Reclaiming what I should own.

S and I were talking last night about health and exercise. We both want to reclaim the healthy bodies we’ve had all of our lives until a couple of years ago. For different reasons, we’ve both had our share of life drama that has made it less than motivational to maintain our healthy eating and fitness lifestyles. Our metabolism doesn’t react to stress the way our other 2 sisters’ (K and M) metabolisms react. S and I work much, much harder to manage our health and weight.

Even though I spin 3 times a week and even though I am a cardio addict, I still haven’t hit the free weights or done any core resistance training for almost 2 years now. As a woman, I need to weight train to keep up my bone density, but I just haven’t been as diligent as I used to be about it. That combined with the fact that I’m in my 30s now and any “stress snacking” that I do doesn’t burn off the way it used to for me in my 20s.

While my personal life with Ed, my fur-babies and my friends has been really wonderful, I can’t really say the same for the other parts of my life. Family has really brought me down, especially since 2005 when K began invading my mind and my life with all of her issues. That’s about the same time my parents decided their civil truce would switch into 5th gear with me and my grandma caught in the middle. Financially, my parents', and K's, incessant dependence on me to fish them out of all of their money messes has been a real drain. Only this year have I finally begun to say “no”. It is a liberating feeling to say “no”, but it also has its own stressful side effect. It’s called GUILT.

Speaking of finances, last year I finally found my current job and its one that I enjoy. It is also where my boss is honest, intelligent, ethical, and very generous. My last boss took pure advantage of me and wiped the floor with my ass before I had enough sense to jump ship. He was so unscrupulous and I often wonder how long it will be before I see his name in the trade papers for his business “practices”.

My battles with the CA bar system is a whole other monster that I’ll attempt to attack in some other post, some other time. My life has been emotionally and mentally taxing over these past couple of years, but fitness had always been my one true, passionate outlet. My body’s health, be it cardiovascular health, musculoskeletal health, mental health, whatever, is the ONE thing I have control over. I have allowed myself to forget how good it makes me feel when I’m committed to fitness and to my health as I used to be.

What it all boils down for me, and unfortunately also for S, is that over these last couple of years all matters completely out of our control have become more important than matters we have direct control over. One of those things completely under our control is our HEALTH, and that includes fitness, mental stability, emotional well-being and diet. It is the one thing we own and direct in the otherwise chaotic lives we lead. Both of us need to RECLAIM OWNERSHIP and DIRECTION of our health.

Last night we decided to set an achievable goal, in terms of weight loss, weekly “me” time we set aside for ourselves, healthier diets, and returning to weight training on a consistent weekly basis. If we can maintain it for one month after we have reached our goals, then we’ll know we’re back on track. I thought it would be great to celebrate once we reach our goal and actually maintain it. My idea was to treat ourselves to a weekend together somewhere, just us two sisters.

S suggested, “How about Miami?”

Me, “Ummm, we’ve both already been there, done that. How about a weekend in Portland, Oregon?”

S, “Heellllllll, mother-effin’ naw!!! Are you on crack? I say Miami and you come back with PORTLAND?! What’s wrong with you?”

Me, “What? There’s nothing wrong with Portland. I’ve always wanted to visit! It’s the City of Roses, has incredible spas, antique bookstores and that awesome Pacific Northwest vibe that’ll make it so cool to walk everywhere. It’ll be fun!”

S, “Again, are you on crack? I thought you’d counter with something like, I don’t know, New York City or maybe San Francisco, but you come at me with Portland!? I thought you said it would be a ‘celebratory’ weekend. Try again, grandma!” (Insert insane laughter here.)

Me, “Grandma, huh? I guess I do forget sometimes that we’re 10 years apart. Ok, so how about, ummmm....Vegas?”

S, “That’s more like it! Harumph, Portland. Ha!”

Soooo, at the end of our grand health achievement, we’re probably going to Vegas for a fun weekend. Neither one of us gambles, but we figure we’ll find other fun things to do there. We’d both like to go to a famous Vegas strip club to see if the girls are really as beautiful as they say. Neither one of us has been to a strip club before, so it’ll be interesting. Ed’s endless list of lesbian jokes and remarks will surely drive me crazy, but what the hell, it’ll be Vegas, baby!!!

Unless the bloggin’ world has other awesome ideas for two sisters on a celebratory weekend getaway. Just to give you an idea of our personalities, here are some of my other thoughts; Vancouver, Sedona or Big Sur. Here are some of S’s other ideas: Miami (of course), a tropical island, a party island, or Miami (again). Ha!!!

I just got a call from S and she’s on her way to Lifetime Fitness in Chicago to renew her membership. I’ll be footing the bill because she lives the life of the recent college grad and she’s going to ride that excuse for the as long as she can. :-) She’s so excited about getting back into Lifetime and it makes me happy to hear the energy in her voice. I’m excited for both of us. We’re going to talk later about our plans some more and firm up some routines and other issues.
In other news, I spoke to Linnea today. She’s settling into her new life in Chicago. She says it is only for a few months, but things have a way of taking hold and next thing you know you’re swept up in the current. I hope she comes back to San Diego, but that is selfish of me. The constant rain and thunderstorms have taken a little bit of a toll on her poor cat, Phoenix Rascal. He was Nick’s “fur-nephew”. I wish I had taken pictures on the day we took Nick to Linnea’s apartment and the fur-kids hung out together.

Speaking of fur-babies, here are new pics of Da G-Unit:




Not Achilles heel, but Achilles' heels. He is fast asleep amongst all of Auntie S's high-heeled shoes shortly after humping her head. My friend Lynne asked what type of shampoo S uses that would stir Achilles into such a sexual frenzy. Does that question also apply to S's feet? You have no idea how much Achilles misses his auntie. Poor thing. I wish she'd left a pair of her shoes behind for him, but then he'd be more like that creepy guy in "There's Something About Mary", right?

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the first ever sighting of the elusive Retrievagator!!! Alligators and Golden Retrievers have successfully cross-bred for centuries, but an actual sighting of this rare species is incredible. As you can see, we stumbled upon a Retrievagator in our very own kitchen. He was haplessly hoping for treats as we cooked. He now makes a nightly appearance, so we had to give him a name. Please welcome the newest meember of our family, Achilles the Retrievagator.

Retrievagators rarely allow you to sneak up from behind, but this Retrievagator was too engrossed in the delicisous smells wafting from the stovetop.

Happy Milo looking up at mommy, wondering if Retrievagator ate all the treats.

Sleepy Milo snarked the Retrievagator's plushie and is snoozin' away happily...

Da G-Unit beggin' away. Achilles drooling on mommy's leg. Milo trying to edge in sideways. Who knew Trader Joe's Sweet Potato Chips were this yummy??? Mommy and daddy need to teach da boys better manners.

:-)