It’s been a while.  I’ve had my head buried in…other places lately.  And no, not down under.  Here’s the latest…

I stumbled upon a place called SparkPeople.com, signed up, and have been sucked in.  What is it?  It’s Weight Watchers Online…on steroids.  And it’s free.  I’ve had a $15.00 a month subscription to Weight Watchers for the past four years.  I used it to lose 30 pounds.  Those 30 pounds were done and gone in two months…then I gained all the weight back plus some, once I stopped running and started eating crap again (lazy and fast food in your first year of marriage don’t mix and it’s not a particularly nice anniversary present for your husband).  How many months out of the past four years have I made use of my subscription?  Oh…about six total (and that’s pushing it!).  So, I found SparkPeople and was absolutely blown away that there was this snazzy user interface and all of the same Weight Watchers tools PLUS some and all of these reports to run for charted feedback and and and…oh, and an iPhone app that works really well…and even a Facebook like community.  Within hours of my signing up, I had a good handful of personal welcome messages on my page and within the first day, I discovered that people - complete strangers - were sincerely concerned for MY well-being.  And I became concerned for THEIRS.  And WE came to support each other.  And through lots of indirect networking of blogs and “news” feeds and such, as we catch interesting blog titles or see cute usernames somewhere on the site, we navigate to other profile pages of complete strangers to offer our support to THEM.  We browse through each others friends lists - but always to find that “Spark” of motivation we need - someone with similar stats or situation as us who has been successful in one way or another.  We offer them OUR encouragement, letting them know what an inspiration they are - to keep on their journey.  And the cycle continues.  And no one is insecure because being loving and supportive IS the norm.  Sounds very Kumbaya-ish, but it’s really very raw, open, and down to earth.  Real men and women supporting each other in our missions.

Now, I’ve worked in social networking and make use of it on a daily basis, but SparkPeople is the first, wholly positive and nurturing social networking environment I’ve ever been in.  As a woman, and one who has been fairly skeptical about men my whole life (well, since I hit puberty), I’m finding for the first time that I’m actually able to appreciate words of encouragement from the opposite sex without wondering about “the motive” behind it all.  There is no motive other than to be supportive and…it’s really, really nice.  Encouragement from women is wonderful, but men and women encourage each other differently.  Women are long winded and emotional (yes, honey, I did just write that).  Men are blunt and matter of fact.  Of course, this is a gross over-generalization, yes, but typically, that’s it in my experience.  My point is, I get both of that there and it’s refreshing.

On a slightly different note, being a part of SparkPeople has “sparked” me to get going physically.  I have officially run my first mile without stopping - something I was never able to do previously.  I’m loving high intensity interval training on the treadmill.  I’ve started step aerobics (and discovered the On Demand section of our Direct TV).  I’m so into all of this that for our anniversary, The Man has decided to get me a spiffy new heart rate monitor - the Polar F11.  He’s already ordered it and it should be here soon - I’m stoked.

Oh, and just as an FYI, I’ve lost over 10 pounds this past month and it was EASY.

In completely other news, we discovered that our evil furballs fancied the dining room carpet more than their precious Cat Genie.  Do you know what a Cat Genie is?  No?  Well, let me tell you…these spoiled rotten furballs (rotten to the core and plotting my demise) have a fully automatic litter box.  The “litter” is plastic pellets.  The litter BOX, is computerized and not only scoops the poo for them up to four times a day (programmable), but because it’s hooked up to the water line and drain in our laundry room, it washes, scrubs, sanitizes, and BLOW DRIES WITH WARM AIR their precious litter for them.  Up to FOUR times a DAY!  All I have to do is insert a new 60 day cleaning cartridge when it beeps at me.  So, these lovely little bundles of JOY have been urinating underneath the window in our dining room.  Seriously, if we ever sell this place, what would we say - water damage or cat pee?  Which is better?  Which is worse?  So, armed with my favorite cat stain and odor remover, I pulled back the carpet to see how bad the damage was on the bottom of the carpet.  Lord, it was so bad I…I don’t know.  I don’t know how to begin to describe how bad it was.  I won’t even post pictures, it was that bad (and yes, I took pictures because I couldn’t believe it).  I started in on the cleaning, half-heartedly, and just got pissed, so to speak.  After some deliberation with The Man, I grabbed my trusty pink utility razor (*girly voice* yes, it’s pretty and pink and really, really sharp!) and cut out the dining room carpet.  Just cut it out!  At the very worst, we would just replace the carpet.  However… Goodbye carpet…hello GORGEOUS 1928 OAK FLOORS!!!  That is, of course, underneath all of the plaster wall texture that I had to scrub off…  Seriously?  Seriously?!  Come ON, people!  Can’t you cover your stinkin’ floors before you retexture your walls?!  Nevermind the few splotches of paint and the carpet pad adhesive around the perimeter of the room.  BUT, there was no kitty pee damage.  There’s no smell now that the carpet and pad are gone, and after a few more wipes down with that pee neutralizer/odor remover, the evil bastards will be let out of their room…and all will be well.  Hopefully.  It does appear that the floors will need some refinishing, as someone apparently got drunk and decided it would be fun to learn how to stain a floor (going across the grain, no less, and leaving a stain can ring with drips here and there…you know, just to tip us off as to what their plan was).  BUT, even as is, they remind me of some of the older floors that can be found back home in Juneau.  The historic bars and such.  They have a lot of good character.  I’m going to start my way into the living room next (and then the front part of the hallway along with the other living room).

If you’ve ever taken carpet out, you’ll know that the carpet and pad - even of a well-worn carpet - is at least 1/2″ thick if not more.  It’s amazing what that 1/2″ drop to bare floor can do to a person in the pitch black of night if they’re not expecting it.  As I stepped from the hallway, that measly 1/2″ drop sent my arms flailing out like a baby that feels like it’s suddenly falling.  After I’d been pulling, ripping, scrubbing and scraping in that very room ALL day.  Jesus, Stephanie…really, get a grip.

What else, what else…hm…it’s been nice and cold here lately and we’ve been able to make use of our fireplace again.  As much as I ADORE the fireplace, it’s not so wonderful when its’ thermostat kicks it on mid step aerobics session (our TV is located on the wall above our fireplace).

The boys are in Tae Kwon Do now.  I’m hoping to be able to get some pictures of them at practice tonight.  So far, it’s been an eye opening experience for me in that I get to see how they behave (or rather, misbehave) around others.  I’ve learned that Nic is really, really good at it and it takes almost nothing for him to pick up a movement routine.  He just needs to work on using more force.  My goal for him, in enrolling him in TKD was to help his self-esteem and confidence.  Also, to help him learn to control his now only occasional outbursts.  It is, slowly but surely, working.  For Jake, I was hoping it would give him some focus, as he is convinced he’s the funniest boy on the face of this planet and everything he does is meant to illicit peals of laughter from his audience (even when that audience is in his head).  Funny is good, but not when it’s infringing on his and others’ learning capabilities.  I wasn’t seeing any improvement in him until I told him that I’d signed him up for the belt test this next month.  The belt test is at the end of next week and I don’t think the boys are ready.  I wouldn’t be overly surprised if Nic was able to pass the test, because he’s really good at the routines (just needs to work on his power), but Jake…I think that what it’s going to take for him to understand is possibly to fail this belt test to see that it’s not a joke.  Of course, I don’t want him to fail - I’m his mother - but, I think there is definitely a lesson to be had in both passing and failing, and I’m just trying my best to prepare a “talk” for both situations to make these lessons, whatever they may be, the most impactful.

That’s about it, folks.  I need to get crackin’ on these floors again!  Pictures to come!