Ta-da! Tuesday Ten

1. I finally went to the doctor to review my spit test results - it was a female hormone panel done on day 21 of my cycle. I remember that filling that vial of spit was much harder than I thought, especially since spit repulses me. It was spit, gag, spit, gag for what seemed like eternity.

Anyhow, apparently I have the hormones of a woman still very much in her prime. So THANK GOD we have things taken care of with Pat because I can't even imagine what having a baby at this age would be like!!! I'm all about looking young, feeling young and living young ... but I've raised my babies. No need to go another round of that part of my life! I have a wonderful granddaughter to spoil! Plus, the two from NJ will be here at the end of the month and I'm going to have so much fun with them!

From the looks of things, peri-menopause and menopause aren't going to be knocking on my door for quite some time.

2. Every fall my thyroid med, Armour, has to be bumped up. I had my blood drawn last week...everything was fine but my free T4 started to swing down. That happens whenever the days get shorter. Fortunately, we caught it before I became symptomatic and I started on my fall/winter dosage yesterday.

3. I can't believe people fall for Detoxifying Foot Pads. I saw them for sale at CVS and they were not cheap. 20/20 did an expose' on them and it was such a joke. The manufacturers claim that they turn brown after use because of toxins drawn from your body. DUH! They turn brown as a natural reaction to heat and the ingredients of the pads. Placing the pads over a bowl of steaming water will produce the same foul results.

Tests on the pads showed they removed NOTHING from the body.

4. I like my doctor. :) We had a great chat about selenium and its role in thyroid health. I had brought him a couple of reports, including the followup on the Turkish study I had been intrigued by, and we had some geeky moments talking about biochemistry. When we got back to the business at hand - my health - he advised me to make sure I'm taking Vitamin E with it.

5. I was able to recommend him to yet another friend. My Avon lady called yesterday afternoon. She had finally had enough with her doctor (who was once mine). Double-billing, crazy policies which involve just spending more and more money there, etc.

6. My sister gave me a GORGEOUS pashmina for my birthday. (She had an appointment with the doctor, too, so I drove us there). Anyhow, it is beautiful, rich, tapestry tones.

7. I kept having crazy dreams last night and waking for 2 minutes or so, falling back asleep and then have more crazy dreaming...repeat...repeat. UGH.

8. I made chicken and broccoli stir-fry last night with brown rice. It was really good and I'm wishing for leftovers but there are none. :(

9. Marci Lall made a comment on "iSweat.com" a few days ago about eating an egg salad sandwich. I have not been able to stop craving egg salad ever since! I have no choice but to make it today. (P.S. Check out Marci's site - he has some great blogs and workout videos of circuits that anyone can do with little or no equipment).

10. Today is a track workout day. I should be training my friend and her daughter, but the daughter is sick. (So many people are coming down with nasty colds over the past week, 'tis the season!) That means I'll just be out there with my kids putting them through the ever popular Frankenstein Walk, high knees, butt kicks and bleacher running. It will be blogged at my Sweat Report.

I have another person to train on Thursday and I'm starting her at the track, too, while the weather is nice.

About my birthday

First, I was greeted by a couple of party animals on Saturday morning.

Whiskers is just a baby bunny, so remember to read that with a baby bunny accent. :) Dexter was not to outdone, so he had to wear the party hat for a bit, too. Virginia would have no part of it; the dogs wanted to eat it. Party items must seem tasty. Pat had gotten me some flowers and the cats were interested in eating those.

After staying up way, way too late, I was up by 8am anyway...with the intent to take the dogs on a long walk. Unfortunately, I got distracted by email, by laundry, by dishes. By the time the other sleepyheads woke up, it was time to think about getting ready to go out to lunch.

We picked up my dad and went to our favorite local Mexican restaurant. Jenna, Josiah and little Layla joined us. It was Layla's first restaurant outing and she was a doll. For a while, she was transfixed by a toucan on the back of the chair her seat was on. I had been running behind all morning and had just drunk my protein smoothie at around 10:30 or so. I wasn't even hungry. I'm pretty sure my leftovers are in the fridge.

We came home and ate the massive cheesecake that I made. It was NY style cheesecake made with 40 oz of cream cheese, sour cream, heavy cream and 5 eggs. Fattening as heck! Covered with blackberries. Yum!

The mail came early and hurray! My new Asics Gel Enduro 4 running shoes arrived. Jenna is impressed that I can order shoes online and they fit me. It's because I buy the same brand, same model - it just gets updated, year after year. Size 7 in Asics is the perfect fit for me. I like shoes slightly loose, but snug in the heel. Saucony fits this way as well.

There was a gorgeous picture of Layla that the kids took which I admired. They had it blown up into an 8X10 for me and framed it. She is now proudly displayed in the living room. There was also an adorable one with her arms up over her head, it makes me think she's playing Simon Says.

After a bit, it was time to go up to Little Italy in Cleveland. Rhianna had a promotional modeling job for Gusto Ristorante Italiano. There was an art festival going on, so we decided to hang out, walk and eat. Everyone came and Layla got her second meal out, lol. And she sure did have a meal out, she woke up hungry right when the food came. We ate at La Dolce Vita, down the road, because Gusto's was packed and even pricier. La Dolce Vita was pretty pricey anyway. Packed and busy - it took forever to get seated (outdoors, no less) and forever for the food to come.

Here's the comparison...7 of us ate at the nice Mexican restaurant by home. My father and Pat had shrimp specialties, the rest of us had chicken fajitas and one giant burrito California. My father had beer, Pat had iced tea, the rest of us drank water. The servings were HUGE. The bill, including a generous tip, was $65.00. At La Dolce Vita, we each had tiny personal pizzas, only 5 of us eating and the bill was $65 before the tip.

Little Italy is a nice neighborhood with beautiful old structures. We walked around, looking at art, going into little vintage shops. The smell of grapes was heavy in the air. Many backyards had trellises filled with grapes, it was delicious. It was a gorgeous evening to stroll around and dine outdoors.

By the time we came home, I was exhausted. BUT my new issue of Oxygen Fitness magazine arrived, so I had to at least scan through it for a few minutes before hitting the sack.

I have a Barnes & Nobles giftcard that needs spending, new running shoes and Pat picked out a little black dress for me and then thought maybe I'd better go see it and make sure I like it first. He wanted to do that yesterday afternoon but there was no time.

I think I'm going to blog about this last orbit around the sun of mine, but not now.

~o~

This morning I was up before the sun and took my new Asics for their break-in run. 45 minutes hitting the hilly neighborhood spots. It was very chilly out this morning. Hard to believe it's supposed to be 80F out there this afternoon.

The plan is to do P90X yoga this afternoon - when Rhianna gets off the elliptical and I have room. She's parked in front of the TV. I also have to make some brownies and goodies for Parent Night tonight at AWANA.

FIREPROOF - a review

One of the first things I read about "Fireproof" was how actor Kirk Cameron will *not* kiss a woman other than his wife, even for work. Since the movie is the story of the disintegration and rescue of a marriage, it seemed a hard thing to do. For the big kissing scene, elaborate work was done to dress his real wife, Chelsea, exactly like the female lead and then shoot from angles so that she would be indistinguishable from the lead actress. (I can say it worked very well). His reason, "I have a commitment not to kiss any other woman." Simple...a man who keeps his commitments. I find that very honorable, indeed. This movie was also very important to him - here is what he says, The reason this movie was important to me personally is because I love my wife dearly,” he said. “We’ve been married for 17 years … and we have six children. So marriage is a very special and sacred thing to us. In a day and age where marriage is falling apart, we want to make movies and projects that really uphold and have a high view of that which is beautiful and wonderful in our culture.”

What is the movie about? In the words of one of the writers: "It doesn't mean when something is fireproof that fire will never come, but when fire comes, it can withstand it," Alex Kendrick said. "Every marriage will go through trials, or fire, as we say, and what's going to happen on the other side of that fire? Will your marriage survive?"

The movie is about a firefighter, Caleb Holt, who is a hero at work, but doesn't feel respected at home. At work, he lives by the motto,"Never leave your partner behind" but at home, it's a different story - after 7 years of marriage husband and wife have lost track and live separate lives.

I was intrigued and had already heard from a couple of people - our male friends, no less - who said it was a great movie. AND THEN, CNN had an article about the movie "The Surprise Film Hit of the Fall." In fact, the article is still in CNN's ten most popular stories list, staying between 4 and 6. The movie was made with a teensy budget of $500,000 and yet grossed $13.6 million last weekend. I suspect much more this weekend, it was packed even at the late show we went to.

Here's a shocker: The cast and crew worked mostly for free. Most were church volunteers. Kirk Cameron worked for free, too.

We went to see it last night, to the 9:45pm show because we had to pick our daughter and her friend up from a football game first. That's late for us. We like to be in bed by 10pm. It was also not playing at the closest movie theater which many times makes us say, "We'll wait for video." We did have coupons from an entertainment book, so knowing we weren't paying a fortune to get in sweetened it.

There were tons of people coming out of the movie talking about how great it was. You could overhear conversations from every side...and this was a 18 movie multi-plex, so one would expect to be hearing comments mostly about the 17 other movies, mainstream Hollywood films. Not so. When we got into our theater, we were also surprised that it began to fill up and there were many young couples coming to see it, which was nice.

During the first 5 to 10 minutes, the acting worried me. I didn't think the female lead (Erin Bethea) was going to be able to carry it. Fortunately, she warmed up to the role and I won't even take a star away. Realizing that she was a church volunteer, not a seasoned actress, I then really respected the job she did. Her other acting experience? "Facing the Giants" another stand-out production by Sherwood Pictures that made Hollywood sit up and take notice.

I cannot recommend this picture more. My husband and I both were crying - and you could hear the sniffles from others all over the audience (just like when we saw The Notebook in theaters a few years ago). In fact, if you liked the Notebook, you will *love* this movie.

One of the premises of the story is that while this firefighter is putting out fires all over the city, his own marriage is going up in flames. His father asks him if he really wants to give up and he is unsure. His father then gives him a 40-day "love dare" and sends him a book with a special instruction for each of 40 days. This book didn't exist until the movie was in production, it was fictional...but during the production the writers realized how important it was for such a book to exist and prayed to God for helping writing it. It is now on Amazon.com's best seller's list.

To find out about resources related to this movie, go to: http://fireproofmymarriage.com

Purely trivial: Pat and I were commenting how now that Kirk Cameron has aged (he turns 38 tomorrow), he looks surprisingly like a young Mel Gibson. In many of the shots, he was caught from angles where it was like, "Whoa! That's Mel in Braveheart! Yikes! Mel in Bird on a Wire!"

Thoughts on this week's Biggest Loser

But first, I blogged today's crazy soccer field sweat fest here: http://tinyurl.com/4ble9a

Now on to the subject at hand. This week's episode was a two-parter thanks to the debate on Tuesday night. Both parts seemed to focus on Jillian and her team, which annoyed me. I used to really respect her and want to emulate her. Not any more. There is a Bible verse in James that talks about how blessing and cursing cannot stream from the same fountain. (James 3:11 "A spring cannot pour both fresh and brackish water from the same opening, can it?") On one hand this woman is fouly cursing at these people and on the other hand she's all psycho-babble pseudo caring get-at-your-inner-feelings buddy-buddy.

I do not think it is necessary to use obscenities in order to push anyone. You can be hardcore and tougher than nails without being demeaning and disrespectful. I'm getting quite disgusted with this. It's probably some ratings ploy, "Look, we have an evil she-devil cutting loose!"

I was getting quite annoyed about her "no hands on the treadmill" rule. While I understand that YES, YOU DO BURN MORE CALORIES if you keep your hands off, I also understand that many obese people have serious balance problems. Balance is not built in a day. Balance takes time to acquire. Give them a bit of space, they'll still be burning far more than they were back at home, sitting on the sofa, eating fast food. I don't think it is necessary to stress someone to the point of tears. Feeling like you are going to fall is a horrible sensation.

Now on Jillian's side, I can imagine how frustrated she was. Her team seems to be made up of mostly unmotivated people. At least unmotivated in comparison to teams and individuals of past seasons. When you consider how very many people wanted to be where those ladies are now, it is an insult that they are making the most of every single moment.

One of my favorite couples, Heba & Brady, was split up this week, as the husband did not lose any weight and that put them under the yellow line. Brady did INCREDIBLE at home and has lost 85 lbs. The transformation was crazy-wonderful. He & his wife were on Bob's team - I was hoping that no one from Bob's team would go home, but that's the way it goes. I thought Jillian deserved to lose team members to prove at some level that sailor-tongues aren't the key to success.

~o~

Precision Nutrition had a neat forum post - The Amanda Graydon Project. This was a fit, healthy girl who wanted to take her fitness to the next level and become "figure competitor fit."

Tuesday Ten Once Again

1. Carp pedicures? How gross! I cannot believe that people pay to have dead skin nibbled off their feet as part of receiving a pedicure. No thank you! Washington State is banning carp pedicures because they are unsanitary. The state law is that all pedicure tools be sanitized and how do you sanitize live fish? No boiling! LOL.

2. There have now been more than 9,700 reports of adverse effects caused by the Gardasil vaccine. Deadly blood clots, acute respiratory failure, cardiac arrest and “sudden death due to unknown causes” have all occurred in girls shortly after they’ve received the Gardasil vaccine. The vaccine is still *unproven* as to preventing any forms of cancer.

3. Want to cut your risk of cancer? Quit smoking. Start exercising. Eat healthier foods. Limit sugar and processed foods. Get regular screenings. Get the right amount of sleep. Get enough vitamin D. Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins.

4. More evidence that soy is "not soy good." It inhibits iron absorption, is linked to peanut allergy and increased risk of asthma, provides no benefits with respect to heart disease, may cause bladder cancer, the list goes on. Here's a small blurb from the American Heart Association.

5. Since 2007 I've had 76 signatures in my Classmate's guest book and 361 visitors. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone signed the guestbook? The last two are guys I don't remember, two grades above me. Before them was an old friend with a disabled sister who had the best attitude, she was very inspiring.

6. Took Layla to her first appointment with the pediatrician. She has recovered her weight within just 2 oz shy of her birth weight. Formula-fed babies lose less than breast-fed babies BUT this is not actually good for them. Normally babies get back up to their birth weight by their two week checkup, so Layla is doing awesome.

7. For great Christian satire, go here: The Wittenburg Door.

8. I ruined my breakfast protein smoothie today by adding a packet of Super Fruits Plus. I cannot begin to tell you how disgusting it was and yet I did manage to get it down.

9. Queen Helene Mud Pack Masque. Inexpensive and awesome. The Mint Julep Masque is also terrific. The lack of sleep and craziness of late had my skin rebelling. I was not very happy with its behavior. I packed on the mud last night for about 30 minutes, washed up, went to bed and woke up with happy, blemish-free skin.

10. Very funny blog. Craig Ballantyne Wanted Dead by Fat Cells! From the spokescell from Dan's fat cells who are very unhappy with what Turbulence Training is doing to them.

Going to the track this afternoon - first to work out myself, then to train a friend and her daughter. It will be blogged at: Sweat Report

Always an Adventure

Today started around 2am when I went with Jenna and her husband to the ER. She was having incredible abdominal pain. When she's in enough pain to agree going to the hospital, she's really in pain. As usual, there are idiots working at our local hospital. We arrive and the triage nurse is off somewhere and will "be there shortly." She comes lollygagging in with a big cup of coffee which she is trying not to spill and takes her sweet old time positioning her self and starting vitals. I got the distinct feeling that unless you were decapitated and handed her your head personally that nothing was that urgent to her. Working in the Emergency room always meant to me that the nurses there should act with a sense of urgency. Ha. She attempted to ever so slowly lead my daughter to yet another empty desk to wait indeterminably for another employee in order to be registered before being brought into an examination room. Bull crap. That wasn't happening, not on my watch. A few words about reporting to the administration her lazy demeanor and shoddy service and she was bringing us to a room a bit more quickly.

Hours later - but shorter than most ER visits at this hospital - the verdict was renal colic and a UTI with the distinct possibility that she had passed a kidney stone. This was after a full bag of IV fluids, a CT scan and an abdominal ultrasound. I was pleasantly surprised that all this was done between 2:45 and 6am. Record breaking for this place. Passing kidney stones is supposed to feel worse than childbirth - since she just went through that ordeal a mere five days ago this makes it especially rotten.

There were moments of comic relief as she started to feel better. Josiah probably scared the daylights out of the woman in the next room when he leaned in to kiss Layla and bumped the huge rolling medical cabinet. This sent this giant 8 ft wide, 6 ft high cabinet sailing into the curtain dividing the "rooms" and rolling towards this woman's bed at quite a speed. Being draped in the curtain she could not see that it was a cabinet not the wall moving towards her. She was having some mental issues and I imagine she must have thought the walls were closing in on her. I'm sure it wasn't funny to her, but we were tired and it brought tears to our eyes. There was also the incredibly funny at the time "your yams are always overgrown" comment. I think we were getting giddy and silly from lack of sleep.

Little Layla slept through most of it, waking up for a snack mid-hospital visit. She is just such a cutie.

And to close, here is a picture of wee Layla in the arms of giant Poppa.

That Three Thursday Confession Thing

1. I'm exhausted but I'm still so happy about my granddaughter that it is hard to take a nap. Steve wrote in his TCT about being in love with his daughter and I identify with that. My daughter is just a naturally amazing mom and I still can't get over the gift she gave me in having me there to help with the birth, my granddaughter is wondrous. She was such a fighter and such a trooper during the birth - and it was a hard one. She maintained composure even when under insane amounts of stress from some stupid nurses. My other two daughters are precious and are so "into" being aunties. Everything Layla does captivates them; Layla captivates all of us. It's just a big love fest around here. Add to that how sweet my husband was, tears in his eyes over the birth of his granddaughter and that look of joy whenever he sees her, how he melts when he holds her - I'm overcome with warm fuzzy feelings. My son-in-law, well, he's just plain adorable with his daughter and a sweetie with my daughter. He was so strong and sensitive during the birth.

Love, love, love! I love my family.

2. I'm amazed at how I can feel all this tenderness and still be so riled up about what is being done to my pastor. He's been on sabbatical this summer and the preaching has been a desert wasteland. The preaching this summer seems like some messages came out of a dusty file cabinet, "This one was good back in 1991, I think I'll use it again and throw in a few football jokes." I hate football. I'm being sarcastic and I probably shouldn't be. I'm confused, upset and yes..angry. I want to be challenged. I want to be exhorted. I want someone preaching to me who wants to set me straight and isn't afraid to do it. I don't need to be coddled and I don't want someone to make me feel good, like I'm such a good girl for coming to church. Tell me how to live a Christ-like life, don't give me some canned message. Tell me where I am wrong, where I've screwed up, and inspire me to open myself to the Lord for change.

3. I slept wonderfully last night in my own bed and would have loved to stay in that warm bed longer to catch up on sleep, but I confess... I got up and made sure I was at the gym at 6:30am. I blogged my workout here: http://tinyurl.com/4ofajh It was still dark out while I was walking there. This shortening of days sure happened fast!