Environment-abilities

What are you doing for the environment. Or maybe a better question would be what are you doing to hurt it? I've found that I do a little of both. But I probably hurt it more than help it. I'm not willing to only take a 5 min shower. I can't even do my basic shaving maintenance in that time frame. I did however, replace most of the bulb in my house with the energy efficient ones. We don't water our lawn. Poor thing, it looks hideous. But it just has to wait on Mother Nature. The hubby drives '98 Honda Civic with 300,000 miles on it that still gets 33 mpg in the city! I drive a GAS GUZZLING Honda Odyssey that doesn't even get the 22 mpg that was stated on the sticker when we bought it. It's more like 15 mpg in the city. Ridiculous!!!

Actually that really pisses me off. Because like many others, we really do have a need for the van since we have 3 kids in carseats. ** For those who question this... go get 3 carseats. Make 2 of them a "5 pt harness" (the kind with the internal harness) and 1 of them a "BPB - Belt Positioning Booster" (the kind that uses the lap & shoulder belt of the car). Now, go make them fit in the backseat of your car. It's not as easy as it seems like it would be. For the most part, sedans do not easily accomodate this. Which is why you see so many vans and SUV's on the road. We were able to achieve it with our 2002 Passat Wagon. But it was tight. Plus, we had to take two cars whenever when went on vacation with the dogs or when my niece & nephew come to stay for a week.


Getting back to the van though. When we decided to buy a van, we test drove and looked at MPG ratings of different makes. We loved the Honda and it had a MPG rating on the sticker that we could live with. But then we actually owned it and got NO WHERE NEAR what the sticker stated. We were furious. But like thousands of other drives, there was nothing we could do short of selling it. That left us back to square one. BTW... we later found out that pretty much every van and suv on the market has a MPG rating sticker that never comes close to what it claims. Buyer beware and note that you will pay more for gas that what you are led tobelieve.
So, we drive our gas guzzling van because we really don't have many other options. Strike 1 against the environment. I try to balance this by not driving often. At home, I conserve energy like crazy. I never leave lights turned on. I have my thermostat set to 79 in the dead of summer. I keep the ceiling fans on to make sure the air is constantly circulated. I only run the dishwasher when it's full. I have it on the water miser setting. I turn my computers off at night. I no longer leave my cell phone charger plugged in. I do laundry in large loads to conserve water. I also took the plunge and got a front loading washer that uses SO much less water. Again.. we don't water the lawns (unless it's been weeks since we've had rain.) I recycle as much as I can. Our local municipality only recycles pastics with the code from 1-3. You'd be surprised how many things are labled as 4-7. I still have a tendency to throw paper in the trash instead of setting it aside to go in the recycling bin. I still have a long ways to go. Including the shower. But the point is, I'm trying.

I came across a great short film about trying to congress to mandate cleaner running cars and clean fuels. It's quite a funny and comical way of getting the point across. At the end, there is a petition. If you are moved at all, sign the petition. I did.
http://www.cleanmyride.org/

Apparently 14 is NOT special...

I'm not happy with the hubby. Tuesday, July 31st will be our 14th anniversary. I made the comment last night about how it's just around the corner. He laughs and responds "heh.. I may not even be here for it". Excuse me? WTF? What do you mean you may not be here for it. He tells me he had been considering going to a bike race that evening. Well, it's Thursday and I'm just now hearing this. Needless to say, I am hurt and let's face it, pissed. I think he figured out very quickly that I was angry, because he quickly decided that he would stay home and we would go out to dinner. But the mere fact that he simply doesn't understand why it would upset me just floors me. I just don't get it. You'd think after 14 years he'd know that you don't go off for a 'bike race' on your wedding anniversary.

Now.. before you start mentally bashing me. You need to know that I am an extremely supportive wife. The hubby is an avid road bike rider/racer and we actually do a lot of traveling to support this hobby of his. He is gone 2 evenings during the work week and both mornings on the weekend to train. I never give him a hard time about this. It's just part of his training and fitness regimen. What I do expect however is for him to let me know what he has planned out in advance. It's only fair that since I'm dealing with 3 kids while he's gone during that time that I know exactly when he'll be gone. I don't appreciate being left out of the loop and then being expected to just go along. I'm supportive but I will never be a push over. You would think that he would realize that announcing this last minute would be a dangerous course. Add that to the fact that it's our anniversary and he is really treading on thin ground.

Am I asking too much? I really don't think so. 14 years is special to me. But apparently it isn't to him.

A weighted issue

It's that time of the month for me. I'm pissy and moody today. I really just want to punch something, but there's not anything to take my frustrations out on. I'm bloated and irritable. So, what better day to talk about weight issues.

I am what you would call a 'big boned' girl. Even if I didn't have a single ounce of fat on me (ha! fat chance!), I would still be less than slim. I have broad shoulders and 'birthing hips'. Which is quite ironic since I ended up with 3 cesareans. The bottom line is I'm not a skinny girl. But I am an active person. I've just recently started going to a local fitness center where I do strength training 3- 4 times a week. Before that I walked 3 miles a day for several years through hilly terain. However, it just wasn't taking any pounds off. I mentioned earlier that I have had 3 cesareans. Believe me they do a number on your abdomin and I'm tired of carrying this extra weight around.

I've come to the conclusion that I needed to step up  the action. I'm now doing interval training on an eliptical or treadmill. I'm doing the strength training. I'm swimming with the kids several times a week. I'm seeing some positive results. But that damned ab area just isn't going away. I've already decided to controversal action about it. Once I have lost all the weight I can, I will elect to have a tummy tuck.

I'm sure that many of you will think this is the easy route out of my problems. Let me assure you that it is not. In fact, the mere thought of recovering from this procedure scares the living shit out of me. However, there is really no other option for the problem I have. You see, I have what is commonly known as 'twin skin'. My oldest child was born at almost 41 weeks. He was well cooked. He was also 11 lbs 1 oz and 23 1/2 inches long. The average baby is 7.5 lbs and about 20 - 21 inches long. The average size "twin" is a little over 5 lbs. My son alone in the womb weighed more than a set of twins together. I also had excessive amniotic fluid. When I went in for delivery, I measure roughly the size of a woman who was 44 weeks along. Consider that for a moment. A full term pregnancy is 38-40 weeks. I was huge. I did not have gestational diabetes. No one really knows why I deliverd such a large baby. But one thing was for sure. My abdomen would never recover. The skin is forever damaged. It is stretched beyond what it could heal. It stretched, bled, stretched, cracked and bled some more to accomodate my child. The last few weeks were so painful for me. I was grateful when it was over.

Since that time, I went on to have 2 more beautiful children. And I don't regret for a moment what child birth has done to my body. But I am selfish enough to say that I want to now fix with surgery what I can't do on my own.

So, what are your thoughts on any of these topics? Did you get your pre-pregnancy body back? Are you still fighting the battle of the extra bulge? Would you consider plastic surgery to fix things you cannot achieve with weight loss? Please note that I am not talking about Lipo. I honestly do not care to do this. I know that I can lose any extra pounds I have by simply continuing to exercise. However, would YOU consider Lipo? Have any of you had any of these procedures already? If so, let us know your experiences.

So much to say... no where to begin

You know.. this blog is one of those things that you say you're going to do and then never do it. So, tonight while "thinking" in the shower, I thought "What the hell, I might as well start today." And here we are. What do I possibly have to share with the world. Maybe nothing. Maybe something. But it's something I've wanted to do for quite some time. I've just never had the courage to put it in black and white. So here we go. Hopefully this is like the roller coaster rides that I desperately love to ride.