More Tidbits That I've Been Thinking About.

I've really been down on myself, lately, about the fact that my weight loss has plateaued.  I've made my workouts more strenuous.  To the tune of: five days a week, and I've been mixing things up, not just jogging all of the time.  Although, when I do jog (I still don't think I can officially call myself a runner yet) I've been clocking in between an 8 and 10 minute mile.

At the end of July I went 13 days straight, without sweets/desserts!  I figured that had to be worth at least 5 pounds.  But, nada.  I was very frustrated.  And my line of reasoning was something like: why should I even try?

Then, I was going through pictures, and I saw these two:

The picture with me, and baby Elsa was taken two years ago.  And even though I was six months pregnant with Cohen at the time, I still thought, "yikes!".  The second picture is one from Reagan's July 2013 birthday, and it made me realize that I have made progress.

I need to be more positive.  For heaven's sake, I still have hypothyroidism, so my metabolism isn't functioning as well as it could.  And even though I don't think I'll ever be able to naturally get rid of the, as I lovingly refer to it: shelf of fat that is my tummy (acquired that after three babies); I feel a lot healthier, and better.  And should count for something.

I also need to give myself "props", because I am more physically fit these days, than I have been in 17 years.  As a teenager, I played soccer, and my sophomore year I had a svelte physique from that activity.  But my high school team was lame.  They lost.  A lot.  And the girls on the team were catty.  I opted not to play soccer in high school anymore.  Instead, I made really good friends, and ran track and cross country with them.  I use the term "ran" very loosely.  I hated it.  And wasn't committed.  I really wish I could go back in time, and tell my 17 year-old-self that, if my 33 year-old-self could run 5 kilometers without walking; my 17 year-old-self could certainly do it!  Anyway....

My cousin, Julie, recently came to visit; and a comment she made struck a chord with me.  She said, that once you break through the barrier of running three miles, you really start to enjoy it; and you can go further.

I think she was spot-on in that observation. 

In June 2012 I started out walking, on the treadmill three times a week.  In the spring, I ran outside a few times (only on the downhill).  Now, I crave my morning jog.  On Friday, I was feeling so good, that I added an extra mile on to the usual course that I jog.  I need to keep it up.  And that's my pep-talk to myself, via my blog.

In other "marathon-ish" news.  It only took 4 years, but we paid off Nick's student loans.  Now, all 3 of the cars are paid for; we don't have any more student loans (Nick and I both paid for our bachelors degrees out of our own pockets).  We refinanced the house, almost two years ago, to a 15 year amortization.  So, what I'm really working on now; is paying off the credit card debt.  CC's are my downfall.  It is so hard for me to solely use the debit card.  I was awesome at sticking to our budget, back in the day when I was the breadwinner, and we were poor college students.  I've had to re-discover that mentality, and am proud to say that I haven't touched a credit card for three months now.  But there is still the matter of taking the balance to zero...

Paying off Nick's student loans was a reason to celebrate, so we went out for sushi.  Where else?  But to: Takashi.  Hands-down the best sushi joint.  Ever.

My little brother saved Nick and Me money by fixing our truck, yet again.  In the winter it developed this annoying habit: the power steering wouldn't work when you turned right.  The power steering was fine, when you turned left; but you had to really use your upper body strength to muscle the steering wheel right.
Brian finally graduated, with his RN.  Now he has two bachelors degrees.  So, he's had free time, while he looks for job.  Why not pay him to fix our car?  He is a fraction of the cost that an auto shop is. 
Really though, my fingers are crossed for him.  That he can get a nursing job, in an ICU unit, that's what he wants.  Lofty goals for a newly graduated RN.  But he has the Respiratory Therapy bachelor's degree, and he's been working at the University of Utah hospital for a few years now; so maybe it'll happen?

Just silliness: one Saturday, I needed to run to the grocery store.  It was a Saturday when Nick was working.  So, I called a neighborhood girl to babysit.  When I cam home, I was surprised to find Elsa like this:

In a diaper, and the diaper was backwards!  I had failed to mention to the babysitter, that Elsa is potty trained.  Oops.  It was worth a good chuckle to me.  After the babysitter left, of course.

Reagan went to a birthday party, and brought home lots of dum dum pops.  This is the way she wanted to eat them, so I let her.

This is the last picture I will ever post on my blog of one of my children with a binky in the mouth.  It was a rough couple of days (more for me, than Cohen and Elsa, I'd say); but we broke the two of them of their binky habit!  Elsa was older than Reagan was, when I took the binky away, and Cohen was younger.  So, we'll average out their ages, and call things fair.

One of my neighbors did a "going away party" for her daughters' binky.  They tied the binky's on balloons and released the balloons in to the sky, to go to the binky fairy.  I'm not that Mom.  I'm mean.  I told all 3 of my children that the garbage man took their binky's.  No fanfare.

9 months ago I was SO ready to move.  But this past summer, I have fallen in love with our neighborhood all over again.  Our ward boundaries were changed, so we've been able to meet some amazing new people through church attendance every week.  I have been so grateful to have met families like the Landvatters, Stevensons, and Philpots.  I may be able to tough it out this winter, because I have good friends nearby; who will curse the cold and snow; right along with me!
Cohen's new friend at church, is the delightful Tyler: 

Yes.  Things are good.  I love summer!  And I may be able to survive another Utah winter.