general musings

Good-Bye 2008

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I’m nothing if not a lemming, so when several other bloggers posted nice re-caps of their years I figured it would be a good way to break my posting hiatus.  So here it is, iKate’s year in review (in no particular order):

  • Had my first gallbladder attack
  • Spent 9 days in the hospital
  • Walked 100s of miles in training for the Breast Cancer 3-Day
  • Failed to complete all 60 miles of the walk
  • Raised over $2000 for breast cancer research
  • Spent our first week in our condo
  • Traveled for work to Baton Rouge (with a side trip to New Orleans – my first visit), Chicago, & Las Vegas (twice)
  • Weaned my daughter at 17 1/2 months
  • Moved M to a new daycare
  • Finally screwed up the courage to introduce myself to two local bloggers
  • Got a new car
  • Was blown away by my daughter nearly every day
  • Realized our house needed way more work then we thought
  • Missed our old house dearly
  • Lost 47 pounds
  • Reconnected with a ton of old friends via Facebook
  • Finally gave in to Twitter
  • Had our first (and last thus far) childless overnight in 18 months
  • Celebrated M’s 2nd birthday
  • Paid off a very substantial financial obligation
  • Visited some fabulous locally-owned restaurants; especially our beloved Bar Cento
  • Went to a concert for the first time in I-don’t-know-how-many years
  • Began seriously contemplating some ink
  • Tried to get pregnant but failed
  • Was more aware and involved in a presidential election then ever before
  • Won a political debate with my father
  • Was able to celebrate Obama’s win without too much gloating to my family
  • Celebrated the 10-year anniversary of meeting my hubby
  • Grew my own tomatoes
  • Realized just how much I love my job and how lucky I am to have it
  • Had to deal with de-skunking for the first time in my life
There is a lot more but those are some of the things that stand out for 2008.  Here’s hoping 2009 is just as full and lively!

Short and Sweet

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In the last 7 days…

Cookies: baked (and frozen lest they be inhaled prior to Christmas)

Surgery: cancelled

House: decorated

Dust: swiffered

Laundry mountain: summited

Shopping: started and finished

Holiday cards: ordered, addressed and mailed

Big-ass TV: set up

World: rocked

A week from today is my big family Christmas gathering.  After that it’s pretty low-key and low-stress.  My sister & her kids will be coming up for a couple of days to watch M during a daycare shutdown and I know M will have a blast – she adores her cousins.  p1040875

M and her cousins, the morning after Thanksgiving

From the Back of the Closet

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Please excuse the lack of posting, I had to go to Vegas for work (poor, poor me!) and was gone for 4 days. I won $47 on a free slot promo. I rock.
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At the start of 2008 my employer launched a new employee wellness program that is absolutely awesome. First they rolled out a “stop smoking” program and offered counseling and drugs (gum and the patch) for free. This was a bit ironic as we are a no-smoking workplace; they screen you for nicotine when you are hired and if you test positive it’s “thanks, but no thanks – find another job”. But there were thousands of smokers grandfathered in and this program was for them, free of cost, if they wanted to use it.

Next, they added weight loss programs and gave us two options: their own doctor guided program and Weight Watchers. With WW you could do the on-line program, find a local meeting or attend one of the dozens of @work sessions they offered on our campuses. Again, this is totally without any out-of-pocket expense. On my campus alone of about 700 employees there are 170 attending the weekly meetings. We are in week 15 of the first 18-week session.

Lastly, just a few weeks ago, they rolled out the final phase: exercise. This gave us the option of using one of the several employer-run facilities or joining Curves for free (yes, they are still working on another option for an off-campus facility that is not women-only). I have no idea how many people are using this new freebie but I hear the campus gyms are crowded; I myself have joined Curves.

First let me say that this entire program is fantastic – they have succeeded in wiping out the main hurdles to wellness: time and money. Second, to sweeten the deal they added incentives: when you complete the programs and reach certain goals (10% weight loss, 100 gym visits in 10 months, etc) you get a $100 bonus. It’s beyond generous and I am so very grateful.

I joined WW@Work the day it started in my building and haven’t looked back since. I’ve been heavy my entire life but this last year I gained a so much weight I was miserable. New job, new house, new city, new stresses and I was at my heaviest ever – I weighed more then I did at 9 months pregnant. Training for the 3-day didn’t help as all that mileage left me starving and with the mentality of “I walk 7-10 miles a day – I can eat anything I want!” but with my metabolism that was disaster. I’ve done WW before, a few times, and had good results but usually got to a point where I couldn’t afford it anymore, quit, did it on my own for awhile then fell off the wagon.

Now at 15 weeks in I’ve dropped 40 pounds and weigh less then I have since sometime in 2005. Make no mistake, I still have a long way to go, but I have never had this great of success (granted, I lost 10 lbs. in the hospital, but still). 15 weeks have gone by and I have not yet had a single gain, although the weekly losses are slowing a bit. I started the 30-Day Shred before I got sick to help keep the momentum going but have not re-started since I’ve felt better and I really need to (I will post about Curves later – I’ve only gone twice because their schedule is goofy and I sweat too much to go at lunch).

The suits I bought when I started this job hang on me. My pants are beyond baggy. And, at least for one more month, we are broke.  All of this means that I’ve had to go shopping in the back of our spare closet. Luckily, like any woman who has ever struggled with weight loss I have a few sizes of things shoved in the back of the closet and I’ve started pulling out the smaller stuff. It’s a great feeling but some of these things are horribly out-dated. The cash bonus comes to us in December and it can’t come soon enough because mama needs some new clothes!

Thoughts in the afterglow

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Last night was amazing.  I was fully expecting a repeat of 2000 where we would stay up until 4 AM and fall into bed exhausted but still not knowing.  We went out to dinner because I knew if I stayed home I would be a wreck – constantly flipping channels even though polls hadn’t closed yet.  By the time M was down for the night I still wasn’t ready so we watched some recorded TV for a bit.  By the time Mark and I decided to jump in the craziness thinks were already leaning heavily for Obama.  By the time he won Ohio I about fell over from the anxiety and excitement.  When the networks announced the new POTUS-elect so early I wasn’t ready – I was still worked up and anxious so I stayed up to watch the speeches. (let’s not even mention the fact that I couldn’t drink during all of this!)

McCain managed to earn back some of my respect with his speech.  THAT was the McCain that intrigued me in 2000.  THAT was the McCain I might have supported.  THAT was the McCain who could have made this a close election.  I was glad to see him reappear and hope his attitude returns to the Senate with him.  However, those supporters to booed at the mention of Obama?  That is why McCain lost.  Tactless and classless; very much like the way the McCain campaign was run.  The contrast between those boos and the cheers that went up in Chicago when Obama mentioned McCain is exactly what won this for Obama. 

Obama supporters don’t fear or hate John McCain.  They disagree with him on several issues and want the country to go in a different direction than he was proposing to take it.  Unfortunately, McCain supporters do fear and hate Barack Obama because they were told to by the staff of the McCain campaign and especially Sarah Palin.  Lies they told about Obama’s background were repeated ad nauseam even after they were exposed as lies.  The GOP decided personal attacks were more important then discussion of issues and last night the people said enough is enough. 

Barack Obama has enormous expectations to live up to and I don’t think any human alive could possibly meet those expectations.  But, I think he has already proven he will be a fantastic President – he has inspired and motivated countless people before even taking office.  From the very beginning Obama has told people if they want a change the need to work for it – they need to go out and make things happen.  He ran a disciplined campaign, surrounded himself with the best, and asked others to work with him towards a common goal.  I can’t imagine he wouldn’t take that same attitude with him to the White House.

Rock the Vote

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Today I voted.  It was the 4th time I’ve been of voting age during a presidental election and it was by far the busiest polling place I’ve ever seen.   All told it took about an hour from arriving at the polling location to getting back to my car.  I’m anxious as as all get out today fearing a repeat of the stolen election of 2000 but am hopeful that things will run smoothly.

There was one moment at the polls that brought tears to my eyes and rose goosebumps on my skin.  There was an elderly African-American woman with a walker in front of me in line and I could tell she was struggling and tired. I found a chair for her to sit in as we waited and we chatted. I asked why she didn’t vote absentee and she straightened up and said proudly “Honey, I’ve waited my entire life to cast this vote. There was no way I wasn’t going be here in person and see my ballot go into that slot. I want to tell my grandkids and great-grandkids that I was here today.  This feels like the big moments of the Civil Rights days – change is coming but only if we all do something to help it along.”

I couldn’t agree with her more.

Trick or Treat!

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After a week of cold, rainy, windy weather the clouds broke and we had an awesome warm fall evening to trick or treat last night. M was into it for about 4 houses but we went around the block anyway – she just refused to talk to anyone.

I was told to expect about 300 kids by friends in the neighborhood. I guess they didn’t figure in all the old farts on our street who don’t participate so we saw very little traffic. Now we are stuck with a Costco-size bag of leftovers of which I can’t have any. Mark’s office will be very happy on Monday!

Updates and Such

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There is so much going on right now that I feel like we are zipping through weeks at a time.  Our vacation seems to be the carrot at the end of the stick right now.  We will be spending a week in Hilton Head in late October; we’ve never been down there in the fall and we wanted to take advantage of having no school schedules to check out a favorite destination in a new season.   We’ll also be visiting a college friend on the way home.

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This weekend is the bash to celebrate M’s 2nd birthday.  I can’t believe she will be 2 next week and can’t believe all that’s happened since we celebrated her 1st: a new house, two new daycares and a host of other transitions.  We’ll have about 15 people (including 5 kids) over on Saturday and I’m trying to get ready.  I know I will still be a psycho-Martha-Stewart-drone all morning before the party.  It’s one of the few times I’m a typical Virgo – I love party planning but I get crazy stressed about all the tiny details.  This year I’m trying to be very Zen.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

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I’ve been doing Weight Watchers @ Work for about 4 weeks and it’s going very well.  My employer is paying for it as part of our wellness initiative.  I’ve lost about 15 pounds (and have more then several left to lose) but am feeling like the last several days I’ve been stuck in a state of inertia.  I need to start working out on a more regular basis again.  So many people have praised the 30 Day Shred that I have it next on our Netflix queue.  I need a few options other than walking to get me back to a regular schedule. 

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I’m so excited about this.  I hope it pans out because I think it would be amazing!

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M was about 70% potty-trained via the lazy-parent method at her old daycare (this method is where you let the daycare staff do the training and just follow their lead when at home. I highly recommend it).  We have never really tried to train her but she had been interested in sitting on the potty for several months and in the last month had actually started using it with regularity.  With the switch to the new daycare/preschool she isn’t using the potty at all.  I need to talk to them about working with her some more now she is settled in.  She’s there for 40 hours a week and if they don’t work with her she’ll never get it.  I don’t feel she needs to be out of diapers yet, but I also don’t want to loose all the momentum and interest she had gained before the switch. 

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I go to Chicago for 5 days next week, leaving the day after M’s actual birthday.  I’m looking forward to it but also hate to be gone that long for work.  It’s a long time to be gone from my family and I feel guilty for leaving Mark as a single parent for that long.  The guilt is all mine, he is a wonderful and more than capable parent who has not said one word about going it alone for that long, but I still feel bad.  Plus, although we get reimbursed, the trip is a pretty big outlay of cash and that’s something we don’t have much of right now (2 more payments and a major debt is cleared and I cannot wait).

Happy Birthday Belly!

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I am wrapping up a nice birthday weekend here in Cleveland, full of great local food.  Saturday night we went to Pier W on Michelle’s recommendation and had a superb feast.  While we waited for our table I had a Bombay Sapphire Cucumber Lemonade which was a refreshing new taste combo and Mark had a Grey Goose and cranberry which had to be sent back for more cranberry – as served it was basically a glass of straight vodka.

We were not seated by the windows as I had requested when making the reservation but we were situatied at a table with a great view, nonetheless.  We decided to go all out and get two of everything and share. Mark started with the lobster bisque which was incredible.  I had to wrestle the dish away from him to get my share, then I had to restrain myself from licking the bowl clean.  I had the crab cakes which while very good, weren’t anything special.  

All week I had been thinking about the rave reviews Michelle had given the king crab legs and I was sure that was what I was going to order.  However, there were so many good things on the menu I opted for the bouillabaisse while Mark took on the crab legs (he had to promise to share several bites with me).  I’ve never had bouillabaisse before and I was glad I tried it here – the broth was savory and full of herbs and the fish and shellfish were plentiful.  Mark’s crab was sweet and succulent, the legs were enormous and there was more than enough meat to share.  While I was glad to try it I was happy with my decision not to order it as my entree – it was too much of one thing for me.  

We finished off the meal with two shared desserts.  Mark got the chocolate-peanut butter bomb, which while very good got his usual reaction – not enogh peanut butter.  I had the chocolate crème brûlée which was amazing. Mark thought it seemed like more of a pudding but I loved it and it was a huge dose of chocolate that I wanted.  We liked Pier W and it was a good “special occasion” place. Michelle’s recommendations have pointed us to many restaurants I don’t think we’d ever have found on our own.

Today we lazed around the house – Mark made me pancakes for breakfast and I got a nice long nap.  This evening we decided to have an impromptu early dinner out.  We were going to stay close to home but the Shaker Heights restaurant we went to appeared to have closed down.  Faced with a choice of what to do I declared that we should go have my favorite Cleveland eats: Bar Cento pommes frites.  After a plate of those oh-so-good potatoes Mark had the daily special of lasagna which he said was the best he’s ever had and I went with the heirloom tomato margherita pizza which was, as always, incredible.  I love their crispy crust!

While we were at Cento we saw both Chef Sawyer and his wife, the fabulous Chef’s Widow, who was working the bar.  Mark kept trying to get me to go introduce myself but my shyness won out and I never did. Besides, I felt a bit awkward and stalker-ish about going up to her and saying “Hi!  I read your blog all the time!”  How are you supposed to introduce yourself in real life to someone who’s blog you read all the time?  I need a blogger etiquette class.

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Thank you to my parents who gave me money for a pedicure to take care of my nasty feet.  The pedicurist at Dino Palmieri had her work cut out for her but did a hell of a job! (thanks Erika, for the reccomendation to this salon; I love my new haircut!)

Thank you to my co-workers who got me a gift certificate to Pier W – it helped make the final bill a bit easier to handle!

And thanks to my hubby I will be taking this class soon.  I can’t wait.

Ewww!

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You know what happens to blisters after they drain and dry out?  The top layer of skin eventually peels off. And when those blisters are UNDER thick callouses then a huge, thick layer of skin peels off exposing tender new flesh underneath.  

Great times, people.  Great times.

Stay Tuned

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I have so much to chat about but not enough time lately.  The 3-day is looming large at the end of this week.  I spent some time last weekend and Monday with my mom who is recovering from surgery.  I have to figure out what to pack and how I’m getting to the start of the walk at 5 AM on Friday.  M is starting to use the potty on a regular basis.  I need to get birthday invitations out. 

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Stay tuned.  I will write more next week.