Sun... Monday...

I AM SO TIRED OF DOING LAUNDRY AND DISHES. I can't explain how badly I loathe these forever present household chores. I am usually the sole doer of laundry, I'd say 99% of the time. Occasionally my husband will fold clothes, and I think he's actually started a load of laundry exactly one time so far this year. That's kind of my thing. If asked enough times D will do the dishes, and he's usually willing to vacuum. We alternate days for bathing Ethan, but the laundry's mine. This is because Drew would never ask me to change his tire, or to change the oil. A wise man once brought this point to my attention. It was the same man that told me that every single problem in a marriage can be boiled down to NOT ENOUGH SEX. I really think he is on to something here. I can turn a sour, pissy day into rainbows, sunshine and brightly colored tulips with a blow job. Drew is more than happy to help me fold the laundry after a quicky in the kitchen. See what I mean?

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Ethan has been quite the pill lately, and I feel like I'm always saying that but this time? I really totally completely mean it. I can't do ANYTHING without him hanging off of my leg. In the kitchen putting away groceries, making lunch, going pee. It makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs and maybe pull out a fist full of my own hair, it really does. I honestly felt a hot streak of resentment in my core when Ethan threw his carefully prepared dinner on the floor yet again. Awhile ago I would have never admitted to being so annoyed with my own kid, but because of other mommy bloggers out there I know that these feelings are both normal and okay. They are. I'm only human, and while Ethan's smile and laughter and quick wit are more than enough to make it all worthwhile, I still have "those moments". But I would never admit that if I truly thought I was the only one.

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E's new favorite word is no, and he uses it in many ways. I'll fix him a piece of french toast, cut it up and bring it over to his highchair. He will look at it for a moment, tilt his head to the side, poke it a few times, then dismiss it with an unsatisfactory "No, no, no", all the while shaking his head from side to side. No madam, this simply won't do! I'll offer him his sippy cup, and he'll shake his head and say no like ah, thanks mom, but I'm not really thirsty right now. Maybe later. We'll dunk him into the bath tub and he will firmly and repeatedly chant a solid "No! No! No!" from start to finish. (Bath time is always a toss up. You just never know how it's going to go. What can one day be a wonderland filled with wetness and squeaky toys and bubbles, the next day is a fiery, burning hell. Keeps us on our toes.)

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I've said this before and I'll say it again, if you're not watching Scrubs you should run to your local Blockbuster and rent every season you can get your hands on. I always feel like watching Scrubs. I'm always in the mood for it. It's great. It really is great.

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My mom and her longtime boyfriend-practically-husband just bought a huge house together, so this means they'll be merging households. Him and his son, with my mom, 2 sisters and 2 brothers. It should be interesting! I think it will be great; the house is huge and spacious and absolutely beautiful. But my mom and her guy are so sickeningly in love, I'm secretly wondering how living together will impact things. It's just always... interesting to hear about other people's marital pet peeves. And if none turn up? I'll be officially repulsed. If he puts his shoes anywhere but the middle of the living room rug and cleans out the pockets of his pants before throwing them into the dirtylaundry basket, I say she's a lucky woman and has got herself a keeper. (Yeah, but will he fold laundry?)

Gross, Yum, Help...

My big toenail fell off. I am horrified. I dropped something on it awhile back, then it was sore and turned a most flattering shade of indigo. Thursday when I was putting on my workout shoes I noticed that the nail was slightly raised, so OF COURSE I investigated and it just sort of peeled off. It was actually kind of cool, like for a minute. I held the detached nail in my hand and noticed that it looked like what I imagine a Lee Press-On Toenail would look like, all nice and painted pink. Then I looked down at my GIMP toe, the odd man out, the misfit. It kind of looks like a penis now, without the nail. Gah! Too disgusting. For some reason it was important that I share that with you all. You're welcome.

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I LOVE salads! I've been having one for lunch each day at work, and I'm coming up with some rad combinations. They usually start with a bed of spinach and baby carrots. Today I added smoked salmon, red pepper strips, walnuts and raspberry walnut dressing. Another day I had the spinach and carrots with walnuts, tomato, chicken breast, and dried apricots. Sunday I threw together spinach, carrots, tomato, avocado, half a grilled red pepper, a sprinkle of cheddar cheese and grilled chicken breast, with homemade balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. Oooh, and I found a really yummy lite honey mustard dressing by Newman's Own. Salads rock. We need to give them the credit they deserve. My husband throws together a little iceberg, a handful of cheese, real bacon bits and a whole lotta ranch and calls that his salad. We're like night and day, I tell you.

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Things keep biting E. Sunday he was out in the yard with his dad and stood in an ant pile the size of a compact car long enough to get his entire right foot nearly chewed to the bone. Friday when I picked him up the teacher said that another kid bit Ethan on his hand, right between his thumb and index finger. I inspected and there was this tiny red circle with little teeth marks. I also learned that Ethan has been put in TIMEOUT a time or two. TIMEOUT! He's a freaking delinquent already! My worst fears are coming true and the child is not even two years old! Miss Susie told me that Ethan has pushed and hit once or twice, and that yes, they use timeout at that age. Now I think we should start practicing this at home, but I wouldn't even know where to begin. Do we put him in a chair? In a corner? In his highchair, facing away from us? Every option is HORRIFYING! I told Ethan yesterday to just BE GOOD, don't misbehave so we don't have to punish you. See how that works? It would be so easy! You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours! Peaches and cream, baby! Perhaps I am way over my head here as a parent. Somebody throw me a life jacket! Hurry!

Saturday!

I posted some new South Beach chicken recipes in my other blog, as well as a killer smoothie recipe I whipped up today. Now go forth, my friends, and eat well! I'll wait until you're finished before I continue on with my nonsensical ramblings. (taps foot impatiently) (begins to pick nose, but only because I think you're not looking) (I will totally wash my hands before I start typing again)

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Ethan seems to have come and gone through a phase where he ever-so-slightly favored D over me. He recently started using "Mama" freely, and seems to constantly want me for comfort when he's fussy or clingy. We went through a fussy phase a few weeks ago when Ethan had a cold, but lately he's all smiles, giggles and bright blue eyes. I never expected that I would stop and stare at my son for a few moments EVERY.DAMN.DAY and just watch him, mesmerized by his cuteness and his curiosity and wonder how the hell we managed to create something so wonderful. I don't want another child at this point; I would feel complete if it were just the three of us forever. I'll admit that for the first several weeks of Ethan's life I repeatedly wondered to myself what made parents of multiple children decide to go through this all over again, two more times, three more times... in my mom's case, 5 more times. Can you IMAGINE? But now that I see how fast they grow and that you wish you could capture (almost) every moment and hold it forever in the palm of your hand, I can see how you'd start to want another one. I could go through this all again. Ethan is that damn wonderful. I'm not going to ditch the pill or anything, but I think we'd manage just fine if we did decide to add a new addition to the tribe. (Heh, tribe.)

Mid-week, again...

Well! Our DVR has already pretty much paid for itself in one short week, because being able to record Blue's Clues and then play it over and over and over again to your fussy toddler's delight with the single touch of a button? P-R-I-C-E-L-E-S-S. Seriously. Fan-freaking-tastic.

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I did Leaner Legs on Monday evening for the first time this rotation and man, I am still incredibly sore. It's 50-ish minutes of non-stop leg muscle madness. Let's do eleventeen hundred squats! No rest, now let's do quarter deadlifts. Stand up! Time for calf rasies! Ok, now hover squats. Single-leg squats! PLIE SQUATS! It was killer. I emerged from our bedroom a scary shade of bright red, shaky and absolutely DRENCHED with sweat. Tonight I'll do CTX Upper Body. This rotation I am going to try to do 3 weight workouts each week, instead of my usual 2. Because I'm now doing an upper body/lower body split, I plan on alternating the workouts on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Monday was LL, tonight will be CTX Upper Body, and Friday I'll do LL again. Then next week I'll do upper body twice and LL once, much like the Body-For-LIFE weight regime. I'm thinking that after this 4 weeks I will do the Pure Strength series, which is a 3-day split between Legs & Abs / Chest, Shoulders & Triceps / Back, Biceps & Abs. That's the plan, man.

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In non-dieting news, I found that in the first 2 weeks I sort of wanted to "prove" to myself that I could have, for example, a bowl of ice cream whenever I wanted, and so I did. But now that I'm coming up on a month of non-dieting, the thrill of having the ice cream (or whatever "forbidden" food) has lost it's kick. It's almost depressing. All my life I have loved food, loved to eat, loved sweets. For me, part of craving the junk was thinking that I really wasn't supposed to be eating it. Now that nothing is off-limits, eating less healthy food isn't as exciting. I still indulge, but I know that I'll function and feel much better throughout the day if I opt for berries and cottage cheese instead, for example. Then it becomes more about what will make me feel good, instead of a healthy meal choice being determined by my weight that day or the tightness of my jeans. In other words, food is starting to lose it's power over me for the first time EVER. It's very exciting and actually quite "freeing". I know a ton of women that tell me they would NEVER just let go and eat whatever they wanted, because they would eat donuts and cake and chocolate for every meal. That initial fear was there for me, too, but it really wears off rather quickly and turns out to be simply untrue. I also want to make a huge deal about the fact that I haven't binged (or even had the URGE to binge, at that) since I started my non-diet. This is exactly what I had hoped for. It'll be a work in progress for awhile, because the emotional issues that go along with overeating and dieting and binging still have to be worked out, sorted through, and tucked away for good. But I have made so much progress in the last three and a half weeks, more than I ever could have imagined. 18 years of dieting and binging cannot be "undone" in a month, I know. But it's amazing how normal it all seems to me now. I was almost a different person before.

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Have you seen The Real Wedding Crashers? It rocks. Seriously, I expected it to be another clusterfuck of a reality t.v. show, but it's well worth watching. We even DVR'd it this week. Come on over and watch it with us! (Must bring your own beer, and the password is GOLDIELOCKS.)

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I just made some more of that Splenda box banana bread, but this time I added 2 scoops of EAS 100% chocolate whey protein powder to it. I baked it until it looked done, and much to my surprise it is golden and moist and absolutely delicious! Adding 2 measly servings of protein powder to a recipe that yields 10(ish) servings doesn't bring the protein up tremendously, but it does add a little. Also much to my surprise, the chocolate flavor tastes great against the banana. I figured it would either be really good or really gross. Fortunately, it doesn't taste like ass. And I made it in maybe 7 minutes or less while E was eating a cheese quesadilla and watching Blue's Clues. (We just got a letter, we just got a letter, we just got a letter, wonder who it's from...) (Also, BEST mom ever.)