Saturday, May 21, 2011

Update: Plans, Health, Some Mini Disasters, and a Few Links




Like I've mentioned before, our plans seem to change nearly daily. Here's what's going on:


  • Plans. We finally bought our tickets to our next destination which will be Las Vegas. Hubby and the BIL will be taking part in the World Series of Poker tournament there (fingers crossed that they win the multi-million dollar prize!) and I will get to catch up with some friends I haven't seen for a few years. We will be there the last week of June and the first week of July and after that? Well, we haven't decided yet.

  • Health. As soon as we decided to go to Vegas, I decided I better get serious about my health. While my days of having a "boomin" bod and hanging out at the pool all day and nightclub all night are long gone, I still don't want to look like a beached whale (which is exactly what I feel like after basically lounging around and doing not much of anything for three months)! My goal is to lose 25 pounds in 40 days and in order to do so I have been working out at least two hours each day as well as eating better than I ever have. I went with a "Paleo-ish" diet of only natural, nutritious foods including meat, fish, lots of fruit and vegetables as well as non-paleo foods such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, bananas, and very occasionally rice. In fact, a few days after I started eating this way I was reading Carla's blog over at My 1/2 Dozen Daily and found that what I eat basically follows along with this post (although she rendered the explanation much better--and prettier!--than I could). Basically you skip the grains, dairy, and processed foods and eat only natural food. After just a week, I actually do feel much better, although I very much miss my favorite food groups--wheat, dairy, and Starbucks.

  • Mini Disaster #1. About a week or so ago, I was ready to throw in the towel, move back home, buy another house, and get back into the rat race. I was bored silly (I have always worked at least one, usually two, jobs since I was sixteen but for the past four months I haven't worked at all and was going stir crazy). I missed my friends (I talk to them often and they always ask when I am coming home and I felt like I was missing out on so much with them...I was homesick!). And, since I read the online version of our local paper each day, there have been no less than six front page articles that, had I still been "in the mix" so to speak, I would have known about before the things hit the paper. I would have been a part of what was going on instead of reading about things from afar. I felt like my life, or at least my previous life, was passing me by. Then I had a moment of feeling sorry for the idle rich. It is all of these things--working, having a social group, being part of things in a community--that creates the fabric of life. Just traveling around and having no ties takes this important part of living away from you. I was ready to hop on the next plane and go home but hubby told me to stick it out, at least until after Las Vegas, and see where we feel like going from there. So I am waiting and in the past week I haven't felt so bad.

  • Mini Disaster #2. A couple of days ago my step daughter (who is wonderful and the only "daughter" I have), sent me a text message. It said "I'm leaving my husband, can you help me?" I was ready to do the happy dance as I thoroughly dislike her husband and find him to be borderline abusive and getting worse but we have kept out of their relationship and told her we support whatever she wants to do. After four kids and trying to work it out, seems like she finally wised up and is kicking the idiot to the curb. But I digress. Like most women with four kids, a lousy husband, and a bad relationship, leaving him means that she will basically be out on her own, have to find a new place to live, and have to support her family by herself (we are hoping the guy will pay child support but that remains to be seen). So I know that the help we will provide will be mostly from our emergency fund. Ouch. Fortunately the kids (there's five of them) have learned to not ask us for money (we don't co sign loans, pay their massive cell phone bills, dig them out of credit card debt, or pay bail) but on occasion we do help out with unforeseen emergencies. This is one of them. It remains to be seen how much and what kind of help she will need.

  • And finally, some links. Here's some interesting links you might like: Your Debt Free Checklist (exactly the process we used to get out of debt). Daily Habits that Keep Me Out of Debt (I have most of these same habits). Your Ideal Life Strategy (we basically did these things to get to the point we are at now).

Finally, since my blog always looks a little blah due to the lack of pictures, I decided to throw up a picture of my favorite flower to photograph, a dahlia. Have a great weekend!

10 comments:

  1. You can't lose 25lbs in 40 days safely.. I'm not sure what your starting point is, but unless you're morbidly obese chances are your body won't even permit that dramatic of a weight loss. Please be careful :(

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  2. Yay for hubby talking you into sticking it out! I was worried he would be the one to miss home and make a run for it. I hope he wins the big prize at the poker tourney!

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  3. Hi Lorraine--I thought hubby would do that too. I guess he was in the military so long that whereever he is, he settles in pretty quickly and is, um, happy as a clam! :)
    HTMB--You're right. My optimum weight is 130 and I was hoping to get back to that but it may take longer than a month and a half (guess I was thinking back to my younger days when I was a gymnast and a dancer and I had to make an effort to keep weight on otherwise I would lose weight even in my sleep!). Thanks for the warning!

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  4. Good luck in Vegas! And, good luck on your efforts to get back that boomin bod. If you want to jazz up your blog with some pictures try posting some of you in your bikini in Vegas....flaunt your victories! I wish you all the best....

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  5. 25 lbs in 40 days is a bit much to be honest... I think a great goal (and high at that!) would be 15lbs. Even that would be awesome!! Keep on eating the way you are now & it'll come off though! ;) It took me 6 months to lose a little over 50lbs, and like you, I was busting my ass to do it! lol!

    Sorry to hear about your Daughter in laws situation, hope it all works out for the best.

    Vegas sounds exciting!!! You'll have to update on how it goes!!! :)

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  6. Just one word of advice about the step-daughter. Don't do the happy dance in front of her, and don't agree with her too much when she tells you what a jerk her husband is. It takes most women more than one separation to really get past a bad marriage, and if she goes back to him (which may happen), you may find yourself on the outs with her just because you agreed with her when she was badmouthing the spouse. Being supportive but non-judgmental about either party works better in the long run.

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  7. Carla--Wow 50 pounds in six months? That's great. I am trying to contain my expectations and I also realize after the first week that I don't want to go too "hard core" because I want to make this a permanent way to eat and not a weight loss plan. The best part is that without eating grains I have pretty much stopped snacking because every snack I crave is made of grain so that's one plus. p.s. I will definitely update about Vegas, my friend said she will show me every cheap deal she knows about in Vegas so it should make a good post.
    Grace--Thanks for the advice. I have worked with battered women for quite a while and if there is anything I have noticed, it's that they keep going back! So with my daughter I remain guardedly optimistic and supportive. She has moved out and gone back a few times desperatly trying for a "good marriage" (I didn't tell her that she needs a "good" man to start with!). Thanks!
    DD--I'll consider the pictures...in about 25 pounds! :)

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  8. The traveling sounds great to me. I'm glad you stuck it out! I'm dying to get back to Vegas.

    I wish your stepdaughter nothing but the best. I know this must be a tough time in her life. I have a cousin who is going through the same thing.

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  9. You have planed a very good thing in you life. As you are going for visiting a new place that is vegas. I hope you will enjoy lot at that place. And I have seens in many pictures that I is very interesting place.

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  10. I very much miss my favorite food groups--wheat, dairy, and Starbucks.

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