Sorry, Senator

I've been planning for weeks now to take today as a vacation day to volunteer for Obama in Pennsylvania. I had a great time working with MoveOn on Election Day in 2004 and know that today's primary will be closely watched as the Convention gets closer and closer. Well... the best laid plans. George and I both made every effort to clear our schedules, but both of us had work stuff come up that we just can't miss. Instead of waving signs during Philly drive time, I'm wearing my Obama 08 shirt and making another nice contribution to the campaign. I've been a member of the Out-Of-State Volunteers group on BarackObama.com, but I think I'll switch and see what I can start to do in NJ.

I've got a few stories to catch up on, but as usual, the last couple of weeks have been crazy.

Spring
Well, even though every plan we thought we had on Saturday didn't happen as we'd anticipated, we still had a great evening at home together. For one reason or another, we've not had a "regular" Saturday together in weeks. Rob had a Relay engagement on Saturday morning, but by naptime, we were all at home together. The best part was that the weather was absolutely perfect for the first time that I could actually enjoy it. We ate dinner outside and played in the yard until bedtime. My favorite meal of the year is the first one that we can cook on the grill and actually enjoy on the patio.

Soccer
We made another attempt at the soccer thing on Saturday. Thank goodness Uncle David is a coach, or else I'm not sure Sam would have ever seen any action. We think it's all related to the other behavior issues we've been dealing with, but Sam REFUSES to play. My mom couldn't even get him to the field last weekend. He went fairly willingly this weekend, but then put on the brakes the instant we arrived. He clung to me like his life depended on it and would not play with the team. I don't want to demand Sam play soccer, but I also don't want to reinforce behavior that is becoming a bigger issue every day. I told him that he didn't have to play, but that we were going to stay. He'd asked on the way if he could have lunch at Wendy's when soccer was over. I'd agreed, so when he refused to play and wanted to leave to go get chicken nuggets, we had plenty of whining. I explained that we were going to watch so that he could decide when he was ready to play. I also told him that I really wanted to watch Danny play if he wasn't going to play himself. I'm not sure which part of the process worked, but about 35 min. into the hour-long game, he decided he was ready. He just stood up and announced that he had changed his mind and wanted to "be a blueberry." Coach Jeff had set up a scrimmage. Some kids were in their blue shirt and, thus, blueberries. Some wore yellow "thing" (for all my years of soccer, I can't remember what they're called!) that made them bananas. All in all, I was just glad he decided on his own to play. Every day since, he's asked when he can go again. We shall see how that goes.

The Pope
I've always had an interest in the formalities of the papacy. I watched the funeral of Pope John Paul II and the election of the new pope three years ago with bated breath. I watched much of the coverage of Pope Benedict's first US visit last week, too. I even recorded the last part of the Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral since it wasn't finished by the time we had to leave for soccer. I watched in amusement Saturday night the long procession of the church dignitaries into the cathedral. I was mesmerized by the symbolism and reverence with which all of the clergy in attendance waited for the Pope's entrance.

I got the giggles, however, when I noticed a certain sign of the times that really put a bit of a damper on the sacredness of the occasion for me. As Pope Benedict made his way down the aisle, you could see tons of priests and nuns taking his picture. Ok. I get that. It's a huge moment in their lives. While I was distracted by the flashes, I tried to understand the significance of what was happening to someone who has devoted their lives to the church. What got me for some weird reason, though, were all of the clergy one or two seats back from the aisle who were holding up cell phones to take pictures as if they were at a Rolling Stones show. I don't know why the device used to take pictures was so noticeable to me, but it was. Oh, well. I suppose that since I probably missed some of the coverage that I'll be able to access it online now. Do you think nuns go back to the convent and upload cell phone video to You Tube?

Day One
Well, as much as I don't want to admit it, Weight Watchers seemed to work best for me when some stranger had to see with her own eyes how much I weigh. I suppose it must have been the humiliation factor that kept me on the wagon. Now that I travel with complete irregularity, it was becoming impossible to stick to a meeting day. I don't know anyone faithful WWer who was relaxed enough to weigh in when it's convenient. No, when you invest in the program, you wear the same clothes to weigh in on the same day. And you generally have nothing in your stomach when you go. I came to realize that this wasn't a "lifestyle change." I have been telling myself for a while that in order to really make a change, I had to be accountable only to myself. That brought me to WWOnline. No real success there. I just felt like I was missing something once the initial motivation wore off, and I lost steam quickly.

So, after quite a bit of research and discussion between Rob and I about what we can do together that will really mean healthy changes that are permanent, we decided to try the Sonoma Diet. This is one that calls a spade a spade and says, Yes, you are on a diet. I like the honesty in that. However, once you get through the first two "waves" that, like Weight Watchers, are focused on weight loss, you are supposed to be able to maintain on a not-so-restrictive rest-of-your-days plan. In theory, it's not much different than any other plan in the maintenance regard, but from the get-go, the plan basically revolves around whole, unprocessed food. You're trained from Day One to consume far less sugar, which I think will be a big change for me. I always still ate sugar-free pudding and the like on WW. I think the theory of cutting your sugar cravings with no sweets other than fruit is probably more sensible (if not as much fun as you get used to it!) We both checked out the book and actually thought 95% of the recipes sounded like stuff we'd like to make anyway, so we're giving it a go. I'm fairly good at sticking to a plan in the initial stages, mainly because I'm very stubborn and refuse to fail. I just hope that this is what actually makes us eat differently in the end.

I will admit that when I saw that Day One's breakfast was oatmeal with skim milk and coffee, I thought I was in good shape. In the nuances lie the change. No sugar in the coffee or on the cereal. Duh. But, I think those are small sacrifices once we bite the bullet and get used to it. I just have to be honest with myself and realize that what I'm doing is going to help me feel better when I'm another year older and trying to keep up with a new baby! I did a good job of losing weight in anticipation of Sam's arrival, and this baby deserves the same commitment.

Well, now that I've had my own little therapy session, I'll go boil some steel-cut oats and start the day.