A special thankful thursday

Yesterday was Veteran's Day here in the U.S. I attended a Veterans Day program put on by the local AFJROTC (Air Force Junior ROTC). Joshua is a member of this special group. I snapped several pictures but found a few to be my absolute favorites. In the first is pictured two of my favorite veterans...my hubby and my brother-in-law. The others are other veterans whom I do not personally know, but I am equally thankful for. I know I'm a day late...but I didn't get online at all yesterday and instead spent the day with family.








Thank you to ALL of our vets! Past, present, and future!! We owe you everything!

Perfect present for women?

Alright...I happened upon this lovely little trinket while browsing through another blog and couldn't help myself but to share it here!!!
Yes, they're Vulvas!! Wear your vag around your neck? I'm not sure I'm THAT into female empowerment or whatever this is supposed to symbolize. Ugh! I guess it COULD be used to finally show your man where your clitoris is..but REALLY!?!?! And get this!! Each one is personalized!! You send in pictures and then its crafted to suit you!! O.M.G!!!!

I'm speechless and DEFINITELY making sure this is NOT on my Christmas list!!! Your thoughts? Perfect gift for the feminist in your life? Sign of your individuality? Learning tool? Or kinda creepy?

Just this side of full....

I've been doing better about working out these most recent weeks. And I might have found something even better!!! I've been eating better. And by that I don't mean healthier, necessarily, just smarter. Typically I eat at a pace somewhere between average and hurried. Here of late, I've been slowing down. I've enjoyed conversation while eating and taking it easy. This has helped because I've been more able to gauge when I'm getting full. And so my habits have changed, instead of stopping when I'm full...I stop just shy of full (so that two or three more bites would fill me to the top of my gauge). I've still been more than satisfied with every meal and it seems to be easier not to snack between meals. I'm hoping this will lead to me craving less and less over time and that "nearing full feeling" will come quicker and quicker, making worries over portion control a thing of my past.

Let the transformation commence...

So out of necessity more than anything else, my children now have cell phones. Ugh! We got them for them on Friday and gave them the phones on Saturday as an early Christmas present. The funny thing is, it seems that ever since they've been on them almost non-stop! It was hilarious watching Hannah try to text with three people at once. Ha! I DID get them to turn them off for a bit yesterday, during church. I told them absolutely NO phones on at church!!! And thankfully, they adhered without any conflict.

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On the weight loss front, things are going well. The Hubby went out of town last week, but I managed to behave myself and not eat out every night. hehe I've resumed exercising on the Wii with EA Active. But I have to be honest with you, its been more than two weeks since I even stepped on a scale. I'm thinking maybe this morning I'll brave that front. My clothes have been fitting a little better and so I'm not too nervous about what that little digital read-out will display, but any time you step on the scale when you know you're still vastly overweight is a little unnerving. I've been choosing water over most any other drink for a little over a month now, which will help for sure! Thanks for your continued support!

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Well, it would seem that I'm drawing a blank for the time being, so I'll sign off and wtach Doogie Howser, M.D. on Hulu. Gotta love the internet! hehehe

Gimmicks

Do you ever get tired of hearing gimmicks? I am at home most days, and usually there's a television on in the room I'm entertained within. All day I hear commercials for EVERYTHING! And I sure get tired of hearing all the gimmicks!! One of the local news stations does something called "deal or dud". They test out various products and then report back on the authenticity of their claims.

I want to see a series of "Deal or Dud" segments with all these weight loss products! I mean REALLY people, who are we kidding but ourselves? Most of these things maintain that with good diet and exercise you can achieve the desired results. And we all rush out to grab them hoping they'll be the next "wonder-product" and make a thin overnight. But we're skipping over the fact that if we just maintained a balanced diet and exercised, we'd likely achieve these results without said "wonder-product".

So yesterday I did pretty well overall.

Breakfast: Single serving instant oatmeal
Lunch: Tuna salad w/o crackers
Supper: Homemade chili w/ two pieces of cornbread

Exercise: stairs, 10 reps (I count one rep as 1 trip up+1 trip down)

"Kinda weak moment:" 2 strawberry margaritas..it was a VERY trying day! hehehe

I was originally going to walk outside for my exercise, but there were storms throughout the area, so that put the ka-bosh on that idea.

I'm trying to avoid fast-food altogether and instead just make things at home to eat. If I feel the need for something quick, then I need to plan ahead..make stuff...freeze it..and carry on. Yesterday that worked out well, since I'd made the tuna salad on Sunday and it was already in the fridge.

One rung at a time...

Weight loss is a tricky thing. I think any of us that have set out on this venture have made the maiden voyage a hundred times over!! We keep promising ourselves this time will be different, yet we continue with our insanity.

In recent days I have discovered that our Wii is broken. It won't turn on at all. I haven't taken the time to fix it, I've just redirected my energy into studying and finishing up my medical transcription course that much sooner. This weekend I won't be doing any tech support with it either. We're going out of town so the hubby and son can hunt and I can just get away from all this craziness that lives in this house, at least for a couple of days. I know having the Wii out of commission is stopping me from getting back to EA Active challenges, but it doesn't have to stop me from exercising on a whole.

We have several tools at my disposal to use to exercise (a nice neighborhood to walk in, a treadmill, weights, chairs, resistance band, etc...). So in the Wii's downtime I guess I'm just going to exercise the good old-fashioned way...without the help of a video game. hehe I know what you're thinking...I'm going to have to research how that's done, seems like ages since we didn't rely on something else to tell us how to do everything. hehe

I'm doing a better job right now controlling my portions. I haven't eaten BOTH Lean Pockets in one sitting (my son has, but I have not!). For lunch today I made myself some tuna salad and ate it with some salad crackers. I have just enough to fill me up, and then put the rest in the fridge, like a good dieter! hehe

The hubby will be out of town next week Monday through Friday if all goes as planned at work, so that's when it'll be especially hard to keep up the portion control and avoidance of fast foods, but I'm going to do my best to keep my goals in mind. This month, October, I want to lose 10 lbs. It doens't seem like that much, but considering my wedding anniversary is this month, as well as Halloween and all the parties that ensue because of such, it could get tricky again.

Thanks for all the support! Things are looking up in my little world. =)

**Side Note**
I got all my pictures and digital scrapbooking junk moved over to a regular desktop computer updatirs, so now I can relax in that way in peace without dealing with electronic narcoleptic fits.

Support

A little over a week ago my husband came home with groceries. This is really nothing of note, as he usually is the one who buys the groceries. He came into the bedroom with a package of Lean Pockets. He stated that he got them for me to have for lunches, but he had one request. He asked that any time I wanted one, I eat just one and then wait a while. If after waiting a reasonable amount of time I was still hungry, then and only then have the other one in the package. I somewhat understood this, as I've been known to eat both of them out of the package in once sitting without blinking an eye. He's trying to help me in this attempt to regain my figure of past. And I have to say I prefer him going about it in this way rather than nagging or complaining.

I have had minimal successes in the past couple of weeks, which is better than none, I guess. I am battling horrid seasonal allergies and migraine headaches. Both of which make it difficult to maintain a normal routine. Most of my days consist of waking up, taking some allergy meds, doing some studying, taking a nap, more studying, shuttling the kids where they need to be, some mindless playing, then off to bed again.

The naps and my heightened importance of studying make any sort of exercise regimen hard to enact. If I forgo the allergy meds, then I develop the headaches and find concentration WAY hard to maintain. But the only way I seem to be able to stay awake all day is NOT to take the allergy medication. Sucky catch-22!!

So I guess all things considered, my small victories aren't so bad. And the sooner I finish my medical transcription coarse then the sooner I can start working and have one less stress to weigh on my already too heavy self.

Thanks for allowing me some venting.

Another day, another pound?

A I go through my daily routine in the fall, I try to motivate myself to include exercise in the motions of the day. I have fallen hort of this here of late. I am still FAR TOO overweight for my liking, and not losing anything much to write home about.

But I DO have support! I have friends and family who support me daily, I have a husband willing to do whatever I need to get me motivated and keep me there!! I should be having greater successes. But I think I'm jhust taking it all for granted. This week that is changing!!

I'm starting another 30-day challenge on the Wii EA Active. I'll let you know what all it requires me to do and if I'm having any great troubles or celebrations to speak of.

Thanks to all for hanging in there with me!
~Dorsey

Wake-up call

A few weeks ago I took my daughter to get shots and an athletic physical. During the coarse of all this they took her height and weight. My twelve year old daughter is five foot eight inches tall and weighs 145 pounds. She looks fantastic!! She's much more muscular than I was at her age, and even older. I was always more "lanky" when I was younger. But what struck me about this is that my daughter now weighs the same as I did when I met my husband, over fifteen years ago. I am currently more than 110 pounds heavier than that, and I have been for the better part of this last year. That is a hard thing to admit. And not a hard thing to admit to others, but mostly to myself. I have truly "let myself go" and not done much of anything about it.

I am in NEED of a wake-up call!! I HAVE to stop eating the wrong foods! I HAVE to make myself exercise! I HAVE to re-take control of my life!

I have started, as stated before, a medical transcription program. I am a third of the way through it, and one month in. At this rate I'm hoping to be done in 2 - 2 1/2 more months and get working!! This is a BIG step towards conquering my own life. But my health is also in need of rescuing. Sadly, I know only I can take on this mission. As much as I know my husband would help in ANY way I asked him to, he cannot "fix" this situation. Don't get me wrong, having his help will be an insurmountable positive influence.

I am grateful to all of you for your continued support. I hope in two year, when I plan on going on a cruise with my family, to be 100lbs thinner.

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My children are making me smile daily! My son is in AFJROTC at the high school and loving it! He's planning to ask a girl to Homecoming this week. I pray she says yes, as I SO want him to experience the elation of having his feelings returned by a girl he likes. He's really come into his own with regards to his confidence. He also chosen this year to go to a lock-in at the church in lieu of going hunting opening weekend. This was taking place at a church that we just recently started attending regularly. He didn't know a lot of people there and had only been around some of them twice before (Sunday school the week before, and confirmation classes on day that week). I was elated!! And when he carried the cross to the front of the church before the service dressed in his ROTC uniform, I'm not ashamed to say I got a little teary-eyed. My son is 14 years old, and becoming quite the man.

My daughter, who I mentioned at the start of this posting, is doing equally well. She is doing phenomenally in school! I think she just might be getting that cell phone at the end of this six-weeks. She hasn't picked her extra-curricular specialty yet, but she's mulling over several of them. She has become interested in the opposite sex. YIKES! She's not allowed to "date" yet, but she's definitely intrigued by boys. She met a boy at the lock-in that is 16. Ugh! WAY too old for her! For the time being we've set a limit of 1-2 years older than her. And yes, although my dear hubby is more than four years older than myself, at her age (TWELVE) two years is about the most. The reason for this is maturity. I am aware that girls mature faster than boys, but one thing is that girls who date boys much older than them find themselves advancing to the older boys' sexual maturity level. And seeing as how I DON'T want her being sexually active in JUNIOR HIGH for sure, I'm instilled this restriction. So sorry, 16 yr old Adam, but she will NOT be your "girlfriend" for some time.

Well, I need to get back to my studies so I can get to bed at a reasonable hour and get up in the morning and make a healthy breakfast then hit the workout first thing.

Take care friends and thanks for always being there.

I think I can...I think I can...

yes, yes I know!! I made a promise to blog more often and I totally dropped the ball! Ugh! Summer's are just near impossible!!!! Most of my time is spent chasing my kids around trying to get them to help clean the house, or telling them that there IS food in the kitchen and I'm NOT going to Wendy's or Chick-Fil-A to get them lunch because there's "nothing to eat here."

We've been on a vacation, sent the kids off to the relatives for visits, and had out fun around here. And all this while I've STILL been searching for a freaking job, to no avail!! I even applied at Target and never heard anything back. Ah well.

So the hubby talked to a friend of his that does medical transcription at home and she recommended a few schools that are online AND credible. I looked into them, found the one that wouldn't send us into financial ruin AND had job placement assistance, and signed up!! Yep, its back to school, sort of. I'm doing it all online and hopefully in about 3-4 months I'll be able to be working and making money. Because then I'll get my car BACK!! (His excuse for why he takes the car to work every day is that as soon as I get a job and start making the payments I can have the car back.)

And on the weight loss trail...well, I'm doing alright. I haven't gone past my peak, but I'm not doing as much as I could either. With having taken control of my professional future recently, I'm looking to take better hold of my physical future too. I'll be making sure I schedule time to work out every day and eating out less.

So I guess in closing, all I can say is that I will TRY to keep this blog up more in the coming weeks. School starts in about a week and a half for the kids, so I'll not have them under foot quite as much, which should free up some time.

Be well friends!