Sick

Ugh.

nauseated

headache

nauseated

chilled

nauseated

aches

nauseated

tired.....

and did I mention that I am nauseated?

Ugh.

Hob-Knobbing with the Hoity and the Toity

Hubby was right.  Blue jeans would have been bad.

The Plan turned out to be a fundraiser.  It was a wine and cheese party with the Glazer's, that included a tour of their house.  Hubby knows the Mrs through his job and has been out to the house before, and has told me about it. 

He didn't do it justice.  

The entrance is a drawbridge.  With a moat.  (Sorry, no drawbridge or moat picture.  Hubby was on camera detail so I could look around at everything, and I did not specifically tell him to take a picture of them.)

Once you go through the iron gate, there is a garden, patio, fountain area and a covered porch that leads up to the front door.

By the way, in case you didn't know, any pictures, in any of the entries, if you click on them you will get a larger image.

The whole house is done in stone, with the occasional glass bottle bottom stuck in, with a beautiful slate roof.

The inside was amazing and defies description.  She has spent years traveling through Europe and going to flea markets and estate sales and collecting items.  Every room is just chocked full of an interesting collection of stuff.  Everywhere you looked was something different.  It was all put together in a way that made sense and is fun and interesting to look at.  I suspect if I had that kind of stuff, everything would end up looking junky and cluttered.

The ceiling in the main room had a million little drilled holes, and fiber optic lights, that gave it a twinkling star look.  I love that green lamp.  And those small stained glass windows are all over the house.

The library was very cool.  It had a huge fireplace, that wasn't a fireplace.

You walk in it and there is a bathroom!

We toured the main house and then had the wine tasting and fancy cheese spread.  I was fairly adventurous and tried all the cheeses.  Most I didn't care for, some were pretty good but I could not get past the look and feel (blue cheese, and some aged something or other), and some were quite tasty - some kind of muenster cheese I found to be yummy.  There were trays of fruit with blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and grapes.  And a nice assortment of wines to try.  There were 5 or 6 reds and 5 or 6 whites.  We came close to trying one of everything, I think maybe 7 or 8 of them.

My favorite was a red called Carpe Diem Cabernet Sauvignon.

After the wine and cheese we then toured the gardens and the guest house.  The guest house is The Hobbit House.

It was just adorable!  You had to duck going through the doorways.  Next to the curved staircase was a slide.

The walls by the slide were painted with the Ent Forest.  The slide is kept waxed, so it is nice and slick.

The grandkids room at the top of the stairs is made to look like the Orc's prison. (sorry, it's blurry, but the best pic to show the prison door and bunk beds. That is the start of the slide right there by the gate.)

The other bedroom had a hand carved dragon bed.  It had glowing red eyes.

It was all fabulous and I had a wonderful time.

While we were off hob-knobbing, Surly Teenager went to the movies - Monsters vs. Aliens in 3-d.  She gave it 2 thumbs up.

Then we all went to The Main Event to play video games and air hockey and kill some time before dinner.  They had a photo booth.

Then we went to dinner at Ralph and Kacoo's.  It was very tasty, but we decided that it was not quite as tasty as the time we went with Aunt Carol in Louisiana.  Probably because it is not as close to the coast.

It was a great anniversary!

He has A PLAN

This is my anniversary weekend. 

March 29th will be 6 years of wedded bliss (almost all bliss anyways) with my wonderful Hubby.

(It will also be 3 years since my Lap Band surgery.  But I will talk about that one later.)

Hubby has been on the crazy schedule this semester at school.  When he went to set up his schedule I told him to schedule whatever he needed to, whenever he needed to and we would everything else around him.  So it ended up with a clinical on the 29th, but nothing on the 28th.

He has been so busy and so tired, my only plan for today was laying around the house watching tv, or maybe go out to the movies, if we felt like getting out of our pajamas.

Well Hubby called me at work yesterday and asked what I had planned for us for today.  I explained the pajama plan.  He said good, because I have A PLAN.

And he won't tell me what it is.

I got a couple of little details so I would know how to dress.  He said they said casual, so he was going to wear something nice.  I said casual usually means blue jeans are acceptable.  He kept insisting that we should wear something a little nicer.  This morning he admitted that these people are MILLIONAIRES, so to them "casual" probably just meant "not black tie".

Well ok then.  No blue jeans. 

 And now I have to go do something with my hair and paint my nails and pluck my eyebrows and remove my mustache and pull everything out of my closet in hopes that somewhere in there is something suitable for millionaire casual.

Wish me luck.

Letting Go

I was reading an article yesterday about working out on treadmills and
about how the majority of people don't get the full (and some not
any!) benefit of their workout - because they hold on. And I can see
that. I have seen people who support themselves so much with their
arms that it almost looks like their feet aren't touching.

They also talked about how it can also cause problems because you are
throwing you body out of it natural walking/jogging/running alignment.
I can see that too.

Confession time...I am a holder on-er. Now, I am NOT a support my
weight on my arms so my feet barely skim across the treadmill belt,
kind of person. I rest my hands lightly on the top of the side rails,
and sometimes the front bar. But according to this article even by
doing that, I am cheating my workout.

When I am doing it, I do it for balance. I always feel like I am just
about to get my feet tangled up and go splat. Grace and coordination
are not my strong points. According to them, that is just an excuse.
They say it is just a bad habit that I picked up and now my body has
learned it that way.

So I have to un-learn my body of that bad habit. The way to do it?
Go slower. It said even I if you have to turn it down to 1.0 to be
able to walk naturally without holding on. Then gradually increase
the speed. Your body will learn. If you can walk across the floor
without having to hold on to something for balance, then you can walk
a treadmill without holding on for balance.

There are no classes at the gym on Friday nights, so tonight I start
with my re-learning.

Luckily, there won't too many people there to witness my splatting,
going a mere 1.0 mph.

Sidewalk Art

All You Need Is Love

by Surly Teenager

And then it rained.

Two Left Feet Doesn't Even Come Close

Tonight's schedule at the gym was: Amp'd Abs, Latin Spice, and 24Dance.

Yes.  I did all three classes.

The instructor - a tiny little latino women (is that politically correct?) who was 8 months pregnant.  8 MONTHS PREGNANT.  And she was still jumping around, spinning in circles and shakin' it up.

I have never felt so caucasian before.  Two left feet? More like 4 left feet.

But it was fun.  And that's all I care about. 

Walking on the treadmill is a whipping, even with watching tv.  Exercising with a class makes it fun.  It makes it bearable.  And that is what I need to keep me going back.

No matter how bad I suck at it.

So I publicly apologize to all those other people at the gym, for subjecting you to having to watch me bloop around, turn left instead of right,  trip over my own feet, be out of step, and stand there looking lost and confused.

Get used to it.  I'm coming back.

Water Aerobics

Yesterday's class at the gym: Aquatics.

I made sure and got there 20 minutes early. I knew it would take me
that long to be able to get in the pool. The water is always FREEZING
cold.

And no, it is not easier to just jump in all at once and get it over with.

It is physically painful to me to just jump in, when the water is
cold. I have to do it in my own time, which is slowly, inch by inch.

The instructor claimed the water was at 79 degrees, and was supposed
to be at 82. I think it was more like 62 degrees, and they usually
keep it at 75. Brrr.

Even while "jogging" from one end to the other, I was shivering and
covered in goose bumps.

Aside from the chill, I liked it alot. Water exercises are great;
jogging, lunges, crunches; all things I can barely manage on land, and
not without a bit of discomfort. But in the water - look out. You
don't feel a thing.

Until several hours later. When you go to get up off the couch and
kind of...get stuck...in a kind of half standing, bent over position.

Have A Sooouuuupah Day!

Restaraunt recommendation of the day: Souper Salad

Now normally I would not recommend an all you can buffet. They are
just a bad idea when you are trying to lose weight. For me anyway. I
always feel like I have to get my money's worth. Heaven forbid I only
eat one plate when IT'S! A! BUFFET!

I first went to a Souper Salad shortly after my lap band surgery. I
was on a liquid diet 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after. One of my
allowed things was soups. By the 3rd week I was so sick of cream of
chicken, and tomato soups that I wanted to cry. Then someone on the
forum I read mentioned Souper Salad.

We went there that night for dinner.

Seafood bisque. And some kind of gumbo. Oh my goodness. I could only
eat the broths, but they were soooo good.

Also, the one by us allowed me to pay for my 2 soups to-go, and still
sit at the table and eat them. Usually buffet places won't let you
sit and eat out of your to-go container. I thought that was very cool
of them.

I don't know why we didn't go back there much after that. I just sort
of forgot about them.

Surly Teenager and I went out to lunch the other day and she requested
Souper Salad. I was hesitant about being faced with A! BUFFET!, but
said ok.

I'm glad I did. I had forgotten how good their soups are! Seafood
bisque again, and Cherokee Joe's Cornbread Soup. Yumminess!

Surly Teenager found a new love for blueberry bread.

On the bottom of their receipt.....Have A Soupah Day!

Homes Away From Home

The other day I was thinking about the time I spend at work, usually a minimum of 8 hours, and I started to do a little math with it.  

There are 168 hours in a week.  I usually work a 40 hour week, with an average of 7 additional hours for traveling back and forth.  That leaves 121 hours of home time.  Assuming I get a good nights sleep of 8 hours a night, that only leaves 65 hours of awake time.  And that 65 hours includes all the errand running and house cleaning and just stuff, that needs to be done.  So my actual quality at home time in any given week isn't much.

I figure it is about the same for most working people.

Is it any wonder then that people will tend to fix up their work environments and try to make them more homey and fun......

And because I know you are dying to see it...this one is mine:
My artwork is by Surly Teenager. 

Banana-Rific

Since I didn't have a class at the gym to go to, I started playing on the computer.

Ta-Da.

New blog look.

In my playing, I came across this:

For some reason, it reminded me of when I was little and my sister and I used to fight over who got the banana with the sticker on it.

Reading The Schedule Correctly Helps

I was just looking at the schedule of classes at the gym for today to see if there was anything "fun" to go to - there isn't - and noticed what happened the other night with the Step class. 

6:00 - Amp'd Abs

6:15 - Step

6:45 - Advanced Step

Apparently they just sort of transition from the Remedial class to the Crazy Jumping All Over The Place class.

I think I will try it again next week and when it gets to the Crazy section, stop.  I did ok for the first 20 minutes or so.

Except for the no rhythm and being about half a step behind everyone else.  But I will stay in the back corner so I don't throw off anyone else.  I am also planning on going to their "dance" class next week.  Maybe it will help with the rhythm thing a little.

In case you are wondering about my new found love of going to the gym...it is Hubby's fault.  He has a crazy clinical rotation schedule for this month and between that and school and work and bringing work home, he is either 1) never home 2)home, but busy or 3)home, but asleep.

So I started going to the gym for classes to keep from getting lonely and going in the kitchen 20 million times a night to snack on something.

Hopefully, it will turn into a wonderful new going to the gym habit and then when Hubby's schedule is more normal I can drag him with me.

Dr. Google

I did some research on the swollen hands after exercise thing. Turns
out to be quite common.

It is most common with runners, because of the high intensity cardiac
workout you get with running.

I wasn't running, but it was a more intense level of cardiac workout
than I usually do. And my body responded with a "what the heck are
you doing?" response.

Now what the actual cause for this happening, is a debated issue.
Some people believe it is from an electrolyte imbalance. Either too
little or too much salt. In my case I would say too little. I hardly
ever use salt and when I do, it is "No Salt" brand salt substitute.
The other school of thought is that the increased cardiac output
causes a centrifugal force kind of effect, where the blood pools at
the "outside" edges of your body - hands and feet.

So there you go. Sadly, I am NOT allergic to exercise.

Bwak Bwak Bwak

(those are chicken noises, in cases you couldn't tell)

And that is the sound of me not going to Shadow Boxing class.  It was the jumping rope.  I had visions of me tripping and falling and getting tangled in the jump rope and accidentally hanging myself with it.

I'm not willing to take the risk to do that to my family.

So I opted for Step class instead.  

Now this was called just plain old Step.  Not Advanced Step or Super Step or Crazy Jumping All Over The Place Step.  Just Step.

So I thought I might be able to handle it.

My first indication that I should have just run out of the room was when the class started with Amped Ab's.  I didn't notice that it was 6 and not 6:15.  I just saw people going in and thought oh look, it's time.

So, yeah, I got to try to Amp my Ab's.  I actually didn't do half bad.  I could do about 90% of the stuff.  The only things I couldn't manage were the crunching with both legs in the air.  

Apparently my feet like being on the ground where they belong.

After that, the torture session began.  The instructor took us through some basic moves and explained how they do one choreographed routine for an entire month.  That way it gives people a chance to learn the routine.  That means the other 8 people in the room had been doing this for the last 3 weeks.  

I was the only new person.

I did fair for the first 20 minutes.  I have no rhythm.  I was always about a half beat behind.  I have a bad memory.  When the routine got more than 6 or 7 steps, I got lost.  

I completely stopped after about 30 minutes when I noticed my hands were aching, and had swollen to twice their normal size.  They were also red.  I sat in the back of the room drinking water and noticed my legs were also red and my ankles were almost as puffy as my hands.

What the heck?  So I left.

By the time I drove home, got a glass of milk and sat in front of the computer, they were almost back to normal.  So I have come to the conclusion....

I am allergic to exercise.  Some where deep in my soul I have always suspected as much.

I'm a little scared

Tonight is the Everlast Shadow Box class at the gym.

I googled around a little to see if I could find a review of the
class, and I found a description and a short video.

It includes "athletic style drills". Whatever those may be, they don't
sound fun.

There will also be jumping jacks and jumping rope.

Um, yeah.

Jumping rope.

I may have over done it a bit

I have been horribly slacking off in watching what I eat and in exercising.  I have gained somewhere around 6-8 lbs.

Last night I decided enough was enough, and that Nike is right.  You have to "Just Do It".

So I got up before the crack of dawn this morning and went to the gym.  I did 1.5 miles on the treadmill.  During my lunch time at work, I walked 1 mile.  After work I met my sister at the gym and did another 1.5 miles on the treadmill, just to kill some time before the Yoga class started.

And can I just say, I LOVE yoga.  I can barely do maybe half the poses properly, but my goodness it makes you feel so s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out and relaxed.  But sore - oh my.  The tops of my feet hurt.  I don't recall ever having top of the foot pain before in my life.

The next class is Sunday.  I can't wait.

Thursday night is a Shadow Boxing class that sounds pretty interesting.

If I can walk by then, that is.

She Does Nothing Half Way

Surly Teenager has not been feeling well, off and on, for a few months.

I finally took her to the doctor last week and they took blood. They
were thinking either strep or mono.

Turns out it's BOTH.

Hubby is picking her up from school so she doesn't start an epidemic.

Good thing spring break is next, she won't miss as much school.

Some Good Numbers and Some Not So Good Numbers

I will start with the good numbers:

96/58

That was my blood pressure at my doctor visit this afternoon.  No more blood pressure medicine! I have to keep track of it and if it goes up too much, I have to call and get my prescription again.

The not so good numbers:

204 and 177 and 214

That is my total cholesterol and my bad cholesterol and my weight.  Up a little from my last test, and my weight is down from my last doctor appointment but about the same for the last month or so.  

I go back in 6 months and hopefully everything will be down by then.

And The Angels Did Sing

In case you heard the heavenly chorus of HALLELUJAH and was wondering
what prompted it.....

Lazy Teenager got a job.

Orientation Sunday, starts Monday.

Long Winded

Hubby likes to talk. Which is fine, I like to listen. But sometimes
he does like to go on. And on.

I was just listening to a voicemail message that he left me. He went
on for so long that I actually forgot that it was a message and that I
wasn't actually talking to him.

I started uh-huh-ing and really-ing and at the end got about half way
through with the I love you, too before I remembered.