Weight Loss Woes

Why does weight loss have to be so hard? I've been down this road a few times and it's very tiring and seems to have no actual destination. Starting attempt number 57 (I guess, I don't know) and taking you along for the ride.

A little background: I was not a chunky child. I was always a good weight for my height. In high school, I weighed about 95 lbs soaking wet and after a hefty McDonald's meal and wore a size 5. I was about 5'2".

That's me, 1985. I grew 2 more inches and went up a size by the time I was 18. I'm good with that. My metabolism slowed down a little around 20 - you know, Freshman 15 and all that. However, I did have a gym membership and was going at least 4 days a week. Young, spritey, no kids, money to spend, that sort of motivation. In this photo, it was my 23rd birthday and I was still comfortable with the weight I'd settled into - roughly, 5'4" and about 135-140lbs (lots of leg muscle!).

I think that dress was a 10 or 12, can't remember, but I do remember that I felt in shape and wasn't freaking out over the size of my clothes. As you may know, I'm a dressmaker (didn't make that one) so numbers by themselves don't frighten me. I don't actually care what the tag says since manufacturers can vary in sizing. Nice white makeup face too, huh? :)

So moving onto when the weight became a problem. My first child was born in 1993. My OB said, "Oh don't worry about weight gain, you'll have 9 months to put it on and 9 months to take it off." Ugh, famous last words! I gained 60 lbs during that pregnancy and had a 7lb 12oz boy. Guess what? It didn't just fall off like she said. And yes, I was exercising. Okay, so your body changes a bit with pregnancy, (and just to explain the photo - yes I put the cart before the horse). Here's me, 1994, still 5'4" and 175 lbs.

But weight! (pun - see what I did there!) There's more! Stay Tuned....

Cutting the Cable

We aren't totally poor and destitute, but we are a one-income middle class family. We don't have tons of credit card debt, our cars are paid for, and we never take all-out destination vacations. But to make this homeschooling/one-income thing feasible, we do have to cut corners. Sometimes it seems those corners keep whittling away until there is only a small disc left, but that's a lament for another day (sigh!).

Like most everyone else, we have one of those lovely TV, phone, internet bundles from the local provider, in our case - Verizon. Over the years, we've played that back and forth game between Verizon and Comcast (our only choices) to get the best price on the bundle. Verizon made us do a 2 year contract this last time, which expired in April 2011. My oldest son started at an out-of-state college last summer (thank you FAFSA and Grandmas!), so I've been really watching the bundle bill and looking for a way to cut the cord.

At Christmas time, after doing a bit of research for a couple of months, I decided to purchase a Roku player, to test the waters in my home (cable dependency). If you are unfamiliar with Roku, it's a small device about the size of a slice of bread, that plugs into the wall and into your TV. It connects wirelessly to your modem and provides internet streaming directly from the modem to the TV. Some channels are free, but some like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu require a monthly subscription. Well, I'm already paying for Netflix, so that wasn't a big deal.

The Roku has really been wonderful! For a one time charge of $80, the device is mine, and my kids have found just about everything they want to watch either through Netflix or free content. I was actually quite surprised how easily they disengaged from the cable box. (I did help them along a little bit by actually disconnecting it for 2 weeks, so they would have to learn how to use the Roku and search for what they wanted to watch.)

Then I began searching telephone replacement options. I have a pay-as-you-go cell phone that I don't use often, and no one else in the family has one, so I need land line service. I checked in to Magicjack and Vonage. I have friends who've used both; they've had good and bad to say about both. My preference was to go with Magicjack since it's $40 for the first YEAR, and $20 for each YEAR after that - but they don't let you keep your number. So hubby has opted for Vonage - $16 per month - our device is due to arrive next week. I'll let you know how that goes.

So obviously we are beyond April, and we hadn't made any decision about whether or not to keep cable. Actually, I decided we should drop it, but hubby is afraid of not seeing The Weather Channel, MSNBC, and live football games. In my world, these don't matter, so I was good to go. Then I discovered PlayOn...

Stay tuned for Cutting the Cable, Part II - The Decision....

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Seriously, by now, pretty much everyone knows about the evils of HFCS. But when did they start putting it in sandwich bread?! What? Seriously?! Sugar is listed as an ingredient, but HFCS comes before it. Are they intentionally trying to kill every last person in the nation? "They" can't even use the excuse that it's just sweetening if sugar is an ingredient and the product is SANDWICH BREAD.

Not sure what I'm ranting about or why? Food for thought, click here.

First Year Away

My oldest son, Max, came back today after his first year at college. He's not a freshman, nor is he 18. This has been the hardest year of my life. He went away at the start of his sophomore year (having completed freshman credits at the local community college) at 16. He turned 17 without me. He turned into a man without me. He has excelled and disappointed himself without me there to help him. I don't know yet the full extent of the life lessons he's learned, but I feel fairly secure that I did a good job. I'm not sure at the moment that he's aced all his classes, but I think that he has learned a lot about the world and himself. Sure, there have been disappointments, but life is that way. As a homeschooling mom, I'm happy to have him home, whole and safe, with all the lessons learned - good or not.

I was young once and made mistakes. I'm pretty sure he's made less than me. I call that a victory.

Universal Healthcare

I spent this past week watching "Sicko" in bits and pieces (only because my kids kept interrupting me). I know I'm a little late to the game here, but I thought I'd better watch it, since healthcare is all we hear about it in the news. I have long thought that we needed some kind of overhaul to our present system. After watching Michael Moore's documentary, I'm ready to do something about it! But what? What do I do? I'm one little house mama with so much going on that it's hard to keep my head on straight.

We are the only industrialized nation in Western civilization without universal healthcare! Cuba has a better treatment rate than we do, and they don't turn anyone away, nor do the patients have to pay. Cuban hospitals treated a group of our American 9/11 workers because our systems wouldn't help them. I'll say it again: Our heroes had to go to Cuba to get treatment and healthcare that was being denied to them here in the US.

I won't talk about how beautifully universal healthcare works in Canada, England, and France, as well as other European nations. Watch the movie and find out for yourself. Do some research and look at the statistics. Citizens in other parts of the Western world live longer, feel better, are healthier and happier. They aren't starving because of higher taxes; they don't worry that their cancer treatment is considered experimental so they'll die before they get help. They aren't overworked, working more than 40 hours, not taking sick or vacation days, etc.

We have gone horribly wrong somewhere, and it started with healthcare for profit. If you know how I can make a difference (without money, cuz like you - I don't have any), where I can go to start a revolution or become part of one, please leave a comment with info. Heck, leave a comment about how you feel about this!

NYC in a Minute - Nail Polish

Okay, so I'm not a manicure purist. I would LOVE to have a manicure every 2 weeks, let alone once a year. It's just not in the budget. I was not asked to make this review. (I would love to receive free nail polish, btw!) I have always had trouble with polish not drying fast enough. Literally, I mean after the first hour, I can still get a "dink". Salon or no salon, I'm always in trouble.

So, today I bit the bullet once again, hoping for that miracle polish that wouldn't look like I did it myself and smudged it.

I found it! I found the miracle! NYC in a Minute polish, literally dried super fast, maybe not a minute. I don't know. I didn't time it, and I was afraid to touch. But I did one coat on every finger, then every toe, then every finger/toe again. I was still afraid! "Honey, plug in my laptop.", Honey, could you please get me a drink?", "Honey, could you...?" So I bit the bullet after 20 minutes, and (barely) touched. Dry. Dry as a bone. Dry as the Arizona desert, (and I know since I lived there 8 years of my life!) I couldn't believe it! I waited 10 more minutes and tried to dink my nails = nothing.

So, my review, buy it chicas! Buy it fast! It takes less time to dry than it does to complete the transaction.

Reclaiming my personal blog

It's been awhile since I've posted anything here. Okay, I'll be honest, it's been almost 2 years. This blog started as a forum for me to share what I did in the handcrafting world, as well as what was happening to me personally. Once I opened my blog just for my handcrafting, this one... well it slipped into oblivion.

I've decided it's time to reclaim this blog. I love writing, and well if you know me, giving my opinion. So here is the resurrection. I won't be talking about my handcrafting stuff, since you can read about that elsewhere. I'll reserve this forum for revelations, findings, info, and my personal journey through life. Please feel free to leave your comments on any post, whether you agree or not. Welcome back!