18.6% and counting. Plus Kindercrap Rant.

18.6 % body fat last night. Getting there, getting there. Trainer and I both have a feeling that once we get into spring, I'll get there faster. That makes sense. With the longer days, I'll be able to run outdoors longer. Whatever. I'm happy. Hope my race times reflect this change. I should just go up to the Verona track and time myself on the mile.

Tom had his measured at the Caldwell Community Center. They uses one of those machine thingies which are not as exacting as the caliper method but close enough. His was 14.5%. No surprises there as he's on the lean side and he's a man.

The most accurate way to measure body fat is underwater weighing but very few places offer this method. Most likely, you have to go to university lab, specifically one that studies obesity and diabetes. Very big, I understand, in places like New Mexico and Southern Cal.

***

Visited my cousin on Sunday who lives down near the shore. It's been a while since I've seen her since one of my brothers got into some sort of tiff with my cousin and her brother so I just assumed she was mad at me, too. Plus, in all honesty, even though she's the only first cousin I have that's close to my age, we don't have that much in common. We did have some fun times together as kids, though, and to this day, we can't stop laughing about some of them.

A couple of weeks ago, she called me. "Hello, this is your cousin ________. I don't know if you remember me or not, but I was just wondering how you were doing." It was good to hear from her. I called her back and we arranged to get together.

My cousin was unable to have children of her own so she and her husband adopted a baby boy three years ago. He's a cute kid but what a handful. After spending time with them, I am reminded why I never wanted kids of my own. He. Just. Doesn't. Stop. For one minute. Lots of energy. Into everything. Interrupts constantly. (All kids do this but I could never understand parents that put up with it). Plus, the house looks as if it had been tortured by the Apaches. Kindercrap ALL over the place: the living room, the computer room, the kitchen, you name it. In fact, the only room in the whole house that had any semblence of order was the kids' own room.

The living room was the worst. All kinds of toys littered the floor, so much that you couldn't see the floor itself. Mind you, she knew I was coming over. I would hate to see the house when no company was expected. I should mention that my cousin does not work, either. So, WTF?

The best part was that she was showing me some pictures and wall sconces that she planned to hang up. She just swept through the room, oblivious to the mess, "And this is where I'd like to hang this..." I mean, dayum, what difference does it make what you've got on your walls when the room looks like a bomb hit it?

It's not just my cousin. I see this is almost all the homes I visit that have young children. The kids and their toys have literally taken over. Not to sound like an old fart, but geez, whenI was a kid, I was allowed to play with my toys in my room, outside or in our finished basement, which doubled as my dad's office and a kid's playroom. My mother would have had a fit if I left toys all over the house.

My cousin apologetically told me that the living room looks like this because she doesn't have a basement. Lame excuse, sorry. I would bet the farm that if they DID have a basement, they would find a way to fill it up with junk, too, as she and her hubby appear to be packrats on top of having a messy kid.

This just reaffirms my Child-Free philosophy that today's parents are so obsessed with their offspring that they'e let them take over. I can just kids all over America raising their little sticky fists, announcing: "We want the living room and we want it NOW!"