Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Pizza Rehab


Hi, My name is Ember Hobi and I am addicted to Pizza! I think I’ve been this way all my life. I ate a lot as a teenager. I remember walking to Little Caesars EVERYDAY during lunch and feeling like I was eating the best thing in the world! I LOVED it! It has always been difficult for me to eat a few pieces. Once I eat two I’m just getting started! Something happens and I kick into auto and the next thing I know I’m onto five or six. I don’t like just any pizza. My favorite is Little Caesars but it is hard to find on the East Coast. I get sick if I eat Pizza Hut. I can’t do frozen pizza, and the “Pie’s in NY” aren’t doing it for me. Fortunately, we found a pizza place a rocks throw from our house...with free delivery, and the best Margarita pizza in town. (No mom, no alcohol) Now, here is where the problem began. We are on an eating out budget which allows Pizza once a month. Suddenly pizza is over coming my thoughts, just like most addictions do. Anytime I am real hungry all I want is pizza! If I have a hard time thinking of dinner ideas I default to pizza. Even on the way home from the gym I crave pizza! Once the new month rolls around and our budget starts over- you bet we have pizza the first week! I can easily eat my own Medium pizza. The problem is I don’t always eat pizza because it tastes great. Sometimes it’s not good at all. I eat pizza because of the way I feel while I’m eating it. That’s how I know I’m addicted! It’s an escape of emotions and feelings. The best time for pizza is on a friday night after the kids are in bed and Sam is home. I have trained myself to “escape” through pizza. Perhaps it’s because pizza is used to celebrate so often. We didn’t order pizza often while I was young. Ordering pizza was a BIG deal. I remember, to this day, the excitement I felt driving to Little Caesars and picking up the 2 for 1 pizzas. (Pizza, Pizza) The smell would consume me in the car, it was torture having to wait. Even worse was being a guest for dinner when pizza was served because I knew I had to manage my appetite.
Pizza was considered a “splurge” when we first married. There is no way we could afford it then. Now that pizza isn’t such a scarcity to me, maybe I am reacting to my previous cravings or limitations unreasonably.
I go crazy inside, I can’t get enough. Stuffing myself with pizza satisfies my unbalanced emotions.
During that meal I “feel different.” Slice after slice I tell myself I “feel better” or I “deserved it.” It’s bad news when I feel stressed. I dare say I have had Pizza overdose. Most the time I quit eating because the pizza is gone, not because I’ve had enough. And I feel sick inside every-time and swear that I won’t over do it next time. Well, I did it again, and again, and again.
Today I am doing something about it! Today I am admitting that I have a Pizza problem and I am putting an end to it! I am going to google “calories of cheese pizza” to scare me (or gross me out) because I’ve always wondered how many fat calories I was consuming but I haven’t been prepared to make the change. (Ignorance is bliss!)
Now I’m not giving up pizza entirely, that would be silly. Certain events beckon a great pizza feast. I will set a limit to hold myself accountable to.

I, Ember Hobi, herby swear I will enjoy 2 and ONLY 2, fat and juicy slices of pizza at a setting. I will smile and wave as the box is tossed into the garbage full or empty! I will feel satisfied and good about myself when I eat pizza. I love pizza. Pizza is my friend. I will no longer allow pizza to interfere with my emotions!

Please feel free to hold me accountable! I AM POWERFUL!!!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

9 years of bliss


This month Sam and I are celebrating our 9th Anniversary!! Boy how time flies. I thought I would write up a beautiful tribute to my wonderful husband. And talk about the exciting adventures and wonderful years we’ve shared. You know, the kind that paints the perfect picture of the perfect man...
I just turned to find him sitting up on the couch with a book in hand, mouth open, dead asleep! Mind you, we were just having a conversation a few seconds ago. This image of him is quite funny. I stop to take a picture- because I was just about to describe that “perfect” picture- why not just post it? I thought how great would this blog be to have that pathetic picture! As I zoom in for the kill I am laughing audibly. As the shutter clicks he wakes up. How do I explain this one?
Oh wait....TIMBER! He falls over to the arm of the couch and is gone, ...AGAIN. All the romantic thoughts just ran out the door as I took pity on my hard working husband. My Friday night can’t get any better than this. I casually return to the computer to give him a few more seconds to soak up REM, then I check the camera to see if I captured the moment. What a bummer- no memory card!! Lucky Sam.
Here’s to an exciting 10th year ahead! :)

Monday, November 5, 2007

Halloween 2007




I don’t like Halloween! I can’t find anything GREAT about it. There is nothing fun about spending $25 plus on a silly costume that either gets ripped apart before it’s time to go Trick-or-Treating or they never touch it again after Trick-or-Treating. I don’t think the decorations are appropriate for young kids! Walking into Party City can give any child nightmares!! I don’t want to explain to my kids why there are blood and bones hanging from the ceiling nor do I want to explain why I am covering their eyes when looking at adult costumes! A trip to Party City puts more into my child’s head than watching a a rated R movie!! Who needs that?

Now that it is clear that I am the scrooge of Halloween let me tell you how it all went down for the Hobi kids, ages 6, 4, and 2.

In SEPTEMBER I bought the costumes!! Not because I was anxious for the wonderful nightmare to begin but because I have been searching for Power Ranger costumes for Jarom and Jennica to dress up in. So, one afternoon, in late September, I noticed Party City had Halloween costumes out. They had Power Rangers, and I knew they would be a hot item, so I purchased them right away.
Then I came across the cutest Witch costume for Jen. She LOVED it. She wanted to sleep in it! She wanted to wear it every- where. Once she got home from school, her school clothes were off and this Witch dress went on! I was so happy to have found a costume that was such a hit. I figured I’d get all the miles I could off this dress.

As October is nearing an end, I realize no one has said a thing about Halloween! They are still dressing up in the costumes but it didn’t seem to me that they thought the costumes were directly related to this silly event about to take place. (Where you cover these expensive costumes with coats, because it’s freezing outside, and go door to door getting candy from STRANGERS on a school night!)

My scrooge mind gets thinking, “Maybe we can get away without going Trick-or-Treaing!” After all it’s a school night and I DON’T WANT MY KIDS TO HAVE ALL THAT CANDY!!! I went as far as declining Trick-or-Treating invitations from several friends on the account that we weren’t going out that night.

Well, the day before Halloween Jarom came home from school excited as all get out, because he gets to dress up at school the next day! Then he asks, bright eyed and bushy tailed: “Mom, are we going Trick-or-Treating tomorrow?”
It wasn’t really a question. He asked with complete confidence that it was happening.
I casually said, “No Jarom, it’s a school night. You’ll get to dress up with your friends at school.”
And that was that. He didn’t say anything else. I thought I was getting away with it!
It wasn’t until dad came home that I heard Jarom telling him how unfair it was. So, I was the mean mom and Jarom passed the news to Jennica and they went to bed upset that they were being robbed of Halloween.

Halloween morning came as any normal morning does. I didn’t color their pancakes orange, or create any spooky fun at all. Jarom headed to school with his Power Ranger costume in his backpack ready to soak up all the Halloween joy he could before returning home.

I took the other kids to the school to watch him in the Halloween parade and while we were there a few more of my friends asked what our Trick-or-Treating plans were.
It wasn’t till I heard how excited they were about their kids going that I began to see how scroogy I had become.
One friend laughed when I told her I was hoping to let it all pass by.
She asked, ”What’s next Ember, There’s no such thing as Santa Clause?”
Now, that was funny! I needed to hear that.
So now, here it is mid-day on Halloween and I’m back peddling. Wishing I had put more effort into enjoying this crazy day instead of ignoring it. Why couldn’t I have thought about making orange pancakes, or colored my hair crazy that day? I could have had some good laughs with the kids!!
I quickly find out what street his best friend was planning to attack and the time and decided to live a little.

The kids were so excited about going they were jumping around and doing almost ANYTHING I asked of them. So, we dressed up and went out! (Jennica did NOT want to wear the witch dress during this event. Go Figure!)

I am so glad we went! I had so much fun seeing them and all the other kids so excited. We had a great time. Even little Jace loved the concept of walking door to door to get CANDY.
The first door we went to he said Trick or Treat and took the candy and said thank you. We walked back to the street and headed to the next door. His smile got bigger. Once we moved to the third door he looked up at me and said in surprise “More candy again?”

The best part of the night was when I approached a door just as Jennica and Jarom were leaving. Jen looked up at me with deep concern.
“Mom, throw this in the trees!” She said as she handed me her candy (AirHead) she just got.
“What? Why?” I asked getting a little nervous. The paranoid mother kicked in and I had thoughts of poisoned candy and mean tricks. And by the look on her face I could tell she was really serious. She looked me right in the eyes and said matter-a-fact: “Mom, if I eat this candy my head will blow up like a balloon and I’ll float away! That’s what I saw on the commercial. Throw it in the trees!”
First I gave her a big hug because I could tell she felt insecure about her possession of that candy,
Then I tried really hard not to laugh so much about it. After getting rid of the AirHead and a few reassuring hugs she was off again.
Of course the next day they were rummaging through their goods and Jen came across the Air Head. She couldn’t stand to even touch it! She shooed it away like it was a mouse. It was so cute to see her respond this way. It took some time to convince her it was just candy. I finally got her to hold it then I took a picture. (picture attached) I convinced her to eat it but with the condition that I would hold her feet down so she wouldn’t fly away. As you can imagine, I had some fun with that!!
Next year will be different. I won’t try to avoid it all....I will probably dress up as the true Witch that I am!!

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Jarom goes to Kindergarten


My Kindergarten Days made an impression! The number one thing I learned about was FEELINGS! I remember feeling things socially, emotionally, and physically that I hadn’t dealt with before. I remember flying off the Teder Toder after a rainy morning and landing in a puddle. I remember walking along the swings only to find myself on the ground with a numb face. And I remember riding my bike balancing a Birdcage on my handlebars for Show and tell, only to find out it wasn’t show and tell day!
No wonder I had a difficult time sending my oldest off to Kindergarten. I felt the sudden need to protect him from the “hard life” he was about to encounter. Have I prepared him?
The weeks and even months leading up to the 1st day of school very little was said about what was going to take place. He knew he was going to Kindergarten but I didn’t want to allow idle time to mess with any concern he might have. I figured we’d ride that wave when it came. Well, the night before the first day of school a group of our friends met at the park and ate pizza for dinner. When we arrived a father asked Jarom if he had any exciting plans the next day. Jarom said, “No.” So the father prodded a little more with, “nothing NEW is going to happen tomorrow? Are you maybe going to try something different for the day?” He was clueless that he was experiencing his first “school night” of his life.
When Jarom was born we lived in a house across the street from an Elementary School, in Ohio, and I would watch the little kids come and go to school. Holding my new baby I had terrible feelings at the thought of sending him off to school. Oh, how I dreaded that day. Now fast forward to the present day...Jaorm’s 1st day of school. This is how it went.
He wakes up and picks out his sleeveless Spider-man shirt and shorts to wear. Not the choice I would have picked out of all the new school clothes he has hanging in his closet. (lesson #1 to Mom- Jarom has an opinion of his clothing! I’ve had to return several shirts on the account that they look like church shirts because they have a collar and buttons!) Then he moves on to doing his hair. I thank my lucky stars that he likes his hair short and spiky and pray the day will be slow to come when he likes it in his eyes or a different color! I can handle a half wet head and a gob of gel in the front at this age- No Problem! Ok, we’ve arrived at the school and I notice he has syrup pasted all over his cheek! I search the car for a wipe and on this particular day, not one can be found! You guessed it! I did what every kid hates and licked my finger and attempted to do the job. I placed myself in the “annoying mom category” and I knew I crossed that line. In that moment I looked into his eyes and drew some strength from my 5 year old. There wasn’t a trace of apprehension on his face. He was moving forward with or without me. As we began walking through the parking lot he held my hand and for that brief walk I felt the bond between us. I felt the security I gave him and the years of preparation we enjoyed together. Then it happened. Without saying a word or even slowing in step he withdrew his hand from mine as he approached the school doors. I’ll always remember how I felt when my child let go of MY hand. It was as if he was saying to himself or perhaps even me, “I’m ready for this.” Together we walked side by side into his class.
This wasn’t how I envisioned the day to go. Lesson #2 to Mom- Mom needs to let go.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Jen leaves for College...I mean Pre-School


Today is Jen's 1st day of Pre-School!!
She was very excited to go this morning. The problem was, she didn't have school this MORNING, she goes at 12:30pm. She thought she was leaving the same time Jarom was going, at 8am! Yes, it was a sad moment at the bus stop when she realized she was walking back home with me.
The time finally arrived but the poor girl was late because we had to wait for Jarom to get home from Kindergarten. ( it turned out the original bus driver called in sick so the new driver got lost which made the arrival of Princess Jen a little on the LATE side the 1st day of school.) She didn't have any problems leaving me. It would have been just as well if she gave me the finger as she walked into class. :)
The following 3 hours were quiet! :)
When I picked her up she ran to the door to greet me. But before she actually made it to the door she triped in true Jennica fashion and just about took the teacher out. The first thing she said was; "I made a necklace mom!" holding up two beaded necklaces. "One is for me and the other one is for my....(looking into my eyes with a slight concern) BABYDOLL!" I think she was relieved with my responce just as I was relieved by her comment.
As we were walking to the car she announced: "Mom, I met Lucifer today!" Just my luck......