Updates / Family / Insanity

I don't know how, when or why, but I have finally broken the 140 lb. mark consistantly. It's unbelievable. For the past 4 days I've been in the 137 to 138 range. Yea for me!!!

I started eating those oatmeal bar things for breakfast, and drinking more water. Who knows, maybe that's the key. Just as long as the numbers keep going down I'll be happy. Remember, I'm aiming for 125 lbs. at 35 - so the countdown is really on now since my birthday is in April.

I guess we're (and by we I mean my husband) buying a new truck. I'm thrilled if you can't tell. I don't know what's wrong with the truck he has now to be completely honest. He's only had it for just over a year (14 months to be precise) and, ok, so it has nearly 50,000 miles on it and it's a 2002. So what? We still owe an arm and a leg on it so no matter how he sweet talks me into the new new truck I'm still looking at the money end of it and knowing that we're getting screwed.

With a capital S C R E W E D.

It will, though, be the first time in the 10 years we've been together that we've both had vehicles that are still under warranty of any sort. Which I guess has it's benefits.

But then I think, again, about how in 6 YEARS when we finally get this 2006 truck paid off it'll be 2012 and our daughter will be in 6th grade! Ahh.

Welcome to the real world where our monthly payments for vehicles exceeds our monthly mortgage payment including real estate taxes and insurance. I'm serious. By about $150 a month when he buys the new truck. Disgusting.

Anyway, I read a sign the other day in a junk catalog I get. I'm thinking about buying one, dozen, and handing them out to my family. Actually there were two:

"Welcome to the Looney Bin. Where abnormality is the normality at this locality"

(It had a picture of two Loon's sitting on a lake.)

"Welcome to the Nut House. Where the nuts don't fall too far from the tree."

(Which had a picture of a squirrel with a nut in it's hands/paws up to it's mouth)

My personal favorite is the Looney Bin one though. Maybe if I buy in bulk they'll give me a price break. I'll have to look into that, for sure.

It's going about as well as I thought it would

Not at all.

Friday morning I had a bagel.
Friday night I had pizza.
Saturday night I had pasta.
Sunday night I had leftover pasta.
Today for lunch I had rice.
Tonight with supper we're having baked sweet potatoes.

It isn't easy for me to cut these things out of my daily diet. By isn't easy I think I really mean impossible.

Oh For the Love of.....

Potatoes.

Bagels.

Pasta.

Bread.

Refined Sugar.

That's right folks, I have to cut back in an attempt to cut out all the things I love the most - starchy fillers otherwise known as carbs.

I finally connected with someone at my doctor's office to help me with my questions about the read on my triglycerides. Mine came back at 150, which is considered border line. If you read my previous post about my lipid profile results you'll recall that they told me the triglycerides can be controlled by diet and exercise.

I've certainly got the exercise issue under control.

Now for the diet. Not looking forward to that part.

I love carbs. I mean L O O O O O V E carbs. I would eat some form of potato for every meal if I could get away with it. When we go out to eat I load up on the bread they bring out and could care less for my steak. I've always been that way. Hell, I even love instant mashed potatoes.

So, I was told to cut back on the carbs and watch my refined sugars, i.e. anything white.

It's gonna be hard. No doubt. I suppose I can still splurge from time to time but I'm guessing my once a week morning bagel schmeared with real butter is out of the question. Bummer, I real bummer.

So, this weekend when I do our weekly grocery shopping there will certainly be some new items in the shopping cart. Low carb versions of the things I love so much.

It's a good thing. I'll be eating more healthy food and I'm sure it'll help with my overall goal of dropping a few pounds. It'll have to be a family affair, and I know we'll all reap some sort of benefit. So, I guess I'm all for it. Don't know that I have much of a choice.

Just another example of how pathetic our society is

Brittany Spears checked in and immediately checked out of rehab. She shaved her head bald. She got two new tattoos. She checked back into rehab.

Who gives a rats ass?!?

I'm having a hard time dealing with all the media attention given to the death of Anna Nicole Smith, celebrities going in and out of rehab, rich bitches flashing their naughty niblets due to lack of panties, etc, etc, etc.

Doesn't anybody remember that there's a war going on that literally thousands of our troops are engaged in? I can't even remember the last news cast I saw that reported an American casualty of war. Did they stop reporting them? Have the national channels passed that duty on the local channels?

I'm not for or against the war. I guess I'm stuck in the middle on that one. I certainly don't agree with all the deaths, I know that for sure. I guess I, like many other people, feel completely detached from it. I don't have any friends or family in the military, none of my liberties have been lost, I don't live in an area that was affected by any terroist attacks.

I am, however, frightened to think about what the world is going to be like for my daughter in 10, 15, 20 more years.

The results are in

So I got my lab results back from the lipid profile I got done late last week.

My numbers are all below "average" except for one - triglycerides. I'm at 150 on those, which they said is normal but still considered borderline. She told me there's no need for medication and that it can normally be lowered naturally with diet and exercise.

I guess that statement didn't sink in with me until the next day, because all of the sudden it hit me that the nurse mentioned diet and exercise.

Hello?!? I run 3 miles a day, six days a week.

I did a little online research and learned that triglycerides tell how much fat is in your blood. Common sense tells me that if my other numbers are below average and the triglycerides are borderline something must be terribly wrong with (1) my diet or (2) the test. Me, I'm leaning more toward a problem with the test.

So I talked to my husband about this deal and we agreed. We don't eat much fried food, we bake a lot of things to get the fried "crunch" without the fried "grease". This whole triglycerides thing just doesn't make much sense.

So, I've been playing phone tag with two nurses at the doctors office since Tuesday. I think I may have found my own answer. WebMD linked me to another site that indicates that certain types of medication, which they list in great detail, can affect your triglyceride levels. Guess what, I take one of the medications listed. So I'm trying to talk this over with the doctors office and make sure they're aware of this medication since it has been prescribed to me by another doctor in a totally different office.

We'll see what they say. I can tell you this though - I don't know if my body can take anything more than my current workout schedule and if I have to cut out any of the few "bad" things I presently eat I don't know what I'll do.

People here never cease to amaze me

We got hit with some pretty bad winter weather the first of the week. It started out Monday as just scattered snow flurries and then all hell broke loose Tuesday.

All the area schools were closed and most businesses that did open didn't stay open long. Even us lawyer type people got to have half a snow day!

So Wednesday morning it was back to normal, as normal as winter in Illinois can be, that is.

As I was getting ready for work I was listening to the radio and in all the news casts they made mention about the number of cars in ditches on major highways (Interstate 80 runs through the edge of town here), local snow related fender benders, etc.

Every year as I listen to these reports on the radio I make the same comments: It's Illinois. It's winter. It snows here. Happens every year. Yet every year people drive like they've never seen snow in their lives and do stupid shit that causes themselves or others to be involved in snow related accidents.

I've had my drivers license for nearly 20 years now.

I've lived in Illinois for nearly 35 years now.

I've never once been involved in any sort of snow related traffic accident.

Because, you see, I know that the snow is gonna happen. And I know that you don't drive like a fricking moron when there's 6 inches of snow on the ground and the streets are poorly plowed. I also know that inclement weather does not mean that you get to drive like your ass is on fire when you're on the Interstate.

Sheez people. When should I expect you to catch on to the learning curve here?

Blech.

Well my weekend was more or less shot. I was sick all weekend long and it's even carried over into Monday. Imagine that. A Monday that sucks. Now there's something unusual. OK, so it isn't.

I have no idea how I ended up feeling the way I've felt for the past 4 days. It all started Friday night after we ate. I ordered the same gut bomb pizza from V's that we get almost every week. I had one beer, same Bud Lite as always. Two pieces of pizza, like usual. So where in the world did the massive pain in my abdomen come from.

I'm pooping fine. I've eaten more antacid's than any person should in a lifetime. I've watched what I've eaten - which hasn't been much of anything this weekend - to keep it "bland". No dairy. No caffeine - which causes it's own problems when you're addicted to it and don't get it killer caffeine headache - which was hard. I basically ate applesauce, bread, and drank water. Still not feeling good today.

The pain has minimized, I guess I have to give it that. But it's still pretty constant. I do think I'm getting a little better since I am actually hungry today. I just got back from lunch and I had instant mashed potatoes with just butter on them, used chicken broth instead of water. I felt half way great before I ate. Now I don't so much. The pain is coming back.

My husband thought I might have appendicitis. But, a little WebMD research gave me the info that appendicitis pain is on the right side, mine's on the left. So, no self diagnosis happening today. I don't know. I guess I'll just keep going on the bland-o's until I feel better. I have added the caffeine back in, the headache isn't worth the pain.

On a good note, I guess if there is one to this, I lost 4 pounds this weekend.

Ya PRICK ya

Owie. Ow. Ow.

My arm is still aching from my blood draw this morning. Thanks Doc, thanks a lot.

Late last month I was at the Doctors office to get my normal prescriptions re-filled. We've switched to a different doctor (in the same office) since ours left last year. I hadn't had the pleasure to see him for any sickness yet so he refused to refill scripts written by another doctor. OK, I suppose, seems a little wacko to me for some allergy pills, allergy nose spray and high blood pressure medication - but what the hell.

So, we got through all the medical updates and he did refill my scripts, for 3 months each. What a joke.

He was looking though my file and saw that I hadn't had a lipid profile or cbc for a while. He couldn't just say, "I think we need to do some bloodwork" he had to really get on what nerves I have left - "I see here you'll soon be celebrating your 35th birthday. You know, as you age, your body can't process things quite like it used to. I think it's time we do an update to your lipid profile, get a blood count, run a few tests just to make sure there isn't something we should be worried about."

Yeah. Thanks for pointing that out to me, Captain Obvious. You mean there's a medical reason I can't get this dimply fat off my ass no matter how much I starve myself or how hard I run on the treadmill? Thanks for the info.

So, the results will be in late tomorrow, but I'm really not concerned about it. Maybe I should be, who knows. The last time I had these tests done they more or less accused me of eating grass and drinking only water my numbers were so good. I can't imagine that much has changed in the past 4-5 years.

We'll see. I'll post my results - if they're good.

In one word - SUCKS!

That one word can cover so many things right now...

The Weather - negative temps and now snow;
The way the Bears played in the Super Bowl;
The bullshit that continues to go on in my family;
The list goes on and on.

Yes, the drama in my family continues. I had managed to distance myself from things pretty good, but now I'm putting my boxing gloves on and I'm gonna start kicking ass and taking names.

My Aunt Heidi, the one causing all the problems, is now saying that I had to give my 6 year old daughter permission to talk to Heidi at the bridal shower for her daughter this past Saturday. What the fuck?!?!? Hello?!?!?!? When's the last time you knew ANYBODY to be able to give a 6 year old permission to talk or not?!? GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK YOU FUCKING IDIOT!

That is the straw that broke this camels back.

I'm done being nice. I'm done keeping my mouth shut. From this point on I'm going to tell it like it is. I'm not taking sides, I'm not defending anyone, I'm watching out for three people and three people only - myself, my daughter and my husband. Period.

All of this is a load of crap and there are too many people in my family that are afraid of hurting someone's feelings by calling a spade a spade. I honestly don't care if my entire family ends up hating me for the rest of my life because of something that may come out of my mouth. Truthfully, that may be the best thing in the world to happen at this point.

I stand behind my earlier statement that Eric is standing somewhere drinking a beer, looking down on all this shit, and laughing his ass off.

Cheers to you "E. Pro.". Cheers to you.