Update....

.....So the past few weeks have been quite eventful. Seems what I thought was a heat rash that wouldn't quit turned out to be shingles.... That was discovered when the sensation of someone taking a hot Brillo pad to the underside of my skin took over. Thankfully, they didn't last too long. I do not know how long I could have done with being on sleeping pills and pain medicine.

.....Had a good time with my sisters-in-law last weekend. We went to the Greenwood Freedom Festival. One of them lives down there, so it was nice to be able to see her in her own environment. Her apartment complex has a pool, so we were able to let the kids swim. The twins did really well with arm floaties, and are very happy in the water. The festival itself was ok....the girls made fun of me because I ate my way through it. You can't go to something like that and not get an elephant ear, lemon shake-ups, and cobbler and ice cream (well...that was because it was a Boy Scout Troop, and I felt the need to support it.... I was trying to offer to share it, but no one ate any, so I ate it all myself. It was soooo yummy!).

......Let's see.... we're keeping Judy's guinea pigs while she and her family are on vacation. They're doing just fine, though they did make the unhappy noise a few times early on in the week. Other than that, they're being cuddled on by my kids, though they do miss their owners.

....today we're going to Conner Prarie for the Glorious Fourth. Am going to see about getting as much from our membership as possible. What's so wonderful about today is that if the twins start whining as badly as they did last week, we can bail out for home without having lost anything. And so help me, if they are ungrateful like they were last weekend, we'll come home and everyone will go to bed!

p90x, Locks Of Love....

So we've been busy the past few days/weeks/months.... and I know that I'm a very neglectful blogger. *grins* I've had a goofy first week of P90X. I started last Sunday, took Wednesday off, did three hours of working out (split into two one and a half hour stretches) on Thursday, took Saturday off, and did Kenpo X today while I should have been resting. I'm now on the schedule that everyone else would be on (most people seem to start on Mondays, it seems). I already feel more tone. I know that might seem crazy...but it's true. And I'm anxious to see if I can do a better job this next week on getting through the workouts. So far, so good...

Funny things that have happened this week..... Aaron was pulled over for crossing the white line. I think that the premise of this is a bit stupid... who hasn't bailed out to the right and driven for a bit on the shoulder when traffic is backed up and they're turning right? Anyway, he gets stopped. And lets me know that I NEED to sign the van's registration.... I question this, as the van's listed in BOTH of our names... Did he not sign it? When he says it's in my name only, I inform him that he gave the cop the WRONG registration. Kudos to the WPD for not catching that one... He did only get a warning, so I'll refrain from writing a letter.

Yesterday, we had a marathon day (hence the lack of a workout)... I got up at 6:30 to get the twins ready to go with me to the Carmel's Farmer's Market to work the Kiwanis breakfast brat stand. The Kiwanis sponsor our Boy Scout Troop so I feel compelled to give of my time. The money raised for the brats goes to things like scholarships (some for Westfield students as well as Carmel students) and Riley Children's Hospital. The last one really needs no explanation, eh? *winks* So after our two hour shift, we beat a path home, got ready, took Griffin to our friends' house, and went to a bridal shower. We eat, drink, and are merry. I go, pick up Griffin and then take the twins home to wrap a present and are just in time to get to a birthday party for one of Griffin's best friends. While they're at the party, I go to Westfield Middle School to witness my very first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament, the Hoosier Open. I got to see my friend Josh roll.... he won the first one I saw, and lost the second. I'm so proud of him and so very happy that I got to see him compete! After that, the night calmed down, but we had Melissa, Brett, and Gavin over for some pizza and late-night laughter.

Today, Erin decided it was time to cut her hair. We've been growing it out for the last two years, and a few months ago, we talked about donating it to Locks of Love. Today was the day, and the pictures really need no explanation.

Day 2.... Plyometrics....

....OK, so anyone who has done the P90x program has used the term plyometrics. Usually in the same sentence as "sadistic bastard." I wholeheartedly agree. And, while I'm in decent shape already, this is by far the HARDEST workout I've ever done. Boys, don't read the next few lines.... I can judge a workout by whether or not I sweat through my sports bra. If just the bottom gets a little damp, I've had a workout, but kind of a wussy workout. If the whole underside of the bra is wet, I've really gotten it going. If the whole thing is wet? OMGWTFBBQ! I've not sweat through my clothes like this since I had to get through all four phases of a Dance Dance Revolution grouping.... Jerk It Out still gets me every time, and Video Killed the Radio Star is still very etched into my family's subconscious. Oh, right... P90X. So if you don't know what plyometrics is, it's basically workouts for sports-minded people. So if I were really wanting to train to be a cage-fighter, plyometrics would be a good idea. It's all about squats, lunges, and jumping. And let me tell you, I've done more jumping since high school dances when we all got crazy to Kris Kross.

....you can also categorize working out into two different categories.... the kind that energizes you, and the kind that kicks your ass into next week. Karate, for me, is the first kind. I'm so energetic and ready to roll when I have a karate class (this also could mean that we don't work it very hard at class, but we'll not talk about that here). The two workouts I've done so far are the kick-your-ass-into-next-week variety. I'm anxious to see how long I can keep it going and whether or not I can build endurance so that this is something cool. We shall see!

....but so far, so good. I'm going to see how this will work. I'm going to tough out the next four weeks and see where I go from there. And if I tough out the next four weeks, I'm buying my own set of discs. The guy I am borrowing them from will need them back to do P90X Plus.... as if he's not ripped and psychotically fit enough already. He did warn me tonight, however, that plyo never gets easier.... I think I'm in for a long 12 weeks.... just sayin'.

Getting In Shape....

...so yesterday was the first day of P90X for me. Um....OK, I *thought* I was in shape. The first day, they pound you with Chest and Back and Abs. And if you have trouble doing push-ups, you'll loooove doing chin-ups! Because I don't have a bar, I did a modified workout with exercise bands, so I can't really tell you if I can do chin-ups or pull-ups. I think I'm going to have to go to the gym and see if I can do them... just to see. Unless I get a bar for my doorway at home.

...I am going to stick with this for as long as I can. And see where I go from there. But oy.... my armpits hurt....there are muscles in your armpits?

Turkey Run S.P.

....so Saturday, Aaron worked on our back door (and that's all I shall say on the subject here...), so I was trying to figure out how to keep the twins occupied all day. Enter Nay.... Nay is a really good friend, who loves to be out in nature... Nay invites us to go to Turkey Run S.P. in Western Indiana.... She's cool with the twins, I'm cool with her two dogs, and off we go!




....and the pictures don't really do justice to how absolutely PERFECT the day went or how gorgeous the day was. I think it's safe to say that Nay and I were kind of nervous about how all our extra creatures would do.... But everyone was GREAT! We had minimal whining or bad behavior from both the twins and the dogs... and only one scary moment when trying to get up a waterfall.














....what surprised me most was just how awesome the twins were with getting dirty. They can be very skittish at times, so the fact that the trampsed through the puddles and got their whole bodies wet in the stream really impressed me.

....another thing that surprised me was just how much I enjoyed being out in nature. Even with two kindergarteners and two young puppies in tow, I was totally at peace. It was a great time, at a much NEEDED time.

A Good Weekend....

...so we had a great weekend!

...The concert was a lot of fun. I may or may not have done a little pre-partying ($11.00 for 24 oz. of Coors Light when I can get 18 12 oz. bottles at Kroger for $10.88? I don't THINK SO!) before the concert. I may or may not have split half a bottle of whiskey with a friend in about 15 minutes. And I may or may not have horked my guts up on the way into the concert. I did NOT, however, pass out (which is usually the case when I've overindulged like that). I did, however, miss the first few bands as I lay in recovery on the lawn. Which makes me sad, even though I know I'm the only one to blame for my bad choices. As most of you know, I do pre-concert research to listen to the front-runners. And darn it if I didn't really like what I heard on the snippets of iTunes that I'd listened to that day. Anyway, I was right as rain by the time Saving Abel came on stage. Not being a terribly big fan of them, I used that time to get food and diet Coke (no way I was going to drink any more that day!). Then I was all ready to dance my ass off to Shinedown and Disturbed. I really like Shinedown, and was very happy with the performance they gave. Shinedown is one of the harder bands that has a front-man with a really great set of pipes on him. The only downside? His voice was a bit on the tired side, so some of the stuff that is in higher vocal range for a man, he dropped down an octave or sang the harmony line for it. Was one of those things you wouldn't realize unless you were a musician. But I recognized it. Disturbed was the main act of the night, and, while I was stoked beyond belief to hear them live again, I didn't find that they did quite as good of a job as they did in December. They did do a few interesting accoustic intros to a few of their songs, making me think that they would sing pretty much the ONLY accoustic song they have (Darkness, if you're a Disturbed fan). But no... I still have yet to hear that live.

...anyway, I didn't mean for this post to turn into a musical review! So Sunday, we spent a good part of the day with the in-laws, who had watched the Gruesome Twosome so that we could go get crazy on the lawn. Collin came home from camp just in time to go, and we got the news that he was acting Senior Patrol Leader for the camp. AND, he did a great job in the role. *beams with happy momma pride* After we ate ourselves into grilled-food oblivion, I took Griffin to a friend's house for a playdate. The mom and I get along pretty well, and have some crazy similarities to our lives, so we sat in their backyard and chatted while the boys played. The night wore on, and the other little boy invited Griffin to spend the night. So I let him, thinking I'd probably be going in my jammies to get him later. They live in our neighborhood, so it wasn't a big deal. He made it the entire night. *sniffles at the thought that this really is the big time of having big kids!* Collin spent the night with another neighbor, which made me feel a bit bad, so I blew up an air mattress on the living room floor and Erin and I had a slumber party. She liked that, so it was worth having a bad back in the morning!

...Monday, we went to some friends' house. They had a baby earlier this month, so we got the chance to snuggle on him. With how many babies are happening in my world right now, I can't help but be clucky. Aaron makes fun of me, saying NO WAY we're going to have another. In theory, another baby would be awesome. So would a puppy, however, and you sure as hell don't see me lining up to adopt one! I do, however, miss the fun things about having a baby.... I miss nursing (as soon as the milk has been regulated and the baby and momma know what they're doing...those first few weeks suck like none other!). I miss having a tiny little one to just snuggle. I miss the little grunting noises. The newness of everything. But that STILL doesn't make me want to go through the trauma of another birth. I'll settle for loving and celebrating everyone else's babies.

...today I had lunch with Judy at our favorite little kebab house. So yummy! Tomorrow I'll eat lunch with Katie. Got to get lunch in with my stay-at-home-mom friends while they're kidless during the day!

Hello!

Not a ton going on here. Everything's pretty much the same hecticness that is my life right now. Work, karate, getting the twins on the bus... the occasional lunch with friends. I've also been playing a lot of Scrabble on Facebook.

Going in a few hours to May Day, which is a concert at Verizon. Disturbed will be there. Am excited to see them again. Shinedown and a few other bands will be there, too. Should be a good show, with some good friends.

Shout Out: Collin

OK, so maybe he's not truly a friend..... though as he gets older, the more like friends we become. He's definitely got my heart, and totally deserves a shout out. I do so love this boy....who's too quickly becoming a man.