I have this problem

I have this problem. I can't stop planning...things.

I don't know what it is about me but I manage to agree to plan a lot of stuff - which frankly doesn't make a lot of sense when I don't have a tremendous amount of spare time.

I guess I've always been a ridiculous organizer/planner type of my kid's birthday parties. They must have a theme and everything must fall in line with that theme. Oh and I plan two parties per year at work. But still that didn't exactly seem overwhelming.

But then somewhere along the line that developed into something more. Last school year, I decided I wouldn't just be a sideline PTA member (read paying for membership but not volunteering). I decided I would actually volunteer. And I didn't just volunteer I chaired two committees.

Just this past summer after our family reunion ended, I agreed to plan the next one. I'm not sure what crazy overtook me at that point- but I'm confident it involved crazy because that involves a whole lot of people in a whole bunch of different states and travel and food and Oy. My head hurts thinking about it.

And if that wasn't enough a few months ago when I heard no one stepped up to plan the school auction -I did it. Some little voice in my head told me it would be fun. In reality it's been 60% fun 40% stress.

So here's where you armchair psychologists get to diagnose me. Why am I a big old nutball that takes on things that inevitably stress me out yet as soon as one is over I jump right into the next with little more than a month to rest ?

I know, I need help, right? I am a mystery to myself.

And on that note, Happy New Year my friends. I'm telling myself I will blog more in 2012

(And there's yet another committment - someone break out the straightjacket. Now)

Teaching about Giving with Help from Radio Disney- Updated**

Ok y'all, you know I don't tend to post press releases and such. However, I'm doing it now.
Why, you may ask. Because right around this time my kids get a horrible case of the "gimme gimmes" and "I wants". All year long we try to emphasize that our kids are very fortunate to have all that they do and teach them that there are some children and families who aren't as fortunate. We teach them that it's important to give back. But this time of year, when every piece of mail and every other television commercial highlights the slickest, shiniest must have Christmas item it's a challenge, for sure.

And that's why I think what Radio Disney is doing this year is particularly cool. They're brilliantly mixing giving with kid infused fun and games. My family and I will be attending the one in our local area at Factoria Mall from 10-4. Please, if they're in your local area and you can make it out consider doing so (basic info below. Check the website for events in your local area).

Happy Turkey Week and start of the holiday season my friends!



****************************************

RADIO DISNEY ENCOURAGES KIDS AND FAMILIES TO GIVE BACK THIS HOLIDAY SEASON WITH THE LAUNCH OF ITS FIRST ANNUAL "FESTIVAL OF GIVING," DECEMBER 3 AND 4


--Local Radio Disney Stations in Over 30 Markets bring multiple charities together for a convenient way to give back--

On DECEMBER 3 AND 4, Radio Disney stations in over 30 markets are bringing multiple charities together in their local communities to create a convenient way for kids and families to help others this holiday season.
"Festival of Giving" kicks off Radio Disney’s Project Family initiative, inspiring families to spend time together in an effort to make a lasting, positive change at home, in their community and the world at large.

"We know our audience of kids and families is passionate about giving back," said Sean Cocchia, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Radio Disney. He added, "With the busy holiday season upon us, 'Festival of Giving' will make it easy and fun for families to donate to local philanthropic organizations in their communities."

All 31 "Festival of Giving" events will have a variety of organizations on-site to take donations including Toys for Tots, Salvation Army, The Humane Society, local food banks and animal shelters among others. Each event will be hosted by Radio Disney’s local stations and will feature music, interactive entertainment and prizes.

*disclosure: I was not compensated or provided anything for this post I'm simply passing along information I think is worthy

Top 10 Reasons I shouldn't be allowed out of the house before sunrise

One would think that having been in bootcamp for a little over a year now I'd have this thing down pat. I leave the house wearing my workout clothes with bag packed chock full of all the items I need to shower and get ready at work.

Pack the night before. What's that scouting motto ? Always be prepared. Or whatever. It's easy enough right ?

But it's not. For me.

9 times out of 10 10 times out of 10 I am beyond tired and it's all I can do in the evening to cook dinner, review homework, wash my workout clothes from the day before, walk the dog, pick out clothes for my kids for the next day and blah blah blah... you get it. There is just so much to do. And it makes me think "Hey I need one less thing to do". I can pack in the morning!

So I do it. And it ultimately causes one (or more) of the items on my top 10 list to occur

10) It's way too early for your thoughts to be anything resembling coherent so you will inevitably forget to pack underwear. And one day when this happens you will have packed a dress to wear (True story)

9) You will forget your towel and figure out how annoyingly challenging it is to dry off with paper towels (also a true story.In fact this happened today)

7) The rooster's aren't even up, you will forget your bra. And the shirt you're wearing doesn't work with the braless look. This will later become the day you learned how to fashion a bra from scotch tape (Also true. last Friday)

6)

Well I don't really have a six through one. But c'mon after number 7 do I really need one ?
And that my friends, is why I shouldn't be allowed out of the house before sunrise.

Jabra Sport Review and Giveaway

A few months ago I was contacted on behalf of Jabra a company I hadn't heard of but quickly learned produced " handsfree and corded communication solutions" to demo their latest in mobile fitness equipment.

I was immediately intrigued because as you know, I'm on what feels like the never ending quest to get fit and will try just about anything to help me get there. No wait. Scratch that. I'm not a proponent of fly by night junk that promises overnight results. I am however a fan of things that make my run and/or workout seem less like a chore. Like music. Nothing gets me going better than hot beats or pulse pounding electronica during a workout.

Up until I was contacted, I'd been working with music via my phone played through your standard corded headset. Which? Ok,fine it works - but there are those times when I'm bouncing and the cord bounces and then it gets tangled or worse yet becomes detached and then I have to stop to plug it back in and uggh, that kind of irritates me. But I dealt with it because? What else could I do ?

Enter the Jabra Sport a cordless headset that works through bluetooth technology and allows you to play music and take calls while working out. Let me say that again. It's cordless. I know. Cool right ? I slap on those earpieces, the cord remains behind my head and out of the way, then I turn on the music and ride (run/workout) like the wind (uh excuse the cheesy 80s song reference).

Seriously though, I have been using my Jabra sport for a few months now and can say without hesitation that I am in deep deep love. It's completely easy to use, stays charged for up to 4.5 hours at a time, allows you to control volume and song selection from the earpiece and most importantly does none of the aforementioned things that,now that I have this gem, can say kinda drove me batty. The cord is ridiculously strong so even someone like me who is rough on things can't break that sucker. I'm told it's military grade.

I may never go corded again.

The Jabra Sport retails for about $90 on Amazon but if you want to check one out for yourself go here and enter to win a Sport, a carrying case for the sport, an armband and a free download of the fitness tracker app Endomondo. C'mon. You know you want to enter.

Disclosure* Opinions are my own. I was given a Jabra Sport cordless headset to facilitate this review.

Untitled and Random

I need to write something, I keep telling myself over and over again. Yet, when I come to this space I don't write anything.

I don't know why this space, this space that used to be so important has become so neglected. I'm not really any busier than I was when I started blogging (which is to say I'm always busy but not busier). There are plenty of events I want to write about- I just, I don't know...

So I decided I'd update you on random pieces of my life in hopes that it will stir something in me that makes me want to come back here and post as frequently as I did before.

Here goes:

Weight loss and fitness quest continues. I'm still doing bootcamp but I haven't met my goals. This frustrates me greatly

Work,Work and more work. Oh and to top that off I'm planning a few events for the twins school and the next family reunion for like 8 bazillion people. IKNOW! What was I thinking ?

TomGirl, my oldest stepdaughter, turned 18 in March and is dating a 24 year old. This!? Also frustrates me. He's a nice enough guy, but frankly he's too dang old. She's waaaaay to into him and I fear she's going to get her heart stomped

GT, my youngest stepdaughter, can't stay out of trouble.

The twins started school and are doing fairly well. But me? I hate 3rd grade math

The hubby has a new gas powered RC car hobby which is going to cause us to go broke

Alright,it's not all bad( I'm just very very good at whining)

Managed to hit a few parties with some friends I haven't seen in a while and throw the hubby a super spectacular 40th birthday soiree.

While I haven't reached my goal weight I am noticing I've lost inches which of
course means new wardrobe. So there's been shopping. Which? Makes me so happy

Lastly, for the very random but completely crazy:

Remember a while back I talked about how obsessed I get about planning my kids birthday parties ? Well, I am not alone. And I'm not as crazed as I thought I was.

This past weekend my daughter, J and I went to GirlFest which is essentially a day for girls with activities, performances and vendor booths sponsored by Girl Scouts. In any event, we visited a party planning booth which had me over the moon because it was hip and fresh- And someone else to do the work for me? Love it!

But upon asking the owner for a general price, I found that a (rock star) party for 8 girls was $820. "We can work within your budget and don't have to include everything" the owner said. Yeah, maybe I wouldn't need all those technical consultants for the lighting (Whattheeverlovingeff ?)
I.There.are.no.words. I just want to know who pays that?

So there you go.

Random and untitled.

We camped, we saw, we kicked...

A few posts ago, I talked about our upcoming summer camping plans and how I was thrilled to be able to go on said trips and partake of some much needed R & R. Well my friends, I've now done as I planned and let me tell you both trips were fantastic-just as I'd hoped.

But for the purposes of this post, let's focus on the last trip that my family and I took courtesy of Go Camping America. After much research (because, let me tell you, they have tons of wonderful resorts to chose from)I decided Maple Grove Resort would be the best location for our family.
It wasn't too far, they have cabins (as much as I'd like to have my very own RV. I don't. Yet.) an indoor pool (which for this crazy Washington weather is a GODSEND), a clubhouse, children's playground, children's rec room, you name it they had it. So we headed off on a Saturday, got there in record time and as luck would have it were treated to good weather.

Check in was a breeze, the staff incredibly friendly and can I say that we absolutely LOVED our cabin? It was seriously more than we expected. I've done remote tent camping and "rustic" cabin camping and these cabins seemed like luxury accomodations-as far as cabins go. I guess what I'm trying to say is that they were positively adorable and stocked with everything we could possibly need. The only thing we brought were linens and grub. It was that easy.

Activities were plentiful including my first time ever playing "card bingo" (played with a deck of playing cards). Best of all, the public bathrooms and areas were immaculate. Yes, we had a bathroom in our cabin but frankly we weren't in there that much and it was nice to know that all of the other facilities were completely clean!

I can't say enough about how much fun we had - including snipe hunting at dark...which was also a first for me. Thank goodness my husband is a more experienced camper and can share these "traditions" with our kids.

Here, take a look for yourself: I've uploaded a short video of our time at Maple Grove and entered it in Go Camping America's Not Bummer Summer Contest. You too can upload a short video of your family vacation at any of their resorts for a chance to win the grand prize of a 7 day RV trip (RV rental included) to any of their parks. But if you don't plan on that , would you consider favoriting (adding it to your favorites) this on YouTube for me. That's how I win.

And if you can't be bothered to watch the whole thing (although,gah, it's only 2 minutes and 38 seconds) skip to the end. My son will show you some moves that will have you howlin.

Smooches!

And then I almost died...

So at the ripe old age of 38 I have...hip problems. Inorite!? I didn't expect this for at least 40 more years or... never.

But so it is. And it's derailed my hot body/fitness plans enough so that I went to the doctor to make sure I wouldn't need to be the youngest hip replacement candidate ever.

Things were going along swimmingly for a while, meaning I was sitting by myself waiting for the doctor, when he reappeared to examine my x-ray. Initially, he told me everything looked fine. Then I saw it. It looked like a golfball right in the middle of my pelvis.

"What's that?" I asked in a shaky voice thinking it's a tumor and I'd be dead in 10 minutes

"Hmm,are you constipated? Sometimes stool balls can look like that"

"Uh no, I'm uh very regular" I said partially amused but mostly embarassed

"When's the last time you saw your GYN? You really should have that looked at"

And that's when I knew death was imminent. In that fraction of a second I'd diagnosed myself with everything from a malignant tumor to,well,everything unmentionable and horrible.

I managed to tell him that I see my OB-regularly and wondered why they wouldn't have caught something so gargantuan.

"I can't say...but"

Then it hit me "Well I have fibroids, but my OB's office checks them regularly since I have a family history of fibroids and related surgeries"

"Could one of them be calcified?"

I quickly remembered that I'd been told shortly after I had the twins that one of them had calcified and thus was no longer in danger of growing and causing problems. Upon sharing that news with the Doc, he clicked in the corner on the radiologist's notes and read "patient has 2cm calcified fibroid"

"2 cm. Why does it look so large?"

And then Doc fuckup measures the golfball and confirms it's indeed 2cm.

"Yep, I geuss that's what it is then"

Cue me, mouth open, ready to box "Um we could have just read the notes and done this before and saved me the worry" (nervous chuckle)

"Yeah, I guess we could have" (authentic chuckle from Dr Fuckup)

It was at that moment that I pulled the razor blade from my hair and promptly cut him. Ok, not really. I really just wiped the sweat from my brow and breathed a sigh of relief.

But, if there was ever a moment I wanted to roll gangster style and do something like that it certainly would have been then.