MDWLC - Wrap up

Seriously? 18 weeks have gone by? That's crazy. It sure doesn't seem like it's been 18 weeks since we've started!


Well, my results are mixed. I am at the exact same spot as when I started. No loss, but not gain! While it would have been nice if they scale had gone down...fine...stayed down, I'm very happy that I'm not any higher than when I started.


So at 158 I will stay.


I'm excited to see what the next challenge will be like! And these challenges are SOOOO helpful when you go through a holiday season, so I'm looking forward to at least staying the same! LOL!


Check out Tales from the Scales to see how everyone else is doing DID on the May Day Weight Loss Challenge!

MDWLC starting weight (5/18/07): 158
MDWLC current weight (9/11/07): 158
Loss/Gain to date: 0.0 lb

In the minority

I live in a college town. A very BIG college town. A slightly INSANE college town.

And it's Football Season. Which means all sense of normalcy flies right out the window.

To be quite honest, I don't get it. I can understand wanting to support the home team, but seriously it's like there is something in the water around here. Normally quiet people start painting their faces. All sorts of new fashion statements are made and a new breed of sweaters with 3-dimensional adornments are born. They even have a song on the radio that mixes the school band playing various songs with Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl.

You know, cause that just makes sense.

My favorite is when we make fun of other school's mascots. I hate to break it to ya, but our mascot is a tree nut. We don't have a lot of room to talk.

Quite often this time of year, we are invited over to friend's houses to watch the game and have a party. And sometimes I even watch part of the game. But really I'm just there to see my friends, to hang out and have a good time. And my friends know that I don't get as rabid excited as they do, but I think deep down they are still a little bit surprised that I don't even own a school t-shirt. I mean, I was born and raised in this town. It seems only natural that I be infected be inflicted support the local team.

Which I do. I want them to win as much as the next guy. O.K. Maybe not quite as much as the next guy, but still. I just tend to be a little more relaxed about it if they lose. I don't cry or fight or set trash cans on fire.

You know, cause that just makes sense

Vacation planning

I'm a planner. For as long as I can remember, I've been a planner. I tend to not like surprises and I like to completely control every second of have a say in vacation planning.

Right now, I am planning two trips. One is a mini family reunion. Since I seem to have developed a reputation for having a little bit of knowledge concerning the Internet, I was designated planner. That's cool with me. But I have to tell you, It's very hard to find a date that works for nearly 30 people. I finally picked one today and we'll hope for the best.

Second, I figure it's about time Dave and I take a solo vacation. We try to get away by ourselves every year. We try to alternate every year between having just a weekend away and taking a full week. And it is SO time to take a week.

But Dave has very little time to think about anything other than work, the kids, or sleeping so we've been having some trouble coming up with a location. After we started talking about it last night, we kind of stalled. So I asked him this morning if he could take a little time today during work just to think about it.

And boy did he think about it. You know what he came back with? Hawaii. HELL YA! Now this could all change in a week or month, but as of right now I can say:

I am planning a trip to Hawaii! ADULTS ONLY!!!

Whoo. O.K. I'm felling much better now. Granted, the trip probably won't be until fall of next year, but still. I may be going to HAWAII!!

Holy crap, I think I might pass out.

Thursday Thirteen - Shows I've Been In

I have been involved in theatre ever since my freshman year of high school. Up to that point, I played sports. But the mentality in high school is TOTALLY different then the mentality in grade school, so basically I wimped out. After I quit sports, I was looking for something to do and noticed an audition notice at school and figured "Why the hell not?" The rest, they say, is history. Here are 13 shows that I have been involved in (either backstage or onstage) over the years.

1. King Arthur's Calamity - I'm listing this one first because it was the worst theatre experience of my life. One of the actors actually called me a word that rhymes with witch in the middle of rehearsal because I "stole his light". Seriously? I came home every night in tears and Dave kept telling me to quit, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I regret ever having done that show. Ugh.


2. Guys and Dolls - Without a doubt, one of my favorite musicals of all time. I would literally give my right arm to play Adelaide. Holy crap, that's a good role. We have the soundtrack with the 1992 US Revival cast and I get goose bumps every time I hear Faith Prince and Josie de Guzman sing "Marry the Man Today"


3. Our Town - Rebecca Gibbs was the first part I ever had that had lines. I didn't do all that great, but it remains one of my favorite non-musicals. I cannot think of one aspect of that show that I don't like. The sets (or lack of) are awesome and the Stage Manager is a really great role.


4. South Pathetic Pacific - My first show. Ever. I wish it weren't. I really don't like the show, but I was young and naive. It's boring and the music's bad. Makes you want to run out and rent it, doesn't it? But now that I think of it, John Kerr (the actor who played Joe Cable) is kinda hot in the movie so go ahead and rent it.


5. Once Upon a Mattress - This one was actually kind of funny. It wasn't the greatest but there was one song that I sing to this day...despite the fact that I can only remember 3 words of it. And then who can forget the princess' name. "With and "F" and an "R" and an "E" and a "D" And an "F-R-E-D" Fred! Yeah!"


6. Bye Bye Birdie - This one cracks me up because my friend from high school played Conrad Birdie and my mom (who did the majority of the costumes for the shows) made him a gold lam`e suit. It was awesome.


7. Grease - Who doesn't love this musical? Well, the movie is better than the stage show, I think. But still, it's pretty darn good. And this one has a special place in my heart because it was during this production that I met my future husband. The girl who was playing Patty Simcox (and Dave's dance partner) broke her foot 2 weeks before the show so I got moved up out of the chorus to play the part and danced my way into Dave's heart. LOL! Really, I just tried not to step on his toes. It was also the first show I did out of high school, 5 long years after I had graduated.


8. You're a Good Man Charlie Brown - This one was just downright fun. It's a small cast musical and we just had a blast. Dave directed it and I got to play Sally Brown. She remains one of my favorite characters I've ever played.


9. Moon Over Buffalo - Kind of a forgettable show. The big dilemma in this one was that I had to have a make-out session with one of my best friends. We were playing lovers in the show, but he and his wife were our best friends off stage. Yeah. Awkward.


10. Music Man - "He's a what? He's a what? He's a music man" The opening scene of this musical, when all the salesman were on the train, is one of my favorite scenes in musical theatre. When done correctly (with people who can keep tempo), it just has a really neat effect. I came dangerously close to dressing as a man for this scene when one of the actors kept missing rehearsal. Thankfully, he showed up in the end. Dave and I played "boyfriend/girlfriend" in this show and people always tell us that the kiss on the cheek at the end of "Shipoopi" got loner and longer every night... All I'm saying is that he was kissing me. I just sat there.


11. Smoke on the Mountain - This is another one of those casts that just clicked. We got compliments from audience members saying that we were better than some professional productions they had seen. Not too bad for a little church troupe. I played the part of June, and I do mean played. She is the only non-singing member of a musical family so she plays all the percussion instruments. I think I played maybe 10 instruments in that show. Also, her thing is "I don't sing, I sign". I had to come up with "sign language" for a good majority of the songs. Some of my "signs" were so over the top the director told me I had to scale back because I was nearly hitting the other actors on stage by accident. That part was so fun. It was tough though because the actors never leave stage, except for intermission. That can be tough.


12. Honk! - The entire cast was animals and I played a moorhen in this one. And I happened to be 7 1/2 months pregnant with Emma at the time. I remember just breaking down and crying after the show closed because I was so exhausted. Good Lord, I was tired. And my feet hurt. But at least I looked good in my knee high fire engine red leather boots.


13. Godspell - This was my directorial debut. And I'm never doing it again. I just don't have the patience for it. Godspell has some really great music ("By My Side" brings me to tears every time) and the kind of ending that gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. I also got to play the "tramp" in this one and flirt with a pastor. Good times. Once again, never left the stage.

Visit other Thursday Thirteen lists!

Wordless Wednesday

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MDWLC - Week 17

I am back at 157 this week, but I realized something on Saturday. I have maintained my weight within 5 lbs (between 158 and 153) since November of 2006. So, for nearly a year, I have been at goal. And it made me think that even though I am not losing from week to week, I'm evidently doing something right.

Once again, I got caught up in the short term, not realizing (or commending myself) for the life long changes I have made. Do I still make mistakes? You know it (let me just wipe the ice cream off my face). But I also know that when the scale starts creeping up, I just need to tweak a little bit. And a little bit are the results I'm going to get. I'm not going to lose 1 or 2 lbs a week, if I lose at all, and that's O.K. Even though I'm not all that thrilled with the way my body looks, maybe my body is happy where it is and I need to be O.K. with that.

When I was picking a goal weight (155), my Weight Watchers leader told me that I had to be sure to pick a number that I would be able to maintain, not just a number that I wanted to see on the scale. And I've done that. I've tried to go lower, but it doesn't last long and maybe there's a reason for that. My ideal weight seems to be in the 154-158 range, and that's cool with me. It's more than I want to see, but less than I was. And less than I was just makes me happy.

I decided last week that even though I don't have to, I am going to start going to weekly Weight Watchers meetings again. I really do miss the meetings and I have definitely noticed that I tend to do better knowing that I have that to look forward to on Saturday mornings. I have to give up the Saturday morning free time with the family, but Dave is totally supportive and it gives him a chance to be alone with the kids during the day, something that doesn't happen too often.

So anyway, I'm up this week, but that's O.K.! I've made the changes and I'm sticking too them which is the real goal, right?

Check out Tales from the Scales to see how everyone else is doing on the May Day Weight Loss Challenge!

MDWLC starting weight (5/18/07): 158
MDWLC current weight (9/4/07): 157
Loss/Gain to date: -1.0 lb
Goal weight range for next week (9/11/07): 154-158

The Chlorine Fog

Did you miss me horribly over the weekend? I thought you may have so I decided to take a quick second to post tonight despite the fact that I feel like I am going to fall on my face.

Can it really be that we only went out of town for about 36 hours? 36 HOURS??? That's not even two full days. But we are exhausted. Dave hit the nail on the head when he said he was "beach tired". But we weren't at the beach so I am dubbing this feeling "The Chlorine Fog".

We left yesterday around 11:30 am and the drive only lasted less than an hour. We got to the lodge around 12:30 and since we knew that we couldn't check-in until 3:30, we decided to have lunch and then just let the kids loose in the attached water park. After all, that was the whole reason we took the trip.

By 1:30, all I wanted to do was take a nap. The place was so warm and the chlorine just hit you in the face. Add to that me having to carry Emma around because she was less than excited about water being randomly dumped on her head, I was exhausted. What can I say? I'm an excitement lightweight.

Dave was in charge of Jacob who was running around like a chicken with his head cut off. He was going down slides that I wouldn't have imagined he would. He was dumping water on people. He was getting water dumped on him. Quite surprising for a boy who has to wear goggles in the bath because he can't stand water in his eyes. Oh, how things change once the soap is taken away.

But being the family we are, even in 36 hours we sustained a number of injuries. There were big scrapes on the legs from trying to get out of the metal-framed sofa bed. There were stubbed toes (all on my foot) from slipping on the water slide. There were scratched backs from going down water slides a gabillion times. But the biggest injury of all? Jacob slipped and fell and hurt...take a wild guess. I'll give you a second. You're right! HIS TOOTH! The child is a magnet for tooth injuries. He really is, and I don't know how much more clearer we can be than "Honey, please don't slam your mouth into things". You'd think with 2 emergency dentist visits under his belt, the kid would learn. He is quite stubborn, that one.

But overall, despite the incredibly unhealthy food, lack of naps, chlorine, and injuries, we really did have fun. It was good to get away even if it was only for 36 hours. There was even talk about making it an end of summer tradition. That's cool. That gives me a year to prepare.