Week 10 update - Dusting of the HASAY cobwebs -

If you read my last post you'll notice that I thought last week was week 10 of the HASAY challenge. I guess it's this week though. That should give you some idea of how lost in space I have been the last couple of weeks.

Seriously - since Dec 15th, I have been holed up in my house with nothing but time on my hands and I chose to fill that time by filling my hands with enough junk food to last me for a year. I was stressed and bored and stressed and bored some more - and that's a combination for disaster for me when I'm trying to watch my diet.

The weather didn't help either - I couldn't get out to the gym or go for a walk. The best I could do was pull Captain Crazy around the block on the sled or build a snowman - but at least that was something.

It also didn't help that Daney Pops - (that's what I call him most of the time) was sick. I didn't want to take him out in the cold at all for fear of making his cold worse. So I didn't, but his cold got worse anyway. More on that later.

I do have to say that I am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Christmas is over, the holiday sweets and treats have slowed to merely a trickle, and I am back to work today. It's the beginning of "getting back to normal" for everyone, and it feels good.

I am looking forward to getting back on the HASAY wagon. I borrowed some Pilates videos from my neighbor and I'm going to get re-acquainted with the Elliptical starting tomorrow at 5 am.

In the meantime, I thought I would toss up some pics of the snow and ice that kept us hostage in our house for so long. I wanted to post these pics last week, but dial up is not nice to use when trying to upload pictures or anything bigger than a digital fart.

HASAY update week 10??...Here we go again

It's 3 in the morning and instead of sleeping I'm pecking out this post. I'm bone tired and bleary eyed but I can't sleep because for the second night in a row, my little one is hacking up a lung in his room across the hall.

I've already done everything I can for him. We already snuggled a ton, I gave him something to drink, changed his diaper, and lubed him up with enough Vics on his feet, back and chest to last a whole day. His humidifier is cranked up to high and in an act of desperation, I even gave him a shot of cough "suppressant". The little dude is doing his best to fall asleep - he's making his little humming noise he makes while he's trying to fall asleep, but the damn coughing is just keeping him up.

He caught a cold back on the 15th - the same day he was supposed to go in for his surgery. That was one reason he didn't have his surgery -this freaking stupid winter storm was the other. It has now been 8 days that I have been stuck in the house with my little snot machine and his older brother - Cabin Fever Boy.

I could drive if I really wanted to, but driving on a combination of snow, ice, snow and ice - without chains or traction tires = stupid idea. Why risk it, right?

I can actually handle being stuck in the house. I'm pretty good of thinking up things to occupy the boys and keep them from killing each other. What has been hard is not being able to exercise. So needless to say, I don't think I accomplished much this past week. I have really tried to get up in the morning and do a work out video but I swear this weather has sucked every last drop of motivation out of my body. I have complained to everyone and anyone who will listen and the only think that makes me feel better is that it seems to be happening to them as well.

In fact this storm has messed up the week for a lot of people. As I type this, we have two friends, their little boy and their German Shepard sleeping over because they have been without power for the past four days.

I have some awesome pics of the snow and ice that is covering my town right now and if I ever see the inside of my office again I will post some of them. Since we have dial up at home it just takes to long to do much of anything online.

I am just trying to hang on and ride out this crappy weather and the little dude's cold. I'm focusing on the small positive things for now - like the fact that this storm and my little dude's cold won't last forever and that I didn't pound down some cookies while I wrote this post.

I hope all of you have a very merry Christmas, or what ever it is that you happen to celebrate this time of year.

Spin Cycle - In the Beginning

Okay - I know I'm late getting this out but I have really wanted to give the Spin Cycle a "spin". I do hope Jen over at Sprite's Keeper (the master mind behind The Spin Cycle) will forgive my tardiness - she seems like a pretty kick-ass chick plus I'm not too worried because I have a super good excuse (which I'll get to in a later post, I promise)as to why I've been AWOL again this week.

So anyway, about the beginning of Captain Crazy. One night I was laying in bed reading an article about mommy bloggers in Wondertime magazine. Until that day I had never even heard of a "blog" and I certainly didn't have the slightest clue as to how to get my own. The next day at work I looked up the blogs the article mentioned, Finslippy and a couple of others, and I was hooked. They were downright FUNNY and they were writing about everyday stuff but the humor and the wit they used....it was great.

As moms we share everything with our kids. I share my food, my drinks (the non-alcoholic ones of course :)), my bed, my lap, my stuff-the list goes on and on. So the idea of having something that "belonged" to me and me only was pretty exciting. Having a place where I could vent about my frustrations (which are plenty) brag about my accomplishments (which are few)and cry over my failures (which sadly are also plenty) was to me the cherry on top of it all.

So after a couple of days of mulling it over, I decided to try my hand at blogging and like I do with most things - I dove right in. I did do a little bit of research -for about thirty minutes- and settled on using blogger. I decided to go with the name "Captain Crazy" because I thought it had a nice ring to it and it is also my first son's nickname. That's his crazed little face with the drool and the slobber on my blog page. Isn't is just cute?

Anyway, my first post went up in January 2008- which honestly feels like years ago. But back then I was in the middle of some daycare drama and I was really irritated and angry and worried about the whole situation. I have some really close friends, but I felt like I had already unloaded on them enough and I didn't want them to start screening my calls. And my poor husband - he had heard enough of my constant blabbering about the whole situation and I had heard enough of him saying "everything is going to be okay" It was nice to have a place to get everything off of my chest - so to speak.

To say that I have learned a lot since my first post would be putting it mildly. I know I'm not a great writer - I made full disclosure of that in my profile. My excuse is that I majored in broadcast journalism and was trained to "write for the ear" - conveying information in very short, concise "sound bites" that people could process easily as they chewed their morning oatmeal and listened to the radio or the morning news. But I think my writing has improved some since I embarked on my journey through the blogosphere. I still make a lot of mistakes, it still take me AGES! to write one stinking post but I feel like my writing has improved a bit. I at least feel like when I compare my most recent posts to my very first posts it's not like something shit all over the page anymore -well sometimes it still looks like that - but not as often.

But I can't close this post without mentioning the best thing of all that has happened since I started blogging. I have "met" all of you - the folks that read this blog. Your comments have bolstered me and your blogs have inspired me and for that I want to thank you. Blogging is still somewhat of a struggle for me - but you remind me of why I do it and what is in it for me. For me.

Under the Knife

My little sweetpea is going under the knife on the 15th. Yep. He has to have surgery.

He has what's called a Hydrocele which is basically a fluid sac in his testicle. In a "nutshell" fluid is leaking into his testicle from openings that should have closed after his testes descended. The condition isn't life-threatening, but if left untreated he could develop a hernia so that's why it needs to be fixed. Plus, I'm pretty sure that a nut the size of a tangerine can't be comfortable for any male - no matter what age they happen to be.

I've known about the surgery for quite some time. In fact we had to reschedule it once already because he conveniently caught a cold and I guess colds and surgery and going under don't mix well.

But this time looks like it's a go. I have been really good about remaining calm, but I can feel myself starting to freak out a little more with each passing day. When I stop myself and think rationally about the whole thing, I know that things will be fine. But still - he's my baby, ya know?

I'm happy that this is getting taken care of that he won't be uncomfortable anymore, but damn, it's going to be a rough day.

I probably won't be posting a HASAY update on Monday because I will probably eat my weight in chocolate and fat and gain 20 lbs overnight. Holy cow - that would definitely elevate stress-eating to an all time high, wouldn't it?

When he's up and motoring around and things are back to "normal" I'll post again - maybe a couple at once. In the meantime, pray that my little guy sails through this and while you're at it - pray that I get lockjaw or something so that I won't devour every Krispy Creme at our local store!

Because I miss Summer

I decided to post these pictures because I'm really missing summer right about now. They were taken towards the end of summer at the farm we "belong" to as part of our community supported agriculture membership. We were picking tomatoes, or "matos" as my little one calls them. Both of my boys love tomatoes, as you can see by the pictures. They love them enough to eat them like apples. They love them enough to whine for one one when they see them in the produce isle at the grocery market. Crazy, I know.

But I'm not here to talk about my kids' love of all things edible. No. I want to talk about summer. Remember it? The smell of fresh cut grass, the warm sun on your skin, watermelon, hamburgers on the grill, long walks to the park? Right now it's a balmy 40 degrees outside and that's the warmest it's been all day.

Maybe you're reading this from your comfy home that's located somewhere where it's still relatively warm outside. Like maybe you live in Arizona, or Florida, or maybe even Vegas. If you do, I envy you right now - but only now because there's no way IN HELL I would live in those places during the summer! No sir ree - I just want to ask you to please share a little of your warmth with me today - just a little. You probably wouldn't even notice that it was gone.

If you only came here to read my HASAY update - it's below so please read it. I need all the encouragement I can get at this point! Besides, maybe if I get up and get moving I'll warm up a bit!

HASAY Update Week 8 - On the flip side

I wish I had more for you. I really, really do. Unfortuately all I can say is more of the same - that so far I haven't lost one single solatary pound in the entire three weeks I have been participating in the HASAY challenge. But on the flip side, I haven't gained anything either. For now and for what it's worth I'm going to mark that as a success. Yes, I know I'm grabbing at straws - but throw me a bone (preferably one with lots of meat and fat on it)because I really need one about now. Being stuck on a plateau is never a fun place to be - especially in dietland -no matter how good the view is.

Seriously though, maintaining one's weight during the holidays is a good thing, right? Especially since the other night I made three batches of chocolate-dipped biscotti and nary a crumb passed by my lips. And, I also stuck to my regular exercise schedule. I'm at least proud of that.

In closing, I thought I would share my "plateau-busting" plan with you. It's simple of consists of merely three steps.

1 - GET MORE SLEEP - at least 7 hours a night. This is going to be hard for me since I am naturally a night owl. I will have to really work hard at letting go of some of my favorite night-time activities like scrapbooking, reading or couch potatoing

2. DRINK MORE WATER - at least 8 glasses a day. Sounds simple but I loath drinking water. I think I've spent most of my life partially dehydrated and it seems to suit me just fine. I have read over and over though how drinking enough water aids in weight loss so it's time to really give this one a try.

3. SWITCH TO A MOSTLY PLANT-BASED DIET -no more animal protien/animal based products for breakfast or lunch. This one might actually be the easist for me to do. I can handle rolled oats for breakfast and soups and salads for lunch - esp. since I will eat whatever I prefer for dinner which will keep my from feeling deprived. The hardest part about this step will be the meal prepration/planning.


That's it. Sounds easy enough, right? My fingers are crossed for myself and so far so good. If any of you have are struggling with similar issues, or are camped out on your own plateau, or have any other tips I would love to hear from you.

In the meantime - happy HASAYING!

Ho Ho Ho - Stressed to the max

It happens every single year. I begin the holiday season with hope, anticipation, excitement, and energy but within a couple of weeks I turn into the Grinch. I'm tired and stressed out folks! Every year I tell myself that I will do things differently - that I won't feel pressured to do everything or be everything to everyone, but every year I fail miserably.

Right now I'm sitting at my desk freaking out about my mile long holiday to-do list that I don't have the time to write. There's gifts to buy, gifts to make, gifts to wrap, cookies to bake, Christmas cards to order, Christmas cards to send, decorating to do, traditions to uphold, traditions to create, visiting to do, and lets not forget that pesky thing called a job that needs attending to every day. Yes, the list goes on and on. And yet somewhere, in between it all, I am supposed to find time to enjoy the moment - to enjoy the REAL meaning of Christmas -but how can I when it feels like the moments are flying by at sonic speed?

So what I want to know is this - what, if anything do you or your family do to make the holidays more meaningful? What is your de-stressing holiday secret? If you wouldn't mind passing it along I would be eternally grateful and it would really help me to de-Grinch-a-fy.

HASAY Update week 7 - Turkey and a Thanksgiving F-Bomb

Hello all you HASAYERS! I hope your Thanksgiving week was safe, happy and relatively productive on the weight-loss front.

My Thanksgiving week was very nice, thank you for asking. It had all the usual stuff you would expect of a Thanksgiving week - copious amounts of good food and wine, lots of visiting with friends and family, some exercise here and there, and a preschooler who dropped his first F-Bomb like a seasoned pro. Yes-sir-ree Bob! Everything you could ever want! Our son just matter of factly said, "Daddy, I have to "F'n" poop!" Now I think that's pretty "f'n" funny myself, but my husband doesn't dig cursing too much. He immediately shot me the 'ol stink eye and asked "And where do you think he got that from?" "Not me" I said innocently. I don't think he believed me, but he should have because I don't cuss like that in front of my kids. I save it for the car (when they're not in it) and for those mornings when I stumble down the hall at 4:30 am on my way to the gym and almost maim myself by stepping on a Leg-O or Matchbox car.

As the week rolled to an end, my husband recovered from the "f-bomb incident" enough to laugh when he thought about it, and I was able to get myself out the door for several long walks and some trips to the gym. All said and done, I didn't gain any weight this week and I think that's commendable seeing as how I ate enough for two people on several occasions. However, if I can manage the same amount of exercise this coming week and keep my trap shut a little more, then I might actually see some progress. To help me along, I have started using a calorie-counting website called caloriecount.about.com. It's pretty cool and would be very helpful to anyone who is interested in an easy, fast way to track their caloric intake.

That's all for now - have a happy Monday.