Yes, I would really like to be thin

Who doesn't love Thanksgiving Point?

2010-12-17T07:40:00.001-08:00

We absolutely love Thanksgiving Point, and the annual pass is truly a great value, especially when you have a big family.

Well, over at NoBiggie, Kami has a Thanksgiving Point pass to give away. Check it out and enter here.

Graduations are for one reason..to make mothers cry

2010-05-26T13:10:00.000-07:00

John had his kindergarten graduation today. I knew what to expect. Four of my five kids have had the same kindergarten teacher, and they pretty much do the same graduation program every year. They recite their poems and songs that they have been working on during the year. The kids are all dressed up nice and they even play Yankee Doodle on their kazoos. It's really cute.

I always tear up at these things, realizing that my little kids just aren't staying little forever like I would like them to. But this time, this time I cried.

My last Kindergarten graduation. How is that possible? And in two more years my sophomore is going to be graduating from high school! How is that possible?

I can't be that old, I just can't! Can I?

You know it's almost that time of the month when...

2010-05-18T12:48:00.001-07:00

I was watching Desperate Housewives, of all things, and I cried. Not once, but three times I teared up. I guess I shouldn't even THINK about watching Lost or Biggest Loser tonight.

I yelled at my son and his friend for drinking 5 juice boxes. Granted, I had given them one each, and soon there were 5 empty boxes, but it's a juice box, for heaven's sake.

I cannot inhale the chocolate fast enough.

Exercise? What is that?

800 boxes of cereal. No, I don't think it's too much, do you?

2010-04-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

This story isn’t mine. It is my sister’s. My sister with the 11 kids who SHOULD have a blog, because her life is amazingly funny, but how would she keep up with it? She has 11 kids!?

This week cereal is on sale at Smith’s for $1 a box. When you have a large family, you stock up on cereal when you can buy them for $1 a box. I bought 30 boxes and I had a couple of coupons, so I was thinking I was pretty clever getting those 30 boxes of oatmeal, Life and Captain Crunch for $27. Oh, how wrong I was.

My sister called me and told me how I could get that same cereal for 40 cents a box. Yes, you have to be sneaky, and yes, it takes more work, but 40 cents a box? While Smith’s is having their sale making the cereal $1 a box (after the instant rebate at the checkout, yada, yada.) Macey’s, Dan’s, and Harmon’s are also having a sale on Quaker cereal, but they use an in-ad coupon to get $3 off when you buy 5 boxes. Their deal isn’t as good as the Smith’s deal, though, so I had thrown those ads away. My brother-in-law, Tom, was cleverer than I. He took the coupons from the other ads, and used them at Smiths. First, he cut out all the coupons from the ads he had, and asked the neighbors for their ads, as well. Then, to get more ads, he went to his local Associated Foods stores and took a few ads from each store. He didn’t want to clean them out of their ads, so he said he wasn’t taking more than 10 from each. Then, using the competing store’s coupons along with the Smith’s sale price, it brings the total down to 40 cents each for a box of cereal.

When she called me to apprise me of the deal, she said he had already gotten over 100 boxes of cereal, and was going back out for more. “So I don’t look so creepy, I’ll take one of the little kids with me,” he said. Because the last thing you want when grocery shopping for large amounts of cereal is to look creepy.

I had already bought one round of cereal (and peanut butter, which was also on a good case lot sale), but I’m up for a great deal, so I tried it. First I looked through our box of newspapers for the ads. I found one ad from Kohlers, our local associated foods store. I cute out the $3 coupon. Then I stopped at Kohler’s to pick up some ads. Oh, and cake mix! Because they had cake mix on sale, and I didn’t want to just run in to grab the ads. I took my 6 ads out to the car, and WHAT?! Someone had already cut out the $3 coupon! Foiled! Oh,well. I’ll try the one coupon I have, and I can at least get $3 off of 5 boxes. I went over to Smith’s, put 10 boxes into the cart and went to check out. “Oh, we’re not accepting that coupon,” said the checker, “I guess we lost a lot of money on those coupons yesterday as we’re not getting paid for them.” She showed me on her little printed paper that they were allowed to accept the coupons from one store that don’t say “good for use ONLY at Associated food stores” in tiny print. Mine had the tiny print, so she was not accepting it. Probably because of Tom and people like Tom. Foiled again!

After my day of working at the school and then cutting out endless skirts for kindergarteners, I called my sister back and told her how I had been foiled twice in my attempt to beat the system. “Oh, really?” she said, “Tom just came back from the store and he’s bought 500 boxes. Nobody told him he couldn’t use the coupon.” Erg. Tom had been to stores all over the Salt Lake Valley, from Draper to West Valley City in his quest for both coupons, and cereal. He couldn’t just go to ONE Smith’s store and clean out all their cereal, so he was making the rounds. He was only back to cut out and organize, then he was going back out again. It seems that 500 boxes is all that the Excursion will hold.

As he was purchasing several cases of cereal, one lady said to him, “There’s no way you can go through that much cereal before it expires.” Are you kidding me? Having 11 kids, Tom is used to obnoxious comments and questions from strangers. He didn’t HAVE to justify his purchase to her, but he did say, “I have 11 kids. We go through at least two boxes of cereal a day. You really don’t think we can eat these 40 boxes of cereal?” If it had been me, I might have just laughed in their face. Do you need to give an explanation besides “Teenagers”? If I let my kids have free reign over the cereal, they would eat it morning, noon and night. A bowl of cereal is often the chosen afternoon snack at our house, providing we have milk to go with it.

When I last spoke with my sister, she said that they hadn’t quite reached their goal of 1,000 boxes, but they were at 800! 800 boxes at 40 cents each– that’s $320 on cereal, but they’ve saved at least $2 per box off the regular price, so I’m going to congratulate them on their MAJOR cereal score.

And if I run out, I know I can always go over to her house, as long as I bring my own gallon of milk.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 17th, 2010 at 2:25 pm and is filed under bargains--score.

It's me or the donuts

2010-03-10T06:51:00.000-08:00

Last night we had to go return a redbox movie at the grocery store. We were on kind of a high from a VERY exciting basketball game, and I told the kids we could get donuts. After 7 pm, the donuts go on sale for all the donuts you can fit in a box for $2.99. So, we stuffed in about 15 donuts and went home, and I made some kids VERY happy. I also grabbed some french bread that was day old. I seriously ate almost half the loaf of bread while they gobbled down donuts. I had to have something to eat myself, since I hadn't had dinner yet.

This morning, I allowed them to pack a donut in their lunches, and then there were still 5 or 6 of those evil donuts in the box. I asked my 13 year old to take them to her carpool and offer them around. You would have thought I asked her to go to school naked or something. "What? What will I say? What if they don't want them? What if they think I'm weird?" she asked. Who is going to think you are weird for offering them a donut? I don't get it. I forced her to take the box with her. Hopefully I won't go outside and see a smooshed box of donuts on the floor.

But those donuts HAD to go. I didn't eat any last night, but during the day--when there's nobody here but me and the donuts--I could see that my iron will might waver, and I could end up facedown in a box of donuts. And nobody wants to see that happening.

so much for accountability

2010-03-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

Well, I didn't do so great with the whole posting everything I've eaten. But now it's the time of Lent, and even though I am not Catholic, I've given up the SUGAR. I had a bit of a rocky start, but now we are over two weeks into this, and I am doing pretty well. Yesterday, when I went into the Kindergarten class to volunteer, they were having cake to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday. The kindergarten teacher offered me a piece of YUMMY cake. Normally, I would have taken a piece. But NO, I did not. And then a bunch of friends from the neighborhood went out to lunch to celebrate a birthday, and my friend the candy maker had brought bags of samples. I seriously wasn't even tempted! But then I came home, and wanted something sweet. I made sugar free pudding for me and the kids for dessert. Not too bad. I am losing about a pound a week, though, so that's a good thing. I bought some seriously overpriced Hershey's sugar free chocolate yesterday, and I've decided I can have one piece per day.

Have you given up something for Lent? Is it getting easier?

Day 2

2010-02-02T18:07:00.000-08:00

Breakfast-oatmeal with blackberries and 1/4 c milk
25 oz water
Lunch-Chicken BLT salad from Wendy's with a scant amount of reduced fat ranch dressing, and 3 of my son's fries.
diet coke.

Then I totally blew it and had a donut. I know. Nowhere in this plan do we see the word donut, but it was there, and I was hungry.

Dinner-spinach quiche, 1/2 of a brat, green beans, green salad and milk.

And I'm hoping to get my stuff done so I can be on the treadmill and watch Biggest Loser.

Accountability

2010-02-01T07:55:00.000-08:00

I need some accountability for my actions. It's a new month, and I have set some month goals. This month I want to walk/jog 50 miles, eat following the plan, drink 70-100 oz of water each day, and lose 10 pounds. Yes, you heard me, 10. For the month.
Breakfast
1 egg
1 egg white
1/2 banana
bran muffin

25 oz water

2 miles on treadmill

Lunch
2 pieces bread
2 slices turkey
lettuce,
fat free mayo
carrots
2 small cookies
diet dr. pepper

25 oz water

And I really want to eat more. I'm craving something sweet.

The afternoon into evening was hard. I was so tired!

I had a zone bar for a snack, then had a couple of apple slices and 2 or 3 triscuits.

For dinner, we ate a bit later than usual, since we had gone to the dinosaur museum.
25 more oz water

Two slices of roast
about 3 bits of potato
carrots
a tiny bit of applesauce,
Bread
milk

There. And I'm done eating for the night, even though I picked up donuts for the kids.

Life in the fast lane? I hope not.

2010-01-23T17:52:00.000-08:00

Sunday afternoon I suggested that we go to Spanish Fork to visit some grandparents. And wouldn’t it be a good idea to have our soon to be 16 year old son drive? He needs to get 40 hours of driving in, right? So, we piled everyone in, and he got in the driver’s seat. I was right behind him (not as much leg room in the middle seat) and my husband was in front with him. I was ok until right about the time we got out of our neighborhood. That was when I began to rethink the logic of this here trip. Yes, he had some jerky stops, but in reality he was doing ok. This was not his first time driving. Hubby has taken him out in the truck (stick shift! Much harder!) multiple times, but it was MY first time riding with him, as well as the first time the whole family has been in the car while he’s been in the driver’s seat.

As he maneuvered onto the freeway, however, any last shred of calm I had seemed to vanish out the window. Driving on the freeway is NOT the same as driving around town. Why did I put the entire family in the same car with the teenaged driver? WHY? Even though I was really trying to stay calm, with every lurch or overcorrection, I’m imagining the entire family and how we will look as the firefighters pull us out of the ditch down there off the side of the freeway. I’m not exaggerating here, folks, I really was not handling it well. I tried to keep my gasps to a minimum, because that won’t help the kid in the confidence department.

To his credit,hubby was an excellent driver’s ed “instructor”. He stayed calm and never raised his voice. He occasionally did adjust the wheel, but he didn’t freak out and grab the wheel as I’m almost positive I would do. His voice stayed pretty even as he told our son to speed up, slow down, stay to the right or left, reminded him to check his blind spot, coast, slow down, etc. I, however, was trying so hard not to scream. I was reminded of MY driver’s ed days, 20 something years ago, with coach what’s his name. It seemed all the drivers ed teachers were overweight wrestling or basketball or football coaches. They would stop at “the SEV” and get a big gulp, and sit in the passenger’s seat without so much as a flinch. I was terrified when he told me to “take it to the freeway”, early one morning, and I remember when he made some comment about my “lead foot”. I was gripping the steering wheel so hard, I didn’t realize my speed was creeping up. Ack! At the time, I didn’t realize that their job really wasn’t the piece of cake I thought it was. Well, at least it wouldn’t be for me.

As we approached each off ramp from Pleasant Grove to Spanish Fork, I was SO tempted to cry out, “Get off at this exit and I’ll drive the rest of the way!” I held my tongue and practiced my calm breathing exercises, but I guess I wasn’t fooling anyone. My husband looked back at me several times and told me to calm down, it would all be ok. Since no one wanted to distract the teenager from his important job of driving without killing us all in a fiery crash, there wasn’t much small talk in the back seat to distract me. I looked out the windows at the mountains, but all I seemed to see were the other cars, and how gosh darn CLOSE they were to us.

That was the longest drive to grandma’s house EVER. I was never so happy to get there as I was that day. One of the kids asked if our son was going to be driving home, and I quickly said, “No!” Drive all the way home? In the dark? I don’t think so. Not that I don’t think he could handle it, I just don’t think I could handle it.

Was I overreacting? Yes. I was. I know it now, and I knew it at the time. But I couldn’t control my anxiety. Not one little bit. My face had “I need xanex” written all over it.

I know some of you who have children who drive are just laughing at me, and I do hope I get better with time, but for now,
I will leave the driving instruction to my husband–my calmer half. Perhaps I will need to talk to my mental health professional and get myself some anti anxiety medication before we do that again. If we ever do that again.

Adventures in shopping

2009-11-13T07:17:00.000-08:00

I was cruising though Costco the other day and remembered that I needed to pick up some, well, shall we say, prophylactics. Which I hate buying, by the way. It's kind of like an advertisement to the checkers, that someone's going to be getting busy later on. And buying the LARGE box at Costco makes me kind of squeamish, as well. It's not just the 12 pack, it's the 48 pack or something like that. I'm just imagining the checkers thoughts as they scan those. "Well, someone's going to be having some fun tonight". It's even worse than buying feminine supplies. And that's not too comfortable, either. At least that's a normal regular occurrence, and everyone who's ever had a period has had to buy them. But THESE. These little candy wrapper like beauties--when you buy these, it's like admitting to the entire check out staff, that, yes, you are having s*x.

I tried once to get my husband to buy them. He's the one that uses them, technically, so why shouldn't he buy them? Then it's more of a badge of honor, right? That didn't go over real well. I think he said something like, 'if you don't want to buy them, we'll just not use them," or something like that. And that's not gonna happen, so I guess I will keep buying them.

Anyway, back to Costco. I walked over to pick up a box, and they were on sale. Not really on sale, but with an "instant rebate", making them $2 less per box. As we know, Costco doesn't take manufacturer's coupons, and they hardly ever have "sales", so when something is an extra good deal, you need to stock up then. I picked up 3 boxes. I tried to hide them under my very large block of cheese. But then they each had to be scanned. Each one. The guy putting my groceries in the cart even asked the checker why she didn't just scan it once and press the 3 times key. "Oh, these each have to be scanned individually, because of the rebate." Or just to increase my embarrassment and discomfort, possibly. And there isn't a bag I could stick them in. There they are, three BIG ol boxes. Right there in the cart. And then the lady at the door has to check my receipt, and then check the cart. Three boxes? Yep, three boxes. And I'm just sure that Every single one of them is thinking. Three boxes? Of 48? Wow, that's a lot of...

I'm not sure that saving $6 was worth it.

MIA

2009-06-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

I'm so sorry I've been missing around here. Ugh. I have no real excuses for not blogging here, except maybe because I didn't want to admit that I'm still not getting any thinner. I joined another round of Biggest Loser competition. After the first round (I lost 8 pounds, but then gained 4 of them back in the two weeks between rounds), we're four weeks into the second round. I haven't been doing all that well. I can blame it on my vein surgery and not being able to exercise, or I can just blame it on myself. I've lost two whole pounds. Not so great in a month.

Yesterday I went to a killer workout class. This neighbor of mine teaches aerobics at a high priced gym, and she agreed to teach a once a week class at our church during the summer. To tell you the truth, she intimidates me! She's SO buff and SO trim, and she ALWAYS looks perfect. Honestly. But I went. I was the fattest one there, but I stuck with the class through most of it. Once I had to go out in the hall and sit down. I thought I might just pass out. Seriously. The rest of the day I was shaky. Really.

Today, however, is another story. I can't hardly move. My arms hurt, my shoulders hurt, my legs and butt hurt, I can't even go to the bathroom without holding on to something, my thighs hurt so bad.

Ugh.

So, that's where I am right now. I'm hoping I can muster up the strength to go again next week.

Wow!

2009-04-01T06:21:00.000-07:00

I had an AWESOME week! When I weighed in for my weekly weigh in, I had lost 6 POUNDS!!! I'm doing GREAT! And I've not been hungry at ALL. Lovin life!

Um...April Fools.

I really did have a good weigh in last week, but good for me means 2.4 pounds, not 6. I WISH. And I can't say that I'm not hungry at all. I'm hungry right now as I type this. I should be hungrier, actually, and then I would do better on the diet thing.

Are you doing anything for April Fools?

Commitment

2009-03-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those re-commit days. Yes, they usually fall on Mondays. I wonder why? Could it be because I eat like every day is a party on the weekend? Could be.

Instead of tracking my eating with WW points, I decided to do something new. I created an account with Fit Day. You can put in your goals, your exercise and what you eat, and it tracks it all for you. It's pretty cool! Of course it's not cool if I realize I've eaten 980 calories and it's not even dinner time yet. How many calories in a piece of pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes? Well, that will be the end of my eating for the day, that's for sure.

Although I haven't been totally great with my food choices today (Hello? Lofthouse sugar cookie!), I did do 45 minutes on the treadmill and 10 minutes of weights. I have GOT to lose weight this week.

2009-03-17T20:41:00.000-07:00

Not so much to report here. I gave up on my Lent attempt. Well, I'll still try, but I failed so many times that it's just pitiful.

I gained last week, so that's not happy.

But I worked out this morning with a friend, and then tonight I got on the treadmill while I watched the Biggest Loser. It's almost like being there. 3.2 miles until my son came down and asked if I would read him a story. Bedtime Story trumps treadmill anyday.

Diet? We don't need no stinkin' diet!

2009-03-11T06:15:00.000-07:00

What? Was I on a diet? Oh, YEAH! That. I completely forgot. For the past few days, it's as if I was trying to GAIN weight, not lose weight. It started with a stupid lemon bar. Then there were the oatmeal cookies. Those aren't really THAT bad, since I made them with splenda and applesause instead of the sugar. But if you eat 6 of them, then it's bad. Journaling? No way. Then I fell COMPLETELY off the wagon an date those dove chocolates. And then yesterday I ate four more lemon bars because they were the last four and I wanted to get rid of them. Rather in my mouth than in the garbage, I always say. And exercise? Nada.

Oh, weight loss, gone you are.

And now I've got to lose those two pounds I just gained, and Try to lose something extra for this week.

Ugh.

Great giveaways!

2009-03-09T09:55:00.001-07:00

Check it out! Free stuff every day!

Discouragement, you are not my friend

2009-03-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

It's oh so hard to not get discouraged about losing weight. It's a battle we have to fight EVERY SINGLE DAY. And it's not like other addictions that you give up and are clean and sober. You can't just give up food. There is no 30 day chip for the food-a-holics. If we went 30 days without food, we would most likely be dead. So, it's an addiction that we have to live with, like other harmful addictions. (I am in NO WAY implying that losing weight is harder than quitting smoking or drinking. Thankfully, I do not drink or smoke, which is a good thing, because I don't know how I would ever quit.)

Mel at The Diet Naked Blog, a fellow dieter and fat fighter, writes about her struggle with weight loss. She lost a lot of weight, and some of it has come back. She had to go and buy some clothes in a size she didn't want to buy. I understand. I keep telling myself I will NEVER buy more clothes in this size, but I do. When I found my favorite pair of jeans from Coldwater Creek, and was raving about them to a friend, she said, "Then you should buy more than one pair!" My reply was that I don't want to be in this size long enough to need more than one pair. But what to you know, I'm still in this size.

It's very hard to battle the self esteem problems that accompany the weight. I know, deep down inside, that even if I only lost 1/2 a pound this week, or if I never lose another pound as long as I live, that I'm a good person. But sometimes I forget. And I get down on myself that I totally left my diet by the wayside for the weekend, and the pound I lost last week, I gained back over the weekend. And then there's all kind of negative self talk about "Why did you just eat that?" and all that kind of stuff.

The negativity needs to stop. I am a good person. I take care of my family, and I'm trying to take care of myself. Just because I don't lose 2-3 pounds a week like I want, does NOT make me a failure. It makes me a slow loser.

I decree there shall be no more Mexican Food

2009-03-04T06:10:00.000-08:00

Last night my hubby told the kids we would go out to dinner. We hadn't been to our favorite Mexican place, Los Hermanos, in a long long time, so we decided to go there. Big mistake!

No normally I don't eat much salsa. I'm not really a salsa person, but their chips and salsa are SO good, I can't resist. I think I ate my weight in chips and salsa. I ordered well, with a taco salad, and I actually didn't even eat very much of the salad before I was full. But those chips and salsa! EEK.

When we came home, I felt full and yucky, and was burping up salsa flavored burps. After watching the Biggest Loser (what the heck? To be continued? They can't do that, can they?) I climbed into bed, not feeling well at all. The combination of cramps from my period and salsa overdose left me feeling yucky and in pain. I couldn't go to sleep, and just tossed and turned.

Today, I've gained a pound (can we say salt) and still feel yucky. Why can I not control myself? Why can I not just eat a FEW chips and a LITTLE bit of salsa? Why must I eat the entire bowl and then feel sick? WHY?

We shall never go out for Mexican food again!

Still here

2009-03-03T09:18:00.000-08:00

It's now been 4 weeks of our Biggest Loser challenge, and I've lost a whopping 5 pounds. My sister, who doesn't have nearly the amount of weight to lose, has already lost 12 pounds in that time. So, I'm a little bit ticked at myself and kind of jealous. But this is going to be my week. Yesterday I did 30 minutes on the treadmill, and then did arms with weights for 10 more minutes. Today I went to yoga class for an hour, then went to another toning/aerobics class. I could only stay there for about 40 minutes, but I'm pleased that I did both.

Yes, I ate too much over the weekend, and yes, it's going to be hard, but I'm determined to lose more than 2 pounds this week. So, I've got until Saturday morning to do it.

Rock on.

2009-02-25T08:54:00.000-08:00

Ugh. In four weeks I've lost only four pounds. I seem to gain and lose the same pound or two over and over.

How funky is your chicken?

2009-02-10T06:53:00.000-08:00

I'm kind of in a funk. I don't feel sick, but I still feel not right. I'm weak, tired, and haven't exercised in 3 days. I barely have the energy to climb the stairs to do the laundry, so I don't see how I can give it my all on the treadmill. I just want to feel better.

And there's more snow. Which means there will probably be shoveling. Ugh.

I guess it's just the February, post sickness, no significant weight loss blues.

What do you do when you're in a sort of funk?

Week 2 --the results are in

2009-02-08T15:57:00.000-08:00

The first week I lost 2.5 pounds. The second week I lost 0.9 pounds. But I'm not going to throw a hissy fit that I didn't lose more weight, I'm just going to be pleased that I lost anything at all. I do think I should be losing more, however, but I guess I really REALLY need to cut my calories back even more and up the exercise EVEN more if that's going to happen. Friday I wasn't feeling so hot, and by Friday night, my stomach was in some serious pain. Oh, let's just hope I throw up, I thought. All night as I was tossing and turning and writhing in pain, I just kept hoping I could throw up lots and lots before the Sat morning weigh in. No such luck. And I've been sick all weekend, but STILL no throwing up.

Oh well, I'm feeling a bit better, and hope I can hit the ground running tomorrow and get a serious workout in.

The number of the day is 4

2009-02-02T17:56:00.000-08:00

Today I did four miles on the treadmill. Four Miles! I can hardly believe it. I said to myself that I wanted to do four miles and I DID It. And it was hard. Usually I do 3 miles and it takes me just under an hour. This time I had to keep on going even though I wanted to quit. But I did it.

I felt really good about my accomplishment. Until I went to a movie with my daughter and two friends for her birthday unparty. Hotel for dogs. A great movie. If you're in the 6-12 year old set. For me? Not so great. But I got popcorn for the girls, and we were passing it back and forth and I reached in and ate. And I ate. Handful after handful of popcorn. I didn't add any of the butter flavor, but I don't think that's the low fat micorwave variety I'm used to pigging out on.

Ho hum. So, you win some and you lose some. But I can still be proud of my four miles!

Let's start the week running

2009-02-02T07:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I was a little harsh in my last post. Let's just chalk it up to a perfect storm of hunger, disappointment and PMS, shall we? As it turns out, I wasn't the total loser in our biggest loser game. I was actually somewhere in the middle. Out of 28 people, I was 17th, with a 2.5 pound loss. The biggest loser of the week lost 9 pounds. Nine pounds! Wow! My sister, who is already much smaller than me, lost 5 pounds. But I'm ok with my measly little two pounds. I did my best, and I actually lost weight, that's the important thing.

Now, I've got to eat a yogurt and then hit the treadmill. My goal is to do FOUR miles today. -whew-

Wish me luck.

I'm mad at my body

2009-01-31T07:22:00.000-08:00

It's weigh in day for week one of my biggest loser challenge. I was excited to step on the scale. I've seriously stayed within my points for the whole week. I avoided the cookies, eating only two sugar cookies in the whole week. I've exercised four out of five days for an hour each day. I've eaten more fruits and vegetables, and most of all, I've been HUNGRY. It's been HARD.

And I step on the scale to see that I've lost two pounds. TWO POUNDS!? What the hell is that? When I weighed mid week I was down three pounds, and now I've lost a measly two pounds? How could you do that to me, body? What is up with that? I obeyed the rules, I deprived myself of sugar, I walked around grumpy and tired and had a miserable week and all you can do for me is lose 2 pounds.

I feel like crying. In fact, I am crying. Why is this so dang hard, and even when I do what I'm supposed to do, it doesn't seem to work?

Oh, and my husband, who had the stomache flu lost 5 1/2 pounds in one day, thank you very much. Maybe I SHOULD have kissed him more and gotten that bug. Then at least I'd have some weight loss to show for my pain and suffering.

Well, as much as I'd like to sit here and type all day about how mad I am at my stupid fat body, I've got to take my kids to their basketball games.

Still grumpy, still just as fat

2009-01-28T06:03:00.000-08:00

I've been sticking to those points, and I'm exercised faithfully two days in a row. And I've lost one whole pound. I'm a little frustrated that it's only one pound. I mean I've been starving for 3 whole days here. And with all the cookie making and decorating, I only ate ONE sugar cookie on Monday, and then on Tuesday I did eat two frosted graham crackers. But I ate salad for both lunch AND dinner. Come ON! One pound? Ugh. Oh, and yesterday at my exercise class, I used 8 pound weights instead of the normal 5 pound ones. Today I'm sore.

So, to lighten the mood, I found this GREAT exercise routine for you. It's called the potato method.

Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of
room at each side. With a 5-lb potato sack in each hand, extend your
arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long as you
can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax.

Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit
longer.

After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato sacks. Then try 50-lb
potato sacks and then eventually try to get to where you can lift a
100-lb potato sack in each hand and hold your arms straight for more
than a full minute. (I'm at this level.)

After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each sack.

Grumpy the grump

2009-01-26T16:09:00.000-08:00

It's no wonder we're all fat and can't stick to a diet--it's HARD. And I'm GRUMPY. And I want to eat something. Most of all, I'd like to eat one or all of those sugar cookies that we just finished baking. But, I'm proud to say that I haven't eaten one. Not a single one. And no dough, either. I have no idea how those cookies taste. But I'm grumpy. Very grumpy. And my kids are making so much noise and arguing about practicing the piano. I need my sugar and fat to be able to cope with them and their noise. Arrgh.

Biggest loser challenge

2009-01-25T18:40:00.000-08:00

I've joined a support group of sorts. My sister forwarded me an email from a friend of hers who's getting a "Biggest Loser" challenge going. We all report our starting weight and then have to report in every week. At the end of 90 days we see who loses the biggest percentage of their body weight, and they win the cash prize (we're each putting in $5, so it's not that huge of a cash prize).

So, I weighed in and actually told my weight to a total stranger. EEEK! Admitting how much I weigh is very scary. I don't know why it should be so scary. It's not like people could look at me and actually think that I was 160. Imagine their shock when I tell them I'm over 200. What? You? I had NO idea! You hide it so well! yeah, right. I try to hide it well, but fat is fat, and as much as I'd like to deny it, there's not much I can do to hide or disguise it. Wouldn't it be great if we could just take our fat off and hide it under the couch or stick it in the oven with our dirty dishes when company comes over? OK, that's gross, I know.

I'm not in this contest for the money, however. Money would be nice, but nicer than that would be to lose some weight. And even though I don't know these people, I don't want to be totally humiliated when next week comes around and I (gasp) haven't lost any weight.

So my plan is to stick to the Weight Watchers system. To calculate the points and write everything down. The only problem with that is I can't find my WW book with all the points values for each food. I know it's here somewhere, since I seemed to have found all the other info, but today I had to just guess. But I stayed within my points. Just barely. And I did eat five small servings of fruits and vegetables.

And here's the kicker--I made sugar cookie dough, and didn't even taste it. Not one spoon lick, not one taste, not one cheat---nothing. I quickly put the bowl in the sink and poured dish soap and water in there so I wouldn't be tempted to come back later for a little lick of cookie dough. Tomorrow when we roll and cut the cookies, I'll have to have gum in my mouth and have a big bowl of popcorn to eat so I won't eat that, either. Isn't that great? Aren't you proud of me? Are you wondering why I made cookie dough in the first place? Good question. There's a family celebration coming up and we need to make treats for it. Hopefully I can get the kids to do the rolling and cutting and frosting, since they like that part.

So I'll be letting you know how I do this week. I have until Saturday before I have to have my next weigh in.

Wish me luck and will power!!

Have a joke and a smile

2009-01-21T06:32:00.001-08:00

Top Ten Ways to Tell if Martha Stewart is Stalking Your Dog:

10. There's potpourri hanging from your pooch's collar.

9. The dog's nails have been trimmed with pinking shears.

8. The dog toys are all stored in McCoy crocks.

7. The pooper scooper has been decorated with raffia bows.

6. That telltale lemon slice in the new silver water bowl.

5. You find liver and whole wheat dog treats stamped out with copper cookie cutters and decorated with royal icing using a #2 rosette tip.

4. Dog hair has been collected and put into wire baskets for nesting material for the birds.

3. A seasonally appropriate grapevine wreath adorns the front of the doghouse.

2. Your dog goes outside naked and comes in wearing an apricot colored virgin wool hand-knitted sweater with matching boots.

AND THE NUMBER ONE WAY YOU KNOW THAT MARTHA STEWART IS STALKING YOUR DOG IS...

1. The dog droppings in your backyard have been sculpted into swans.

Take the reins back

2009-01-08T07:09:00.000-08:00

Some friends took me out to lunch yesterday for a belated birthday celebration, and we ended up talking about...what else? Weight loss. Or how are we going to lose some weight this year. Or how when we are in "the zone" we do everything right, write it all down, work out and eat right. But when we are not "in the zone", we stuff food in our mouths, don't work out, don't write things down, and pretty much go completely off the wagon. My friend DaNae, who has lost over 100 pounds, ran a marathon last year, and is totally my inspiration, was talking about how she decided she had to detox from all the sugar and crap she had eaten over the holidays. So BEFORE she started, she ate like a whole bag of those icky conversation hearts. I hate those thing. Yuck. But apparently that's one of her yummy cheat foods, so she just ate and ate and ate them until she was almost sick, then threw the rest of the bag away. Her thinking was that NOW she could get the sugar out of her system. Where's the sense in that?

She also told us how she had watched Oprah's show on Monday where they talk about her weight gain. She said it was pretty discouraging. I mean, if OPRAH, who has more money than any human being should be allowed to have, and has a chef and a trainer and assistants and all that can't keep her weight off and is back up to 200 pounds, what hope does miss Average Citizen here have to lose weight and keep it off?

Here's a blurb from Oprah:

What I've learned this year is that my weight issue isn't about eating less or working out harder, or even about a malfunctioning thyroid. It's about my life being out of balance, with too much work and not enough play, not enough time to calm down. I let the well run dry.

Here's another thing this past year has been trying to teach me: I don't have a weight problem—I have a self-care problem that manifests through weight. As my friend Marianne Williamson shared with me, "Your overweight self doesn't stand before you craving food. She's craving love." Falling off the wagon isn't a weight issue; it's a love issue.

When I stop and ask myself, "What am I really hungry for?" the answer is always "I'm hungry for balance, I'm hungry to do something other than work." If you look at your overscheduled routine and realize, like I did, that you're just going and going and that your work and obligations have become a substitute for life, then you have no one else to blame. Only you can take the reins back.

So, here it is the beginning of a new year, and it's time to take the reins back. Get the life back in balance.

Take a deep breath, let it out, and get up and get moving.

With that said, I'm going to go get into my workout clothes and go to yoga. I have to get to my exercise class at least two days per week, for one thing. What are you doing to "take the reins back"?

Snow

2008-12-23T07:41:00.000-08:00

Wow, I have avoided posting anything here because, really, I have done NOTHING to work toward being thin in the past month, and I'm ashamed to even show my face. I have been very busy with choir concerts and bell ringing and all that, not to mention all the Christmas things going on at home. We've had band concerts, school plays, class parties and playgroups. There has been shopping and wrapping and baking and all that glorious fun stuff.

Right now we are buried in snow. Which makes it nice that the kids have school off, because they are going to be out playing in it for a lot of the day. Their cousins are here staying with us and we'll have snowsuits up to our eyeballs, I'm sure.

Merry Christmas to you, and I hope your holidays are delicious!

It's December! Let the celebrating begin!

2008-12-02T02:37:00.000-08:00

My kids have an advent calendar, with little pockets for every day. When there were just a couple of them, it was easy to just fill it with candy. But now there's five of them, and five pieces of candy don't really fit in the little pockets. So sometimes there's candy, and sometimes there's a note. Here are some of the notes that are promises of fun things we'll do this December.

Sing your favorite Christmas song!

Let’s watch a Christmas special on tv!

Let’s go see the lights at Thanksgiving point!

Help Mom and Dad wrap presents.

Let’s make cookies.

Let’s make fudge.

Go outside and make snow angels. Or if there’s no snow, rake leaves and make a pile to jump in.

Today we start our 12 days of Christmas.

Let’s have hot chocolate.

Pick out some Christmas books, and we’ll read them together.

Help Mom send the Christmas cards.

Get ready

2008-11-25T06:14:00.000-08:00

Oh, the giveaways! Check it out.

She's got so many contests going on, I am giddy with delight. But my ultra favorite contest and the one I so would love to win, she's giving away a waveboard from Streetsurfing.

The Wave® (in-line board) is the first in its line of Street Surfing™ boards designed to “surf the streets.” It combines the motions of surfing, snowboarding and skateboarding to create a fresh edgy ride and a great gift for your tween or teen.

THE WAVE’S™ SPECIAL FEATURES:

* Traction plates for extra grip
* Sloped nose and tail makes it easier to do tricks
* Castors that turn 360 degrees providing amazing control-easy front side 360’s, backside 360’s and 180’s
* Heavy duty spring-oriented torsion bar promotes the self propelled “S” shaped movement of THE WAVE™

So, check it out. Go here to enter to win.

Twitter! Tweet, and Win

2008-11-24T17:36:00.000-08:00

Do you Twitter? Sadly, I don't. But I do love a contest. If you want to follow this, go here to Twitter, Tweet, Win. You could win a beautiful ladies watch.

Need some help with your Christmas shopping?

2008-11-24T15:55:00.000-08:00

Need some help with your Christmas shopping? I certainly know that I do. Well, there are ways to help. World of Mom is giving away a $50 gift card to Amazon. How cool is that? But don't check it out, because I'd rather win that one for myself, ok?

And at Diary of an unlikely housewife, you've got a chance to win some great beauty products in THAT contest, too.

So, there you go. Help with your shopping. You're welcome. What? You didn't think I'd come over and actually DO your shopping for you, did you?

Bite Bella

2008-11-18T07:30:00.000-08:00

I'll admit it. I got caught up in the whole Twilight frenzy, although I didn't reread all the books over and over like some people I know. But yes, I will be going to the movie as soon as I can.

But how fun is this? You can make your own twilight clothing! T-shirts, hoodies, etc. I like the "Team Edward" shirt. You can go here to see the Bellalicious shirts and others from Tartlet. She's even got a giveaway going on where you could win a fabulous prize package--just in time for the movie.

2008-11-11T07:30:00.000-08:00

I'm so sick of going to WW and staying the same weight. Aren't I supposed to be losing weight? I guess just paying the money each week doesn't guarantee weight loss. Darn.

Well, this week, I'm really trying to get myself back on track. Yesterday I jogged some, mostly walked for an hour on the treadmill. A whole hour. Man, that's a long time when you are doing something you don't like. I wrote down everything I ate. Well, I started writing down what I ate. Until I ate pringles, m&m's and other such junk.

Today I did the same thing. Exercised really good for an hour, but then ate brownies later in the day.

Help!

It's over! And now for the winner!

2008-10-31T20:24:00.000-07:00

I'm in kind of a sugar induced coma state over here. I ate way too much candy, and then my good friend always makes homemade donuts on Halloween. Now NORMALLY I'm not a big fan of the donut, but when they are homemade? Oh, just shoot me now.

BUT--we have some good news to report. I thank you all for entering my little contest. I had fun this week spending way too much time entering contests. I did, however, win one, and that's always a good thing, right? In fact, I won these cute Halloween plates from Carey at Frugal Fulfillment, and she sent them right away and I even got them in time for Halloween.

And I have a winner to announce in my contest, too. I consulted the random.org genie, and he magically chose Jessica, who left this comment when I asked how she would be celebrating halloween:

we don't celebrate halloween - but we have two little girls who think they're princesses :)

Well, Jessica, you and your two little girls are my winners, and as soon as I know where to send your prize, I'll get those fun "little girl prizes" in the mail to you. Congratulations! And I hope that you (Jessica as well as the rest of you who entered the contest) will come back and check in with me often. I love meeting new friends!

Fall Carnival of Prizes

2008-10-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

It's a Blog Carnival going on right now.

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE a contest. I just love to win things, don’t you? Well, I also love to give things away, and so do a lot of other bloggers out there. Hence, the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival was born. You can click on over there to enter lots and lots of contests this week, if you’d like.

My prize this week is all about little girls. If you don't have a little girl, then maybe you have a niece or a granddaughter or a friend to give it to. Or maybe you are just a little girl at heart and you will enjoy it!

Fist we have the pocket paper dolls princess, which is a great little set of paper dolls. This is perfect for quiet play time, and will keep a little girl happy while she uses her imagination.

Also, the Wishing Stars Book, with instructions and paper to fold 100 tiny stars.

It's fun to make these little stars of all different colors, and even boys would think it was fun!

This prize package may include other things, such as chocolate, but there's no guarantee on that.

Would you like to enter? Just leave me a comment on this post. I'd like to know what you are doing to celebrate Halloween. Are you dressing up? Throwing a party? Going trick-or-treating with the kids? I will be doing all of those things!

We'll draw one winner from all the entries on Saturday, November 1st. Good luck!
And if you'd like to enter my other contest for a great Christmas CD, you can go here. Have fun!

Fan Girl?

2008-10-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

Would you like to win this fabulous prize package? I know I would! Check it out at Middle Aged Fan Girl. You have until November 7th to enter to win.

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And how about a great sports bra?
If you are interested in THAT contest, you'll have to go to Roni's Weight loss blog.

I entered the Gracie Gear Giveaway!

Check out Roni’s Weight Loss Blog for more information.

Question for you

2008-10-22T06:46:00.000-07:00

Why is it that I can't enjoy a day off or a little vacation or any special event without totally overeating? The kids had the weekend off school, so that seemed to turn our house into a fun fest with baking, eating candy, and no exercise for mom.

How does one really turn a diet into a lifestyle change?

And on another subject, I was THRILLED to pay $3.03 for gas today. While just a year ago I thought that three dollars for a gallon of gas, today, I was so excited that the price had gone "that low". I guess it's all a matter of perspectives.

Fat for the skinny

2008-10-11T15:41:00.000-07:00

My husband went and donated blood yesterday. And I was thinking about that, I thought that it's really very sad that there isn't a need for donated fat. When I told him that, he said, "Who would we donate to? Skinny people in third world countries?"
Well, maybe. Maybe they can invent fat powered cars or something.

I miss Cookie

2008-10-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

This week I went to Weight WAtchers. And I realized that my 10 weeks of paid meetings are over, and in that 10 weeks, I lost 6 pounds. Um. What? So, I came home and recommited myself to following the plan, writing down what I eat, and staying within my points.

So on the first day, I was actually 3 points under my allowance. Second day? I was hungry at Costco and got myself a hotdog and a diet coke. So, I was 10 points over that day. Today is day three, and I ate my oatmeal (2 points) and I'm hungry.

I feel like Kathreya in this little video.
I miss COOOOOOOOKIE! Cookie make me Happy!

Ok, pull it together and get a grip. No cookie for you!

The worst thing is that I'm hosting a little party here tonight, and have to get out the brownie bites, the chicken salad sandwiches and the other snacks. In order to eat some of that stuff tonight, I have to not eat it during the day. Wish me luck.

I MISS Cookie!

Fun in the middle of the week.

2008-10-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

A little while back, I entered a fun contest at the Gift Closet, and won a fabulous scrabble tile pendant. She made me the cute little flowered on on the right.

Isn't that cute? Well, I just wanted to thank Heather for the fun prize, and let you know that she has contests every week. This week she's giving away a Halloween themed scrabble tile pendant. You can enter here.

Pull my string--the birthday party's today?

2008-10-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

Today is my daughter Natalie's 10th birthday. Tonight is her birthday party. I'm totally unprepared. She wanted an ice cream social, so I've got ice cream, and I'm going to get toppings today. Instead of a big cake, I thought it would be great to bake up these cupcake cones. Well, the recipe says to fill 1/2 to 3/4 full. I would suggest 1/2. about 13 minutes into baking, I smell the awful burning smell, and rush to the oven. The batter is oozing over the sides of the cupcakes and spilling onto the bottom of the oven. Ugh! I try to carefully take the muffin tin out of the oven, and while doing so, all the cupcakes tipped over and spilled on each other, the pan, the bottom of the oven, the floor... you get the picture. In a panic, I freaked out.

After the freaking, I got the batter cleaned up and mananged to set them all back up and put the cookie sheet underneath them and bake them for a few more minutes. But they were pretty much a disaster. The kids didn't mind, and gobbled them all up when I presented my failed attempt at birthday party fare to them. They still tasted good.

Well, I've given up. I'm not going to do the cupcake things, I'm just going to buy a plain old one layer cake from the grocery store and call it good.

Now I've just got to get my house cleaned up and plan some games.

Tonight when we do the party is also a football, where my son "gets to" march. But he's mad that I won't come and pick him up when he's done so that he can be to the party, too. I'm only one person, kids. I can either throw a party or pick you up from the high school. Maybe your dad can drive you----oh, that's right, Dad's in New Jersey today and will be no help at all. It seems to me he was out of town for the last birthday party I threw. Do I see a theme, here?

Whatever. Maybe I can give him my phone and he can call me when the band's done, and then I can leave the party for a few minutes and pick him up. Maybe.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get a personalized cross word puzzle made, get the stuff ready for some games, make the favors, and ...Oh yeah. Clean the house.

Good news, Bad news

2008-09-23T12:08:00.001-07:00

The good news is, I went to WW today and I'm down 4 pounds from last week!

The bad news is, that is not due to healthy eating and exercise. We've had a yucky flu bug at our house over the weekend, and although I didn't ever throw up myself, 5 our of 7 of our family members DID. And so, I haven't been feeling all that well, and haven't really felt so much like eating.

If only I could get sick every weekend, right?

Oh, the cuteness!

2008-09-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

Oh, my goodness! The cuteness is almost more than I can stand!
Grossgrain is giving away the cutest little cowgirl outfit!

Check it out here.

It's too late to 'pologize. Too late!

2008-09-16T07:28:00.000-07:00

I've ignored the fact that I've been paying for WW for the past few weeks. I've used the excuses that I've been busy, it's been summer, my husband's been out of town, etc. All excuses, and those excuses are CRAP. I've got to suck it up and go to Weigh in today, and I'm afraid. I'm very afraid. I can apologize all I want, but I'm really only apologizing to myself. I'm only cheating myself when I pay for meetings and then don't actually do the program.

so, today I will go and weigh in. And I will stay for the meeting. And it won't be pretty.

It's the age old question

2008-09-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday morning. Hubby's out of town so it's just me. The house is a mess and the kids really should be doing jobs or cleaning their rooms and mowing the lawn. But miraculously, all the kids are happily playing legos--together. There's not a whine or a complain in earshot. So---should I call them all together and assign out the jobs and have them get to work so they can play with friends this afternoon, or do I just leave them alone and let them play and then I can sew?

Yeah, that's what I thought, too.

CD Review--I Stand

2008-08-27T11:31:00.001-07:00

Last week I got a present in the mail. The One2One Network sent me my own copy of Idina Menzel’s CD to listen to, enjoy, and review.

I wanted to quickly pop it in and listen to it, and tried my computer first. Thanks to my son, my speakers were not hooked up, and not wanting to worry about wires and things, I went to go find another CD player that worked. Not an easy task. Really. I finally ended up in my daughter’s room playing this CD in her little boom box while I measured and taped in her room–kind of a prep for painting thing.

I was quickly impressed by Idina’s voice, and loved the first four songs.

**I stand- is a powerful song from a powerful woman. It’s got an inspirational message.

**Better to have loved- Also a great song. When my daughter was listening to it with me, I said, “do you know who this is singing this song?” She thought for a minute, and said, “Someone from wicked, I think.” She thought for a minute more and correctly identified that it was Elphaba. That’s what comes from listening to Wicked over and over on her mp3 player, I guess.

**Brave- By far my favorite song on the whole album. “I might be afraid but it’s my turn to be brave” is a great message, and a good reminder not to give up during hard times.

**Gorgeous- I’m all about the singing along to a song, and this one has a catchy chorus and is very fun to sing.

With her clear-cut voice and direct lyrics, Menzel really sounds like she’s singing truthfully. She’s got such an amazingly powerful voice, and could really sing just about anything. But I get tired of the same sound for the entire time. Maybe that’s why by the end of the CD I wasn’t as jazzed about the songs.

The last three songs on the CD seemed to be the edgy, downer songs. They seemed so angry and negative. While they may be great songs, I personally didn’t care for them. I need songs that are going to keep me upbeat and happy, not make me depressed.

Overall, I would give this album 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. It’s one I’m going to keep in the car and probably listen to quite often. If you are a fan of hers, you are going to want to check it out and take a listen.

Is it backwards day again?

2008-08-26T06:16:00.000-07:00

Remember back in high school when they would have backwards day? Everyone wears their clothes backwards and maybe, just maybe the class schedule is backwards? I don't know why they do it, just to be fun?

Well, this morning I put my shirt on backwards. I did it yesterday, too. Do I not know how to put on a shirt? What is going on with me?

2008-08-07T19:31:00.000-07:00

Diet? What diet?

I have totally been eating crap for the past few days. I don't know what's wrong with me. My hubby's out of town so I think I don't have to cook for the kids, and I've let my own eating slack off.

I'm sitting around reading the vampire book all day, and when I get hungry I just wander into the kitchen and eat something. Pizza, cake, whatever I see first.

Help!

Oh, but I'm tired.

2008-08-02T17:40:00.000-07:00

Today is the culmination of our city's summer celebration. They have an art show, a bike race, a rodeo, fishing derby, baby contest, parade and fireworks tonight. They also have a 5K run in the morning. Well, I entered the race (I must be insane) and got my 12 year old daughter to enter, as well. The entry fee was only $10 for residents, and the race was pretty flat. I also got my morning walking buddy to enter, too. She's never done a 5K before, and wasn't sure she could do that far. We walk between two and three miles a few times a week, so I knew she could. We even did our own 5K just to make sure she could do it. Then she flaked on me. She was going to be out of town.

Now I haven't done any jogging, running, or training of any kind since my last 5K in May. I've walked, but not pushed myself to go fast or anything. And now I had no walking buddy to just walk along casually with. Darn.

My daughter found her friend, and they were going to jog it together. I started out jogging it with my friend, but then I fell back, as I couldn't jog more than a few blocks. The rest of the time I was mostly walking, but trying to walk as fast as I could. There were a few little groups of people I kind of fell in line with, and we would pass each other and be passed. 3.1 miles is a long time when you are trying to speed up your pace. I finished just behind a large man and his daughter. She looked to be about 10. She reminded me of my nine year old daughter and I was proud of her for finishing it. Whenever she would lag behind her dad, he would hold out his hand, or encourage her to run it just a bit to catch up with him. At the very end she was just barely in front of me and I wanted to just give her a push to help her along, but not knowing her, I kept my distance.

At the finish line, there was my tiny little runner of a daughter. She had finished in 30 minutes. I finished in 47. And I felt like I was about to die. Ugh. But I finished, and I was proud of my daughter for running (she ran for 2 1/2 miles, she said), so I guess that's a good thing.

Psst, over there...

2008-07-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hey, I've got a giveaway going on at my other blog. Are you an Idina Menzel fan? Then you'll want to check it out.

Are you an Idol wanna be?

2008-07-28T16:12:00.001-07:00

American Idol is coming to our town tomorrow. Wow. If I were younger and single and thinner, I would SO go and try out. I have a couple of friends that I know from the play I was just in that are going to go up and try out, and I wish them the best of luck. How cool is that? I would LOVE to go down there and just experience that, even though I'm not a huge Idol fan. But just to see the goings on would be cool. Don't you think?

Not much, how about you?

2008-07-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

Well, hello there, you poor neglected blog. How've you been? Me? Well, it's been busy around here. Maybe you noticed all the guests and the play and the summer activities, right? I wrote all about Seussical and HOW MUCH DANG FUN IT WAS Here. We've been so busy that I haven't had time to journal and go to Weight Watchers. So, when I finally did get a chance this week, I was prepared for Weight Loss disaster. To my shock and surprise, I had only gained .2 pounds in the 2 or 3 weeks I missed! Hooray! But then I proceeded to go to about 28 parties and events with food this week, and I'm sure I've packed on another 3 or 4. Ugh. Like right now, I'm so full I can't even sit comfortably. What's up with that? Just because it's summer we think we can party like it's 1999 and eat and eat and eat?

That's it. In the morning, I'm walking my 3 miles and getting ready for my next 5K next Saturday. And no more eating. Ever.

2008-07-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

Silence. Blissful alone time. And it’s all mine! (Evil laugh) BWa, ha ha ha Ha!

My family and everyone staying here has gone up to my family reunion . And I’m here. By myself! (Cartwheels and jumping!) Of course I’m going to miss them, can’t you tell? No, really.

I wish the reunion weren’t this weekend–opening night, for heaven’s sake. I thought I could go up for the day and play and have fun and then come home and get ready for the show, but to be to the theater by 5:00 with my hair in curlers and all that, I would have to leave the reunion at about 3:00. And that would either mean drag my family out of there at that time, or take two cars (Ryan already decided he didn’t want to sleep over on the campout without some back up, and am totally ok with that. But, gosh, wouldn’t that be great if he did? Then I could have tomorrow morning by myself, too!). And driving an extra car all that way just seems wasteful. So, Ryan lovingly agreed that it would be better for me to just stay home. Isn’t he the greatest?! Let’s give it up for Ryan! Of course, my whole family will be up there, and the kids will just play happily with their cousins, but still, I really appreciate him taking them and not making feel guilty that I’m staying home.

So, since they left, I’ve done dishes, cleaned the family room, and I’m just about to sweep the kitchen and clean the stove. Then I have about 12 loads of laundry that also desire my attention, and I might just get groceries, who knows? We have relatives staying with us this week, and having an extra family living here is SO MUCH FUN, but we sure make a mess. And with me being gone every night, I’ve gotten a little bit behind on the upkeep. But don’t think I’m going to just clean all day! Oh, no! I’ve got a big old nap scheduled! Hooray!

And just a bit about the play. I'm in our community theater's production of Suessical, the Musical, and we had our last rehearsal last night! We ended at 11:40. And you’ll never believe what they did with my hair (I don’t know why my hair is such an issue! I must just have problem hair. This time I went in hot rollers, and my dear hair and make-up queen Kelly fixed me up good. She had made this darling little “hat” for me!

It's a little watering can with flowers and butterflies in it. It’s really glued onto a headband, and then the headband in pinned in there to my scalp (I mean my hair). It would have been simpler to just use a nail gun to attach the dumb thing, though. While I LOVE the hat, and I think it’s so cute and so “Who-ish”, it’s just wasn’t real practical. Try doing anything with that thing on your head. By the end of the opening number, the headband was loose and the flowers were shifting. So I tried to not move my head. But then I was worried about the head thing and then I messed up the dance. Ugh! I thought, if I can just keep it on through act 1, then I can take it off, and oh, this is squishing my brain! I did keep it on through the next couple of scenes, but there’s this little house on stage I have to go through, and it’s already something I have to duck to get through. Try it with an extra 6 inches on top. You see where I’m going with this?

After the next little scene, I saw Kelly backstage, and she was asking how it was working out. “It’s not. It’s slipping and I’m worrying about it and then I’m messing up lines.” She was very sweet about it (all that work to get it in there!) and we took it off. She said she’d figure out something else for the next night, but in the meantime, we just took out some of the flowers and butterflies and stuck them in my hair. They hardly even needed bobby pins, since there was so much hairspray there I could probably hide my sandwich in there and you wouldn’t notice. On the way to the greenroom, where she was going to “just tease it up a little bit and maybe spray it some more”, I picked up a little blue bird on the floor. “Is this a prop?” I asked the prop lady. “No, it’s just a toy. I think it was in my daughter’s happy meal or something,” she told me. I asked if she minded if I used it, then. She told me to go ahead. So, we stuck that little bird in there, and it looked GREAT! And it was much more comfortable than the headband and the constant worry of if my “hat” is going to fall off.

So, we’ll see what Kelly comes up with for tonight. We talked about getting some butterflies and just gluing them onto clips and sticking them in there, instead of one big hat thing. Hopefully we’ll get it all worked out. If not, I’m fine with the bird and the flowers we used last night.

But there’s a lot of little kids in the show, and they seem very concerned with my hair. “Aren’t you wearing the wig?”
“Wow! Where did you get that watering can?”
“Is that a bird in your hair?”
“I love your hair Mrs. Mayor”
and my personal favorite,
“Wasn’t that the bird that so and so was playing with earlier?”
“Um, yes, ” I said, ” I found it on the floor, so we put it in my hair.”

So the saga of the hair continues on. Don’t you just want to come and see the show so you can see how I end up? Well, we open tonight!

We must announce a winner!

2008-07-05T08:44:00.000-07:00

Oh, that was a fun week, and I hope you all enjoyed your wonderful 4th of July! We got up early and went to a huge parade, where my son marched with the High School Marching band! He survived the heat in his heavy black uniform, and we all had a great time. Later we went to my sister's house for an outdoor party, and we lit some little back yard fireworks. The kids all ran around with their cousins and had a super time!

Now my sister-in-law is here with her four kids, and they are staying with us for a week. It's heaven for my kids, because almost all of them have a cousin their age to play with. Yes, I will be cooking a LOT of food and going through a lot of dishes, but it's so much fun to have them here, we're going to have a great time.

Now, on to the pay it forward drawing! I consulted random.org and it picked comment #3 Kelsey from Midwest Mom
Kelsey said...

My daughter (age 3) loves the park and my favorite thing is taking her there because it just makes her so happy.

I asked what people like to do with their kids in the summer. It looks like she has a cute little baby boy and a darling little girl, so I'm sure she has lots of fun with them both. Congratulations, Kelsey, I'll be getting in touch with you soon.

Now I have to think of something fun to send to her! And thank you all for playing along!

Hey, Hey, it's a Give-away!

2008-06-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon a fun little "Pay it Forward" contest going on this week, hosted by Swistle. Well, I LOVE contests, as you know, so I'm jumping on board with this one. Here's how it works. I offer up some fabulous prize, and about Friday, the 4th of July (after the parade and before the barbeque and firworks) I pick a random winner from the throngs of you that are going to leave comments on this post. When I send out the fabulous prize, that person then gets to host their own contest on their blog (or, if they don't have a blog, they can just take cookies to a neighbor or send something nice to a friend, as long as we're all trying to pay it forward). So, it's like spreading the love, and making new friends, right?

What's the prize? Well, I don't exactly know yet. It will most likely be a book from my extensive pile of books I want to read but haven't gotten around to yet, or maybe one from the pile of already read ones. Maybe a CD? Maybe some treats? I just don't know yet. Maybe a new car? Probably not. In fact, most definitely not. Until I can win my own new car, I won't be giving any cars away, and even if I did, who would want my 1990 Dodge Caravan with 146K miles on it? Really? You would? Oh.

How do you enter? Just leave a comment here. I'd actually like to know your favorite summer activity to do with your kids, ok? It could be a little thing you do with your kids, or maybe a favorite vacation you've taken with your kids. If you don't have kids, it could just be your favorite thing about summer, ok? I don't want to make this hard and complicated, just a fun summer question.

And if you'd like to enter a bunch more of these fun contests, just check out Swistle's master list.

get a walking buddy

2008-06-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

After last week's two pound gain, I realized I needed to step it up a bit. Plus, I entered myself in an exercise challenge at Less Fat, More Muscle, so that has also compelled me a little bit. And this week, I am proud to say I went walking EVERY day. Well, not weekends. My Saturday mornings are exhausting enough with all the dancing we've been doing at play practice, and Sunday is a day of rest, so I don't go out and exercise on Sunday.

But let me tell you about my walking. On Thursday (over a week ago), I got out of bed at 6:30, laced up my shoes and went out for a walk. I had it in my head that I would go at least 2, maybe 3 miles. As I walked out of my subdivision, I ran into a walking group of ladies from another neighborhood. I know them all, and it was fun to connect with them. They have been walking together forever, and they just gain and lose people as schedules change. So, I joined up with them, not knowing which route they were taking or how far it would be, but it was fun to walk with old friends and chat. Then it doesn't feel so much like exercise torture, more like a visit. By the time I was done, I'd gone about 3 miles and it took me about an hour.

The next day, I was up at 6:30 again, and waited for a bit to meet up them. Fun again. On Sunday, I asked another friend, who I knew wanted to get out and walk, what she would be doing the next morning at 6:30. "Um....sleeping?" she said. I invited her to come walk with me, and she reluctantly agreed. "You'll have to go slow, though," she said, "I mean, your legs come up to my boobs because I'm so short." That's when I burst out laughing and assured her that we could go as slow as we needed to.

On Monday morning, there she was at the corner where we said we'd meet. Hooray! And we walked and walked. Some days we met up with the other walking group, and some days it was just us. Friday she wasn't there, but I still went. I just waited until I saw the other group and joined with them.

So, this past week, (drumroll please), I walked EVERY morning. I clocked out the route and it's about 2.8 miles. Some days we go a little bit longer, and one day I cut it a tiny bit short, but I walked at least 2.5 miles each time. So, that's five hours of walking this week. I also went to Curves twice, and went to yoga once, so add that in, and that's over seven hours of exercise this week! Isn't that wonderful?!

What would have been even more wonderful for my weight loss is if I had done all that exercise and HADN'T made delicious cookies this week. Cookies that I've been eating every day. And then we had a party on Friday night, a party on Saturday night, and we're having a family party tonight. So, I probably won't be losing any actual pounds this week, but at least I'm on a exercise roll.

Yes, I'm still here.

2008-06-24T06:26:00.000-07:00

Where have I been? I just realized it's been a couple of weeks since I've even posted here. Oh, you poor deprived blog. I'm so sorry. It's not like I've just been sitting around.
I'll give you some insight into what's been happening here.

**Marching Band** My 14 year old son is doing marching band for the high school this year, even though he’s only going into 9th grade. He’s having a good time (so far), but then he’s only done one parade. Their first parade was at the developmental center, and it was the perfect practice parade. They marched for about 20 minutes, which was perfect for the watchers and the marchers. I don’t know how they are going to survive marching in 100 degree heat for long parades, like the 4th of July parade, but I guess they have lots of water.

**Activity Days** I’m the 10 year old activity day leader, and it’s really fun. We had a fun little tie dye activity, and then launched water bottles. because they always finish the activities WAY faster than I think they are going to, and we need to have some filler.

We also threw together a skit for our stake Activity Day, where each ward was supposed to do a skit from the scriptures. Well, we found out about it on Sunday, and had to have the skit ready the a week later on Monday. And did I mention that each of us has at least 10 girls in our class, and there are four classes? Minor detail. “Paige is theatrical, she can think of something,” said one of the other leaders. So, while we were standing there in the hall of the church, I “handled” it. “OK,” I said, “let’s do the story of Ammon cutting of the arms. Your class can be sheep. Have them wear white shirts. Your class is the oldest, so you guys figure out who’s going to be Ammon and the King. My class will be servants of the king, and your class can be the robbers who get their arms cut off. Ok? Practice in your classes and we’ll talk about it before we do it.” Yeah, that’s how I handle it, because does anyone want to get 40 something girls together to PRACTICE? Not me. I did write up a simple script and give it to the three girls who were playing King Lamoni, Ammon and the narrator. And I went over the story with my own girls and told them what they would be doing, but that was it.

When we showed up at the activity and saw that there were girls in actual costumes with props, my heart sank. We are going to stink at this, and the girls are going to feel stupid, I thought to myself. But luckily, the sheep had their own ears and black socks for feet, the King had a costume (bathrobe and crown) and Ammon had a costume and a sword. It turned out fine. And besides, our audience was a bunch more 8-11 year old girls. The problem was, with 12 (or maybe it’s 13) wards in the stake, the girls were NOT paying attention to the last 4 or 5 skits. I was glad we were in the first third.

**Field Trips**
It wouldn’t be summer without some fun field trips, and we are doing our share, I must say. We got ourselves a membership to Thanksgiving point, and it’s worth every penny. The kids love the dinosaur museum, and farm country’s fun, too. We haven’t been to the gardens yet, but I’m sure we’ll go soon.

This week went went to Classic Skating with our friends, and the kids had a GREAT time! We ended up buying the “kid’s club card” for $10 each, and then all the activities are $1 each for the rest of the summer. So, they can bounce until they are tired, then do some skating or scootering, while Mom chats with a friend or reads a book. There’s also a small waterslide park, and I haven’t taken the kids there yet, but my friend Tess tells me it’s great.

We also had a superfun water party at a friend's house. They have a creek that runs right through their property, and the kids took turns tubing down the creek, and then walking back up. They had so much fun! They say it’s about a 5 minute ride in the water, and there’s a grate at the end that prevents them from floating off too far. And the little kids did slip-n-slide and water guns. It was the perfect Friday afternoon activity. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera, so there are no pictures.

**Rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal** Yes, I am still involved in this play thing, and it takes a LOT of time. Four hour rehearsals four times a week are getting tiring, but it’s fun. Except for Saturday. You know when the dance instructor tells us that we should “warm up a little ’cause I don’t want you all getting shin splints” that it’s not going to be fun. Now a lot of the people in this show actually are dancers. I am not one of them. And my “partner”, the Mayor (since I play the mayor’s wife, I am always paired up with the Mayor) is even less of a dancer than me. So imagine our frustration doing these dances that are for DANCERS. What the heck is a “lindy” and why can’t I get it? I’m finally thinking I’m getting it, and then she says, “OK, let’s do it with the music!” NO, not the music! It, like every other song in this play, goes incredibly fast! So any confidence I had in my dancing skills goes right out the window. After a couple of hours of this, most of us are dragging. Our faces are red and our legs are extremely tired. I decide that I hate her when she tells us “Run it again!” We only have two more weeks of rehearsal and then we do this show, so we need all the help and practice we can get.

If you were to come to see the show, and I told you what song this was, you would go, “Oh, that song? That wasn’t that long! How come it took you three hours to learn that part?” Because it’s HARD. And I don’t dance. Ugh. Rock step kick, kick up and out. Going through my head until I die. (And I’m finding it hard to move around today. I feel like an old lady. Ouch, Ow.)

But Saturday night we did something that was fun. We put on an ice cream social/ticket sales kick-off. The whole cast came and we all wore our matching yellow t-shirts that say Seussical on them, and we sang parts of a couple of songs from the show. No dancing, no moving, just singing. Fun. And our families and friends sat on the grass and ate ice cream and played on the playground. After a HOT HOT day, it was wonderfully cool and nice in the park. After we did our songs, the Little Big Band from the Music School did a wonderful concert of big band music. Although my muscles were sore and I was extremely tired, it was a fun event for the family.

And, in the WW news, last week I gained two pounds. I have to go weigh in today, too, and I'm worried about it. I don't think I've lost those two pounds yet. I did go walking today, and I'm happy to say it's my fourth day in a row to go out and walk. It's about 2-2 1/2 miles. And if I can get my kids organized, I'm going to drag my sore body to yoga in just a little bit. So, really, I'm not slacking! I'm just not posting about it.

Sneeze, snif, snuffle

2008-06-10T13:26:00.000-07:00

I have NOT been feeling well. I've got a huge cold, or maybe it's allergies to EVERYTHING out there. I don't know. I came home from church early on Sunday with a sore throat and stuffy nose, and spent Monday basically laying around and blowing my nose. I did try to hit the treadmill Monday morning, but I could only do 1 mile and a half before my misery took over.

So, not that much exercise over the weeknend, not really eating that great (those toffee bars) and not writing down my points, I was prepared to skip WW this morning. But, when I got on the scale, it looked indeed like I was down a pound, so I decided I'd better go at least for the weigh in, even if I couldn't stay for a meeting.

Lo and behold, I was down two pounds. I seriously think it must all be from snot blown out my nose, not because I actually lost two pounds. But I'll take it as a gift, and try to do better this week.

Yum. I'll never make this again if I know what's good for me.

2008-06-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

We saw this recipe in Better Homes and Gardens and thought it looked easy and yummy. We were right on both counts. Oh, they are good. Like English Toffee but easy to make. The problem, however, is that they are too good. I should have just taken the whole batch over the neighbors immediately, but we ate it all day Sunday until there wasn't enough to make a decent sized plate to give away. I'd better not make this again unless I have a pot-luck or someplace to take them. But if you want to try them, here's the recipe. Yum!

Oat 'n' Toffee Grahams

* 12 whole graham crackers (rectangles)
* 1-1/2 cups rolled oats
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
* 2/3 cup butter, melted
* 1 egg, lightly beaten
* 1 tsp. vanilla
* 1 12-oz. pkg. semisweet chocolate pieces
* 1/2 cup smoke-flavored whole almonds, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 15x10x1-inch baking pan with foil, extending foil beyond edges of pan. Arrange whole graham crackers in a single layer in prepared pan. In a large bowl combine the oats, sugars, and flour. Stir in melted butter, egg, and vanilla until well combined. Spoon over graham crackers and spread evenly to edges of pan to cover graham crackers.

2. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until oat mixture bubbles and is lightly browned on top. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate pieces. Return to oven for 1 minute. Spread melted chocolate over top to cover. Evenly sprinkle with almonds. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Use foil to lift from pan. Remove foil. Cut or break into bars. Makes 32 bars.

Summer goals

2008-06-03T11:02:00.000-07:00

Oh, Summer's here! The kids are out of school, the schedule is gone, and the snacks are flowing freely. There are also parties and barbeques where ever you look. But just because we relax things in the summer, that doesn't mean we have to relax our weight loss goals. At my WW meeting today, our leader had us fill in our paper with where we want to be after labor day. That's only 13 weeks from now.

I decided that I can be down 20 pounds by then. Even if I only lose one pound a week (I'm at 5 pounds down right now!), that's 13 pounds, and I think I can lose that extra pound one of the weeks to make it a 20 pound loss by then. And if I am really great and stick with it, hopefully it will be more than that.

So, by labor day, just 13 short weeks from now, I'll weigh 20 pounds less than when I started, and hopefully I will be down one size, too!

Where will you be?

Memorial Day weekend check-in

2008-05-29T11:40:00.001-07:00

After the Memorial Day weekend, I was thinking I would skip the Tuesday morning weigh in. I mean, it couldn't be good news, after I went out to dinner Saturday night and ate way too much fatty cheese-y delicious Italien food, and then had not one, but TWO barbeques on Monday, both with homemade ice cream. I mean, I had NOT been following the plan. But Tuesday morning, after I did my treadmill time, I came upstairs to shower and weigh myself, and the number on the scale was actually a good number. I decided to hurry and go weigh in at WW even though I would have to run all the way back to the school by 9:30 am to volunteer at field day.

So, after a super quick shower and getting ready, I threw the little boy in the car with me, and we hurried down to Weight Watchers. And what do you know? Even with all the weekend eating I did, I lost the two pounds that I gained last week! I'm down four pounds total. And with all the school festivities this week, I have no time to go to a meeting at all, (and hardly any time to exercise) so I'll just have to do my best.

Another barbeque tomorrow. Wish me luck.

What bugs you?

2008-05-23T08:56:00.000-07:00

As I was eating my healthy breakfast this morning (oatmeal with strawberries...3 points), I discovered something. There was something funny about that one piece of oatmeal. It looks like. Oh, no. It's a weevil. A tiny little weevil carcass in my oatmeal. Ick. And it was such a great healthy breakfast, too. Now I can't eat it. And that means that there are more weevils in my oatmeal canister. Oh, gross. I may never be able to eat oatmeal again.

Now I've encountered weevils before. For some reason if I see one or two of their little weevil bodies floating in the water as I'm boiling the macaroni for macaroni and cheese, I'm ok with that. Because I'm going to drain them off when I drain the macaroni, and then they will be gone. Or maybe it's because I'm not the one eating the macaroni and cheese. I don't know why that's ok, but having one in my oatmeal is NOT ok.

So, the remainder of that lovely breakfast is in the trash, along with the last 4 strawberries. *snif* This could be a good weight loss tool, right? Maybe if someone put little creatures in a cookie or a carton of ice cream every once in a while, it would turn me off of those things forever and they would no longer tempt me.

Once we were dining at a nice restaurant in San Fransisco (I think it was called Moose's. I wonder if that place was still there. I had the best sweet potatoes there--seriously, I still remember them!) and there was a bug in my salad. A real live bug crawling across my mixed greens. I got a waiter's attention, and said, "Hey, there's a bug in my salad," and he said, "That's because it's organic." What?! Organic or not, I don't want any bugs crawling through my salad. I had to actually ASK him if he would take it away and bring me another salad! To their credit, I believe they did comp us dessert, so it wasn't like it was bad service or anything. But, yes, I have a problem with bugs in my food.

What's your tolerance for bugs in your food?

Well, isn't that nice

2008-05-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

Today I went for my weigh in and I've gained 2 pounds. Um. What? Did you not know I did a 5K on Saturday and worked out almost every day last wee? Well, yes, I did eat an unusually large amount of Pizza on Saturday, and then ate like a normal person on Sunday, and it's my own special time of the month, so that might have had something to do with it. Even still, it's discouraging.

A 5K in May--Hooray!

2008-05-18T07:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the 5K I've been preparing for. I wrote all about it here, if you are interested. I managed to do it in 45 minutes (although it seemed like an eternity) and received no visible injuries, which is good. But the bad thing is, I ate like a pig last night. I guess I felt justified, since I had done such a hard thing and burned so many calories in the run. 4 slices of pizza for lunch and spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner? I don't think I burned off THAT many calories.

Week One, the results

2008-05-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

Week One Results: I lost 3.2 pounds! Hooray!

Of course, to do this, I had to pound out 2 1/2 miles on the treadmill this morning, and not eat or drink anything before the weigh in this morning. But I'm happy with that!

EEK, only one day until the weigh in, and I'm not ready!

2008-05-12T06:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I did stay in my points on Saturday (mostly) but Sunday I knew things were not going to go so well when they gave all the mothers FUDGE for our mother's day gift at church. YUM! I did NOT eat the whole package, but I did have a few spoonfulls of rocky road fudge. Then when we came home from church, the hungries hit everyone and we hurry to have a snack before the big mother's day dinner. No, I did not snack wisely.

Then, we had a wonderful mother's day dinner at my parent's house. I did the hamburger with no bun, had some salads, and some fruit, but I'm pretty sure that salad dressing was NOT fat-free like the mayo I used on the potato salad. I only had one deviled egg, and then a small brownie.

We came home and I was feeling good about the whole thing, until we got home and I got the munchies AGAIN, and ate some more fudge and a sugar cookie. Ugh!

Now I'm realizing that the week one weigh in is tomorrow, and I've had no weight loss that I know of. I can't go in and not have lost anything! So, today will be a starving day, that's for sure. Lots of vegetables for me.

Dang. I hate weigh ins.

Ups and Downs

2008-05-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I've not had the best first few day on WW. I blame the sugar cookies, that I foolishly baked for coaches and teachers. Yesterday as I was frosting them, I think I must have eaten four. I wrote down the first two. Ugh.

But! And there is a big but, here, not just My big butt--this morning I went out and did a 5K around the neighborhood. I went with some friend to prepare for our 5K that we are doing next Saturday, Running with Angels. I did the whole thing...some jogging mostly walking, and I did it in about 50 minutes, which is about the time it takes me on the treadmill, too, so I'm pretty proud of myself.

So, today, I'm going to not go over my points allowance, and I already exercised for an hour, so I've got a pretty good start to the day. And if I blew it yesterday, oh well. I can just start over today and try harder, right?

I heard that each time you make the right decision, it makes it easier to keep making the right choices. So, each day that I follow the plan, it should get a little easier, right?

I hope so.

hello, Grumpy

2008-05-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned earlier I did in fact go and sign up for Weight Watchers this morning. And now I'm hungry and can't think of anything to eat. I also don't know how many points my lunch was, so I'm unsure of how many points I can have at dinner, and if there are any points left for snacks (besides that lemon bar that I ate since my neighbor so sweetly brought some over and I couldn't just not have one, right?). So, I'm hungry, I'm dragging, and I'm very short tempered. I just lost my temper when the wind blew over a cereal box that SOMEONE left on the table since breakfast. So, watch out, and stay away from me for a few days, cause it's not going to be pretty.

Here I go again

2008-05-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

I've come to the decision that I need to join Weight Watchers. Again. I thought I could follow the program by myself, keep track of points and exercise and lose the weight I need to lose. That's part of the reason I started this blog--to document my weight loss journey. The problem is, there hasn't been any weight lost along this journey. I keep trying different things and not losing any weight. I know I'm exercising more than I used to, and I feel like I'm healthier than I was a year ago, but I'm just as fat.

I've joined WW three times now, I think. The first time, after I had my fourth child, I ended up losing 40 pounds. But then, when I had my fifth child, I ended up gaining back all that weight, and here I sit, 50 pounds overweight--again.

I guess I just wanted to prove that I could do it on my own and save the money "wasted" by going to meetings every week. I mean, how much good can one half hour of a meeting do, anyway, right? Well, I don't think it's the meeting, I think it's the accountablity, the weighing in in front of someone other than the four walls of your own bathroom, and the talking about your struggles with people who know what you're going through that help keep a person motivated. So, I've realized that I CAN'T do it on my own. Not at this moment, at least. I need some external motivation.

So, today I will go. I will pay the $119 for the first 10 weeks. And I will be happy about it. When I talked to my husband about joining and how I hated to "waste" the money, he said, "It's worth it if it helps you lose weight, isn't it?" I guess it is. Because feeling guilty about how I haven't lost any weight in the past year isn't really helping me any.

So, wish me luck. The first week is the most humiliating.

Going through the motions

2008-04-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

Ugh. After a weekend of eating too much and having a party last night with cake and ice cream...Today I just couldn't get my butt in gear to be motivated on the treadmill. I was listening for a contest on the radio, and they were just blabbering on, instead of playing music. So, I walked for 2 miles. And didn't enjoy it at all. But--I did it. I actually pulled myself up by my bootstraps and jogged the last 1/4 mile, but then I had to stop and make sure the kids were ready enough for school. So, even though I didn't feel like exercising, and I didn't give it 100%, I at least did it.

And my four year old tells me:
I had a sliver, but I feeded it with soap and water and then it went away. But Hunter (that's his best friend) likes slivers and wants to keep them all.

Wow. I had no idea. Thanks for shedding that light on the matter, son.

What do you do when it feels like you are just going through the motions?

Where are my endorphins?

2008-04-26T14:37:00.000-07:00

One of the many reasons I'm not so fond of exercise--it makes me tired. ugh. I did my three miles this morning, and then for the rest of the day I feel exhausted. Isn't exercise supposed to make you feel good? Where are those endorphins? Aren't you supposed to feel good after exercise? And isn't it supposed to cut your appetite? Tell that to those three chocolate cookies I ate. I seem to be missing the benefits of this exercise. Hmmph.

Hooray for Thursday night

2008-04-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

I think Thursday is my favorite tv night EVER. And last night was the motherlode of favorite shows! Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, not to mention the Office, My Name is Earl, 30 Rock and ER. My tivo runneth over! I'll have shows to watch all weekend! Hooray for Thursdays!

Out for a jog

2008-04-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, when I was doing my three miles (I'm trying to walk/jog three miles 3 times per week. This week I'll probably have to settle for just two), I decided to try to step it up a little. You see, I've been following a plan, and I'm supposed to jog for two minutes, then walk for two minutes, etc. I can do that, but honestly, I hate it. So, this time, I tried to jog for the whole lap. One lap in treadmill miles is 1/4 a mile. And I did it! I jogged for an entire quarter of a mile!

Hooray!

Now, you skinny young things reading this are probably saying, "What's the big deal? I could do that in my sleep?" But for me it is a big deal. I'm 40 years old, overweight by about 50 pounds, and NOT in shape. I'm working on all those things (well, I guess I can't do anything about the 40, now, but I can work on the other two), and I'm very excited that I could actually do that. I was so excited, that on mile 2, I did it again. Jogged for another 1/4 mile. And you know what? I didn't die. I was, however, very worn out for the remainder of the day, but I survived. Hooray for the fat girl!

Happy Birthday

2008-04-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

April seems to be the month for birthdays, doesn't it? I've got one daughter, four friends, my sister, her husband, my mom and FIL who all have birthdays in April. Wow! It's a much better birthday month than December, if you ask me.

Someone else celebrating a birthday this week is Conner, and his mom is throwing him a big bloggy bash. Angela at Seven Dogs and a Baby is a real prize go getter, and she's got LOTS of prizes up for winning on her blog this week. You should check it out.

2008-04-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” ~ Marianne Williamson

Good for me

2008-04-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hey, I've done 3 miles 5 times! Really! I'm going for 3 times a week, until it's 5K time. I'm trying to do more jogging, but really, it's still mostly walking for the whole time. I still hate it, though. How do I get over hating it?

Lessons from the MP3 player

2008-04-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to participate this morning in a neighborhood walk/run. When my alarm went off, I heard the wind howling and knew it was too early and too cold. What a wimp I am! I hope it was a success, and really, I'll try to make it out for the next one, I promise.

But even though I didn't come and walk with the group, I did get up pound out three miles on the treadmill. And while panting along wishing I was done, I gleaned some wisdom from my mp3 player.

First, while listening to Keith Urban, I heard these lyrics:

Every step I take
I get a little less afraid
Of giving into love
Love, let it out
Believe me when I say
It gets better every day
Once you get used to the pain

I'm thinking that's what exercise is--getting used to the pain. And with every step I take, I get a little less afraid. Wow! That's some pretty deep stuff.

The next song was Maroon 5, and I could really sympathize when I heard:

Is there anyone out there cause it's getting harder and harder to breathe

Does it kill
Does it burn

Yes, it does burn, and it does kill, and I wish I were off of this treadmill, and it IS getting harder and harder to breathe. Thankfully, I was almost done with my 3 miles (Hooray for me! 3 Miles!) and I didn't wax theoretical about any more songs.

Gas prices got you down?

2008-03-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

yeah, me too.

Not bad for a Wednesday

2008-03-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

I'm doing ok today. I started with a two mile walk on the treadmill. I did do a couple of minutes of jogging in there, but only about a minute at a time, because I'm so out of shape.

And for breakfast I had oatmeal.
For lunch I had a southbeach wrap thing and some mashed potatoes

For a snack I had some m and m's (about 10)and the last of the leftover lemon cake. Not a huge amount. Enough to make me feel like I'd had a treat, but not too terribly much.

For dinner we're having chicken that is in the crockpot, and I don't know what else.

I'm thinking of doing the Weight Watchers Core plan, as I'm not supposed to eat wheat, and that's a pretty strict plan.

Too much for you too?

2008-03-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

Oh, I ate way too much Easter Candy! And it's not just the candy, it's the sugar cookies and cake and chocolate covered strawberries we made and took to the family party! Way too much sugar! So, if you'll excuse me, Easter Peep, I'm going to head to the treadmill.

Middle of the night Madness

2008-03-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

At 3:30 I woke up. My husband got up to use the bathroom or maybe he was just coming to bed, I don't know.

But I was awake.

As I lay there hoping to go back to sleep soon, somewhere from my brain came these lyrics:

Please, don't let this feeling end
It's everything I am..

What? Where in the world did that come from? It's the dang middle of the night, not the time to be dredging up old song lyrics from my tween years.

I can see what's mine now
Finding out what's true,

Oh come on! Can't I just go back to sleep? I guess not. Sing it with me, folks....

Since I've found you
Lookin' through the eyes of love.

Now, anyone under the age of -oh- 33 or 34, won't even know what song this is, will they? Well, to help you out, here you go.

Because not only did we know the words to this song, we all leaned it on the piano. Didn't we? Come on, how many of you could probably go and plink out the intro notes to that song right now? If you need to go and do that right now, I'll wait for you.

Anyway, at 4:30, I changed pillows. I had the ultra fat pillow, but sometimes it annoys me because it's just to fluffy. So, I switched to a flatter one. And then I heard music. Not just music in my head, but actual music. I sat up, wondering if one of the kids had set a radio alarm and it had just gone off. But as I listened, the music got softer, and then it was gone. I think it was a car. Really. A car. Maybe the paper boy had his radio up really loud or something like that, I don't know.

At about 4:50, I decided to think of a happy memory. Maybe that would help me drift off to sleep. As I ran through the catalog of happy memories in my mind, several popped out from around the college era. A camping trip to Arches with friends, being in the play "The children's hour" my freshman year at BYU, hanging out with my roommates, a trip with friends up to Island park to go snowmobileing.... and I don't remember any more. That must have done it. A not so fluffy pillow and some happy memories helped me go back to sleep--Finally.

To bad I had to wake up only two hours later.

Note to self

2008-03-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

If I ever go on the Price is Right (or any game show where there’s a slight chance I might win big prizes or large amounts of money for that matter) treat it as an aerobics class and be sure to double bra it. We wouldn't want more bouncing than we need, right?

Temptation? What temptation?

2008-03-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

My way of dealing with tempting foods is to just eat them right away. Then they won't be a temptation anymore.

Those Reeses Peanut Butter cups? Not going to bother me at all the rest of the day.

Free Books!

2008-03-03T10:28:00.000-08:00

Overwhelmed with Joy has a book giveaway every month, and I'd like to participate! I've got a copy of An Abundance of Katherines by John Green.

Right after intellectual child-prodigy Colin Singleton graduates from high school, his girlfriend (who, like the 18 young women and girls whom he claimed as girlfriends over the years, is named Katherine) breaks up with him and sends him into a total funk. His best friend, Hassan, determines that he can only be cured with a road trip. After some rather aimless driving, the two find themselves in Gutshot, TN, where locals persuade them to stay. There, Colin spends his spare time working on a mathematical theorem of love, hypothesizing that romantic relationships can be graphed and predicted. The narrative is self-consciously dorky, peppered with anagrams, trivia, and foreign-language bons mots and interrupted by footnotes that explain, translate, and expound upon the text in the form of asides. It is this type of mannered nerdiness that has the potential to both win over and alienate readers. As usual, Greens primary and secondary characters are given descriptive attention and are fully and humorously realized. While enjoyable, witty, and even charming, a book with an appendix that describes how the mathematical functions in the novel can be created and graphed is not for everybody. The readers who do embrace this book, however, will do so wholeheartedly.

It's a fun book, and if you would like the chance to win it for yourself, just leave a comment on this post. I'll draw a name on March 30th. And don't forget to check out Overwhelmed with joy to see what other books are up for grabs this month. You can also go here to win The Amen Sisters by Angela Benson.

Oh, how cute is that?

2008-02-29T18:13:00.000-08:00

Wouldn't you love to win this birthday plate? I know I would, and at Pippin Party,
You can!

What a dress!

2008-02-25T08:58:00.000-08:00

Did you catch the Oscars last night? I must admit that I didn't watch very much of it, but it is there on the old tivo should I decide I need to see any of it today. But I did see Helen Mirren in that fabulous red dress. Wow! That is one amazing dress, and she looked wonderful in it. It got me thinking. If I were to be nominated for an academy award in say....Best Supporting Mom or something like that, what in heaven's name would I wear? I mean, is there a dress that says "overweight suburban housewife" yet still looks good? I doubt there are designers out there doing dresses for that particular body type.

Fell off the sugar wagon

2008-02-24T08:33:00.000-08:00

Um. I'm a failure. Really. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you I've been trying my hardest on the sugar thing. I kind of gave up yesterday. In fact, as my husband came up to our room last night, there I was eating ice cream out of the carton, in bed.

"Um, I'm pretty sure that has sugar in it," he said.

"Yeah, about that. I'm kind of off the sugar wagon. Or on it. I'm on a break." I had to admit.

This break just so happens to coincide with Robin's birthday, who is my partner in Lent. She's not giving up sugar for her birthday, so I got weak, too. And it also happens to be that time of the month (joy, joy!). So, today I start back up again.

I don't know why it's so dang hard. It's just sweets.

No sugar--day 13

2008-02-19T18:52:00.001-08:00

Um, somebody forgot to tell my brain that sugar was still not allowed. After our "free day" on Valentine's day, I seemed to blow it the whole weekend. And Monday was not so great, either. I was grabbing pre-formed frozen raw cookie dough blobs from the freezer and eating them. Yummy, but BAD! Bad girl! There's no sugar eating! What were you thinking?

Today I got myself back on track, and I went to a weight training class and walked a mile on the treadmill to make sure I didn't lose my will power and eat sugar again. No sugar, but I did drink two diet cokes.

Better than yesterday, that's for sure.

A little slip up

2008-02-12T17:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday while grocery shopping, I came across a package of sugar free candy coated peanut pieces. Like sugar free M&M's. I bought them. I opened them, and I ate the entire package on the way home. What have I said about no willpower? This is a prime example. Just because it's sugar free doesn't mean I should be eating the whole package (two servings) on the 15 minute drive home.

Later that day I had intense gas pain and a bit of the runs. Coincidence? I don't think so.

I just made a cheesecake

2008-02-09T12:36:00.000-08:00

In my oven right now is one of my favorite things in the world. A cheesecake. And I made it. Without tasting, licking, or snacking. How in the world did I do that? Well, with a diet coke and a piece of gum. But tonight I'm taking this cheesecake to a party, and I don't know how I'm going to resist it.

But in case you were wanting to make a cheesecake, here's the recipe.

CHEESE CAKE

Pre-heat oven to 350

STEP #1

1 package graham crackers
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter

Put graham crackers in a gallon zip lock baggie. Roll till fine, with a rolling pin. Pour graham cracker crumbs into a bowl. Add sugar and soft butter. Mix with fork or pastry cutter till mixed well. Put into 9 or 10" Spring Form pan. Press evenly in bottom. (Set aside)

STEP #2

Beat 4 egg whites till stiff. Set Aside.
In another bowl, mix:

3 - 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla.

Once you have beaten the egg whites till stiff, in another bowl cream the cream cheese sugar and vanilla. Then fold in the egg whites. Mix well.

Pour over graham cracker crust. Spread evenly. Bake 350 for 30 minutes. Take out of the oven and let set for 5 minutes. While you are waiting the 5 minutes, mix:

2 cups sour cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix well. When 5 minutes is up, pour the cream cheese mixture over the cheese cake and spread evenly. Put back in the oven and bake another 5 minutes.

Remove from oven, and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Leave cheesecake in pan. Then put foil or plastic wrap over the cheese cake, and put in fridge. It's best to make this a day ahead. Let cool completely before removing from Spring Form pan.

What's for dinner?

2008-02-08T09:45:00.000-08:00

This is what I made for dinner last night and it was VERY good. I forgot the pine nuts, and didn't add the garlic, but added some bacon. Even some of the kids enjoyed it, and it was so delicious and healthy!
Enjoy!

Greek Penne Pasta

Ingredients: Serves 6

12 ounces penne (whole wheat)
2 tablespoons olive oil, extra virgin
2 tablespoons pine nuts
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, chopped, thawed and drained
4 large plum tomatoes, chopped
½ cup fat free cottage cheese
4 ounces feta cheese
Jar of calamata olives
Salt Pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions.
Drain and set aside. Cover and keep warm.

Sauté garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add pine nuts and stir until lightly golden, about 5 minutes. Stir in spinach and tomatoes and cook until just heated though. Do not over cook.
Drain the cottage cheese in a strainer, and pour into a small bowl. Add the feta cheese. Using a pastry blender, combine cheeses together.

To serve, place the warm pasta in a bowl. Drizzle with remaining olive oil. Toss until well coated.
Add the spinach mixture and toss.
Finally add the feta cheese mixture.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Top with a handful olives.

Nutrition Information (per serving): 400 calories. 15 grams fat, 17 mg cholesterol Adapted from: Healthy Homestyle Cooking 1994

Day 3 no sugar

2008-02-08T08:54:00.001-08:00

I'm still here, and I'm still sugar free. Yesterday my four year old came home from his playgroup with a plate full of heavily frosted sugar cookies with candy hearts all over them. Didn't I just say that there would be no sugar cookies? He ate one at home, and then my husband ate one. So, there's one left. I'm trying to encourage my son to eat it so I won't have to look at it anymore.

But I can do this!

Two days down, 38 to go. That's 5% done already!

Valentines cookies are so last year

2008-02-07T10:51:00.000-08:00

Last night the kids started to fill out their valentines. Sometimes they make their own, but most of the time they just use the cheap ones from the store. I let themdo what they want. Same with boxes. Last year the kids made an elaborate dog Valentine's box with eyes that light up (courtesy of a little led light and a battery). My favorite thing about valentine's day is actually making heart sugar cookies. A lovely custom THAT WE WILL NOT BE DOING THIS YEAR, thanks to my no sugar for lent thing. Ugh.

But at least I could enter to win a new Blog design. That would spruce up my holiday for sure.

And you could enter, too, if you'd like. Just go over to Laughadaisy and check out the contest.

And John said...

2008-02-07T07:11:00.001-08:00

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This post is brought to you by John. He's four.

Some upcoming obstacles

2008-02-07T07:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I did survive the WHOLE day without the dreaded sugar yesterday. But today I'm signed up to take "dessert for twelve" to the school by 3:00 for the teachers dinner for Parent Teacher Conference. I don't think I can make a treat and take it in without eating any of it. So, I guess I'll get something at the grocery store all packaged up and just take it in all packaged up. And not put my name on it, because I'll be embarrassed to send in something that's not homemade.

And Saturday? We're having a ward Valentine's party. I signed up to make a cheesecake. Because I LOVE cheesecake. And I do make a nice cheesecake. How am I going to make cheesecake and take it to a party and not eat any of it? How? I ask you?

And my good friend, Kristy, has an interesting view of underwear buying today. Not to be missed, I tell you.

No sugar Day One

2008-02-06T06:58:00.001-08:00

Hello, and welcome to day one of NO SUGAR. So far I'm doing GREAT! Ok, It's 8:00 in the morning and I haven't had anything to eat yet, but it's never too early to think positively, right?