Fetal Position

Wow. What a strange title for a post you may say to yourself. Well, it certainly has a double meaning. I've spent a lot of the past month in the fetal position due primarily to the fact that my body is trying to support one right now... a fetus, that is. YEP! We are pregnant. Yes, I know - Finally! That's what everyone is saying. We (or I, whatever) are 10 weeks along. We went to the OB on Friday and heard the heartbeat. Thank goodness! I did NOT want all this suffering to be for nothing.

Before I list my complaints I would just like to go on the record as saying that I am extremely grateful for my current status. Yay! Baby coming in February!

Now for the complaints. I'm suffering from almost constant nausea. Oh, it's so yucky. Plus, three of my favorite things have been sacrificed in the process of forming this alien fetus. First, my enjoyment of food is pretty much gone. I severely dislike ALL cooking smells. This means I eat crackers, fruit, cereal, and yogurt. That's it. Second, I now detest the smell of my sweet husband. His scent, which was my favorite, now is just, well, yuck. Poor sweet boy. Third, I haven't run in - get this - FOUR WEEKS!!! I know - NO WAY! Yikes! I actually found myself winded after climbing my stairs today. What the heck? No likey. :(

Disney Sample

Skot in "Morocco" at Epcot.
On Cinderella's carousel at the Magic Kingdom.

Ok. These are just pics from Skot's phone. I still have to go online to purchase pictures that we had taken at Disney. Sorry this is sort of lame. :)

Fallen Princesses

Snow White
Jasmine
Belle

I love these pictures. I ran across them on a friend-of-a-friend's blog. They were concepted and shot by Dina Goldstein. Obviously she imagined these fairy tale princesses dealing with (sort of) real world issues. I really love Princess Jasmine! She looks so tough.

I am disliking blogger again today. I tried to center the names under the pictures and every time I publish the post and click view... it looks just the same. Why? Why? Why?

Coming Soon

We just got back from Disney. Pictures coming soon...

Guilt and Sickness

The guilt is finally overcoming me. I haven't posted since the 1st! Crazy! Skot and I were really busy at the beginning of the month with preparation for youth conference and working (of course). Youth conference was on the 12th and 13th. We were a host family, so we had about 10 teenage girls sleeping in our house that Friday night. Talk about sleep deprivation. The 13th (Saturday) was the finale to the conference when all the kids performed their pretty cool dance routines. Fun!

That weekend was fun, but ended with my allergies out of control. An upper respiratory infection ensued followed by a lower respiratory infection, lots of stuffiness, coughing, body aches, etc. Today, eight days later, my sinuses are finally starting to clear up. I HATE BEING SICK! Especially in the summer. Anyhoo, I'll have more to post next week... with pictures!

Enlarging the Library in My Brain

I have been making an effort to read more for the past.... year? Well, apparently I can't remember when I started so it could be for the past 6 months. I really want to read more classics. I had a 4-book break while reading the Twilight series earlier this year, but quickly returned to the classics. I just recently finished Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. How is it that I have not yet read these? That is crazy. I am now revisiting Pride and Prejudice for the third or fourth time. Next? Not sure yet. I heard The Shack was good, so I bought it. I don't know if I'll read it next. I really want to read some Charles Dickens and C.S Lewis. Depends on my mood. :)

Breaking the Fast

Ok, so I broke my month-long sugar fast. I decided that I would "go out with a bang," and that I did. I decided to make this extremely sinful cake whose recipe is found at the vanilla kitchen site at the end of this post. This is a chocolate cake iced with a chocolate and peanut butter ganache and filled and topped with Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cups. It is very heavy, very rich, worth having only (not at least) once in your lifetime. I'm sure I clogged at least one artery eating my portion, which I could not completely finish. :) I should mention that the Warr family joined us for dinner and dessert, Monica had nixed the sugar as well.

HERE IS WHAT EVERYONE WANTS TO KNOW: What are you going to do now Christi? Do you HATE sugar now? How do you feel? YOUR ANSWERS: I am going to eat sugar in moderation, use replacements like stevia and honey, and try to eliminate it from dishes that really don't need it. No I don't hate sugar, I just don't like the way too much of it makes me feel (physically and mentally). I feel EMPOWERED! Sorry for the girl-power cheesiness, but I really truly feel empowered and more in control and less obsessed over sweets. I don't need it like I thought. HALLELUJAH! I feel FREE!


http://vanillakitchen.blogspot.com/2008/08/chocolate-peanut-butter-cake-with-pb-c.html

Eeeeek! Vampires and Werewolves!

I am shrieking for joy! My sister just posted a link to the new movie trailer for NEW MOON (so I thought I should do the same), the second movie based on the Twilight series books. I am getting temporarily excited. Hello, I cannot maintain this level of excitement until it is released on November 20th. Excitement for one day works for now. :)

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2009/05/31/the-new-moon-trailer-is-live-tell-us-your-reactions-twilight-nation/

Inspiration

I checked my friend's blog today (lizlikes - see it in my links) and fell in love with another blog (hence the inspiration) that she had posted on her blog. Wow, I am just in love with blogs. Dunno why, I suppose I just love that people can share so much incredible information about themselves and this world and all you have to do is click a few buttons to gain access. So, the new site I just added to my links list is goop.com and is written by Gwyneth Paltrow. I'm very much in like with this blog. Instead of boring you with why, I will let you explore it and discover for yourself. Besides, I really needed to leave to go running about 10 minutes ago and can't spare time. :)

Just a quick note about sugar-free me; MY BODY FEELS GOOD! I feel cleaner inside. I still have a mental addiction to the blessed substance and I am not sure yet what to do with it. I am planning on breaking the sugar fast this Saturday. Yes, it has been a month now. I haven't yet decided how to go about this. The emotional part of me wants to binge to make up for lost time. The more sensible parts of my brain are saying "Take your time, Christi" and I am trying to plan so that I succumb to the sensibility and NOT the emotion. We shall see. I may tack on extra days since my girlfriends started after me. I really want to end my sugar fast with them.

Silence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

No post since Monday!?!? No pictures?!?! What the heck? Well, this has been a busy week. I'm trying to keep myself together. My in-laws are in town. Originally they were coming to visit, then they weren't, then they were arriving on Sunday, then the plans changed again and I found out Thursday night that they were to arrive on Saturday. Had to work Friday. Needed to clean. What to do? So, yes, life has been crazy this week. I am also trying to get into school for a Math class in July... there's more, but I don't want to bore you with details.

Sugar? Today is day 23. I am almost finished with this blasted sugar fast. Yes, I said BLASTED! It is a holiday weekend and the temptation is definitely presenting itself more than I like to admit. Oh, and I did unintentionally eat cereal this week that had sugar in it. It was a Kashi cereal. Oops. :( Oh well, there wasn't much in it, so I don't feel all that guilty. I have learned something new about myself this week. I crave sugary food not when I'm feeling down (then I don't eat at all), but when I am stressed! Hello? That's when I do my mindless eating. Interesting info. :)

Quickie Update

Still sugar free, still doing okay. Today is day 17. At this point I feel differently about sugar and my ability to control my consumption. I will add sugar back into my diet at the end of this crazy fast, but I feel (right now, anyway) that I won't be needing dessert on a daily basis and I feel like I will have better control over my cravings. Going without is DEFINITELY only as bad as you make it.

Ahhh!!! I Ate A Cupcake!

Ha! I feel no guilt. It was totally sugar-free! My sweet hubby and Jason Warr made a Mother's Day dinner for myself and Monica Warr (they are our Illinois pal-buddies). The boys made us cedar-plank grilled salmon and asparagus. Yum! Then they ended our dinner with a sugar-free treat. They bought and made a Sweet-N-Low cupcake mix and topped off our cakes with chocolate icing. Now, it really wasn't the same as a treat made with real sugar, but I was grateful for the thought and the welcome break from plain-tasting food. Love my boy!

Just an aside: I may venture to purchase a new cookbook for when I end this sugar-fast. It is called "babycakes." It is a cookbook written by a girl who runs the babycakes restaurant in NY. She uses organic alternative products for baking such as: agave nectar, rice milk, coconut oil, gluten free baking flour, etc. Sounds interesting to me, we'll see how eager I am at the end of the month. :)

Chocolate

I just heard something about chocolate. We all know that dark chocolate is good for you, right. Well, (and I've been wondering about this) apparently the chocolate should be at least 70% cocoa. Now you know. By the way, I will not be eating chocolate this month because of the fact. I'm sticking to my guns!

Just an aside here: I baked cookies last night with my hubby for a friend who has a birthday this week. Not easy keeping my hands out of the cookie dough.

Sugarbaby No Mo'

Ha! Today is Monday May 4th. This no sugar thing is totally do-able. I really am not suffering very much at all. The hardest part is controlling reflexes. I was at a friend's house for about an hour on Saturday and there was a bowl of M&M's sitting on a side table. I stood up to grab a handful and had a quick, twitchy convulsion of a moment when I realized how thoughtless some of my sugar consumption can be. I got a funny look. Friend says "Oh, go ahead, have some." I had to say no thanks. I was sad all of 2 seconds. This is so liberating!!!

I'm really getting excited because I now have 2 friends that have decided to join in with me!!! Thanks Jana and Monica! Yay! I love that other people want to join in. How fun is that?

Sugar, sugar.... Ahhh, honey, honey...

Jenny McCarthy is doing a 30-day fast from sugar and is blogging about it on Oprah's website. You can go to this link to read her first entry or, hey, I'll post it here so you can just read it now.

http://www.oprah.com/bi/jenny-mccarthy

May 01, 2009 5:10 AM (archive)

Let's Give It Up!!!!

Woo-hoo! I'm so excited to get started. I wanted to do this "give it up before summer" blog because I would always complain to my friends that I wish there were AA meetings for chocoholics. A couple of my friends said they needed help giving up caffeine, and other friends wanted to give up lying or gossiping. So I said, "Let's start a 30-day blog with Oprah.com to come together every day to bitch and moan about how well or horrible we are doing." There are no rules to this. It's simply choosing something you have been wanting to give up and making it happen this month. The good news is I'm not asking you to give it up forever...just 30 freaking days! I'm a sugar addict, so I'm going to clear out my hidden drawers of chocolate bars and throw away the nightly chocolate crispy cereal that I would have before bed. I'm also going to stop eating after 7 p.m. I'm a late-night eater and would like to put the kibosh on that! Call your friends; tell them to join you in this. It's a lot more fun having support and cheering each other on. Woo-hoo! Let's do it.

... In Christi's world on 5/1/09...
OH MY GOODNESS!!! I can't believe it! I am so dang excited about this! OK, let me calm myself (deep breath in).
So, I just had a conversation with my husband & it went something like this:
Me: "Sooo... honey?, if I decided to give up sugar for a whole month (he sighs) would you maybe do it with me?"
Hubby: "Ummm... huh, probably not. Sorry." (I can almost hear him smiling apologetically. What a stinker.)

I will tell you why I am excited. I am excited to do this with other people, even if they are completely invisible to me. I have a love-hate relationship with sugar, well, mostly chocolate and baked goods. I wish, wish, wish I could eat it in more moderation. I consider moderation just a few times per week, tops. I eat it EVERY DAY! It wouldn't be such an issue except that I daily think about when I am going to get my next "fix"! Yikes, I can't believe I'm saying this (sort of) out loud. I do not drink alcohol, coffee, tea, soft drinks or use tobacco products (not to mention illegal drugs or prescription drugs)... i.e. I have no addictions... OR DO I? Another facet of this sugar issue is my weight loss. I exercise multiple days during the week, and hard. I stay the same weight! Yuck. I'm pretty sure it is the sugar. Just extra, empty calories waiting (and I mean waiting anxiously) to permanently plaster themselves to my curvy body. Darn that sugar, it IS my achilles heel!
So, once again, I am excited to have some support (sans hubby)and not the kind where people stand on the sidelines and cheer you on, but the kind where others are participating together. I'm TOTALLY IN! Today, May 1st 2009 is my last day of sugar for 30 days! Thanks Oprah and Jenny! Halleluah-er!

I Probably Owe You Some Pictures, BUT...

Sorry, I have none for you at this time. Skot dropped our camera while snowboarding (or landed on it, or smashed it or something) and it no longer shows a picture on the LCD screen on the back. It is very difficult to take pictures when you cannot see your subject through the camera's eye. Anyhoo, my next post is about SUGAR! Check it out. OK, you probably already did seeing that it is posted above this post. Whatever.

Snowboarding

Boarding, boarding, boarding... Christi's kinda boring... Skot's fun... La la la la la la... lol. :) Okay, I will spare you from more of the weird singing. Not sure where that came from. So day two in Utah was snowmobiling (already posted that), day three and four were boarding days. My plan is to compile a lot of my falling down videos for a post. We'll see if I get around to it.
Me trying to snowboard. I'm definitely getting better! Woo Hoo!
Yeah, yeah expert boy. Did you really go down that? Hmmm...
David and Ali Cox ("Ali" from Allison C Photography - she's on my links list)
If you squint you can see Christian doing some boarding trick on that protrusion. Wow, I know so little about this. This is day four, by the way. Skot boarded with Christian and cousin Audrey.
Christian (Heidi's hubby)
Woah. It's really stinking bright. Where are your goggles Skooter? Oh, on top of your head?

Hang In There

I will be posting more from our Utah trip soon...

My fav pics from Daniel's Peak

Waldron lunacy

If I sound a bit upset, it is because I was. Skot was being Mr. Hot Rod, raced as fast as he could down a very long hill and instead of staying on the trail decided to jump another giant hill without knowing what was on the other side. Sorry about the wind noise. We were up pretty high... just under 11'000 feet.

Snowmobiling pics (did I spell that correctly?)

On Thursday the 12th (Happy Birthday sister April) we drove in a northeasterly direction to a place not too far from Park City called Daniel's Summit for a day of snowmobiling. I have never been in my life and had a blast, minus one incident that scared and shocked me (that will come in a future post).
I love driving up Provo Canyon. It is beautiful and I have a ton of fun memories from playing in the parks that line that canyon.
Getting ready.

Gear. Thanks Aunt Bobbie and Cousin Heidi for all the warm stuff.
Puffy marshmallow people. I didn't feel the cold even a tiny bit. OK, so it was 30 degrees outside, which isn't very cold, but when you're going 50 miles per hour on an open vehicle you get pretty cold.
I AM A MAN AND I LOVE CRAZY FAST MACHINES THAT ARE REALLY DANGEROUS!
The place.

Trip to UTAH!!!

I am hating Blogger again right now. :( What is the problem here? Is the issue that I am using a Mac? Grrrr... I was trying to type this above the first picture and I cannot get it to stop underlining all my type. ANNOYING!

OK, on a lighter note, Skot and I went to Utah on the 11th and spent several days playing in the snow and with friends and family. We flew in early on the 11th and spent the afternoon reminiscing. We stopped by my old crib at the "Riv" in Provo. I lived in apartment 47 in 1997!

Sweet friends

Our pal Schuyler... Skot and I work with the youth a lot at church and have watched all these cool kids grow up so much over the past 5 1/2 years we've been here in Illinois. This was his Eagle Court of Honor (a bit belated). He left a couple weeks later to serve a full-time mission in Chile. That's way cool. We are so happy for you Schuyler!

Finally... new hair pics.

Okay, so here is the new hair color. I promised a pic of the brown hair quite some time ago. Sorry it took so long. I know I should avoid making negative comments about myself and body, BUT my lips look weird in this picture. What's the deal? Yikes, I think I look older, too. Weird.

Cutie Girls

A couple of my cutie girls from church. What sweethearts. :)

Ranunculus

This is one of my favorite flowers, the ranunculus. I am not a big pink person, I prefer orange, yellow, and green. I also usually prefer tropicals, but the ranunculus, even though it is small, has so many petals in this tight little bud that it it has impressed me. I grew yellow ranunculus last year in a pot on my front porch. Unfortunately after it was finished blooming and died away during summer, the ground squirrels came hunting and dug up the tuber (or bulb, but I think tuber), so bye-bye yellow ranunculus. 

Notice the nasty snow in the background. I think I am now ready for spring.... no, summer. Spring here in the Chicago area is too much like winter to me. I am ready for summer!

Ummm... so, yeah.

I really don't care about being cool, so I put no effort into trying. I do, however, put a little effort towards being less awkward. I am one of the clumsiest people I know. Minor-accident prone for sure. You know, stuff like dropping the cereal box, cereal flies everywhere, I grumble while I pick up every little piece. One problem with my improvement efforts... the harder I try, the more awkward I get. That does not make sense! And you know what else doesn't make sense? I walk with ease in high heels. What the heck?

Boarding buddies

Valentine's Day... Skot took me out for my first snowboarding experience. Now, in order for you to understand what a huge deal this is for me, you should know that I have never played any sports in my life. Sure, I exercise, I workout, but I am lacking in the coordination skills department. I have heard for years that the first time you go boarding is so hard, all you do is fall down, you get really frustrated. Well, I certainly fell down a lot, but I really didn't get very frustrated, I just kept trying. Thanks to Skooter for being so darn patient. I have never seen him be so patient in the years that I have known him. What a sweetheart! He made the day so easy. :)

SNUGGIE!!!

Pictures from our Christmas shoot with Chuck

Ok, so I said I needed to get the files converted, but I found a couple Skot had already done on his own. These aren't the ones I want to post, but they'll do for now.

Looks like he should be walking around with a newspaper saying "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" Okay, so he looks cute. What a great smile. :)
I'm not crazy about this shot, but I do look rather joyful. Took a while to get my hair like this.
Scary. Need I say more? Yes, actually, I need. Skot uses this as his screen saver. Is this what he looks at to prepare himself for going home? My goodness. Apparently all the smothering with hugs and kisses just isn't enough...

Did I Mention?

Did I happen to mention that I dyed my hair yet again? It is brown. Medium brown I'd say, with a hint of red. Maybe next I will go all red? Who knows. I use a Magic 8 Ball to decide my hair cut and color choices. It is ever-changing and unpredictable baby. Soon I will post pics of the brownness (is that even a word?).

Did I mention that we had some awesome pictures taken again with Chuck Shotwell? Did I mention that I'm a slacker and haven't put any on the blog? Geez, what will it take to motivate me? The problem is that these pics are very high rez (as in I can zoom in and see individual pores in my skin). I can't just stick them on here. Your page would never finish downloading. The internet would crash and burn!!! (Dun, Du, Duuuuuhhhhnn) <- That is a sound effect. Do you get it? Anyhoo, (a little Canadian for Chrissy Claussen) there are a bunch of mega-big files that need to be converted to little-bitty internet-worthy files - that people can't steal - before I can post them. Soon I will post those pics and you won't have to read so many of my words any more seeing that I have been only posting blog entries lately with lots of words and no pictures and you are saying what's the deal I'm not reading all those words that's too much work what does she think I am, educated?

Do you like my run-on sentence? Hope so. C :)

Twilight to Dawn

I will revise this post later to add more detailed information.
I just want to say for now that I finally got around to reading the Twilight saga... I disappeared for an entire week. Hubby is glad to have me back, although this does mean that I am distracting him from playing FIFA and Call of Duty on his PS3 now.
I'm sure that I won't find another set of books that drew me in like these did for a while...
Okay, gotta stop while I'm ahead. I feel a couple paragraphs coming on.
TO BE CONTINUED...

... AND HERE WE GO...
So, I had this thing about Twilight at first. I avoided it like an offensive odor. I saw blog entries and Facebook pages plastered with comments, pictures, fan clubs, and events. I couldn't believe that people were having Twilight parties! I thought that it was total madness.
Why did I avoid it? Well, hello... it is a series of teenage books about a girl and her vampire boyfriend. Need I say more?
I suppose the next question is: How did I manage to make myself read these books and why did I like them? Well the first answer is obvious. So many people were reading them and liking them so much, maybe, at the very least, I would like them too. Also, I ran across a copy of the second book, New Moon, at TJ Maxx for $6.99. Even if the books, in my experience, tanked then at least I wouldn't be put out about the money. About a month later I was, once again, at TJ Maxx and just happened to see the first book, Twilight, at the check-out counter, $6.99. Amazing, it was fate.
I like this saga because it was an easy read. I like it because it appealed to the moody, hormonal, indecisive teenager in me that used to be (like I mentioned to my friend Erika who dislikes Twilight). I like it because the character is self-depracating and clumsy - I get that. I like because Stephenie Meyer, the author, has her characters speaking the way I speak. I just get it. It gets me. Well, really it doesn't, but I like to think so.

Pay attention next time

LONG, BUT WORTH READING!

I run about 3 days per week. Through the holidays I usually get tripped up a bit with my schedule. I'm back at home for now and trying to get myself back into step. I prefer running outdoors but have recently succumbed to the toasty indoor heating and bought a limited membership at the local gym so I would have a treadmill to run on while the local frozen tundra remains so.

Saturday (Jan 24th) I was short on time and decided I HAD to get a run in, even if I really only had 20 minutes. Okay, so 20 minutes? No problem. I have training runs on my iPod from Stin Hansen that are 20 minutes of high intensity intervals that totally kick my tail. I can handle the time crunch. As I dressed and left my house there was a small lingering thought in the back of my mind. Skot had mentioned that it was going to be really cold. I pushed the thought away thinking I could take the cold (probably in the 20 degree range, right?), I really could not miss a run, I need it so bad.

So this is how my run went:
Kinda hot already from running through the house to get dressed - double layers.
Leave my pull-over face mask behind, too hot, like I said.
Step out the front door.
Start walking briskly to warm up.
Dang it is cold, my face is freezing. Should I have brought my mask?
Start to walk faster, the cold penetrating through my single layer gloves.
Start a slow jog, I am interval training right?
Start running.
Breathing heavier hurts deep in my chest.
As I progress through each interval - walk, jog, run, run harder - my body continues to freeze.
Aren't I supposed to be warming up?
My face feels strange, I touch my chin only to realize I have temperature induced anesthesia.
My nose, my forehead, my cheeks - all the same - no feeling.
I become more in tune with the rest of my body.
Extremities: butt - frozen, forearms - frozen, thighs - frozen, inside bend at my elbow - frozen?
I tell myself I can endure for 20. Just keep going.
Breathing deeper, more labored, more painful.
My throat is actually burning (chest still hurting).
How cold is it exactly?
Am I out of my mind?
No, I am not out of my mind, just dedicated and I know what keeps my stress levels down, right?
I focus on my last interval set, straining for my best.
I jog home, then walk fast, throat still burning.
I walk in the front door, taking a deep and warm breath in.
Check weather.com to see what the temperature is.
At 2:00pm 8 degrees with a wind chill temperature of -6 degrees.
No wonder.
I undress, hop in the shower and cold water pours over my body.
I jump, check the water closer to the shower head - the water is very warm - hot really.
I check around myself realizing...
My skin is so cold that it is turning the warm water into an icy shower.

Oh, Misery, Depart!

The true temperature right now at 8:03am? NEGATIVE 16 DEGREES! The wind chill factor? NEGATIVE 35 DEGREES! Do I dare leave home? Of course, the show must go on. :)

Surprise!

Wow. What a surprise! I periodically check blogs and websites of people I know just to see what's new. Well today I checked our friend's website and saw pictures of Skot and I! So, if you want to see them just click on this link.

http://www.shotwellphotography.com/#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=1&a=0&at=0

By the way, we will be posting more pics from this shoot later on.

Christi's sister-day - Earth, Paint, and Fire

Christmas Day - Christi's Family

Christmas Day - Waldrons