Okay, so the last time I posted, I said that hubby was going to go the very next day and add me to his gym membership. He did actually go the very next day and brought me my very own card. Yay!
Of course, then the kids got sick, and I was sceered to go by myself (yes, I know I'm a baby - I have never stepped foot in a gym before in my life or been a physically active person at all). I wanted to go with him at least one time so he could kind of give me a tour and show me how to use some of the stuff. Well, it's hard for us to get out together anyway, and unless I got up at 4 in the morning (not gonna happen), I was going to have to go at night, which I didn't want to do because I was afraid working out would make me hyper.
I know what you're thinking - just another bunch of excuses. I know already. I finally decided that I had to go, so we went last night. It was late, but I figured I wouldn't work myself to death, just try some stuff out. I am so glad we went! I was somewhat overwhelmed with all the equipment and I felt like a total dork walking around looking like I had no idea what I was doing. That's because I am a dork, but I digress.
Hubby showed me something that worked on the tummy and booty, and I wanted to try out the stationary bike. Wasn't as scary as I thought. Afterwards I tried the treadmill, which was cool. I never thought I'd want to use one of those as I love walking around here, but, I must say, the treadmill has little doodads that a neighborhood walk around here doesn't, like the ability to go uphill. I live in a very flat area. As I know walking the best, I imagine that's what I'll use the most.
It's good that I finally went, because I'm really not dieting anymore, just maintaining between 136 and 139. I'm not going to lose the rest unless I move.
So anyway, I woke up this morning "under the weather". Hopefully I can knock it out though, I can't wait to go back!
That is me. Lazy. Well, I mean, with exercise that is. I have been busybusybusy with school and stuff. But as my dear husband is a procrastinator extraordinaire, I haven't been added to that gym membership yet. So I feel like I'm in limbo. He says he'll take care of it tomorrow but, we'll see. I did go down there to ask how much it would be (because if DH did that step it would be another month before he actually added me. Saved him that step and saved me some time. Smart thinkin' huh? Yeah. Just call me Spongebob Smartypants). I got a glimpse of the place. I can't wait!
That would be me. Flat butt short. I am absolutely happy in my smaller clothes, but I've come to a realization. Aside from The Tummy That Still Sticks Out, I have a flat butt. I asked my hubby and he said it was flat before. What?? I didn't know this. How could I have not known this?
And I'm short. This I knew, but I don't remember having such an issue. My issue is that I have now got 6 pairs of pants that fit perfectly (yay!) ranging from size 8 to 10 (yay again!), except that they are too long! I can wear two with heels, but I'll have to hem all the others. I can't wear heels all the time either. So I've come to a realization that I will have to shop for short sizes. All those pants I mentioned, I got at the thrift store without trying them on (I'm not about to spend retail till I know I'm going to stay at a size). I don't think I have a petite frame (you know, rise and hip area?). I think I just have short legs. Here's to a future of hemming pants! I cannot complain about that when they are smaller pants than before!
So, these realizations have led me to make a decision. Hubby has a gym membership, and I've always avoided it, but I think I'm going to give it a shot and add myself on. I can't stretch out my legs (can I?) but I can build up my booty and work on The Tummy That Still Sticks Out. It's starting to get cold in the mornings and I'm finding it hard to get my walk in any other time, so I think that might be a cool weather solution for me, yeah?
You know, that makes for a really odd profile, flat butt, round tummy. Makes me feel like a Picasso painting! Lol!
Okay, so, the last week or so has been nice and Autumny around here, so all my normal Autumn hankerings came out. I made my absolute favorite soup, St. Pat's Soup. The broth is seasoned with whole coriander and allspice, and takes on a wonderful, unique flavor. If you like to cook at all, you have to try this. Of course, you can make it low fat by choosing low fat sausage. It's got low GI waxy-skinned potatoes, carrots, and loads of cabbage. We skip the beer and just use broth - and we skip the mustard, too. Tastes better the second day. We like ours with crusty bread, but watch yourself with that bread!
And then there's gingerbread and pumkin bread. We had a gingerbread experiment this weekend and made three different versions. Well, one was pumpkin gingerbread, so it had the added vitey-A. I am wanting to experiment more and reduce sugar, try using stevia, and use more or all whole wheat flour.
So, yeah, food. Homemade yumminess and all that. Just do it in moderation. Watch portion sizes. Allow but limit. Adjust. Your diet, that is. If it hurts you to even think about allowing stuff like this, then by all means, don't even think about it. But if you're like me and total elimination of all goodies equals sabotage, then have them in moderation.
Moderation, my friends. That's my key anyway. I'll try to check up on ya'll today, but hubby is hogging the computer and it's hard to get on with school and all - which I need to get back to cause recess is over. It's back to feathers and vanes and barbs and barbules and keratin.
We had a blast! The weather was gorgeous! Imagine waking up to the sound of the ocean every morning, or watching the sun set on that same ocean every night! We didn't want to leave. Aside from a few incidents with the fire (I did wonder if we could even manage hot dogs and marshmallows that first night) and sleeping on what felt like cement, despite trying everyone else's sleeping pads, lol! Oh and let's not forget running out of gas! I can't tell you how thankful I was that my parents were there (they live there half the time)! Only my husband...
I didn't get to make grilled pizza because the dough escaped it's confines and turned into The Blob(s). I did promise the kids I'd make some grilled pizza at home - we've been wanting to try it grilled for awhile now. Did make pancakes with the most divine, delicious, amazing thing ever - maple b.u.t.t.e.r. - yes, you read that right, maple butter. Wow. I could have just eaten that for breakfast! And to make it even more special, hubby got the real deal - maple syrup. Shoot - those were some pancakes!
Noah (4th from the left) gave up the notion of counting sand as soon as we got there. Go figure. We played in the water, took a little boat tour (see the new pic on the bottom), fed the sea lions in the aquarium, played in the water, went to see my mom's paintings in her gallery, played in the water, and did I mention... yeah, I did.
There was so much to do, we didn't do half of what I would have liked. But I wouldn't change a thing. I just want to go back over and over. Preferably with an air mattress. For me.
Now back to the daily grind. Oh yeah, I took my "almost after" pictures today. Yep, those are my favorite Anthropologie pants. I hope you all had a great week and are doing well!
Sorry I've been MIA lately! We started school this week, ballet, and we're getting ready for our camping trip next week. Yes, I know, right after school starts! That's okay, I am very thankful to be going, as we've never been camping together as a family. We will squeeze every educational drop out of our trip as you might imagine. My youngest son has a plan to count the grains of sand in a tiny pile and multiply the piles by who-knows-what to determine how many grains of sand there are. Well, good luck with that, but it should be entertaining to watch!
I had decided that I was going to simply try to maintain my current weight until after the camping trip, and that's what I've been doing, sort of playing around with different foods and keeping my calories in mind, trying to eat healthy. It's worked, I've maintained between 139 and 140.5. I have been bad about my water though, although still more than I used to drink.
I did discover that sometimes I don't really eat enough, and I don't want my body to think I'm starving it. I am trying to round out my diet with healthy choices, and having limits on snacks has been helpful. 100 calorie snacks are great for this. I am essentially eating the same way I used to with a couple of modifications: no Pepsi and a limit to snacks. Other than those downfalls, I ate pretty healthy before, other than the sugar that kept me at my weight.
I'm going to try to take some photos this Sunday (you know, when I'm all fixed up purdy for church). I am going for my haircut and eyebrow waxing today and wanted to wait for that, but I've been wanting to take some pics lately - I want to compare me to my old self! DH says my face is slimmer and I want to take a nice long look at that.
Albeit only for short spurts during my walk, but I jogged! And some people saw me! And I didn't die! And I didn't slap my face over and over (uh, not even once) or bounce to kingdom come!
Go Suz! Go Suz!
LOL! Okay, so I've been such a weenie about jogging. Like every time lately I would go out for my walk and tell myself, "jog a little," and self says back, "NO!! People might see! I'm going to bounce everywhere! It'll be hard on my joints!" And I'd say, "just give it a try, just a little, you can always stop if it hurts! Come on - there's no one around right now" And self would say back, "I don't know, I'm too scared!" and then, "Oh look... there's a car, too late now. Darn."
So today, my more daring self hammered the weenie self, and I found I don't feel like a total freak if I jog a little between stretches of walking. Can ya staand it?? as my sister so eloquently puts it.
I did it!!
And let me tell you right now, if I can do it, you can too! Okay I know, I know, if you're in a wheelchair right now and can't literally walk, you can't, or if you have a cast on, or any number of extenuating circumstances. But people, I have rheumatoid arthritis - and I did it! When I started my journey back in the spring, I could hardly walk around the block, and now look at me!
That was a major thing for me to overcome. Major.
My ankle did start hurting a little and I had to be careful, and with RA, I could potentially pay for this with some stray joint pain by tonight, but I am very happy I tried anyway, and if all goes well, I'll do it again! Yay!
...I can't think of a title...I can't think of a title...
Lame title, I know...
Hubby informed me that he might be getting a new position at work (although a different location). Yep, it would mean more pay, and it's not that far away at all. Plus, it could mean coming back to where he is now in a supervisory position down the road. So be praying for us - we could really use this.
I was thinking about going on maintenance until after our camping trip. Oh! I didn't tell you about that. We're going camping in mid-September. I'm so excited, we've never been able to go camping on our own before!
So anyway, all maintenance is on Nutrisystem is adding a couple of carb servings to what you already eat. I really like eating this way and thought it might be a good time to test the waters. I haven't really decided yet, I may go either way, but August has already been a month of maintaining and I'd rather just add the extra calories on a regular basis instead of yo-yo-ing around a few pounds between events.
and Life asked, what curve ball can I throw at you today?
The thing with our van? Okay, the sliding door on the side is messed up - won't open. It's been like that for months and the kids just climb through the front door. Hey, I'm just thankful we have a van that runs! Anyway, we took the van in to have other more serious issues repaired (like, not running), and they were going to try to fix the door. Well, they couldn't get it to budge. That thing might as well be welded on - these were big, strong men trying to pry the door off.
So anyway, while they didn't get the door off, they did manage to move it enough that the van now thinks the door is open. All. The. Time. Yeah, I know! So we've got that annoying "you left your key in the ignition" beepy noise any time the door is open, but what's worse, the overhead lights would not go off! Can we say, "battery issues"? Hubby did not know what to do. Finally, he took the bulbs out of the lights and that seemed to do the trick.
You can see the month of August has been super slow for me. I was 138.5 on August 8th, and am 141.5 today. It's all these birthdays and anniversaries! I'll be lucky if I show a loss at all this month. That's okay though. Things will calm down in September. I'm pretty happy where I'm at right now except for this blasted tummy!
I'll come back and check on you all in a bit - I hope you had a great weekend!
Got this in my inbox this morning. I'm not sure who to credit for this but every mom needs to read it:
The Invisible Woman
It started to happen gradually. One day I was walking my son Jake to school. I was holding his hand and we were about to cross the street when the crossing guard said to him, "Who is that with you, young fella?" "Nobody," he shrugged. Nobody? The crossing guard and I laughed. My son is only 5, but as we crossed the street I thought,"Oh my goodness, nobody?"
I would walk into a room and no one would notice. I would say something to my family - like "Turn the TV down, please" - and nothing would happen. Nobody would get up, or even make a move for the remote. I would stand there for a minute, and then I would say again, a little louder, "Would someone turn the TV down?" Nothing
Just the other night my husband and I were out at a party. We'd been there for about three hours and I was ready to leave. I noticed he was talking to a friend from work. So I walked over, and when there was a break in the conversation, I whispered, "I'm ready to go when you are." He just kept right on talking.
I'm invisible.
It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?" Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.
I'm invisible.
Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more. Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?" I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?" I'm a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please."
I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again.
She's going? She's going? She's gone!
One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, "I brought you this." It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe.
I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees."
In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work.
No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.
A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it." And the workman replied, "Because God sees."
I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become."
At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.
I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.
When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table." That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, "You're gonna love it there."
As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.
