Today’s Agenda: not falling off treadmill edition
Nov 1, 2011 Today's Agenda
So today is the second day of my walking program. The first day involved thirty minutes on the treadmill and some leg toning exercises with exercise bands. Between warming up and cooling down and stretching and all that it took about an hour and a half. So I should be looking forward to today, which is just twenty minutes on the treadmill. However that twenty minutes involves walking at the same time as I’m doing arm toning exercises with the exercise bands.
Now, if you know me you know how clumsy I am. I have trouble walking a straight line. Forget about doing it on a treadmill while exercising my arms. Add to that the fact that our basement ceiling is barely high enough for me to raise my arms, and this should be interesting. Or painful. I will do my best not to stick my finger in the empty light socket above my head.
But while I’m sweating in my basement, please check out my pictures from trick-or-treating last night. My Brooklyn neighborhood goes crazy. This is what happens when you live in a ‘hood with artists and hipsters.
Enjoy your day!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
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Halloween craziness
Oct 31, 2011 Around NYC
So to say my neighborhood gets into the Halloween spirit would be a bit of an understatement. It goes crazy. There are several streets that get closed down. There are live shows. There are insane numbers of people. It’s quite impressive.
We actually live on the outskirts of the neighborhood now, where there aren’t as many trick-or-treaters. So you get about three times as much candy per house. We set out with Jake and Fiona, whose lame mother obviously bought their costumes in a store. Which of course, to my kids, is a win.
I’m happy to say we weren’t the only ones using McDonald’s Happy Meal buckets to hold the candy. Although The Ass forbid me from pointing the other people out after the first one.
This guy scared the crap out of my neighbor. He sits there on his steps blending in with the decorations until you come close. He got my kids good a couple years ago.
Now, this house looks pretty normal, until you look in the window…
It’s not easy to see in a picture taken from the sidewalk, but the pictures in the living room look like something out of the Haunted Mansion at Disney World. I can only hope they did that for Halloween, and they’re not the kinds of weirdoes who sleep in caskets or something.
And, well, the less said about this window, the better.
Many houses went a more traditional, but still impressive, route:
This is our old building. It’s like it was built with Halloween in mind.
This house is nuts. The owners put on a huge production every year.
Heh.
I don’t know what this is.
This house had a boxing ring set up, with people in costumes dancing in it. I’m not really sure what was going on. And since they weren’t giving out candy, the kids didn’t want to stick around and find out.
And this band was actually good!
After the trick-or-treating comes the sorting…
And the trading…
And for Fiona, even more sorting.
Happy Halloween!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Today’s Agenda: More Slim-Fast edition
Oct 31, 2011 Today's Agenda
So I’m pumped. I said last week that this week would be the true test of my Slim-Fast experiment, since I always lose a lot of water the first week on any diet. And I’m happy to say that I weighed in this morning, and have lost a little over two pounds this week! I’m now done with the free samples and coupons that Slim-Fast had sent me, but I’m happy to go forward on my own. Let’s see how long I can ride this.
Today I’m getting back on the treadmill. I’ve been having trouble with my right foot for months, and with the help of Dr. Google I diagnosed it as a stress fracture. So, after re-injuring it several times on the treadmill I decided to give myself a solid month off to let it heal. Then, last week it started to hurt again, and I hadn’t been exercising! I’d been careful not to wear any pumps or heels for that month, or flip-flops, or anything unsupportive, so I give up. I’m starting the walking program I’ve been having false starts with for months and if my foot becomes unbearable I will drag myself to the doctor.
And, of course, today is Halloween. I hate trick-or-treating. I really detest it. Especially in our neighborhood, where people go all out and I just end up feeling lame. And I hate crowds, which doesn’t help my mood. And it looked for a while like this year was the beginning of the end, with only one kid wanting to dress up. But Jake has had a change of heart, and is dressing up as that killer from Scream (a movie he’s never seen). So we’ll be hitting the crowded streets today. Joy.
On GMA this morning Rocco DiSpirito presented a recipe for Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes that has me scratching my head. It uses egg substitute and egg whites, fat-free cream cheese, agave nectar, gluten-free flour, and black beans! And while he claims that the cupcakes are only 55 calories each, they’re tiny. Frankly I think I’d rather have three Hershey’s Air Delight Kisses for the same amount of calories. Plus, the cupcakes look like a lot of trouble. With the kisses all I have to do is unwrap.
But I may make them at some point to see if they’re worth it. If I do I’ll be sure to let you know.
Have a great Monday! I’m off to the treadmill as soon as I post this.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 1 (Slim-Fast shakes and bars). Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
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Tags: costumes, exercise, Food, Halloween, Recipes, Slim-Fast
Today’s Agenda: costume edition
Oct 28, 2011 Today's Agenda
I’m really terrible about buying Halloween costumes on time. But I think last night’s excursion to Party City with the kids might have cured me of my procrastination once and for all. The kids and I had to wait outside – in the rain – just to get in to the store. Then we had to wait in a giant line to ask for a costume, and the kids’ first few choices were sold out. Then I almost got into an altercation with a woman who completely overreacted when Jake bumped into her and didn’t apologize fast enough.
But we survived, and the kids got costumes they’re happy with. Fiona’s going to be a mummy, and Jake will be that weird masked thing from the Scream movies, despite the fact he’s never seen the movies. The mask bleeds, the knife bleeds, he has a creepy voice changer…he’ll be in heaven.
There’s a haunted house at their school this afternoon, then we’re dropping them off at Jake’s Tae Kwon Do studio for a paid party that always works out to be more trouble and money than getting a sitter, except for one thing: my husband and I get the house to ourselves at a reasonable hour, when we’re not exhausted. We might actually make it all the way through a movie without dozing off on the couch.
Then we still get to trick-or-treat on Monday. Sigh. I heard that there was a proposed law floating around to make the last Saturday in October Halloween. I say go for it.
Coming up today, if I can get some writing done, will be a post about the Project Runway finale and a Project Runway reunion party thrown by HP during Fashion Week, and a review of Style Snaps. But I’m getting hesitant to say what I’m going to post later in the day because I feel like I’ve been jinxing myself! So here’s hoping I can get some writing done today…
Enjoy your weekend!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Randomosity – Halloween, Cows, Kinect, & Disney!
Nov 9, 2010 Randomosity
Halloween
Halloween in our neighborhood is HUGE. Every candy stop is super crowded…
Bands play…
Scary movie scenes are recreated in open garages…
People go all out with decorations…
And it gets so crowded that the police shut down a couple of streets, including the one where these crazy people put on a huge production every half hour:
This year the kids wanted to go super-simple with their costumes, which made things very easy on me. In fact, even though I bought fangs and fake blood for my little vampiress, she refused to wear them. It was all about the cape. And after hunting down rubber neck bolts, latex, latex remover, a black wig, and green, white and black make-up, Frankenstein’s Monster decided that he just wanted a mask, and after tearing my hair out at three different stores one suddenly materialized, discarded at the register. Truly a Halloween miracle.
By the way, “Tricky Dick” did not go trick-or-treating, The Ass did. But he threw that on so that he could be in the picture. :-)
Dairy Farming
Last week I spent a couple of days in California with some fantastic people from the California Milk Advisory Board. We toured a couple of dairy farms and ate more cheese in 48 hours than in the past few months combined. I even got to do some impromptu milking!
Many thanks to my fellow Blogging Angel Heidi for the pic!
Kinect
The new Microsoft Kinect is finally here! My family has been testing one out for about ten days now, and it is…magic. It hooks up to an XBox, and there are no controllers. You simply move, and it captures your moves with great accuracy. So far I’ve tried the Sports games (beach volleyball is awesome!), Your Shape (the Gym Games are so much fun you forget you’re exercising), and Dance Central (I can’t play that one until everyone goes to bed – I suck so bad, but it’s so much fun!). I think this is going to be THE hottest item for Christmas. Get one early so that you’re not racing around on December 24th trying to get the last one.
Speaking of Kinect…
When the Wii came out, it was big news that a lot of TVs were getting broken by Wii controllers flying out of players’ hands. With no controllers, I didn’t think it was possible to wreck a TV with the Kinect. And yet someone has. Making it even funnier is who it is: a writer for Consumerist!
Times Square Disney Store
This afternoon the kids and I went on a tour of the brand new, two-story Disney Store in Times Square, and it was quite impressive! No matter which Disney princess your little one is into, there’s a section for her. And Jake couldn’t stay away from the Cars and Marvel areas. All three of us spent quite a bit of time in the Toy Story aisles. :-)
We followed the tour with a big blogger dinner down the street at Carmine’s, and then the kids rolled my cheese-stick-and-pasta filled body down the subway steps. It was a fantastic night.
Garfunkel and Oates
I came across these pee-in-your-pants funny singers a couple weeks ago and keep going back to their site to watch their videos (apparently I’m the last one to discover them, based on their YouTube views). My two favorites? Pregnant Women are Smug, and Why isn’t there more Fucking on this Island? Do not play these at work or near your kids. Even if the language isn’t an issue, the hysterical laughter might be.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 1. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information. Amy also blogs at Filming In Brooklyn, Behind the Screen, Momtourage, and podcasts with The Blogging Angels.
Tags: California Milk Advisory Board, Cheese, cows, Disney Store, Garfunkel and Oates, Halloween, Kinect, Microsoft, Times Square
Greased up and high on chocolate
Nov 1, 2008 What's Going On
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: Casio Exilim, Halloween
My kids on “The Morning Show” – soooooo cute!
Oct 31, 2008 What's Going On
Our day started Thursday morning very early, since a car was picking us up at 6am to get us to The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet by 6:45. (If you’d like to see the kids’ segment, go here.) The kids got up much easier than I thought they would. Pasta Boy Cloud Boy pretty much jumped out of bed when his alarm rang at five. Munchkin Spa Girl gave me a little more trouble at 5:30, but nothing like what I was expecting. Since she was supposed to show up in her PJs, getting ready took her about two minutes.
Pasta Boy was hoping for a limo, but was not disappointed with the giant Chevy Suburban that showed up when he found out he would get the entire back seat to himself.
I’ve never really thought that the kids looked alike at all, they don’t even really look like siblings most of the time. But in these two pictures, I don’t know, they both have the same smile and they look very much alike.
Traffic was very light and we got there a good 20 minutes before anybody else who was appearing on the show, which was nice because I had a chance to feed the kids some breakfast and settle in before everybody else got there. Soon to arrive would be the crew, the on-air talent, and the multitude of guests (including 4 kids and 1 teen with parents, and a whole bunch of dogs with handlers), so this was the last calm time we had for hours.
When everybody else arrived, we were given our costume supplies and I started getting Spa Girl ready while a really nice intern from Real Simple got Cloud Boy ready. This was all taped and was supposed to be a teaser for the show, but didn’t make it in – something about not wanting to reveal anything about the costumes.
After all of the kids were ready, they did a dress rehearsal. Last night, Spa Girl had practiced holding slices of cucumber and putting them over her eyes. This was traumatic for her for reasons I don’t understand – as far as I know she’s never had a run-in with a big cucumber in a dark alley. But eventually she got over it and was ready to hold the cucumber slices. However, right before the kids went on they were handed little trick-or-treat pails, and that was that – no cucumber slices. I tried to get her to carry one in one hand – she was so cute putting them in front of her face! – but she flat-out refused. I think in her head, she did the math and realized that if she were holding a trick-or-treat pail in one hand and a cucumber slice in the other, she wouldn’t have a hand left to get candy into the pail. There was no changing her mind, and things were going so well I decided not to push it.
When Cloud Boy went out on the stage, he stood where he was supposed to stand and looked where he was supposed to look, but the expression on his face was miserable. I think he was just concentrating so hard on going to the right spot that he forgot to smile. And when Spa Girl got out there, she went to the right spot – and then stood there with her back to the camera. So after the dress rehearsal I had a little talk with the kids, trying to let them know what they could have done better without making them self-conscious or nervous. This was NOT easy. The last thing I wanted to do was freak them out before the show. Spa Girl was nervous already – she had been talking the whole day before about how she was too shy to go on TV. And I gave her plenty of chances to back out, but she always said she wanted to do it. So I had no idea if she was actually going to walk out there when it was her turn.
We went back to the greenroom. We had an hour and a half until the kids were going on, the room was really crowded, and it dawned on me that I had completely forgotten to bring anything for the kids to do. It was like I had never taken them anywhere before. I always bring something, even if it’s just a deck of cards or some books. But I had nothing for them. I let Spa Girl watch SpongeBob on my phone, and the mother of the boy who was dressed as the highway let Cloud Boy play games on her phone for a while. After she needed her phone back, all Cloud Boy wanted to do was go play with the dogs, but I wouldn’t let him. All I could think of was his costume getting chewed or peed on before the show, so I made him sit on the couch almost the whole time. I have to say, they both behaved way better than they had any reason to. Cloud Boy was bored out of his mind, and all Spa Girl wanted to do was touch her face and scratch her head, but couldn’t because of the make-up and the towel. Plus, if she so much as shrugged her shoulders she got green make-up all over her clothes. There was a little whining, but all things considered they were excellent.
As it got closer to their time I made them both use the bathroom. They always complain when I make them use the bathroom, but we have certain rules: you use the bathroom first thing when you wake up, before you leave the house, and before you go to bed. Well, now we can add to that, before you go on TV.
Then I touched up Spa Girl’s make-up and got her robe back on, and put a few more cotton balls on Cloud Boy. In retrospect, I think his costume needed some kind of headpiece, maybe a hat of cotton balls taped to some pipe cleaners or something. Compared to the other costumes, his looked a little bare.
We were all brought backstage at the commercial break before their segment, and while they were waiting I gave them gentle reminders about smiling and where to stand and to not talk. Cloud boy was fascinated with watching the monitors. He kept switching between peeking out onto the stage and watching on the TV, amazed that he was seeing it from two different angles.
The bunch of grapes went out first, and then it was Cloud Boy’s turn. He remembered to smile, although he looked, I don’t know, subdued. But when the woman from Real Simple, Kit, made a comment about not spraying other trick-or-treaters with his water gun, he pointed it right at her face and got a big laugh. Then he walked over to the giant cauldron of candy and toys they had set up on the stage – smart move on their part.
Then it was Spa Girl’s turn. During the dress rehearsal there hadn’t really been anybody out there, and now there was an audience, a crew, and three hosts, so she looked a little overwhelmed. But it didn’t matter because the audience absolutely adored her. And when her turn was over, Cloud Boy very nicely showed her where the candy was.
After the kids’ segment was done, we all went back to the green room, and the cauldron of candy went too, and the kids immediately swarmed it. Good thing too, because it delayed me getting the kids’ costumes off.
I had taken off Spa Girl’s robe and towel and was just about to take off her make-up when someone came back in saying that they decided they wanted the kids out there again, for the end of the show. Bunch of Grapes had already taken off her balloons, and Highway Boy had already taken off his cars. I threw the robe back on Spa Girl and someone else put the sleep mask on her head and we all ran back to the stage. I ducked under a camera and off of the stage with about two seconds to spare.
The kids all stood around the hosts and the dogs while things were wrapped up. I’ll try to post that clip tomorrow. Cloud Boy keeps leaning back into the camera’s view to pet the dog that co-host Juliette was holding. Then the show ended and as we were all walking back to the green room, the biggest dog peed all over the floor and the bottom of a big camera.
Finally, with the show over, Cloud Boy got to play with the dogs.
I took Spa Girl’s make-up off but didn’t bother changing them out of anything else. New guests had arrived to tape some other stuff and we were in the way, so we got out of there. The kids got to keep their costume pieces and trick-or-treat pails, and the ride home at 10:30 was full of chocolate. I was too tired to care.
I really hope that Cloud Boy didn’t notice how many different people said that Spa Girl was their favorite. He seems over the moon about the whole thing so if he did notice, he doesn’t care. After we stopped home to change and rushed to school, Cloud Boy told every single person we saw that he had been on TV. He kept asking me if we could do it again tomorrow, and when I made it clear that something like that probably wouldn’t happen for a long time, he kept asking about different shows and how to get on them. Oh boy.
All in all, a really interesting morning. Everyone at the show was very nice, and I liked watching the chaos from my chair in the corner. I’m the kind of person who stays up all night preparing for things and worrying about them, so I’m always amazed watching people do things on the fly with minutes to spare. But they do it every day, so it’s just routine to them. Crazy. I couldn’t have a job like that, I’d have a little heart attack every morning.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Cloud Boy and Spa Girl
Oct 30, 2008 What's Going On
Sounds like the title of a new cartoon, doesn’t it?
OK, haven’t had a sec to stop and post yet, but just noticed that The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet has a video up already of the costume segment. My kids are the second and third ones out. All the kids did a fantastic job.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: Add new tag, Halloween, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet
