Thursday, April 23, 2009

Microbes 1 v. My Family 0

Dear itty bitty microscopic bugs,
Could you please leave my family and I alone? I'm tired of fighting with you. My boys noses can't take anymore of me running after them to wipe the goopy, yellow muck that runs from it. The Kleenex company stocks are skyrocketing thanks to my usage of three boxes in two weeks. My lovely husband can't get you out of his head and it's been four months. Your lease is up in our bodies. I don't have a complete game plan to eradicate you yet. Don't make me go all Clorox bleach, antimicrobial wipes, and Purell on you. Do I need to resume my Bubble Boy practices on you?!

Thanks for sending that extra special virus to infect my ears and make me want to chuck my daily 20 points worth of food this past week. It's been fun. Now leave. I am willing my third-world immunity to step in and make me feel better.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Husband? Where Art Thou?!

My lovely is once again traveling for work but this time for the entire week. UUGGHHH!! How do single parents do it? I hate it when he is out of town. Although in lovely's defense, he really didn't want to go to this conference because he has to give a presentation on the last day of the conference. That means, no relief of the knot in his tummy until the curtain closes on the final day. Gross!!! Public speaking is worst than trying to lose 30 lbs.

Although one up side of having an engineer for a husband, he practices his presentation with you, you won't ever have trouble going to sleep. I wasn't sleepy before he started but the topic is so far from anything that interests me (like Physics...), I was nodding off and yawning afterwards. This topic was like a sleeping pill for me. I told him I couldn't work for his company because I wouldn't be able to stay awake long enough to get any work done. I wouldn't feel good about cheating a company out like that.

Hurry home and be safe husband.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Weight Loss Goals...revisited

I'm hungry today due to monthly hormonal inbalance that makes me crave everything yeast leavened and bad for you. Straight to your hips kind of food. I haven't gone over my WW points and that is huge for me. I am trying to stay focus on my longterm weight loss goals. So I thought I'd list them to remind myself why I am cutting back on food, exercise and find new ways to torture myself physically by signing up for a 12k.

1) Health-prevent diabetes and heart attack, lower my cholesterol, breath better, & help my mental outlook (not get so embarrassed when I run into people I haven't seen in years looking fatter).
2) Run faster mile and do more fun runs (like how fun is a marathon?! ). So I'm not there yet but one day.
3) Get muscle definition in my arms (I have never had this and no it's not my extra hands waving back at you...it's just my loose, fatty skin).
4) Set an example for my boys-they see me being more active, they want to be more active too.
5) Look hot for my lovely husband (okay this really is my #2 but I thought I should try to not be so vain).
6) Not look at pictures of myself and cringe because I can't believe I had let myself get this big.

So now my stats on where I'm at today: I can run 5 miles in 64 minutes and still function, do 15 man push-ups without collapsing, weigh 133.4 lbs., and wear a size 8 clothes without any stretchy material. I have about 10 lbs. left to my goal weight and then I will reevaluate what that will look like for me. Right now, I feel so much better and for the most part, I don't feel like I am missing out on any food. I used food A LOT for comfort but I redirect it now. If I can only get my monthly hormonal influx under control...

Friday, April 17, 2009

Labyrinthitis

It has a name!! Two nights ago, I woke up from dead sleep with sudden dizziness and the felt like I needed to vomit. This continued for the next six hours. I didn't know what it was-all I knew was the room would spin fast out of control and I felt like I was going to fall. Then because I was so dizzy, I wanted to vomit. Horrible. My husband finally convinced me to go to the hospital (I didn't want to because I was afraid I would have to wait for hours to be seen). I didn't want to disgrace myself in front of an audience. Thankfully, my friend took our boys and we were seen right away. I didn't know if I was having a stroke, menegitis, or ear infection. It turned out to be an inner ear infection called Labyrinthitis where the maze of canals fill with fluid or inflamed for whatever reason, it affects balance and hearing. This causes vertigo (spinning room feeling), loss of balance, nausea, vomit, hearing loss, and tinnitus. So far no hearing loss because I can still hear my boys fighting.

Anyway, there is not a cure but a medicine that helps with the symptoms so you can function until the inner ear heals called Meclizine (prescription and over the counter). I am forever thankful to the researchers who came up with this medicine. I have heard of others having vertigo and have never felt this outside of a merry-go-round, but I can't believe others have this chronically and stay sane.

Of course through all this, my lovely husband was there and he has been awesome at taking care of the boys so I can recover. Also, thank you C.B. for taking my boys.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

I have reported on a lot of happy topics this year: my kids, husband, favorite things, weight, etc. but I toss over how much of my life should be blogged about and decided I couldn't just report on the good.

This past month has been tough for me, my grandma died at the age of 94. She was a wonderful lady who was very kind and gentle to all her grandkids and anyone she came in contact with. She LOVED family and she was always at every family function (quite a feat considering she never drove). She kept a lovely vegetable garden and would pickle whatever was left from harvesting to make it last all year. She was small but she left such a huge impact on all of us. I miss her and am glad she is no longer in pain. The past two years she's been in a nursing home and not in good health. She died on March 17th in her sleep. I was thankful to get to visit her and to say good-bye slowly. The greatest lesson I've learned from her is make people important-forget the stuff-just be there for others.

Now, with great heartbreak, we learned that a friend of ours who was battling cancer this past year died on Friday by his own hands. I am so sad to lose him. He was a very independent man and although I've been told why he would come to this decision, it doesn't make the hurt and pain I feel over his death any easier to take. I grieve for him and his family.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

good news

Extra! Extra! Here all about it!! Good news finally...

I was so happy to see a good article on my Yahoo homepage when I fired up the computer this morning. It was about an awesome lady named Talon Curtis finding a real check for $357,959. She turned it into the bank and the check was picked up by the real owner of the check. She turned down a reward and just wanted to meet the owner in person (which didn't happen). She just wanted the owner and others to know that there were still honest people out there. I don't know anything about Ms. Curtis' life but she certainly made my day. I am tired of hearing bad news day in and out. I can't hardly listen to it and continue to be chipper while raising my little boys.

I need to know good things still happen and people still do things for each other without the promise of something in return. I need to hear this for me so I don't end up bubble wrapping my boys and sticking them in my basement so nothing bad happens to them. You think I'm kidding?!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Kitchen-Aid Mixer



Oh how I love my Kitchen-Aid mixer, it makes me look so good with so little effort. I absolutely would be lost if it ever brokedown. I can't live without this little kitchen appliance. It's my R2-D2 sidekick but BETTER because it doesn't make obnoxious noises and I can eat what's in the bowl later.

What do I do with my super-duper mixer? I make homemade bread using the hook attachment (kneading?! never), whip up mashed potato, and make cheesecake batter. And that's just what I did today. I hate touching raw meat so when I have to mix up my ground meat for meatloaf or meatballs...all gets dumped into the mixer and I let it do the work. I even made lean ground pork using the grinder attachment.

Those that have one and using it regularly know what I'm talking about...those who have one and let it sit there-use it. Or better yet, call me I'll come over and teach you what fabulous stuff you can make with it. And those who don't have one, save up and get one. You'll never regret it.

Monday, April 6, 2009

...and the result was...

I finally checked my time for the 5K I ran on the 28th and I did it in 32 minutes. I would have never believed I could do this. On the treadmill, it used to take me over 45 minutes to run 3 miles. This past three months have been mindboggling in terms of my fitness. I am pushing myself further and little ole me ran 5.4 miles on Sunday after running almost 5 miles on Saturday. Who would have thunk that?! Today I ran 4.5 miles and I am not crying in pain.

Here's the recap of what I know for sure that this time it has clicked in terms of weight and fitness. I finally listened to all the advice regarding the three principles of weight loss: keep some form of jfood journal to help monitor eating portions (Weight Watchers online), exercise, and get a buddy or support system outside yourself. For me, I have enlisted a help of a trainer once a month at my gym and have a WW buddy who is my exercise partner on the weekends to help keep me motivated. She and I are roughly the same weight and height so our workout program mesh really well. She is very encouraging and it helps to have someone to go through this.

In the past, I have either restricted my food intake to the extreme for a few months and then SNAP! ate like a cow to make up for it. Or I would eat like a cow but exercise a LOT. Both these two were not healthy alone because I was either so lethargic from so little food intake that I couldn't find the energy to exercise or I would be so sore from exercising so much that I took comfort in pigging out.

For the first time, I have been eating the right kind of food in the correct portion and have the energy to exercise. I love it. I can't believe I'm the most healthy I've ever been and it only took 37 years to achieve this. Of course I've still got more weight to lose but each week, I'm seeing weight loss and so I'm going to keep on going.