Super Quick...

I put this picture of The Son here because he's cute and I love him. It's hard to believe that in about a month, he'll be SIX! AHHHHHH!


I have to work in about an hour and then I have to get my nails done and then I have to come home and eat and decorate and take The Son to karate and come home and cook dinner and decorate and decorate and decorate... it takes me a long time to decorate. Yes, it does.

Guess what I got?

That's right! A SNUGGIE! It has changed my life and I love it and no, that is not sarcasm. I truly do love it. It definitely makes you warmer than a regular blanket and although I thought it was silly (or stupid even) when I first saw it, I have now been converted to be a proud card-carrying member of The Cult of the Snuggie. This thing rocks! If you're a Cold Person, like I am, get one. Heck, get more than one, they make a great gift! ;)

See how toasty I look? Well, off to get ready for work! Have a great day everyone! Stay warm.

Well, we tried...

Last Thursday, The Son and I were supposed to participate in a Jingle Bell Trot, sponsored by the YMCA in order to collect toys for children in need. It was a great idea, it could have been fun but... Mother Nature had other plans. It was cold or, I should say... FREEZING!

The Son and I bundled up and planed to go anyway, it was only a two mile run. I had already run five miles at the gym in anticipation of not being able to complete the two miles because of the company I was keeping, so I wasn't stressed out about getting in my exercise.

We were supposed to wear jingle bells on our shoes and we sat in the car to get "jingled up."

We got out of the car to head to the park where the run was being held and we were hit. Hit with a blast of cold air that made our bones hurt. This particular park is situated in a location that makes it always seem to be windy, even in the summer, but in December, when it's below freezing and extra windy out? Well, then it's as windy as Alaska and Chicago combined. (or at least what I imagine combining them would feel like.)

The Son and I got to the track, and again we were hit with a blast of cold air, he looked up at me and said, "Momma... it's really cold! I don't think I can do this." I told him we would go around one time and see how we felt. One time is only a half a mile. We joined the few die-hards who were already running around the track, there were supposed to be 125 people but I'm afraid not nearly that many showed up. We ran, the wind blew. We ran, our eyes teared up. We ran, our noses ran too.

As we ran, The Son kept asking me if we were almost finished and I must admit, I too was feeling really, really cold. I told him we didn't have to do more than the one lap if he didn't want to. He didn't want to. We got to the end of the lap and headed into the gazebo where they were handing out hot chocolate and cookies. It was pretty much too cold to even stay for hot chocolate and cookies even though some of our friends were there,

so I asked The Son if he wanted to go home, stay there or head to Starbucks. Can you guess which one he picked? That's right, Starbucks!

We went over to Starbucks where The Son is somewhat of a celebrity and knows all the employees, and we hung out, enjoying our grande skinny skim latte (me) and our vanilla organic milk and rice krispie square (him)

as we chatted with the baristas and The Son went around with my camera and took some photos... he's getting pretty good, I must say.

So, to sum it all up, the run itself was a bust, thanks to that often nasty Mother Nature but with or without the run, the toys were still collected which was the main goal of the whole event. I also realized that The Son just might have a future in running. The Boy is fast! When we were running on the track, I had difficulty keeping up with him at times. I would guess he was running at a 7 or 7.5 mph pace because when I run "fast" on the treadmill, I'm running at a 6 to 6.5 mile pace and I was running fast and he was running faster. In all honesty, I was very surprised at his speed, not to mention impressed. I think we'll be working on running together more frequently... when it gets warmer of course.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend friends, we're going to be working on holiday decorations today, and tomorrow and the next day...

What a difference a YEAR makes!

December 11, 2008... the day I decided that I didn't want to be fat any longer. I had heard about the Living Healthy Living Well group at our YMCA and how guests could attend during the month of December. I went and that's where I met the woman I now refer to as my "Weight Loss Guru" Ms. Phyllis. She explained her program of healthy eating, more movement, and her goal of her clients losing one pound a week and I was hooked.

For those of you who haven't heard her story before, Ms. Phyllis is an RN and a Dietitian, she lost 104 pounds herself and has kept it off for 10 years. She inspired me and told me that I too could change my life. I told my story at that meeting, how I had lost my mom almost exactly a year before and how that had contributed to my weight gain but that I had always been a yo-yo dieter and had also tried EVERY program out there. As soon as Phyllis told me her program was the "forever factor" and was not a diet, something in my brain switched and I knew it was the day I was going to commit to a healthier lifestyle. I started eating healthier, writing down all my foods and the following week, I took it in for Phyllis to review and give me a calorie range. I was thrilled when she told me I could eat between 1800 and 2100 calories per day! (This is clearly not the calorie range for everyone but because I was over 250 pounds, I could have this much. Hooray!) I lost 7 pounds that first week and three the next, I was thrilled. Christmas came, my 39th birthday came and New Year's came. Over the holiday break, I received a Christmas card from Phyllis and in it was the following poem:

If I Lost 1 lb. Each Week of 2009

By Valentine's Day
I'd be 7 pounds lighter! I'm loving it!

By St. Patrick's Day
I'd be 11 pounds lighter! With the
luck-o-the Irish, I'll make my goal.

By Easter
I'd be 16 pounds lighter!
I'd be a cuter bunny.

By Memorial Day
I'd be 23 pounds lighter!
Won't let it rain on my parade.

By Independence Day
I'd be 27 pounds lighter!
That's a neat declaration of independence.

By Labor Day
I'd be 36 pounds lighter!
What a wonderful reward for all my hard work.

By Halloween
I'd be 44 pounds lighter!
I didn't think I had a ghost of a chance.

By Thanksgiving
I'd be 47 pounds lighter!
I'd have so much to be thankful for.

By Christmas Eve
I'd be 51 pounds lighter!
Talk about being merry.

By New Year's Eve
I'd be 52 pounds lighter!
It's not just a new year, it's a new me!

It really struck a chord with me and I read it a lot. Sure, it was a silly little poem but it made sense, I could follow Phyllis' tips and tricks and change my life week by week, pound by pound. So I did. It was actually kind of easy, I steadily lost weight, well over a pound a week but still nothing so fast that it wasn't healthy or won't stay off. My body isn't flabby (well most of it isn't) and best of all, I can now call myself a runner, an athlete, FIT! I've taken a course, tested and received my certificate in nutrition and I now work as a nutritionist for Phyllis, running some groups of my own, and helping others realize that they too can get healthy and fit and I love it!

I got weighed yesterday and I am down 82.8 pounds, three more pounds this week. I want to lose at least 100 so I've got a few more to go but that's OK, what I do works and will keep working week by week, pound by pound. After I weighed in and went to my meeting, I went to work out and ran five miles on the treadmill in 56 minutes! It was one of the best runs I've had. I sometimes get really emotional when I'm finished running because at times I cannot believe I've done this, on my own, no pills, no surgery, no starving. I recently had a friend tell me that I am the only person she knows who runs on the treadmill with a smile on her face. (Sometimes that's because I'm loving what I'm doing so much and at other times, it's just because I am watching "Ellen" ;) )I haven't told many people but I did look into gastric bypass before I met Ms. Phyllis and thankfully, I decided it wasn't something I wanted to do. It was the last straw however, and just looking into it and realizing how serious it was, made me change.

So today I want to wish myself a happy anniversary! I have had a great year which is going to help me have a much greater life. I want to thank Phyllis and my family and friends, especially The Husband, The Son, The Sister and my Dad who have loved and supported me through this journey and who I know, will continue to support me as I continue to lose. Thank you everyone! I love you all!

Holiday Life Lessons

It's official! The Holidays are upon us and they're in full swing. It's the time of year to think about those less fortunate than you, to give to others and to look within yourself at how fortunate you may be in your life. That is... unless you're five.

If you're five, it's the time of year that you keep thinking of what you're going to get and how you have to be good all the time so that Santa will bring you everything you've been wishing for all year. You start compiling lists, feverishly watching commercials and thumbing through the Toys R Us catalog with a fervor that should be reserved for learning how to read. "Christmas is coming! Christmas is coming! What am I going to GET?" you think daily, hourly, each minute of the day.

It's hard not to blame kids for feeling this way when every other commercial on TV is for some new toy that everyone is touting as The Toy of the Christmas Season (Zhu Zhu Pet anyone?) People are asking you if you wrote your letter to Santa yet, if you've been a good boy this year and each morning your parents are encouraging you to look for your Elf on a Shelf who will of course, go back to Santa and tell him whether or not you've been good enough to deserve all these presents you think you want.

The Son is no exception to all this Christmas hoopla. I try not to be the parent who buys him something every time we go to the store and he's usually very good about understanding when he can't get something, but recently, we had a little "issue" at the store when he found out he couldn't buy a toy and we were buying some toys for "less fortunate" children. I've explained to The Son that Santa brings presents, but so do Mommy and Daddy and if the Mommy and Daddy don't have a lot of money to buy things the kids need (like clothing, socks and underwear) then Santa has to bring them that kind of stuff and they don't get the cool toys that kids like him get. I know, it's probably a lame explanation but it's hard to explain why Santa is so generous to some kids and not to others...) We're running in a "Jingle Bell Trot" race tonight and the entry fee is an unwrapped toy that will go to a foster child who might not otherwise get much for Christmas. I wanted The Son to pick out the toy that he would give as his entry fee and that's why we were there. We discussed what we were doing and he was told he could pick whatever he wanted, and that I was going to pick a "girl" toy for my entry fee, something that I would have liked to receive as a child. It was all going well until...

...he saw a Bakugan toy that he's been coveting for a long time.

He decided he would get this particular toy for his entry fee gift BUT since there were two packs of the same toys, he would get one for himself as well. I explained (over and over) that he was not going to buy himself a toy, that we were there to buy a toy for someone else. He got teary, he got dramatic, he really didn't understand why he couldn't get the toy as well. He sulked, he moped, he got quite irritating. I explained myself again and again, to be honest, I almost gave in because it's nice to be told, "You're the best mom ever!" and to have a happy and thrilled child for only $10.99 but I stuck to my guns and did not allow him to buy the toy. I picked up the new "Frog Prince" princess doll for my gift (Boy, is she cute) and we headed to the register as The Son continued to sulk and mope and irritate.

He was teary as we left the store and as I buckled him into his car seat and I had finally reached my limit. I explained to him one final time that Mommy and Daddy have money to buy him toys and that he has PLENTY of toys and Bakugan at home but that Mommy and Daddy don't have endless supplies of money and this time, the money we have is being used to buy a toy for somebody else, somebody who is really going to love the Bakugan he picked out and how special he is going to make someone feel on Christmas morning. He stopped moping and I thought he finally understood...

This morning, we were talking about Friday evening when he gets to go to his school's Christmas Shop where he can shop for presents for his family and have them wrapped there. We discussed all the people he has to buy for and he was excited, mentioning that he had a lot of gifts to buy and then... he asked if could buy a present for himself. Uh oh... here we go again...

Fortunately, The Husband is taking him to the Christmas Shop tomorrow night. I'd better warn him and tell him to ready himself for some well-practiced and excellent manipulation. It's hard being a parent and raising a thoughtful, giving little person but we're trying and we'll keep on trying. I think he'll continue to grow and understand, especially as he sees how happy the gifts he gives make people and as he experiences the run tonight where everyone is there to support the same cause.

I've decided that that's what I'll ask Santa for this year, a caring and sweet, giving boy... I've been a good girl all year and that's not too much to ask for, is it? Happy holidays!

The Story of the Puppy, the Tea Lights and a Zap collar

Once upon a time there was a German Shorthair Pointer named Ziggy. Ziggy was a one and a half year old dog but his family still called him a puppy. Ziggy was smart. Very smart. Ziggy was excitable. Very excitable. Ziggy's family bought him a collar that could be operated with a remote control to either "beep" him for a warning or "zap" him for a correction. The collar worked well...


when it had batteries in it that worked.

The problem was that Ziggy, being the smart dog he was, knew as soon as the batteries would wear out and his family could no longer correct him. He was a wonderful, sweet, well behaved, nearly perfect dog when his collar was working but as soon as the batteries wore out, (usually in less than two weeks per pair) Ziggy would go wild. His family didn't know how he knew, they didn't really care. The point was, he knew.

The collar required Lithium 2032 batteries. At times, these batteries were difficult to find. The grocery store that carried them always had an empty peg, the batteries were never in stock. The drug stores carried them and when they were in stock, they usually ran about $3.50 per pair. A small price to pay, in the family's opinion for a well-behaved dog.

One day, the Daddy of the family was shopping at his favorite store, Costco. The Daddy liked to go to Costco, something about the warehouse feeling and the variety of products, he just loved to shop there. One day he came home with an odd assortment of items, a "Snuggie," a mega-pack of English Muffins and a 28-pack of "flameless tea lights." The Snuggie was easy to understand, his wife was perpetually cold,


the English muffins were easy to understand too, they had 8 grams of fiber and only 100 calories, everyone in the family loved these, but 28 flameless tea lights? What did they need with these? The answer was simple. The batteries. These 28 flameless tea lights took the very elusive Lithium 2032 batteries and not only did each tea light come with a battery installed, they came with 28 additional batteries as well... for only $13.99! The family would have had to pay $98 for 56 batteries for Ziggy's collar before, when they could find them of course.


The Daddy was a hero! He knew there was a reason to continue shopping at Costco! The Momma was so excited that she sent him back the next day for another pack of tea lights and batteries and The Son in the family, he was just excited to be able to play with a flameless tea light, he thought it looked like the back of a rocket.

Ziggy? Well, Ziggy knew that his days of acting like a wild beast were over. He secretly hoped that the tea lights would be sold out when his Daddy went back to Costco but deep down inside he realized that probably wouldn't happen, he vowed that he would be a good boy, it wasn't like he had too many more options, his family had him over the proverbial battery barrel so to speak...

at least for now... he would let his people think they were getting their way, he could hold out for a LONG time. He went to sleep that night, legs pulsing with doggy dreams, tail twitching rapidly as he dreamed of capturing the most valuable prey of all, the Energizer Bunny.


Good night Sweet Ziggy... sleep tight!

I think we have poltergeists or trolls, or leprechauns...

Or some other kind of creature that steals things.

On Black Friday, I was very organized, I went out early to a local shoe outlet to get some shoes and boots I wanted "needed" and then I went to the craft/fabric store because they were having an additional 20% off if you got there before noon. I did. I stocked up on supplies I needed for the fundraiser basket I made, a few stocking stuffers for The Son, fabric for the apron I am making myself and beads for some personalized necklaces I am supposed to be making for my Dad's cousin's daughters. I came home, showed The Husband what I got and then put everything away and went down to the basement to organize my craft room. I thought I took the beads with me but... now they are missing.

I know where everything else is that I purchased that day. I knew where I put it and when I went to look for it, it was there. The beads however are gone. Totally. Gone. I searched the house, I searched the trash (and by "I" I mean The Husband) I looked everywhere I could possibly think of. I did not find them.

I have come to the only conclusion possible, poltergeists, trolls (do they steal things?) or most likely leprechauns even though it's not March, they are known to take shiny, pretty things, right? I have given up on finding them and will probably have to repurchase everything I got, at which point, the offending leprechaun will return them to the basement craft area right where I left them.

This just goes to prove my theory that things should never be organized OR put away. Had I not tried to put stuff away that day, which is so NOT in my nature, they'd still be in the bag on the kitchen table or on my island where I left them. Why do I never learn?

Is Everyone This Busy?

So... I'm editing to change something, as I was running around like a crazy person, trying to get The Son on the bus and myself to the gym for my leg work out routine before heading back to The Son's school for Kid Writing, I stopped and realized it made no sense to do that because I'm just running myself ragged and my work out was going to suffer any way. I came in the house, put my regular clothes on and sat down to eat a small lunch/snack before I have to head to The Son's school. I will get my work out in, it may or may not include my leg weights and if it doesn't, I will not gain back 78 pounds over night because I missed that leg routine. I need to remember that and sometimes that just means I have to step back and focus on The Big Picture. Ahhhhhh, a deep breath... now I'm off to the school for real. Bye!

As I go through my days, I sometimes feel as if I have no time. I wonder if it's just me, am I slow at everything I do or does everyone do so much in a day. Let's take today for example...

I have a few hours this morning before I have to put The Son on the bus and in that time I'll do the basic household things... blogging (notice how that's first) facebooking, laundry, packing lunches, loading the dishwasher, planning dinner, those kinds of things.

After I put The Son on the bus, I am heading directly to the Y to do my leg weight routine. That will be at noon, at 1:00 I am due in his classroom for the Kid Writing program. After the Kid Writing, I will head back to the Y to run on the treadmill and then at 3:00 I will head back to school to pick up The Son then I have swimming lessons to teach from 4:30 to 6:30. In between all that, I'll eat lunch and snacks and have a few minutes to sit and chat with The Son.

When we get home, it will probably be close to 7:30 already and we'll eat dinner and get The Son ready for bed. The Husband and I will eat and then probably watch "Glee" and other shows that we enjoy and before we know it, it will be time for bed.

Tomorrow, I also have tons of things to do including my nutrition meeting, working out and most importantly, putting together a basket for a "Country Christmas" event for The Son's school's PTA fundraiser on Saturday.

On Friday, I am attending a nutrition seminar with my colleagues and believe it or not, this is the day that I'm considering my relaxing day! My cousin and her friend are coming Friday night for the weekend and you'll notice there was no "cleaning" time listed in my list of activities this week. Thankfully, things don't look too bad around here since the house was fairly clean for Thanksgiving.

So, my question is... how does a person (who doesn't work a full time job,) have so many things to do and so many things to get done, I didn't even list them all as that would be totally boring for you to read plus, I really don't have time for all that!

Have a great Wednesday everyone! Stay healthy!