I know that many people do not consider food addiction a real problem like drug and alcohol addiction, but I think maybe the tide is turning. At least, I hope maybe it is. Because maybe then someone can come up with real treatment or some kind of system to ride out the addiction. It’s not as easy as (and believe me, I use that phrase loosely with only the utmost repect for those who battle against the following examples) nicotine or alcohol for example because you can NOT have complete withdrawl from the object of your addiction and live. You can’t just NOT eat. Just when I feel like maybe I am in control and could handle “dieting” I get an overwhelming NEED to have a hot fudge sundae from McDonald’s with extra fudge. Mmmm Fudge-fabulous! This is my latest obsession. The worst thing about this obsession is that it requires me to go to McDonald’s while I’m feeling guilty about getting the sundae in the first place so I feel like “what the heck, throw in the burger and fries while we’re here and I’ll just go turn my extra king-sized bedsheets into moo-moos (sp? is there a “proper” way to spell that?) when I get home after I throw the evidence of the McDonald’s into the garbage cans in the garage so Josh and the kids won’t know why I’m suddenly running around in a toga!” And by “running around,” I mean sluggishly hefting myself from my bedroom to the computer downstairs and back again with brief stops in the kitchen to muster more strength which inevitably lead to checking in the fridge or freezer for something to snack on for the rest of my “trip.” Ok, so it’s a bit of a dramatization, but not much. And seriously, I could take this rant into so many different directions and go off on countless tangents so I’m going to stop myself NOW. But, if any of you have helpful ideas on how to “Just Say No” to the fudge or have your own stories of overcoming addiction that may be helpful if shared, please, consider this an open forum. Just keep the language generally clean please. I never know who is reading this and apparently this blog has managed to maintain a “G” rating so far but I confess to not know anything about who is rating it or how or why.
Archive for August, 2007
I am feeling bummed this morning. I bought a fabu pair of red adidas shoes at Goodwill last weekend for $5 and I put them on for the first time today. I hadn’t tried them on in the store because I looked inside and the tag said they were my size and I wasn’t wearing socks so I didn’t want to put it on to make sure, but it looked right next to my sandal, and as I said, the size was on the tag in there–my size. So I put them on this morning and…I feel like Ronald McDonald. I hadn’t even thought that they were most likely guy shoes and therefore the size was a man’s size. I mean, I can still wear them, but there is like an inch to grow in and while that is ideal for my children’s shoes, I sure hope not to need it! Anyway, I’m going to wear them around today and see how they feel, but I’m dissapointed because I’m slightly self-conscious about the size of my feet anyway, so making them look even bigger isn’t exactly what I’d hoped to accomplish with these awesome shoes. 
Jacob and Elise had their first real dance lessons tonight. Elise was first and it seemed to go alright, but she is by far the tallest in the class. I kind of hope that the teacher decides to move her up into Jacob’s class–one of her friends in her class at school is in Jacob’s dance class. Anyway, she had a very full class with a lot of little girls running around in pink leotards. Jacob’s class seemed a bit smaller, and when they started tapping, the teacher Miss Evie came bursting excitedly out into the front office where her mother mans the phones etc. and said you gotta come see this! Then she leaned through the pass window and asked if Jacob’s mom was there. I said I was Jacob’s mom (and at the time I was the only mom still sitting there waiting) and she told me that Jacob is making very advanced sounds, that of course he still needs to be taught the basics so he really knows what it is that he’s doing, but that he’s a “hoofer” and is doing moves that a 4-5 year dancer would be working on. She said she didn’t know if she’d be able to keep him in that class–that she may have to move him up. Said she’d turn him into a masculine little Travis! Then she went back in to finish teaching the class and her mother started asking me questions about his interest in dance etc and said that it was rare of her daughter to stop a class to make her watch something. Jacob told me after the class that she told him she liked his mohawk and that he should wear it up next week and that he was so cute!
I thought maybe Josh would post about this, but he hasn’t so I’ll go ahead and do it. Last weekend was his 10-year high school reunion in Muscatine. The format was typical: Friday night informal at the bar downtown, Saturday overpriced dinner and “dance” and Sunday family potluck picnic. Well, the bar has NEVER been Josh’s scene, so we spent Fiday night reuniting with the Wheelers and Dypak! Saturday night we nervously made our way down to Pearl City Station for our overpriced dinner and scrutiny of our former peers. Right off the bat I will say that it was lame. Lame and from what I heard from most people there had been a much better turn out at the bar the night before. Still, I think Josh was most dissappointed in who didn’t turn out at all. It was nice to see Dan and Erak again, and Josh visited with a few former friends/acquaintances while I stood awkwardly with my sister-in-law Jenny. I thought my own sister was going to come down for a bit, but she pooped out. I really tried to be positive and have fun. I knew going into it that most of the people that I knew and liked from Josh’s class wouldn’t be there (Dan and Erak originally weren’t going either, so it was a nice surprise that they came). So, I knew that it could suck, but I had completely forgotten that there would also be other people from my grade and that there would be people I really didn’t want to see at all. Luckily, the night had a highlight. Andy and Becky Anderson! We had a great time visiting with them–just like old times! But it wasn’t until we got home that I realized just how “old” those times were! See, we used to hang out with Andy and Becky when we lived in Ames–the first time we lived in Ames! When Jacob was just a baby and they didn’t have any children yet. It’s been almost 8 years!!! And although we’ve kept somewhat in touch and have seen each other a few times here and there when we both happen to be passing through Muscatine at the same time, we haven’t really hung out since Ames. But on that mild, child-free Muscatine Saturday night by the riverfront, it felt like no time had passed at all. We talked easily and laughed heartily. We even shared mediocre desserts at the Country Kitchen after ditching the reunion and Josh made Becky choke on her chocolate milk with laughter. Good times, good times. We’re glad that the Andersons have finally moved somewhat closer and we look forward to hanging out with them again, hopefully soon. And I promised Becky I’d post more recent pictures of the kiddos, and since we didn’t take any pictures at the reunion I’ll post here instead the pictures that my family took on Sunday. Instead of going to the family potluck picnic, we had lunch with my family and then had family pictures taken in honor of my parents’ 35th wedding anniversary. Here’s one. 
I realize that there are still probably better things for me to be eating than little “diet” bags of cookies, but I am loving the 100 calorie snack packs. If there is anything REALLY unhealthy about them, I hope that someone will clue me in because from where I sit: rationed portions = good, low calorie = good, cookies = GOOOOD!
I have always had to deal with what I called “sweet teeth.” An almost constant craving for sugary goodness. Now that I am trying to form better eating habits and am keeping a close watch on my calorie intake, it is nice to have something small to satisfy a craving without completely throwing off my “progress.” I grant that these snacks are not AS tasty as some other treats that I enjoy, but they do the trick to keep me from feeling as though I NEED those other things. And while I still sometimes cringe at the prices, I feel justified in buying them, which is something I have been working on too. Why must healthy food be so much more expensive? I mean, even produce presents a financial challenge to one as frugal as myself. For years I’ve eaten iceberg lettuce and felt pretty good about it. I never liked leafier greens and they’re much more expensive. But now, I dish out the extra dough to get the salads with Romaine, Spinach, Boston, Radiccio etc. in hopes that these “healthier” greens will help me lose weight. But I digress. My favorite 100 Calorie snack packs so far have been the Lorna Doone shortbread cookies and the Grasshopper cookies. I’ve also enjoyed the fudge-striped cookies and mini chocolate chip cookies, but not the Chips Ahoy ones, they’re gross. They taste absolutely nothing like a chocolate chip cookie, especially one you’d expect from Chips Ahoy. Bad on you Chips Ahoy. I just discovered that GV has 100 calorie choc chip cookies, and they’re not bad, also, they are much cheaper. I know some of my readers are loyal to Hy-Vee and therefore will not get the GV ones, but as of yet I am not aware of a cheaper Hy-Vee brand 100 calorie pack.
Today was Elise’s first appointment with the urologist. They’ve put her on a daily low-dose antibiotic to help control infection (Sound familliar Sarah?) and they have also prescribed a daily low-dose laxative powder to be mixed with 8oz liquid. They think the recent poopsmear problem is a symptom of constipation and that being constipated can be affecting her bladder also. They believe she is most likely experiencing bladder/sphincter dysfunction which explains why she can’t “hold it,” and we are to go back to the frequently scheduled potty break “timer routine.” In six weeks she will have another ultrasound to make sure that nothing has changed or been missed and she will have a VCUG (which I think was one of the last things we tried, mom, that you said was so painful to watch.) and then a follow-up with the urologist. The doctor today acknowledged that some of these problems could in fact be hereditary which I was fairly sure we’d been told when I was going through all this that they were not, but maybe I’m wrong on that. Anyway, Elise made it through the appointment today no problem and she’ll start her meds tomorrow so we’ll see what kinds of changes may occur.
Classes started today for the Ankeny schools. We’ve been preparing for this all week. We went to the meet the teachers night and dropped off all their supplies and filled out all the paperwork and made sure the kids knew where they needed to go. We bribed Cameron with a new pillow to let us cut his hair, he looks a bit goofy now, but we went a little extra short because who knows when he’ll let us cut it again! So this morning Josh packed the kids’ lunches, made the kids eggs which they didn’t want to eat, and then got me up to take pictures and after going through the rules again and reminding the kids what their new teachers names are etc. we let them out the door and sent them on their way.
FREEDOM!!!
What to do first?! Well, I got an uninterupted shower, and then I had Elena all to myself. When she woke up she immediately went looking for Cameron and kept saying “Tah-rin gone!” I distracted her by taking her shopping! I got pictures developed from our vacation so I can scrap them and I went to the scrapbook store (where I haven’t been in a while cause I will not go there with all the kids!) looking for the perfect paper and embellishments to finish off vacation pages, but I was dissappointed. I mean, of course I found plenty of stuff that I wanted, but none of it really worked for our vacation pictures. When we got home Elena settled into a nap and I had time all to myself! I worked on getting page pieces together to take with me to scrap this weekend. I need to do some laundry, but that can wait for now, I’m enjoying the day. While I was pulling some things together in my room I heard the kids out at recess. I grabbed the camera and ran out on the deck to see if I could find Cameron. I did! And I was relieved to see him running around with some other little boys assumably from his class. So, there was some drama and confusion in getting all the kids home together, but hopefully they will improve tomorrow. All said the day went well. Jacob has several of his friends in his class, and Cameron said he made two friends, of course he doesn’t know their names yet.
After almost two and a half weeks away, I finally came back home yesterday. And just in time to have Cameron’s birthday party! Good thing I was able to do some laundry on vacation, because there is no time to mess with that kind of thing now! Tonight and tomorrow we have Parent night and Meet the Teachers night, and the kids start school on Thursday! So I have two days to finish all the things I meant to do over the Summer. And, while it was awesome to sleep in my own bed last night, I already miss spending time with my good friends and family. So, as promised, here are a few pictures from our vacation. Most of my files were too big to uplaod here as they are, so this is just a pecking on the surface of our vacation photos, so if any of you were with us on vacation and want pictures I may have of you, ask me, I may have some, and if you have pictures of my family please send me a copy! Thanks!
Well we’re back from St Louis and my family is all split up for vacation of another kind. We all made it to Michael Wheeler’s baptism on Saturday and that night we enjoyed an in-your-face fireworks display in West Branch for Hoover Days. Josh went back home and has to work this week but he is getting vacation from regular home duties because the kids and I are not there so he can catch up on any missed work and school assignments. Of course he misses us, but I think it’s gotta be nice to have some time to yourself once in a while. The boys are at Grandma and Grandpa camp for the week. I believe they were going to get to go with grandpa to his radio show this morning Trolleys, Tales, & Talk and grandpa has arranged for some tap lessons this week as well. And who knows what else grandma has in store for them. Meanwhile, the girls and I have stayed in Coralville with the Wheelers and are enjoying some social time. I had a nice albeit short visit with my cousin Laura, aunt Jane, and Widmer grandparents.