Stupid Arthritis

I’m starting to notice something about my arthritis. One thing is that stretching isn’t so simple anymore. I used to get up in the morning and stretch which helped me feel more comfortable for the start of my day. Now stretching usually just causes me some kind of pain, usually in my lower back.

No matter how I sleep, my right arm has been hurting at my shoulder, elbow, and wrist for about three days now. Yes I’ve been taking my meds. Today I’m lucky or unlucky enough to add one knee and one ankle to the equation.

At least it’s summer and not a 20 degree winter because that could be really bad. Since spring is gone and summer’s here my biggest problem for a few months should just be me asthma.

Moni-1 Jaime- Who really cares, I won

Jaime has always thought I looked good no matter the weight but after Christmas when I realized that I had went from 153 to 163 since Thanksgiving I decided it was time to do something about it. That’s when I went to him about my desire to restart Weight Watchers, I was never really committed before, and that is why the contract between us about how I was going to lose the weight came about. Like any normal person he hates wasting money. So I started Weight Watchers two days before my birthday, which happens to be New Year’s Eve, let me tell you that was a really bad idea. I ate so many points that day and had almost no exercise, needless to say on weigh in day I hadn’t lost any weight but at least I hadn’t put any on. Now it’s 3 weeks later and I’ve lost 4 pounds with another weigh in tonight.

I’m sure you’ve seen the commercials about Weight Watchers (one just came one while I was writing this) and their new PointsPlus plan. Basically everything has a point value and you have to keep track of everything you eat and how many points you use daily. Now I get 29 points a day and 49 more weekly that I can splurge with. I’m supposed to use all of my daily points and exercise. Exercising also gets me extra points that I get to swap out for food points if I so choose. After that first week, I don’t use my weekly or exercise points at all and I’m okay with that. I do a very good job of tracking everything I eat including the Splenda, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, and the ice cream i eat. I eat separately from what my family eats and I don’t have a problem with all the sweets they keep in the house. I decide in the morning what’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner so I know in advance if I’m getting cookies or other sweets, and I can have all the fruit and veggies I want because they have a point value of 0. When I go grocery shopping, Jaime goes with me and since Ive been on the plan he will ask me how many points things are even though I’m already figuring out the points on my own. Recently he has started to text me from work and ask me to calculate the points of something he’s eating so he can get an idea of what’s smart and what isn’t.

Jaime has been very good about sticking at one weight as had I but today he stepped on the scale (I will of course not share his weight) and had put on about 13 pounds. He called me into the room this morning and asked me to sign him up for Weight Watchers online immediately before he went to work so he could stop at the market for food on the way to the gym. He gets a lot of points daily and I know it’s because he’s a man (still not fair though) but I won and he’s now joined me in this and I am happy because it’s so nice to have the extra support. I’ve had support from the whole family they know the points of my sweets and give me the lower point items and fruit but it’s nice to have someone going through this with me.

I’m so excited that I’m going to go have a cookie and then I’m going to turn on the Kinect and get some Zumba in (I remembered to take my inhaler first today so I won’t be on the floor ready to pass out today).

*This is not and advertisement for Weight Watchers. Nor is it endorsed by them. I just went into a little detail so that you could see and understand what I’m going through with the plan.

terms

Let’s Call Them “Resolutions”

I don’t make Resolutions because I’ve never been a big believer in them. In my opinion Resolutions are something you say you’re going to do but don’t. This year Jaime told me that I had to make a Resolution list as a foundation for my plans and goals this year. Of course I procrastinated with letting others in on my list, even Jaime hasn’t seen it. So you will officially be the first and since I’ve sat down I’ve also decided to add procrastination as a resolution subject on this list. So let’s get started shall we?

Resolutions:

• I will blog regularly. To me this means, I will post to this blog at least 3 times a week, to my other blog at least twice a week, and to my Weight Watchers blog I will post once weekly. I’m willing to try and put forth this effort even though that means I will be posting at least 6 times a week between all of them. Luckily my photo blog for my family will only be updated monthly unless there is a special event. I want to thank my blog buddies in advance for the help the give me by reading my blog regularly.
• I will stop procrastinating. No longer will my motto be, “why do today what I can put off until tomorrow.” That’s a pretty good one though don’t you think. Or maybe I should just prioritize what needs to be done and the order that I need to do it in.
• I plan on getting fit this year and that encompasses a different areas. I wrote a contract for Jaime outlining my basic weight control this year and my plan on making that happen. That contract was the only way I could convince him to pay for Weight Watchers. Mind you he has never complained about my weight. I was 135 when we met and my heaviest at 167. Absolutely never a complaint. He insists that I am beautiful and perfect just the way I am but in the end I know that what really matters most is what I see in the mirror. What I see is a heavy girl who will be at a happy healthy weight when I reach my goal of 139.
• • I will become more active. This will include going to the gym and continuing my Group X classes. Parking a little farther away from the gym, my weight watchers meetings, and the  market.  I am going to exercise at least twice a week whether it’s my Dance Central game, my Zumba game, Wii fit or the classes I love at the gym.
  • I will eat healthier this year. I eat more in moderation and only eat more portion sizes. So far this is going great and I’m very proud about how this is. I’m eating a lot more vegetables and fruit, a lot less sugar and fast food. I mean I still eat an occasional chocolate chip cookie or candy bar, I have to be able to have what I want or I can’t stay on plan. I also agreed in that contract that I would go to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting  and I actually look forward to them. They keep me grounded on my weight journey and I need that.
  • I will stop being lazy. I will also start walking up the stairs to announce that dinner is ready or that the dryer has stopped. No more calling, texting, or sending instant messages. This has been a little harder to keep up. I still tend to text Giavonni often but Qiarra lost her phone and Alexys hasn’t earned a phone yet. This seems to be the hardest for me but I’m being honest about it. Last night Qiarra asked me if she could ride with me to drop her grandmother off at work this morning and I told her no because she lost her phone and I couldn’t text her. I was nice enough to walk upstairs, go to the far end of the house, soothe her dog, and then wake her up so she could go. As a birthday gift she has asked for a new phone or that the family gets together and looks for her phone. I’m going to try looking for it tomorrow when they’re at school.
• I am going to visit my dad more often. This might sound like common sense but I have 3 kids and it’s not cheap traveling with that many people. So my dad is just getting to know his grandkids now. We moved to Texas from Arizona so that we could be within driving distance of him in case he needed me. His health is not good and I wanted to be able to reach him on the same day in case of emergencies. He came down for Christmas and had a fantastic time with his grandkids so I decided to make it a point to drive out to his house at least once a month but hopefully more. We are going to drive out the last weekend of this month for my daughter, Qiarra’s 16th birthday. He also bred his dogs and now is waiting to give my Alexys a brand new full blood Shi Tzu puppy.
• I am working very hard at getting services for my 24 year old brother who has MR. I would really like to get him in an adult day program. Right now he is in the house all day and I am unable to work. My brother’s doctor thinks I should apply for a care program that will help compensate me. I can live without the compensation because I’ve been doing this for years but his doctor made a valid point. With me being unable to work the compensation will help me pay my bills. I hate not paying any bills, it sounds great but I always feel like I’m being carried and that makes me feel really bad. I’m not the kind who likes to rely on others, not even Jaime.
• Once I have some type of income coming in whether it’s from employment or for my brother, it’s time to get some previous debts taken care of. For awhile there, I had to be mom and dad to my kids and I think they made it through well considering it was just grandma and I. I loved them and gave them what they needed. I drew the line on what they wanted because I had to prioritize and make some sacrifices. That didn’t keep the girls from getting sick or having to be hospitalized so I have some delinquent medical bills that I’m taking care of as I can. I’m starting to get a grip on these bills so I’ll just keep pushing through as I can.
• Finally, I have given myself this year to decide exactly what degree I want to go for. I’m having a hard time deciding because I always wanted to teach preschool and that’s what I was going to school for but I finally realized the reason I felt so aimless with my classes was because I had already taught preschool. So my move last year and trying to get settled has given me time to figure out what I really want to do and I’m going to take this year to figure it out. I also have to help my daughter figure out what she wants to do because she’ll be a junior next year and there’s a lot to do before she graduates high school.

I almost forgot that I also have to make it a point to keep reminding Alexys that when I say something, if I didn’t say “I promise,” then I didn’t promise. I make it a point to rarely ever say “I promise,” because I expect her to hold me to it. That’s what you expect of your children because that’s what they do. Lexy though, will try to hold me to promises I never made and she does this often Jaime also bears the brunt of this a lot too so I now specifically tell her “I didn’t promise it Lexy, I’m saying that I will do it if I can.”

So there is my list, what do you think of it? Maybe I’ve made too many lofty goals and should get rid of some of them or maybe this is just right since I have a whole year to accomplish it and maybe if I break a resolution that’s okay because I have the whole year to get it right. I think I’ll take that as my philosophy, “maybe I didn’t get it the first time, but I succeeded before the year was out.” I think that still technically counts.

Luckily tomorrow is a new day

I had plans for a big “what I am thankful for” post yesterday but my minor headache turned into a major migraine before the day was over. My father had some major problems yesterday and called me because he needed someone to use as a sounding board so who better than his favorite daughter? Then today after a comment from SoapBird I had a brilliant idea for an exercise post but first I had to go to the dentist. I had movie and dinner plans with my son tonight but after the root canal and coming home to take my pain medication, I can’t think straight so I am going to climb in bed and let my motivation for tomorrow’s post come to me in a dream. Just playing, but I’m sure there will probably be at least 2 posts in me tomorrow. Goodnight all and have a great weekend if you don’t get back before Monday.