Mood journaling and weigh-in

Okay, how much does Phoebe look like a kangaroo in this picture?! I thought she looked so odd in that position, and Eli said she looked like a kangaroo. Once I saw that, I couldn't UNsee it, and it makes me laugh every time I look at it!

It's finally starting to feel like spring here in Michigan. We've had gorgeous weather for about a week now, and it's been SO nice to open up the windows in the house and work on spring cleaning. A few of you mentioned that I seem to be doing better mentally lately--happier. And it's true :)

After seeing the psychiatrist and starting a new medication, I decided to keep track of my moods using an app on my phone (my friend Emily suggested it, and I had never thought to see if such an app existed before!). I downloaded a few different ones to try out and see what I like best, so maybe once I use them a little more, I write a post about them. But so far, they've been really helpful to keep track of my moods!

I basically just choose an emoticon/mood to represent my general feeling at that moment, and then I write a few notes about it. It's easy to see at a glance my overall moods and to look for patterns. I'm hoping it will help me to see how the new medication is working (or not working). I always used to think that I could "keep track" in my head of how my moods have been, but after tracking it for a week, I realized that there was so much I would have forgotten. This will be useful to look over before I go to therapy, too, so I can remember specific events or things that changed my mood.

The first few days of the new med involved a lot of ups and downs; but now, I have very few "downs". So, I hope that means it's working, and I won't have to try any other meds! The only side effect I've noticed so far is that I'm having trouble falling asleep at night. I've even stayed up until 1:00 AM watching movies on a few occasions! But the psychiatrist said that the side effects will diminish as I get used to it. I can deal with a little insomnia if it means I won't feel depressed ;)

The kids are on Spring Break this week, but we don't have anything major planned. A lot of my friends go on family vacation for spring break, but we're going on our vacation in July to my sister's property in the upper peninsula of Michigan. (And Joey gets to go with us!)

Tomorrow, I told the boys they could each invite four friends over for a little "party" for spring break. So, we'll have 10 boys over here--God help me ;) No, their friends are actually really well-behaved, so it should be fine. I bought them some snacks and drinks, and I think I'll order pizza for dinner.

On Friday, I'm going to visit Caitlin in Boston (just for the weekend) and I'll be home on Sunday night. It all came about when I was visiting John, and we were chatting (over margaritas). John said we should go visit Caitlin in the spring, so we immediately made plans. I'm really excited to see both of them! Jerry and the kids have some fun "boy stuff" planned--I'm sure they will have a blast. (Because I used to be too scared to fly, I didn't start traveling until 2011. I did drive to Indy for the half-marathon each year, though. Every year, my kids would get so excited for me to go to Indy! They kept asking me how much longer until I leave--hahaha. I love that they have so much fun with Jerry, though.)

I think I'm going to try to get in a long walk again tomorrow morning. I know I'll be doing a lot of walking in Boston, but probably not the "training" kind of walking I need to do for the Indy Mini. I'd like to get in a 10+ mile walk at least once or twice before the race. It won't hurt to burn some extra calories before blowing them all on a piece of carrot cake in Boston ;)

Speaking of which, today was Wednesday Weigh-in. Wednesday seemed to sneak up on me this week! But I was down 1.2 pounds today.

I'm a little nervous about going to Boston, because I've gotten into such a routine with eating that it may throw me off. But, obviously, I want to enjoy my trip and not worry about my weight--so that's what I'm going to do. I'll also be doing a lot of walking while I'm there, and hopefully that will help minimize any indulgences. I'm only going to be there for two nights, anyway.

With 10 boys here tomorrow, I may not get a chance to write again before I leave, so have a great weekend everyone!

Continue Reading...

Easter weekend (and an eight-legged nightmare)

I hope everyone had a great Easter!

Jerry had to work on Easter, which was kind of a bummer, but we are used to his odd schedule. He works a lot of holidays, so when that happens, we just celebrate on a different day when he is off work. We did hide Easter eggs for this kids on Sunday morning, though. Instead of coloring eggs this year, I just bought a few dozen plastic eggs and put a piece of candy in each one (and each of the two "golden eggs" had $10 in it).

Even though the boys are a little older, at 11 and 12, they still loved finding the eggs. Jerry and I had fun hiding them, too. Then, we gave them their Easter baskets, and that was that as far as Easter goes.

Since Jerry was off Monday, we decided to have our Easter dinner and do some family stuff then.

I spent most of the day cleaning out the garage and pulling weeds from the landscaping. I was feeling good, better than I have in a while, and I wanted to get some stuff done. My friend Adam walked over and I chatted with him for a bit, too, before he continued on to walk a half-marathon just for fun on Easter morning ;)

Late Sunday afternoon, Becky came over with Lucas for a couple of hours. He gets bigger every time I see him! I can't believe how fast he's growing. We weighed him while he was here, and he was about 10 pounds. It's funny, because Eli was almost 10 pounds when he was born; and Lucas is about five weeks old. He is looking more like an infant now and not so much like a newborn. And he's starting to coo, which is adorable!

Lucas was totally sprawled out over Eli

While they were here, Noah and Eli were excited to show Becky some old home videos of them. I love watching videos from when the boys were little--their voices were just so cute! I never realized their voices were changing as it was happening, because I heard them every single day; and then when I watched the old videos, the change is huge. It's interesting to watch Lucas grow, because I only see him about once a week--so I can actually see the differences each time.

On Sunday night, I was getting ready for bed, and when I went into the bathroom, I saw the BIGGEST spider I'd ever seen in my life. It was right by the doorway, and I screamed. I couldn't believe the size of it! I looked around for something I could use to kill it, and grabbed some hairspray. The pump wasn't working for some reason! So I frantically dug around and found some spray gel. I sprayed it once, and the spider ran into my bedroom--awesome. (Jerry was at work, otherwise I would have designated him to get rid of it.)

I was not about to let it out of my sight, so I went into the bedroom and watched as it crawled behind some shelves. I grabbed a wad of toilet paper to try to smash it, but when I reached forward, it ran under the shelves. I started screaming again and Eli came in to ask if everything was okay. He held a flashlight while I moved the shelf out, and looked underneath. It was gone.

I panicked, and started searching everywhere around the shelves, under my bed, under my dresser--it was NOWHERE. We looked for about 15 minutes, and I was seriously thinking I was going to have to burn down the house, because there was no way I was going to sleep in my bed knowing that the spider was somewhere in my room.

Joey and the cats knew something was going on, because they were all crowded around us in my bedroom. Eli said he heard a light tapping, and he saw Estelle inside my closet, batting her paw at something. My cats are the BEST when it comes to finding spiders, so I had a feeling she'd found it. When I went in there, she was staring at something very closely, but I didn't see anything. I slowly started moving objects one by one to find it. I grabbed a little bag that I use for my knitting needles, and flipped it over.

That's when I saw it.

This picture makes it look much smaller than it was--honest!

Eli got his first glimpse of it, and started screaming as well. He thought I'd been exaggerating at how big it was. I was terrified to try to grab it with the toilet paper, because my biggest fear is the spider crawling over the paper and onto my hand (which has happened several times over the years). Eli grabbed some cleaner from the kitchen and I sprayed it with that before grabbing it with the toilet paper.

After that, my heart racing and I couldn't stop shuddering at the thought of it. My skin felt itchy and crawly and I was so creeped out about going to sleep in my bed. Because we had had the windows open all day, I assumed the spider came in through a hole in the screen or something, and I was worried about what else had gotten in.

I don't know why spiders creep me out as much as they do, but I am SO glad Estelle found that guy! I can't imagine if it had crawled onto my clothes or something for me to find later.

I was SO sore when I woke up yesterday--a delayed soreness from the long walk on Saturday. The center of each butt cheek was the most sore spot, which I thought was kind of funny. Also, my calves were pretty sore, as were my inner thighs. I did tell Andrea that I would meet her for a walk yesterday morning at the State Park, though, so even though I was sore, I went for a walk with her.

I'm glad I went, because by the end of the three miles we walked, I was feeling much looser and not so sore. I need to keep that in mind--even though I may not want to move when I'm sore, it actually helps me to feel better. It was absolutely gorgeous outside, too!

I always feel happy when I see cardinals, and I happened to see probably about seven or eight of them while we were walking--usually, I'm lucky to see one. I tried several times to get my one-second video of a cardinal, but I was never able to get close enough.

On the way home from the park, I stopped at Kroger to buy a ham and some stuff for side dishes. I'd never bought a ham in my life, but Jerry specifically requested a ham dinner, and I thought it would be fun to make something different. I procrastinated buying the ham last week, but I'm SO glad that I did--because we had our dinner the day after Easter, the ham was $20 instead of $40! I love finding good manager's specials, and this one was awesome.

I made ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, and rolls--very simple, but for just the four of us, it was plenty. My kids said they had never had ham before (they've had deli ham, and the cubed ham in split pea soup, but never slices of ham for a meal). When I thought about it, I realized that was probably true! So, I was glad they got to try something new. I'm not a big ham person, so I only ate a few bites of it. Jerry loved it, and was thrilled that he now has about seven more pounds of ham to eat this week, hahaha.

After dinner, the kids wanted to play board games, so we started with Sequence. I forgot how fun that game is! Jerry and I played on a team versus the kids, and surprisingly, they beat us on the first round. We won the second one. After that, we played Scattergories. I don't know if it's because of my new medication or just because it was a really good day, but I felt so happy the whole afternoon. We had some music playing, and the windows open, and the kids were in good moods as well.

Overall, it was a very nice weekend! The kids are on spring break all this week. We don't have much planned, but I'm grateful that we've had amazing weather, so we've been outside quite a bit!

Continue Reading...

A long walk (enough procrastination)

Holy cow, what a gorgeous day! As predicted, we had some rain this morning, but it didn't last very long at all. I had made a promise to myself that I was going to get in a long walk today to prepare for the Indy Mini (it's pretty much a given that I'll be walking the whole thing--maybe a few jogs here and there, but I'm cool with walking it). So, I was lazy for a little while when it was raining, but at around 10:00, I decided I needed to go out and get it done--because it was going to take a really long time.

When running, I typically figure a 10:00/mile pace when I'm thinking of how long it will take me (these days, it's slower, but it's an easy, round number to estimate the time for running). When walking, however, I had no idea what my pace would be. I guessed about 18:00/mile, so I knew that walking my planned 8-10 miles was going to take two and a half to three hours!

I downloaded some podcasts, and found a new one called The Hilarious World of Depression. It sounds terrible, right? Like, what's hilarious about depression? BUT, the last thing I want to listen to when going through depression is depressing stuff about depression. So, if someone can make light of it, I was all for giving it a try. And it had great reviews on iTunes.

(For the record, I think the new med that the psychiatrist prescribed may be working--my emotions have been very up and down, but I was expecting that. Today, however, I've had lots of "up" and very little "down". The doctor said I may start to feel better in just 2-3 days, or it could take several weeks--it would just depend on how my body reacted to it. Of course, my good mood could be caused from the nice weather, the fact that I exercised, and some other factors, too.)

Anyway, I dressed in capris and a t-shirt, because it was pretty warm outside. Then, I headed out for a long out-and-back. About half a mile in, I was thinking that a change of scenery would be nice. I decided to text Andrea and ask if she could give me a ride home if I walked all the way to her house. I had no idea how far away it was, but I guessed it was probably about 8-9 miles. She said sure, so I headed her way.

I shared my location with her on our phones (I love the "Find My Friends" app on the iPhone! It's awesome for safety purposes.) That way, she could see my progress and estimate when I would get there. My legs were actually kind of sore from running a couple of days ago (Ha! I guess that's what happens when you stop running for a while and then run again). I really liked the new podcast, and listening to the stories of comedians who dealt with depression was kind of refreshing! They managed to find humor in some tough situations.

The walk was pretty uneventful. I picked up any loose change that I found, which was about the most exciting thing, haha. At around mile five, my fingers were really starting to swell. I remember this happening whenever I've walked a long distance--since my arms are at my sides, instead of bent at the elbow, I think gravity makes the fluid move down to my hands...? That's just a theory, I actually have no idea why it happens.

As I got closer to Andrea's, I knew it wasn't going to be as far as I'd thought. I started thinking I could take a detour to add on a few miles, but my feet were already getting blistered. Again, since I haven't been running much, my feet aren't very tough right now. I've lost my "running calluses", so I'm susceptible to blisters. I decided I'd better just finish at Andrea's, and next week, I'll aim for 10 miles.

As I got close to Andrea's, a car passing by honked at me, and I saw that it was my friend Jessica! Usually, when people honk at me, I spend the rest of the day wondering who it was, but this time I recognized her car.

Mile seven turned over just as I was approaching Andrea's, so I was happy to get in that much at least. We went out in her backyard to chat for a little bit, and I realized I had completely forgotten to turn my Garmin off--so, the timer was still going even though I stopped walking, making my average pace inaccurate. But I'm glad I followed through and did a long walk!

Found a total of 13 cents--woo hoo! ;)

Nothing like procrastinating the training for Indy ;) I'm just glad it's a walker-friendly race!

Andrea is fostering this little dog named Crush, and I think he's ADORABLE. I wanted to get a good photo of his underbite, but I'll have to try again another time. He's the happiest dog I've ever seen! So cute.

(I can't remember if I wrote about One Last Treat, but it's a local organization that takes senior dogs out of shelters and places them with forever homes so that they don't have to spend their last years in a shelter. Very cool, right? They have a "Vet Friend 'Til the End" program, too, where they place the dogs with veterans.) Anyway, Andrea started fostering these dogs (she's perfect for it!). I wish I was looking for another dog, because I would take Crush in a heartbeat!

Andrea drove me home, and wow--my hips were feeling very sore. Walking is no joke; there were actually a few times during the walk where I thought it would feel easier to run. I'm really glad I did this walk, though--it felt hard doing just 7 miles, so I need to toughen up for 13.1 in a few weeks. Next week, I may try alternating running a couple of minutes and walking a couple of minutes, for the sake of time (and I think it may feel easier on my body).

When I got home, we opened up the windows in the house and the breeze felt amazing! It was about 82 degrees, the warmest day so far this year. I turned on some music, and Eli and I played cards--it felt like several perfect moments all came together today and totally made my day. We're supposed to have nice weather tomorrow, too :)

Happy Easter, everyone!

Continue Reading...

Runner's high

Yesterday morning, I got a funny text message from my cousin Shannon. We used to be pretty close when I was in college (I lived much closer to her then when I was in a dorm), but we don't see each other or talk very often anymore. So, when I got a message from her, I was pretty curious. It made me laugh when I read it--it went something like this: "OMG, Katie! I had a dream last night that you guys hit $20 million on the lottery (a scratch off ticket)! You need to play the lottery today--you might win big!"

Shannon jokes around more than anyone I know (my favorite thing about her), so I laughed about it--but considering her dream came out of nowhere, I thought it couldn't hurt to buy a couple of scratch offs ;)

I bought four tickets yesterday afternoon--one for each Jerry, the kids, and me.

And we won! Haha, five whole dollars--a far cry from $20 million ;)

This morning, I drove the kids to school, and on the way home, I thought it would be a nice day to go for a run. It's been ages since I actually felt like running and didn't have to talk myself into it or force myself to do it. I actually felt like I was looking forward to it! When I got home, I quickly dressed in my running clothes before I changed my mind, and headed outside.

Despite being pretty windy, it felt great! My breathing was harder than normal, but that's bound to happen from not running much for so long. I didn't feel that odd out-of-breath feeling I had recently, which was a relief. I pulled my sleeve over my Garmin so that I couldn't see my pace or heart rate--I just wanted to run and hopefully complete three miles.

I took the route that I used to do in 2010, when I first started running. There is something nostalgic about that route, and even though it's not my favorite, it seemed appropriate for today. When I arrived back home, I actually got that same "runner's high" that I used to get years ago.

It was great :) However, I really need to get in a few distance walks/runs before Indy! The race is three weeks from Saturday, and while I know I could pull it off without any training if needed, that's obviously NOT a good idea. This Saturday, it's supposed to get up to 76 degrees! The forecast shows thunderstorms in the morning, but I think I will go to the Metropark in the afternoon and get in a long walk (8-10 miles).

Thankfully, this weekend isn't going to be nearly as busy as last weekend. Actually, I just remembered that Sunday is Easter! Today is my last chance to buy stuff for the kids' Easter baskets while they are at school, so I'd better go do that now. Happy Thursday!

Continue Reading...

Finally--a psych appointment

Things are FINALLY settling down in the Foster household ;)

It was a crazy-busy (the fun kind of busy!) weekend. I already wrote about the From Fat to Finish Line meet-up on Saturday. In the afternoon, Emily (a blog reader turned friend) came over. She lives on the western side of Michigan, but she was in town, so we made plans to get together. We chatted at my house and then walked to the bar to play Keno and have a drink. It was fun! And so nice to chat.

Jerry and I had tentative plans to go to our friends' Jake and Emma's house for a game night (I had a lot planned on Saturday so I wasn't sure if we'd be able to make it). The kids really wanted to go, and despite the busy day, I knew we'd have fun if we went. So, we headed over to Jake and Emma's.

We played Bunco (I'd never played before, but I always wanted to learn). I was terrible at it! Haha. That game is simply about the luck of the dice, though. Then we played Taboo, and my brain was just too tired--I was fumbling for words (which is totally the point of the game, but still). The only picture I have from the evening is this one that Jerry took, but I thought it was pretty funny.

That's apparently what I look like when I'm fumbling for words ;) My friend Adam was moderating to make sure I don't say any of the "taboo" words on the card. It was a fun evening, but I was completely tired and ready for bed by 11:00.

I got a phone call on Monday from the psychiatrist's office (that I've been on a waiting list for) and they said they had a cancellation for an appointment on Tuesday at 10:45, could I make it? I said YES, of course, even though I knew the carpet was being installed between 11 and 1. I've been trying so hard to get in to see a psychiatrist, and I figured I would do whatever I could to make sure I could go.

I knew I'd have to get the house ready for the carpet on Monday so that I'd be able to go to the appointment Tuesday (the drive was 45 minutes each way, so the earliest I figured I'd be home was 12:30--and that's if the doctor could see me right on time). Worst case scenario, I could ask my friend Andrea to come over and let the carpet guys in.

Anyway, that meant I'd have to prep the bedrooms by myself, because Jerry was working nights. I honestly have no idea how I did it, but I spent all day Monday moving furniture and all of our belongings out of the bedrooms and into the living room and kitchen. Check out my living room when I was done!

The only thing I left in each bedroom was a mattress--I even took the bed frames out. That way, we'd have a place to sleep on Monday night, but I could quickly move the mattresses in the morning. When I was disassembling Noah's bunk beds, I really screwed up my (already screwed up) back. I think I pulled a muscle or something--my neck, left shoulder blade, and left ribs-area hurt. I can't even turn my head very easily. It feels muscular, though, so I'm glad it's not my bones--my spine is already messed up from arthritis and bone spurs.

So anyway, I got the bedrooms totally ready, even though I could barely walk through my living room or kitchen thanks to all of our stuff being in there. Once I finally sat down, I got a phone call from Lowe's--they said they were going to be later than planned for the carpet installation, and to expect them between 1:00 and 4:00! It solved my problem of having to be in two places at once, but if I had known, I would have had Jerry help me move everything in the morning.

On Monday evening, I got together with an old friend, Jenni, from high school. We took journalism together, and we were pretty good friends back then; but, we went our separate ways after high school and I hadn't seen her in over 10 years, until she came over for game night a few weeks ago. We made plans to get together and catch up, and it was really nice to hear about what she's been up to for the last decade or so ;)  She lives fairly close, so we plan to get together again soon.

Yesterday, I wasn't nervous at all for my appointment--I was just so happy to finally get to see a psychiatrist! I sat in his office for an hour and fifteen minutes, telling him what's going on and answering his questions. He was very knowledgable and answered all my questions. He didn't make me feel rushed, which is something that drives me crazy with some doctors. I'm not ready to talk about the details or outcome just yet, but hopefully I will soon. I did leave there feeling a sense of relief (at getting answers), and definitely hopeful. I'm going to try the medication he recommended (I started it yesterday) and I am hoping that I feel much better in a month or so. I have a follow-up appointment in a month.

I got home at 1:00, and waited for the carpet installers to arrive. At 3:00, they called and said they'd be here at 4:15--so I definitely could have waited to take apart the bedrooms, but oh well. Once they arrived, they got to work right away and three hours later, we had new carpet in the bedrooms! There are a lot of things that we have to buy as adults that aren't any fun--water heaters, furnaces, etc. But carpet is an exciting one for me! I was so so happy to get rid of the burgundy carpet that I'd had in my bedroom for the last 14 years.

I finally remembered to do a before and after photo, too:

The boys' got the same carpet in their bedrooms, and they were thrilled as well. We started moving everything back into the bedrooms last night, but I was so exhausted by 9:00 that I just left everything else for morning and went to bed.

When I woke up today, I was so relieved that we don't have any appointments or things on the schedule. I need to rest my back, so I plan to have a lazy day today.

Oh! Today is Wednesday, so that means Wednesday Weigh-in. I had a pretty good loss this week (1.6 pounds), but that's probably because of the last couple of days--super busy with moving furniture and cleaning, and not having time (or space) to eat a proper meal.

Now that Eli is done with physical therapy, and we don't have appointments after school several times a week, I'd like to get back to cooking real meals again! It seems like we were never home at dinner time for the last month, so we would grab something while we were out or just throw something together quickly when we got home. I miss home cooked food. I didn't set a goal for April, but I'm going to declare that my goal for the rest of April--to cook dinner at least five nights a week like I used to.

Well, now I'm going to relax and catch up on a couple of shows before the kids get home. Their spring break starts Friday!

Continue Reading...

A fun meet-up

The Tigers had a great opening day yesterday--the terrible weather we were supposed to have ended up being pretty nice! It was windy and chilly, but we didn't get the snow/rain mixture that was predicted, thankfully. Opening day is a very big deal around here--thousands of people go tailgate in Detroit all day. I had been thinking of going, but when the forecast called for crazy rain and wind, I decided I'd rather take care of Lucas ;)

Taking care of an infant yesterday was SO much fun--I miss when my kids were that little! We may not have gone to the game, but we wore our Tigers shirts and watched the game at home:

Nathan, Brian, and Becky had a good time in Detroit, and I obviously had fun with Luke. It was a great day!

In February, after I got back from San Diego, I organized a meet-up for Detroit/Toledo area From Fat to Finish Line fans. (In case you missed it, From Fat to Finish Line is the name of the documentary that I was in; and there is a Facebook group that formed based on the film.) The first date that I'd picked for the meet-up had terrible weather, and we had to reschedule to today. Thankfully, the weather is beautiful today, so we met up at the State Park at 9:00 this morning.

I was nervous, because I was the one who organized it; so, I wanted everything to go smoothly and everyone to have fun. Jerry is off work today, so he was able to go with me (and that helped with my nerves, which was nice). We had a good turnout, and the group that showed up was fantastic!

First, we went for a 5K walk around the State Park. There was no wind at all, so even though it was about 40 degrees, it was sunny and felt nice. Then we all went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It was great getting to meet and chat with new people! Everybody was SO nice, and I would love to do it again. We may make it a monthly thing, which would be fun.

Well, I'm meeting up with a blog reader, Emily, this afternoon, so I'd better get ready. Fun day :)

Continue Reading...

Productive

Why does it feel like the time is just flying by every day? I constantly feel like I'm a step behind everyone else, and I'm always trying to catch up--but the time goes by so fast! Just when I feel like I can take a quick breather, I have "just one more thing" to get done. It's actually been nice to be so busy, because it helps with my depression; but on the other hand, I am not used to being so fast-paced.

Speaking of depression, Jerry wanted to do something nice for me a couple days ago to cheer me up--since I'm not a big fan of flowers, he got me this enormous teddy bear. It's three feet tall! I named him Gunther, and he is super soft and cuddly. This is one of my favorite things Jerry's ever given me--and the timing was perfect. I love it!

I cannot believe it's Thursday already. When I woke the kids up this morning, it felt like just a minute ago I was waking them up and telling them it was Friday, so they had just one more day of school before the weekend. Anyway, I did do my Wednesday Weigh-in yesterday, I just didn't have time to post it.

I had another good week:

I was at 144.6, so that is down 1.6 pounds from last week. The weight loss has been a touch slower than the very consistent 2 pounds per week I was losing in 2015, but I've also been much more relaxed as far as calorie counting goes. I'm still trying to see how I do without logging food, and just paying attention instead to the approximate number of calories it has. I'm still eating three meals and a treat each day, keeping my portions moderate. 

I've only had alcohol twice in the last six weeks or so, and I think that has helped a lot with preventing binge eating. I think the alcohol (even just one or two drinks) would lower my inhibitions enough to make me not care much about what or how much I was eating, and I was probably getting in a lot of extra calories that way. 

Now that my weight is under 145, I really don't mind if I stop losing at this point. Maintenance is always tricky for me, so I'm not going to make a bold statement about maintaining, either--I'm just going to eat comfortably, exercise moderately, and see where my weight happens to fall. My biggest goal as far as my weight goes right now is to find a "happy place" that is fairly easy to maintain, even if it's a little heavier than I would prefer. 

I'm being cautious with weight goals anyway, because I'm guessing once I see the psychiatrist next month, he'll have me try a new medication, which may affect my weight. So, I'm happy to see the scale going down, but I'm still being cautious.

---

I don't know what has come over me lately, but I've been in a serious spring cleaning mode. The new bedroom carpet is going to be installed on Tuesday, so I've been going through stuff in my bedroom and organizing. Yesterday, I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a bunch of decorative storage boxes to put stuff in instead of the plastic bags, shoe boxes, Tupperware containers, etc., that our stuff has been in. 

I went through all my clothes and packed up four huge bags to donate. I still feel like I should get rid of more, but I usually regret it when I force myself to choose more, so I'll just stick with this for now. Thankfully, most of my clothing comes from the Salvation Army, so I don't mind getting rid of things. It would be hard to get rid of clothes that I'd bought brand new and hadn't worn much!

It feels so nice and productive to get everything organized in my bedroom. It wasn't total chaos before, but I did have stuff stashed in so many places that it was overwhelming when I was looking for something. Getting the carpet replaced will be the finishing touch, and it'll feel like a brand new bedroom--I'm excited! 

---

I have some fun stuff planned this weekend. Tomorrow, we are going to babysit Lucas for a little while so that Brian and Becky can go to the Tigers opening day. If it's anything like the first time Jerry and I went out without Noah when he was a newborn, then they probably won't be gone very long ;)  (It was funny--we were excited to go out for a date night, but once we dropped Noah off at my sister's house, he was all we talked about. And then we rushed through dinner and skipped the movie so that we could go pick him up. Haha!)

I organized a From Fat to Finish Line meet-up on Saturday morning, where we'll go for a walk or run at the State Park and then go out to brunch. We were supposed to do it a few weeks ago, but the weather was terrible and we had to reschedule. It's supposed to be very nice outside on Saturday, so I hope that the forecast is correct! Then on Saturday afternoon, I'm meeting up with Emily, one of my blog readers. I met her for drinks back in August, which was fun; and she's going to be in town again this weekend. 

If I don't write tomorrow, have a great weekend everyone! 

SaveSave

Continue Reading...

Teaming up with Monica

I am so tired of driving! I never used to mind driving very much; probably because I don't have a regular commute or anything, so I don't spend long amounts of time in the car very often. But the last three months, I feel like all I've been doing is driving! And it's "driving" me crazy ;)

I've already put nearly 5,000 miles on my car this year, which is much more than ever before. The average American female of my age would have driven about 2,866 miles at this point (yes, I looked it up, because I was curious). We've just had so many appointments for various things this year, and I've been driving to Detroit, Toledo, and Ann Arbor quite a bit. With all of the construction going on in Detroit and Toledo, I'm spending a lot of time driving.

Anyway, yesterday I had a therapy appointment, and it was a very productive one. We worked on a self-esteem issue I've been having for years, and I felt like a huge weight was lifted when I left the office.

Without getting too specific or personal on here, I had basically been focusing on all of the things I wasn't doing in one particular area of my life, instead of looking at all the things I am doing. My therapist helped me to flip that mentality, and I feel much better about it!

I also talked with her about something I'd been thinking about for a long time, but only recently started researching--getting Monica and I registered as a Pet Partners team.

When we fostered Monica last June, I knew there was a good chance we'd end up adopting her. We fell in love with her because she is such a loving cat! She ADORES being petted and held, and it's almost annoying in a way--when you stop petting her, she taps her paw against your arm or hand until you pet her some more. She just loves it!

She's also not "touchy" in the way a lot of cats are when they are done being held or petted--when Estelle has had enough, for example, she gives a few warning signs to back off. If you don't, then she may bite your hand (not enough to draw blood, but as a way to say, "Hey! Stop petting me!"). Monica is never really "done" being petted--she would sit there all day long if you continued to stroke her, haha. But, at worst, she would just turn and walk away if she was done.

This got me thinking about how she would make a great therapy cat. Pet Partners is a non-profit that registers handlers and pets as therapy teams who can then interact with all sorts of people in settings such as nursing homes and group homes. When Mark was alive, he would frequently talk about taking care of the animals at his group home--they had some farm animals there, and it was the mens' job to care for them. Mark took a lot of pride in that.

Anyway, as I learned from attending Purina's Better With Pets summit for the last few years, pets and people can do great things together. And pets are fantastic therapy for people with PTSD, Alzheimer's, intellectual disabilities like the men in Mark's group home, people approaching end of life, etc.

Going by myself to a nursing home to visit with strangers would be very hard for me, because of my shyness--but if I had Monica with me, I would feel more comfortable because she is a nice ice breaker. So, I think it would be a win for everybody--me, for stepping out of my comfort zone and helping others; Monica, because she will get lots of attention; and the people we visit, because Monica will love all over them :)

The registration process may take a while, especially with everything else I have going on right now, but I think it's worth doing. I just have to take an online course, have Monica approved by the vet, and have an evaluation. I think Monica is perfect for the program, so I'm kind of looking forward to it!

---

Tonight, we're going (along with my parents and Nathan) to Brian and Becky's for dinner and to visit with Luke! I knew I would love being an aunt, but I never realized just how much--it's so nice to get a "baby fix" every time I see him.

Nathan just finished remodeling his bathroom (he and Brian did the work themselves) and it looks fantastic! I don't have a final photo of his bathroom yet, but this is a picture from a few weeks ago, when he was almost done with it (obviously, the toilet is not in the shower, haha).

My mom had the idea to give Nathan a "shower"--to buy him some bathroom accessories for the finishing touches. My mom, Jeanie, Becky, and I pitched in, and my mom and I went shopping last night. We put together a nice basket of stuff for him. (He doesn't know about it, so I hope he likes it!)

Art, rugs, towels, waste basket, valance, etc. We're going to give it to him at Brian's house tonight. It should be a fun evening!

Continue Reading...

My big SkyMiles score!

April is off to a great start! The sun has been out, drying up the water from the rain we got over the last few days, and even though it's still a bit cold, it at least looks like spring. What a gorgeous day today!

I've been trying to plan a trip to Portland (which has basically become an annual thing) for the end of May, and I've been watching the airline tickets for a couple of months, waiting for a good deal to come along. But they've been crazy expensive!

Normally, a ticket would be about $400--but the ones for the dates that I want were $550+, and even those ones in the $500's had odd flight times. It was starting to look like the only way to get a ticket would be to spend over $600, which I was not willing to do. I started thinking about using a buddy pass, but there are other problems that arise when using a pass, so I wasn't sure if it'd be worth it.

Jerry and I each have SkyMiles accounts, and as of this morning, my balance was 29,727. Jerry's balance was 23,708. To purchase the ticket with SkyMiles would have cost about 50,000-ish miles. I could get the ticket with some SkyMiles plus cash, but the minimum miles needed in order to do that was 30,000--and I'm just shy of that number.

So, I wanted to ask Delta if I could merge Jerry's and my miles. Since we are married, I assumed it wouldn't be a big deal. Well, Delta doesn't allow transfers of SkyMiles without a big penalty fee--even between spouses--and it would have cost $250 to transfer Jerry's miles to ME, his wife. I thought that was ridiculous, and I was not about to agree to that.

I had a very unpleasant experience with the SkyMiles customer service, and got nowhere. The woman acted like I was an idiot for even asking if I could merge our miles into one account.

Then, I called American Express to see if they could do anything, since it's a Delta SkyMiles Amex. The service rep was super nice, but said they don't have authority to do much with the SkyMiles plan--Amex and SkyMiles are two separate accounts. She was able to offer me 12,500 miles for being a good-standing customer, but said the miles wouldn't show up in my account on time for this ticket. It was really cool of her to help how she could! But I still wasn't sure what to do about my ticket.

I started trying to think of an alternative/creative way to use our miles, and I decided that maybe I could get two one-way tickets instead of a round trip ticket--pay for one with my miles, and for the other with Jerry's miles. Perfect!

So, I checked the flights, and there was pretty much NOTHING for less than 30,000 miles. (To get my miles balance up to 30,000, I would only have to spend $273 on my American Express card--but the miles wouldn't appear in my account on time to buy the ticket.)

If I decided to do the one-way tickets, then I would have to pick a crappy flight time in order to have enough miles for it, and arrive in Portland at midnight. Just as I decided fine, I'll do that, I noticed a flight that had no availability for coach, but it had a first class ticket available... for 25,000 miles. Say what?! I was shocked. I never even look at first class, because it's way too expensive.

I thought it had to be a glitch (or April Fools joke?), but I quickly started the process to buy the ticket. The departure and arrival times were fantastic, and it was first class with one short layover. I couldn't believe how lucky I'd gotten! And then when I'd filled in ALL my info, I clicked "purchase"--and the screen said that the ticket at that price was no longer available.

I almost cried I was so frustrated. I tried again a few more times, with the same result, so I called Delta again. The woman who I spoke with was amazing, and she said someone else must have purchased it right out from under me while I was filling in my info. Because of the inconvenience, she allowed me to choose a different flight, first class, at the same cost--25,000 SkyMiles + $5.60. So, I bought a first class ticket with flight times I was happy with, and I was able to get the whole thing with my SkyMiles! I was thrilled.

The only flight that I had enough SkyMiles to buy to get home from Portland (using Jerry's miles) was a redeye, but I actually like redeye flights... so it was my top choice anyway, and it was only 15,500 SkyMiles + $5.60.

I can't even tell you how stoked I am that I was able to get both tickets for a combined total of 40,500 SkyMiles and $11.20... and I'll be in first class on the way there! I had almost given up even trying to go on this trip because I just wasn't sure how I was going to be able to pay for the ticket. As frustrating as it was earlier, everything worked out perfectly!

(If you are interested in getting a Delta SkyMiles card, I would be so thrilled if you would use this referral link--I'll get bonus miles for it. I absolutely LOVE my SkyMiles card, and I get to travel for free fairly frequently because of it! I believe you get bonus Delta SkyMiles for using my link as well.)

---

Have any of you started watching 13 Reasons Why on Netflix? I read the book a couple of times several years ago, and I loved it--I was really excited when I saw that it was going to be a series on Netflix! I started watching it yesterday; and already, I like it a lot. It's been a while since I read the book, so I can't really remember everything that happens.

Anyway, I was just excited about the plane ticket story, so I wanted to share :) Happy Saturday!

Continue Reading...

March

What's that saying about March weather? "In like a lion, out like a lamb"?

Ha! Usually, it's February weather that makes me wonder why on earth I choose to live in Michigan; but this year, February was gorgeous. Sunny, and even very warm on some days--73 degrees--and pleasant. I was totally in the mood for spring when I was sitting outside without a coat on mid-February ;)

Then March happened. The weather this month has been unbelievable! Yesterday and today, it's been raining all. day. long.

This is how hard it was raining all day!

Yesterday, Eli had an appointment to pick up his orthotics, so we spent the day together playing hooky from school.

The appointment was in Detroit, which is normally about a 35 minute drive. However, there is a huge construction project going on, so we left with plenty of time to spare (well over an hour).

Driving in the rain is never fun, but yesterday it was awful! We had to take an alternate route, so it was going to take longer anyway, but with the rain coming down so hard, I was a little nervous at times. Semi trucks were spraying water all over the place, and there were sheets of water pouring down. At some points, traffic was going about 25 mph on the expressway.

The last three times I've gone to a hospital we've had a storm: 1) When Lucas was born, and I drove to the hospital in Toledo, we had a crazy windstorm that was so bad it caused several semi trucks to literally tip over on their sides; 2) When I took Noah to Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor a couple of weeks ago, we had that huge snow storm and counted about a dozen car accidents on the way up to the ER; and 3) The drive through the rain storm yesterday to Detroit Medical Center Children's Hospital was actually just as bad as the snow storm!

Thankfully, Eli's appointments at DMC are done now (at least until his feet outgrow the orthotics). And Noah's foot is healing well, so we don't need to go back to U of M anytime soon.

Anyway, it took us an hour and fifteen minutes to get to DMC yesterday, but once we got there, everything was fine. Eli's orthotics fit well, and he was (surprisingly) excited about wearing them. He's supposed to wear them for a couple of hours a day to start, and gradually increase the time he wears them until he wears them all the time.

He's been doing really well with physical therapy, too, and his range of motion in his ankles has improved quite a bit. I really like his physical therapist! He really knows his stuff, and Eli is comfortable with him.

After we were done at the hospital, I told Eli he could choose wherever he wanted to go for lunch, and he chose La Pita. Obviously, that sounded good to me! ;) It was fun spending time with just Eli, and he gave me the scoop about what's going on at school and with his friends. I felt the same way when I took Noah to Ann Arbor, and we spent the whole day together just the two of us. Spending time with both kids is great, but one-on-one time is special.

Thankfully, the ride home was a little better than the ride there. I picked up Noah from school, and then we had to go to Eli's physical therapy appointment. On the way home from that, it was pouring again, and there were several traffic lights without power. There was SO much flooding from the rain, too--the ditches that are usually empty are completely filled to the top with rain water.

When we got home, we got cozy in our pajamas and watched an episode of Flashpoint (one of our family favorites). The rain stopped toward the end of the show, and I started thinking about how maybe I should go for a run. I was SO comfy, and really didn't want to move; but, I had been chatting with Colin (who I ran with in San Diego) the day before, and he all-but dared me to train to try to get back in shape enough to run (or even run/walk) the Indy Mini instead of walking the whole thing. There is nothing wrong with walking it, of course, but he was encouraging me to think a little bigger.

I didn't want to think that far ahead (and still don't), but I figured it wouldn't hurt to go do a short run and see how I felt. I put on some water resistant running clothes and a hat, and hoped that the rain would stay at a stop while I ran a mile or two. Once I started running, I felt better than the day before--still out of breath, but the "normal" kind, and not the kind I described in my previous post. My heart rate was high, but I expected that after not having run for a while.

I had only planned to run a mile or two, just to say that I did, but I felt good enough that I did a lollipop route that was about 3.4 miles. I managed a 10:45/mi pace, which was a whole minute faster than Wednesday's 11:45 pace at the same heart rate. Afterward, I was SO glad that I did it! I came inside just as it started down pouring again, and took a hot shower.

I miss feeling good like that after a run! I can't even remember the last time I felt that way after a run--probably when I was 10K training a year ago. I felt very accomplished, even though it was "just an easy three-miler". It boosted my confidence a little.

We had more thunderstorms last night, and it's still raining today (although nothing as hard as yesterday). Driving the kids to school this morning, I saw so many yards that were flooded with rain water. Some people's yards even look like they have huge ponds in them! It's supposed to be in the 50's this week, so I'm glad it will be warming up, but it's still supposed to be very rainy. I'm just hoping that the "April showers bring May flowers" saying holds true ;)

Since today is the last day of March, I have my 1 Second Everyday video ready to share. This was a big month--wind storm, snow storm, and rain storm; my nephew was born!; my parents came home from a two-month trip; Noah had the mother of all splinters in his foot; Eli has been going to physical therapy; and I have probably driven more miles on my car this month than the last six months combined (going to Detroit, Toledo, and Ann Arbor several times over).

I'm hoping for nicer weather and less hospital visits for April ;)  Have a great weekend!

Continue Reading...