2009-03-08 - 10:44 a.m.

...ow ow OW OOOWWW....photographic evidence

Yes, teranika has done it again. She started a new exercise program and she ACHES. Yesterday, K kindly took Susi to the swimming pool and left me at home alone with the hand weights and the video machine. All it took was 34 minutes to thoroughly destroy myself. I can no longer walk, climb, or sit. OUCH.

Well, that's not entirely true. I'm sitting now. I do one of those totally non-graceful sitting moves that one does after working out muscles that have atrophied for about -oh- TWO CENTURIES. I start to hover awkwardly over a chair, I think ow ow ow ow oW OWW OWWW OW! as I start to bend down towards the sitting position and then SSCHPLOT! all muscles collapse and I fall into the chair. Can't wait to do this in front of my colleagues tomorrow.

Stairs. STAIRS are really entertaining. Each step brings a new chorus of OW OW OW OW. oh, how I love these first few days. ahem.

Brings to mind ten (TEN) years ago when I started playing soccer in Germany and loved it. Loved it so much that I dove right in to the 90 minutes of hauling ass up and down the field. In the rain. And mud. I was the only female on the field. And I wore a this big pink faded sweater over leggings that made me look like a huge underripe tomato with legs.

The German men (who had played since before they learned to walk) were all very kind to me, and tolerated my lame kicking movements at the soccer ball. Some even semi-politely told me that as long as Jens came out to play, there would always be someone worse than me on the field. (err, thanks?).

So yes, (OW, just crossed my legs - do you know how many butt muscles you use when you cross your legs??). Soccer. Soccer was great fun, even if I looked ridiculous, slipped and fell all over the place, and covered myself in mud. One friend came up to me and reminded me that this was NOT mud wrestling. Ahem. Another thanks back at ya there.

I remember coming home from that game being astounded that MY WHOLE BODY hurt. How is it that SOCCER can give you SORE ARMPITS?? Shortly after that game, I visited Blighty in England. She might remember the chorus of OWs coming down her stairs, which I maintain are the STEEPEST stairs built into a house. Except perhaps mine. now. Today. Maybe it's the extra 23 pounds of BABY on my weight-bearing limbs...but today my stairs are steeper than Blighty's. ow ow OW OW.

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And now for the Baby Photo portion of this entry. First, the reason why Susi is one of our neighborhood icons. I introduce you to the leopard outfit, modeled by Susi, who is takes her role as icon very seriously:

And now the leopard in one of her lighter moments:

And finally, after several requests, here is a photo of the Bun in the Oven.

I used the red-eye removal function in my computer's photo software. Unfortunately, the software does not come with a gooey-icky-baby-snot removal function. Someone ought to write to Bill Gates about that.

But you get the idea.