Martha Stewart is IN the House!

So...today is just shaping up to be one of "those" days. It started bright and early...and I do mean early, with me getting up at 5 a.m. for a 6 a.m. tennis lesson. The alarm was set for 5:15...but I woke up at 5 and just got moving. Two cups of coffee and a half hour later I was out the door and headed for the courts. Coffee is VERY important before you play tennis early in the morning. I have discovered first hand that it's no fun having tennis balls flying at you when your brain isn't firing fast enough to figure out how the heck to defend yourself! Caffeine is definitely my friend and mandatory before I face anyone across the net! But then, that's when things started not going exactly right. For one, my instructor was a "no show". Apparently when my friend cancelled her tennis lesson due to being out of town, it cancelled BOTH of our lessons. Fantastic. Lovely. Wonderful. And NONE too amusing at 6 a.m. So there was that. So I came home and decided to make the most of the fact that I was up and dressed (and caffeinated!) and in my exercise clothes. So I asked Oscar if he would like to walk and there was NO hesitation as he grabbed his leash and dragged me out the door. Chris suggested at the last second that I might like to try HIS heart rate monitor since mine is so off. (Oh brother! Here we go again! I'm starting to think that man really does want me dead! Mental note...double check and see just how much he has my life insurance payout set at!) So I, being the good sport that I am, strap said monitor on underneath the girls and Oscar and I take off. We walk and run about 2 1/2 miles to the tune of, according to the mighty heart rate monitor...just about 250 calories. Lovely. Just lovely. So when we got back to the house I hopped on the treadmill because once I start this whole exercise adventure I am usually not happy until I see that I have burned 500 calories or more. So I had my iPod going...new music...had my boogie on. And it's always good to have one's boogie on when trying to exercise! Helps to distract from the misery and pain and watching your calorie count NOT move up nearly fast enough! So I crank up the treadmill and begin to watch this stupid monitor. Well...the highest I was able to get that stupid monitor was 154 beats per minute. And that was at an all out 8 1/2 minute mile run. Hmmm. As tempting as it was to really push and see just what it would take to get it up into that maximum heart rate range, I decided that I simply did not have the time today for a near (or very possibly an all the way there) death experience. I resisted the temptation to invite certain death and just hung out with what I felt was a reasonable pace. So....when it was all said and done my treadmill awarded me 375 calories for me efforts. My heart monitor...Just 225. That coupled with my walk/run with Oscar put me at the 500 calories burned mark. BARELY. Sigh. Oh well. The fitness quest is almost more elusive than I care to take on. Almost! Once all of that trauma was over I jumped in the shower and prepared to greet the rest of this day. There is a house to clean because we are entertaining Ventana folks tonight. One has to be VERY strategic about house cleaning when there are three children afoot. You get one area all clean and neat and move on to another....only to return to the previous area to find that it has been demolished by three little tornadoes. Quite frustrating really! What I thought was going to be 9 people has now turned into 18! So guess who gets to cook tonight?! Those who know me well know what a passionate love affair I have with the kitchen. NOT!!!!!! However. I am digging deep today for my Martha Stewart tricks and my Betty Crocker attitude. Gonna need to sprinkle all of that with a little Merry Maids miracle and elbow grease as well! Throw in the fact that I need to go to the grocery store to actually BUY the food I am supposed to cook tonight (guess I should give some thought to what I will be preparing!), am in desperate need of a chiropractor appointment as my lower left quadrant is TOTALLY wacked out and oh yeah! I am operating on less than 5 hours of sleep. Well all right. I'd say I've got quite a day ahead of me! Come forth Martha and Betty! SHOW YOURSELVES! Maybe...just maybe there are just a few moments to squeeze in a nap here?! After all, even Martha Stewart takes naps....right?!