The journey toward downsizing

Some people think I'm crazy, but I see no reason to have a 3000+ sq house (with a basement that is probably 1500 sf) with just my husband and myself.  We bought this house for our kids, to allow them a place to grow and enjoy and feel safe and entertain their friends, and honestly it hasn't even been used to its fullest potential.  Right now is probably the closest it has come to being utilized fully and that is because I have family members staying with me right now... So, our plan is to downsize.

I not only want a smaller home, but I want to put an end to this sub-urban living.  After all, I am a city girl. I grew up in the city, and some of the best homes we have had were in the city... like our Corn Hill apartment in Rochester NY, or our warehouse apartment in New Orleans.  Those places really made us happy, and that is what we are looking for... but I know it is  not going to be easy.

The good news is that house prices in our area are above what we paid for our home and are still rising.    so will will walk away with a little equity money.

The bad news is that we would still like 1800 sq, and I am only seeing 1400 sq tops in the Atlanta area.  We still want to kids to be able to visit and even spend the summer with us for the next few years, and after that, wayyyyyy after that, grandchildren, so we can't go from 3000 sq ft plus basement to 300sq ft plus a storage room.

So much to sort out.

Things I know I want:

• Walking communities
• Live, work, play
• I especially love Atlantic Station (Atlanta), but it is kind of pricy.
• Open floor plans

We can purchase or rent... I don't care, but I think hubby wants to purchase.  I expect this to be a 2 year journey.  Stay tuned.

The health club mafia can't stop me

I can tell you that the health club is taking up a lot of time that homeschooling used to... yay!

I can also tell you that a certain contingent of health club life is just as annoying if not more so than the worst homeschool parent meeting where they are comparing curriculum and someone has decided to champion Math-U-See as if their life has depended on it... and woe to anyone who likes something else.

So there is a large bunch of women (all of the same nationality) who like to take over the locker room with their saggy naked butts dangling about, sitting on the benches with nothing in between their Lee-la's and the benches that other people have to use.  The good news is that they have commandeered one of three sections of the locker room with vengeance, so at least we know that it might be safe to sit on the other two benches... but frankly, I'd rather stand in a pool of piranhas than put my tooshie anywhere near where they are all sitting nude as the day they were born.

The nakedness isn't the only think that keeps the rest of us from using that portion of the gym locker room.  No.  It is the Kimmy Jin stare that makes us use the other two sections of the dressing area.  They do the same in the whirlpool, and sauna.  If any of them are in there, they try to freeze you out.  (They can keep the whirlpool, but they aren't freezing me out of the sauna.)

Kimmy Jin stare (from Pitch Perfect)




Today, I decided to go to the gym with my husband and use the pool.  Normally, I take an aerobics class, but since there was no class at the time I was going, I decided to take a lane and do all of my favorite and most effective exercises that I have learned in the 6 months I have been going to the gym.  My method is to take up a lane as if I am a swimmer and use hand weights. While doing each exercise, I move up and down the pool, thereby taking up a lane.

Well people from this same group apparently wanted the lane I was in... so they would get in the pool, get in my lane, even though there was always one or two empty lanes at that moment.  They would see my working my way up and down my lane, either doing jumping jacks, high jumps, cross country skiing, or what have you.  My body never stopped moving, and I had hand weights in my hand which were also moving at full speed.  Needless to say, it wasn't safe for anyone but me in my lane... but nooo... They would get in my lane, in my way, and try to give me the Kimmy Jin stare down.

So this is me....  (skip to 1:15)

Image courtesy of http://cheezburger.com/1646376192

I am clearly moving my tooshie, working hard, and kicking butt and someone just gets in my lane and stands there in an aggressive stance as If that means I need to surrender my lane or something...  But it didn't work...  I was all like... THIS IS MY LANE, and if you want to stand there, you are going to get hit either and arm, a leg, or a hand weight.

So now I'm not just exercising my butt off, for a whole hour at a time, but I am also practicing my best stink-eye in an effort took keep these interlopers out of my lane.

Good fun.

Case of the missing ovaries

I've decided that my doctor is an idiot.

I was sent to her by the endocrinologist that is taking care of my daughter for PCOS and pre-diabetes.  I thought.. finally, some folks who know what they are doing, I want to go here... but NOOOOO  I needed a referral... go to this doctor first, and I landed in idiot town.

So why is she an idiot?

1.  She looked me in the eye and said the only way to lose the weight is to gradually cut your calories to 1000 a day and stay on that for the rest of your life.  Uh-no.  Try typing that into Google, and you get a great big honking NO.  According to WebMD,

• Reducing calorie intake to 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day for women and 1,500 to 1,800 calories per day for men. Women should not restrict themselves to fewer than 1,000 calories per day and men to fewer than 1,200 calories per day without medical supervision.

2.  The lab techs after my ultrasound said that I had no ovaries.  I know I have ovaries, and I know they are functional. Maybe they should try standing in front of one of my mood swings.  I told the doctor, I didn't think they could find them because they weren't where they were looking... I showed her where I felt cyclical pain, and she shook her head and said "Ovaries don't migrate".   That's interesting, because I've read numerous reports of missing or moved ovaries before and after hysterectomy.   

3.  She feels I should magically lose a whole bunch of weight and come back in 3 months to do the testing again. (cuz you can't see ovaries through fat?) If I could magically lose a whole bunch of weight, I would have already done it and I would have to walk around with a bat to beat the men off me. 

4.  She labeled me as morbidly obese.  I AM NOT TWICE MY DEAL BODY WEIGHT... not even close.  AND I have a great deal of muscle, and I know my BMI is not into that range either.  And I don't have high blood pressure and I don't have diabetes.  I just have a big butt and am round in the middle. 

So... I am seeking a doctor who 1. deals with the whole body, and 2. has special training in obesity.  I am tired of doctors who fat shame instead of looking at the problem... and here's my issue.... with PCOS, which no one seems to be able to diagnose, I it is very hard to maintain a normal weight. So I am caught in a huge catch 22.   Second, my mother died of ovarian cancer at age 55...  found it at 47 and I am 45... So excuse me if you shrugging and saying, well, we can't see your ovaries, so there isn't a problem.  

Grrr.  makes me so mad.  

Indeterminate Asymmetry ...or breast screening terror

So I had my call back mammogram today.  I tried to not think of it much since I got my tests back a few days ago and was told that I had an indeterminate asymmetry, or in other words, something was wonky with one of my breasts.

So they warned my that the visit would be 2-4 hours, and it was. Another mammogram, this time the technician was much more grim than the last, and avoided eye contact... great.

Then I went in for an ultrasound.  

I had one ultrasound.

Then I had another ultrasound.

Then I waited in an exam room on a table alone for a half hour for the doctor who did another ultrasound.

All the time, I was staring at a spot on the screen that definately showed that there was something in my breast that did not necessarily belong there.  In the final exam with the doctor,  after he probed my breast using a lot of pressure with the ultrasound machine, then he told me not to worry, it didn't look like cancer, but he just wanted to look at the photos more closely to make sure.

In the end, and one very sore boob later, it was determined that my indeterminate asymmetry is a small cluster of tiny cysts and nothing to worry about.  There is no fluid around the cysts, so they were pretty sure there is no cancer.   I have to have a yearly mammogram from now on to keep an eye on it.

In other news, I get to address the case of the missing ovaries tomorrow.  I ALREADY know I have cysts there, but my ultrasound came back with no sign of my ovaries at all.  Apparently, they are hiding.

I'm going to repeat this from an earlier post. Don't let homeschooling be a reason to neglect your health.   In my case, first, I stopped going due to poor insurance during a period of unemployment and under-employment for hubby... I didn't go back because homeschooling was far more exciting than going to the doctor, and I always had some more important homeschooling thing that I wanted to do.

I should have had a mammogram 5 years ago and regularly since then.  What if the problem was more serious than benign cysts?

Till next time...