Aaaarrrrggghhhhh!

"...Hoist up the mainsails and shut down your brain cells,
They only would get in the way,
Avast there, me hearty, we're havin' a party,
It's "Talk Like A Pirate" Day!" - Tom Smith, "Talk Like a Pirate Day" official song

Ahoy, me hearties! Happy "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" to ye!

"Take what ye can! Give nothin' back!" - Pirates of the Caribbean

Cap'n Wordswench here, I be hijackin' this blog in honor o' t' day! (Me crew thought we was raidin' t' grog, not t' blog. They be daft, t' scurvy dogs.) [Cap'n Wordswench rolls eyes.]

Seein' that it be Quotable Friday, I'll be sharin' a few o' me favorite pirate quotations with ye:

"Female pirates are allowed some exception to rules concerning hygiene and garmentry, but must make up for it by using twice as much profanity." Rule #47 of Pirate Laws!

"How do you know if you are a pirate? You just 'Arrrrrrrr'..." - Pirate Laws web site

"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - Henry Lewis Mencken, 1880 - 1956

"Both are ways to make a good, dishonest living."
- Keith Richards, referring to vocations of rock star and pirate

"Remember, in a pirate ship, in pirate waters, in a pirate world, ask no questions. Believe only what you see. No, believe half of what you see."
- Vallo, The Crimson Pirate

Much o' it pains me ter be borin' ye w' book talk, Pubsgal agreed to walk t' plank only if I added t' followin' quote. Rum lass, t'at un.

"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates' loot on Treasure Island and at the bottom of the Spanish Main... and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life." - Walt Disney

Fair winds, mateys!

Weekly weigh-in: -44!

Down 3 pounds this week (since last Tuesday), but it's a little confusing. I really wasn't expecting a loss this week. My personal weigh-in recording day is every Tuesday, although I step on the scale and check it out daily. For the HFH challenge, we weigh in on Friday. So last week, I started with my Tuesday weight, and noticed no change between Tuesday and Friday. I also didn't notice much change over the weekend. I had made my peace with it: the scale is just a number, I can only control what I put in my mouth & when and my exercise, I'll get to wear the new pants a little more, yada yada ya. So I just kept up doing what I was doing, what else was I going to do? And plunk! Down it went. I'll take it.

Also received some good test results: my A1C number is 6.6 now (down from 9.5), my cholesterol and triglycerides have greatly improved since June, but my HDL/LDL numbers aren't quite where they need to be. Oh, well, little by little...Liver and kidney functions normal, which means metformin seems to be agreeing with my body. Yeay!

Quotable Friday!

"Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile I caught hell for." ~ Earl Warren (1891-1974)

I like the sentiment, although my "worthwhile" stuff is pretty tame and not the type you catch hell for...unless you count Thing 1 and Thing 2's sassy moments.

Well, I had started out writing a maudlin post. I'm sure many of you know feeling, that "I've-come-so-far-but-I'm-still-toting-that-large-Baskin-Robbins-
Peanut-Butter-and-Chocolate-shake-from-2002-on-my-left-hip" mood.

But I pressed the Delete button. Who the heck wants maudlin on a Friday?!?! I felt a little bad for letting down the "Hot for the Holidays" crew over on Baby Tea Leaves. Zero loss this week, but you know? I'm gonna stick with it and be the comeback kid next week. Unless I've totally jinxed things by joining a group weight loss challenge in the first place...but that would be superstitious, now, wouldn't it? Do you have any weight loss superstitions?

In other news, less than 6 weeks until the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Run!

"I'm ready! I'm ready! I'm ready-ready-ready-ready-ready." ~ SpongeBob SquarePants

(That's going to be my spec-of-a-head way in the back of the photo in the 2008 picture, baby!) Just feeling a residual endorphin high from running today. I ran 5K for the first time since high school this morning, just to be sure I could do it for the big day (and in less time than it would take for everyone to pack up and head home). I did it in 55 minutes AND then got home and helped pack lunches and get kids and self out the door. I bring home the bacon AND fry it up on an electric griddle, too, now that I think of it.... (The pan's too darn small for my merry bacon-lovin' crew.)

And I'll sign off with this cheerful thought:

"What do those of us who aren't tall, flawlessly sculpted adolescents do? Answer: Console ourselves with how relative beauty can be. Thank heaven for the arousing qualities of zest, intelligence, wit, curiosity, sweetness, passion, talent, and grace." ~ Diane Ackerman, author, from her book A Natural History of the Senses

Have a ZESTY weekend!

Weekly weigh-in: -41!

Down 3 pounds this week, and 1/3 of my way to goal! Yippee! I'm keeping on track with my exercise, although strength training at 10 p.m. last night was the last thing I wanted to do...and actually, it was: I went to sleep right after. ;-) And my fasting blood glucose levels are dropping (less than 120 the past couple of days!!!), but I think that's more due to the additional metformin than the weight loss at this point.

Last night I received a new bathing suit I had ordered. (I'd had the old one for years, and now in addition to being threadbare, it had become rather baggy. I felt a little sorry to throw it away, it was a great suit, and we had been to Hawaii many times together...*sniff*...so long, old pal!) Anyhow, my 4-year-old daughter noticed it.

Thing 2: "Why are you wearing that?"
Me: "It's my new bathing suit. I need to try it on and make sure it fits. What do you think?"
Thing 2: "You look like a hot rod momma!"

Wowee! I felt ridiculously pleased.

Thing 2: "That's what Mrs. Puff* says."

Innocently said and well-meant, but ah, pride before the fall...

*For those not versed in SpongeBob SquarePants lore, Mrs. Puff is his driving instructor, and she is a large, round (even when not puffed up) puffer fish. When stressed, she puffs up and moans, "Oh, SpongeBob, whyyyy?" in a deeper voice. In the episode "Wishing You Well," in which Mr. Krabs installs a wishing well at his restaurant in order to part more citizens of Bikini Bottom of their money, Mrs. Puff tosses a coin in the well and says, "I wish I had a snazzy new boat. I wanna be a hot rod momma." (And yes, SpongeBob and Patrick dig deep enough and find "the Magic," and to Mr. Krabs' disbelief, everyone's wishes come true. Mrs. Puff gets her hot rod boat, with flames and all. For the record, my new bathing suit does *not* have flames.)

P.S.: If you haven't already cruised by the blog "Roni's Weigh" today, she talked about an article she read on the "Back in skinny jeans" blog. I checked it out, and I've gotta say, dash on over and read about Stephanie's Grandma Rose in the article "You're more than a body: A vibrant spirit won't be held back by aging." Terrific post!

Quotable Friday!

"You have to sniff out joy. Keep your nose to the joy trail." ~ Buffy St. Marie

In my case, I'm keeping my wheels to the "joy trail" and sniffing the salty sea air! I went on a bike ride yesterday morning on our local coast trail, and this time I took a few photos to share. They're a little blurry, because I was using my iPhone rather than a proper camera, but you can see why I enjoy my weekly ride and will miss it when the mornings get too dark to use the trail. Oh well, that's what weekends are for, right?

This:

Plus this:

Equals This:

"Joy is the feeling of grinning inside." ~ Dr. Melba Colgrove

"When you wish someone joy, you wish them peace, love, prosperity, happiness... all the good things." ~ Maya Angelou

"One joy shatters a hundred griefs." ~ Chinese Proverb

I'll try to keep the next three in mind next time I'm flossing my teeth....

"Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing." ~ William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Troilus and Cressida, Act 1, Scene 2

"Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I'm doing." ~ Phil Jackson

"Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile." ~ Sir Wilfred Grenfell (1865 - 1940)

And finally...

"A sense of humor...is needed armor. Joy in one's heart and some laughter on one's lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life." ~ Hugh Sidney

Hope you enjoy the weekend!

Morning at the Doctor's Office

Item #1,352 of what they don't tell you before you get diabetes: you're going to be visiting a lot of folks in white coats, often (at least at first...not sure how frequent this becomes when your numbers are good on a regular basis).
Item #1,353: Everyone on your care team might not agree about what "good numbers" are!

Well, the good news is that my home scale is pretty well aligned with the doctor's scale (even with my clothes and shoes on). And my blood pressure is even better than last time: 100/70. (And what do you know? My BMI is still in the obese range. So much for the obesity=high blood pressure sweeping generalization. And even when I was out of shape, it was still 120/80, so go figure.) The bad news? The nurse and the doctor both tsk'd over my most recent fasting blood glucose numbers, which I'm pleased to say finally started dropping below 130 this week.

Doctor: "Too high."
Me: "Huh? The diabetes educator recommended a range of 70-130."
Doctor: "Really?" (I showed the doctor my sheet.) "Well, don't show that to my other patients!"
Me: "What do you recommend?"
Doctor: "Shouldn't be higher than 120."
Me: "Oh. Well, what will it take to bring it down?"
[Doctor whips out her pad and scribbles down an Rx for metformin 2x/day instead of 1x.]

That said, my doctor reassures me that if I keep doing what I'm doing, we might be able to cut it back later or maybe even get rid of it altogether. (Never any promises, I'm finding, with managing diabetes.) Which would be cool, but I just want to do what it takes to get things as close to normal people's ranges as possible. From what I've read, I'm glad she supports the lower range and is helping me get there.

Weekly weigh-in: -38

(Or, "Back to lying about the weight on my driver's license")

Down 3 pounds this week! Yes!!! Girl hormones during last week kinda threw everything for a loop, including blood glucose levels; I've been reading that those can trend up or down in a "your mileage may vary" sort of way as the girl hormones rise and fall. Things were doing much better over the weekend, especially my fasting numbers; they're finally trending into the desired range. The doc will be happy on Thursday. Hurrah!

We're getting fall weather here on the San Mateo coast, which means (generally) sunny, mild days instead of the summer fog-fest. Colder, darker mornings, too; this morning, I had on 2 jackets and gloves and still felt cold during my warm-up. We spent a lot of time tidying up the yard and Mr. Handsome-AND-Handy* repainted and cleaned Thing 1 and Thing 2's swingset and repainted the trim on our house. Thing 1's big birthday party is next weekend, and it's one of our bi-annual excuses to be social instead of our usual reclusive selves. (*Side note--My husband's moniker is inspired by Red Green of The Red Green Show, who has the following tag line to the "Handyman's Corner" segment: "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.")

I also spent a little time playing with the virtual model on Lands End. I'm pretty sure I saw this first on OneMoreBite ("Virtual Weight Loss"), which links to the makers of the Lands End virtual model. (That actually might be a better site to try, as my poor girl didn't have any pant or skirt options in the virtual model closet at her current weight; only a dress, which was a gahdawful sack of a garment.) I wanted to be able to visualize my before, current, mid-way, and goal, and this did a pretty good job, at least with the before and current. Sadly, I didn't see much of a difference between the computer-rendered before (265) and current (227), although the half-way (208) is very much different. I also didn't notice much difference between 160 (top of my desired weight range) and 143 (goal).