Archive for Family

Weight Watchers Here I Come

Nina B | 02/18/2013 | No comments

I have finally hit rock bottom or maybe I should say top of my weight scale. I have tried loosing weight over the past few years with no success. Let’s see, I have done personal training, group training, boot camps, various nutrition programs, no carbs, low carbs, higher protein, not eating after 7pm, individual counseling with a nutritionist and the list just goes on and on. I have read various books: Eat to Live, The Core Diet, The Hormone Diet, Volumetrics, Eat Right for Your Blood Type, and all have great principles in their own right but for some reason I struck out.

I do have a million excuses, which I do think are valid, going through menopause at 38, going on an antidepressant a couple years ago to deal with my step fathers death, which since that time I have a gained 30 pounds. I feel like my metabolism has just stopped. Is it elevated cortisol, not eating the right food combinations, portion control, wrong types of exercise? It must be a combination of all of the above, I just want to give up. So now I am almost 50 pounds over my goal weight. Just to say that makes me cringe, but I am coming clean.

Do I have no willpower? No follow through. I see friends stop drinking soda and they loose, or make very small adjustments to their lifestyle and they are two pant sizes smaller. In talking with the nutritionist, she said there is a study of about 30,000 people who lost over 75 pounds and kept it off, and the bottom line is that they all lost and kept it off in their own way; that wasn’t the answer I wanted. I am looking for that silver bullet that will work. She tells me that I need to find my own formula and its trial and error, really, thats great, because I am close to only being able to fit into sweatpants.

My favorite card from Oatmeal Studios.

Total body Liposuction is what I need.

I joined a gym in another town so I didn’t run into people I know. I think when you have a significant amount of weight to tackle you want to do it privately. So in a weak moment, I purchased the Jillian Michael’s Weight Revolution. I was memorized by the infomercial, transformation in 90 days, too good to be true. The box finally arrived and I opened it and thought what the hell was I thinking. I am not going to do this everyday, although I need too, but forget it, I just packed it up and out the door it goes.

Yesterday I joined Weight Watchers on line. Now I have tried this several times over the years. The first time was when I weighed 114 pounds around my wedding 13 years ago and I was upset that I had gone from 110-114. I think I needed my head examined. I haven’t had the greatest success with it, but my next door neighbors joined so I am jumping on the bandwagon again.

My husband told me this morning that he is proud of me for joining and told me that he has watched me in my “habitat” over these years and that my key to WW is not to modify. I love to modify just about everything. So today is the first real day of my WW journey, we will see if this is the magic I have been looking for.

If you have tried WW I would love you to share your success.

Category: Family, Fitness | Tags: early menopause, loosing weight, weight watchers

The Bittersweet End of Thumbsucking

Nina B | 01/28/2013 | One comment

My sweet peanut and her thumb

My oldest daughters thumb sucking began when she was four months old. We all thought it was just the cutest thing we had ever seen. Her little hand covered her face and all you could see were these big blue eyes. I was thankful that she didn’t take a binki and that she could always self soothe as her thumb was always there. No late nights feeling around a crib for those little plastic pacifiers.

Our beloved bubbies

As the years rolled on, the thumb sucking never ceased, but coincided with sniffing and smelling her B- another word for blanket with a bear head on top. Her thumb had a huge callous from all the love and her bubbies had also shown the wear and tear of years of love, holes and tattered ends of this tiny bear. We had many nights where bubbies was missing and no one got any sleep until he was found. He had been FedExed to Maine, driven to parts unknown to get my daughter to sleep as it was a two part process- Bubbies: thumb + Bubbies=good night sleep.

My daughter is now in third grade and as a family we decided that it was time to stop the thumbsucking. I know that it should be entirely her decision, and no bride walks down the aisle with her thumb in her mouth, but I could see my orthodontic bills getting bigger as the months rolled on. It was time for action. Her teeth were getting splayed out and I think seeing a nine year old with their thumb in their mouth a bit strange. Every night I would go into her room and pull her thumb out of her mouth once she was asleep. It was my way of protecting her teeth.

My girlfriend had already started the process with her daughter and had done all the research. The easiest solution was a product called Malva Stop from Amazon- you paint it on the nails and it tastes bitter and awful, sounded good to me so I ordered a bottle. The first night we are ready for bed and I asked my daughter if she was ready. She said ready as ever and we painted away.

She had a hard time falling asleep, I had to rub her back to get her mind off her thumb. It was a night by night process, but after two weeks she was thumb free. I couldn’t believe it, she said she didn’t even have the desire to do it and callous was disappearing. We decided that if she could make it a month then we would go out and celebrate.

As my daughter is celebrating this new level of maturity, crossing into her pre-teen years thumb free, I all of a sudden have a moment of sadness. My little girl is now gotten big, officially! I can remember her little face, thumb in mouth at all times. I missed it. So we both looked through our photo albums, seeing how she’s grown through the years and talked about all the great things that were to come, and then we decided to celebrate with pedicures and Friendlies ice-cream.

Category: Family | Tags: stopping thumbsucking

The Fish Chronicles

Nina B | 01/11/2013 | One comment

The way my fish tank should have been.

This has been quite a week, we have been very busy setting up our new fish tank that Nana gave the girls for Christmas. We have always had a variety of interesting pets over the years, an iguana called Sundance, which is whole story in itself, a goldfish called Mr. Fish who lived for many years, two tree frogs, two mini frogs and a hermit crab. All of these animals lived a good life with us, slightly neglected but good just the same, may they rest in peace.

We have been taking a “pet break” for a while as we have been sharing my mothers dog Daisy as a sort or part-time pet. Needless to say the girls were crying for a new “something.” Nana surprised them with a new fish tank and all was right with the world.

So, we got the 5 gallon tank all filled with colored sand and decorations, I think it looks pretty cool I must say. The girls and I went to Petsmart to select our fish. I thought we were going to grab a fish and go, but we had a full education on goldfish, fish that need a heater, etc, etc. Seriously, we just need a basic goldfish, one that lives in cold water, will need minimal care and we are good. The girls selected a calico goldfish and my youngest a black goldfish with big bulging eyes. She thought he was the greatest, hence the name Blackie Big Eyes. We acclimated them to our tank and had a whole 24 hours of bliss.

One morning we look at Big Eyes and he is covered in this grey like matter, almost like a mold. He was tilting sideways and we knew this wasn’t good. My youngest asked if he was going to be ok, and I honestly couldn’t say. So once they got on the bus, I scooped up my little fish and headed to the local pet store, not Petsmart as they would have flushed him away.

There I am driving with my fish in a container, feeling awful for this little guy that was entrusted to us. ( I also have to say that I felt like a crazy woman driving around with this fish, maybe I need to go back to work full time) The owner of the pet store said we had a very sick fish and that it would take about six weeks for him to get better. I walked out with $25 worth of items, an anti fungal for all sorts of fish ailments, a P.H kit for my water and some other misc fish items. The process was that I was to treat the tank every 24 hours while switching out half the water and do this for six days. This was as bad as having to rotate my new mattress for three months, which I might add I had to do this morning.

So back in my anti-fungal treated water, I removed the filter and sat and waited. Big eyes looked awful, but I wanted to see if we could help this $5 fish. After three days he finally passed and I didn’t know what to do with him. Did I save him for my daughter or flush him away? There is no parenting handbook for this situation. I decided to take a picture of him in the toilet to show her. I know you are cringing right now, its really weird to do. I wanted her to at least get to see him.

Poor Big Eyes

I told my youngest about Big Eyes and having flushed him down the toilet and showed her the picture. She was mad that I didn’t save him to bury him in the yard. I told her that he was flushed out to the ocean to be with the other fish. She said ” he’s not with the other fish he’s in the sewer with all the poop.” Ok, yes she was right, I stated they clean the water and have two pipes, one for clean water and one for sewer. My lies just kept getting worse and worse, so it was time to kiss and say goodnight.

May he rest in peace

I turned out to be no better than Petsmart flushing away our short lived pet, and also proved that the only pet we should have is an air plant.

Note: My daughter just walked down and saw this post and said ” hey don’t flush my next fish down the toilet Missy!.”.. note to self.

Category: Family | Tags: goldfish, how to kill a fish, kids and pets

Excuses…Excuses and What I learned in 2012

Nina B | 12/31/2012 | No comments

I have to start this post with an apology. The last time I wrote was at Thanksgiving and I had all sorts of great intentions on writing inspiring posts over the month of December, some great recipes, cool crafts for the kids, great gift ideas, some awesome product reviews. Clearly nothing of the sort happened. I am going to run down my list of excuses:

I ran my kids holiday gift room at our elementary school which consumed me for the first two weeks of December. My husband concluded that I cant have a full time job because this project proved that I can’t manage the house or anything else.

I pulled a tendon in my right foot and ended up in a boot for a week ( supposed to be three weeks, but seriously, I had a gift room to run.) I might mention that I was trying to be extra fit and attempted running on the treadmill, it was either that or doing Gangnam style with my girls.

The following week we had my daughters holiday dance show and then off to my in-laws to celebrate Hanukkah. Upon returning to the doctor to have my foot checked, I ended up with a biopsy on my left pinkie toe and left me in a surgical shoe for 10 days. Thank goodness all is well, turns out to be a mole in my nail bed- now that is something I never knew you could have. The body is a mystery.

Biopsy Toe

Then the worst, most horrific thing I have heard, the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I wish I had something to say to reflect on the event, however I was and have been speechless about the massive and senseless loss of innocent lives. My mind has been and continues to think about these children, teachers and parents and families of those who lost their lives. Moving through the holidays in a joyous place was so hard, thinking and praying for all those who were and continue to suffer a loss that is too painful to even try to comprehend. I didn’t feel like it was my place to write about it, as its all too raw to handle. As time moves on, there will be a time to reflect on the events in Newtown.

So it is now the end of the year 2012 and I wanted to share my top five things I learned in 2012.

1. Life is unpredictable, and the saying is so true: Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today.

2. Try not to worry so much, as a dear friend said to me ” its like praying to your fears.”

3. Love and cherish those around you. Always take the time to say how you feel and give that extra hug or kiss.

4. Take care of yourself, try to eat well, rest and find joy in your day. It will make you a better parent, friend, daughter to those around you. You need to be your own best friend.

5. Be the example of what you want to be in the world. Be kind and thoughtful to others. You never know what its like to be in another shoes.

Have a peaceful New Year and see you in 2013.

Category: Family | Tags: Excuses, reflection on a year, Top five lessons in 2012

10 Reasons I Am Thankful This Thanksgiving

Nina B | 11/21/2012 | 2 comments

Every Thanksgiving we are faced with the question ” What are we thankful for this Thanksgiving?”. I am often caught off guard and never really give the answer that I feel. So I decided to create my list of thanks for this holiday.

I am thankful for the love of my husband, daughters and family.
I am thankful that I get to wake up everyday and see and feel the sun on my face.
I am thankful for all the morning crazies with my kids, because it makes me feel present.
I am thankful for my friends who are always there to lend a hand or listen to me rant and rave.
I am thankful to be living in America and appreciate all the freedoms that we have because of those who came before us.
I am thankful to have a roof over my head and food on my plate.
I am thankful to the soldiers who fight for our country and let me sleep at night.
I am thankful for electricity and clean water.
I am thankful that I have been blessed to be a mother.
I am thankful for the here and now.

Here is a poem that I wanted to pass on:

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Category: Family | Tags: 10 reasons to be thankful at thanksgiving, Thanksgiving, thanksgiving poem

Do I Want a Dog? No Way …….

Nina B | 11/16/2012 | No comments

We have had the pleasure of watching my mothers dog Daisy for the past 2-3 weeks. We call her our part-time dog, as no one is too sure if we want to commit to having a dog. She is a little Shitzu and just adorable. My girls love her and I do too. Her face is like a little Chrysanthemum flower and a disposition so sweet. She always wants belly rubs and cuddles. We all just pick her up all day long and kiss this little bundle of love.

Well my love her is on thin ice, let me tell you my story.

In my motivation to get is shape, I have been headed to the gym daily. I haven’t lost a pound or an inch, but getting there is half the battle, the other half is to stop eating so much. So in my endeavor to get in shape I hurt my foot somehow, maybe it was the slow jog or fast walk, or just age. Either way I could hardly walk yesterday and spent my time on advil and literally hopping around, exhausted from all the hopping I just wanted to go to sleep.

After the nights activities, I took the dog out at around 10:30 p.m to do her business and we could all get to sleep. Standing in the cold, in the dark, at night, alone, my yard becomes a scary place. We had a warning that black bears were spotted and I was waiting for one to come eat me for dinner. I hurried my little Daisy along, find a place to pee already, honestly why does it take so long?

Settled in and fast asleep, around 2 a.m I hear Daisy crying and scratching in the living room from her pen. What is going on?, I waited it out to see if it stopped, but it got louder. I hobble my way down to the living room and turn on the light and make my way to her only to step in a pile of shit with my bad foot. WHAT the hell!!! when did that get there, didn’t I take her out a million times that day. So in a sleeping stumble I hop into the kitchen to clean off my foot and clean up the mess.

I take the angel out of her pen and get dressed to go outside. Daisy raced out the door like there was a jet pack on her back and she proceeds to go to the bathroom for about 10 minutes. Inside we go, I make it upstairs and settle in for the second time, and Daisy starts barking and going wild. I cant ignore her, so fatigued and irritated I head down again, thinking she ate something that is making her have to go. As soon as I open her pen she races past me and up to my bedroom. Due to my “foot” issue, all I can do is yell Daisy No!. Like a bull I make it back up stairs get the dog and down again to put her in her pen. Did I mention that my foot is a 9 on the pain scale.

Up stairs again, I am desperately tired, the last time I was up like this, was with one of my kids all night vomiting spells. So I will also mention that around two hours later, the racket started again, and this time my husband got up and took the dog out to shit yet again. What is going on here?

When the kids woke at around 7 a.m I felt like I didn’t sleep at all and had a busy day ahead. Little Daisy was as happy to see me as she was in the middle of the night. I looked at her face and I still wanted to kiss it off, but I am clearly not cut out to be a doggy mom. Sadly my kids will live with a part-time pet and that will be as good as it gets. Nana time to collect your dog!

Category: Family, Relationships | Tags: dog sitting, dogs are hard work, Shitzu pets, stepping in dog poop

How Ikea Almost Ended My Marriage

Nina B | 11/10/2012 | No comments

My daughters 9th birthday was last Sunday. A fun filled day with two birthday parties. Yes, two, one for friends and the other for family. I don’t know why I make myself so crazy but I love celebrations and any opportunity for family to get together. The day was fun, a beading party, pizza and One Direction music, what could be better ( a martini on a beach maybe!). I had not sat down once, and it was now 9 p.m, not to mention my body had been fueled with pizza, JAX, cupcakes and coke.

The previous week, I made the trip to IKEA with my mother and happen to find an adorable desk for my daughter. The price was right, $129 for desk, chair and additional top piece for storage. Birthday gift done. We managed to bring it home in my moms Prius, yes it did fit in that car, who knew it had space and was economical too.

I told my husband what we got her, as that seems to be the way it goes. Moms buy the gift and Dads find out about it either at the party or when they put it together. I asked him to make sure the desk was together before her birthday so we could sneak it into her room during the night and SURPRISE!

Fast forward to 9 p.m., as my husband seems to be totally ready for bed, I tell him that the desk needs to be put together. The look on his face said it all, and I couldn’t resist telling him he had a week to do it and it didn’t need to wait until the night before. Zing! I also dreaded building the desk, as I was exhausted and just wanted to sink my head into my pillow.

The kitchen looked like an assembly shop, cardboard, tools and crap everywhere. I was settling into some trash t.v and can hear him ranting that the dowels don’t fit. Uhhhh, seriously did I have to get involved in this process, isn’t this a man’s job, I did the party. So up I get and head into the kitchen and he was fuming. He said its the last time he ever buys anything from IKEA ( direct insult to me) and the directions are unclear, the holes are drilled too small and we should just return the unit.

So side by side we begin, me “interpreting” the directions and him managing the tools. He proceeds to get a hammer and bang the dowels into the predrilled holes, only to find out that they were to go into a different hole where they did fit. They couldn’t be pulled out, they broke off in the hole and had to be drilled out. It is now 9:30.

Now to add some color to this event, my mother who I love dearly is trying to help also and standing in the kitchen watching us and telling my husband that her whole kitchen came from IKEA and there were no issues. I am laughing inside, but I could see my husbands ears about to blow off. Too many cooks in the kitchen.

So slowly and painfully the desk came together, pieces put on backwards, needed to be switched, a couple screws left off and two hours later, TaDA it was done. In stealth mode the desk is delivered and the project is done.

Lesson learned:

Never leave an important project until last minute- Christmas Eve anyone!
Have your husband have a friend help, unless you are mechanically inclined, leave it to someone else, your marriage depends on it.
Buy things assembled and delivered, it may just be worth the price.
You will do anything for your kids.

P.S. My daughter loves her desk!!!!! thanks Dad! He may not be Bob Villa but we will keep him.

P.S.S My daughter opened her drawer and the front pulled out, she said mom is the desk broken, I said don’t worry Dad will fix it (:

Category: Family, Relationships | Tags: Building an IKEA desk, IKEA desk, marraige

My Yard Sale Fail

Nina B | 10/28/2012 | 2 comments

I have NEVER run a yard sale in my life, other than helping my mom clear out her house. Her sale was a lot of prep work, but a total success and she took home $1,700.00. Now that is fantastic for a few days of hard work.

So as we get closer to biting the bullet and redoing our basement, I needed to finally take off my blinders and get a grip on my basement situation. I call it a situation because it looked like I was a hoarder in disguise. We moved houses six years ago and I hardly touched the boxes that were there, and another six years of accumulation on top of that. Uhhhhh!!

I was buying items that I already had, as they were buried in the mass of stuff, and I couldn’t find them. Talk about a waste of money. I knew I had to face the music and with my mom, who I will give 100% of the credit to, we started a week long purging process.

First, there was the purchase of several shelving units from Lowe’s that were cheap and easy to assemble, then the unpacking of boxes and sorting began. This was the slowest thing to do, as I drifted through memory lane, reading my old notes from junior high ( yes jr. high!) and reading my old calendars with every little thing I had ever done written on them. Some of the more interesting items that I had saved were: my Pee Wee Herman doll, a Wham hot plate, a t-shirt from camp in third grade. Honestly, I guess they meant something to me at some point, but I have been carrying this stuff around for almost 30 years.

So, once the set up, sorting, trashing and yard sale piles were made, I decided there was too much to donate as it would have been multiple trips, a yard sale would be easier. I borrowed tables, brought everything up to the garage, priced all the items, made signs, hung signs, posted on Craigslist and our towns local intranet and was ready. I was psyched, my first yard sale was about to begin.

I wake up at 6 a.m on a Saturday, haul all the stuff onto the table and eagerly await my first customers. At 7:00 a.m the early birds arrive and take a few things.. hey $5 is better than nothing. As they day progressed people came and left, many people didn’t buy a thing. They asked for cameras, watches, jewelry- hey this isn’t the mall. I didn’t understand it, I had all this great stuff, no one wanted my CD tower, kangaroo mug or margarita glasses.

So after four hours and $87 later, the show was over, and I had as many things as I started with, maybe I have bad taste, I didn’t think so. After 20 hours of total prep time including the sale we earned $4.35 an hour. I still have about 2 hours left to bring everything to donation and now clean my garage.

Lesson learned, save your time, donate right away, and decide if you really need to save everything. I have had my first and last yard sale.

Category: Family | Tags: how to fail a yard sale, yard sale

10 Reasons Why Spongebob Squarepants is a Good Role Model

Nina B | 10/02/2012 | No comments

I am sure that people are booing me right now, but I have finally come to love, yes love, Spongebob Square Pants. I was one of those parents who swore up and down that I would NEVER let my kids watch that show. I didn’t fully understand a sponge living under the sea in a town called Bikini Bottom, with a best friend Patrick and a pet snail called Gary who meows, but I tell you what, the show is one of the few television shows I let my girls watch.

Now, I know that people will argue the pace of the show may be too fast, or that there are silly antics and crazy stuff, but when I lined up all the “G” programming, I will pick Spongebob any day of the week.

Here are the following 10 reasons why I like Spongebob as a role model and the show itself:

Spongebob always acts from a good heart.
Spongebob is never evil or intentionally malicious.
Spongebob is not spiteful.
Spongebob is a true friend.
Spongebob thinks of others and their happiness.
Spongebob has a great work ethic and is very conscientious and enjoys working at the Crusty Crab.
Spongebob always tries his best, and if he doesn’t succeed he will try again.
There is very few bad words unlike some other shows. There is the occasional “stupid” but nothing more that I hear on other children’s programming.( or dare I say out of my mouth)
There is no “tween” talk or inappropriate behaviors going on between the sexes.
Spongebob makes you smile.

Those are my reasons for loving that little sponge who lives under the sea. The show is very innovative and entertaining. My husband and I will watch it with the kids on a Saturday morning or On demand and we are all entertained. The characters are all a bit nuts, but as you watch the show you get to understand them and their idiosyncrasies.

I personally feel that there is not enough age appropriate shows. My girls turned on something tonight and it was ” G ” rated and it was all about boys, girls, kissing, dating, texting, and all the stuff you would expect out of a show for a much older audience. So instead of being the t.v. police, Spongebob is our guy and we will gladly visit that pineapple under the sea anytime.