Your Greek Mythology Lesson from a Three-Year-Old

We have a new obsession in our house, and his name is "Hercules".

Several months ago, Mitch brought home the Disney "Hercules" little golden book from Half Price Books and the girls started reading it.  When shopping for Christmas, we found the movie and thought that the girls would like it.

Like it would be an understatement.

Almost every night since Christmas, the girls have watched parts of "Hercules" while dinner is being made.  They don't even ask to watch anything else.

Mitch fueled the obsession when he found Hercules action figures on eBay and bought them.  They arrived yesterday, and the girls have been playing with them nearly nonstop.  Imaginary Mount Olympus and Underworld areas are popping up all over the living room, most recently in the form of Legos.  Some of the things overheard in our living room recently:

• After telling Gizmo she couldn't have the underworld on the side table, she decided to have it be on top of the chair, because, "that other underworld is out of power".

• When Hercules saved Meg from the underworld, in my Hercules voice I said, "Now I know where I belong - with you Meg, on Earth."  Gizmo said, "Yeah, so let's go pick some blueberries!"

• Gonzo consistently yelled out "ZEUUUUSSSS" and "HERC" and "Ha-deez" while holding the toys.  Another favorite is "Peg-a-dus".

• After a while, the two boxes that were to be the homes of all of the figures became Mount Olympus and the Underworld.  Gizmo would then set up the figurines on the corresponding boxes.   When someone fell off Mount Olympus (because really, more people want to be there than the Underworld anyways), she would yell, "Oops, everyone into the rowboat to rescue Zeus!", and then she would pile all of the figures into the box they were mailed in and push the box until they could "rescue" Zeus.

I could tell you more about it, but it's cuter when they do.

New Year's Resolutions

Last year at this time I decided it would be a great idea to create a bunch of resolutions to make 2012 the Year Of Tina.  (Mitch tries to call every year the Year of Tina, where I finally get my shit together, but last year was FINALLY going to be the year!)  I had to laugh as I thought about this, because here is what I had mapped out for myself:

January: Weight-loss will be a recurring theme in my resolutions. Now that we are done having kids, it is time to get my body into shape. This month, my goal is to record my eating in an online food journal, make healthy food choices, and work out twice a week.  (I did start a journal, which I wrote in exactly one time.  Workouts were sporadic, at best.  Who has time to work out when you have an infant and a toddler?)

February: In my birth month, I have two resolutions: 1) to keep my purse more organized, and 2) increase workouts to three-four times a week.  (Workouts - nonexistent.  Purse cleaning - I think it's possible that I became more messy with purses.  When one got too full, I got a new one out.  And the cycle continues...)

March: This month I will focus on my car, which is always full of old napkins, random school stuff, kids' books, and other crap. I will work on keeping a more tidy car.  (I feel like I did make a little headway in this, but it always seems the messiest when Mitch needs to use it.  Ugh.  I did empty out a few used Kleenexes tonight, though.)

April: I would love to be more organized with my coupon clipping. I will also be admiring my newer, skinnier self by this time.  (Well, I do coupon, but they usually get tossed into a drawer and I rifle through them before I shop.  I did organize the drawer a little today!)

May: I will begin to experiment with new fruits and vegetables in my cooking, trying to incorporate a new one into our food every week. I also plan on running my first 5K.  (I did have grand plans for the 5K, but one of the kids got sick.  Not that I could ever survive running the whole thing.  Did I train?  Of course not.)

June: During the summer, I want to be active outside every day with the girls that the weather cooperates.  (This we did - we were outside a lot.)

July: I will work on being more organized in my bedroom, which seems to be the dumping grounds for the rest of the house.  (This was another disaster area.  Before I cleaned off the desk tonight, it had several layers of crap on it. Right now it only has a little bit of crap on it.)

August: Run another 5K.  (Nope.)

September: As I return to work from the summer, I will work on being more neat and tidy in the house, putting things away as I use them and picking up after myself. I also plan on holding my kids accountable to this resolution. (Mitch is the clean one of the house, I am clearly the messy one)  (Seriously, what was I thinking?  Mitch will attest, though, that I have improved a little on a few things after he nags me about them enough.)

October: Buy Halloween candy that is not my favorite. (This one will be hard, since I have not met candy that I don't like. Let's just say I won't be buying Snickers.)  (I bought Snickers.  I did not eat many, though.)

November: Continue to be committed to my workout routine, even as the holidays near and things at work become busy.  (Lie.)

December: I will be more proactive about my holiday budget - planning purchases, and staying within my means. (This year I was not so successful.....)  (Totally blew this one.  While Mitch and I did have our shopping done early and wrapping completed before Christmas Eve, the Discover bill was quite frightening when it came.  Oh well.)

So, I'm bad at all of this resolution stuff.  

I did have a breakthrough in September.  After frustrated with my weight all summer long, and after looking at pictures of myself from Gizmo's birthday party, I decided enough was enough.  We moved the treadmill into the basement and I started running at 5am 3-4 times a week when school started in September.  It was painful, more so to get up, but I started to love being up and ready before anyone else was, enjoying my coffee in silence after my run, and I really started to like the results I got.  I also signed up for a Zumba class through our community education program in town, and started getting my groove on every Saturday for an hour.  It kicks my ass, and I love it.  I was more careful about portion size, and cut out my nightly glass of wine (with the exception of Friday night).  

I lost 15 pounds, and while I wasn't great at keeping those 5am appointments (the girls seemed to be sick a lot and were up at night, and I'm not about to get up early after being up half the night with them), and things got REALLY bad in December, I'm still proud of that weight loss.  I'm not where I want to be yet, but now that I'm back at work I can get back into routine again.  

So my new year's resolution for 2013?  Stop making resolutions.  Take one day at a time.  Spend more quality time with Mitch.  Watch my girls grow and learn.  Have fun.  

This one I think I can stick with.