The Perfect Gift!

I got a surprise package in the mail from my sister, Laura, this week. I remembered that she said she'd picked something up for me at 6 Flags and that she was mailing it to me, but I just kind of forgot about it. After all, Laura is a Harris girl, which means I might get it around Thanksgiving!

Inside the package was this terrific cape! Included with the cape was a cute card that said she considered me Wonder Woman for my efforts towards a healthier lifestyle. How sweet was that?!

But what was even more significant, and Laura has NO idea, is what the cape truly represents to me. Since October of last year, I've been calling myself Super Turtle. Slow and steady truly does win the race. I'm making changes, some big & some small, but I'm doing it slowly and over time. My avatar on Sparkpeople and the Dave Ramsey board is a turtle,and I've even got him as my screen saver. He reminds me that even when I slip and a whole sleeve of Girl Scout Thin Mints lands in my mouth, I'm still ok. I don't FAIL just because I FELL!



Super Turtle needed a cape so badly, and now he has one! I even threatened to put it on and walk around the neighborhood, but the boys wouldn't let me out of the house and I HAD to go for my walk! Laura, thanks so much for giving my turtle a cape!!!

Tough Love

Last night I was sitting in the living room, minding my own business, when I suddenly hear my name called. "Leigh!" I still myself to listen, because the sound was so faint. "Leigh!" Louder this time. I get up, thinking the sound was coming from the kitchen. When I got to the kitchen, I didn't hear anything, so I looked around and suddenly it hit me: the Oreos were missing and they were calling my name so I could find them and put them back where they belong!
About that time, Mabry came in. "Have you seen the Oreos?" I ask innocently.
"No ma'am, but you don't need them anyway," she replied in a snitty little voice.
I gently and calmly explained to her that I didn't want to eat them, that I just wanted to find them to put them where they belong. After all, THEY were calling ME, not the other way around!
So I walked into the media room to ask Ryan and his GF if they'd seen them. "No ma'am," came the reply. I looked around the media room, Mabry standing guard next to me, and thought, "No wonder you haven't seen them. You couldn't find an elephant in this room!" About that time, though, I spied them. THe world seemed to come to a stop as I looked at them across the room. They were on the window seat, and they were by now jumping up and down and waving their arms saying "Here we are! Come save us!" Unbeknownst to me, Mabry had followed my gaze and she saw them, too. In tandem we made a mad dash to the other side of the room. I dove first, desperate to save the Oreos from her crushing grasp! I missed, and when Mabry dove she landed on top of me. Now we were struggling to reach the Oreos, tugging on arms, pushing, shoving, while Ryan and his GF looked on in confusion and disbelief. It wasn't until Mabry started screaming "INTERVENTION! INTERVENTION!" that Ryan caught on to what she was doing and joined in the fight!
An overweight 43 year old is no match for 2 determined teens. Alas, I lost the fight and have yet to find the Oreos!

Happy Birthday, Mabry!!!

Oh, my goodness, my little girl is 19 years old today! Acutally, right now she's 19 years and 35 minutes old! I remember calling Mom right after I had her; I was holding Mabry and she was screaming so loudly Mom finally said, "What's wrong with her!? Make it stop!" In her short time at the hospital, she became known as The Screamer. The nurse who helped deliver her was looking for our room the day after she was born, and she said she literally just followed the sound of the screams to our room!
Today, Mabry still has that same blood-curdling scream. Only now it's usually aimed at her brothers!
Smart, funny, beautiful, joyful, spirit-filled. That's my Mabes!!!

On another curious note: on this joyous occasion of her 19th birthday, I realize I've finally lost all my baby weight! That's not to say I'm thin by any means. I was fat when I got pregnant with her. But now I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight, which is way better than post! And it only took 19 years!!!

Spiderman! Spiderman!

We spent the afternoon at Mabry's dance recital and it was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. She was in 3 performances; beginning, middle and end. I think her group was the only one aware of what they were doing; the rest of them kept looking off stage to see what move they were supposed to make next! It was cute, though, especially those 2 year olds!!!

I'm truly so inspired by Mabry! The fact that she's almost 19 and plus-sized didn't stop her from doing what she loves. She decided last year that she wanted to dance for exercise, so she signed up (her signature, my money!). She's loved every minute of it, never once seeming to question what she was doing. She got up there today and made us so proud! In fact, it was amazing how many people went up to her afterwards to say what a great dancer she is, and what a wonderful inspiration she is for plus-sized people! One woman even said she kept time better and had more rhythm than anyone else on the stage, and she was dancing with some girls who'd been dancing for 6 and 8 years!! Of course, we agree with their assessment!

Anyway, here's a video of her favorite performance...I hope it works!


And because I really like the Batman dance, I'm putting it on here, too. Unfortunately my SD card ran out of memory and cut the end of the dance off!

Sparkpeople

Anybody heard of it? I'm crediting http://www.sparkpeople.com with my latest weight-loss success. Yeah, I'm working on it, too. I try to get to the gym around 4:20 a.m. Monday through Friday. But Sparkpeople is what keeps me on track. I tell it my current weight and my weight-loss goal, and it tells me how many calories I need to consume each day to meet my goal. If I eat too few calories, my body tends to hang onto what I've eaten. If I eat to many, my body tends to hang on to what I've eaten!!! But I've found that if I stay within the range that Sparkpeople gives me, I lose weight. How cool is that?! All I have to do is enter everything I've eaten each day, and it calculates the calories/fat/carbs/protien for me. My favorite part of the day is to put in my dinner information; that tells me if I can have dessert!!! :)
I haven't told my mom yet, but I'm almost the same size I was when I got married! (It's safe to say that here 'cause she doesn't read my blog!). I put on my wedding dress today and I lack about 2" of getting it zipped up my back. LOL. Yeah, 2" is quite a bit, but I at least got it zipped up a little past my waist!!! For the first time in a long time, I'm feeling hopeful!
If anyone reading this belongs to Sparkpeople, look me up. I'm Leighboe (SURPRISE!!!!!). I also keep a blog on there to track my progress. :)