February 09, 2013

The forgotten necklace

While a lot of the country got dumped on with snow, we surprisingly didn't get a whole lot! That changed our plans for this weekend. The boys were off school yesterday, but the snow was more like slush, which is not good for our plans to go sledding.

Since I ran 13 miles on Thursday, I took yesterday off. Today is a rest day anyway, and it's been a while since I took two days off in a row--it's kind of nice!

Yesterday, I was going through some boxes in my closet. I found a box of letters that my dad had written my kids while he spent an entire year in Iraq, working as a civilian. After my little brother Nathan was discharged from the Army, he ended up going to back to Iraq as a civilian also--my poor mother was worried all year about her husband and her son being away, but thankfully, both came home safely.

Anyway, my dad has always been very close with my kids, so it was hard on them to not see him for a whole year, and he would send them letters from Iraq, mostly just silly pictures he drew. And once in a while, I would get a letter from him, too ;)  All this has a point, I'm getting to it...

When my dad came home, he brought a bunch of stuff that he bought in Iraq--t-shirts and some jewelry, and other stuff. He was handing out t-shirts, and it got a little awkward when he realized that he didn't have one that would fit me. I was my heaviest at the time, over 250 pounds, and even the XL men's shirts wouldn't have fit.

He gave me a necklace that he said a woman made and sold on the street. I remember thinking at the time, "Oh good, a necklace is safe, because jewelry always fits." Obviously, I didn't wear a lot of jewelry. When I got home, and tried to put it on, it was INCHES away from hooking in the back. I thought to myself that it must have been made for a child, because it was so small.

I put it in the box and forgot all about it. Until yesterday. I found the necklace in the box, and even though I knew it didn't fit, I held it up to see if it was even close to fitting...
It actually clasped, with room to spare! I was stunned, but then I realized--duh, I've lost 4.5 inches from my neck, of course it fits.

It's kind of funny, because when I was obese, I never thought of my neck as being fat. Sure, I could tell that my stomach was fat, my arms were fat, my legs were fat... but my neck was just, well, my neck.


Anyway, I never got around to going to Weight Watchers yesterday, so I went today to weigh-in. I had to bring the boys with me, so I didn't stay for the meeting. I weighed in (on their scale, I was up 0.1), and I asked about how Lifetime membership works, just to be sure--I'm sick of weighing in every week on maintenance, because I get the same, "Oh, at least you didn't gain!" or "You're up a little this week" or whatever. Since I'm in maintenance, I'd rather not hear any comments about the ups and downs of my weight, because I monitor it at home.

They said I just have to weigh-in once a month to keep my membership free; if my weight goes more than two pounds over goal, then I have to start paying again until I'm back at goal. I can go to as many meetings as I'd like, and I don't have to weigh in to stay at a meeting. As long as I've weighed in once that month, then I don't have to worry about it.

So as of right now, I'm well-under my goal, and I don't have to weigh in again until March (I'll still do my weekly weigh-ins at home, for accountability, though).

After we left WW, I took the boys to the community college because there was a robotics tournament going on there today. Definitely not something I was interested in, but my dad was disappointed he couldn't take the kids today, and thought they would like it. I'm glad I went, because the boys really did like it. It was about as exciting as it sounds ;)

We sat up in the bleachers, and this was our view: 
 The robots had to pick up bean bags and put them in "baskets", and got a certain number of points for the number of bags they got. Noah and Eli both said that they can't wait until they are in high school so that they can be on a robotics team.

On the way out, the kids wanted to buy a soda from the concession stand, so we stopped there for a minute. The woman working looked at me and said, "Oh, you're Katie!" I didn't recognize her, but I said yes. I learned her name is Lori (Laurie?) and she reads my blog. That was fun--it's very, very rare that I run into someone that reads my blog, and even then, it's always at a race.

The kids and I watched a couple of movies this afternoon. The first was Beethoven, and Phoebe was very interested in that one!

Then we watched "The Wizard", a movie that I loved as a kid--and I figured the boys would like it because they love video games. It was a very relaxing afternoon.

Tonight is my wine club meeting, and my friend Shannon (whom I haven't seen in FOREVER) is coming over to my house and then going to Winers with me. I'm excited to see what she's been up to!

12 comments:

  1. I loved the move The Wizard! I'd forgotten all about it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, awesome about the necklace! How satisfying :)

    Interesting re: Lifetime membership. In NZ we can go above goal by 2kg, which is ~ 4.4 pounds. 2 pounds is equivalent to about a 1kg; I'm surprised it's that low for you, as I know it's normal for people to fluctuate in weight daily & 1kg doesn't seem like much!

    Are you able to go under by as much as you want, as long as it's within your healthy weight range? Here we can.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was just talking about the Wizard on Friday at work! My middle son is a lot like the little brother as far as video games goes!

    Has to be nice not having to go in every wk!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Don't you just love those little "feel good about your accomplishment" moments? Keep it up girl! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Califoorrrrrrniaaaa!

    Gosh I love Super Mario Bros 3. Such a ridiculously awesome late 80s/early 90s movie.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ugh. Robotics. I'd rather watch a robot death match like on Big Bang!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm really surprised that to stay within Lifetime your weight can't go up more than 2lbs. I think that's pretty tight considering how much people fluctuate from day to day. I think 5 would be better, not that it matters what I think ha :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I know just what you mean about people bringing souvenirs from trips to you. T-shirts never fit, necklaces and bracelets were too small. So I would get a coffee cup (I don't drink coffee), or some doo-hickey to put up around the house. I have boxes full of that kind of stuff.
    It's fun now to be able to wear those t-shirts and 18" necklaces!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Katie, Congratulations on continued lifetime membership. I finally got the nerve up to walk that 5k (more like crawl) . My time was 74.36 and and I would have been in the 45 to 50 group. I wish I had of done your event. But I will continue to work on my speed and endurance. Niecya @sparkpeople

    ReplyDelete
  10. Congrats on the necklace Katie! Thanks for the inspiration :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Katie, the story about the necklace made me cry a little. That is so cool and such a moment! You should be so proud. I read an article that you and your boys may like. There was a cat on CNN and the internet earlier this week that a high school robotics team was able to save. Check it out here on the Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/flipper-cat-wheelchair-chariot-conifer-high-school_n_2638796.html. It's a great story about a robotics team using their skills to help a cat! Hope you enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love your necklace story. I LOVE that you can wear it now, too. It's beautiful. YOU are beautiful :)

    ReplyDelete

I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

Featured Posts

Blog Archive