My daughter and her husband arrived this afternoon with ultrasound pictures in tow.  She has a beautiful baby girl in there.  We are so excited!  I thought we'd crack from anticipation waiting for them to get back from the doctor today. Everything is very healthy - both mommy and baby are in good shape.

Now the shopping can begin in earnest!  I have seen too many absolutely adorable frilly little girl things. :)  The girls are so wound up about being aunts.  And everyone is excited about being able to refer to the baby as "her" and "she" instead of "it."

~o~

I spent most of the day working on the castle float needed for the Memorial Day parade.  Since I got back I have been super busy, so I still have paint in my hair which everyone keeps pointing out to me.  We are assembled turrets that are made to look like they are tiled, but those had to dry before we could attempt attaching them to the castle walls.  That will be tomorrow - as will the making of penants to fly from them.

~o~

45 minutes HIIT on the stationary bike this morning. 

In the news this week has been the alarming report that strokes among middle-aged women have tripled in recent years.  Women today have higher blood sugar levels, higher blood pressure, are heavier and have bigger body mass indexes than two decades ago.  Well, just take a moment to think.  In the 1980s the whole low-fat and sugar-free blitz took place.  Fat became the enemy.  Fat free founds abounded - and most of the fat-free packaged foods that became available were high in refined carbohydrates.  The sugar-free craze with the introduction of aspartame introduced a variety of "treats" into the marketplace.  As it's been shown in numerous studies, including one I mentioned the other day, artificial sweeteners cause rats to gain weight.  As I heard a trainer say once, look around and see who is drinking the diet soda and chances are you'll see it's the people with weight problems ... and it is not helping them. 

Belly fat is a huge problem.  According to a CBS news article on the study led by Dr. Amytis Towfighi, a neurology specialist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, , "Belly fat stood out, Towfighi said. The portion of women with abdominal obesity rose from 47 percent in the earlier survey to 59 percent in the recent one. The change in men was smaller, and previous studies have shown that "abdominal obesity is a stronger risk factor for women than men," she said.

I think women need to WAKE UP.  Stopping eating "low fat" and "sugar free" crap.  Eat food that tastes good and is healthy for you - even if it has a higher fat content.  The fat will satisfy your hunger longer and save you calories in the long run.  Along with eating right, women need to get off their couches, get off their cell phones, - and yes, even their computers - and do something more than taking a wimpy little walk around the block.  Walking is "okay" but it is not vigorous enough to really provide the fat-burning and muscle-building work that needs to be done to work off that belly fat.  When women say, "I don't have time to exercise," they need to realize that the care and maintenance of the ONE body they have should take a position of priority in their lives (especially if they don't want those lives to become short-lived).

~o~
If you do eat well and workout, you can enjoy an occasional treat.  Remember Berardi's 10% rule...eat clean 90% of the time, what you want 10%.  Well, for that treat I totally recommend Breyers All Natural Ice Cream in Dulce de Leche.  Eat at your own risk!  It is dangerously addictive.  Seriously - it is that good. 

~o~
My daughter saw the ob/gyn today...and her due date is September 8th.  This is so cool to me because that was my due date with her - and she was born on August 19th.  All of my babies were born at 37 - 37 1/2 weeks (and they were all over 8 lbs), my mother had my siblings and I one - two weeks before the due date.  Chances are then, that my little grandbaby will be born at the end of August.  You never know!  We're all so excited we could just burst, but that would be rather messy so we won't. 

In other news, my daughter and her husband are looking at two houses - one is five houses down from me, the other is catty-corner behind mine.  It would be awesome and wonderful if all goes well and they can get the one they want most.  What a great way to start their little family out but with their own home around the corner!

A temporary moment of vanity - we all need those every now and then:  after the gym, when I was on my way to Arabica for my post-workout decaf latte, I saw my doctor's partner standing in the lobby of the office.  I decided to pop in and ask how they felt about Armour thyroid (natural thyroid replacement from dessicated pigs' thyroids, contains T4 and T3).  I'm still upset about my doctor's office moving and not sending out notification.  I also found out that he was three months behind on rent for his other location and consolidated both offices at the new location. My friend was scheduled to go to that other office, if she hadn't happened to go to the dentist (who the office space was rented from), she would have shown up at the wrong place.  Anyway, after I popped in to talk to him and we began chatting, I asked if he took "X" my married daughter's insurance.  He said, "WHAT?? How could you have a married daughter, you're too young!"  I said, "That's her right out there with my other girls waiting for me to get coffee."  More shock professed, to which I added by saying "And yeah, I'll be a grandma in September."  I loved it.  Feels good to look too young to have married kids & grandchildren coming.  At the gym, two twenty-somethings were trying to hit on us which punctuated the "young" feeling - although it did get pretty uncomfortable.  Doing deadlifts while being oggled is not enjoyable.  It felt good on the old ego, which occasionally does need stroking.   I also liked that he immediately also made sure that my pregnant daughter was *not* having caffeine.  I like that concern, most definitely.  And I really, REALLY like doctors that stop and chat, get to know you, show interest, etc. 

And as far as thyroid medication goes, they *do* agree with the use of Armour thyroid and also answered the other questions I asked about thyroid care in a way that made me happy.  So, if my doctor's office ticks me off when I go to the new place next week, I know what I'm doing...

~o~
Today was leg day.  First, I have to say that I kicked my own butt on Monday and Tuesday.  I'm only hitting each body part once a week with this plan, but I must've hit really hard.  My pectorals were aching until today from Monday, but then my delts & traps were still hurting from Tuesday.  I had also done this interesting cable rope crunch on a stability ball and my abs STILL feel it. You can bet I'll be doing that one more!

Wednesday's workout:  20 minutes ice skating (too busy talking while putting the skates on ate up the time).  1 hr 6 minutes of P90X yoga.  I ran out of time to do the last 20 minutes and had to rush.  I can certainly say that I needed, desperately needed, that yoga.  It was intense power yoga, but still, it stretched out some of my aching body parts.

Before today's workout, I wiped out going up the stadium bleachers at the ice rink.  I had my arms too full, had just had a confrontation with the thieving coach, and tripped over my own feet while I was trying to catch a book I was dropping.  I now have a HUGE bruise on my left bicep where I slammed into the metal steps.

Today's workout:  15 minutes HIIT on the treadmill.  35 minutes circuit training, legs/glutes.  15 minutes HIIT on the Cybex+.

Supersets -

squat 15/40, 12/50/12/60
jump squats 10X3

deadlift, wide stance 15/60, 12/70, 12/80
reverse lunge 15/0, 15/30, 15/40

plie squat 20/35, 20/40, 20/45
step up, 16" step 16/0,16/20, 10/30

leg curl 20/80, 15/90, 12/100
leg press 20/230, 15/240, 12/250