Girl Scout Cookies...and a nap!

So...yesterday I got the Girl Scout cookies I had ordered from a lady at school. Two boxes of Thin Mints, one lemon, one peanut butter. I knew not to open them. I knew if I opened them, there would be no stopping me (or at least that's how it's always been before). So I didn't.

Wes did.

We get home and he opened the Thin Mints. Mmmmm...heaven in a cookie. I had one. Ok, then another and another. I am pretty sure I ate four of them, then stopped myself.

Then he opened the lemon cookies, and I had one of those. So, a total of five cookies, and we all know how small they are, right?! : )

Then...I needed a nap. Yep, sugar does that to me. I get a little nauseous, not too bad, but icky enough that I don't do this often, then I need a nap. And I don't mean a quick 10 minutes, I slept for at least an hour. My body must need all it's energy to process the sugar and get it out of my system, so it just shuts down. Entirely. Good thing I didn't eat them at work.

Speaking of work, yesterday was the blood drive, and I went and gave blood. I've never seen my veins stick out like that before, probably cause they were always encased in so much fat! It was a nice diversion from work, and hey, I actually get paid to give blood cause it's on company time! I looked up how much a pint of blood weighs, cause I was jokingly wondering if the scale might finally move a little bit today. It weighs about a pound, and yep, the scale did move a little bit today. Like that matters (the blood loss!). I drank a ton of water and tea yesterday too.

The good/bad thing about yesterday was that we got a big snow storm and school was released 2 hours early. So actually, I got paid for about 3 hours yesterday that I didn't even work! Bad thing was that then yoga was cancelled cause the roads were so crappy. So what did I do in place of yoga?

Ate cookies and napped.

Duh.

Fashion is fun!

I'd forgotten, over the "fat years," just how much fun it can be to play with fashion!


Most likely that's because fat people don't have much access to nice clothes. What we can fit into, well....sucks. Crappy material, high prices for "cheap" clothes, and patterns that scream "Hey, look at me...I'm fat!" Like seriously, what large person wants to be in clothing that looks more like it should be carpeting in a low-class casino. Yet, sadly, that's what is available. And really, when you can find something cute, it still doesn't look good.

Things are different for me now, thankfully. I still pretty much dress the same style for work...dress pants, a blouse and blazer (or sweaters), but the cut and fit is so much better. I have a lot of fun getting dressed in the morning now, and deciding what accessories and jewels I get to wear. I've picked up a lot of clothes this winter, and, one good thing about the economy, it's been fairly cheap to do! There are sales galore out there!

And shoes!! Oh my gosh. For years I've been wearing clod hoppers (just what IS a clod hopper, by the way?!). Well, no more! We had Monday off school, and Tate and I went shopping at the DSW shoe store. I had a $10 off coupon and had never been in there. I wasn't expecting much, cause I just haven't been in cute shoes for years.

It was my lucky day! I ended up getting THREE pair of nice, cute, dressy shoes for $52.00. All on clearance, up to 70% off. The original prices would have rung up to $168.00! Tate even lucked out there and got some cute pumps on sale. We had a blast trying on heels and boots and prancing around in them (Ok, I pranced!!).

I put on this one pair of really high heels, and was walking around, and said "I feel like doing a Pee Wee Herman dance" and sang the little song he did in one of his movies, along with the dance he did. The lady in the same aisle started laughing and said "I was trying not to listen, but had to laugh, cause you did that just right!"

So, no more clod hoppers for me! By the way, dictionary.com says a clod hopper is: 1. a clumsy boor; rustic; bumpkin. 2. clodhoppers, strong, heavy shoes.

Ha. No more clumsy, boorish, bumpkin shoes!

: )

Dang it!

I woke up this morning, rolled out of bed, and as soon as my feet hit the floor it was back....my old familiar foot pain! Dang it. BOTH feet hurt, like at the bottom of my arches, near my heels.

It's not too horribly awful, but it's probably from running. That's the only thing I've done differently really. My feet haven't hurt for several years now, but there was a time it was really bad and I didn't want to walk at ALL. I don't want to go back to that.

So I guess maybe I'll baby them for a while until they feel better, and then who knows, I might try running again (I do wear orthotic supports in all my shoes) and see what happens.

Today's yoga day though, and I do look forward to that now, but I need some aerobic exercise (DO NOT suggest actual aerobics...I am NOT coordinated enough to do that, I look like a spastic chicken!).

Ahhhhh....Teradactyl Alert!

Nah, not really.

But I did take a walk/jog around the block again today. That was after work and some quick shopping. I didn't head out the door till almost 4:30.

It was grey out, not very appealing for a walk, and with all the melting going on the past few days, walking on what was a nice snow packed trail was more like trudging through mashed potatoes today. But it was 38 degrees, so not too bad. I probably ran about as much as I did the other day, and my legs are very sore right now.

I'll take tomorrow off and then do yoga on Thursday. Carol and I decided that Mondays will be our day to walk/jog together. If it's nice we can go outside, if it's crappy, we can go to the Monti Community Center and use their track for free. I like free. : )

You know...I've been on this path before. Many, many times. I'll start to exercise, thinking "this time I'll keep with it and lose some weight, blah blah blah."

But this time I can! This time it's different, thanks to surgery. This time I know I'm gonna make it, cause really, I'm pretty much already there.

This time is my time!

I think....I might...

Become a jogger!!

Huh?

Yep, yesterday I decided I DID want some Yak Trax http://yaktrax.com/ (I like their logo - "Make Your Own Trail") and, impatient me, drove to St. Cloud and got some (the thing I hate about ordering online is the waiting!). I looked at a couple different kinds - the ones Carol has with little spikes, and the Yak Trax, and went for the Yaks. Today I tried them out, and they work great!

I had been working on tax crap, and needed a break, so I decided to go for a walk. It was partly sunny and fairly nice out (about 34 degrees). I knew a walk would make me a little less crabby.

I decided to go around the block, and told Doug I didn't know how far I'd go, cause it's 2.25 miles to do the whole block, and I'm really not used to that, cause I've been lazy. It took me about 35 minutes, and I probably jogged over 1/3 of the way, off and on. I'd see a landmark or sign ahead and decide to jog to it. Sorta reminded me of a childhood memory when I would stay with the Hoot girls in Toledo. We'd walk around their city block, and usually it was Sue and I who would leave Jenna behind. She'd be crying that we were leaving her, so we'd stop and say to each other, "Ok, we'll let her get to this crack, then run!" Yep, it was mean, but that's what we did. No wonder my nickname in high school was Dragon Lady. : )

Ah, but anyway, it was a nice walk/jog. The snowmobile trails are packed snow, so I was on them a lot. I saw some cool footprints in the snow from deer and birds. One set, had I not known that teradactyls are extinct, woulda made me look over my shoulder! Probably from wild turkeys or something, but man, they were big!

My legs are still a little sore from the other day, but I'm sure it did them good to move some more today. We'll see what they feel like tomorrow.

Oh, and BONUS day for me...I was almost home, just the other side of the neighbor's house, and saw an envelope in the ditch (as opposed to a mattress, but that's another story!). It was addressed to ME! There had been at least one snowy, blowy day when our mail had gotten scattered, and once it's under a layer of snow, who knows when or if you'll ever find it. Anyway, it was a Starbucks gift card that the Queen had sent to me a while ago. How sweet is that?!

So, it was a good day. Except I didn't get taxes done, but....ugh. I worked on ME instead. : )

Six Months!

I had my six-month checkup earlier this week (surgery was August '08). Had I known they were gonna take a picture of me, I wouldn't have been wearing TWO sweaters! Anyway, here's a comparison from my very first appointment in November 2007 to now, 79 lbs. lighter. Wow, 79 lbs. Of course my scale is "off" compared to theirs, but whatever. It's all good.

Quite a difference!

Everything is going great, I'm taking my vitamins/calcium, not having any problems with dumping or clogging, etc. I'm learning what I can and can't eat, it's all trial and error.

The only "issue" is exercise. Sigh. But, hopefully with spring coming that'll change when I can get outside more. I'm looking forward to bike riding for one thing. I have been doing yoga for a couple weeks now, and like it a lot. Yesterday I could really feel the stretch and my legs were a little sore afterward.

And today....today I went jogging...outside!! Carol asked me this afternoon if I wanted to go with her to her favorite park and do a walk/run. I was tired, and wanted to sorta just go home and take a nap (someone at McDonald's called us at 2:45 a.m. to say they found a cell phone there and were tracking down the owner - it was Tate's - and then we couldn't get back to sleep). But I also wanted to go outside and get some exercise, cause it hit 40 degrees today, and that's a major heat wave here.

So, since I needed new tennies anyway, we stopped at Walmart, I got new shoes, and we went to the park. It was FUN! The paved trail was still partially icy and snowy, but there were some big areas of dry pavement, and I actually jogged off and on for quite a bit. For someone who never runs, or heck, even goes walking, it was quite an accomplishment. Fresh air, movement, and good conversation. I think I like it!

So now I'm looking online at Yak Trax, the nifty little things Carol had on her shoes to prevent slipping on ice, cause I did slip a few times but didn't fall. I think I want some! Cause I think I want to do this again. : ) And with still most of February and snowy March, I might get some use out of them. I'll see.

I know tomorrow's gonna hurt though, I can feel it in my legs now.

But my new shoes sure are cute! : )