Word of the day: Drap

Coined by Sarah, "drap" is an expression of frustration derived from "drat" (when Mom is in a fairly good mood) and "crap" (when Mom is rapidly losing control).

First known usage: Mom backing her car down an exceptionally narrow shovelled driveway and zigging when she should have zagged. Mom stayed silent, but a loud "DRAP!" issued from the backseat upon low-speed impact with the snowbank.

Disclaimer: No Saabs were harmed during the creation of this word.

Costco: Hot and melty

I was leaving Costco tonight when I spied something that literally took my breath away - a smoking hot, cherry red 2010 Camaro parked by the Member Services desk. (For those of you unfamiliar with Costco, they have agreements with dealerships through which members can get new vehicle discounts, and so often have a car parked inside advertising their program.)

I've long had a soft spot for Camaros, but with this incarnation...oh wow. Chevy knocked it out of the park. Although I am ten times more likely to actually purchase a Chevy Volt, when I saw this beauty my insides melted and I immediately visualized speeding along, sun shining, windows down, wind whipping my hair, with Nickelback's "Far Away" blasting from the stereo. Pure heaven. There must be Camaros in heaven, right?

But reality intervened, my feet kept moving, and I soon found myself out in the dark, icy, 10 degree parking lot, trying to stuff all my kid-related purchases into the back of my too-small Saab. I can't even imagine how a Camaro could fit into my life, but what a nice dream. Sigh.



(and yes, I really am that car-obsessed. I grew up in Detroit. It's more than just transportation.)

Normal??

Well, today I had a visit with my physical therapist. After taking my measurements, she announced "Hey! You're normal!", after which we both had a hearty laugh, because even though I only see her a few times a month, she knows that I am anything but.

Actually, what she meant was that my crooked hips and tweaked torso have actually come back into (almost) alignment. I do feel better, and now know what to do when I start to get all (physically) out-of-whack. The mental part, well, I'm on my own.

So, she's sent me on my way with ab exercises to strengthen my almost-non-existent ab muscles, so that my freakishly-strong back muscles don't get so worn out from doing all the work.

Although I'm glad that I'm done, I'm going to miss her - she's an awesome physical therapist, not to mention an amazing and funny person. I suspect we would have become friends if we had met outside of therapy... or then again, maybe she just has wicked good people skills. Either way, I enjoyed getting to know her.

Anyway, YAY for me for untwisting myself during the last 7 months!!

Why I Blog

Just for the record, I keep this blog not because I expect people to read it, but because I am SO terrible at remembering things, and want to exercise my writing muscles. Sometimes it helps to be forced to organize your thoughts, and other times it's good to just get something off your chest, even if no one ever reads it.

A blog has the added benefit of documenting long stretches of non-blog-worthy time. When I sit down to write and have nothing to say, it does push me into actually living life, and doing something to write about. Sometimes.

I hope that if anything ever happens to me, my kids can use this to see that yes, their mother actually did have a life, and hopefully, it made a difference.

Song(s) of the week

I received lots of iTunes cash for Christmas (thank you!!) and have some great new playlists. The song I currently can't get out of my head is Bring Me to Life by Evanescence. It's not a current song (released in '03) but it was recommended by a friend and I'm glad I checked it out!

Close seconds:
Right Here by Staind (slightly newer '06)
Into the Night by Santana/Chad Kroeger (whoo '07! I'm getting more current!)

Not kidding

This is not a joke - I sat down at my computer and checked the weather. Here are the current stats; it's 9:05 am and the sun is out.

Saint Paul, MN

-20°F (yes, that's a minus sign!!)
Current: Sunny
Wind: N at 0 mph
Humidity: 67%

Sun 7° | -10°
Mon 9° | -8°
Tue 9° | -4°

I am literally too afraid to check the wind chill reading.

edit: ok, I noticed that the wind is listed as 0 mph, so I guess that there's not really a wind chill.

Sledding Fun

Since Santa brought the girls new sleds for Christmas, we had to go and try them out. We headed out on New Year's day, and because of the temperature (6) and negative wind chills, we had the hill to ourselves for most of the time. A middle-aged woman and her beagle did join us for a while, and gave us a new twist on dog-sledding - she held the dog on her lap while going down the hill in a saucer sled. It didn't end well, but both left with only their pride injured...

Here are some pics from the adventure. Sorry we didn't get one of the dog sled...

Madilyn and her new inflatable sled. It lasted for 3 runs before tearing beyond hope of repair.

Sarah, always watching. She doesn't participate in all the craziness. Later she headed off to a nearby playground, and got her workout swinging on the swings.

First run for Madilyn on the snow wedge. Both survived without injury. :-)

Dad trying to beat Mom's distance record. (He did, darn it.)

Hot chocolate time!

Fun family time!