Bear's wife?

Bear looks older than he really is. Especially like he was yesterday when I took him in to get his blood drawn. He was wearing a t-shirt that shows his mature physique and he was very scruffy beard-wise. When he mentioned he was going to be late to school you should have seen the nurse's double take. She asked him how old he was, and was shocked when he said 16.



Then she turned to me and said, "I guess that makes you his mom. I thought you were his wife!" SAY WHAT?!!



I've been told I look like his sister, but NEVER his wife?!! Especially now that I've let my hair go grey.



Does that mean he looks really old, or I look really young?

I have been getting comments on how much weight I've lost, but I haven't lost that much weight. So I'm going to give you Mary's Three Cs... that you didn't ask for.

1. Cheeks - To make my face look less round and jowly I brush on a darker powder in the hollows under my cheek bones all the way down to my chin to deemphasize them and create the illusion that they are in shadow. Then blush on the cheekbones as usual. Seems to be helping. ( I always think of Steve Martin getting advice from the store clerk about deemphasizing his nose with makeup in Roxanne).


2. Clothes - I wear clothes with an empire waistline that emphasizes my ribs which are the smallest part of my body (just under the bust) and then flare over the tummy and lower body. When I gain weight I always gain in the bust so I feel like I'm staying more proportionate anyway.


3. Caerobics - whenever I'm in the car alone I do stomach and lower body "flexing" to tighten my muscles and improve my posture. I've an hourglass figure, but I found my belly was rounding out all the way up to the bra line. Now that I've started the flexing I see a substantial difference there (nowhere lower unfortunately). Basically I push out my belly and then suck it in and hold it - 100 times- tightening my stomach muscles from the top of my pubic bone to the the bra line. Then 100 times of clenching my booty, thighs and lower abs, and squeezing my knees together (ala Suzanne Somers' thigh master). Kegel exercises work so I figure this can't hurt right?! I did say that I do this only when I'm alone in the car!

Will be blogging about Katharine Leslie's coaching/ teaching reciprocity next.

Happy Easter and Happy Birthday to Me

Happy Easter to y'all!

Today is also my birthday! I am now officially 40.

My "biggest" birthday present was that I discovered that I've been reading the scale wrong (can't see too well first thing in the morning). I've actually lost 20lbs since I started on this diet two months ago! So I'm pigging out today. That makes sense right?!

Anywaaay... only 50lbs to go!

Edited to add: Umm not sure what happened, but I'm back where I thought I was. *sigh* Either I gained 10lbs since yesterday (I didn't think I ate that much!), someone messed with the scale, or it was God's idea of a birthday present). Oh well.

Weight loss

OK, it's been a month on South Beach. I've lost about 8lbs, and I don't think I look any different, but today my size 18s looked baggy on me so I tried on some size 16 jeans. Gave me a muffin top, but they fit!

Weight loss

This is not a weight loss blog, but I just wanted to say... I lost 5 lbs! I'm almost done with my second week of South Beach and last time I lost 17lbs in the first 2 weeks, but I'm still happy, and so are my knees.

Now if I could just figure out a way to add in exercise...

Well, gotta go. Still need to:

Pack my lunch (Cheese Broccoli soup leftovers)
Drop off Ponito's Valentine box he forgot - at the elementary school
Pack and drop off Kitty's hygiene supplies - at the middle school (got a long lecture earlier in the week about how much she smells so our solution is to keep stuff at school - another post on the meltdown this caused last night soon)
Run by the pharmacy to pick up meds
Drop off meds for Bear -at the high school
Meet with a new potential intern
Deliver a check
Fix a major mistake on a huge proposal
Try to figure out the paperwork for how to get out the incredibly late W-2s for all the staff and former staff
Lunch meeting with client...

Well, you get the idea.

Weighing in

Took my 5'9" fully grown 16 year old son to the psychiatrist. He weighed in at 210lbs. Out of curiosity I stepped on after him (didn't let him look). OMG I weigh 212! *sigh* I have NEVER weighed this much. Even 9 1/2 months pregnant after having gained 70lbs during my pregnancy I was still 7lbs less and I lost 20lbs the next day and 20 more pounds within the next 2 weeks(gave birth to Bob and most of it was water weight).

My sister's wedding is in 2 months. I'm Matron of Honor, and my little sister is... little. I already look freakishly tall next to her as she is only 5'3" and I'm 5'7". (This is my little sis and my niece and nephew).

I went to the doctor for a check up. Will find the results of my thyroid test soon, and need to be fasting for the rest of the tests. My doctor is very understanding about my stress levels. I told him that I was worried about not being able to stay on my meds consistantly, and he advised me that I should be able to go back on my meds full strength unless I'd been off them for more than a few days.

I mentioned how upset I was about my weight gain, and how frustrated I am that I can't sleep. He was very sweet and said he would like to see me lose 10-15lbs, but he wasn't going to give me a hard time about it (because I have enough stress). Of course I wouldn't mind losing 10-15lbs but would prefer losing 70-75! This is not a good weight for me, and no matter how many times I watch How To Look Good Naked (which is a great show by the way), feeling good about myself doesn't mean I don't need to lose the weight.

So I started South Beach yesterday. Now I've got to figure out how to start exercising. I'd love to take my fat dogs out walking, but the Husky (80+lbs) pulls so hard she's miserable to walk with.

My sweet fat Prince Cuddles blew his ACL again, and is limping (we can't afford to get it fixed right now) so no walks for him.

Princess, our "puppy" is so undisciplined... ah, who am I kidding...

it's COLD out there. I am NOT an outdoor person.

It's just going to have to be me and Richard.
I want to go from this -------------------------> back to this.

This is realistic I think. The picture on the right was after having two kids, and only 10 years ago.