Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

I found this, and it made my day. I hope you enjoy it too.

From patient to nurse

On Saturday evening I switched roles from patient to nurse. My eight year old daughter fell while playing at a friends house and broke her arm right at the elbow. Ouch! We had to take her to the hospital, where she had surgery to put pins in her elbow to hold it in place. Since i just had surgery on Monday, my sweet husband wanted me to stay home while he took her to the hospital, but there was no way on earth that was happening. When you're hurt you need your mommy. So I hobbled along. I was grateful I had had 6 days to heal up.
Our sweet neighbors and her friends have bringing bring lots of goodies over for our family because of her broken bone. This morning a hid a plate of brownies and a plate of cupcakes in the oven just so I wouldn't have to look at them and hear them calling my name all day.

( Here is an x-ray with the pins in her elbow. ) So last night as I laid in bed after an exhausting day, ran through the numbers in my head and made some decisions. First, I decided that I will not have any sweets before the New Year, except on Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day, and then with moderation. With all this sweet stuff floating around it's better for me just to have a hands off policy. I told my husband and her said, "Really? What about ice cream?" I think he was worried he wasn't going to be able to have any! lol

Second, I realized that if I lose an average of 7 pounds a month, I will reach my goal by my 4oth birthday. (That's 17 months away.) That doesn't seem too overwhelming. I can do that. If I am faster, great! If I just stay on track for 7 pounds a month, great! So, that's the basic plan.

Weigh In

I reluctantly stepped onto the scale this morning. I debated with myself about waiting until I was more fully recovered, but that seemed a lot like the, "I'll start my diet on Monday" mentality. If I have to lie around all day I should at least be thinking about what is going into my mouth. Right??

So here is the official damage. 9 months of pregnancy, taking the eating for two to the limit. I weighed in at 267.8. There it is in black and white. It looks just as bad as it did on the scale. I will round it to 268 to make things simpler.

So I am off and running. Okay, maybe walking gingerly, but I am moving forward. I have a rough road ahead of me.....

1. The holiday season

2. recovering from surgery

3. nursing a 3 month old

BUT, I have made the decision. It starts here and now. Here we go!

Recovering

I am back at home, sitting in my bed recovering. The surgery went well, but my stomach feels like it was run through a meat grinder. My sweet hubby has taken the week off of work to be and help take care of me and the kids.
It kind of scares me, but I think that while I was in recover my heart was being funny. I was still coming out of anesthesia but I remember people talking about an EKG for me. Now, I have a bruise just down from each shoulder where they may or may not have connected the EKG. Does anyone know what that could be?
I come from a long line of bad hearts, and if I am already having trouble at 38 that just scares the snot out of me. Maybe I'll be scared straight. Or just scared skinny?

Surgery- blah

Things have been crazy! We had the holiday open house on Saturday night. We had about 35 people over to our home, and raised $550 dollars to give to a family in need. It was a wonderful night and everyone was very happy to visit and enjoy being together. Now I won't spend hours in the kitchen trying not to snitch at the fattening goodies I'm making for the neighbors, or resisting their yummy treats that they bring to my house. It was a win-win.

I am going in for surgery today. I am nervous. I have an umbilical hernia that needs to be repaired. It has bothered me for 10 years, but now that I'm done having children, it's time to get it fixed. It's all part of my plan to get my body back into tip-top working order. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm such a ninny with pain. Wish me luck, and cross your fingers for me.

A REAL treat

After years of tossing this idea around, my sweet hubby and I are finally putting it into action.

Every Christmas our sweet neighbors bring their Holiday greetings, usually with a plate of fattening goodies. And we of course, make dozens of plates of treats as well to send around to our friends and neighbors. Oreo fudge anyone??

So..... This year, we are instead sending around a note inviting everyone to an open house at our home. Everyone will be invited to bring a goodie to share if they would like, as well as an envelope with the cash that they would have spent on neighbor gifts. (totally optional) The money will be combined and given to a family in need. Hopefully with this plan we will be helping others, and not ending up with a counter full of fattening-calorie laden food that we feel guilty if we don't eat.

I am a little nervous to put this plan into action. What will people think? Will they want to participate? The few people that we have talked to have been very positive and excited about it. I am excited not to have to come up with a creative original treat for everyone, spend hours in the kitchen or be tempted to snitch as I make those treats. It will be nice to visit with everyone at the open house as well.

So what do you think? What are your plans for your neighbors?

My own master

Happy Friday!!
So I didn't make it to the gym last night, but I did this morning. This was a big deal, because I hauled my 2 and a half year old, and my 10 week old with me. I put the toddler in the daycare, and pushed my baby. This is huge, because if it works, I can incorperate it into a daily routine.

So, with my cute babe parked drowsily next to me I battled the elliptical. I had my ipod with me this time which made a huge difference in enjoyment and helping the time to pass. I was listening to AIDA the musical. Totally rocks if you haven't seen it. Anyway, there is a line in one of the songs that Aida sings where she says,

"You talk as though you've been enslaved, if you don't like your fate, change it. You are your own master, there are no shackles on you."

I loved the reminder that even though sometimes I feel like the victim, ("oh poor fat me") I am in charge of my own destiny. I control my future. I put this weight on, and no body is going to get rid of it except me.

Working on it!
The song is Enchantment passing through from Aida.