Graham's war on terror

Ok, so the title is a bit dramatic, but this story is just too funny to NOT tell.

So, as you may remember, Graham has a tendency to attract other males in the past. More recently though, Graham has been complaining for a few weeks about a male librarian at school that has been "creeping" (his words, not mine) on him in the library. He stares at Graham while he is studying, peers at him over the library counter while pretending to work, and sneaks looks at him through the bookcases. Graham has been really annoyed by this guy's behavior, and has been tempted to confront this guy to ask him what his problem is.

So, yesterday, the guy was staring at Graham again in the library. Graham wisely decided to not confront or beat up the individual, but decided to fight this guy in a different manner-- a "drive-by". Graham farted loudly in the library, stuck around long enough to make sure that it smelled, and then gave the librarian a look as he booked it out of the library. As Graham said, "he knows that I know he knows I did it on purpose".

When Graham told me this story, I laughed hysterically for like 5 minutes and didn't think this story could be any more funny...

Until today...

So, Graham was telling his study group at school about this situation, as they all know about Graham's creeper, and apparently Graham's admirer was eavesdropping on the conversation. He heard Graham say that he told his wife the story, and he poked his head around the corner and said, "Oh wait--you're married?? I knew you weren't gay yesterday, but now I know you're married and straight."

Graham: "Yeah, I'm married... what made you think I'm gay?"

Creeper: "The shoes you're wearing.."

Graham: "Yeah, my wife dresses me.. So my strategy worked yesterday?"

Creeper: "Yeah it was definitely a turn-off."

Let me post a picture with Graham's shoes:

Those are just plain Skechers. Maybe a little on the side of "metro", but not gay (at least by my standards).

Life lesson from Graham: when you don't know what do to when you face opposition, just fart loudly and walk away.

Yeah, this is getting awkward..

Ok, so since I've lost weight, I've received lots of compliments about looking good, losing weight, etc.. but mostly from female friends and co-workers. Only a couple of male co-workers have dared to say anything, and usually it's been pretty benign, like "oh, you're looking good. Have you been working out?" or "you're getting so skinny!" (which is my personal favorite since I've never been called skinny).

So, one of my male co-workers at the hospital, whom shall not be named, said to me one day, "hey there skinny! We're going to have to start calling you superfox!" I was flattered, but a little weirded out by the compliment. I said thank you, of course, and reminded myself to stop wearing such low-cut shirts in this certain department. I didn't think too much about it for the next couple of days.

However, this same male co-worker was working on a different floor a few days later, and was talking to my female co-worker about me. He said the same thing to her about me, including the superfox thing. Ok, so yeah, that's a little weird, but then, he asked if I was divorced or getting divorced. He didn't ask that because I was losing weight, but because he hadn't "seen me wearing my wedding ring lately."

First of all, I never miss a day without my wedding ring at work.

Second, yikes.

Third, yikes. I didn't think men cared about or looked at wedding rings.

So, now I have to avoid this person because I think he's checking me out. I sat across from him a few days later and made sure my ring finger with my wedding ring was in full sight.

Awkward.

Graham says he better watch out, because he doesn't want to have to burn the hospital down if he ever hits on me or says something like that again. Do you remember the last time when some guys hit on me?

Fitness Update

So, I guess you all deserve an update on my progress from working out for more than 9 months, 6 days a week. I, my friends, have been a success! I have lost 24 pounds and more than 25 inches, I am down to my goal weight, and I have gained back my confidence. I am down from a size 8/10 to a 4/6 (I was so excited the other day when an employee at Ann Taylor LOFT thought I was a size 2). I am fitting in jeans that I bought when I was 21. I actually like exercising. I have self-control (except around chips and salsa... they are my downfall). I can be an inspiration for my patients and co-workers.

Anyways, here's a good illustration of my success over 9-12 months. I'm sorry about the before picture. I hardly allowed full pictures of myself post-partum, so this is one of the only ones that really shows a big difference. The picture on the left is from Christmas 2011. The picture on the right is from Christmas 2012.

And, because I'm trying to be brave here, this is my 20-week progress photos. The first picture is after I'd already lost 10 lbs.

 

 

 

Anyways, I'm proud of my progress, and anything after this is just going be icing on the cake. Right now, I'm doing a weight lifting routine with cardio, so I expect to tone up a bit more.

 

Thanks for reading!

Oh.my.blog..

I cannot believe I haven't blogged in almost 3 months. I guess I'll give a brief update as to what our family is up to..

--Graham is finishing his first semester as a Washington State student.. only 3 more to go! (18 months and counting...)
--Carter just turned 2 last month. Pictures are on Facebook. He is a doll, really. He is the cutest kid I know. He just learned the word "no" and "mine". Fun.
--I'm still working full-time at the hospital. Our hospital is planning on a big affiliation with a large Catholic healthcare organization in the summer of next year, so that should be interesting.
--Graham is serving as the interim Engineering Club President. He got voted in as the president, but he's not actually a student at the junior college, so there was a problem with that. So now, he's helping out until someone else steps up. He also just got a calling as the ward choir director. Super fun.
--Carter is talking a TON. He says full-on sentences and tells us stories when "reading" his books. Totally adorable. He also cleans up after us. I have a really bad habit of leaving drawers and cabinet doors open, but Carter manages to close them after me. I also left my makeup out on the table the other day, and Carter climbed up on the table, put it back in the bag, and climbed back down. Weird kid.
--I am almost down 20 pounds! Woohoo! I am also wearing pants that I'd saved from 8 years ago in college (my nice designer jeans and some slacks from Banana Republic). I've also retired some of my current work clothes and designated them as future maternity work clothes.
--Graham just applied for a co-op internship at a government naval agency nearby, which would pay for the rest of schooling, pay him for his hours, guarantee him a job out of college, and help pay off student loans when he starts as a full-time engineer after graduation. Hopefully we'll hear something soon about it (like an interview!).
--Carter is now sleeping in a twin bed. He doesn't get out of bed at night or in the morning, which is weird because he knows how to. He sometimes cries out in the middle of the night for "daddy--lie down!" to have Graham come and sleep in his "big boy bed" with him. Too cute, but not a habit we want to start.
--I am turning THIRTY next month.. And I'm kind of freaking out about it. I keep finding more gray hairs, so my birthday present will be a haircut and color. My parents are coming up to celebrate with us, but we don't plan on doing anything too exciting (besides shopping).

Anyways, we are heading down to California over Thanksgiving break, so let me know if you're in town as well because we'd love to see you!

Update

So, I haven't blogged in 2 months. Yikes. I've been busy. Graham has been down in Portland during the week, completing his engineering labs, so I'm a semi-single mom. Pretty much every day, I wake up early, get ready, drop Carter off at daycare, work, pick Carter up, throw something in the oven, put Carter to bed, exercise, and then it's bed time. Free time is minimal and usually I use it to take a bath after a hard work out.

As far as life goes, I cannot wait for the summer to end and for life to go back to normal. I love Graham too much for him to be away this much. Plus, Carter misses him and asks for Daddy all of the time. Work is work..

Vegetarianism has gone out of the window. Although I believe fairly strongly about its principles without getting all self-righteous about it, I just can't do it long-term. I love cooking too much, and not being able to cook beef, chicken or pork made me sad. I have a full shelf of cookbooks that I felt like were going to waste. I love trying new recipes and trying new vegetarian recipes wasn't cutting it. I still plan on eating meat more sparingly and making a vegetarian meal at least 1-2 times per week. I also bought some organic ground beef at Costco that I liked.

Fitness-wise.. I am doing great. I am almost 6 months in and still loving it. I have not missed a planned workout once. I even brought my workout videos on vacation (which my family joined me in, which was a lot of fun). Thanks to my friend Sherilyn who let me borrow her videos, I have moved on to Turbo Fire, which is the Insanity version of Turbo Jam. It is very high intensity, so it requires a lot of energy on my part. I am absolutely drenched with sweat even after a 15-minute workout. It combines high-intensity cardio with high-intensity interval training (HIIT), as well as yoga, stretching, and resistance band training. The HIIT workouts are no joke. I've never jumped this much in my life, including at cheer practice and tumbling lessons. I am in love with the music and look forward to my workout all day long.

Graham says I've become an annoying person who talks about working out a lot now, but that's ok. Both of my co-workers work out a lot, so it's something we all share now. I love feeling the endorphins after exercise and feeling sore after a new workout. I am beginning to like what I see in the mirror. From June 1st-August 1st doing Turbo Jam and Bar Method, I only lost 2 pounds (out of a total of 10) but I lost more than 10 inches. Man do I wish I measured myself in March when I started! Anyways, since I started Turbo Fire July 30th, I've lost 2.5 pounds and 4 inches, including a full inch off my waist in only 2 weeks! I found my measurements from October 2008, and I'm actually smaller than I was then in my arms and waist! My goal is to get down to my waist measurement from my senior year of high school--only 4.5 more inches to go.. If I keep going at this rate, I should be there by October, when we take our family photos for Carter's 2nd birthday! I've lost almost 12 pounds so far, and it's dropping more rapidly with the new workout.

Anyways, hope you all are doing well and enjoying your summers. It's been in the high 70's and 80's, which is unbearable up here. Thank goodness I live in the Pacific Northwest because I am now heat-intolerant.