Dear So-and-So...

Joanie first introduced me to Dear So-and-So a while back and I LOVED it. Of course, it's easy to love when she does it so well. Tonight I feel like giving it a whirl:

Dear Kids,

You know that "meat" sauce you loved on the rigatoni tonight? It was actually soy crumbles! Ha ha! Fooled ya!

Love,
Your Sneaky Mom

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Dear Kris Brown, Houston Texans Kicker,

Don't feel bad. It was just one missed kick...that could have put your team into overtime with a chance to win a game you guys deserved to win.

Sympathetically yours,
A Colts Fan

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Dear Indianapolis Colts,

You owe Kris Brown a thank you note. And you need to re-visit your roster to see that Reggie Wayne is NOT a quarterback.

Irritated but still loyal fan,
Amy

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Dear Students & Staff at today's high school open house,

Nicely done. Even my kid was impressed.

Appreciatively,
A Protective Mother

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Dear Shoplifter at Target,

Wearing one bra is uncomfortable enough. I can't imagine wearing three at once. And with your toddler in tow, too. Nice lesson, Ma. Glad you got caught.

Vengefully yours,
Lady Who Actually Pays for her Merchandise

For the original Dear So-and-So'er, click the picture at the top of the post.

All in a day's work

I've been saying for weeks that I'm gonna clean out my closet. Today was the day. Here it is before (minus the ironing board and iron that I already put away before I took the picture -- that's the one sorta clear spot you can see on the floor):



Nearly 4 hours later:



Sadly, though, after all that work I'm still missing the mates to four pairs of shoes. I thought for sure I'd find them under all that stuff!

Be still my heart

I have a big mouth. Wanna know what's going on in my life? Just ask and I'll pretty much tell you -- would I be a blogger if I were tight-lipped? (Well, there are a few things that I keep close to the vest.) But, I've been sitting on a secret for a few weeks now.

No, I'm not pregnant.

In mid-October, I ran into a fellow school mom, Hether, at after school pick-up. Hether said, "Hey! I tore this out of the paper for you."

It was an announcement that the local American Heart Association was looking for five women to participate in their Better U 12-week Heart Healthy Makeover. Anyone can go online and follow the program for themselves. But the AHA here wanted to find five women to put through the program with the help of cardiologists, dieticians, and personal trainers. The chosen women would be asked to blog about their experience and will be featured at the Go Red for Women luncheon in February.

The blogging component is what made Hether think of me. And serendipitously, we ran into each other at school, which doesn't happen often.

So I took the article home, sat down to write my 100-word statement about why I should be chosen (I think I fudged and used 107 words) and e-mailed it off. About 10 days later, I got a call saying I was a finalist! And I didn't utter a word here because I didn't want to jinx it.

I thought the interview went well. They asked me to tell them a little bit about myself, what I wanted out of the program, if I would be comfortable doing media interviews. And I had a good answer for every question, I thought. I left there feeling pretty good about my chances. They had received 120 applications and were interviewing 12 women to select the final five. So I didn't even have to be the best -- just better than seven others!

They said it would be a week or so before they announced the winners. But because I'm an impatient sort, I went to the local AHA website yesterday and saw this:

Go Red BetterU Heart Healthy Makeover
The American Heart Association selected five women who are ready to improve their health to participate in the Go Red BetterU Heart Healthy Makeover Challenge. As part of the Challenge, the women will receive free wellness screenings, consultations with a medical professional and ongoing coaching from a personal trainer and dietician.

Selected. As in already chosen. As in I didn't get a phone call. I was absolutely crushed. I'd really be counting on this opportunity to give me the shove toward better health that I need. Minorly hopeful, and a little irritated that I didn't at least get a "thanks but no thanks " e-mail, I sent a note to Kelly, one of the Heart Association women I'd interviewed with.

"I noticed on your website that the 5 women for the BetterU program have already been selected. Does that mean I should uncross my fingers?"

Then about 20 minutes later, after I had checked my e-mail about 47 times, I got a response from Kelly saying "We haven't made any public announcements. Can you send me the link where you saw that?"

So I sent her the link and one desperate, shameless plug for myself reminding her that I'm practically a cardiac catastrophe waiting to happen.

NOTHING. No response at all yesterday afternoon. None at 9pm. None at midnight. None at 7am this morning.

I was just sick and immediately transported back to my junior year in high school when I was so sure that I was a shoe-in for yearbook and I didn't get picked, which threw me headlong into a genuine depression. I just felt deflated and sick to my stomach and began second guessing my interview.

"Maybe I shouldn't have been so cheerful? Maybe I should have gone in teary and begging for rescue from my sorry self? No. I had been myself and did my best," I thought. "When they do make a public announcement about the five women, I won't be catty and petty and think how they should have picked me. I'll be a grown up about this. A grown up who is going to drown her sorrows in Maggie Moos ice cream."

And then the phone rang. It was Kelly from the American Heart Association. "You jumped the gun on me yesterday," she said. "I told you we hadn't made a public announcement, but I didn't tell you it was because we hadn't notified the five women yet."

Well, at least she was nice enough to call and tell me in person that I hadn't made the cut. Except she went on to say, "So I'm notifying you. We are really excited to have you as part of our Go Red for Women Better U Heart Healthy Makeover!"

WHAT?! WOOHOO!!! They picked me! They picked me! I thanked her and quickly assured her that I am not some kind of crazy, desperate, cardiac stalker.

So, over the next few weeks, I'll be setting up appointments with the cardiologists and whomever else they want me to meet with. Then in the first week of December, I'll get to meet the four other women at a kick-off breakfast. Then in January, my 12-week BetterU program gets underway. In February, the five of us will participate in the Go Red for Women luncheon and -- get this -- fashion show!

I really feel like this is my time to make a change in my life. If I were any good at singing, I'd belt out "This is My Now!" But since I'm not, I'll let Jordin Sparks do it for me:

Criers, beware.

I'm not a crier. My sister Angie totally is. Tears up at the slightest thing. My daughter Annie is following in her aunt's footsteps.

I'm not a crier. But if I were, I would totally need a Kleenex to watch this:



'Tis the season to help where we can.

P.S. - Thanks to Annie at Fairies'n Firecrackers for sharing this.

Biggest Loser in the nation's capital

(I'm so refraining from the obvious joke...)

In the opening scene, Allison Sweeny made reference to Thomas Jefferson as one of this country's greatest patriots.

My Charlie was watching and said: He's a Patriots fan? He should be a Colts fan! LOL! The kid makes me laugh.

Starting tonight, no more teams - everyone is now competing as individuals.

They move directly into the Pop Challenge - Each contestant has to talk people into joining Bob & Jillian's public workout at the Washington Monument. The winner gets an advantage at the main challenge and the winning team goes to Subway for dinner.

They hit the streets and quickly, there is a Rudy fan club and an Amanda fan club. Allen heads to the closest fire department to drum up support. At the Washington Monument public workout, it came down to one vote between Liz and Allen and Liz won.

I would TOTALLY love to do a Bob and Jillian public workout...except that I didn't notice any oxygen tanks around. Of course all of Allen's firefighter buddies would probably be able to deliver a little CPR if necessary.

After the workout, the contestants, with Bob and Jillian, have a meeting with two senators to discuss addressing the issue of obesity. I was worried that this was going to veer off into a national healthcare debate, but it didn't. I was glad for that.

On to the night's main challenge. It had 4 stages and a contestant must survive all 4 to win. Winner gets immunity. Liz, because she won the pop challenge, gets to choose to skip one of the 1st three stages of the challenge.

1st stage - 1 mile run. The top 6 move on to challenge 2. My Annie was laughing at the Miley Cyrus song "The Climb" that played during the mile run. Rebecca, Daniel, Allen, Amanda, Rudy and Liz finish in the top 6 and move on to the second phase.

2nd stage - 17,954 pennies (The exact number of pounds lost on the Biggest Loser. ) for each player are on the steps of the Watergate Hotel. Contestants each have to run down the stairs, grab some pennies, run up the stairs and fill up a column bank with the pennies. Liz opts to use her skip option, automatically qualifying her for the next round. The top three finishers plus Liz gets to move on to the 3rd phase. Rudy with his big hands was at a distinct advantage and takes one spot in the next stage. Daniel takes the third. It's down to Rebecca and Allen, who will get it? Rebecca won by about 50 cents!

3rd stage - It's Liz, Daniel, Rebecca and Rudy still in the challenge. This is a balance challenge. They must stand on a platform, on a narrow ledge, holding a Pilates ball over their heads. The two who balance longest move on to the final stage of the challenge. The girls seem to be having the easiest time of it. Daniel is the first out. Rebecca looks like the Atlas man statue. Liz steps off her ledge, leaving Rudy and Rebecca to duke it out in the 4th stage.

4th stage - 206 (the total # of BL contestants) steps on the step bench. First to reach 206 wins immunity. Rebecca's lead grows, she doesn't look like she's having fun, but she's doing it. And she won.

Cut to Bob and Amanda taking a walk, talking about getting her head in the game this week. How do they do these product placements with a straight face? This time it was Bob pitching the Extra Berry Smoothie Sugar Free Gum.

Then the contestants get to tour the White House. No sign of the President or first lady, but they did go to Michele Obama's vegetable garden and picked veggies to take inside and cook. But those bowls were REALLY full. Does anyone think that they actually picked all that from the White House garden? (Side note: I really want to plant a big garden next summer. Do any of you grow your own veggies?)

Time for the last chance workout. Jillian had Rudy carrying her up the stairs. Too funny!

Do you think there is some creepy vibe between Bob and Amanda? That "We're back...you and me..." that Bob said. That was a little creepy.

The Washington D.C. weigh in took place at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Rebecca (immunity) -4
Shay -9 -- broke through the 400s and now weighs 393
Tracey -3
Daniel -11, after struggling with a gain and a 0 pound loss in the past two weeks
Allen -9 LOVE him! He's a firefighter, he's from Indiana. What's not to love?
Danny -12 Wow! They might just move the show to D.C. permanently!
Rudy -9 In 8 weeks, he's lost 110 pounds!
Liz -3 That should keep Shay safe. And definitely puts Liz below the yellow line.

It's either Amanda or Tracey who will also be below. And there Amanda goes with "America chose me" again...Blech! Enough already! I can't decide who I'd rather see go. I don't have to make that choice, though. Because the scale made it for me. Amanda lost 7 pounds, which means it's Tracey vs. Liz in the elimination.

Now is where some gameplay might come in. Who do you send home? Tracey is who crazy and who has alienated lots of people by her actions in previous weeks? Or Liz who is the bigger threat from the competition standpoint?

One more vote and Tracey is gone. Rebecca and Allen are left to vote. Ding dang commercial break! Who did Rebecca vote for?!

Tracey! She's goin' home. Can't wait to see her transformation.

She looks great! Crazy as she was (or was portrayed), good for her! She's lost 85 pounds and looks amazing and she went back and ran that 1 mile that nearly killed her on the first episode.

Were you happy with tonight's outcome? How about next week? Who would you vote off next?

Points for creativity

Waking Charlie up on school mornings is not fun. What starts out as a sweet "Good morning, time to get up" quickly dissolves into begging and pleading and then finally demanding that he get out of bed.

"You're not sick."

"I'm sorry school ruins all your fun."

"No, I can't stay home with you today. I have to go to my job -- and your job is to go to school."

This morning I decided to try a different tactic. Charlie is my uber-competitive kid, so I thought playing to his loves-to-win side might get him moving a little faster.

"Charlie, it's 6:00am. It's a race! Hurry, see if you can get up and get dressed faster than Dad."

To which Charlie replied:

"Sorry Mom. I forfeit."

Gotta give the kid points for creativity.

Crafty Crap

With Halloween done and gone (well, the candy still lingers), my attention is turning full-speed to the Christmas holiday -- more specifically, Christmas shopping. Yes, I know I already blogged about it recently.

But the more I think about it, the more I think I'm wanting to go the homemade route for many gifts. Either stuff that I make myself or stuff handmade by other people. You know, crafty crap. (I mean that in the nicest of ways!) Stuff that is not mass-produced on an assembly line in some foreign country.

The way I see it, there are three ways to get crafty crap for the holidays (or whenever):

1. Make it yourself.
2. Shop holiday craft shows/bazaars.
3. Shop Etsy.

There are a few things I can make myself -- notecards, some kitchen/food gifts, beaded jewelry. I've tried to convince my siblings to do a "handmade" gift exchange -- a CD with a mix of tunes would count, but they're not so enthusiastic. Do you do any handmade gifts? What?

Last year, my mom, sister and I spent a whole day going to holiday craft shows. It was a blast. Sure, there were an abundance of beaded bracelets and I wasn't interested in the homemade jar candles that seemed so prolific. But I did find some cool stuff -- little handmade soaps with mini treasures embedded inside, a fashion-forward t-shirt with a rhinestone horseshoe -- perfect for cheering on my Indianapolis Colts. And when Annie was big into American Girl, those craft shows were the perfect place for buying doll clothes that didn't break the bank.

We're hoping to do a day like that again, so I'm on the lookout for dates/places for local craft shows. If you know of any in the Central Indiana area, please leave me a comment!

Finally, Etsy shopping. I learned about Etsy when I came across a woman who had a booth at a craft show I was at and she had her Etsy site listed on her business card. I could spend hours looking at stuff on Etsy! To get started on Etsy, you can go to Etsy.com and just search something you're interested in -- frogs or Scrabble or sock monkeys, whatever.

Here are a few of the Etsy sites I check from time to time.

1. Lasso the Moon -- Where my Etsy fascination started.
2. Fairies'nFirecrackers -- Adorable frou-frou for little girls by 4th Frog follower Annie
3. Sara's Art -- I just discovered this shop - funky & whimsical art for your home

Do you have others you like? Do share!