april showers... may flowers??

lets see if i can organize a few thoughts... feeling pretty scatter-brained today.

1. my thesis defense was not today. a guy from the university of houston came and gave a lecture at my scheduled time, so i got bumped... all the way to may 3rd. AND thats a monday. yaaaaay. i'm telling myself that it will be great anyway.

2. i was not at the seminar today because i was at a funeral in buna for the bishop, henry westbrook. i'll admit, all i really knew of him was from when he was on the high council and would visit our ward. he was funny, and will be sorely missed. there was a huge outpouring of love from the ward, stake, and community. i've never seen so many flowers at an adult's funeral.

i was asked to sing, which is never fun at a funeral. except at this time yesterday, i could barely speak because my spring allergies are in full effect. after a frantic call-in and trip to my dr., she hooked me up with a steroid shot. this morning, i was channeling a little more norah jones raspy-ness than usual, but other that that, it was at least a 90% improvement. thank goodness for modern medicine! and insurance!!

3. speaking of funerals... i hate them. i feel like in my 25 years, i've reached the quota of a 50 year old. and what's worse, probably half of them have been for people younger than me. life sucks sometimes, but it sucks way less than death. at least for those of us left here to deal.

and did i mention how completely dreary the weather is today? nothing like a rainy funeral. the day katie left us, it started raining that evening and didn't stop for three whole weeks. seriously, not one dry day. heaven couldn't stop crying, neither could the rest of us. and theres a song tied to that whole time called "sometimes he lets it rain." maybe someday i'll tell you about that.

4. anyway, on a lighter note, its the end of week 3, and i lost another 2.2 lbs, making 6.2! yeah, it doesn't sound like much, i know. and i would definitely already be kicked off the biggest loser, but hey... this is reality, and i feel good about the changes that we've been making. since moving to beaumont a few months ago, i've lost a little over 15, by changing day-to-day things, kicking some bad habits. what's more, i haven't had anything to drink but h2o since the end of march. YAY! thats huge for me.

so here's to another week of staying ON the band wagon... whatever that means. : )

great expectations...

well i'm at the end of week two... and first of all, thank you for all your sweet comments on last week's post. you confirmed my fears that a) other eyes do in fact see what i'm writing, and b) now i really do have to be accountable... thanks a lot, guys.

a few things since last we spoke:

1. went camping with brother and his family. we only got to stay one night but it was wonderful. i didn't even turn on my phone for almost 2 days. bliss... and other than being pretty chilly at night, the weather was amazing. i'll take cold over suffocating heat and humidity any day. carrie and i went fishing for a few hours and i caught 3 perch. BUT, they were used as bait the next day and my bro caught a HUGE-mongous catfish... so i like to think i contributed to that, ya know. thanks paul and carrie for letting us crash your very first real camping trip! i still can't believe that, by the way.

2. we got our flower beds outlined with the stones i bought last week... all 1400 lbs of them. oh, and we have patio chairs now. nothing fancy (we're holding out on a real set), but comfy. and now i sit on my very own back porch in my very own chairs and enjoy my very own little patch of grass... and weeds. but we're working on that.

3. i'm so flippin close to busting through 2 of my workout goals... next week, they're toast. matt went "jogging" with me yesterday, if you can call it that. oh his patient soul... i won't say how far i made it but i will say it was the longest i've ever gone. as in, ev-er. and matt did more than twice that, all while saying how long it had been since he'd worked out, and that he was sooo out of shape, yadda, yadda... thanks, dear.

but really, that aside, he was the best coach yesterday. he makes me feel like a superstar. the extra little comments about how my face looks different or how those pants look loose (as if you can actually tell a difference after a few pounds) don't hurt either. and whether he's lying or not... doesn't bother me! just keep 'em coming babe! : )

4. so with that, this week's report is only 1.5 meager lbs. i was expecting more... but i'm pretty sure that aunt flo is getting the blame for that... after all, she gets the blame for everything else, right? right. well, and i may or may not have indulged in a strawberry s'more during our little camp out. : /

so the total is only 4 so far... but my chubby ankles are shrinking, so i'm calling it a win!

'bout time...

well hello again! so much to catch up on...

1. christmas break = 10 days in angelfire, nm... skiing, family, snow... absolute BLAST!

2. matt has settled in at work finally... i was hating that he wasn't liking it at first. its better now though, and he's even getting a new assignment in a few months. hoping for the best.

3. i'm graduating THIS semester! as in, 6 weeks from now! thesis is turned in to committee and graduate office, practice defense tomorrow, real thesis defense in 2 weeks. yeeeeeah...

4. ripped out/replanted flower beds in the back. chickened out and started there before delving into the front. looks great but the plant budget definitely doesn't go as far as i expected.

ok, well the real reason for today's update is because of a few other breakthroughs i thought i'd share with the class. referring to #3 above, (can you tell i've been writing a thesis for 2 months?) the impending completion of my schooling for now has come sooner than i expected, even though its a semester longer than i planned. not following? let me explain:

matt and i just celebrated our FIFTH anniversary... time absolutely flies. we've always planned to wait to start our family until i was finished with school, partly because i've been in a lab all the time with weird chemicals that aren't good for growing a human inside of you... and partly because the thought pretty much scares the patooie out of me....

anyway, graduation is here, almost, meaning i better start getting over that quick, right? well anyone who's seen me knows i've packed on more pounds than i care to admit. did you think i didn't notice? i've done the yoyo thing since i was in high school, but since becoming a mrs., my yoyo has been stuck! on the wrong yo! to top off the whole "i'm not old/wise/mature/good enough to be a parent" freakout, i can barely fathom getting pregnant, and being even bigger.. whoa... i don't think i could handle that.

i guess my point is, i've realized that if i don't start fixing some things now, i'll never be ready, physically or mentally. and that would be a shame because man, my little people will have an amazing dad, just sayin...

so i know other people deal with this crap too. a friend of mine has been on some crazy diet (not sure about details) and has been posting her progress each week on facebook. shes doing fabulously well by the way. but since fb is way too public for my taste, and their use of "friend" is meaningless, i'm going to do the same on here. maybe it will help hold me accountable!

this is what i'm doing:

in my opinion, its like the word of wisdom, only in scientific terms (so of course i liked it). it does seem a little extreme, especially if you're used to southern, cajun, and mexican food like our families love. but once you get past what you can't have and focus on what you can, its easier. and the bottom line for me is: i feel sooooo much better when i follow this.

oh, and i'm quite literally working my butt off. i've never been a fan of hard workouts. you're surprised, i know, but it is what it is. i'm trying to get into shape, something other than globular. also, i will be a "ma" for the handcart trek coming up in june, and i'd really rather not actually die on the trail. i hear helicopter rides to the hospital are expensive!

so for my sixweeksuntilgraduationgottadosomethingfast goal... i'm down 2.5 lbs. see you next week!

but seriously... get the book, read it.