Being that it was near 70 today with beautiful sunshine, Dana and I decided it was time to get out and exercise a bit.  Since I haven’t hit a golf ball in 6 months and the driving range near our house opened yesterday, I figured it was time to go.  But what would Deuce do? 

He’s almost 2 years old now, so Dana and I thought he should have a golf club.  Dana stopped at the sporting goods store and got him a driver.  Not one of those plastic ones, mind you.  A for real steel and graphite driver.

So we went to the range and hit some golf balls.  It was a blast to watch Deuce hit the balls.   He needed some help from Mom, but he did well for a near 2 year old.  He enjoyed coming to my little area and taking the golf balls and throwing them over the hill. I think that was his favorite part.

I, on the other hand, didn’t hit it too bad (at least, I hit my wedge through about my 6 iron well).   However, on my first swing of the driver, the driver head snapped off and flew about, oh, 150 yards.  The ball went about that far as well. 

So the trip to the range was a success, although I need a new driver because of it.

I apologize ahead of time for this post. It’s one of those things where I have a bunch of random stuff to tell you, but there is no real rhyme or reason behind the post.

Deuce and I are both getting over our respective ailments, although my tendon is still sore and my range of motion is limited. I did, however, take a practice swing the other day in the yard, and I’m pleased to say that this injury does not adversely affect my golf swing. Because, really, that’s the most important thing.

Dana is doing well, happy that my foot is getting better and that I’m not such a bear because of it. Last week was a tough week because of the little one being so sick. She has, however, taken her Christmas gift and made great use of it. She took a class on making a Christmas wall hanging. It looks very nice, I can’t wait to see the finished product. She also made a pillow for her mom with some embroidery on it which was very pretty.

Our diet is going well, and I’m happy to report that Grandpa G is also on the diet and has lost 23 lbs in the three weeks he’s been on it. Dana and I have lost about 37 lbs total in the past month. The “diet” really isn’t that difficult, and we are getting much better at preparing good meals that are also very healthy.

On my last random note, the inventor of the Fusion Power razor should be given a medal. That thing is freakin’ awesome.

It’s always another. My heel has been hurting me as of late. Well, more specifically, my Achilles tendon has been hurting me as of late. I’m not sure why, but it was pretty painful. I finally went to the doctor on Tuesday. He gave me prednisone, a beautiful steriod that relieves some of the pain but makes me so hungry it’s unreal. Luckily I only have to take it for 6 days.

On top of that, Deuce has been sick since Monday. He had a fever at daycare, and Dana took him right from day care to the doctor’s office. They said he didn’t have an ear infection and that he most likely had a cold. Three days later, he’s still feverish and about as much fun as a bear with a chapped ass. So Dana took him back to the doctor’s today, where they said he has an ear infection. So he’s on drugs now too.

All in all, it’s been a pretty terrible week. My ankle/heel area still hurts a bit, and Deuce is still sick. Perhaps a weekend of recouperation is in order.

Dana and I have been on “the beach” a full two weeks now, and I have to say it’s much easier than most “diets” I’ve tried (including Atkins). Dana and I have become particularly motivated to not only take the weight off, but change our eating habits permanently. We know that Deuce will pick up on our habits, and my old eating habits were pretty much terrible. Our total weight loss over the last two weeks has been 25.5 lbs.

So our next step is getting into a regular exercise routine. We have a bike, which of course Dana doesn’t want to use , and Grandma and Grandpa A have a treadmill that needs some TLC. So we’re going to try and get the treadmill over to our place sometime soon so I can try and work on it.

I also thought about getting some dumbbells and a small bench to do some light lifting. Then I saw the Bowflex SelectTech dumbbells… Those things are AWESOME. You can dial in weights from something 5 lbs to 52.5 lbs, all on a single set of dumbbells (which is a huge space saver). Now all I have to do is talk Dana into getting a set.

So I’m being a little over dramatic. Actually, this whole South Beach Diet approach seems to be working quite nicely. Dana and I have both found that we really don’t crave much in the way of sweets or other terrible things, and our hunger seems to lessen a bit. We’ve both lost some weight, me more than her, most likely to the fact that a) guys tend to lose weight faster, at least at the beginning, and b) I have a lot more to lose than her. But combined, we lost 16 pounds last week.

Dana suggested we buy a pound of butter for every pound we lose. I’m not sure why butter was chosen, since we can’t eat butter, but the fact is we would have spent roughly 40 dollars on butter last week alone. I don’t think I can afford that.

Although you’re only supposed to stay on the first phase for two weeks, we may stretch it to 3 or 4 just to get down a bit more so that we can start exercising more. I’d like to get back on our exercise bike and, eventually work up to jogging and running. But first things first.