texts from Japan

Apparently it costs a small fortune to call home from Japan, but texting and e-mails aren't any more than your usual rate.

Japan is ahead of us when it comes to time- about 18 hours I think. For example, right now it is 6 pm on Saturday in Arizona, and 10 am Sunday morning in Japan.

With that in mind- I wanted to share a conversation between me and John via text-

Time: about 4:30 pm AZ time, 8:30 am Japan time

Me- "Good morning!"
John- " Morning. Just getting ready to take a taxi to church. I might be on time. :)"
Me- "that's funny"
(unfortunately, as a family we are regularly late)
John- "My cab driver does not speak English, my translation app (for his iphone) is coming in handy"

~A few minutes later~

Me- "I'm glad your app is working for you"
John- "Barely. I think we are lost."
Me- "Sorry. So much for making it to church on time."

~A little while later~

John- "I just got here. We had to stop at a Baptist church for directions. :)"

All that for the low, low price of 5000 yen (roughly $50) to end up only 3 km from the hotel.

Edit- after all that, the bishop asked John if we were moving there. Our kids alone would double the primary.

At Catz

Last week I was asked what exactly I do at Catz. I spent the week trying to surreptitiously take some pictures with my iphone, but they didn't turn out so well. I was afraid I'd get yelled at or at the very least ridiculed, because almost anything is ridicule worthy in their (the trainers) eyes.

For instance, last week, some of the ladies were talking about Gray's Anatomy and how the station messed up and played 7 minutes of Private Practice in the middle of Gray's Anatomy and then kept interrupting with the weather report. Apparently the TV station thought the fact that a tornado was threatening the valley was more important than the fictional drama going on in a hospital hundreds of miles away. So- one of the trainers turned down the music and insisted on hearing all about it. (they don't like it when we can talk, that means we're not working hard enough)

So, a typical hour class at Catz goes something like this- First 15 minutes running and stretching. We do laps on the indoor track that runs the length of the room. One lap forwards, the next we run backwards, (it's a miracle I haven't fallen down yet- I am horribly uncoordinated.) Then we skip, and side shuffle, and on and on, until finally we get to slow down and do lunges the whole way down. And then finally a series of stretches as we walk the length of the track (that's my favorite part)

Then we get divided up into groups for the rest of the hour and we do "stations" for a minute until he yells "switch!" I'm always with the older, less fit crowd. Sometimes I have to watch high school teams work out. Nothing makes you feel old and out of shape than trying (and failing) to do the same intensity as a 16 year old girl. While she talks and giggles away like she was doing nothing more than getting her nails done. Lunges and squats can always be expected, and generally in conjunction with some kind of weight- dumbbells, medicine balls, sand bags.

Yesterday we did a "bear crawl" where you walk on your hands and feet, with dumbbells in your hands. So tough.

At any rate, I come home sweaty and exhausted. And generally speaking, there's always some part of my body that hurts. Today it's the muscles in the side of my neck. I didn't know I had muscles there or what I did to hurt them.

Well, I had better go. I have to figure out what to eat before I head to yet another Catz class. I'm supposed to eat 5 small meals a day. It's 4 pm, and this will be number 3. Eating has lost it's appeal lately.

Catz update week 4

I only lost one pound this week. 0.9 pounds to be exact. I needed to lose 1.3 to make my weekly goal.

While the positive person would see that, and think, "wow! a whole pound! that's great!" I see $75 going down the toilet.

I paid $250 to do this. I used some of my caramel money I made during Christmas.

Every week that I make my goal, I get $25 Catz credit towards more classes. 8 x 25 = $200. If I make all eight goals I get a $50 bonus. If I make my body fat percentage goal, I get another $50.

The plan was to get enough credit to do this again FOR FREE.

Not that my kids are happy about that idea. It's REALLY hard to cook when I can't eat anything or am too exhausted to even think about it. And you can forget about baking. Sometimes I think maybe I will make them a small batch of cookies, but I haven't quite been able to bring myself to test myself like that yet.

But at any rate, I lost both the weekly $25 credit, and the bonus. I can still hope for the body fat percentage goal, but I am sure like everything else, it's a difficult goal to make because at the end of the day, they are a business.

So what went wrong?

I don't know. I worked out 4 times at Catz this week instead of just 3.

I didn't cheat, despite what the trainer accused me of. But I couldn't defend myself because I didn't write anything down like I'm supposed to.

Plateau? Maybe.

I am however going to blame part of it on the fact that it's "that time of the month". I'm feeling all bloaty and yucky. (TMI?) That's gotta be worth 0.4 pounds right?

Here's hoping for a better week next week.

My real life Chuck

One of our favorite shows on TV is a cute show called "Chuck". It's about a computer geek turned government spy.

While the spy part doesn't really apply, the computer geek part definitely does. And occasionally he gets to do his part to serve his country.

John is being "deployed" tomorrow on a "mission" to serve his Country at a United States Military Base in Japan.

I was given a copy of his "papers". I guess in case something happens to him.

It actually says stuff like "Upon completion of the mission, the employee should make all attempts to return to the deployment processing center point of origin".

Pretty cool, eh?

He would be staying in the base housing except it's full. So he's staying in a hotel. He will however be attending the LDS church with the military.

He's kind of looking forward to it. He grew up in a family with parents who worked for the Air Force, and when he was a little boy it was a dream of his to join the Air Force when he grew up, because it's a stepping stone to NASA. He wanted to be an Astronaut.

It's only for two weeks, though.

Well, he'll be in Japan for three weeks, but his "mission" is only for two. The week after his "Deployed Performance Period" there's a big computer convention in Tokyo, and they figure as long as he's already over there...

My husband, saving the world one computer at a time.

Catz update week 3

I only lost 2 pounds. 1.7 actually. For a grand total of about 11. (so sue me, I'm rounding up)

-But-

I still made goal for this week because of my huge loss last week.

Also, because of said huge loss I kindof expected it. It was actually about what I was hoping for, even though I didn't cheat at all.

Once or twice I only ate 4 meals though (instead of the 5 a day) and my water intake can definitely be improved. I started to find that with the absence of grains in my belly there was nothing to soak up the water and consequently I had to pee about 5 minutes after I drank anything. Really Annoying.

Also, I had a couple days where I wanted to medicate with food, (I'm an emotional eater) and I didn't. So props to me.

So next week I only need to lose 1.3 pounds to make goal. Hopefully more. I like having a nice buffer.

Chevy vs Toyota

My car-

The car belonging to the poor girl in front of me at the stop light-

I win.

And what may you ask is the prize for rear ending someone on Gilbert road? A day in traffic court and/or traffic school, and the joy of having this on my insurance. Go me.

On the bright side, no one was hurt, and the poor girl even gave me a hug when we parted company wishing me a better day.

Catz update- week two.

Sorry to those of you who were waiting with bated breath. (I spelled "bated" correctly. I looked it up to make sure I was using it correctly) It was a very long night with a sick little boy last night. Long story short, I accumulated about 3 hours sleep on the couch last night. I've been pretty tired and lazy today. But I did make it to my weigh-in! (my one and only accomplishment today).

I am very happy to report I lost 6 pounds this week. For a grand total of 9. If anyone is paying attention, yes that means I have already made my goal for next week as well. Ü

That doesn't mean I can give into my bread cravings or start baking up some lamingtons though. Sure as I've been dieting off and on my whole adult life (and teenage years as well) I should be hitting a long and hard plateau any second now. So I am glad to have that cushion.

Also on the plus side- while the workouts are still particularly difficult, I have the use of my legs back.

Carrot stick, anyone?

I'm not so sure I'm gonna make it.

I dreamt about eating corndogs the other night. Corndogs! I don't even like corndogs! Well, at least the ones from the grocery store. Hand-dipped might be another story.

Last night it was ice-cream. Unfortunately my unconscious self remembered it was on my no-no list and didn't even get to dream about eating ice cream.

And during the day instead of reading my book club book for the month I am finding myself reading cook books and food blogs. And not for low-fat healthy foods either. I discovered a new treat on the Internet today- Lamingtons. I'm not quite sure what they are, or where they come from, but they look yummy and are made with cake and chocolate ganache.

Just 6 more weeks. Just 6 more weeks. I can do this. Just 6 more weeks.

Signs of distress

It had already been "one of those days".

Christopher would burst into tears at the slightest thing. I thought getting out of the house would help. Besides, we were out of bread. So I thought maybe a trip to Target was in order.

And it did help, for a while, but then as we walked out of the bread aisle, he spotted a sign out of the corner of his eye, jumped off the side of the cart, ran over to it, and pointed it out to me.

Before I could even see what he was showing me, he started freaking out. The sign was clearly upsetting him. But he wouldn't walk away.

Notice the splotchy, tear stained face?

Finally, the only thing that got him to walk away was the promise of a cookie in the bakery.

So, what sign in Target could possibly cause this kind of reaction?

Apparently this one.

I'm still not sure why.

Strong craving for a steak?

Paralyzing fear of shrimp?

He's recently become a vegetarian and had ethical issues with the display of dead carcasses for all to see?

We might never know.

Not so little any more

Christopher reached two major milestones in the last week. He sleeps in a big boy bed AND goes to primary now. It's hard to believe we have reached the stage where we are DONE with the nursery at church.

I know, I know, I can hear you out there- "REALLY? He's three and a half and he is just NOW getting out of the crib?!?"

But I have my reasons- and they're good ones-
1) There wasn't any one else to come along and bump him out of it.
2) He liked his crib. He never even tried to climb out of it, so he wasn't getting up at all hours of the night.
3) We were in need of another bed. My dad was building Nick a bed for his birthday and Christmas, and so we were waiting for that bed.

Christopher loves his bed -now. At first he was really excited for it during the day. He ran around the house naming all the beds. "Nick's bed. Sissy's bed. Brudder's bed. Initer's bed." We even managed to score some cheap Disney Cars bedding at Wal-mart on black Friday. (Which kills me because I have nice bedspreads that match and go in that room, but I knew he'd love it and it would make the transition easier. )

But that night it was a different story. He laid in bed and cried. Not the obnoxious fake crying he does during the day where when you tell him "No" he throws himself to the ground and proceeds to whine "I'm crying!" over, and over, and over. I should video tape it some day.

But he cried. And it was really sad and pathetic. For once it was like he was trying not to cry but couldn't help it. And I would get up and go in and comfort him and ended up staying in there til 1 in the morning until he finally fell asleep. So the next day when we were supposed to be to church by 8 am, and Zach had technicolor boogers and we weren't sure if he was sick and Christopher was still unconscious, I volunteered to stay home with the little boys. Christopher didn't wake up until 9:30. Which is completely unheard of. And that was supposed to be his first day of primary.

After a week he's doing better in his bed at night.

So that's how come yesterday was his first day of primary. I'm going to hold off judgment as to whether he's taking well to primary or not. When it was time to go to primary, he took off running down the halls of the church while I tried to chase him in heels. I asked someone to stop him, to which I was met with laughter. I finally caught up with him right outside nursery, and dragged him off to the primary room. I was able to leave him there without incident. I peeked in later, and one of the teachers had him on her lap. I heard later from the primary president that he did fine, he just really wanted to go sit up at the very front- the row where the kids sit as they wait to give their talks.

After church was another matter. Relief Society got out a little late, and during the closing prayer somebody's obnoxious kid was knocking on the door trying to get in. I was told by Madison that it was my obnoxious kid. He came in crying, and digging at my purse, (looking for my keys I think) and pleading "Go. Go. Go." (in between sobs)

Being a big boy can be so hard some days. And I haven't even started potty training. That's next on the agenda. But he's terrified of sitting on the toilet, and after Zach, the thought of potty training makes me feel all nauseous inside.

Catz Challenge update- week 1

So I know you are all waiting with baited breath to see how I did this week- and I am proud to say that I made my goal, and even lost an additional two pounds.

But in the interest of honesty, earlier this week when I said my goal was four pounds a week, I didn't mention the first week my goal was only one pound, and the other seven were four pounds loss each week.

Why only one pound? I have a couple of theories- for starters it was a shorter week. I did the initial weigh in Monday night, and started the program on Tuesday, then weighed in on Friday morning. So really, we're only talking about three days. Also, I think it's a motivational thing. Make you feel good that first week, that maybe this is doable so you keep trying.

Also there was that whole issue with me not being able to move. And we all know the formula for weight loss is - Eat Less + Move More. And while the eating less part was going pretty well for me, the moving more part got thrown out the window. Instead of finding excuses to use the stairs to throw in a little extra exercise here and there, I would send my kids to fetch whatever thing I needed while I sat in the comfort of the recliner. If something fell to the floor, it got left there unless someone else picked it up. etc. So maybe I'm wrong (and I probably am, because the trainers seem to thrive on the pain of others) but maybe they knew the first week would be tough all around, and made the goal a little more reasonable.

Still, three pounds in three days is pretty good for me. I'll take what success I can get, I hear it only gets harder.

Achubai

Instead of milk, John drinks this stuff called Silk soy milk. (gag)

For whatever reason, Christopher calls it "achubai"(pronounced ah-choo-bye). Or something like that. We're not sure where he got that from. But it didn't stop him from screaming at the top of his lungs in Sprouts today upon sight of the stuff "Achubai! Achubai!"

John has recently started to drink it because he discovered he's pretty lactose intolerant. He uses it on his cereal, and has the occasional glass of it. I really don't know how he does it. It doesn't look very tasty. (But I don't like regular milk either) John says it's "okay."

None of the rest of us will touch it with a ten foot pole.

We've decided that when he's saying"achubai", he's really saying "Ah choo buy that for?" (make disgusted face while saying it)

psychology

Back in the day when I was away at college I took a psych 101 class. I liked that class. Learned a few interesting things. I might have considered psychology as a profession if it didn't mean going to school FOREVER and then not really being able to make any money. (at least for quite awhile)
Anyway- the point to my rambling- there's this concept where you can change behavior through negative reinforcement- like pain.

So as I was hobbling down the stairs tonight the thought occurred to me that maybe, just maybe I could use it to my advantage. As my butt and thighs protested each painful step down the stairs, I would try to associate the pain with something that got me in this predicament-

step (ow!) chocolate!
step (ow!) cookies!
step (ow!) creme brulee!
step (ow!) french fries!
step (ow!) Coke!

You get the idea.

Of course food isn't all to blame. I mean I'm really not a total glutton. I don't eat junk all day. Cutting junk out of my diet hasn't been too difficult so far. (two whole days) What I really miss most is bread (and I'm not talking about white bread- but a nice hearty piece of whole wheat bread). I like to believe that if I was more diligent about getting in exercise each and every day, the chocolate wouldn't be so apparent on my hips.

So next time I brave the stairs I'm going to throw in a few of my other vices for good measure hoping that maybe, just maybe, my subconscious will register it and produce the desired effects.

step (ow!) Netflix!
step (ow!) pizza!
step (ow!) facebook!
step (ow!) cinnamon bears!

This is the hardest one for me to say-
step (ow!) reading!

Or maybe I should just learn a little moderation and not spend entire days reading? But where's the fun in that?

FOUR

Apparently that's how many stinkin' pounds I need to lose each and every week to meet my goal.

Four.

Supposedly it should be doable if I follow their "no bread, cereal, rice, potatoes, pasta, etc" diet and participate in one of their classes 25 different times that will leave me unable to sit on a toilet or climb a flight of stairs. I do not exaggerate.

On the bright side I should be 30 pounds skinnier in 2 months. Either that or dead.

Again, Wish me luck.

Happy New Rear to Me!

This year I am putting my money where my mouth is.

A friend of mine talked me into doing this workout/weight loss program - Catz.

At first glance, I thought it was a faddish diet brought to you by the company that makes those ugly dolls with the similarly spelled names.

In reality, it was quite a bit more intimidating. It's actually an athletic training facility. You know, for ATHLETES to TRAIN to become better in their chosen SPORT.

Sounds perfect for me, no?

I guess they have this killer 8 week weight loss challenge. You give them a bunch of money- stick to their diet plan, (lots of lean meats, fruits, veggies- nothing too crazy) and commit to working out there at least 25 times in the next 8 weeks, and you should lose between 20 and 30 pounds.

What made me commit was that I have two friends that have signed up with me, and I had to sign up by my last birthday. I thought it was a sign that as I was lamenting the fact that another year had come and gone and still I hadn't managed to lose weight, then this program lands in my e-mail in box complete with support from friends who are doing it as well.

Did I mention the weekly weigh-ins? If you meet your weekly goal (that they set for you) you get a $25 Catz credit towards future purchases.

My first weigh in is this evening. Rumor has it I get to strip down to my sports bra and work out shorts while I am poked and prodded and measured and weighed. (woo-hoo!) Everyone likes to hear what their body fat percentage is right?

Wish me luck. (and my poor family- they're the innocent bystanders as I neglect them to go work out, and refuse to bake for the next 2 months)

In other news- For the next 6 1/2 hours I plan on polishing off any Christmas goodies still lurking about, and loading up on salty foods and drinking gallons of water in the hopes that I will be retaining loads of water to tip the balance in my favor. (That way, next week, hopefully it will look like I lost lots of weight, and make at least one goal they set for me- at least, that's the plan anyway.)

Now taking reservations

In our home, we have one of these-

It's our guest room.

When we are not running our free B&B, sometimes the room looks a lot like this-

Of course, that's a bit of an exaggeration- John was actually cleaning out the closet that day. Can you believe all that crap fit in both his closet and his brain? But I'd be lying if the room didn't look pretty dang close to that some days.

But we try to clean it up nice when people want to stay with us.

It even has it's own bathroom. Nothing really fancy, but people seem to like not having to share with my kids.

But these last couple of weeks, I've been tempted to install one of these-

We've been blessed with house guests non-stop since a week before Christmas. John's mom, then some friends of ours, then my parents. It's been fun.

But now the Holidays are over and life has to return to normal. And John gets his black hole junk yard home office back.