Take a look at these pictures. They are from when I was healthy...as in I could run and teach Zumba and do all the activities that I LOVE to do!
My sister Sammy, Me, my momma, my girl Holly, and my sister Heather at The Color Run on Mother's Day 2012
After the first mud crawl at the Survivor Mud Run at Carnation Farms in June 2012
My momma and me after we survived the Survivor Mud Run
Just about to hit the streets for a run
In all these pictures you can kinda sorta see my legs. You cannot fully see all the muscle or the muscle definition that I had but I did. Not to toot my own horn but I had some damn fine and sexy legs. It was my definition that made me feel confident in shorts...not my weight loss...knowing what I do and how much effort I put into my work outs to get the results that I could be proud of.
When I finally noticed my weight loss, I noticed it in my thighs. I remember taking a shower and shaving my legs and thinking "Hmmm...my calves look thinner...and so do my thighs...wait a second!!!" It hit me like a ton of bricks and when I stepped out of the shower I saw it in my face and my waist and my hips. Did you read my blog about my weight loss? Check it out here.
A couple weeks while I was taking a shower, I noticed my right thigh looked thinner. Normally I would be proud of that except that it is NOT something I was trying to do. I compared it to my left leg and I almost fell over and started crying. I have lost so much muscle that it hurts. Physically...it hurts like hell!
My left leg is bigger than my right but this picture does NOT show the significant muscle loss
I had my first Physical Therapy appointment on the 15th (just over two months after hurting my knee). Unfortunately, the physical therapist said that I have lost so much muscle that it is actually causing MORE knee pain and that I need to build up that muscle first to alleviate some of that knee pain before physical therapy can actually help any. I thought to myself All exercises that one would do to build up their thigh muscles involves BENDING YOUR KNEES. I am not sure what she thinks these sissy exercises are going to do but they are NOT going to build up my muscle enough to actually relieve some of this knee pain.
She put in a referral for me to see Orthopedics and I heard from them last week...and they cannot get me in until November 27th...WHAT?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? That is just straight up unacceptable! I have been in pain for over two months now and still have no answers and these people expect me to just sit and wait around. I do not think so. I called my doctor and asked for him to call me back because this is just crazy...and I still have not heard from him. I am off on Tuesday and Friday this week and if I have to I will drive down to the clinic and wait for the doc if I have to!
I am going to try and crash since I have to dress all nice for work tomorrow! Until next time!
I have a desktop computer, a netbook, and a Nook Color.
I have a Wii console (that has mainly been used for Netflix).
I now circle to the title of this post. With the list above, some might stop at the second item and say, "What does she know about raising children?" While I do not have any children of my own, I do have two nephews ages 4 and 3 (soon to be 5 and 4...yikes!) and a soon-to-be step sister (5) and soon-to-be step brother (12). Plus I have a ton of friends who have children that I have been around.
When I was growing up, as long as lightening was not striking anywhere in the vicinity of our house, my sisters and I were outside. During the summer, the only time we were inside on beautiful days was when my mom had us reading. We read a book for at least a half hour every day. After reading, we were outside to play. There were three girls a year older than me that lived around us. One lived next door and she has a brother my age and a sister about the same age as my youngest sister. One lived behind us and she has a brother a year younger than me. The last lived across the street from the last one and she has a brother my age and a sister about the same age as my middle sister. We would play outside at any of our houses but we had the largest yard.
When it came to school, there were three classes for each grade. That gives us approximately 60+ children...and we all played together at recess.
It is a long clip but I could not find a shorter one...just watch the first 1 minute and 40 seconds. Red Rover was a big game that we would all play together...along with crack the whip, hide and seek, and freeze tag (or regular tag).
We would always start out the school year and end the school year with baseball (I mean we were in the midst of seasons either ending or starting). I remember there were two guys in my class who started quoting "Rookie of the Year"...love the movie but the quote does not come in until the end...(what is up with YouTube these days and not being able to find decent video clips...gosh!)
Today, kids expect everything to be handed to them. When I was a kid, I had to earn my t.v. time and my video game time. Video game time was earned and only for about a half hour at the most...and it was not every day. Forget about it if it were a nice day. T.V. time was only for about an hour at night with the family, unless it was movie night or Friday night (who did not watch T.G.I.F...I mean Steve Urkele, Michelle Tanner, DINOSAURS...).
I did not have a cell phone until I was 16 years old and it only had 30 minutes on it, used only in emergencies...and DID NOT HAVE TEXTING OR INTERNET! I see kids with iPhones and iPads, spending all their time inside on their asses being lazy and playing video games. It makes me yearn for the simple days of being thrown outside and told to ride our bikes. I mean come on! Parents need to shove their kids into the yard and lock the door! That is what my mom did! Heaven forbid we had to go to the bathroom. I think part of the reason for us being tossed outside was to be active but another part of locking us out was for her to get some peace and quiet!
I do want children some day and I plan on raising my children the same way I was raised. There is no need for a 5 year old to get an iPad for their birthday...it only gets lost or broken. Why should a pre-teen have a smart phone? Especially one who does not use it, loses the charger, complains that it does not work right when all it needed was to be reset...and then is GIVEN an iPhone 5...really?!?
I have been M.I.A. for a bit because we have moved. My mom bought a house and we have been trying to settle in...however it has been a bit difficult.
No furnace (that was finally installed on Saturday)
Master bathroom - no shower (I believe the grout has finally set and the three of us no longer have to share the shower in the main bathroom)
Main bathroom - no sink
My bedroom - window does not open
Kitchen - no refrigerator, dish washer, or stove/oven
As much as hand-washing dishes SUCKS, not having a dish washer is not as bad except for the fact that I pulled a bowl out a few days ago and there was some left over crud stuck to the outside of the bowl. There is only so much that we can do by hand washing. I am a firm believer in dish washers. I cannot get physically get the water hot enough in the sink to completely sanitize dishes, silverware, glasses, mugs, etc. Not having a stove/oven SUCKS because we cannot make food at home. It has to be either microwaved or toasted in the toaster oven. Not having a refrigerator blows because now that it is getting colder at night and in the morning, the garage is freezing and having to go out there to get the coffee creamer just stinks! Thankfully we have a full size refrigerator in the garage that will eventually return to the over flow/beer refrigerator.
I will again mention IT IS EFFING FREEZING IN THE MORNING so not having a window that opens in my bedroom...not so bad. However, it is not painted shut...it is not stuck shut...it does not open! I am not sure how that passed inspection to begin with since I am willing to bet a whole $5 that it has to be against some fire safety code to have a window that DOES NOT open in a bedroom. I could almost understand in the bathroom (but that would just be mean...especially if there is a guy living in the house...just mean) but in a bedroom?! I do not get it!
SPEAKING OF BATHROOM...there is no sink in my bathroom. Do you know how gross it is to go to the bathroom and not be able to immediately wash your hands? I have to walk down the hall and wash my hands in the kitchen...unless no one else is home in which case I use my mom's bathroom...with two functioning sinks! At least now I have a door on the bathroom...when we first moved in, not only did I NOT have a sink but the door was also missing! That is right! Anyone walking down the hall could totally watch me doing my business! I have seriously been contemplating getting a gallon size container of hand sanitizer to keep in the bathroom but I know that the first trip home my sister will jack it and take back to school with her.
Now even though we have a furnace I just HAVE to mention it. For almost two weeks it was FREEZING in this house. I mean we were all in a really bad mood because would could ever be in a good mood when you wake up freezing cold! It was getting so cold that it did not matter how hot it got outside, I seriously could not get warm!
Okay, now that I have played a little bit of catch up, I have two more posts that I want to get in tonight but they will have to wait just a little bit! So...until next time!
