On just swimming a mile 3 - 4 times a week I was maintaining my weight. I know i'd gained muscle and stamina, I have also lost clothing sizes, but the lbs which is all I care about really - no matter what I said - they were staying put. Well taking a page from Jack, and my friend Malai who works out 2 times a day, I started adding a second work out some days. So my schedule is now
Swim a mile Monday, Wed, Friday and either Tuesday or thursday depending on Jack's schedule, and also add hike, cardio dvd, or elliptical in the afternoon. Well that seems to have started the trick - i'm down 3 Kilos in the last week. - Yes friends we have a kilo scale thanks to our years in Australia. I've recently bought a lb scale so i'll know that number too.
And best of all is that I am feeling really good, I'm sleeping more soundly at night, drifting off with out any sort of sleep aid, and a lot of my aches and pains are much less.
My lower back pain too was helped by going to Bras for Body and Soul and getting sized. Man what a difference to have great support! I basically went into a fitting room with a woman who brought me 15 or so different bras after taking my measurements. I bought 3 different ones and love them all. It was really a great experience, one i'll repeat as I continue to lose weight.
ADDITIONAL: I got a request as to what the dvd is I"m doing... Follow the Link
Duncan - AKA little guy is running around the house at lightning speed. I just gave him a bath and after toweling him dry he attacked Oso - so Oso went and hid under my feet under the desk. Now LG is just running - running like the his tail is on fire - like he is the wind.
I just had a lovely outing with a friend. We headed over to Palo Alto and had dinner at a Tapas & Wine Bar. It was really lovely, live music, great food, fantastic wine list. i'll be taking Jack over there soon.
Then we literally crossed the street and saw a great movie - "Notes on a Scandal" Judi Dench was thoroughly slimy - an incredible performance. The rest of the cast was excellent too but Dame Judi was so good I came home and took a shower to get the smarmy feeling off.
x rays taken, vicoden given, pain better. will find out if its actually broken after radiologist looks at the pics, otherwise rest and ice prescribed. Turns out also have swimmers ear - antibiotic for that and orders to not swim - will use ear plugs - must get in my miles. though not today - no swimming for me today.
Today was a really good day ... i'll get to the pain in a minute.
First off, Megan's friend Audrey turned 4 today, so we headed out to have lunch and a build-a-bear session. We had a little bit of a time getting a table at cheese cake factory. But the kids had a great time playing in the lobby. Lunch was yummy - though way to much food.
After that we headed over and Megan made an adorable bear. Its a cute concept for a business but a heck of a racket - the Bear body costs one thing, add some sound and its more, get a cute outfit etc ... it can be really expensive. Megan was using up a gift certificate so for me it was cheap :)
Now for the pain.
While waiting for a table Megan's forehead hit my nose at an odd angle and i actually heard a crack - now i'm sore and little its actually turning a little black and blue - and yes it still hours later hurts.
Come bed time, Megan wanted to put her new bear in some PJ's, so I dug around in her closet for some baby clothes. When i stepped off the stool I ended up putting all my weight on the foot that landed on the wheel of her baby stroller. So now i'm sore on both ends.
The final straw came when Megan undressed her new bear and we discovered the stitches had come undone. I couldn't wait till tomorrow and take it back. Megan is crushed and asked me to fix it. So After finishing up the minutes for my mom's club board, I dug out my sewing kit and sewed it shut, annoyed all the way. But now its in PJ's and sleeping with her new mommy. Megan even stirred and and said "thank you mommy"
10 down - 27.5 to go
Feeling great though sore, but that is from monday's exercise video that really stretched me. I'll be doing it again to build on that strength.
Monday turned out nothing as planned. We still got together with our friends and the kids played and played, but both requested to play over the movie and so we did that, we also ended up eating at our friends house other than going out to lunch. We did get the kids out to a park and then over to our house for some more play time.
Today after I swam my mile, I went to Jack's office to pick up Megan who was watching a movie and eating breakfast. I loaded her up in the car and we drove down to Monterey to get another glimpse of the great white shark... only They released him just this morning, we still enjoyed the fairly empty aquarium, with the exception of a couple of school groups. We had a nice lunch at Blue Moon our usual Monterey haunt and got to watch some seals that were on rocks right under the restaurant window.
I had my mom's club board meeting tonight and overall I'm exhausted, but not sure I'm ready to sleep.
I made a new masthead last night because Duncan is such a part of our lives and he wasn't on my old one - I probably won't change it monthly like Dooce or Amanda at Very Zen but once a quarter is a good goal - enough to reflect the changes in our life. The middle picture where Megan is up on my shoulders was at Disney. I ordered a bunch of prints last night from shutterfly from our trip and I plan on getting back into scrap booking - I haven't scrapbook since Megan's 2nd b-day which means i have 2 years to catch up on.
The swim is going well. Jack and I split the weekend - he swam on Saturday and I got sunday - since the lap pool is only open for a few hours in the morning on those days. I don't get to swim today cause its a holiday and they have weekend hours, and Megan is home, instead i'll do this exercise video since its too cold to use the elliptical in the garage - I'll admit it I'm a wus :)
We had a really lovely weekend. Saturday was just quiet -After Jack swam, I got a hair cut while Jack and Megan went up to Lake Shore Learning to do the Saturday free art project. We had a quiet evening watching the Saints win one in the super-dome. Sunday after breakfast at our favorite mom and pop place I swam and then we all headed to Ohlone College's Jackson Theater to see Star Struck's production of Peter Pan!. Megan loved it and the production value was really good. The enormous cast of kids did a really wonderful job. There was one adult - The man who played hook and he was particularly good.
Megan and I have a quiet day planned - she is out of school for the holiday so we are going to meet a friend and go see Charlotte's web. After lunch we plan on running the kids around the park - despite the cold. Probably the park across from Paddy's so the mom's can have hot beverages to keep us warm. Reminds me I need to go throw my Jacket and scarf in the dryer or i'll be freezing my ass of this morning.
When we went to visit Grandpa and Mumsie, Megan and I slept in the same bed. We'd done it once before on July 4th when the fireworks scared her. Before that just she slept with me and Jack for the first few weeks and that was it. She just hasn't been all that keen on having anyone else in her bed. Not her mom, Dad, or dogs. Even her friend Josephine who spends the night gets told to stay on her sleeping bag.
So my usual game at night is to pretend to fall asleep. She says no and tells me to get out. Tonight I told her I get to sleep until the second song is done (we listen to the same 2 songs every night and have for the last year or so - no changes - She won't allow it!) So what does she do as i pretend to snore - she sings ... Loudly! She sang in my ear at the top of her lungs - giggling all through it between songs she asked... "Can you really sleep with all my singing?" needless to say I too was giggling - it was just too damn funny.
I really can't complain - i have nothing to complain about and yet today I have a general feeling of annoyance.
It might be that the pool this morning was really crowded. I managed my mile but it was a struggle with this really rude guy who has horrible lap pool etiquette.
Maybe its that Ikea now only allows kids 45 mins in the play area, and i had a list that meant I needed at least an hour in the store - which means I rushed, Collected Megan ran back to pay and found out i'd picked up parts to 2 different chairs, so i didn't get the chair I wanted. I got out to the car and realized the sheets were 20 dollar's more expensive than I had read the sign for. So those will have to go back. So while i did manage to find a organization thing for Megan's toys, I feel as though it was a wasted morning.
We had a lovely lunch with friends and home for some Wii and quite time. Now i'm watching The Oh in Ohio which is better than the critics gave it credit for but I'm not positive I recommend it.
Ok i'm feeling better now - but the morning was annoying.
We had a lovely vacation in Oregon. We stayed at Windermere which was for us roughing it a bit. No phone, no wifi - but a small kitchen, a bed, a sofa for Megan and a breathtaking view! We spent days combing the beach and playing the dunes, and evenings playing wii and drinking wine while watching the sun set. It was so relaxing. A total reversal on my last trip in November.
We had some really wonderful walks on the beach - one after dark when the stars where so bright, and another when we went out to cave on a rock usually covered by the tide. We dodged the tide going out and were rewarded with a tide pool that had anemone and little fish. We saw some mollusks, and scallops. Someone had beat us to it and had left a circle of pink rose petals that were washed out to sea while we were in there and so we started our race back.
On our return from one walk I saw a seal out of the corner of my eye- I stood there letting the tide run over my feet and sure enough there it was - I yelled out and Jen, Thom and Jack were all able to see it.
It was really cool... The next day we drove up the coast and saw hundreds of seals and sea lions near Coos Bay but it was that one that impressed me the most.
We had a lovely drive home. Lunch in Eureka at the Golden Harvest Cafe, and a stop at the drive through tree in the Redwoods.