Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Here I am!

Last time I posted was May 17, and at that point I was up to 142.8, eating well, no exercise, and Connor starting back on prednisone after relapsing into his immune system weirdness.

Now it's four weeks later, I'm up to 143.8, which I consider a bit of a victory because I'm not even pretending to eat well, still not exercising, had Connor at the immunologist yesterday and his lymph nodes are still enlarged (for anyone keeping track, this started a year ago March, and actually probably started sometime before that with symptoms we couldn't see) and just for fun he's also been battling some stomach bug for a week and a half and he's been throwing up every night, so we also get to collect a stool sample because the doctor suspects it might be bacterial and not viral (which would also explain why I didn't get this since I just don't seem to get bacterial infections).

Also in the last four weeks: end of the year with Scouts and school, starting plans for the 4th of July parade float (why did I volunteer for that one?), joining the national trip group (scouts planning a trip for next summer), dealing with car issues (stranded twice in the past two weeks), dealing with appliance issues (oven broke; didn't realize how much I relied on it until it was dead), and developing a geeky obsession with Doctor Who.

None of that has anything to do with healthy living, except tangentially. Getting stranded a mile from home meant I walked two miles that day (the next time, four miles from home with scouts starting in an hour I called Katie for rescue!) so that's something, right? Geeky Doctor Who obsession leads to lots of sitting on my butt watching television, though.

But next week I'm starting a competitive healthy living program. Seriously. At work we're starting teams to "play" Game On, which seems to be based loosely on the Body for Life diet and exercise plan, with extra healthy living bits thrown in (focus on getting more sleep, reducing bad habits, starting healthy habits). You get daily points for meeting minimum standards for diet, exercise, sleep, healthy habits, and some other things. Your team's average points are tracked, and after four weeks the team with the most points wins a prearranged prize (we're all putting in money; this seems like a more sensible use of money than a football pool to me).

5 comments:

Amy said...

The geeky Doctor Who obession is probably good for your stress levels - which is in turn good for your blood pressure.

At least you didn't have your power shut off. Here is a scary thought - a new oven would cost about the same as our power bill for three months (April, May, June) which we thought was pretty low. Why is that? We don't blink (well, we dooo... but we pay anyway) at the cost of power, but a new major appliance seems like SUCH a luxury! AND - it will last much longer.

Sarah said...

Nah, we think it's just the thermostat that's broken--the broiler works just fine, but the gas doesn't come on at all when we switch to baking. So the repair shouldn't cost too much (I hope) and the new ranges we looked at were in the $900 to $1000 range. I'd rather replace the refrigerator first, and the washing machine is on its last legs. We've been pretty lucky with our appliances--since moving in 13 years ago we've only had to replace the dishwasher and the dryer, but now everything seems to be nearing the end of its lifespan, so we're trying to save for when we HAVE to buy something new. I'd hate to spend $900 on a new range and then have our fridge die completely a week later.

Emily said...

Uh, oh -- if you're embarking on a health plan, that means I'll have to, also, since my interest in my weight and eating right and exercising has directly paralleled yours pretty much for the last five or six years. My weight is the same as yours, give or take!

Emily said...

Apparently our appliances are in synch, too -- we've only had to replace the dishwasher and the dryer since we moved in! (Not counting can openers and toaster ovens, of course.) Does this mean I should be fearing for my range?

Sarah said...

Emily--just don't spend all day making polymer clay beads for Girl Scouts, which kept the oven temperature steady at a very low temp for a long time. When I attempted to turn up the temperature later in the day to actually bake something, nothing happened.

I was attempting to roast brussel sprouts. I believe the universe was throwing itself into my path to avoid having me eat brussel sprouts. I expect the same thing would happen with eggplant. I don't think any blame can be laid on the eight hours of 175 degrees needed for baking the rainbow beads for bridging.

Don't we have a long bike ride coming up in the fall? Shouldn't we be training for that? I think about it regularly but October seems comfortably far away and a metric century seems too short to really worry about too much right now.