8 Final Shrink for Good Weigh-In

Today is the final Weigh-In for the Shrink for Good Campaign over at Shrinking Jeans.
My scale told me I was 144 even this morning, no change from Wednesday's weigh in.

But I'm happy to report a 2.6 lb loss from the start of this challenge (1.8%). Didn't dip into the 130's like I planned when the challenge started, but at least I am ending it weighing less then I did when it started!

I think it was a great chance to do good for others while doing something good for ourselves. I am so proud of all of the participants that lost weight and ended up donating probably over 100 lbs of food to their local food banks. Great job ladies and gents!

25 You Capture - STILLLIFE

Some things that are in your life have no movement yet they can move you in ways that amaze you. They can make you go from feeling numb to feeling like you can jump over the moon.

Simple little boxes under the cabinets...one of my favorite parts of my kitchen. It's like it was custom made for all the little things that have no other place to go!

Lead and glass....one is so weak and the other so strong. A happy marriage of materials that welcomes everyone into our home.

A bear that my Grandpa got when he had his open-heart surgery and triple bypass. That bear is over 20 years old and still has the indentations from him squeezing it when he coughed. That bear makes me smile, it takes me back to a happy time, a time I still had my Grandpa.

If I could capture the things that fill my mind and heart with so much feeling lately, it would be this picture. Everytime I pop my vitamin, as I take my temperature in the morning and update my chart, and skim thru one of the books I am filled with so much emotion and hope and fear. It's an amazing roller-coaster of feelings! Hoping we get good news soon and discover we are starting a family....we want a baby ladybug!

Come over to Beth's place and share what you found this week with You Capture!

6 Weigh-in Wednesday

Well not too proud to be typing this update this morning for the Shrink for Good Campaign. The scale is back up to 144, which wipes out the 1.6 I lost last week! Urgh. Not surprised though, as I didn’t count calories on Saturday, instead spent the day with friends watching College Football all day. Of course that entailed having a few lots of beer and comfort food and awesome treatbars. Oh I paid for it about 8 o’clock when we got home, I felt like hell!

My workouts for this week were:
Thursday-REST
Friday-Shred Level 2
Saturday- 2 miles (5 min walk, 3 min run/walk, 5 min walk)
Sunday-REST
Monday-Shred Level 2
Tuesday-5K Training-2 miles (5 min walk, 3 min run/walk, 5 min walk)
Wednesday-REST (yes didn’t get up this morning to Shred…go ahead give me crap but I was soo achy, gave myself a pass)

Plans for next week are to move up to 4 min run/walk intervals in my 5K training…not ready to move up to 5 just yet, so making a new level of 4 min. Hey every little bit helps me get closer! How did you do this week? Stop over and share with us at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans.

9 Oh Golly Gee....for me?

Ace of If you Think Round if Funny, gifted me with an award last week. I just recently started sharing more about my "personal" non-weight loss life and thought it was fitting to have been nominated at this time. Thanks Ace!

You are supposed to pass this on to 10 of your bloggy friends and share 10 things people probably don't know about you.

OK, here are 10 things that you don't know about me:
1) I never met my birth father
2) My mother was the oldest of 10 kids so I grew up with lots of aunts and uncles
3) I am an only child
4) When I was younger, my favorite color was clear...what sense does that make?
5) My snow boots are a children's size 3, yet I wear size 6 Asics
6) I HATE horror movies
7) Sometimes I talk to myself in a high-pitched British accent while I'm cleaning
8) I love College Football, Ohio State the most, but will watch it all day long if there are good games on
9) I love Brussel sprouts
10) I was on the swim team in high school, breast stoke and 400IM relay

Without further ado, here are 10 of the honest bloggers I read and why I gifted this to them.

~April-Did that just Happen? I love seeing how she continues to grow more comfortable with who she is...and that she loves animals!

~Beth-I Should be Folding Laundry An awesome writer with an amazing way to capture emotion in her photography that makes you feel life

~Brooke-Smart + Strong=Sexy This one has a great head on her shoulders and is planning for her family's future while enjoying what everyday has to offer

~Christie-Baby Tea Laves I admire anyone who can complete several triathlons and also lets her son wear his batman mask to the store

~Elaine-Miss Elaine-ous Life Love when she stands up for her opinion on things, which i had more of that trait sometimes

~Heather-Mama Sass I admire her strength in opening her home and heart during her MIL cancer treatments

~Melissa-Whooo's that Girl I think this women is the real deal-loves her children and loves time with her family and friends, even when road bumps come up-she can find a way to deal with it (also an amazing photographer!)

~Sarah-A Mommy Elephant'a Everyday Adventures uber-cool momma who wants to be better for herself and her adorable son Max

~Steph-Adventures in BabyWearing Her words and simplistic photos make me smile and believe that there are still honestly goodhearted people out there

~Susan-Warm Chocolate Milk love her writing style and makes me think about what my thing will be that will make my children feel warm and fuzzy inside

Thanks again Ace! I love the fact that you are such an active part of your children's life and you crack me up with most of your posts!

22 You Capture - RED

The color red.
It can represent so many different feelings. Love, Anger, Power and Pain just to name a few. Here are some red things that jumped out to me when Beth posted the new You Capture challenge for this week.

For the past 3 years in the middle of September, we have gone to a local fruit farm early in the morning to pick Honeycrisp Apples. If you haven't tried a honeycrisp apple, I highly recommend going to your local market and looking for one. They have become my all time fruit. All other apples pale in comparison to the Honeycrisp! So crisp and sweet with just a little bit of tart....my mouth is watering just thinking about them!

Our house is a HUGE Ohio State Buckeye house! We watch everygame on the big screen, occasionally will go tailgating or to a game and always looking for cool Ohio State stuff. This picture is one that we took at a game last year and did a little editing to enhance. I would love to get this picture blown up and put up in our theater room! This was taken on our way into the stadium.

What had you seeing red this week? Stop over and share with Beth and the You Capture challenge!

9 Weigh-in Wednesday

Time to be accountable with my friends over at Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans and weigh-in for the week. I had an emotional weekend and I've done a lot of crying. Stepped on the scale and held my breathe.....would I have more food to contribute to the Shrink for Good Campaign? Or would my emotions get the best of me (there may have been some hummus and bagel chip snacking)?

Yes I do! I am down 1.6 lbs this week to 142.4 lbs! Can I get a woot-woot! That's another 2 cans of kidney beans to my pile for the food bank! This also puts me 2.8 lbs away from a huge milestone...50 lbs! I hope hope hope I reach that goal in the next couple of weeks!

For some extra motivation, I joined a challenge with the Shredheads for the month of October, to focus on either a 5K or 30 Day Shred. I choose to do both since I am alternating between the two to find a happy medium between losing both pounds and inches.

My workouts for this last week were:
Thursday-5K Training-1.5 miles (5 min walk, 1.5 min run/walk, 5 min walk)
Friday-Shred Level 1
Saturday & Sunday-REST
Monday-Shred Level 2
Tuesday-5K Training-2 miles (5 min walk, 3 min run/walk, 7 min walk)
Wednesday-Shred Level 2

Feeling good overall with my workouts. I am almost back to the level of C25K that I was on before Labor Day so that makes me feel better. I'm tweaking the plan just a little bit to see how far I can go. I'm gonna stick with the intervals for a week at a time so I can hopefully get up to 3 miles by November 8th, which is World Run Day, and complete my first unofficial 5K (around my neighborhood or local university) with the Sisters!

How did you all do this week...get some Shredding or 5K training in? Keep pushing yourself...you will be surprised what your body gets used to when you have a goal in mind!

*Oh and don't forget to check out Jen @ Prior Fat Girl (who has been and continues to be amazing in her journey thru weightloss and life in general) contest for a chance to win an awesome book!

7 Oh Mom...how I miss you

My husband and I went out to the cemetery yesterday to visit my mom. It's always so hard to go visit her, mostly because its like a slap in the face that she is no longer here. The flashes of seeing her at the hospital and then the funeral and walking away from the casket at that very spot with tears running down my face and a hole in my heart stays with me well after I leave the cemetery grounds.

I lost my mother almost a year ago, October 28th 2008. I got the call at 12:30 from my aunt who lived across the street from her that she couldn't breathe and had passed out and they couldn't get her to respond. We lived about 40 minutes away and when we arrived at the hospital I ran in to find my little cousin walking towards me with his arms open and tears in his face. I knew she was gone. I collapsed in the arms of a 17 year old high school senior who loved her more then any of his aunts. I could hear my grandma in the chapel hysterical. She was with her when he passed out and was the last one to talk to her and she couldn't hold her up when she collapsed. I remember all of that just like it was yesterday.

I, as an only child, was left in charge of picking up the pieces after she was gone. Sadly, I do not come from money nor am I made of money and even with the help from some family and friends, arrangements had to be made to cover the funeral expenses. This also means I haven't been able to get her a headstone yet. It breaks my heart every time I go out there and see the little plastic sign from the funeral home marking her resting place. The cross-stitch heart that was once in the corner is now faded, but her name still stands from the plaque. I shared my thoughts and concerns about starting a family, was I ready would I be a good mother. I said some words, some out loud and others in my head...I knew she could hear them both. My husband just held me as I sobbed and stared down at the ground.

We stopped by a local business that makes memorials on our way out of town. We just wanted to stop and see what we liked and get a number to call and get prices and details and timing. But there was a man, who ended up being the owners father and before we knew, the owner had come over and was talking about what we could do etc. It was so thoughtful of him to come out on a Sunday to talk about this with us. So I decided on a size and color of granite that I thought best fit my mom, something I think she would have chosen if given the choice. We then started talking about what else I wanted on the stone besides the name and dates. I wasn't really feeling the praying hands or angel wings. But a simple phrase kept popping in my head and I knew that was what I wanted to go with at the bottom of the stone.

A Loving Mother, Daughter and Sister

Those 6 words said so much about who my mom was. I was an only child, although she had several miscarriages and lost a baby and a husband when she and my step-father were in an accident when I was 3. She always thought the world of me and I never remember her yelling at me or telling me I was dumb for something I did or said, even when it probably was clearly evident. She always would acknowledge the small things, like getting a good review at work or losing half a pound a week.

She lived with my Grandma for the last 5 years of her life. They became kind of like the odd couple and best of friends at the same time. They would complain about each other, but then rarely went anyplace without the other. Yin and Yang, Salt and Pepper...Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. My mom would always go to the dr with my grandma and had all her medications and dosages written on a laminated card that she kept in her wallet. She was a nurse before going on disability years ago, so that kinda thing came naturally to her. It was hard to decipher some of the medical code but we figured it out. She would make my grandma dinner and make sure that she ate enough. She would make new things and try recipes and clip coupons to make their budget go as far as it could.

My mom was the oldest of 10 children and loved all of them with her whole heart. She always sent cards and left messages often singing happy birthday to family members. She loved spending time with her nieces and nephews and supported them in all they did, whether it be sports, music or education. She loved to listen to one talk about football practice while giving him a shoulder rub and loved it when another would come over and play his guitar and sing them a song or three. She thought it was wonderful when her littlest nephew would come over and ride his bike in the driveway and they would share knock-knock jokes. She loved her family more then most people even knew. I am sure that there wasn't a day that went by that she wasn't worrying about someone or thinking about when she would see them again.

I broke into tears when I tried to tell the man what I wanted to have at the bottom. I had to walk away while my husband talked with him. All the things that those words represented just stuck a pin into my heart, and made me wish it was a year ago. How much my life and attitude towards so many things have changed in a years time. There are so many things that I would do and say and ask her if only I had more time. I wish I could ask her about how her pregnancy with me was or how she knew she would be a good mom. I know she would be one of my biggest cheerleaders on this weight loss journey.

It just sucks sometimes having to make decisions like picking out a headstone or choosing financing options when all you want to do is cry and mourn and wish for more time. But I hope that she will be looking down and be happy with what I chose for her. It is light and warm and makes you remember how loved you felt whenever you heard her voice or listened to her laugh. Oh how I miss all of her.