do I go to Juliana's 3 hour workshop? Well, after thinking about it I have decided on the workshop. It's been over 2 weeks since I last practiced yoga and I definitely need it. I also committed to this class a long time ago and it wouldn't seem right to blow it off to do something as shallow as spending my hard earned salary in a money sucking casino. Oh, alright, yeah, I'm shallow. If I hadn't already paid for the workshop I would hit the Isle casino in Pompano Beach.


Looking at the above picture makes me think screw the workshop, go to the casino. LOL! I am going to be strong today and keep my word to Juliana and the cosmic world. I'm sure I'll be happy that I stuck to my yoga guns today.

I also have tomorrow off but if Kerry has her way we will spend the day digging through the sale racks at the Town Center Mall again. This kid never gets tired of shopping. It's too bad there isn't a shopping section on the MCAT or she can't chose shopping as her specialty in med school. We'd all be rich. :)

Actually, thinking about all of this, I got a promotional mailing offering me $10 free slot machine play on Tuesday and I may actually have the morning shift off. Hummm...wait...is the offer at the Isle or is it for the Seminole Casino in Coconut Creek?



I get entirely too many gambling mailings. I guess the word is out about me.

My wonderful ladies

I have been working a lot lately. Michele, the club manager and holder of most of the available hours left to get married. She will be back in three weeks. Her last day was Monday. I work on Monday nights with her but Michele left early to get ready to fly to St John's and marry her long time boyfriend. I am happy for her but I must say that working this many hours is hard on me physically and I still have two more weeks until Michele comes back and reclaims her hours. Actually, although I am VERY tired I am finding it rewarding on many levels.

My ladies are really wonderful people who are struggling with excess weight and trying to stay healthy. Many of them are teachers at the local schools and are highly intelligent. I mean, lets face it, high school math teachers are brilliant. There is always spirited conversation at my Curves. I make sure of it. It's my job to keep things rolling along and make sure the ladies are having fun.

The other day I was doing a double day which is when I work both morning and afternoon/evening shits. I have been doing quite a few of these lately but usually I am the afternoon/evening worker. The morning ladies are completely different people from the afternoon ladies. It's just a different crowd in the morning. It is mostly older retired people with a few early morning, before work exercisers. So anyway, as I was saying, I opened the club the other day at 7:00 am and there was a lady waiting for me to open. I opened up and let her in.

When she logged in the computer told me her name was Suzette. She was not anyone I recognized but I started to talk to her as I would any of our Curves clients. It didn't take me long to find out that this lady is a Pre-Med advisor at one of this area's premier med schools. In other words, she is the person that helps the college kids get their applications together to get into med schools. I told her about Kerry and her desire to get into a medical school, any medical school.

This wonderful lady is going to meet with my daughter, go over her resume and tell her how to get into med school. She is even willing to give the kid a letter of recommendation based on her favorable feelings toward me. This is an unbelievable stroke of luck for us. Kerry needs help putting her application together and here we have a professional person willing to help her do that. I feel very lucky to have met this wonderful woman.

Lori helped me with my homowner's insurance. When the insurance company raised my homeowner's insurance $1400 per year she advised me to get a specific inspection that saved me over half of the proposed increase. This same lady gave me wonderful advice about refinancing my house which is happening now. She has saved me so much money.

Carol works at our local Dillards. She is always the one who tells me about the 75% off sales on shoes and clothes. She is a New Yorker like me and we kibitz a lot. It's fun. I like her very much. She is a little piece of home.

Angela is a travel agent. She is helping me get Kerry a ticket to go to Cincinnati after her MCATs for a good price. Angela is a gorgeous, fun loving, partying, lovely lady with a big heart, She even brought her dog, Kona, to meet me after hearing so much about Rigby.

Gloria, dare I say it, met Paul. Yep, my Paul. Paul McCartney. She worked for Island Records in the 60's and 70's. She also turned down Mick Jagger for a date because he called her too late and she was sleeping. She met Cat Stevens, Elton John, Stevie Windwood and Ian Anderson among other huge stars. I always love to hear her stories. She lived my dream life. Actually, she was one of my most quiet ladies to start with. It was a challenge bringing her out but I was able to get her to start talking. OMG, was I glad?

These are just a few of the ladies that I have met at my Curves. Yeah, I work my ass off and don't make much money but boy, oh, boy, what fantastic benefits.

The more I work the more wonderful people I meet. I remember when I started this job I said to Juliana, my yoga teacher that I was upset because I wasn't making much money. She told me to be mindful and maybe there would be other benefits to this job. Once again, Juliana was right.

How Was Your Mother's Day?

Did everybody have a great Mother's Day? I did. Pat gave me a dozen roses and $100 and told me to take the kid and go to the casino which he knows it is my very favorite place. What a guy. I did just what he said. I played for about 3 hours and lost $60. It was really fun. Kerry didn't gamble. She sat around studying physics! In a casino! She amazes me.

The slot machines went cold so we decided to take the other $40 and go to the mall. We had lunch at a make your own salad place. It was really good and healthy too. We walked around the mall for a while and then came home and watched some Grey's Anatomy. Kerry bought me those for my birthday. We love Grey's around here.

After dinner Kerry said that she had to go out so I figured she was doing something related to a possible Mother's Day present because at this point she hadn't given me anything. She came in a little later with a smug look on her face and a bag. She handed me the bag and I opened it up. It was a beautiful photo album filled with all of the pictures of our trip to Las Vegas. She even had saved the tickets from the LOVE show and the Titanic exhibit and included them in the album. I was so thrilled. It was really a wonderful and thoughtful gift.

The last part of my present which really wasn't a present for me but I'm looking at it as such is that Kerry decided to move the MCAT back from May 31 to July 8. That means she will be home much longer that we had originally planned. What more could I ask for? I'm ecstatic that she will be home for an extra month. What a great Mother's Day.

I did, however, miss my mom who I wrote about yesterday. She was on my mind all day but I guess that's to be expected. I wish she was here now to help me with all of the issues of getting older. She helped me so much while I was young. I sure could use her sage advice now and going forward (as they say on CNBC). I guess I'll have to figure it all out myself. As my wonderful friend and fellow Fab Laura would say "Oy Vey".

Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day which is both a good day and a not so good day for me. It's a good day because I get to spend it with my beautiful, funny, unbelievabley smart, tree hugging daughter. Kerry told time that her and Rigby have something planned but I don't know what it is. I'm sure it will involve shopping. :) Today is a not so good day because it is Mother's Day and I don't get to spend it with my mom. She has been gone for 11 1/2 years now and I still miss her all the time.

I would like to tell all of you about my mom. Her name was Beverly Ruth Erma Greenberg Kramer and she born in Manhatten in the 20's. She had so many names because she was a sickly child and she came close to death many times. My grandmother finally brought in a rabbi to say a prayer for her and he added the Erma to her name. She was able to fight back from those illnesses and that fight and determination became a part of her personality. She was a fighter and if she taught me anything it is to fight and fight hard for what you want.

She loved me more than anything. She always was open and honest with me even when times where hard. She stood up for me and always treated me with love and respect. She was ALWAYS there for me no matter what and believe me, I put her to the test a couple of times. Watching her taught me how to be a great mom to my daughter, Kerry and to top the whole thing off, she was a total babe. She was my loving parent, advocate, mentor, cheerleader, critic, teacher but most of all my very best friend. I miss her every day of my life. Happy Mother's Day, Ma. Yeah, I know, don't call you Ma".

I have posted what I consider to be one of the most interesting Kramer family photos. As you can see it is a picture of my parents on a plane with OJ Simpson. This picture was taken in 1975 when OJ was one of my dad's heros and before he became, well you know, OJ Simpson.

It's Great To Be Back

I am feeling much better about myself. Over the last few days I have been consistent with my exercise. I have been getting out of the house very early and that seems to be one of the keys to actually getting it done. On weekdays I get up with Pat at 5:30am. I have a cup of coffee with him and give him his goodbye hug, kiss and obligatory "wear your seatbelt both ways". Then I take Rigby aka The Criminal out for his early morning walk over to the pooping grounds. As soon as I get back in the house I MUST get dressed in my workout clothes, get my water and ipod together and get the hell out of there. If I sit down for another cup of coffee or boot up the computer I am dead meat. I won't go. I've also noticed that I actually fight with myself with an inner dialog of "OK, get up and go", "nah, I don't feel like it", "you've gotta go", "It looks like rain so I won't go". I go back and forth with myself from the moment I wake up until I actually find myself at the track walking. That's exactly what happened to me this morning. It happens every morning. Lately Good Claudia has been winning that fight.

Pat and I out for dinner

Rigby aka The Criminal

My eating habits have also been much better lately. I am sure most of that is due to the fact that The Kid came home on last Friday night. I always eat better when she is around. I'm not sure why that is and I must figure it out. I think it is partially due to the fact that I am not alone much any more. I have noticed being alone always causes food indiscretions. Is it boredom? Maybe. Is it loneliness? Maybe. I have also noticed that I am more willing to cook when Kerry is home. I actually make lunch instead of grazing from noon to dinner. I am sure this is part of my new found will power.

Kerry and Mac

Another decision that I made to help me get back on track was to start posting on the Richard Simmons boards again. I have been missing in action for a couple of months now. Actually, now that I say that I realize that I stopped posting right around the time that I started working. The ladies at work are very different from my Richard Simmons clubhouse friends. The ladies that I work with at Curves look to me for motivation. I go to my clubhouse friends for motivation. Its a different thing. I felt better after my first post on the boards. There is an accountability there that is not there at work and what a wonderful welcome back I received. I had no idea how much I was missed. Everyone was so happy to have me back and the PM's (private messages) were really wonderful. It is great to be back.

In LA with my mentor Richard Simmons

OK, so I've had some interesting revelations about myself and my behavior. I realize that I am really just a work in progress and I am progressing here and there. Now keeping it up......

The Kid Is Coming Home

Kerry is coming home from UF tomorrow and I am psyched. She will be here for a whole month before she goes off to do her internship with the Oncology Dept at the University of Cincinnati Medical School. It has been months since she has been home and I am more than looking forward to it. I miss my other half when she is away which these days is most of the time. She has already told me that we will be shopping. LOL

Kerry and I bonding....in Las Vegas

We will also be spending a lot of time studying for the MCAT. This is an 8 hour class that Kerry will be taking on May 31. MCAT stands for Medical College Admission Test and is the test that must be taken and aced in order to get into medical school which is Kerry's dream. If you do really well you will have your choice of which medical schools you want to go to. If you don't do well you don't get into any medical school. It seems like everything is going to hinge on this test. Enough pressure here?

She has already taken a Kaplan course that taught her how to study for this monumental test however Kerry and I have our own way of studying. At least we did when she was in high school. It was always my job to find something to help her remember different facts. Usually it was something that I found funny about the way the word sounded or something in the definition that struck my funny bone. We always did a lot of laughing during these study sessions and she usually did well on her tests. We will be using the same study plan. Laughing goes a long way. It helps reduce some of the stress and it also gives her a way of remembering things.

I am looking forward to helping her study. I am also looking forward to our marathon shopping sessions which also helps reduce stress....well, it helps reduce stress for Kerry. It definitely stresses my pocketbook but then again it's always worth the money that I spend on her. It's the way we bond and you can't put a price on bonding with your only daughter.

The happy couple at the Grand Canyon