That Hobbit Lady

Well, I’ve been coming here on an almost daily basis to keep track of how my weight is doing, but I’m not really keeping up with my promise to revive thathobbitlady to all its former glory. So yes, I’m losing weight…great! But what about everything else?

WEDDING
Here is a picture of my life at the moment. The big news, of course, is that Russ and I have set the date for the wedding, and it’s only five weeks away now! I recently found not one but TWO beautiful dresses that were incredibly reduced (each originally priced $160, on sale for $28!) but I have chosen one so that I can begin to plan my “colors.” And the color(s) will be red, with perhaps some touches of silver.

The wedding will be at Russ’ parents’ house, and there will only be about 25 guests, so not very large or elaborate at all, but that’s just fine with me, because to me “large and elaborate” mean more stress and more money. No need to go there. Even so, I find that I tend to spend a good deal of my spare time looking in stores and on-line at wedding cakes, decorations, flowers, etc. It’s a lot of fun. I have a checklist, and I think we’ll be able to pull this off on time with a minimum amount of commotion.

WORK
Other than this, I go to work five days a week. The job is good, tho they don’t keep me as busy as I was in my old job. Last week I cleaned out my office and my desk pretty good, and that felt good. Yeah, not much to report here. It’s a paycheck.

RUSS
Evenings and weekends I get to hang out with Russ. I can’t imagine I’ll ever get tired of this guy. We have so much in common, and the best part is that he really listens to me and really cares about me.

There’s this thing that he’s always doing, I can’t think of a specific example, but he did it just this weekend again, and it still always amazes me. We’ll be having a conversation, and suddenly he’ll bring in something I said in a PREVIOUS conversation, something that has bearing on the current conversation, that fits right in with what we’re talking about, and it just always surprises me when he makes the oh-so-obvious connection.. He listens, he stores information about me, obviously thinks about it, and is able to bring it forth again at exactly the right moment! And not only that, but he usually does it in a very witty way. It’s like when you read an article in a magazine, and the cute comment that was made in the lead paragraph gets mentioned or alluded to in the final paragraph, and it just kind of ties the whole thing together. It’s like that. Should I be amazed by this? I don’t know, but I am.

STORIES
Well, moving on, there’s not much more to say. As my profile states, I live a very simple life. If there is any real “excitement” in my life, it comes to me in fiction, either in the stories I write, books I read, or the movies and TV shows I watch. Russ and I watch a number of TV shows together. Right now we’re in the middle of Firefly, the fifth season of Smallville, and the first season of Gilmore Girls. Soon we are hoping to get back to Lost and 24, and pick up Monk and/or Northern Exposure.

Currently I’m working on reading the last Harry Potter book. It’s a doozy! And I’m also dabbling now and then in The Cat Who books. I’ve also discovered the “Myth” series by Robert Asprin, which is highly entertaining. So yes, plenty of reading to keep me busy.

NANO
I am also already looking forward to this year’s NaNo. Several months ago I dusted off this story idea that’s actually had hanging around in my brain for many, many years now (probably for as long as Beatrice was stuck in my head before I made the decision to bring her story to life, which is…oh…twenty years or so???).

I’ve taken some notes, have some of the main characters names figured out. My plan is to spend all of October refining and expanding these notes till when Nov 1 rolls around, I’ll be chomping at the bit to get started. I don’t want to waste any time once I get started on the narrative trying to figure out DETAILS that can be determined now. Names, notes, timelines, character profiles, why not? It’s completely legal to plan out all these things in advance. The only thing you can’t do is write any of the actual story before Nov 1.

Well, that’s all for now. Next time I write, maybe I will have more info about how the wedding plans are proceeding.

189.8

Mary made me this new icon. Thanks, Mary! I am almost ashamed to use it today, tho, since this morning my weight is up, rather than down. What happened is that last night Russ and I went to the movies and I had popcorn and soda. Now, granted, I could have gone to the movies and NOT had popcorn and soda, and I really need to train myself to do that, but I was treating myself last night because it was Harry Potter, and I’ve been looking forward to seeing it, and the movie did not disappoint, but the scale this morning pays the price.

That’s okay tho, because I have some watermelon for breakfast, and a lemon to flavor my water, and a salad for lunch, and plans to visit the gym. I should be able to take this weight back down to where it was in only a day or two, but the shame of it is losing a day or two, when every day is going to count, and I look forward to fitting into my wedding dress. So, yeah, I guess I need to lay off on the treating myself for the next several weeks.

But the GOOD thing about all this is that the weight that is disappointing me is in the 180’s, not the 190’s. So overall, progress is being made. And overall, more progress shall be made. This is a temporary setback, not a reason to give up. Onward!

188.0

More progress! Hey, it’s working! Woo hoo!

188.4

Woo hoo! Making good progress in the weight loss arena! Trying to figure out what I’ve been doing so RIGHT this week that so much weight has come off so quickly (when previously I just seem to go up and down like a see-saw) and I keep coming back to the same thing: drinking copious amounts of water.

This week I’ve been drinking lots and lots of water because I’m taking Mucinex, and those are the instructions. So wait! Maybe it’s the Mucinex that is acting as a weight loss aide? I mean, did I have THAT MUCH mucous in my body that as it dries up I see significant weight loss? Gah! I hope not. I’m going to stick with the water theory. And keep drinking lots and lots of water.

I’ve actually rediscovered an old treat. Every morning, I start with a big cup of iced water with a couple of thin slices of lemon in it. I don’t know if the lemons have anything to do with weight loss, but it makes the water taste good, and it’s festive to have lemon slices in your drink. Then, when I’ve finished that, I boil some water and have a cup of lemon-flavored hot water. I know, I know, it doesn’t sound like much, but it’s actually pretty good. A nice alternative to the iced water.

Well, I have also been very careful to eat small meals, and early meals. Actually, I remembered a little poem I had composed a while back about some hints on how to lose weight, and I will share it now. This, at least, is what works for me:

No sweets
No meats
No late-nite treats.
Get off your butt
And move those feet!

189.2

My diligence is paying off! And a good thing too, and I hope I can keep moving in this same direction, because last night I found not one, but TWO perfect wedding dresses. Well, perfect in all ways, except that they are both a smidge too small for my current body. I think a really tight corset would probably do the trick, but who wants to wear a really tight corset? No, I would rather trim off 5-10 pounds and feel more comfortable.

So I think I can do it! Before I was just “motivated,” but now I am now HIGHLY motivated to lose weight.

190.4

This is good. I lost over .5 lbs yesterday, and I am now .5 lbs away from the lowest weight I have reached since I started watching my weight in Alabama (and 20 lbs away from the lowest weight I had reached right before Hurricane Wilma, two years ago). After this next .5 lbs, any more weight loss will be pure profit.

I think what might be helping is that when I went to the Dr on Monday for my sinuses, I was given a prescription for Mucinex, which helps break up mucus, and the instructions say to drink plenty of water to help the medicine work. So I’ve been drinking plenty of water. I mean, lots and lots of water. So much that I’ve been running to the bathroom every hour on the hour. Now, everybody knows that drinking lots of water is one of the best things you can do for your body, especially if you are trying to lose weight. So I just hope I will keep up the habit, even after I have solved my sinus issues.

191

This is good, because it is less than yesterday. Now the trick will be to see if I can keep moving in the same direction. I went to the doctor on Monday for a persistent sinus condition, and got two meds, that have side effects of headache, which I had all day yesterday, so I didn’t really get any exercise done, tho I am hoping to do better today.

192.4

It’s been a little topsy-turvy. I haven’t been feeling well, and thus haven’t been eating well, and of course that makes me feel worse. But today I jump right back into it.

Well, I said a while back that I would start using this journal as a place to keep track of my weight and health, but I’ve felt too busy to do so, but now I have a moment, so here we go.

Yes, once upon a time (about two years ago, I think), I had lost about 34 pounds, and had gotten down to a low weight of 170. That felt good! I still had a ways to go, even at 170, but believe me, losing 34 pounds makes a BIG difference in how you feel.

Then, Hurricane Wilma hit, and I stopped using the gym, and life got a bit crazy for a while, and then I met Russ, and my priorities shifted, and slowly but surely most of the weight I had lost crept back on.

So here’s the bottom line: I had gotten back up to 196. Now, today, this morning, I am back down to 191.4. I say “.4” because I have a digital scale that tells you your weight to the 10th of a pound, so that’s how I’m keeping track. And sometimes, it can be very encouraging. Like yesterday morning, I was 191.6, and this morning I’m 191.4, so even tho I am still 191 (on a regular scale), I have the psychological advantage of being able to say, “YES! I lost weight. Only 2/10ths of a pound, but I LOST.”

So this is the current state of affairs. Also, I have officially joined the “big gym” on campus, and hope to be going quite often. It’s so much nicer than the little gym where I had been going. The big gym doesn’t smell, the air is fresh, the equipment is new, and the locker room has both a steamroom and a sauna! So I’m really looking forward to making this place part of my daily routine.

Anyway, I’m now about 20 pounds away from the low weight I had achieved, two years ago. It’s such a drag that I have to do this all over again, but I like to think of it this way: at least I’m not starting at the 204 pounds I was originally. So I am already 15 pounds ahead of the game.

Trying to keep a positive attitude on all this. It goes on slow, it comes off slow. That’s okay with me. As long as I’m headed in the right direction.