Hey there!  How are you?  What’s been going on?

The Tuesday Tune-Up is where we can have a weekly virtual coffee date and catch up a bit.

First, congratulations to the 2 winners of the

NEUTROGENA® CoolDry Sport Sunscreen Giveaway:

Congrats Anne@AnneHogan.net and Lauren@LimByLim:

Thanks to all of you who entered!  

Stay tuned another really nice giveaway is coming very soon!

The out theme starts here:  I was out of food at home and since I was both lazy (solo parenting for an entire week means there’s a lot more to do every single day) and thinking ahead (we’re going away later this week for a few days and I didn’t want to restock the house), I went full force on the “kitchen sink meal” effort that I mentioned in my 5 Ways To Declutter and Still Be Productive post.  Below are photos of two of my efforts that made a few meals and snacks throughout the week:

Baked Pasta with Spinach, Parmesan and Ricotta:

and my Brown Sugar Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins:

In the frenzy that was last week, I did get out to have a lunch date with a friend.  It was one of my only moments of civilized living for the entire week.  My friend and I went to Tender Greens, a California salad and sandwich place (similar in nature to Greenleaf Chopshop).  I had never been and when my friend suggested it, I was all for it.  I’ve said it before – salad is always better when someone else makes it!

I haven’t eaten baked salmon in awhile (I had a big salmon phase in the late 90’s and early 2000’s) and was in the mood.  I’m happy to say that it hit the spot (and yay, Omega 3’s!):

I only went to Pilates Physical Therapy once last week because my PT was out of available appointments.  To supplement, I did some YouTube Pilates videos:

You should check out this Pilates video by Caroline Jordan Fitness.  It was incredible but very hard.  I liked that she mentioned physical therapy based moves during her instruction.  I’m definitely going to investigate more Caroline Jordan Fitness videos!

You should NOT check out this Pilates video by GymRa because it was just plain awful.   We’re talking the same terrible 1 minute music piece on loop, no verbal instruction (just words on screen) and a pretty instructor who just smiled at the screen while she worked out.

I’m out of upper body strength so I decided to do the 30 Day POPSUGAR Push-up Challenge with Josie@JosiesOrdinaryWorld and Carrie@FamilyFitnessFood.  There are 5 different kinds of push-ups and by the end of 30 days, you’re supposed to be able to do 50 push-ups.  We’ll see if that’s the case.  4 out of 5 moves are relatively easy but the diamond push up is a killer!

Jay was out of town and Wild Boy’s Little League baseball team was declared out of the playoff’s so there was no joy in Mudville this past week.  

There was a little joy but the disappointment was pretty deep.  First there were the parenting difficulties (two similar personalities sometimes don’t communicate well no matter the difference in their ages) and but the worst was watching my child deal with the disappointment of his playoff game loss.

Nobody likes to lose but I feel that the culture of “give every kid a trophy” sets kids up for disappointment as their consciousness is raised.  Teaching kids to lose isn’t easy as it is but I feel that our “participation trophy” culture does our kids a disservice in the ways of the world.  It may be harsh but this is the way I feel:

I’d really like to know when this trophy trend began because it is terrible for the kids and a burden for parents.  Jay and I worked really hard when Wild Boy was a young child to teach him about losing.  It was a terribly hard phase in parenting but an important lesson nonetheless.  We thought we were home free in the learning to lose department until our child became involved in team sports beyond the young child level.

The night of the team loss was an emotional rollercoaster for both (solo) parent and child.  Attempting to provide comfort while simultaneously trying to help a child rationalize a major disappointment is something I won’t soon forget (and likely neither will he).  The lesson was learned but IMHO it was unnecessary to be taught this lesson twice.  The pain and suffering for my child was real.  He’ll be back on the field again I’m certain but he will definitely be a different kid the next time around.

School’s out and we’re outta here:  This week is the last week of school and we’re surprising Wild Boy with a vacation in Palm Springs.  I foresee extremely hot temperatures, days by the pool with cool mist and umbrellas and relaxation.  I can’t wait!

Birthday Shoutout: Happy Belated Birthday to Nick Rhodes who turned 53 yesterday (the 27th anniversary of my Senior High School Prom)!  Here’s a link to Nick’s birthday message for fans this year.

Image: DuranDuran.com

More Duran Duran news came out recently –  by Nile Rodgers in New York (and of course, I’m not going back to NY this summer – Boo!).  More patience is needed as we wait for some solo appearance dates and the new single to drop.  Until then, I’ll have to be satisfied with twists of fate like this:

I drove the old car one time this week and look what the first song was on the radio!

The Duran Duran fan boards have been burning up with the information that the tracks for the new album are really fantastic (like better than the last 3 albums) even with the appearance of Lindsay and/or Ali Lohan (no report of which song or if their vocal(s) made the final track but it is a strange choice IMHO).  Regardless, I can’t wait to hear the new stuff!

Out of the ordinary for me (in terms of music):  I heard “Hypnotize” by Notorious B.I.G. today and it reminded me of a great scene from a movie that always makes me smile to watch (that was not included in my 16 Songs That Can Instantly Make You Think Of A Movie Scene post).  It’s a teen movie but has Shakespearian roots.

Can you guess the above mentioned movie?  

Double bonus points if you can guess the Duran Duran song that B.I.G. sampled in one of his huge hits.

 So that’s a summary of what’s been going on in my world this week.

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