Life in the South

I wouldn't officially call Northern Virginia the south but considering where I have lived all my life it is to me. The fact that I spent a Saturday in the beginning of January raking leaves is amazing to me. Today the temperature was in the mid-40s - a little chilly but not too bad.

We decided to clean up the back yard while it was nice and we had some time. Both of us will be gone next week and Brett needed some exercise since he didn't workout today. It took us a couple hours to rake up what was back there (and clean up Pepper's mess). The thing that amazes me is that since November we have raked up 15 50-gallon bags of leaves. That is quite a few.

Though I loved being out side I was not thrilled with the hardworking. I will be the first one to admit that I was spoiled as a child and was not responsible for doing hardworking. That was my brothers' job and when they got too old to be doing it and left home my parents hired someone to do it for them.

Destiny to be Smaller

All my life I have been larger than my friends both in height and in weight. So now I have an opportunity to lose some of the weight that makes me a little self-conscious (since I can't lose my height unless someone cuts off my legs).

With Brett being diabetic I now have to change my whole lifestyle and eating habits. We are cutting back on all carbohydrates and sugars. So in others words, we are on a strict South Beach Diet. I also have to get into a good workout routine and not do what I did this morning. Normally Brett gets up and goes to workout before work. When he does this I get up too and go and workout on my own. Today he decided to sleep in. I should have gotten up and went anyways but I didn't - I just laid there. And now I have no motivation to go and workout. Instead I started working. There is something wrong with this picture.

I have an appointment next Friday with my mom's personal trainer. I am ready to get my butt kicked and put back where it belongs. I tried to see a personal trainer here but I felt nothing after the exercises she gave me. I know I will hurt (in a good way) after meeting with Kelli. She is also going to help me with diet recommendations due to Brett's needs.

My goal is to lose at least 15 pounds by the wedding and no more than 25 through out this whole year. That will get me down to where I was in high school but hopefully will be all muscle so I don't look emaciated like I did back then. Sometimes I forget that since I am 6'2" I am allowed to weigh a little more than the normal woman.

Passing on the Sickness

I love my relationship with my fiance but I don't like the fact that he got sick first and passed it to me. Now I am sitting here with a huge sinus headache and snot building up in my sinus cavity because it has decided not to come out of my nose. I would love to crawl back into bed and just sleep the day away but there are too many things to do both at home and for work so I will deal with the pounding in my head.

The problem with working at home is no sick days. You are home anyways so why not work.

Continuous Education

So today I went with Brett to a meeting with a Diabetic Educator. What a waste of time for the both of us. I know it will look good in Brett's medical records that he went but the fact is neither one of us learned a thing. Everything she told us is stuff that we had pretty much figured out on our own and the questions Brett did have she couldn't answer because they were about the effects on his career.

I am sorry but I think if you are going to have an educator in a military setting like this they should at least know the answers that active soldiers are going to ask. Sure they are going to ask medical questions but they are also going to ask how this is going to affect there careers.

Now we have to go to a 4 session class. I pointed out that the person we met with on a 1 to 1 was going to be doing most of the lecturing in these classes. Hopefully she will have more useful information in these classess than she did when we met with her.

Back to the Grind of Life

So today was the first day back to work after the holiday weekend. I definitely do not want to be back today. I guess it is a good thing that I work out of the house. I can take a break whenever I want. But that is starting to become a problem because I seem to be taking a lot of those breaks lately.

Flower Girl Troubles

A girl always dreams about their wedding. They know exactly what they want regarding flowers, dresses, decorations, etc. I am not one of those girls but I do know what I want when it comes to my flower girls.

I decided to have all 3 of my little cousins and Brett's 2 nieces in the wedding. I wanted their dresses to be different than the normal flower girl dresses and I wanted them to transition from the bridesmaids' dresses to my dress. After months of looking and even trying to find someone to make them from scratch, I chose a 2 piece black and white dress that was similar in style to the bridesmaids' dresses.

Now I am dealing with my aunt and uncle who have to pay for 3 dresses and waited until 2 days before the ordering deadline to say something to me about the price. I admit they are a little expensive for a little girl's dress but they can use it after the wedding either together or as individual pieces. I think the thing that bothers me the most is that they didn't say anything when I was home for Christmas. They had the perfect opportunity a bunch of different times and they said nothing.

Brett's mom had already paid for one of his nieces' dresses and they are nonrefundable. So the decision is made - either they buy the dress or the girls aren't in the wedding. Now unbeknownst to them, my mom and I paid for 2 of them so all they have to pay for is 1. I don't think they have anything to complain about now.

A New Year, A New Life

So it is now 2006. I always try to make a bunch of New Year's resolutions and keep them. I rarely ever keep them. However this year I have no choice to keep the resolution that everyone makes - exercise, eat right, and loose weight.

Brett has been officially diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. The doctor was going to put him on medication right away but Brett convinced him to allow him to try diet and exercise to bring the sugar levels down. He has 2 months to do this. As of this morning, he as gotten it down to 120-130. This is still a little high but much better than 370 like it was on Tuesday. Because of this diagnosis we will be changing everything about our lifestyle - eating, drinking, exercise, etc. Hence why it will be slightly easier for me to keep this resolution.

Now for the ones I know that I will not be able to keep but am going to make anyways:

1. Write a blog every day (even if I don't have anything to write about).
2. Stop spending money on things I don't need.
3. Pay off all credit card debit.
4. Find a new job.

I am sure there are many more that I could make but I am going to keep it really simple for now. I don't want to overwhelm myself.