I think I've created a Monster.

It's funny how little things in life can suddenly spiral uncontrollably out of control...snowballing until one minute decision can completely overtake your life.  Recently I had one of those moments.  If I had it all to do over again, I cannot say whether or not I would have made the same choice, knowing what I do now.  What did I do to spark a possible catastrophe and possible all out chaos?  What tiny choice has completely taken over my daily life??

I introduced my father to Ebay.

To be fair, he did know about Ebay prior to a few weeks ago.  He would browse for "joke items" that he wanted to purchase to torture the group of friends that he frequently travels with...call me and have me make bids, "Buy It Now," and whatever the situation called for.  Each and every time he purchased something he would say the same thing.  "I've got a bunch of crap in the basement that I should be selling.  You and I are going to get together and put this stuff on there."  

For a good year I heard that same thing, over and over.  I nodded and smiled and went on my merry way.   About a month ago, he actually did get some stuff together...gave it to me...and told me to put it up, promising a percentage.  And I did.  I took pictures and wrote descriptions worthy of Elaine Bennis and the J. Peterman catalog.  And gosh darn it...that stuff sold.  

And I created a monster. 

My father then got the Ebay fever.  He started researching things on Ebay that we could sell.  It was this research that sparked the first of many, many phone calls.

"Beth! Do you know how much some of these Starbucks things go for on Ebay?!!?  They have some cup here thats selling for FIFTY BUCKS."

"Oh yeah, Dad.  I've seen those.  They have them at the Starbucks near us."

That was it.  He was bid by the bidding bug directly on his butt.

He traveled far and wide to the Starbucks in our area...plotted to make further travels if need be.  And he bought those damn cups (and yes, I did too.) and I hawked them on the Ebay under the titles of HTF (Hard to Find) and RARE!!!  

And they sold...each and every time.

But at what price?

Well, that price my friends, is my sanity.

He called for auction updates, with auction updates, amazed at the speed of the bidding, worried that there wasn't enough bidding....doing everything short of threatening the "watchers" to "BID ALREADY DAMMIT!!!"

Thank God the coveted cold cups are gone...but I am afraid for what is to come...

Is there EA?  A support group for Ebay Addicts?  C'mon and repeat after me..."My name is Dave and I'm hell bent on getting some bidders."

A Confession

I have a new obsession . . . I am not afraid to admit it.  

It started on my trip to Florida.  I was trying to kill time waiting for my brother's surprise arrival and it seemed to be a good idea.  When I got home from Fl., I found I couldn't shake the habit.  I was a little ashamed...then I found out one of my BFFs was hooked as well.  That made me feel better.

I admit it...I'm obsessed with . . .

Barbie Bribery

*Note--The Barbie pictured above is NOT the Barbie given to Amelia last week.  I couldn't find a picture of that specific Barbie, so I had to substitute.  I found this one on the Barbie collector site.  I LOVE the Cha Cha character from Grease, so of course I had to add use her pic.**

Mike and I are in big trouble . . . seriously.  

We both knew that when our baby girl came into the world that having a girl meant one day dealing with boys.  Mike once being a boy and myself having a brother, a stepbrother, and having been in a company of quite a few (but not TOO many) boys in my day knew what this meant . . . Trouble . . . with a capital T.  

I figured that maybe I would have to deal with crushes in elementary school and then when she got to middle school age, I would send her to a Buddhist nunnery in Nepal.  (I teach 8th grade...I know what the deal is.)  All in all, we figured that we had a few years before we had to deal with this tomfoolery.

We were wrong.

Last week Amelia came home with a Barbie in her backpack.  It was not one of the members of the Barbie Brothel that resides in her room (95% of Amelia's Barbies are naked at any given time, hence the name), so I asked her where it came from.

"Seth gave it to me."

"That was nice, why did he give it to you."

"Because he likes me."

Oh Lord.

Anyone have the number of a good convent?  I think I may need it NOW.

Turning myself in.

That's it.  I'm turning myself in.  

No, my new exercise spree has not turned me into some mastermind criminal.  I am not in cahoots with the Joker, the Riddler, or any of the other "-er" villians who seem to stalk Batman.

I am turning myself in to the Weight Watchers Police.

I have been in denial for a long time; as if merely paying for my monthly WW pass would magically make the pounds that have crept onto my body magically melt away like some sort of magic wand.  I tried to pretend that making "ok" choices most of the time would get me what I want.  I even started blaming the scale . . . it was obviously wrong.  I stopped going to WW meetings.  I stopped even going to WW to weigh in.  I didn't need to go, right?  I knew what I was doing.  I could do this on my own.  Right?  Right?

Wrong!

So wrong!  

I know that WW works.  Before my wedding I was in the best shape of my life.  I felt AWESOME about myself.  After I had Lulu, I was back to WW and dropped a bunch of weight as well.  I think the problem is that I stopped working it.  I got sloppy...in my program, which resulted in sloppiness physically.

So, as of Saturday, I am turning myself in.  This time I whole heartedly feel like it'll be different.  I am not ashamed to be returning, like I have in the past.  I know that there are many, many sucessful WW'ers out there that stopped and started a bunch of times before getting it right...I'll be in good company.

So now what?

When I first started this blog, I was in the midst of writing my thesis.  I never in a million years thought I would actually finish, nevermind receive a big fat A!  More recently I traveled to Disney World with my parents, their spouses, my husband, my daughter, and for four days, my pain in the bum brother.  Now that the challenge and excitement of traveling with 8 people at the Happies Place on Earth is over...I am looking for the next mountain to scale.  

I'm thinking...marathon.

The first and admittedly foremost reason why I want to train to run this ungodly amount of miles is that I have the sneaking suspicion that NO ONE in my family believes that I can do it.  Hell...I don't so much believe that I can do it, but it would be nice to prove us all wrong, wouldn't it?

I am the Queen of unfinished things...I would love, just for this once, to finish something important.  This endeavor would involve me finishing not one, but two things...Number One...the training and Number Two...the Marathon itself.

Now I'm not going crazy.  I am not planning on BQ'ing or anything wacky like that.  I am not even planning on doing this in the true near future.  My plan, as I have sketched out thus far, is to do two half marathons (at least) first.  The first half that I am planning to do is in October, the Nike Virtual Women's Half.  Perhaps I'll do another in the Spring and plan my marathon for Fall of '09.  I want to pick a "cool" one, a Rock N' Roll one perhaps, travel and have a blast.

Goodbye Toenails...Hello 26.2.

Reason #2875 I Love My Husband

 There are probably a million reasons why I love my husband.  He is smart.  He is funny. He is an outstanding father. He can fix stuff around my house.  He loves Barnes and Noble as much as I do.  In the day-to-day tiffs about things like gas ( the natural kind if you know what I mean) and dirty socks on the floor, some of those reasons get pushed by the wayside and forgotten.  This past Thursday I was reminded once again of why I love him.

Pennies.

Yes, that's right, pennies.  

In order to tell this tale, I need to give you some background information.  About 8 years ago, I lost my maternal grandmother, Harriet.  She and I had a special bond.  We shared a birthday, a love of books, and a little love of revenge.  When Mike and I were looking to book a date for our wedding, it seemed like fate when the only date that was available for our venue was my shared birthday with my grandmother.  Unfortunately, we lost Gram a month before the wedding.  Obviously, I was devastated. 

 After her death, my mother and I began finding pennies whenever it seemed that we needed boost...or on a special day in our lives.  We decided that this was Gram's way of saying "Hi"  "I love you." or "You can do this."  After my daughter was born and we were waiting for her to have her heart surgery, I found a penny in a very unusual place.  As a new mother, I was constantly changing her diaper, even when I didn't need to.  One day when I was especially stressed over the upcoming surgery, I changed Amelia's dry diaper and found a penny inside!  Why on Earth my grandmother would decide to place this "sign" so close to my daughter's rear, I have no idea, but I felt relieved and had a laugh at the same time.  

Anyway...

At my thesis defense on Thursday, I was the only one that came with a cheering section.  My parents and my aunt left after my presentation, but my husband stayed for the entire time, giving me flowers and a card on our way home.  And inside that card, he placed a penny.

D O N E

That's right ladies and gentlemen.  After eleven weeks, tons of Internet research, a very beaten and batted copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, at least five revisions, and two hard core crying sessions...my thesis is finally D   O   N   E.  I presented last night in what seems like a blur and now that it is all over, I am wondering what on Earth I am going to do with all of my "free time."  

These are the ideas I came up with so far:

1. Update my blog -- Really, what is the point of taking up space on the Internet if I am not going to update everyone on my Starbucks habits and what profanity my daughter has picked up.
2. Kick my Madonna/JT habit--Madonna's new song "Four Minutes" has been out for approximately that long and I am hooked.  In the past day or so I have listened to it approximately ten times.  I think that it should be my theme song and play each and every time I enter a room or hallway.  I wonder if Bose could make a personal speaker system to facilitate this dream.  If they could I bet that they would make a mint.  What would your theme song be if you had one??
3. Clean my car -- My car is a long standing family joke and every time I get the gumption up to clean it out, its much like an archealogical dig.  Layers upon layers of empty Starbucks cups that once housed Grande Skinny Mochas, junk mail, change...you get the idea.  My dad often asks Amelia call for help if she gets lost.  If this rain ever stops I am going to clean it out once and for all.
4. Finish my home projects - My house is where projects go to die.  I have no less than five projects that need to be finished.  Now that I have all this extra time, it will not necessarily FINISH the jobs myself...but rather bug my husband incessantly until he gets them done.
5. Start running again - I feel like a fraud being the advisor of the Running Club and belonging to a Running Moms group when I have run approximately 6 miles since the beginning of the year...maybe 10...still pathetic. 

So thats it folks...my Capstone journey has ended, unfortunately without the creation or donning of a ham costume for my presentation, something that I was intent on doing.  Ah well, there's always Halloween.