Laney had a little lamb

Moving right along to Spring. Here is (hopefully) the last winter shot I have for you until later this year. We had a blizzard last weekend. It melted away fairly quickly in the next few days as it warmed up. We made sure to let Laney enjoy the snow while it was here.

Later in the week we were able to visit a sheep farm. We went to see the spring lambs. Oh my. Laney was so excited. She ran around saying "bah bah" the entire time.

I want a lamb.

Cellulite vs cellulitis

It has been a crazy month. I've been left with little free time. Mike has been gone for work so I've been flying solo. And, of course that's why things have gone haywire. I came down with a facial infection called cellulitis which can be pretty serious. I ended up having two days of IV antibiotics. Fun. It is better now, but I have to share with you something I found hilarious.

The remains of my IV

I went into worry mode when I was told what I had. Mike reminded me that I need to trust God with everything and I spent the evening reading my Bible and feeling 100% better about the situation. I asked some friends to pray for me on facebook and told them that I had cellulitis. Apparently at least half of my friends thought I was being funny and was asking for prayer for my cellulitE. One took me seriously and told me that he didn't think it was that serious but that he would pray anyways, and maybe I should just play some soccer and go to the gym. I laughed so hard I cried. 

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And to totally change the subject, I figured that it is about time to post an update on my weight loss. I'm probably feeling the need because I actually have lost some weight!

I posted about a month ago that I joined a diet plan. I wasn't expecting much and by the following day I was having tremendous regrets.

The first three days were horrible. I had terrible headaches, no energy, and I was starving. Looking back, I think that this was due to sugar cravings. After I got past the first week, I felt great. And, I wasn't hungry any longer. This is by far the easiest diet I have ever done. And by easy, I don't mean that I don't pay much attention to what I eat. I am going by servings of the food groups. I actually have found my cravings for junk almost completely gone. I do sometimes have a little treat, but it is just a tiny amount. I'm OK to have a couple of bites and be done with it.

As of today I have lost 1/4 of the total weight I want to lose. In one month! I am seeing the inches drop as well as the numbers on the scale at a fairly rapid rate.

I truly feel for the first time in my life that eating this way can become my lifestyle. I'm not counting down the days until I can eat whatever I want. I am enjoying the healthy food. I know I will eat some of the bad stuff again, but I think at the end of this I will have gained the skills to make healthy eating a priority.

Spring hasn't sprung

Please excuse me if I'm not overly enthusiastic about Spring yet. Believe me, inside I'm dying to get together a good spring-cleaning list, bake some hot-cross buns, and bust out the pastels. But when I step outside my hopes are shattered. I mean, just last week I could see the lawn and some little patches of green. I was convinced it was here. I even bought Laney an Easter dress.

Don't you think this picture is more appropriate to a Christmas card than the view from my lawn in almost-April? I thought the added caption suited better than "Happy Spring"!

But enough complaining. I will appreciate the sun all the more when it makes its appearance. I did have some fun with my camera today. And those frost crystals are really pretty.

Happy spring to those of you who are blessed with its arrival!

One year ago

Happy St. Patrick's Day

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My car is a wimp

This is what almost "spring" looks like this year. This morning it was -30 degrees (-42 with wind chill) and now with the warmth of the afternoon sun it has warmed up to a balmy -22.

I was all set to head out the door this morning. I had plopped Laney in her crib so I could go outside and start the car. The car had other plans and decided it was a good day for the battery to die. Probably because Mike isn't here. In a way, I thought to myself that this was a great opportunity to use my skills. I know how to boost a car. My dad made sure of that when I got my driver's license.

I had the same feelings the time I got a flat tire on the side of the road before I was married. I had this "I can do it" attitude. I was a woman who certainly could figure out how to change a tire. I had everything laid out and ran into a slight problem. I wasn't strong enough to get the lug nuts off the tire. Cue fire truck driving by. I had about 5 fireman hop out and take over. I will never forget that. Sitting there watching them change my tire in a few minutes. My friends were jealous.

Anyways, slightly off topic. But in a way, it was nice to know that I can figure out how to do something like that without Mike. He takes care of all that stuff. I had a friend come by and I decided to give the car a little boost. It didn't work.

The block heater cord was missing somewhere inside the engine. So, when Laney went down for a nap I bundled myself up and headed outdoors. Laying on the snow-covered ground with about an inch of clearance I stuck my head under the car and looked in vain for the cord. Thankfully I found it. Around the same time one of my neighbours must have seen me laying on the ground and probably thought I'd been run over by the car. It must have looked funny seeing me laying on the side of the road with my head underneath the front bumper. He came over and thankfully had a battery charger. He saved the day. My car is running, recharging the battery as we speak. Lesson learned. I will plug my car in when the weather is cold.

Don't you just love neighbourly neighbours? It was a good reminder that I need to be a better neighbour. I hated living in city neighbourhoods where no one ever spoke or knew each others names. Mike and I have gone around to meet our neighbours and we chat sometimes. We have people shovel our walks often enough and we made treats for them at Christmas.  However, I haven't really made the effort I should have to get to know them.

Do you know your neighbours? What is the atmosphere in your neighbourhood?

Keeping it real

OK. Let's be real here. I haven't made the physical changes to myself I wanted to make when I started this blog. There have been improvements in some areas, but not in others. I need to be accountable to someone other than myself. Because for some reason I've gotten into the habit of letting myself down. There, I said it. I'm used to disappointing myself.

I don't want to let you down though. My plan is to dedicate every Thursday to "Keeping it Real" where I will post photos of my progress (good or bad) along with a rating on a scale of 1 to 10.

Here we go.

Put-togetherness:

Score- 3. No makeup. Sloppy hairstyle. Comfy clothes that don't look particularly matched.

Nails:

Score- 4. Stop chewing them already.

Head to toe:

Score- 1. Because I'm not a healthy weight and I am determined that I have nowhere to go but up (well, technically down on the scale)

Inches from start:

Today is the start date so nothing to report.

Bust: 0
Hips: 0
Waist: 0