Back to work already?

Have you ever taken a 65 year old man shoe shopping? A man who has had two strokes, gets flustered very easily, is stubborn as hell, can't read and who will buy only one brand of shoe? He gives the term brand loyalty a new meaning. Good gravy, it was an exercise in patience if nothing else.

Friday night my father informs me that I need to take him shoe shopping Saturday morning. All thoughts of having a quick visit with him this holiday weekend promptly vanish. I didn't even bother to ask why he didn't tell me LAST weekend when I was there, the non holiday weekend, that he needed new shoes. And of course new shoes reminds him that he needs socks. So now instead of taking him to breakfast and the grocery store and then heading home, I've got to also take him to Wal-Mart and Famous Footwear. I know I sound like a bitch but, this man doesn't do anything fast. Fast is beyond him at this point.

Famous Footwear, thankfully, wasn't too crowded and I was able to find him a pair of 12W white Rockports fairly quickly. Then he tells me he wants a second pair and of course, they didn't have them. Then he didn't trust my ability to look at the shoeboxes and correctly ascertain whether there was another pair of 12W white Rockports on the shelf even though I can read and he can't. I don't point this out, though, because then I really would be a bitch so here's our conversation:

"You don't see any other 12W Rockports."
"No, Dad."
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure."
"Here's a 12 right here!"
"That's a medium, you need wide."
Silence while he looks at the boxes.
"Here's a 12 wide."
"In black, you want white."
More searching. Mind you, I've looked at every freakin box of Rockports in the store already.
"Here's 12 wide."
"Those are New Balance, Dad. You want Rockports, right?"
Now he starts eyeing the one correct pair we've found and asks what the writing on the tongue of the shoe says.
"It says ProWalkers, Dad."
"Well, I thought I always just got tennis shoes."
I don't respond because I'm not sure what in the hell he's talking about. What I do know is that the shoes in his hands are FINE for his purposes. Ring 'em up and bag 'em so we can get the fuck up outta here.

He starts making nosies about going to another store about 20 minutes away because maybe he can get two pair there because God only knows when he'll ever get back to the shoe store. Did I mention that he told me he needed shoes only the night before? 24 hours later and we're at the shoe store. Spare me the Poor Pitiful Pearl routine. I was so not in the mood and I could feel my blood pressure rising.

The salesgirl narrowly averted a full blown family argument by informing us that she could order a pair of 12W white Rockports and have them sent to his house. And they don't charge shipping. Score!

The shoe store scene was basically repeated at Wal-Mart during our hunt for his damn socks. Jeez that man is a marketer's dream! If it's socks and underwear it has to be Fruit of the Loom, pop then it's Diet Coke, mustard then it's Grey Poupon, tissue must be Puffs with lotion, and don't even bother bringing any other toilet paper other than Northern into the house.

The rest of the weekend was good. I walked every day and the weather was just gorgeous! However, I did way too much mindless eating and I'm so pissed about it today. But I'm back on track and I'm not going to dwell on it. Not much anyway.

Chi Sox won!

Three day weekend..woo-hoo!!

Down another pound this week. At this rate, I may reach my goal weight by 2008! All kidding aside, at least the scale is moving in the right direction and that's all that matters. I shouldn't look too far down the road because otherwise I start to feel overwhelmed by just how far I still have to go. I should focus on OMOHOD (one minute, one hour, one day) at a time. It sounds hokey but it works.

I love Memorial Day weekend! I love the parties, the baseball games, the Indy 500, the feeling that summer is here despite the fact that we somehow always manage to have crappy weather that weekend.

So far the only plans we have are on Saturday I'm going to my dad's and Sunday we're going to The Saint's brother's house for a BBQ. This means I may actually get the chance to clean my house and *gasp* relax.

I wasn't scheduled to go to my dad's this Saturday since I was up there last Saturday but, this is my brother's busiest weekend of the year. He owns a swimming pool service company and so he's crazy busy right now and I will be crazy busy the first three weeks of June. So we struck a deal. I'll take these last two Saturdays in May and the Big B (my brother) will take the first 3 Saturdays in June which means I don't have to go back to my dad's until June 25th.

It's been a challenge to take care of my dad for the last two years since his stroke but at least the Big B and I are on the same page regarding his care and able to compromise. I know he takes on more responsibility by virtue of living in the same town as my dad but, I do what I can. At least my dad is fairly self sufficient except for not being able to read or drive anymore. And if dealing with him and his health issues aren't enough to motivate me to get healthy, nothing will be.

Sox lost last night. Bummer.

I'll never understand it

I lost 3.5 pounds this week. I only walked for 30 minutes two days this week. I stuck to WW but ate every single Daily Point, Activity Point and Weekly Allowance Point. Why then, such a big loss? I'll never understand it.

I seem to be over whatever funky, lack of motivation slump I was in and firmly back on track. Phew. When I get like that I feel like I'm balanced precariously on the edge and it wouldn't take much to send me plunging over the side and into a bag of Flamin Hot Cheetos!

My goal is to lose 50 pounds by mid July and right now I'm sitting at 34.5 gone. I think it's doable. The only thing that scares me a little is that June is shaping up to be an absolutely horrendous month workwise and it's definitely going to be a struggle to maintain my work-life balance. I'm starting to plan for it now.

Last night The Saint and I went to our nephew's preschool graduation. It was an hour long program. For preschool. As in four year olds. I must say, however, it was very cute and Austin was not as shy about being on stage and singing in front of an auditorium full of strangers as I thought he would. I, of course, cried. God I love that kid! Even when he picked his nose three minutes after taking the stage and when he, like a true guy, kept rearranging his furniture if you know what I mean. What is with guys and their packages?

Sox beat the Cubs today in the Crosstown Classic. Hee, hee!

I don't know if it's because my routine got interrupted while I was in Denver or because I'm kind of in a funk or because it's That Time of the Month, but good gravy, I want to eat everything in the house. It's driving me nuts. That and the fact that I seem to have lost all enthusiasm for walking. I really had to drag my ass out there this morning. It didn't help that it was only in the 40s either.

The Saint is trying to be really supportive. Poor guy is probably terrified I'll give up. Again. Perversely, the more he tries to be encouraging, the more I want him to shut up. And yet when he wasn't supportive enough this morning I got on his ass about it. My only excuse is a temporary hormonal imbalance.

So to cheer myself up I had a FOUR hour lunch with two girlfriends today. One is engaged and going through all that wedding planning madness. She was in tears at least twice. The other one is a stay at home mom and has her own issues. When she worked all she wanted was to be home with her son. Now that she's home with him, she really misses working and that adult interaction. And money is really tight for them now that she's not working. After listening to all their drama, I wasn't sure if I felt better or worse.

But on the plus side, I was out of the house and therefore couldn't graze all day. I had a really healthy lunch and stayed away from dessert. And I got to have some girl time which I need every once in a while.

My goal for the week is to stay OP with Weight Watchers and keep walking even if I don't want to. My funk will pass and in the meantime I just have to keep doing what I know works even if I don't feel like it. Fake it till I make it.

Back from Denver

I'm back from the Mile High City and down half a pound. I consider that a major victory since I had little to no control over the menu when I was out there.

So today I was back to food that I could control and I walked tonight when I got home from work. Two miles and it felt really good. I never exercise when I'm in Denver because I'm afraid I'm going to pass out due to the thin air. Could I be any more dramatic? I just have this fear that I'll pass out and when I come to there'll be this circle of people crowded around staring down at the fat lady (me) laid out on the floor and whispering "Oh thank God she's awake. We weren't sure how we'd get her up off the floor."

Did you ever see "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" with Johnny Depp? Gilbert's mom weighed like 500 pounds when she died in an upstairs bedroom. Rather than let her become a spectacle and have to be removed from the house with a crane, Gilbert burned the house down instead. That would be me in the Wyndham. OK, now I am being dramatic and I can only blame it on PMS and the fact that I feel really fat today despite the walk and the half pound loss. Ever have those days?

I'm going to go watch the Chi Sox now.

My cats are making me fat...

Wasn't there a study recently that found that people who don't get enough sleep are more likely to be overweight or some such shit? It's true! I'm fat and I don't get nearly enough sleep. The reason I don't get enough sleep is because my fur babies, Riley, Bailey, Devlin and Ronan, hate to see me sleep. Hate it!

And things are even crazier at our house right now because my in-law's cat, Little Guy, is visiting. LG comes to stay whenever they go out of town which seems to be alot! He drives Bailey crazy and she follows him around making cougar-like nosies. It's pretty funny for about the first five mintues and then it gets to be damn annoying.

So Ronan woke us up at about 2:15 am this morning by running around our bed like a cat possessed. I usually cut him a lot of slack because a) he's not even a year old yet and b) he's cute as a button but it was the middle of the NIGHT!

I'm headed to Denver in the morning on business so The Saint will have to deal with the hooligans on his own. HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!! In the morning, when they want to be fed, they always come to me. Even on the rare occasion, such as my birthday, when The Saint gets up to feed them at 4:30 am, they will not leave me alone. I literally have to get up, go downstairs and pretend to put food in their bowls before they will eat what he's given them. They don't care who feeds them at night but it has to be me in the morning unless I'm away. Then and only then will they wake him up for food. Bitches.

White Sox. Win. Again.

5K: Mission accomplished

True to his word, The Saint rolled out of bed at 6:20 this morning without complaint to take me to my 5K. I am a morning person. He is not. My mouth starts running the minute my feet hit the ground. I'm sure there are days when he would like to tell me to shut the hell up but he doesn't. Today he listened to me prattle on about my race, what I should wear, my hair and even laughed when I started humming the theme from Rocky.

The rain got out of here really early this morning so by 8 it was in the upper 50s, partly sunny and breezy. Perfect.

I finished in 56:44 which means I averaged about 18 minutes a mile. At home I usually average about 17 minutes a mile but I'm chalking up the slower pace to the fact that I was talking to people around me and walking their pace rather than mine. While I didn't finish last, there weren't many people behind me!

I got a little teary eyed when I crossed the finish line and The Saint was waiting there for me with his parents. They must all love me a lot to be up so early on a Saturday morning especially since my in-laws just came back from vacation last night.

I had a great time and I can't wait for the next one!

In other news, Chicago beat Toronto 10-7 today. Yippee!

Oh happy day....

Weighed myself this morning and noticed that I had:
-lost 2 pounds
-which put me at 30.5 pounds total gone
-which means I've lost 10% of my body weight

Yea me!

So today I'm feeling pretty good about myself especially since I suffered through three hours of hair highlighting and cutting last night. The highlights look awesome and my hair cut is ok. I have the world's most unmangeable and unruly hair. I love my stylist and she does the best with what she has to work with but I'm never happy with my hair. It does its own thing no matter what and one day I will come to accept that fact.

Tonight after work I'm going to do a two mile walk and then tomorrow is the BIG DAY! The Saint agreed to get up at some ungodly hour on a Saturday to go with me to my 5K. It starts at 8am and is a good 35 minute drive from our house. I'm so psyched!

In other news the Chi Sox beat the Royals last night. Again. Yippee!

Hair

No walking tonight. I have an appointment after work to get my hair cut and highlighted which takes a mind numbing three hours to accomplish. Isn't that insane?

Last night I walked 4 miles and it was great. Weather was great. My back felt great. I really enjoyed myself.

I weigh in tomorrow and I better see a decent loss or I'm really going to be bummed.

In other news, the White Sox beat the Royals 4-2 to get win number 20. Yippee!

Get me outta the car!

It took me 90 minutes to get home yesterday because some guy in a semi hit the 159th Street overpass, split open his trailer and the ensuing mess caused backups for both south and northbound traffic.

Needless to say, I was more than ready to walk when I got home, to stretch my legs and just be out in the fresh air. It was actually sunny for once and in the 50s.

I was a good girl and took it easy. I only walked about 2 1/2 miles and it felt wonderful! Tonight I've got 4 miles on my schedule and I'm really looking forward to it.

In other news, the Chi Sox beat the Royals 5-4 last night. Yippee!

I'm so selfish!

I've been so focused on my upcoming 5K and staying OP on Weight Watchers that I completely forgot that Mother's Day is this weekend. My mom finally had to ask if we were getting together. God forbid my husband or my brother be on the ball the one time I forget an occasion and actually take on the planning.

So now what was going to be a fun weekend with the 5k as the centerpiece has turned into:

Friday night: laundry and grocery shopping

Saturday: 5K at 8am, breakfast with the inlaws to celebrate Mom's Day, 1 hour drive to my dad's to bring him meals I cook and freeze for him and to take him shopping, 1 hour drive back home.

Sunday: lunch with my family for Mom's Day and I'm sure my mother will want us to come back to her house. My in laws are going to their other son's house for dinner and my husband wants us to swing by there mostly to see our niece and nephew.

I get hyper just thinking about all that.

Anyway, I think after my painful weekend, I'm only going to walk 2 miles tonight when I get home and shoot for 4 miles tomorrow. My back is feeling pretty good today so I don't want to do anything stupid.

On my lunch break today I get to go shopping for some new clothes. I'm going on a business trip next week and I can't show up in the baggy clothes I've been wearing around campus lately.

In other news, like me, the White Sox had a rest day yesterday. Tonight they take on the KC Royals.

Rest day

Mondays are my ususal rest day for two reasons: 1) I tend to get a lot of walking in over the weekend and my body needs a break and 2) my schedule on Mondays sucks. It's been hard to come up with a workout schedule when I'm working out of a different location every day but, I think I've done a good job. One thing I've learned is that Monday is a bitch day and exercising just ain't gonna happen. Why fight it?

So it's a damn good thing today is my rest day because my back is still aggravated from the weekend. I may do my hula-hoop when I get home though. I have a large weighted hoop that I absolutely cannot get the hang of and a smaller hoop that I use for my arms. I think I'll just stick to the arm workout today.

In other news, yesterday the Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit tigers, 8-0. Yippee.

Walking, recipes and The Saint

I slept in (for me) and didn't get up until 8:15. Well, the fur babies had us up at 5:00 to feed them, which I did, but I was so tired that I got back in bed and went right to sleep. Went I went back to sleep I must've been in some funky position because when I woke up again , my always touchy back was in full protest.

So instead of giving my back the proper time to wake up and loosen up, I headed out the door for my walk at about 8:55. A mile into my first 2 mile loop through my neighborhood, I knew I was in trouble. My back was so not happy. Neither was I considering it was only about 40 degrees outside with a really chilly strong wind out of the north. My subdivision is literally in the middle of cornfields so there's nothing to break the wind when it comes storming out of the north like that. Brrr!

I was tempted to turn into my driveway after the first loop but like a moron, I pressed on and finished the second loop. My back screamed in protest every step of those two miles. If I had had my cell phone with me, I would've called my husband to come pick me up. When my back gets like that, all I can think about is putting one foot in front of the other. I can't concentrate on my breathing, my posture, my speed, nothing.

So needless to say, I'm not doing much of anything the rest of the day except watching the White Sox game and cooking. I love to cook but during the week, I don't have a lot of time. My wonderful husband is so easygoing that he doesn't care that weeknight dinners have become big salads, Subway sandwiches, or fruit and veggies plates. To make up for this, I cook big time on the weekends. I tried three new recipes this weekend. Friday night I made a garlic chicken pizza that was awesome! Saturday night I made a baked shrimp with feta cheese and steamed asparagus and zucchini. Delish! Tonight we're having grilled pork tenderloin with mojo sauce, mashed potatoes and more steamed zucchini.

I hear from other women all the time that their husbands aren't supportive of their weight loss efforts, they continue to bring junk food into the house and won't try healthier recipes. My husband is the complete opposite. I could tell him I'm going on the berry, grass and twig diet for the next six months and he would say "If you feel that this would help you, I'm in." He has participated in all my diets with me without complaint.

I fully confess to being a princess, high maintenance, and a Daddy's Girl with a dash of drama queeness I inherited from my mother thrown in. However, you know you're a real piece of work when your own father refers to your husband, not by name, not as The Bastard Who Married My Little Girl but as The Saint. Believe me, I know how lucky I am to have this sexy, loving, hot tempered, talented, goofy, patient, increasingly infuriatingly conservative, gentle, procrastinator as my partner. He keeps me sane. He keeps me laughing. He keeps believing in me even on, especially on, the days when I don't believe in myself. Big love to you baby!