The diet continues

michele@theheraldnewspapers.com

I love vintage clothing. When I was younger (pre-baby days) that’s what I would wear all the time. I’d go to retro stores and get the cutest dresses. The style of 50s dresses really flatters the figure.
As I said this was pre-baby days and I was a teensy bit smaller then. I used to wear a size 4 to 6. Now I’m in a 10 and can squeeze into some 8’s but 10’s feel the best.
As I started my weight lose adventure I began looking through the listings on eBay and at the vintage dresses. I found a ‘Lucy’ style dress. You know, the kind with the dots all over it that has the wide skirt that floats in the air when you twirl. My husband Joe calls it a Marilyn Monroe dress but I’m not sure why. It doesn’t fly up that far!
Anyway, I fell in love with it and bid on it, along with two other 1950s dresses. The sizes ran differently then. A size 14 in the 50s is like a size 10 now. So I bought all three dresses from different sellers.
When they arrived I was so excited. As I went to try each one on I was soon filled with disappointment. Each of those dresses were too tight.
Bummed, I put them in a bag and shoved them in the closet, thinking I’d list them on eBay. But then I decided to keep them. They have been sitting in the closet for a couple of months now.
Today I went to the closet and pulled out the bag. Now don’t get too excited, they still don’t completely fit. But I decided not to keep them in the back corner of the closet any longer. My favorite of the three, the ‘Lucy’ dress, is now hanging up to be viewed everyday, until I can fit into it and fit into it I will.
This past week we had a trying experience while on the kid’s spring break. My husband is a pilot and has been flying longer than he’s been driving, well practically. We were going to spend spring break in the Florida Keys so our kids could go diving. Our daughter Angela got her diving certificate when she turned 10 and it’s been a year and she still has not had a chance to dive in the ocean. Our 14-year-old son Matt is also a certified scuba diver. He got his license when he was 12.
When we landed in the Clearwater area to refuel and have dinner with friends the right landing gear collapsed. Joe did everything he could to keep the plane on the runway but just couldn’t hold it any longer. We went off the runway about 200 feet and ended up going through several trees. None of us were hurt thank God, but the plane was basically destroyed. The landing gear was completely rebuilt just 10 months earlier.
On our trip home I had lots of time to think (we rented a car) and decided I was going to do the things I’ve always wanted to do and always put off because there was never enough time.
I’ve written six books with my seventh book coming out this June, “What Celebrities Collect!” but I never finished that novel I have been working on. I’m going to work on it every day even if it’s just for five minutes. It will be completed. My home is now my office so I can do accounting and all that boring business stuff from the house instead of the office so I can go home after the kids are out of school. At 2:45 p.m. I’m out of here. Seven hours a day is enough at the office, even if it is your own business. And lastly, I’m going to lose that weight and fit in those super cool 1950s vintage dresses.
Those of you who have been following my diet tales know Joe and I have been using, the Pat Robinson protein powder drinks that you can buy at GNC stores.
Everyone has to try something and for us the drinks work great. They taste good, the plan is easy to follow and they come in chocolate! Joe and I have lost over 20 pounds (combined) so far on the diet. Joe would rather have one of the protein drinks rather than eat greasy food. Can you imagine that?
At times it takes something a little out of the ordinary to happen to you to give you the extra push you need to finish what you’ve started or make life changes. We were lucky. I’m not going to go back to my same old routine. I’m going to continue eating healthy and exercising, even though the exercising part isn’t a whole lot of fun right now. I know it will be eventually, like it was before I put all this weight on. Before the babies. Back in the days when I wore super cool 50s dresses. Dresses I intend to wear again.