Refugees

We had a massive ice storm on Thursday. The weather had been weird. It wasn't cold enough to snow, but not warm enough to be pure rain, so it froze. We lost internet and cable first, but didn't really think much about it. However, around 2:30am on Friday we lost power. Ok again, not really a biggie. It will be back on soon, right?

So we get up on Friday morning and the whole side of the house (where the garages are) was a solid sheet of ice. The garage doors were frozen shut. Around 11:00 Geek was able to get them open and clear off the drive. We realized we'd lost cell phone service. Still no sign of power. He was able to make it to a friend's house who had been listening to the radio. They said no power til at least Sunday at the earliest. Our friend was taking his kids to his parents to hunker down. So now what do we do?

It was bad. They were setting up emergency shelters. The whole area (almost 350,000 people) were without power. The last place I wanted to go was to a shelter. No way.

We packed up the boys and make the trek to Salem to our friend Mike's. The boys are happy since they get to see their friend Reggie. It wasn't pleasant - the car ride was rough (tells me I'm still not entirely ready to come off bedrest yet. Bum) But we're here and warm.

We had to leave the bunny, so I'm worried about him being in the house with no heat, but hopefully he'll be ok. We gave him lots of hay and water, and added a blanket to his tunnel, so I'm hoping that will be enough. I'm worried about a couple of our friends who are having a time of it. One of our friends went to a house where the generator ran out of fuel and the cars were out of fuel. Another went to her dad's in NH (the part that did still have power) but her husband was at a funeral and didn't know what was happening. So I'm definitely thinking of them right now (both have small kids, so I really feel for them here.)

Looks like we're here through the weekend.

Christmas tree 2008

Christmas tree 2008

Christmas has arrived at the Jones home.

Presents haven't been bought, but Christmas is here - so that helps :)

Pregnancy update again

For those of you bored of this topic, feel free to skip. :)

I'm still on bedrest for this week and at least Tuesday next week. There's an ultrasound scheduled for Friday and a doctor's appointment for next Tuesday. With any luck things are moving as they should, up. I honestly don't know how other women cope with being laid up like this. It's driven me nuts!! I was able to sit up and direct my kitchen this weekend which helped a lot. I simplified the menu, so there wasn't a huge amount for Paul to cook. Even so, there's still a lot for one person to do. I over-did it a bit on Friday to try to help him out. It didn't seem like much (empty and reload dishwasher, trash out the fridge for new food arriving) but apparently it was, as I felt a bit off Saturday. However, that was nothing compared to Saturday evening.

I'm usually very careful about where I let the dogs sit on me. They need to stay off my stomach. Buddy was in a spot that I thought was ok, until Paul made a noise and he launched himself off me to go see. All his weight launched into my lower abdomen and then he launched himself off like it was a springboard. OUCH!! It started some of the worst cramps yet and I seriously thought it was time for the ER. I was also afraid the babi got hurt as there wasn't much movement that evening compared to the day before. However I decided that since there was no blood to wait and see how I felt. Sunday was still not the best but I still wanted to wait and see how things were going. The cramping wasn't as bad, still no blood and some movement. We also had folks coming for a photoshoot, and I didn't want to cancel.

The shoot went well, which made us all very happy, and things seemed to simmer down for me. After some chocolate cake, lots of movement and kicking was felt, so I'm not as concerned. The "cramping" that started last night was in fact pain from muscles not really wanting to stretch in my midsection. That I can live with. :)

To save what's left of my sanity I started working remotely last week. I'm quite happy about that, as at least I'm no longer chewing up sick time. Now the trick is to stay stress-free. Even with the bit of the job I'm doing it can be stressful. The good news is it's hard to be stresed out when there are warm pugs snoring happily in your lap. I will still need to sort out my time off and get the doctor to fax over documentation, but that should be relatively easy.

Not even born yet...

and this kid is already causing grief. :)

The ultrasound last week showed a very healthy little boy in there. While he's healthy, Mom's not so much.

Starting on Sunday I started cramping rather badly. I thought it might be due to the fact the office was 87 degrees (83 with the door wide open and fan blasting on high) so I thought maybe I was dehydrated (even though I was drinking tons). Nope. Not it. The cramping continued on Monday. It was pretty intense at work, but I was hoping it was a growth spurt or something, so didn't say anything about it. In the car the cramps were steady - almost 10-25 minutes apart. I made a deal with the Evil Overlord. I'd lay down in bed and behave if he'd stop the cramping. That worked until I tried to get up on Tuesday. It was still totally bad. I ended up staying home and flat out to keep the cramping at bay.

Today was the doctor appointment. I did have some good news, heart was strong, the tape measure came out for the first time, bloodwork from last week came back fine, the quad screen was negative and even the Down syndrome risk was really low.

The bad news is I have placenta previa. The bleeding started today. It's still light, so no one's really stressed, but this does mean I'm off work for at least a week. I can't work out at all, and have to stay horizontal and stress-free. I'll go for weekly ultrasounds for a bit and have an appointment next week. If anything gets worse, I need to call immediately. So not entirely happy but rest is about all I can do. The doc's reasonably convinced it's going to resolve itself, we just need to wait for things to grow enough to lift the placenta up. So what to do in the meantime. I wonder if I can play Oblivion and stay relaxed and not get stressed playing it.

Training

I haven't really said much about training in a while. If at all actually ...

Right now, I'm in the best shape of my life. Honestly. I can run 5 miles, I can do 50+ military style push ups in one go, I weigh 203lbs, and have 21% body fat.

It's all rather new to me - 2008 has been the year I went from 255lbs (more in 2007), 35% body fat index, and last January I managed a whole 7 push ups in a fitness test, when I did the "Biggest Loser" program at the gym (I came second place in the guys team). Summer of 2006 my doctor told me I was at risk of high blood pressure. At 27.

I have a personal trainer, Matt, and a work out buddy, Michelle. Matt hooked us up, and I don't think he knew what he was going to create when he did - we motivate each other, push each other and keep each other honest about our food and our exercise. We even have the same birthday.

Recently, Michelle and I talked at a weight loss seminar held at our gym, as a favor to Matt, and have motivated a bunch more people to push themselves beyond the limits they set in their head.

Next January, both Michelle and I will be doing the Biggest Loser program again, but not to loose weight ourselves - this year we will be captaining teams, and providing motivation - we both think it's important for the people in the program to see that *real* people with *real* weight problems can not only lose the weight, but become so passionate about keeping it off.

There are talks of doing a triathlon next year, but I'm not sure I'm strong enough in the swimming to train for that - I may just have to bite the bullet and try.

Yesterday, I donated 6 pairs of 38" wasted jeans. They were replaced with a pair of 34" waste jeans. I have XXL T Shirts that are sitting dusty, and now I have L shirts.

Before 2008, and even during the first quarter of 2008, I never would have thought I could write a post like this. I've got the bug to work out. I've got the bug to get, and stay, fit. Food will *always* be a struggle for me, for whatever reason, but with Dancers help, and good planning, I'm getting better. I still refuse to call my new eating habits a "diet" - I hate that word.

Go me.

Saving on heating

When we first moved into the house, the thermostats they installed were super cheap. We had two, one upstairs, one down. There was no programming options on them, beyond on or off.

But oil was cheap two years ago, and we never had a problem with the bills, and never thought about it much - very low on our priority list.

Then last year, our oil bills went up by over $300 a pop during winter, and became harder and harder to find the cash to pay - by the end of winter, I had invested the time and money into some programmable thermostats, and we have had them all year - but not had to fill the oil tank back up yet.

Now it's cold out. It's been down close to freezing at nights, and is 40 - 60f during the day. We have a feature on the thermostats that tells us how long they have been on to maintain the temperature we're programmed.

Today, so far, the downstairs thermostat has been on for 13 minutes. It's warm in here, we're both comfortable, the puppies are happy, the bunny is happy.

We didn't lock in the oil prices this year - we were quoted $4.29 when I did think about it. I'm damned glad I didn't, as today's full tank refill was only $2.79.

They have to be on more as it gets even colder, but it's nice to know that when we're not in, the house can be 62f, instead of a much more comfortable temperature for humans :)

Still a bit discouraged

but I now have a plan. It's been such a shock to the system having to eat so much. Telling an ex-anorexic to gain weight? Talk about a mental freakout. But I think I can work this so it's not quite so traumatic. I'm going to shoot for 2250 calories. Ok so it's not 2500 but it's closer than 1700-1800 I've been doing. If I do 3 meals of 500 calories and 3 snacks at 250 calories, that will do it. It seems like a much better plan than what I've been doing which has been either binging at the end of the day to meet my calories, or pigging out at breakfast so I have a hope of making the calories. So I need to plan out my meals and snacks a bit more carefully but I think this will do it. Wish me luck.