Secular Confessions

[AmeriBrit]

Katy, girl, I did not think you were a day over 30! You still got it, for sure! People have always told me that I look younger than I am. Like, last year when we got picked up to go to the airport for our vacation, the van driver was talking to dh and I and asking us how long we'd been together, etc. and you could see he was trying to do the math in his head, and he was like, "Were you like 12 when you 2 met? You're only like 20, aren't you?" I thanked him and told him I was 30 and he was shocked. DH says I accept compliments like that too easily. He says I'm supposed to protest and say stuff, like, "Oh, no, I don't look THAT young" instead of being like, "Oh, thanks, I get that all the time" (which is what I say alot....LOL). I am afraid,though, as I get older that my tendonitis and arthritis issues will get worse and I'll eventually be crippled by it.

Erin, I didn't know that you had an eating disorder. (Hugs).

Shelley, that is so true about British humor. I used to roll my eyes at Brits who would say stuff about Americans not getting their humor, but I now see what they are talking about. I've met a few new expats lately who seem SO American to me...I guess that means I'm slowly being assimilated to the other side! Brits have a certain meanness to their humor that I think takes Americans awhile to not take so seriously. They love laughing at themselves and it takes you awhile to realize that they are not making fun of you, but accepting you in to the gang by laughing at you. It sounds harsh, but it's not, really.

All this talk of exercise makes me want to go for a run! I have finally started seeing results from zumba. I go two times a week. My tummy is actually starting to look toned, which I thought it never would! Remember those bikinis I posted? I bought the white one with flowers on it and it actually looks really good on me! It's taken awhile for zumba to feel like it's done much for me. I've been going for 6 months and nearly gave up on it, but I decided to stick it out awhile. I am still not very good at it, but it's a lot like pilates in some ways, so my core muscles can feel the difference.

[Inca]

I hate exercising. There. I said it. Though I like doing things that don't seem like exercise, like walking. But running, nuh uh. Weight lifting, not my thing. Zumba, nah. So here I sit, all blobby.

[3andMe]

Yes, I love walking. I could walk all day and all night. I think part of it stems from grade school, back when I lived in El Paso and I was the only white kid in school. I have very fair skin and the second I start exercising I turn bright red. You all know one of those kids. I am that kid. I also blush like that. It has nothing to do with how fit I am. I did gymnastics, soccer, dance, etc. I ran around all the time. But those kids in my school used to laugh at me every time I turned red, whether it was from embarrassment or from exercise. They called me "El Tomate." I started hating running then. Before then, I would go jogging with my dad along the canals at night.

[AmeriBrit]

L, that is really sad. I hate that kids are so cruel when they are young. It's sad that empathy isn't abundant in humans.

[missychrissy]

Lately though she has been more critical of DH not helping with chores. She knows now that I work way more than he does both inside and outside the house. She also knows via our conversations that I have stepped back a lot on my chores because I just don't feel that they are a priority. As long as we don't have bugs and the house doesn't stink then I am fine. She now mostly harasses DH about helping without prompts and she apologizes to me about his behavior because she "didn't raise him like that," which is what she tells him as she cuts him a mean look. I think she is now embarrassed by his lack of assistance in our house.

Erin

Now that I could tolerate!

Actually, I don't talk about this much but Rich wasn't that good to me when I was in labor with Conner. It's not that he was mean, but he was the furthest thing from supportive that you could get. His mother was doing the hushed whisper thing saying, "Get over there to your wife! She's in pain!" He was literally groaning and walking away from me with each contraction. I hated him and never felt more alone and helpless, and I appreciated his mother giving him hell because I couldn't. I think that's the only time she's ever stuck up for me in anything.

All this talk of exercise makes me want to go for a run! I have finally started seeing results from zumba. I go two times a week. My tummy is actually starting to look toned, which I thought it never would! Remember those bikinis I posted? I bought the white one with flowers on it and it actually looks really good on me! It's taken awhile for zumba to feel like it's done much for me. I've been going for 6 months and nearly gave up on it, but I decided to stick it out awhile. I am still not very good at it, but it's a lot like pilates in some ways, so my core muscles can feel the difference.

Um, yeah...now I wanna try Zumba. Go girl! I'm glad you stuck with it and you're seeing results!

Yes, I love walking. I could walk all day and all night. I think part of it stems from grade school, back when I lived in El Paso and I was the only white kid in school. I have very fair skin and the second I start exercising I turn bright red. You all know one of those kids. I am that kid. I also blush like that. It has nothing to do with how fit I am. I did gymnastics, soccer, dance, etc. I ran around all the time. But those kids in my school used to laugh at me every time I turned red, whether it was from embarrassment or from exercise. They called me "El Tomate." I started hating running then. Before then, I would go jogging with my dad along the canals at night.

I too turn bright red when I exercise. I don't remember getting picked on for it, but growing up in lily-white upstate NY I wasn't the only kid that was running around looking like a beet.

I could also walk all day long. If you and your family ever find yourselves in upstate NY, I know where there are some fantastic family friendly gorges. Ithaca is gorges! Plus, we have the Cornell Plantations that are simply spectacular (and free!).

[AmeriBrit]

We should do a heathen walk across the Yorkshire moors!

[daylilies]

I turn red when I exercise too. Another reason I stay indoors. I don't want people pulling over asking me if I'm alright.
I hate exercise too, but if I have a plan and/or a goal it's easier. I told DH about the couch to 5k thing and he might do it too.

[missychrissy]

We should do a heathen walk across the Yorkshire moors!

I'm game!!

I turn red when I exercise too. Another reason I stay indoors. I don't want people pulling over asking me if I'm alright.
I hate exercise too, but if I have a plan and/or a goal it's easier. I told DH about the couch to 5k thing and he might do it too.

I hope he does.

I bought my runnin sneaks today. I'm going to cheat and get a head start Kate. I justify this because I now smoke so it's going to take me twice as long to get up to 3 miles

[daylilies]

Cheater! No really, I don't mind. You'll probably get there faster anyway because you've ran before and I haven't. If you find the first few weeks are just too easy I don't care if you skip ahead.

[missychrissy]

Cheater! No really, I don't mind. You'll probably get there faster anyway because you've ran before and I haven't. If you find the first few weeks are just too easy I don't care if you skip ahead.

My first goal is just to jog/walk as fast as I can for 20 minutes straight. I'll do that for this week.

[daylilies]

Okay!

[missychrissy]

Okay!

I just need to stop plotting my dream map and go change.

An ambitious goal: http://www.runningmap.com/?id=379393 in 90 minutes...and it's very hilly. Very.

[missychrissy]

So I did it. I ran/walked a bit. I am going to die. Wow this is going to be hard to get into the grove!

[daylilies]

Lol!

[missychrissy]

So what do you guys use in your hair when you work out every day? My hair is already brittle and dry, but there's no way I can do the wash-every-other-day thing if I'm running.

[daylilies]

When I used to work out more I'd still take a shower every day but only wash/condition my hair every other day. It seems to do fine.

[missychrissy]

hmm....just wetting the hair was enough to get the sweat out?

[daylilies]

Yeah, for me it was. Maybe you're more sweaty than I am though

[missychrissy]

Yeah, for me it was. Maybe you're more sweaty than I am though

Could be!

[Inca]

Cant hurt to try just using water. I only have a chance to shower every other day. Oh yeah baby.

[missychrissy]

That's all I do now too Liz, but if I'm running I'm gonna need it more.

[girlwonder]

Chrissy - you might also put conditioner in your hair and massage it around then rinse out. Good for you for starting running again - I think with everything going on the way it is in your life right now you will really benefit from the endorphins and time alone doing something good for yourself. And you too, Kate! I am also a red-face exerciser. It put me off exercising for many years until I realized that no one cares what I look like except me. I just let go of that fear/care/worry and haven't ever let it bother me again.

Erin - I'm sorry you had that diagnosis. I hope you are able to find a good time to exercise. I'm not a morning person OR a runner, but I have found that my favorite time to run is right before sunrise in the morning. I really feel great when I get home and have accomplished one of my top three priorities before 8 am, which is a good feeling too. But since sleeping is my numero uno favorite activity on earth I have a hard time doing that more than twice a week!

Thanks for all the compliments, everyone! Some days I feel fine and some days not.

We had a good weekend. Went to see "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" last night. It was a really good movie about a Tokyo sushi making family dynasty. If you are a sushi fan you should definitely go see it! But even if not it is an interesting movie about the life of a top sushi maker and the sacrifices, etc. that go into honing your craft and becoming a master in your field. Some food for thought for me. We had some of my favorite people over for dinner tonight and we had a really nice visit. They brought amazing cheeses, which I don't often get to eat any more because of diet so I was really enjoying that. Yummy brillat savarin triple cream and a lovely sharp stilton and gruyere-like cheese with delicious crusty bread (another thing I avoid on a regular basis). DH made a pretty good soup we got out of the NY Times the other day: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/he...r=1&ref=health It was pretty easy and yummy and healthy too! And for dessert I had fresh strawberries in a bowl aside a bowl of greek yogurt mixed with brown sugar and a touch of vanilla for dipping. We gobbbled it all within about 5 minutes - oh, it was so good. I love plain untouched strawberries.

[missychrissy]

Chrissy - you might also put conditioner in your hair and massage it around then rinse out. Good for you for starting running again - I think with everything going on the way it is in your life right now you will really benefit from the endorphins and time alone doing something good for yourself. And you too, Kate! I am also a red-face exerciser. It put me off exercising for many years until I realized that no one cares what I look like except me. I just let go of that fear/care/worry and haven't ever let it bother me again.

I agree that it will be a great stress reliever. And about not worrying about what others think because no one is looking. I can promise that. If anything, they're jealous about the ambition to work out.

[Bridget]

Yay for running! I should join you guys. We go for a walk every day at least once and I try to run the hills, or I do lunges while Savana and Kai lollygag because they can watch a bug for a long time.

Hey, did you guys know that I could just lay Sawyer in his crib and let him cry AND stop breastfeeding him and he will magically sleep through the night? I'm learning so much these past couple of days.
It's not so bad though, really. The worst thing that happened today was that she wanted to go to walmart. Dbf was leaving so I asked him to come right back so that he could be home while Sawyer napped and I could take her to walmart. I didn't want to take Sawyer because he is pretty sick right now and I don't like to drag him to germ cess pools when he is ill. Plus he'd be miserable. So dbf says he will be back in an hour. He takes 2 hours. Then he has some guy coming over to buy a ladder and the guy stays forever because dbf has to take him around our whole property, show him the boathouse, god knows wtf else. Sawyers nap has came and went. Poor Kai and Savana were waiting all day to go get a movie to watch with their Oma. I can tell Kai is nearing the point where taking him out could be a disaster so I say to dbf to remember to be patient since Kai is tired. He says everything will be fine since all they are doing is going to the movie store and back. I explain to him that they have to go to Walmart and he throws a tantrum. Like, an actual temper tantrum. Do your dh's do this?
"I am not going to Walmart on a sunday. That's not happening. That is not fun for me. Do you think that's fun for me?" I keep telling him yes he is going, his mother needs some things. We've been waiting on him for four hours. If he's have come home when he said, or if he was willing and able to stay with his youngest son for any stretch of time I would happily take her (and I am the one that hates Walmart! He goes there all time against my wishes lol). He cussed and stomped around. The last thing I said to him when he left was that he should be ashamed of himself the way he was acting. He actually came home and apologized to me which is rare.

[missychrissy]

Um, no Bridget, I can say Rich has ever thrown a tantrum. I'm glad he apologized but geeze. I don't know how you don't bonk him on the head with a marble rolling pin sometimes.

I thighs hurt.

[MashedUp]

Boy, I missed a lot! I need to go shopping for a super-duper awesome sports bra so I can start exercising better. Right now, anything that involves any sort of bouncing, etc is not cool. I'm signed up to do this mud run/obstacle course thing on June 3 and it's almost 5 miles long. I'm probably going to die.

My DH was gone with his brothers and dad for a guys weekend, so my best friend and I took our kids to the wildlife park saturday, then they came over for a slumber party. We all had a blast, the kids played and watched a movie, then we stayed up drinking and talking. We don't get to see each other super often, so it's nice to have some time to just catch up.

[Inca]

Bridget, I think you already know my answer to your question. That being said, this weekend was decent in terms of weekends go around here. I think he was picking up on my lack of interest in him. He didn't like being ignored, so he started acting nice.

[Ky'sMom]

My DH is a major tantrum thrower. He throws way more tantrums than Elle does, who is mostly tantrumless. She will even tell DH that he needs to take deep breaths! LOL.

DH has always been one to have tantrums though so they don't bother me like they used to. If he starts to go into tantrum mode I talk to him like a baby and ask him if he needs to go sit on the steps (Elle's cool down spot) until he feels better. He will glare at me and usually either do what I asked or leave. I don't care really either way. Unfortunately, Ky also still will throw a tantrum. He was a crazy tantrum thrower as a toddler, like at least 10 tantrums per day, which is why I waited so long to have another kid because I felt that I could not endure the "battles" again so soon, if ever. Plus I had DH's tantrums to contend with.

So yes, my DH has tantrums. They are pretty hilarious to me now, even though they used to be shocking and upsetting years ago. He has also had tantrums out in public back when we were first together that used to embarrass me, which is why he did them, he admitted this to me. After that I stopped getting embarrassed by him and when people look at him like he's crazy, which they still do when he decides to go into a tantrum-like state when we go places, I look and stare at him too and walk away from him.

Erin

[Cosmosmom]

Um, my DH can throw tantrums too. Usually not in public though. Kind of had one yesterday and we had a fight about Poogie (she's a great dog but we are not in agreement on how to deal with her eating Cosmo's poop....so disgusting and she's 7 months old and still doing it....uggg). Than he said something he's not said in a long time....that maybe we shouldn't have a kid together (because of course even though we are pretty in synch the vast majority of the time, we might disagree about the kid). So of course I said maybe not because I thought it was a done deal decision and if he's going to do that, I should just realize that it's not going to happen. And than I went in the room that will be the nursery and looked at my stuffed and cried. So than he's in there and sees me all upset and feels awful because he says his goal in life is to make me happy. And yeah we are still having a kid....he just gets scared and freaks out and than I freak out and it spirals out of control.

LOL Bridget....my MIL is great but last weekend she was shocked that my BFF was still nursing her 15 month old a few times a day. And of course that is why she doesn't sleep through the night. (she didn't tell my BFF this but me after they left). She thought was disgusting to be bf so long. I was like, she's still a baby she doesn't even really talk much yet and it's common and recommended to more than a year if you can nursing. I just kind of rolled my eyes at that one....I'm not going to be bfing myself but think it's great that my friend was able to do it so long and until last month worked full-time.
She's mostly pretty awesome but she's not much for telling me what to do....she knows I'm bossy and will just do what I want anyway.

I'm not running. I don't run. Last time I really tried jogging was over 5 years ago and I was at my lightest weight and I still got a hairline fracture in my foot. I jogged one block. I also don't really like walking. Unless it is for a reason like I'm at the mall or the Vegas strip. LOL
currently I feel that I have another hairline fracture in my other foot from when I slipped last weeked....same pain as the last time I did this. So I'm just taking it easy for now until it stops hurting and than it will be back on the elliptical for me. I don't despise the elliptical. I would like to work up to 1.5 miles on it. Last time I was at .5 miles...that was like two weeks ago...I was doing great but got sick with a flu bug, had company and hurt my foot.

[Suja]

We had a really nice weekend. My friends showed up late for lunch (not a surprise, they're always late for everything), and we were having so much fun, they stayed for dinner too. I was beat at the end of the day, 'cause I had been on my feet pretty much all day Friday and Saturday, and come 10:00 PM, still had stacks of dishes to clean and food to put away. Yesterday, we went to SIL's house - I packed a bunch of stuff from Saturday, 'cause she didn't have any time to do anything special, and I wanted to get the tempting food out of this house so I wouldn't sit and eat it all. BIL was out playing cricket when we went, but called me last night just to tell me how much he was enjoying dessert

And this morning, Mira threw the mother of all temper tantrums. She didn't want me to put away her toys, she didn't want to change out of her PJs, she didn't want to go to school... WAAAAAAH! Puke! Then she was all good once we got to school and got dropped off. I think she has been having a little too much fun on the weekends, and that's why she wants to stay home. She hasn't said that since the early days of starting school. From now on, we might have to 'ration' the fun - maybe do some of it in the afternoons once I pick her up from school (we have a playdate tomorrow with a friend and her 2 year old that I haven't seen in a year), and just do chores and stuff at least one day a week, so she'd be more bored at home.

I've been serious about eating right and working out for about 2 months now. Virtually no change on the scale (not unexpected, I need fat loss/muscle gain, not necessarily weight loss, although a little bit wouldn't hurt), but I am seeing changes in inches and how the clothes fit me. I really cannot do cardio because of my bad feet, so for now, it's mostly circuit training, strength training, pilates and yoga, with just a smidge of cardio thrown in.