Skinny Bitch

So a friend loaned me her copy of the book "Skinny Bitch", and after reading the first 100 pages yesterday I just had to go buy my own copy.

If you haven't heard of it, check out their website. http://www.skinnybitch.net/

It is definitely eye opening.  I had already stopped eating red meat, after reading "In Defense of Food", but I was still eating chicken and turkey and pork.  Well I am going to have to be meat free now.  The descriptions of how animals in slaughter houses are treated was enough to make my skin cry and I thought I was going to cry.  Just horrible.  I can't just can't be playing a role in that sort of thing.

I went today and bought my own copy of the book, I wanted to be able to get everyone I know to read it, and a vegetarian cookbook that has lots of pictures.  (It was only $5.99 too, score!)  I also bought Martha Stewart's cupcake cookbook, I don't think I could ever be vegan because I need my eggs and butter for my baking!

So I am resolved, no more meat for me.  Not sure if there will be any other great revelations in the other two thirds of the book, but I'll keep you posted!

Two Weeks Without Dairy

I found this article on huffingtonpost.com last week and decided that this is something to consider.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/dairy-free-dairy-6-reason_b_558876.html

Day One:
So the end of the article said, basically, that if you don't believe that dairy is bad for you then give it two weeks.  Go two weeks without dairy and see what it does for you.  Since I have been told to cut back on dairy because of my high cholesterol, I decided to give it a shot.  I think it'll be hard, because I love cheese, and chocolate milk, but let's see how I feel after the two weeks are over.

I do refuse to stop baking though.  I do have an order for cupcakes for Stacy for tomorrow.  Grant's teacher's birthday is tomorrow and I'm going to make some cupcakes for her.  White cake with butter cream frosting.  I do have some sprinkles that I'll probably color them up with.  So excited about baking for someone else!

Two weeks without dairy, I think I can do it.  (I don't think I can give up parmasean cheese though.  We'll see.)  It's all about feeling better and living better.  Let's see how I feel in 14 days.

The Tooth that Would Not Come Out...

Everything about Carson is pokey, I swear she is the pokiest kid in the world.  Even getting in the car takes forever, and she usually has everything she is taking with her separated instead of putting it all in a bad to make it easier.  She comes by it honestly, and I don't mean by me!

So, she had this tooth that has been loose for, I swear, the last six months.  The darn thing just didn't want to come out.  I think Camy has lost about seven teeth in the amount of time it took this one tooth to come out.

We heard her crying in her room last night, and went in to check on her.  She said that the tooth was hurting and she was tired if it just hanging on.  So we looked at it and we tried to figure out exactly where it was still connected, seriously the tooth was barely hanging on.  Josh gets the dental floss and starts making like he's going to tie it around her tooth and even ties one end to the door knob to the bathroom.  Carson was on the verge of freaking out about the whole thing.

I sat with her for a while and tried to get her to calm down.  I did convince her to let me take the dental floss and wrap it around the tooth so I could see where it was still attached.  What was I thinking?  I get it wrapped around and I can't get it off, and I couldn't bring myself to yank the darn thing out!  Luckily, Josh came to the rescue and as I was calming her down he yanked it out.  There was quite a bit of blood, but the tooth fairy came last night and Carson is very excited about the $3 she got. 

This is the Webkinz that she is saving up for, so all this got her one step closer to another stuffed animal.  If only they would always be so happy with such simple things.                                          

First Race After Surgery...

Well yesterday I ran my first 5k since my knee surgery in February.  I didn't do too bad considering I haven't run that far since the beginning of January, and I haven't been running that much in the last few weeks.  (After I over did it two weeks ago.)

My time was 33:35, which is about 5 minutes slower than I was running in the fall, but I am glad that I got through it all and didn't have to stop.  Maybe I am getting tougher mentally, thanks boot camp!

The plan now is to run a half in Tulsa the end of October.  I've got six months to get ready.  It is a good thing, since Stacy looks to have a stress fracture in her foot.  She saw her doctor this morning and will have an MRI on Wednesday.  Could mean six to eight weeks in a boot and only cross training during that time.  It's a good thing we have time!

All in all, I am glad to be back, sort of.  My knee held up well and I don't have any trouble with it today.  I think I'll do some cross training in the morning and go back to the running group tomorrow night.  It should be sprints, which means shorter distance, which should be good.

Memorial Marathon

So, Sunday is my first running event post surgery.  Stacy and I are just doing the 5k, and I am not sure if I'll be able to run the whole thing or not.  I did over do it last week.  I couldn't help it, I just felt so normal!

I did a trekking class on Tuesday morning, run/walking 3.5 miles, and then Tuesday night was my first running group since surgery.  We worked on intervals, and it was so nice outside and I felt so good that I ran about 2.8 miles and walked another .7.  In total it was a seven mile Tuesday, but again I had no pain and felt great. 

I got up to go to boot camp on Wednesday morning and felt a little sore, but noting out of the ordinary.  I was fine all through the class until the end when he wanted us to do some running and my knee was just not into it.  I limped through the rest of the class and when I got to work called my doctor to see if I could get a brace for my knee.  I got fitted for it on Thursday, after just doing the bike on Thursday morning.  I have not done much running since.

At boot camp on Monday, we did 15 minutes of killer stuff and then we ran a mile on the track.  I felt pretty good, not 100%, but not bad.  I've done the bike twice this week, and no running group.  So on Sunday morning, I'll put on my brace and do my best, we'll see what happens.  I am a little jealous of all the people I know that are doing the half and the full, it's hard not to wish I was doing something a little more exciting.  My plan is to be doing the half next year, so we'll see where this year takes me.

Girls Weekend...

Josh went to Tulsa for the weekend so he could watch The Masters with his dad, so the girls and I had a nice weekend together.  We had a meeting for the Land Run at their school on Friday night, and shopped around Saturday morning, (farmers market, Hobby Lobby, Justice, Target, TJ Maxx), and had lunch at Harry Bears

They had a friend stay the night Saturday night and while they played and acted crazy I made 30 pink and purple confetti cupcakes for a 4-year-old's birthday party yesterday. 

I actually got the entire bed to myself Saturday night.  Penny was so jealous about the three girls and Rocky being in their room when we went to bed that I just had to let her in there.  She just snuggled up with Camy and slept with them.  It was so nice!

Needless to say, back to the day to day routine of life.  Carson has her Kumon today and Thursday, and they have Girl Scouts tonight.  Piano on Wednesday for Carson, gymnastics on Thursday for Camy and then Land Run meeting Friday night.  I am also going to squeeze in three days of boot camp, one trekking class, one running group and then another day of bike/running, and some baking for Josh's work for Thursday.

Thankfully the girls won't have homework this week because of the standardized testing they have all week.  Don't even get me started on that!  I am looking forward to a busy but good week.  Maybe get some knitting in and keep my tivo from exploding with all the recorded shows that are backed up and waiting to be watched.

I wonder what I used to do with all my time before all of this.

Freedom...

So I saw my doctor about my knee yesterday, it's been five weeks since surgery and it feels great.  I stopped going to physical therapy two weeks ago, I got my doctor's blessing on that yesterday (yeah!) so I don't have to go back.  I just didn't like that new therapist, and I think I can build the strength in my leg better at the gym on the bike and not doing leg lifts. 

Dr. Hines told me that I am a superstar, and that I am getting really good at this.  Thankfully I only have two knees and so this should be it for me.  He said I can stick with my bike/treadmill routine and do a little jogging at the end for the next two weeks and then after that I can start running again.  No pain = good.  That's what I am going with.

It is nice to be back at the Y in the mornings, and I have never been so happy to have sore muscles!  The body sculpting and the abs class have been good this week and last, again I am sticking with things that don't bother my knee, but I haven't been very limited at all. 

Jen and Karen and I are off to visit my sick grandma this weekend.  We were going to wait another two weeks to go, but according to my uncle she isn't doing very well.  So we'll be off for a girls weekend, which will include a stop at the outlet mall!  Yeah, I am so ready for spring and will be happy to add to my wardrobe a bit.

So as things are getting back to normal, school is almost out!  Wow, time flies!