you win some, you lose some

so i've known my husband for a VERY long time.  we worked together at Pick N Save when we were just 14 and 15 years old.

he always had a big crush on me.  as he would put it, i was his "fantasy girl".  but, because i was older, i just thought he was my little dorky friend (poor guy).

when we got a little older, he finally got a girlfriend.  and of course i did what any girl would do...i got jealous.  especially when his girlfriend forbid him to talk to me, which only made me like him more.

anyways, fast forward to present time...

we are happily married, most days anyway ;) he broke up with that girl years ago, and hasn't really spoken to her since.

but we see her and her family.  all.  the.  time.  they are everywhere!  at the grocery store, at Friday Night Live, at Kohl's, and most of all, at church.

they are usually nice to Mark and say hello, but do not acknowledge my existence.  sometimes her mom will stand directly in front of me facing Mark, talking only to him.

when i started Zumba, i forced Starla into coming with me because i was terrified her and her mom would be there.  they weren't there that first day and didn't attend for many months.  but as luck would have it, they started coming a few months ago.

and it is SO awkward!!  they still won't look at me or acknowledge me or anything.

so i decided i wanted to be the bigger person.  i hate having any sort of tension with anyone, so i thought i would try and talk to her and get it over with.  i didn't want to be friends or anything, just wanted to be able to say hi and not continue ignoring each other.

i had to spit out my gum and of course the only garbage can in the humongous room was right next to her.  i walked over and spit it out and she was just  standing there alone so i took that as my opportunity.

here's how it went...

me: "hey, um, so i think it might be ok, if um, we say hi to each other every once in awhile?"
her: "well since this is MY church and people at MY church are nice, they usually do say hi to me."
me: (mouth gaping open for a moment) "i guess i just never felt comfortable because you all say hi to mark but don't acknowledge me at all.  like i don't exist.  and there are more of you, so i just didn't know what to do"
her: (rolling her eyes) "um ok"

and i walked away.  went back to chatting with Starla and other NICE people that attend HER church.

you win some, you lose some.  at least i tried...

healthy eating

As a child I always had stomach ache's ALL the time!  I was 10 and the doctor's would tell my mom that I was making it up to get out of school.  They would say there is no way that a 10 year old could have ulcers or stress stomach aches.  Well, when I was 15 I finally found a doctor that believed there could really be something wrong.  I had an endoscopy and my wonderful doctor found that I had severe acid reflux disease (GERD) and erosive esophogitis (EE) pretty severely.  Along with that they also discovered that I was allergic to the protein in milk, AKA whey (or casein).  This started my long journey to getting healthy.  They started me on a medication that would help heal my throat and would help with my reflux.  Plus, I had to eliminate dairy from my diet completely.  After about a year, I had another endoscopy and they found that it had really helped my throat, but the reflux was still there.  I continued on my medication and worked to change my diet to help my reflux.  I had always LOVED milk and cheese and ice cream and pizza and mac and cheese and anything dairy.  It was hard to adjust to living without dairy but I worked hard.  At the time, I only drank soda, no water, which was something else I was told to cut back on. 

More recently, I had started to see an acupuncturist.  Not only was I still having stomach problems after all this time, but I was also having trouble with my hormones.  Going to the acupuncturist really helped because she was also a nutritionist.  She was really helpful in understanding how food changes in the body.  She gave me a general guideline and lots of books to read.  I stopped seeing her awhile back, because it was WAY too expensive, but I think it definitely helped overall.  The main thing I learned is too eliminate dairy, which was easy since I already have committed to that.  Then she got me to stop drinking soda, which was a huge accomplishment, since I've never been able to.  The last thing that I never thought I would ever be able to do, was stop eating meat.  I didn't completely stop ever, but I try to keep it to a minimum, and instead focus on eating mostly veggies.

The bad thing is that once we moved and were overcome with all the chaos that is building a house, I have found that I rarely follow my diet!  I am back to at least one soda a day, sometimes two.  I also find it very difficult to cook at this house.  I don't have all of my kitchen stuff, and it's super small and unorganized.  Plus, I have to wash all the dishes by hand, which I have NEVER in my life had to do.  It is a very hard adjustment.  All of these things have contributed to not following my diet.  My goal is to get back on track.

Week one:  eliminate dairy (this should be very easy)
Week two:  cut back on meats (again this should be pretty easy)
Week three:  eliminate soda (this will be the most difficult)
Week four:  work on switching to gluten free
Week five:  cut back on sugars
Week six:  less processed foods (should be fairly easy)

Other things I want to make sure I'm doing along the ways are...

working out 3 times a week (I go to Zumba twice a week, so just have to find one other activity)
take my herbs 3 times daily

I am going to be rereading "The Kind Diet" as a way to help keep me on track.

Zumba!

In September, there was an announcement at church that they were gonna have a free Zumba class on Tuesday nights.  I had never tried Zumba but I knew it was kind of a dance workout class and I though it would be fun to try.  Since we are pretty new to the church and this was the first workout class I had ever been to, I recruited Starla to go to the first class with me so I wasn't so intimidated.  We had a BLAST!  It was the best time ever doing a workout!  We have been going every Tuesday since!  They titled the class Zumba Cares, so instead of paying for the classes, you can make a donation to a cause, which they have a different one every month.  For the month of November we are donating to the food pantry.  Our instructors obviously teach other places as well, so I signed up for classes with them too.  This way when I can't make it to church on Tuesday, like this week and next, I can still get my Zumba on!  The other night me and Starla were being super nerds and looking for our classes music on YouTube.  We found our actual routine for one of our favorite routines!  Here is it...Enjoy!

saying goodbye

This weekend has been busy!  Friday, we spent a lovely afternoon saying goodbye to JoAnn.  They had a really nice luncheon after an awesome balloon release.  It was just perfect! 

After, me and my sister went shopping at Target and Trader Joe's.  She had never been before, but that's where I go grocery shopping every week!  I was excited to be able to take her.  We bought a lot of goodies and then she went back to Grams.  I went home to clean!  My house was a disaster, so I spent the rest of the evening picking up.  It felt good to go to bed that night with everything in it's place.

Saturday, I went to get a flooring quote in the morning.  After that I had to take Remi to the vet because she still had an infection in her tail.  Luckily the vet loaded her up with antibiotics and it seems to be doing better.  Then, I made a run to American TV to get a quote on appliances.  We ended up putting $ down because we are needing them soon.  I later was able to find a much better deal on some of them and ordered those to be delivered in a few weeks.  After all that running around, I met Mark at his mom's to enjoy an evening hanging out with his family.  His step sister was in town from Colorado with her family.  We had a good time playing with the kids, and his mom made a really good dinner!

Sunday, I went to Zumba with Starla in the morning!  Zumba is my favorite work out!  It was quite a bit different then Zumba at church, a little more intense.  I'm definitely feeling it this morning.  Then I had to run a few more errands (buy outdoor lights) yesterday.


House update:

foam spray today
drywall the end of this week
continuing siding
finishing up electrical
tiling

This week is gonna be a lot of transformation!  It's gonna be very exciting!