Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Quick Update

Hope everyone is well! I'm pretty much just poking my head in to say hello. California was absolutely wonderful - we had a great time! I am busy getting my Biology homework done before we leave town again Friday to head up to the lake house to meet Chris and Charlie and the girls, and tonight I am hanging out with David's BFF, Brian. His gf is meeting some friends for dinner, and since Brian had his accident and can't do much for himself at the moment, I volunteered to come and hang out with him. I don't mind at all...it's nice to be there when friends need help, and this isn't just any friend, it's David's best friend and he's a good friend to me, too. I know if I needed something I could count on him. Well, if he could walk! (LOL!) But seriously, I don't mind one bit.

Tomorrow night's lab is pig dissection. I am REALLY dreading this lab, but it's the last one and I'm going to be brave and get it over with. But I am really having to work to get all my lecture stuff done before we leave...I'll be doing that during my lunches the next two days and definitely before and after going to Brian's. But it will get done!! (It has to...there's no choice about it!)

So I hope everyone is hanging in there...I am a finalist in the magazine weight loss challenge, so hopefully I'll know something next week. Cross your fingers!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Good News and a Birthday Recap

So I got a notification yesterday that I am a finalist for the magazine weight loss challenge! This is cool stuff! So I've spent my morning filling out the questionnaire and writing what would be my first blog post for them. (I would blog 3-4 times each week.) So I am hopeful. I have to submit it and 4 pictures of myself by July 1st, so it will be a little longer before I know anything for sure. But this is very exciting!

I had an awesome birthday yesterday! David gave me a Sony Reader, and now I can join Kim in the world of e-books! I am already addicted to this thing...and I think he wants one too. I bought three books already for it, and already have a 4th I want to download. This will be perfect on the plane to California on Friday!

I am so ready to have a mini-vacation this weekend! I love David's California family...they are tons of fun! So I am looking forward to spending time in 75 degree weather. I'll be taking my walking shoes and enjoying the weather immensely!

I think that's it for now. My eating has been good except for the 2 pieces of cake I ate yesterday. But it was my birthday and I'm not sorry I ate it!!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Working On Myself

I did it! Iwent back to WW this morning AND I got on the scale. It was ugly. Really ugly. But you know what? I was brave and I did it. I and I have a lot of work to do, but I feel ready for it. I'm tired of the food free-for-all, the feeling full, the feeling heavy...I am done! I'm ready to feel energized and healthy and proud! So I finally did what I wish I had done years ago: I am stopping the madness. Empowerment is a good thing, and I am feeling very empowered right now.

So that's my big news of the day. Mom's eye is healing well from her surgery, and she is seeing a difference already! Yay!!

I hope everyone has a good weekend and a wonderful Father's Day!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Buried

I feel like I am buried up to my neck...homework, laundry, you name it. It's piling up! But I did get to celebrate Mom's birthday yesterday! :) And I am so glad...we had a lot of fun. We ate dinner, Mom opened her gifts, and we ate cake. Oh, and then we watched the new Betty White sitcom, Hot in Cleveland. That has got to be my new favorite show! All the actresses on there are hilarious, and I hope this show is a big success! At least it was with me...I was laughing like a crazy woman!

I am so tired this morning. This week hasn't been good sleeping for me. I've been up way too late every night, and feeling like I'm just not getting anything done. I hate that feeling.

Oh, and I am dragging my sorry tail to WW on Saturday. I haven't been going. I've wanted to go, but I've had a horrible mental block against going. So I decided to try a totally different meeting location so it feels like a fresh start. My dear friend Wendy is coming, too, so now I have a buddy to go with and she WON'T let me weasel out of going on those days when I don't want to. This is a good thing, trust me. So while I already know I won't like what the scale says, after Saturday it will only get better. Of course, for the two following Saturdays I will be out of town, but that's okay. I'm ready to start and I didn't want to wait until I got back. So here we go again...sucking it up and going to face the scale. But it's not the scale that's my enemy. I'm not sure what really IS my enemy, but I'm going to figure it out. The scale is just the messenger, and we all know we're not supposed to shoot the messenger, right? So now I need to sort out why this is so hard for me. Weight loss is very mental for me...and I'm going to figure all this out somehow.

So here we go. Again.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Biology...the Ruiner of Summertime Fun

So I didn't do as well as I would have liked on my test. Didn't bomb it but I wish I had done better. It was HARD!! Next time I know I'll need to be prepared with way more detail. But it's done, and I've done some extra credit work, so hopefully that will help. And I'm doing well in my lab, and that's 30% of my grade as well, so I am thinking it will all balance out.

So now I am hungry and it's bedtime. This means a fruit smoothie for dinner and then on to bed.

Wow...what a fun summer I'm having!!

Friday, June 11, 2010

Long Day

Mom had her eye surgery today. (Corneal transplant) I didn't realize how worried I was until I started getting antsy about not having heard from Dad. While Mom's surgery is not uncommon, it's still not necessarily the norm and I was ready to know she was good. Now we wait for a few months to really know if it took. (For those who do not know, my mother has Fuch's Dystrophy...it's worth Googling just to get a better idea of what it is...too much info for me to go into here.) She's had one eye done already, and we are hoping this one does well. The surgeon says things went well. She has a follow up this morning, so I am praying that the result is good so far. We are also praying for the family of the person who donated the corneal tissue. While we celebrate my mother's sight improving, another family is feeling the pain of losing a loved one. But that is part of the beauty of organ/tissue donation...someone you love can continue to give selflessly even after they are gone. I have a good friend who was a quadruple organ donation recipient. Someones loss and selfless act saved Robbyn's life. I will always be grateful to that family, too.

I also had an eye appointment yesterday to get more contact lenses. It's nice to not be wearing my glasses again! I had been out of contacts for a few weeks, and I am glad to have them again. I always put off going to the eye doctor because it just doesn't cross my mind. That, and it takes a while. But it's good to check your eye health, everyone!

I am so glad it's Friday, although I will be spending the weekend studying again. Why am I working this hard for a 4-hour class? Between the lecture and the lab, I am swamped! The second half of summer will feel like a vacation even though it's going to be a senior level psychology class! I'm looking forward to that one, too. Anne and I are both taking it online and will be getting together a lot to make sure we are successful in there. Oh, and I will officially be a senior at the end of my Biology class, so I am almost there!!! Yay!

I think that's it for now. I hope everyone has a great Friday!!

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Choices

I thought a lot about choices tonight. About how the choices we make affect more than we think they do. What made me think this? Watching "Losing It With Jillian Michaels" tonight. I should already know all this, but I got a great reminder this evening about how the decisions we make can make long term changes. I've chosen to go to school and work and these are choices I am glad I made. I have also chosen (in the past) to be lazy and eat things that have been terrible choices. Well here I am making new choices. I am choosing to be more active and to eat healthy. I am choosing to be a new me...one who isn't afraid to try things that seem scary (insert 1/2 marathon here). But most importantly, I am choosing the me I really want to be. I want to be the girl whose friends think she's off her rocker for trying to finish a race, or to one day climb a rock wall on a cruise ship or go rollerblading. I've never done any of those things. (Mostly because being overweight makes them very difficult.) But I'm going to do them!

But I also have to take this one step at a time. I have heard some dialogue in my head lately that I need to clean out. Somewhere I had decided that the only success in this 1/2 marathon is if I cross the finish line. I don't think that's so true any more. I think the success is stepping on the starting line and giving it my best. My best may run out at about 6 miles, but guess what? That's going to be okay. It means that I tried my hardest and 6 miles is what I could give. But trust me, I am going to be digging deep to try and finish. I really want to be able to cross that finish line and know I completed it. But if I don't I will know that I can try again next time. And be stronger and maybe even a little faster!

So tonight I have decided to choose something different...I choose to be positive when I talk to myself. I choose to allow myself to celebrate whatever my very best looks like...be it 6 miles, or only 1 pound this week, or whatever shape or form it is. My best IS good enough. And I know whatever I do, I will make sure I give my very best.

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Maybe This Time...

So after so many posts about how I'm all refocused and on track, I think this time it's really happening. I've worked out hard, eaten carefully, and I'm down 4 pounds since Friday! All of this is good news! Now, it's 4 pounds I had put back on, so I am working to get back to where I was. But I'm not worried about that...I think I'm going to get there! :)

So I had to take off from the gym yesterday because my muscles were so fatigued. I've given them a good beating, and they just needed a break. Wise choice, as I woke up today feeling much better and ready to hit the treadmill again. I love it when I make smart decisions!

So I don't have any news today...Biology lab tonight. Meh.

Everyone have a great Tuesday!

Friday, June 04, 2010

Happy National Doughnut Day!

How will I be celebrating? With an orange. No doughnuts here...trying to do better. :) I challenge you to do the same. I'm sure in each of our workplaces doughnuts will make an appearance, but be strong! Take courage, and rebel against the mainstream and pass the doughnuts by!! We can do it! :)

I am looking forward to a nice weekend. It's not going to be packed with super fun stuff...just a Saturday full of Biology. I think it may be a little more challenging than I thought, but that's not a bad thing. It just means I need to apply myself and focus. But it's going to be just fine. My lab is going okay. I worked in a group last night and hopefully they didn't think I was the old lady who is a big dork. It's possible, but hopefully not!

David comes home tomorrow night, but it will be kind of late...around 9:00pm. I'm going to make my WW cheesy chicken enchiladas, which I haven't made in a while. That, or perhaps my Mexican Layered Chicken Casserole. (Also a WW recipe) Evidently I am craving Mexican food! I like both, but the casserole seems to reheat much better, so that will probably be what I make. Yum! I need to go to the store tonight and get the stuff.

This weekend is the WW Walk-It Challenge. So Sunday morning I will be getting up and doing a 5K on my own. That's the challenge - to do a 5K either formally or mapping out your own and doing. I didn't find one to enter so I have my own mapped out and will be doing it. If it's too humid and gross, I can do it on the treadmill, but I am hoping to do it outdoors...much better scenery.

Happy Friday everyone! Please remember to drive carefully everywhere you go, and hug the ones you love!!

Thursday, June 03, 2010

Thoughts

So I was reading a question posted by Kathy Lee and Hoda from the Today show this morning (on Facebook). They wanted to know if it was okay to date shorter men. My first thought was that it shouldn't matter...we should date who we're interested in! Is it discriminatory to have preferences? I'm not a skinny girl, and I'm pretty sure that there are men who didn't want to date me for that reason. (which is fine...again, I sure understand that we are attracted to people for different reasons, or not attracted for other reasons.) I guess I wonder where the line is between discrimination and attraction on something like this. I mean, honestly, I love that my husband is taller than me. I like that I can wear high heels and he's still taller. Is that wrong of me? The flip side of that is that I love David so much that I suspect his height wouldn't have mattered to me. I can't say for sure because it's just not the case. But as much as I liked him from the start, I think we'd be together even if he was 5'6". Just saying. :)

But again, people are attracted to others for different reasons, and I'm not sure we should be condemning others because of what they are or aren't into. People on FB were so quick to flame other commenters, but I think it's okay to have preferences. It's certainly NOT okay to be mean about it or degrading about it, though. What do you all think? Am I glossing something over that I shouldn't? Just curious about what others think. God asks us to love our neighbors and not to judge. I agree...but I also think God made us all different shapes and sizes and that ultimately there is someone for everyone. Someone who will love us regardless of height, weight, scars, birthmarks, eye color, food preferences, you name it. As long as we treat everyone with kindness and respect, I think it's okay to have preferences. Again, just be kind about it.

I guess other than that, it's a quiet day. Brian was discharged yesterday and we helped to finish getting him moved. He was happy to be home and in excellent spirits. We are working on ways to turn his chest brace into Iron Man. I spoke with my friend Andy who had some excellent ideas, so I'll be setting to work on that soon. :) Hey, if you're going to have to wear it, it might as well be fun, right?

Happy Thursday, everyone!!

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Summer School Has Begun

Yesterday began the first summer session. I am taking Biology, which is not a favorite of mine, but I already enjoy far more than Algebra. I am really going to have a lot of reading to do, and I also have lab twice a week from 7:40-10:20. While I am not excited about that, it only lasts 5 weeks so I know I can get through it. Except that we'll be dissecting a fetal pig at the end of the term in the lab. Honestly, I have no idea how I will get through that.

Our friend Brian is being discharged from the hospital today! We were helping to get his apartment moved last night so now he is downstairs from where he was. It was a fairly easy move, but we worked up a big sweat last night for sure. It's so hot and humid out!

My Sunburn from Monday is already starting to fade into a nice tan. Thank goodness...I was pretty pink Monday night/yesterday! It was nice to have a 3 day weekend, although we were so busy and so stressed. That's okay...three weeks from Friday we head out to California for along weekend to enjoy time with the California Willis bunch. That's a fun bunch! :) It will be a little like taking a birthday trip...except I am forbidding mention of my birthday out there because we'll be celebrating David's Aunt Jane and Uncle Jerry's 50th wedding anniversary, and it should be all about them. I'm only celebrating 38 years...their party TOTALLY trumps mine, and I'm very okay with that! (Jerry and Jane are awesome! I hope I'm as sassy and spunky as Jane is when I'm their age!)

I think that's it for today. Happy "hump" day everyone! :)

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Fragility Of Life

I got a frightening reminder of how fragile we all are. David's best friend, Brian, was in a horrific car accident on Friday morning. I'm not exaggerating. It was awful. It is nothing short of a miracle that he is alive. His accident was a result of his lead foot, and he was rushing to get somewhere when his car it a bump in the road. While I am not clear on the exact details, I can tell you that it ended with his car bursting into flames. Thankfully, moments before that happened he was able to pull himself from the car. Not sure how, since he has ultimately crushed one of his ankles and had compression fractures in two of his lumbar vertebrae. He is lucky to be alive. Had he been knocked unconscious, he might not have been able to get himself out of his car. We have been spending a great deal of time at the hospital, and were excited that he was finally moved from ICU into a regular room yesterday. He's in a great deal of pain, and has a very long road ahead of him, including being confined to a wheelchair for the next few months. We are helping move him out of his second floor apartment this week in anticipation of his release, but I think he will most likely move to a step-down rehab facility before going home. He still needs ankle surgery (which has been postponed due to all the swelling), so I think a rehab facility is a good idea.

All of this to say, it has been a grave reminder of how quickly things can change. I've seen first hand what happens when you drive too fast, so I am begging everyone to slow down and take your time when you're behind the wheel. Brian's story has a good ending, but it could have easily been very different. Please be safe, everyone. I couldn't bear to lose any of you.