Category Archives: Everyday Life

September 24, 2010

Love and Hate… and running

By terraluft

I wouldn’t be fairly depicting my running training if I only talked about the milestones I’m hitting successfully and not the downers of the whole experience.  So, I am 35 days away from my half marathon and still mostly on track with my training program.  “Mostly” meaning I am still successfully completing the prescribed long run distances on the weekend (7 miles at this point) and running at least twice more during the week.  However, logging the prescribed distances on the mid-week runs is hit and miss.  I had a week of inconsistent training when I tweaked my back and couldn’t run for almost a week – turns out my hips are out of alignment and “I’m weak” – got to love physical therapists and their tactful delivery of such news – so I had to start some physical therapy to strengthen my hips and core which has helped tremendously after only a couple of weeks.

I’m supposed to be running 4.5 miles as my “short” runs during the week but that means a full hour and 15 minutes on the treadmill which – added to the time necessary to stretch, cool down and change my clothes twice – doesn’t really fit so easily into my allotted hour of time at the gym during my work day anymore.  Finding that kind of time twice during the work week regardless of where I run is a challenge since home life is just as demanding as it has ever been with an 8 month old and a competitive dancing 8 year old.  This week I managed a 3.5 mile run in the gym and a 2 mile run last night… at 10:00 pm… in the dark…with my headlamp and flashing tail-light for safety of course!  (Yes, I look like a fool but I’m a safe fool nonetheless!)

Last weekend the training plan called for us to run a 5K race.  No big deal – that’s only half the distance of my last week’s run of 6 miles which I finished no sweat.  Weeks ago my training/running partner and I had found a free race and registered.  The only criteria at that point was a 5K on the specific date.  Then we realized it was the same VERY hilly venue of the first 5K we’d run a couple of months earlier to celebrate the end of our walk-to-run program.  Neither of us wanted a repeat of those hills – especially since we’re training solely for downhill since that’s what our half marathon is going to be.  So, we came up with a brilliant plan to find a different race that would be flatter and easier.  Great idea, right?

Well… all ideas are usually good in theory.

We picked a race that was being put on as part of the local high school’s Homecoming/alumni weekend.  It was right by the house and thus part of the terrain I’ve been training on – piece of cake, right?  And the price was right: $10 and included breakfast.  What could be better?  We show up and realize it is a very small event.  And by very small I mean there are more people gathered to cook breakfast than it looks like are running the 5K.  But that’s okay because the entire current cross country team is going to run.  So, there are literally a total of about 40 people – 30 of which are twiggy 15-17 year old high school runners.  We all line up at the starting line – us “just finish”ers in the back since we are definitely not going to win regardless.

The starting gun goes off, everyone dashes off – including me running a pace there is no way in hell I can maintain which I don’t realize for about a 10th of a mile until fellow runner checks our pace and says something (I love running with gadgets, by the way!).  Now I’ve burned through all of my reserves by trying to run a 9-minute mile pace UPHILL and we’ve already been left in the dust by everyone – and I mean everyone.  Oh, and did I mention that the welcoming and familiar terrain I thought was going to be so fabulous is exactly the reverse since we are running the opposite way I assumed we would and now almost the entire thing is a steady uphill run?  Oh, I didn’t?

Welcome to my own personal Hell.

The next 2.6 miles was me in the very back of the small pack feeling like a complete failure.  At the 1-mile marker, I had to stop running and walk because the uphill was killing me.  Approaching the aid station for water, I saw the pre-pubescents directly in front of me actually point and say “she’s the last one” – to which I wanted to scream “FUCK YOU” and punch them in their faces, but I refrained.  I ran the one flat spot in the insanely steep uphill 2nd mile and felt vindicated when the same little snots had stopped to sit on the curb because they couldn’t go on.  (Teach them to disrespect their elders!)  At this point I was so low mentally that I had practically convinced myself that I was not a runner let alone capable of any kind of distance and that I might as well just consider my registration fee gone because I shouldn’t consider even attempting a half marathon.  Forgotten was my 6-mile straight run 6 days ago – I was a complete loser who had no business even owning a pair of running shoes.

Yeah, I was that low… and more than once close to tears.  At one point we ran past an entrance into my neighborhood and I seriously contemplated just turning in and running home with my tail between my legs and hoping no one asked how my 5K had gone.

And then we hit the downhill portion – the final stretch.  And I started gaining on the 12-year old and her Dad who had been walking most of the way up the bitch of a hill.  And then I passed them while listening to her whine about how hard it was.  All I could think was “I’m NOT going to be very last!!”   Well, I wasn’t – barely.  And I finished – which at the end of the day was all I had been aiming for anyway.  However, I was still totally down on myself for being last for most of the way and for my slow ass pace which is completely normal at this stage of the game.

It has been a week and I’m still mired in self-doubt and wondering where this competitive nature came from since it has never been about winning for me.  There is much to be said about participating in large events with lots of other people at all levels of fitness participating so you get lost in the crowd and can focus on running your own race, competing only with yourself.  This is an individual sport and the only person I need to be better than is myself time after time as I build up my endurance.  At this point speed doesn’t matter, hills don’t matter, it only matters that I have the ability to run 13.1 miles… all downhill… in 35 days.  Everything else will come later.

Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself!  We’ll see how I feel after another 5K – this time on verified flat terrain – slotted for tomorrow and a 7-mile DOWNHILL run I’m looking forward to on Sunday.  Do I still love running?  Yes – except for the days that I hate everything about it!

Leave a comment | posted in Everyday Life, Running

September 10, 2010

One Step At A Time

By terraluft

The hubby and I took a little mini-vacation over Labor Day weekend.  We left both kids home with family and hit the road… for a 13 HOUR road trip to my sister-in-law’s wedding reception.  We drove a total of 31 hours in three days to spend about 40 hours with them.  It was totally worth it even when you factor in the TWO speeding tickets – one for each of us.  The best part was all the time we had to spend together in the car, talking and bitching and brainstorming and getting inspired for new book ideas. 

I came out of the weekend with two killer ideas for new stories to write and now I’m torn about which I want to do first after I get the initial draft of my current project finished.  The daily writing… goal?  Rule? whatever you want to call it, I’m on a total roll.  I’m about 3 chapters into my re-write and finding less and less that I need to fix once I got past the prologue.  I don’t want to jinx anything but at this rate I anticipate being finished with the first draft by Nov 1 when I get to start my new project as part of NaNoWriMo 2010.  I’m looking forward to a new story – something fresh and new and exciting – and am kind of surprised that both ideas are just straight up fiction.  No sci-fi, no fantasy, just regular old stories.  I guess I still don’t know what “my” genre is so that’s okay, right? 

All things considered, life is pretty damn good – I even set a new personal record for fastest mile tonight on my 4-mile run: 12 minutes, 18 seconds.  Not too bad considering it was the 3rd mile of that run!  Amazing… a 4-mile run is my “short” run during the week!  I’m on track for a 6-mile run on Sunday… and I’m half a mile away from having logged 150 miles just since May 23rd.  Like everything in life, it’s all happening by taking one step at a time.

Leave a comment | posted in Everyday Life, Running, Writing

August 31, 2010

Goals… okay, fine!

By terraluft

Normally, I scoff at goal-setters.  (Sorry if you are one of them, don’t take it personally!)  I’m a live-in-the-moment kind of a girl – always have been and always will be.  It is way more fun that way and I tend to avoid all guilt by not thinking too hard about life and the choices I make day to day.  I never look back or over-analyze what I’ve done for the same reasons.  Except now I am conceding that sometimes goals and all that come with them might be necessary – at least in some aspects of life.

Why the change?  I wrote again last night… only 30 new words but they are 30 more than if I hadn’t told myself that – no matter what – I have to write something every day.  A daily writing goal, if you will.  I figured I would start out small – no word count I had to make, no looming milestone to intimidate.  Just write every day.  Every. Single. Day.

It felt so good writing again and, although I have come to terms that I must go back to the beginning of my manuscript and totally revise it before I can go on, at least I know what my plans are so I can get busy getting it done.  I WILL have the first draft of my first novel complete before November 1st.  (What’s this?  Another goal?)  In hindsight I am such a better writer than when I started last year so I would have to revise anyway – I’m merely saving myself some of the work for draft two by doing it now.  Kind of like ripping the bandaid off…  The best part is that my characters are whispering to me again – or rather I’m listening for them again – which I worried wouldn’t happen since I’d been ignoring them for so long.

In many ways, it is my running that taught me this lesson I can now apply to other areas of life…  I am following a training program designed for people who have never run a half marathon.  It tells me exactly what to do every day.  And even though I look at it on paper and think “What the Fuck have I gotten myself into?”, when the day comes and it says run 3.5 miles (like today) and I’m still sore from my 5-mile run on Sunday – like I can barely walk down the stairs to get to the gym at work – I still did it and felt great doing it.

If I didn’t have a goal to run a specific distance by a specific date, I wouldn’t push myself.  Having the steps laid out for me on how to get there allows it to happen gradually one step at a time.  Without it, I might still be struggling to run for more than 10 minutes at a time instead of being able to run for more than an hour.  That last sentence was purely for me – since I have to focus on how far I’ve come rather than how far I have to go.  Easier and more productive to think “wow, I ran 5 miles in an hour and 11 minutes which is an hour longer than I could run at all 3 months ago” than “OMG, it just took me over an hour to run 5 miles, how am I going to run 13.1 in 2 months?!?” which is how I really feel inside when I think about my half marathon.

What will get me to the finish is doing the small steps every day.

So, lesson learned is that sometimes goals are important – not in the Franklin-Covey-plan-every-single-minute-of-your-day-based-around-a-goal-in-every-aspect-of-your-life way but maybe just for the really important things.  And that, when measuring progress, sometimes it is better to look back and acknowledge how far you’ve come rather than fixating on how far you have left to go.

1 Comment | posted in Everyday Life, Healthy Lifestyle, Running, Writing

June 15, 2010

The new bod

By terraluft

I’ve said it before: the proof is in the pants – and it is still true.

I just finished the maintenance phase of my last round of HCG protocol.  In a nutshell, HCG has three phases.  Phase 1, you do daily shots and eat a very restricted diet and then phase 2 (or maintenance) is three weeks of “no starch and no sugar”.  This gives your hypothalamus time to rest from the intensity of phase 1 as well as establish a new set point for your ‘normal’ weight.  This set point is the place you now yo yo back and forth from but always return to.  (For more details about how the whole HCG thing works, you can read the research from the doctor who developed it here.)  Phase 3 is “normal” eating with your new habits.

We all know from my previous lamenting posts I did not lose the 40 pounds I wanted to lose in the 40 days of phase 1 I endured and pushed myself through to the bitter end.  But I can’t very well complain about the almost 30 that I lost in just over a month.  There isn’t really supposed to be much fluctuation in phase 2 – no more than 2 pounds either way – so my expectations were low and I did well with my “maintenance” activities.  (I’ve gotten REALLY good at finding “no sugar added” ice cream in the city!)

One night, at the end of phase 1 or the beginning of phase 2, my sister and I went through all the pants in my closet … as deep as they go and as many sizes as I’ve been hoarding… I either donated to charity those that were dismally out of date (the 80’s called and they want their pants back!), handed off to my sister if they didn’t fit anymore since she’s wearing the size I just came out of, or kept in the closet in two categories: the ones that fit now and the ones that are “almost” perfect.  This later category were those pants that I could get my ass into and could do up but that were not quite comfortable once I got to that point.

And then I started running again.  But this time using a set training program with a coach and a 5K goal in August!

This morning I pulled out some pants and put them on and realized they were hanging on me.  Like there was enough room for me to put my baby inside with me for sure and possibly even my eight year old.  How the hell did that happen?  I tried on every pair of slacks I own in one sitting so I wouldn’t have to do this every morning anymore searching for pants that fit!  I chalked it up to a late night with my sister and pulled out another pair.  They fit the same way!  Eventually, several pairs later… (Yes, it took a while!  Don’t judge, I hadn’t had any coffee yet!) I ended up pulling out some of the Capri’s I’ve been dying to wear from that “not quite there” category and guess what!  THEY. FIT. PERFECTLY.

I loved how I felt all day and I had another great run this afternoon completely inspired by how I look and feel in my “new” pants.  That damn scale says I weigh exactly the same as the last day I took a shot three weeks ago but I know I couldn’t wear these pants that day because I tried.  And I can’t lie… I am now one of those women who turns to the side with her butt sticking out in the restroom so I can check how my ass looks in the mirror.  What an amazing feeling – it’s almost as great as knowing I can walk 4 miles pushing my 5 month old in the stroller without batting an eye or straining a body part.

I am still in love with running – happily the affair did not die off on my long hiatus of pregnancy and recovery – and I’m training strong.  I’m preparing for a 5K in August – the first one I’ll run/jog the majority of instead of the other way around.  Hell, at the rate I’m progressing, I’ll be running the entire 5k!  And, more importantly, I’m enjoying my new body as I continue to mold it with running and proper diet.  Bring on the swim suit weather! I’m ready!  Well… at least the shorts and tanks!  Is a woman ever really ready for swimsuit season?

Leave a comment | posted in Everyday Life, Healthy Lifestyle, Running

June 11, 2010

Dance Distractions

By terraluft

I just realized it has been almost two weeks since I’ve written here…  I assure you, there is a reason and it has everything to do with a major announcement a couple of weeks ago at Big Sister’s dance studio.  Turns out the economy has really hit everyone everywhere and after 27 years our director is retiring and closing.  This is very sad news by itself as Big Sister will have to make new friends and most likely not have all her dance “sisters” with her next year.  But, more pressing has been the search for a new dance studio with amazing teachers who will continue to mold her and hone her dance skills.  (The kid has to pay her way through college somehow, people!)  So, I’ve been away playing obsessive Dance Mom and letting every aspect of my writing suffer.  *sigh*

Between approaching total strangers at the school talent show last week asking where they dance (accompanied by looks that said clearly they were taught never to talk to strangers!), endless phone calls with my sister-in-law who is equally as obsessed with finding THE PERFECT dance studio for our girls, hundreds of text messages with other Moms to compare notes on new places, and visits and phone calls to potential studios we were able to find a great place close to home where Big Sister and her dancing cousin will now call home.  Thank god it only took a couple of weeks and we can now just focus on settling in for the summer schedule and team tryouts later this month.

Tonight is the Year End Show at our beloved studio where they get to showcase what they’ve been working on all year… accompanied by a ton of tears from the girls I’m sure!  The show will also feature a bonus “Parents Dance” which this Dance Mom will be participating in.  Not only am a “Dance Mom”, I am now quite literally a dancing Mom.  Next weekend is their final competition in Las Vegas where the dancing Mom will also be competing.  It’s silly, I know, but I’m LOVING getting to dance again after 25 years, enjoying every practice and looking forward to our performances.

I had a breakthrough in figuring out how to write a pivotal scene in my novel – thanks to an inspirational 4-mile walk with a writing buddy – and I can’t wait to refocus my efforts on my writing now that all the dance distractions are dealt with. Now, where’s my coffee?

Leave a comment | posted in Events, Everyday Life, Writing

March 17, 2010

Four Things

By terraluft

I saw this on a blog I follow and I thought… Hmmm, that would concisely give an idea about who I am (as if readers didn’t really know me by now, right?) and might be fun reading.  So, here goes!

4 shows I like to watch:
(I NEVER used to watch TV but now that I have DVR I am in heaven…)

1. Fringe
2. Hoarders
3. Heroes
4.Caprica

4 things I am passionate about:
1. The environment
2. Writing (and reading)
3. My husband and kids (as in plural, which I never thought would happen!)
4. Avoiding High Fructose Corn Syrup (it’s harder than you think!)

4 words or phrases I say often:
1. Hurry!  (Why an eight-year old still doesn’t know the morning routine for school is beyond me!)
2. How’s your homework?
3. Are you fucking kidding me?
4. Oooh, what’s the matter with my baby?  (in sing-song baby-talk voice)

4 things I have learned from the past:
1. There’s no time like the present to take care of your health.
2. Most people don’t do much actual work while at work and don’t feel bad about collecting the paycheck.
3. The things that matter most are usually not the things we spend the most time doing.
4. Nothing good ever comes from guilt

4 places I would love to go:
1. Italy – I’d like to see where my ancestors come from
2. New York City – I always thought I’d live there and haven’t even visited
3. Ireland – I wonder if it is really as beautiful as everyone says
4. The Mediterranean – the views are always so amazing

4 things I did yesterday:
1. De-cluttered a cabinet in my kitchen (part of a larger project involving the entire house!)
2. Registered my daughter for summer camp
3. Tried to find a nanny (it’s an ongoing search)
4. Forgot to eat a single thing before dinner

4 things you are looking forward to
1. Being out of debt except for the mortgage
2. Finishing the bathroom in the basement (or more accurately, the hubby doing it)
3. Going back to work
4. My sister in law’s wedding so I can see a part of the country I’ve never been to.

4 things I love about winter:
1. No allergies
2. Sweaters
3. Nothing much to do so I have more excuses to knit
4. National Novel Writing Month

4 things on my wish list:
1. A pool in the back yard – ok, I’d settle for it to be landscaped instead of a mud pit!
2. A longer battery life on my Droid
3. To finish my novel (ok, and get it published!)
4. To be fully recovered from pregnancy and surgery so I can go running again!


There you have it… some hopefully interesting tidbits of useless information about yours truly.  Enjoy!

1 Comment | posted in Everyday Life

March 16, 2010

The Perfect Formula

By terraluft

Today I found the perfect combination of things that make new baby sister happy enough that I don’t have to hold her.  She’s been really fussy the last week – compounding my stress level while recovering from surgery.  See, she teased me for the first 4 weeks being a super content and docile baby who, sleeping or awake, rarely cried.  She’d get fussy when it was time to eat to let me know but otherwise was happy.  Her fiesty side came raging out last week and sent me reeling!  Today I had a huge To-Do list, a book club book deadline looming on Thursday with 100 pages left to read and… a fussy baby who just wanted to be held all morning.  What’s a mom to do?  Well, I put her in her swing and put Tchichovsky on the iPod docking station… and she slept for 3 hours!  I got so much crossed off my list and now I can enjoy her for the rest of the day without worrying about all the things that aren’t getting done.  The swing alone is not enough, this girl needs her classical music!

Leave a comment | posted in Everyday Life

February 25, 2010

The Beginning of the End … of Clutter

By terraluft

I had a come-to-Jesus sort of thing happen this week…  I was all hyped up on coffee drank too late in the day trying to wind down from a fabulous visit with my parents flipping channels when I saw “Hoarders” on the channel guide and remembered one of my new blogging friends talking about it on Facebook.  I decided to check it out.  An hour later – after 1:00 AM – I tore myself away and looked around at my house… with disgust. 

Now before you go and picture my place being as bad as anything you might see on the show, stop.  Am I a neat freak?  No.  (That’s my hubby’s job!)  But I am sentimental with a touch of pack rat.  My mind always thinks “what if I need that someday” or “I’ll want to look back on that someday” when it comes to throwing things out.  Plus, (and probably fundamentally more importantly) I’m a recycling fanatic who thinks our society is driven far too much by our obsessive need to consume.  Which means I like to be smart about what I put in the landfill or toss away just because it is inconvenient to store it until the next time I need to use it.  I am also a realist who works a full-time job, has an eight-year-old who doesn’t know how to pick up after herself (we’re working on that!) and doesn’t think it is a bad thing to have a house that reflects that we actually – you know – LIVE in it.

So basically there’s clutter…

That is all going to change because of ONE episode I saw of Hoarders!  Yesterday I barely touched my computer, neglected Facebook (probably should do that more often anyway!) and started to de-clutter.  I am an NPR supporter and my local radio station gives free magazine subscriptions when you become a supporting member.  I’ve been getting Newsweek for a couple of years now… on top of Sunset and Good Housekeeping and Real Estate magazines and HP’s Connections… you get the idea.  I had all these great visions about how well-read on current affairs I would be with Newsweek but the reality is that I barely have time to read books outside of book club or the magazines I get because they relate to my jobs let alone a weekly magazine!  But, did I throw them out?  No, they accumulate in a pile in a corner of my living room.  Once in a while the pile gets really huge and I go through them and if the cover is really old  news I throw them out.  Yesterday I threw them ALL out including the ones I rarely ever read for work!  Okay, I saved about four because there were articles I actually wanted to read.  It was liberating!  (And by throw them out I mean I put them in the recycle bin for pickup, of course.)

I look around and everywhere I find something that really could be tossed… like how long has it been since I did any scrapbooking so why am I saving all the movie ticket stubs in that one drawer?  Let it be known we watch a TON of movies and leave it at that.  In twenty years who will care what the exact date was that we took our eight-year old to see Percy Jackson (the first one) or that it was the first movie ever for our newborn?  Yep, no one!  And after three years of school for my daughter have I once ever wanted to go back and look at the daily school work and mounds of paper that I sentimentally have saved?  Nope!  So recycle bin here we come!  And that basket of spent batteries I can’t bring myself to just throw in the garbage headed for the landfill so there can be more mercury in our soil and water supplies?  Either I will find a place that will recycle them or I’ll just toss them.  Well… I’ll hint to the hubby that they need to be tossed and let nature take it’s course is more accurate. 

I don’t know how long this might last before I run out of steam but when I do I’ll just watch another episode and start all over again!

1 Comment | posted in Everyday Life, Making a difference, Society

February 23, 2010

The Next Generation of Addiction

By terraluft

It is long past time to write about something BESIDES pregnancy and childbirth!  (Holy shit, my apologies to some for my one-track mind lately!)  Gawd forbid I become one of THOSE people who only talk about their children.  You know, the kind I swore I would NEVER – I mean EVER – be! 

You will recall – or perhaps not if you’re a new reader to this blog – that I have a serious addiction to my phone.  (You can catch up on things here and here if you wish.)  It’s no secret to my friends and family that I’m one of the probably millions of Verizon users who have been patiently waiting for the claims of “the iPhone is coming soon” to be true while the dates come and go and it is still not available.  Remember, I am NOT a patient woman so the fact that I actually carried around an archaic Blackberry that didn’t even have a camera on it far past my “new every two” upgrade window without bitching about it on my blog or on my Facebook page is a personal miracle.  I am also a very selfish person so I had the best phone in the family and my darling husband got, well, my leftovers usually.

This selfish, addicted smartphone whore finally had enough!  (And I mean ENOUGH!)

On top of this, my darling hubby who picked a shitty phone to upgrade to because “whatever” really wasn’t okay when he let me pick his new one based solely on battery life specs online (and had to go back to the old phone that wouldn’t hold a charge longer than about 12 hours) had finally had enough, too.

The stars were aligned on that fated day in early January when I got curious after playing with my friend’s new phone she’d gotten for Christmas.  We are in a recession.  And the mass consumerism season that falls between Thanksgiving and “the winter holiday” must have been pretty dismal.  For I got a killer deal on a pair of new HTC Droid phones for us both.  We’re talking a pinch-me-because-I-must-be-dreaming kind of a deal where you feel like a thief and just a little smug at the same time.

OH BOY!

I thought I was addicted before… but the Blackberry was small potatoes compared to this baby.  It fully integrates with everything in my Google account.  It links my contacts to their Facebook profiles!  And their Twitter accounts!  It has a camera – that INSTANTLY uploads photos to Facebook without having to go to the browser even!  (My purse is lighter by at least a pound now that I don’t have to carry a digital camera separate from my phone!)  It is like freebasing on pure {enter your drug of choice}.  Okay, *sigh* it feels like what I think that might feel like since I was always too scared to try anything harder than the occasional pot in college, but you get the gist, right?  It is supposed to be just like the iPhone only ALREADY ON VERIZON and with a cheaper data plan AND works as a phone when you actually need it.  Of course we all know that’s just what people without an iPhone say to make themselves feel better that they have the cheaper imitation but I’m sticking with the “I don’t know firsthand what I’m missing so I can delude myself” defense.

Best of all, the hubby got the phone he deserves and is also addicted which means he will never complain again about my addiction to my smartphone.  Of course it took him a while to get over the fact that it would cost him the price of a monthly data plan to reap the benefits of the smartphone (he’s such a penny pincher about some things but not others…).  Going from a basic phone to a very advanced smartphone in one giant step does have it’s learning curve.  His is still a love/hate relationship while he gets used to the quirks of a smartphone.  Like the first day he used the browser to research a brand of cheese in the aisle at the grocery store without having to call me to google it for him – that was a love moment.  But there’s a ton of hate moments, too, when the touch screen keyboard types words he did NOT mean or the phone won’t read his mind and re-display at every whim and he threatens to throw “the piece of shit” across the room.  I quietly remind him that he’s right – he should definitely go back to his old phone – which was really my old phone before the Blackberry – because that was a much better unit for sure… and roll my eyes!

I still can’t believe I thought the Blackberry was the epitomy of a great phone.  Or that I waited so long to upgrade to a better smartphone!  If you’re on Verizon and unwilling to wait indefinitely for the iPhone, the Droid is truly a piece of heaven.  And I only kind of miss my qwerty keyboard which I could have had if I’d sprung for the Motorola model anyway…  guess I’m a cheapskate at heart, too – who knew!?

1 Comment | posted in Everyday Life

February 14, 2010

Two weeks later… skinny jeans!

By terraluft

It was May, 2009…  I had just finished a 23-day round of HCG, lost 30 pounds and was ready to start another 40-day round.  I had become addicted to running.  Me, a runner – something I’ve never been in my entire life.  And then I got pregnant and it all had to be put on hold – including the running.  So, I walked instead.  And I did it consistently the entire time I was pregnant wishing I was able to run but taking what I could get.  And you know what?  It paid off big time!  My daughter was born exactly 15 days ago and yesterday I WORE MY SKINNY JEANS to the movies.  I’m not talking my skinny jeans from before I did HCG.  No, I’m talking about the jeans I had to buy after I lost 30 pounds because none of my jeans fit me anymore jeans. 

I thought for a minute it was a fluke – maybe they were just stretchy jeans and I hadn’t actually paid attention when I bought them.  So, I stepped on the scale this morning… something I was kind of avoiding since I had just had a baby (that and mirrors!).  HOLY SHIT – I weigh less than I did after HCG!  (by a pound… but still!)  I haven’t even been out for a walk since she was born and yet the weight has disappeared effortlessly.  This must be what they say about if you are active during pregnancy you have a much faster recovery.  With my first pregnancy eight years ago it took me eight weeks – eight! – and some major exercise just to get back into the jeans I was wearing when I got knocked up.  I was a different person then.  I ate like crap and didn’t exercise and hadn’t been smart enough to be frightened by a family history of high cholesterol, coronary artery disease and diabetes.

I’m glad I grew up and started taking life seriously!

I love knowing I can run again in a month after my 6-week checkup.  I love knowing I can wear anything I want in my closet without having to be limited to the small selection of maternity clothes I’ve been enduring for months.  But most of all, I love knowing that I took control of my health and changed my lifestyle for the better not even letting a silly thing like pregnancy detour me from my new life.  And I’ll be around and healthy to enjoy the lives of my daughters because of it!

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February 11, 2010

How could I forget?

By terraluft

Pregnancy sure does a number on you!  I had an ephiphany this morning proving just how intensely it can mess with even the basics of a mother’s working mind. 

I had a really rough night with baby sister last night… I mean really rough.  She decided not to sleep in between her feedings and instead fussed for three hours while I tried to distract her with an intense action movie.  (Oh wait, that was me I was trying to distract so I didn’t fall asleep with her in my arms.)  I dragged myself back out of bed after about 4 hours of sleep and wandered around the house in a stupor for several hours trying to will myself not to sleep the day away since I have a ton of things I wanted to do.  (And let’s be honest, if I continue to sleep until noon how will I ever go back to work in a month?)  Several hours later, Daddy woke from his six-hour slumber (god night shift sucks!) and staggered into the kitchen for his daily cup of coffee. 

OH. MY. GOD!  I can drink coffee again!  Like, really drink coffee.  Like my pot-a-day habit might come in handy right now.  Why didn’t I think of that sooner? 

Not only is lots of caffeine not great for baby in the womb, drinking it made me sick in the beginning of my pregnancy so I broke the habit quickly and effortlessly – while vowing to return to my beloved beverage THE MINUTE I WAS ABLE.  And it has been more than a week before I even thought of it?  WOW

Half a pot later, I feel like a new woman ready to head out on my first outing with two kids in tow – since we need more diapers, more wipes and more formula… ALREADY!  Who needs sleep when you’ve got the beverage of the gods, slightly sweetened with a touch of sugar?  Probably a good thing since HOLY SHIT that’s a lot of laundry for such a little baby…

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December 28, 2009

Merry Christmas – week 33

By terraluft

I can’t believe Christmas has come and gone already. Hubby’s birthday is the 23rd of December and this year was marked with a doctor’s appointment. All is well with nothing new to report. I was wrong, thinking we would now be starting on the weekly appointments but I guess I remember how things go much differently than the reality. I still have every-two-week appointments until mid January. My doctor tried to prepare me with the fact that just because I went into labor all on my own with big sister two weeks before my due date doesn’t necessary mean I will do that again. I’ve been thinking all this time that even though I’m due on Feb 13th that I most likely won’t even be pregnant in February. I am trying to prepare myself for the possibility but we all know how much I am NOT a patient person, right?

This week marked a very huge milestone for us – we have a baby room! First the art supplies were removed and the dresser put in place. Today, the desk and computer were removed and there’s only baby stuff in there now. I got all the new clothes put into the dresser drawers and breathed a sigh of relief that now I really am ready. Who cares if there aren’t cute matching curtains – or even a curtain rod – hanging at the windows, and that there isn’t anything on the walls or even the crib set up. At least we have a place to house all the baby items, a place to change the baby and thanks to ‘Santa’, a new glider rocker to rock the baby in. This week’s agenda has me focused on getting all the baby items I saved out of storage so I can wash and put them away. I know I have 5 boxes but what exactly I kept is still a mystery.

I feel like I grow several inches in girth every day and I am starting to waddle – as much as I hate to admit it even to myself. I know most of this is all in my head because I still have only gained 16 lbs total for the entire pregnancy. Having practically no room for my stomach to hold a ‘normal’ size meal helped me to not overeat for the holiday. I’m hoping I didn’t gain more than a pound or so between doctor appointments when I go back in a week and a half. I still am sleeping well minus the multiple trips to the bathroom during the night. At least I can sleep well between visits and I know that makes me one of the lucky ones. I’ve been fairly sleep deprived the week leading up to Christmas with last minute family gatherings and wrapping activities after big sister finally would go to bed. I’m looking forward to the quiet week between Christmas and New Year’s to get caught up on my sleep. I’m starting to feel like it really is the home stretch and wonder where all the time has gone.

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November 7, 2009

Taking time for myself – week 26

By terraluft

This was a pretty quiet week as far as pregnancy goes. Life in general was exciting and full of things going on but not much of it had anything to do with the bun in the oven. The hubby and I celebrated our 15th year of marriage with an evening out just the two of us. It was nice to get out and forget about being parents for a while and just enjoy one another. It was also the first week of NaNoWriMo (otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month) so all of my free time – what there is of it – was spent writing. I’m behind in my word count if I want to do the minimum each day and get to the required 50,000 words to “win” the event but considering everything else I have going on with a full time job and keeping up with a very involved 8 year old, I can’t help but be proud of my current 4500 words in less than a week. The best thing is it is all new material and better than I thought I had it in me to write. Of course it is only a first draft and even when finished not fit to be read without at least one edit, but it is a fossil that I’m excavating out of my subconscious bit by juicy bit. If I accomplish all I want to, I’ll ‘win’ NaNoWriMo with 50,000 words and then finish up the first draft by the time the baby is born in late January/early February. Then I’ll take a break to adjust to a newborn again and pick it up for an edit around the same time I go back to work. I love the creativity and the big dreaming – an indulgence I rarely take for myself as I grind away at day to day life.

As far as the baby news is concerned, things have been extremely quiet compared to the previous couple of weeks. I had a bout of heartburn that made me have to sleep on the couch – what a pain in the ass that was – but a few hours later I was able to lie down again comfortably. The weather was unseasonably warm this week and I got out walking a couple of afternoons at work and a couple of mornings before work with the dog. I don’t remember being this active when I was pregnant the first time and I think it is why I have so few complaints this time around. Not to mention that I’m keeping the weight gain under control which makes me very happy. No doctor visits or new complaints this week either. Just an uneventful week of fetus development. Here’s to at least a couple more weeks like this before we head into the final stretch.

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