Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Weekly Update x3

Hi everybody!  It's been awhile.  It's been so long, Blogger added these nifty templates, so I decided to spruce things up around here.

Since my last update...

Under the Sea! 
(The gala party shrimp trays and tuna salad sandwiches sort of reminds me 
of the surreal fare at a company party I went to at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  
Picture tables of sushi and pans of paella next to the kelp forest tank...)

We completed the 3-day marathon that is Thing 1 and Thing 2's dance recital, "Under the Sea," inspired by The Little Mermaid.  (1 night of dress rehearsal + 2 performances)  I appreciate so much that the dance teacher does her best to make sure the younger dancers (elementary school and younger) spend as little time as possible waiting backstage, and actually get a chance to see most of the show.  Especially since the backstage room heats up quickly, and we had warmer weather than we usually do.  Thing 1 and Thing 2 did a fine job and had a lot of fun.  Thing 2 was a sailor and a very pink flamingo, and Thing 1 played Grimsby and a frog.  Wish I could show you pictures of the preschoolers; imagine tiny girls in black leotards and tights wearing sea creatures; the snails were adorable with sparkly cloth "shells" that looked like little sleeping bags rolled up on their backs.

The Flamingo Princess and The Frog


I did the "Tri the Coast" sprint triathlon bike leg; my friends did the swim and the run. I owe you a race report...
Pubsgal, Biker Babe!


We attended two birthday parties, same weekend as all of the above.  (I felt sorry for the folks that had to clean up the blue icing ravages of 20+ children under the age of 9...)

Surf's up!  (And so, too, will be the cleaning deposit on this party room, I imagine!)


We also made it through the end-of-the-school-year frenzy.  We enjoyed the school picnic and fund run (same day as dance performance #1).  I chaperoned and drove on Thing 2's zoo field trip on the Monday after that weekend.  One of the moms at our school is a zoo insider, so we got a special tour.  And I realized my life-long dream of PETTING A KOALA BEAR!  *squeeeeee!!!*  Yes, they are very soft. (Coincidentally, this was the same day as we said goodbye to our Bela.  Who, for the record, was softer than a koala bear.) Thing 1's class had a picnic and swim party the day after the zoo trip. Hurrah for tag-team parenting!

Pubsgal with Lollipop, a koala of great forbearance (har har), and the koala keeper.
According to her keeper, koalas in general don't like much contact, even with each other.  
Which begs the question: why do they look so darn cute?!?
(And how old are we in this picture, little girl?)

We also enjoyed our trip to Tucson in the summer time, with temperatures in the 100s.  We spent a ton of time in my dad and step-mom's swimming pool, but we also enjoyed lots of fun outings and a very nice Father's Day.  (Most pix on my other camera, so not much here.)

 "3 Peds Cured"
(C'mon, Debby!  All the cool kids are getting pedi's!) 
Mine are the purple toes...yes, I had a little help from Thing 2 in choosing the color.


In addition to all of the above, there were hairy work deadlines, several graduations of family and friends, a company-client dinner, and a farewell dinner (sadly) for our excellent next-door neighbors.

Progress This Month


[Oh, that's RIGHT!  This is a HEALTH-related blog!]

30-day blood glucose average: 104 (met goal of less than 120)
30-day fasting blood glucose average: 103 (met goal of less than 120)

Weight goals:  Since 6/2, I am down 1 pound.  "Summer of Sustaining," baby! <-Lookie there, I found the link to Lynn Haraldson-Bering's marvelous post on "Refuse to Regain," in which she discusses "maintenance" vs. "sustaining."  Which led me to recently dub this my "Summer of Sustaining," because I really wasn't feeling up to "challenges" anymore.  Although, yeah, I made an exception for Charlotte Hilton Andersen's June experiment of "Eating Like a Normal Person".  Because it's called an "experiment."  That makes all the difference, right? 

Food goals: Well, I stopped tracking during the crazy-busy weekend, and it has actually been kind of nice to not track.  I don't know how that will work when going back to the usual routine, because "if you bite it, write it" can be rather effective when I'm inclined to eat from being bored or stressed.  Jill's post today on The Sassy Pear, "I don't have a weight problem, I have an eating problem," really rang a bell for me.  When I'm happily busy, I don't feel the need to self-soothe with food.  When I'm stressed and/or bored, I do that.  Part of why I haven't regained seems to be a combination of exercise, the mental/emotional support of blogging, and the kind of foods I've been using to self-soothe.  I've gotten dangerously clever about the "what," but I've learned that binging isn't about the what, or sometimes even about the how much:  it's the out-of-control mental state.  Yuck.

Fiber: No idea.  I'm guessing I'm averaging about 20 grams/day, since I am eating my chia and lots of veggies, but I didn't have chia on my trip.  That's about the only drawback I've found with not tracking.

Exercise goals: I'll spare you three weeks of details.  But between workouts and playouts, I met my goal of 30 minutes of activity 5 days/week.

Teeth: [Insert "who me?" whistling soundbyte here]
Sleep: Getting 7-8 hours per night most nights, especially if you count the sybaritic slumbers of my recent vacation.

Goals for Next Week

7-day blood glucose average goal and fasting numbers: below 120.
Weight goal: Maintain or progress.

Food goals:
* Apply the "7 Guidelines", aiming for high fiber.  I think I'll give myself one more week of not tracking, and see how it goes.

Exercise goals:
* 30 minutes of activity 5 days/week, tracking through Daily Mile.

Misc. goals:
* 7 or more hours sleep/night.

* Use the time I'm spending NOT food tracking to establish daily tooth flossing.

8 comments:

debby said...

What a great report--much to discuss! Be sure to give us a race report--I love those!

Koala bear--I'm jealous! And that is such a great picture/reminder of a great time.

Toes. LOLLOLLOL!! Did you know that was the same phrase Jill used on me to hook me into blogging? 'all the cool kids are doing it' Couldn't believe it when I read that. And I do like my toenails painted very much. I just do it myself. Not bad at it either, I must say.

It's been driving me crazy trying to figure out where the sustaining word came from. Thanks for the link.

Gotta check out that 'eating like a normal person thing. And regarding the not tracking. I stopped a bit ago, and after tracking for over five years and not minding it, I think I will have a bit of a hard time going back to tracking. But I will if I can't sustain.

Kat said...

What wonderful pictures! Congrats on meeting your goals. I need to get back on the tooth flossing train too. I was doing great and then...

Brooke said...

love the costumes. hopefully you're typing up your race report as i'm leaving my comment.

and your toes-esy are gorgeous!!

Pubsgal said...

@debby: No, I had no idea, but I think it was Jill-inspired, because she does use that phrase a lot. Or maybe it was because I'd recently commented over at Charlie Hills' blog; his comment page has that instead of the bland "Leave your comment". But anyway, the spa pedi was really nice; got to sit in a massage chair and soak my feet in this little whirlpool tub, and they were buffed and salt-scrubbed and polished to smoothness. You could ask them to not do the cuticle work, if that makes you squeamish; that's the only part I think you'd have potential to get hurt. My mom always did her own pedi's at home, and did an excellent job too, but she recently discovered the joy of a spa pedi and treats herself now and then.

@Kat: Flossing is so simple, yet it seems to always drop from my routine. I'm trying morning flossing, and that seems to work better for me than making it that last hurdle before bedtime.

@Brooke: Race report may have to wait a day or two. All of the costumes were especially colorful in the whole production. Don't know how they're going to top this one.

Christie O. said...

WOW you HAVE been up to a lot! holy moly! and some of it was all in one day??!!

I love that picture of the peds "cured." and i laughed at that title.

can't wait for the race report as always! Love the new bloggy look! And wow, that Koala looks just as fluffy and soft as he must have felt!!! I want to snuggle!

Jill said...

Hey I'm glad you liked that post!!

And NO, I STILL haven't got my pedi yet. Grrrr!! But now I'm thinking purple would be fun - because, ya know, all the cool kids are doing it. :)

Lori said...

I love the race pose :D

Congrats to the Things on their respective performances!

I try not tracking 2 days a week now. I guess I am having a summer of unintentional maintaining myself here. At least it is not a summer of gaining!

Anonymous said...

Oh I'd like to pet a koala. And you raise a good question - why are they so darn cute if they don't like to be touched. God should have put scales and spikes on them!