Goals Complete for 11.11.11

This year marks the 4th year I have set GOALS online for myself, and the time range has run for 13 months each.

08.08.08-GOALS COMPLETE
09.09.09-GOALS COMPLETE
10.10.10-GOALS COMPLETE
11.11.11-BELOW

The next one will now be.

Wait for it....

12.12.12 <-----Isn't that right around the time of the apocalypse?
I better make these next ones GOOD!

The goals completed from this past year have not been the best from my lists, that's for sure. But they are still significant:

GOALS COMPLETE

* √ Find a New Dermatologist
* √ Lose 10 Pounds
* √ Take a Yoga Class
* √ Visit Another Country
* √ Take the Boys Bowling
* √ Get a Family Pic Done
* √ Complete Body Detox


There are also quite a few things that I wanted to write about and didn't get up yet. Not sure that I ever will so here are a few:

• Review of Bistro 101
• Obsession with Ho-Chunk Casino
• Review of Toy Story 3
• Father's Day this year and visit to the ZOO
• Running progress and details about the marathon training
• The Botanical Gardens
• The Petting Zoo
• Cave of the Mounds (we have season passes now though)!
• The EMU that came running after me on the country road while I was driving!
• Review of Japanese Takara (2 locations)!
• The Apple Orchard
• The UW Geology Museum
• Review of Otto's
• Madtown Twisters Visit
• Easter Sunday
• Trip to Germany and the UK

Now it's time to reassess the upcoming goals and get to work!
Bring on 12.12.12!

Goal Complete: Find a New Dermatologist

There are not many, but one of the downfalls to the move up to Madison has been having to get all new doctors. For the most part, I was comfortable with all the doctors we had in Dallas for ourselves and for the boys. It takes so much time to build up that relationship, and then once the history is there it's hard to make a change.

So it's been a year and a half and I finally found a dermatologist.

It took quite some time to get the appointment scheduled as a new patient, and I needed to go in for a full skin check and acne.

Unfortunately, I was not impressed.

I had a 10:00 appointment and didn't get called in until closer to 11. "Strike 1" The nurse was very nice and we went through the long laundry list of medical background and questions, and also concerns for the day. I felt like things were going well but on the inside I was frustrated that I had to go through all the "new" stuff, but also excited to have a new opinion and outlook on things!

The doctor came in (she shook my hand which is two big thumbs up for me) and she was very polite. I got a good first impression. But as the exam went on she did a full body check and completely overlooked the areas that I called out. She told me to come back in after a year to keep up, but then when I called her out on the "misses" she looked again and said "oh yes, let's take pictures of these and you come back in after 3 months".

Hm.

So then we get to my face. I can't express enough how frustrated I am at 35 years old and still having breakouts. It's always been a problem for me. I was on minocycline in my 20's and it worked great, but wanted to know what other options were out there. After she told me about 8 different combinations of meeds and topical she asked me what I wanted to do. I mean, not two options…literally 8. "Strike 2" I told her whatever she thought I needed to do while still respecting my caveats.

So she put me on a med and topical. Which takes us to "Strike 3". I went to call and check on the prescription that night and there was no record of it. I called the doctor's office and left a message and asked them to call me when they were going to have it sent in. I waited 5 days (got busy). Called the doctor again and they said they called it in the day after I called the week before, but didn't let me know.

Well, at least I got it that night. And they did apologize.

So at least I have a doctor now. And I will probably stay with her for the rest of my life because I don't want to go through the ordeal of finding another and starting over "new".

Mission complete.

Goal Complete: Lose 10 Pounds

Something I've learned over the last 7-8 years, is that it's not so much about the number on the scale as it is about how you feel.

Okay, that's kind of true.

I really do tell myself that. Thinking back to when I was in high school and the weight I was at - it DEFINITELY was NOT healthy, as I was skipping breakfast, eating a chocolate chip cookie for lunch and swinging by Taco Bell every night at 11pm after work.

But I felt good when I got on the scale!

Fast forward almost 20 years later and I'm sitting at a weight much higher, but I can guarantee I'm a lot healthier than I was back then. Sure I splurge and don't always make the best choices; but I work out, understand the value of calories and nutrients, and I TRY to eat my vegetables.

(Ketchup counts as a vegetable)

With that ramp up, I have to admit although I had on my list of goals to lose 10lbs, it's not like I really tried to get the weight off. I did do very healthy things this year, like training for the marathon, picking up yoga, taking vitamins and doing a lot more weight training than last year. I guess I just figured without a real huge change in my balance between food and activity, my body would sit where it's at.

But ALAS! As I was going through paperwork yesterday and found my information from last December when I was in the hospital, I realized…I really did lose the weight in the last 11 months! Exactly 10lbs.

Still a long ways to go on getting stronger and being healthy, but at least I accomplished this goal!!