Stuff My Dad Does

You may or may not have met my father. He's an interesting character. He does many things, many of which I don't understand and most of which drive me crazy. To keep from lashing out in frustration, I shall simply share with you a glimpse into my everyday life.

So, without further ado, the list of Things My Dad Does (which I don't understand)

1. Short shorts. O.o

2. Staring at nothing for hours on end.

3. Sitting next to the answering machine with that annoying little beep telling you there's a message and letting it beep instead of just pushing play.

4. Muting commercials. During every. single. commercial. break.

5. Fox News. All. the. time. Even in the morning! Who does that?!

6. Always coming in to the house and feeling the need to say my name at a really high pitch. It grates my nerves.

7. Eating one spoonful of whatever I made for dinner. I'm not Burger King, you cannot have it your way. 

8. Suddenly deciding foods you have always eaten and enjoyed are now unacceptable to be eaten. Don't care. Eat something else.

9. Insisting on taking out the trash before I come home on Wednesday. This would be fine if he checked the trash can in my bathroom. But no. I have to take out my trash, in the dark at 9:00 every week. 

10. You really wanted another mini van? Really? I'm glad you don't like the way new ones look. That's embarrassing.

11. Now that you're not coming home early on Thursday, you get home the same time the rest of us do. We still manage to make a real meal for dinner. Why is it that on your night to cook we have leftovers or frozen meals? And, on that note, why do you only eat those things when YOU cook them?!

12. Picking the stupid peanuts out of the stupid peanut butter with a butter knife. Why? Because peanuts aren't peanutty enough.What?

13. "Got any plans this weekend?" Uh, it's Saturday morning. It's a little late to be asking now.

14. The schedule's on the fridge. Don't act surprised when I leave to go somewhere.

15. Getting offended when I won't eat your high calorie, high fat meal. I'm not going to do it. And I've told you that. 

16. Corn and baked beans are not vegetables. They never have been, they never will be.

17. Using the phrases "man food" and "diet food" makes me want to never eat anything you cook. It also makes me want to hit something. 

18. Instead of putting the dishes away, stacking them all over the counter because you have yet to bother to learn where the dishes are.

19. Drinking nothing but knock off Diet Coke. All. Day.

20. Pastel striped shirts that remind me of the circus. I don't know who said those were acceptable to be worn by anyone, but they were wrong.

Hitting 50: A Bittersweet Victory

Tomorrow, I am going shopping. This has been a highly anticipated shopping trip for me and is now necessary as the fall weather settles in and winter is peering around the corner. So few of my clothes fit! And why is that, you ask? Well friends, I have reached the 50 pound mark in my Weight Loss Journey. Fifty! That's a kindergartner! When I started this journey back over a year ago, I honestly couldn't see myself where I am now. I was thinking I could maybe lose 15 or even 20 pounds. But here I sit. Fifty pounds lighter, several sizes smaller, much healthier.

I can remember the first time I ever stepped on an elliptical machine. I barely made it 15 minutes. On a level one. Now a quick work out is 3 miles on the elliptical. Today I was under 10 minutes for my first mile- level 5 on hills. I'm not trying to brag- I'm just amazed that what was once impossible is now the norm.

Funny thing about losing fifty pounds... I feel like I am still the same. On the inside, of course, but on the outside, too. My friends comment on how I'm "wasting away" and I never see it. I'm still in "big girl" land. I still hide behind my sense of humor and don't let people get to close. I was looking at pictures the other day, and yes, I do see a huge change in myself. I'm looking forward to the day that my brain registers the reflection in the mirror is really me!

Sadly, this victory of the scale comes on the heels of a great loss. When I was a senior in high school, my English teacher would mention every now and again that she was on Weight Watchers. I can remember her saying she liked it because she could eat half a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts if she wanted... she just might not be able to eat anything else all day! She was open and animated about her journey. I didn't think much about it. At the end of the year, at Senior Breakfast, I remember seeing her in the cafeteria. My friends and I noticed she was thinner. Not dramatically, but enough to comment to her about it.
I saw her maybe a year later and didn't even recognize her until I heard her voice. She had lost over 100 pounds.
Fast forward to May 2010. I had had enough of looking in the mirror and hating what looked back at me. I thought to myself "If it worked for Mrs. Long, it can work for me."
She was my inspiration. She was the reason I am sitting here today, fifty pounds lighter. And I never got to tell her that. 
She passed away this week. An allergic reaction. No one saw it coming.
One day in class, instead of doing work, she had us work on a contest she wanted to enter through WW. It was a short paragraph on why she deserved to win a cruise. She didn't know what to write, so she made us do it. She was just that kind of woman- no shame. Back then, I didn't know what to say. But if it were given to me today, I know what I'd write. She was an inspiration. She made it OK to be who you are at any time- even when that time is 11 o'clock, in your pajamas, buying cheap books from Wal-Mart because you can't sleep without reading first and you ran out of things to read. She wasn't ashamed of who she was, but she wanted to change that reflection in the mirror. And thanks to her, I found the courage, will power, motivation, and confidence to change my reflection, too. 

Enough sad. I know she's up there happy as can be. And probably saying something sarcastic about us all. With the AC turned way down. 

Then... April 2010 with Dr Luiken

Now-ish. I still don't like full length pictures to be taken of me. But I should be getting some from a friend soon-ish.  This was K's wedding in July... I'm down 5lbs since then. =) (Third from the left)