Our trip to the American Girl Place

Lillianna and I wrote about our trip to New York on her blog. We had a great time and I highly recommend this trip to any mom who has a daughter with an American Girl doll.

Jill Carroll is set free....I don't know about this.

This story is too odd for me. People are saying that the kidnapping was a hoax. I have kind of thought that all along.

They threatened to kill her and yet she remained alive...time and time again. While I was happy she wasn't killed,I don't find the terrorists to be a kind and loving group of people so I don't find this story to be believable. Why didn't they kill her? They killed her interpreter when she was kidnapped so why spare Jill's life? Were they all in this together? Maybe they are all Americans?

Today Jill was saying how she was treated so kindly. Cut the crap!! In one video she was crying hysterically. Were those tears of gratitude for how well she was being treated? What is the truth here?

This story is just bizarre. What do you think really happened?

A great check-up

I went to see Lynn,my nutritionist yesterday. She was thrilled with my blood sugar readings and my blood pressure. I will see her again in 3 months and if my blood sugar is a bit lower than it is now,I can cut back from 3 diabetes pills a day to 2 a day.YIPPEE! That's the news that I wanted to hear!

She was really proud of how much I have been exercising and how determined I am to keep losing more weight and controlling my blood sugar. I used to use food as a way to control my life but now I use good eating habits and exercise to control it. I like this way a lot better than the old way!

Thank you to everyone who keeps asking how I am doing with all of this. I really appreciate it. You keep me motivated!

Say thank-you to yourself

My most recent post is over at DotMoms.
I think we all are so quick to praise others but do we ever take the time to thank ourselves? That's what this post is all about.

Can anyone explain this to me?

We live in a very large apartment complex. I always drive slowly throughout the complex because there are so many kids here and you just never know when a child will suddenly dart into the road.

The other day as I was passing one of the buildings, I noticed a mom holding the hand of her 2 or 3 year old daughter. They were laughing as they walked down the walkway leading to the parking lot. The mom let go of her daughter's hand and they continued laughing as the little girl ran around to the side of their car. Her mom was not far behind her.

Suddenly,the mom saw my car and panicked. I was only going about 15MPH and I still hadn't gotten to the spot where their car was but the mom started screaming at her daughter. The little girl was now standing by the trunk of their car. The mom screamed until the girl stopped and began to cry.

When the mom got to her child,she slapped her little hands several times until her sippy cup fell to the ground. The girl was now hysterical. It was at this point that I passed their car. My heart shattered when I saw this scene.

When a child is this young,I blame the parent and not the child for a situation like this. The mom should've known better. A child of 2 or 3 should not be allowed to run free in a parking area and if they are....don't slap them!! Slap yourself for being so stupid in thinking that a child that young has really good judgment! DUH!

What do you think about this?

Forty pounds......and a half!

As of this morning,I have lost 40 1/2 pounds. I had to get the half in because it's very important to me. This has been difficult at times but it has all been worth it. I still have 60-70 more pounds to go but I'll just deal with that 5 pounds at a time.

Dr.B was pleased with my progress when I saw him on Wednesday. Sadly,my blood pressure was high so he increased my blood pressure med.....again. *sigh*
I'm hoping with more weight loss,my bp will go down.

On a happier note,my blood sugar has been great in the past 3 days. I have had 6 good and consistent readings and I am pleased with that. I am hoping I can keep that up.

I have to go check out the gym in our apartment complex this week so that I can start using it. So far, I have just been walking but I need to tone everything so I can look beautiful in my bridesmaid's dress....oh ya...and being healthy is important,of course. :)

My child can write!

Lillianna has finally written a post on her blog. It's the first one since Christmas.
It's a cute little post,so if you have a chance,please check it out!

It's working!

I lost another half of a pound today. This new plan is definitely working!
YAHOO!!

I have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow morning. I hope I get a good report!
I'll keep you posted.

Questions without answers

This was my post over at DotMomsyesterday.

Lillianna asks some of the toughest questions! Unfortunately,I don't always have an answer.

Honesty really is the best policy!

I'm a big Dr.Phil fan. He is always telling people to "Get real!" That sounds so easy but when you are the one that has to get real,it can be tough....tougher than you think.

I have to say that losing 35 pounds was not very difficult for me. I had gone from eating really high fat foods,way too many carbs and just lots of foods with empty calories,to following a low fat,low sugar,low carb eating plan. The change was so drastic that the weight came off in a timely fashion.

Over the past 2 months,I have lost and gained the same 2 pounds without really losing anything. One day I was up one pound. The next time I was down two pounds.....up a half a pound,up a half a pound,down one pound. No matter what I thought I was doing right,the weight stayed at the same number.

The other day I decided to "get real" about my eating. The truth was painful. Yes,I definitely eat healthier than I used to but I'm trying to kid myself and it's not working.

Eating one bag of sour cream and onion rice cakes is not one serving. One serving is 10 rice cakes. If I eat the bag then I am eating six servings. That is 60 grams of carbs and I am only allowed 90 grams of carbs each day. This has had a huge effect on my weight and my blood sugar.
I kept trying to tell myself I was doing the best that I could but it wasn't true. I was only pretending to do my best.

The other day I decided to cut down my portions,be careful with carbs,focus more on exercising and the big one.......no eating after dinner unless it's a low carb yogurt.With these changes in place,I felt confident that things would turn around.

This morning I lost one pound.....a real pound.....a new pound. The scale has moved on to a new lower number! Good scale! My blood sugar has been good and tonight it was the lowest ever....101. It's usually between 120-175 at night which drives me crazy. No consistency.

This progress has really encouraged me to continue to keep it real. I feel happy and proud that I took the bull by the horns and made this change. Being honest with myself hasn't been easy but is has been necessary.

Do you ever try to fool yourself? Does it work?

Magical kitchen or magical husband?

Ok,I'll admit it,I hate cleaning. Is there anyone else out there in blog land that hates cleaning too? Wow! That's a lot of raised hands! I knew I wasn't alone.

I also hate cooking but due to the diagnosis of Diabetes back in November,if I want to eat,I have to cook! That being said,I cooked a bunch of stuff yesterday:a huge pot/vat of low fat Oriental soup,a pot of low carb pasta (for the soup....by not using "real" angel hair pasta,I've cut down on the carbs. Yeah for me!)

I also made my very favorite string bean casserole without the onion rings which is what makes it "bad" for me to eat...too much fat.(Are you counting the pots,pans and utensils? It was getting messy!) Then I made some pork chops. Rich decided that they needed to go on a rack in the pan so he changed pans completely halfway through the cooking.

I microwaved left over angel hair pasta for Lillianna in it's plastic container,transfered that into another bowl so it appeared as if I were a good mother who had spent hours preparing my daughter's dinner instead of the 2 minutes it actually took to nuke it and throw a small bit of butter on it for flavor.

Then it was time for Rich and I to sit down to dinner. Add 2 plates,2 glasses and silverware to the big mess that I had already created in the ever so small kitchen and you have quite a disaster.

Rich was going over to his friend's house to trade historical lead figures for a few hours after dinner and I had a million things to do before bed. Did I mention I had to get up at 4am this morning to get ready for a walk for Hospice? I looked at Rich with sad pitiful eyes and said,"I don't want to clean this mess up."

He said,"That's okay. I'll clean it all up when I get home." He gave me a big reassuring hug. I didn't dare ask,"Are you sure?" because I didn't want him to change his mind.I thanked him and ran off to sew the metal underwire back into my bra. It had escaped earlier in the day and nearly poked my eye out. Don't ask!

When I woke up this morning,the kitchen was spotless! SPOTLESS! Just like it had been before I destroyed it.

Is my kitchen magical or is my husband magical? Never mind. I already know the answer to that question.

Thanks,Rich!!