The Story I've Never Told

Actually, I told it through FB NOTES on 20 August 2010 but apparently that's news to some people.

I decided in February 2010 that I'd had enough of being so heavy. I had no excuse to be 10lbs heavier than my low weight after Henry was born and only 15 pounds below my max weight, which was when I was HEAVY with child. I was a product of laziness and gluttony.

 This is a picture of me and my second son sometime in Fall '09.

I was further spurred to action by the awareness that, in a short time, son #2 would be walking and that over time both kids would only get faster. I was also being actively drafted to a friend's soccer team. I use the word 'drafted' loosely as I am not a good player but a LOYAL female player who could be counted on to show up to prevent forfeiture of coed games.

In the beginning, I walked on the treadmill, played with some weights and, in a short time, jogged a bit. All the while, not losing any weight but feeling a bit better. The jogging aggravated a back injury I obtained while pregnant with son #2 and that was very discouraging. After talking to the doctor, we decided I should try the elliptical despite my previous displeasure with the unnatural, forced stride of those machines. I found the right style elliptical for me in the back 2 rows at the YMCA.  I quickly realized the elliptical burns calories fast and, mixed with 80s rock music, was a great motivating workout for me.

Around April 2010 I thought about calories and how, maybe, I eat too much. Deep down, I'd known that was the real problem, but wasn't ready to limit myself.

 This is a picture of me and that same second son and a friend's baby in April 2010.

I searched iTunes store and found the FREE MyFitnessPal app. Here I will add: I found it in April and Crystal did not.

I started tracking my calories and realized I eat WAY TOO MUCH! This app lets you choose a goal and sets a calorie limit based on your weight and lifestyle. You enter the food you eat which is super easy because they have almost everything in their database. If you exercise it adds back those calories your burned so you can eat more. Or you can choose not to eat more and lose more weight faster. I like food, so many times my only motivation on the elliptical was the thought of a yummy treat of the same calorie count.

I committed to, at least, 4 workouts a week which then moved to 5 because the boys really enjoy the routine of going to the gym to play each morning. Unless there is a real pressing conflict, we go.  I mean a serious, can't be changed like a fasting blood draw or sick person doctor visit, kinda conflict. If one of us is sick, we walk at a park or on the streets using the double stroller. It IS part or our M-F lives.

My workouts have gone from 20-30 minutes of a slow/moderate pace to 45-60 minutes of a high-energy pace. I can't tell you enough how much rocking out helps keep a fat-burn/cardio pace. I have also increased the resistance setting because it burns more calories per stride and I can really feel my muscles getting stronger. I am more than happy to be heavier than 'ideal' in exchange for feeling strong and powerful. A certain number on the scale or the clothes tag is not why I am doing this. But it is nice not to wear plus sizes anymore.

That's it folks. It isn't hard or revolutionary and not at all costly. BTW if you don't have a smartphone MyFitnessPal has a website with even more features than the app.

I will end with a disclaimer though:  I think the BMI is a terrible tool to judge health but for a reference I still have to lose a few pounds to be out of the obese category. I don't feel obese and I don't think the BMI takes into account that I have shoulders like a linebacker or that I have a bone density rivaling the rock-man from The Never Ending Story

 My triumphant poses after the 2010 Turkey Trot.

UPDATE:  I wrote this when I had lost fewer that 40lbs.  By October 2010 I had lost a round 40lbs.  I have now lost 65lbs and I am in single digit sizes for the first time since I can remember.  And when I say that I don't mean in my adult life.  I mean I can't remember because I was in elementary school.  I would like to lose another 5lbs but it is truly more important to me to be healthy and happy.  I'd like to start having athletic goals that are non-weight-loss related but since my knees and back don't like the impact of frequent running that limits my possibilities.

These are pics of me wearing single digit sized clothing July 2011.

Is that POOP on your cake?

Why yes.  Yes it is.

But I have a very good reason for serving manure cake.  

You see, I am hosting a double birthday party for my boys 2 & 4 this summer at a bounce house place.  Until now I have chosen cheap or free venues for our family parties but after we attended a party at PumpItUp this spring I decided I could justify the expense because we were taking care of 2 parties in one event.  We didn't add on the extras that really run up the total cost as well as serving homemade birthday cake in lieu of a made-to-order birthday cake like we had done in previous years. My boys requested 'tractor cakes' which for the unskilled cake decorator means appropriate colored icing and strategically placed toys for decoration. Sounds easy enough, right?

Some weeks ago I found miniature John Deere farm scenes with tractors at WalMart.  They each had a tractor, fencing, two farmers and either two cows or two horses.

What I didn't count on was falling and fracturing my arm near the wrist one week before the event.  So that brings me to today, party eve.  I have my injured arm/wrist/hand splinted and swollen and in pain from doing more than I would admit to my new orthopedist.  My un-fractured arm/hand/wrist is sore and achy from taking up the slack for the injured hand.  I did fine baking the cakes (one vanilla and one chocolate) this morning and even mixing and applying the green-vanilla icing to one half of each cake.  That's the grass. ;)  Then I mixed the chocolate cake and began the mud (or earth or soil) portion of the tractor/farm motif.

Well sometimes when you are an accident prone person with one arm in a a splint and have a spatula with chocolate icing in your hand you can lose your balance.  When you lose your balance you can also lose your icing prematurely.  In fact, you can lose a huge blob of it right in the middle of your green-vanilla field side of your cake.  Do you remember in art class when you found out it is significantly easier to hide a light-on-dark mistake than a dark-on-light mistake?  The same applies here.  BTW I had no remaining green-vanilla icing and was almost completely out of powdered sugar so just covering the chocolate with green-vanilla would be an ordeal.  So, as I finished the application of 'mud' to both cakes I considered my options.

I thought about covering the blob with one of the tractors but this blob was as big as either tractor AND the tractor was supposed to be tilling the earth or something on the chocolate side while the green-vanilla pastures were for the horses or cows.  

UGH.  Cows are disgusting stinky beasts.  

YES!  COWS are stinky beasts that stink like POOP!  And cows make poop and there is plenty of poop anytime you come near a cow.

And so it is done.  The cows are on the cake that was hit with the chocolate blob.  The chocolate blob is in the corner of their fenced in area.  Thankfully, the set included a farmer with a shovel!

This post is taken from an FB NOTE I wrote on 08July11.

Don't call me Handy Mandy

I inherited a cargo style coffee table from a former employer over a decade ago but it is big and sturdy and has such a simple style that it has migrated with me throughout the years.  The only reason we removed it to the garage was to prevent our son from killing himself.  He would (and still does) literally run circles around the open-space living area as toddler/preschool aged children are prone to do.  Frequently, he would trip and fly face first into whatever furniture, people, wall or toy that was in his path and this was the cause for our replacing the table with a HUGE padded ottoman.  Lest you think I hadn't tried to "babyproof" the table, let me assure you that protective foam is of no use in high-speed facial impacts.

In addition to the ottoman, we had a hand-me-downed 3 times train table in front of our fireplace that served the dual purpose of child entertainment and creating a barrier that may prevent our children from accessing said fireplace.  Well, recently that 10+ year old assemble-out-of-the-box, press-board table began to show it's age and travels and abuse with splitting and cracking that became hazardous.  It wasn't until that crotchety table lashed out and gashed my 4yo in the leg so bad I suspected deliberate shanking that my lazy butt stepped up and decided to defend my cubs by evicting the vicious train table.

I decided my sturdy cargo style coffee table would do nicely in place of the train table.  In addition to being more sturdy it's much taller which makes it easier for my 90%tile height children to use.  However, it had been in need of a refinish for sometime and if I was going to be a child's plaything I had better at least make sure to sand away any dangerous splinters.

Here's how the project went down.

This picture shows the table after the foam padding had been removed but it's left with an awesome film of adhesive that took 4 applications of Goof Off in some places.

See that yummy-gummy goodness?

Let me take a moment here to tell you that initially I had thought this to be a project I could complete in one 4 hour time frame but after the Goof Off stage I decided it might be more realistic to consider it a two day project.  My expected working time was reserved for days when both children would be at preschool.

So after 1.5 hours of Goof Off-ing I finally got ready for step 2: SANDING.
This was the fun part.  No not really.  While the coolness factor of playing with a power tool made it bearable we were still in the grips of the hottest summer EVER.  Seriously, we beat out the DUST BOWL for hot this summer.  While we are speaking of dust let me mention to those of you who haven't used a CHICAGO ELECTRIC 5" Random Orbital Palm Sander that you might consider that the sanding discs create at least if not more mess than the wood you happen to be sanding.

It took about 20-30 passes over any given square inch of the table to get it to appear to be a somewhat uniform surface.  I was really pleased at this point to only be resurfacing the top of the table.  I can't imagine how much time it would have taken to do the legs and sides.

I asked my husband to go on a quick trip to the Home Depot to choose a product to prep the wood and a product to finish the wood.  Men always like to be invited on a lunch time trip to the Depot.  After much consideration we chose GREEN Mineral Spirits and  WATCO Teak Oil Finish so as to prevent poisoning our children who very likely might attempt to eat the table at some point.  By the time we returned home the temperature outside had gotten too high to safely and effectively use our prep and finish fluids so I put the rest of the project off until the next day.

Day 2:  Step 3 PREP (this is a man word for cleaning) THE SURFACE
Basically, I apply the mineral spirits to a rag and wipe (repeatedly) until dirty stuff no longer appears on the rag.  See?  CLEANING.  After the SPIRITS dissipate it is permissible to begin finishing (hehehe) the wood.  In the heat, drying took less time than it took me to read the label on the teak oil bottle.

Step 4: FINISH which means not only "To give a desired or particular surface texture." but also "The final part; the conclusion."
This involves wearing gloves because despite the oil having a clear appearance it will stain skin.  Actually, it's a good idea to wear gloves anytime one might touch chemicals (including Goof Off and Mineral Spirits) but I don't always behave prudently.  I'm a rebel like that.

After just one application the difference is drastic. (sounds like an infomercial pitch line)

Also, after the first application I realized that in spite of apparently adequate sanding I was unable to remove residue that came from the tape my former employer had used to leave notes to herself.  No, it doesn't both me enough to make me start over.  Next question?

The bottle recommended 1 application, 30 minute wait, 2nd application, 15 minute wait and then a 3rd application, if necessary.  Of course, I HAD to have an additional application.  This time my just-one-more compulsion did not cause any harm.  I can't verify it caused any benefit either but I am certain there was no harm done.

The final product looks nice and a week and a half later I swear it already looks close to the same tone of the legs which I didn't refinish.  It should continue to darken as is the nature of wood.

I can't say I have any valuable new lessons to pass on from this experience only to reaffirm that power tools are fun although messy and that I would do many more projects like this if 1/3 of the year wasn't 100+ degrees.