It''s a good thing I'm painting them purple...

For the last week I've been working on building built in bookshelves in my upstairs library. Well, I admit, I didn't do it the easiest way, and I had to "unbuild" several times. My husband gave up on helping me with my "poorly engineered" project a couple days ago after getting it mostly built in the garage but then being unable to get it up the stairs. So anyway, I got some time to get it finished and let Mike have the baby for the evening. Long story short, I shot myself with the nail gun. It when in one side and out the other, but I didn't know that so I just whipped back and off the nail. Guess I'm glad I did that so that I didn't have to think about getting the nail out. But then I dripped blood on my shelf. I finished the shelf with a throbbing finger, and was much more wary of the gun after that. Today the finger still hurts, but hopefully I don't need a tetanus shot. Now I've got to paint it but hopefully by tomorrow there will be books on it!

In other news, yesterday was another measuring day. In the last four weeks I lost another 9lbs. and almost 2in. off my hips! Very exciting. Only .5 in. off my waist though so I think I might need to focus there a bit more. Yesterday I also invented a new drink. It's a knock off of the sparkling green tea that I really like, only it's calorie and high fructose corn syrup free! I took green tea, stevia, and a little lemon and lime and mixed it with club soda. Ta da! It could still use a little work, but it wasn't a bad substitute.

Engage Your Core

Mike laughed at me when I told him this, but I have to say, few things feel as good as biking up a hill using your core muscles and legs like you're supposed to. I just recently discovered what a difference it makes to "engage your core" when you bike and I have a whole new level of power. Yesterday I rode around two lakes (about 12 miles) in 45 minutes; half of it is gravel and all of it is pulling the bike cart. That might not sound that fast but my previous fastest time was 1 hour 15 minutes. Today my core is tired so I think I might take a break...

A momentous occasion

It's a day I've been waiting for for a long time: after 17.5 months I have finally removed all of the maternity clothes from my closest. Unfortunately they were not still there because I am lazy and unorganized but because I still had to wear them a year after I had the baby. But no more! While wearing my strechy pants from college I also removed anything that said "XL". :D And gave my husband his t-shirts back. I don't think I have to tell you that it is a good feeling. And last night I put on a pair of dress slacks that I had worn when I worked at USDA, the low waist style and they looked alright and were comfortable. Now, don't go to thinking that I've had amazing results lately. Actually I'm not even sure that I made my 1lb. goal this week (but there are some *other reasons* for possible water weight right now so I'm not going to worry about it) but progress is being made and I'm feeling more comfortable in my skin. And it's marvelous. I also just realized that if I keep up at my current rate, I could have a really fun shopping trip on our annual Christmas trip to Minneapolis this year. :D
Today was fairly successful in the eating area too (so far). I avoided the coffee and the scones after church this morning (warm and soft and blueberry, it was a feat of self-control) and the hot dogs at noon. I did have a bite of each, but I stopped at that. Instead we went for a bike ride and then went swimming. Now Mike wants to go out for burgers and ice cream....hm...Not sure how I'm going to navigate that yet. But we'll figure it out.

A Good Morning

So, two great things happened this morning:
1. I woke up and realized that Parker only got up ONCE last night. And that once I just lay down next to him and he went back to sleep. That is AMAZING. And by far the best night we've had in a really long time. The reason he even woke up that once? The train. At 1 a.m. laying on his horn. %$#%^%$^&%&%%#$@#$@! But, the break through that proceeded this blessed night of restfulness? I literally got down on my knees and prayed. So I am very grateful this morning. And a tad bit more rested.
2. I put on my stretchy yoga pants and they didn't disgust me! Granted they don't look as good as they did in college, but they are comfortable and they''re not gross. So again, very grateful.
Last night I had taco johns for supper. I know, I know, that doesn't have any place in my diet, but it's what Mike wanted to eat. And I'm trying to do better at loving my husband, and if that's what it takes, then I will "sacrifice" a lb. or two to make him happy. That's not to say that I don't like Taco John's too, it's just really calorie loaded and put me over my limit yesterday. Like Mom says, there are lots of different reasons that we eat, and I did not eat at Taco Johns because of a lack of control, but just as a choice.
A new thing I'm trying is called "Truvia;" it's a no calorie natural sweetener. Made from Stevia, it's away to sweeten tea and such without the calories or chemicals that are in normal calorie free things. It made my Chai this morning really yummy. It's a tad bit expensive, but I don't think I'll use it too quickly. And I found a great coupon at www.shopathome.com

An Ideal Husband

Oh yeah, there was something else I wanted to write about. I watched this movie the last few days, with a title that disgusted Mike just by the sight of it: "An Ideal Husband." But you know it really was rather good. It didn't have so much of the silly romanticism but rather a little real husband and wife relationship. Some good truths in it too about how no one is perfect but being married means that you choose to love them anyway. Granted it wasn't all about good relationships or morals, but it was decent and a nice change of pace from typical chick flicks. And lots of English wit which I always love. :)

A little perspective

So I was going crazy this morning, or at least on the verge. I don't know what's gotten into Parker lately but he's been a beast. Having temper tantrums, not eating well, not sleeping well, and clingy. Like he was clinging to my leg as I tried to use the bathroom this morning. Maybe it's the terrible twos coming on early, or maybe it's that I've been "night weaning" him this last week and a half and maybe he's just really not ready for that. But then I got into my e-mail and saw a message about a friend of ours who's little few month old guy is in the hospital because he stopped breathing at the babysitter's and now I guess he's having convulsions. Poor fellow. I can't imagine how hard that it is see and not be able to do anything about. So, praying for them and thankful that at least Parker is healthy if not happy. :P On top of that as I sat down to pray for some help this morning God did give me peace and when I got to work my favorite little babysitters came running out to take the child off my hands. Hallelujah! I will enjoy this while it lasts and then get back to being a mother with thankfulness and God's grace.

Wii Fit

It's been awhile, but I haven't really had much to post. I lost another 6lb. in the last 2 weeks, bringing my total up to 18lb.? I think. So, feeling alright about that however still not seeing the results in my clothes that I would like. Not sure what's up there, if I'm loosing the weight, where's it coming from? Anyway, my newest fitness venture is the Wii Fit that we got hooked up Saturday night. It's pretty fun and I've discovered that I have really bad balance. I was also kinda depressed when I took my first "body test" it said that my "Wii Fit" age was 39 and when it weighed my my "Mii" got fatter. :( Mike says it's motivation. Today was the first day that I actually did it as my workout and it was fun, the time flew by. I like have the variance to my workout like hula hooping for 8 minutes and then step aerobics for another 8 or so and then I go for a 3 minute run. That's about all the run I've ever been able to get enthused about. The thing I don't like is the time it takes to get from activity to activity. It gives me too much resting time I think. As I "unlock" the higher level of intensity of the exercises that should help some. But it look me over an hour to clock 45 minutes of exercise. That's not quite right. However, like I said, I didn't notice the time passing.
Another recent happening was the surviving of the Iowa State Fair. We went on Friday. Typically people think of the state fair as a place to consume astronomical amounts of calories usually all on a stick and fried. So I had to come up with a battle plan. I ate a satisfying but lean breakfast and then packed ham and cheese wraps for lunch. It worked well to satisfy my hunger and then all the junk didn't tease me as much. It also helped that it was really hot and everything is so expensive so I wasn't as tempted either. However, I didn't say no to any indulgences, in fact I planned on a few and just the fact that I knew I could have them helped me to not want them as much. I ended the day (including the out to supper) only about 400 calories over my goal. When you add in the fact that I walked around the fair grounds for about 5 hours with a 25lb. child on my back, I think I actually came in way below the goal. So it was a good day. No feeling deprived and no feeling guilty.

Feeling Squirrely

I have decided that I am part squirrel. I get an inordinate amount of pleasure from putting food away for the winter. One of the best gifts I have ever received was a small size deep freezer. It's small enough to be cute and fits in close proximity to my kitchen; yet it still serves it's purpose and gives me lots of room to squirrel food away. So far, this summer I have put away 27 bags of sweet corn (half went to my mother though), four bags of peaches, a bag or two of rhubarb, two bags of zucchini (I just learned how to spell that today :)), a loaf of zucchini bread,four bags of green beans, and a peach pie. That's all I can remember right now but there are still several bags of apples from last year, a pumpkin pie, and some beef from last winter's stock. Oh and a few items of buns and such that I buy when they're a good deal at the bread outlet. So yeah, all this leaves me feeling very domestic and pleased. And I've still got a ways to go before winter. I've got lots of squash coming in my garden and lots of onions and potatoes as well, although they don't go in the freezer. The coffers are bursting! :) I really was born into the wrong era, either that or the wrong fur. :D

4 Weeks

Well, last night was the four week point so it was also a measuring day. First off I weighed and was down another 2 lb! That Gives me a total of 12lb. lost in four weeks, about triple my goal. If I could keep up at that pace I will be at my goal weight before Christmas. The measuring was also encouraging, I had lost half an inch off my waist, 2.25in. off my hips, an inch off my arm and 2 inches off my leg. All very exciting. I'm not seeing a huge change in how my clothes fit yet, but I'm looking forward to that. All, in all I'm feeling pretty good about it all, however it is forced. Being the perfectionist I tend to be, I keep thinking, I could've done better. But as Mike and Amy have both pointed out, they seem to say that slow and steady lasts longer in the long run when it comes to weight loss. I've gotten lazy about my protein intake lately, so I need to pay more attention to that again. I've also been doing more snitching as I cook or feed Parker which is impossible to track the calories of. Pretty much it's cheating. And although you can cheat the calorie counter you cannot cheat the scale.