Mile High

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Denver nursing the backache from hell. I think it's from being smooshed in my plane seat for 2 hours yesterday on a totally booked flight.

Anyway, I figured out how the whole Internet access thing and so here I am. Online! I get free Internet access through my hotel rewards program. Woo-hoo!

I miss The Saint. I miss my cats. I'm such a wuss.

Challenges

Between the holiday weekend and going to Denver on business next week, I'll be facing a lot of challenges to my food and exercise program. I've already starting planning what to pack such as nonperishable snacks and workout clothes. I belong to the rewards program for the hotel I'm staying in and so I get a little welcome snack and beverage thingy put in my room. Now I could've set my profile to candy or chips for my snack but instead I chose fresh fruit.

The Saint needs to put air in the tires so we can ride our "new" bikes this weekend. I can't wait! I'm sure we will laugh our asses off at each other but that's part of the fun.

Saturday morning we're going to AW's hockey "game." I don't know that you can really call it a game when actually it's just a bunch of 5 year olds careening around the rink trying their best to remain upright and/or not knock each other over. On Sunday we're going to The Saint's brother's house for the day: watch the Indy 500, baseball, play with the kids and grill. Monday I just want to relax and pack because I leave for Denver on Tuesday.

While you're enjoying your three day weekend, don't forget to remember our vets and current members of the armed forces. Fly your flag. Be proud to be an American.

57:07

Two whole minutes slower than our 5K in April. Ack! I was really obsessing about that when The Saint reminded me that a) this course had some little hills which I'm not used to b) some of the course was on unpaved, uneven, grass c) we stopped and had a brief chat with the water guy at the 2 mile mark. I felt a little better after his pep talk. All in all, we had a great time. The weather was gorgeous and since we were 2 of about 6 walkers in the race, we pretty much had the trail to ourselves. The Saint brought up the subject of bikes and how it might be fun to get some and ride them along the Prairie Path that runs behind our subdivision. I can't tell you what a departure that is for us. Even when we first started dating, we never an active couple. So it's so weird now to be walking in 5Ks and thinking about biking after being together for almost 18 years. Weird but in a good way. I called my mom and she and my stepfather have bikes that they never use so they're going to let us borrow them. Woo-hoo! As I type this, The Saint is busy at his drawing table, I'm at the desk, Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" is blaring from the steroe and I love him so much I could cry. He is such a good guy. I'm truly blessed.

5K tomorrow

The Saint and I have a 5K tomorrow morning at 9am. Woot! I'm so looking forward to it! It's so much more fun to compete with him than to have him cheering me on from the sidelines.

Had dinner with mom last night. We went to Red Lobster and I ordered off the Lighthouse Menu. I had a salad with a low fat red wine vinagairette, grilled shrimp, biscuit and steamed broccoli. Yum!

Before dinner we went to see our old dentist who had quit his practice for awhile due to family issues. I stayed with his partner who took on a new partner who no one in my family likes. When I broke my tooth a few weeks back, I saw the new partner and just didn't have a good feeling about his treatment plan. It was great to see my old dentist last night and I felt totally comfortable with his explanations about things and his course of action. I've decided to start seeing him again and I need to get my records sent to him.

I'm so glad it's Friday.

Prison of my own making

Every once in a while my mom and I have a girls' night during the week. My stepfather is a consultant and right now he's working out of state during the week and only comes home on the weekends. My mom gets lonely so I try to spend time with her. We go out to dinner and then back to her place to play endless rounds of Yahtzee or Scrabble and I sleep over. The Saint ususally has dinner with his parents when I'm out with my mom.

Anyway, I'm hanging out with my mom tonight and the first thought that went through my mind was "I'm free! I can eat whatever I want tonight because only mom and I will know and she won't say anything."

What is THAT all about? Free from what? I always have choices when it comes to food. Every minute of every day what I eat is my decision. My choice whether I am alone or in a crowd. My choice whether I am at home or in a restaurant. My choice to be on or off program.

If I continue to view my food and exercise program as a prison to be escaped at every opportunity, I will never be successful. I have to want to be here. I have to believe in what I'm doing. I have to choose a healthy lifestyle. Not in a superficial way. Not only when someone is watching me. Not because my doctor, DH, or friends want me to. Because I want to!

If I don't change the inside I have no hope of ever changing the outside.
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Gearing up for the 5K on Saturday. I'm really looking forward to it! We've had so much rain lately but right now it looks like it will be sunny and in the 60s for the race. Woot! The Saint has not been working out at all lately so it will be interesting to see how he does.

Chugging along

I've been chugging along with my food and exercise program. This week I started using SparkPeople again to track my food and exercise. It really helps me if I formally keep track of my food intake as opposed to having a running list in my head. And I think the continued drama with my dad has kept my appetite in check. Stress works in funny ways.

I've been biking every night and I mailed in the forms for our next 5K. On May 20th The Saint and I will be out there walking for a good cause. It's a fundraiser for the only 24 hour emergency shelter in our county. I hope it doesn't rain and that it's warmer than it was when we walked in April!

My biggest challenge to staying OP will be this weekend. We're going to my brother's for Mother's Day on Saturday to celebrate with my family and to The Saint's brother's on Sunday to celebrate with his family. There will be tons of food at both events although I'm trying to bring some figure friendly foods to counterbalance the crap.
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My dad is still playing the Poor Pitiful Pete routine which threatens to wreck our truce. He has a doctor's appointment tomorrow and is pissed (although he won't admit it) that I'm not taking him nevermind that I burned a vacation day last week to take him to an appointment. When we were at the VA medical center last week I found out there's a free transportation service that will take him to his appointment and bring him home. Sounds like a good deal to me! I think his problem with it is he's afraid the driver may be picking up more than just him and he doesn't want to sit through that despite the fact that he doesn't have anything else to do! Ack!
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The White Sox got spanked last night but even the champs have to lose one once in a while! And don't tell anyone but Jim Thome is my new secret crush!

When in doubt-steal

I stole this idea from another blogger who in turn had stolen it from yet another blogger.

Go to Wikipedia and in the search box type your birth month and date but not the year. In my case, I typed April 3. Then list 3 events, 2 birthdays and 1 death that happened on that date:

Events

33 Crucifixion of Jesus (traditional date)

1953 TV Guide begins

1973 First portable cell phone call placed in New York City

Birthdays

1924 Marlon Brando

1942 Wayne Newton

Death

1882 Jesse James

Now wasn't this more interesting than hearing me bitch about my dad?

Damn granola

There I was on Saturday morning, minding my own business, reading Karen Robard's latest, and eating some yummy granola for breakfast when I BROKE A DAMN TOOTH! Some granola got stuck to my lower teeth on the left. I tried to push it loose with my tongue and not only did I dislodge the cereal but part of the tooth and some filling. Which I swallowed. Ugh!

So I called my dentist right away and they could squeeze me in at 1:15 but, my regular dentist wouldn't be in until Wednesday so I'd have to see his partner. I have an almost pathological fear of the dentist which is an entire story unto itself but, I've learned to trust my dentist who is kindly, older and very gentle. His partner is young, brash and seems to have a personality conflict with almost anyone he comes into contact with.

He proposed two different treatment plans to me. One that would cost about $1200 and could happen very quickly, the other costing almost $2800 and would occur over the span of three months. Of course I have dental insurance so I won't have to pay all of that out of pocket but still. And three months?! Are you shitting me? And because I need a Saturday appointment, they can't start on me until June 3rd.

Even though my mom and stepfather are currently in North Carolina, I called them right away because I trust their opinions when it comes to anything medical/dental and we all go to the same dentist. They freaked out because I saw the new partner. They've both had bad experiences with him. They'll be back in town on the 11th and when they come back they want me to see a different dentist for a second opinion which they generously offered to pay for. What have I got to lose, right?

I'm predicting right now that this whole thing will be a big ass deal. Mark my words.
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Now that I have a broken tooth (which doesn't hurt at the moment, knock wood) I've been super careful about what I eat. I've been trying to eat softer foods because I don't want to do anymore damage. Maybe the upside to this tooth debacle will be some weight loss! I'm trying to eat healthy soft foods like, yogurt, soup, mashed potatoes, and Jello as opposed to a strictly ice cream and milk shake diet.
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The meeting with my dad and uncle went fairly well. I said what I wanted to say and drew my line in the sand. My dad is in such deep denial about some things and the lack of any kind of accountability is astonishing. We agreed that his feud with Big B is separate from our relationship and that he will leave me out of it. That only lasted 3 days!

I called him on Saturday to tell him about my broken tooth and how freaked out I was. We talked about it for a few minutes and then he abruptly changed the topic to my brother. He wants me to talk to Big B about his cars and how he wants them back. I reminded him that I was staying out of that mess and of course he's pushing me to "just do this one thing." Whatevs!
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Despite the broken tooth, I still exercised all weekend! In the past, I totally would've used this as an excuse even though a broken tooth in no way affects my ability to pedal.
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Immigrant rally today in the Loop. Half a million supporters expected. People are warned not to go downtown today if at all possible.
Which campus do I have to be at today? Our Loop campus of course.