For those of you that don't know, my dad owns a clothing store in our city. It's called Peoples Clothing (coming online soon!) and it's been open since 1922. It's been in our family for years and is a men's big and tall clothing store. He has many different name brands, including Columbia and New Balance. Since my weight loss surgery, my dad (and his store) have been my saving grace for clothing, since he can special order women's clothing as well. He has kept me clothed while I shrunk out of my size 28's and finally settled into my size 14's (hopefully to be 12's before long). Without him I don't know what I would have done. Thank you, Dad!
Since I have decided to start running about his time last year, both he and my mom have supported me 110%, not only emotionally, but with my running gear such as shoes, pants and shirts. And this time around is no different. I normally wear New Balance shoes and pants and then Fila running tops, but this winter/spring Columbia had come out with some new active wear that I wanted to try out. My dad was nice enough to let me cruise thru the women's catalog and pick a few things. And by few, he let me get 4 new things! So, here's what I got, which was delivered by my mom (the Columbia Fairy) last night while I was at work! I'm telling you, I have the BEST PARENTS EVER!!!!
Back Beauty Capri
Women's Back Beauty Boot Cut Pant
Women's Reel Beauty Print Long Sleeve
Women's Benton Springs Full Zip
All of those are the colors I picked out except for the fleece coat. That of course, I got in bright rose (aka bright pink) because as you know, pink is my favorite color. Tomorrow I'll be trying some of it out as I move onto Day 2, Week 3 of C25K. I'll let you know what I think of them! Have a great day everyone!
Today has not been all rainbows and unicorns for me. I was the lucky recipient of a cortisone shot this morning in my left shoulder. When I had my surgery in 2010, my arm was hyper-extended for over 2 hours and while my surgical team moved my arm around, it just wasn't enough. So, since then, I've been having some pretty serious shoulder issues. Today was my 4th shot since 2011 and for some reason it was the worst one of the bunch! I may or may not have waited way too long this time around. The pain came back around Thanksgiving but I got busy with the holidays and then back into working out so I basically just put it off. BAD IDEA! It's my own fault, but still. I've been on ice all day, only this time it's been on my shoulder, not my knees. Weird.....
I'm sure you all will never guess what I have in my crockpot right now. Yep! You guessed it, Crockpot Taco Chicken Chili with a twist. I used fire roasted tomatoes and then added a brick of cream cheese about an hour before it was done cooking. I still used the frozen chicken and cooked it on low for 10 hours. I'm pretty excited to see how it tastes.
And last but not least...since I've been down and out today, there's been a lot of Pinterest time for me today (looking for a new short pixie cut) like Pink's and a lot of looking for some funny quotes. I came across the below picture and just have to share it. Only, I don't think I like it...I know I love it!
I've been MIA for the last couple of days and judging from my post title, you can tell why. Saturday evening was not a good evening...AT ALL! I finished week 2 of C25K without any problems at all. Ran on the treadmill at my parent's house, made my dad some of my "famous" homemade blue cheese dressing and just lounged around their house with them for most of the afternoon. I came home and started my usual post workout protein shake and decided to take the garbage out. That's when it all went down hill. I slipped on the ice and fell on my knee. It hurt like a bitch, a son of a gun, but I got up (looked around to make sure no one saw me fall) and limped into the house. I grabbed my ice packs out of the freezer and started the usual icing of the knees. I usually ice my knees after I run anyways, but after falling I really kept on top of it. As the night went on, my knee got bigger and bigger and more purple. Then my mom called and she was taking my dad to the ER. He had laid his right hand on a hot burner and had huge blisters on the palm of his hand. Long story short, he has 2nd degree burns to the palm of his hand but was lucky. The Dr. said if the burns had been up on his fingers, we would have been going to see a burn specialist. We got him home, got him settled in and I ran around getting his medications and whatnot (my dad is doing great, by the way and will be good as new in no time). By the time all was said and done it was 9pm and I hadn't had anything to eat all day. Popcorn and Diet Coke for dinner? Sure! Why not?!
So, fast forward to Monday when I was supposed to start week 3 of C25K. I was heading over to my parents to run on the treadmill again and BAM! I fell AGAIN!!!!! What.The.Heck. Really? And I fell on the same knee! So, I pulled myself up and came inside and hit the ice packs again. This falling and hurting my knees is getting really old! I didn't get to run Monday, had training at work yesterday (does one person really NEED 8 computer monitors at her desk? Yes, the answer is yes) and iced my knees last night when I got off at 10pm.
I wish this was mine!!!!
Well, finally, today I was able to start week 3! Wahoo!!! I was pretty nervous about my knee and it hurt a little bit, but I made it thru it. I didn't think I would, but I did! And now, I sit here typing this with...wait for it.....wait for it....ICE PACKS!!!! Hopefully I'm over my little run of bad luck and falling, just in time for the next batch of bad weather to come in on Sunday. Figures. To say this week has been the week from H. E. double hockey sticks is an understatement. Keep your fingers crossed that it's all over!
And last, but not least, the best song of my workout. It had an awesome beat and kept me going, like most of her songs do!
Week 2 of the C25K is in the books!!!! Go me!!!! As you can guess, it's still chilly in Iowa, so as usual, I hit my parent's treadmill. It has been my saving grace these last 2 weeks. Although as I'm sitting here typing this and watching some random snow flakes fall, I've also watched a woman run by 3 times. She's all bundled up, head to toe...good for her! I'm too much of a wimp...it's chilly out and I might freeze! I'm pretty delicate you know...Okay, stop laughing!
I don't have much planned for the rest of the weekend. I need to take down my Dept. 56 winter village and put it back in the basement and do a TON of laundry. That's about it. I haven't decided what I'm going to do tomorrow for the Super Bowl, but I have a couple different options.
As usual, here's my favorite song of the workout. I LOVE me some Pink...I totally want her hair do! I think I could pull it off. My bosses might not like it though LOL
With a new year and a new me, I decided it was time to change up my blog just a little bit. For starters, I changed the name. When I started this blog, I was 300+ pounds and just starting my weight loss journey. Well, now I'm well over 2 years post-op and while sometimes I still think, "Is this for real?!" I felt it was time to shout out who I REALLY am. Which is a former fat chick from Iowa. So, after much thought, I came up with A Midwest Former Fat Girl. What do you think? Too much? Do you like it? Should I change it back? Do you have any other blog name ideas? I'm open to suggestions, so let me know!
Also, as you can tell, I've changed some of the font styles, colors and sizes (for us older readers) and I am kinda digging it! I also added a new pic under the About Me tab.
Check it all out, let me know what you think. I can't make any promises I won't still mess with the fonts and colors, but I think I'm done for the night. This former fat chick needs some Zzzzzz's!
