Wow. Inauguration Tuesday was insane, wasn't it?  If you were lucky enough to work from home that day you probably had the television on all day.  I had CNN on from the time I woke up until American Idol was on.  How's that for a sign of the times?

It was exhausting and motivating at the same time. 

It became exhausting to me when I processed the fact that the Obama action I was WATCHING was being lived and walked without break by those involved.  CNN had an itinerary going down the side of the screen that said "swearing in" "benediction" "luncheon" "parade" "reviewing of the military".  I was like, THEY FORGOT NAP TIME!   WHO ORGANIZED THIS SHAM? 

Anyway, moving on from the exhaustion is the motivation.  Everything was so happy and good and when the President spoke I felt like he was talking right to me.  He was right.  What had I ever sacrificed?  When had I ever packed up my belongings and gone to another place unless I was vacationing?  What had I done for us lately?

What had I done for anyone over the last five years is what it ultimately came down to.  I've spent more time putting out fires lately than proactively pursuing anything.

All this Inauguration hoopla lit a fire under me.  Even more powerful than New Year's Resolutions, I can feel the collective inspiration and motivation of the whole country.  What a rush!

I have ideas for my struggling Flint community.  I have ideas for my real estate business and my freelance business.  But since the biggest thing that seems to be broken in my life is me I am tackling that issue as well.  I have spent so much time obsessing over my dipping health and weight gain since becoming a parent that I have not actually DONE anything about it.  I set my sights too big and try to produce severe results.  It ain't workin'.

So I pulled the Beachbody products out of the pantry that I purchased a couple of months ago and figured out how to use them.  I had bought them on a whim desperate to find a way to make money and get healthy.  As if just possessing the stuff is going to accomplish either objective! What a ninny! :-)

Beachbody is the company that sells TURBO JAM my all time favorite work out.  I used it when I was fit and healthy so when I was looking for a program recently it seemed like the perfect fit.  Here's the deal. No dieting, just common sense.  Replace a meal with a Beachbody shake.  Take my vitamins. Do my workout. Easy to start today and uncomplicated. I'll let you know how it goes.

I have let myself get pretty down lately.  Work is bad (real estate), hubby's work is bad (auto worker), kids struggling in school and down the line.   Eventually "the economy" was my excuse for everything.  Well guess what.  No matter how good my new President is he is not going to make me skinny.  My house won't be more organized and my kids won't do better in school.  He's going to get to work on his end now it's up to me to get to work on mine.  

I almost hate to post today because I will miss the beautiful Twilight vampires at the top of my page but I am fired up today and want to talk about diamonds. 

I finally watched the movie BLOOD DIAMOND and it has left my mind reeling.  I won't go on about the politics, corruption, and violence here.  I already did that at Skinny Bitch.   The focus of this post is the fake value of diamonds and our eagerness to buy into it.

In BLOOD DIAMOND we learned that big jewelry companies bought up the majority of diamonds just so that no one else could get them.  They locked those diamonds away to create the illusion that there is a shortage of diamonds and that the rarity commanded high prices.  

So here we were over here believing we were buying these rare stones to seal our marriages and impress our friends.  Set aside for a moment the fact that war lords were hacking off limbs of innocent Africans as their call sign that they had been in town to mine the diamonds that financed the war as well as dressed our collective bridal fingers.  Just think about the fact that we paid enormous amounts of money for a "rare" stone just because "they" said it was valuable.

The diamond industry is smart!  They have convinced us that diamonds are the only suitable way for a man to propose marriage.  They even found a way to determine how much of the man's salary should be paid for the diamond engagement ring.  

And we have bought into it like it is some type of law!  The majority of us basically ignored the exposure of the controversy surrounding the diamond industry.  And even though we learned we were duped with the whole PRICED HIGH DUE TO RARITY thing we continue to pay enormous amounts of money for tiny stones pulled out of the dirt because someone told us to. 

I suppose nothing will ever change.  We are a society driven by material desires and power.  It just baffles me that a whole society would knowingly allow itself to be duped. 

As I try to write for the last couple of weeks I am really distracted about something.  I have a post at a parenting blog that is not getting any attention and I don't know why.  I don't expect that all my posts will be smashes or huge traffic generators but I was expecting some action out of THIS one.

The post in question is a review of the movie TWILIGHT. It resides at the website Imperfect Parent. In it I give my opinion of the movie and my initial resistance to seeing it. It has a hot picture of Edward and Bella.  I recently refreshed my keyword search and reworked it just a bit to be more search engine friendly. Nada.

Meanwhile, there are a couple of posts based on the Jon and Kate plus 8 crew that have generated more than twenty thousand comments!!!!  I hate that show! I would like to flick that crazy mom right between the eyes!  I know the Gosselins are a hot conversational topic and I am not trying to compare my silly movie review to it.  But there is a huge different between twenty thousand and zero.  

If you have a spare minute, please click here to hope over to Imperfect Parent and leave me a comment there as to why you think I am not receiving any comments.   

 The first thing on my mind today as I reflect upon the season 8 opener of American Idol last night is I wonder if after being engaged in a "serious" conversation with Ryan Seacrest, do the weirdos watch the playback and realize that Ryan was being a complete smart ass and not bonding with them at all? I guess it is terrible but those are some of my favorite moments of American Idol every year.  But Seacrest's smugness is only part of the fun.

Something I really got into last year, probably because the singers themselves were so boring, was the bastardization of the English language. There was a feisty little woman last year who was so often bleeped it was hard enough to follow what she was saying without adding her "what?!" words. This season's "what?!" words begins with Randy the (crying) rocker who pleaded with the camera that American Idol was going to change his life "TREMENSELY"!!!  Beautiful!

The combining of words is my favorite form of faux pas.  I suppose there is always the possibility that folks purposely mix the words up, in this case "tremendously" and "immensely" to be colorful.  But considering the sources, I really don't think so.

Of course there is also good performances, strange performances, judge interaction, and drama to delight us, but those things are all discussed sufficiently.  I don't think the "what?!" words receive enough attention. So keep an ear out for those hybrid words & phrases and share them in case I miss them!

I have just about had it with all the homework that my kids have to do!  It is causing stress on my family and I just realized it is affecting my health! Follow with me on this.

We know that weight is affected by the following:

stress

sleep, or lack of

the food we eat

eating too close to bedtime

excessive eating out of boredom and leisure

Here's what is on my mind...

It is 10:42 and my 7th grader is not yet done with his homework.  He's been working since 6pm.  That's Eastern time. Why does it matter?  Anyway, he has some mad ADHD so he is frequently distracted which means A) his production is slow and B) I have to stay nearby to provide reminders to focus.  

First of all, don't be distracted by the issue of homework solutions available to ADHD kids.  We are on top of all that.  This post is about ME and my spreading butt. You're very kind for not pointing it out to me.

Being his homework helper today for instance took almost 5 hours of my day.  Even when he was on break I still couldn't really accomplish anything other than folding some clothes.  Do you have 5 hours during your day to spare?  I sure don't.  So you know what that means? Now that he's gone to bed I'll be up for a few more hours doing what I was supposed to be doing earlier.  Not getting enough sleep affects my performance the next day and encourages my body to store fat. STRIKE ONE!

While providing homework help to my kids (there is also a third grader), and unable to really keep busy myself is boring. You know what I CAN do while sitting with my son while he does his math homework? Eat some chips! And the later it gets, the munchier I get. I would gladly go to bed by 9pm before the nosh attacks hit. But I can't. I'm busy delivering "friendly reminders". And snacking. Eating bad stuff AND eating too close to bedtime.  STRIKES TWO AND THREE!

Hmmm. I'll put some more thought into this new theory of mine and let you know what I come up with. I wonder what other not so obvious weight management pitfalls people are facing out there...

Considering I have not posted for 2 months, I guess it's a no brainer that at the top of my list of New Year's Resolutions should be to POST MORE!  I can't make excuses for myself because everyone has lived through the same busy craziness as I have, and still succeeded in managing their blogs, families, households, holidays, and schedules. Good for them and their organization. There is another resolution for me!

In fact, I have a long list of goal setting this year. Some are dumb resolutions, some are famous resolutions, and I even learned that I have New Years ideas in common with some celebrity New Years Resolutions.

Like Eva Longoria I intend to give up meat this year.

I will match Fergie's resolution to workout more and eat better, and raise her with a plan to lose weight.

Brittney Spears wants to worry less in 2009 and enjoy her life. I am glad to see that she recognizes how blessed she is. I will follow her lead. 

Tori Spelling wants to drink more water and so do I. I have recently discovered and fallen in love with Pepsi Max, though. Wish me luck!

Organization, smelling the roses, being healthy, spending time with family... at the core it seems we all want the same things, doesn't it?

To say that Christmas passed at the blink of an eye is an understatement. Ordinarily the madness begins with Thanksgiving but this year was special. We were consumed by the monumental election.  November 4th was my last blog post, in fact. After the election I jumped on the Big Three Automakers train and rode it right through to today. My first exhale in two months. I guess my last resolution should be to slow down, breathe, make the most of what I can control, and not sweat what I can't.

Happy new Year!