post Christmas, pre New Year

Christmas was a new experience this year. We didn't visit any family, which wasn't entirely new (we had Christmas to ourselves in CA a couple of times) but doing so and having Marcus around was a new thing. For me, the main event of the day was seeing Marcus open all his presents. I still question the whole holiday though. It's a confusing tradition to me. We're not religious, so we don't celebrate that aspect of it. We (Chris and I) don't expect to get into the Santa game. Christmas is just an excuse to give each other gifts and decorate a tree - which aren't bad things. But it feels weird to be the only one deciding what traditions to carry on. When we go spend the holiday when someone else, they get that job.

That said, it was fun and relatively laid back. We didn't plan ahead for dinner, so we ended up going out for Chinese food (which we did on those couple of occasions in CA). I think that the next time we celebrate Christmas alone, I will plan some vegetarian goodies to make so we can have an appropriate Christmas feast. But we like to eat out, and we enjoyed ourselves. There were plenty of other people eating Chinese food as well.

It's nearly Marcus's third birthday. Hard to believe the little guy is almost three years old, and another year is nearly gone. I think this year went quickly for me - definitely moreso than the prior two years. I like having a two year old more than a baby, in spite of the toddler's obnoxious ways. I get more sleep. ;)

nearly a year

It has been almost a year since I started this blog. Allison dropped out along the way (and gained some weight). Rebecca got lean and green and sparkly (and then ran a 1/2 marathon, and finally forgot about her blog). Jenni got pregnant and started a different blog. And I am basically the same weight that I was a year ago (which of course was the original purpose for this blog - documenting weight loss).

It's been yet another year of constant preoccupation with my weight and everything I eat. I guess I should be a little happy that I haven't gotten any bigger, but I had hoped to be several sizes smaller by now. I'd like to believe that I could go through life without being so concerned about this, but I don't think it's going to happen. I'm not setting any particular goals now though. Each week, each day sometimes, is a new challenge. Sometimes I plan to do some exercise, and then I find that I am physically unable to do it. Other times, I go through with it without any pain, and then I am basically disabled for months. Lately, I've just been lazy. I know the spinning will make my elbows sore. I know that taking Marcus to the gym is likely to result in protest. So I do nothing.

Also, diet motivation and willpower are fleeting. Sometimes they are strong, and I have no idea why. Then the whole thing goes out the window for some tasty meal (or meals). I had about two weeks of fairly good dieting (I thought), but the scale didn't move much. The past week has not been so good, and the scale has returned to its previous position - indeed going up even more after last night's Mexican feast. I don't think dieting is good for me - or I haven't found a workable plan yet. I theoretically had everything I needed to do well (teammates encouraging me, the accountability of reporting my weight to someone), and still I failed to lose.

Tonight I'm going out for another Moms Night Out with the playgroup moms. We're going to Ruby Tuesday. They have a great salad bar and yummy blackberry lemonade. Do you think that I want to stick to a few hundred calories? That wouldn't be any fun, now would it? ;)

Snow #2

...or is it #3. I might be three. But the previous snow was only 2-3 inches and was gone within a couple of days. This storm brought a bit more (and a lovely layer of ice underneath - can't wait to shovel). It's supposed to warm up slightly in a few days. We'll see.

Actually I don't mind the snow. It's December, after all. I already shoveled once during this storm (crazy, I know) because it wasn't a big deal when it was only an inch or two deep. At that time, it was just a pretty snow. Marcus helped, pushing his little shovel across the driveway. It's the freezing rain part (which started later) that I don't like. We didn't buy any salt, so we're just going to have to deal with it. Fun fun.

And oh yeah - the weight loss competition. It's still not getting anywhere. I technically lost during the first two weeks - 1/2 pound losses that just showed up again midweek. For the third weigh-in, I maintained. I doubt I'm going to see another loss for the final week, but who knows. I'll try. Our team just didn't do very well this time around. On a good note though: I'm exercising more. I've used my bike a couple of times (with appropriate stretches before and after), and my knee is okay. I also went to the YMCA for the first time in three months (ouch) and lifted some weights - and that went well too. I know the FMS comes in cycles - there are good days and bad days - but it was encouraging. If Marcus will keep tolerating the child care (which he did! for the first time in many months!), I'll keep going!

So, what's happening...

*Marcus and I got a tree put up. Now he's taking off the ornaments one by one, but at least it was pretty for a short while.

*We probably won't go anywhere for Christmas. We had talked about going to a warm beach somewhere, but a lot of good places are already booked. I'm not done looking though!

*Most of the shelves are up, and I've started filling them. Woot!

*The Fit Club competition is keeping me motivated, but I'm still not losing much weight. I really need to get with it - for the team, if nothing else. ;)

*We're having our first indoor playdate here next week, so I really need to get the house organized/cleaned...

*If you haven't bought Marcus a Christmas present yet, he really likes the Matryoshka nesting dolls. ;) You can get them in other cute themes - various animals, Pooh characters, etc. Check out the Bits & Pieces website.

(New puzzles are also popular - in the 25-50 piece range).

*Christmas suggestions for yours truly: any products from the LUSH site (or similar), funky colored (bold, jewel, rainbow, etc) worsted weight cotton yarn (any material but acrylic), cool bag for my yarn collection, good waffle iron, Yankee candles (votive size), and of course Starbucks gift certificates. ;)

Just for the heck of it, I visited the Yankee Candle website and came up with a list of yummy-sounding scents: berry tangerine, black raspberry, passion fruit, cherry lemonade, cottage breeze, fruit smoothie (yum, this is making me hungry), gingerbread, granny smith, island spa, juicy peach, lilac blossoms, macintosh, machintosh & peach, mandarin cranberry, mango blossom, midnight cove, new zealand wild berry, peach & sweet berries, pomegranate cider, shortbread cookie, sparkling lemon, spring bouquet, sand & sun, sweet strawberry, vanilla caramel, vanilla cupcake, vanilla lime