So I started working out about six or so weeks ago with a group of women who actually pay someone to torture them for a minimum of 75 minutes which is usually, in actuality 90 to 120 minutes. They had been trying to get me to join them in their semi-weekly torture for the past year until I finally gave in and joined them on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend...appropriate as it was OH SO MEMORABLE!!! I was sore until Thursday and the name spoken more often then not was HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!
Actually, those words were spoken more during the workout then after! He was tough, this trainer named Des...very tough! But you know what? I came back the next Saturday and have only missed one workout since!
Everyone at one time or another works out, right? I mean, I'm not holding the holy grail in my hand screaming "I'VE FOUND IT, I'VE FOUND IT!!!" But maybe, in my own mind, I am! Never before have I actually wanted to go out and run after a long day to try and improve my breathing for workout or try to improve my stamina for a 5K. 5K?!??! What the...??? But I am and I'm really impressed, I have to tell you!
The other night I was headed out for torture and my daughter said, "I told you Mom, you're as skinny as a green bean and I don't want you working out anymore! You get too sweaty!!" Yes, yes I do! Sorry! I try to explain to her than even if I'm as skinny as a green bean (and by the way, I'd love to borrow her glasses to see THAT!) I am FINALLY feeling healthy and if I do this I'll grow old and watch what a great grandparent she'll be! She buys it long enough for me to get out the door.
So I do feel good; inside and out. I don't see any incredible change yet but I can feel it in there dying to get out! My intention is to stick with it and if I have to call on the Holy Mother at every workout, I just hope she listens at least once in a while!
~ Eileen Cassidy Bishop
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Summer Vacation!
Summer Vacation...the stay-at-home-mom's nemesis
June 17th. The official first day of summer vacation.
Summer Vacation, 1977. Summer Vacation; what a beautiful time of year! Remember how we would begin dreaming of Summer Vacation in January (right after we stopped dreaming about Christmas)? Remember how we would yearn for Summer Vacation by March and be desperate for Summer Vacation by May? Like really desperate? We'd look out the windows of our classrooms while sweating our prepubescent butts off and fantasize about swimming in a friend's pool or going to the beach, or lounging in our tv room with the window air-condition blasting at "maximum high". We'd long for the piercing sound of the last bell of the school year to peel out and announce our long-awaited freedom. Yes, yes, I remember it well.
Summer Vacation, 2011. Summer Vacation already?! Seriously?? Weren't they just home for a week in the Spring? I'm not ready to entertain them for 12 weeks! I'm good for four, maybe five weeks then I'm going to have to either come up with some new material or start a loop and hope they don't realize it. They're young, they'll be thrilled with the repetition, right?
You know if it weren't for the mind numbing fear of their boredom, I'd be more excited about being with them for three Summer months. Really! I do miss them during the year when our daily interaction consists of nagging them to get dressed and eat their breakfast to nagging them to finish their homework to nagging them to go to sleep so they can wake up for school in the morning. I look forward to the occasionally lazy morning and living our days without a strict schedule. I like the fact that they're as happy with swimming in a pool as they are about going to the beach or, sometimes, sitting in the air-conditioned family room watching something completely un-educational on television. It's all okay; it's Summer Vacation!
I can't say I look forward to Summer Vacation these days the way I did when I was 12, but I have to admit that I don't dread it either. The older they get, the more I realize my time is limited with them. With them actually wanting to hang out with me and be satisfied with play-doh or bike rides or the water slide in the backyard...most of the time.
Look, I realize that by early August, "I'm bored" will be the phrase of the day and by late July I'll be rolling my eyes so much I'll be tripping left and right over my own feet, but for now, I have to will my optimism high though my itinerary is short and try hard to meet this challenge head-on! The biggest challenge will be NOT referring to it as a challenge!
It's all good, as they say. It'll all work out. Besides, if I remember correctly from 1977, Summer is over in the blink of an eye. Even I can handle that!
~Eileen Cassidy Bishop *
June 17th. The official first day of summer vacation.
Summer Vacation, 1977. Summer Vacation; what a beautiful time of year! Remember how we would begin dreaming of Summer Vacation in January (right after we stopped dreaming about Christmas)? Remember how we would yearn for Summer Vacation by March and be desperate for Summer Vacation by May? Like really desperate? We'd look out the windows of our classrooms while sweating our prepubescent butts off and fantasize about swimming in a friend's pool or going to the beach, or lounging in our tv room with the window air-condition blasting at "maximum high". We'd long for the piercing sound of the last bell of the school year to peel out and announce our long-awaited freedom. Yes, yes, I remember it well.
Summer Vacation, 2011. Summer Vacation already?! Seriously?? Weren't they just home for a week in the Spring? I'm not ready to entertain them for 12 weeks! I'm good for four, maybe five weeks then I'm going to have to either come up with some new material or start a loop and hope they don't realize it. They're young, they'll be thrilled with the repetition, right?
You know if it weren't for the mind numbing fear of their boredom, I'd be more excited about being with them for three Summer months. Really! I do miss them during the year when our daily interaction consists of nagging them to get dressed and eat their breakfast to nagging them to finish their homework to nagging them to go to sleep so they can wake up for school in the morning. I look forward to the occasionally lazy morning and living our days without a strict schedule. I like the fact that they're as happy with swimming in a pool as they are about going to the beach or, sometimes, sitting in the air-conditioned family room watching something completely un-educational on television. It's all okay; it's Summer Vacation!
I can't say I look forward to Summer Vacation these days the way I did when I was 12, but I have to admit that I don't dread it either. The older they get, the more I realize my time is limited with them. With them actually wanting to hang out with me and be satisfied with play-doh or bike rides or the water slide in the backyard...most of the time.
Look, I realize that by early August, "I'm bored" will be the phrase of the day and by late July I'll be rolling my eyes so much I'll be tripping left and right over my own feet, but for now, I have to will my optimism high though my itinerary is short and try hard to meet this challenge head-on! The biggest challenge will be NOT referring to it as a challenge!
It's all good, as they say. It'll all work out. Besides, if I remember correctly from 1977, Summer is over in the blink of an eye. Even I can handle that!
~Eileen Cassidy Bishop *
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Just Out of Reach
Does anyone else look out the window in the morning while carefully chugging their first cup of coffee while the kids are eating their Cocoa Puffs (one at a time) and waffle and sniping at one another or giggling uncontrollably and NOT eating said Puffs and waffle and think, "When? When will Spring weather allow me to open the windows or better yet, sit outside with my face turned up toward the sun?" Am I the only one who wonders this? Clearly I'm not. All I have to do is sign on to Facebook and listen to rapture over the sunshine or laments over the cold rain or, dear God, SNOW, and realize that.
It's coming. I know it is. It has to. We just need to be patient. How's everybody with patience? Good? Yeah, me either! But what choice do we have? We could bitch and complain and yell at our kidsor flip people off on the road or walk around with a sneer on our face and just wait. Or...we could put on a thick sweater, warm coat and gloves and head outside and pretend! Why not? Why can't we do all the things we do in warmer weather in not-so warmer weather? Why can't we ride our bikes? Why can't we play monkey-in-the-middle or soccer in the front yard? Within two minutes we'll be peeling off scarves and unzipping coats working up a good old-fashioned play-like-you're-six years old sweat.
So just do it. Do it if you've got a couple of kids laying around but do it even if you don't! Go work on your boat...Summer's right around the corner. Work on your tan (you think the sun won't tint you in March?) Make a little fire in your fire pit and roast a couple of marshmallows; within a couple of months it'll be too hot to even contemplate that!
It's coming. Spring. Summer. Fireflies. Sweating. Sunburn. Mosquitoes. See? Nothing's perfect; it just seems that way when it's only inches from reach!
~Eileen Cassidy Bishop 3/29/11
It's coming. I know it is. It has to. We just need to be patient. How's everybody with patience? Good? Yeah, me either! But what choice do we have? We could bitch and complain and yell at our kids
So just do it. Do it if you've got a couple of kids laying around but do it even if you don't! Go work on your boat...Summer's right around the corner. Work on your tan (you think the sun won't tint you in March?) Make a little fire in your fire pit and roast a couple of marshmallows; within a couple of months it'll be too hot to even contemplate that!
It's coming. Spring. Summer. Fireflies. Sweating. Sunburn. Mosquitoes. See? Nothing's perfect; it just seems that way when it's only inches from reach!
~Eileen Cassidy Bishop 3/29/11
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