Blogaversary

One year ago today I wrote my very first post in this blog.  I had 1 follower and 70 pounds to lose.  Now here I am 365 days later at goal, with 20 followers, and some new friends.  This has been quite the journey and I want to thank you guys for sharing it with me.  I'm sorry I haven't been around.  I really need to make this a priority once again.  I do so much better when I have you guys.  Not that I've been doing horrible, but I do need to get my butt back to the gym.  And I miss writing here, and these last few days, I confess, I haven't even been reading.  But tomorrow is the start of a new week and a new month, so what better time to recommit, right? 

Starting tomorrow I will be at the gym 3 days a week, I will be doing either a Jillian or FE workout 3 days a week, and the last day of the week I will either just take off or maybe do some walking.  I will blog a minimum of every other day, even if it's just a quick post.  I haven't come this far by being lazy, which means I won't stay here by being lazy either.

My cousin got married Friday.  It was such a nice ceremony, the venue was beautiful, and his bride is not only adorable but incredibly sweet.  I had 7 drinks (whoops), but I did very awesome at cocktail hour.  I had 7 crackers, 5 little cubes of cheese, 1 french fry shooter (so cute, about 10 fries in a shot glass with som ketchup at the bottom), 1 pig in a blanket, and 1 buffalo chicken cheese steak thing.  It was tiny, like one of those free samples you get at the mall, but soooo good!  For dinner I had the bacon stuffed chicken breast with rice and carrots, I had the salad (which was super delicious, I really wish I could have had more of it!), a dinner roll, and of course a piece of cake.  I don't think I did all that bad.  There was so much more food I could have had at the cocktail hour, but I didn't.  And I did dance.  Oh, and I made it to the gym in the morning.  So that was good.

I've had a very good, yet very busy weekend.  Lots of fun, but so glad it's over and tomorrow I can get back to normal.  I WILL go to step class in the morning, no matter what.  No excuses this week, NONE.  Hope everyone is doing well and is OP.  See you soon!

I Really Don't Wanna

I really just don't feel like going to the gym.  I think it's the cold weather, I don't even want to get out of bed let alone go work out at the gym.  But I haven't been there in a week.  My 2 free months are up which means now I'm paying for this membership.  You would think that since I'm paying for this it would be extra motivation to use it.  Obviously not.

This weekend wasn't bad in terms of food.  I used 8 weeklies the whole time, so that was good.  I'm trying not to be so snacky.  I think I found the solution.  Golden Grahams.  Yesterday I at 2 1/2 servings of Golden Grahams.  It was split between my morning and afternoon snacks and I found that I wasn't really reaching for extras.  So there you go, lol.  If you have a problem, Golden Grahams is the answer.

I am going to really really try and make myself go to step this morning.  My cousin's wedding is THIS Friday, so I need to make sure I'm good to go. How do you guys find it in you to go and workout when what you REALLY want to do is stay in your pj's, lay in bed, and read a book?  Because honestly, that's what I want to do once I get the kids to school.....

FINALLY

I am so excited, I really can't even begin to tell you.  Wednesday I got a flyer in the mail, a certain television provider was running a promo for new customers only.  I have been a loyal customer to another provider for 7 years.  I have always been happy with the service and the programs, but this new offer was going to save me over $300 this year alone, PLUS a whole bunch of freebies.  So I switched and for the first time EVER, we have on demand!  PLUS some premium channels for free for quite an extended period of time.  We all know what this means, right?  This means that for the next however many weeks I will be spending my nights watching Game of Thrones (hence the title of this), The Tudors, Dexter.....oh the excitement!  It got installed yesterday and I am seriously hooked.  And so are the kids.  All I had to say was Phineas & Ferb complete seasons and they let out squeals of delight.

I've been a huge slacker in the workout department this week.  I need to get back on that.  I've been putting in more hours at work.  With winter right around the corner I am going to need some serious money to be able to heat the house.  So admittedly the exercising has taken a back seat.  I'm still tracking and staying OP as far as eating goes.  I did have a splurge Wednesday, I was just so snacky.  But I had the weeklies for it and counted.  So that's it.  It's family night so I'm going to go cuddle with my kids and try to stay out of the fridge ;)  Happy Friday!

Woah, What?

Yesterday I had to go into work.  There is this woman, L, at the office that I just love.  In fact I went to school with her 2 oldest children.  Her daughter was I think 2 years ahead of me and her son was in my class.  Anyway she is just so sweet and she always has som sort of goodies on her desk and you can just help yourself.  I always look forward to her candy jar.  She gets the fun sizes so I can have one without undoing my whole day.  Anyway I walk in yesterday and *gasp* there's no candy in her jar!  So I walk into the inner office knowing that if there's nothing in the jar, there's usually some Chips Ahoy or something in there.  Well yesterday, darn that L, she had made (and brought in) chocolate chip blondie brownie bars!  OMG, soooo good!  I had two, oops.  And she told me to bring some home for the kids, so of course I did.

Anyway, I tried to calculate how much it was to the best of my abilities.  I looked up a recipe for them on allrecipces.com and figured that since each piece of L's was really a half a piece, that it was probably 300 calories for both.  So I worked it in to my meal planning for the rest of the day and that was that.  I use MFP now more than WW (although I do still calculate my weeklies if I want to go over for the day that helps keep me in check).  I ended up going about 5 PP over yesterday, so not too bad at all.  And of course we all know I had to hop on the scale this morning.  This would be the park where the title of this post comes in.  116.6.  I was so stunned I checked 3 times and it was exactly the same.  Which means that on the WW scale I would be 116.2.  How in the heck did I do that???  You know what, I don't really care how I did it!  I am ONE freaking pound away from my goal.  ONE.  I really can't believe that after my crazy outing last week I was able to drop 2 pounds, especially since I really haven't exercised as much as I did over the summer.  Actually, with my weight being as low as it is, I really didn't think I could still drop 2 pounds in a week no matter how "good" I was.  I really want to go to WI tomorrow and just double check that number, but I don't want to face them.  Isn't that weird?  Usually people don't want to go when they've had a "bad" week.  I don't want to go because last time they told me I was losing too much.  Although that's probably because my WW goal weight is 128 and I'm more than 10 lbs below that.  Whatever.  I'm still within the healthy weight ranges chart for my age and height, and I have no plans of going below 115.  I'm good here.

So anyway, that's that.  I have to get the kids ready for school and then head to kickboxing.  Have a great one!

Short n Sweet

So yesterday was awesome.  I made the kids chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes for breakfast.  Then they helped me make apple pumpkin muffins.  While we waited for them to cook, we cuddled up and watched Charlie Brown.  Then we headed outside for an hour before having lunch.  After that we got in the car and I parked at my mom's.  I told them I had a surprise for them and we walked down to the street fair.  A made a sand art bracelet, R asked for a toy, they both got balloon animals, saw the petting zoo and went down the inflatable slide.   Once all my money was spent we came home curled up in my bed together and watched Phineus & Ferb.  Then it was back outside until dinner.  Awesome, awesome day.

Today I am headed to Stacy's step class, then not really sure what I'm doing.  I do need to get some work done, as well as some laundry.  Work around here never seems to be done!  I've really been slacking in my weight training lately.  I'm trying to get back on a good schedule with that.  My work outs in general have been lack luster unless I can find my way to the gym.  And I have no excuse today.  I go about 9 hours of sleep, no reason to be all sluggish and dragging my feet.  Anyway I'm going to keep this short and sweet since I did oversleep this morning.  Have a great day!

Welcome Back

I have got to say I really miss daily blogging.  Life has just been hectic lately and my internet connection has been touchy.  Anyway, I went on a date Thursday night to Applebees and I went balls to the wall.  I ordered first, I got the bacon cheddar cheesburger which if you remember from when I went out with Big Mama T is like 970 calories/26 PP.  But I figured what the hell.  Just one night.  So then my date orders his AND the appetizer sampler.  Oh man.  I did awesome with that though.  I took 2 mozz sticks, 2 wings, 1 quesadilla, and like 5 chips and 1 teaspoon of the spinach dip.  Normally I would have just devoured the whole thing.  THEN we went to Dairy Queen.  Guess what I got.  The peanut butter bash.  I still haven't looked up the nutrition info for that because I really don't want to know.  It was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be.

It felt good to be able to go out and have whatever I wanted.  It didn't feel so good after I ate it.  I felt soooo sick.  So sick.  The ice cream was totally worth it, but next time I'll get either the 7oz steak with veggies or the 1/2 chicken caesar for my entree.  The burger was not worth the tummy ache.  And I made it to spin class Friday morning.  It was so tough to get through, I felt so sluggish but I was so happy when I was done.  Yesterday I did FE C4C.  Not sure what I'm doing today.  I kind of want to go to kickboxing, but may just end up working out here at home.

And of course I had to hop on the scale.  Now Thursday I was 118.2.  Yesterday I was up to 120.6!  I figured it was mostly still bloat and all the grease sitting in my stomach.  Today I am back down to 118.6, so I'm only up .4.  Not too bad. 

I think I'm either going to skip work today and go Tuesday instead or just head in there super early (like in a half hour or so) because there's a street fair going on in town today and I want to take the kids.  I was unable to work yesterday because they were recarpeting.  It's nice to have a weekend where I can just be with the kids.  And I really want just one day where we don't HAVE to do anything, which is why I'm considering skipping the gym.  Yesterday we had soccer so I was running out the door even though it was Saturday.

So anyway, that's what's been going on around here.  I'm still reading you guys every chance I get.  Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Frustration & Craziness

I just can't see it.  I look in the mirror and I don't see a skinny person.  And I don't "feel" like a skinny person.  What's a skinny person supposed to feel like anyway?  I saw a friend of mine last week that I haven't seen in a year and a half.  We've been friends literally our whole lives, since we were 3.  Well, she's a year younger than me, so she was 2, but whatever.  And she was always so thin and pretty and everything I always wanted to be.  And every time I stood next to her I felt so.....frumpy.  Well now, we're about the same.  I may even weigh less than her .  But standing next to her I still felt like the fat friend.  Why?  Will this horrible feeling of being the fat, frumpy, unattractive friend EVER go away?  I really wish I knew how to get past this.

Anyway, school is in full swing.  I have only been to he gym once this week.  I had every intention of going today, but my friend was in need of transportation, so I skipped.  I won't be going tomorrow since I have to go to work in the morning.  I WILL be at spinning Friday morning no matter what.  Saturday I can't, R has soccer and I just found out that they are now accepting 4 year olds, so A will b joining this week.  She's been asking to do soccer for a while now.  R's session is from 10-11 and A's will be 11-12.  And I WILL be at the gym Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday this coming week.  And I will NOT use not going to the gym as an excuse not to exercise.  I did go for an hour long walk yesterday with my daughter, so while it's not great, it's better than nothing.

Anyway sorry this is so short, I need to get ready for the PTO meeting tonight.  I really want to be as involved as I can, I think it's very important.

Bad Blogger

I feel like I've been a bad blogger latley.  It's just been nuts between the kids being in school, work, the gym, soccer....I feel like I've barely had time to breathe let alone blog.  I have been more diligent in my tracking and I made it to the gym today after having took yesterday off from working out completely.  I took Stacy's step class.  Man did it feel good to be back!

Can I say just how much I LOVED today's weather?  It totally felt like fall and I loved every second of it.  After picking up A from school, I decided she and I would spend our afternoon appl picking, so that's what we did.  10 freaking pounds of apples!  I'm going to take some of them, throw them in the food processor and make apple cinnamon muffins to send to school with my son.  That way he gets some fruit and he thinks he's getting a treat.  It's a win win.  After R got off the bus, we immediately headed to the park.  They got to play for about an hour before we came home to do homework (which went SO much better than last week) and have dinner.

I have been reading your blogs in the morning in betwen my coffee, making breakfast, and getting the kids ready for school.  I try to comment, but sometimes I just am not able to.  I wanted you to know that I DO read them though.  I need to.  So many of you are just so motivational and inspiring to me, even when you're having an "off" day or week or whatever.  It reminds me that it happens to everyone and that the important thing is just to get right back on track.  Hopefully once we're a little more settled I'll be able to post more.  Have a great night!

Losing My Key

So tonight after dinner while I was getting my ice cream, it dawned on me that I have started a new trend, and it's not one that I want to continue.  I have been giving myself just a teeny tiny little bit more ice cream.  Now I do weigh and measure EVERYTHING.  I have a 1/2 cup scoop that I use to measure my ice cream and my milk for my cereal in the morning, etc.  While I have not exactly been giving myself heaping 1/2 cups, I have absolutely been jamming it in there.  This whole last week actually.  Now I did show a loss on the scale, but I fear that if I continue to do this that it's going to get out of hand at some point, and I WILL be up to heaping cups full.

Also, I haven't exactly been measuing my chocolate sauce that's been going on m ice cream.  I don't dump it on, but I'm wondering just how much I'm putting on there.  This is a slippery slope people.  Sure, it's just an extra lick of ice cream and a few extra drops of syrup NOW, but eventually it could become a lot more.  Plus, doing it every night of the week adds up.  And it's funny because I feel like if I don't jam as much ice cream into th measuring cup without it spilling over as I can, that I'm cheating myself.  But what I'm realy doing is cheating myself by shoving so much in there, right?  I need to stop this now before it's too late.  I need to keep track of my key (to success) before it's lost.

On a positive note, it's Saturday and I have only used 14 weeklies so far!  Usualy by this time I have blown through all of them and have even used AP's that I haven't even earned yet for the week!  Success!  And yes, I'm counting the little extra I had tonight.  Also, I did SIWW today.  The gym is just not going to be happening on Saturdays for at least the next two months.  My son has soccer now from 10-11, and then I spend the rest of the day at work.  Tomorrow I'm going to be missing the gym too.  My dad wants us to come down for lunch, and I do need to get some more work done in the office.  My plan is to be at work from 7:00-11:30, that will put me at my dad's by 12:30, I'm going to leave there by 3, will be back in town by 4 and then it's over to my mom's for dinner.  Phew.  Monday though, Monday I will be at the gym.  Step class, 9 AM, no matter what.  I may be like 5 minutes late since I have to drop A at preschool first, but I will be there.  Really glad I worked out today since I really don't think it's going to happen tomorrow.  Hope you're all enjoying your weekend!

The Little Things

So last night I was watching TI & Tiny : Family Hustle.  It was around Father's Day and Tiny asked Tip what he wanted.  He kept saying he wanted a Bently, but eventually he said he would honestly be happy with whatever they gave him.  The episode before that was about family and how Tip wanted them all to do something without any electronics, so he took them all camping.  Like with tents and stuff, really roughing it.  Anyway, it got me to thinking about how absolutely blessed I am.

Sure I complain like everyone else.  Money is tight, I wish I had a bigger house, a nicer car, and I would love to be able to fill my children's every desire.  I love them and they're fairly good kids, so of course I want to be able to give them everything they want.  But I can't.  We're still lucky though.  We still have a place to live, my kids have nice rooms and comfortable beds.  We all go to bed every night with full bellies.  Well, my kids would tell you different, they are ALWAYS hungry, but I assure you, they eat quite a bit.  They have nice clothes and nice toys. and most important of all, we're all relatively healthy.  Like we have no major health issues, thank goodness.

Anyway, the whole point is that in day to day life, we take all this stuff for granted.  We don't have a lot, but we get by.  I work hard to be able to afford to give my kids nice Christmas's, and to "keep up with the Jones's" as far as birthday parties go, and to be able to make sure the kids are able to participate in extra curriculars with their friends.  And I have to also give credit to my parents.  They have always come to my rescue when I really needed it.  I truly have the most amazing family and am so grateful for them.

So today instead of whining and complaining about the things I don't have, I am going to hug my children, look around at my old house and my beat up car, think of my family and friends and be happy with my life.

Battlefield & Official WI

My heart goes out to my little man, it really does.  Not sure if I have talked about this here before or not, but R has a fine motor delay.  It's not so bad where they held him back, but he has gone to OT and the school wants him to do OT there during the day as well.  R is very smart.  His math, reading, and comprehension skills are spot on for his age.  It's writing and coloring that's the issue.  Plus he is just such a perfectionist that he gets completely frustrated if he does something and it doesn't quite look the way it's supposed to.  And so he gives up.

Homework tonight was such a battle.  All it was was a connect the dots worksheet that he had to color afterwards and write his name on.  Oh. My. Gosh.  The battle that ensued over this worksheet.  It started out fine.  He was just going to do it and then he could watch some t.v.  Well once he had a hard time writing his name, it was all downhill from there.  And I don't know what to do for him.  I have seen him when he just sits down and stays focused he does really well.  That obviously wasn't the case today. And I told him he didn't have to do it right away.  He was just at school all day.  He could have played for a half hour or so but he said he just wanted to do it so he could play uninterrupted later.  Makes sense to me, told you he's a smart kid!  So if any of you wonderful readers have kids or have experience with kids and have any suggestions that would be great.  Obviously if he continues to struggle so much I'll have to start speaking with the teacher, but from what I can see (at least right now) it's more of a frustration problem than a motor skills problem.

Anyway, I finally went to WI, and..................118.4!!  I am THREE pounds away from my official goal.  THREE.  Soooo excited!  So that's it for today, will check back tomorrow!

Chopped

So last night was.....interesting.  I can't tell you a whole lot because I had to sign a confidentiality agreement.  I will say this though, I got to meet 3 of the cast members and a 4rd stopped in to say hi to all of us and they were so super nice!  And very talented stylists.  I was able to get my hair cut for free and she chopped it.  Like really chopped.  And you know what?  I don't hate it.  It's actually really cute and she taught me a lot about hair and why mine not only won't grow but why it falls out a lot.  I plan on going back there and getting my hair done again.  I'll post a pic tomorrow.

I went to spin class yesterday and did some ab work.  Since it was a crap day I just laid with the kids and watched movies until I had to leave.  Today is the first day of school.  The kids woke up so excited to go back.  So I am going to make this a short post since I have to get them ready.  Happy Wednesday.

Big News!

It felt so good to get a workout in yesterday.  I ended up doing RI30 Level 1.  Really really feeling it today.  I even allowed myself to have somethings that I have been craving, but I weiighed and measured and fit it in to my eating plan.  I had a Milky Way.  OMG do I love Milky Way's.  And I haven't had one in forever.  I am going to be headed to the gym in a little bit, maybe do a spin class or I'll just work it out on the treadmill.  We shall see.

I was talking to Kelly last night and she complimented me on my bikini pic and I told her something I totally forgot to blog about.  While I was wearing it at the beach, I didn't give one thought to what other people might be thinking about how I looked in it.  I wore it all day, and even while on the boardwalk I just had my shorts on and my bikini top, I wasn't wearing my shirt.  And guess what?  I didn't care, it didn't bother me.  I just focused on having a great day with my kids and it was AWESOME.  Big NSV right there.

So very exciting news.  Over the weekend I responded to an open call for a television show just for the hell of it.  Well, I got a call back!  I get to go film later today over in Verona!  I'm seriously freaking out a little.  I'm not doing anything major, I'm just going to be getting my hair done in a salon, but still!  I love love LOVE the show I'm doing it for, and have wanted to do something like this.  They had another open call in March, but I didn't respond.  I wasn't confident enough to do so since I was still on the heavier side.  But now I am confident, and I took a chance, and now I get this really cool opportunity.  So I will keep you all posted on how it goes!

Today is the last day of summer vacation for my kids.  It's a nasty yucky day out, but we're going to make the most of it.  I'm going to miss them while they're in school.  Thankfully I have the gym and a good friend of mine to keep me company so I don't sit at home and cry, lol.  And A only had a half day, so I get to pick her up at 12.  I think we may do a Mommy n Me lunch and perhaps go get our nails done afterwards =)  I need to do something special for R too after his first day.  He's never been in school for a full day before, I hope it goes well.

Step in the Right Direction

This may sound kind of silly to you guys, but for me this is really really huge.  Okay, so by now we all know what a complete and total carboholic I am, right?  Right.  Bread and all things even remotely related to bread might even be a bigger weakness for me than sweets.  So last night we have dinner at my mom's.  And guess what she made?  Biscuits.  Holy crap do I love biscuits.  I still had some weeklies left so the entire dinner I sat there debating on whether or not I should have a biscuit.  Going over my Points isn't a problem for me anymore, I can do it, track it, and be okay. 

The problem is that never in my entire life have I been able to eat just ONE biscuit.  Even when I go to KFC or swing by McDonald's for breakfast I always get two biscuits for myself.  That's why I agonized over this so much.  It's much easier for me to just not have any than to stop at one.  But I decided I was going to go for it.  I had a biscuit.  And I sat there with the basket of biscuits next to me and watch my step dad take another and my mom take one, the kids each had one, and at the end (after I had had mine) there was one biscuit left.  And I had that little voice in my head telling me to screw it, just go for it, no sense in saving one, right?  But I didn't.  I didn't touch it.  I only had ONE biscuit.  Oh it was tempting to go for number two, but I refrained.  So that's my cool story of the day, lol.

I AM going to jump back on the workout wagon today, actually as soon as I'm done with this.  Then it's off to the grocery store and then hitting the office for a few hours.  Happy Labor Day!

Happy September & A Pic

Wow, yesterday was the first day since the end of June I haven't blogged!  The day just got away from me.  I woke up at 4 (AGAIN) for some crazy reason and decided to use that time to start packing to take the kids to the shore.  I promised we would go before summer was over, and although I waited til practically the last possible time to go, we did go.  And we had a blast.  We spend hours on the beach and in the ocean, we walked the boardwalk, I won them each a prize, we played some air hockey, got Kohr's Brothers, had a picnic lunch on the beach, rode the carousel, and got some salt water taffy to bring home.  I appologize for the graininess, but here's me and my loves in Seaside......

I went a little over my calories/Points, but that's okay.  Not about to let it ruin me.  The kids also had a fantastic time Friday out on the boat.  They loved it.  They also loved swimming in the lake.  All in all it's been a wonderful holiday weekend.  I just put in some time at the office and we're headed to my mom's for dinner later.  I haven't done a "formal" workout since Thursday.  Friday I took off and yesterday I figure I did enough at the beach.  I sat for maybe 40 minutes out of the 6 hours we were there.  Legs are feeling it today. 

So it's a new month and I am looking to do something new to challenge myself.  Not sure what it's going to be yet though.  Anyway, hope you're all enjoying your holiday!