Too cool!

One more pound down since Monday! I am completely surprised about that, since I had such a bad stressful week and was so lazy on my 4 days off. So a total of 7 pounds lost and 1.5 inches off my waist in 6 weeks--about what I hoped for. I have a goal of 10 pounds lost by March 23, and not only do I think that is very doable, but I think I can even kick it up a notch. I am going to an event out of town at the end of March and I would love to lose 10 pounds before that. Plus it's getting to be spring here, so I am always more active when the weather is nice.

Someone recommended a new site this morning


It is a lot like the Weight Watchers Online site except it keeps track of the nutrition values, not points (hatesss Points). And it's free. I really like it since it has almost everything you eat already in there, and if not you can add an item once and then it is always there.

Today I have to clean the kitchen, finish putting my recipe file back together and fold 7 baskets of laundry from last week. And plan a presentation for Wednesday, fill out a job application, answer 4 work e-mails, enter 19 grant orders and format a mass mailing. Vacations really throw me of my regular routine! But first I am going to walk 4 miles on the treadmill and watch UK stomp on Vandy!

Oh yeah, and I'm crossing everything I have for Jennifer Hudson on tonight's Oscar's!

Too bad!

My husband is in so much trouble!

You know what time of year it is, right? That season when strangers tease you as you enter the store, neighbors ring your doorbell at odd times, co-workers accost you in the hallway?

Yep, Girl Scout cookie time. Yesterday the "cookie mom" at work brought in all the boxes that had been ordered by our staff. We all talked and laughed about how many boxes she had, how hard she was working, how late she stayed up organizing orders, how "bad" we all were for even ordering them, and all the while I was snickering inside "I'm not bad. I didn't even order any. I wasn't even tempted. I am so strong."

So this afternoon I was in the staff room and my husband comes in and says "Try these." It was an opened box of the sugar free brownie bites, so I thought OK, it is sugar free and small, and maybe it will be a good alternative if I am looking for a chocolate fix. They were not bad, but not really worth the calories and fat either. But then he says, holding up a bag, "And these are MINE!" He had 2 boxes of thin mints and tagalongs in there! And he proceeds to leave the room.

WHAT? He is on a strict no-caffeine diet, and we just got finished not buying all that junk at the grocery.

And for the record, I have always hated Girl Scout cookies. Small, overpriced boxes filled with bland, waxy coated cookies. But as I continued working, the boxes were mocking me, calling my name, daring me to open the lid. I couldn't stand it! So I had two Somaos--mmm...peanutbutterandchoclateandcookiecrust. A few minutes later he came back in and opened the box himself, and I had another. Damn him.
Now I am thirsty, and what goes better than milk with cookies.
But we only have 2% here.
Oh well, one glass won't hurt me.
Oh look, there is extra milk left in the glass.
Two more cookies should finish it off...

OK, I'm feeling sick--I have got to get out of here--this is too much! Since the laptop battery is dying, I pack up and head to the car to recharge. On my way out, someone is filling the candy tin...and there are Sweet Tarts in there. Sour, tiny, pure sugar and they jump into my hand.

Apparently I'm not really that strong. Little bitty cookies can knock me out cold, and candy does a jig as I fall.

But I am strong enough to kick my husband's ass when he gets home tonight. He better hope the cookies add a little extra padding.

Too long

...at the store! Between yesterday and today, I have spent more time at the grocery store than I ever dreamed was possible. Four hours to read labels, count portions, compare prices, debate nutrition...enough to drive me crazy. And did ya know good for you food is waaaay more expensive? I could have gotten 3 boxes of Crunchy Sugary Floaties for the price I paid for my one small box of Kashi Go Lean Crunch, and we spent almost $8.00 on grapes, instead of a $2.00 bag of chips. But now we have lots of good food, stuff even my husband will eat, and I got to hear Clay singing over the loudspeaker. Yeah, I stopped in the middle of the aisle to listen.

What. The store was loud.

Don't tell me you have never done that.

While I was there, I stocked up on my new favorite thing:



Suave Radiant Brunette Shampoo

I have tried them all: Bed Head, Pantene, John Freida, Tresemme and yeah, they got my hair clean but this one actually does what it says. Every morning it looks like I have just left the salon: shiny, deep, layered color, and so soft. Smells good too!




And finally, one more pound down! WHOO HOO!
ahem...I was hoping for more as much as I worked last week, but at least it was a loss.

Too many

...doctor's appointments. And since I have another one next week, I thought this would be a good time to look back on where I am and what we are trying to do.

I have a medical condition that runs in my family and I have always known having children may be difficult, but I didn’t really think it would be that hard—I know lots of people with this condition that had children with relative ease. But after 3 years of trying, it’s not happening for us. Last summer we finally decided to take a more aggressive approach—time, money and health is eventually going to run out on us. So I made an appointment and the earliest time that was available was November 17--the day I was invited to go to New York and see Clay on Regis and Kelly, of course—and waited.

Friday, November 10: Bloodwork and tests for the appointment on Nov. 17—6 vials! I felt like I should have eaten a whole cow to replenish myself after that, but I didn’t.

Friday, November 17: Internist appointment, and guess what—I had a migraine. So no progesterone shot like planned, but she did read the bloodwork and more referrals were needed. I also went on labetalol for the migraines, as I was having them too frequently.

Tuesday, November 21: Met with nutritionist to discuss food plans, decided to try cutting out white stuff, with the occasional indulgence.

Friday, December 15: A progesterone shot to get me started. But there will be no more—I had a very bad reaction, and almost missed my vacation in Michigan the next week.

Wednesday, December 27: First endocrinologist appointment. She pescribed 2000mg of glucophage for PCOS.

Thursday, December 28: Internist and fasting bloodwork for the endo. No migraines in a month and I’ve lost 5 pounds.

Wednesday, January 3: Started doing 30 minutes yoga and 15 minutes of hand weights each day.

Tuesday, January 9: Test results: no diabetes or thyroid problems. But yes to insulin resistance and APLS, which I knew, but they wanted to see for themselves. Glucophage will help with the IR and the labetalol may help with the APLS, but we will treat that when I get pregnant.

Thursday, February 1: First fertility specialist appointment. She took a very detailed history including height (I grew an inch since high school!) and weight, talked for a long time about all the options and wants to be conservative. She is not concerned about my age or history, that weight loss along with the glucophage will be the best chance of a successful pregnancy. If we are not pregnant by July, then more aggressive intervention will be discussed. Also did a full pelvic exam—OUCH!

Friday, February 2: Started back on exercise bike 60 minutes a day. Will alternate with the treadmill at work when I can.

Friday, February 9: Test results: no ovarian, cervical or uterine cancer—THAT'S GOOD! Also a personal trainer came to the house and gave me advice based on the equipment we have here and at work. The plan is 60 minutes on treadmill 3 days a week, 60 minutes on bike 2 days a week, 30 minutes on 4 alternate days of yoga or balance ball, and hand weights anytime I am watching TV.

Wednesday is a follow-up with the endocrinologist, I’m sure there will blood taken and lots of questions, but basically it is to make sure the gluco is doing what it needs to be doing.

Overall, I am very happy with the plans—the weight can’t come of quick enough and July can’t get here soon enough, but I need to practice patience, I guess.

Off to visit the bike!

Too happy!

How awesome were those Grammys?! I was so hapy for the Dixie Chicks I cried. Really. Real tears, tissues, runny nose and everything.

Whoo hoo! 2 more pounds gone since Friday! I was so frustrated when I weighed myself after all the work I did last week and the scale didn't move. I blamed it on my Super Bowl gluttony and making so much of my favorite snack at work that there were leftovers all week. Truth is I was not that bad, and the work just had not caught up with me yet.

I missed the treadmill today as I spent my afternoon in the classroom, so it was the bike for me when I got home. Have I told you I hate that bike? Well, I do. But I discovered a new way to kill my thighs--it's all in the placement of the feet. Ouch!

Off to make dinner and swoon over Jack for the next two hours.
gah, what a great day!

Too funny!

Oh yeah, and apparently I have GROWN an inch! I can't remember the last time I had my height measured, but I'll take it. :)

Too young...

to be home on a Friday night, typing on the computer. Tonight I cleaned out and organized my cookbooks. Tomorrow I am sorting our tax info. Yesterday I updated our emergency numbers and address books.
I am so old. And so boring.

But as long as I am taking inventory, here is what else I did this week:
Monday: stationary bike for 55 minutes, yoga for 30 minutes
Tuesday: yoga for 30 minutes, weights for 10 minutes
Wednesday: treadmill for 55 minutes, yoga for 1 hour, weights for 10 minutes
Thursday: treadmill for 30 minutes, balance ball for 30 minutes, yoga for 30 minutes
Friday: balance ball for 30 minutes, stationary bike for 45 minutes, weights for 10 minutes

And ding dang it--the scale didn't move! I feel great, I am sleeping better than ever and have tons of energy during the day, but wow, that is frustrating. grrrrr! Next week I better have lost twice as much...

On a much happier note, I got some most excellent test results back today. One that I didn't even know was being run. That's how all doctor's should do it--take what they need, don't tell you about it, run the test and then let you know you're OK. That way you don't have time to worry about it. Woo wee...that would have been tough if I had been thinking about it all week!

Too excited!!

So I went to a new doctor on Thursday, and we now have a plan! Not just hoping and trying and wishing, but steps and methods and a timeline for getting pregnant. Whoo hoo! It’s just what I was wanting, what we were wanting: low cost, easy to implement, non-invasive and effective. I have heard these things worked for a lot of people, and didn’t doubt it, but it was so good to hear it from a professional. I was amazed that before she even did any exams or tests we sat and talked in her office, listening to me give full answers and letting me ask questions of my own. It’s a good thing, cause I wouldn’t have liked her nearly as much after the exam – that was painful!

And of course it will work by the summer, because that is when I am supposed to start a new job and hit the road to see Clay.

Y’all can thank me when tickets go on sale…

Too bad :(

I have to get back on the bike. Ding dang it, I hate that bike. Pedaling or elliptical, I hate it. Bor.ing. Repetitive. Tedious. And it usually makes my butt hurt. Not like the yoga that I have come to love, that makes me hurt in a good way and I feel so good afterwards that I scrub the kitchen floor. I thought I was doing so well, doing the right thing, and I was starting to see results – 4 pounds lost in 3 weeks! – but I was told to do more aerobics and less strength. Yea, yea, makes sense. But I love my yoga! And I hate that bike. But I am a good little patient, so off to the dungeon I go. Thank goodness for TiVo…

Too long

WOW! It was May the last time I blogged. Unbelievable!

I decided to revive this since there are lots of things going on in my life, and some people have wanted to come along for the ride, so this is the place. This won't be a pretty blog or a huge blog or a ranked blog -- there are lots of people that can do that much better than I -- but it will be my story and hopefully a bit entertaining as I take you with me to Clay Aiken concerts, culinary delights, Target road trips, doctors appointments, TV marathons and housekeeping adventures. I am hoping to lose lots of things and gain some others along the way.

Look at this!!

I am a Google ho. I use it for everything from searching to shopping to menu planning to maps. While others talk up their faves and how much they like such-and-such search engines, I just smile and keep clicking on that cute little blue rectangle.

So I was thrilled to see this zeitgeist:

Gaining Search Queries: Week Ending May 29, 2006

1. clay aiken
2. taylor hicks
3. danica patrick
4. famke janssen
5. indy 500
6. rebecca romijn
7. memorial day
8. juggernaut
9. ghost rider
10. dixie chicks
11. ellen page
12. kimberly dozier
13. hugh jackman
14. coco
15. katharine mcphee

Look who's number one! No offense to Taylor, whom I really like and would have voted for if I was a voting kinda person, but... hee hee.

Technorati tags: Google, Clay Aiken, zeitgeist

It's been a crazy couple of weeks around here, from visiting family out of town, my job's fiscal year end, the school's closing program, and general spring madness. Oh yeah, and plenty of couch potato time. :::sob::: Jack is gone, for a whole year, and who knows where they are taking him! But did you 24 freaks see this:

"Want to catch up on Season 5?
FOX will air the entire season, 2 hours at a time.
Fridays 8/7c starting June 16th"

Whoo hoo! Even though I have seen all of this season and have it download on my laptop, that is just too much pretty to pass up on my TV. Guess our summer date night will have to move to Saturday...

And because of being out of town, I didn't see the 2-night finale of "Grey's Anatomy." And still haven't seen it--iTunes doesn't have it and it doesn't stream on ABC.com. What's up with that? Yeah, yeah, I know there are other ways to download it, but good grief that is a lot of crap to go through for 3 hours one time. And like I want all that spam coming my way.

And who else had a Clay hangover Thursday morning? How cool was this guy Wednesday night? Wanna see a repeat of what is absolutely the best TV moment of the year, scoot over to the Clay Blog.

My favorite reaction is from Ace and TJ, DJs at 98.1 out of Charlotte, North Carolina. You NEED to hear this!

And after listening to Ace and TJ, watch this metamorphasis of Clay from AI2 to this week...nice, very, very nice.

Technorati tags: 24, Grey's Anatomy, Clay Aiken, Ace and TJ

What Mom isn’t getting for Mother’s Day, or how Clay Aiken makes you spend money.

Lots of money.

Today was a very good day. First stop: Target for mom’s day gifts. What’s this? The wireless headphones I wanted last fall? And they are on clearance? WHOO HOO! In the cart they go. (Shut up. It’s not like mom needs headphones.) Next stop, Circuit City to buy a camera. After months of research and harassing friends and family for advice, this is my newest camera D30 Maybe if I buy a new camera that will encourage Clay to release some tour dates. What? I am just as delusional as the next person. (Fine. I bought it just in time for the visit to mom’s tomorrow.) Across the river to another Target for my nephew’s birthday present, and while I am at it, I throw in some blank CDs. No, not for all those pictures I’ll be sharing with mom, but for the hard drive that is groaning and moaning under so many concert videos and mp3s. Finally I stop in the card section. Yes, something actually for mom -- that’s the reason we went out after all. I found the perfect card for her:

Front is three scenes of a cartoon mom and young daughter using "talk bubbles."
First scene:
Daughter: Tongue piercing?
Mom: NO!
Second scene:
Daughter: Tattoo.
Mom: NO!
Third scene:
Daughter: Run off to follow a pop star?
Mom: NO!

Hilarious!!! In that I didn’t ask my mom the first time I ran off to follow a band, and I usually ignored her when she told me “no” it describes our relationship so well on so many levels. She’ll love it. Maybe she will frame it like she did my card from two years ago...

So in summary, a great shopping day.
Wireless headphone for listening to cellcerts, for me...Check.
Digital SLR for taking concert pictures, for me...Check.
Blank CDs for mp3s, for me...Check.
Mother’s Day card, for mom...Check.
Works for me!

Technorati tags: Mother's Day, Clay Aiken, Target, shopping

eww eww eww! Why did I even ask?

I was liking this Random Question thing, so I passed some on to others.

From: xxxxxx
Date: 2006/05/11 Thu AM 12:13:31 EDT
To: yyyyyy
Subject: Random Question

From my blog:

"You're trapped in a well with a goat and a slinky. Describe how you
will escape."

On May 11, 2006, at 3:35 PM, yyyyyy wrote:

That's easy! You use the slinky to disembowel, and decapitate the goat. Take the goat's intestines
and tie them to the goats horns. Use the goats intestines and horns as a grappling hook. Toss the
grappling hook up to the top of the well and climb out.


I think I'll stop now.

LOOK!

This just came up in the Random Question:

Random Question:
If mud is dirt plus water, what is clay?

No monkey! It really said that!
I have my ideas -- anyone else wanna take a stab at it?

It's raining here

I wanna stay home. Instead, I am sitting in my car, waiting to go into work at 7:30 AM. So not a morning person. I used to stay home everyday and work from there, and while sometimes lonely, the huge benefit of having my own time and space was worth it. I took this third/fourth job last fall to help out an old boss doing something I love, then added hours in the winter to pay for my trip to Disney World. I keep it cause I love money and to kill time while waiting for a Clay Aiken tour this summer. Now they have come to depend on me--demmit! How did that happen?!

I reallly wanna go back home.

The 4-day weekend

We have a dungeon. It's my deep, dark secret, literally. It's where we keep all the decorations and tools and appliances and empty boxes. We also keep the kids down there. Except we don't have kids. Just classrooms. Preschool classrooms. And we like to have our own stuff for teaching. So much stuff people say we should have our own school. (They should stop though--it's never gonna happen.) And as a highly organized, extremely compulsive person, I have shelves lining the walls, perfectly sized boxes with labels and a spreadsheet of what's down there. But that doesn't mean I have put them to any use--I am perfectly content with opening the dungeon door and letting whatever it is roll down the steps. C. goes down there every day to use the stationary bike while he plays video games--he can pick up the pile. (And it just so happens that the washer and dryer are down there and I don't do laundry, so he gets to do that too!) Anyway, I digress...

I refuse to call it a basement. Basements are places that are somewhat finished, clean, orderly, liveable--this one does not fall anywhere in my scale of liveability. But this past week we had a 4-day weekend, thanks to Derby being a holiday in our city, and I decided it was time to tackle the dungeon. After all we have only lived here 3 1/2 years. Wednesday, I put it on my calendar, and C. said "Good for you!" Thursday, when I talked about it, C. said "Great idea!" Friday, I made a list and C. just rolled his eyes. Saturday, I slept late and then had to get lunch and watch the Derby. By then he said "You're not going to do it, are you?" Well, that is a challenge alright, so Sunday morning, bright and early -- OK, noon, but that's early for me! -- I opened the door and stepped into the abyss.

Footsteps behind me...Dang it! C. is not supposed to be helping me. This was my time, I have a stack of DVDs waiting for me. Boston JBT? Front row Joyful Noise? GMA Concert Series? As soon as C. took a break, I practically ran for the DVD player. Aaahhhh, the only thing that could help me through this drugery was that Voice. Unplug, switch on, plug in, wrong cord, new cord, remote control, dead batteries, hands shaking--there really is a reason it's called Clack. Fi.nal.ly.

9 hours later, my nails are broken, my feet are aching, and there are 10 tons of recycling in the back yard, but we can see the floor and I got to spend all day with Clay. Maybe my husband was onto something--quiet, dark, cool, alone with your favorite hobby...maybe the dungeon will turn into a real basement if I spend a little time down there each day. ;)

Day 1

I'm just here for the music, specifically Clay Aiken, Dave Matthews, Alison Krauss, U2, and Led Zeppelin. And Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Prince and Sarah McLachlan. And Motown--always Motown. But yes, I love Clay Aiken best. What do I do? Teach, lead, organize, play, cook and coordinate--I have about a zillion jobs! No really. Right now I have four jobs I love and all let me do different things everyday. But golly, that can stress a person out, so now I have a place I can vent. Welcome to my chaos!