Diary of a Metal Mommy

I love it. I went over to my friend Lisa’s house yesterday to enjoy yet another lovely play date with her and her kids. She was telling me about how, in the Spirit of 40, (even though she’s not even close, the young whipper-snap!) she started taking swimming lessons! That may seem like sort of a benign statement–but when you realize she is trying to improve her stroke and abilities so that she can participate in a triathlon, which has been a long-time goal of hers, you understand just how impressive that is. Rock on, Lisa! That’s so metal! I’m totally impressed with anyone that does any sort of ‘thon’. I may try my hand at ‘running’ every so often, but doing it seriously and in a race in front of a lot of people is just so not me. There was Kim as well with her half-marathon, getting a medal and everything. (if you look closely you can see said medal in the photo!) Women who rock, women who are pushin’ it, Four-Dee!

Of course the Spirit of 40 and doing something metal isn’t only for sporty stuff, or only women– oh no. I am remembering this guy I know who decided out of the blue to audition for the musical Vivian was in last year, Jesus Christ Superstar. He had never done anything like that in his life…never acted, never sang in front of people. But it was something he had always wanted to do, and he got up there and did it. I was totally impressed! He picked what is probably one of the most difficult musicals to sing, too!

And 40 is something you can do in your every day life, as well. Not long ago Stephanie and I were out for coffee at Starbucks–on one of our lovely weekly Friday coffee dates! hooray!–and the Americanos we got were, well, very American. Bland city. It definitely needed more coffee oomph. In the not-so-distant past I never would have said anything, I would have just gone on drinking it and hating every sip. But The 40 took hold and I took my cup AND Stephanie’s cup and asked–very kindly, that is the key of course–if they could add another shot of espresso. I offered to pay for it, but the barista was very nice and did us up right for no extra charge. Yeah! Ask for what you want, people. Put yourself out there! Be 40, be Metal.

OK, I’m done cheerleading for today. It is Friday, after all. No exciting plans for this weekend here, maybe just a game night with our friend Tony on Sunday. (which for me IS total excitement!) But it IS Friday after all, and I’m getting ready to meet my date Stephanie for our coffee! Woo! A great way to start the weekend. Maybe this time I won’t have to ask for stronger coffee–but if I have to, I will, damnit!

Another day, another blog entry. Not much exciting to report on this Wednesday other than a nice playdate at Carleen and Susie’s house, I have to say. I’m still remembering the nice evening I had the other night, though, when my friend Darcie invited me over to her house for tea with her and my favorite Brit.

When I went got there she told me she had a surprise for me, and proceeded to turn on the TV and select a Tivo’d Ellen DeGeneres show–complete with my tall glass of soda, Orlando Bloom. He was a guest, and my good friend Darcie just knew it was something I needed to see. What makes this especially nice is that Darc could care less about Mr. Bloom (*gasp!*), but she watched it just for me. Now that’s a friend indeed! Orlando actually didn’t sound too ridiculous in this interview, which is good. I often feel the need to shush him (even though I love that accent…sigh…) so he doesn’t ruin the pretty face. He was being sort of geeky with his lifetime dream to play the bongo drums, I have to say. But I got a huge kick out of Sheila E., who Ellen had brought on to teach Orly a thing or two, when she made a quiet aside that he could play her bongos anytime. Ha! Ellen didn’t even catch it, but I sure did. Yeah!

Another funny thing is that Ellen was centering her show about people who are lucky. (Orlando fit this bill because he’s been so accident prone and broken so many bones, but alas, he’s fine, and well damn…look at him.) In her beginning monologue she was imagining how funny it would be to have the name ‘Lucky’. Well of course I thought about my mammogram technician right away, who indeed did have that name. I even got on Ellen’s web site comment area and told her so. Who knows, maybe she’ll have me on the show? With my luck, she’ll have Lucky.

Shorty, it’s your birthday. We’re gonna party like it’s your birthday. Kim had the grand plan to play hookey from school today–woo hoo!–and get the minxes together for some early-morning fun whilst Sullivan was in school. We all met here at the Clubhouse and then headed over to the lake for a nice brisk walk. We were definitely at a good clip, but who notices when you’re laughing and gabbing and having a great time?! Then we had breakfast at Yum! Bakery. That is SUCH a good name for that place, let me tell you. That is definitely one of my faves. The food is so delicious–fresh, brought to you quick as a flash, and just the right amount to leave you feeling satisfied, but not overly stuffed. The coffee is amazing too, even their decaf. So of course we had a great time there, and at one point these elderly ladies all shuffled in and the three of us had the same exact thought….there we are, in years to come! Of course the one with the black velour CZ-encrusted track suit was me, the tall one was Stephanie, and Kim said she was the cute little hunched over one. The Golden Girls, indeed. Old age is not so bad when you think about spending it that way–still laughing and hanging out with my peeps. (hilarious, I just accidentally typed ‘poops’ instead…ha! how fitting…!) Kim is not yet 40–she’s the baby of our group–but it’s the last year of her thirties and I’m sure, like me, she won’t go out quietly! (at least we won’t LET her!)

Happy Birthday, my friend!!!! Here’s to many, many more…

A beautiful fall day, another Monday. After getting Sullivan off on the school bus this morning, I went for a walk/run. I love it when I do that, I feel so good about myself! It’s definitely best for me to get my working out done in the morning. All I need is my coffee, then to throw on some exercise-type clothes, rub the sleep out of my eyes so I can see where I’m going, plug the old iPod into my ears, and off I go. When Northwest Athletic Club recently sold out and became Lifetime Fitness, I bailed on my membership. It really had nothing to do with the Lifetime thing, although it was a BIT more money per month. Mainly it was a chance to get out of the contract, and let’s face it, I wasn’t using the gym much lately. I LOVE the gym, but especially in the summer months, sometimes it’s just impossible to get enough use out of it. Of course it’s ironic that I quit right as school was starting when I actually WOULD have the time, but since I’ve started walking/running more, I thought I’d try that for a while. Stephanie’s friend Maud actually gave me a great idea…thinking about Tai Chi again. I had actually thought about doing that and then decided to do Tae Kwon Do instead…and as most of you know, after getting to red belt, I had to quit because of my gimpy back. Obviously Tai Chi would be much easier on the back, still getting exercise, but yet still having that martial art feel and discipline. I like that. I thought about yoga for a while, too, but I think Tai Chi would probably be more my thing. It all comes down to money, though, and honestly I’m not sure about spending another monthly fee at this time. I’ll have to see….but if anyone out there knows of a good Tai Chi place in the twin cities, please let me know!

Tonight my dear husband is working on putting up a fence section in the back yard, to prepare for Digby!!! Luckily most of the yard is already fenced from everyone around us, but there are a couple of sections that need it. I’m so excited, it makes it seem all that much more REAL. Another good thing is that I realized today that Digby is not 3 weeks old as of yesterday, but 4! Halfway to the two month mark, which is around when we can get him. I was just emailing my friend Pat today telling him that I felt like an expectant mother who can’t wait to have that baby already! (and then also saying that at least I don’t have that horrible crotch pressure that went along with it!) That will be some good exercise, taking that baby for a walk!!!!!

Lori just informed me that our new Warbride blog is up and running on our site. Woo hoo, now I have two blogs I get to write in! Of course the Warbride one won’t require much of me–the whole purpose of the thing is for us to be able to report our progress as things move along toward completion, and as of now there isn’t much for me to do. I’ve done my part, at least for this stage of the game and most of it now is on Lori. I feel badly about that, as I wish there was something I could do to help her, but at this point it’s all re-recording instrument parts, adding guitar solos, and the final mixing–which is all Lori’s gig. It’s been tough for her to put a lot of time into our thing, what with her working and being involved with her other band, Stream of Passion. But! She’s put the pedal to the metal (literally!) and we’re trying to get some finished songs up by late fall. We haven’t quite figured out exactly how we’ll promote them, but, all in good time. Right now the focus is just on getting them done.

I spent most of my time today re-arranging Vivian’s room, which became quite the project in of itself. It all started with an innocent “this room could use a deep cleaning–let’s re-arrange!”, thinking moving things around might help with the purging and throwing bit. Well….before I knew it we were at IKEA–my favorite place, you know–buying a new bed frame, a dresser and a new rug. You know how it is…I love IKEA for it’s cool and affordable furniture, but I sure don’t love shopping there. This time was no exception to the lousy ‘Ikea Experience’ rule of the thumb. Luckily the bedroom stuff we wanted was in stock, thank goodness…but the coffee table that we’ve already checked on once still wasn’t there. And then there was the BITCHY employee who actually rolled her eyes at me when she had to help me get something down that was heavy. Pleasant.

But, all’s well that ends well, and the room is now (mostly) done and it looks great. Whew! Tired Metal Mommy.