Healthy Living

Check out these articles, from Your Total Health:

• Ten Tips to Reduce Stress
• 14 Ways to Beat the Heat
• The Smell of Coffee Reduces Stress
• No Work Workouts

I'm all about reducing stress, whether it's with caffeine or no work workouts. And with the heat wave lately, we're all dying for a little relief. What do you do to keep cool and to keep your cool?

I Thought You'd Never Ask

A neighbor sent this to me via email and although I deleted several questions from this long list, I did answer honestly to the ones below. I also added a few of my own but that's only for me to know which ones. I was asked to forward it on to friends and family or risk bad luck for years to come...I'll take my chances.

1. What time did you get up this morning?
About 5am

2. Diamonds or pearls?
Diamonds

3. What was the last film you saw at the theatre?
Atonement

4. What is your favorite TV show?
Project Runway

5. What do you usually have for breakfast?
Cereal or coffee

6. What is your middle name?
Santos (I changed it from Lea to my given name when I got married)

7. What kind of car do you drive?
Nissan Quest

8. Favorite sandwich?
BLT

9. What characteristic do you despise?
Arrogance

10. Favorite item of clothing?
T shirt & jeans

11. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
Northern Ireland to visit my girlfriend or New Zealand or Australia, or Costa Rica...oh heck. I really could use a vacation.

12. Favorite brand of clothing?
True Religion (jeans) or Juicy Couture

13. Where would you retire to?
Not sure - I have time to think about this, right?

14. What was your most recent memorable birthday?
30 - Celebrated in Vegas with my girly-friends.

15. Favorite sport to watch?
Horse Racing

16. When is your birthday?
April 8

17. Are you a morning person or a night person?
Night owl

18. What is your shoe size?
7.5

19. Pets?
No

20. What did you want to grow up to be when you were little?
A teacher

21. What is your favorite candy?
Butterfinger

22. What is your favorite flower?
Dahlia

23. What day on the calendar are you most looking forward to?
End of January when I will head to CO to go snowboarding

24. What was the last thing you ate?
Ice cream

25. Do you wish on stars?
Every chance I get

26. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Brick Red

27. How is the weather right now?
Rainy

28. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
My ex-husband

29. Favorite soft drink?
Root Beer

30. Hair color?
Auburn

31. Eye color?
Brown

32. Summer or winter?
Summer

33. Hugs or kisses?
Both

34. Chocolate or Vanilla?
Chocolate

35. Coffee or tea?
Coffee

36. When was the last time you cried?
Friday night

37. Last time you laughed?
Before bed with my son

38. What did you do last night?
Spent quality time with my son

39. What are you afraid of?
Having my heart broken (again)

40. Salty or sweet?
Salty

41. How many keys on your key-ring?
Several

42. How many years at your current job?
7 years this March

43. Favorite day of the week?
Any day my son's with me

44. How many different cities have you lived in?
3 (so far)

45. Do you have any regrets?
NONE

A Little Meme

I discovered a mention of the Kane/Miller Japanese title, Breasts, this morning on the Paradise Found blog and browsed the site since it's new to me. I also found this little meme posted there yesterday and thought it'd be fun to continue it here.

From Japan
Breasts
by Genichiro Yagyu

All memes, no matter what the subject, remind me of Trudy White's Could You? Would You? I'm always up for promoting anything to get young people talking and getting to know each other - or themselves - better. I consider myself young (at heart) so I'll begin...

From Australia
Could You? Would You?
by Trudy White

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?

My best friend from college.

2. What were you doing at 8:00am?

Still trying to wake up.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?

Responding to over a dozen emails.

4. What happened to you in 2006?

My husband filed for divorced (can't recall much else from that year...)

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?

Thank you.

6. How many beverages did you have today?

Still working on my first.

7. What color is your hairbrush?

I don’t use a hairbrush, but my comb is blue.

8. What was the last thing you paid for?

Coffee

9. Where were you last night?

At the office until 10pm

10. What color is your front door?

Dark brown

11. Where do you keep your change?

In a jar on the kitchen table that reads: Family Fun Night

12. What’s the weather like today?

Overcast, foggy.

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?

14. What excites you?

Spending a day with family

15. Do you want to cut your hair?

No, it's short enough as it is.

16. Are you over the age of 25?

Yes, thank god.

17. Do you talk a lot?

Yes, too much.

18. Do you watch the O.C.?

No. And I'm appalled that other people do.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?

Yes, but only through a friend of a friend.

20. Do you make up your own words?

Of course.

21. Are you a jealous person?

Yes, sometimes.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’

Andrea, Alison, Amber... (Hi, ladies!)

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’

Kira

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?

My son's father

25. What does the last text message you received say

"Yeah, right. Maybe if I win the lotto."

26. Do you chew on your straw?

No.

27. Do you have curly hair?

No.

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?

Palm Springs

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?

Can't think of anyone

30. What was the last thing you ate?

a muffin

31. Will you get married in the future?

My first marriage just ended, and no, I don't think I will have a second go.

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?

A Night at the Museum (this is actually the only movie I've seen in the past 2 weeks)

33. Is there anyone you like right now?

Sure, lots of people!

34. When was the last time you did the dishes?

A few days ago

35. Are you currently depressed?

No, should I be?

36. Did you cry today?

Not yet!

37. Why did you answer and post this?

I've been having bad luck this week and thought perhaps answering random questions about myself would cheer me up. It has.

Java Mama Story Time

I had an opportunity to promote and sell Kane/Miller picture books through the Working Moms with Toddlers Meetup Group that I'm a member of here in San Diego. One of the moms in the group suggested that I host a story time at Java Mama in La Mesa.

It turned out to be a fantastic event although I couldn't tell you how many moms and kids were there (I was too busy reading a counting book to count the number of heads).

The counting book that I read, with the help of my page-turning assistant and son, was One Woolly Wombat, from Australia. Written and illustrated by Rod Trinca and Kerry Argent, this picture book features Australian birds, reptiles and other creatures along with rhyming text and the numbers 1-14.

Afterwards, I read a second book from Australia, Bobbie Dazzler. By Margaret Wild and Janine Dawson, this one features a red-necked Wallaby who amazes her friends with the acrobatic - gymnastic abilities she has, although sadly, the list doesn't include the splits. Bobbie's friends Koala, Possum and Wombat don't mind, but Bobbie certainly does.

After much practice Bobbie finally manages to do the splits, although she's not quite sure how she's going to get back up to a standing position! Her friends help Bobbie, encourage her and even participate in these activities that also kept the children jumping, hopping, whirling and twirling.

I sold a few books this morning, made some new friends and discovered a wonderful place to take my son and enjoy my daily caffeine requirement at the same time. I can't wait to go back and possibly host another story time event before the holidays.

Transformers and...making babies?

My son is into Transformers these days. What kid isn't? The marketing execs sitting inside the air-conditioned offices of Hasbro have the market cornered. Between the movie, geared towards teens and adults (my age), who remember the first generation Transformers, and the assorted toys, video games, and costumes (my son is going to be Optimus Prime for Halloween this year), transforming robot/vehicles have taken over the world, at least my world.

Mister Potato Head Transformers: Optimash Prime

This morning I was trying to figure out how to get my son involved with me in the kitchen as he was begging for me to put a video on for him (you'll never guess which one). I hadn't made him cheezy eggs in a while - Mommy's specialty - so I got the eggs, tortillas and cheese from the refrigerator and he happily obliged when I asked him to help. He climbed up on his step stool and started to mix the eggs. I quickly pointed out that he was transforming them and he got even more excited to help me. Very quick thinking considering I had not had my daily dose of caffeine at that point.

Fast forward another hour and we're in the car, on my way to drop off my son at preschool. He's almost four, so he's at that stage of curiosity and questions - most of which I can't answer. Out of the blue, as we're pulling out of the driveway he asks me, "Who built our house?," to which I replied, "Well...a long time ago construction workers built the building that we live in." Easy answer, so I thought. He then asked if they built it when I was little. "Yep. A long time ago," I replied.

As I make the standard U-turn at the corner, he then asks, following the train-of-thought of a preschooler, "Was I in your belly when you were little?" and, for some reason (can I blame it on the lack of caffeine again?) I say, "Sort of...You see, Mommies carry eggs inside them and Daddies carry sperm. When babies are made, the egg and sperm transform into a baby and Mommies carry them in their belly." Notice how I use the words sperm and egg but fail to see the irony in using belly as opposed to uterus.

There was much silence afterwards as I bit my tongue, about not correcting myself and my son, imagining the egg and sperm transforming, much like the egg that he helped transformed for breakfast, which he then watched me cook before eating it.

I cannot imagine what he must have been thinking after that. I did buy a picture book recently to prepare for this kind of conversation but I was not prepared for the question to come up in the car, when we couldn't really look each other in the eye and really talk. I imagine he has many more questions now so I have the book ready for when the time is finally right. Maybe I should put it in the car.

By the way, I'm not sure if I would recommend using the word transform when talking about making babies, or the word eggs, although that one you might not be able to avoid.