1. Do five pull-ups

2. Lower body fat percentage to less than 20% consistently

3. Ride my bike to work at least once a week

4. Teach myself PHP

5. Move forward in my career 

Tomorrow is the last day of the last month of the very whole year of 2007.

Goodbye and good luck.  

It’s been a rough year… not anything I want to reveal… but needless to say, I have been one very tired producer — especially over the past 6 months.  Hence — no blog posts.  Too busy.  Too crazy.  Too tired to figure out what to say.

I have new hope for 2008.  Things are on the upswing for me… for my family.  My little boy is growing right before my eyes, and his quest to learn is the most exciting experience I have been privy to in a long time.  My husband has discovered the joys of sleep, thanks to multiple visits to a sleep doctor and a handy little machine that helps keep his air passages open.  He has new vigor to his life and a fire in his eyes I haven’t seen in years.

And me? I have renewed some of my old passions, such as gardening and reading.  And I have a steely determination to continue my education and learn skills that will hopefully propel me to where I want to be professionally.

I have numerous resolutions for the new year.  One goal is to blog everyday.   Another is to be able to do 5 pull-ups.  And for the first time in my life, weight-loss is not one of my resolutions.

Yep, things are looking up for 2008.  Really up.
 

I’m starting a new blog.  It won’t replace this one.  This one… well, I’m not sure what the focus is.  The new one is through work… it’s a gardening blog. 

I thought about doing it through “Tirades,” but I can be obsessive talking about gardening, and I didn’t want it to take over here.  My boss thought it was a great idea, and the folks at Site Services have already set it up for me.  They’re not finished designing it, so it’s not public just yet, but I’ve already written a few posts.  It’s called “Austin Gardening Adventures” and I’m going to follow my experiences with the new vegetable garden starting off, but I’m not ruling out other topics.  It should be fun, because I love gardening.

It’s going to be a rough night.

Luke’s not feeling well.  His nose it all stuffed up and runny.  He woke up just about every hour last night.  He hates the bulb syringe that I use to de-snuff his nose… and the nasal spray.  Andy hooked up the humidifier with the medicine… hopefully that will help him breathe easier.
Poor little guy.
I hate it when I’m sick… but at least I can take some night-time decongestant or something.  I can’t do that for Luke…

Other that, it’s been a good weekend.
I swam 2K this morning — including my warmup and cool down.  I think I’m getting faster.  I used the fins, like I always do, but I was able to do more in the same amount of time.  It felt so good — the water rushing past me.  I’ve only been swimming once a week lately… I’d like to swim at least twice, but it’s been so hard trying to motivate myself to go on Saturdays.  I just want to eat ice cream and drink beer.  Seriously… it’s a wonder I haven’t gained back all th weight I lost.

Well, it’s not all that crazy.  Andy and I have been doing these super quick, super intense workouts Tuesdays and Thursdays.  We set a timer and do an exercise for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 — repeating that 8 times.  We usually do 4 or 5 different exercises that way.  For example, we’ll do variations on situps, pushups, lunges, knee bends….  By the time we’re done, we’re usually exhasted.
It’s made a difference.  I can easily do a situp, and my pushups are getting much better.  I’m also amazed that I can do the lunges and even touch my knee to the ground.  I wasn’t able to do that before.
I also wasn’t able to fit into small t-shirts or size 8 jeans… that’s how much of a difference those workouts make.

Yay me!

It’s been a long time since I sat down to write in my blog… my life feels so routine.  I live day to day… trying to make it through and accomplish the numerous little tasks that I have to get done everyday.

On those occasions I’m able to fit in what I consider “special” activities… I’m amazed.  I watched a movie?  Wow… haven’t done that in a while.  Downloaded pictures from my camera?  Listened to music that wasn’t playing in my car?  Incredible.

It seems like I’ve fallen back into the very same rut I worked so hard to get out of two years ago.  That was when I decided to “shake things up.”  Andy and I joined Kung Fu… I got the job at KVUE.    We’re still doing Kung Fu… I’m still enjoying my job at KVUE… but sometimes I find myself wishing for a little more adventure.

A couple of weeks ago I was able to take Luke to the Austin Children’s Museum for one of their “Under 3” programs.  I must have been hurting for an adventure, because I think I talked Andy’s ear off for the next two days about how much fun Luke had, and how we sang songs and explored the play area.  You’d have thought I had more fun than Luke, as much as I talked about it.

Not that I don’t LOVE every SECOND I have with my son… it’s the best!  I LIVE for the weekends, and I try to come up with interesting activities we can all do together… like taking hikes… but it’s been raining so much and everything’s flooded, so it’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve been out.

It’s raining right now.  I hope it dries up enough so Andy can dig our garden this weekend.  Our seeds just arrived and I have lots to do toget them started.  We’ve got tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, beans, peas…. a ton of stuff.  I’m wondering whether we’ll have enough space, but then again, part of the front yard garden is empty, and it wouldn’t hurt to add in a few edibles for the fall.  Everything’s so expensive, especially vegetables, and I’m hoping we will reap the benefits.

It’s Memorial Day weekend, and Andy and I had big plans.  We were going to take Luke hiking in his new carrier.  Mother Nature had different ideas.
It threatened to rain both Saturday and Sunday, and there was a flash flood watch both days… not really the best time to go hiking along the Zilker greenbelt.  Then today… it rained practically all morning.  Our backyard had a large pond for a while.  The dogs refused to go outside and do their business.  Andy and I decided to spend the day inside.
We finally took care of odds and ends around the house.
I painted the hall bathroom with the blue I bought 7 months ago.  Andy installed the clear plastic we bought to childproof the bookshelves.  We cleaned up my desk and hung the tv with the arm we bought 6 months ago.
I guess we tend to have big plans but have trouble on the follow-through.
Now, I’m just hanging out at home now with the girls — Bennie, Goose and Sam (my brother-in-law’s dog) — who’s staying with us until the kennel has room tomorrow.  Luke is asleep.  There’s tons of housework to get done before Andy’s mom arrives tomorrow.  Man, I don’t feel like doing it.  I did enough this weekend… I wish the housework would do itself for a change. 
I used to wish I was Samantha on “Bewitched” and just twitch my nose to make anything happen.  The magic of TV, huh?  Too bad it’s not really magic.

I’m about to reveal something I usually keep hidden from most of the people I know… even my close friends.  But as I’ve grown older, I’ve grown more confident in myself and I tend to care less and less what people think about me, even when it comes to things I’ve found embarrassing in the past.
I love “The Golden Girls.”  I always have.  I’ve watched them since they were in primetime, and was thrilled when Lifetime began running them — gees — decades ago.  I even have the first 5 season on DVD. 
I rarely watch TV anymore… but an episode of the Golden Girls is a guilty pleasure, and I’ts aboput the only show I will turn on when Luke is in the room (we don’t want Luke to watch TV).
So yesterday was a real thrill when I got to tag along on an interview with Rue McClanahan.  For those of you who don’t watch the show, she played the very vivacious and oversexed Blanche.  She just wrote a book about her life and was in town for her book signing.  She’s also doing a show tomorrow at Zach Scott Theater, before flying off to Phoenix on her next stop in the book tour.
I just sat there and listened as she talked about her life.  I was enthralled, and I wanted to here more and more.  When Tyler, who was interviewing her, asked me is I had any quesions… I was stumped.  I had no idea what to ask.  Things I want to know tend to be a little personal, which are completely inappropriate questions for strangers.
But, wow, how cool was that? And she even signed the first season DVD set I have from the show.  I won’t have that opportunity again… I’m so glad I went.

Yesterday was a crazy day.  In addition to the Rue interview, I had a TSP meeting and I had to fit in all my duties from work.  I think I was at the station all of 3 hours yesterday.   I hardly got to see Luke at all, and I missed him so much.  I feel bad, because I tend to try and make that time up on the weekends, and the little guy barely gets any naps.  He puts up with me, thankfully.  I don’t know what we’re doing today.  I was thinking about checking out Eeyore’s Birthday down at Pease Park, but I hate riding the shuttle.  I remember when you didn’t have to ride a shuttle bus.

Man, I’m getting old if I’m saying stuff like that.

I’m so embarrassed that I’ve let my blog lapse for a month now… things have been so crazy.  I used to be able to wake up at 5 a.m. and have an hour to myself to catch up on the computer, but that didn’t last long.  Luke’s on to me.  He started waking up earlier and earlier.  Now he’s waking me up at 5 on those mornings aIl I really want to do is sleep.

Luke started crawling March 16.  Since then it’s been a whirlwind of trying to keep gates up and rearranging items on shelves and such.  He’s crawling all over the house.  I think it’s pretty pucky when he can become absorbed in one thing for any stretch of time right now, before he moves onto the next thing.  His favorites are to pull the plastics out of the cabinet and pull all the paper out of the recycling bag we keep in the kitchen.  The paper I police, so he doesn’t try to put too much in his mouth.  The plastics are fine, but Andy and I have to be vigilent about washing them before they go back in the cupboard.  See, we have these dogs, and no matter how much you sweep, their hairs are EVERYWHERE, which Andy and I both discovered one day when the food we heated up at work had little hairs in the dish.  Ewwwww!

I’m not any closer to reading a book than I was a month ago.  Well, okay, I read The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe to Luke, and now I’ve been reading to him from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Books.  Wow — really good.  Even Andy commented on how well written that one is.  One story, about a hermit, moved me to tears this morning.  I felt like a moron trying to read to Luke and getting all choked up.

I have all my material that I needed for my belt level in Kung Fu.  If all goes well, my plan is to test for 1st degree brown by the end of May or June.  That should give me a head start so I have extra time to learn and review for my black belt test before the grandmaster in February.  I’m very excited and have been going to the extra conditioning classes so I can build up my strength and stamina.  I feel like I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in, especially in my upper body, which has always been weak.

I’m swimming tonight and tomorrow, so I better pack my bag.  It’s been a couple of weeks and I definetely need time in the pool.

For more than a year now, I’ve been saying to myself, “I really should read a book.”  I’ve hardly done any reading, and I feel like a cultural illiterate….
The reading I do everyday doesn’t count.  I read news stories online and magazines.  Time and Newsweek are fixtures in our home, as well as Science News, Scientific American, Money and Bicycling.  I try reading books, but I’m so busy, I leave it to just before bed, and by that time my eyelids are so heavy, I get just a page before I can barely stand to be awake anymore.  I think my dad is the same way.  I used to fuss at him for taking so long to read a book… now look at me… I’m exactly the same.
Well, at least I can get in some real reading.  I’ve started reading chapters of longer books to Luke at night.  He’s so young, he doesn’t really look at the pictures, so I just read.  We read “Winnie the Pooh” and “Jeremy: Tale of an Honest Bunny.”  I just started “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”  Today, Andy ran by Half Price Books and picked up “Alice in Wonderland,” “The Jungle Book,” “Henry and Ribsy,” and a Hardy Boys…. I haven’t read them, so it will be fun for me, too.  Maybe we’ll move on to “Oliver Twist” or something.  I’m finally reading all the books I watched as Disney movies when I was a kid.  Maybe Luke will be the one to say “The book is so much better.”

What a peaceful night… Ahhhhhhhh….
Luke has started going to bed at 8 p.m., and while I miss the time we used to share in the evening when I got home, I relieved that he’s getting a full night’s sleep and that I can spend time alone with Andy, and even enjoy a quiet dinner at the kitchen table.  Watch… I’ll post that and Luke will wake up and not sleep for hours.

We’re visiting a Montessori school tomorrow with Andy’s mom, who is a Montessori teacher so she’ll have some great insight into what we should be looking for.  Unfortunately, the two other schools I set up to visit did not have available times when she’s in town.  I can’t believe we’re already doing this.  He’s only knocking on 7 month’s door… and already we’re looking for schools.  We put him on a waiting list for one school that I didn’t get to visit but Andy loved.  He wouldn’t get to start there until he’s 3.  Some other schools start them at 18 months, so that’s why we’re looking now.  Most already have waiting lists!  But I feel good about this.  He’s going to get into the right school for him… we just don’t know what it is yet.  And it will be worth it, just Michelle is more than worth what we pay her to take care of Luke during the day. She’s so fabulous with him that Andy and I can’t believe we were lucky enough to find her.  It’s hard not to watch news stories about babysitters who injure or kill little kids and pull Luke closer and be fearful, but I have to remind myself that we did everything we could to check out our babysitter and she has done nothing to make us worry about Luke.

Gees… I hope the Montessori school will give him the headstart he needs in school.  I want him to be challenged and develop a love for learning.  I don’t want him to slide by like I did.  I could have been so much more.  I could have dome my homework and done more extracurricular activities.  I could have been top of my class.  I could have gone out for the tennis team instead of worrying what all my friends would think.  I guess it sounds like I did pretty crappy in school… but I didn’t.  I actually did really well — honors classes, school newspaper, president of the National Honor Society — but I fell like I could have done more.  I often put off homework and reports to the last minute.  I hardly studied… it just wasn’t a good effort.  Apparently, my dad was the same way.  When I was in school, he pushed and pushed.  I want to encourage Luke but not push him to the point where he rebels and decides he doesn’t care anymore.  I guess I have a while before I have to start worrying.  He’s only 6 months old, and according to Maria Montessori, his mind is ripe for absorbing EVERYTHING.  He’s like a sponge, and the best thing we can do is foster that mind.