Pokemon GO-Cheating, Trios and Love Spats

 

Play safe-don't drive and catch critters

 In his never-ending quest to keep up with current trends in the high-tech world, Jeff has succumbed to the pressure to join the Pokemon GO movement with me. It's become an enormous virtual cult invading the real world and dragging gamers of all ages out of their digital habitats and into the great outdoors. Or at least outside of their own front doors and into new and foreign enclosures like the local mall (everyone knows that true "techies" do all of their shopping online!). Unfortunately this means that some of our other apps are being neglected in favor of levelling up in our Pokemon game. Our Nike Running apps have been discarded like those leftovers that have begun to grow fur in the back of your fridge. This presents a problem in the wardrobe department. How will I know when I have walked 300 miles in my sneakers and need to go shopping for new ones??? Actually, the Pokemon GO app tracks my distance, but in kilometers. I just have to keep an eye on the "Jogger" medal. I have to walk 482.803 kilometers before I get new shoes. (So not fair! It's only 300 in miles! *Yes, that is a dumb blonde joke. I know it's the same distance. Sheesh!*) I had 21.5 miles logged onto the Nike app (since my last new pair), so I convert that to kilometers, add the 58.27 kilometers I've racked up on Pokemon so far (OH THE MATH!!!!!) and I'm 92.8709 kilometers to shoe shopping day!

Let me grab my purse...

 So what you guys want to know is, "Is this game of yours REALLY getting you and Jeff out walking? Are you TRULY seeing any benefits to your health?" I'm going to say mostly yes. Like 85 to 90% yes. We are definitely getting out and walking. I've logged 36 miles (I did the conversion for you. You're welcome.) in the 18 days since I started playing. No, I haven't been playing every day, but yesterday I got up early and walked down at the Silverdale waterfront for about 45 minutes BEFORE going to work. In my 46 years on this Earth I have never once done any kind of exercise BEFORE going in to my job. Pokemon GO just may be the end of the world as we know it. And since Jeff has joined me in the game, we are getting out for walks a little more often. Now, in all fairness, our walking is sometimes fairly slow or stop-and-go due to the demand for concentration required to capture some of the more difficult critters. And Jeff (having done some internet research, as is his nature when tackling any new venture) has discovered a few ways to cheat the game. If you drive under 10 miles an hour with the app open, it will count as "walking". He is able to accomplish this safely when he is working in areas on military bases where slow driving is required. Also, if you open the app, plug your phone in and leave it on your desk at work, you will gain a very miniscule number of kilometers walked. Like maybe half a kilometer in a work day. But MOSTLY we don't cheat. And Jeff more so than me. He's such a rebel! 

Bad to the bone!!!

 If you're interested in trying out this game, you should know that it will have an affect on your relationships and contact with the general public that you may not have expected. First off is Poke-fights. As I have mentioned before, I am not a gamer by nature. Jeff most definitely IS. When Jeff joined my team I was completely ignorant of how gaming can get quite heated when attempting the multi-player version of a virtual battle. In the Pokemon game, you can fight other Pokemon players in a virtual "gym". Sounds fun, right? Jeff and I were getting the hang of this combat thing and taking over a handful of local gyms one evening. We stopped at the park by our home for the last takeover of a long evening. Sitting in the car (don't judge-we walked a lot that night!) my phone was not allowing me to compete, giving me the "This gym is too far away" message. I had voiced my irritation with my phone, but Jeff hadn't heard me and charged ahead into battle without me. He got really frustrated because he was losing the fight without my assistance. (Don't judge. He's a tough guy.) I showed him the notification on my phone that I was too far away and he hollered, "Well get out of the car then!!!" Oh, really? Apparently (and Katie has confirmed this to be true) when gamers are not performing up to snuff, it is perfectly acceptable and fairly common for  their associates to become verbally abusive toward not only the game, but also toward themselves and others. So this was my introduction to collaborative game-play. I should note that Jeff was very sweet and apologetic afterward. And, might I add, quite forgiving the next day when a certain short, blonde woman he lives with became hot-tempered over his failure to drive home the "right way" so she could collect more needed items from Poke-stops as her virtual bag of gadgets and gizmos was barren (we're not naming names here). So we both have that competitive spirit (you guys knew THAT) and can get a little carried away in the heat of combat. Which makes us an invincible team when we're tearing down other players' gyms. BOOM!!!!!

This one is just for Jeff

  Also, date nights are a lot different now. Last night our walking/Pokemon playing took us down to the Bremerton waterfront boardwalk, a place where we don't generally spend a lot of time. We walked for about 4 hours, along with a sizeable population of fellow Pokemon players. It's quite amusing seeing such large groups of people wandering back and forth, all staring at their phones. People will strike up conversations with total strangers, especially when they overhear your Pokemon-related conversations and outbursts. Early in the evening, Jeff and I were discussing a Pokemon character that Jeff refers to as "Tits McGhee" and I call "Jugs" when a guy interrupted, asking if we were talking about "Jynx". Jeff pointed out that this fella and I were both wearing "Book of Mormon" T-shirts. We chatted a moment and resumed our walking, with this guy discussing all things Pokemon, often keeping step in-between Jeff and I, making our "couples evening" a trio for much longer than was comfortable for me. We eventually engaged in conversation with another guy and then broke free from the two dudes to continue our romantic stroll for two.

Tits McGhee

  
  We have also walked through the nearby cemetaries playing the game because there are a plethora of Poke-stops and gyms there. I know, I know. I feel a little creepy about it. There is a part of me that feels there is something a little disrespectful about playing a video game in the sacred resting place of others. Jeff has a number of family members there and we both have some friends interred in this particular cemetary, so we visit the gravesites, clear away dead flowers and pay our respects. This area is up quite a steep incline, so it's a heck of a workout, too. Date-night at the cemetary? THAT'S a new one. 

  ENOUGH about the game already! There's more to us than some silly game!

  I may have forsaken my Nike app, but I am still quite enamored of my Jawbone Up band. I try to get those 10,000 steps every day, or at least several times a week. I try to get at least 500 steps in before I leave the house for work. Every morning after my shower I'm walking around the house brushing my teeth wearing a towel. It's a challenge to brush my teeth, walk and  not drop the towel. I'd just as soon forget the towel but, you now, windows. (For you tech-geeks I don't mean the Microsoft operating system, I'm talking about the glass squares in the walls that, when opened, create glare on your screens.) 

This Pokemon obsession has to stop!!!!

 For the last couple of months I seem to be losing and regaining the same 5 pounds. So I started taking my measurements again a few weeks ago and there is definitely a drop in inches. So it isn't the SAME 5 pounds, I think it's 5 pounds of fat lost versus 5 pounds of muscle gained. That's the theory I'm going with because it sounds so much better than complete and total failure. Power of positive thinking!!!
  I'm still trying out new low-carb recipes to vary our diet and keep things interesting. We had been eating an awful lot of grilled animal flesh and roasted veggies. While Katie, Jeff and I really like these meals, they were getting extremely monotonous. Jeff hasn't fired up the barbecue in a number of weeks. Oddly enough, he prefers grilling in the rainy season. He's not a huge fan of standing outside in the hot summer sun, sweating over our dinner. And, since we are blessed with air-conditioning, turning on the oven in the sweltering heat is not a big deal. My Pinterest addiction for recipes of a low-carb nature is rivalling my Pokemon obsession right now! And with summer school being over, I have even more time to experiment. I'm hoping to have an arsenal of at least 10 go-to meal ideas by the time school starts in a month so I don't have to try to think when I get home from work.
 So what are some of the ways that you're getting in 10,000 steps a day? What are your thoughts on playing Pokemon GO at a graveyard? Comment below or email me at: sprout624@gmail.com 
  Want to try some of the recipes I'll be test-driving this summer?  Check out my Pinterest board at: 
https://www.pinterest.com/missgigi70/low-carb-meal-ideas/
  Thanks for reading!

For my puppy parents and dog-loving friends.

  
  

   
  

Pokemon GO! A Fitness Tool?

  Yes, I admit it. I'm one of THOSE people. I'm playing Pokemon GO and I don't care who knows it. It started with the best of intentions. I thought it would be a fun way for Jeff, Katie and I to get walking and enjoy our exercise. Jeff is a self-proclaimed "gamer". Katie loves to play video games and has collected Pokemon cards for years. I heard about this app and thought, "Won't my family LOVE this! What a cool new way to get motivated to move!" You know how things seldom work out the way you thought they would? Yet another experiment goes awry! 

Catching Pokemon in the Park

UP, Up and Away!!!

  With summer break in full swing, I've been trying desperately to find ways to get more steps in each day. I can easily get in 5 or 6,000 steps when I'm working just moving around my school. But now that I'm chilling at home, I have to try harder to get my feet moving and my metabolism jump-started. I continue to go for walks with Jeff and shoot hoops with Katie (she is destroying me out there. Maybe it's the shoes. I must need basketball shoes. It couldn't possibly be my lack of skill, short stature or the 30-year age difference!). Maybe we'll try some bike rides in this gorgeous weather, too! 
  I've been doing really well this week meeting my daily mark. But yesterday morning tragedy struck. My trusty step-counting sidekick, Jawbone UP died. She just UP and died!!! It's probably my fault. I was pretty hard on her. The button had fallen off the end, so each time I had to re-sync her to my phone I had to get the button, cram it into the hole it fell out of and jab her with my finger repeatedly to get the lights to flash. Then yesterday, the cap on the little plug/jack thingie wouldn't click into place anymore. She was in bad shape. I charged her for several hours, but in the end, UP could not be revived. She's down for the count. 

Protein Shakes and Pancakes

  This past week has found us in a lopsided cycle of trying to stick to our goals, failing occasionally, rallying in an epic fashion and then defiantly ignoring the rules we have set for ourselves. I think it may be due to the fact that there is a big ball of fire in the sky here in the northwest which is scorching our typically frosty fortitude right out of us! No, it hasn't been HOT weather, but when the clouds part and the grey dissipates into a beautiful blue, Washingtonians tend to lose our minds a little bit. We become blinded by the bright light. So I'm going to blame the sunshine for our unbalanced commitment. Yeah, that seems legitimate.

  Katie challenged me to a little basketball earlier this week. I held my own for the first round, but as she got warmed up, my teenage competitor wiped up the court (ok, driveway) with me. Yeah, I kinda figured that would happen. Or maybe I LET her win. Yeah! Let's go with that!!! I did get in a couple of pretty cool shots-one from behind the backboard and one left-handed-over-the-shoulder-tossed-behind-me. No, I have no idea how I did either of them and No, I will most likely never be able to do them again. Also, Katie is the only one who saw them, my only proof that I'm THAT cool. No video. No photos. Maybe Google Earth caught some of my super-smooth moves? If somebody finds those, can you send me the shots? 

Me sharpening my skills. Jeff and Katie are going DOWN!

  Katie had her wisdom teeth pulled on Wednesday so her career in basketball has been put on hold (someone alert the Seattle Storm WNBA team). She had all four teeth yanked out. I have a hilarious video of Katie right after surgery (she ASKED me to video her!). She would put out a hit on me if I posted it, so I won't, but it is so funny! Whatever the oral surgeon used to knock her out caused her to be able to "See Colors", so it must've been some pretty good stuff! The healing process has totally revoked her capacity for tolerating a low-carb diet. She hasn't exactly been able to gnaw on a steak or crunch up veggies. I suppose I COULD put all that in a blender and make her a "low-carb protein shake", but I'm 100 percent certain there is no way she would even attempt to consume it. Bacon and eggs shake anyone? Are you sure you want to pass on the chicken and asparagus smoothie? Probably a good call. Katie has been surviving on yogurt, pudding, soup and over-cooked macaroni and cheese. Starches and sugars are what her mangled mouth can handle right now. But we'll get her back up to par as soon as she can masticate once again. (Yes, I said masticate. I know big words, too.) 

My new diet strategy. THIS one's gonna work!

  As an employee for a school district, I have the incredible good fortune of the freedom to enjoy SUMMER VACATION!!! WooHoo!!! And although this allows me the liberty to move about the cabin freely for the next couple of months, on the downside, I have very little reason to actually force myself out of bed in the morning. Oh, I was acting in a nursemaid capacity for Katie for a few days and was attentive to her needs. But there is not a lot of physical activity involved in serving pudding and meds, fetching ice packs and warm compresses and administering the healing properties of snuggles. And now that she is feeling better, I find myself with less motivation in the morning.

  And then there was my birthday (what? 29 again?) on Friday when, although I ate a low-carb brunch of bacon and eggs, a healthy dinner of salmon and salad (all lovingly prepared by Jeff, current champion and title-holder of Best Boyfriend Ever), I also was treated to cake and ice cream and a "slightly" indulgent serving of wine. Hey! It was my birthday!

  The latest gig for Katie and I is "Operation New York!", which involves contradicting components for our health management. Let me explain-Katie is involved in the choir program at her school, Bremerton High (Go Knights!!!). The choir goes on tour to regions outside the great northwest every other year for spring break. This year she went to DisneyWorld in Florida. 2018 will be Katie's senior year of high school and the choir is heading to NEW YORK!!! I will be going with her this time as a chaperone, which is going to cost us about $4,000.00. I don't have $4,000.00. So to raise that money, Knights on Tour (the choir booster club) has a deal with Ivar's, a Seattle-based seafood restaurant chain. Ivar's has concession booths at our local sports arenas-Century Link Field (home to the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Sounders), Safeco Field (Home to the Seattle Mariners) and Husky Stadium at the University of Washington (Go Dawgs!). We get to work events and money goes into an account for us with the choir. 

  The good news (other than the money!) is that we can walk from the ferry to the Clink and Safeco and then walk up to the food stands (so far I've been on the 300-level. Yay for the uphill climb!) and of course, walk back to where we came from. So that can add up to some serious steps! The bad news is that once we're there, we pretty much stand in one spot for a few hours. Rough on the knees and back, totally destroys step count. Oh, and they do feed us for working. But the food is all high-carb. I LOVE Ivar's fish and chips and chowder! SO GOOD! But it's not diet-friendly food. The work also leaves you with a pungent aroma. With the overpowering scent of garlic fries, I'm pretty sure I'll be vampire-free for the year. And after so much quality time with frying fish and clams I find myself with an entourage of stray cats following me to the ferry home. Yep, pretty popular with the feline population after a hard days work. Jeff, however, does not appreciate the "Eau de Seafood and Stinking Rose" aroma that accompanies me into his car. I can't imagine why.

We know you have the fishes! Hand them over and nobody gets hurt!

  Last Saturday Jeff offered to chauffeur me to one of these events (sans Katie). He was stranded in Seattle for 4 hours waiting for me to get off work so we could go have dinner with friends and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to get caught up on his step-count. He walked the streets of the Emerald City while I stood in one spot at the top of the Clink. Jeff racked up an impressive 22,433 steps-more than TWICE our daily goal! Even more amazing-he didn't seem tired or sore at all! We met with friends and had sushi for dinner, drove home and CRASHED! I am going to have to get way more motivated if I'm going to keep up with Jeff!

  In my previous post I was so excited about how successful my low-carb baking exploits have been. That came to a screeching halt with my first attempt at a low-carb pancake recipe I found on Pinterest. This was an EPIC FAIL!!! The photo that accompanies this recipe showcases beautiful, fluffy pancakes. With strawberries and whipped cream made with sugar substitute, this seemed like a viable option to shake up our breakfast routine. Um, nope! I followed the recipe exactly and tried frying these things up in a pan, just like it said. The result was a hot mess that looked like very pale scrambled eggs. And tasted very egg-y. The recipe has 6 eggs in it, so yeah, that makes sense. My mother happened to stop by while I was elbow-deep in this culinary disaster and suggested I microwave the slop. This resulted in something more cake-like, but microwaved food turns chewy REAL quick. Next attempt was to bake it in a glass pie plate in the oven (I was running out of batter and didn't want to waste any more ingredients. Coconut flour is expensive!!! The texture was WAY better, but the flavor can only be described as sweet scrambled eggs. It was like those joke jelly beans that became popular with the Harry Potter books and movies. "Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans-Now with flavors like booger, vomit, earwax and Low-Carb Pancake!" So Gross! There just wasn't enough strawberries and whipped cream to make these "pancakes" palatable. I think I may have to turn in my chef's hat. No toque for me. 

Pinterest Fail-Pancakes. Doesn't that look delicious???

  Jeff ordered me a ton of sugar-free chocolate, which means I need to get my Pinterest search on for new recipes to satisfy my sweet tooth. Meantime, if you find those Google Earth basketball pics OR have a low-carb pancake recipe that doesn't taste like chicken embryos, comment below or email me at sprout624@gmail.com

  

  

Baking and Basketball-BOOM!!!

Jeff and I at the "Art of the Brick" exhibit at the Pacific Science Center. Found this piece that looked oddly familiar.

 I've traded in my nurse's cap for a toque (that's the fancy name for a chef's hat) this month! NO, I didn't get a new job. My brother is all healed up from his heart surgery, he's moved to a new location and feeling better than ever (just in time for his 45th birthday today!). Since I've been released from my temporary position as "Neophyte Nurse" I've been experimenting more in the kitchen, baking up goodies with healthy alternatives to all things high-carb. And let me tell you, a lot of the recipes I've been trying out in the test kitchen have been pretty darned tasty! Check out my beautiful baked goods:

Mountains of Fun!

Me trying to keep up with Jeff

  The last couple of months have been real hit-or-miss with our goals, what with all of the excitement around here. Not only the health scare with my brother, but all of Katie's activities, our job demands, etc. Less time spent walking, a lot of time spent sitting in hospitals, doctors offices, high school auditoriums, etc. 

Getting Heart-Healthy

It's still good! Get me a straw!

  You know how it goes when you're making a smoothie, and you decide to try some new things, and you don't follow a recipe, you're just tossing all kinds of stuff in a blender, and you hit "puree" but you forgot to put the lid on, so sticky, green-ish, clumpy goo splatters all over your kitchen, but the muck left in the bottom of the blender after you shut it off tastes pretty good in a not-what-I-expected sort-of way? So that's been the last 2 1/2 months. Some unexpected events but it's all OK (now that we got the sticky stuff off the ceiling).

Into The Wilderness

   

There's nothing more romantic than a moonlit walk with my sweetie!

Every week we are tweaking our healthy lifestyle to make it better, more realistic and simpler to stick to. Last year we had pledged to get in 10,000 steps EVERY SINGLE DAY, and we did. All through the 40 days of Lent. And then Easter was upon us and we took the day off from our daily walk. A day became a week which stretched into a month and suddenly we weren't walking anymore. So now we are devoted to going for a walk at least 3 times a week which is WAY more do-able. Jeff and I have been trying out some new walking routes, too. One of the biggest challenges I face is getting bored with our routines. Do you have that problem, too? We walk the same three routes in our neighborhood and aside from the occasional dead raccoon (so gross), the scenery never changes. Jeff could probably continue on the same path every day and it wouldn't bother him a bit, but I have the attention span of a toddler loaded up with birthday cake and pixie sticks. I need new environments and shiny things to amuse me! Preferably ones that are not decaying and covered in maggots. 

Mall Rats

 

It just takes a little ingenuity...

  Welcome to the weekly weigh-in! Care to join us? 
  Katie has been sick this week, staying in bed for a few days trying to recover. Without any physical activity she posts a 3 pound gain this week. Fear not, for she is youthful and determined! Once this illness is behind her, Katie will be back to dancing at play rehearsals, racing around school to her classes and maybe joining Jeff and I for walks or a bike-ride. Something to celebrate-Katie's report card! First semester grades are A's and B's with one D, which she had mixed emotions about. Katie has never received a "D" in her entire academic career. This grade is in her AP World History-a really tough class with a TON of homework. With all of Katie's extracurricular activities and a few illnesses, she fell behind in the class and struggled to complete assignments she missed. However, she was failing the class shortly before the end of the semester, so to be passing with even a D was a great relief. It's a good life lesson for Katie about having priorities and not taking on more than you can realistically handle (something her mother struggles with at times). So, lesson learned, ever forward and regroup for second semester! I'm super-proud of this kid!

Healthy Living Through Costco

 

Dinner at our house! Yum!

  We are well into the middle of the rainy season here in wet western Washington, which means only 4 more months until Mr. Sun upgrades from his cameo appearances to a full-on cast regular. It is really hard to find the motivation to go for long walks (or even short ones) when there are few to no breaks in the precipitation. I am too cheap to pay for a gym membership just to have an indoor track, so I'm gonna have to think outside the box to get in my daily exercise. 

Pennies From Heaven

  We're off to a pretty good start! Weigh-in day was Friday morning, so we only had two days to show any improvement and we KILLED it! Katie lost 2.4 pounds between Wednesday and Friday! She had let her commitment to healthy eating slip quite a bit over the last several months and she has been drinking a lot of soda. So just giving up the carbonated demon and keeping active with dance rehearsals for the high school musical, Katie is set up to take control once again. 

  Jeff lost 1.2 pounds bringing his weight to 277.4 pounds. Over the last week Jeff and I walked Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday logging in a respectable 14.74 miles. Katie hasn't joined us for a walk yet. She fully intended to pull on her sneakers and head out with us Friday morning, but when I tried to wake her up at 7:00 a.m. to hit the pavement, she had changed her mind, favoring sleeping in over exercise. Shocker! A teenager who wants to sleep in on the weekend????? That is entirely unexpected!!!

The Return for Lent

 

Time to re-think our fitness goals

 
  Hello dear friends! I know it's been a long while, but we are back and ready to kick off once again with a new resolve to lose weight and get healthy! So much has happened since August (has it been THAT long?) and I fear it will take more than a few blog posts to get you all caught up. So let's begin today with a recap of where we were, where we're at and where we're going. Ready?

DIY Workout-A Project For Health and Home

 

Oh Yeah! We are ready to WORK IT!

  Our Do-It-Yourself exercise plan continues! Jeff has created an incredible workout routine for the whole family! Listen, if you like Hot Yoga, Step Aerobics and Dead Lifting, "Fuchs-ercise" is just the plan for you! It's a combo-workout that gets all your muscles moving and has the added bonus of creating a newly remodeled work environment. With any luck, this dynamic new fitness program will last through the rainy season, although I sincerely doubt it, as our rainy season in the Great Northwest lasts about 9 months and I know how eager Jeff is to get his home office/studio ready to go.

Healthy Living Through Home Improvement

  Jeff and I have been meaning to get back to our 10,000 steps-a-day walking goal, but we haven't actually managed to get back on track with it. Jeff has become busier than ever this month. He completed his Bachelor's degree in computer animation and is now onto a new course program. He is still working at Sabelhaus West Inc., and FOOTBALL SEASON has begun!!! Well, pre-season is here, but the regular season is upon us and Jeff must prepare his Fantasy Football Team, as well as devote his energy to ensuring his beloved Seattle Seahawks have a stellar season! I'm not exactly sure what part Jeff plays in the success or failure of the Seahawks, it's a spiritual thing that I don't have a complete grasp of yet. I think it involves victorious imagery, speaking in tongues loudly to the players on the screen and a complex system of Numerology. Regardless, I support him whole-heartedly. GO HAWKS!!!

You BET I'm a fan of the Legion of BOOM!!!

  Jeff is also trying to launch his new career (putting that degree to good use). Fuchs Media will have it's humble beginnings in our basement. Which means a lot of physical labor on our part. If you have met Jeff or any of the Bremerton-born Fuchs men, you know that they do not do anything halfway. Jeff, his brother Jason and his dad Denny are all very talented craftsmen in some form or another. Woodworking, mechanics, electronics, technology, flooring, and countless other skills and manly kind of stuff. And if your project is going to have the Fuchs name on it, it is going to be done well. So we can't just shuffle some couches around, set up the computer and be ready to go. No way! We are going to put in countless hours of exhausting manual labor (womanual labor?) so that Fuchs Media is housed in the BEST basement possible. 

Uncle Gary, Denny, Jason and Jeff. A skulk of foxes! ( I googled it)

  Jeff did not ask me to help him. He very excitedly detailed his plans for all the work that he plans to get done and what he wants to get accomplished within his (ambitious but unrealistic) timeline. I could've left him to his work and gone shoe shopping or had my nails done. But I did not. I offered my services, such as they are. We spent a good five hours yesterday cleaning up the shop side of the basement. Jeff moved all manner of heavy items while I donned my oh-so-fashionable rubber gloves and scrubbed the walls, swept, vacuumed and sucked up at least 100 spiders of no less than 10 different species and all of their webs and egg sacs with the shop-vac. If there are any interested arachnologists out there, I have a shop-vac FULL of your little buddies, a little spider-utopia, just waiting for you to collect and study them. Please. Before they figure out how to escape. 

Good Heavens, that's terrifying!!!

  We had to stop working at about 4:00 so that we could watch the Seahawks in their second pre-season game. Side note-if you are someone who is not a HUGE football fan, but you live with one DO NOT EVER say "It's only pre-season. It doesn't really count". Apparently, that is a false statement and will NOT result in a sigh of relief on your Super-Fan's part. You will, however, be the recipient of a Gaze of Confusion or possibly the Glare of Horror. Just don't go there.

The look you get when someone says "It's only Pre-Season. It doesn't Count"

  Last night I agreed to get up early and get right to work with my sweetheart. How could I say no? He was so happy to have my help. He looked at me with so much love in his eyes and told me how much he appreciated our partnership. I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. This morning, I was awakened to breakfast in bed at 7:00 a.m. and the handsomest smile. And then, far too soon, the clock struck 8 and it was time to get to WORK!!! I finished scrubbing the walls, swept and vacuumed the floor again. Jeff's dad arrived with his truck. I helped them load up the trash to take to the dump and got to work on painting the walls with primer. To be clear, I am not a Fuchs (right now I'm just in the pledge program. I'm hoping my application gets processed in the next couple of years. Fingers crossed!). I do not have the skills of a Fuchs, nor do I possess the attention to detail of their people. I wish I was that meticulous, but alas, I am more of the school of "good-enough". And I work at a fairly slow pace, as I am unsure of my skills. And rightly so! I do try, but I get frustrated easily and after my first smudgey mistake, I give in to my desire to just Get It Done Already. But my rates are very reasonable (breakfast in bed) and you only get what you pay for...

Good enough! It's quitting time!!!

  Jeff and Denny returned from the dump and got to work on installing 18 "can" lights and taking out the existing shop lights and nest of various electrical wires while I continued to do a remarkably sloppy job of applying two coats of primer to the cement walls. I was trying to fill in all the little holes with paint and becoming really frustrated. And sore. And cranky. By about 5:30, I could do no more. Jeff was somewhat distressed with the fact that I was giving up and the job was unfinished. How un-Fuchs-like of me. Uh-oh! I may have blown my shot at joining the tribe! But I had reached the point of becoming resentful, which is not healthy for our relationship. I was so sore and tired. Jeff and Denny completed the entire re-lighting project. And it looks amazing and works perfectly. I don't know when we will have time to get the painting finished. Tomorrow is Jeff's Fantasy Football League Summit and Draft Picks. The earth will stop spinning until that is all taken care of. Serious business folks!
  So Jeff and I haven't been for a walk, but I think we have been getting in a good amount of physical activity and we have a lot more work to do. I need to get my Jawbone Up charged and on my wrist again so I can get credit for all the moving around. And I hope on weigh-in day that this hard work pays off!

Week 29-Vacation Recovery

  Summertime has completely thrown everything off track for us. Not only our diets, but nearly all of our routines. We took a vacation at the end of July that has completely derailed our efforts to be healthy. And almost brought an end to our relationship (No worries, my friends. All is well and Jeff and I are very much still a couple). Let me explain...
  Every year for the past 15 or so, Jeff and his brother and a group of their friends have taken a trip to the Oregon Coast to ride quads in the sand dunes near Coos Bay. It is about a seven-hour drive from where we live (no, I don't know the distance. I am a girl. We know minutes, not miles!). This annual outing is Jeff's favorite thing in the whole world, along with his True Love-the Seattle Seahawks, and all things Hi-Tech and Sci-Fi. I suppose I might be lucky enough to make the top 5 of his list. But only when I wear the Sea-Gals uniform or the Princess Leia Gold Bikini. But I digress...

Pretty sure I could pull off the one on the far right...

  Last year I was unable to accompany Jeff on this trip and he sulked and pouted and made me promise to attend the festivities this year. He promised that it would be the MOST FUN I'VE EVER HAD. Jeff DID divulge certain circumstances that led me to believe that this may not be the truest statement he had ever uttered. I will not share those reasons here, because I fully intend to marry this man someday. I would like it on record that I did express to Jeff that MAYBE this was not the year for me to go with him. But he sulked and pouted some more and I promised I would go with him. And we brought Katie and her best friend Rilee, too. 

Katie (in Jeff's old riding gear) and her best friend, Rilee. 

  The drive down was nice-we stopped and visited some of my relatives, the girls slept a lot. We blew a tire on the trailer on the highway (Was that a sign we should TURN BACK NOW?), but luckily we were near a Les Schwab ("Doing the right thing since 1952") and they fixed us up right there on the side of the road in less than 45 minutes. We got to the campsite around 8:00 that night, set up camp and settled in.
  The next day, I was sick. Not deathly ill, just fatigued and nauseated. When I was a kid, I used to get car-sick all the time. Mom would dope me up with Dramamine ("The Perfect Travel Companion") before those long car rides. Not the pills, mind you, the liquid, which is wretched-tasting stuff that made me sleep on the ride but left me queasy and tired when we arrived at our destination. I haven't had the problem of motion-sickness in decades, but it seems to have reared it's ugly head once again. Super.
  So on our first day, I tried to rest and Jeff took the girls out to teach them how to ride quads in the dunes. Both of the girls had a great time. They rode every day and they loved it. Jeff had borrowed a couple of quads from friends, so we had three quads for the four of us to share. The girls started out taking turns on the 400 with the push-button start, with one driving and one riding on the back. On their second day of riding, the girls took a spill and Katie decided she wanted to ride the bigger quad with the kick-start so she wouldn't have to ride doubles anymore. I'm so glad she did! When the three of them came back from that ride, Jeff told me he was glad I had not been there to see it. Watching the girls sail over this hill and tumble down the other side, all he could think was "How am I going to tell my girlfriend I killed her daughter?" Thankfully, nobody was injured and nobody had another fall after that.

Katie and Rilee riding on the beach. 

  My first ride happened on the second day (BEFORE the girls tried to "Thelma and Louise" it over the dunes). First of all, you should know that I am not mechanically inclined. My experience with vehicles that are not fully enclosed is minimal at best. I have ridden on the back of street motorcycles since I was a kid, which is a very different experience from riding through sand dunes on a quad. I took a motorcycle safety course 25 years ago where I drove a little 250 around a parking lot for a few weeks. I never owned my own bike. I have not driven a car with manual transmission since I was about 20. There is no chance that I could ever be mistaken for the late, great Evil Knievel. (Kids, if you're not old enough to know who that is, Google him for heaven's sake! You're on the Internet anyway. It's not like you have to walk to the library. Sheesh!) 

Yeah, this is a little more my speed...

  The sand dunes in Oregon are beautiful. The hills are enormous and steep. You can look at photos or have it described to you, but you really cannot fully comprehend the awe-inspiring magnificence until you see it with your own eyes. For someone like me, with a healthy respect for Mother Nature and a desire to not injure myself, the prospect of careening over these mountains of golden sand was more than a little intimidating. In my younger days I was more adventurous, less fearful of heights and speed and the unknown. I am older now, well aware of my mortality and I have so much to live for-kids, granddaughter, Jeff. I prefer to keep all of my body parts connected and in good working order. Jeff has busted himself up pretty good on these trips in the past-separated his shoulder, broken his leg and hip. I have never broken any bones. That is not something that is on my "to-do" list. I'm good with keeping everything in it's proper place and good working order.  

Jeff in his happy place. 

  I wanted so much to enjoy this adventure and to be good at riding and to make Jeff happy. Listen, there are a lot of things I'm good at. I bake an excellent strawberry-rhubarb pie. I have a decent singing voice. I am really good at Trivial Pursuit. I am great at organizing things and I'm a spelling-bee champ. NONE of those things require me to be mechanical. None of those skills are particularly useful either, but I am what I am.  
  Jeff has been riding for a long time. He loves it. He was so excited to get out and have me ride with him that he didn't give me much of a chance to really get the hang of it, get comfortable with riding. I'm the kind of person who needs to read how to do something, maybe have someone show me how it works after that. I need diagrams to refer back to and steps laid out for me. "First you do this, then you do that." I'm not that kinetic kind of learner that can just go in and "play". One of the many helpful features on cars and street bikes is this super-cool gauge that tells you when you need to shift. "Excuse me, Ma'am, but you need to take it out of first gear. You are currently shredding your transmission and it is about to eject itself right out from under you". Quads are not equipped with this feature (at least not the ones we had) and you have to know when to shift by the sound the quad makes. Have I mentioned I also have nerve damage in my left ear and my hearing is not so great? Jeff would try to give me some instructions, but I couldn't understand what he was saying over the roar of the motors. I kept having to have him repeat what he was saying. More than once he would repeat something three or four times and I still couldn't hear him. So I gave up asking and pretended I had heard what he said. So, you can imagine that I was not getting the hang of this. He kept asking me what I wanted to do or try, as if I had ANY clue what he was talking about. I tried, but I just wasn't getting it. 

Honey, I'm gonna need a little more than that...

  Other factors were making this trip less than relaxing. Lots of little things and not so little things-stuff I'm not going to bore you with here. And I didn't want to complain. I didn't want to ruin anyone else's good time. So I bottled it all up. For 4 days. On Tuesday night I had a bad case of insomnia. By 2:00 in the morning I was an emotional disaster. I was convinced that Jeff and I would have to break up. I had nothing in common with my thrill-seeking boyfriend. This trip, that he loves so much, was the absolute worst vacation I've ever had. I couldn't wait to go home, and I certainly never wanted to do this again. My body ached, I was sun-burnt, I hadn't slept well, we had been eating junk food non-stop and we had not had any time to be alone together. So many things were stressing me out-too much to list here. And I hadn't told Jeff about any of it to spare him from my misery. It was really important to me that he have a good vacation and be able to relax and have fun. 
  I had a full-blown meltdown. Jeff woke up, we went for a walk and I told him about EVERYTHING I had been holding in. Which made me feel rotten for dumping on him like that. But he loves me and he made everything ok again. We finally got to sleep around 4:30 that morning. 

Day 6 and he still loves me. Lucky me!

  The next couple of days were better. The four of us went for a ride and I started to get the hang of it (not really, but I had more fun trying). Then we went for a long ride with a larger group the next day. It was a good day, except that I ended up riding on the back of Jeff's quad with him. I had been doing more of that than driving one myself, because I wanted the girls to have a good vacation and I knew they preferred driving their own instead of having to share. And I didn't want to be the person everyone would have to slow down for. I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of Jeff's friends. I didn't want to embarrass him, either.

  So along with the big hills, there are these sections of the dunes that are really bumpy. Riding doubles is against the rules (I'm a rebel!) and for the one on the back, riding through these parts can be very painful. Going over the "whups" is an exercise in spine-crushing bounces. I tried standing up, which, when I was riding on my own made all the difference. But that was impossible riding doubles, I had to keep my arms around Jeff because he is not equipped with handlebars for me to grab onto, and the waymy legs were positioned as I sat behind him made it difficult to keep my balance standing up while holding on. So I bounced along for miles. By the end of that ride, I could barely sit down anymore. I had whiplash, my thighs ached, my backside was bruised and my spine resembled a Jenga tower right before the fall. I am going to have to learn to ride better so I don't have to double up ever again! 
  At the end of our vacation, Jeff came down with a cold (which he passed on to me) and it took my body four days to recover from all the abuse I put it through. 
  The beach was beautiful, Jeff's friends are really fun people and Katie and her BFF had a terrific time. Maybe we'll do this again someday and plan things out a little better next time. But it's more likely that Jeff will take this trip without me in the future. 

Me and my sweetie-right after he tried to throw me in the ocean!

  As far as our weight-loss plan, Jeff had assured me we would be riding and sweating so much that we would lose weight on this adventure, even though we completely abandoned our eating plan. Jeff is a liar and cannot be trusted. I gained SIX POUNDS in the 7 days we were in Oregon! I am quite certain this is due to the lack of physical activity and processed foods that were quick and easy. Katie and Jeff have not been weighing in, so I don't know where they are as far as losses or gains. We have had a difficult time getting back to our low-carb lifestyle since our return. Katie has been at her dad's house since August 5th for his portion of the summer with her. She tells me she has been playing a lot of Call of Duty: Black Ops on the XBox. That's ok, it's her summer vacation and swim team practice starts next week. 
  Wednesday is Jeff's 44th birthday. We are going to have one last splurge of pizza and peanut butter pie at his favorite pizza place and then we are getting back in the swing of this weight-loss plan. No more cheating, we will find a way to make time for walking and, when Katie comes home from her dad's on the 24th, we will resume regular weigh-ins again. 

If you wish to send me a comment or question, email me at sprout624@gmail.com

  
  

Week 24-Did You Miss Me?

  Ok, Ok, I've been a bad little blogger and missed a few weeks. Summer makes the time go by so quickly, I lost track of the days (and the weeks). I'll bet you thought we had given up. No Way! We are not quitters! Slackers, maybe, but not quitters!

I just wish it could last another 6 months or so!

  Last time I wrote to you was my 45th birthday-and it was wonderful! We had a barbecue at our house and it was so yummy! We made that incredible faux-potato salad (sans potatoes, add cauliflower), the BEST barbecue chicken (lovingly prepared by my Grill-Master boyfriend), macaroni salad, and yes, there was CAKE! Mom made me a yellow cake with chocolate frosting (my favorite! No angel food!) and it was SO GOOD! Two of our guests brought watermelons-they know we are eating healthier and figured there would be no cake. Fooled Them!!! But the watermelon was delicious! 

Happy Birthday to me with my favorite guy!

Me and my very-slimmed-down Katie!

Two of my best girlfriends!

 And of course, my incredibly generous friends and family brought me NINE bottles of wine! They know me so well! It was a terrific birthday-the best one I have ever had! So I never have to have another one. Unless folks are in the mood to bring me wine and cake next year. Then, maybe. 

Now THAT'S my kind of birthday cake!

  With this wonderful summer weather and so much to celebrate, we have been allowing ourselves more treats and cheats. But for the most part, we are still sticking to the plan. Still eating lots of healthy veggies-summer salads taste so good! Everything is so fresh and flavorful this time of year. I would like to say we have been getting more exercise, but I hate to lie. Jeff's dad DID take the time to create a PickleBall court in our driveway, but we haven't used it much. Jeff got in some exercise on the 4th of July-swimming in the lake at his aunt Leslie's house and attempting to use a paddleboard. I didn't venture into the water due to my completely irrational fear of drowning. I think I may have been a cat in a former life. It's possible. You didn't know me then.

  At any rate, we are still losing weight, so we're on the right track. We're just in the slow lane. Yeah, we are the sweet little old lady who can barely see over the dashboard doing 45 on the highway. With our turn signal on. Looking for the exit to the bakery. 

Gotta sit on a 4 pack of toilet paper because they don't print phone books anymore!

  Since my birthday I have lost .4 pounds. Not very impressive returns this time, but it's still moving in the right direction. I have no regrets! Axis of Evil, you will NOT bring me down!!! So my current weight is 128.4 pounds and my BMI is 23.5!
  Jeff has been up and down these last few weeks. Yes, he got up on that paddleboard, but he downed a few sweet and sugary Mike's Hard lemonades first. Those things are so tasty, but they are carbohydrate BOMBS! So his current weight is 269.6, which is up .6 pounds from last weigh-in. He's still under 270, so we're gonna call this a win and keep at it for next week!
  Katie and her super-teenage metabolism has beaten us again with a 3.6 pound loss! She's enjoying her summer like a champ-sleeping until noon, enjoying summer treats. But it's all going in the right direction. High school swim team practices will begin soon enough and I'm sure she will melt off the pounds quickly. She's gonna be such a svelte little mermaid!
  So our team weight loss for this week (3 weeks?) is 3.4 pounds with a total weight loss of 105 pounds even! Next week should be even better because we have no holidays or birthdays to celebrate. Bring on the salads!!!

If only I could spend the rest of the summer like this and still lose weight!