The Bloggest Loser -- Week Ten

Last week's winner for the most weight lost was Carina with 1.41% lost. Congrats, Carina! You've had a really steady loss each week. That's great!!

My story is stuck in my rut. I don't know why I do this. I think my head has decided that I'm fine the way I am. I'm thinner than I used to be, which is good. And I have no major health risks or concerns, which is also good. It's just my vanity I'm trying to appease. If I can't get past this hump, then I guess that means I'm not a very vain person after all. Yeah, tell my ego that.

I did really well a few weeks ago when I wrote out my goals for the week. I'm going to try that again.

1. Do not eat after I put the kids to bed.

2. No candy or sugary snacks.

3. Exercise five days.

4. Drink three to four jugs of water.

5. Go on a bike ride every night possible.

6. Read my scriptures and Ensign everyday.

I have been loving going on family bike rides with the kids. Josh has been at work most of the nights we've gone, but it's still been nice to get out and ride around our neighborhood a little bit. The only trouble is that we have to go at night because otherwise it's over 100 degrees, but we can't go too late because the kids have to go to bed. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to leave the kids and just go alone so I have to cater to their schedules. It's tricky, but I like going.

So, calculate your loss for the week. I had troubles with the old calculator again, so it's the newer one. Let me know how your week went. Also, my friend Amy asked me to talk a little about all the contestants. So, even if you didn't lose any weight, leave a comment. I'll try to think of something nice to say about you. ;)

Gender Fairness

So often our house is filled with the groanings of, "It's not fair!"

It's not fair that Matt doesn't have any early birthday presents.

It's not fair that Abby got to choose to do the vacuuming this week so Emma got stuck with the bathrooms.

It's not fair that Emma gets read to last each night.

It's not fair Mom gets to stay up late.

It seems that everything is supposed to be fair. And I'm trying really hard not to repeat the phrase I always heard: "Well, life isn't fair!" But I have (unfortunately) learned that life isn't fair. We don't always get the same amount of time, praise, commitment, or trials.

I think Burger King needs to learn this. Today we grabbed some kids' meals for the kids. The entire building is covered in Twilight posters with the upcoming release of Eclipse. I wasn't too surprised when Josh and I had Eclipse cups. But I was taken aback when the kids' bags sported Edward. Then the toy inside was an oversized plastic charm bracelet with a wolf and a heart on it. I sat there thinking, "Why would they be giving my children toys to promote a movie they aren't going to see?" Based on the other two movies, I'm pretty sure my kids aren't going to be seeing the new one. So why would they give the kids these toys?

Then it hit me. BK needs to be fair. For a few weeks the toys were for Ironman 2. I didn't consider that one inappropriate for the kids, though, because Josh plans on taking Matt to see it. And why not? It's a superhero film. But if they're going to promote a boy movie, don't they have to promote a girl one?

The answer is this: No. What happened to promoting gender-neutral movies that aren't PG-13? The meals are for kids under 13, why shouldn't the toys be a bit more age appropriate? It's just another proof that the world is more concerned about money than what's appropriate for kids.

Guess we're not doing kids' meals anymore.

The Apple and the Tree

Ever hear the saying, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree"? I think I've just become the tree and my children are the apples.

Out of nowhere Emma and Abby started acting out a play. This shouldn't surprise me since they like to do that kind of stuff (don't know where they get it). I started paying a little closer attention and realized they were playing the final death scene from Romeo and Juliet. (Despite my aversion to Taylor Swift's song, I actually don't have much against the play itself.) I don't really know how they know the story, but they do. They practiced and finally showed me their final performance:

Emma and Abby lock arms and skip around saying, "We're in love, we're in love. I'm Romeo and this is Juliet. We're in love." Then Matt stops them and says, "You can't be together!" Then Juliet (Abby) pretends to die. Romeo (Emma) sees this, dies. Juliet wakes up, sees Romeo, and dies.

I sat there thinking, "Wow, it's true. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree." Then Millie wanted in on the action and ran around in circles screaming at the top of her lungs and Romeo and Juliet arose as zombies and chased Matt around the room too.

I'm currently reconsidering the accuracy of the Tree Theory.

It's a Small World

I know it's been a while since I've posted. I need to get some pictures from Abby's baptism and get those up. We had family staying with us for a week and a half. It was great fun, but I don't like going online a lot when I have real people in my living room with me. I prefer to reserve my virtual interactions when I'm bored and alone at night.

That being said, I do have some fun stuff to post.

I find the interweavings of human relationships fascinating. I love playing the "Kevin Bacon Game." You know, where you connect an actor to Kevin Bacon by the costars they have in common. For instance, Michelle Pfeiffer was in I Am Sam with Sean Penn who was in Mystic River with Kevin Bacon. It's a fun game, although I usually like to use movies I've seen which limits me a bit. Here's a link if you want to play a little bit yourself.

Tonight we went for a bike ride and came across some LDS missionaries serving in our area. We stopped and talked to them for a while. Come to find out, one of them grew up in Colorado Springs in the same stake Josh and I attended when we lived in the mountains out there. His companion is from Syracuse, Utah, and attended Clearfield High School, which is where I graduated from. It was so funny.

This weekend, during our family BBQ after Abby's baptism, I was talking to my new aunt. She and my uncle got married a few months ago. They had gone to high school together in Montana in the 80s, but found each other again here in Arizona just a couple years ago. Around 1982, my aunt babysat me, my two sisters, and our three cousins. So, my introduction to her last summer was not actually the first time we'd met. Weird!

My sister-in-law told my brother that they almost got to meet each other nearly a year earlier than they did. Some friends of ours from Utah had moved to Colorado not long after we had. Their family lived in the same town as my sister-in-law. My brother was supposed to go to our Utah friends' house after a ball game one night, but he opted to head home instead. My sister-in-law was hanging out at our Utah friends' house that night. A fun game of "What if....?"

I've got another bout of stories running through my head. Love stories based on Josh and me. If we hadn't met the way we did, how would it have happened? There are tons of possibilities. I considered moving to Arizona once. Josh tried to get to BYU, where I wanted to go. Lots of opportunities, but I don't want to spoil what I may end up writing and trying to sell.

And using the Six Degrees of Separation theory (or Kevin Bacon Game theory), Josh and I were within 3 degrees of knowing each other before we actually met. I had met and visited with President Charsley, the mission president in Colorado in 1998. His family was from South Africa. Josh had dinner at Pres Charsley's parents' house while he served his mission there.

It's really interesting how our lives intertwine, and how few times we get to recognize that.

The Bloggest Loser -- Week Nine

Last week's winner was Mindy in her weight loss. Congrats, Min!

We are going to extend the competition to the 31st of July. That gives us all another five weeks to accomplish our goals. Whew. Let's do this, People!!

I'm late with this week's post because Abby was baptized on Saturday and we've had a wonderful time with so many of our family members here visiting. It's been awesome. But, I've overeaten and slacked on my exercise this week. Time to get back up and going. Tomorrow will be fun to reintroduce my muscles to those exercises they so desperately do NOT want to do. It's a good thing I'm mean like that and like to make things do something they don't want to. I get pleasure out of it. So, HA, Muscles. I'll make you nice and miserable tomorrow!

Do you ever eat too much and then think, "I'll start eating better tomorrow and it will confuse my body and I'll just dump a whole bunch of weight really fast!"? I may be the only one that thinks that. I'm still waiting for the huge dump of weight, though.

With summer in full swing, what are the activities you are doing that are helping you lose weight? Any seasonal ideas you'd like to share that we can all do? And remember to tell me how you've been doing. What's your weight loss for the week? Mine was nothing. But then, I've got a great amount of catch up to do and maybe I'll do better this week. Here's the calculator. It's a different website than usual because our usual one wasn't working. Don't know if it's gone for good or what. But, do your thing and leave your comment!

The Bloggest Loser -- Week Eight

Per Amy's request, here are the standings of our weight loss to date:

Cindy: 6.8%

Carina: 3.18%

Amy: 2.13%

Shelly: 0.63%

No one else posted their halfway mark, but remember, you can join us at any time! And if you're joining us silently from the sidelines, hope you're doing well!

This week I lost one pound for 0.64% loss. Not much, but I'm doing so much better for myself and my routine. I really want to lose more weight, but I'm really happy at how well I did this week. I exercised five times this week, rarely (if at all) ate anything after 8pm, watched my food intake, and along with all that, I read my scriptures every morning. The scriptures may not help me lose weight, but they helped me feel good about myself and sometimes that's all you need.

I've decided to continue focusing more on my attitude than my numbers. Do I feel good? If yes, I need to stay on top of what I'm doing so I don't lose my happiness. If no, what am I missing? Or, what am I doing that I need to cut back on. The healthiest thing I need right now is attitude. Once that is in place, everything else will get there too.

So, how'd you do? Any inspiration you've gained this week? Go here for the calculator.

Our poll this week is to see if anyone wants to extend our contest by a week or more. Please let me know if you want some more time. I'm up for it. Majority will rule.

Monkey See....

.....Monkey Do.

The monkey in this cliche is our little Millie.

The big kids played on the Slip 'n' Slide.


And after Josh lovingly threw Millie down the slide, she decided it was actually fun.

Millie also played "Monkey Do" after watching me work out yesterday. We'd tell her, "Go exercise!" and she'd run forward five or six steps, stop, and do a squat. Then she'd run another five or six steps, stop, and do a squat. It was the funniest thing ever.

I'm pretty sure she learned to Monkey Do from her mommy. Tara is exactly three years younger than me. She copied me when she was born on my third birthday. She just had to have my birthday. And now I'm paying her back. A couple years ago Tara got new couches and so did we. The same style from the same company. Of course, this was a huge coincidence since we were living 1800 miles apart and had never been to each other's new houses. Then we bought a house in Tara's neighborhood. When you stand on the street facing our two houses, Tara's is the second house on the left of the vacant lots. Ours is the second on the right. And the final straw: I bought the same style of kitchen garbage can. Yep. Copying my sister.

Monkey See, Monkey Do.

The Bloggest Loser -- Week Seven

Okay, technically, it's Week 7, but we're doing our mid-point check in this week. So, use your beginning weight from the start of this competition (no matter which week you joined) and see how far you've come in the last seven weeks. Go here for the calculator.

I'm not happy with my weight loss for the past several weeks. I'm at a whopping 0.63% loss. But, considering all of my yo-yo-ing, I guess it's not too bad. Plus with all that no-kitchen-to-cook-in and no-exercise-except-the-self-forcing-to-pack-and-move, I'm just glad I'm not back to my mega-fatty state.

It's time to re-focus and do this thing. I'm going to commit to five days of exercise next week. I will not eat after 8pm. I will try to get 8 hours of sleep each night. Everyday I will drink at least two full drink-things I got from the hospital when Millie was born. Of course, this will all be in effect as of tomorrow, so for now I'll continue to eat my gummy bears.

I've been waiting for Josh to be home before I watched the Biggest Loser finale. He's been working since the episode was uploaded on the internet. Now he's home over the weekend, so we'll have to watch it. I thought I read somewhere that Mike won. If you need to let out your feelings about the episode, I understand. Hopefully I'll get to watch it soon, so.... you know what? Do it. Talk about it. Share your feelings. Get it off your chest! And while you're at it tell me how it's been going for you. Just do it. And then get off your butt and exercise!!

And then come to my house and take away my gummy bears. Please.

The Next Project

Life is slowly getting back to normal. I've got a living room full of boxes to unpack and put away. I took them out of the garage to force myself to face them and do something about them. Yeah, that worked. It seems that I always have excuses to not work on them.... doctor appointments, projects with the kids, the need to sleep. But I digress.

I'm almost ready to allow my creative side to work again. I was working on a new story before the move, but I think I'll put it on hold. I'm thinking I need to explore a more personal journey. One that cuts to my soul. I think I'm going to entitle it Foibles of the Mormon Momma. All about a woman who recognizes her inability to be the perfect and ideal mother.

I thought of this as I was speeding to church on Sunday and showed up only five minutes late for the meeting. This is an accomplishment for me. I only broke one law (speeding -- I did make a full stop at the stop sign along the way) and I got there before the blessing of the Sacrament. Score.

I was thinking about my achievement and thought of my imperfections. I've noticed that so many of the mothers I know have at least one talent that they do so very well that makes them a good mom.

For instance, look at my sisters. Tara "goes and does." I've never known Tara to give up on anything or anyone. If something needs to be done, she does it. If something needs to be addressed, she does it. If someone needs to be loved, she does it. She can be aggressive (that's a compliment, Sis) when needed and is always determined. Her boys are learning to do this. She works for them and handles all of her responsibilities very well. She doesn't quit.

Lori is probably the quietest of the Williams kids, but she's also got the biggest heart. She's always there for everyone around her. She was only 24 (I think) when she was called to be the Primary President at church. This means she was responsible for the local organization of all the children's activities at church. She's so reliable and steady. She's a rock and is always there for her boys.

So my main character is going to discover and recognize those around her with the different talents. Of course, along the way she's going to learn more about herself and that she doesn't have to be the perfect and ideal mother. She just has to be confident in her own talents and she'll find more satisfaction in her calling as a mother.

I'm actually looking forward to this because as my character discovers her abilities, I think I'm going to have to find my own. After all, this is going to be a very personal story. A journey, if you will.

Laundry, Coziness, and Deja Vu

There are so many things I'm loving about our new home.

First, our miracle dryer. I thought we needed a repairman or a brand new dryer. Ours has the function to only dry as long as it detects moisture. Whatever that's called. Anyway, the first time I'd dry a load it would take about three hours to dry. Then I'd have to dry it a second time, which only took about 90 more minutes. Laundry sucked. Come to find out, our dryer just didn't have the oomph to vent up to the roof of the house. Now, it vents right outside and IT WORKS!! I never expected to be happy to do laundry.

Second, we're comfortable. Our house is cozy. Not small....cozy. We're happy, and it's been a while since we've felt at home while we were at home.

Third, and the biggest thing I'm loving is my sister just down the street. It was nice to stop by and chat as I took the kids over to the mailboxes this evening. And we had a nice BBQ yesterday for Memorial Day.

At our BBQ I had a near sense of deja vu. Here is my nephew Cody pulling his brother Ashton and my Millie around in the wagon:

I had to get a picture of it because it totally made me think of this moment:

This is my Uncle Charlie pulling me around. Funny, this picture was most likely taken at or near my Grandma Pearl's house in Montana. Now, both Grandma and Charlie live about 15 minutes away from Tara and me here in Arizona.

Here's another shot. Gotta love the 70s.