A Hippopotamus at Dinner...

I have been trying to find the energy to get back to my blog....I suppose a blog about being the wife of a hockey coach can mean I too only write during the hockey season.  I had decided to take the month of April off...while we moved from our hockey town to our summer town!  It takes a lot of energy to pack/unpack, clean, register children in new schools, and just get resettled.  Normally I look forward to our summers...my husband doesn't work and we basically have it pretty easy.  However, I just haven't been able to shake a small dark cloud of sadness, while trying to hide it with a smile!  You can read about it here.

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I would like to take a moment to thank all of you who reached out with such nice words and thoughts.  Your comments meant a lot to me, and have made me miss the wonderful connections I have made through my blog.  Although I was not able to answer everyone....please know that your comments were read and truly appreciated.  I also want to let you know I have been keeping up with your blogs and although I have not been too great at leaving comments.....I have enjoyed reading them at night while I wait for my Tylenol PM to kick in!

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Being a blogger (of 4 months) there have been moments I have thought  "I need to blog about this"...and if my memory serves me correctly, I will now try to get back to my witty self and fill you in on a few things that happened in April while I was away....Tales of a Hockey Wife style!

YMCA Locker Room Tales....

In the summer, we exercise at the local YMCA.  Since it is not a big town, this is the pretty much where the majority of people work out.  I like to upgrade our membership to the Fitness Locker Room, meaning it is an adult only locker room with showers that don't turn off every thirty seconds, a steam room, and a sauna.  It is not by any standards to be considered updated nor luxurious! Since our cottage has an outdated well and grey-water system...we like to shower at the YMCA as much as possible.  I have posted about the YMCA locker room before (here) as it offers a lot of great blogging material!
This is the latest.....

I was showering after my workout the other day, and as I pulled back the shower curtain to grab my towel from the hook...my eye caught someone on the ground next to my stall.  At first I thought it was a young boy who had crawled into the locker room and was peeping on me!

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Upon a closer look, I noticed it was an older woman (she was quite petite) in her swimsuit, swimming cap, and goggles squatting while waddling around wiping the floors with a paper towel. (Can you picture it?)

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Anyhow...if you can visualize this woman squatting in front of me, you can understand that her head was level with my naked lady-bits.  I think she noticed I was freaked-out a little taken back, because she told me she was cleaning the hair from the showers.  Since she didn't work there,  I can only wonder why she felt the need to clean other people's hair from the shower floor of a YMCA.

Free Lawn Care...

Three seasons ago we relocated and for some moment of stupidity, we purchased a home.  Seven months later we were leasing it out to a wonderful family as we once again moved for hockey.  I have been paying for TruGreen lawn service for the past two years to fertilize our lawn.  Today I got word our lawn is dead in the front yard.  I was sure TruGreen had chemically screwed up and ruined our grass.  I called them today to throw a fit talk to them.  When she verified my name and address she said 1429 84th Street.

"What did you just say?"

"1429 84th Street."

"Our home is 1429 84th PLACE!!!!"

There are two streets side by side in our neighborhood...84th Place (where our home is) and 84th Street (one block over).  Both of our homes have the same house number.  TruGreen has been fertilizing the wrong home for the past two years, while our lawn has not had one bit of fertilizer.  The worst part is that they have been leaving receipts (which I pay via online banking) on the wrong home's door each time, and they have never called to say TruGreen was at the wrong house.

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I am currently waiting for the Manager of TruGreen to call me back....they will be reseeding my yard if they know what is best!

Dieting at the Golden Corral

Since coming home, I have been trying to exercise five days per week.  I have cut out most (bad for you) carbs and sugar...and only drink alcohol on weekends (unless I have been crying, then I feel as though I have burned enough calories while sobbing to justify a drink).  I have been logging all of my food here myfitnesspal.com (I highly recommend it!)

So far I am reaching all goals.  I never weigh myself, instead I have two pairs of pants that I try on obsessively occasionally to see how they are fitting.

Our town got a Golden Corral this winter while we were away...and you would think by the overflowing parking lot they are giving food away in all-you-can eat portions (oh wait, they are)...As you can guess, our children have been begging for a chance to try out this new restaurant...tonight we gave in to their desires and finally took them to the glorious Corral!  

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Of course I was a little concerned about my caloric intake at an all-you-can eat buffet.  As soon as I entered the front doors, I realized two very important things!

• I actually am quite thin at the size I currently am!
• There is no way I was going to be over my calories for the day!

Let me explain....

Where we live in the summer is not exactly going to make the 50 Most Healthiest Towns list.  It would be lucky to make it into the top 600.  Whomever was smart enough to bring a Golden Corral franchise to our town is probably sitting on their pile of money...laughing all the way to the bank!

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Golden Corral is the equivalent to a Carnival Cruise pulling up and opening their buffet to the masses (minus the crab legs and ice sculptures)!  Although I am known to eat the occasional chocolate bar here...and I also have a small obsession with a certain chocolate cake here...for the most part I am a healthy person.

As I looked around at all of the plates piled high with mashed potatoes, meat loaf, BBQ ribs, fried shrimp, pizza, bread, apple dumplings, fried chicken, candied yams, chocolate pudding, apple pie, carrot cake, etc....it was obvious all five food groups were being represented....salty, sweet, fried, au Gratin, and buttered.

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I will tell you the vegetables in the salad bar were all fresh and quite delicious.  I made myself a giant salad full of everything raw...and I used a small little cup to place my fat-free dressing (2 TBSP max).  For my second round I used the ever important buffet rule of "taste everything, eat nothing".  I had a small sample of fajita chicken with pico de gallo, a small serving of rice with grilled meat, and a little scoop of green beans and almonds.  For dessert I made a small plate with a bite size portion of five desserts for our family to each take a small taste.

I left the Golden Corral with such a sense of accomplishment and yet I felt as though I had enough in my belly to warrant the price of my meal.  In fact I think I will get up in the morning and try on a couple pairs of pants!

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This reminds me of an Aesop's Fable...

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS AT DINNER 

A Hippopotamus went out to a restaurant and he ordered a dinner containing bean soup, Brussels sprouts, and mashed potatoes.  But, when the waiter gave him his order, the Hippopotamus was not satisfied with his “small” meal and ordered a bathtub of bean soup, a bucket of Brussels sprouts, and a mountain of mashed potatoes (he does have an appetite!).  When he got his order, the Hippopotamus ate it all up and was about to leave when he got stuck between the table and the chair.  As the Hippopotamus sat there, everyone else in the restaurant had already left and the Hippopotamus starts to lament his folly about eating too much (while burping occasionally). 

MORAL:  “Too much of anything leaves one with a feeling of regret.” 

With that, and an extremely long post...I will leave you before you have a feeling of regret for reading my blog!

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