Family Fitness Lately

Today was a doozy of a fitness day. I'm taking these extra pounds I recently put on and showing them where to shove it, you know, family-friendly style. Family fitness happens to be one of my favorite things. Usually, the calorie-burning just happens as a result of us doing some of the family activities we enjoy, especially with the record-breaking weather we've been having here in Wisconsin this week.

The day started with a long bike ride around the neighborhood.

Here's daddy bike, mommy bike and baby bike, in case Goldilocks wanted to try them out. Peanut didn't actually ride his little bike. He road in the child seat on the back of daddy's bike, but he wanted to get his bike out when we got home for the pretty picture. And look, his bike matches his child seat!

Later in the afternoon, my workplace sponsored an employee open house at our local YMCA. Peanut got to try out these new ice skate-clad feet for the first time. He kept saying he just wanted to go in the pool, but I think he actually liked his first try out on the ice.

Um, seriously, I didn't notice this until now, but there is definitely a Goldilocks theme going on here. Daddy, mommy and baby ice skates.

Then, it was on to the pool. It was nice to have the place practically to ourselves without having to fight the usual crowds at the Y family pool.

In fact, there was hardly anyone waiting in line for the slide, so Peanut rode it and rode it and rode it.

Guess whose snores I can hear from the other room as I sit typing this? Oh, it didn't take long. We tuckered him out. And we tuckered ourselves out too.

Oh yeah. And in between all these festivities, I snuck in a Youtube Tracy Anderson rebounder workout...in the dining room. Because, you know, you can't see the computer screen when the bright sun is shining on it. She's really hard to follow, and provides no verbal direction, but as long as you're kind of doing what she's doing, you'll feel it the next day. Trust me. Warning: high jumps on the trampoline are not for the faint of bladder. I do not have a weak bladder, but even I found myself thinking an extra Kegel or two would be beneficial. The workout is definitely a sweat-inducing one. And the trampoline happens to be one of our family favorites too. In fact, I had to bribe Peanut to be able to use it for the half-hour workout. 

With the way we've been training, we probably could've signed up for a triathlon instead of a measly 5k, right?

Best Place to Work

I work at one of the best places to work. Really! It's official. We were voted in the top 10 best places to work in the nation.

Here's the proof. Where else do you get henna tattoos for free on your work break?



Business owners take note: One of the best ways to ensure customer service exceeds your expectations is to treat your "internal customers" with just as much respect and gratitude. Well-taken-care-of employees will naturally feel more inclined to take good care of customers.

If I've learned anything from working where I work, it's that some of the best ways to honor employees are free:

1. Start some lunchtime or after-work clubs for people with similar interests. Give new parents, crafters, gardeners and others a place to gather and form long-lasting relationships. Allow participants to relax their professional demeanor a bit and show their true colors. Bring in a guest speaker every once in awhile.

2. Offer free workouts at lunchtime. Use a TV or projector to show workout videos. Exercise TV has all those free workouts on demand.

3. Host a supply exchange: Set out a table and invite employees to swap extras of an item that you choose. Some ideas are books, craft supplies, tools and kids' clothes. The rule is, you bring one to take one.

4. Relax the dress code, even just once a month.

5. Send out a weekly internal email updating everyone on what's happening inside your company. You might showcase one employee per week, revealing something no one knows about that person. This is a great way to keep everyone in-the-loop and start conversations.

5. Have employees donate business books that are in good condition to the company library and allow everyone to "check out" books from the selection.

Some of these ideas are taken directly from my own workplace. We incorporate some of these things and so much more, you probably would never guess. But henna...that's when you know you've got it good.

Flushing Away Free Time

I always wonder what the Kool Kats do when they go home from work. I like to imagine that everyone is immersed in a challenging home improvement task, slaving away at complicated recipes, penning the next Harry Potter, attending humanitarian club meetings or catching up with a handful of close companions. But I am willing to guess there's a lot more couch glorifying and TV trance-partaking than any world-changing events happening behind those double French doors.

There's also the choice between keeping yourself up-to-date on the best seasonal television shows and other buzz-worthy programs or crafting purses out of vintage fabric for a few extra dimes. It's "lazy versus productive" pitched against "current versus out-of-the-loop". Where's the balance?

Being a mom brings with it a vault-full of extra guilt. If I'm not spending my free time building block towers for my 1-1/2-year-old to destroy, I always feel a little remorse (except during naptime). If I thought I never had any time B.C. (Before Child), I was out of my mind! Now, I really don't have any time. Or do I?

I struggle with getting any writing, crafting, or other projects to show for my time accomplished without curious digits yanking pens out of my hand or demanding my full attention. Cleaning is feasible with Peanut around, but only to a point. Don't get me wrong, I love engaging Peanut in wrestling, building and hiding games. But I also spend a lot of time thinking about what I could be doing with my free time. Even during Peanut’s naptime, I struggle with the what to do, what to do... When noontime on a Saturday rolls around, I often just want to crash and then I suffer the guilt afterwards of all the life-changing challenges I could’ve taken on during those blessed three hours.

The trouble is, I lose interest in projects. I start writing projects and abandon them. I print off art projects and never so much as buy the supplies. I dream about decadent gourmet dinners but lose interest in bringing them to fruition. But I feel like I need these projects to unleash my creative energy upon.

It makes me wonder if anyone else with these strong impulses to be productive actually do produce anything or if they succumb to numbness once in awhile. It’s much easier to relax into a simple lifestyle and suppress those urges than to twist wire into museum-worthy sculpture. Will the Kool Kats emerge from their basements with an amazing invention one day or do they just shop and get their hair done to rectify their status?