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I hope you all enjoy my efforts here!

Apr 29, 2008

Can anyone match this?

Of all the things we forget when we rush out the door in the morning, how many people forget their "ears"? I don't think anyone can match this!

Yep, I did that Monday morning. I'm 10 miles into my road trip to catch up with my first student in Kamas. I was musing about my morning, as it had been a very difficult one, I'd become dizzy, nauseated and totally out of energy. All of a sudden, in the middle of my musings, a thought popped in! I felt behind my ears and found, NOTHING! That's disastrous. For the uninitiated, I should have found my cochlear implant external devices. Since I wouldn't be able to hear my students, correct speech and pronounciation errors, not to mention understand a word they had to say, I realized I had to turn around and go back home!

I returned home to find I'd forgotten lots of little things that morning, like turning off the electrict blanket, turning off the bathroom lights and etc. I resumed my day and got on the road again, obviously too late to catch my first student. I managed to get my Park City and Coalville students in. Before the end of the day, feeling awful and needing naps between students, I finally realized I was sick! I guess "forgetting my ears" was a sign that my brain really wasn't working up to par, due to illness!

It's Tuesday night, and after sleeping pretty much all of yesterday evening, night and today, I think I'm better enough to work tomorrow.

At the same time this is all happening, Poor little Mackie, my great nephew also turns out to be sick, only he was VERY sick. Jaimee took him to the doctor yesterday and found out he had strep throat, ear infection AND a stomach flu, all at once. He looked like death warmed over. I was really worried about him and Jaimee. She's had two nights without much sleep. I couldn't do anything to help, but to stay away from the kids and the family, so as to make sure I didn't give them what I've had. The good news though is that Mackie is MUCH better. He's bounced back very well. Now if I could only work it so that Jaimee could get some much needed rest to recuperate from caring for a sick child and working her full time job with bad hours on top of that.

Here's to hoping I never again forget my ears!

Apr 27, 2008

Top 10 Changes

I've been thinking recently about some of the changes in my life over the last 2 and 1/2 years. I decided to make a list documenting some of these things. I've got several categories of things I could document, where I've experienced changes. Tonight I'll tackle the weight loss category. If it works for me, I may document other categories in future blogs. Here's tonight's offering!

Top 10 Changes from losing 200 lbs.
  1. Being COLD a lot! Fat really is a good insulator.
  2. Enjoying getting out and doing things, rather than wanting to isolate and
    hibernate.
  3. Reverting back to the more bubbly outgoing person I when younger.
  4. Paying for only one seat on the airplane, and not needing the seat belt
    extender.
  5. Being able to fit in ANY chair, any time. No more looking for ones without arms I so I can fit!
  6. No more collapsing into a recliner after work, too tired to move, and staying their until either bedtme or the next morning.
  7. Becoming a shopper just to keep myself clothed in my smaller sizes of clothing.
  8. Being able to cross my legs!
  9. Frequently being told by everyone that I'm looking good. It's a regular ego booster!
  10. No longer being tethered to oxygen tanks 24/7.

Apr 25, 2008

If it's Friday, it must be Jenny Craig time

Every Friday morning, I roll out of bed, grab some clothes and run to weigh in, before I eat my breakfast and spoil whatever good news I hope the scale will show. In my 2 1/2 years on Jenny Craig, the last three or four weeks, have been the most non-productive.

It all started when I attended a yearly conference a month ago... Actually, I do enjoy this conference. It's a nice change of pace and is actually beneficial to the job I do now. The good: It's ego boosting time, as most of the people haven't seen me for a year, so I hear so many comments about how good I look. The bad: Turns out there were some people with comments that really catered to my weaknesses. It's actually the first time I ever got the kinds of comments I got.

"Be sure to eat now, we don't want you to get too thin!"

"Be careful, don't let it change your personality now. Some people get so ornery and mean. We don't want to lose the same sweet Ann we've always known."

"Remember to eat and enjoy food. Some people are so uptight about what they eat, you wonder why they even bother to go out to eat with you. I hate that! Don't even bother to go out to eat with me if you're going to be uptight about the food!"

I got so many comments like this, I felt I had to prove something. I made sure my plate looked loaded, thought it really wasn't. Half my plate was a salad, a quarter my veggie and a quarter was the main dish. However, I just HAD to make sure to have the dessert, every day of that 3 day conference. Then I'd walk by the people who made some of the above comments, "See, I'm enjoying my food, plus I'm eating". Then when it came break time, my strategy of not denying myself things and having a taste was a little more dangerous, because there were literally a zillion options to sample. Had I done this behavior just one day, then gone back on program, there wouldn't have been a problem. However, after 3 days in a row, apparently the weight poured on. I never knew how much weight came on, as I asked the people at Jenny Craig not to tell me when I weighed in the next week. Last week I asked where I was, and though I was "down" from the week before, I was about 3 lbs heavier than my lowest, before the conference. Finally this morning, I weighed in with a total 204.4 lb loss. I'm now only .1 lb heavier than my lowest. Next week, I hope to break new ground and lose weight I've not lost before!

It boggles my mind, still.... that people are telling me not to get too thin, or telling me to be sure to eat and not starve myself. For a woman who's fought this battle my entire life, I've NEVER had people make those kinds of comments. It's also interesting that I felt like I had to prove to people that I do "eat". Most of my life, if anyone stuck their nose into my personal business of eating, it was to tell me "not" to eat. Guess that's a new milestone for 50! I must be looking fairly good if people worry about me getting too thin! Another highlight: In the last two weeks, I've bought a pair of jeans, and a pair of work slacks that are size 12! They're not tight at all! :-)

Apr 24, 2008

Old Man Winter

Dear Mr. Winter,

Didn't anyone ever teach you about the calendar and your season? Please, it's supposed to be spring. You should be gone now, taking a long spring/summer/fall rest. It's almost May! Why am I driving to work and driving home in the midst of blinding snow storms? Why are the temperatures below freezing and ice forming on my windshield wipers? A car pulling off the freeway to wait safely while you expel your driving fury, shouldn't be happening at this time of year. Having a driver feel their car start a slide is simply "inappropriate behavior" and not to be tolerated. You are sorely in need a letter from Miss Moanners informing you that it's never nice to overstay your welcome, nor to spoil the joy your seasonal sibling Spring should be spreading by the end of April. Kindly now, retire to your rest, and let us humans revel in whatever short time Spring has to display her wonders.

Signed,
Emily Post Wannabe (Representing Season Abusers Sufferers Anonymous)

Apr 23, 2008

Time and Priority

On Mondays and Wednesdays, I leave for work much earlier than the other days. I have to be in Kamas by 8:30 to work with a middle school student. This necessitates being on the road by 7:30, much earlier than my 8:30 to 9:00 starting time. In my household, my niece and family (who I'm renting the basement from), start being up and about during the 8:30 to 9:00 time. Often the kitchen is full as we all maneuver around each other. The family is all gathered, getting breakfast together, getting Raheem out the house and etc. around the same time I am getting breakfast, packing lunch and leaving. On those days, I know I need to allow a little extra time to allow Dalia to "help" me pack my lunch, help me open my water bottle and take a sip, as well as to taste my breakfast. On Monday and Wednesday however, I'm normally gone before the family comes downstairs.

Today, no plans for extra time were made, in fact I "deliberately" slept until the last possible moment. I came upstairs and found Jaimee and kids up, much to my surprise. Raheem had to go to work early. The kids weren't used to waking up and finding him gone. They set about crying and making life difficult for Jaimee for 45 minutes before I got upstairs. Oh yeah, in case you're wondering, my hearing devices aren't on, so I heard nothing of this! Jaimee has her hands full, has had to work the last few nights, not to mention being pregnant. Here it was 7:30 and she was literally exhausted. I felt bad and wanted to help and spend more time with the kids, but had to dash out the door as I'm running a little late. Dalia proceeds to help me with my lunch. I try to do as much as I can behind her back so I can run out. She was jumping with excitement at the beginning as she put some soda in my lunch box. However, I filled my arms up with things and dashed out the door, tucking the water bottle in my arms, hoping she wouldn't notice it and want to help open it and sip. She did start to ask, I but I cut her off telling her I had to run, and out the door I went. Behind me I left a little girl who looked so sad and disappointed as I was telling her this and left without giving her that time for part of our treasured routine.

As I drove that hour commute to my first student, I found myself haunted by the expression on her face. She'd already had a hard morning, been upset, and now her mother was exhausted and probably struggling to keep going. Why didn't I take the time and stick to the routine she found pleasure in, as well as throw in some extra hugs for her and Mackie? Was my rushing out the door 30 seconds or a minute earlier, worth the disappointment and adding to an already difficult morning? When I finished with my first student a few minutes early and had time to spare before the commute to Coalville for my next student, I really had to question myself again. Why was my time so important this morning?

True I've had a lifetime of nothing to interfere with my schedule as I lived alone for so many years. When I moved in with a family I loved. I looked forward to the challenges of learning to meld with a family and the growth and change that I know I still need to make in my life. Looks like today I'm learning one of the lessons I wanted to learn. I've always claimed that people are number one on my priority list? Do I live true to that? Can I learn to forget my schedule and just focus on bringing joy in the moment to a little child, who only wants to be a "big girl" and help? I need to learn to forget myself and my schedule, put the priorities where they belong, on the people in my life. Here's hoping this "old dog learns this new trick" :-)

Apr 22, 2008

To Blog or Not to Blog...

Quite some time ago, I experimented with blogging. I had the idea that it was my "secret diary" that I could do on the Internet. The idea being, if no one knew I had it from my circle of friends and family, then it is a "secret", accessible of course by anyone who stumbled across it. That was a failed idea. Nothing ever came of that effort.

In the last month or two, I've had friends and family start up a family blog. I found it so nice to have a place I could check in and find out the latest in the lives of people I care about, that I've actually created a daily routine to check in on the latest blogs. After reading one created by my niece, this afternoon, in conjunction with my daily checking in on blogs, I realized the power in being able to stay connected in one way or another of those we care about. Thus, I too will give blogging a try. I get way too busy, with the schedule of working 7 days a week, and active extra-curricular life with various committees and volunteer activities I'm involved with, on top of my social life....I fall out of touch too easily with the people in my life. If they could get half the enjoyment through reading my blog, as I get from reading theirs, it's worth the effort.

So welcome friends and family! I've embarked on this journey to renovate my life two and a half years ago. I'm still a definite work in progress and on the journey. Hopefully, despite not having kids of my own to report on, I can create something worthwhile and enjoyable for all of you. Recently, one of my friends told me that I should write a book about this journey. If am to evere do so, I'm beginning to think the blog is the way to begin the process. Pardon my prossibly rudimentary and unpolished beginning, while I see what I can make of this!