Wow! This has been a life changing week! It started with the celebration of Abbi's 5Th birthday and ended with me finally tackling my last remaining vice: eating(unhealthy food that is....).
You see, since I can remember, I have always had a crutch. In my teens it was food and then I left home and became a PARTY GIRL! Magically, I lost all my weight and became an abuser of alcohol. At nine or ten Captains and two packs a day, I felt as confident as ever...not a care in the world...and then I got into trouble. Nearly losing everything, including my life, I left my circle of friends. Thanks to a very kind employer (I'll always be so grateful to you, Mr Mike Smith) I exchanged my forced resignation letter for a gym contract. I dealt with my drinking by running on that treadmill...away from my pain, away from my insecurities....just me and that treadmill. Moving on a couple of years, I stopped smoking (three years now) and sadly, gymming...and grew into this babyweight-zilla!
The sacrifices we, as moms, make to have our precious little darlings can never be measured....there's the obvious ones like time, money,energy. But no-one really stopped to share with us (thanks alot, Mom!) the sheer beating our bodies take...the stretchmarks, incontinence, the abdominal muscles that will never, ever defy gravity ever again(!!!), increased facial hair (Waxing hurts, dammit!), sagging boobs and that our metabolisms could join the funeral brigade and still be faster than it is right now! So, I did what most young moms do...sat on the couch, eating a suitably healthy breakfast (just enough to make us feel like we're attempting to solve our ever increasing girth.) When, out of the blue on E!, they mentioned this group called Sparkle People and its free! What a revelation! Suspicious, though I was...I checked it out and lo and behold...there it was...the promised land of all who have taken a bite out of the apple of obesity and can't seem to swallow.
Its a system that's a cross between Facebook and MS Outlook. It has all the required ingredients needed for an effective lifestyle program: "my nutrition", "my fitness" and "weighing in". Added to this is the principle that people who go it alone have less chance of success...thus it builds an entire network of like minded people. The eating plans they offer are excellent and combines tasty with healthy and you can customise to your taste. I highly recommend a peek!
And of course there was my little girl's birthday celebrations...Easy, you say? Whahaha! What an epic job that was... You see, I'm not like those super mom's you hear about who has three kids and one on the hip and the other one on the hip....I'm more like a Volkswagen beetle up a hill...easy does it... I started with the preps two months ago. And still it was almost a disaster! First selecting the theme and then discovering that everyone is out to make a bucket load of money all for the sake of FUN. Well, I searched my friend Google for Madagascar 2 graphics, determined to do this on my own. I went to the website (you can find the link at the very bottom of the blog page) and wow! Under the "activities" tab they have an entire party section...decor, banners, hats, masks, stickers (which came in quite handy for the goody bags and general decorations), colouring & activity pages...everything you need as well as suggestions for games and food. I was stunned...not only at the fact that all this was free but that there are so many people who are willing to rip people off when they can get some of the products for free! But I digress...
So, for two months, I cut out (boy, did I cut out!) a lifetime of masks, banner lettering, stickers, hats and even created hundred of flowers and leaves to staple to the green streamers for the "jungle effect". Prince Charming, of course did help with the preparation...with packing the goody bags and covering the place mats...however, he informed me that he did not cut. Thanks a lot!!! The biggest job...but that's marriage for you! On the day, we overslept, got held up in the cake shop and effectively only started decorating an hour before the scheduled start..no pressure. We were like troopers...hit the ground running. That wonderful man...he did most of the decorating...he blew up balloons in record time, he hung streamers, stapled flowers, set the tables, placed the cups and serviettes. Superman would have run scared, I tell you! My mom had everything all set up...and all I was doing was the food! (Easy does it...) But the biggest pay off came, when that little girl's face lit up when she saw her cake..the candles...the food...everything. This was her day and she knew it. She looked at me, gave me a hug and thanked me in her best angel-voice. And then ran off to play...Needless to say...next year its Mickey D's!
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