working out for Disney

[Sans Souci]

Happy Thanksgiving

Checking in with a bodyweight cardio workout. I'd like to go for a walk later, but my husband brought some upper respiratory nastiness in and I started feeling kind of off after my workout. My sinuses have been driving me crazy all week because the weather has been all over the place, too. Luckily, we just buy a precooked Thanksgiving dinner, so it takes an hour to get it all on the table. I did make some tasty cinnamon pecan scones this morning, too.

My brother, who lives in FL, invited me to visit him and meet my new niece. I started talking about potential dates and he sent me links to the Airbnb houses near him that his ex-gf from Illinois owns and told me I can stay there. Am I rude for thinking if you invite someone to visit you, it's an invite to stay at your house? He lives in a 3 br house. I just dropped the text exchange and changed the subject. If I have to pay for a hotel room, it's going to be quick visits at his house with the rest of the time doing my own thing. There will not be free babysitting so he and his GF can go out on a date or diaper changing. I would absolutely do that if I was staying with him, but not if I am paying for a hotel room in Naples.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Happy Thanksgiving

Checking in with a bodyweight cardio workout. I'd like to go for a walk later, but my husband brought some upper respiratory nastiness in and I started feeling kind of off after my workout. My sinuses have been driving me crazy all week because the weather has been all over the place, too. Luckily, we just buy a precooked Thanksgiving dinner, so it takes an hour to get it all on the table. I did make some tasty cinnamon pecan scones this morning, too.

My brother, who lives in FL, invited me to visit him and meet my new niece. I started talking about potential dates and he sent me links to the Airbnb houses near him that his ex-gf from Illinois owns and told me I can stay there. Am I rude for thinking if you invite someone to visit you, it's an invite to stay at your house? He lives in a 3 br house. I just dropped the text exchange and changed the subject. If I have to pay for a hotel room, it's going to be quick visits at his house with the rest of the time doing my own thing. There will not be free babysitting so he and his GF can go out on a date or diaper changing. I would absolutely do that if I was staying with him, but not if I am paying for a hotel room in Naples.

I think it all depends on the dynamics of your relationship and whether an invitation would also be a place to stay. I would not be staying with my brother if invited to come visit but I know others who would have that with their siblings if presented with such a situation. I also like having my space so I prefer it when I'm not expected to stay. I do agree about not being roped in for babysitting and diaper changes.

 

[Songbird76]

Happy Thanksgiving

Checking in with a bodyweight cardio workout. I'd like to go for a walk later, but my husband brought some upper respiratory nastiness in and I started feeling kind of off after my workout. My sinuses have been driving me crazy all week because the weather has been all over the place, too. Luckily, we just buy a precooked Thanksgiving dinner, so it takes an hour to get it all on the table. I did make some tasty cinnamon pecan scones this morning, too.

My brother, who lives in FL, invited me to visit him and meet my new niece. I started talking about potential dates and he sent me links to the Airbnb houses near him that his ex-gf from Illinois owns and told me I can stay there. Am I rude for thinking if you invite someone to visit you, it's an invite to stay at your house? He lives in a 3 br house. I just dropped the text exchange and changed the subject. If I have to pay for a hotel room, it's going to be quick visits at his house with the rest of the time doing my own thing. There will not be free babysitting so he and his GF can go out on a date or diaper changing. I would absolutely do that if I was staying with him, but not if I am paying for a hotel room in Naples.

I would think in most cases, you would invite the person to stay in your house, but for me personally, I wouldn't WANT to stay with my brother if I could help it. We did that once and ended up getting a hotel after one night because they hadn't checked the air mattress to make sure it held air, hadn't bothered to get sheets or pillows or anything for it, and they had dogs that barked all night. They went out in the evening and weren't home, and when we went to set up the bed, we went to the closet he had pointed to for bedding, but they had had issues with flooding a couple of months before and they hadn't replaced the stuff that had been in that closet, so all the bedding, pillows, etc were damp, musty, and yellow....there was no way we could use any of it. So we had to make an emergency trip to Walmart to buy bedding and pillows for the air mattress, and halfway through the night, it got REALLY cold...they had had to rip out the carpet because of the flood damage, so there was no flooring, just the concrete subfloor, and the air mattress had leaked and we were sleeping on a cold concrete floor. First thing in the morning, we checked into a hotel. And then a few years ago, we just automatically checked into a hotel, but they had a new house, and their "guest bedroom" was packed full of all my brother's drag queen stuff for drag queen Bingo, and the bed was HORRIBLE. E and I had to stay there for one night because she had a work experience thing for school and she was going to work at their restaurant for the day and had to be up at something like 4am because their house was 30 minutes out of town, and the restaurant was 20 minutes out of town in another direction, so we had a drive to get there and they opened at 6. So we stayed at their house just the one night so E and I could go with them in the morning. I was glad it was just the one night. I ended up moving to the couch in the middle of the night because it was more comfortable than the bed. So I just know the accomodations he has to offer aren't really suitable. But I've stayed with other friends and family and been perfectly comfortable. But if what he's wanting is free babysitting and childcare, then I would expect that he would be offering free lodging. I guess it depends on how the visit is billed...how was the invitation worded?

 

[Sans Souci]

I think it all depends on the dynamics of your relationship and whether an invitation would also be a place to stay. I would not be staying with my brother if invited to come visit but I know others who would have that with their siblings if presented with such a situation. I also like having my space so I prefer it when I'm not expected to stay. I do agree about not being roped in for babysitting and diaper changes.

I would think in most cases, you would invite the person to stay in your house, but for me personally, I wouldn't WANT to stay with my brother if I could help it. We did that once and ended up getting a hotel after one night because they hadn't checked the air mattress to make sure it held air, hadn't bothered to get sheets or pillows or anything for it, and they had dogs that barked all night. They went out in the evening and weren't home, and when we went to set up the bed, we went to the closet he had pointed to for bedding, but they had had issues with flooding a couple of months before and they hadn't replaced the stuff that had been in that closet, so all the bedding, pillows, etc were damp, musty, and yellow....there was no way we could use any of it. So we had to make an emergency trip to Walmart to buy bedding and pillows for the air mattress, and halfway through the night, it got REALLY cold...they had had to rip out the carpet because of the flood damage, so there was no flooring, just the concrete subfloor, and the air mattress had leaked and we were sleeping on a cold concrete floor. First thing in the morning, we checked into a hotel. And then a few years ago, we just automatically checked into a hotel, but they had a new house, and their "guest bedroom" was packed full of all my brother's drag queen stuff for drag queen Bingo, and the bed was HORRIBLE. E and I had to stay there for one night because she had a work experience thing for school and she was going to work at their restaurant for the day and had to be up at something like 4am because their house was 30 minutes out of town, and the restaurant was 20 minutes out of town in another direction, so we had a drive to get there and they opened at 6. So we stayed at their house just the one night so E and I could go with them in the morning. I was glad it was just the one night. I ended up moving to the couch in the middle of the night because it was more comfortable than the bed. So I just know the accomodations he has to offer aren't really suitable. But I've stayed with other friends and family and been perfectly comfortable. But if what he's wanting is free babysitting and childcare, then I would expect that he would be offering free lodging. I guess it depends on how the visit is billed...how was the invitation worded?

I am going to preface this by saying I was cranky when I posted about my brother because I was getting ill. lol.

My brother had been asking me for a while to visit and to stay with him before he met his current GF. His daughter was born in March and I haven't seen her in person yet. A big reason I never visited him was because he is my mom's flying monkey. He tries to guilt me into talking to my mom. So, I keep him at arm's length. But I am willing to take some guilt-tripping to meet her! lol If I was going to visit him, it would be for 2 nights and it would be just me. If I was staying with him, I would definitely help out with the baby, do some cleaning, cook dinners, whatever. I would not expect to be taken around on excursions. I would not expect to be taken out to dinner, this is just to finally meet my niece.

I think the GF doesn't want me around. We all met at the Renaissance at Disney Springs last year, His GF was pregnant. They had a room with a patio and I went over to them to hang out. She came out with a bottle of white wine and poured us each a glass. I had one glass, she never offered me another one and finished the bottle herself. I didn't say anything, because I was kind of shocked and I assumed she knew the effects of alcohol while pregnant are well-established. Out of nowhere, my brother said something about French women drinking wine while pregnant. I just said, "I think that might be a myth." She got up and went inside. I don't know what I was supposed to say? It was an awkward moment. I have been sending presents to my niece and the thank you cards come back signed by only him. I don't regret what I said and I sure as heck wasn't going to agree with him, when in actuality, there is no established amount of alcohol considered safe during pregnancy. I think I am just going to stay away and do FaceTime calls instead.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Callie had her first Thanksgiving indoors and we gave her a tiny bit of skinless white meat. Naturally she loved it, but I think it was brined, so we couldn't give her too much. Her orange friend showed up, too. But he got cat food away from the house, to keep Callie from wanting to go out and mixing it with him. lol

I finally caught whatever my husband had and I felt so ill by the time dinner was ready on Thanksgiving. I finally turned the corner yesterday and was able to workout today. It was just an upper respiratory virus--no fever or sore throat, but the coughing and fatigue was next level. When I was sick in bed, I had an idea of a food pantry for pets. I don't know if one if exists in my area, but I can check. Even if there is, I can look around for underserved areas. It was just an idea. I could probably write grants with the objective of preventing pet surrenders and collect that data. I don't know. I need to think about it again. It was a half-baked idea in my head while I was in bed. lol

I did a full body strength training workout today. I am not ready for cardio yet. I still have some chest congestion. I am ready to eat again, though.

 

[Songbird76]

I am going to preface this by saying I was cranky when I posted about my brother because I was getting ill. lol.

My brother had been asking me for a while to visit and to stay with him before he met his current GF. His daughter was born in March and I haven't seen her in person yet. A big reason I never visited him was because he is my mom's flying monkey. He tries to guilt me into talking to my mom. So, I keep him at arm's length. But I am willing to take some guilt-tripping to meet her! lol If I was going to visit him, it would be for 2 nights and it would be just me. If I was staying with him, I would definitely help out with the baby, do some cleaning, cook dinners, whatever. I would not expect to be taken around on excursions. I would not expect to be taken out to dinner, this is just to finally meet my niece.

I think the GF doesn't want me around. We all met at the Renaissance at Disney Springs last year, His GF was pregnant. They had a room with a patio and I went over to them to hang out. She came out with a bottle of white wine and poured us each a glass. I had one glass, she never offered me another one and finished the bottle herself. I didn't say anything, because I was kind of shocked and I assumed she knew the effects of alcohol while pregnant are well-established. Out of nowhere, my brother said something about French women drinking wine while pregnant. I just said, "I think that might be a myth." She got up and went inside. I don't know what I was supposed to say? It was an awkward moment. I have been sending presents to my niece and the thank you cards come back signed by only him. I don't regret what I said and I sure as heck wasn't going to agree with him, when in actuality, there is no established amount of alcohol considered safe during pregnancy. I think I am just going to stay away and do FaceTime calls instead.

What a strange interaction!! I think you're right that that's a myth, but even if it isn't, I don't think an entire bottle of wine is recommended. IF you were going to drink wine while pregnant, I'm pretty sure they would say no more than a glass, and not every day. I mean, I get it, you're on vacation and want to relax and have fun, and for a lot of people, having some drinks is part of that. I am not a huge drinker....if I have 5 drinks in a year, it's a lot, but I DO tend to drink more at Disney because a lot of the drinks sound so good, but I usually don't end up liking them much. But I get wanting to have a few drinks. And to be fair, having a glass of wine with dinner one time on vacation is probably not going to give your baby fetal alcohol syndrome, but this just sounds like she can't do without her wine. Making excuses for why it's ok for her to drink almost the whole bottle? If you have to make excuses, you obviously know it's not a good thing. It's just very strange. So basically, it sounds like she felt guilty because she knew she shouldn't, and you didn't tell her it was ok like she wanted you to, so she felt judged.

I'm sorry you haven't gotten to meet her yet. My brother didn't meet my kids until we went to his wedding when the kids were 4 and 2. I invited him immediately, but he couldn't get my dad to pay for his trip and wouldn't spend the money himself, so he never got to meet them. I think families can just be really tricky ground. My BIL and his wife didn't even tell us when their son was born. A cousin called me to congratulate me on being an aunt and I had no idea that he had been born. And they wouldn't let us come meet him. We called every day and were told mommy had a headache, mommy was tired, mommy had had enough visitors for the day. On the 4th day, we decided just to get in the car and show up....the whole family and all their friends had already gotten to see him multiple times, and we hadn't gotten to see him once. So we headed that way and we were in the car when BIL called and said we could come because the cousin who had called to congratulate us found out we hadn't gotten to meet him yet, and they already had, so they canceled their plans to go over that day so that we could go in their place. BIL's wife was a piece of work, and she really didn't like me I think. I was also pregnant at the time, and I think she didn't want any attention to be on me, with people asking when I was due, or how I was feeling. So she just didn't want me there. At least, that's what I THINK....they always just made stupid excuses like that she had a headache. Well, we aren't coming to see YOU, YOU can go to bed if you want. We just want to see the baby.
Anyway, I think it's just a thing with families...you can't choose your family, and there are always people who you wouldn't choose if it were up to you. Facetime seems like a good option. Then you don't have to also navigate interactions with his GF as much.

 

[Songbird76]

My ankles are healing, but it's so frustrating not to be able to do everything I want to do. I'm HOPING I can go to the zoo for my birthday, but if I can't walk pretty well, that's going to be out. There's no one to go with me because E has a field trip for University and she's gone from 6am to probably around 10pm, and DH has work, and A has classes and doesn't like our zoo since they got rid of his favorite animals, the bighorn sheep. He took it very personally and hasn't wanted to go back to the zoo since then. So I'll be going by myself, and our zoo is very hilly. There's one hill in particular that is KILLER, which I did discover a way to kind of avoid it for the most part, but you can't completely avoid hills there. The very first thing when you come in is the Penguins, and then if you go right, you go up a hill to the elephants and the smaller monkeys. If you go left, you go DOWN a hill to get to the inside part, which is the Ocean, the desert, and the bush (capibaras, otters, birds, etc) and the safari. There are 2 baby giraffes right now in the inside enclosure. But if you go down that hill, you have to go back UP the hill to get to the exit or to get to anything else. And to get to the ocean or the desert, you also have to go uphill in the bush.

Last time I was there alone, I discovered, there is another entrance/exit to the desert halfway on that hill, so you can go DOWN that hill and come in at the Desert from the top and work your way down into the bush instead of starting in the bush and going UP into the Desert, and you can get to the safari from there. But then to get back to anything else, you have to go back up a hill somewhere. The ankle that was really bad is doing pretty well. It's no longer purple, and it doesn't hurt just to walk. It only hurts if I turn it, or try to stand on my tiptoes. But the other ankle is not healing as well, probably because I had to use it more because my right one couldn't bear weight at all. So now it's been a bit over-used and it's still a bit painful, and after a day at work, it's pretty bad. So if it's not a whole lot better next week, I'm not sure how smart it would be to go to the zoo and walk around all day. But otherwise, my birthday is going to be a pretty sad affair with no one home to celebrate with me, and nowhere to go to celebrate by myself. Then I might as well have just gone to work instead of taking the day off. So fingers crossed!!!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I am going to preface this by saying I was cranky when I posted about my brother because I was getting ill. lol.

My brother had been asking me for a while to visit and to stay with him before he met his current GF. His daughter was born in March and I haven't seen her in person yet. A big reason I never visited him was because he is my mom's flying monkey. He tries to guilt me into talking to my mom. So, I keep him at arm's length. But I am willing to take some guilt-tripping to meet her! lol If I was going to visit him, it would be for 2 nights and it would be just me. If I was staying with him, I would definitely help out with the baby, do some cleaning, cook dinners, whatever. I would not expect to be taken around on excursions. I would not expect to be taken out to dinner, this is just to finally meet my niece.

I think the GF doesn't want me around. We all met at the Renaissance at Disney Springs last year, His GF was pregnant. They had a room with a patio and I went over to them to hang out. She came out with a bottle of white wine and poured us each a glass. I had one glass, she never offered me another one and finished the bottle herself. I didn't say anything, because I was kind of shocked and I assumed she knew the effects of alcohol while pregnant are well-established. Out of nowhere, my brother said something about French women drinking wine while pregnant. I just said, "I think that might be a myth." She got up and went inside. I don't know what I was supposed to say? It was an awkward moment. I have been sending presents to my niece and the thank you cards come back signed by only him. I don't regret what I said and I sure as heck wasn't going to agree with him, when in actuality, there is no established amount of alcohol considered safe during pregnancy. I think I am just going to stay away and do FaceTime calls instead.

It sounds like you have every reason to be cranky. I think most people would question any pregnant woman who is drinking and most definitely be vocal about it if it's close friends/family. The mere fact that cards come back only signed by your brother speaks volumes.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

My ankles are healing, but it's so frustrating not to be able to do everything I want to do. I'm HOPING I can go to the zoo for my birthday, but if I can't walk pretty well, that's going to be out. There's no one to go with me because E has a field trip for University and she's gone from 6am to probably around 10pm, and DH has work, and A has classes and doesn't like our zoo since they got rid of his favorite animals, the bighorn sheep. He took it very personally and hasn't wanted to go back to the zoo since then. So I'll be going by myself, and our zoo is very hilly. There's one hill in particular that is KILLER, which I did discover a way to kind of avoid it for the most part, but you can't completely avoid hills there. The very first thing when you come in is the Penguins, and then if you go right, you go up a hill to the elephants and the smaller monkeys. If you go left, you go DOWN a hill to get to the inside part, which is the Ocean, the desert, and the bush (capibaras, otters, birds, etc) and the safari. There are 2 baby giraffes right now in the inside enclosure. But if you go down that hill, you have to go back UP the hill to get to the exit or to get to anything else. And to get to the ocean or the desert, you also have to go uphill in the bush.

Last time I was there alone, I discovered, there is another entrance/exit to the desert halfway on that hill, so you can go DOWN that hill and come in at the Desert from the top and work your way down into the bush instead of starting in the bush and going UP into the Desert, and you can get to the safari from there. But then to get back to anything else, you have to go back up a hill somewhere. The ankle that was really bad is doing pretty well. It's no longer purple, and it doesn't hurt just to walk. It only hurts if I turn it, or try to stand on my tiptoes. But the other ankle is not healing as well, probably because I had to use it more because my right one couldn't bear weight at all. So now it's been a bit over-used and it's still a bit painful, and after a day at work, it's pretty bad. So if it's not a whole lot better next week, I'm not sure how smart it would be to go to the zoo and walk around all day. But otherwise, my birthday is going to be a pretty sad affair with no one home to celebrate with me, and nowhere to go to celebrate by myself. Then I might as well have just gone to work instead of taking the day off. So fingers crossed!!!

Good luck with your ankles. I hope they're healed properly so you can make it to the zoo. Hills are definitely a challenge when nursing any kind of injury. I don't know if it's an option over there, but would you be able to use a motorized scooter? Like the kind you see people using at the Disney Parks? I know some of the larger zoos in the US also offer them or have local delivery options, but I understand your options may be quite different. Still, it's an idea that might make the zoo possible if recovery is still in progress. I understand being sad if you're not able to celebrate on the actual day, but maybe setting a plan down the road where you can celebrate with everyone can help keep your spirits up if you're not quite ready for the zoo.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! K came home and my parents flew into town. I was also nursing some mild food poisoning, which was not fun. I still got my walks in the 2 days I felt bad but no gym time. My appetite wasn't as high though, so my caloric intake those 2 days was 300-600 calories lower than normal. I allowed myself about 30-40 hours of eating with nearly complete freedom the day before Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving itself. Obviously, I wanted to enjoy the holiday meal but it was also necessary for food prep. By Wednesday, I was also back in standard fitness mode. I even walked 7.5 miles on Thanksgiving and hit the gym for 1.5 hours later that morning (It was packed!). By Friday, I was back to my normal eating habits. I will say that the scale issues around my birthday were good prep for the holidays. It made me realize that water weight and inflammatory weight are the issue whenever I eat with reckless abandon...because at no point did I eat enough and move too little to even gain a pound of fat. I just need to keep doing the good things the bulk of the days and get right back at it after higher calorie days so I don't sink into a rut rooted in false perceptions of failure. So, just more steps towards healing my mind as well as my body. I monitored on the scale for a few days just to make sure the anti-inflammatory foods were doing the trick (they are) but I'm going to stay off of it until just before Christmas. I fit into a new fairly tiny pair of jeans (could have gone a size smaller), have started fitting into some of Sam's clothes, and my most recent upper waist measurement was down 1". So I know I'm still in a good place and still making positive strides.

Speaking of fitness and working out, it's turned cold and rainy here. I "invested" in a sporting rain jacket, a thermal top with a removable gaiter, as well as some all-weather water-resistant hiking pants. I've also made the discovery that over ear headphones do double duty and work well as earmuffs in addition to providing music. I've had several days of 5.3-5.9 mile walks in the dark during pouring rain with 35-45 degree temps this week. It wasn't fun and takes more prep time, but I was warm and dry...minus that huge puddle I missed yesterday that had my feet drenched at the .25 mile mark! I also will have a new challenge at the gym. I have been begging for a Trader Joes for years...even messaged them a number of times. Well, it finally happened, but it opened literally right next door to the gym. It is going to kill gym parking for quite a while but I guess that just means I'll be getting in more steps going to and from my car. Oh, and on a fun fitness note, I think the girls and I are going to try Puppy Yoga once K is home for the holiday break.

Other than that, I'm nervous about this weekend. Sam has a camp in Ohio on Sunday. She didn't want to miss any more school so that she could exempt a final and keep working on improving her class rank. So, we have a really tight window on Sunday to make our return travel. We're flying into Columbus, OH late Saturday afternoon, which is fine and will give us some time to rest up and familiarize ourselves with things. Unfortunately, the camp on Sunday was extended from the original end time of 4 to 4:30 instead. It's customary to wait to talk to the coaches after the camp officially ends, so it could be as late as 5 by the time we're leaving. It's about 1 hour and 15 minutes from the campus to the airport, our flight is scheduled for 7:58, final boarding is 15 minutes before that, and bags must be checked no less than 45 minutes before departure. If time is tight, I'm thinking of dropping Sam off at the terminal to check her bag and going on my own to return the rental car and just prepaying for them to refill the gas tank so that I don't have to waste time with that. I guess at least it's not a huge airport. If we make the flight, we have a connection in Atlanta...as this was the only possible flight combo/airline that might work with this camp and getting her back in time for school. Oh, and there's some snow in the forecast in OH, so that's also a potential delay concern. The only reason I even booked this was because Sam melted down over the possibility of missing school. I had to discuss all of the possibilities with her the other night and I guess if worse comes to worse, I can take her to urgent care on Monday (she has had the sniffles) so she can get an official excused absence that won't count against her. Wish us luck!

 

[Songbird76]

Good luck with your ankles. I hope they're healed properly so you can make it to the zoo. Hills are definitely a challenge when nursing any kind of injury. I don't know if it's an option over there, but would you be able to use a motorized scooter? Like the kind you see people using at the Disney Parks? I know some of the larger zoos in the US also offer them or have local delivery options, but I understand your options may be quite different. Still, it's an idea that might make the zoo possible if recovery is still in progress. I understand being sad if you're not able to celebrate on the actual day, but maybe setting a plan down the road where you can celebrate with everyone can help keep your spirits up if you're not quite ready for the zoo.

I don't think they have scooters to rent here like that. You can rent wheelchairs and crutches from the home care store, but I don't think they do scooters, and even if they did, I'd have to get it to Arnhem via public transportation. So I don't think it's an option.

I think I'll be alright if I take it kind of easy. I'll just have to go slow and maybe make priorities. I just want to do something fun.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Just checking in. Really trying to get back on track with things. I haven't been horrible and have been pretty consistent with my physical activity, but my gut health is still a bit of a mess and is telling me I need to get back to more of my routine.

On Saturday, I woke up and walked like 6.5-7 miles before cleaning up and heading to the airport. Minus my boots setting off the metal detector in Houston and a lot of turbulence on both flights, travel to OH was very easy. I also forgot how much I like flying Delta. I am one of those people that refuses to pay for all of the little monetized "upgrades" so we were in the very last boarding group and had it suggested that we gate check our carry on bags since it's likely there would be no space. I've had this happen several times in recent months, but Delta was the only one that gave us a reward for voluntarily doing this. We were moved from boarding group 8 to group 4 as a thank you. Saturday was a break day from the gym, but you know there's always a lot of walking and lifting of bags on days like this. I ate reasonably well in terms of what I ate, but I ate entirely too much. My caloric intake was fine until dinner. I had hummus and pita as an appetizer but I ate it all and it was a huge amount. My entree was a very basic grilled chicken sandwich on a dry bun with these massive house made sweet potato fries. Again...nothing really indulgent aside from me eating it all.

Sunday, I got up early and hit the treadmill. My walking pace went as high as 4.7 MPH at times. In the end, I put in an hour and went about 4.3 miles. I dropped Sam off at her camp and decided to get in my second round of cardio by walking the campus. We had driven it the night before and I could tell it would be excellent hill work. I walked for close to 2.5 hours. No idea how far I went but the hills were phenomenal and the scenery was very nice. They even had a little bit of snow on the ground. After watching some of the camp (and making a couple of rounds on the indoor track) and staying with Sam during her lunch break, I left and hit the local PF for leg day. I got to see some of her scrimmages when I got back, including her hitting a home run and then it was back to Columbus...hoping that we'd make our flight so we could make it home. Here's where things go sideways and why I'm probably still not right.

I was making great time and was now certain we'd make our flight out of Columbus. About 20 minutes out, I started getting texts from Delta about flight delays. I had assumed it was in Atlanta, because Columbus got really high ratings for on time departures. Unfortunately, our Columbus flight ended up being about 3 hours delayed and the handful of flights out before ours were also badly delayed. The earlier flights, one of which was now taking off the time our flight was scheduled, were booked solid with no more room for standbys. The latest flight from Atlanta to Houston was also taking off nearly an hour before we were scheduled to arrive in Atlanta. I also started looking at flights out of Columbus the next day and everything was already in an ugly standby situation or booked solid, plus snow was creeping into the forecast. So, it was looking like we'd be stranded in Columbus if we went this route + we'd have to cover hotel expenses. We had the option of flying to Atlanta and being stranded there, but there was a high risk of Sam's bats going missing... not to mention spending the night in the Atlanta airport in hopes that they could get us onto a flight to Houston the next morning. All of it meant missing school/work...which is the whole reason why I booked this Delta flight pattern vs. some of the more reasonable itineraries and prices on Monday. Our friends were also on a lengthy ground hold in Orlando (delayed 5 hours) and I knew that was also going to have a ripple effect. Delta was offering a full refund for this leg of our travel as well as refunding ALL of our baggage fees for both legs. I had already priced rental cars compared to hotels for Columbus and decided a rental was the way to go. It was an AWFUL drive in terms of my exhaustion and us getting a less than stellar rental vehicle (a beat up entry level RAV4 vs. the top of the line brand new Mitsubishi Outlander we had to turn in). We left Columbus around 7pm ET on Sunday and made it home around 3:15pm CT on Monday. I delivered the rental to IAH, got a shuttle back to the terminal, and David picked me up at passenger pick up near baggage claim. I skipped all working out and walking this day because I was exhausted. I had taken about 5 naps along the road at rest stops and truck stops, we ate snack type grab and go stuff. The only really indulgent thing I had were some pralines from the Buc-ee's in Kentucky...and that massive sugar rush helped me keep going...so it served a purpose. I ate well on Tuesday and was back to my normal fitness routine both Tuesday and Wednesday, but last night went off the rails a bit since I had a work team holiday party. I really wasn't bad but I had a couple of cocktails, which always triggers munchies. So, after the gym, I had a couple of handfuls of sugar free peanut butter and chocolate chips that I really did not need. It's not the end of the world, but my tummy is begging me to get back to normal FULL TIME! At least the exhaustion and dehydration associated with the drive is starting to subside.

 

[Songbird76]

I went to the zoo on Tuesday, and I got a lot of steps in, but my ankles are in bad shape now. And I noticed that there is still bruising around my toes on my left foot, which was the one that wasn't sprained as badly. I don't remember there actually having been bruising before, so I wonder if it just started because I overdid it at the zoo? The bruising on my RIGHT foot has been gone for over a week. So I have no idea. But I haven't been able to exercise regularly.

 

[Sans Souci]

What a strange interaction!! I think you're right that that's a myth, but even if it isn't, I don't think an entire bottle of wine is recommended. IF you were going to drink wine while pregnant, I'm pretty sure they would say no more than a glass, and not every day. I mean, I get it, you're on vacation and want to relax and have fun, and for a lot of people, having some drinks is part of that. I am not a huge drinker....if I have 5 drinks in a year, it's a lot, but I DO tend to drink more at Disney because a lot of the drinks sound so good, but I usually don't end up liking them much. But I get wanting to have a few drinks. And to be fair, having a glass of wine with dinner one time on vacation is probably not going to give your baby fetal alcohol syndrome, but this just sounds like she can't do without her wine. Making excuses for why it's ok for her to drink almost the whole bottle? If you have to make excuses, you obviously know it's not a good thing. It's just very strange. So basically, it sounds like she felt guilty because she knew she shouldn't, and you didn't tell her it was ok like she wanted you to, so she felt judged.

I'm sorry you haven't gotten to meet her yet. My brother didn't meet my kids until we went to his wedding when the kids were 4 and 2. I invited him immediately, but he couldn't get my dad to pay for his trip and wouldn't spend the money himself, so he never got to meet them. I think families can just be really tricky ground. My BIL and his wife didn't even tell us when their son was born. A cousin called me to congratulate me on being an aunt and I had no idea that he had been born. And they wouldn't let us come meet him. We called every day and were told mommy had a headache, mommy was tired, mommy had had enough visitors for the day. On the 4th day, we decided just to get in the car and show up....the whole family and all their friends had already gotten to see him multiple times, and we hadn't gotten to see him once. So we headed that way and we were in the car when BIL called and said we could come because the cousin who had called to congratulate us found out we hadn't gotten to meet him yet, and they already had, so they canceled their plans to go over that day so that we could go in their place. BIL's wife was a piece of work, and she really didn't like me I think. I was also pregnant at the time, and I think she didn't want any attention to be on me, with people asking when I was due, or how I was feeling. So she just didn't want me there. At least, that's what I THINK....they always just made stupid excuses like that she had a headache. Well, we aren't coming to see YOU, YOU can go to bed if you want. We just want to see the baby.
Anyway, I think it's just a thing with families...you can't choose your family, and there are always people who you wouldn't choose if it were up to you. Facetime seems like a good option. Then you don't have to also navigate interactions with his GF as much.

I tried to couch the statement by sounding like I wasn't sure, because I didn't want to get her defensive. I was hoping someone would open up their phone and google, because France is now aligned with the US about drinking during pregnancy. My husband thought it was telling that my brother said that about drinking while pregnant in France unprompted, like maybe this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. When I was in England back in Sept, I got a text with some drama involving my brother and his GF, my husband called my mother. She told my husband the GF has a drinking problem. My mother thinks anyone who has more than one drink every 5 years is a raging alcoholic, so I take her 'assessment' with a grain of salt. But there might be a kernel of truth in there.

I think I remember you talking about your BIL's wife. If I am visiting someone with a newborn, I offer to watch the baby so the mom can get a cat nap in. My MIL came to visit us about 2 weeks after my son was born. I had postpartum depression, so I felt like I was drowning. I was hoping for more help than I got. She treated the trip like a vacation. She made breakfast for herself without offering me even a bowl of cereal. Then, she walked to the L station and went into the Loop to go to the Art Institute and do some shopping. She did this everyday. Obviously, she can do that, but it felt like I was a hotel. I didn't expect her to be in my apartment with me all day, everyday. The thing that made me the angriest was she scolded me for asking my husband to get the baby for me in the middle of the night. I had a really rough birth with forceps and I was in pain for a long time afterwards. I had enough. I called my grandmother and she picked my son and me up and I stayed with her. I was just struggling to keep myself together and the last thing I needed was a lecture about waking up my husband.

My husband didn't meet his niece and nephews until they were a few years old, too. I think that's common when your family is half way across the globe. lol

 

[Sans Souci]

Just checking in. Really trying to get back on track with things. I haven't been horrible and have been pretty consistent with my physical activity, but my gut health is still a bit of a mess and is telling me I need to get back to more of my routine.

On Saturday, I woke up and walked like 6.5-7 miles before cleaning up and heading to the airport. Minus my boots setting off the metal detector in Houston and a lot of turbulence on both flights, travel to OH was very easy. I also forgot how much I like flying Delta. I am one of those people that refuses to pay for all of the little monetized "upgrades" so we were in the very last boarding group and had it suggested that we gate check our carry on bags since it's likely there would be no space. I've had this happen several times in recent months, but Delta was the only one that gave us a reward for voluntarily doing this. We were moved from boarding group 8 to group 4 as a thank you. Saturday was a break day from the gym, but you know there's always a lot of walking and lifting of bags on days like this. I ate reasonably well in terms of what I ate, but I ate entirely too much. My caloric intake was fine until dinner. I had hummus and pita as an appetizer but I ate it all and it was a huge amount. My entree was a very basic grilled chicken sandwich on a dry bun with these massive house made sweet potato fries. Again...nothing really indulgent aside from me eating it all.

Sunday, I got up early and hit the treadmill. My walking pace went as high as 4.7 MPH at times. In the end, I put in an hour and went about 4.3 miles. I dropped Sam off at her camp and decided to get in my second round of cardio by walking the campus. We had driven it the night before and I could tell it would be excellent hill work. I walked for close to 2.5 hours. No idea how far I went but the hills were phenomenal and the scenery was very nice. They even had a little bit of snow on the ground. After watching some of the camp (and making a couple of rounds on the indoor track) and staying with Sam during her lunch break, I left and hit the local PF for leg day. I got to see some of her scrimmages when I got back, including her hitting a home run and then it was back to Columbus...hoping that we'd make our flight so we could make it home. Here's where things go sideways and why I'm probably still not right.

I was making great time and was now certain we'd make our flight out of Columbus. About 20 minutes out, I started getting texts from Delta about flight delays. I had assumed it was in Atlanta, because Columbus got really high ratings for on time departures. Unfortunately, our Columbus flight ended up being about 3 hours delayed and the handful of flights out before ours were also badly delayed. The earlier flights, one of which was now taking off the time our flight was scheduled, were booked solid with no more room for standbys. The latest flight from Atlanta to Houston was also taking off nearly an hour before we were scheduled to arrive in Atlanta. I also started looking at flights out of Columbus the next day and everything was already in an ugly standby situation or booked solid, plus snow was creeping into the forecast. So, it was looking like we'd be stranded in Columbus if we went this route + we'd have to cover hotel expenses. We had the option of flying to Atlanta and being stranded there, but there was a high risk of Sam's bats going missing... not to mention spending the night in the Atlanta airport in hopes that they could get us onto a flight to Houston the next morning. All of it meant missing school/work...which is the whole reason why I booked this Delta flight pattern vs. some of the more reasonable itineraries and prices on Monday. Our friends were also on a lengthy ground hold in Orlando (delayed 5 hours) and I knew that was also going to have a ripple effect. Delta was offering a full refund for this leg of our travel as well as refunding ALL of our baggage fees for both legs. I had already priced rental cars compared to hotels for Columbus and decided a rental was the way to go. It was an AWFUL drive in terms of my exhaustion and us getting a less than stellar rental vehicle (a beat up entry level RAV4 vs. the top of the line brand new Mitsubishi Outlander we had to turn in). We left Columbus around 7pm ET on Sunday and made it home around 3:15pm CT on Monday. I delivered the rental to IAH, got a shuttle back to the terminal, and David picked me up at passenger pick up near baggage claim. I skipped all working out and walking this day because I was exhausted. I had taken about 5 naps along the road at rest stops and truck stops, we ate snack type grab and go stuff. The only really indulgent thing I had were some pralines from the Buc-ee's in Kentucky...and that massive sugar rush helped me keep going...so it served a purpose. I ate well on Tuesday and was back to my normal fitness routine both Tuesday and Wednesday, but last night went off the rails a bit since I had a work team holiday party. I really wasn't bad but I had a couple of cocktails, which always triggers munchies. So, after the gym, I had a couple of handfuls of sugar free peanut butter and chocolate chips that I really did not need. It's not the end of the world, but my tummy is begging me to get back to normal FULL TIME! At least the exhaustion and dehydration associated with the drive is starting to subside.

Did Sam do some of the driving? Because that is a long drive even with naps thrown in. It's always those last 2-3 hours that seem to be the worst on a long drive for me. lol This time of year is such a challenge for me, food wise. My husband keeps buying boxes of mint chocolate candies, which I love. I used to make big batches of cookies and freeze the dough and take them out to bake for Xmas Eve, I had to stop that, bc we were eating so many cookies.

 

[Sans Souci]

I went to the zoo on Tuesday, and I got a lot of steps in, but my ankles are in bad shape now. And I noticed that there is still bruising around my toes on my left foot, which was the one that wasn't sprained as badly. I don't remember there actually having been bruising before, so I wonder if it just started because I overdid it at the zoo? The bruising on my RIGHT foot has been gone for over a week. So I have no idea. But I haven't been able to exercise regularly.

Oh, no. It sounds like you might have overdone it. Are you in any pain? Can you put your feet up?

 

[Sans Souci]

It sounds like you have every reason to be cranky. I think most people would question any pregnant woman who is drinking and most definitely be vocal about it if it's close friends/family. The mere fact that cards come back only signed by your brother speaks volumes.

Yeah and I honestly tried to sound like I wasn't a scold, I was trying to get someone to look it up--either my brother or her. Maybe I should not have said anything, but we know now there is no known amount of alcohol that is safe to drink during pregnancy. My brother is an absolute stoner, too. I do worry about my niece's future with the both of them as her parents. I am hoping they see that having a kid means recognizing something larger than themselves. I mean, they seem like loving parents. My brother is always sending me photos and videos and they seem happy.

This Gf seems much nicer than the last one. She was a professional dominatrix and she sounded abusive. Not everyone likes it when you bring your work home.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I went to the zoo on Tuesday, and I got a lot of steps in, but my ankles are in bad shape now. And I noticed that there is still bruising around my toes on my left foot, which was the one that wasn't sprained as badly. I don't remember there actually having been bruising before, so I wonder if it just started because I overdid it at the zoo? The bruising on my RIGHT foot has been gone for over a week. So I have no idea. But I haven't been able to exercise regularly.

I'm so sorry your ankles didn't respond well to the zoo. I guess more rest is in order. Have they done any secondary X-Rays since the initial? I recall from Kendall's broken ankle, sometimes it takes some time for a break to show. Just thinking with the swelling it might be worth another look.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

I've been doing workouts with olympic lifts with a mix of cardio and regular strength training. The workout I did this AM was quite possibly the hardest workout I've ever done. But I loved it.

We were supposed to go out tonight, but I am not feeling it. I'm just getting carry outs. While I am feeling totally over my head cold thing, my sinuses are sore and they feel badly today. Maybe it's the change in weather that's coming, maybe it's poor sinus drainage from the cold, but my upper teeth and cheek are feeling sore. This started a couple of hours ago. I cancelled my reservations. I made a cake for today on Sunday and I frosted it today. It looks like a 3rd grader did it and I don't care. I had nowhere to let the crumb coat get firm, so I just went ahead and did it all. It looks like rubbish and I walked away. lol. I am too tired to play with a cake today. I have prohibited my husband and son from taking photos of it.

I booked this crazy vacation package deal at Costco Travel. It's a week at the Arizona Biltmore. It comes with a room upgrade, $100/day resort credit, a car and waived resort and parking fees. It is under $1500. It's in August, that's why it's so cheap. But I like how empty the pools are that time of year. It's really difficult to get a chair in March. lol Anyway, it's a back up resort. We're waiting to see if our preferred resort will have deals at Costco. They usually do, but JIC. Who knows if my husband will even have a job by then, but I staked my claim in case he does. lol

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Did Sam do some of the driving? Because that is a long drive even with naps thrown in. It's always those last 2-3 hours that seem to be the worst on a long drive for me. lol This time of year is such a challenge for me, food wise. My husband keeps buying boxes of mint chocolate candies, which I love. I used to make big batches of cookies and freeze the dough and take them out to bake for Xmas Eve, I had to stop that, bc we were eating so many cookies.

Unfortunately, Sam is too young to drive a rental. Most of the companies apply their minimum age for rentals to the additional drivers you might add to a rental agreement. The vehicle we rented to drive home was through Avis and they are a flat age 25 minimum. She wanted to drive but the risks if anything happened were just too great.

This is why I haven't baked a thing. I plan to make the cake mix cookies I tried last year (thanks to Kristin Chenoweth) as well as chocolate chip and shortbread. I bought some molds this year that I want to try instead of cookie cutters. I'm thinking of baking the cookies in the molds and then filling the molds with chocolate and holiday sprinkle to decorate. That way, you just put the cooled cookie in there and it adheres to the chocolate. I may also try the same with brownies. Still, cookies can be like chips for me and I have a hard time stopping. I'm not much better with the dough. So like you, I likely won't do anything until Christmas Eve. I will say that I'm pretty good freezing the leftovers. If they're solid enough to break a tooth, I can usually abstain.