Happy last day of June! If anyone needs a brand new month, you've got one on Tuesday. And wow, a four-day week AND three-day weekend.
We've had bad storms for the past few days and had another late afternoon yesterday, with a tornado warning and everything. Saturday night we lost a big portion of the pear tree in our front yard, which fell all the way across our neighbor's driveway but thankfully missed their car. We've had so much rain, in fact, that there are giant clumps of mushrooms growing in the front yard. I think today is supposed to be more of the same. But we're not nearly as bad off as the people with floods and wildfires -- what tragedies!
I dreamt about weddings for two nights in a row, so what's up with that? DD is already married and DS isn't anywhere near to getting married (I hope!)
Today I'm taking a class at our local Apple store to learn all about iPhoto, storing photos, and making digital albums. I've been sorting all our old photos to be scanned and my goal is to make everything digital and storing it on my computer. The oldest family photos are losing color at an alarming rate and I don't want them to fade away. But looking through the old photos is an emotional trip down memory lane since I'm big in all of them up to 2001. It's so weird, it's like looking at a stranger or someone I knew a long time ago and it's hard to mentally integrate that person with who I am today. I don't know, does anyone else had strange/emotional reactions looking at old photos?
Good morning! This is the earliest I've been up in weeks. I have a mountain of things to do but little desire - cleaning my closet and cleaning the bathroom are both less-than-appealing options, in my opinion!
Speaking of cleaning, here is my two cents on parents cleaning teenagers' rooms:
When I was in my teens, my mom would periodically come in and clean my room... back when I actually lived in it. In my later teen years, I was hardly ever home, so keeping my room clean was all just a matter of making my bed and dusting/vacuuming a couple times a month. I was a big fan of shoving everything under my bed in my early teen years; my mom hated that and threatened to remove the bed stand so that I couldn't do it anymore
I honestly started cleaning my room (or presenting it to *appear* clean) so that my mother would not come in and invade my privacy . I think I had a few things in there that I didn't want her to see... *coughs* She also had the tendency to open up books I wrote in and read songs and poetry that I didn't particularily want to show her, not to mention the fact that sometimes she had the "when in doubt, throw it out!" mentality and tossed out things that were of value to me.
I think a kid's room is his or her responsibility to clean, but I understand that if it is a complete pigsty, something has to be done. Afterall, it is *your* house and not your child's. You technically have a right to be in their rooms... I would just hope that the reason you would be in there would be honestly to clean as opposed to snoop through your kid's stuff
With that said...
I am still a bit sore today, but not as much as yesterday (thankfully!!) I went to the flea market yesterday and bought a ton of fresh fruits and vegetables, so I have no excuse not to be on plan this week. Oh! I'm trying to kick my energy drink habit. They're expensive and full of chemicals that are probably less than good for me. Last week, I only had two small energy drinks (as opposed to 5-8 big ones like I normally do... this is for a week, of course, not a day ), so I'm almost proud of myself.
Meg - Have you been watching a lot of romantic comedies lately? Uhh... yesterday was "I DO SUNDAY" on the Lifetime Movie Network...
"DS isn't anywhere near to getting married (I hope!)" - Funny, most mothers are dying to get their sons hitched... what happened?
"does anyone else had strange/emotional reactions looking at old photos?" - okay, I think you mean *HAS* anyone else had... and yes, I have, to an extent! I tried to be photographed as little as possible while fat, but unfortunately, the GF kept wanting to get special occasion pics taken (I was fat for our one year anniversary, fat for our two year, and am HAPPY to say our three year picture looks GREAT and I'M NOT FAT, WAHOO!!!). She posted the fat anniversary pictures on her myspace page, which made me feel very emotional. I don't want everyone seeing me fat now that I'm not! I confronted her about it, but she just didn't get it. Seeing pictures of myself fat just brings back fat memories and most of those are depressing... there is nothing appealing about emotionally and physically feeling like crap day after day... nothing appealing about all the self hatred I had... nothing appealing about the people yelling "FATTY!" as soon as I stepped out in public (funny - overweight mothers and fat old ladies walked around all the time, but as soon as *I* stepped outside, I got the mean comments, and not them!)... the list continues... and continues... and continues... BOY am I glad that phase of my life is OVER!
Good Morning all! I took a 'net vacation last week to paint our entire upstairs. I now have a dark blue room with a red desk, a purple room and an orange and pink room. They won't need to worry about me coming in to clean, the colors give me a headache,
Meg-you'll love iphoto. I just make books for the kids now, forget those old photo albums.
Well, I'm off to start scraping the porch. What fun, not. It must be a good workout though.
Good morning! I love new months but I am in shock that June is almost behind us. Yikes!!
I've pretty much given up trying to sort out my psychological reactions to pictures of me before weight loss and even my body image now.
On Saturday, DS #2 (5 yrs old) was interested in the wall of photos at my MIL's house. So we looked at every single one of them. Funny, when I was in my 20s and thought I was fat, of course I wasn't. Now I can look at pictures of myself at my high weight and all I see is belly and a full face. I think that at this time in my life, it is impossible for me to have an objective self image---either how I was before or how I am now. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I think I look slender. And then sometimes all I feel is my gut and hips and I know that, while I am a "normal" weight now, I still have about 10-20 pounds to go.
But then some people are telling me I have lost "enough"---funny how no one commented when I had gained "enough"....
I know that I avoided cameras at my high weight and now I know that it was too bad that I did....my kids are growing fast and those years are gone....with little documentation of me in them! I am just so incredibly grateful that I will not live another day of my life obese....ever. I'm not saying it will be easy. But I am saying it will not happen. I deserve to be fit and healthy, not just for my kids and DH, but for ME!
In other news, I bought a bike this weekend. Some of you might have read that about a month ago I overcame a 25 year terror of bicycles (I know---irrational, but most fears are!). I still can't believe that *I* have a bike and that I actually ride it.
I am braver and more self confident than I have ever been. Part of it is wisdom with age, but part of it is just knowing that I do have the power to control my weight. I always did and I always will!
So, yeah, I can understand the emotions associated with pictures.....
Shane- Happy Anniversary! I feel you on the "fat" anniversary pictures. I have pics from the first time Boy and I dated....50 pounds ago! Of course, now I take so many pictures of us it drives him nuts.
Hi Meg and joy of six!
3 day week!! I'm actually going to work from home most of Wednesday afternoon so I'll be ready to go when Boy gets here to take me and my cousin to the airport. Can't wait!!
Good, exhausting weekend. Did ok food wise. Managed a really good workout Saturday.
Don't think I mentioned here that I've started the Couch to 5k program. I start week 2 this week. I found a podcast for it set to hip-hop/rap music...much better than the techno one everyone uses! I can already tell a difference in my butt
I really am doing this so I can buckle down on my exercise. I start The Pill for the first time this month and weight gain is something I'm worried about. I know it is different for everyone, but still....I worked so hard, I don't want the weight to come back!
I need to get in to the office early...have a great Monday!
Edit: Hi to everyone who was posting at the same time!
I let myself skip the gym and strict eating this weekend - my goal was to relax. All of last week I was having trouble breathing, just felt my airway was constricted. I finally went to the Dr. Friday and after checking me out he sent me for the normal battery of tests - breath functions, chest x-rays, bloodwork. He has to call me with the results but did go ahead and prescribe me Singulair, saying it sounded like I was reacting to something I'm being exposed to, whether or not it's seasonal pollen etc. (I've never gotten seasonal allergies this time of year, or reacted to them by having breathing issues.) The Singulair must be helping, or it randomly went away, b/c I felt normal all weekend. It was such a relief! It really has made me appreciate the basic ability to BREATHE!
Saturday BF didn't have a charter so he took me fishing, and I caught my first flounder! And a sea bass. Mmm they were very tasty for dinner.
Mel, I'm still laughing about your "chicken breasts and sweet potatoes not steroids" comment. Great comeback!!!
Barbara, to answer your questions of last week, alligators will often swim away/hide if they see a human. If they're smaller than you/your boat, the common sense rule of thumb it that they'll be scared of you. If they're bigger, well, just paddle away. If they're babies...look out for mama! I wouldn't go swimming in an area where there is a known, large gator, but they don't need to stop you from boating. It's sort of like sharks in the ocean - knowing they're somewhere out there won't stop you from swimming, but you don't go chumming for them. I take researchers out to tromp through the marsh fairly frequently. I dread the day when I have to grab the boat hook/extra paddle and try to beat a gator off of someone...
My sis & I were always responsible for cleaning our own rooms, doing our laundry, and during the summers also had to help with household chores (laundry, dishes, vacuuming, etc.). I am borderline obsessive-compulsively neat so this wasn't a problem for me. Since I had a huge closet my mom stole half of it, so I expected that she would come into my room often. I did get really mad when, while I was away at college, she took the empty water bottle that was in a plastic bag clearly labeled "JOHN MAYER'S WATER BOTTLE" and started using it, threw away the bag. "What? What do you mean the bag was labeled? Whose water bottle?...His lips what? Touched it? Who cares?!" Ah my twenty-one-year-old self was mad about that one.
It's hard for me to look at pictures of my former self, but that was my entire childhood. If I want to look at pictures of me and my late grandmother, for example, the only ones in existence are of chublet me and her. So it's hard, but I'm not going to not look at those pictures just because of my weight. I suppose I do sort of avert my eyes from myself, even when I'm looking at them. I honestly feel as if that's a different person.
I'm looking forward to a 3-day weekend this week! Does anyone else get the 4th off? Any big plans?
Hi all! Megan, like you I didn't monitor much this weekend. I ate okay Saturday, ate some crap Sunday, and I'm paying for it on the scale this morning. But I don't feel too bad about it. I've got healthy recipes planned for this week and I got a bit of exercise over the weekend.
My mom did clean my room when I was a teenager and refused to do it, even though I was supposed to. My sister and I were the biggest slobs imaginable -- you literally could not walk from the door to the bed without stepping on something. As far as I know she never read my diaries or anything like that (they were always hidden away under the mattress or on the bookshelf), but I did still feel like it was an invasion of privacy. Mostly she came in to collect all the dirty clothes (in college, laundry day magically made my room clean!).
More what bothered me was that my mom would never knock before entering. Okay, that's not quite true -- she would knock and then open the door immediately without waiting for a response. I hated that!! I was like, if I have to wait for you to tell me it's okay before I come in YOUR room, you could at least return the favor. I was a pretty good kid in general (never out late, never in with the wrong crowd, no drugs, alcohol, or sex), but that doesn't mean I wanted my mom coming in the room when I was changing clothes and was naked, or digging through my things and finding my ridiculous angsty teenage diaries.
I am still kind of a slob. Nowhere near as bad as I was as a teenager or when I was in college, but our kitchen table regularly gets covered in piles of junk mail and magazines, our coffee table does too, and our bedroom floor gets covered in clothes. I do the laundry every Sunday though so at least it gets cleaned up to a certain extent.
My bad news for the week: I had my identity stolen!!! Somebody opened up a credit card with my maiden name and social security number last year and never paid it. Now I have to deal with fraud alerts and police reports and all sorts of crap to get the mess cleaned up. Argh.
I had a lovely weekend and am back up to my 4 1/2 mile runs, so feeling good. Next stop ... 5 miles! Plus this morning was my annual physical and I'm down 6 pounds from last year. That doesn't sound like a lot except (a) I put on 12 pounds last winter and (b) I wasn't lifting weight last year, so a lot more of last year's weight was pudge, not lean muscle! So I'm feeling good.
I was a messy teen, but didn't shove things under the bed. It was all about the closet for me. My mom would come in now and again and vacuum, dust, fold things, but the closet was my problem. That was our compromise. Of course, my brother's room was a certified disaster zone, complete with clothes 3 layers deep on the floor, really scary hard rock posters on the wall (anyone heard of DEO), and once for a brief time - a ferret. My dog ratted him out, so to speak, by parking outside his door and barking for hours straight until my parents insisted on an explanation. Good times.
I definitely will be enjoying the shortened week, Megan. We leave Thursday afternoon to go visit our friends at Cape Cod. Their family has a huge old house right on the water in Cotuit - they've had it for about 40 years. There will be lobster, and oysters, and hamburgers on the grill, boating, and sunning, and sitting on the porch staring at the water and pretending to do the crossword puzzle! There is also a fireworks show put on by a filthy rich guy who lives at the cove - he has a license and puts on a professional level show right off barges in the middle of the cove, and we have a perfect view from our friends' back yard. Heaven!
DGADawg - good luck with the running. I hate getting back to it when I've slacked off, but I love, love, love casually saying to friends or family, "I was in a rush this morning so I only had time for a quick 4 mile run." What can I say - sometimes you just have to revel in your fitness!
Midwife - enjoy the bike. I sometimes think I'd like to get one to ride in Central Park, but I confess I am scared of the idea of biking with so many people and cars. That's the downside to New York.
Meg, yes it pains me to look at old pic's of myself during my obese stage. I wasn't overweight as a teen so those pic's are fun to look at. I do still have the large family pic of me , DH, Lacy and Shane hanging in my living room. That was pretty much at my heaviest weight ever.
Gotta go take Lacy to get her Driver's License. Wish us luck.
I'm going to try to upload some photos - one of me at my friend's wedding 2 weekends ago, and one of me with my flounder on Saturday. I don't think I have any with my new haircut yet, but it's really not that special. It's still straight, it's just cut off so it just brushes my shoulders. Less is easier to deal with in the summer heat.
Megan, you are simply beautiful in that dress! It's so flattering on you and your arms and shoulders look fantastic! I look at you and just can't imagine you weighing 200 pounds. You just look so natural and somehow "right" at the weight you're at.
And I'm sorry, but the picture with the fish just cracks me up!
Midwife - wahoo, a bike! What kind of bike is it? Out of curiousity. As everyone knows, I'm very into bikes and it makes me enthusiastic when I hear about others buying bikes also
Oh - I also thought I was fat while previously thin. I was always on some sort of odd diet to make sure I didn't get any fatter. Once I actually GOT fat, I realized how LUCKY I was while thin and that everyone around me thought my obsession was absolutely ridiculous. I am about the same size now as I was back then, only I appreciate it a heck of a lot more having been ACTUALLY fat!
Megan - you look beautiful! But I already knew that; your icon told me so Great pics, though.
DaringDeb - yes, I've heard of Dio! Rainbow in the daaaaark!!! I am a huge 80's hard rock and metal fan and I love Dio. Do you still rock out to that stuff?
Lily - good luck with Lacy's driver license test I hope she passes the first time around!
I got a 2009 Trek 4300. And it is orange! DH went with me to get it, which was good, because he knows a lot more about bike parts than I do. But I am going to learn. So it is a mountain bike. It has caliper brakes, but I think that is fine for my purposes. I'll try to post a picture later tonight. It met all my specifications. Including being orange. I know that color shouldn't really matter, but I love it. I mean, her! She is beautiful! She's a pretty basic mountain bike, but she is mine. She is the first bike I have ever owned.
I found a local women's bicycling group that has different levels of classes and rides. I think next time they have a basic class or a beginner ride I am going to go.
Shhh....don't tell anyone, but I think that riding in a Century might be kind of....fun!
Good luck with the driver's license, Lily. My DD is racking up hours before she can test for hers. Why is it that when your 15 year old is going 15 mph, it feels like about 60? She is doing pretty good though.
Maintainers Chat: June 30 - July 6
And wow, a four-day week AND three-day weekend. 
I think today is supposed to be more of the same. But we're not nearly as bad off as the people with floods and wildfires -- what tragedies!
This is the earliest I've been up in weeks. I have a mountain of things to do but little desire - cleaning my closet and cleaning the bathroom are both less-than-appealing options, in my opinion! 
. I think I had a few things in there that I didn't want her to see... *coughs* She also had the tendency to open up books I wrote in and read songs and poetry that I didn't particularily want to show her, not to mention the fact that sometimes she had the "when in doubt, throw it out!" mentality and tossed out things that were of value to me.
), so I'm almost proud of myself.
Somebody opened up a credit card with my maiden name and social security number last year and never paid it. Now I have to deal with fraud alerts and police reports and all sorts of crap to get the mess cleaned up. Argh.
