The Whirlwind of the Holiday Season

WOW I think I am still recovering from what we are calling the Christmas Triatholon. It was an amazing time with my side of the family celebrating Christmas, it was just A LOT of celebrating. We are looking forward to a relaxing New Years Eve and New Years Day and hopefully I will get some time to redecorate this fabulous little blog and get ready for 2009!

Happy New Year to all my faithful readers!

All I want for Christmas is....

I was driving yesterday and reflecting upon the many and when I say many, I mean literally hundreds of things we have to be thankful for this holiday season. I could try to list them all, but I don't think you really care about a sappy list at this point, here are the top 3:

1)We have a happy & healthy family

2)We both have excellent jobs

3)There are not many things out there in the universe that we want and don't already have

Here is what I can't figure out, at such a sentimental time of year, when it is EASY to think about all that is right in the world and be thankful for everything you have that others don't WHY DO MY IN LAWS have to torment us?!?!?!?! Mainly my husband, but you know that trickles down to me. I can't take it anymore. This is the rundown this year, we were waiting to get INVITED or for some one to make PLANS for the holidays that we could participate in. IT NEVER happened. Somehow it became our responsibility to plan the Christmas celebrations at both Jeff's mom & Jeff's dad's houses. Why - I am not real sure, since #1 - we don't live at either of those places and #2 - isn't this something that the PARENTS in the family usually coordinate? So we of course took the opportunity to name a date & time that work best for us. Which in my opinion is our prerogative, since no one else can PLAN ANYTHING EVEN WHEN IT IS OCCURRING AT THERE OWN F-N HOUSE. Here are the comments we have received back thus far, please note, I am not even exaggerating here, these are REAL, if you need explanations to put any of these in context, please feel free to call or email, I just LOVE talking about this, and finally, remember that we are traveling from Green Bay to Milwaukee with a 1 year old, we are making a round trip in one day which will end up being about 4 hours in the car and we have to go to 2 houses and celebrate with 2 separate families.

1)Why do you have to come to my house at 11am - I can't possibly prepare everything by then?

2)That date works for us - what time are you coming?

3)(Same person from comment 2, 2 days later) Not sure about that date, I will have to check and get back to you

4)It is really hard to do everything to get ready all by myself, are you sure we can't change the date?

5)(Same person from 2&3) I need an EXACT time you will be arriving

6)(you know who - AGAIN) We might have theatre tickets that day, I will have to let you know if it works

7)What?!?! This is on Cooper's Christmas list??? I don't want to get him any of these things!

8)I am sorry I accidentally invited our cousin who you are not comfortable being because she is a criminal, it won't be that big of a deal will it?

9)(same person again) I guess we will have to change our theatre tickets for the 20th, I guess it is okay if you guys come over

10)I AM SO SICK OF BEING SECOND CHOICE FOR EVERY HOLIDAY

11) What?!? You aren't coming because our cousin who might be in federal prison next year might also be there, well I don't want to ask her parents if she will have a furlough from house arrest that day, I don't want to make THEM feel bad. Can't you just get over it?

So, I guess all I want for Christmas is for our "celebration" with Jeff's side of the family to be OVER.

Casualties of Motherhood

Apparently carrying this darling baby for 9 months, worrying about their every breath, and completely dedicating yourself to their very being isn't enough. More of a sacrifice is needed. My sacrifice this weekend was a toe on my right foot. As I was gracefully scampering after a crying Cooper who had taken yet ANOTHER painful tumble across the floor in an attempt to climb onto Grandma & Grandpa's coffee table, I broke my second to last toe on my right foot. Over the weekend the toe was triple the normal size and a gorgeous purple & red shade. To add insult to injury, I believe my darling angel of a son has stepped on said toe about 3,000 times since I have broken it. This might be why I am NOT in a holiday mood.

To blog or not to blog - that is the question?!?!

Lately I have not been in the blogging mood and I have really been questioning whether or not I should keep posting or not. Many of my pals have been telling me to just get on MySpace. I just don't believe in MYSpace I guess. Perhaps I am old fashioned but I truly believe the people I want to be in touch with, I already am in touch with and the people I don't want to "find" after all these years can stay out there in cyberspace and LEAVE ME ALONE! I have given myself a January 1st deadline, by then I will know if blogging is worth it for me or if I should just give up and focus my time and attention on something more worthwhile.

Anyway - updates here, Thanksgiving was lovely, we were at my parents'. Cooper provides entertainment for everyone by running around and knocking over cans of soda onto the carpet when no one is looking. He also ate a TON of food, as everyone likes to feed him, sort of like a little lap dog or something. Perhaps he won't be our skinny Ethiopian baby for much longer with all the holidays coming up, we shall see. The day after Thanksgiving I was at Younkers for the 4am opening and IT WAS GREAT - I wasn't even buying gifts- I was just buying stuff for myself:) 2 pairs of shoes, 1 comforter, and 1 outfit for Cooper later, I went to Kohls and purchased more things for myself. I did get Grandma a scarf and my mom a calendar, but mostly, I bought things for myself. I love Christmas shopping(for myself).

Friday continued with our newest family tradition - ringing bells for the Salvation Army, also at the mall. Cooper LOVED ringing the bell and literally running after people while ringing the bell. He was very good at luring people to donate. I was feeling really lucky as we were ringing bells and thinking about how nice it is to help out such a great charity, we will definitely make this an annual tradition. After we rang bells we carried on our other day after Thanksgiving tradition and went to Hooters for dinner. Hooters was the first restaurant Cooper ever went to in his entire life!

Tomorrow I plan to make a turkey and do a lot of sleeping!

How much can we accomplish in one weekend?

The answer for me is usually a lot! Here's the review of what was happening at the H-Haus:

Friday, my lovely sister Heidi volunteered to watch Cooper so we could have an actual date night. Jeff surprised me with a very extravagant night. We started at KoKo where Jeff loves to have cocktails. It was nice, my drink was a little yucky, but I should know better than to order martinis anymore, I just can't drink them. From KoKo we headed to Republic Chophouse, the newest most trendy Green Bay restaurant. It was delish: pretzel bread with cheese butter, bacon-wrapped scallops, french onion soup, a steak served with a shot of Jameson, some very good red wine from Chile, and Red Velvet Cake for dessert. I even felt like we were young and fun again.

Saturday, I headed out to UW-Green Bay for the Outstanding Student Award interviews, always nice to be there, did some shopping in the bookstore which is now located in the Union, then cruised through Walmart. Came home, had lunch with the boys, then headed to Barnes & Noble and JCPenny for some Christmas shopping. Finally stopped at the Kress library to pick up the December Mothers & More bookclub book.

Today, we cleaned the entire house, read the paper, paid bills, I did some reading, made a tie-blankie for my sister and made chicken with brown rice for dinner.

Also this weekend we started the holiday negotiation with Jeff's family, as usual, it is not easy, no on seems to be happy and Jeff already feels bad about an event that is a month away. I don't understand why everyone doesn't do it the way my family does, show-up, eat a lot, drink even more and play Catch Phrase while you are loaded. My plan is to bring a bottle of wine to each location, pretend like I am going to share it and then drink both bottles myself. And when I am serious about how the holidays are going to go I don't mess around. I do recall making the statement after one particularly horrible holiday session, "That's it, I am not going there next year, I will either be pregnant, have a newborn I can't travel with, or poison myself." And wouldn't you just know it, the next year Cooper was born. Before anyone can post a smart comment about getting knocked up to avoid the 09 holiday season, let me be clear - I will be poisoning myself in 09 NOT having a baby!

I am tired, I am cranky, and I am going to bed.

Too long - So Sorry!

Yes, it has been much too long since I last posted anything, so if anyone is still reading this blog I will be shocked. Here is what has been going on:

1)Cooper turned one & we had a fabulous party, if I ever have to upload pictures, I will share some
2)Cooper has learned how to walk and we continue to childproof around his latest skills
3)Cooper has a minor issue and will be having surgery next Tuesday(please keep him in your prayers)
4)I went to a craft show and decided that my fabulous cousin Adge & I need to start selling our knit items at craft shows, especially the gorgeous things she can make - SO MUCH nicer than the crap I saw at the show I was at
5)Work has been nuts and will probably be this way through the end of the year

And I decided to fill out one of these and just post it here instead of boring you all with the email:

What is your occupation right now? Senior Account Manager - I sell stuff
What color are your socks right now? What socks?
What are you listening to right now? Silence, it's nice when Cooper is asleep
What was the last thing that you ate? Panera Turkey Artichoke panini
Can you drive a stick shift? Oh no
Last person you spoke to on the phone? Petra
do you like the person who sent this to you? Jill is wonderous
How old are you today? 24.5
What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? Golf or College Basketball
What is your favorite drink? Red Wine
Have you ever dyed your hair? Of course
Favorite food?Cheese, chicken & Chocolate
What is the last movie you watched? I am in the middle of No Reservations, it just takes me 6 weeks to watch one flipping movie
What cd have you listened most to lately? Wee Sing on the Road(try not to barf)
Favorite concert? Goo Goo Dolls with Bon Jovi OR Neil Diamond
Where will you spend Christmas this year? Hopefully just in Manitowoc & here
Is there something that you would do over? What? Probably be more emotionally available to others in MANY situations, I am working on it
Favorite day of the year? Cooper's birthday 10/20
How do you vent anger? I blog or write in my journal the things that are so secret I can't complain about them on my blog
What was your favorite toy as a child?Barbie or Fisher Price Lil People
What is your favorite season? Summer
Cherries or Blueberries? cherries
Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? if they need an excuse not to work - sure. If not no big deal
Who is the most likely to respond? Who ever fits the above criteria
Who is least likely to respond? Everyone
When was the last time you cried? When we found out Cooper has to have surgery
What is your most favorite possession? My wedding ring and Cooper, both are with me almost all the time
What is the most favorite gift you've ever given? Anything I have given Jeff that really surprised him, that he thought I would NEVER buy for him, most recently his batman watch
What is on the floor of your closet? shoes
If your favorite color no longer existed, what is your next favorite? pink
Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to?Adge?
What did you do last night? took a field trip to Walgreens, then played with CJ
What are you most afraid of? Losing those I love
Favorite dog breed? Westie
Favorite day of the week? Friday
How many states have you lived in? 1
Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
What is your favorite flower? Gladiolas & hydrangeas

F- N, my new word of choice

About a month back during one of Cooper's long babbling sessions, I am, almost positive he said G*dDa*mit! He said it in the same tone of voice I am sure he has heard me say it thousands of times since he has been born and probably even a few thousand times before he was born. this caused me to panic, as I most certainly do not want to be putting an expletive in the good 'ole baby book as his first word. So we immediately put a ban on all swearing at our house, not that we speak like sailors around here or anything, but something that needed to happen before our darling little man starts flipping off traffic from the back patio.

I have one observation about NEVER swearing - it is F-N difficult! And there you can see why F-N is my new favorite word. It is 2 letters that help get me through the day. I was telling one of my customers about F-N the other day and he suggested using "clucking" in it's place. To me, that just sounds dorky, F-N is much cooler.

On another note, send good thoughts and prayers to our friends the Metz family, Natalie & Pete are in Hawaii right now & Pete is competing in the Iron Man today. He is a super dedicated athlete who is in such great shape it makes me want to get into better shape. But then McDonald's started Monopoly this week and crushed my dream of being a tri-athlete. So Pete, it's up to you! Check out his blog here: http://www.petemetz.blogspot.com

Have a good weekend!

Another Milestone to be VERY Proud of....

Lately Cooper is racking up the milestones Daddy is proud of. A few weeks back, he officially starting picking his nose. And ladies & gentlemen, once his finger is in the nostril, good luck getting it out of there!

Last evening we discovered that Cooper had another talent he was waiting for just the right moment to expose. Following his bath, he gets wrapped in a hooded towel and a bath towel and warmed up. Then he likes to throw the towels off dramatically and get away from mommy to revel in being naked prior to a diaper being put on. All was going well until Cooper crawled his naked butt over to his mail cart and decided to stand behind it. He pulled himself up and once in a very straight and tall standing position, he proceeded to PEE STANDING UP! I think Jeff got teary:)

Have a great week, I will be lysoling anything I think pee got near.

Things I love about Cooper

I haven't done a list blog lately so I thought this was the perfect topic since the best baby in the whole world is approaching his first birthday and seems to get more independent and more like a toddler everyday. Here is my list:

#1)The way you pretend to be shy with ladies and bury your head in my shoulder when a new lady smiles at you

#2)The way you will say,"HaHA" if I say it to you first

#3)Your constant motorboat noises

#4)The way you never give up when in a quest to get what you want(this definitely comes from me and will probably cause most of our arguments as you get older)

#5)The easy going way you let the other kids take whatever toys they want from you during playgroup and then the sneaky way you manage to capture them back without the other kids knowing

#6)Your giggle

#7)The way you help me yell at Daddy when I am right(which is every time I am yelling at him)

#8)The way you sleep just like a grown up and wriggle around until you are in the perfect position

#9)Your expression when we arrive at our destination and I get you out of the back of the car

#10)Your gray eyes

And the list just keeps going and going.

Finally a DECENT idea

Of course news of the financial bailout plan and our economy is EVERYWHERE. Even as some one who typically avoids the TV news, I can not seem to escape info about who is accountable for it not passing yesterday. My husband heard some radio host yesterday who had a PERFECT idea. Instead of the government doling out cash to financial institutions, and whomever else needs their help, what would happen if they distributed the 700 billion(please don't get upset if my numbers are wrong, I truly don't care about these details and do no research prior to writing) to all of the US citizens. They did the math and it would end up being about 500k per citizen. Seriously, if I had 500k, my financial worries would be over, we would have no debt, our family's college funds would be established, and we would be spending $$ like crazy. As you can see, this is just what the economy needs.

I know my fingers are crossed that this will happen!

Don't Mess With an Angie

I have said this before and I will say it again, Don't mess with me! I am not sure what gives some people the idea that they can screw with me and not suffer any consequences. Pretty sure you can tell I am talking about something specific which I will now sound off about.

The moron(if you want her name, just email me and I will give it to you so you can avoid the completely unprofessional behavior I have endured this week) who was watching our son decided this week she wanted to bump us(after only 6 visits) to watch another child who was a close family friend. Now if she wanted to do this, she should have said, "I am so sorry, but I really need to help my friend out, if I give you 2 weeks notice would you be able to make other arrangements for Cooper?" Instead I am not sure what she did to him yesterday, however I had to pick him up early because he wouldn't stop crying. I am 100% positive she was not attending to him properly in order to make him cry, therefore giving her a reason to call me to pick him up. Cooper has never cried for no reason, NEVER! So I picked him up and could tell he was rattled. With some extra TLC and a long cuddle with Nanny Maggie today, we are hoping he will be back to himself by this weeked.

Here is why this idiot should have never messed with me:

#1) I have put her on a Do NOT Use list with my local mothers group that has over 100 members

#2) I will be telling everyone I know about this(in Green Bay I think I probably have about 200 personal contacts)

#3)They will be telling everyone they know

#4)I will personally make sure this person is contacted by the State in terms of licensing

Alright, I feel better now, everyone, please have a Happy Thursday!

Christmas - I can't wait!!!!

Perhaps it is because I truly LOVE shopping for ANYTHING, but I seriously can not get the holidays off my mind these days. And yes, I know it is September 16th. I do have a happy little formula to make sure I am truly able to enjoy the holiday season to the fullest and not get stressed. First, I never shop for presents after Thanksgiving. I seriously have already started my shopping and will finish the week before Thanksgiving. Then the weekend after Thanksgiving, I can take my sweet time decorating the house. After that I spend all the weekends of December leisurely wrapping gifts, baking and going to holiday parties. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

This year seems to be even more exciting shopping-wise because there are toys to be purchased for Cooper AND Connor AND Baby Luke. I was talking to Kim today and she advised that she had just picked up a 3 ft tall talking dinosaur over lunch for Connor. So I am not the only retail junky already firing up the engines on the holiday season!!!!

I will have to keep everyone posted with my deals and steals of the season - I think Fleetfarm Toyland opens in a few weeks, it will be my first stop for toys!

So Much to Say So Much to Say

Where to start? I think this will be a bit of a blog smorgasbord.

First, I will start with my favorite new blog to read and advise you my friends to go check it out as well:

http://www.mccainblogette.com/

Also, I haven't given props to my girl and fellow laid back mommy Angie O. lately. This lady has taken motherhood by storm. Her boy, Luke is seriously one of the most adorable babykins I have ever seen in my life. Here is the most recent picture I have of the two of them. I am absolutely thrilled to get to raise our boys together and know that Warrior and Crash will soon be getting into mountains of trouble together.

I also have some mommy musings to share. I have recently started to think that Cooper needed to do more, see more and in general be exposed to more kids. Just today he started swim class, which seems to completely mystify him. I have also been thinking I should be in a regular playgroup rotation and perhaps get him involved in some sort of music class. Then I read an article about just letting your kids play and not scheduling so many experiences for them. Which is great, a stingy mom like me is glad one of his favorite things to do is look out the window and spot big trucks!

Finally, I would like to highly recommend that if you live in the Green Bay Area and haven't checked out Butterfly Books- you are TOTALLY missing out! It is a WONDERFUL store and their story times are GREAT!

Surprises

I have been thinking about surprises lately and how they can change the course of your day in either a good or a bad way. I will give you 2 examples.

First, My most fabulous friend in the world who is celebrating a birthday today was surprised with an IPHONE this morning from her husband. What an AWESOME surprise.

Second, The other night Cooper surprised me not once, but twice by projectile vomiting onto me.

So - are surprises good or bad?

Right back to the Daily Grind

Well our vacation officially ended Tuesday. It was a great time visiting with all sorts of friends and family. It definitely made us both start to consider moving back to Milwaukee. We shall see where Jeff's career takes us. I can work from anywhere at this point and plan to continue working from home for as long as I can possibly stand it.

My personal favorite time during out vacation had to be Jeff & I taking a solo trip to Eddie Martini's. Truly amazing food as always. I am a huge fan of their AHI tuna. I also had a very fabulous Pimm's press cocktail there. It was made with Pimm's Cup, which is a British Spirit and cucumber soda. It is officially my new favorite drink. For dessert I of course had to go with chocolate creme brulee. I can never pass up creme brulee no matter where we are. Jeff had perhaps the most carmely delicious pecan tart I have ever tasted. It was a great treat to have a night out alone together. Thank you to Kim, Creighton & Connor for entertaining "Crash" while we were out.

Yes, Cooper's newest nickname is "Crash". He has started pulling himself up on anything that leads to a higher place and then forgetting that he is standing and crashing face first into whatever is available. You seriously can not leave him unattended for even a second. It sucks, I have gone from barely getting anything accomplished to getting absolutely NOTHING accomplished. So, if you are planning on visiting, do us a favor and don't choke on the dust!!!!

Up this weekend: Fisher Price toy testing party on Saturday morning. And a special dinner with Heidi's new boyfriend Saturday night. Should be a jam packed weekend as usual. I am hoping to also make it to church, hopefully we haven't been excommunicated!

I'm work from home, NOT stay at home

I attended a meeting of a local mothers group this week. I have heard many great things about the group. What I did not hear is that most of the mothers are stay at homers, at least most of the mothers who were in attendance at the meeting I went to. Not that this is a bad thing, these ladies were all extremely friendly, welcoming, and had so many great tips and ideas, I think I will be joining the group in the coming weeks. However I found myself in an interesting spot. Trying to explain that although I am physically at home with Cooper everyday, I am still working full time. Which no one seems to be able to understand. Yes, there are many perks of working from home, getting to my desk a few minutes late, switching loads of laundry between phone calls, and being able to be with my son each day as he is growing up. However when I indicated that we have our Nanny, Maggie at the house each day and that Cooper will be going to a babysitter for 2 days per week starting in fall, the reaction was mixed. Not that anyone said any thing directly, but you know what I mean, the faces and expressions say it all.

Personally, I think I still have the best of both worlds, I am at home with my son each day, I am instantly available for him, and now that he is getting close to one, he really does need a dose of reality and a chance to learn that he can exist away from Mommy and that it may even be a good idea. And I truly feel there is nothing wrong with that! I am hoping to convince other working moms to join this group with me, I am also hoping that someday when I tell people that I work from home that the reaction won't be the insinuation that because I am in my house, I am not working. I get furious when I have to justify to people that I actually have a job where I usually work more than 40 hours a week, I have over 20,000 long term care beds in my territory and a contact book of 700 people that I am tasked with staying in front of. It's no joke!

Okay I feel better now - we are heading out later today on vacation to Milwaukee and will be back sometime next week. Enjoy your last few weekends of summer!

I think I am getting better.........

I was truly proud of myself over the weekend. I ran into a person I despised when I lived here in GB during college. Seriously, I almost punched this person more than once. However that was 8 years ago and so much has changed that when I was confronted with this person in a store and could not avoid them, instead of being my usual furious self, I did something very surprising..... I WAS NICE! I asked how the person was doing, how their family was and in general was very friendly and felt good about our exchange when I walked away. I thought, wow, my patience and tolerance have really improved, this is wonderful!

Of course then some other situations came up these past few days that lead me to believe that I am not cured of my general intolerance for those who are MORONS:

-There is nothing I can't stand more than servers at restaurants who are idiots, I have been waitressing for 15 years and still think it is one of the EASIEST jobs in the whole world. Jeff & I went out for a rare meal alone Saturday night and I couldn't help but take note of a server who thought he was rather smooth, his hair was slick, his shirt was unbuttoned one button too many and he pranced around the dining room like he was the SH*T! The table next to us requested blue cheese dressing, this genius said, "We do not have dressing, we just have blue cheese crumbles and ranch dressing." I said to Jeff, loud enough for this guy to hear, "Well then you have bleu cheese dressing IDIOT!!!!"

-Earlier today I called a facility to reach one of my customers. Now I don't know about you, but my picture of what a receptionist does is that they answer the phone and take messages if the person you are calling for is not available. Again - not too difficult usually. I called one of my customers, was told by the receptionist she was in a meeting. Then there was a LONG pause. Finally I said, "Okay, This is Angela calling from..." And she said, "WAIT WAIT WAIT, I need to find some paper" Then there was a one minute pause while she was apparently looking for paper & a pen. Um- if your job was to answer the phone and take messages, wouldn't you have paper & a pen with you? Anyway my customer never got my message and called me later wondering why I hadn't called her.

So yes, I still think the world is full of morons and I am FURIOUS in general!

Going Places

Cooper is growing up so fast. It has truly been amazing few weeks around here:

He has gotten 2 new teeth, bringing the grand total to 4, Tooth #5 & #6 are on the way

He has mastered the art of "So Big"

And today, Cooper proudly unveiled that he can clap on his own

I think next week we'll start working on his Mandarin Chinese.

Why Summer is Great.......

This weekend was lovely for the most part. We celebrated my mom's upcoming 60th birthday on Saturday by surprising her with a spa day and a family picture. It was so much fun and literally the first time our whole family has been together since Jeff & I got married 2 + years ago. It really meant a lot to mom just to have us all together. We took her to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and Cooper was extremely well-behaved(he entertained himself and all of the tables around us by waving a dill pickle around and smearing it on his face and hair) until we had to give grandma her birthday Yee-Haw, then he was a little upset and we needed to get him in the car and on the way home. He was asleep within 3 minutes of pulling out of the parking lot.

Today Jeff's mother visited which was a wonderful excuse for me to make home-made potato salad and a tiramisu trifle. Both turned out excellent and we grilled brats, burgers & polish sausage that Cooper & I picked up at Maplewood Meats. I can not wait to head out there again - I LOVE that place.

Other than that we are having a wonderful summer, Cooper is becoming more hilarious every day and growing up way too fast. I can't believe he is 9 months old already! I am of course already working on his first birthday party - we have a very special theme and menu in the works.

Have a good week everyone!

How could she keep a straight face?
I have been in a bit of a funk lately. Not sure if I am depressed because I have a birthday coming up I will never admit to celebrating or if I am just crabby. Anyway I was doing a little searching through my memory bank and I started to think about jump roping in Catholic School.
Picture it, St. Andrew, circa 1988, I am a fifth grader and we have a jump rope unit in gym class. for our final test we need to perform a routine which can be either solo or in a group. And even though I started in a group I am sure some one in the group irritated me(something that still happens today when I attempt to work in groups) and I decided to just do the routine on my own.
I selected the Pointer Sisters song, "Yes" and went along planning a little routine where I showed all of the dippy jump rope tricks we learned and thought nothing more of it. Well over this weekend something occurred to me and I am not sure how in the HECK my catholic school gym teacher could EVER keep a straight face. Some of the lyrics to this song are, "Oh YES, we're gonna makea love, gonna be tonight, YES I can just imagine, huggin and squeezing and loven and teasin all night: YES" What on earth was a 10-year-old doing listening to this? And what would make me select this for my jump rope routine? I just crack up thinking about that teacher trying to watch my routine to the Pointer Sisters talking about getting some and it puts me in a happy place!