The Caterpillars: Days 6 and 7

The caterpillars are getting bigger and bigger by the minute it seems!  Here are some photos from days 6 and 7:

And just for point of reference, here's how big they were on the day we received them on day #1:

Amazing and crazy, right?

We've had an interesting week.  Red had a second hearing test at school this week that I attended and they determined she has some hearing loss in her left ear.  She can't hear mid to high frequency sounds in that ear.  I was pretty stunned when I was standing across the room from her during the test and could hear the beep in her ear and she could not.  They recommended a full clinical testing with an audiologist this summer to determine the extent of the loss.  The good news is that she seems to be compensating just fine with her right ear.  Her teacher told me she has never noticed an issue and quite frankly other than her being loud sometimes (which I assume is just being a 5 year old) and the occasional "What?" when we're talking I've never noticed anything that would make me think she was having trouble hearing either.  We may never know what caused it.  It could have been a high fever (she's had quite a few of those), a head injury (she's had a couple of those that have landed her in the ER), a loud noise (the Cobbler says when she was a baby he once stood too close with her to a train when its whistle was blown at a local museum.  I told him not to worry about it), or genetics (if hearing loss runs in your family, you're more likely to have it.  My youngest sister has some partial loss in one ear).  It's one of those situations where there's nothing we can do at this point other than get more information and deal with it.  So that's what we'll do...

I've also been coping with some anxiety.  It seems like I have the jitters for most of my waking hours.  I'm hoping that it's just from all the commitments I've had over the last couple of months and I'm trying to calm down.  Lots of deep breathing.  I'm going to eliminate caffeine and alcohol today and see if that helps.  Not like I'm a big drinker of either (1-2 cups of coffee per day and maybe one drink in the evening), but at this point I'm willing to try anything to get some peace.

Today's the last day of school for the week.  I'm looking forward to a nice Memorial Day weekend at home.

What are you up to this weekend?

Day #28 of 30 Days to a Simpler Life --- Get Physical!

Make an appointment on your calendar to exercise three to four times a week for an hour, or daily for 30 minutes.  This is a manageable amount of time for most people.  With a simple routine, you won't have to think about when to exercise---it's prescheduled!  (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 175)

OR for serious simplifiers only...

Each day, exercise for at least an hour and stretch for 15 minutes.  On weekends, set aside time for recreational exercise.  You will be more relaxed and refreshed for the coming week.  On your next vacation, be more physical.  Plan a golf, walking, trekking, biking, river-rafting, or cross-country skiing vacation.  (30 Days to a Simpler Life, p. 179)

Back on January 11th, I blogged about how I was "skinny fat."  I had gone to the rec center, been assessed by the trainer, and found out that I was extremely unhealthy.  Since the first week in February (barring extreme weather or illness), I have been going to the gym three mornings a week to lift weights and do cardio with my friend Colleen.  I usually get there between 530 and 6AM and am home before 730AM so the Cobbler can go to work for 8AM.  The first two weeks were killer.  I seriously thought I wouldn't make it.  My body hurt all over, I was wheezing after 5 minutes on the elliptical machine, and I was having shortness of breath during the day even when I wasn't exercising.  It was not a good scene.  

Amazingly though, it has gotten easier and easier as time has gone on.  The first week my arms shook when I did the Arnold press using only 5 pound weights.  Last week I made it through three sets of "the Arnold" using 12.5 pound weights.  When I was assessed, I could only do 12 modified (AKA "girly") push ups.  I just dropped as I was writing this to see how many can do today.  I just did 28 plank push ups.  My body feels stronger and although my weight hasn't changed (that wasn't my aim---I was actually trying to gain muscle and weight), I feel like my body has rearranged itself.  I keep telling the Cobbler to feel the back of my arm because there's a muscle there that wasn't there before!  It's not like I look ripped or anything, but I teased Colleen last night that I'm going to go five days a week in August and September so I can have Michelle Obama arms for my sister's wedding in October.  :-)

Today is the first day of spring break --- no school all week---and it's snowing here!  I don't think I remember a time when it snowed this late in the year.  I'm really disappointed because I had all these grandiose plans in my mind about all the things we were going to do outside today.  Maybe we can make a snowman instead?

Beating seasonal affective disorder

When I was a freshman in college, my psychology major roommate approached me one day.  "We need to talk," she said.  "I seriously think you need to see someone.  You either are clinically depressed or have seasonal affective disorder."  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to me.  For as long as I could remember, I would feel this way every winter.  I wouldn't want to get out of bed in the morning.  I wouldn't want to do anything for that matter.  I felt gloomy.  If I had my choice, I would just stay in bed until the trees started budding again in the spring.  This apparently is what my roommate found so disturbing.  I would stay in bed unless I was going to class, eating, or studying (which was also done in bed).  I figured this is how I am so I didn't do anything about it.

When I started working after college, I obviously had to get out of bed, but I felt miserable for the entire winter season.  During the course of our marriage, the Cobbler has dealt with my winter blues every single year.  One Christmas he even bought me a Happy Light in the hopes that it would bring me back from the dead.  Sitting in front of it for 15 minutes every morning helped some, but the effect was negligible.  I still really wanted to be in bed hibernating.

Finally, a couple of months ago I read a thread on the Well Trained Mind forum about seasonal affective disorder and some of the posters mentioned taking a Vitamin D supplement.  I wondered if it could work for me.  I did a lot of web research and discovered that your body produces 10,000 IUs of Vitamin D for every 20 minutes of full body sun exposure.  Exposure to the sun is the only way you get Vitamin D unless you take a supplement or eat a lot of dairy which is fortified with it.  My daily multivitamin contains a modest 400 IUs, I tend to stay out of the sun, and I eat very little dairy these days.

In November, I made a pilgrimage to the Vitamin Shoppe and purchased their brand of Vitamin D3 in the 5000 IU dosage.  This is the exact bottle I bought.  That little bottle purchased for $5.99 has changed my entire life!  I know that seems a bit dramatic, but I feel like a different person.  I don't want to stay in bed all day! I'm not tired anymore!  I feel like the woman I am in the summer time.  I have since finished off my $5.99 bottle and went back and ponied up for the 120 day supply $9.99 bottle.  Best money I've spent in a long time!

Do you have SAD too?  Here's a YouTube video about it:

Finally, Red's fever is gone this morning --- yay!  She acting more like herself and I am so relieved.

And with that---here's the rather disturbing link of the day  WHY?!?!?  WHY do people insist on texting while walking or texting while doing anything else for that matter. I think the art of doing one thing at a time is gradually being lost in our society, but that is an entirely different blog post altogether.

Red is sick :-(

My perpetually healthy daughter is in bed with a fever.  This is day #6 of the illness.  I should have known something was wrong last Thursday afternoon when she had a friend over to play.  She came to me on the family room sofa and said, "I just want to snuggle with you Mom" and proceeded to cuddle up with me.  She's been getting up in the night since then and taking naps everyday (she hasn't napped in YEARS!).  The doctor yesterday deemed it a virus that we'll just have to wait out.  Today he advised us to make sure she's drinking enough because she's dehydrated according to her urine sample results. Caring for her and entertaining Tom Thumb while keeping him away from her (next to impossible!) has taken up most of my days since last week.  Her fever was lower today so I'm hoping this may be the end of it.

On a separate note, the site of my wisdom tooth extraction is infected.  The oral surgeon who saw me today---keep in mind, he is NOT the one who took out my tooth---said, "I know you!  I know that X-ray!  If I were you, I'd be taking those other wisdom teeth to the grave!  If I were you, they would have to drag me kicking and screaming if someone wanted to take those out!"  I didn't really know how to respond so I said, "That's good to know."  Who knew I was fodder for oral surgeon gossip?  I can just imagine them hanging out after work saying, "Get a load of this X-Ray!"  Anyway, a prescription for antibiotics was written and I was sent on my way.

Hopefully, I'll have better news to report in the next few days.  Healthy news...please be healthy news.

I got out of bed and...

...exercised again this morning.  It took about a 10 minute pep talk to convince myself that I would survive exiting the warm bed.  The workout was a little easier this morning in the beginning (I did the Level 1 from The 30 Day Shred like yesterday).  I was able to get through the push ups, but still struggled with the strength training part of the 3rd circuit.  Swaying back and forth from leg to leg while lifting weights up to my eyeballs is just not happening...yet.

I then dug into "the pile".  Everyone has one.  I realized our pile needed help last night when I called our new HMO to figure out what I needed to do paperwork/referral wise so I could go to my follow up appointment with the gastroenterologist next week worry free.  During the phone call I asked the woman I was speaking with if we had to do a health assessment this year.  She said, "Yes, you do.  You should have received the paperwork in the mail.  Do you have it?"  I didn't.  I said, "Do you know the kind of people who have the huge pile of stuff on their kitchen counter and they have no idea what's in it?  We're those people."  I waded through the pile for about an hour this morning and still haven't found the paperwork she was talking about.  Luckily, we can download it from their website.  All I know is that the pile needs to go!

I threw out, recycled, and shredded a lot of it this morning, but there's a lot more to sort out.  I'm creating a family of pack rats!  Red was carefully watching everything I threw into the recycling bin so she could decide if she wanted to garbage pick it.  Her new favorite TV show is Artzooka (it's Canadian---we happen to get it since we're so close to the border), which is a thorn in my side in terms of being able to throw anything away without it being scrutinized for any possibility of becoming part of one of her art works in progress.  Her last project she made included a Krispy Kreme coffee cup filled with navy beans with the top closed off with plastic wrap.  The cup was then glued to a piece of construction paper.  That paper was then connected to a rainbow made of alternating blue and yellow strips of paper.  Finally, the rainbow was connected to another sheet of construction paper on which was taped an empty Scotch tape roll topped with a pencil.  It got ruined when she and Tom Thumb decided to pour water on it to see if the paper would change color.  I wish I had taken a photo of it before it became a crazy mess.

We went skating this morning with some friends.  Red isn't taking skating lessons this year, but I think she may want to again next year.  She seems to really enjoy it.  Tom Thumb always says he wants to skate, but then cries when I take him on the ice.  He seems much more content to just open and close the doors into the rink, run up and down the bleachers, and push the buttons for the elevator and vending machines over and over.

The Cobbler is working late tonight so the kids and I will be feasting on some leftover Middle Eastern take out from last night.  Yum!  We always get the platter which is two grape leaves, two fried kebbie, chicken shawarma, tawook, kabob, kafta, shawarma , falafel, hommous, pita and Lebanese salad.  It costs about $25 and we can get at least two meals out of it.


I'm off to grab a rest before Red gets home from school!

The quilt is DONE!

After two years of fighting with it, the quilt for my nephew Finn is done!  It may not look like much, but I feel pretty triumphant.  I screwed up when initially piecing it so that the seam allowances were too big on some of the blocks, which pretty much made it impossible for them to fit together with the other blocks.  I would work on it for a while, get frustrated, and give up over and over and over.  I thought that thing was going to rot in my craft closet forever.  I wish I would have known 2 years ago that all it would take is me just deciding to finish it.  Here are some photos of the final product:

Me holding it up in the office---victory is mine!!!

Pumpkin can't resist sitting on it.

Alone in its glory :-)

One unfinished project done---a million to go!  Okay, not a million, but it feels like a million.  What should I work on next?  Scrapbooking or more sewing?

In health news, I bought Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred based on the recommendation a couple of ladies over at the Well Trained Mind forums.  The result ---> this morning I had my ass handed to me.  I couldn't even make it through the whole thing.  I mean I made it through the whole thing, but I didn't do every single rep because I couldn't keep up.  And Jillian's damn back up aerobicizers Anita and Natalie were smiling (yes, SMILING) throughout the entire thing.  I'm going to try to get up and do it again tomorrow.  The second day is always the hardest.  You're probably wondering why I didn't go to the gym.  I want to wait to do any major working out over there until I get my training on the equipment on the 20th.  In the meantime, I have Jillian to give me the beat down right in my own home.

I'm "skinny fat"

Let's start off by saying that I'm 5 feet 11 inches tall and weigh around 130 pounds. I joined our city's rec center/gym and went in for my fitness assessment today. The extent of my recent exercise routine (i.e. the last five years) has been chasing around the kids and taking them to the pool twice a week. I get in the pool with them, but don't swim laps or anything. 

So here's what happened:
My heart rate was 152 after doing the 3 minute step test. (Verdict: very poor)
I could do 12 modified push ups. (very poor)
I did 32 sit ups in a minute. (above average)
My body fat (they measured my tricep, waist and thigh with the calipers twice) is 31%, which is one category better than obese.  The assessor (a certified trainer with both undergraduate and graduate degrees in health and nutrition who is employed by a hospital's PT office in the rec center) told me its accuracy is +/- 2%, but still that is very sad to me. 

I am considered "moderately fat". On a good note, my blood pressure was good (98 over 60).


My fitness goals are to gain weight but have it be muscle instead of fat. I hate exercising and I just know it's going to be an uphill battle.  I have another appointment with the trainer who assessed me on the 20th so she can tell me what type of exercising I should be doing to gain weight but have it be muscle.  She mentioned something about doing less reps but making the weights be heavy.  I'm kind of nervous.  I'm more nervous though about whether or not I'm going to be able to commit to exercise consistently.


Being "skinny fat" was actually profiled on the Today Show recently.  The woman in the video below who is "skinny fat" is at 27% body fat.