MacTroll's Monday

When MacTroll is home during the week on Mondays, I try to make every excuse to be out of the house. Monday is MacTroll's conference call day. He has between 4-6 of them today. Each of them taking at least an hour. You do the math. It's a lot of time to be on the iPhone.

I was supposed to be outside all day staining my fence, but given the sheer amount of crazy ass rain we got last night in the never-ending storms, I'm stuck inside doing inside jobs. 

UPDATE: You can head over to Cruzin' and see how MacTroll and I spent our morning being Toad rescuers!

Most of these I can do in the basement or the 2nd floor. But around the first floor will be nothing but pacing and loud talking, "LDAP, LDAP, Active Directory, Kerberos, Magic Triangle, deep into the keychain code..."

Blah. Yuck. I think I'd rather be vacuuming little tumbleweeds of fur that got scattered around the house last night from their hiding places due to our no air conditioning/open window preference. 

In other news: The cookout at Rayne of Terror's went very well. I got to meet Soy is the New Black and Mrs. Chicken as well as some other great people. I loved Mrs. Chicken's pasta salad. And X-man and I were the first to jump in the pool. It was a beautiful day.

Today is also Day 1 of the weekly budget. I just spent half of mine on gas. Seriously. I'm picking up the trailer and the bike this week. Let's see if that will save me some $$$  in the weekly drive-the-kid around situation.

I am just a couple weeks away from seeing KTDID, my nieces and nephews and from vacation. This year we're driving up to Oostburg, a few miles south of Sheboygan to stay in a rental house on the beach of Lake Michigan in September. I liked that it was in a family friendly area where we could just walk out of the house and be on sand. 

Hard Knocks

"Excuse me, did you see a wagon go by here? I lost focus for one minute to look into the sweet face of temptation, fell off, ate myself into gluttony, felt shame and now am trying to figure out how to find my wagon so I can climb back on, and change my behavior."

That's right. I looked into the face of a no weight loss last week and responded by walking 4.25 moderate miles on Monday, 2 moderate miles on Tuesday, 2 brisk miles on Wednesday (with a trip to Curves) and went to Curves on Thursday only to claim Friday as my "well-deserved body rest day" and to fall hook, line and sinker into eating two desserts (yummy eclair cake and yummy frozen strawberry cake), a cheeseburger and as much cucumbers and fruit as I could swallow on July 4. 

I'm not sure what I did eat was outside of my point limit. It didn't feel like over indulging, since I know my quantities were small. BUT I stopped counting my points all day yesterday and all day today. 

I started fine at breakfast. I was going great at lunch and then in the face of a fun social atmosphere, I jumped off the truck wholeheartedly to reward myself with -- Food. And it was awesome food. I feel guilt because I'm one of those, but I also know I just have to wake up, learn from my behavior and start over a stronger woman. 

This week, I have more mental challenges ahead. Namely, in addition to my regular workout schedule, I HAVE to get back on the wagon and write down my food BEFORE I eat it. 

But mostly, I'm going to be miserable and grouchy while doing Mr. Miyagi's training regimen. I was out there for two hours today, and almost got four panels of fence done on one side in two hours.

Tomorrow, I have weekend cookout number 2. I'm imagining it's going to go better in the diet category for three reasons. 1) The hostess is also on Weight Watchers. 2) One of the other guests is vegan, I believe. 3) There is a swimming pool, that if X-man has his way, I will never get out of (and neither will he, if Ms. Thang's splasher pool was any indication on Friday.) 

Other things I have to look forward to this summer: two weddings, a family reunion of sorts and KTDID visiting. Lots of food/temptation hoops to jump through. But Misc and Quigs might be making my life easier by giving/loaning me their retired bike trailer and bike (respectively).

And is it me, or have folks around town and online been on a pretty serious anti-Shampoo-Banana trip lately? It can't be the glorious weather, can it? (Everyone pushing 30-42 weeks of pregnancy is, of course, exempt from needing to explain their moods.) But seriously, I need like a damn ray of positivity or two. Anyone out there got one to shine my way? 

I think I just need to find a yoga class that meets during the daytime (between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.). Anyone have any suggestions? I'm looking at the Modified Hatha class at the Living Yoga Center from 12:30-1:30 p.m. since that's where I took my regular Hatha (before I messed up the tendons in my feet wearing bad shoes while pregnant) and my Introduction class.

As an awesome sidenote: MacTroll and I celebrated 16 years together today by taking X-man to see Wall-E. He did GREAT and loved the movie. As he walked out of the theater holding the plastic popcorn bucket we borrowed from Rogers, he looked like such a big boy. Mostly he just wanted, "More Wall-E, Mama. More — puh-leeeease?"

Quiet Toddler

Yesterday we had a playgroup playdate at Hessel Park. We were there for almost 2.5 hours. There was lots of sandbox time, swinging, sliding and, of course, water play. 

It was only 70 degrees outside, and I'm pretty sure the water temperature topped out at 65, but once X-man saw the first big kid toss off his shirt and run through the spray and puddles, he was walking up to the kid's mom asking her to de-shirt him, too. The fact that it was the only parent he didn't know at the park was pretty humorous. But she was a very nice woman and was very chatty. 

When he was finally done with the water, he refused a towel, until I wrapped him up in it and announced we were leaving. He protested, but then saw that  Bubba and Pretty Girl had already left. The Boy and Miss Thang were on their way home, and Mealyworm and Bug were already wrapped up in their car seats. 

Then and only then, did X-man decide he was cold. In his car seat, he demanded we push Riley off of the blanket, so he could have some warmth. 

I put him in long sleeves and sweatpants for dinner. He ate warm left over french fries and chicken nuggets from Sunday while he watched Thomas (one day hanging out at Bubba's house and he decided he missed his favorite cheeky engines). 

He didn't play at all. He just stared. His eyes were droopy. He finally fell asleep at 9:30 p.m. and at 8 a.m. he looks something like this: 

I think I'll make us some whole wheat pancakes and veggie sausage this a.m. because now he's waking up. :-P 

Economics

Remember how I invested in Quicken?

Well, I've used it to catch up with the last 60 days of spending to help show trends, so I could project an updated, realistic monthly budget taking into consideration the increasing price of the BIG 3: fuel, food and energy.

The reality of the situation did not make MacTroll happy. 

Clearly, he wasn't mad at me, but it's kind of hard to argue with the numbers. I think he was more shocked by how much fresh fruit and vegetables and shopping "green" has cost us. Today I gave us each a target number for weekly spending amounts based on his salary income, and starting Monday... they go into effect.

In addition to his twice monthly paychecks, once a month MacTroll earns commission as part of the sales team at Apple. Sometimes this check is $100, sometimes this check is $1,500. We have no control over what it will be. It all depends on who sold how much in his group. That bonus (before we built our McMansion) was our savings for emergency spending, travel, long-term investments, etc. 

It is separate from our retirement, X-man's college savings and our stock portfolio (I'm laughing when I say this, because really it's just money we put into Apple through their Employee stock plan). Since building the McMansion, we've been using the bonus money on landscaping, furniture and to cover the increasing prices of the BIG 3. 

And everyone who knows me, knows I'm not a big fan of "stuff." But MacTroll LOVES his stuff. He likes not having to think before he buys. He likes eating out when he feels hungry. 

But to me, we're done with all the big household items. In fact, I think X-man's bed represents the last of the furniture we really need in our house for a while. And, um, all my baby bushes need time and sunshine to grow into bigger ones. So... as long as I keep my ass out of Target, I should be okay.

Not only that, but if you're ever driving up and down Neil Street in the Savoy area, you'll probably see me walking. I'm the overweight woman chucking down Neil Street to get to Curves twice a week. I may even venture further and go to WW on foot. Sometimes I'm walking from my house to X-man's pre-school with my big red jogging stroller. If you see me, feel free to honk and cheer me on. I'm not giving up my Weight Watchers money or my gym  money. But I am thinking of saving up for a used bike and kids bike trailer and parking my VW for all trips that are within a 5-mile radius. 

Luckily our playgroup mostly goes to places that are free. :-P

Things that I find cool

1. At FatBrainToys.com you can search for toys made in specific countries of origin (including a "not made in China" search, if you want. 

2. That I've gotten to an age where I can identify certain positive attributes about myself and celebrate them, well still being able to identify certain negative attributes, recognizing I need to work on them, and not beating myself up over them.

3. That I managed to find a collection of friends who stick with me through thick and thin. I always considered myself lucky to find one good person. Now I have enough to start my own soccer team, and that's just crazy.

4. My friend Libbygirl is having a 2nd baby soon!

5. My friend Rachel just gave birth to baby number 2. Welcome Eli! 

6. According to Champaign Taste, a Pho venue has come to Savoy. So I'm going to have to check it out.

7. MacTroll got to spend a whole evening doing special Dad stuff with X-man, including going for frozen custard, watching Elmo's potty DVD, introducing X-man to Mr. Bean, giving X-man a bath and tucking him in.

8. KTDid adopted a dog. 

9. A lot of my friends have birthdays during the next two weeks.

10. Living in the middle of nowhere. 

How you'll know that I love you

When needed, I will put on a rubber glove, cover your anus in petroleum jelly, insert a finger and gently express both of your anal glands until all this foul-smelling liquid secretion comes out into a paper towel.

And I'll do it every two weeks from the time you're 1 year old until you die to keep your glands from getting impacted and to make you more comfortable.

You don't enjoy it. I don't enjoy it. But it's gotta be done -- and we both seem to know that.

Don't we, Riley?

Here comes the revolt!

My body is finally motivated to move against my measures to weight loss. After three weeks of steady losing, last week I weighed the same as the week before, even though I increased my walking by 60 minutes and ate within my food limits on WW. 

Today I stepped on my scale to find that I weigh 3 more pounds than I did last Friday. How does this happen? It might have something to do with the fact that I was drinking 64 ounces of water and then suddenly lost my favorite water bottle. So I bought a new one, that just doesn't seem to be doing it's job (even though it fits better in the car than the old one). 

Seriously, I'm eating 1800 calories a day and doing 60-90 minutes of exercise five days out of the week... and I'm gaining weight. 

You know what this means. More exercise, more water, and down to 1500 calories we go. Although the cruel part of this is that the dietician recommends eating more calories to rev up your metabolism along with an increase of high intensity exercise. Unfortunately, with my IT bands, I can't really just start in at a step class after making a good showing getting walking and hitting the gym 2-3 times a week. Maybe in a couple of months.

The last time I lost the weight, my body did this too. There are no answers for it. It just likes to give me a hard time. It likes the way it is. It's comfortable here. But I know a secret, it's even happier once it gives up it's reluctance. 

It'll move better, sleep better, look better, wear much nicer clothing (cause why not spoil yourself when you can) and it'll be happier longer. 

Monday's food day for Loosey:

1 cup cereal with 1/2 cup skim milk. (4 points)

3 soft tacos with black beans, lettuce and tomatoes for lunch (9 points)

1 snack like a mini 100 calorie bag of popcorn. (1 point)

1 Weight Watchers recipe (last night it was beef stew) which are loaded with vegetables. (7 points)

1 small evening snack: a cup of strawberries and nectarines with 1/4 cup of fat free cool whip topping. (2 points)

23 points -- but I'm allotted 28. Plus, I didn't use the 6 activity points I earned during the day from my 90 minutes of moderate level walking.

I think this is when I'm supposed to get discouraged and give up. But I'm just gonna stop looking at the number and do what I'm supposed to do and try to have some kind of faith that my body will figure it out.

It took me 4 years to lose 48 lbs before, so I'm guessing it will take 5 or 6 years this time, since I'm older. 

But the goal is to be healthier, right. So do the right things and change the lifestyle and things should get better.