What a long, strange trip it's been.

I tend to think in songs, so thank you Grateful Dead.  I've learned alot in the last 90 days.  Embrace the veggies, adore the fruits, think *truly think* about my food.  I've learned that I truly detest exercising in the cold, but love that my daughter often does this stuff with me.  I also love that she loves apples, grapes, clementines, and black-eyed peas.  My lower body is still kicking my upper body's booty (except the upper body doesn't have a booty).

I am deeply pleased to say that I fit nicely into a dress I wore to the opera when Ian and I were dating.  I am also pleased to say that to wear my pants without flashing unsuspecting bystanders, I must wear a belt.  I am displeased to say that I need a new wardrobe.  I loathe shopping.  My skin looks like it did when I turned 20 (which is to say, smooth and soft).  My teeth are whiter without the juice and Coke.

Coke is nasty, by the way.  Water is the bomb-diggity, yo.

To be honest, I can't say that I'll miss the whole of the PCP.  I'm happy to have my life back into a place where there is more flexibility and less pressure (I'm staring at you endless cooking, weighing, and packing).  But I can honestly say that I like the me that made it through.  I like how I look, I like how I feel.  I like that I have a top ten list of favorite varieties of apples and that really I'd rather have one of them than chocolate any time.  I love that there is a group of people scattered across the world who I share a unique bond with because of this experience.  I'll miss that.  I'll really, really miss that.

I have to cut this short because I'm falling asleep on the keyboard.  I don't know exactly when there will be pictures, but there will be pictures.  And a killer, black, floor-length opera dress will be among them

Ease on down, ease on down the road!

Sorry for the late 80's throw-back (The Wiz was an awesome movie), but it seemed appropriate.  We're winding down now.  I keep on keeping on.  I'm happy to have a "real" dinner back.  Egg whites are great, but they get a little boring after a month don't you think?  My sauteed shrimp was extra tasty tonight!

Discovered to my delight that Olive loves black eyed peas.  A vegetable beyond carrots that she enjoys.  It's a Christmas miracle.  Maybe seeing mommy and daddy chomping down on all this good stuff is finally opening her mind to them.

I know it has been expressed by many in our group already, but it bears mentioning - jumproping in the cold is teh suck!

Recommitment.

Had it out with my hubby this past Sunday.  We both vented and felt better (love him).  So I did my exercises yesterday.  And I did them today.  And I'm going to do them til it's done.  I've lost muscles in my arms (not surprising as they are always the weakest aspect), but my abs and legs are still doing well.  Took pics last night.  Going to go take a shower and enjoy my fruit.

Flailing.

I had it in my mind that it would be easier once Ian got home.  It is in a way.  I missed him SOOO much.  I love being able to talk to him face-to-face (hugs and smooches are pretty nice, too).  That has been fantastic.

Except I'm stalled in PCP.  I lack motivation in the exercises and am pretty much uninterested in eating at all.  Head cold isn't helping, but it's deeper than that.

I started this project to re-align my eating habits and get back into a regular exercise routine.  My goal was to lose 20 pounds.  I've done that.  And now I'm stalled.  It's so hard to rev myself up.  I'm working on it, but man, it's tough.

I'm not dead yet.

I'm here.  I'm alive.  I'm trying to thrive.  My oven broke (actually, brand new but didn't work).  The first handyman dispatched was in Chattanooga (we live in Nashville).  The second handyman found faulty wiring (my brother came up and fixed it).  My last set of contacts ripped (got an eye appt and some new glasses, too).  My headlight burned out (fixed it while I was at the eye appt).  My mom came up to help out.  She set off the burglar alarm by accident.

But the biggie is my nephew.  My nephew is sick.  He's only 18 months old.  He has hydrocephalus.  They referred him to a specialist here in Nashville.  None of the rest of it matters in comparison to that.

I miss my husband.  I miss "talking" to you guys.  I'm trying to keep it PCP around here, but it hasn't been easy.  My workouts have been suffering.  The diet was tough with the oven out, but I expect to be back on track now.  Breathe, breathe, breathe.

Commence with the stressing.

Ian left for Japan this morning.  I'm a single mom for somewhere between 2-3 weeks.  I did today's exercises, but I'm pooped.  Looking forward to an indulgence, but my tummy is already unsettled so I'm not sure if it's a good idea.  My blogging is likely to be short, but I'm here and hanging on as tight as I can.

Go Team Cookie Monster!

The nicest thing.

As I was walking through the main OR corridor the other day, one of the anesthesiologists stopped me and said, "Are you a dancer, by any chance?"  I giggled (couldn't help it) and replied, "No, I'm one of the clumsiest people you will ever meet.  Why do you ask?"  She then told me I had excellent posture and tone.

Blush. ^o^

On the road again.

And this time we are prepared.  A cooler full of PCP goodness to tide us over and a trip to a grocer for fresh fruit.  Huzzah!  Much, much better.  A workout in cool weather under the stars = icing on the cake.

Wait.  There is no cake, much less icing.  But there was a honeycrisp apple and it was fan-freaking-tastic.

Blink and you might miss it.

I haven't had a whole lot of spare time.  Traveled over the weekend to see a friend who accepted a year-long construction contract in Afghanistan.  Needless to say we had to see him before he leaves.  Traveling and visiting is hard while on PCP.  We both tried, but next time we will be taking a cooler stocked with supplies to make it easier.  Aaah, my child is naked and running around with a flashlight.  Why?  WHY??  Must go...

Doctor, my eyes...

... Are just fine.  Hurrah!  Lots of drops later, the redness, itching, and swelling are all gone.  I love it.  Thanks for all the kind words here.  It was nice to have the support while I wasn't feeling so hot.

I don't have much to add except I kind of like the restrictions for dinner.  I don't have to come up with a dinner plan.  I don't really have to cook/prepare much beyond the egg and then the veggies for later.  Is nice.  Especially in comparison to the mountain of food my hubby has to munch through.  Poor guy.

How is everyone?

Pinkeye and a head cold.

Short and sweet for today.  My eyes are shot and my head is a mucus factory.  Bleh.  Couldn't work yesterday.  Can't work today.  Did my jumps yesterday.  Going to do my workout today.  Waiting for the antibiotic and steroid drops to help my peepers.  Going to take some cold medicine and knock myself out.  Hope everyone else is well.

Go Cookie Monsters!

(Will try to take pictures tonight, but don't get too close a peek at the mug, 'kay?)

Indulgence = happy!

Or at least a happy meal.  That's right.  My indulgence was McDonald's.  It was salty, crunchy, lusciousness.  French fries and a cheeseburger.  I did not have a soft drink, opting for water instead (completely broken of my soda addiction).  The best part?  The toy.  Strawberry Shortcake doll.  Score!

By the way, don't mind the squatting jumps.  Kind of nice, actually.  No balance problems at all.  The creeping?  Oh, not so much.  Keep falling over.  The result of them both?  Screaming thighs.  The first time I have been really and truly sore after working out.  I mean, I'm wasted by the time I'm done, but I woke up sore this morning.   ^-^

Well now, quite a mistake.

So I did the last day of the week's workout first.  Yup, 1300 jumps yesterday.  Came in sat on my couch, quite proud of myself.  My husband looks at me and says, "Why are you sitting down?".  I explained myself and he gives me a blank look.  "You got the wrong day, sweetheart."

So I did the 1300 and the rest of the right days workout.  Way to get back on track...

On the plus side, I was able to do one real pull up.  I have never done one in my life.  Yay for results!  Plus, I can take off my pants without unbuttoning them.  Do NOT ask how I found this out.

The last two days = complete drag.

Sunday and Monday kind of, sort of stunk.  Not on a grand scale, but I lacked any motivation and energy.  Now that I think about it, my energy levels have been swinging wildly.  Somedays I wake up full of vim and vigor, somedays I barely wake up.  What's up with that??

Part of it is problems sleeping (specifically staying asleep), but I can't trace any other sources for this problem.  And it is a problem.  So much so that I haven't been able to do my exercises for the last two days.  I got them in today because it was just jumps.  I feel terribly guilty about it, but it's been all I can do to get the energy to make it til my kid's bedtime.

I thought for a bit it might be related to the eating, but I've been keeping track of the caloric intake of things and I should have plenty on that end to tide me over, but not enough to bog me down either.  (whew, run-on sentence).  Any thoughts?  I'm taking a multi-vitamin daily to be on the safe side.

Drum roll please....

I passed.  I passed at 94% (highest in my group).  I passed and I did the Snoopy dance in the director's office and there may or may not have been an Arsenio Hall-esque "whoop, whoop".  I passed and I came home and took a nap.

And then I did my workout.  There was no "whoop, whoop".  But I feel pretty good.

A better day.

Nobody crushed my lunch... because I opted to do the fresh feature at my cafeteria.  Since the chef cooked it from scratch in front of me I could make all my PCP requests.  He thought I was nutso.  But in return I had a delicious and correct meal.  Chicken and veggie stir-fry (in a drizzle of olive oil) with brown rice.  Almost took a picture of it, but the styrofoam container was, erm, ugly.  I don't hate push ups anymore.  I do reserve a strong disliking for them.  When I jumprope, I move backward.  This makes jumping on my porch quite impossible.  Grr.

Finished my prepwork for Friday's test.  Tomorrow is an all day study session.  I have reassembled the squishy bits of my brain.  Hopefully, all that info is still in there.

Down, down.

Did my 800 after work in the parking lot before getting in the car.  Pavement two nights in a row is not pretty.  Left my fruit at home.  Someone sat their lunch basket on my lunch bag.  My food was squished to oblivion.  I salvaged a veggie sandwich.  Dinner was a cheese sandwich because the kitchen was a wreck.  I'm not hungry, but I'm forcing a banana to get at least some fruit in my day.  On the plus side, I have four chicken breasts with various seasonings on each in tinfoil packets roasting in the oven for tomorrow.  They smell good if I do say so myself...

... and I do.

My brain, she has 'sploded.

We are back from vacation.  I have a mad week of cramming before my test on Friday for AORN.  Gah!  I'm not hungry, I'm stressin'.  I have no, no, NO appetite.  But I'm eating (the right stuff).  I have no, no, NO energy, but I'm exercising (still have a hate-on for pushups).

Here is a very public apology to my poor husband.  I'm sorry I'm not more supportive right now.  I'm working on it.  I'm just scared to death that the last 6 months of intense physical, mental, and emotional labor are about to circle the drain Friday.  I love you and Olive to bits and pieces and I'm happy we are doing this.  Really.

Limited internet access at the Mouse. Sorry, folks!

We are in Disney.  It's wonderful.  I'm just loving the time with my family.  Today is me and my hubby's fourth anniversary!  How do we celebrate?  Jumprope!  I kid, but not completely.  I'm keeping up with all the exercises with relatively little problems.  My arms and upper body are getting stronger as a work in progress.  My legs feel great.  My belly is still jiggly though much less so than a month ago.

Eating is a little more problematic here at the Mouse.  I am following the dietary guidelines as closely as is possible without the benefit of being able to measure it all out.  'Tis tough, but I feel I'm getting it mostly right.  It's really not a struggle to choose the right groups of food.  It's tough to estimate portions.  We'll see how it comes together once I'm home.

Working out on the road!

Well, on the driveway to be precise.  I did my jumps between the cars.  Two things about this - 1) jumping on pavement is really not so comfortable while jumping on grass is impossible, 2) I totally did this in about three feet of space.  Awesome sauce.  The push ups are getting slightly better.  Slightly.

Still not hungry.  My husband could happily gnaw off my right leg at this point.  On a sidenote, since changing my diet in prep for this project I have lost 12 pounds.  Ten of those were before I started the exercise regime.  Double awesome sauce.  Now how I do in Disney, surrounded by luscious trash practically screaming my name, well that's the true test.  I'm not going to be a tea-totaller about it, but I am going to stick to my guns.  Half-portions and good choices.

Team BLUE!  I am reading everyone's blog, but I haven't had a moment to make any comments.

My arms. They hurt.

Still hating on the pushups.  Silly arms.  Keep up!

My husband is hungry.  Hungry.  HUNGRY.  Me?  Meh.  Not really finding myself hungry.  Yeah, at meal time I'm ready to eat.  I'm not ravenous and the half rations are quite enough, thanks.  I can just feel the karma building up... waiting to strike me down...

Did not do as well on the jumproping.  This could be due to the fact that I was jumping in the front yard of my brother and sister-in-law's house.  Their neighbors were curious.  Someone was checking me out from a front porch.  Performance anxiety!

Tomorrow night - drive to Disney!  So excited.  :D  Night everybody.

Going to need to stretch.

I feel mostly great, but my arms are tight as drums.  I'm running in the OR all day so my legs stay warm and fairly limber.  My upper body, eh, not so much.  The first 2 push ups were kind of painful.  It eased up after that, but was rather uncomfortable.  Took a bit more time while jumping rope and found I had a better rhythm and less missteps.  Could go 30+ in a row!  Very happy with that.

Diet continues to go well, though I do have some concerns about intake.  I don't feel hungry, but I know for a fact that I have barely cleared 1000 calories today.  Same thing yesterday.  As long as it doesn't start slowing me down, I'm going to flow with it.  I will, however, really crackdown on taking a multivitamin a day.  It's a balanced diet, but I don't want to risk any deficiencies.

Day 1 done!

Not bad.  I hate push ups, but that's because my arms are deplorably weak.  Jumping rope is pretty decent and will likely grow on me.  The thing for me will be carving out the time to exercise.  I'm thinking I'll need to do this before work (while kiddo and hubby are asleep) or just after work (kiddo still in daycare).

The diet is going well.  Ian and I radically revamped our diet when we decided to do the PCP almost a month ago.  Now that I'm eating fresh foods, veggies, and fruits, I find I crave them.  If I have fast food, I generally regret it - makes my tummy mad and my brain sluggish.

I know this will get harder as it goes along, but I'm feeling good about it.  Up to the challenge, shall we say?

Susan Has Arrived!

And is ready to get in the best shape of her life!