Before and After

The pictures speak for themselves, I think!Sometimes it's hard for me to see progress until I put the images side by side. Granted, I still have a long way to go -- 60 pounds' worth -- but this gives me reassurance that I'll get there in time. The scale tells a good tale, too, as does the change in clothing sizes.

Those Levis I bought about a month ago? One pair, which sits a bit below the waistline, feels like it's going to fall down. The other pair, which thankfully has some spandex in it and falls at the natural waistline, will adjust and fit for a while yet. When they first arrived in the mail, neither pair fit. They were way too tight, and I considered returning them and buying a larger size. Instead, I took a leap of faith and hung them up in the closet for couple of weeks. They weren't comfortable when I first started wearing them, but now?

I can sit, stand, move, and breathe while wearing them, without thinking about it or feeling the least bit uncomfortable. That's progress!

I tried my first yoga workout today, using a video I ordered from Gaiam, which is supposed to focus on weight loss. There are a number of different levels to choose from, but I couldn't figure out how to do that and inadvertently chose the hardest one of all. Duh! Of course, I found out after the fact, but was pleased to find I was able to do the workout, anyway, though I wasn't able to stretch as far as the instructor did. Oh, well, live and learn. Tomorrow I'll figure out how to go back to the paddy-ass version and start slow.

For something that looks so simple when you watch others do it, this workout was surprisingly challenging. I also felt pretty good when I was done, physically and mentally, though I had a touch of nausea at the end. Wonder why? But that feeling passed in time and I was able to eat lunch as usual. It might have had something to do with waiting too long after breakfast to take my vitamins. (If there isn't enough food in my stomach, vitamins will make me feel ill. I found this out years ago, while pregnant. Ended up puking behind a dumpster in a hotel parking lot. Blecch. And it was the vitamins that set me off. I was fine until I took them. Go figure!)

I need to accomplish some spinning today, but it's so gloomy and nasty out, I feel gray and lazy. Perhaps it's time for another episode of Bleak House. I can watch while I spin, or else continue listening to Charles Aznavour and settle down on the chaise with Inishmaan. I finished the front over the weekend, and have started the back. Photos another time, when we have sun again and I can take some out on the deck. Otherwise, why bother? If I did it now, you wouldn't see any of the cable work.

I am so ready for winter to be over, and to have a nice, long spring. None of this instant sumer nonsense, thank you very much!

Soon it will be time to evaluate what plantings from last spring survived our "black thumbs" and the hard winter, and to decide what other cheap, no-maintenance flowers we can plant this year. I'm thinking, nasturtiums again, and marigolds, and zinnias, all of which did well last year despite our gardening ineptitude!This was our last nasturtium, as photographed by Daphne sometime around the 13th or 14th of November. A few days later, the frost finally got to it, and it gave up clinging to the downspout. We were amazed that it hung on as long as it did, considering how its less sheltered brethren had withered away bit by bit in previous weeks as the frosts came.

I love nasturtiums. Can't wait to have a riot of them growing wildly by the back door again!