The Week in Review

I probably have 1000 pictures I could share with this... does that make it better?  I'm feeling kind of too lazy for uploading.

Here is what is going down:

#1  Baby officially likes 1st grade.  Yesterday was her first memory test (and while it was touch and go on accuracy the night before she claims she nailed it).  Spelling will start in another week or two as will daily reading and math homework.  But most importantly she is happy.  Last year had me questioning all of that, but it seems her sleepy depression and lack of interest was really all just part of being so very sick.  She is 100% back to extreme high voltage energy (for better or worse).  She appears to have a secret way to harness it while at school (though she reports to "slipping" and "tripping" in the hallway nearly everyday, while wearing sneakers, so I have my doubts).


#2  Baby is eating her lunches!  Victory is mine!  So far, she goes with a thermos of all fruit smoothie for "milk snack" (wherein she would have purchased a 50 cent chocolate milk every single day), I keep it cold by making smoothie ice cubes.  In her lunch she has had either a hot thermos filled with pesto pasta w/chicken & peas & spinach (I am all about sneaking in chopped spinach when cooking with pesto!), a container filled with fruit & carrots & cherry tomatoes, and then some kind of dessert (cookies, brownie, choc covered prunes, etc).  She pretty much eats it all.  The other days she's had a roast beef sandwich with all the same sides.  I know it doesn't sound like she is picky ... but believe me... this is pretty much the limit of what she'll eat and who knows when she'll decide to pull the plug on these things?!  Kid, is a great eater, and she gets nearly identical lunches (minus carrots!) and a thermos of white milk (again, I make milk ice cubes!), so that I don't go crazy.  I always have an extra granola bar in Baby's lunch and crackers in Kid's in case they finish everything and are still hungry.  Putting everything together every morning, while cooking breakfast, and doing hair does make me kind of want to kill myself... but it's working.  I like to fill up their fruit/veg containers the night before and have them in the fridge.  All the other containers I need, I line up with their lunch bags on the counter.  Having the organized pantry & lunch container bins has been AMAZING!  It is still totally organized a couple months later (and with plenty of use!).  Also, if I need to go grocery shopping I can take a picture of the pantry and I can actually see what we are out of... no list needed!  Seriously.


#3  Mr F and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary.  We have been married long enough that we wrote nearly identical letters to each other.  We also ate too much when we went out to eat.  We also decided to move to a small remote port town (again).  About 10 years ago (probably on our anniversary, actually) we went and nearly bought a house right across from the harbor... but there was another offer and we didn't want to counter... and we hadn't sold our house (or even had it on the market.... so).  Well, we saw it and wanted to kill ourselves for having let that deal go.  They have redone the harbor park and there is a nice swimming beach, a beautiful new park with play structure and the pier .... Gah!  It was a crazy deal & the girls could have just gone across the street to play!  Long story short we are SERIOUSLY considering this plan, or something like it, at some point (maybe soon?!  or maybe not?)  Who knows? We are always up for an adventure.  Like buying a lot on the water and smacking up a claim shanty?!  (for real, why not?)  It is extremely remote.  That can't be emphasized enough.  But if Mario Batali can handle it, why can't I?!  Right?!  That's what I always say.  Plus, the public school is small, like the one the girls go to now, and very highly rated.  Plus, no more commuting (for me & the girls, anyway).  Plus, Mario Batali makes like 30 pizzas a DAY for his friends in his wood burning stove.  Okay?  Why wouldn't we be friends?


#4  I have yet to have a real full week of school, so I'm still working out how my day goes.  So far I am trying to alternate 90 min workouts with 60 min hill workouts.  With that workout plan, I am OK with missing a workout because I had a morning appointment or had to help at school... I'm still averaging a lot of miles.  I am also experimenting with an alternate to the traditional 5:2 Fast Diet plan which is going SO much better for me.  Two days of the week I count carbs instead of calories, the other 5 days eat as I normally would.  There have been studies done that show the same weight loss outcomes for both forms of 2 day a week fasting and I am NOT hungry at all on the 50 grams of carb (or less) fast day vs. the 500 calorie fast day (which was KILLING me).  My family hasn't noticed at all when I'm doing it (and that is HUGE).  The weight loss is not fast, but dealing with the perimenopause is pretty much the hardest thing to budge I have ever dealt with.  This is no post baby weight loss... this is a whole 'nother bag of worms and it isn't pretty.  I don't just want to lose weight that I gained, my body is quite literally converting itself to fat.  It is proving very hard to get ahead of this.  So heads up on that.  Had I known I'd be going through this pre-40... um... yeah... I might have made the time to workout a bigger personal priority the last few years.  All I can do is keep trying, and at least I feel better about myself for putting in the work and effort and knowing that I am not sabotaging.   And again, eating 50 g carbs is not hard... I pretty much eat very paleo-like on those days (protein & veg) and because there is no calorie cap (like the traditional 5:2) I can eat if I am hungry and don't have to stress so much.  I usually end up between 700-800 cal.  I'm going to stick to this plan all month and then see what has happened scale wise.  I might go up to 4:3 if I'm not making any head way.  Honestly, if I can just stop converting to fat every month, I'll be happy.  I'd like to lose 15 pounds, and if I'm being realistic, that is probably going to take me at least 6 months (versus the 2-3 months I could have done it in before).  I'm trying very hard to live in reality about it, and not get frustrated and quit when I can only lose 1/2 lb a week (or nothing).  The real deal is, right now, if I am not gaining weight, and am slowly but steadily losing weight (of any amount)... then that is success and that is just how slow and long this process is honestly going to take.


All this and it is only 8:45 AM... time to go workout and then eat an omelet (It's a fast day).