Saturday, January 31, 2009

Random is good...

1. I like theses random posts. They are so liberating...no pressure to format amusing sentences into proper paragraphs. Yes, random is good. (It is especially good in that it allows me to post at least once a week...which allows me to avoid the "why don't you update your blog more often" question from my sister).



2. My husband is watching an incredibly dumb movie right now. I have spent the past hour and a half of my life perusing facebook while trying to avoid losing brain cells to his dumb movie.



3. Winston will celebrate his 1st birthday tomorrow. He weighs 160 pounds. I am so glad that none of my children weighed 160 pounds on their first birthday.



4. The sun was shining bright today...evidently sunshine motivates me...I completed 8 loads of laundry.



5. Forrest currently has all A's and B's...for the first time since the 3rd grade. Don't worry, I'm not holding my breath to see if this lasts until report card day. Instead, I am basking in the glory of being the parent of a studious child for the entire day and half that I am able. It makes me want to buy one of those "My child is on the Honor Roll" bumper stickers. Knowing that Monday would see me with a sharpie in hand adding "not" between "is" and "on" has prevented me from doing so.



6. One of my favorite things about owning a handgun is that I am now able to say things like "If you keep on naggin' me to cook dinner I'm gonna bust a cap in yo' butt". Unfortunately Mark is a better shot. Fortunately he hasn't used his gun to threaten me into cooking dinner.



7. I wonder how much weight I can lose before our trip in 5 weeks. I plan on going Richard Simmons crazy from now until then to find out.



8. Speaking of our trip...I have entirely too much to do between now and then.



9. Somehow I have managed to keep the 2009 photo blog up to date for the month of January...hold your applause.



10. I am going to bed now. I know better than to stay up this late on a Saturday night...I'm such a rebel.

Friday, January 23, 2009

10 Random Things...

1. January is boring. I love January.

2. Our backyard finally dried out. It's supposed to rain tonight. Go figure.

3. I have lost two more pounds. Down 14 total.

4. I am on "G" in the Sue Grafton series. (See number 1 above).

5. Pedicures in the winter are better than pedicures in the summer. Who knew?

6. The 2009 photo blog is caught up.

7. The laundry is not.

8. My little husband has to go to Vienna, Austria for a conference. I get to tag along.

9. Forrest gets his driving permit in 5 weeks. I'm afraid to call the insurance company...

10. Sorry that this is a rather boring list. (See number 1 above).

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Weather and weight loss...

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, I say things like "it's hard to get into Christmas mode when it's 65 degrees outside" and "I wish we would get 4 or 5 inches of snow". I am perfectly happy with cold weather and overcast skies...until New Year's Day.

In my land Spring should occur on January 1. While I know that Winter didn't even officially start until December 20th, it still feels like we should be ushering in sunshine and warmth along with the new year. What's the point in cold weather after the holidays are over? Don't you have that sense that once January arrives "Spring is just around the corner" rather than "Spring is months away". Seriously, when I wake up on January 14th and the temperature outside is 18 degrees, I am momentarily surprised and I feel just a little disgruntled that the warm weather I keep expecting has been kept from me for yet another day. March 20th seems so very far away. Sometimes I rebel by not wearing a coat...ha! Take that Winter! Never mind that I'm the one freezing to death.

Weight loss can be a bit like that for me too.

If I have eaten well for two weeks. And if I've done an hour of cardio plus strength training five days a week for those two weeks. And if I've drank so many bottles of Dasani water that I start to feel guilty about the amount of plastic I am shipping off to the landfill...it seems like on day 15 I should wake up skinny. Right? So when I step on the scale and see that I've only lost 12 pounds, I am momentarily surprised and I fell a whole lot more than a little disgruntled. My goal seems so far away and in the past, this has caused me to rebel...by say eating a Quarter Pounder and washing it down with a large sweet tea with no ice. Fortunately, I realized that I was sabotaging myself...not exacting revenge on my scale for reflecting a frustrating number and I decided to change my rebellious ways.

Hopefully March 20th will bring a much lower number on the scale along with the sunshine and warm weather.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Wherein Cammie asks another loaded question...

On our way to church we pass a certain restaurant on Two Mile Pk (Two Mile Pk was actually changed to Rivergate Parkway a few years ago... I happen to think that it is wrong to rename a road that has a perfectly good name to begin with...and, if you have lived 28 years calling it one name, it is rather difficult to adapt to the new name...thus ensuring that when a newcomer says "it's on Rivergate Parkway" you fix them with a blank stare and search about your brain trying to get a mental image of "Rivergate Parkway" all the while wondering how said newcomer knows about a street that you don't and you have lived here all of you life...until recognition finally shakes something loose in your brain and your blank look is replaced by a knowing look and with a smile you say "oh, you mean Two Mile Pk")...anyhoo...we pass a certain eating/drinking establishment on our way to church.

This establishment is tucked under the 65N overpass and it's set back a bit from the road. The building is sided by tall lengths of grey paneling and honestly, it appears more than a little drab. In the last couple of years, it looks like the owners tried to spruce the place up by erecting day-glo orange palm trees out front and stringing large globe Christmas lights around the perimeter. On Saturday afternoons it is the home of biker rallies.

Let me begin this next part by saying that we eat out on a regular basis...and by regular I mean entirely too much. I would be embarrassed to tell you how many meals a week we eat out. (This is where I mention that I have cooked the last three nights in a row and have dinner simmering in the crockpot for tonight...working on that whole "better" wife, mother Destry thing). Our kids are accustomed to trying out new restaurants. They know where all of the good (decent would be a better word) places to eat in Rivergate/Goodlettsville are...and they know that if a new restaurant opens, we will inevitably check it out. With all of that I mind, I'm actually surprised that the following conversation hasn't occurred before now...

Scene: Mark, Forrest, Chloe, Cammie and I on the way to mid-week service last night. Mark and I are chatting about something that happened at his work, the kids are actually being quiet for a moment. We drive under the 65N overpass and Cammie pipes up...

Cammie: "Why don't we ever eat there"?

Me: (absently because I am in the middle of an actual "grown-up"conversation" for the first time in hours) "Where, baby"?

Cammie: "That place with the orange trees".

As I am swiveling to see where she is pointing, realization strikes me just before my eyes land on the sign with the little owl mascot.

Me: "Which place"? I ask, stalling as I cast about for an answer.

Chloe has a keen interest in trying out new restaurants and she joins in the conversation..."That place over there with the orange trees and the owl on the sign".

Forrest: snickering in the third row seat..."Yeah, why don't we ever eat there"?

I take this moment to jab Mark with my elbow...a gesture that asks the question why do I always have to answer the hard questions? He gives me a deer-in-the-headlights look and murmurs, an "Uhhh"...

Me: "Well, Cammie, we don't eat there because the waitresses don't wear enough clothes".

Forrest: "Way to be honest mom"...still snickering...

Chloe who is offended by public displays of flesh (you should hear her when she spots someone mowing the lawn sans shirt) says "Ewww, that's disgusting. In a restaurant"?

Cammie: "Oh, so that's why we don't go there".

I think the conversation is over. I am wrong. Two seconds later...

Cammie: "Have you and Daddy ever eaten there"?

Mark and I exchange a glance, Forrest's snickering is now an official laugh...

Me: "Yes, we have".

Cammie in a jubilant voice says: "I knew it"! Then after a pause, "You ate there before I was born, right"?

Me: "Yes, before you born".

Cammie: "When I was in your tummy"? Perhaps she is thinking this would count as her eating there as well, something that would inevitably be used to taunt her sister.

Me: "No, not while you were in my tummy".

Mark and I are giggling by this point. I reach over and turn the radio up a few notches louder in order to discourage further conversation about dining at H00ters. I don't think explaining that it's the only place that you can get Buffalo Shrimp would have helped the situation.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

New Year...

Last year my One Little Word was "discipline"... let's examine how that worked out...

-I wanted to be more disciplined with diet and exercise. I am happy to report that I lost a total of 152 pounds in 2008. The only problem...well, I also happened to gain 151 pounds in 2008. So, as I sit and type this I am down 1 pound from the same day last year.

-Another area that I wanted to be more disciplined in was bible reading and prayer. While I did read and pray more in 2008 than I did in 2007...it wasn't nearly enough for me to consider myself disciplined about it.

-My photo blog is also something that required discipline...and we all know how well that worked out. I am currently behind by a month and a half.

Discipline was obviously not the word for me. I'm not sure what my new word will be for 2009.
I do know that I have been going to the gym for the last month and I have lost 10 pounds and that I have more stamina than I did at this time last year.

Even though I haven't prayed as much as I should or invested as much time in the word of God as I should...I am thankful that His mercies are new EVERY DAY. Today can be the start of a renewed commitment.

While I haven't been consistent with posting the pictures on the photo blog, I have taken them and have a list so that I can catch it up...and I AM going to catch it up. My OCD says that I have already messed it up...but you know what... I don't really care. It's my photo blog and I want to be able to print the pictures and have a record of our 2008. AND furthermore...I am going to give it another try. Look for a link later today. The original photo blog will be updated within the hour with another installment of catch up photos.

I love January. It always seems full of hope and promise. A clean slate and another chance to be different...to be better. Maybe that will be my word...better. Not disciplined, not perfect, but better.