I'm Back!

I returned late last night from Cowtown. They needed exam reviewers. I wanted to go shopping. It was a match made in heaven.

Only flaw in the plan was the leaving the boys part. But it flew by and I did some serious damage in the mall before heading to the marking center for oh, about 20 hours of hard marking. And now I'm back. There is no place like home!

I also get the opportunity to visit with my friend from way back - oh about grade 9 to be exact. She happens to live there and has so graciously allowed me to bunk with her each time I have gone. I may have worn out my welcome though... it's been twice in 6 months. We had fun but still, after all these years, haven't settled the argument about whose butt is bigger. I know, but she is as stubborn as me so I will never bring her around to my thinking. Let's put it this way. She is at least 4 -5 inches taller and weighs about the same normally. However, she had her tonsils out over Christmas and couldn't eat for 2 weeks. She now weighs less - I still have a few to lose after the Christmas eat fest. I think it's pretty obvious whose hiney is bigger.

Not to mention mine is still numb from being on it for about 11 hours yesterday between marking, supper, waiting at the airport and the plane ride. I am positive it has spread.

And despite the damage I did at the mall, I think I came out ahead financially speaking.

Martha Stewart

I am NOT.

Jack decided he wanted hamburgers for supper tonight. So me, attempting to be all domestic and such decided to make some buns for the burgers.

Not unusual you say?

It's -30 celsius without the bonus of windchill. With windchill, it's freeze your balls off cold.

Now do hamburgers grilled on the BBQ sound a bit unusual?

I thought so but we are crazy or else why in the name of Bob would we live in this God forsaken place?

We do, but I digress. Back to the buns. While the boys ate lunch I whipped up a batch of whole wheat dough in the bread machine and made some buns to rise while Jack was at school and Kamden & I headed off to our playdate - aka keep mommy out of the straightjacket date.

They were nice and plump when we arrived home from picking Jack up from school so I popped them in the oven while Jay ventured out to the BBQ. Fear not, it's in our covered deck. It's a balmy -25 in there. And for the firefighters out there, don't worry, we open a door for ventilation.

As we are eating supper a small, very hard off-white chunk falls out of Jack's mouth.

After much debate..... Jay thought it was a peice of Jack's tooth......I thought it was just a peice of dried up dough. When the knife wouldn't cut it I came around.

IT WAS A PEICE OF HIS TOOTH.

I am NEVER making buns again.

Resolutions

I am not one to normally make New Year's resolutions but last year I did. I was 18 mons post partum and still sporting a good extra 10 lbs. In my mind that's huge. I have always been active - well for the most part anyway - and I always have had a very active appetite.

I just didn't seem to have "time" to be active. After Christmas I said enough is enough. I can find time to be active. So I put the eliptical trainer in front of the TV and wha la, time to be active was found.

I was motivated by the need to feel good in nice clothes again. I wanted to get out of the frumpy loose shirts I was wearing to hide the midsection rolls.

I did it. I worked out regularly 5 times a week for the most part. I cut back on the sweets but you know me, I LOVE food so I didn't go crazy. Cutting out everything good makes me an unhappy camper. I increased our veggie intake too. Afterall it's about health too, not just looks.

By about the end of Feb I was feeling much, much better. By summer I was in tank tops every chance I got. We had a great summer after the rain of June stopped so I pretty much lived in tanks. It was great.

In August I went for my annual physical and I weighed in lighter than last year. Yahoo I said. But more important than the numbers was how I felt. And I felt GOOD! Especially when shopping for clothes a size or two smaller than the year before. Oh, woops, that would be the numbers again.....But it FELT good to be in smaller sizes - does that still count?

I also had way more energy and needed less sleep. This was a two fold bonus as I now have more energy to exercise and more time to get all the necessary things done that are required in keeping this family running along with my partner in crime - the wonderful Jay.

In September I finally signed up for a Pilates class. It's something I had been wanting to do for awhile as I really enjoyed the DVD workout Cathy and I had done a few times together. Turns out I LOVE it. As much as I love figure skating, horseback riding and chocolate. Yes, THAT much!

After one session I graduated to the reformer which is an apparatus that allows you to use springs for resistance rather than just your body weight like on the mat. It will give me some strength training to tone some of the parts that are in dire need of toning. Like the midsection roll area as noted above. Which, by the way, sticks out a whole lot less when I stand up straight. Pilates made me realize how crappy my posture really is.

To transfer to the reformer I had to take two private lessons with my instructor which was really fun and I finally felt like I had worked out after. The mat class was an intro class that had to move really slow to accomodate all members. I like to sweat and hurt. It wasn't quite that kind of class. Now it will be and I am excited.

So here I am. A whole year has gone by and I actually stuck with my resolution. I am more active. I lost some weight and got out of the frumps.

But guess what?

The large quanties of Christmas baking have put me back on resolution parole. I am back at the same weight I was last year at this time. BUT my clothes still fit.

It's got to the be muscle I have built, right?

Yeah right! That and the 20 lbs of scuffles, butter tarts, macaroons, nanimo bar, poppycock and turkey I consumed over a 10 day period.

Gotta go. There's an eliptical with my name on it in the other room!