Bloody Crafty

Six Through Ten

Sometimes I have a tendency to dwell on the negative.  If something doesn't go just my way, rather than seeing the glimmers of light all around me - I fall into a spiral of darkness (this is why unemployment never really panned out for me).  And it doesn't have to be anything really huge like unemployment, small disappointments tend to rattle me as well - like when people don't respond to my messages immediately.  So in the interest of staying hopeful and positive, I'm going to find five extra things that I am thankful for and make me happy to focus on each week.  Of course that list always starts with 1. the love and patience of Eric, 2. the sensitive second grader, 3. the sassy kindergartener, 4. the laughter and health of all three of them, and 5. the love and health of my friends and parents.   So this list will be a Top 10 but only 6-10 will be noted.

6. My new Loreal Telescopic mascara.  This might be the best since I've found since discovering Lancome Extencils in 1988 - in fact considering Loreal owns Lancome it might be the same stuff.  But the tiny bendy wand really makes all the difference. People are noticing my eyelashes again - not just all three of my boys.
7. "Grey's Anatomy".  Of course the season is over until October, but I saved the last four episodes and watched them all online in tiny 10 minute pieces over the course of two weeks.  It felt like I was a part of Seattle Grace.
8. Golf.  We took the boys out to play at a 3-par course on Sunday and played as a foursome for the first time.  The bags were cumbersome (obviously I prefer a cart with a cooler), as was repeatedly trying to explain "it's not a baseball bat", but it was so much fun.
9. Jeopardy.  We try to end every day on the couch for 20 minutes to make sure our brains still work for the important stuff like names of rivers and state capitals.  After a 50 minute commute, it's often the best part of my day.
10. GoLean Crunch with Blueberries.  I've started eating a quality breakfast and I'm not sure it makes me eat less the rest of the day as magazines will tell you - but it does make me feel like i'm putting something good in my body.  It helps cancel out the Big Cheez-its. 

My Life on Twitter

A few years ago when people without an .edu email first started getting on Facebook, I remember someone saying "all my friends are on twitter."  I'm sure I responded with an air of disgust and said, "what's that?" when I meant "who cares?"  I can be an uninformed bitch that way.   But to be fair (to myself), two years ago it probably wasn't  much.   That clearly has all changed.

In my new job I spend all day on Twitter.  Not writing but reading and paying attention.  It is true that people use Twitter for really mundane things like "just ordered dominos".  I used to think who gives a crap?  But now, I DO - since I'm comparing how often people want to share their affiliation with one brand over another.  It's a really interesting study. I've also found that the fastest way to know ANYTHING is on Twitter - live blogging is delayed, regular blogging is really delayed, and news is tomorrow.  Based on last night's Twitter activity I'm pretty sure Danny Gokey will finally be eliminated from American Idol because he was nowhere to be found - just Kris and Adam and his tongue.  I've even found a few people that use Twitter to share useful information.  And I'm pretty sure in the marketing world, I'll never need to actually attend a conference I can just follow the important stuff via Twitter posts which is very convenient and lowers my carbon footprint.

To get a lot of these interesting things, I had to start following people who, oddly, in turn started following me.  How disappointing for them since I still don't know how I would use such a thing as Twitter.  I can't imagine people that know me really caring what i'm doing or where I'm at (plus that's totally what Facebook status is for) - much less those that don't know me. BUT if I were famous - I can see a point.  If people thought I knew a lot about anything and I provided up to the minute details of anything new - that might be useful.  But this blog alone pretty much cements my limited basic knowledge of unimportant things like sewing, so I don't anticipate that happening anytime soon.  Plus they call all these posts "Tweets" - and as we all know, I hate birds.

Coordination is Fleeting

As bikini season approaches, I have been slightly obsessed with my body (more so than usual).  I tried changing my diet a little (I don't eat that poorly and only drink moderately Wed-Sun) - more fiber.  But I didn't notice any huge changes that would lead me to believe I was ready to enter a pageant.  So I moved onto my exercise regime and with the help of a P90X infomercial, I decided that my four year long routine had led my body to believe I wasn't exercising at all (and yes, that kind of pisses me and my alarm clock off).  A girlfriend said that she started kickboxing ("sport of the future,"Lloyd Dobler said with conviction) and really enjoyed it.  That looked way easier than P90X which pretty much laughed at me through the Internet at me even considering it.

So as all serious exercisers do, I went to Target and got an Ultimate TaeBo DVD.  Eric and I did TaeBo for like two weeks 10 years ago when it first came out which made the $13 purchase justified due to little intimidation.  I jumped out of bed after only one snooze at 5:00am on Monday, grabbed my Mac and spent 15 minutes trying to get the plastic off the DVD - I should really do that shit the night before.  But I didn't let it zap my budding enthusiasm to try something new and be bikini ready for my backyard as soon spring decides to stick around for a weekend in Denver. 

As I stepped side to side and jabbed 1, 2, 3, 4 slowly, I thought, "this is pretty easy."  And then slow went to fast and I was reminded why I don't support public exercise.  Hello??? I used to be totally coordinated!  45 minutes later I was dripping in sweat and wondering if this was going to work out.  But I'm not a quitter, so I gave it another go on Wednesday with very sore arms and shoulders (those speed bags really work) and I discovered Eric's large fish poster makes a great skinny mirror - my determination returned and I did a little better.  This morning I noticed a real improvement - I had to turn down the volume - their counting didn't go with the movement - but I was still slow at times.  And sometimes when I jump too much, it still feels like my uterus might fall out - but I am confident that this could work.  Put your hammer down, indeed.