Polly Pockets

In the early 1980's the cutest little doll collection was introduced. It was called "Polly Pockets". It was the sweetest idea. A little bitty doll that you could carry around in your pocket. It fit so nice you hardly knew it was there. Huh. When did they enlarge the doll?

As a mother, it seems like I have always carried things in my pockets for my children. You know what I'm talking about. Crayons, bubble gum, marbles. The normal stuff kids desperately NEED to save. And as a mother, you are entrusted to hold them, until such time as the kids remember them or they go to bed whichever comes first. At the end of the day, it always amazed me to look at the collection that was there. When we first started the cleaning service I would stick all kinds of stuff i my pockets so that I wouldn't vacuum them up. Paper clips, those little twist ties from the bread loaves. Stuff. I always had stuff in my pockets.

It seems recently that my pockets don't carry things as comfortably as they used to. I am sure that if I did a little research I would discover that it was some woman hating men sitting around sewing machines in a factory somewhere making the pockets smaller. I mean, come on. It surely wasn't a woman's idea to do the tiny top part of the pocket in the same material as the pants only to have this HUGE wedge of bright white cloth sticking out of it once you get the pants on. Have you seen a side view of that????? It's a conspiracy I tell you.

A few weeks ago I absentmindedly dropped some change into my pocket. It became uncomfortable, but die hard that I am, I didn't reach in there and take it out. No, no ,no I just proceeded on with my day. As I was getting changed for bed that evening I noticed the most peculiar thing. George Washington's face was embedded onto my leg. A little ink and I could have had a tattoo. Good night Agnes. When did my pockets get this small?????

My Wii Mii and I are now doing pocket duty. We have determined that we will work a little harder to make my pockets a little easier to work with. Wii now are learning to Wii Box. Wii enjoy it and it gives our pocket area a good workout. I am still not sure if this is some kind of a wardrobe conspiracy, but for right now Wii will work with what Wii've got.

The Thrill of Victory

I come from a competitive family. We don't just play a game, we play to win. Don't play spoons with us.....we'll take your hand off. Once when my parents were here visiting for the weekend we decided to play spades. My son Jaymes trumped my dads trick much to my dad's chagrin. They were on the same team you see so it wasn't necessary. But my son was focused on his own win so taking the trick just seemed natural.

I feel the same way when I Wii. The "New Record" is what I live for. You even get your little Wii Mii picture beside the score to record it for all time. Row after row of little Wii Mii's smiling at my great accomplishment. Ah yes. The winner in me arises.

I am a routine orientated person so I pretty much begin my day the same way every day. Make the coffee, drink the coffee, read the paper. You know. Easy living. The first morning that I got up and realized that I had added an exercise routine to my wonderful "alone" time was a big deal. Remember, it was me that wanted the Wii in the first place but did I really want to do something with it? Reluctantly, I turned on the system and that wonderful captivating music that is so Wii started to play and my competitive self took over.

I started with ski jumping. Have you tried that one? You are precariously balanced on the top of a skii slope waiting....waiting......waiting until just the right time and then "Whoosh" down you go. Squatting into the downhill slope until at the last second you straighten your knees and boost yourself to a standing leaning position for a smooth landing. Just like on the Winter Olympics right. Wrong, wrong wrong. It took me forever to learn how to lean just right and straightened up at just the exact precise moment so that I didn't end up at the bottom of the ramp in the biggest snowball I had ever seen. Try again. Cute little Wii Mii poised on the downhill bar.....wait for it, wait for it and GO!!! Squat, squat squat.......and.........explode upward and balance.....balance......and snowball at the bottom again. "At least your Wii Mii looks really cute in her ski outfit" my husband reminds me me from the couch. I will conquer this I vow.

Each day, my routine was the same. Make coffee, drink coffee, read paper and Wii. It wasn't so much like exercise because I really was enjoying it. Yet, at the same time, my competitive juices were flowing. I could, no I would get the hang of this thing. I am woman, hear me roar I thought the first time shii actually landed on her skis upright. The crowd cheers for you and you wave back with a smile on your Wii face. And then the score is forever logged in. Oh yeah!!!! High score. And the music plays. And the Wii time bank gets it's coins. Wii life is good. It is very good.

H2O Oh Oh

Water. A precious commodity. The pitter patter of raindrops on a metal rooftop. The slushing sound of a sprinkler in the late afternoon. The gentle whisper of the waves touching the shoreline. Yes indeed. There is nothing quite like water. That is unless you have to force yourself to drink it like I do. I know that when God created everything He looked around and said "This is good". But I have often asked myself, exactly who on His angelic staff bothered to actually taste this stuff before declaring it "good"? Didn't He have a tasting committee?

My Wii Mii prods me on a daily basis to remember the importance of drinking water while we Wii. Oh man. I hate the stuff. Why does it have to taste.....you know.....so much like water????? My good friend Dawn drinks water likes she actually enjoys the stuff. Who is she trying to kid here? She brings a bottle of water everywhere she goes. So does my Mom. If we go on even the quickest of errands she will ask in most pleasant of "Mom" type voices "would you like a bottle of water to take with you Nansii?" I think to myself "Why....they don't have Dr. Pepper where we're going"? Dr. Pepper has to be good for you. It's my from a fruit right?

After a 30 minute workout, the bells and whistles go off within the Wii system and the time bank dances around for joy at your accomplishment. Mine is now gold. What color is yours? Anyway, as the confetti fades from view this little message appears about it being a good time to "take a break and drink some water". I almost throw myself down on the floor begging for mercy. Wasn't the workout enough I scream? Now I have to drink water too. Good night Agnes. Will the abuse never end? But........I saunter to the kitchen and pour myself a tall glass of water, hold my nose and choke it down.

As time as gone by, I have slowly comes to terms that my Wii Mii really wants the best for me. My friends (and you know who you are) have gently placed their arms about my shoulders and sang the praises of the virtues of water. Everything that it does for you. "Your skin will look younger". Ok....I like that. "It will help flush out your system". Oh, that candy bar will be gone? "It has absolutely, positively NO calories". Now that's what I'm talking about!!! Bring it on I say. Crack those ice cubes trays. Fill up that 16 ounce glass to the top. I have even learned a trick. If you squeeze a lemon in it and a package of Splenda you will think that you're having lemonade. Mind over matter baby.

A Little "White" (and black) Lie

Coming from a Catholic household I know the importance of differentiating between a white lie and the kind that are going to really warrant an hour long penance. I have always prided myself in a minimum of penance time. But every so often, a situation arises and I find I just can't control myself or the outcome. This was such a situation.

Oreo cookies. Who among us doesn't just love them. I mean come on now. Be honest. Do you eat them whole or are you a closet separatist? I carefully pull them apart and eat all of the naked ones first saving and savoring the delectable "middles" for last. Double stuff is the best. My hands start to sweat just thinking about them. On occasion I enjoy them with a nice cold glass of milk. Other times, my thought is that the milk will just take up more Oreo room.

I also enjoy reading a good novel. Murder mysteries are my favorites. Propped up in bed, leaning back against my fluffy pillows. What could be better than that? Why not have some cookies while I read I thought. So I quietly went out to the kitchen and ever so slowly (so the bag wouldn't crinkle and make a bunch of noise) removed a handful of Oreos and proceeded to quietly tip toe back to my room. Maybe this is the part that I should admit what part of the problem was. You see, I had mentioned, just mentioned mind you, to my husband (who NEVER forgets anything I tell him) that I was going to start "watching my waistline". I was going to eat better, exercise, walk the dog......you know all that stuff that you tell people to make yourself feel better. Anyway, I gingerly got back into bed with the paper towel (no crumbs in this bed, thank you very much) and got myself all set up to enjoy my book and my cookies. Carefully, ever so carefully, I twisted those cookies apart, separating the first eats with the last eats. I laid them all out in a row balanced on my tummy and then gently lifted the book and placed it right in front of the stack of cookies.

Now I know what you are thinking. You think that I was trying to be sneaky right? It wasn't exactly like that. I just really wanted some Oreo's and I didn't want my husband to feel pressured into reminding me that they probably weren't the best choice for a late night snack. See.....I was thinking of his feelings. Wow, I can tell that is one is going to cost me in penance. Anyway......there I laid, propped up, book hiding, I mean shielding, no, no, no, disguising the fact that I had a napkin full of cookies, quite enjoying myself.

About the 3rd naked Oreo, I glanced up to see my husband standing at the foot of the bed. I gave him a very nice closed mouth smile. He smiles back at me but then I notice that his line of vision has shifted to a different area. Kind of above my head and to the right of me. I mumble "what's wrong Honey?" and he says "I don't want to frighten you, but there is a lizard on the wall above the headboard". Yeah right I think. Lizard smizard. He must have looked at the dad gum cookie bag and knows I have cookies. About the same time as I was thinking this thought I turned my head ever so slightly and out of the reflection of my glasses I saw the outline of the biggest lizard I had ever seen. Surely this Iguana must have escaped from the Fort Worth Zoo. Faster that I have personally ever moved in my entire life, I flung the covers off of me and literally jumped out of bed and ran out of my room. Here is where the difficulty happens.

You see, in my urgent quest to beat feet and get the heck out of that Kamodo Dragons way, I forgot something very important. As I passed my husband like a speeding bullet, the cookies, ALL of those wonderfully perfectly separated "last eats" collided with my husband. I could hear him calling my name as the napkin gently floated down and landed at his feet. I silently went to get the vacuum. He remained where he was explaining to me what happens "when first we practice to deceive".

I have confessed this grievous sin to my Wii Mii. It was shortly after she groaned when I got on the Wii board to do my daily Body Test. Is it possible that she could even groan louder? I realized at that point that it was Mii and her against a world of Oreos gone bad on my hips. I have vowed to look at the shadow I cast and work to create a smaller one. My wonderful Wii Mii has promised to help me get to my goal.

Oh yeah. I almost forgot about the lizard. It was one of those tiny little gecko things, and I am sure I heard him snickering at me as I carried him out to the front flower planter.

The Inspiration of Wii to Mii

A few years ago my grandson Kodie received the Nintendo Wii for Christmas. I am not a big video game player at all. But I must confess, when my husband and I made our way upstairs to the game room and sat and watched him box I got really curious. It seemed like the character on the t.v screen was moving right along with him. If he punched with his left hand so did the character. Quite different than the Space Invader type games that I remembered. Then he showed us the baseball game and tennis. Then he brought out the big guns. Wii Bowling. Oh my gosh!!!! Talk about a kick in the pants. I was hooked. So hooked that we ended up bowling so long that we were actually sore the next day. We called it "Wii Butt".

This past Christmas, my husband and son surprised me with a Nintendo Wii. I couldn't believe it. We immediately set it up and designed our characters and started bowling. I gotta tell you. My little Wii Mii is so cute. She looks just like me. Green eye shadow and purple outfit. Shii even has glasses. My son Jaymes' Wii wears one of those silly stocking cap things. Then there is my goofy husband who dresses his Mii in dark shades for that "extra" cool in control look. We have even designed Wii Miis for our friends that come to visit and play with us. All 3 of us are Pro bowlers now. At least at home when Wii play.

In February I was surprised again with the Wii Fit system. Now I must admit, I was quite happy with my bowling Mii and wasn't quite sure about the idea of exercising with a t.v. Now if you know anything about the Wii, your character in the sports package is most likely going to look different from your Wii Mii in the Wii fit area. To put it quite plainly......my Wii Mii reflects the true body style of the Mii Me. Did you get that? Yes indeed it is true. This new Wii character has the audacity of actually having this little tubby body that very much resembles mine. What happened to that bowling babe????? Apparently when you type in the physical attributes that you possess the darn thing takes it seriously and makes the character in the "shape" of your real person. Drat the luck I say. But, I put a smile on my face and proceeded to sit back and prepare to laugh as Bryan and Jaymes built their Wii Mii. What the deuce???? Not an ounce of fat on either one of them. This might be a bit more difficult to bear than I had originally thought. It was OK if we were ALL going to look kinda pudgy, but just me????

That night we decided to do our first "Body Test" How many of you have the Wii? Isn't that the cutest little voice you have ever heard? It is so precious. Except during the body test. My immediate mistake was going first. I should NEVER have done that. I remember stepping on to the balance board and it actually made a groaning sound. Have any of you heard that? I mean, didn't you almost fall over? A groan???? It's a game for heaven's sake. The sound was almost personal. But before I could step off of the thing this cute little Elmo type voice says "That's Obese". I turned ever so slowly to get a look at my husband and son's faces. They were literally staring at the t.v. in disbelieve. "Did that thing just say what I thought it said" I demanded? And then the unthinkable funny happened. They both started to laugh. Not just ha ha laugh, but the deep down belly laugh that makes your sides hurt. Then I got to laughing. Pretty soon we were all just busting up. I declared that very night that I would make her eat those words. No little 3 year old twit in a t.v. set was going to call me obese.

Now even though that moment was uncomfortable, it did indeed make me look at myself. I was overweight and out of shape. but could this little scrap of a thing in a t.v really help me get back on track. Well, I decided then and there that Shii could help Mii and we have been working out together ever since. Well, not everyday. Old habits die hard ya know. But I will tell you honestly, it was that little voice so politely telling me that I was obese that gave me the incentive to keep trying and by the end of May I had lost 20 pounds. Then the doldrums set in and I got lazy. that is the only way to explain it. Pure and simple lazy. I had almost given up until my husband took me to the movies.

We went and saw Julie and Julia at the theater last weekend and the story of their story inspired me to finish what I had started. So I am back on my Wii Fit program. It really isn't that hard. It just takes a commitment and I really think I can do that. So I decided to blog about it in case their are others with a lost Wii Mii who need to be found and put back on the right Wii path. together we can do it. We can share stories and motivate each other to keep going or try new Wii moves. Or Wii recipes. Or just a friendly Wii chat. So join Mii on my journey won't you? It will be fun and helpful to me to post my ups and downs, improvements and well you get the idea. I know that I have lots of friends out there that also work out with their Wii . Join me when you can OK? A little Wii will make a better Mii.