Mom On The Run

No – I don’t mean balance as in standing on one foot balance.  I mean Work/Life balance.  The balance between your job commitments and your life.  Life, yanno, as in the things you LIKE to do, not the stuff you’re paid to do.  How do you find balance between them?

It’s actually very important to take time for yourself every day.  In fact studies have shown that people who find balance between their work and their life sleep better, eat better and enjoy life more.  They have less stress – and having less stress means they live LONGER! 

This past weekend I found some time for my balance.   I took the kids to the park, spent some one-on-one time with my oldest daughter Sierra and I hung out with my BFF (sidekickgirl) at Donnie Wahlberg’s I GOT IT release party.  Here are some pics from the party:

My BFF and I	Donnie Wahlberg	Joey McIntyre (surprise guest)

It’s really important to your well being to take time to do stuff for yourself – so this week I encourage you to do something extra-special for yourself. 

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Q:  Doctor, I’ve heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?
A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that’s it don’t waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually.  Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that’s like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster.  Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?
A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies.  What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain?   Eat chicken.    Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable).    And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q:  Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A:  No, not at all.  Wine is made from fruit.   Brandy is distilled wine that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way.   Beer is also made out of grain.  Bottoms    up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?
A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one.  If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?
A:  Can’t think of a single one, sorry.   My philosophy is: No Pain…Good!

Q:   Aren’t fried foods bad for you?
A:   YOU’RE NOT LISTENING!!! …..   Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil.  In fact, they’re permeated in it.  How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q:   Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?
A:   Definitely not!   When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q:   Is chocolate bad for me?
A:  Are you crazy?   HELLO    Cocoa beans! Another vegetable!!!   It’s the best feel-good food around!

Q:  Is swimming good for your figure?
A:   If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q:  Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?
A:   Hey!  ‘Round’ is a shape!

Well,   I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.  Happy Friday folks!

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Have you considered how much your morning latte is costing you? How much is your lunch costing you? How much does it cost you to feed the pig?

Well now you can calculate how much over-spending is costing your wallet with this website: http://www.feedthepig.org

Me?  I’m cheap… Cheap, cheap, cheap.  The birds sing songs about me!

• I MAKE my coffee every morning with my Tassimo – mmmmm I LOVE my Tassimo! (Dear Tassimo please give me a machine to giveaway to one of my dear readers so one of them can enjoy it too!)
• I bring toast to work and eat it at my desk (occasionally I bring jam with me to put on it)
• I contribute $5/week to the “Coffee Group” to drink copious amounts of coffee throughout the morning from the work coffee maker
• I bring a Lean Cuisine and a diet coke for lunch
• In the afternoon I drink tap water from a reusable water bottle.

But I’m not completely perfect… I do buy one lunch/week (usually Friday) and often get take-out ALL weekend long!  According to Feed The Pig this costs me $400 per month (probably more).  Ouch!

I love Feed The Pig!  I love the money saving tips that you can have sent to your email, cell phone, facebook, igoogle etc! Check it out and find out how much does it cost you to feed the pig?

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Yesterday I provided you with a small snippet of my ultimate Teen-Aged Girl Fantasy (I wonder how many hits I’m going to get with that phrase?).  So I thought I‘d expand.

When I was 14 yrs old, I feel in love with this beautiful boy:

He’s now grown to be this man:

What?  You don’t know who that is?  Shame on you – that’s Jonathan Knight from New Kids On The Block (NKOTB). (Isn’t he absolutely gorgeous?  He’s like a fine wine – he’s definitely gotten better with age).  Most of my friends liked Donnie, Jordan or Joey.  But not I.  I’ve always been different.  Well, ok not always – I did go through a very, very brief Jordan phase, and still have an air-brushed tank top I had made at  Canada’s Wonderland in August of 1989 that says: “I Love Jordan”.  My parents still have it in my “special” box in their basement.  Any Jordan girls out there?  You can have the tank top.  ‘Cause I LOVE Jon!

In Highschool, my walls were plastered with pics of Jonathan.

My ultimate fantasy was that Jonathan would have a chance meeting with me, fall in love with me, then spend months trying to find me.  Pining away for me the whole time.  Until one day he found me, and picked me up in a Limo at my highschool.  It was going to be after a field hockey game – I was going to run off the field in my field hockey uniform all hot and sweaty – looking absolutely smashing:

He would sweep me up in his arms, swing me around, nestle his face in my hair, and whisper: “I’ve finally found you, my love” in my ear.  Then we would take off in his Limo, to the airport and fly away in a private jet to our smallish, yet wonderful beach house on a private island. We were going to live happily ever after in the caribbean, tending animals and growing vegetables in a small garden while raising a houseful of sons.  (I’ve always wanted a son).

That was my “My Teen Aged Girl Fantasy”.  So far only part of it has come true:

(Have you gotten sick of seeing this pic, yet?)

I keep daydreaming the rest will come true.

But in a way it has.  I have a beautiful house with a pool (it feels like our own island), a husband who absolutely adores me, an rottweiler, a small vegetable garden, and a houseful of daughters.  Nothing can be better than this.

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See this here:

That is my big ol’ Snoopy Happy Dance! 

‘Cause guess what? 

I GOT FACETIME!!! 

This time I got to shake Donnie Wahlberg’s hand!  That’s right – I met the D-man!  Good ol’ Tony Spinelli in the flesh!

How?

We arrived in London early for the New Kids On The Block (NKOTB) concert ’cause we wanted to catch a bite before the show.  As we were heading down the street we spot a ton of girls hanging over barricades and screaming!  “They’re here!  Get outta the car!” Tracy shouted.  Tracy stopped the traffic and I ran across the road to the barricades.  Not one for crowds I take up a spot at the end, right on the barricade. Just as I get myself in postion DW comes off his tour bus and comes straight to me – “Hey Donnie, how’s it going?  It’s momontherun*” I shouted over the screaming girls while I shook his hand.

I SHOOK DONNIE’s HAND!

Then he proceeded to greet all of the other screaming fans too – my moment was brief, but alas:

I SHOOK DONNIE’s HAND!

Here’s a few pics I took of him outside of the John Labatt Centre:

(Nice butt!)

(Hamming it up for the ladies!)

(Tour bus)

Barret (Joe McIntyre’s wife) taking Griffin (Joe’s son) and their dog (Jon’s dog?) for a walk.

(Tracy and I at the concert)

(The “Kids” wearing Team Canada jersey’s)

The night was  a blur of excitement after that – I felt like I was totally 14 again!  We hung out after the show and caught a glimpse of Jordan and Danny leaving the JLC, but then we left ’cause we were freaking cold! 

With two concerts down and 2 new Kids met, I think it’ll take me 3 more concerts to meet the rest of them.  I’m totally ok with this, ’cause guess what?  They just announced their FULL SERVICE Tour and I’ll be there at the Molson Ampitheatre in Toronto on June 21st!

*momontherun is my handle on the NKOTB community site too.

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I’ve finally figured out the source of my week long ’bout of Blogger’s Block.  It’s cause I’m burnt out.

Burnt out from:

• laundry
• dishes
• cleaning
• cooking dinner
• dusting
• vaccuuming
• work
• homework
• playing with kids
• picking up after everyone!

I’m tired.  I’m a tired, tired mama ’cause no one helps me.

I’ve said it once, and I’ve said it a thousand times:

I DO EVERYTHING!!!

I’ve lost my motivation – who on earth cares if I do the laundry, dishes etc? 

I’m burnt out – I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve loaded and unloaded the dishwasher this week, how many poopy bums I’ve changed, how many boo boos I’ve kissed, how many pieces of paper I’ve filed etc. 

I’m burnt out – just like Rosie the Duplo doll:

Rosie needs to be freed from the stigma, just like I need to be freed.  And I agree with Nadine – we should write Duplo and DEMAND equal rights for female Duplo dolls.

Nadine even created a nice button we can use:

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