A new chapter in life

I think I've been in a jumbled daze of overwhelming thoughts and planning since last week.  The brain has been working on my next phase in life. 

On Friday I had my typical morning of dropping the children off at school and heading to the gym.  Upon returning home I found the light flashing on the answering machine.  Excitedly but reserved I pressed the play button.  It was regarding the position I interviewed for.  So I called them back, and I'm sure needless to say by this point in the post-- I GOT THE JOB! However, it is contingent on me passing a background check.  But I have such a wild boring lifestyle I'm sure that everything will come out fine.

So, as I said, my thoughts have been in organizing mode.  I've got daycare set up for the kids, and they can eat breakfast at school.  The dog is will be jailed limited to the kitchen area by a gate, hopefully the long days won't be too much for him. I just need find me some new work clothes. And thanks to the intensive background check I'll have a couple weeks to prepare whatever else I need.

After all the stress I've felt about going back to work for the last year, this feels right and I'm actually excited to begin!

Shrink-a-Versary Weigh In Week Three AND MUCH MORE!

It's Wednesday and that means.... well it means lots of things today lol.  One--it's weigh in day for SOTSJ. With my healthy diet of cookies light meals yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find my scale down a half pound this week, at an even 161.  Woot!  I've set my goal to get to 155 by the end of this challenge.  I know myself better than to think I'll lose more than that or even if that much.  I like food too much, but I'm slowly changing and so the change is slow. 

Secondly it's also check in day for recording our miles this last week for SOTSJ.  I've been logging my miles in over at Dailymile with the rest of group.  It's very encouraging to see all of you there! I'm happy to add 19 miles to our total since last Wednesday! I love the Lifetime Stats it gives you--I've powered 67 tv's and burned 9 doughnuts of calories lol.

Another milestone this week, we had parent-teacher conferences last night at the kids school.  I'm very proud of them both! This is the first year Gina gets actual grades, and she got 1 B and the rest were A's! Her only area she really could improve on is participating, and she knows that she's a little too shy when it comes to that so hopefully she can overcome that hurdle yet.  Jimmy's "grades" were a bit different for what they use in the 1st grade.  A "3" is needed by the end of the year, and he already has a lot of them, but he has some 2s and 1s also.  Its nothing I'm concerned about.  His real issues are attention and self-control yet.  I need to find a way to help him control noisemaking, and how to actually LISTEN when the teacher gives directions.  I thank God for his teacher this year tho, God bless her patience & understanding in dealing with his quirks. I know he can drive me batty at times at home, and I don't have 20 other kids I need to help too.  

Finally, today is the day after my first real job interview in 8 years.  The interview went well, in my opinion.  Now I just have to wait for an offer or rejection.  The extra money would be so helpful, but I'm not so set on getting it that the disappointment would be overwhelming if I don't.  Getting this job would mean a whole change in lifestyle for me and my family.  It's a bit scary of a jump to make.  I'm sure we'd do fine, but change-no matter how good it is-is stressful in the beginning. 

Happy Saturday

Sometimes it's the simple things that make you happy...

Shrink-a-Versary Weigh-In Week Two

161.5. Again.  But I'm happy with that. I lost the pound I'd gained from the halloween candy. I know I could have eaten a lot better and maybe lost more, but I was stressing all weekend with the job prospect and I'm an emotional eater so it wasn't a good weekend.

The newest Challenge at Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans is the Globetrotting Challenge to log our miles however we accumulate them (walk, run, bike, etc).  This started Monday, and I'm happy to put in 14 miles for two days of tracking.  Unfortunately I won't be logging any today with school out and the kids home (cuz you really don't move far in Yoga :-P ).

Lastly, I just want to say that no matter what it takes I WILL keep up my exercise routine. If I end up working 8-5 M-F then I'm becoming one of those 5 am gym rats.  I've worked WAY too hard to go back, I want to keep moving FORWARD!

2.5 yrs and 50 pounds

Periodically I am told how proud someone is of me, reminded of how far I've come.  Yesterday was one of those days, after I'd run jog/walked my first 5k.  It wasn't an official race, there were no awards for age groups, etc., but our little group did it, and we rocked! It didn't matter how long it took us, whether we ran or walked, it was the fact of doing it, of getting active.

So the fact that I accomplished 3.2 miles without dieing leaves a lot to be said for me, someone who had never been active until I hit 35.  I hated gym, I was terrible at any athletics.  I could use my asthma as an excuse and I did.  I still think it does inhibit me some but now I'm not going to let it stop me.

Two and a half years ago I started out with just walking and watching what I ate by recording my eating habits at Sparkpeople. My highest weight reached about 212 pounds in 2007.  That was how much I weighed when I was pregnant with my kids! And so after many miles of walking, jogging, and finally adding some weights and strength training after joining the gym this year, I've lost 50 pounds now.  And I'm not done.  I want to loose more and I'm going to keep trying no matter how slowly it creeps off.

For your amusement, here's a comparison photo... 2.5 years ago at my heaviest and a photo taken yesterday before the 5k run at my lowest weight in over 10 years.

The only thing constant in life

As I sat here today thinking on things I could blog about, my mind was blank.  I had no real family news to share at this point, nor any topic that was screaming to be complained about or praised over.  I was having the typical brainfog-numbness I've seemed to have had all week. 

And then the old saying of "the only thing constant in life is change" fell true.  Last month I sent off an application/resume/etc for a full time job.  Not hearing anything in the last week I figured that possibility wasn't going any further.  Before going to pick the children up from school I grabbed the mail, and in that pile was an envelope.  "Aha! The 'Dear John' letter has arrived," I thought to myself.  Reservedly I opened the envelope expecting to read the standard "thank you for applying however the position has been filled" reply. Except it didn't say that.  As my eyes scanned over the letter looking for those words I instead saw a date and time.  I decided I should probably actually READ the letter.  So, yeah, I have an interview coming up. 

And that brainfog-numbness? Gone.  I imagine the inside of my brain is like Spongebob's when he had to learn Fine Dining and threw everything out including his name.  All the little Lori's are running around trying to organize everything I need to do to get ready for going back to work full time.  Daycare, clothes, sick days, medical issues, bills, laundry, cleaning, exercise, time, time, time, and lots more.  What does it all mean, besides a total change in my life? It's scary as hell.  And yet I can't see it all being a bad thing.  There are many benefits to the change, I just gotta process it all in my head. 

On a side note... my first official 5k is in less than one day! We meet at noon tomorrow.  I can't wait!!

Shrink-a-Versary Weigh-In Week One

Like so many others, yes, this last holiday weekend did me in.  All that Halloween candy is so TEMPTING.  The scale showed it, up a pound, 162.5.  To make up for the excess sugar I ingested, Monday I worked out extra hard, burning 1270 calories in the 2.5 hours I was at the gym.  And boy did I feel it yesterday!  I'm looking forward to our EAS Active 5K this weekend.  The weather is supposed to be nice, and what a great way to finish off fall before winter really hits us here in the northern states.

Trick-or-StrangeTreat

The non-existent Parent Manual suggests you check your kids candy after they return from trick-or-treating to make sure, you know, that they don't eat any needles or lick any lsd-laced postage stamps.  So like a dutiful mother I looked through my childrens stash.  The Graveyard Fairy brought home pretty normal stuff, nothing that caused me any concern other than the Almond Joy I stole from her (I knew she wouldn't eat that anyway), and a can of pop which I would not let her drink at 9 pm.  Batman's bag was a whole different story.  I don't know if it was because he's a superhero or what but there were some out of the ordinary treats secluded in his little plastic pumpkin.

• (1) 12 oz can of Mountain Dew
• (1) 4 oz can of Sams Cola
• (1) brand new in the package Matchbox Car
• (2) snack bags of Cheetos
• (1) container of Wintergreen Tic Tacs
• (2) stickers
• (1) obviously leftover, Chocolate Easter Bunny

Thankfully no needles or lsd-laced postage stamps though. 

Anyway, here they are before they headed out on the suger-overload-world-tour...