In Case You're Tired of Hearing About Chick-fil-A...

This post won't talk about Chick-fil-A at all.  Enjoy.

This turkey is no where near to walking yet, but loves to climb onto forbidden items or stuff himself into impossibly tiny spaces and then cry for me to pull him out.  

He looks bigger, no?  

His baby-ness is going away.  (sad face)  He's getting five teeth in right now, we live in drool. He slaps me straight in the face every chance he gets.  He had his first playgroup at our house yesterday--two other little boys and a little cherub of a girl.  We had so much fun watching them all zoom cars around, chase each other and squeal.  Of course, one of the best parts of a playgroup is having other ladies to talk to and drink coffee with.  

I'm seriously considering chopping off my hair.  It's so hard though because this is the longest it's ever been and if I want it this long again I'll have to wait about 3-4 years.  But is long hair worth having if it takes you 30 minutes to dry?  If you have it up in a gross ponytail or a nasty mom-bun most of the time?  

I'm inspired by my Pinterest boards of cute things to do with long hair, but those girls have long, thick, strong hair and apparently time.  And motivation.  Which I do have, just not all the time.  

Also, I received a text message the other day from a friend who caught up on my failing weight loss journey posts.  She somehow found her own motivation amongst all of my failings and bad pictures.  So she's decided to battle 10 lbs of her own and then she recruited another friend of hers to join us.  

So we talked yesterday for almost an hour and a half, trading weight loss ideas and exercise strategies, when I had some good words come out of my mouth:

"What if we didn't make losing weight the goal, but instead just a benefit?  What if we just focused on making healthy changes in our diets and exercising because we are worth it and the weight loss was just extra?"  

So we aren't weighing ourselves again until August 23rd and then again in late September when we are meeting up in San Diego.  

What I'm telling you here is that I'm suspending the Weighty Issue posts until further notice.  But I will say that I started doing the 30 Day Shred again and man, I'm sore.  Who knew just 20 minutes a day would make you sore?  

The Olympics start tonight.  I'm so excited!  I love the women's (can you really call 16 year old girls women??) gymnastics and the swimming.

A Weighty Issue v.4

Gulp.

For starters, it was a rough week.  First, I got stitches after the doctor took off a weird mole.  Along with that came the decree of no exercise for 2 weeks.  Then the stress and worry of waiting for the biopsy.  Then the cardinal sin of all dieters: I went to the grocery store hungry. 

Here are some of the things I bought:

- 1/2 gallon Heath Crunch ice-cream (you know, to share with Brixton)

-2 Hershey bars (with almonds)

-1 package of Skittles

-1 bottle of Hershey's Chocolate syrup (still unopened, can't remember why I even bought it)

-Triscuits

I wish I could say "just kidding" when I write that I ate the chocolate bars and the Skittles on the same day.

And that I ate McDonald's twice this week.  With a McFlurry each time.  Did you know that a McFlurry has 930 calories?  I did.  And I still got them, mostly because I like to sabotage myself and partly because I like them. 

Then we had Brendan's birthday, which called for waffles for breakfast.  And for dinner?  Italian.  I ate bread, lots of bread.  I ate grilled calamari, I ate lasagna with bechamel sauce in it.  Brendan made friends with the waiter, so when dessert time came, the waiter brought us TWO desserts, one at no cost, expect for the penalty paid for by my increasing waist line. 

In a last ditch effort, I went to the gym yesterday, thinking maybe I could just trick my body into forgetting all those calories and to not store them. 

My body, it turns out, is no fool.

My weight this week is 139.8.

What? What did you say?

139.9.

One more time.  A little louder.

139.8

I told Brendan I gained weight this week and he was like, "duh, that's what happens when you eat ice-cream and chocolate bars and all that."  He's totally right, of course.  Losing weight is a simple mathematical equation. I'm just glad I didn't venture back in to the 140s, I think that would have been sad. 

So, yes, I gained 1.6 lbs, meaning that I ate more than 5000 calories than I needed.      

We'll try again this week I guess. 

I Made a BIG Mistake

Brendan had a birthday last week, so I did the normal thing and got him a gift.  He is a really hard person to buy stuff for because he only really loves a few things: bikes, craft beers, and..bikes?

To be fair, he thinks I'm hard to shop for too, even though I like books, candles, soaps, plants, jewelry, gift cards, spa treatments, and small, white kittens.  (Hint: this is your list, husband)

Anyway, I don't know anything about bikes, and I don't want to encourage the never-ending bike chatter that goes on around our house.  The Tour de France ended today (joy!) which meant we watched it and I commented on making a celebratory breakfast in honor of the ending.  That was taken with a grimace, a dirty look, and the quiet/sad treatment.  Yikes, and I hadn't even had my coffee yet!

I do indulge him in his beer fantasy every so often, buying him his favorite "special" beer.  Usually my "reward" shows up a few hours later, when while I'm lounging in bed reading a book and looking forward to being comatose, hubs crawls over with that wild-man look in his eye and the beer on his breath washes over me like a very soiled blanket. And then I'm like, uuggggghhh, why did I get him beer?    

I think I did something even stupider.  

I got him a video game.  *face palm*

And...dying now...it's one that requires a "gun".

As I type this hubs is next to me on the couch, brow furrowed, head swerving back and forth looking for bad guys, the sounds of gunfire and Russian blurting forth.  He has to "reload" every so often, which entails him violently shaking his "gun" (that's not an innuendo either).  

At first I was like, "Yay!  You're not riding/looking at/talking about/smelling bikes!"  But now I'm like, "Oh snap, next he's going to want to get one of those headphone things to link up with some other poor woman's husband who's playing this mess too."

I tried to do the whole thing where you play the game with them, like bridging the gap between the sexes, like "Hooray!  Let's have something in common!"  But, I'm useless with the "gun" and can't shake it in the violent-man style it needs to reload.  If I'm being really honest here the game freaks me out because zombie things are coming at me from all angles and it's stressful and makes me want to comfort myself with snack foods.  

So that's not working out too well.  

It was only fair though that he should have his Very Own Special video game to play, especially since I have two dance games that I play very irregularly.  But at least my games involve dance and movement and the burning of calories.  And you don't have to bleep my "games" or request that they not be played during Mr. Pickle's awake hours.  Plus, hello, I'm dancing, and that's a whole lot of fun to watch.  

Okay, I have to go.  His gun remote is now vibrating and sounds like a mosquito.  I couldn't make this up if I tried.  Going to bed now and dreading it because I brought him home a special beer today from Whole Foods.

And you know what that means.  

 



 

The Blogger 411

I love these things.  Sorry if you don't.  

1.  How long have you been blogging?  And what got you started on blogging?

 I actually started blogging in 2005 after I took a class for my teaching credential. I blogged on and off.  I've had Brixton Makes Three since November of 2010 since I love writing and think I'm pretty funny and my mom does too and she would read my blog and then call me and laugh about what I'd written.  Things have changed a bit since then, but you know I'm still funny.

2.  Did you go to college?  If so, where and what did you study?

I did go to college.  I went to San Diego State.  I was a double major--Linguistics and German Studies.  Then I got my teaching credential there.  Then I wasted a whole lot of money and paid for my MA in Education from the University of Phoenix.  

3.  Where have you traveled?

Canada, Mexico, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, England, New Zealand.  20 states, I think.  

4.  What is something you like to do when you have "Me" time?

Play music loud in my car.  Roll the windows down like I'm 20.  Go clothes shopping.  Eat lunch.  Go to the movies by myself.  Sleep in.  Wear makeup.  Get dressed.  Laugh on the phone with friends.  Really loud.  

5.  If you could have a $10,000 shopping spree to just one store, what would it be?

Nordstrom.  Makeup, purses, shoes, accessories, baby stuff, lingerie, man clothes, lady clothes.  I'm already salivating.

6.  What day would you love to relive again?

Hmm..this is a question without an answer really.  None of them. All of them.  Some were better than others, but I am thankful for them all. 

 Can you believe I lost the blog I got these questions from?  Well, I did.  Plus I found the rest of them boring.  I don't think anyone, including my own mother, cares if lemonade or iced-tea is my favorite drink.  

On a "lighter" note, I have a weigh in in a few days and I can almost guarantee that I've gained weight.  On another, somewhat related note, the dermatologist called me today to let me know the mole they removed from my back was atypical, which means not benign, but also not melanoma.  So good news.  I'm glad she took it off.  One less thing to worry about.  

I got my Clarisonic today too and I've already used it.  Obviously I can't do a review after one use, but I hope it makes me more diligent about skin care.  I showed Brendan and he rolled his eyes at me and my Clarisonic.  Well fine.  When I'm 60 and people think I'm 45 I'll remind him of this.  And everyone will think I married for money because he'll look 70 because he refuses to use the 'manly' sunblock and skin scrub I buy him.  

Men.

 This picture has nothing to do with the above post. Enjoy.

July Stuff

This stuff has been going on here lately:

-Brixton has discovered his gag reflex.  By this I mean his newest latest obsession is stuffing four fingers in his mouth as far as they'll go until he gags.  He makes the loud gagging sound, followed by copious amounts of drool and big smiles.  Except from me, who really ends up gagging.  No matter how many times I shout out NO!  or swat his hand away, he goes back for more.  

-I haven't worn makeup in about 4 weeks and it's so liberating.  Sure, I might look crappy and tired, but it's because I am.  And who needs to cover that fact up?  Not me, especially when I can go to bed without washing my face and feel 3x less guilty about it.

-Brixton still isn't even close to walking, but he's talking up a storm.  Here's his list so far:

• ball
• balloon
• teddy
• schoen (nice)
• nein
• no
• blau (blue)
• dog
• bear
• Pim (his panda)
• bike (much to Brendan's delight)
• bye bye
• baby
• shuh (for Flasche--bottle)
• hush
• banana

-I'm thinking about starting the weaning of the night-night bottle.  But, I think we have a few months still.  I can't help it, I think I am the one that needs that sweet cuddle time each night.  I can't even think about getting rid of the paci yet, but I have a plan for that.  As much as he loves his paci, he only gets it for sleep times or very, very, grumpy times.  Or if he finds one, which seems like often, since I'm convinced he stashes them around the house.

-I went to the dermatologist yesterday for a mole check.  If you haven't ever gotten a mole check, I beseech you, please go!  I have melanoma in my family, so I'm just waiting for my turn.  They took a mole off yesterday and I had to get a few stitches, along with the orders of NO EXERCISE FOR TWO WEEKS.  What?!  Don't they know I'm trying to lose some weight???  Well, that kind of put me into a funk.  The stress of waiting for the biopsy results and then not being able to exercise..ugh.  I admit, I needed some chocolate after that.  

-I ordered a Clarisonic from Amazon yesterday.  I'm so excited to get it.  Anyone else out there using it?

-Happy Birthday to my hubs!  He's turning 36 so I'm waiting for him to come to me in the next year or two and ask to buy a red Corvette.  

A Weighty Issue V.3

Guys, I did so bad this week.  So bad.

But, I still lost 1 lb. Total lost: 3.4 lbs. 

Not sure how that happened, but I'll take it!

First of all, this past week had all kinds of stress in it.  Some relationship stress and then some other stress.  If you follow me on Instagram, you saw the picture of one of the stressors..

I didn't drink water like I did before, but I still drank more than "normal."  

I only went to the gym once.  And while I did a lot of walking on the other days, I wasn't really keeping an eye out to make sure I got my 20 minutes a day of exercise.  

I wasn't eating a whole lot, and I'm happy to say that I didn't eat nearly as much sugar, so that's a victory!  Brendan's birthday is coming up this week though, so that will definitely mean something delicious on Thursday!

I'm still dedicating my workouts this week to cheese popcorn, since I think it needs more than just one workout to "melt" it off.  

I'm hoping to go to the gym 3-4 times this week.  I want to have a really good week this week.  Next week Brendan's gone almost the whole week..and the week after...and the week after..so I have a lot of alone time coming up, which sometimes throws a wrench into everything.  


Ugh.  This is torture.





 

Skunked by a Craiglist Buy

Oh, Craigslist.

I love you.  I hate you.  

Craigslist has been good to us lots of times in the past.  Furniture, plants, a patio set we bought, used for over a year, then resold for the same price we paid.  I even sold my breast pump to a woman on Craigslist, made friends with her and had her and her family over to our New Year's Day dinner. Craigslist: changing lives, selling junk, buying more.

But, we got skunked by our last purchase.  

We wanted a video monitor instead of the piece of junk Sony monitor we had that always beeped for no apparent reason in the middle of the night.  We should have just gotten a video monitor to begin with, as I remember a few times going in to check if Brixton was still breathing (ah..those early mother days) and inadvertently waking him up when he would have happily slept for another hour or two.

So, when a need arises, we turn to Craig.

I found a monitor, located in a good area, for $100.  It was new, still in the box.  I texted with the woman.  She said her mother in law bought them another monitor and they hadn't kept the receipt.  Okay, sure.  That's plausible.

I drove over, with Brixton cooing in his seat and the $100 bill burning a hole in my pocket.  She met me curbside (seriously, how many times have I witnessed a "transaction" that I thought was a drug deal when it actually was just a CL deal?)  She looked normal.  Like a mom.  Trustworthy.  Like someone who wouldn't sell you a piece of crap.

Sure enough, the monitor was intact in the box.  Looked good to me.  I was excited.  Money exchanged.  Off I went.

I got home and plugged it in.  Or I tried to plug it in. Something was wrong--the adapter plug didn't go all the way in to the unit to charge it.  I looked at the box.  Was I doing something wrong?  I noticed the copyright on the box said 2006.  2006?  Hmmmmm..that's weird.  A very slow feeling of horror and dread was washing over me.

I used a piece of tape to keep the plug in and it worked.  But the battery didn't get charged all the way and died in the middle of the night.

I knew I didn't have any recourse with getting my cash back.  I texted her, letting her know it didn't work and when should I come by to get my money back?  I tried that tactic, hoping she'd be cool and understand that selling stuff that doesn't work isn't really good for your karma.  And I give her credit, she did text me back.  She said, "Sorry, I don't have the receipt anymore."  Um..yeah..you mentioned that, but I'm pretty sure a store isn't going to accept a return from something purchased in 2006.  

Hurumph.

Well, I tried to make it work.  I taped the plug tighter.  It charged, it worked, we could watch Brixton squirm and cry and throw his pacifier overboard 23 times.  But the tape would unstick during the night.  The battery didn't last.  Finally, we just called it quits, went to Babies R Us and bought a new one..that plugs in and works and says 2012 on the box.  It was on sale for $157, so basically, I paid $257 for our monitor.

I'm getting tired of Craig, though..and don't even get me started on Freecycle.  I got kicked off that site for deciding not to give away my moving boxes to a Very Important woman after she didn't respond to my email back to her for three days.  She let me know in no uncertain terms that she was the co-founder of the Chicago Northwest Suburbs Freecycle group.  

Well la-dee-da.  

Hope somebody posted up an attitude check lady, because you really need one.   

 Bam!

 

 

 

A Weighty Issue V.2

Ladies and gentlemen, I have decided to only post pictures once a month, so relax.  No more flesh here.  Actually, this is for two reasons.  The first is that I don't expect to lose a whole lot each week, so a picture of me with a .6 lb. weight loss isn't going to be very exciting.  The second is that my pictures ruffled quite a few feathers in my family, who were concerned at the intentions of "perverts" who would want to look at me and perve.  I doth protested, saying that anyone who stumbled onto a mom blog with a picture of a 34 year old woman with a few lbs. to lose probably had a plethora of other things to waste his time on. 

But, being sensitive to the needs of others, I will limit my peddling of flesh.  

So, I got a lot of nice comments from you all last time and I wanted to say again, thank you!  I would like to tell you I was terrified the night before the post went out, especially after I showed Brendan the post preview.  He read it, saw the pictures, was quiet.  "I think you're really brave." He said.  "So are the pictures totally groddy?" I asked, hoping he'd say 'no, they aren't bad'.  "Oh yeah, they're horrible."  He replied in that honest man fashion.

*sigh*

Whatever, I'm past it.  

So the first week has passed.  Let's see how I did:
  
The Good:
-I drank A TON of water.  As someone who formerly used to drink coffee in the morning and a glass of juice at night and THAT WAS ENOUGH TO SUSTAIN MY LIFE, drinking 60+ oz. of water a day feels good.
-I ate salads.  All the time.  Delicious salads.  
-I made good choices when eating out.  I choose pizza with veggies and salad, I ate a black bean burger with salad, I dined on spring rolls, cucumber salad, and tofu satay.  
-I still ate and celebrated.  I'm not dead.  I'm not counting calories.  For me, at this point, that's too much.  I'm just making choices I know are better.
-I exercised.  Went to the gym 2 times, but also made sure I squeezed in 20 minutes of movement every day.  

The Bad:
-I ate more sugar than I wanted.  A lemon bar.  Some Swedish fish.  Some lollipops.  A tantalizing berry cobbler. Oh well.  
-I'm working on portion sizes.  I think I need to NOT eat as much as my man-husband. Also, watermelon is really good and not too calorie rich, but do I really need to eat so much I'm almost sick?  Probably not! (Or maybe??)

As it is, my weight this week is...drum roll:

139.2

A loss of 2.4 lbs!!

Pretty awesome!  So what are my strategies going forward?

1.  Continue drinking lots of water and eating lots of veggies.

2.  Cut out more sugar.

3.  Get to the gym 3x this week

I have a little visualization trick I use when I'm at the gym and NOT wanting to work out.  I think about a particular food that in the past I have eaten a lot of, knowing it wasn't good for me.  It makes me think I'm targeting the fat that came specifically from that food and while I'm working out I'm melting that off.  

This week's workouts will be dedicated to cheese popcorn.  Cheese popcorn isn't just that orange popcorn you see in the market.  Cheese popcorn is a family tradition and I used to be addicted to it.  You air pop a big bowl of popcorn, melt a good chunk of Velveeta and butter (I seriously would melt almost a half stick) and add in a few drops of Liquid Smoke.  Ahhh..it was so good.  Before we moved to Chicago, I got rid of my air popper.  I have only had popcorn a few times since we've been here and while I miss it, I don't miss the calories!!  

I hope that this week I can continue on the great momentum I've got going and not be discouraged if I mess up. If I continued at this rate (or close to it) I'd reach my goal weight in another 6 weeks!  

 

4th of July

Did you read where at the big fireworks show in San Diego there was a malfunction that caused all the fireworks to go off at once?  People were complaining about it (of course), but I think it would have been pretty cool to see.  One lady said, "We waited out for three hours in the cold."  The cold?  Really?  How cold was it lady?  60 degrees?  (I just checked..it was 66 degrees). And you would have gotten that 17 minutes of your life back with the added bonus of no crick in your neck.

As it was, we traveled up to Wisconsin a few days before the 4th.  It was kind of a last minute thing, so we just packed up the car to the gills and took off for big adventure and the hopes of cheese curds.  

Actually, Brendan was working, so the big adventure Brixton and I had was at H&M where I got the little b a few fall goodies, including a gray cardigan with old man diamond shapes on it.  Not sure if that's the technical term for it, but that is what I'm going with.  

The truth is, we are scouting out potential places for our next move--the move that will also include the purchase of our family home and hopefully also involves my two dreams: putting the Christmas tree up in the same place year after year and having chickens (a dream I've had for five years).  

Wisconsin holds a few different locations that are on our radar, but we are also reconsidering a few places in Illinois, which makes me gulp and get kind of sweaty, since settling in Illinois sounds so...scary.  But we talked a lot on our trip about the simple beauty here--the gently rolling hills covered in corn, the pumpkin farms in the fall, the cozy winter nights, catching fireflies in the summer.  

And houses (with acres!) that are affordable.

Well, we enjoyed our short time in Wisconsin before heading down to my secret shopping wonderland DeKalb, Illinois.  I trudged through the 95 degree heat with Brixton while we looked around.  Again, Brendan was working so we had a few hours to kill.  

At our hotel, Brendan took Brixton swimming while I sat on the couch and stared at  nothing.  That's how it felt anyway.  I think I may have read, but I have no memory of that.  On the actual fourth, we went to a BBQ at the friendly home of one of the people Brendan works with.  

I was in baby heaven there as there was a 3.5 month old girl and a 2 week old boy.  I got to hold the girl and Brendan got all nervous and twitchy.  She was so cute!  I'd forgotten how light infants are and the gummy smile!  Ahhhhh!

We had good conversation, good food, and Brixton even got to splash around in the water a bit.  At the end of the evening there were fireworks and fireflies and discussions of faith.  Also, a lot of hot sticky humidity.  It was so hot, y'all.  

On our drive back to Chicago the temperature gauge read 109 degrees at one point.  I thought of all the people in the city that had no air conditioning.  What do they do?  How do they cope?  I am certainly thankful and blessed. 

And guess how many pictures I took on my big girl camera?  Not even one.  Sometimes you just have to live in the moment.    

What I'm Reading

The way I choose what to read is a little haphazard.  I judge a book by its cover and by the few lines I read here and there.  If the book doesn't suck me in in the first page or two, it's going to be akin to walking through a swamp in scuba fins.

Which brings me to the book I've been reading:

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

By Aimee Bender

 

I was hopeful because not only was there a picture of lemon cake (yum!) on the cover, but the plot read a bit like "Like Water for Chocolate" which is a great story and a good movie.

I "bit" into this book during our flight from Seattle to Chicago and found it anything but appetizing.  At first I was intrigued, but as the book plodded on, the plot just got weirder and weirder and not in a way that makes you want to keep reading.  At least, not me.

When I finally finished it (gleefully), I set it on my nightstand and just glared at it.  What a disappointment.  Can really anyone get published these days?  

I've started a new book now that I can't wait to share with you. It's a true story about a free-spirited Jewish woman who grew up in Berlin in the early 1900s.  She bucked traditions in big ways, determining that she wanted to have a child by any man that she loved.  She loved three men apparently.  And with the second world war looming, you can guess she had some rough times as well.  

That's next time.  In the meantime, if you are interested in lemon cake, I highly suggest just checking a recipe book.  

What are you reading?  I need some fresh suggestions!

A Weighty Issue V.1

 Psssst..I've posted some really bad pictures.  And I'm feeling vulnerable.  Please be nice.

I've debated doing a post series like this for a long time, but being somewhat vain, somewhat embarrassed, somewhat "no one cares" I didn't.

I've mentioned here and there trying to lose some weight since Brixton was born.  All of it but about 7-8 lbs. fell off in the first month, and in January I worked hard and lost all but 2 lbs. of the baby weight. 

But then life got in the way, or rather, I got in my own way.  We moved, I stopped working out, started eating bad, and then of course was the depression.  I wrote about my struggle with depression here, and also alluded to the fact that I was taking some anti-depressants.  Sometimes anti-depressants make you gain weight.  And I have been.  Now I'm about 9 lbs. up on my pre-pregnancy weight. I've done quite a bit of reading up on weight gain and anti-depressants.  The news seems to be: it's almost impossible to lose weight while taking them.

The only good thing is is that I'm taking a next to nothing dose and I'm responding really well to it.  So well that I'd rather see what else I can do to lose the weight while still taking my pills, than stop them altogether.  

Problem: I'm not motivated, not disciplined, not vain enough as it were, to actually do anything.  So that's where my blog comes in.

Maybe if I start doing what I've seen others do successfully, that is losing weight and blogging about the process, I would be more motivated.  No one wants to do a weekly weigh-in with the results being 2 lbs. gained or nothing lost, but even more so in front of an audience.  Plus, if I posted weekly pictures, maybe this would help keep me in check.

If it's not too much to ask, maybe you could yell at me all Jillian Michael's style every now and then.

I know I'm not overweight and this isn't a "skinny girl crying she's fat".  This is a mom with 10-15 lbs. to lose in order not to buy a new wardrobe and to just feel like me again.

By the way, I've been called skinny fat to my face twice by personal trainers at the gym.  (One trainer, a girl, said with a smirk on her face "You are a fat girl in a skinny girl's body".  Okay.  And you are so obviously in the wrong line of work.) Regardless, I think some toning up is in order.

I'm turning 35 in November.  I'm proud of that, although I'm not sure why.  I guess because it's kind of oldish, but I still feel great.  So that's my time frame--to reach my goals by my birthday.  I just want to look as great as I feel, for 35, for 40, for anything more the good Lord gives me.  I just need to start here. And I need you.


Let's hold hands now and sing kumbaya.  Ready?....

Beginning stats:

weight:141.6

waist: 30"

hips: 39.5"

stomach (at belly button): 34.5"

upper arm:11.5"

upper thigh:21.75