Eleven weeks on the diet today. I have been doing well. I hit my target last week for Monday's weigh-in. But I know you can't just stop dieting when you reach your goal. I really felt I had "just barely" reached my goal. I think I was right.
Right after that low, I bounced up again and I never recovered. Then there were the sea salt caramel brownies and then there was a neighborhood party yesterday with cake. And I can't run for a week because of the eye surgery so I'm not burning the extra calories I would from exercise.
Did you catch the whine in that last paragraph? If you missed it, you're being overly kind. I get frustrated when this happens. If the goal is to lose a pound a week, but you go back a pound, then you've not only wasted a week, you've added another week on the diet. That's two weeks you could have been done dieting that you have to keep slugging through it.
On the other hand, was last week's reading out of line with where I should have been? I don't know. Today I paid "Pound Pennance" and ate less than I would have normally on the diet. It is okay though, I ate enough cake yesterday to make it through the day. I'm pretty sure the caramel was still sticking to my insides from Saturday too.
The Big Boy Update: So many things sound like things. But is he really saying what we think that last string of syllables sounded like? My guess is no, he's baby babbling but we, in our attempt to convert sounds into communication, are hearing what he's saying as words and phrases. Also, mp and broom! We were at the store getting baby food and he was pointing at something hanging on the wall. We assumed it was another ball. Everything is about balls these days, but it was a baby-sized mop and broom. He's been wanting to help out with the housework. Now he has his chance. When we got home he swept bits of the driveway and even cleaned up some of the grass.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Wanting to be involved. She wants to be involved in what you're doing. She reaches for whatever you're holding on to and wants to know what her brother is doing. Her sphere of awareness seems to be larger lately than it was weeks ago. She seems more outward-focused than inward of late.
Right-size countdown: 1.0 pounds to go.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Overwrite Is Gone
Do you remember back in the days of "word processors" the Overwrite mode? If you were typing, you would be in insert mode by default, but you could press the insert key and it would change to overwrite mode. Overwrite was great if you wanted to get rid of a bunch of text and didn't feel like pressing the backspace or delete key forever.
This was back in the days before the mouse. Or that's when it started. Over time, we gained the ability to select a large amount of text by highlighting it and just do a single delete. At that point preserving information became more important and a paradigm shift happened where pushing out existing text was better than accidentally deleting something possibly important.
And that's what happened often, right? You wouldn't know you were in overwrite mode and you'd get to typing for a good while. You'd look up to find out you'd written over something gold, something you wouldn't be able to recreate or maybe you weren't even sure what you overwrote. You hoped it wasn't that important. Aruggh.
What about undo? Ctrl+Z you ask? Ah, yes, when undo first came about there was only one level of undo. Ghastly to think about today. At one point I remember discovering I could increase the total number of undos Word allowed I think people thought I was crazy when I told them I'd set it to fifty. But hey, I'm a girl and sometimes I change my mind; I needed those fifty levels.
I had forgotten all about overwrite mode until recently when I decided to try and find it. It may be an option still; I didn't look very hard. At some point hitting insert stopped toggling a logical switch that eradicated existing written content. It's a change I never noticed. A change I wasn't properly thankful for until I thought about overwrite the other day.
The Big Boy Update: Stick and Pail. Some toys are just found items. Today he entertained himself for almost an hour with a broom handle and a red pail. He put the handle into the pail and swished it around. With a helpful suggestion from Grandpa, he could sit on the pail and kick it to make sounds. He drug it around and found some very messy mud. Then he had a bath and a nap.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles. Pretty pretty dress. Nana and Grandpa brought her a little poofed skirt dress from their vacation. Sitting up in the dress smiling made us all grinning fools as we were won over again by her sweet cuteness.
Right-size countdown: 2.8 pounds to go. I had what I would say was my worst day in eleven weeks yesterday. Know that there's no way I could have gained over two pounds in a day, but I do think I overate not only my caloric target for the day, but over my daily caloric needs. It was a party. It was Cinco de Mayo. That wasn't the problem. It was my husband's homemade sea salt caramel brownies!
This was back in the days before the mouse. Or that's when it started. Over time, we gained the ability to select a large amount of text by highlighting it and just do a single delete. At that point preserving information became more important and a paradigm shift happened where pushing out existing text was better than accidentally deleting something possibly important.
And that's what happened often, right? You wouldn't know you were in overwrite mode and you'd get to typing for a good while. You'd look up to find out you'd written over something gold, something you wouldn't be able to recreate or maybe you weren't even sure what you overwrote. You hoped it wasn't that important. Aruggh.
What about undo? Ctrl+Z you ask? Ah, yes, when undo first came about there was only one level of undo. Ghastly to think about today. At one point I remember discovering I could increase the total number of undos Word allowed I think people thought I was crazy when I told them I'd set it to fifty. But hey, I'm a girl and sometimes I change my mind; I needed those fifty levels.
I had forgotten all about overwrite mode until recently when I decided to try and find it. It may be an option still; I didn't look very hard. At some point hitting insert stopped toggling a logical switch that eradicated existing written content. It's a change I never noticed. A change I wasn't properly thankful for until I thought about overwrite the other day.
The Big Boy Update: Stick and Pail. Some toys are just found items. Today he entertained himself for almost an hour with a broom handle and a red pail. He put the handle into the pail and swished it around. With a helpful suggestion from Grandpa, he could sit on the pail and kick it to make sounds. He drug it around and found some very messy mud. Then he had a bath and a nap.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles. Pretty pretty dress. Nana and Grandpa brought her a little poofed skirt dress from their vacation. Sitting up in the dress smiling made us all grinning fools as we were won over again by her sweet cuteness.
Right-size countdown: 2.8 pounds to go. I had what I would say was my worst day in eleven weeks yesterday. Know that there's no way I could have gained over two pounds in a day, but I do think I overate not only my caloric target for the day, but over my daily caloric needs. It was a party. It was Cinco de Mayo. That wasn't the problem. It was my husband's homemade sea salt caramel brownies!
Saturday, May 5, 2012
You Can Pass Now!
Driving down the road this morning I noticed something I take for granted and don't think anything about: the yellow lines in the middle of the road. The most major purpose of them is to make sure you're on your side and the traffic whizzing by in the other direction is keeping to theirs. As important as these yellow lines are, we drive by them every day without giving them much thought.
The yellow lines have another purpose too, they indicate if it's safe to pass. When I was a young child, far too young to drive, I remember asking my parents on a long trip what the yellow lines meant. My father explained that dashed lines on your side indicate it's okay to pass the car in front of you. You were given permission to go on the opposite side of the toad to get around slow-moving traffic When the line was solid on your side, it indicated there wasn't enough visibility or distance to safely pass. How cool is that? Special coded messages to the driver, with lots of math and calculations to determine when the lines were solid and when they were dashed.
I believe I drove my parents a bit batty for the remainder of the drive calling out, "it's okay to pass now." Or, "they can pass on the other side now." And when there was a car in front of us and we had the yellow dashed lines, I failed to understand why we wouldn't exercising our right to pass.and I'd ask why we weren't passing. Eventually I'm sure I was told to can it.
As I was driving to get my son's hair cut this morning it struck me that we see a lot less of the yellow dashed lines now than we did decades ago. Highways have been added and streets expanded to contain multiple lanes so that passing across the middle line isn't allowed. I wonder if my children will ever wonder what the yellow lines mean in the middle of the road?
The Big Boy Update: Haircut. His hair grows so fast. It was only five weeks ago that I got it cut but yesterday it had gotten to a level of shaggy that said, "cut me." His hair doesn't get cut that much, but without that clean-up trim he looks like Raggedy Baby.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Stomach strong. She's doing well sitting up in many situations. She eventually falls over, but she's holding up for longer periods. She can lean way over to one side or the other when she's in the Bumbo seat and pull herself right back up. She has been working her abs trying to get at things she's not suppose to get to, like the container of baby food or yogurt that she grabs and almost spills before you can react.
Right-size Countdown: 1.0 pounds to go.
The yellow lines have another purpose too, they indicate if it's safe to pass. When I was a young child, far too young to drive, I remember asking my parents on a long trip what the yellow lines meant. My father explained that dashed lines on your side indicate it's okay to pass the car in front of you. You were given permission to go on the opposite side of the toad to get around slow-moving traffic When the line was solid on your side, it indicated there wasn't enough visibility or distance to safely pass. How cool is that? Special coded messages to the driver, with lots of math and calculations to determine when the lines were solid and when they were dashed.
I believe I drove my parents a bit batty for the remainder of the drive calling out, "it's okay to pass now." Or, "they can pass on the other side now." And when there was a car in front of us and we had the yellow dashed lines, I failed to understand why we wouldn't exercising our right to pass.and I'd ask why we weren't passing. Eventually I'm sure I was told to can it.
As I was driving to get my son's hair cut this morning it struck me that we see a lot less of the yellow dashed lines now than we did decades ago. Highways have been added and streets expanded to contain multiple lanes so that passing across the middle line isn't allowed. I wonder if my children will ever wonder what the yellow lines mean in the middle of the road?
The Big Boy Update: Haircut. His hair grows so fast. It was only five weeks ago that I got it cut but yesterday it had gotten to a level of shaggy that said, "cut me." His hair doesn't get cut that much, but without that clean-up trim he looks like Raggedy Baby.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Stomach strong. She's doing well sitting up in many situations. She eventually falls over, but she's holding up for longer periods. She can lean way over to one side or the other when she's in the Bumbo seat and pull herself right back up. She has been working her abs trying to get at things she's not suppose to get to, like the container of baby food or yogurt that she grabs and almost spills before you can react.
Right-size Countdown: 1.0 pounds to go.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Spinach: It's No Broccoli
There have been four frozen packages of spinach in the freezer for a long time. Maybe last house long lime. Since we seem to be phased out of spinach, I decided to eat one for dinner last night. I was thinking we might as well use up the spinach and take advantage of the shelf for something else.
My theory was that spinach with a little butter and seasoning like my favorite broccoli would be good. It was not. It was blah. I added more seasoning. That didn't help. I don't have anything against spinach, but after last night's experience I am not putting up fan posters of spinach in my bedroom.
The Big Boy Update: The Brush and The Treadmill. In our mechanical room we have a treadmill. My son found a paintbrush this morning and decided the thing that needed brushing was the treadmill. He brushed it, and brushed it, and brushed it some more.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Charming. My mother and I met, by accident, at the ATM this morning. We decided to head over together and get our nails done. I had my daughter with me and she was held by all the ladies at the nail salon. She endeared herself to almost everyone, even the nice lady she spit up all over.
Right-size countdown: 1.8 pounds to go
My theory was that spinach with a little butter and seasoning like my favorite broccoli would be good. It was not. It was blah. I added more seasoning. That didn't help. I don't have anything against spinach, but after last night's experience I am not putting up fan posters of spinach in my bedroom.
The Big Boy Update: The Brush and The Treadmill. In our mechanical room we have a treadmill. My son found a paintbrush this morning and decided the thing that needed brushing was the treadmill. He brushed it, and brushed it, and brushed it some more.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Charming. My mother and I met, by accident, at the ATM this morning. We decided to head over together and get our nails done. I had my daughter with me and she was held by all the ladies at the nail salon. She endeared herself to almost everyone, even the nice lady she spit up all over.
Right-size countdown: 1.8 pounds to go
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Who Writes the Dictionary Definitions?
I don't know who writes the dictionary definitions, but they do a superb job. I know lots of words. I can correctly and successfully use them in a sentence. I can even give a synonym of many words when asked. But I am appalling when it comes to giving a true definition.
The reason I'm so frequently impressed by the definitions I read for words, and yes, I tend to look up words a lot in case you were wondering, is because the definition is always exact, succinct, and uses just the words I couldn't come up with as a definition.
I am filled both with a sense of satisfaction (because I now know how to clearly define a word,) and frustrated (because, "I knew that, I just couldn't figure out how to say it.")
I like making a distinction between connotation and denotation with words which regularly has me pulling up the dictionary app. Usually finding out exactly what a word means, (the denotation,) instead of the imagery the word brings to mind (the connotation,) is one of the reasons I like words and language so much.
Another one of my goals is to use words I look up. Knowing what something means and then forgetting it until you run into it again isn't incorporating it into your vocabulary. This is a goal I regularly fail to meet.
The Big Boy Update: Picky and "The No." Or something like that. He is trying to communicate about his food and eating. It involves a lot of pushing things away, which may not mean it doesn't like the item, just that he is done or is thirsty, or wants something else right now. Sometimes it involves throwing. Okay, more than sometimes. Reading his limited communication is a challenge that will continue until he can talk more. And working on the throwing. Coming up with positive ways to deal with throwing anything is always a challenge.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Nine month clothes. She isn't quite six months but she's growing and can fit into nine month clothes with a little extra room. I retired all the six month clothes and have passed on a good number of them to a friend who has a daughter four months younger today. I had to save the outfits with special meaning or memories. I tried to be selective, but I saved more than I expected.
Right-size Countdown: 1.6 pounds to go
The reason I'm so frequently impressed by the definitions I read for words, and yes, I tend to look up words a lot in case you were wondering, is because the definition is always exact, succinct, and uses just the words I couldn't come up with as a definition.
I am filled both with a sense of satisfaction (because I now know how to clearly define a word,) and frustrated (because, "I knew that, I just couldn't figure out how to say it.")
I like making a distinction between connotation and denotation with words which regularly has me pulling up the dictionary app. Usually finding out exactly what a word means, (the denotation,) instead of the imagery the word brings to mind (the connotation,) is one of the reasons I like words and language so much.
Another one of my goals is to use words I look up. Knowing what something means and then forgetting it until you run into it again isn't incorporating it into your vocabulary. This is a goal I regularly fail to meet.
The Big Boy Update: Picky and "The No." Or something like that. He is trying to communicate about his food and eating. It involves a lot of pushing things away, which may not mean it doesn't like the item, just that he is done or is thirsty, or wants something else right now. Sometimes it involves throwing. Okay, more than sometimes. Reading his limited communication is a challenge that will continue until he can talk more. And working on the throwing. Coming up with positive ways to deal with throwing anything is always a challenge.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Nine month clothes. She isn't quite six months but she's growing and can fit into nine month clothes with a little extra room. I retired all the six month clothes and have passed on a good number of them to a friend who has a daughter four months younger today. I had to save the outfits with special meaning or memories. I tried to be selective, but I saved more than I expected.
Right-size Countdown: 1.6 pounds to go
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Bluzzy
The eye surgery went well. As far as I can tell. Everything right now is bluzzy. It's blurry and fuzzy and I can't tell if I'm even typing things correctly. My eye is still very dilated, it's pretty interesting to look at, it looks like my one eye is really intently gazing at you.
The halos and blur are expected and normal at this point. I think I can tell that the vision will be much better once the dilation has subsided and the lens settles in. For now, I have been instructed to use reading glasses to see anything closer than arms length. This is so the lens will have a chance to settle in, before I begin to work it to focus on near vision items.
When I spoke with the doctor today prior to the surgery he said that I should expect to have my vision improve significantly within the first month. After that, because I'll still be working and training my eye to use the lens as optimally as possible, I may continue to see improvements for the next year or even longer. That sounds like an exciting proposition to me, to have a vision project, to try and get the best results out of the lens implants.
Bending over, arugh. I have very few restrictions post-surgery, but one is to not bend over today. Do you have any idea how often you bend over with two small children? I think it must be an average of every seven seconds I'm catching myself (or realizing afterwards) that I'm not suppose to be bending over.
He said I could be back to lifting the children tomorrow and continuing my 5K training in a week. Tomorrow I hope to see much more clearly. And the next day. And the day after that.
The Big Boy Update: Constipated. Again. We've toned down the fruit snacks, because they were definitely giving him problems. But we're not sure what's missing (or being added) that's giving him grief today. Tomorrow, focus on fiber.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: She is definitely able to sit up for longer periods without falling over now. She needs a little surrounding pillow help, but she can lean all the way forward, pick up something and then sit back up without falling onto her face.
Right-size Countdown: 1.6 pounds to go.
The halos and blur are expected and normal at this point. I think I can tell that the vision will be much better once the dilation has subsided and the lens settles in. For now, I have been instructed to use reading glasses to see anything closer than arms length. This is so the lens will have a chance to settle in, before I begin to work it to focus on near vision items.
When I spoke with the doctor today prior to the surgery he said that I should expect to have my vision improve significantly within the first month. After that, because I'll still be working and training my eye to use the lens as optimally as possible, I may continue to see improvements for the next year or even longer. That sounds like an exciting proposition to me, to have a vision project, to try and get the best results out of the lens implants.
Bending over, arugh. I have very few restrictions post-surgery, but one is to not bend over today. Do you have any idea how often you bend over with two small children? I think it must be an average of every seven seconds I'm catching myself (or realizing afterwards) that I'm not suppose to be bending over.
He said I could be back to lifting the children tomorrow and continuing my 5K training in a week. Tomorrow I hope to see much more clearly. And the next day. And the day after that.
The Big Boy Update: Constipated. Again. We've toned down the fruit snacks, because they were definitely giving him problems. But we're not sure what's missing (or being added) that's giving him grief today. Tomorrow, focus on fiber.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: She is definitely able to sit up for longer periods without falling over now. She needs a little surrounding pillow help, but she can lean all the way forward, pick up something and then sit back up without falling onto her face.
Right-size Countdown: 1.6 pounds to go.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
A Day of Ocular Appreciation
Tomorrow I go in to have corrective eye surgery on my left eye. I'll follow it up in a month with the same procedure on the right eye. The eyes are such small things, but they're so important. I am anxious. That's fair. But I'm also excited.
I've been wanting to get my eyes surgically corrected for several years now. I was told at an initial evaluation that I wasn't a candidate for LASIK because of the type of vision I have. LASIK wouldn't help me, or if it did, the results would most likely be less than satisfactory and would more than likely partially revert over time.
However, there is another procedure they would highly recommend, as soon as I was done having children as my vision needed to be stable. It was more complicated, but it had longer, much longer, benefits. I was sold. But I had to hurry up and wait.
The procedure is lens replacement. The procedure was pioneered for people who have cataracts and are losing their vision. However, it is a fantastic solution to people who have vision like mine, and are also presbiopic, meaning the lens is hardening and doesn't focus nearly as well as it used to.
I'll also need a little Astigmatic Keratotomy for my astigmatism. So, multiple things are going down in my eye tomorrow.
So yes, anxiety. This is non-reversible. But the results are overwhelmingly convincing that not only will have better vision far, near and middle-range. I won't ever have cataracts and won't need reading glasses as this artificial lens won't harden.
I have dubbed today, "Ocular Appreciation Day." I'm not wearing my glasses, and that means my eyes are not only not resting, they're working harder to try see the blasted screen on which I'm currently writing as well as everything else around me.
While I would love nothing more than to be able to take a screenshot, picture, image, rendering or my current vision, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see how it plays out. However, unlike LASIK, the results aren't immediate. Your eye has to adjust to the new lens and you have to train your eye muscles to work with it. So in a month I should be at optimal vision...in the left eye...just in time to accost the right eye with the same surgery.
The Big Boy Update: Touching the TV. We were in a room today with an older television. We don't spend a lot of time in there and I don't think my son has ever seen the TV turned on there before. It's on a low shelf and he could touch the TV. He spent a lot of time with slobbery fingers trying to touch Weird Al Yancovich in the Yo Gabba Gabba episode.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: So cute. When she's not crying. So cute. When she's sleeping. So cute. Almost all of the time. Heck, even her cry is cute.
Right-size Countdown: 2.8 pounds to go. SEE! One blooming day at my weight-loss goal and boom, I pack on the pounds. I didn't overeat, I ate like I would have if I had ten more pounds to go, but my body knew. Pfft.
I've been wanting to get my eyes surgically corrected for several years now. I was told at an initial evaluation that I wasn't a candidate for LASIK because of the type of vision I have. LASIK wouldn't help me, or if it did, the results would most likely be less than satisfactory and would more than likely partially revert over time.
However, there is another procedure they would highly recommend, as soon as I was done having children as my vision needed to be stable. It was more complicated, but it had longer, much longer, benefits. I was sold. But I had to hurry up and wait.
The procedure is lens replacement. The procedure was pioneered for people who have cataracts and are losing their vision. However, it is a fantastic solution to people who have vision like mine, and are also presbiopic, meaning the lens is hardening and doesn't focus nearly as well as it used to.
I'll also need a little Astigmatic Keratotomy for my astigmatism. So, multiple things are going down in my eye tomorrow.
So yes, anxiety. This is non-reversible. But the results are overwhelmingly convincing that not only will have better vision far, near and middle-range. I won't ever have cataracts and won't need reading glasses as this artificial lens won't harden.
I have dubbed today, "Ocular Appreciation Day." I'm not wearing my glasses, and that means my eyes are not only not resting, they're working harder to try see the blasted screen on which I'm currently writing as well as everything else around me.
While I would love nothing more than to be able to take a screenshot, picture, image, rendering or my current vision, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see how it plays out. However, unlike LASIK, the results aren't immediate. Your eye has to adjust to the new lens and you have to train your eye muscles to work with it. So in a month I should be at optimal vision...in the left eye...just in time to accost the right eye with the same surgery.
The Big Boy Update: Touching the TV. We were in a room today with an older television. We don't spend a lot of time in there and I don't think my son has ever seen the TV turned on there before. It's on a low shelf and he could touch the TV. He spent a lot of time with slobbery fingers trying to touch Weird Al Yancovich in the Yo Gabba Gabba episode.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: So cute. When she's not crying. So cute. When she's sleeping. So cute. Almost all of the time. Heck, even her cry is cute.
Right-size Countdown: 2.8 pounds to go. SEE! One blooming day at my weight-loss goal and boom, I pack on the pounds. I didn't overeat, I ate like I would have if I had ten more pounds to go, but my body knew. Pfft.
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