I Blame the Rain...

It's Monday. That means it's my day to clean the house. Yet I sit here on my butt playing online. My excuse for today? Annika was being needy and I couldn't clean while she was attached to my leg. That's partly true too. But now she is in her room having quiet time and I am still sitting here browsing random websites. So I need a new excuse... I blame the rain. The rain makes things dark and gloomy which makes ME dark and gloomy and cleaning is not compatible with dark and gloomy. So yeah, I blame the rain for being lazy.

Ow. Ow. Ow.

My head hurts... About once every couple weeks I get a gnarly headache that makes me cringe anytime I move. The cause of this one? I don't know. It could be the tempura that I ate from the Sushi restaurant yesterday, which is irritating my shellfish allergy. It could be the tequila I drank last night. Or it could be because my brain hates me and it trying to escape through my ears.

Either way, I have tried Excedrin, a very hot shower, and sleeping with a heating pad. None of those have done the trick, but it has certainly helped. Now I am just all hopped up on the caffeine from the Excedrin.

Hopefully it will go away soon because the house is driving me crazy and I need to clean it...

T-Minus 18 hours...

Until I am on a plane headed for Vegas. It will be a bittersweet trip for me.

Sweet because I am going to be testing for my 4th Dan black belt and I will be testing in front of a panel of Korean teachers from the Kukkiwon (center of all taekwondo). Which will be an experience that I will never forget. And, of course, I will be in VEGAS!

But bitter because I will be away from my family, especially over Valentines day. I am going to be so incredibly busy to enjoy Vegas for what it really is, gambling and drinking. But most of all it is costing way more than we should spend. I feel a little... I don't know... guilty? All my friends know how broke we are but then I spend hundreds of dollars to go on a trip. Doesn't seem very responsible. But on the other hand, I have saved for months and months to go on this trip. I have gone without other luxuries (I have had the same pair of shoes for almost 2 years!) and have "rat holed" money just so I can travel and not put ourselves in the poor house. So I don't know... Maybe I should stop caring about what others think of me ;-)

Now that I have confused myself I have to go do laundry and ponder life more...

What the Funk?

So for the past couple days I have been in a funk. Not sure why exactly. Maybe it's the cold weather, or maybe it's because i'm leaving my family in 2 days for Vegas, or maybe it's that time of the month. But all I know is that I wanna stay home and lay on the couch or go to sleep. I also can't think straight. I am getting the simplest things mixed up and have been laughed at many times today because of it. Hopefully I will be able to go to bed early and tomorrow I will feel like a new person.

On a happier note, I got my eyebrows waxed today. So now I don't look so... German.

I feel pretty. Oh, so pretty.

The 25 Random Bug Bit me

The latest rage on Facebook (and I think everywhere else) is tagging someone to type out 25 random things about yourself. Well, I am finally bored enough between Desperate Housewives commercials and cuddling a sick child. So, anyways, here is 25 Random Things about Adrienne:

1. I was on the competitive swim team when I was 9. I was really good and won a lot of medals until I decided I didn't like getting up at 6am everyday, so I quit.

2. When I was much younger (like not allowed in the front seat younger), my older sister would sit on the right side of the back seat, I sat on the left, and our little brother sat in the middle. We would often squish him until he got pissed and did a double backhand to us right in the face.

3. I love horses, I would love to own a couple one day.

4. My favorite coffee in the world is Iced White Mocha. I could drink one everyday, but my healthy self says that they are horrible for me, so I only have 2-3 a week.

5. I go through spurts of "good wife-ness". I will clean, cook, and be super motivated for like a week or two, and then it all disappears for another 2 weeks.

6. I love soap operas. Not daytime soaps, but evening ones.

7. I want to be on EVERY continent at some point in my life, including Antarctica

8. My favorite car was my 1982 Honda Accord. It was my first reliable car, and alot of memories happened in that car.

9. I REALLY want a bagel and cream cheese right now.

10. I want to read more but I only read at night and when I crawl into bed at 11:00pm I don't want to stay up longer to read.

11. I REALLY want to become an International Referee so I have a credential that people respect.

12. I am so excited for Vegas this week. But I am so nervous because this is the first time I am traveling by myself.

13. I love it when Annika sings along with her tv shows.

14. Even more I love to sing along with Annika's tv shows.

15. I have broken 5 bones. Each one was a year before the next break.

16. I am SO glad Annika was born on Jan 31st, I really didn't want a Feb baby.

17. I hate ginger. I had a horrible experience with ginger pills and morning sickness. Now whenever I see a bottle, I want to vomit.

18. I hate it when people call all carbonated beverages "coke". A sprite is NOT a coke.

19. I love Taekwondo. (but you already knew that)

20. I want to live in a warmer climate. I am tired of the cold and the rain. But I love Portland too much to leave.

21. I always say I want another baby... until I realize that that cute baby will grow up to another snot nosed kid.

22. I surf the internet alot during the day, probably more than I should.

23 (almost there!) My favorite treat in the whole wide world is marshmallow pinwheels

24. When I was younger I used to pretend I was a superhero and I would beat up all the "bad guys". Which is probably why I got hooked into Martial Arts.

25. I would LOVE to take up a dance class. I would be very happy if Annika wanted to do dance.

Diet FAIL

One day, in early February, while looking at my muffin top in the mirror I decided I would go on a diet, I weighed 130 pounds, give or take a few depending on the day. I was so gung-ho. A friend of mine told me of a website (www.fitday.com) that you could put in what you ate and it automatically told you how many calories you consumed and how many more you can eat for the rest of the day in order to achieve your weight goal. I was supposed to limit myself to 1,200 calories per day.

The first week went GREAT. I cut out all sodium, soda, and fast food. I planned my meals out everyday, cooked dinner every night (Jim LOVED that), and prayed that I would keep it up long enough to at least make my muffin top noticeably smaller. End of week 1 I weighed 127.

Week 2 started out great too, I had all the meals planned out for the week. Chicken and noodles, meatloaf, maybe even a steak or 2. By the end of week 2 I was working with Jim more at his business which meant less time at home to cook. so the meat was defrosted, yet not cooked. It was a sad sad day when I had to throw out 4 chicken breasts. By the end of week 2 I weighed 124.

At the end of week 2 I was very proud of myself, 6 pounds in 2 weeks! Awesome! After I lost all that weight I realized that it was all water weight. Since I cut out so much sodium the extra fluid absorbed into my system and I slimmed down quickly. After week 2 Jim was so happy for me so he got me a treat from the store. He knew I couldn't have sweets, so the nice man got me a big bag of pretzels!!! Remember what I said 3 sentences ago?? Pretzels=6 pounds on my ass!!! I know what you are thinking.. Adrienne, DON'T EAT THEM!! Sure, easier said than done. Once you get Annika a snack and she asks for pretzels you know you are doomed. The aroma of yummy pretzel-ness is overwhelming and results in one eating a bag of pretzels over a couple days.

End of week 3... 130 pounds.. damnit.

So after starving myself for 2 weeks and then gaining it all back in a matter of days, I had a realization. I can't do a short diet. Even if I do starve myself and workout like crazy and eat nothing but organic greens. After I finish my diet, it will all come back. So really it will be a lifestyle change. Which as of right now, I am not ready to do. I like being able to eat a chocolate chip cookie and not feel guilty about it afterwards. I have 50+ years to live, I can be a size 0 later. But I didn't walk away empty handed, I have learned better eating habits (and I still haven't eaten fast food!) and I am going to still cook dinner as much as I can. But for now, my hubby and daughter still love me whether I weigh 120 or 300 pounds.

And to all of you who can eat whatever they want and still be a size 0..... I hate you...

I should be cleaning...

But I'm not. This is a common occurrence in the house during the day. But we went to the park and I am just wiped out! It was a good trip. The weather has been amazing and today it was almost 60 degrees! We went a little early before all the school kids got out because I knew that the play structure would be filled with "big kids" and the mama bear would have to protect Annika by kicking some snot nosed brat right in the butt. We got there at about 12:30 and there were a handful of kids playing there. Annika latched onto another little boy who was about her age and ran up and down until he got bored with her and ran away.

While we were there there was another boy who was about 8 or 9, way too old to be playing on a toddler play structure and should have been in school. But anyways, he was here, in my bubble, running up and down the structure like he was practicing to be the next Usain Bolt. Annika was watching him fly by and I was having to watch both of them, waiting for mama bear to come out and strike the second he knocked my child over. Luckily nothing happened and Usain jr. left with his mom after she was done eating her McDonalds and then Annika and I had a great time!

While we were there I got a couple good shots which makes me happy since I have been neglecting my camera and I hope to remedy that soon. **After I posted I realized the pictures are all off center.. I will figure that out later. For now click on the picture to enjoy all the cuteness :) ***

Here we go!

So this should be interesting... I will either blog a couple times and then abandon it once the shininess has worn off, or I will blog almost everyday and have *maybe* one person read it and a semi-normal basis (real optimistic right?). Either way, it gives me something to do while I am bored during the day and it will make me think I am having some adult interaction!

So, enjoy! I'll talk to you again in August!