18 17 15.....

No those aren't the "wrong" cursed numbers off of the TV show LOST.......

I have lost 18 pounds, I have 17 more to go and  we leave on our trip in 15 days.....

A daily conversation in my head has helped me lose weight...
with God? you ask???
no
an inspirational conversation? you ask...
no
It goes like this......with these 3 people....



Jillian (the brunette) starts taunting me by calling me
"booty girl". She pretends to be looking at the girl next to her but I know she is talking about me. We have the same conversation every day and each day I get angrier. I think of new nickname for her each day. It never seems to phase her. I think I heard her pause today in her counting when I mumbled "bo bo head".  It got to her that I did all my reps AND called her "bo bo head".

Blondie makes me so mad I don't even know her name. She goes so fast I want to vomit. I told her she looked like that girl off of 30 Rock. She ignored me and kept yelling at me to "pump those muscles!" I am not sure she knows what she is doing......but I showed her today!! I did all the push ups without cheating! AND I outdid all of the biggest losers in the ab exercises. Blondie was so mad she would not even look at me!!

Bob is ridiculous!! In the sculpting video, he keeps yelling "this is sculpting but your doing cardio!".....
And then I yell, "well you idiot....I want to do sculpting and yet every day you say the same thing and think it is funny!!" We also fight every day because he yells "are you dying? are you dying? and I yell YES! YES!" and he says "GREAT! Do 6 more!" I show him some of my fingers and he smiles his pearly whites.......

Every night I dream about the fizz and smell of Coke, the salty, fried taste of fries and the feeling I get from eating a bowl of butter noodles......but since the second week of June:

lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of ice water.........and a little bit of 100% juice some mornings....

steamed veggies, stir-fry veggies, asian style veggie, mexican style veggie, indian style veggie, american style veggie, blah veggie, spicy veggie, soup style veggie, etc..........lots of veggie with no salt, no butter, no fat......but very tasty!!!

couscous, wild rice, orzo, white rice, black beans, pinto beans, black eye peas, butter peas, navy beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, white beans, beans beans, .............yep!!!

wraps, salads, tasty creations!!!

TONS OF FRUIT!!!!!! and I mixed it with healthy peanut butter or sprinkled it with.......

nuts!! almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds

why are pine nuts so freakin expensive??? I love them but can't afford them!! Fresh Market had them for over $20/lb  I am thinking I need to get into the pine nut business!!

detox and true love

Earlier this summer, my two sons went to spend a week with Jeff's parents, Jeff was working in town and I was spending the days planning the next school year. I also was detoxing........

I was already off the sodas (because my daily migraine meds cause all carbonated beverages to taste weird). I quit drinking my sweet tea, which contained large amounts of sugar. I quit all exra sugar, salt, etc.

I started drinking only water, eating vegetables, fruit, nuts, beans, wild rice, whole grains, etc.......no salt, no sugar, no caffeine.......

I had horrible headaches/migraines......but I continued to exercise everyday....I did not take any Excedrin OR.....prescription pain killers.....just tylenol!!

I was also reading an awesome book by Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods. I highly recommend it!!

I was also making my "goals and objectives" list for the new year (school year)......

I was also trying to get my priorities straight, pray, search for answers, study, etc.....on being the mother and teacher of 2 boys and transitioning from "controlling" them into "guiding" them!!! (too hard for me!!).........(shhhhhhhh.....I am a control freak.....shhhhhhh)

So as you can imagine........a week of hell!!!

Jeff and I did not fight at all that week. I think I might have been a tad bit tearful (hee hee).....but as you all know, I am extremely open with every thought that goes through my head.....so he knew I was struggling!!!

I woke up each morning and went straight to get started on drinking water (lots of water.....all day long)....
This is what I found one morning....

It is a line from a song by the Havalina Rail Co.

Click on the picture if you can't see it....it looks just like Jeff!!! I love being married to an artist!! I love getting things out of the blue!!  And I love that he doesn't waste our money on  flowers that die or chocolate (that I hate....I know I am weird!!)

We just celebrated 15 years of marriage on July 22. We got married at the Memphis International Airport. (sorry, if you are trying to plan your wedding....that was 1995, pre 9/11.....you can't do it now)

We have known each other for 19 years (what???? that is crazy!!)

ahhhhhhhh.......true love and happiness......you know how I know.....because there are times I truly want to kill him!!! TRUE LOVE!!

traveling with goats

As I have written, I had to take some time off from writing to plan for this upcoming school year AND for our family vacations. The Ziegenhorn family travels so much throughout the year and especially during the summer. I have taken some time to read (through facebook) about some of your vacations. I wanted to share with my readers what the Ziegenhorns (german for goat horn) spend their vacation time doing....

As you can see we travel to some exotic lands, where there are lush green areas with lovely clear blue springs. The boys have practiced for years in the art of slip-n-slide racing.

Jack is the master at side-slip-n-slide-while-gurgling.

Max has won many ribbons in surf-slip-n-slide-with-tongue-hanging-out.

Later we made it to the relaxing mud lands. We explained how some people are forced to play in concrete pits that are filled with chlorinated water.......sad.....

We took a day trip to Tunica, MS to see the River Museum. That was a pretty nice building, museum and history/science lesson!

AND we don't want our kids to feel too privileged so we are taking them to the beach next month!! 

(I will blog about that later)

 Here is how we have been eating all summer.....

Jeff makes yummy chicken and veggie kabobs for the grill!!

And I have been eating veggies, fruit, rice, beans and water......do you see the face that the spoon is making???? It is a sort of frown....that is how my kids have been looking at me all summer....but I don't care!! I have lost 16 pounds and I have 19 more to go!! Well 14 for my goal but 19 for my dream!!

MAZ

death by jeans

My plan was to come back "on line" with a summer summary post.....but....

I almost died today.

.....and true to CLASSIC MAZ....

it would not have been a normal death....

Today was hot as blazes as usual here in Hell, I mean...Memphis.....I had the car today (we are down to one car, which you would know about if I was able to write my summary). I took Jeff to work, I came back and did my horrendous workout (because I have lost 16 pounds and have 19 more to go, which you would know about if I was able to write my summary). After the horrendous workout and shower, I decided to wear my skinny jeans (mine are probably not as skinny as yours but they are MY skinny jeans and they fit me loosely!!!)......I put on my lotion (b/c I have been sunning to prepare for our beach trip and I am preventing dry skin), I put on my loose, skinny jeans....no problem!! I go outside and humidity hits!
SWEATING!!!!
I go to my meeting...
SWEATING!!!
I go run errands in this horrendous weather.... in my car that does not cool off in Memphis heat.
SWEATING!!!!
.......all along a chemical reaction is happening in my skinny jeans:
sweat
lotion
denim

My last stop is Target and I have been drinking loads of water all afternoon.

......one more thing....

I never use public restrooms....I will go all the way home and forget everything that I am doing JUST to avoid using a public restroom HOWEVER, today I decided that I could hover over a Target toilet and pee so as to avoid more traveling in this horrendous heat!!

STUPID DECISION!!!!

My loose jeans were not necessarily tight they were stuck to my sweat and lotion AND they would not come down, go up.......I can't explain it.....I almost wet myself, when I finally got past that emergency, I could not get them back up. I was stuck in a public toilet area for longer than a few minutes!! Which is extremely hard when my defense mechanism is to hold my breath, close my eyes and stand on my tippy toes!!!

Death was close!!

The stress caused more sweating, hot flashes and a mild panic attack!! I almost ripped off the jeans and ran out with just my undies and tank top but I had done so many squats and lunges earlier this morning....I did not think I could out run the security guard just outside the door (just my luck...he was young and in shape!)
I stood up straight, counted to 10 and started to do lamaze breathing!! Thank goodness I had both my babies naturally!! I just wish  I could have had the Stadol  they gave me to forget the pain!!

Today was very traumatic for me!
You will have to wait until tomorrow or this weekend for my summer summary!!!

But here is a picture of my Target deal!! I got beach towels at 59 cents each!! Oh DERN!! I could have wrapped them around me!! HINDSIGHT!!