Cute Cat Saves Economy!

Well, at least that's my hope, as I embed the following video for your Monday morning pleasure:



That's my hand reaching up from the bottom left, adorned with a wristwatch given to me by sweet hubby Steve. We have both gotten in the habit of getting down on the floor and playing with Princess in the evening. As you can see, her "official" play area is small but potent! That mat is hollow and can easily be filled - and refilled - with the highest grade catnip available to mankind!

Which makes it a lot easier for me to let you know that I gained back a little of the loss from last week - 1.6 pounds, so back up to 189.6. Oh well! Down a lot one week, up a little the next, that seems to be my pattern, so I'm not worried about it.

Also, here's something else that cheered me up - I found an old file on my computer with my measurements from last April, when I started all this. My hips then were 55 inches - and today they are 47!!!

Even if I never lose another pound, I'm thrilled with that result!

What a weekend!

Well, the good news is I lost 2.2 pounds - weight is now 188.0, yay! I hate to say it, but I think going back to Curves was a good decision. It may not be the best place to work out, but it's the most convenient place for me right now, and if I alternate it with my Fabulous Downtown Lunch Hour Walks, I should see some good results.

Now for the bad news - my husband and I were puttering around the house yesterday, enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon and even seriously contemplating some, ahem, romantic activity, when ... RING!!! It was my mother-in-law - she'd just fallen asleep at the wheel and plowed into a parked car!

So we had to drop the romance, and get down to business*. First we drove over to the scene of the accident. Wow, it really looked awful. I had thought, ok, going slow, hitting a parked car, probably nothing serious. But mom-in-law's car is a Honda - and she ran into the back of a Suburban! The Suburban had maybe a couple of scratches - but the poor little Honda was smashed all the way in on the front!

The windshield hadn't shattered but it was a maze of cobwebby cracks, and BOTH airbags had deployed. That's what caused mom-in-law's injuries (looks like they're mainly going to be deep bruises - apparently no internal injuries, thanks be to God!), but man, imagine what it would have been like without the airbags. Shudder!

After spending hours in the ER waiting room, surrounded by other sick and/or cranky people (all of whom took great and noisy pleasure in watching the Super Bowl - including a resident who kept wandering out of surgery, in full scrubs, to check the score), we went home, only to get another phone call saying she might be released tonight.

So poor hubby went back (letting me sleep the peaceful sleep of the guilty-but-not-guilty-enough-to-get-back-out-of-bed), only to return an hour later after being told they were keeping her overnight. Hospitals! Gotta love 'em, right?

Anyway, if you're a praying sort (and if you're reading a blog called the Curvy Catholic, one hopes you would be!), please keep mom-in-law Anne - and devoted hubby Steve - in your prayers today. I think everyone will be OK, but we're all sleep-deprived zombies this morning!

Did get some nice videos at an Eastern Orthodox Vespers this weekend - here is a nice one from the very beginning - listen to the bells ringing in the background:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYnQ8RTw0_8

(note - it's still being uploaded as I post this - sorry if it doesn't play right away. I'll come back later & see if I can fix it.)

So - how was YOUR weekend?

(*though any marriage that can't survive a situation like this probably doesn't have any romance to it anyway!)

Down a pound - and back to Curves????

Yes, that's right - I lost a whole entire pound (weigh-in: 190.2) last week. And yes, that's right - after all my fussin' and feudin', I'm back to working out at Curves regularly.

What can I say? The proof is in the pudding - more specifically, in the pudding-like flesh that was developing under my arms!

See, I quit Curves for a whole month, and went for a nice long walk every day on my lunch hour - which felt really great and wonderful (not to mention FREEEEE!).

But - with all that walking - I didn't lose any weight! (well, except due to the "D-word", but I ain't countin' that!) I did maintain my weight loss - so maybe the walking is best for when I want to let my body absorb the loss of flab, and work what's left into more pleasing shapes.

Yet during the last week, before I caved in and went back, I was definitely feeling the lack of movement in my muscles. And craving my Curves circuit!!!

Sigh. For better or for worse, the Curves workout, for all its flaws, does seem to have an effect on the fat.

So for now - at least for another month - I'll do the 3-times-a-week circuit, and just do whatever I can to keep it from being boring.

And I'm definitely NOT going to stop walking! Especially when I can use my wonderful digital camera, given to me by my wonderful husband, to take kick-ass videos and post them to Youtube - like this one:



Unfortunately, as noted in the Update I added to the description, that video had a sad aftermath - I found out that there was indeed a fatality in that accident I saw. A woman named Gwendolyn Coleman, age 58, of Burbank, CA, was struck and killed by that DASH bus while trying to get across the street.

And if I hadn't gotten in good enough shape to walk that route every morning, I would never have known about it. It wasn't splashed all over the news or anything. If you're not a celebrity, nobody cares in this town. But I care. Rest in God's peace, Gwendolyn, and may He bless your family and friends.

Irony, thy name is Curves!

OK, I was up a little bit again this week - weighed in at 191.2.

So I says to my husband (shown here napping with Princess, the cat who adores him and imitates his every move), I says, "Hey, maybe I'll try going to Curves again this week. You know, just to see if it really makes any difference."

And my husband says to me, he says, "Hey, yeah, that's a great idea!"

So I goes in to work, all psyched up to do my first Curves workout in - what? - a month?

I gots my shoes, I gots my socks, I got my hideous purple shorts - in short, I am ready to WORK OUT, baby!

Only to get to the door and see the following sign: "Closed in honor of Martin Luther King Day."

Whoopsy daisy! Forgot about that li'l detail, yes indeedy!

Oh well, as Scarlett O'Hara* famously opined, "Tomorrow is another day!"

And I really do feel the need to change my workout again. Yesterday I did about 40 minutes on the Tony Little Gazelle out in the driveway. And it felt really good! So although I've been enjoying my daily walks in L.A., I think it's time to switch back to Curves, for a while at least. Get those biceps and triceps and quadriceps and quintupleceps in shape again.

So get ready, Curves of Bunker Hill - I'm comin' back! 'Cause tomorrow is another day! (And also 'cause I'm still paying you $39 bucks a month, so I should probably get something out of it.)

*apologies to the politically correct amongst you for referring to Scarlett O'Hara on MLK day - not to even mention the dawn of the Obamanation tomorrow! Mea culpa, y'all!

When is a gain not a gain?

225 Pounds
Originally uploaded by stoogeswoman

When the previous week's loss was caused by the "D-word", that's when!

No, I won't repeat the way-too-TMI info from last week (you can read it yourself anyway!). Let's just say I'm 99.9% recovered from that disgusting parasite, and move on - shall we?

Anyway, as predicted, I did gain back some of my faux weight loss from last week - two pounds, to be exact - but I'm actually counting it as a loss. I weighed in at 190.6, and two weeks ago my weight was 190.8. So if you don't count that unfortunate episode, I actually LOST 0.2 pounds.

And I'm back on track! And one thing hasn't changed since last week - I am grateful for my renewed health, and trying to maintain that attitude. Losing weight is great, as long as you're doing it because you WANT to and not because your body just won't keep anything in.

Hmm....well, I did say I wasn't going to talk about that anymore, didn't I? Nyuk nyuk!

Here's something more interesting - I have been going absolutely nuts with the digital camera my wonderful husband gave me for Christmas! And as promised, I'm going to start posting at least one photo here every week. How about the requisite "Fat Me and Not-So-Fat Me" photos that seem to be a part of every halfway decent weight loss blog? Here's the first one:

This was sometime early last year (2008). My husband and I went to the Getty Museum to see the Icons of the Sinai exhibit. My weight then was about 225 or 230 - I'm not 100% sure because at the time I wasn't worrying about it too much - just enjoying being with my handsome hubby out in the sunshine!

Now here's a more recent photo -- see any difference? This is from about two weeks ago - at @ 195 pounds:

Not bad, eh? I do kind of miss the long blonde hair; but notice I'm no longer wearing the ankle-length skirt? Wow, I actually have LEGS under there!

And the difference between these photos is about a year - and about 30 pounds. Not a bad way to spend the year.

I still have a long way to go, but I feel so much better -- and healthier now. I haven't really changed that much *inside* but my *outsides* are lookin' pretty good, I think! (Tsk! brag brag brag!)

By the way, I'm still struggling to figure out this photoblogging stuff, so please excuse the crapulence of my formatting here. I'll get it worked out! Oh, and if you're wondering, "Where's the CATHOLIC stuff, dagnab it???", check out my channel at Youtube - I've uploaded a few videos there showcasing my wonderful Byzantine Catholic Church. Enjoy!

When you're slidin' into first, and you're feelin' something burst ...

Sigh - yeah, that's right, folks - like the sensitive-yet-bratty kid in the classic 1989 movie "Parenthood", I'm suffering from a bout of ... DIARRHEA!

Happy New Year! (toot toot!)

If you're of a sensitive nature, you may not want to read any farther ... consider yourself warned! (Of course, if you were really that sensitive, you wouldn't be reading MY blog - nyuk nyuk!)

I had taken the whole week off work and was looking forward to a happy vacation at home, puttering around doing "housewife"-type things (well - everything except cleaning!). I had bought some new yarn and printed out a couple of interesting patterns and planned to spend some quality time knitting, alternated with brisk walks in the park and daily exercise on my Rebounder.

But at 2 a.m. on Wednesday, December 31, 2008, all those plans came to an abrupt halt. I woke up with that unmistakeable feeling that something, somewhere deep inside, was very, very unhappy and wanted to "Get out. NOW!"

I went in the bathroom and spent a very miserable 45 minutes or so alternately spewing from both ends.

And from then on, just got worse - because not only was *I* sick as that poor proverbial dog - my husband woke up and discovered he was coming down with a really bad cold. Sneezing, sore throat, coughing, the works.

So instead of a romantic New Year's Eve toasting each other with champagne, we spent the next 48 hours in our respective illness-induced stupors, kept from total paralysis only by the insistence of our cat, Princess, that we continue to feed and/or pay attention to her. At about 7:30 p.m. we toasted each other with Mucinex and Pepto-Bismol, and tottered off to our respective sickbeds.

Still - as I told my husband at one point during the Twilight Zone Marathon on the SciFi Channel (the only thing that kept our minds from totally atrophying during the ordeal), if I had to be sick on New Year's Eve, I couldn't think of anyone else I'd rather be sick with.

Oh, and the weight loss? Well, for a couple of days there I was down to 185 - which didn't cheer me up as much as you might think, since I knew full well it was all water and would come back as soon as I recovered. I did feel well enough to go to the WW meeting on Saturday morning. However, I kept my shoes on as sort of a "handicap". I weighed in at 188.6, which did get me that much-desired 7th 5-pound star (actually, Flora gave me 9 loose ones, since my WW bookmark is sadly decrepit from being carried around in my purse all the time).

I was glad to get it, but to be honest, I felt a little bit like the Mark McGwire of weight loss! But I'm sure I'll feel better next week when I regain all of it plus an extra five pounds for insurance.

KIDDING!!! (I hope!) But seriously, this did give me a much-needed reminder that just "losing weight" isn't the be-all and end-all of life. Sometimes losing weight is a BAD thing. Focus on staying healthy. Focus on eating good things that are good for you. Focus on exercising every day. And let the weight take care of itself - it always will, anyway.

So how about you? Hope your New Year's was better than mine! Leave a comment and let me know!

2008 Year In Review!

I know, I know - I really hate those "Year in Review" filler pieces, and I bet you do too. But hey - everyone else is doing it. So why not the Curvy Catholic?

Here goes - my PERSONAL top 5 news stories of 2008!

5. Curvy Catholic loses over 10% of her body weight!

That's right - and with this week's weight loss of 1.8 pounds (yay!), she's finally in sight of that elusive, apparently extremely hard to obtain, 7th 5-pound star from Weight Watchers, to add to my official Weight Watchers bookmark!

4. Curvy Catholic disses Curves, several times!

(Not really "news", per se, if you've been faithfully reading this blog!)


3. Curvy Catholic's cat, Princess, maintains control of her territory!

Yes, Princess's section of Reseda, CA is safe from marauding neighborhood cats, dogs, birds and crickets, thanks to her untiring efforts to mark every square inch of our back AND front yards. (Ants, however, seem to be immune.)

2. Curvy Catholic's house is invaded by ants!

Yeah ... ever since the torrential and FRIGID downpours of the past couple of weeks, it's been Ant City U.S.A. around here. Helpful household hint: Cinnamon does NOT get rid of ants. (Smells nice, though.)

And -

1. (drum roll, please:

Curvy Catholic buys clothes without the letter "X" in the size!

Yep, that's right! And last week I actually bought a pair of size 10 Hanes undies at Walgreens ... off the rack! And they fit! Wowserino!!!

Down side of that: at first I went nuts buying everything I could find that fit me, because it DID fit me. But you know what? There's an awful lot of UGLEE clothes out there lately! I spent most of today at the Northridge Mall, and only found ONE top I would consider wearing in public (then ditched it because the line was too freakin' long).

Sigh. So here's one of my New Year's resolutions (I'll give you some more next week) - I'm gonna at least TRY to knit at least ONE nice top for myself, sometime in 2009. ("nice" being completely a matter of my own opinion!)

Meanwhile - hope your New Year's Eve celebration is peaceful, sane and happy! And if you're one of the many people who will be alone on New Year's Eve - well, I've been there, many times. Don't despair - it could be worse, and it won't last forever. Trust me. New friends are out there, just waiting to meet you, in 2009.

(P.S. Forgot to mention another COOL 2008 story - which will impact this blog in 2009: My wonderful husband gave me a digital camera for Christmas!!! Let the award-winning photoblogging begin (as soon as I get the software loaded, nyuk nyuk!)!)