September 29, 2009
Team B
This pretty well sums up our summer: (and has the advantage of being one of my favorite photos currently)
Posted by designatedgirl at 04:12 PM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2009
We made it!
Trixie's last day of Kindergarten was today, which is kind of amazing to me. We made it through the first year of real, big-girl public school! In September she will be in 1st grade, and I will have a grade-school kid. Now all we have to do is make it through the summer. We have a week in between school and the all day daycamp, and can I just say that this camp sounds like so much fun that I think I'd rather go. Trixie can go to work for me instead. They will be swimming and horseback riding and going to the beach and spending the day in the park and that sounds like way more fun than herding cats in an office building.
Bailey will be going to Pre-K at Trixie's school in September, so we will once again have both kids in a single building for drop-offs and pick-ups. YAY! We'll find out in a couple of weeks who his teacher will be (there are two).
Work has stepped up from merely busy to crazy busy, but hey, it's a job, and I'm good at it.
My free community class Pilates classes are over, which is sad, but we're going to try and keep the momentum going with walks in the park and stuff. I liked what I learned of Pilates -- all about working with small muscles that you don't know you have until you suddenly start working them -- but I don't think I'm motivated enough to do it on my own. I have been doing an exercise video three times a week, which is pretty amazing for me. And yes, I am down a bunch more. I am 14 pounds away from my final goal, and slowly but surely getting there.
Posted by designatedgirl at 09:28 PM | Comments (5)
February 21, 2009
Spring cleaning. A little early.
There's one thing good to say about being sick for more than two weeks: I've had steady weight losses in those two weeks. Oh sure, the 3 pounds two weeks ago was because of the 24-hour stomach virus that kicked it off, but the 1.8 down the next week is probably because after two weeks of bronchitis/sinusitis I just can't taste or smell anything and my appetite is on vacation. However, the antibiotics are working and I can now imagine a world where I can smell dinner and want to eat it. It's not pneumonia (not much coughing, for one thing) and the doctor did chest x-rays. I do get paranoid about that a) because I've had it and that can make you more susceptible to recurrence and b) three friends my age have died of it.
Moving on.
A family trip to IKEA this morning kicked off a remarkable purge of my closet, and subsequent re-organization of stuff. When I realized I had THREE pairs of pants to wear to work, I stepped over to the laptop and got three more (Thanks, Old Navy!) to at least have some variety. I have a four-foot pile of out-moded, ill-fitting clothes to bestow on Goodwill. This was sparked by the pants I wore to work on Friday. Let's just say that, though you may have kept a pair of, say, wide-wale corduroy, high-waisted, tapered ankle pants from the early 90s for sentimental reason, there is really no excuse for actually wearing them again. Except: No pants not in laundry, only thing in closet, Hey, corduroy is warm, right? It's probably the first time I've been glad I sit in a row of deserted cubes and see absolutely no one I work with.
We also did laundry, picked up my dry cleaning, went to the grocery store, fed and bathed the small ones and gave Bailey a haircut in the tub. And then we watched a movie. Really, a banner day of cleanliness and housekeepery. Perhaps we will vacuum tomorrow, who knows?
I started WW in early March of last year and have lost, in that year, 58.2 pounds. I'm hoping I will be at my final goal weight by May-ish, and when I get there I am going to put aside some real spending money and get myself a real wardrobe that will last. I'm probably going to need a personal shopper. I so suck at fashion.
Oh, math class: Going very well. I have loads of homework, which I have been doing spread out over the week, and we are already solving equations with more than one variable. Pretty cool. I like it, and am better at it, than I would EVER have imagined.
Posted by designatedgirl at 11:38 PM | Comments (1)
January 20, 2009
FINally!
I feel like I can exhale at last after eight years of political misery. Four long long years after posting a picture of Trixie in her "Mama wants a new President" T-shirt, Mama got her wish!
All kinds of new stuff going on here -- my Algebra for Math Scaredy-Cats class (aka College Algebra I at CUNY) starts tomorrow. The book is clearly written so far, though I sort of wonder what kinds of students they expect when the first chapter is spent repeating, in words of one syllable, It's a good idea to go to all your classes...Make sure you do all your homework if you want to do well...You may have to prioritize differently to succeed in your classes...
I can do THOSE things just fine, it's the damn math I'm here to learn. Ah well, hopefully the teacher will be engaging.
Posted by designatedgirl at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)
November 07, 2008
Yay! and, another yay!
Yay! New, sane President! The idiocy of California is the only thing sad about this election, but at least I need not scream obscenities at the TV for the next four years of State of the Union addresses.
Another yay! This one is much more personal, but it is really huge for me. Wednesday at weigh-in, I checked in at 198 pounds, breaking the 200 pound barrier and bringing my loss total to 47.2 pounds. My Leader screamed and jumped up and down and I started crying and it was altogether a big deal. I still get a little choked up thinking about it.
It's possible my eventual Lifetime Goal really could maybe be reachable. Maybe. Maybe by spring, even. It's another 38 pounds away, though. My Grandma would have been so goddamned proud.
Oh yes, time to buy yet more pants.
Posted by designatedgirl at 10:58 PM | Comments (1)
November 04, 2008
Vote!
I hope the three people reading this remember to go vote today!
We took the kids with us this morning and they were really good for the hour and a half wait in line -- it stretched around the block. They both helped pull the big lever for each of us, and then we went for a big breakfast at Tom's.
Posted by designatedgirl at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
October 17, 2008
What Trixie has learned in Brooklyn public school thus far
There will be more entries forthcoming now that September is over, but I leave you with these words from Pooh Bear: "Peace out, yo!"
Posted by designatedgirl at 10:27 PM | Comments (1)
July 22, 2008
Little Orphan A--x
This morning one of my co-workers said, "You look like a ragamuffin!" I asked if I should do a little hobo dance, maybe?
Then she spent ten minutes explaining that it was a good thing! I've lost so much weight! New clothes! Yay!
It's true. I went to the bathroom to look in the mirror and it's true. The size 20 Old Navy Essential Pants were sliding off my hips, leg fabric was pooling around my ankles. All that was missing was the belt made of rope and a tied-up bandanna, maybe a hand-lettered sign saying "Brother, can you spare a dime?"
So yeah, as of last week, and I weigh-in tomorrow, I have lost 28.8 pounds. I've lost a toddler! I ordered two pairs of size 18 ONEP and they've just arrived. Since they're cheap, I don't mind buying them as in-between pants, because I still have another 30 pounds to go to reach my goal.
Still (and I'll probably update this tomorrow) I can't quite wrap my head around losing nearly 30 pounds. Without feeling deprived, or tense.
Posted by designatedgirl at 06:53 PM | Comments (3)
July 06, 2008
Random thoughts
Nothing particularly momentous to say today. We had a nice low-key holiday weekend, that nevertheless was incredibly busy.
We spent the Glorious Fourth at the new Brooklyn IKEA -- because nothing says patriotism like Swedish modern furniture and yummy meatballs. Bailed on the fireworks, even from the rooftop.
The kids started their swimming classes at the Y Saturday, and the timing works out so that I can also take my karate class more or less concurrently. When I took Trixie to the nearby CVS in search of swim diapers for Bailey, she spotted Speed Racer DVDs for $7! So I bought Volume One (to replace the one Bailey snapped in half) and Volume Two. Score!
In the afternoon, we had a nice BBQ with Steve & Bridget et al, and the kids passed out nicely in the car on the way home. Bridget made this insanely good pulled pork, that's apparently really easy to do. Mmmmm....pulled pork!
Sunday Trixie and Bailey had a friend's birthday party and we followed up with DUB pies for dinner. Can't wait to get Mom's informed opinion on their Kiwi-ness!
Packing up for DC on Tuesday -- still need pantyhose (GAAAH) and I think I need another slip (a half slip). And maybe a pair of cotton gloves. the ones I found at Grandma's are leather or some odd early polyester. Usable, but possibly not so comfortable, but then nothing about this event promises to be comfortable.
I will miss Trixie's graduation event on Wednesday, which I am really upset about, since they moved the date after I'd already booked the DC trip. Hopefully Josh will take loads of video.
And now to cool off the bedroom enough to sleep. Hate humidity.
Posted by designatedgirl at 10:30 PM | Comments (0)
June 18, 2008
The Ten Percent Solution
Woo hoo! I did it! At the weigh-in today, I found I reached my first WW goal -- losing ten percent of my starting weight. That's 24 pounds gone! I got a nice celebration at the meeting, and a faux-silver 10-shaped keyring that I sadly managed to break within moments.
I'll be setting another goal with my Leader this week, probably another 10 percent, which would bring me under 200 for the first time in more than five years, probably closer to ten, in fact.
It took three months to do this; maybe I can do the next ten in another three -- so before my birthday in October is my personal time-goal. Pretty amazing stuff, though I know that I might plateau, and that it's actually probably easier to lose that first bunch of weight, but I'm staying with the program and I think I can do it.
Posted by designatedgirl at 08:41 PM | Comments (2)
May 22, 2008
The new commute
Here's my new commute home (or actually, from work to daycare to pick up the kids):
I've done it every day this week except Tuesday when it was pouring rain. It takes 40 minutes from walking out of WFC to ringing the doorbell on Monroe Street. Murray street goes right across to City Hall Park, and I've found a cut through behind City Hall to the bridge. On the other side, I walk past Cadman Plaza PArk, aka the "grass park" where they often take the kids. I may even see them if I get there early enough.
It's nice to be able to shoehorn a tiny bit of exercise into my days on a regular basis -- and it buys me back 7 points, which I often need for dinner! It's hard to gauge if there will be any effect by next WW weigh-in, since we have the long Memorial Day weekend -- and no bridge commute -- but maybe the week after that will show a bit more drop. I'm down 17.2 pounds, only 2.8 pounds away from having lost my first 10% and I can practically feel the goal!
Off to create a good walking-mix for my iPod. It's a really great 40 minutes of music and thought, between the water and the sky, stepping around tourists as I leave the work day behind.
Posted by designatedgirl at 10:58 PM | Comments (1)
April 15, 2008
Hail to the Prince!
I was SO PROUD of Trixie on Sunday: We were at a classmate's "Cinderella" party at Puppetworks, and almost all the other girls had brought their princess dress-up clothes with them to wear at the party. But we, well, we had just gotten out of the car after a four-hour drive from my grandmother's house and I forgot to bring a dress for her.
Did she freak out and have a tantrum? No.
She asked if I had a dress for her, and when I confessed that I didn't, she thought about it for a minute and then said, "That's OK, I can be Prince Charming!" And she was! She played Prince Charming for the entire room full of princesses, because the boys at the party were busy pretending to be monsters.
My friend, the mother of her BFF, was in awe, and said that the BFF would have had a full-on wig-out over the missing princess attire.
I'm proud of Trixie, not only for being flexible with the available gender roles, but mainly because she was totally able to roll with a set-back that many people, myself included, would have felt sad or embarrassed about. My little girl rocks.
Posted by designatedgirl at 09:18 AM | Comments (3)
April 06, 2008
Goddamned Pneumonia
Pneumonia -- goddamned pneumonia -- has claimed the life of a third friend of mine. It happens so fast and just kills people I love. If you have an extended bout of flu, chest pain, trouble breathing, please for gods' sake go get it checked out, x-rayed, and be careful.
My friend Greg was a funny, smart awesome guy. Until Saturday. The Universe is so unfair. My heartfelt condolences go out to his wife, Frankie, and all his family. They live a few blocks from us, so I'm going to bring her some food and this picture, one of the few I have of him.
Greg and Bailey at Soda, 2006
Posted by designatedgirl at 09:25 PM | Comments (2)
April 04, 2008
So far so good
Wednesday's weigh-in revealed that yes, I am down 10.2 pounds since I started, bringing my weight to 235! Hooray! Even better, since the eating during my business trip was awful -- literally 120 points over the weekly max! Maybe that will show up in this week, I'm not sure. It turns out that it is like a class -- no make-up sessions -- but that's OK. Unless something changes drastically in the next 10 weeks, I'm planning to buy a second bunch of weeks.
Posted by designatedgirl at 09:57 AM | Comments (0)
March 30, 2008
Horton Hears a Huh?
I took my sanity in my hands and took both of 'em (solo) to the 4:20 pm show of Horton Hears a Who this afternoon. Surprisingly, no one puked, screamed in fear, or wet themselves. Popcorn was eaten, hands were held and at last a director finally managed to sit on Jim Carrey so he didn't make me want to hunt him down with a trank gun. Thumbs up!
AND, stunningly, both of 'em ate dinner (after all that late popcorn) took a fun bath, and were out by 8:20 pm. I am a ROCK STAR. And full of hubris, so I'll probably be up at 2 am, 4 am, and 5 am, for my pride.
On the WW front, I lost 5.2 pounds in the first week, then missed two meetings in a row, during which time my grandmother died and I had to attend a business trip in Phoenix on the heels of her funeral. Let's just say it wasn't my best two weeks of managing the points system.
However, based on Grandma's scale, I did lose another 5 pounds in that second week, so if I didn't gain all ten back eating for four in Phoenix, then I'll still be ahead of the game on Weds when I finally get to weigh in again. The thing I can't figure out is: I bought a 12-week series of meetings, so do the two I missed get tacked on to the end or is it you-missed-'em-too-bad, as it would be if it were, say, a class. I guess I'll find out on Wednesday.
Posted by designatedgirl at 08:47 PM | Comments (0)