So that's how the Easter Bunny works!

I spoke with my nephews the other night. The youngest asked if the Easter Bunny had come to my house. When I told him no there was quite a pause at the other end of the line. Then he suggested that maybe the Easter Bunny had gotten lost coming this direction. I agreed that maybe that was the case. Then he said "maybe it's because you don't have a kid". Not a bad theory....it could also explain Santa's absence.

So of course not being content to leave that out there I said "well, should I get a boy or a girl then?". I should know that I won't get the answers I expect when I ask a seemingly logical next question with the boys; especially the younger one. My nephew then explained, "You should get a boy because then he could be your boyfriend and marry you and then you could have a baby."

And of course it follows that then the Easter Bunny would come. Seems like a long process for some chocolate...

A little too Tammy Faye?

Has anyone else seen the stiletto mascara commercial and wondered if they were serious? It actually freaked me out a bit the first time I saw it...like spider legs growing out of that chick's face!

I tend to be influenced by marketing...I did actually buy Hiphop Abs after all....but I think it's safe to say that even my blondish lashes are afraid to purchase this product.

Bran...not just for Grandmas any more!

I am still dragging myself to boot camp. Today it was tough to go but after 5 days off I knew that if I didn't go I might fall right off the wagon. I do feel great afterwards...ah the benefit of endorphins! Too bad they aren't addictive enough to make it easy to go in the first place.

Last week at class I had my measurements taken. Ladies, this is not something for the feint of heart. Some parts of me have moved into the 40s...and it wasn't just my body's water percentage. And when asked for my age I couldn't remember at first. Oh dear.

My dad also visited for Easter and as often happens when I have friends or family around, I easily succumbed to temptation and ate wonderful tasting things that will not be helping those measurements. Today feeling sluggish and snug in a skirt that I didn't remember being snug in the past I realized that I hadn't really eaten veggies since Thursday (unless we count hot spinach dip). In the past this would not have been a big deal. And I like veggies. But the 30s are not what the 20s were and apparently I am heading towards needing my fiber.

By 80 I might just be eating straight bran while doing water aerobics at this rate. Does anyone have a recipe for bran brownies??

Trying to catch the wagon

Tonight was my second night of boot camp.

I woke up last night in the middle of the night because I hurt in all kinds of places. I'm not sure how or why but I dragged my sad, sore you know what back again tonight. At the moment just clearing my throat sends pain through my abs...or my ab area where one day I hope there will be abs.

The class is basically circuit training with hand weights but the exercises are never the same two nights in a row. I admit it, as the exercises went on I started to approach each new one thinking "what fresh hell is this?" By halfway through the first evening's class I started thinking mean thoughts about the instructor who has lost a very considerable amount of weight but still has a spare tire and how he should be perhaps joining us for what he was dishing out...yes, in far less polite terms.

But I have survived two nights and am hoping to make it through a third. Pray for me.

Lost

I lost someone important this week.

She was a lady who was a role model for me in many ways. She was one half of the couple whom my parents had indicated would raise me and my sister if anything happened to them - an indication on paper of their trust, admiration and respect. They passed along those feelings to us in other ways; her house was the only place I was allowed to ride my bike to without question, she was the one to call if my mom didn't have a recipe or sewing answer and for medical advice. Her daughter was my best friend growing up and her home was the place that felt closest to my own.

We camped together as families, celebrated birthdays, anniversaries and dropping in for Christmas Eve at their house was one of my favorite traditions which I later tried to emulate at my own home. She made the best scrambled eggs when we camped and the only eggnog I have ever liked.

She was a career woman with ambition and the ability to pass on her knowledge - I have always admired the combination and never mastered it. She was pulled together and a calm head in a crisis. She had the most recipes for zucchini of anyone I know and the biggest garden I have ever seen. She never failed to make time for a coffee and a chat when I dropped by and sitting at her kitchen table was as comfortable as your best pair of jeans.

And yet for reasons I don't know or understand she felt she couldn't stay with us.

Sometimes people get lost. The voices of people who love them seem like they are far in the distance and they lose perspective. The good things are faded and the dark seems darker. Sometimes they aren't able to find their way back.

And we are left a little lost ourselves.