Stats Sunday - 87 days to go!

As of today, I have 87 days to go before I return to work, and start a new, regular routine! Things I need to fit in: work, family time, workouts, housework, and alone time (for sanity's sake). Also, I need to figure out if I'm weaning the baby or pumping. I think I'll have to partially wean her because I won't have the freedom to pump 6 times a day at work. Maybe I'll just let the back-to-work process do the weaning for me - pump when I can, and arm myself with a whole lot of breast pads for the rest of the time.

I'd like to tell you what kind of workouts I planned for this week, but seriously, I'll just embarrass myself by not doing them. Here are the stats:

STATS
Starting weight (Feb. 15, 2010): 127 lbs.
Goal weight: 117 lbs.
Current weight: 126 lbs.
Measurements:
Arm: 11"
Bust: 37"
Waist: 31.5"
Hips: 36.5"
Thigh: 21"
Progress:
Weight lost: 1 lb.
Inches lost: 4"

Dumb it Down

Disclaimer: I believe every mother is allowed to believe her child is a genius.

Have you ever wondered if Albert Einstein had friends while growing up? I was thinking about it this week. I mean, without exhausting myself by researching it (that will happen later), I have to wonder if his genius hampered his social skills.* How often have I rolled my eyes at someone who constantly corrected me or cut into my conversations with tidbits of knowledge? How often have people rolled their eyes at me for doing the same thing? Why can't I listen to the Sevendust lyric "... fools often sometimes forget..." without throwing up in my mouth a little? I digress.**

My daughter is a know-it-all. I'm not entirely upset about it, because I'd rather she knew it all than knew nothing. Even so, she tends to correct people (everyone, really), at great length, when she thinks (or knows) that a mistake has been made. Are all kids like that? Perhaps. I tend to worry about my own, though.

I've had to pull her aside once or twice and quietly remind her that, while she is right, it's okay to let the other person figure it out for themselves once in a while. After giving me a Look, she shrugs and listens to my advice. The friends play nicely again.

This is where I admit I'm parenting myself in a weird, psychologically complex way. I wanted more friends when I was growing up. I was a know-it-all. People didn't like it. So, by helping Peanut to recognize a glazed-over look on her friends and what to do when she sees it, I feel like I'm helping Little Dee to make friends at last!

Oh, the hurt. Here's where I beat myself up for suffocating Peanut's Tree of Knowledge for the sake of a social life. It feels so wrong to tell my girl to "dumb it down" to avoid rejection. How do I solve such a riddle?

Well, I have to remind myself that it's not my turn to grow up, and it's time to let Peanut have her turn. There are some lessons in life that really don't need to be learned by experience (sex, drugs, hairstyles...). Then there are those that won't hit home unless they're learned in the midst of it all, and I think Making and Keeping Friends is probably one of them.

So, in the hopes that after an awkward childhood Peanut will make friends that share interests and knowledge, I guess it's safe to let her figure out when she'll benefit most from "dumbing it down."

---

* I'm not blowing hot air. This is a valid worry. Ha! Told you so.
The "told you so" was cheekiness. If I were on Facebook I'd add "LOL" so you wouldn't get mad at me.

**Anyone else think that "I digress" should really be stated as thus: "I'm digressing?" Anyone? No? Fine.

Twisted Sister (or Why I Can't Wear Plaid)

Let's get down to the knitty-gritty: I have scoliosis. I've actually been trying to hide that fact for, oh, 20-odd years. It is almost a subject of personal shame, but it's part of who I am. I feel kind of trapped by it. There hasn't been a day that has gone by without my thinking about it, or thinking about other people thinking about it.

Until recently, I wasn't brave enough to try to find out how others felt about it (or lived with it). I searched it on Twitter the other day and found quite a few people living with it (and quite a few crude jokes I have been lucky enough to have never heard before).
So what's the deal? Why am I gung-ho about letting the cat out of the bag now? I don't know, and that's the truth. Maybe I want to vent my frustration at not being able to wear the clothes I want to because it makes me look strange. I kind of want to raise awareness so that people will become desensitized and not get that glazed-over look on their faces when they realize my back isn't symmetrical. It would be nice if they thought of having scoliosis the same way they think of having extra weight. I'm curvy in more ways than one, people!

I definitely want to be able to talk about it with my girls, so that in case either of them develop it, they won't feel as uncomfortable about it as I was (and still am). Fake it 'til you make it.

Who wants some quick personal facts? I love 'em.

1. I wore 2 different kinds of braces when I was younger: the Milwaukee (sexy, I know), and the Charleston (mine was purple). The Milwaukee got me bullied in grade school. Jerks. I wore the Charleston overnight.
   
2. Scoliosis is more common than I ever thought. Lots of famous people have (or had) it, including Kurt Cobain, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Chloe Sevigny. I didn't know that, but it makes me feel better. I don't know why.
   
3. My first chiropractor was super creepy in that he wanted to "save" me, but I now think he just wanted $200/week. He also reminded me of Willy Wonka (now you know why I don't like that movie).

Plaid + scoliosis = lumpy strange mess. Also, the shirt was a bit snug. Needless to say I didn't buy it.

Super Quick Stats

For the curious (which will likely only be my future self): All the stats are the same this week. No losses, but no gains!

STATS
Starting weight: 127 lbs.
Goal weight: 117 lbs.
Current weight: 125 lbs.
Measurements:
Arm: 11"
Bust: 38"
Waist: 31"
Thigh: 20"
Hips: 37"
Progress:
Weight lost: 2 lbs.
Inches lost: 4"

Success in spite of myself!

It was challenging getting anything done around the house this week because I was sick for a few days, followed by the girls. I know I could have done much more (there were times I caught myself just staring into space) but I didn't feel like it. I vacuumed the living room on Friday because I forced myself to. It took quite a pep talk, though.

Regardless, there is some significant loss this week. I'm going to continue to try and focus on getting my life organized.* Hopefully with more effort I'll see better improvement next week!

STATS
Starting weight: 127 lbs.
Goal weight: 117 lbs.
Current weight: 125 lbs.
Measurements:
Arm: 11"
Bust: 38"
Waist: 31"
Thigh: 20"
Hips: 37" Someone had asked about this measurement. I didn't include it originally because I don't want to lose any inches there! Maybe I can tone my butt and gain an inch?
Progress:
Weight lost: 2 lbs.
Inches lost: 4"

*In case you're interested, my main goal this week is to either put away all photos into albums - I'll put them in order another time - or fill up the photo albums I have, whichever comes first. I think I'll run out of albums, to be honest. I'll try not to feel lost if that happens.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Diets I've Tried

The diets listed below may or may not be labelled correctly. I'm just trying to describe them as best I can. You get the main idea. I'm not endorsing anything but #1, either.

10. Atkins Diet. I ate a lot of meat on day one. Then I felt really sick and never tried it again.

9. Soup Diet. This one worked for the three days I lasted on it. There is only so much soup I can take. I haven't been able to stomach soup since, unless it has been really cold out or I've been really, really sick. It's been 10 years since I tried it.

8. Low-Fat Diet. I really had high hopes for this one. I substituted the "light" version of everything I could, but I didn't notice any difference in weight loss nor in how I felt. Also, things just didn't taste as good.

7. Meal Replacement Diet. I had one of those shakes in the morning and at lunch, then a healthy meal in the evening, followed by another helping of the healthy meal, then some dessert, then a couple of snacks, some more dessert, another snack, maybe some pop...

6. Cereal Diet. Feeling peckish? Have some low-fat, whole grain cereal with skim milk. I was hoping this one would help me get my daily quota of fibre, but all I got was a bowl of cereal as an appetizer to the much tastier chocolate cake I was hiding in the freezer.

5. Salad Diet. Similar to the Cereal Diet, except I'd have salad. That one only worked for the first day, and then I got too lazy to wash lettuce.

4. Serving-Size Diet. Easy-peesy-buzzing-beezy. Eat what I want, but keep it within the serving size listed on the nutritional information chart. Yeah right. I ended up having one serving at a time. It did help me to become aware of what I was eating, at least.

3. Water Diet. Have a glass of water before anything I eat. I guess this one helped me to get my water quota each day, kept me hydrated, and helped me avoid bingeing, but I also peed a lot and still ate a bunch of junk. Not much weight loss, but I felt pretty good.

2. Sugar-Free Diet. This one actually worked pretty well. I didn't find it too difficult because I was substituting Splenda. I lost some weight, and I felt pretty good thanks to the absence of sugar-highs and crashes. I'll probably try this one again (and again). I'm just waiting to stop nursing (I don't want to overload the baby with Sucralose).

1. Healthy Food Plus Exercise. Once again, the only thing that really worked with lasting results. Sigh.