I'm not going to have any exciting, spectacular lists of amazing things I've done this past year, countdown of my best moments or photos or anything like that. My year was pretty average and I'm OK with that. Everyone in my family is healthy - awesome! I turned 40 with surprisingly no meltdowns or even that much bruhaha. I think being on vacation helped a lot (posts here, here & here). Randy continues to be the best provider & hubby ever. Miss Angela made level 4 at her dance studio, which is the top of the competition team. AND she is currently passing all of her classes! I'm so proud of her. Jack the Beagle, Chester & Maddie the cats are all healthy & loveable (mostly). So I'd have to say 2013 was pretty darn good!
Gosh, I'm pretty boring. I don't have a list of all these fantastic resolutions or a countdown of all the amazing posts that I've written, or a recap of a bunch of amaing pics, etc, etc.
I will list some stats of...me!
I've lost a total of 13.8 lbs in 2013. Not the greatest, but it's a loss!
Lost 0.5 inch off my arms, thighs & waist. 0.75 off my hips. Somehow managed to gain an inch on the bust, but I'm thinking that had something to do with a perkier bra.
Since I've started at the gym, I can already imagine my stomach getting flatter. I've only gone twice, so I'm sure that is just that - imagination!
608 page views to THIS Friend Makin' Monday post. 319 page views to me checking in after vacation. Those are like huge jumps over all the rest of my page views ever! WTF?? All the rest are around 15 - 30 views.
The major thing is that I turned 40. And surprisingly am OK with that, especially after how I hated being 39. I kept wondering what I was supposed to be doing with my life and OMG, my kid is 15, and all sorts of wonderful thoughts like that. I'm kind of bummed that we were on vacation for my birthday, so I didn't even get a cake or presents. It was an awesome trip, tho. No one made a big deal out of it, except my boss & closest co-worker (aka, the Billing Department)
Before I left for vacation, they put paper cut-out "40"s all over the damn office - anyplace I might ever possibly go... there were easily 100 of these things!
And of course on my desk.
This is what I came back to after vacation.
So let's see. What else? Hmmm, nothing terribly exciting! I went back thru both other blogs and there were the usual family outings, dance competitions, dance recitals, radio stuff.
I'm happy that we are all healthy and have had no drama -
I thought I took it somewhat easy (or so it felt at the time) with my first workout at Anytime Fitness on Friday.
I met with Sharon, the trainer (imagine the typical 0% body fat, perky, petite little chick) and we went back to the office and she asked me a bunch of questions. What my goals are (to lose the last the last 40 lbs in 2014), how often I expect to be at the gym (3-4 times a week, which she said is ideal), on a scale of 1 to 10, how important is exercise (10!!) and of course the typical medical questions to ensure I don't keel over on their property. She was happy to hear that I was active in Weight Watchers and could tell her my exact weight as of the night before. Then she did the body fat measurer thingy and she didn't seem surprised by the numbers for body fat or BMI, but said that if I did lose the 40 lbs, I'd be golden. And I know that. For my height, 175 is the upper end of the range for WW and do-able in my mind. Granted my BMI would still be considered in the overweight range but *pppppbth* to that. 140 lbs is the lower end of the healthy range and I just can't see me that low. I have a big frame and need ~some~ meat!
Then she said weights & cardio would be what helped me the most. I made sure to tell her that I don't run unless chased and she was OK with it. So she said I should do at least 30 minutes cardio, either on the treadmill or elliptical. She said I could do 15 minutes as a warm up, then do the circuit machines, then do the other 15 minutes as a cool down. She showed me how to do all the circuit machines and suggested what weights I should set them at (I've already changed a couple, made them heavier) Then said I should do a set of 10 reps on each machine and move quickly to the next one. Do all the machines 3 times. Then she sent me on my way.
I did the 10 reps x3 and did 10 minutes on the elliptical. That takes some talent! I did fine for the first 8.5 minutes, then lost my rhythm and was all flailing around for a while. I'm sure it was quite comical to the trainers sitting in the office right there! Anyhooo, it tacked on another 2 minutes for cool down then I went to the treadmill for another 15 to walk and bring my heart rate down.
I was feeling pretty good when I left there. I could tell I was going to feel it, but was surprised that Saturday I was just feeling tight. I did a little stretching and didn't think anything more of it. It was sunny and 45 degrees, so I took the dog for a walk. I was wearing my hiking boots due to melting snow, so my legs still got a workout. Today I was OK, until we started taking Christmas decorations down and putting them away. It was like as I was standing there, rolling up extension cords that I realized my arms were sore! And my legs. Nothing else really so much.
So I will be going back tomorrow. I'm going to shoot for going Monday evening after taking Miss Angela to dance, Wednesday afternoon (after taking Miss Angela to dance!) and either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. They have a 9am Saturday Zumba class, so I may even do both! I passed this week, just because I expected to be sore & such. I wonder how crazy it's going to be in there this week, with all the typical New Year's Resolution people showing up? I know WW will be packed, it always is! At least for a month or so.
I'm going to take advantage of this lull in the holiday action to post some recent Christmas pics from around the Love Shaque.
I ordered these ornaments from Michigan in Metal. Love them! The blue on the angel is stunning & they even said on the site that the color is hard to photograph.
I bought my nativity scene for Christmas 1992. My first Christmas in the Navy / out of my parent's house. It's very special to me! And the red scarf was originally my duty fire party shirt that I wore on the USS Canopus. I usually have a white porcelain Santa hanging out with the scene, but he's now with the white porcelain reindeer that I picked up this year. Funny that most of my decorations are brightly colored and/or funky but my nativity scene is plain white. Guess that's what makes it stand out!
Here is the yard in the snow. It includes one of the 2 nutcracker blowmolds that I picked up before Christmas at 50% off. I really hate paying full price for anything!
Jack chilling on our coats on the way to sister Laurie's Christmas Eve.
Last weekend there was an ice storm that thankfully hit north of us. We started seeing evidence about 1/2 way to Laurie's so it didn't miss us by much, 15 miles or so! She had a lot of ice around her place, but never lost power, thank God!
This is sister Linda's puppy that she adopted at Thanksgiving. He's 3.3 lbs of "puppy love" now. He's growing like a weed! So stinkin' cute!
I ordered the JOL ornament from the etsy store of one of the bloggers I follow, Shellhawk's Nest. She makes/paints/fires all her ceramics herself and I can now attest that her work is stunning! The ginormous clear bulb was a gift from my niece. She chose well! It's right along the lines of 'funky' that I like!
Angel's stocking on her door.
Santa's cookie plate and Mexican Coke bottle.
My nutcracker collection has grown significantly. I think my total army is numbered upwards of 80 now. I'll count for sure when I finally put them away. I need to buy another tote or two!
I ordered the Rockette Toy Soldier one online and Angel wrapped it for me, so I only saw it online until I opened it. I got the farmer from Laurie. It was funny that it was in the Tractor Supply ad last weekend, so she got to gauge my reaction to it beforehand. And Miss Angel got me the blingy zebra guy.
I picked these guy up at Walgreens on my way to work on the day after Christmas at 50% off. This is my first bagpiper. I thought he was neat. The middle guy is very Austin Powers with his red velvet suit and lace instead of a beard. And the cheetah guy is just so fabulous!
I was tickled to get my second bagpiper at JoAnn Fabrics the same evening. The tallest one is missing half his mustache, but I can repair that. I couldn't pass these guys up at 70% and then another 30% off!
I actually got these guys over a week before Christmas at JoAnns. They were already 70% at that store and I had a 25% coupon. Angel was tickled at the ballerina and the tall one has silver leaf on his suit and the gold one is covered in gold leaf.
I'm going to start putting the away all the blowmolds from the yard tomorrow. It's supposed to be back in the 40s again like today and then drop into the teens for the rest of the week. Ugh. I was going to wait until after New Year's but I'd rather not have to deal with frostbite while doing it. Last year, my chenille Gingy and the flying pig were caked with ice, so they got put in the garage until it all finally melted. Putting them away cleanish is so much better!
The inside stuff can be put away at my leisure. For some reason, I have my Christmas totes labelled with what is in it (but not the Halloween ones!!) so I can grab one at random and can easily get that much put away. Of course, I have to re-do the labels since some things I'll set aside to get rid of and of course there's always the new goodies.
Ooo, I was so excited! Randy got me a 6 month membership to the local Anytime Fitness! This is exactly what I asked for! I stopped in on the 26th and finished filling out the paperwork and got a quick tour. Then set up an appointment for yesterday for my fitness consultation and had my first workout. I got to visit with one of their trainers (imagine the 0% body fat, petite little trainer chick going "ooo high five -I'm 40, too! ~grumble~) and she asked me a bunch of questions and measured my body fat and she decided that cardio & weights was going to be best for me to get to my goal. So she showed me the circuit machines and how to use them. Then basically that was it. I did all the circuit machines 3 times, 10 reps each time, (like she recommended) then got on the elliptical for 10 minutes and the treadmill to walk for 15 to cool down. I was surprised that I was only a bit stiff today. But I still decided to pass on the Zumba class for the time being. I wasn't sure how I was going to be feeling this morning. But I will get there!
Oh crap - it's 1 am! So all the times I mention tomorrow, it's actually today. I'm really surprised that little Miss Maddie hasn't come by meowing at me to go to bed. She must have been in the catnip again and is passed out!
Any exciting plans for New Year's Eve? Nothing here. We stay home, eat snacks, watch Dick Clark (well, not this year) and have some wine. NYD we will watch the Rose Parade on HGTV (no commercials!) and probably later watch the Rose Bowl since MSU is playing.
I'm excited for tomorrow! My dear, wonderful hubby got me a 6 month membership to Anytime Fitness and it started today!
I stopped in after work tonight and got my ID photo taken and a brief tour of the facility and set up an appointment with a fitness consultant for tomorrow! I will get a consultation and a 30 minute workout and learn how to use the machines and such.
Weigh in tonight was not unexpectedly ugly. Last weekend in Lima, we sat around a hotel for a day and a half and did nothing but stuff our faces with random junk and drink way more than I have in a long time. I did go swim with the siblings for an hour Saturday night, since 9-10 pm was adult swim only...but we were allowed to have beer in the pool, as long as it was not a glass bottle! Christmas Eve was more sitting around eating & drinking.
And of course, yesterday - Christmas Day - we went to Frankenmuth for dinner (after donuts for breakfast since I forgot to buy real breakfast goodies). Zehnders & the Bavarian Inn are both well known for their chicken dinner. And of course, it is fried. I was never overly impressed with it anyway, so I was glad to see some other options on the very limited menu. So I got this chunked chicken thingy smothered in feta cheese and wrapped in phyllo dough and drizzled with some raspberry goo. It was actually pretty tasty. And of course there was mashed potatoes & gravy, green beans, mashed squash, cranberry salsa, stuffing & chicken noodle soup. And a dish of ice cream for dessert.
So here's the scoop. I will happily allow someone to come kick my ass if I get off the bandwagon again! I can't count on my family to keep me on the straight & narrow, so I'll have to start posting here more to keep me accountable.
I took my measurements tonight. No wonder my pants / skirts have felt snug! Since July 25.... thigh was 24.25 / is 25 = +.75 inch arm was 12.5 / is 12 = -.25 inch (WTF??? That's been 12.5 forever!) bust was 45.75 / is 47 = +1.25 inch waist was 41 / is 42 = +1 inch hips was 46.5 / is 47 = +.5 inch weight was 205.2 / is 211.8 = +6.6 lbs
Tonight's meeting was sort of fun! There were only 2 of us with the leader, so she pulled up and chair and we just chatted for 1/2 hour. About our holiday plans & strategies. I'm so glad that all my gatherings & such are done for the year! Now to get rid of the candy from the stockings and someone else really needs to eat that bowl of gingerbread M&Ms sitting on the counter. I find myself (without thinking ) grabbing a few every time I walk by.
Bring on those longer days! At least I get to see an hour or so of daylight, since it's still dark when I get to work and my Christmas lights have been kicking on not long after 5 at dusk. LOL! I got 2 more blowmolds for the front yard, but haven't put them out yet due to rain. I'm not messing with extension cords in the rain!
So we survived the family trip to Lima for the weekend. For dreading it as badly as we did, it wasn't that terrible.
This is the view from our room at the Howard Johnson. Yet again, we had no wifi - what's up with this HoJo people?? All the inside rooms had balconies overlooking the atrium / pool. It looks nice, but also sucked since the entire place smelled like chlorine and it was freezing when you finally got out of the water! And no hot tub?? It looked like there had been one in the past, but they filled it in. Seriously peeps!
Mom / sister Laurie / niece Lisa were right next door to us. Which meant at least one person (ok, 3) had to climb over the rail instead of using the door. And we used those fake plants to hit on the glass to get people's attention in the other room. Sister Linda & BIL Dave were 2 doors down and brother Terry up on another floor, since he had a smoking room.
Laurie & Miss Angela
Terry, Angel, Linda & Mom, hanging out.
Laurie getting a junk food facial.
Play checkers at Cracker Barrel Saturday morning.
Getting the side-eye for taking her pic with a new Rubik's Cube.
Terry
We ended up going to Walmart (since Ohio ones are more exotic than Michigan's??) and after we went to the Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta.
It was pretty fun. I should make a separate post on that.
Luckily we went in 2 cars, since 5 of the 9 peeps got bored & left, leaving the rest of us to play on the hands-on displays and stuff for a while longer.
Terry filled her hood and shirt with peanut shells at the Texas Roadhouse.
It was neat that they actually enforced a no-kids in the pool after 9 pm and from 9-10 was adult swim only. And as long as we didn't have glass bottles, they didn't care about beer in the pool! Laurie, Linda & Terry joined me being rowdy. Angel sat on the pool deck and texted her new beau and took pics. To bad they didn't enforce the "pool opens at 9 am" since there were screaming brats out there at like 7 am today.
Randy, Angel & me
Me, Angel, Randy, Mom, Lisa, Terry, Laurie, Linda & Dave
Thanks to the random stranger walking by who graciously stopped to take pics for us!
On the way home.
It has rained all the day to Lima on Friday night and all day Saturday, too. Sunday it had stopped, but we saw a lot of flooding like this.....
and this....
YAY!!!
It's nice to be home, like it always is after a trip. I have grown an orange purring appendage since Chester will not leave me alone! We could have picked Jack up from the kennel tonight, but I made him an appointment for a bath & his nails trimmed tomorrow, so I'll pick him up after work. And since none of the higher-ups will be around, I don't see me staying for the full day! I have a few more things to finish picking up for Christmas and I haven't touched a roll of wrapping paper yet. Guess I better get hopping!
Wow, I have sucked at posting here lately! I have updated my "WIP" tab so it's not like I've totally ignored the blog entirely. I even missed the 13 in 13 update, sheesh!
Brief rundown...looks like I was up in September, stayed the same in October....then shit hit the fan and I was up a LOT in November and the first week in December. I was feeling that. It was horrible. What really caught my attention was that I'd had a Fiber One bar one morning at work and it happened to be snack day when HR brings around a basket of goodies to choose from. I got a Kellogg's Greek Yogurt protein bar. That was the worst mistake of my entire life. My stomach hurt so had, I thought my skirt (the one time I did NOT wear an elastic waist!) was going to cut me in half. Luckily, Randy had some Gas-X at home so I drove home with the zipper undone. Thought I was gonna die!
But then I woke up and I made sure to be more conscious of what I was stuffing my face with and it showed on the scale - down 2.2 lbs this past week! Yay!
I'm sort of intrigued with WW new program change. It seems to be pushing non-processed foods (and they had some awesome looking recipes I want to try) and almost seems to be trying the Core Program again. No counting points if you're following that plan, etc.
Friday night we picked up one of Miss Angela's friends and went to Rochester to see the lights. We always have dinner at this awesome little diner called "chomp". They have a regular menu, but the specials are created by some food wizard they employ. I had this roasted butternut squash / caramelized onion / slivered almond / cheddar cheese / something else on an awesome ciabatta bun. Paired with some sweet potato fries - mmmmmm.
Anyhooo, - this is what I'm talking about.
Both sides of the street are like this, for a good mile or so.
(not my pic. Mine aren't this awesome. Found it on chomp's FB page)
Bundled up. Well, one of us was!
Life imitating art.
Last night was my company Christmas party and I feel I handled it pretty well. It was at an upscale Italian restaurant so you know the food was amazing. I did have 3 Bud Lights, mainly because I am a wine idiot and usually drink the cheap stuff, so I wouldn't know what to ask for to get something I'd like. I felt pretty good that I didn't heap my plate high and only chose foods that were what I didn't consider "everyday". Like I skipped the lasagna, but enjoyed the beef medallions and the amazing chicken rigatoni with mushrooms. I tried the chicken picatta, but wasn't thrilled with it so I simply didn't finish it! I skipped the cookies on the dessert table, but had a mini cheesecake (to DIE for) and I was supposed to share a cream brulle with Randy, but he went nuts with everything else and couldn't eat any. So I about 1/3 of it. I was full after dinner, but I wasn't hurting, so yay me!
I feel that Halloween & Thanksgiving are a lot harder holidays to survive, food wise. They're the ones that have the food that won't go away! Leftovers for days! Not so with Christmas. I know that's not the same for most people. Christmas party - dinner with colleagues. Altho the leftovers are already at the office and will appear for several days. I can ignore that. Maybe not the rigatoni, but I'll try. Christmas with the family will be interesting. Since Dad passed away in 2009, all of our old traditions went out the window. We used to spend Christmas Eve at one of the sisters' house. Mine is only 850 sq. feet and there's just no room for a decent gathering. Then we'd go over to Mom & Dad's house on Christmas morning and exchange gifts and Dad would make pancakes. Not anymore! This year, sister Laurie thought it would be brilliant to meet our brother Terry halfway between his ours and most of ours. So next weekend we will be in Lima, Freakin' Ohio. There is not crap to do in Lima. So they expect to spend Friday evening, all of Saturday and half of Sunday, sitting in a damn hotel room, visiting. Someone just kill me now.
Anyway, dinner is almost ready for the fam (fish sticks for them , tilapia slabs for me), so I need to hurry & set the table, etc. I leave you with Twisted Sister's O Come All Ye Faithful for your listening enjoyment. This is my favorite version of this song!
I can honestly say I am pretty close to being ready for Christmas, so bring it on! The house & yard are decorated. I may end up getting a few other things for the family (and myself) and a few things here & there for the extended family.
Speaking of extended family. {insert eye roll here} Ever since Dad passed away in 2009, sister Laurie has been determined to have family get-togethers at practically every occasion. But she won't have anything to do with my brother Bo, who lives up north. He's made some dumb choices in life, but he's never done anything to her except her honey-do list! Not getting into that story, since I don't know all the details, but what I do know seems ridiculous. And my other brother, Terry is an over-the-road truck driver, so catching him home is tough! So she wants for all of us to meet Terry halfway between his house in Dayton and here to spend the weekend before Christmas together. Which somehow she worked out to be Lima, OH. Lima is in the middle of nothing. There's not crap to do there, so I predict being bored to tears about about noon Saturday. I don't see sitting around in a hotel room for 2 days to be any sort of fun at all. The highlight of this weekend will be finding a city sign for Angel to get a picture with, since her favorite show, Glee, is supposed to take place in Lima. Woo. Are you jealous of the excitement??
Damn it's cold out there! However, we are lucky, unlike most of the USofA, we hardly have any snow! Probably not even an inch. Ok, Apparently since I started this post, we've gotten quite a bit, but still only an inch or 2. Here is Scooter the Christmas Skeleton (the star of my Creepmas posts over at Maple Grove Cemetery ) taken last night, making a snow angel.
I don't normally watch football, since I don't care in the slightest for it, but I admit to turning on the Lions / Eagles game last weekend after seeing this pic a friend put on FB...
Holy crap!
Everyone kept saying the Lions should be used to the snow / cold, but HELLOOOOO! They play in a cushy warm dome!
OK, I may watch a game this weekend. The Army / Navy game is on Saturday. This "spirit spot" is pretty funny - a parody of Timberlake's Suit & Tie. btw, SDBs are Service Dress Blues.
The Air Force one from earlier this fall is pretty funny, too. A parody of "What does the Zoomie say?"
I'm sort of cheesed, tho. When I was stationed in Alameda, CA on board the USS Lincoln CVN-72, we were across the pier from the Carl Vinson CVN-70. Imagine 2 aircraft carriers right next to each other - awesome, right? A bunch of us had to beg / borrow / steal white dixie cups (the traditional guy's hat) and lined up on the flight deck to spell out "Go Navy" on one ship and "beat Army" on the other. Then stand at attention while helicopters circled overhead, getting PR photos. Do you know I have never been able to find that photo online ever??? I reported to the Lincoln late 1994, and we moved to Everett, away from the Vinson in 1996, so it had to be for the 1995 game. ~~grumble~~
This is the amphibious assault ship, USS Boxer CV-21.
That's as close as I could find. Meh.
Anyhoooo, yesterday Miss Angela got her braces off finally! We had corn on the cob at dinner tonight to celebrate. That is the only thing she would not eat while she had her braces on. She still chewed gum, ate Skittles / popcorn / Doritos / everything bad but I had to cut corn kernels off the cob for her.
I was mildly concerned about her willingness to wear a retainer for the next year, but she put my mind at ease. "Mom, the ortho took 'before' pictures and it was horrible. I don't know how you could be seen with me in public! I don't want to ever look like that again, so I will wear the retainer!" I didn't think she looked that bad, but she did have 2 huge beaver teeth in front and if she bared her teeth, you could slide a pen right thru the gap behind them.
I told her NOT to wear the retainer next week during the Dodge Ball tournament she was invited to play in. Or she needs to wear a football helmet! It's pretty neat that the team of big guys needed a girl on their team and they specifically asked her to play. Guess they know of her reputation of punching bullies / cross-checking other players in floor hockey / tripping random running classmates / tackling (and taking down) bigger boys to get her kickball back. Maybe they think she'll be a secret weapon - who would expect a sweet, innocent looking little girl to be so damn evil?? LOL, this will be entertaining to hear about!
Alrighty, Maddie told me it's bedtime, so i need to sign off. I'll leave you with a few random things I've heard at work recently....
From Ado, (imagine a heavy middle-Eastern accent) "Dominic!! You're being a diva. I'm going to get you a Snickers bar"
Also from Ado, in the middle of a conversation to someone else, about something else - to me...."You drive that green Escort out there, don't you?"
(Scooter normally isn't sitting there)
Gee, whatever gave you that clue?? The fact I'm the only one who decorates my desk? They had a good laugh, I told them that's how I choose my Christmas tree. I drive thru the lot and whichever one sticks, I keep!
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