Doing reps reps reps reps reps reps reps reps

I have turned into a once-a-week blogger! Although technically it is still Thursday, so I am one day short of a week since the last post. It has been another really busy week. And it isn't over, yet. Tomorrow is a full day, as well.

Tonight my friend brought her kids over for pizza, as her husband is also out of town. Plus my boys had a friend over, already. So we had a mere 14 children here. Here is a picture of all of these homeschooled kids. I'd like to say it proves that they are socialized, but looking at it, they don't really appear to be. At least half of them also appear to be uncivilized. But the neat thing about homeschooled kids is, they don't know it! So it all works out.

This is what the little kids' room looked like when it was all over. The rest of the house actually managed to stay intact.


We did, at one time, have boys jumping off the roof, boys shooting a bb gun at the cows, little kids rolling each other around in over sized buckets...and a good game of princess dress-up going, too. This was all topped of by a clogged toilet, of course. When my friend left, God love her, she took Jules with her. But she left one of hers here so I'm not sure if I'm ahead, or not. Currently, all is quiet.

I have spent the week collecting more items for our Darfurian families. To learn more about the genocide taking place in Darfur, Sudan, go to www.savedarfur.org.
Anyway, the children of the two families are starting school on Monday. We have them all set with clothes and school supplies. This is completely overwhelming to them because they come from a culture where very few possessions are the norm. And now they have all this "stuff" to keep up with. Talk about a culture shock. We are hoping that one of the families will come out for a visit on Saturday. There are also five kids in that family. But after the pizza party we had tonight - it will be a piece of cake!

Tomorrow I have to take Joel and Jules to our Odyssey party and then tomorrow night I pick Jeff up at the airport! Yay! He needs to come home. We have a burned out fluorescent bulb in the kitchen, a plugged up toilet, a lawn that needs mowing, and a crashed computer. We are really rolling out the welcome wagon!

I have been exercising for 3 WHOLE DAYS. Yes, that is right. I am in the zone. Again. I was in the zone for exactly 5 days the last time, so I'm hoping to break that record. I am doing "Slim in Six" and it is totally kicking my rear.

I probably should have started with the second DVD instead of the third. But I honestly find the second one harder. She moves a lot slower on the second one, hoping people can keep up and learn the steps. But simple physics come into play here and contribute to my finding the third, faster-paced DVD to be the easier choice. When lifting an overweight leg up repeatedly, it is easier to do it quickly than it is to do it slowly. Truly, I need momentum when we're talking about my thighs. The problem is the number of reps. She's doing a few too many for me. And today I counted her reps and confirmed something I have always suspected. The girl is losing count, by God! 24 lifts on the right and like 36 on the left! I was all sweaty and puffing like a woman in labor and looking like I could die at any moment and I was screaming, "Aha! I knew it! I knew she was losing count!" I am not insane! The left leg is being lifted like a zillion times more than the right while she runs her mouth about how empowered I'm going to feel when this is all over! I'm just thinking the whole time, "Shut up and count expletive!" How empowering to realize it wasn't merely a fatigue-induced delusion that the left leg was taking longer than the right.

The girl who leads the video is all long and lean and tight, you know? And in my mind I look like that, too. I picture myself becoming all firm and defined...then I get a glimpse of my reflection in the television and I realize that if I put on much muscle I am going to look like one of the male gymnasts in the Olympics. I am too short and compact to ever look long and lean. I tell myself I don't want to get too buff and look like a garden gnome on steroids so then I feel better about skipping reps. Because, you know, it is a distinct possibility that I will just become too powerful and muscular if I do too many reps.

To prevent myself from becoming unattractively buff, I did take a small nap today during the stomach crunches. What can I say? I was lying down. It happens.

As a matter of fact, I'm thinking about going to my bedroom, moving two little people out of my spot, and getting horizontal...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sardine Mama