Catching Up

      3 Comments on Catching Up

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There is just too much going on lately! I’ll try to wrap it all up in a short post. Ha ha ha, a short post. That’s funny. 😉

Let’s see, for starters, I ran a half marathon a little over a week ago, but I didn’t end up eating all of the (1300) calories that I had earned. When I logged into My Fitness Pal and recorded everything, it showed that I had quite a few calories left over. I’ve mentioned that one of the things I like about My Fitness Pal is that, after you finish your entries for the day, you click the “complete entries” button, and it gives you an estimation of how much you would weigh in five weeks if every day were like that.  Knowing that I started the week at 123 .4, here’s what it said for Sunday:

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Ha ha ha, I could lose 8 pounds in five weeks if I could just run 13 miles every day! 😉

Here’s what I actually weighed the following day, Monday, November 9:

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I’ll be honest, I kind of expected a little bit bigger of a loss, but I’m not going to complain! I have to go all the way back to the middle of April for the last time I was below 123. More than half a year! So yeah, I’m definitely happy with that weigh-in.  That puts me at only about 3 pounds to go, and that’s pretty great. More importantly, my jeans are actually comfortable. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to say that!  It’s amazing how your whole outlook on the day ahead can change when you put on your “skinny” jeans first thing in the morning, right out of the dryer, and they just…fit. It’s a pretty awesome feeling! 🙂

Normally, I’m allowed to wear jeans to work every day, but it turns out that last week, I had New Employee Orientation (a bit overdue, since I’ve had the job 8 months, lol!), which required business casual dress. I mentioned a few weeks back that I hadn’t worn my “dress pants” since the spring, but a few weeks ago, I wore a pair for church. I wore two pairs of dress pants last week, and I was just astonished at how well they fit and how comfortable they were. Again, it’s amazing how well-fitting clothes can make you feel so confident! It was a huge event (500 new employees!!) and all of our senior leadership was there. At the end of the day, our president and CEO spoke for a while, then answered audience questions. It was kind of a big deal, since our company is very, very big and he’s very well known in the industry, the business world, and the Metro Detroit area. It’s not a stretch to say he’s kind of a celebrity. But I was feeling pretty confident on Tuesday, being so skinny and all 😉 , and so I stood up and asked him a question. When I finished asking it, he looked thoughtful and said, “Wow, great question!” before answering, and then repeated it again at the end.  After that, I felt pretty awesome! 😀  So awesome that I hurried out the door when it was over to be the first in line to get my picture with him.

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(Side note: how much did I want the amazing lens that photographer who took this picture was using??)

If you’re wondering why there is a plane propeller behind us, it’s because the event was held at the Henry Ford Museum.  Which of course was like Mecca to this history major! 😉  On top of that, I also got a chance to eat dinner with our company historian (who gave a fascinating presentation to us earlier in the day).  I sat with him for about 40 minutes, and one of the photographers even got our picture.

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It was truly a great day for me. 🙂

Unfortunately, my week kind of went downhill from there. :/ While I was at the second day of the orientation on Wednesday, I got a call from the school. My kids are super-good students with no issues, so I immediately panicked that one of them must be sick.  Well, no, not quite…actually, it turned out that my oldest son, Jamie, had gotten in major trouble and was being suspended.

WTF?!?!  Are you kidding me?!?  My straight-A student is suspended?!  {brain implodes}

It wasn’t horrible by any stretch…just my kid being a stupid 13-year-old boy. :/  My husband and I had a meeting with the principal the next day (not required, but our choice).  She was actually pretty understanding and willing to give Jamie the benefit of a doubt, but he did break a school rule and therefore a suspension was in order. (Believe me, based on the exact wording in the student handbook, it could have been much worse!) After a 45-minute conversation with the her, as we wrapped it up, I joked about never having been to the principal’s office before, and then added that before today, I would’ve bet that I’d be sitting there for the OTHER kid. She then reached into her desk drawer and pulled out another file folder, saying, “Well, actually, now that you mention it…”

No shit. :/ Not only does Jamie get suspended, but JJ manages to get an after-school detention! (Again, they gave him the benefit of the doubt…by the rules, it could have been worse.)  When Jason and I got home, we sent both boys to their room, where they proceeded to fight for 20 minutes while we talked things over. After we got the first kid’s punishment figured out, I asked Jason what we should do about the second one. He threw up his hands and said, “I have no idea. I am on total overload right now.” That about sums it up.  BUT, here’s the thing: after all that went down, Jason got up the next morning…and left me for a week!  😮 He went hunting up north, and left me to deal with the aftermath of two kids who were grounded from ALL electronics for the next 11 days.  And by the way, while we were at it, Jamie had a 3-game hockey weekend in Grand Rapids, which required us to stay there for two nights…but at the same time, JJ had two practices and a game he really couldn’t afford to miss back home.  Ugh!! What a logistical nightmare.  I had to rely on both family and friends this past weekend to get through, but I did.  Hockey families really are great, and they even helped me get in an 8-mile run in Grand Rapids.

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I found a wonderful path that was lined with some beautiful old homes…so of course I was in heaven! 🙂  Though Jamie’s team didn’t win any games during the weekend 🙁 we still had lots of fun, and I may or may not have had a bit of wine on Saturday night…and that may or may not have made the 5:30am wake-up call for Sunday morning’s game a bit difficult. 😉 Any hockey parent will tell you the out-of-town tournaments and games are the best part of the sport–from a parent’s perspective, at least!

I had Monday off for a holiday, so it was nice to be a little less stressed, but I had a major project due Tuesday that wasn’t done, so I worked most of Monday.  I went back to work Tuesday and it wasn’t done, but I couldn’t stay because Jamie had hockey.  It wasn’t done Wednesday either, but again, I couldn’t stay…because of hockey.  I had already planned to take Thursday and Friday off work to help me with the logistics of my husband being gone, but after volunteering all morning at school on Thursday, I went home and cleaned the house (it desperately needed it), and then I was up until 3am this morning finishing the project.  I was exhausted, as you can imagine, so I slept til 7am, took the boys in, and then came back home and still managed to run 3 miles at 9:39!

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Not bad for four hours sleep!  And by the way, that was with winds sustained in the high teens and gusting (often!) to 27 mph!!

Oh, I forgot to mention this past Monday’s weigh-in!  I won’t lie…my weekend was filled with a little too much food and drink. I actually did well on Saturday, thanks to my run, but Sunday I was maxed out both physically and mentally, and I ate like it.  My weight, after all that, was…

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That’s actually a .2 pound loss.  And you know what–I’ll take it!  A loss is always better than a gain, and after my weekend, I was really okay with that.

You guys…I’m SO CLOSE to being at goal.  In fact, I honestly feel like I might even BE there already.  I’m just a couple of pounds away, and honestly, I feel great.  My goal of 120 is really just a nice, round arbitrary number.  I know it needs to be about how I feel even more so than what the scale says, but I’ve decided I’m going to keep on the weight loss path and see where it takes me between now and the end of the year.  I feel like I need to stick with it at least through the holidays to help me NOT gain.  So we shall see!

That’s probably a long-enough recap.  Thanks so much for reading!

 

3 thoughts on “Catching Up

  1. Meg B

    Ah teenagers being dumb, fun times. You are a total rock star for doing all that traveling and getting kids to practices and insanity AND still RUNNING AND LOSING WEIGHT! Go you!!!!

    Now when do you get to leave for a week’s vacation? Girl’s trip!

    Reply
  2. Cindy R

    Boys will be boys! Wait until your son gets to high school, the fun is just beginning! I always had to remind myself not to scream, to listen, and keep the lines of communication open, it wasn’t always easy. Great photo of you with the CEO of your company. For a CEO he looks handsome with a genuine smile! It’s really motivating that he was present at the new employee orientation.

    Reply
  3. Kim

    Ok, I must admit that my heart fell in my chest and I gaped at the screen when I read that your husband left you for a week!
    Obviously, I am feeling quite dramatic today, stupid hormones.
    Of course, I said “ooohhhh” when I read it was to go hunting.
    Great, awesome job with the calorie counting!

    Reply

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