Life Is Beautiful

This letter was posted on the I *heart* to run   FaceBook page yesterday.  I don't like the word "fat" unless we are talking about a macro-nutrient in food.  I almost changed it to post on my blog - but I don't want to offend the original writer - whomever it was at I *heart* to run.   It was somewhat serendipitous that I noticed this post, because after I ran on the treadmill at the gym, I came in to the locker room to see a very overweight young lady testing her blood sugar.  She was obviously post-workout and exhausted.  I tried to catch her eye a couple of times, but she wouldn't look at me.  Me, in my running gear and no-longer-overweight skin.  She judged me just like she assumed I was judging her.   I wish I could wear a shirt that said "I used to weigh 70lbs more than this."  Maybe I should get some tech shirts made up.  I wanted so badly to give her some encouragement, a hug, a high five.   So - enjoy this lette...

My alarm clock in "Dora Snooze Mode" I was very thankful on Saturday morning.  My 25lb alarm clock "snoozed" until 7:15!  I'm not sure when the last time was that we slept that late...but I'm just sorry that my sweet husband was slaving away making up time at work. I spent the better part of the morning in my room on the heating pad, wondering if my body was going to loosen up enough to move.  It seems that my adventure of running twice on Friday was met with a little opposition.  A little ibuprofen, a walk around Shopko on an ill-fated search for a new torchiere lamp, and I was better.  Still, not sure that my future will hold many of these relay races.  The training is killer! Our exercise room - and the "Alarm Clock", again. I tried to take a nap - though I didn't really need one.  But after surfing the Internet while on the heating pad and enjoying a snack, I was sleepy.  I shut down the computer and just as I was falling asle...

My daughter, Alahnnah , just about couldn't handle today being April Fool's Day. If ever there was a holiday for that girl - this is it! My requirement is that the pranks have to be "nice", not include food- esque items passed off for food, and they can't lie. She had a fun day. I think she may have even had her Daddy fooled that she found a "real" mouse in the flour! Great day today. Had a moment that made me grin... Right after lunch, I always change diapers and help kiddos use the potty. You win some and you loose some. Today, I lost. Stinky messes all around. After I cleaned and napped them all, I went downstairs to retrieve the couch cover that was drying and passed my son's room. He needed his guitar tuned - the fancy electronic tuner wasn't working right with the laundry going nearby. That done, I went upstairs and helped Alahnnah with her math. That variety of multi-tasking really made me laugh. Tonight was our 9yo daughter...

I like to move. I can't even sit still for Sunday school...glad I wasn't ever important enough to go to meetings when I worked at the office - sheesh - that might have killed me. I haven't watched a movie all the way through in quite some time - and the 45 minutes it takes to sit down and watch the newest SG-U is about all I can take. Guess I get bored. Always feel like I should be doing something. Not chores, necessarily, but ya know - something. Granted, the house is ALWAYS a mess SOMEWHERE, but I just feel like I should be writing somebody a letter, planning meals, balancing the finances, or devising a way to take over the world. I got to thinking about this more and more as it applies to the Unhealthy Lifestyle epidemic in our country. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that we are unhealthy and unwilling to do anything about it. It's largely because the bulk of our day doesn't require us to MOVE. Even in just the last 5 years, things have just ...

It's 8pm and I'm ready to pack it in for the day! Today was one of the more exhausting and aggravating Mondays in a while. Thankfully, as I was heaving the 3rd load of laundry up the steps, I was reminded that at least my back didn't hurt really bad today! Silver lining and all. I had dreaded this day. While finishing up lesson plans last night, I could see the handwriting on the wall. Alahnnah hasn't had a full day of school in almost 2 weeks - it was going to be hard to keep her on task. I picked the wrong kid! Liam was the one that was the issue. He couldn't stay on task, kept bugging his sister, getting out of his seat and talking back to me. He didn't show his work in Math and tried to get away with incomplete sentences in English. At 2pm he put an whole frozen banana in my blender and I snapped. He ended up finishing his work in his room. I haven't graded his Math OR English yet. *fume* On the upside, I did get most of my Monday work done....

Another beautiful Sunday in Nebraska! A bright and sunny 7 degrees with a northerly wind at 20mph. Ahhh ...just gorgeous. :) After another owey back pain night of sleep, the Little's woke up at 6:10am. On the bright side, they were both cheerful and ready to play. Just...awake...REALLY early. We watched a couple of episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix , had a little cup of juice and waited for it to be time to get ready for church. Really irritated about my back. Yet another injury exasperated by my efforts to live longer. I had a slight twinge between my shoulder blades yesterday. You know, where you slept wrong and find it hard to turn your head? Yah . Well after a series of shoulder presses and biceps curls, followed by a 2 mile interval run, I could hardly lift my right arm! I took a bunch of Vitamin "I" and rolled out the muscles on the foam roller. I actually got my neck to pop and got a little relief. At least it wasn't hard to sit at...

"Transition is a battle, no question about it. You have to decide if the future matters. Because what you do right now, every day -- meals and exercise (or the lack thereof) will determine your future." ---- Tony Horton I saw this quote today and this - "You have to decide if the future matters." - really got to me. That's what it comes down to for every choice I make. DOES the future matter? Will it matter in the future if I smoke a cigarette today? Will it matter if I put toxins in my body like saturated fat and aspartame? Will it matter in the future if I do not exercise? Will my future be effected if I don't maintain an appropriate weight? I was never a future thinker. Nope, not me. Not gonna live past 25, I said, anyway. And I didn't care. In my teens and early 20's I was depressed and full of self loathing. I stood for nothing and blew any which way the wind took me. I tried it all and it all came up short for filling the void....

We started our 3rd week of school, here at the Morton Home School. My 7 th and 3rd graders are doing very well at the readin ', writtin ', and ' rithmetic . I am doing well at keeping up with the grading and the tracking of the hours. I decided that, this year, I have to do it every day for that particular day, no excuses. Well, I plumb forgot yesterday - so I made darn sure to catch it all up today. It's a lot of work...and boy am I wiped out by 9pm (okay by 8pm). It's so worth it, though! My break from calorie counting is going well. I have "shared ice cream with the baby" more times than normal - however - I believe I am shorting myself during the day due to not really being sure of exactly how many calories are going in. Even with a 90% break from exercise last week, I managed to loose a half a pound. I do weigh myself every day and have still been observing a steady decline. On Monday, I did a weight lifting DVD that I've attempted many ...

Most things that you set out to do will take some sacrifice. Simply living day after day, fitting in, following the herd - well, that takes very little effort. But to break out of a rut, go a little further, change yourself for the good...it can hurt. Whether the sacrifice be physical in nature or have to do with emotional sacrifice, a little pain can bring you a long way. What got me thinking about this was my recent bout of back pain. I have a recurring issue with a couple of joints being inflamed in my lower back and causing a whole lot of trouble. After months of physical therapy and then chiropractic, I finally saw a surgeon and had an MRI. Rather than surgery, he injected the joints and bought me several months of pain free bliss! Pain returns, I return for injections. On and on. I'm due again, but can't be seen for 2 weeks. Though they work nearly instantly, I DREAD these horrible injections. The needle used is several inches long, and has to be sort of "d...

Everyone who is overweight has a magical number in mind for their "wow, if I could just be that thin again" number. Even if you have been heavy your whole life - you can look back to 20, 50 or 100 pounds ago and long for that size that, at the time, you abhorred. If you've ever lost weight only to gain it all back, you know what I'm talking about! This is actually my 3rd stab at this weight. Well, up until 4lbs ago. I have gone from 225 - 175 twice. The first time I went all the way down to 145 (still NOT to goal, btw), and the second time I got to 175, ran a half marathon, then promptly got pregnant again. :eyeroll: So there is some mental block about that 175 mark. Today I sit here at 171, feeling pretty good that the last 4lbs are some oldies. I've been carrying these around for 4 years. When I was marathon training, I couldn't get below the magic number. I was also nursing a baby, and I don't think I allowed my body enough calories to do ever...

Wow...that's a honkin ' word. In- de -pen- dence ...whew! I bet you were thinking that I might write something thoughtful about that word and what it means to me. Nah. I'm not feeling very "deep" right now. The good news is - it's after 1am and the neighborhood is blissfully quiet! The bad news is - it's after 1am and I'm up to experience it. I got up to take some drugs because my leg is killing me (can't even have the sheet on it). The pill got stuck in my throat so I opened a package of crackers and sat down with the new Runners World. Then I got to thinking about our newest challenge on www.3fatchicks.com and how I hadn't finalized the team assignments yet - the challenge starts tomorrow - eek! Anyway, did that and remembered that I missed writing these last few days. I feel like SUCH a whiner I don't even want to put my thoughts down. Trying to stay positive. Tomorrow I am going to bring some weights up from the basement and ge...

Wow. This day has proven to me that I really am healthier and more fit than I was a year ago. I can't believe I survived it all! First of all, let me say Thank You Lord for allowing me to get a full nights' sleep again last night. Without that, I'd have been sunk. The day started before 6 and went a little like this: Up and out the door for 3 miles, home to shower, make breakfast, serve 8 kids, (chug coffee/inhale my breakfast). Break up multiple fights between 2 school agers and wonder why I home school. Read stories, change diapers, put babies down for naps. Clean kitchen, wash dishes, get babies up, serve snack (apply makup /curl hair). Clean, clean, clean, read books, play with blocks. Make lunch, feed babies, coax toddlers to try something new, clean everyone up, change diapers, put down the first set (sing nigh-nigh songs), then the second set, then the third. Get kids all up from naps, sweep and vacuum before they start tearing up the living room again, br...

Happy Resurrection Day!! He is risen, just as he said. What a fabulous weekend. We had a date last night. My super duper hubby and I went to eat at Mazatlan Mexican Restaurant. I'm happy to report, that I had about 5 chips with salsa from the basket. In fact, hubby nibbled on just a few as well and most of that basket of chips went to waste...not to waist. I love South American Cuisine and require that my Mexican food be cooked by actual Mexicans. This place is so authentic that I ordered something and wasn't entirely sure what it was. Unfortunately, it came out as battered and deep fried steak! Oh no!! I cut a little and tried to take the breading off, but it still just wasn't very good. So I tried something new. I ordered something else! Hubby agreed that it would be worth it to just pay for another entrée to be sure to get what tastes good. Awesomeness though...the waiter wouldn't let us pay for both dishes, just wanted us to be pleased with our meal....

It's always good to keep records when you are working towards a goal. I've been semi-depressed lately over the failure of the scale to budge. But looking back I see that I really did loose 2 pounds in March. That's a FAR cry from my goal of 5 pounds, but also a long way off from the ZERO that was in my mind. Might as well be zero, though. I've been working HARD. Certainly hard enough to earn more than a 2lb loss. I workout a la Jillian Michaels 5 days a week and stick to my calorie budget. I drink 8-10 glasses of water and do well getting my 100g of protein a day. It's my crazy schedule. I know I'm not getting enough rest. I get a full nights sleep 2 or 3 nights a week. The baby still doesn't sleep through the night most of the time. I read an article that pointed to the fact that your body needs 7-8 hours of sleep to efficiently burn fat. But what do I do? Just hang out and stay this heavy until our son decides he doesn't need a hug or a ...

There's not a whole lot that compares to wearing a bathing suit. For better or worse, you get a true gauge of your progress. Previously I had been wearing a pair of shorts and a tee shirt to the pool. Lately, I've been resurrecting clothing from over a year ago and felt pretty confident about donning my old suit. So...I looked for my bathing suit circa "that era". Couldn't find it. I could find suits from prior to that era, but not the one I was looking for. What to do, what to do... I tried on one that I could find and while it did fit - I didn't like it. Yuck. I should have kept to the shorts and tee. I don't think it was the suit, though. But I'm stubborn. And darn it, I want to be comfy when I swim. Digging through my dresser drawers I spotted a perfect tropical print sarong to "wrap and cover" with, and ended up feeling okay when we took a dip on Saturday. I'm just a pound of two away from half way to goal. I feel good a...

Hooray for the day in honor of all thing mooshy - gooshy ! My dear sweet David brought home some flowers for me and we got each other cards. I hear tell there is a new frying pan coming in the mail as well. Yes - I asked for a new frying pan for Valentine's Day. I had long ago set a goal to get my wedding ring back on by today. Last night I slipped it on with no problems! Yay ! Um...I can't get it off now, but hey - it's on again and that's where it will stay. I'm sure it will just get looser and looser. It's not cutting off the circulation or anything - so it's okay. Today we ventured out to eat for the first time in about 6 weeks. Anything but Subway is a crap shoot when it comes to counting calories. We went to Golden Corral, ie . The Trough. I did really well - had a salad with some grilled chicken on it, a little rice, ONE onion ring, skipped the rolls, skipped the taco bar, skipped the yummydelicious mashed potatoes. I did have dessert, ...

The last week has been to busy for blogging. I started cultivating a nice infection on Sunday and by Monday had full blown mastitis. I even had DH stay home from work to help me with the children. I was one sick puppy! My weightloss last week came out at -3.8lbs. Oooh, just shy of 4! I was pretty surprised to post a big loss again. That's almost 7lbs for January - only 3 to go for my 10lbs per month goal! I only got to exercise 1 day last week, but I counted every little itty bitty calorie. Sticking to 1800, still. It sounds like a lot compared to most of the ladies on the weight loss boards, but I guess I burn a lot. Whatever works! Back to the subject of my difficulty last week. This was the second HUGE pain and in this area in the last month. I suffered with some terrible scabbing a couple of weeks ago that made me want to *scream* every time I fed him. He has 4 teeth and nearly chews through a feeding. All things considered, I decided to try some formula in a bot...

A frequent topic of discussion among people trying to shed pounds is "When/how do you weigh yourself?" If you are on a maintenance plan and happily sticking to an exercise and healthy eating plan, then weighing yourself once a month is best. But if you are working daily on calorie restriction and working an exercise plan to loose weight, once a month may not be enough. I had been weighing myself once a month, and ended up waiting till the last 2 weeks of the month to follow my eating plan. :-o Most weight loss programs recommend weighing once a week or less. Weighing at the same time of day is helpful as well. You will almost certainly weigh more at night than you do in the morning. Weighing right before you hop in the shower will give you the ol ' Birthday Suit weight. For a long time I was a once a week weigher . Monday morning before breakfast. That was me. But it seemed like I suffered from accountability issues in that amount of time as well. Either I wait ...

Most people don't really want to take the steps to make changes in thier lives. Most of the time, they just want to complain about thier situation and obtain pity from those in similar situations. First let me clear the air here and say that I am certainly not excluding myself in this group. I am guilty of the same thing in certain areas of my life. After three years of sobriety, I still hold out hope that someday "they" will make a pill to make me a normal drinker so that I will be able to have a glass of wine with dinner. I ran a daily email thread for nearly a year. It was focused on nutrition and exercise. I started it with a small group of relatives and it eventually branched out to some co-workers and thier sisters, etc. Everyday I would start it out by talking about what exercise I had done or planned to do that day, what the day's attack plan looked like for getting my fruits and veggies in and what was stopping me from sticking to it. The thread was de...

It occurred to me to day that I am more well rested and less stressed than I have been in probably all of my adult life. I was reading my book during Nap Time and had dozed for a few minutes. My mind was wandering and contemplating meals for next week, Thanksgiving and what we are bringing to the church pot-luck and dessert auction. I was floating through my mind, thinking of recipes and friends, family and good times. I snapped-to and realized that I should probably get a little housework done before the house came alive again. I folded the warm blanket laid accross my lap and put my bookmark back in the book. All at once I thought of my blog and the fact that I hadn't for a while. I also thought of this topic and that in a few short months I will be longing for a nice rest on the couch during nap time, and the feeling that I am well rested. So why is it, that we can't somehow store the extra rest we get. I guess maybe the rest I have been so blessedly afforded lately i...