No More Yo Yo... I Mean It!

When Dan was in Iraq, I got a job working for LA Weight Loss.  A job that I was sure I was too heavy for... I just kept thinking why would anyone want to take weight loss advice from me when I need to lose more than a few pounds?  Well, they hired me anyway and I was so excited to start because I couldn't wait to learn how to eat healthy and then help other people who were just like me... struggling to eat good food and still lose weight.  

The job was not a success for me for many reasons but the diet was.  I lost about 30 lbs and felt great!  I kept the weight off for a few years, fluctuating up and down here and there.  Then, I got a job in an office as opposed to retail.  Then, I got pregnant.  Then, I got depressed.  

Now, I'm right back where I started so many years ago.  Now, the obstacles are different since I'm a stay at home mom.  Now, I can't really afford to pay a weekly membership to have someone monitor my food diary or for the special food that makes the diet tolerable.

And now, my husband is following my lead.  He went to the doctor today and was told his blood pressure is too high.  No doubt because of our fantastic ability to always be out during lunch or dinner resulting in a lovely fast food meal.

Now, after all this time of mentioning losing weight, I'm dedicating myself to actually doing it.  I'm tired of feeling uncomfortable in my own skin and would love to have more energy.  We've been making little tweaks here and there but have a terrible habit of rewarding ourselves with food.  

Next week will be rough though.  Dan's parents are coming this Friday and visiting for a week which means lots of day trips and probably lots of eating out.  My first goal is to plan and make some healthy desserts.  My second goal is to eat a salad because I just learned that salads can actually taste good.  They can, I SWEAR!  

I never knew it, but I like spinach way more than I like lettuce.  To me, lettuce was just a filler for a salad and did nothing for me.  Spinach, on the other hand, is yummy!  Especially with strawberries, feta cheese, almond slices and balsamic vinegar... delish!

I know a lot of people are probably just like me and have a hard time finding meals that are simple, tasty and healthy.  During one of my many searches, I came across an awesome site.  Gina's Skinny Recipes contains recipes for just about everything, only they are healthier versions.  Her goal is to make weight watcher friendly meals, so it's great for anyone out there who counts points.

Most importantly, everything I have tried so far has been fabulous!  Tonight we had the Turkey and Black Bean Enchilada and I loved it so much that I'm substituting it for the lasagna I was going to make next week.  I'm an Italian girl, so that definitely says something!

I am desperately hoping that I'm strong enough to stick with my plans for next week because this extra fluff needs to go.  With that, I leave you with a joke I heard on Facebook today:

I figured out why I'm so fat! The shampoo I use in the shower that runs down my body says "for extra volume and body". I'm going to start using Dawn dish washing soap. It says "dissolves fat that is otherwise difficult to remove."

No Dull Moments Around Here!

Is it too much to ask to be able to finish a cup of coffee before the day starts?

I love the morning hour (or half hour) where Abby eats her breakfast and plays while I drink my coffee and log on to the computer.  I have a very small window of time where she is completely content playing on her own and it's just what I need to wake up and get in gear for the day.

It's 7:30 am and those moments didn't quite happen today.

We were up at 5:30 which is a bit too early for me.  This is also too early for Abby but for some reason she insists on getting up before the sun.  Days that start at 5:30 are never good, we are both typically pretty cranky.

She put her 'princess slippers' on first thing.  Her 'princess slippers' are actually my slippers which are way to big and keep falling off of her.  This makes her super frustrated when she's cranky so our morning routine, and the start of my cup of coffee, took longer than usual.  It was 6:15 by the time I was ready to pour that first cup.

Right before I was ready to pour, I heard footsteps on the porch.  Dan was home 2 hours early.  Unusual.

He walked in but wasn't completely in his uniform which is a bad sign.  He tells me he got into a car accident at 2 am and is ok but off work until Sunday.  He's sore, tired, and no longer has a cruiser for work.  Ah, the joys of marrying a police officer.  They spend their whole day driving so accidents are bound to happen.  Just another reason to worry!

We walk into the bedroom while he fills me in.  Abby follows and wakes up the dog, who doesn't usually get up until after Dan gets home at 8.  She refuses to leave the bedroom without the dog but if I let the dog out then I have to take him for his walk.  I NEED MY COFFEE!!

Abby wins, the dog is let out of the bedroom and walked.  I can finally have my cup of coffee while I talk a little more to my poor husband who is sore and feeling a bit down because he got into an accident. He's grateful that both he and the other person involved are ok but he's still shaken up.

At 7:15, I am still working on my first cup of coffee while Dan goes down to bed and Abby is busy walking the dog around the house.  The dog hates this game but Abby loves it.  She tries to sit on the bench in the living room, the dog tries to go the other way, and she whacks her face on the bench.  And I see a bit of blood.  Why does everyone have to get hurt in the same week?  Can we catch a break please?

As I'm trying to inspect her, she is STILL trying to get the dog to do what she wants him to do.  I guess it doesn't hurt her that bad but I wanted to see where she was hurt.  So, I try to wrangle both the dog, who is growling, and Abby, who is crying.  Did I mention that I NEED MY COFFEE?!?

The bleeding has stopped before I can even figure out where it came from.  My best guess is that she bit her lip because she didn't actually hit the bench with the front of her face.  It was more the side of her face but she kind of caught herself.

About 2 minutes later she was laughing and chasing the dog again.

About 2 minutes after that the dog stopped playing and she was crying again.  Here is the face of a bad start to the day:

It's now 8:30, I have finally finished my coffee and I have taken the easy route and turned on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  It was the only way to distract Abby from the dog and give me a moment to get myself together.

It's been 3 hours and this day is shaping up to be quite interesting.  With coffee running through me, I feel like I am finally prepared to face the day.

On the bright side, my stitches were removed yesterday and it looks like it's healing up nice!

Now I must go and put a game plan in action.  I need one that will produce no injuries, minimal temper tantrums, and keeps the dog out of Abby's sight.... any suggestions?

This Time I REALLY Got Myself Good!

Know what it feels like to get hit in the head with a metal pole?  No?  Well, unfortunately I now do.

It was an innocent, how did I not see it, wish I could rewind my day by 10 seconds so I could take it back, mistake.  I turned to say hi to a friend, turned back around to climb up and help Abby, and SMACK!  I saw stars, blood (oh, so much blood), and knew our trip to the park was about to be cut way short.

There were a couple things running through my mind right after it happened:  Is Abby ok?  Did she see it (no, thank god)?  Did I just rip my nose off?  Shoot, my new coat!  Shoot, Shoot, Shoot... my jeans!  Crap, I'm gonna scar!  Crap, I already broken blood vessels in that spot!  Crap, Crap, Crap... my nose really doesn't need anymore character than it already has!  Yes, I'm slightly vain... honestly, the pain was secondary.  I REALLY did not want to scare Abby or my friends daughter so I think that's why all of these other thoughts were running through my mind.  I think it was my way of trying to ignore the crazy amount of pain I was in!

After a half an hour of trying to get the car seat out of one car into the other.  Another 15 minutes driving home and waking up Dan to take me to the hospital.  Another 15 minutes going back to get my car.  And finally another 20 minutes to the hospital, I was finally in the ER... an hour and a half later.  The bleeding slowed down and I do think that the girl at the front desk thought I was being dramatic.  She kept saying, "Really, it's not bleeding that bad."  I kept saying, "Oh, it was.  It's deep.  It's not bleeding that bad NOW but it was."  She was equally rude when I left.

So, into the waiting room we go.  Dan, who also thought I was being a bit of a drama queen, finally realized that it was pretty bad.  I guess that realization was bit too much to handle because a few minutes later he looked at me and said, "I just felt my blood pressure drop.  I'm psyching myself out.  I feel like I'm gonna pass out."

So, here I am.  I a major head ache.  A gash on my nose.  And now my husband is turning pasty and thinks he's going to drop.  So, with as much sympathy and tact as I could muster, I tell him that it's not that bad and he needs to stop thinking about passing out.  For some reason, he gets up and starts walking around the room.  He was talking but all the sudden his face changes and I know what is about to happen.  I jump out of bed and catch him.  I yell for help while I prop him up using the wall, bed, and my own body.

Yup, I caught a 185 lb man after having lost half my blood... I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR... LOL!

So, Dan and I switch places.  He gets the bed and they bring him some juice.  The funny part?  He's a cop in a county that has seen something ridiculous like 16 homicides since the start of the year.  He sees gross stuff all the time!  But my little boo boo was enough to make him lose it.... I guess he loves me!

They bring in another bed so I could get my stitches.  We had our own little his and hers suite!  At the end of the day, Dan was fine, I had 3 stitches, and Abby got to play with her friend and had no clue what happened.  Exciting, huh?!?!

It really would have been so much worse if my friend wasn't there.  I can't believe that we both kept our cool!  I owe her for helping out with Abby and I can't thank her enough!

The Greatest Gift

I turn on the water and wait.

Nothing happens.  No pitter patter of little feet.  No excited squeal.

Hmm.  Strange.

I quietly peak outside the door and there she is.  Paying no attention to me, doing her own thing.

My mind starts racing... could this be true?  Am I really alone?  If I move quick, I may be able to do this!

So, I jump in and move as quick as I possibly can.  All the while anticipating what I am sure will happen.

But it never does.  She never comes running in.  When I'm done, I peak outside the door and there she is:  paying no attention to me, doing her own thing.

I know the day will come when this is just the way things are but for now, this is rare.  For now, there is no better birthday present than having privacy in the shower!  

I know I promised pictures of my cake and I will definitely post them but I just haven't gotten around to uploading them yet!  My sister is visiting and we've been keeping busy!  Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and I hope everyone has a great Valentines day!

Cool Abby!

My silly Abby was a total goofball the other day and I was lucky enough to catch it on video.  Well, that's really not too hard since she thinks that she's the funniest person ever.  Seriously, we could sit here for hours and record videos in Photo Booth or playback ones that we already made.  It cracks her up!

This video, is special though.  She's stingy with her kisses.... REALLY STINGY.  There are times that I won't get a kiss from her for a whole week and my poor husband, well, you'll see what he gets instead of kisses.  She can be lovable but kisses are pretty much reserved for her babies... or pictures in her book, or her food (so pretty much anything but real people!).  So, I can not tell you how excited I was to get some love from her and actually get it on video!  

I hope this crazy kid makes you smile!  Ignore the vacuum in the background (I would say I was cleaning but the vacuum is actually still in the same spot).  Also, please ignore my hair, lack of makeup, bags under my eyes... Abby has been getting up at 5:30 and I am not a morning person at all!  

As for my birthday, which is tomorrow, I am working on making my own cake as practice for Abby's birthday.  I think making a fancy cake is a bit beyond my skill set in the baking department since it's shaping up to be quite the disaster!  Good or bad, I will definitely share photos!

The Not So Great Birthday Present

In one week I will be leaving my twenties behind to start a new decade of my life.  I'm not really happy about it.  Actually, it's kind of depressing especially since I spent most most of the year thinking I was 28.  I guess you could call that wishful thinking.

At first, I told Dan that I did not want to celebrate my birthday so not to buy me anything.  Of course that's not what I meant and thankfully he went ahead and got me something anyway.

I, of course, ruined the surprise and got my gift early!  I was so excited to see that he had bought me a Wii Fit!  It was something I wanted since Christmas when his parents bought us the Wii.  I thought for sure this would help get me motivated to work out and help me mix up my workouts a bit.  Not only was it the Wii Fit but it came with the Biggest Loser game too.  I could't wait to set it up and get started and at the time I thought it was the best gift ever.

 Very shortly after Abby went to bed the other night, I realized that I was SO WRONG.  This was not the best birthday present ever.  This was a birthday present that not only made me feel fat but also old.  Not a good combination when your about to BEGRUDGINGLY say good bye to your twenties.

When you first set it up, the Fit runs you through a series of light exercises and weighs you to determine your 'age'.  In my defense, I am video game challenged and I think that is why it gave me the 'age' 43!!  WTF!!  I tried to do it again but it was a different set of tests so I screwed those up too and it came up with the same age.  This is so not what I wanted to see!

Now, let me tell you about the little Wii person.  You start out as normal as a Wii person can look and once it gets your weight I guess it makes adjustments.  My Wii person became a short fatty.  Same thing with the Biggest Loser person, although that person looks more realistic so it's even more depressing when they change it to a fatty.  Let me just say that she does not carry her weight well at all!

So, I thought it was a great gift.  I was wrong.  So wrong.  This gift has made me feel more depressed about my birthday.

So right now my husband is reading over my shoulder and mad that I said I don't like my gift.  I guess I should clarify, for his sake, that I do like it.  The Biggest Loser workouts are fun and I could really see myself using them a lot.  However, I didn't know that it was going to tell me that I was 43 years old and obese!  Happy Birthday, your fat and old... YAY!

I think I'll spend this next year managing my weight, working out more, and living in denial!  Please feel free to wish me a Happy 25th Birthday next week!  Thank you!

Dear Abby: Part 2

Dear Abby,

You are usually an easy baby to take care of.  You love to play and act silly.  You're always finding a new 'hat' to wear.  You're a pretty good eater, although sometimes you get a little picky.  But you are so easy at bedtime.  By 7pm you are ready for bed, sometimes you grab your blanky and wait by your crib.

You make it a complete joy to be your mom and we have lots of fun everyday.  However, there are times that you test my patience.  Times that you will scream, cry, kick, arch your back... do just about anything to get what you want.  It doesn't matter where we are or who is around.

At times like these, being your mom isn't easy.  When you throw a tantrum, it takes a long time for you to get back to normal.  During those HOURS it takes you to get back to your old self, you seem to want to do everything your not suppose to.  Telling you 'no' only brings us right back to where we started... a full blown tantrum.

There are days, like at Port Discovery when you threw your lunch on the floor, that it is hard for me to remain calm.  But, I'm your mom and that's my job.  My job is to teach you how to behave and how to communicate.  I LOVE MY JOB and I want you to be the best you can possibly be.

I have high hopes for and want you to feel like you can accomplish anything.  I know this phase will pass and one day you'll be a teenager and then a young woman.  I hope that you are successful at whatever you choose to do and one day find love and get married.

And then I hope that you have a little girl, who is just as smart, funny, and independent as you.  Then you will understand that telling you you're not allowed to gnaw on the bottom of your shoe or asking you to eat lunch is not something I do because I'm mean.  I do it because I love you.

Just a few months ago, I wrote you a letter and called you my angel.  That hasn't changed and I can not wait for the day your very own little angel turns into Linda Blair in front of a hundred people!

Love you with or without tantrums,

Mommy