Life With Frenchie

*sniffle*

*cough*

*sneeze*

 Don’t mind me, that’s just the sounds of our whole house dealing with allergies this year! Poor MM has it the absolute worst!! She’s suffered from seasonal allergies since she was an infant and has been taking prescription allergy medicine (thank you for Zyrtec going OTC!!) just as long. Some years are worse than others. I remember one morning, when she was a toddler, and she woke up looking like she’d gone a few rounds with Muhammed Ali! Talk about freaking out!!! I rushed her to an urgent care facility and was so relieved to find out it was just allergies.

Lately, the allergies seem to be extending through the family, and I’m sure having 2 cats and a dog who have a strong dislike for keeping their fur to themselves doesn’t help any. When the time of year comes around when most people are starting to open up windows and air out their houses from the stuffy winter, we have to firmly shut our windows to keep out all of the allergens. But, that only does so much since we’re locked in with the pets.

Weekly, and many times daily, vacuuming shows just how much stuff we’re breathing in that’s probably not helping at all. During one of my daily kavetches about all this, someone told me about the AccuClean Whole Home Air Filtration System. This looks like something that we could definitely benefit from! This isn’t just some special air filter you pick up at the store and have to replace all the time. Instead, this is a whole system that filters the air in your home, removing all those pesky allergens like pet dander, pollen, and mold! EP and I have checked it out and it’s definitely something we want to look into further. With MM being borderline asthmatic and haivng a perpetually stuffy nose about 6 months out of the year, I’m willing to give anything a try. If all else fails, we can always resort to a plastic bubble!

We picked up MM from our friends’ house this evening and, after showering, she got her turn at the Wii Fit. We went through getting her set up and it finally came to her Wii Fit Age (or whatever it’s called). Based on her balance test and all the information it registered, MM has a Wii Fit Age of…40!!!!! EP and I could not help but laugh! I always knew my little baby was an old soul, but I didn’t know she had the body to match! We’re going to have to do some serious work on her balance!!

We had a few friends get the Wii Fit last week and talk about how great it was. One friend was shocked (and more than a little pissed) that she was considered “Obese”, based on her BMI.

This morning, we decided we’d try our luck at finding one. We called the local Best Buy as soon as they opened and they had “a couple” left. We drove up there, but by the time we got there, they were gone.

We went across the street where there was a Toys R Us, GameStop, Circuit City, and Target (in that order). We started with Toys R Us and worked our way around. We made it to the Target and they had 3 or 4 in stock!

So, we’ve gotten home and set it up. I’m happy to say I am not obese. I was really expecting it to say I was obese!! I am, however, overweight and “need” to lose 22 pounds to get to a suggested BMI of 22.

EP, on the other hand, was surprised to find he was not considered overweight.  His BMI was just under 25, so he was in the normal range. He is also going lose about 11 pounds or so to get to a 22 BMI.

We’ve now run through all of the available exercises today and I’m pooped! This thing is no joke, as long as you don’t try to cheat the system (because that would be a waste of $90!!). We did learn that I have much better balance than EP, but he’s working on it.

So, now I have a fun, entertaining way to fit my exercise in. MM is off at a friend’s house, but when she gets home she’s going to be psyched to try this out, too!

Apparently, MM is very observant. She’s pointed out my one (and only!) flaw It’s really caused me to pay attention and realize that I do have this bad habit - I chew on my shirt when I’m reading or thinking. She’s taken to admonishing me whenever she catches me! I’ve got to try and stop that…

Remembering this Memorial Day…

A Soldier Reports to God

The soldier stood and faced his God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as brightly as his brass.

Step forward now, you soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?

The soldier squared his shoulders
And said No Lord, I guess I aint’
Because those of us who carry guns
Can’t always be a saint.

I’ve had to work most Sundays,
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I’ve been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.

But I never took a penny
That wasn’t mine to keep…
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills just got too steep.

And I never passed a cry for help,
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I’ve wept unmanly tears.

I know I don’t deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.

If you’ve a place for me here, Lord,
It needn’t be so grand,
I’ve never had that much in life,
So if you don’t I’ll understand.

There was a silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.

Step forward now you soldier
You’ve borne your burdens well,
Walk peacefully on Heaven’s streets,
You’ve done your time in Hell

I only watched the last few minutes of American Idol last night just to see who won (woo hoo!! Go David Cook!!), so I missed the most priceless moment of the show - Gladys Knight and her “Pips” performing Midnight Train to Georgia. For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure, sit back and enjoy. But, please, no drinking while you watch…I don’t want to be blamed for you spitting your drink all over your computer!

P.S. I am considering calling off the nuptials to go be with my true love - Robert Downey, Jr.

When did I become “old”? As of late, little things have been making me feel like I’m no longer the kid in the room. Most noticably, the cute young thing sitting at the front desk as you walk into my office! She’s got the body, the style, the personality, the Pantene-hair, that I would kill for! Another sign (which actually came about 7 years ago) was when I was talking with some co-workers about my college days. I was telling some story about a night of partying and my friend looked at me and said “Frenchie! We never knew you liked to have fun…you’ve always been the serious ‘mommy’ type.” I thought I would die right there! Is that what turned me into the old woman — being a Mom?

I mean, does having someone call you Mom (long gone are the days when she proudly screamed “Mommy!!!” when she saw me….I’m still waiting for the progression to “Motherrrrr!!”) invoke some kind of frumpiness curse? I feel like it may be so! I turned to The Yummy Mummy Manifesto hoping to get some help.

This fresh dose of candor from Anna Johnson is different than my normal read. I rarely pick up anything in the self-help aisle of my favorite bookstores. Mainly, it’s out of fear - they usually involve changing in some way and that’s just too much work to have to go through to get what I want! This book, however, was recommended as a good read for the moms who want help in reclaiming their yummy selves!

Although the book was very entertaining and refreshing, I feel as if I am a bit beyond the advice of Ms. Johnson. About 2/3 of the book is devoted to the pregnancy and infancy. The remainder of the book gets you going in the toddler years. My darling MM is in double-digit years now, so I made it through the days of doubting my “natural instincts” and the terrifying moments when I would hear that blood-curdling scream when I told my angelic child that “No, I’m not buying you a 500th Barbie doll today, maybe another time….”

However, were this book given to me 7-10 years ago, it would have been perfect for me! Still, the book did help put me on the path to becoming a Yummy Mummy. It’s especially important as my daughter is getting to the stage where what I wear can (read: will) cause her embarrassment.

Someone asked this question today and forwarded me this great website. You can upload a picture of yourself (or anyone for that matter) and it gives you celebrities that you match. They rank the percentage by which you match. You can do different pictures and come up with different results, but it’s still pretty close. I have tried a few different pictures of myself and get about 10 results each time with three or four of them consistently showing up on all of the lists. But still, some of the results are a little questionable - I have two friends are both fair-skinned and blonde with similar features; one was said to look like Fred Savage and another was said to look like Sylvester Stallone.

On the other hand, I keep getting Gabrielle Union as my look-a-like. My niece, who I always thought resembled Mariah Carey (pre-crazy) was matched 97% to Adriana Karembeu. It went so far as to even recognize that MM and I are twins because she also looks like Gabrielle Union.

I’m telling you, this is a great time waster and can provide hours of mindless entertainment! Especially with some of the funnier results….

I just put in a photo of EP. Apparently, he is the long lost twin of Saddam Hussein!

P.S. It doesn’t work on dogs…I tried.

Since we’re planning our wedding, we’re also planning a honeymoon. It seems everybody and their brother wants to honeymoon in the Caribbean, but EP and I have our hearts set on Europe. We both are excited about touring all the historical sites that are found everywhere. The hardest part is deciding where in Europe we want to go.

I think both of us agree that we’d enjoy visiting Rome. EP has a degree in history, and this would be the ideal place to take advantage of that and have my own private tourguide! There’s also the issue of trying to figure out where to stay once we there. But, you all know how much I adore the Internet for things like that. Still, we have to narrow it down to figure out if we want to find a hotel in Rome or maybe stay outside of Rome and travel into the city if that will help save money.

EP is also pushing to go to Amsterdam. We watched a Travel Channel special a while back about the city and he’s hooked. It turns out there is more to the place than what it’s (in)famous for! Whoda thunk it? Personally, I would like to go to Barcelona, Spain. We could even save money by staying in an apartment which has a kitchen. I know most people “pooh-pooh” the idea of cooking on vacation, particularly a honeymoon, but if you’d ever tasted EP’s cooking, you’d think twice! We’d still have the luxury of being able to dine out for dinners, but we could just whip up breakfasts or have snacks for those days when we chose to enjoy time indoors (it is our honeymoon after all!!).

Of course, lurking in the back of my mind is London…I know, I’ve been there plenty enough, but EP has never been. I can never get enough of the place! I have always stayed in pretty centrally located hotels in the past but, the pro of including London on the honeymoon itinerary is that we could be a bit more adventurous and maybe find a hotel somewhere else in London. It’s such a huge city, there’s so much to choose from.

Oy, it’s a good thing I have 11 months to decide!!!