Sick of being sick

As I mentioned, I contracted the worst cold I've had in a long time back on the 12th, and I am still not 100%. I've continued to have a lingering cough; I was treated for an ear infection but still have a clogged feeling in that ear off & on; and since last night, my left tonsil has felt sore & itchy. (sigh) I sound like a big baby, but I'm just not used to not feeling right.

I am pretty proud of the amount of work I have gotten done in my office this week. If only I could be so productive at home! Our place is a pigsty at the moment. I feel like I am pretty on top of my caseload for the first time in months. What a good feeling.

I went to the eye doctor this morning and got a clean bill of eye health. LOL My prescription didn't even change, so I only had to pick up 2 more boxes of contact lenses. Lucky, lucky.

I'm getting a full leg wax this evening! My leg hair is obscenely long at the moment above mid-calf, so I thought this might be a good time to wax. And no, SL has not been having to see or deal with the long leg hair: it started growing while I was at my sister's and we have not been, ahem, intimate since then due to our both being ill. SL will be pleasantly surprised when he finally does see my legs again. LOL And it will be nice not to have to shave for a while.

It was raining pretty steadily here from about midnight until early afternoon today. A rare occurrence here! Our daytime high was only supposed to be 50 degrees, so it's been quite chilly as well. I could see my breath when I went out to lunch. Very unusual for southern Arizona!

SL's parents are due back this weekend. Once they return, he & I are probably going to buy a new couch! We need their truck to pick it up and avoid delivery charges. I saw a couch I like at the LaZBoy Furniture Gallery earlier this month when SL's mom bought his Xmas present (a LaZBoy recliner); the price was reasonable. My current couches are about 9 years old and are considerably the worse for wear. (It didn't help that they were in storage for 3 years, have been moved 5 times, and have endured 3 dogs and a cat.) I've been wanting a new couch for over a year, so I'm pretty excited to get one.

What a boring post! Ah well. Life's not all excitement.

100 days

Today quietly, without fanfare or announcement to anyone, I decided to start improving my eating. I brought lunch (Lean Cuisine panini) and a healthy snack (nonfat yogurt). I'm on my 3rd liter of water.

I ate one Ferrero Rocher chocolate candy in addition to the food I'd brought from home. Big deal. I've eaten LOTS of candy over the past month. Just the mere fact that I didn't eat out, didn't get a flavored coffee, and didn't do any other snacking puts me way ahead of where I've been lately.

Our wedding is 100 days from today. I've pretty much accepted that I am going to be fat on my wedding day. But hell, I've been fat most of my life. Nonetheless, I am going to make an effort to get in at least a little better shape between now and then.

I'm not going to make any promises or write any more about this for today. It's enough that I've made a real effort, for the first time in way too long.

My office has been freezing all day today! It's often a bit chilly in here--my secretary & I joke that it's haunted by evil spirits--but today it's really cold. I have my little space heater blowing right on me. And I am not one of these people who is cold all the time. . . far from it.

SL & I have a counseling session tonight. We are supposed to be discussing what our respective expectations are for one another after marriage. I have thought some about this, but haven't really come up with two many concrete expectations. I expect him to support me in my endeavors, treat me with respect, not sleep with other women, share in parenting responsibilities when/if we become parents. Other than that. . . I'm not really sure I *have* expectations. Although I probably do have them; I'm just not able to articulate them. Hmmm. Wonder what he's going to come up with for me. Each time I've asked, he's joked that he expects me to "behave" and "obey" him. LOL He knows neither of those things is gonna happen.

Fa la la la la la la la la

Work is really weird today. There was only about one-fourth of the usual amount of traffic on the way downtown. . . which was nice, but odd. Once I got to the office, probably half the staff & attorneys on my floor are out today. So it's been unusually quiet.

Our Xmas was pretty good. Poor SL has the nasty cold that I had Dec 12 through 18; he started feeling "not right" Friday evening and got worse from there. He still sounded & looked pretty icky this morning, poor lamb. We had a nice Xmas Eve dinner at The Melting Pot (though I'm sure he would've enjoyed it more had he not been sick). And we spent a nice day at our friend F's mother's yesterday.

SL got me a lovely gold diamond circle pendant for Xmas. I got him an iPod Nano. He was surprised; when he saw the wrapped box, he thought he was getting a watch. He had been wanting an iPod of his own ever since he bought me mine for my birthday, so he was psyched.

I got some other nice gifts, too. My sis got me a $100 AmEx gift card; she intended for me to use it to buy Adobe Photoshop, but I might use it toward a new trial suit (since I am too fat for most of mine and I have a trial on 1/9). SL's sis gave me a lovely pen/pencil set and a $50 gift card to Sam's. (I'll probably use that gift card toward Photoshop.) SL's parents gave me two bottles of my favorite wine, a really cool string of potpourri, and a hand-carved wooden jewelry holder. My dad & his wife gave me a $15 iTunes card, a sweater, a pedicure kit off our BB&B registry, and a new memory card for my digital camera. My mom's gifts have not yet arrived; I'm hopeful they'll be in today's mail. My dear friend D sent me a Vegas-themed memo board. . . though I had asked for no gift. :)

Now that Xmas is over, I need to knuckle down on some wedding planning stuff. Our wedding is less than 15 weeks away! I need to: start alterations on my dress (& maybe buy a crinoline); arrange transportation to & from our reception site, for us & for guests; start addressing our invitations. SL needs to get the ball rolling on their tuxedos.

More important than all those details. . . I need to lose some frickin' weight!! As soon as SL has recovered from his crud, we are going to return to lifting weights at the gym. After this week, when my dogsitting of Dickens is over, I'm going to start getting up before work at least 3 mornings to walk or use the elliptical trainer. I am either joining Jenny Craig, or devising my own combination Jenny/Weight Watchers plan. I've GOT to drop some weight before the wedding: at least 15-20 lbs.

Thank God for my usual good health

I flew back from my sister's late on Saturday Dec. 9th after numerous airline delays. I barely had enough time on Sunday to greet the future in-laws and take my CASA child to the annual Christmas party before having to return to work on Monday.

Upon my return to the office, several people were sick. I rarely get colds, and when I'd flown cross-country twice in less than two weeks without contracting anything, I figured I was going to dodge another bullet. Not so.

By mid-afternoon on Tuesday, I had that tired, scratchy-throat, achy-ear feeling that nearly always means a cold is coming on. I woke up Wednesday feeling lousy; despite all I had to do at the office, I called in sick in the hope that a day of complete rest would help me kick the cold quick. No such luck.

I ended up being home sick Thursday as well. . . though I dragged my a$$ in on Friday, I was quite a bit less than 100%. (However, since I work in government, giving less than 100% effort on a payday Friday can go pretty much unnoticed, especially close to the holidays. LOL) I was up the last two nights with a horrible cough. I've been having insomnia--a VERY rare occurrence for me--and when I can get to sleep, the coughing usually wakes me up, gasping for breath.

Ugh. I think I am over the worst of it now, though I still have a nasty lingering cough. I am one of the worst patients! I have no tolerance for feeling sick. . . . probably because it's such an unusual state of affairs for me. For which fact I am VERY grateful!

Despite feeling icky, I made it through SL's office Christmas party last night (very fun: I even won a $100 gift certificate to a local fancy restaurant as a door prize!) and through an hour-and-a-half at Chuck E. Cheese's today with M, my CASA child. I could go to sleep right now. . . but I am eschewing a nap in hopes that being REALLY tired when I go to bed tonight (at, say, 9:30 or so) will help me fall asleep.

It's hard to believe Christmas is only a week from tomorrow! All my shopping is done; I'm mailing off my last two gifts (gift certificates) tomorrow. I really didn't have too many folks to shop for, since most of my friends & I have long since agreed to exchange cards only.

SL & I are going to have a very low-key Christmas, just the two of us. We have actually not spent Christmas together before, so I'm looking forward to it. (We started dating in February 2005; we each spent last Christmas with our respective parents, in two different states.) At one time, we'd thought that we might take a weekend trip to Vegas over Christmas. . . with the excuse that it would be a "scouting trip" for our April wedding there. . . but ultimately decided we'd rather not spend the money on that trip. (Hotel & airfare only were nearly $600.)

Things should be relatively quiet at the office this week. Many of the judges will be taking vacation, as I'm sure will many of the attorneys. With fewer divisions of the court in session, I should be able to catch up from my recent illness. (I actually wasn't terribly behind due to my vacation; I did a pretty decent job of clearing things up ahead of time.)

As soon as I kick this dastardly virus, I'm getting back on the exercise wagon. My wedding dress has arrived, and my upper body is NOT looking very pretty! LOL

I am home from work sick today. . . second day in a row. I'm pretty sure it's just a bad cold, but I have no energy. . . in addition to headache, body aches, congestion, & sore throat. Ugh.

I have plenty of stuff I could be doing at work. . . but none of it is super urgent. I just hate taking two sick days when I've only been back from vacation for 2 days!

Must rest. . . .

Motivated at last?

I'm very proud of myself! I am still at my sister's, and I just got off the treadmill. I walked for 30 minutes at a "brisk" pace. . . brisk enough to keep my heart rate up and get me sweaty, anyway. . . though I never got much over 4 mph. I even jogged for a minute. . . and I would've jogged longer, but the jogging was freaking out my sister's dog. :)

I'm sure most people would say that a few weeks before Christmas is a less-than-ideal time to embark on any type of weight loss or fitness challenge. But these days I'll take my motivation where I can find it. Goodness knows, my moments of inspiration have been few and far between this year.

I'm hoping that having done a bit of exercise this morning will inspire me to eat healthier today, too. So far, all I've had is a bowl of Raisin Bran Crunch with some 2% milk. I'm starting to get hungry, though. Maybe I will take advantage of the nearby Chik-Fil-A and get us some yummy salads for lunch. . .

You would think that my wedding--which is coming up in just a little over 4 months--would give me motivation to shape up & lose some weight. As we've seen, not so much. One thing that may motivate me, though, is the desire to be healthier for my future children.

Being with my sister & her newborn son has gotten me thinking a lot more about the fast-approaching day when I will (God willing) have my own baby. I would certainly hate to start out a pregnancy at my current weight & fitness level. In college, I was birthing coach for a dear friend of mine. (Her son is now 15, so that'll tell you how long ago THAT was.) I've always remembered something the midwife told us at the childbirth classes we attended: to your body, giving birth is similar to running a marathon in the amount of endurance it requires. Who would want to run a marathon at 230 lbs?? Certainly not me. I know I have to be healthier & exercising regularly in order to have a healthy pregnancy & a healthy baby. Plus, it'll just be a lot less taxing on me in the long run. Even with a normal weight gain, I could easily end up close to 270 by my ninth month if I started here. Aye, the stress that would put on my joints & heart!

Not to mention the fact that being as overweight as I currently am may actually interfere with my ability to conceive in the first place. I have been tracking my temperature daily since August, and I've learned that I do, in fact, ovulate (hooray!). But I need to be doing everything I can to ensure optimal fertility. I've already allowed the most fertile years of my life to pass without getting pregnant by waiting until age 36 to start trying. I shouldn't compound that potential problem by being a fat, lazy sack. I can't control my age, but I can certainly control what I eat and when/if I exercise.

I had a great time meeting my friend A in DC for a late lunch (instead of brunch) yesterday. So fun to chat with a young, single friend! I also hadn't been into the city for a few years. I'm always moved to see the Capital and the Washington Monument, even if only fleetingly and from a distance. I've always liked the "feel" of DC, too. Not sure if I'd be happy living there, but I've always loved visiting. I even took a little detour and drove through Georgetown on the way home. So many beautiful people hustling & bustling to get their holiday shopping done.

I've really enjoyed spending time with my sister and with my nephew. . . but on the whole, no one would describe this as a "fun" or relaxing "vacation." Taking care of a newborn is a lot of work, even for two people. And because he's so little, we've hardly gone anywhere. . . two trips to Target & one to Babies R Us have been the entirety of our outings. I don't mind a bit, though, because this is exactly what I anticipated my stay would be like.

I'm still planning to meet my friend/ex R for lunch on Friday. I'm looking forward to it. I haven't seen him since his wedding in November 2000.

How many shopping days 'til Christmas?

I cannot believe it is already December 2nd! I hate to say this--because I think it makes me sound old--but I can't believe how fast this year has gone by.

I have not yet begun to shop for Christmas. I have a pretty good idea what I am going to get for over half the people on my (very short) list. The others. . . no clue.

I also don't know what SL & I are doing for Christmas this year. His parents will be visiting his sister in San Antonio; we don't want to go with them since we will be seeing them all winter. I just went to my dad's for Thanksgiving. My mom lives too far away. We had thought we'd like to take a little weekend scouting trip to Las Vegas. . . but it's looking like that's not really in our budget. Bummer. Well, we'll see. We've got about 3 weeks to figure it out. LOL

I've addressed nearly all my holiday cards while I've been here at my sister's. I've also read two novels and watched way more TV than usual. Reading, watching TV, and chatting are about the only things I've found I can do successfully while feeding or rocking the baby. Because my sister sometimes tries to nap when I'm with my nephew, chatting is not always an option.

I'm going into DC tomorrow morning to meet a friend for brunch in the Adams Morgan neighborhood. I haven't seen her for almost a year; I'm looking forward to it! It'll also be the first time I have left the house for any length of time since arriving at my sister's. (I've gone out twice alone to pick up food or run errands. . . but that really doesn't count.)

SL's parents are driving down from Alaska. They started out on Monday morning; as of last night, they were already in Montana and hoping to make it to Salt Lake City tonight. SL says he expects them at our home on Monday or Tuesday. They should be ensconced in their own apartment by the time I return home next week. Their departure date is never firm, but it is likely they will be in town through Valentine's Day at least.

I'd hoped to start eating better & exercising while at my sister's, but so far that has not happened. I still have hope, though; I'm here until the 9th. We straightened up the great room today so that using the treadmill would actually be a possibility tomorrow. And my eating hasn't been AWFUL. . . just not ideal.

I'm already contemplating whether I should bother making New Year's resolutions this year. My resolutions for 2006 were certainly not realized!