Across the Brandywine

1/18/11

A dose of sunshine

It was a particularly gloomy day here in St. Louis. The sky was dark grey and continually spit ice and snow. Thankfully my friend, Toni, provided just the dose of sunshine I needed today. Ah, to live in California...

(Photo courtesy Toni Weber)

I'm ready to join her and move out there. Who's with me? For now I guess I'll have to find other sources of sunshine, like reading her blog and looking at pictures of other warm and sunny places. Stay sunny, my friends.

1/16/11

Week 2

Two weeks down with Weight Watchers. I'm actually surprised I lost weight this week since I did nothing but lay in bed and cough. In fact, that's exactly what I'm still doing. Can't. Stop. Coughing.

Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise to step on the scale and see another 5 pounds gone. I still tried to stay within my point limit every day, which was no problem since I had very little appetite. I drank a lot of water. I haven't exercised at all, and I don't know when I'll be able to again. This isn't exactly how I though week 2 would go, but it's still okay.

I'm just hoping that as I get better and stronger, I won't throw the diet and exercise out the window, as has been my post-sick pattern in the past. If I can make it back on track, I think I'll be good until my next big obstacle... my birthday.

Another 5 lbs gone! Woohoo!

1/14/11

So ill.

I'm not talking about Southern Illinois. I mean, like, ohsoillyouprayGodwilltakeyouhome ill. It has been a very unpretty week here in the Bass household. As always, my hubs is the trooper of all troopers. Boy, does he love me well! I cannot tell you how good he is.

I had sincerely hoped to make his first week back at school a good one, but instead he spent his nights studying alone, taking care of the dog alone, and being my good, good nurse and comforter. Sick as I was, one good thing always comes out of me being sick, I am reminded of just how marvelous God is to give me such a husband. I've said it before. I'll say it again. He's the BEST! I know a lot of people think that about their husbands, but I just cannot believe there could be one so great as Kyle.

He is so caring, thoughtful, tender, and strong. He carries me through everything, and that's no simple task. He loves me with the extraordinary, unconditional, unending love of his savior and mine, with the love of Jesus.

Thank you, Lord, for such a man!

1/9/11

Week 1

I'm doing Weight Watchers. Yeah, it's time for me to get in shape again and I've failed on my own more times than I can count. My mom and I are doing it together and we are both super pumped! I'm hesitant to write about it because it's such a vulnerable spot for me and has been for much of my life. I guess my thought was that if I don't write about it, people won't know that I need to lose weight, that I'm out of shape and unhealthy. Well, I realized that someone could just take one look at me and know that, so why not write about what I'm going through? Hopefully it will motivate someone else.

Here's a picture of us the week before beginning looking nice and chubby.

For the first week, the leaders at WW gave us a little assignment to write down ten things we've learned. I didn't think I would be able to come up with ten because I thought I already knew it all. I've been telling myself that I know how to eat healthy and exercise, but I just need accountability. Well, I was wrong! So here are just a few of the things I've learned in week 1.

Portions. When I cook at home, I tend to cook pretty simple, relatively healthy meals. They usually consist of some kind of meat, some kind of starchy side like a potato, rice, or pasta, and a vegetable. Starting WW hasn't drastically changed the way I cook, but it has made me realize that the portions I've been giving myself are WAY too big. For example, I've always made spaghetti with lean ground beef and whole grain pasta, but the serving I gave myself was probably four times too big, and I often returned for seconds. This week I made it the same way, but scooped out a 1/4 C of pasta with a 1/2 cup of meat sauce. I didn't make garlic bread, but salad and fruit instead.
Blinders off. Wednesday night we used our Applebee's gift card. This seemed like a good choice since I knew they had WW options on their menu. I was disappointed to find that they only had a few items with the WW label, but after looking at the nutrition facts and calculating the points I discovered I could eat a small steak and half a baked potato for less than some of the WW items. After I decided what to order, I looked up the points for other menu items that I used to order and I was shocked. My favorite chicken tenders were worth almost a full day's points! This was hard to take, but I was glad to know the truth. It definitely motivated me to learn about what I eat before I put it in my mouth.
Balance. Friday night we joined friends from our church at Mojo Tapas by our house. Kyle and I had walked by it many times on our way to The Gelateria, and always wanted to try it. We really liked the atmosphere and the tapas were so good! I had a very low-point day leading up to our night out and I did my daily shred with Jillian, so I didn't feel so bad ordering just what I wanted. We split crab empanadas and calamari. I skipped the table bread, which was difficult, but Kyle said it wasn't that good anyway. The next morning, to my great surprise, I had still lost weight!
Small goals. I have a fair amount of weight I want/need to lose, so when I try to think about that big number, I get a bit overwhelmed with grief and remorse that I've let myself get this far out of shape. However, if I think in terms of 5 pounds, or even 5%, I feel much more able to accomplish my goal.
Motivations. I have to be honest with myself about my motivations. I have many. They range from wanting to honor God with how I take care of my body, wanting to be healthier, wanting to increase our chances of fertility, wanting to just feel better, all the way down to wanting to look better in clothes, and to not be the "fat Bass wife" (if you knew how beautiful my sisters-in-law are, you'd understand). Now, I know that items 1, 2, and 3 really ought to drive me more than anything, but all I have to do is take a walk around the mall and look at the clothes I want to wear, and all of the sudden I am back on track. It's silly. It's frivolous. It's really superficial, but it's the truth.

I'm going to install a little tracker of some sort on the side of my blog so you all can stay in the loop about where I am in the process. I'm hoping to reach my goal by the end of June. I'll try to remember to update it weekly, but once I start back to school next week, I'm not making any promises. Thanks for any encouragement or prayers you might have on my behalf. If you just want to snoop, that's cool too. I would!

1/3/11

Holiday Rundown

I'd originally titled this post "Christmas: The Breakdown," but decided that carried the risk of it sounding like I had a bad Christmas, and that is FAR from the truth.

We spent Christmas Eve at my mom's house where we had a huge dinner and played games. It was a night that I would call... eventful. I'll just leave it at that!

Christmas day my mom's family has the tradition of volunteering at the Salvation Army and bringing dinner to the residents there.

Grandpa, Kyle, and Noah setting up the salad table

Noah loving on Granny in the kitchen

We helped with that then grabbed Watson and took him to my dad's house. After hanging out there for a couple hours we went to my cousin Dustin's house where my dad's family was gathered. We not only celebrated Christmas, but my great-grandma Jennie's 94th birthday.

My dad and me

Dad and Great Grandma

Our plans to travel to Pennsylvania to visit Kent and Hope fell through. This was very sad, but a very agreeable alternative awaited us in Chicagoland. We spent New Year's with the whole of Kyle's mom's side of the family and celebrated Christmas, New Year's, and Aunt Stacy and Uncle Toby's going away to Italy where they will be stationed for the next three years. It was a grand old time except that Watson was bad, Mama Bass was very sick, and Kent and Hope were absent.

Kyle and his phone