Six Pounds

Maybe it's not a huge deal to anyone else. 

Maybe I'm just too excited to care!

I've lost six pounds in two weeks!!!

I get to drink this really yummy shake for breakfast which, unlike Slim Fast and all those other "weight loss" drinks, actually curbs my appetite. 

And it's REALLY GOOD. It's actually not a weight loss product either...more on that another time.

I feel really good and I know that I'm going to keep losing weight. 

Good-bye old me, Hello Zrii!

You Want Me To Do What Now?

Training. (Running.)

Week Four

I thought it would be okay since I've been running every week and running longer intervals each time.

I feel great now (twenty minutes after I've finished) but when I started and saw the intervals this thing wanted me to do, I thought, "You want me to do what now? No way. I can't."

But then I stopped myself. I cut off that train of thought and quickly started telling myself,
"I can and I am."
I was already running so why not keep going?

I did it. I stopped to stretch out my legs (they were cramping in my ankles....weird) halfway through the five minute interval but I paused the program so that I didn't cheat myself (entirely) out the five minutes of running.

By the end, my lungs felt...spongy? Does that make sense? Like, I couldn't breathe and my lungs felt sticky and spongy. The only way I could breathe was by lifting my shoulders up to my ears when I inhaled and huffing when I exhaled.

I looked so cool. Not.

BUT I DID IT. I completed the entire workout. I ran and didn't give up. And I was able to do it because I asked the Lord to help me. The Lord knows how important this is to me and so He made it important to Him.

God is, and Life is, GOOD.

P.S.-If I can do it, SO CAN YOU. One of my favorite quotes, "No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping everyone on the couch."

My First Birthday As A Married Woman

5:00 AM- Neil woke up and left the room, I turned over and fell asleep again. 

 5:45AM- I was wide awake so I got up.

I walked into the kitchen and Neil had made homemade pancakes and butter syrup. 

In one of the pancakes, Neil hid a cute little message. 

"I <3 U"

It was adorable. 

7:30AM-Doctor's office. I was given two more medications to add to the regime. Whatever. 

8:30AM-I arrived at work and there was a really cute birthday card and ODWALLA BARS!!! So yummy. 

Google even had a celebration for me!
 
11:00AM-Staff Meeting. We had a team building activity where we had to make PB&J sandwiches. We don't like boring Staff Meetings. 

12:00PM- A Loverly little friend of mine took me to go get some birthday ice cream. Seeing as how me and most dairy products don't get along all that well (plus, sugar is just not my friend) I had half of an ice cream cupcake. Yum.

I could only really eat half. More than that...I would have exploded. But it was yummy.

3:00PM- I skipped class. It's my birthday, I do what I want.
During this time I went home and took a nap. I cannot get enough sleep lately! I love sleep. LOVE IT.

4:30PM Neil and I went to Nickel City. SO FUN.
Have you ever been? It was a total throwback to childhood. Not that I spent much time in arcades but...It was awesome. I even won the jackpot on one of the games...it was our last two nickles.Vegas, here I come. (Ha, yeah right.)


6:00PM- Texas Roadhouse

Yum. Need I say more? Actually, yes. It was a great meal, don't get me wrong but, if you saw my last post then you'd know that beef is rough for me. Neil had ribs that literally fell off the bone. He said they were good but wasn't sure they were "award winning". Our waitress was really trying to hurry us along and I didn't like that. Regardless, the food was not bad. It wasn't AMAZING but it wasn't bad either. We left full and satisfied.

7:15ish (I lost track of time...) We stopped by Redbox and picked up Pitch Perfect. We got home and watched a movie and had a very nice evening.

Overall, it was a really awesome birthday. So many people wrote thoughtful and kind messages to me and really focused on making my birthday a great day. More than anyone though was Neil. He made me feel so cared and special and loved. I am so grateful for him and for all of the work he does for me. I'm grateful that he is mine forever.

OH! I almost forgot! Neil gave me a Spa Day- A 90 minute massage! Yes, please! He also got me an iPhone dock/radio and Razzles. (I really like the movie 13 Going On 30...)

Birthday Girl!! (Me...)

Thanks For Making Me A Fighter

I've had a couple of suggestions that I should write about my medical struggles and what exactly that means for my life.

So, I know I've mentioned this before on my blog but I guess I haven't gone into much detail. I've included links for each different medical malady that I have just in case you'd like to see more information about each one. 

So, I've always had struggles with food. Feeling like I was going to be sick after eating a normal sized meal, having pressure in my stomach after eating certain foods, heartburn started as young as eleven. (That's the first time I remember having heartburn at least...)

I never really assigned a reason to all the craziness with food until I moved to college and realized it was a bigger problem than I thought. 

After a few (okay, so really it was A LOT) of tests over the span of a year and a half and two different doctors/surgeons  I was diagnosed with the following (in order of discovery):

1. PCOS- Poly cystic ovarian syndrome

*This is why I am also Insulin Resistant (different than Diabetic)

2. GERD-Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease

3. IBS- Irritable Bowel Syndrome 

Now the breakdown:

PCOS

This, apparently, is common in women of this generation. There is a range of "how bad" your PCOS can be. I'm on the "higher"  end of the scale. PCOS also increases the chances of being insulin resistant. Together, this makes it harder than normal to lose weight. Want to know the frustrating thing? Losing weight is one of the TOP ways to manage your PCOS and make it less of an issue. Do you see the catch 22 there? Yeah. It's annoying. On top of having a hard time losing weight, I will have a harder time with pregnancies. (According to my doctor.) The more weight I lose the better but according to another doctor I've seen the only way to know how hard getting pregnant will be is by how "regular and heavy" my menstrual cycle is. (I apologize if that was TMI for you.)

Medication: None really, except for Metformin but Metformin screws with my stomach...thank you, IBS.

Fixable?: Losing weight and taking Iron supplements are two ways to deal with it but as far as my research as shown, there is no "cure".

GERD

This is the bane of my existence. Heartburn all day everyday. I have a medication that soothes the burn but because my lower sphincter muscle is all messed up, stomach acid is constantly "splashing" up into/onto my esophagus burning the tissue. If this continues (and gets progressively worse) it is possible to have stomach/esophagus cancer. Joy. The meds help to soothe the burn and prevent massive amounts of acid coming up BUT they don't lessen my chances of cancer. Again, joy. There is a surgery that basically fixes the esophagus but my current surgeon didn't write a convincing enough report for the insurance company, therefore no surgery just yet. There is a surgeon that would do it but he is about 6 hours away so we're looking to when I could have the surgery done...probably next year.

Medication: Nexium, Pepcid and Tums

Fixable?: With a 90% success rate, a Trans-oral Fundoplication can reconstruct the sphincter (essentially) making the acid remain where it should.

IBS

Oi. This took forever to diagnose. Finally, they figured it out. Basically, I need to be near a bathroom at all times. It's highly obnoxious and semi embarrassing. I won't go into details because if you checked out the link up top, you'll have a good idea of what it does to a body.

Medication: Dicyclomine (3x a day)

Fixable?: As far as I have been told, no. 

Because of the GERD and the IBS there are a lot of things I "can't/shouldn't" eat. 

Here is the short list:

Berries: Mainly blue, rasp, black and boysen. Strawberries are okay if they are sweet. 

Citrus: Orange, Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit and Pineapple (yikes). I can do "Cuties" if they are sweet and fully ripe. How do I know if they're ripe? They're a little bit "loose" feeling. Not mushy but loose.

NO CHERRIES!: Oh my gosh, I get SO SICK. The only kind I have had without getting sick is the fresh black kind. Even then, I can only have a few before I start to get sick.

Coconut (it makes my throat swell up)

Peppers: Bell (any color) jalapeno etc. 

Onions

Fresh Garlic (powder is ...okayish)

 Pork: (most people are sad because I can't eat bacon but growing up just the smell of bacon gave me a headache and made me sick. I've never liked it so I'm totally okay with this). Pulled pork (like the Cafe Rio kind) is okay, but I have to be careful not to eat too much. 

BBQ Sauce

Tomatoes (again, it depends on the kind. Cherry and grape

 Beef: This is okay, in fact I eat beef a lot but my stomach takes FOREVER to digest it. But, I like steak way too much to give it up entirely. I just can't eat it everyday.


What I LOVE to Eat...
Mangoes
Celery & Peanut Butter
Cuties (If they're ripe. I'm totally obsessed.)

Cucumbers
Carrots
Eggs
Other things...

I do have to say that I am blessed.

I don't have to fight cancer or any immune diseases.

I fight my health battles and I will win. I know because the Lord is on my side.

So, to quote Christina Aguilera, thank you, medical issues, for making me a fighter.

P.S.-Update, I've been put back on Metformin as of today. This will be an adventure.

Family Home Evening: Temple Square Edition

Firstly, I'd like to explain what "Family Home Evening" is. A simple definition is this: a special time set aside each week that brings family members together and strengthens their love for each other, helps them draw closer to Heavenly Father, and encourages them to live righteously.

We were invited by our neighbors to go to Temple Square for FHE.

Temple Square during Christmas is simply wonderful. 

There are nativities ALL OVER the place, lights carefully wrapped around just about every tree and the Spirit of Christ is so very present there.  I love that when you go there, you are reminded of what Christmas celebrates: The coming of the Lord to this world, as humble as it was, and His being the Savior of it, as majestic as that is.  What better way is there to bring family and friends together than by celebrating Christ?

Here are some pictures from our outing:

We hopped on TRAX in Sandy. It was really cold so I wore my scarf around my head....I got some funny looks.

The Frosts-our neighbors. :)

Massive tent tree.

Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus  on the reflection pool. This is my favorite part of Temple Square at Christmas.

A tree.

It was a grand ol' time. :)

Rice Pudding

Image compliments of Google.

Since Neil is the Rice Pudding magician around here, I asked him if he uses a specific recipe.

He said he had one once but that he couldn't find it so he mainly improvises. 

Well, I found this recipe online and asked him if it would work and it did but then he added some twists.

So, here is the recipe we used/ made up.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cups of uncooked white rice
• 2 cups of Milk
• 1 tablespoons of butter
• 1/3 cup of white (regular) sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 egg yolks (beaten) OR 1 whole egg (beaten)
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

Directions:

1. Bring 1 & 1/2 cup of water to a boil in a saucepan; stir rice into boiling water. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. 
2. In a different saucepan/small pot, combine 1 1/2 cups of the cooked rice, 1 & 1/2 cups of milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy (15-20 minutes). 
3. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup of milk and beaten egg(s).
4. Cook 2 minutes more stirring constantly. 
5. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. 
6. Garnish with  nutmeg and cinnamon as desired. 

You can serve rice pudding hot or cold. I, personally, prefer to eat a nice warm bowl of rice pudding. 

Enjoy!

Christmas Festivities

Date nights and shopping trips, were mainly all about Christmas last month. 

We bought "The Polar Express" one day and decided it would be fun to snuggle up, watch the movie and for a treat, RICE PUDDING. 

YUM. Neil is one master chef when it comes to rice pudding. (He's a master chef in regards to many dishes, but that is besides the point.)

Then, it was that magical time where we got to shop for and set up Christmas!!

Our intention was to have a real tree but that fell through for some reason...I can't really remember why. Anyway, we bought a fake tree at good ol' Wal-Mart as well as some purple and gold ornaments.

Purple and gold was the main color theme for Christmas. We loved it. :)

I snagged all of this at Tai Pan trading. The trees totaled $17 ish and the sign was $6.You know how they always have trees up and they say, "Do not remove decorations from trees" ? Yeah, they only had two of those believe signs in the store and they were both on the same tree. Boo. I did what anyone would have done and took one off the tree. So there.

This frame was a wedding gift and I write seasonal messages on it. For Christmas I had Luke 2:11

Probably my favorite wreath so far. I bought the tinsel for $2.50 at Hobby Lobby, wrapped (but did not glue) it around a 97 cent piece of plumbing wrap-or something like that- from Home Depot, and the sign was $3 from Tai Pan. Because I assembled it this way, I'm able to reuse both the tinsel garland stuff and the sign and the foam tubing. It's grand.

Our first Christmas tree!!! I'm sad you can't tell what it looks like because it was so pretty if I do say so myself. Purple round ornaments with sparkly gold (but not tacky looking) reindeer ornaments (also compliments of Wal-Mart-$3ish), more of that tinsel garland stuff I used for the wreath and a twig wrapped star (Tai Pan-$7). It was just so awesome to set up a tree with my husband for the first time ever! We put the tree in the corner because we have a corner window (actually two-the cause of our heating problems but we'll get to that in  a later post) and corner windows are REALLY COOL display windows.