The Weight Loss Hype

It's everywhere! Especially this time of year! New Year's Day has passed and everyone is trying to keep their New Year's resolution to lose weight. The problem with this is that in this world of everyone wanting things "right now" they want to lose their weight "right now".

Everytime I get on the internet I'm faced with yet another article on the latest, up to datest, best way to lose weight. They are always the same - do this and eat this and lose 10 pounds fast!!! What they fail to mention is that most of that 10 pounds that you lose fast is water weight and if you don't change your way of eating for life and exercise you are going to gain it back.

I was one of those people who wanted to lose weight the fast and easy way. I thought that all I had to do was have gastric bypass and the weight would melt off and stay off forever. Well - I had it half right. They weight did melt off. I didn't, however, learn that I had to change my way of eating and had to exercise to keep it off. I ended up gaining 40 pounds back. Fortunately it was only 40 pounds and not the whole 190 pounds I had lost before I learned that even after gastric bypass I had to eat right and exercise.

My message is this. There is NO easy and fast way to lose weight. You HAVE to eat right and exercise. There's no magic pill, no magic potion, no magic surgery - you have to work it!! I know how hard this is. I've gained back 20 pounds and have to re-lose it. I struggle with eating and exercise every day of my life.

So - please take my advice and stay away from the fad diets!! I know how tempting they can be. I've tried quite a few myself only to be discouraged when the weight came back. They don't help you lose weight forever and they can be harmful to your health!!

By popular demand......

Ok, ok - so by popular demand here's a pic of the "new hair". It doesn't look as good (to me) as it did when my daughter did it but I'm sure with practice it will look better.

An EnLIGHTening Experience.....

My husband and I work odd shifts. I work 12 hour nights and he works from 4 am to 12:30pm. Our sleep schedules are odd also. We are both very respectful of each other's sleep time. So, Wednesday morning I fell asleep at 5:00am. At 6:30am my husband walked into the bedroom and asked me where my car registration was. I was in between sleep and being awake and thought I was dreaming. So, again, my husband asked where my care registration was and told me that both his truck and my car had been struck by a light pole! I shot straight up in bed and said "WHAT?". So I ran downstairs only to find that there was, in fact, a light pole laying across my car and resting on his truck. That's what I get for parking right behind my husband! LOL

You see, on our street we have parallel parking on both sides of the street. Our street is a two-way, very heavily traveled, street. There are metal light poles up and down the street. The light poles are very old and the neighbors have always said that we were all just waiting for one of them to go down. Well - it happened! Right on top of both of our vehicles!!

My husband called our insurance company to make a claim. They couldn't believe what they had just been told! They had never heard of anything like this happening!! They found it quite amusing! I'm so glad that they found the amusement in all of this!! LOL

The police came and made a report. The light pole was still working and was presenting quite a public safety hazard. The cop, in all of his infinite wisdom, took the report, gave my husband the case number and then left just leaving this public safety hazard! I couldn't believe it! I called the police back and told them what had occurred and demanded that they send the officer back. Within minutes not only was the officer back but his supervisor was there as well. I told him I couldn't believe that they had just left such a hazard. They informed me that all they were obligated to do was to put up scene tape - BGE (the electric company) was on their way. So I told the cop to go ahead and do it but be prepared to be electrocuted! LOL The other debacle that the cops had was they didn't know if the city owned the light pole or if BGE owned it. If the city owned it then the Department of Public Works had to come out and fix it. If BGE owned it then BGE had to come and fix it. They finally figured out, after much debate, that BGE owned it. BGE was there in minutes and finally lifted the light pole off of our vehicles.

Tomorrow we will take our vehicles for estimates. Then we have to set up appointments with body shope to have them fixed. Hopefully this won't take too long and won't be too stressing!

I guess, after all is said and done, I'm just thankful that there was only property damage and that no one was hurt. This really could have turned out tragically but, thankfully, it didn't.

Here is a picture of the vehicles with the light pole on top of them:

Hair today, gone tomorrow!!!

My oldest daughter is a hair stylist. She's very good at it. For years, though, when she would cut my hair she would only do what she called the "mom cut". She didn't want to do anything new with my hair. When I was in LA for my birthday in June I did what I thought was the unthinkable, at a dear friend's suggestion, and got my hair done in a LA salon. I loved it! The stylist who did my hair worked with my curls instead of against them. I had it done again when I was in LA in October.

Well - my hair had gotten real shaggy looking and the color had gotten too brash. So when I was at my daughter's house on Sunday I asked if I could come by her salon and have her do my hair. Originally I was just thinking a trim. My daughter, on the other hand, was thinking cut and color. New cut and New color!!!

So today I ventured off to the salon for my daughter to work her magic. I sat in her chair and she said "Okay Mom. What are we doing with it? I have some ideas that I think are funky and would look real good.". So I found myself saying okay. My feelings on hair both mine and both of my daughters is that it grows back and bad color can be fixed. So - I told her to do whatever "funky" thing she had in mind. So - she worked her magic. I love the color. It's called "Celtic Copper" (gee - fitting since I'm very Irish - LOL!) and she put in some blonde highlights. The highlights are real subtle and make the copper a little lighter. The cut is cute too. It's shorter than I've had it in a while but I love it. She said, after her cut, that she got rid of my "Beverly Hills Mullet" - lol. She did a great job and it's very stylish and trendy! It can be blown out or scrunched so I have options with it. It feels good!

While I was sitting in my daughter's chair at the salon she started introducing me to her coworkers and the owners of the salon. She introduced me as her mother and everyone thought that we were lying! They thought for sure that I was her sister not her mother. I literally had to get my driver's license out to prove how old I was and that I was her mother and not her sister! I was shocked! I was thinking that they were only being nice or were blind! LOL It was a great feeling though. I feel so young now!!! They were amazed at how similar our voices were and then when we both laughed at the same time they couldn't believe it - we have the same laugh!! She truly is my daughter!!! She is beautiful, talented and I love her so!!

SO - hair today, gone tomorrow!!! LOL

Marching bands, flutes - things from my past - so I thought!!

I played flute through middle and high school. I was first chair in high school. For those of you who don't know what that means it means that I was good. I also marched in my high school marching band. I loved marching band! So that was my past. So I thought....

Recently I was looking on the Baltimore Ravens website when I came across a link for the Marching Ravens. I decided to look into the link because I have always loved marching bands. Much to my surprise the Marching Ravens are recruiting. So, just for giggles, I shot off an email to the director of the Marching Ravens. I didn't really expect to hear back. Boy - was I wrong!!

I got an email response within 2 hours of emailing him. He wanted me to call him ASAP. He didn't care what time of the day or night it was he wanted to hear from me. So I called him.

I talked to him at great length about the marching band and told him that I hadn't picked up my flute since high school so I didn't know if I would be of any use to him. Awww contrare!!! He was extremely interested and I now have an audition with the Marching Ravens on February 27th!!!!

Well that lead to my next problem. I no longer had a flute. Well, he says, that's no problem either. It just so happens that one of the other directors owns a music shop and set me up with a great deal on a flute.

So now I'm feverishly getting ready for my audition. WHAT???? AM I CRAZY???? Well that's up for debate but we'll see what happens! The guy who sold me my flute listened to me play as I was choosing a flute and said that he doesn't see any reason why the director won't love me. I hope he's right!! The nerves are really setting in here.

I told my youngest daughter what I was doing and she thinks it's cool! Yeah - her mom - the band geek!! LOL

Four Things......

Ok Laura - here ya' go! Here are my answers to your Four Things Post!

Four things that you may or may not have know about me in no particular order. Directions are at the end.

Four jobs I've had in my life (other than my current one):

1 - Customer Service Rep
2 - Dispatcher
3 - Nail Technician
4 - Marketing Manager

Four Movies I've watched more than once:

1 - Wizard of Oz
2 - My Best Friends Wedding
3 - Lion King
4 - Jungle Book

Four Places that I've lived:

1 - Laurel, MD
2 - Elkridge, MD
3 - Columbia, MD
4 - Baltimore, MD

Four TV shows that I watch:

1 - South Park
2 - Jon & Kate plus 8
3 - ER
4 - Dancing with the Stars

Four places I have been:

1 - LA (YEAH!!)
2 - Nebraska
3 - Florida
4 - West Virginia

Four people I email with some regularity:

1 - Laura
2 - Vennie
3 - Claudia
4 - Bruce

Four of my favorite foods:

1 - Ice cream
2 - Chocolate chip cookies
3 - Rice Pudding
4 - Mangos

Dishes that friends/family make that I love:

1 - My mother-in-law's potato salad
2 - Laura's oatmeal
3 - Laura's egg veggie pita
4 - Vickie's almond pastries

Four places I'd rather be right now:

1 - LA
2 - Home (I'm at work)
3 - With my grandkids
4 - on a cruise

Four friends I think will respond:

1 - Claudia
2 - Laura
3 - Vennie
4 - Ang

Four things I look forward to this year:

1 - Getting to goal weight (again!)
2 - Learning new things
3 - Going to LA
4 - Getting together with the Fab Four!

DIRECTIONS:

Now, according to Laura's blog, we're supposed to forward this on to some people that we know, substituting our own answers in for the senders. Include the sender in your e-mail. I would propose that you can either copy this post into an e-mail and forward it on, or copy it into your own blog and answer it there. Your choice.

Have Fun!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Yes - I know - it's been a while since I blogged. I figured I'd start the year off with a blog post.

Happy New Year to everyone! I'm not usually one to believe in making New Year's resolutions. I have a friend who didn't believe in them either but last year she made a list of goals - resolutions - for 2007. She kept them in the front of her dayplanner and would check them off as she did them. She said that it made her feel accomplished and she had fun trying to accomplish them. So this year I've decided to do the same. I've made my list and it's written in the front of my dayplanner. I will mark them off as I do them. I am also posting them here.

So - here's the list!

Beth's 2008 Resolutions!

1 - I will get back to and stay at 160 pounds!

2 - I will go to the gym at least 4 times a month.

3 - I will take a class in any subject.

4 - I will go to LA at least once this year.

5 - I will go to the National Aquarium and see the new Australia exhibit.

6 - I will go on a date at least twice this year with my husband, Bob.

7 - I will devote one day a month for my daughter, Kaela.

8 - I will eat at least one healthy meal a day no matter what kind of day I'm having.

9 - I will email the Fab Four at least once a week.

10 - I will call the FABS at least once a month.



So, there ya' have it!! My goals for 2008!!

I hope you all have a wonderful 2008!!