it aint over till the pregnant lady sings

Coming soon to a nursery near you...

2008-04-09T10:41:00.000-05:00

(well, probably not near you, but...)

Joel Osburn and William Conrad!

Yep. That's right. I've got two boys growing inside of me. I never dreamt that it would be two boys, but Jeremy has been saying that all along. I guess that explains all the extra hair on my back and belly, huh? :o) (I wish I was kidding! At least it's peach fuzz'ish)

I couldn't be more excited about my boys. We're calling them Oz and Conner and I know that Oz is on my right and will probably be born first and Conner is on my left. Oz is my wild child and Conner is the complacent one. Well, that's how I think of them in my head based on their kicks.

Everyone is doing really well and the specialist said that he didn't expect to have to see me again. Yay!

I've managed to pick up a cold or something. Leave it to me to wait until April to get sick, huh? I'm doing okay and have OTC drugs that I can take, but I'm ready to be well again. At least my throat is not as sore today.

I leave for North Alabama tomorrow and will be spending the next few days up there sans hub. I'm going to miss him like crazy, but I'm really looking forward to spending so much time in my hometown and I'm totally not letting a little cold stop me. I've been trying to take it easy so that I'll get better faster.

I've been tearing up the pavement trying to find the fabric that I want to use in the nursery. I've already decided that it's going to be some sort of variation of the blues and browns, and oddly enough I'm having a hard time finding something in that genre. There's not a lot of fabric stores down here, so on Friday my mom and I are going to look in Huntsville at all of her favorite haunts. (She's sewing all the nursery stuff)

Then on Saturday my little sister and my Kelley and I are going shopping for my shower dress! I'm a little nervous about buying it a month in advanced, but what sane pregnant girl is going to turn down someone wanting to buy her a dress at Motherhood Maternity? I can wear it before the shower down here and if I outgrow it I'll find something else to wear.

Then on Sunday is my little SIL's baby shower for her son, Eli. It's going to be a long weekend full of babies, excluding Thursday afternoon when I'm bound and determined to visit my favorite Mexican resturant. (I'll be thinkin of you Amanda!) :o)

Obviously I'm excited. Can you tell that I've yet to speak to anyone face to face today? :o)

I'm sure I'll check in on ya'll when I get to my Dad and Kelley's and maybe I'll even be able to do some catch up on your blogs!

Love ya bunches!

18 weeks!

2008-03-27T23:09:00.005-05:00

So, you asked for it, and I've finally found the Internet speed to do it, so here they are - the pregnancy photos. This first one is of me on Christmas Eve. I'm 4 weeks pregnant and totally unaware that there's two boogers in there. The second one is a totally unflattering picture of me at 9 weeks. I'm already in maternity pants here and showing. I think you can tell that I'm not feeling too hot, but the yellow background wasn't very good for my complection either. Okay, so the more pictures I add, the more it messes up the order, but I'm sure you can figure out which one is which. The last picture is me at 14 weeks. (I think the caption says 12 but it's wrong) My eyes are closed and my butt looks huge. I'm hoping that tomorrow's progress pictures turn out better. My Kelley took pictures of me and my skinny little preggo SIL, and I dread seeing those comparisons, too. :o)

I went to the OB today and had a good check-up. I got to see the babies and they're doing well. They're kicking like crazy and I love to feel them. I'm told that eventually they'll be big enough that I won't love them keeping me awake, but I'm enjoying it while I can.

We find out a week from today what they are! Yeah!

I promise I'll check back in ASAP and let you know what we find out!

Week 16 (or is it 17?)

2008-03-17T13:21:00.000-05:00

I have no idea what week I'm in, because I have no idea when my due date is. You'd think that I would know, right? You'd think that my doctor would have told me by now what the for sure date is. But she hasn't. I've been told anywhere from August 24th to September 1st, so I really don't know how far along I am. It technically doesn't matter because it's not like they're going to induce me just because I hit that magic 40 weeks (unless they need to induce me). We should find out the for sure date on our next super cool ultrasound which is on April 3rd. They're looking at the twins structures (hearts, bones, etc) and I'm sure we'll find out what we're having then. (I just hope they're human!)

Everything else is going fabulously wonderful. I feel like me again, and I didn't really how unlike myself I was acting until I started acting normal again. I have plenty of energy - most of the time - and as long as I rest when my body tells me to I can typically do whatever I want. (not including climbing. It's really hard for a shorty like me to go through life without climbing. I caught myself climbing on top of the washing machine earlier today and thought, "Oops! I'm going to get into trouble!")

I'm huge, though. Like, bigger than any of the other pregnant women I know (except for Amanda!) and two of them are due in May! I read somewhere that a twin mommy looks like she's full term at 5 months, and since I'm somewhere above 4 months I guess it makes sense that I'm really pregnant. I'm loving my belly, though. It's just hard to find maternity clothes around here that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I'm going to have to go shopping when I visit North Alabama again. I'll be wearing moo-moo's before this pregnancy is over! (oh, I hope I'm just kidding!)

I feel the need to accomplish EVERYTHING while I feel like doing stuff. I was going crazy trying to figure out what I was going to register for, and what I needed two of, and what I didn't need at all, and whatever else, and then my Kelley told me to register for what I wanted, and if it was a big something (bouncy seat or swing or whatever) to keep the receipt and if one of the babies doesn't like it then I can take it back. Makes sense to me. I just had this mental image of me holding two screaming babies and not being able to decide who got to sit in the magical bouncy seat that I only had one of because I didn't know if they'd both like it and I didn't want to be wasteful. Is this normal new mom stuff or is it Mandy psychosis? It's hard to tell.

I've been having some CRAZY dreams lately, and I'm really enjoying them now. At first they were scary, but now they're hilarious. Like last night, I had three of them. The first one I dreamt that Jeremy was counseling a couple who couldn't get pregnant for some unknown reason, just to find out that the wife used to be a man. The second I dreamt that I kept my son in a box at the church (I had to wait a few weeks to deliver the second twin for some reason) and it was completely normal for me to keep my child in a box in a separate building. And then I dreamt that I wanted to dry my non-existant dog so I put it in the microwave. (Don't worry - the dog was fine) But can you believe? What would make me dream that? I read on Amanda's blog that when you dream the sex of your child that it's typically accurate. I always dream that I have a boy and a girl. Always. I so hope that's what's in there, but if not then I'll really be just as happy. But I'll eventually want a little girl, I think. (That is if having two babies at once doesn't scare us so bad that we won't want another pregnancy!)

I'm trying to wait to go back to the house until the ADT man leaves, but I'm STARVING, so I don't think that I'll make it. :o)

Happy St. Patty's day, ya'll! Throw back a beer for me, okay? (I'd LOVE to have one!) ;o)

second trimester!

2008-02-23T13:24:00.002-06:00

Yeah! I've finally made it to the second trimester! I had high hopes that the ickiness would stop by now, but not yet. I don't think I've blogged since the morning sickness has kicked in in high gear, but I'm learning how to deal with it.

We got to see the boogers again last week, and they're doing well. We still don't know who's who or what's what, but they look like little aliens. :o) I love my little et's.

We've been keeping really busy but it's all going really well. The hub is settling in and it's so cute to hear people call him "Preacher". I still get to do what I want to do at the church and no one really expects anything of me - and they still see me as a church leader! It's great. :o)

I'm totally in maternity clothes at this point, and I don't mind them, for the most part. My mother keeps buying me 5x's (no kidding) and saying that I'll eventually get into them. *rolls eyes* Why don't we wait and see how much of a whale I become before we start ordering the bed hoist, shall we? It sounds horrible to say, but it's really a blessing that she's 4 hours away. She'd be driving me crazy if she were any closer. (and we won't even start on my Gran...) They're just worry'ers. My Dad and Kelley have been really great, though. Nothing negative, always excited and full of support. (and Dad's always willing to fix me whatever I want to eat...)

Jeremy's dad is doing much much better. The doctor released him from the heart center's care, and the hospital is writing off most of the charges. (they didn't have insurance) They've decided that they can take on buying our house, so that's one less burden on us. It's totally an answer to prayers.

I hope all is well, and I appreciate all of your support! I think about you all the time, and I miss you guys!!

Smooches & Hugs!!

sigh still no high-speed :o)

2008-01-31T16:28:00.000-06:00

Well, the hubs still hasn't managed to figure out a way that we can afford high-speed, and I just can't handle the extra stress of dial up right now! :o) The church is going to buy Jeremy a lap top that's Wi-Fi ready, so at least we can go to Panera or something like that for free internet.

This week has been really hard. Between constantly feeling hungry and feeling sick (and still hungry!) I haven't really been myself. I'm officially wearing maternity clothes now, and I'm only 9 weeks and 4 days! It's the twins, right? Please tell me it's because they're 2 x's the normal stuff! My Kelley finally said, "Mandy, take care of yourself. Listen to your body. Eat when you want, and if worse comes to worse, you know how to lose weight." And for now I'm taking that advice. I'm not eating all the chocolate cake, but I'm definitely no low-carbing it. Carbs are my friends!

Everything else is going fine. We've got names picked out - Joel Osburn (Oz), William Conrad (Conrad), Robbie Elizabeth (Lizzie) and Olivia Ann (Ollie). They're all family names. If the Boogers are brother and sister it'll be Lizzie and Oz, which have been our boy and girl names from day one.

I've been reading about taking care of twins like crazy. I've made up my mind to breast feed for as long as possible (even if they are getting bottles of my milk), and there's so much to learn. I'm afraid that I'm going to forget everything, but I guess it'll come back when I need it.

Well, I hope you're all doing fabulous! I'm going to see if I can't check in with you now. *fingers crossed!!*

Have a Grandola Granola Day!!

week 7

2008-01-15T17:49:00.000-06:00

It's official. I feel pregnant. :o)

Up until now I've been pretty lucky. Just a mild sense of nausea and very few mood swings. I was tired, but not dog tired. And then week 7 hits and I really began to feel it. It's still not hard or horrible, but I'm beginning to feel less guilty for not being able to get all of my to-do's done each day. I still have a whole house to organize (it's all unpacked, but it's sorta stashed in it's appropriate room) but I keep telling myself, "Another month and you'll be in the second trimester." The second one is easier, right?

Organization is really big to me right now. I feel like if I can get my house running and on a schedule then it will be easier to keep down the chaos once the twins get here. (there's no need to tell me that this is impossible...) :o)

And I just realized that there's a chance that we have to come up with some new names. We have a boy name (Joel Osburn and we'll call him Oz) and we have a girl name (Robbie Elizabeth and we'll call her Lizzie) but it took us 3 years to figure those out. No kidding. They are both names from our grandparents (or great grandparents) that have already past. And I love them. They're my babies's names. But now I feel pressured to come up with another boy and girl name that's also from grandparents. And I have less than 8 months to do it. :o) See how I like to stress about the things I can handle and just let things that I can't roll off of me? It's how I roll. :o)

Well, I've gotta stop short. The hub is pressuring me to wrap things up here at the library and I still haven't checked in on ya'll. Maybe I can come back soon. I love you and miss you!!

Thanks for all of my sweet comments - they really do give me the warm fuzzies!! :o)

twinkies

2008-01-11T11:50:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was my first OB appointment, and it went really well. I got to have my first ultrasound. Actually I got to have two of them. Because you'll never guess what we saw on the first one.

two babies.

That's right. There's two Boogers in there! Twins!

I never in my life thought that this would happen. I knew that my Gran had miscarried twins before my mom was born, but I never really thought that it would skip a generation. Umm. Believe me. It really does. :o)

There's a lot of unknowns, but I know that this is a God Thing. Sometimes God has a really wicked sense of humor, doesn't He? :o)

Oh, and both of the babies are healthy. We think that they're fraternal twins, which is supposed to be safest because they have their own little spots. We'll know more next month. They were so tiny this time that all we saw was their heart beats and blood flow. I was told that I'm 6 weeks 4 days along, but again it's hard to tell because they're so small. I guess they're even smaller than what one booger would be, although I'm not sure.

The hub has promised me that we'll find faster internet somewhere tomorrow, and I can actually do some research and update my profile.

It still hasn't sunk in yet. I guess it's something that I'll process a little at a time. But in the meantime I'm so not going to feel guilty for the five pounds that I've gained since finding out I'm pregnant. And I'm definitely not going to worry about my mandatory afternoon naps. I'm sleeping for three now. :o)

I hope you're all doing great. I wish that I could check in, but my browser shuts down everytime I try to use one of my links. Hopefully I'll stop by tomorrow and see what ya'll have been up to. I miss you and hope you're having wonderfully OP days!!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-03T09:44:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone else's New Year is going as well as mine. The move was very smooth, and we're settling into the parsonage. I absolutely love it. It's so nice and open. The parishioners have been great. There was supper waiting for us when we got here on Tuesday and someone's bringing by more food tonight. Yum-yum! :o)

My FIL is doing much better. His spirits seem to have improved, and, aside from a slight cough, he is healthy. We were told that his heart is still very strong - much stronger than it should be after a heart attack. And then we found out yesterday that the hospital will more than likely cover the costs of everything. That's a huge answer to prayers. I can't even fathom how much money that would be. So, the chances of them getting our old house are much better. We'll still have to wait and see, but at least there's hope!

I also found out yesterday that my SIL is having a boy. His name is Eli Landon and we're expecting him mid-July. They really wanted a boy - and I really wanted them to have a boy, too. That way, if I have a girl, I'd at least have the first girl grandbaby and my parents would be more inclined to drive four hours to see her. (I know - it's silly and childish, but it's the truth.) Cyrena's cyst is half the size that it was a month ago and the doctor told them that it's not a reason for concern anymore. Another answer to prayers! We're on a roll! :o)

Booger and I are doing fine. I just unpacked the scale this morning and it was up way more than I wanted it to be. I haven't weighed myself in close to a month, and I'm not happy at all with the results - somewhere around 10 pounds up! But, it was after eating breakfast so maybe that's a little bit of it. I've just really have to buckle down and start eating healthy foods again. Now that I have a functioning kitchen I should be able to do a modified Core plan and maintain. The hub keeps saying, "You're pregnant! You're supposed to gain weight!" Yeah, but not that much weight.

So, I'm bound and determined to walk around this beautiful church of ours for exercise, limit sweets, and give Booger good stuff to eat. I'm just so stinking hungry - all the time! I never feel full long. I ate two pieces of toast, three slices of bacon, and a glass of skim milk this morning for breakfast, and I'm already watching the clock for lunch. (T-minus 2 hours to go!) I'd love some suggestions. Maybe oatmeal will stick to me better? Our pantry is a little bare, but I have oatmeal. :o)

My first doctor's appointment is a week from today. It's with a group that consists of just two doctors, and I can't pronounce my doctor's name correctly. I don't even know if it's a man or a woman, but I know that I'll be seeing my doctor of choice just as much as I'll be seeing this other doctor, so it's the best that I'm going to get. I can't really complain - at least I finally have a doctor!

My Google Reader wouldn't load on this dinosaur with dial up that I'm using, but I'm going to try again now. I miss you all and I hope that you're having lovely OP days!!

long time no sing

2007-12-30T22:03:00.000-06:00

(am I really tired or is that sorta witty?)

Lawzie lou! So much has happened since the last time I blogged.

First, my FIL had a heart attack on Friday. Thankfully, he's doing as good as possible now, but he gave us quite a scare. He'll be coming home tomorrow morning. Because he doesn't have health insurance they're in quite a bind and will no longer be buying our house. Which means we'll be carrying a mortgage down to Auburn with us on a salary that doesn't account for a mortgage. Thankfully it's only about $400 a month, so I can totally cover that while working part time some where.

It's been a world of ups and downs, but right now it's definitely up. God has definitely given us plenty of opportunities to trust in Him, and thanks to my wonderful husband I've been able to see things that way. I know that we'll be taken care of.

We get the UHaul tomorrow and the guys will be loading 'er up. I won't have to lift a finger. Because the house will still be our's we can leave some stuff here (ie: a piano that's a pain in the arse to move) and tha makes life easier.

On the preggers front I've been doing alright. I'm not eating as much of a variety as I should be, but I've been moving around so much I don't feel like I've gained any more. My Kelley took a picture of me - profile - on Christmas Eve, and I don't look like I've gained any there. Although I was sucking it in. It's way too soon to have a bump! :o)

There's soo much I want to tell ya'll, but I'm having to steal time to just "check in" (although I've already rambled more than most of you...) I've been reading blogs off and on, but I haven't left any comments, so let me leave one big one to all of you saying, "Happy New Year!! I love you!! Smooches!!" :o)

I'll check back in ASAP, but if you don't hear from me for a little while don't worry. It might take a while before I brave the dial-up at the church. *gulp*

I hope you all have wonderfully OP New Years!! {{HUGS!}}

PS: Amanda - I don't know how to make Booger's counter bigger - I might have to find a new one. I just stared week 6, though, I think. Yay!

twas the night before Christmas

2007-12-25T04:22:00.000-06:00

Editor's Note: Upon reading back over this, I've realized that it's completely spastic and a little disorganized. For this I apologize. I'm blaming my Preggo Brain and the fact that it's not even daylight yet.

Okay. It's more like the butt crack of dawn Christmas morning. More specifically it's 4:20 am. (the more juvenile Mandy would comment on this. Now that I'm a mature & responsible mother I will just gloat at being so above this.) :o)

I woke up this morning at 3:16. I wake up every morning in the three o'clock hour now. This morning what I thought was nausea turned out to be some serious heart burn. Serious. So, since I couldn't sleep I decided to check in.

Most of the family knows that I'm pregnant now, and they're all excited. I've taken to calling the baby Booger because it has to have some sort of name besides "Baby". I hate to admit this, but the hub and I have fallen into a disgusting habit which includes calling one another Baby, so the name was already taken. Speaking of the hub - things have been a little weird between the two of us. I think between me being a little extra hormonal (I know - shocker!) and him not knowing what to do makes us feel a little awkward. Sunday afternoon I let loose on him because he was hitting my leg and was intentionally swerving on the way to church - despite me saying, "Ugh. I so could throw up." I don't want special attention. I know I'm not THAT pregnant. But come on, dummy. At least be nice to me. And ever since then he has been. I cried a little more than what I had to just to make sure he got it. :o)

I'm really not doing well on the food front. It's so hard to watch what you eat at Christmas, but when people are saying, "Go on, eat more. You're eating for two now." it makes it even harder. It's a total lack of will power. Obviously I have no will power against food - I'm the Fat Lady who's not singing yet. I think I should temporarily change my blog title, though. I'm not fat - I'm pregnant! :o) (Actually today I just feel fat)

Once we move (which is in a week from today, btw) I'm hoping that I can get some sort of schedule down which includes exercise and healthier eating. I'm thinking that foods on the Core plan would be a really good guideline, but I think I'm going to tweak it to include low fat dairy and not just fat free dairy. I feel like I need to follow something pretty strictly, otherwise I'll be trying to birth a 10 pound baby in 9 months. (BTW - how come we were never told about this 40 weeks stuff before pregnancy? That's 10 months! I only signed up for 9!! I mean, I have no choice to go along with it now, but they could have warned a girl!)

Well, I'm off to check Google Reader and to update my page a little. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas & I can't wait to hear from ya'll soon! I've missed ya!!

101th

2007-12-21T08:45:00.001-06:00

You know what I just realized? My "I'm Pregnant" post was my 100th. That's kinda cool, isn't it? :o)

I started "feeling pregnant" yesterday. I don't quite know how to describe it. It's kind of like a little bit of nausea mixed with excitement. It's slowly sinking in. Just as soon as I think I've mentally mastered it I realize that in nine months I'm going to be a mommy and it all just blows me away again. It's wonderfully enchanting.

And I'm scared to tell my mom. It's like I'm 16 or something.

Because we're moving and our insurance is changing we've elected to wait to go to the doctor until we get to Auburn. Which means I'll have to pick my OBGYN based on recommendations. Fortunately, one of my best friend's sister lived there for a while. Hopefully she has one that she loves. If she doesn't there a few ladies from church that I can ask. I'd just kinda hate that to be one of our first conversations, you know? (good news - I'm knocked up and still a prude!!) :o)

I'm trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be and not supposed to be doing. Like, I know free basing coke is out, but is it okay if I Windex my glasses? I guess I'll be doing more research today. Maybe I can get my hands on a few of ya'll's books suggestions soon.

Somehow my coworker guessed me out yesterday. She said she could just tell. I think it was because I was scarfing down cheese straws. She says it's because she's been pregnant three times. What was it? Did I accidentally wear "mom jeans" yesterday or something? Maybe I'm a little paler than typical. Maybe she could hear my horrific gas trumpeting out of the bathroom. (Sorry - TMI? It's really been bad, though) I thought I was being discrete. Apparently she's a Jedi Master of Preggos. Either way - my mom finds out tomorrow morning. Before someone else tells her that her youngest daughter was walking around Wal-Mart somehow looking pale and green at the same time, horrifically contorting her face in effort to keep from tooting her own horn down the produce aisle.

Oh. And after today I'll be unemployeed. Undefinitely. The lack of income has never made me happier. :o)

Since I don't know if I'll be blogging before Wednesday I want to say that I hope that you all have a Very Merry Christmas. May you and your family be blessed in this special time of year!

xoxo

oh wow

2007-12-20T08:16:00.000-06:00

oh wow.

guess what?

I took a pregnancy test yesterday, and it came out positive.

So I took another one - different brand and everything - and that one was positive, too.

I'm Pregnant!

It's really not quite sunk in yet. I haven't started having crazy symptoms or throwing the crockery at my husband. I just didn't start my period on time so I thought I'd take a test.
So I did. :o)

I'm in the fourth week, but I'm only two weeks along. That doesn't quite make sense to me. I'm going to do some major studying today. Either way - the baby is due at the end of August. It's gonna be one hot summer!

We're obviously really excited. We told my MIL last night and she went ape. I'm telling my family at Christmas. I'm going to make them open a gift with some sort of clue in it, or something like that. My brain is mush. I don't quite have it figured out yet.

But can you believe it? I so can't. Don't get me wrong - I'm perfectly content to not be throwing up, but I just feel much more normal than I thought that I would. Hmmmm.

Well, I'm off to compulsively track down pregnancy info. :o)

Hope you have fabulously OP days!

PS: I don't think any of you do, but if you know me IRL, PLEASE keep this quiet until my mom is told (on Sunday). She would be so hurt if she found out someone knew before she did! Thanks!

they so don't know what they're getting themselves into...

2007-12-17T10:15:00.000-06:00

The weekend was fabulous. We got our U-Haul's load of boxes down there safely, and our precious new parishioners helped us unload the truck. They're all so excited for us to be there permanently. It's so humbling.

Each time I look at the parsonage I see something else that I absolutely love. Aside from the curtains (which I hope wont hurt any feelings when I remove them) and a room with yellow walls that doesn't match my decor it's absolutely perfect. I can't wait to live there. :o)

We arrived at the church at around 11:00 on Friday night and the sky was just gorgeous. It was an amazingly clear night and I could make out so many constellations. And we even saw a meteor shower. It was like God's Welcome Home gift.

I only have three more days here at work. It's really crazy how fast the time has gone by. I'm so ready for it, but also a little nervous. I guess that's natural.

I felt a little skinny this morning, so I wanted to weight myself but realized that Jeremy had already packed my scale. Oh darn. Christmas without a scale. How ever will I manage? ;o)

I've been having really bad heartburn the past few days so I'm really trying to watch what I eat. I keep thinking "Maybe You're Knocked Up!!" but I'm so trying not to get my hopes up. I did eat an awful lot of spicy stuff the last few days. I'm sure that has a lot to do with it.

Oh, and I have to tell you this. The people of Union have started calling me "The First Lady". How precious is that? It's so much more elegant than "the Preacher's Wife", isn't it? And, since I'm the most elegant person you will ever hope to meet, it's definitely fitting. I really think I need some big thick pearls, don't you? And maybe a hat with flowers? And definitely a rose colored suit (with a skirt that comes past my knees, of course) and some support hose that are three shades darker than my natural pastey complexion (aka - everyone else's skin tone) and some really good quality orthopedic pumps. Then I'll be set.

At least I can still wear my broach collection.
(yes, I really do have a broach collection. I love them more than words can say. But if I were to try to use words to say it they would be something like, "I really love them".)

I hope ya'll have fabulously OP days!!

keepin it real

2007-12-14T08:27:00.000-06:00

Whew! We did it! We got all the boxes packed and stacked in the sun porch and still managed to get into bed by 10:00. That's not to imply that I actually fell asleep then, but at least we weren't burning the midnight oil.

I haven't talked about weight loss stuff in a while because I've totally been using ya'll as a stress reliever. Hope you don't mind. The truth is I think that I'm currently just holding steady. I'm not pigging out but I'm not counting points, either. I'm sure it would be possible for a normal person, but I just don't think I can add another stressor right now. And I'm hormonal. Lawsie am I ever hormonal! And I keep thinking, "Ohh I might be pregnant!" and that just makes things a little worse.

But how awesome would it be to be pregnant right now? I could so totally get away with not having to lug around those heavy boxes or help move furniture. Never mind that my mother moved while she was eight months pregnant with me, and obviously nothing is at all wrong with me. Jeremy has this concept of what a pregnant woman can and cannot do, with the cannot list a lot longer than the can's, and I'd just hate to burst his little bubble. Descent of me, isn't it? :o)

I'm almost finished with my Christmas shopping and that forced day off will actually help out a lot. I can run into a nearby city and finish it up. Each year Jeremy and I get each other an ornament and I've been looking all over my hometown trying to find a church ornament. So far, nothing. Not even on a web site. So I'll go to my favorite of all favorites - Hobby Lobby - and find a really good one. I might also get my hair cut.

Oh! And I got new funky glasses! I'm so excited about them. They're brown plastic frames that sort of have an understated cat-eye thing going. A little dorky, a little spunky, and definitely affordable. (just like me!) The hub even likes them. I can't wait until they come in.

We're heading down to Auburn tonight with a 14ft U-Haul and me in tow. We ordered a 10ft'er, but they sent a 14ft one and we're doing our best to not waste the extra (free!) space. Ya'll just pray for me. I'll have 4 hours all by myself on the trip down and there's no telling what sort of fantasy land I'll be living in by the time I get there. I'll probably be having two sided conversations about what color the drapes at the palace should be. Oh I so hope the impersonations don't come out. They're so annoying. Well, maybe my loverly satellite radio will save my sanity.

Well I hope you all have fabulous weekends and I'll see you on Monday!!

*smooches!!*

what are they going to do, fire me?

2007-12-13T08:48:00.000-06:00

Okay, so, when I gave my notice in here at work I sorta joked with my boss saying, "You know I've never quit a job that I didn't want to leave before. Maybe you can make me mad on my last day so that I won't cry." Well, he LOVED that and has told all the rest of the partners as many times as possible. *rolls eyes* I'm kissing booty as I'm going out the door.

I never in my life thought that he would take me seriously and actually piss me off. But he did. And here's the story. I like to call it "That Time My Boss Pissed Me Off - Chapter 8745"

They hired my replacement yesterday. A pretty little sorority girl who has another semester left before she receives her BS in Accounting. A good choice, I think. The polar opposite of me, obviously, but that's probably a good thing.

I was almost excited when it was said that I'd have a few days to train her. "Whew!" I thought, "Now I won't feel like I'm leaving them hanging." And then I thought, "It's not tax-season. What am I supposed to do? Train her how to narrate her life in a blog? Teach her to become obsessed with key websites that are wholly inappropriate for the office? Teach her to make long distance phone calls to her bff in Tokyo?" Well, whatever. I'll show her what little can be done right now and then I'll continue my daily fascination with the Pioneer Woman. (I just learned how to do that - aren't you proud?)

So then my boss tells me yesterday that he would like for me to take a day or two off next week so that she can go at it on her own, with me being close to my phone as a safety net. "Oh yay!" I thought. "A couple of days at home. I could spend an entire day in my pj's. I wouldn't have to wear make up or even shower if I didn't want to." (which if I wasn't going anywhere I probably wouldn't.) The he says, "You've got some vacation stored up, right?" and it hits me - he's forcing me to take a vacation day. He's taking money away from me. I had intentionally saved those vacations and PTO days so that when we go through our 2 weeks of unemployment we won't be hurting for money. Oh yeah, and I did I mention that it's Christmas and we're moving here, boss? So I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm seriously tempted to work overtime to make up for it. Then he'll have to pay me time and a half. *evil laugh*

We'll see. I might consider it as being "on-call" and just not turn in the mileage for driving 100 miles away to go to the company Christmas party he forced me to attend. (Oh, I didn't tell you about that? That was "That Time My Boss Pissed Me Off - Chapter 8744") I'm sure that won't happen either because my dag blame conscious won't let me. Oooh! I know. I'll just take a butt load of office supplies with me. There's this electric stapler I've been eyeing ever since the first day walk in the door.....

Have Wonderfully OP Days, Ya'll!

things I will not discuss with a parishioner (ever again)

2007-12-12T08:28:00.000-06:00

When telling said parishioner that I saw him driving down Main Street, I will not suggest that I was stalking him. This will completely prevent the statement, "Good! I love it when hot little things stalk me!" and thus preventing the lobster like flush that followed.
I will never in any circumstance whatsoever allude to, suggest, hint, or in other way allow the idea that my husband (his pastor) and I are trying to conceive, avoiding the wise advice to "stand on my head".
Once saying that standing on my head was not a viable option for me, I will not delve that I had 13 casts before 6th grade, making me the biggest freak of nature ever to become a preacher's wife.
I will not suggest that said member talks way too much and that I really pray for his wife. Then I will not try to smooth things over by saying that I too talk way too much and that he should be praying for my husband.
When it is said that I am favored over dear sweet Jeremy I will not agree whole heartedly and then try to console them by saying that I thought it was the general consensus of the congregation, but as I can not be the preacher's wife without the preacher suggest that we keep him.
And as I will never have such a conversation again, I will not enjoy it to its fullest extent. I will not allow myself to be goaded into saying more and more outrageous things only to hear the side splitting laughter on the other side. And I will not be forced to think about said conversation over and over, cringing at the inappropriateness of it all, knowing that I will surely be teased by all the private information released.

Oh well. At least we'll be moving four hours away in a few weeks! :o)

it's a technicolor Christmas

2007-12-11T08:52:00.000-06:00

So, I'm finally calmed down a little. There's probably about 10 more boxes that have to be packed by Thursday night, and I can so handle that. I want to get my house picked up before then, too, because Jeremy's nosey uncle is coming over to help him load everything while I'm at work on Friday. I know he'll go in every single room possible and I'm not about to let him find dirty underwear. (Did I just admit that there's dirty underwear on my floor?) But I'm just so grateful that he's helping I'm not even going to complain about it.

Okay. It's time for another confession from Mandy. Are you ready for this?

I absolutely love tacky Christmas sweaters. (not that all Christmas sweaters are tacky, I just love the tacky ones...) I can't explain it. I know that they're tacky. I know that Stacy and Clinton would fry me at the steak for wearing it. I know that my husband is slightly embarrassed by it. But I don't care. I love them. Last year I had found the absolute perfect tacky Christmas sweater. It was pink and had this cute collar and it said "Merry Christmas" in funky colors. Shear tacky Christmas sweater perfection. And now it's too big for me. So I've been searching frantically for a replacement to wear this weekend to the Christmas pageant at our new church and I can't find anything to fit the bill. My favorite so far was heavy on the leopard print, and it was a little too tacky for this occasion. I have to find something that meets me half way. Like one that's not your typical Christmas colors but doesn't have all the bells and whistles. (although a sweater with bells and whistles would be really cool...) I might have to settle for a tacky Christmas vest. At least that way it can come off if needed... (but vests are even tackier than sweaters, no?)

Okay. So now you know. I hope it doesn't make you hate me. I'm just being real, yo.

Hope you all have wonderfully OP days!!

oh no you did'ent!

2007-12-07T08:56:00.000-06:00

Oh my. It's such a relief that I'm a natural kind of girl. I don't wear much makeup, and everything else on me is what God gave me. It's a relief because right now I'd be pulling out my hair plugs and snapping off my fake nails if I had 'em. And then I'd just be left with a cold bottom and damaged nail beds...

Our plumbing messed up again last night. My dear sweet long suffering heroic hub called last night before I got off work and told me that the toilet was suddenly overflowing, and he hadn't flushed it in over an hour. Luckily I wasn't there to deal with the carnage (although I did have to hear about it) and I told him to call a plumber. And this time he listened to me right away and called Mr. Rooter. So, he didn't get to go with me last night to the charity Christmas party we were planning on attending. And while he was knee deep in last week I was enjoying my mother's boss impersonating Elvis. I should have felt guilty, but all I felt was relief that I didn't have to deal with it. And it's fixed now. :o)

I'm looking forward to Saturday when I'll be packing boxes and avoiding anyone I won't allow to see me in my pj's from 40 pounds ago. (which excludes everyone but my husband and my cats) Maybe I can get enough done that I'll stop waking at 2:27 every morning, hyperventilating from the shear lack of things not crossed off my to do list. (I haven't been doing this, but it makes me smile to think that it's something that I would do if I didn't sleep like a bear in winter when I do eventually slip into slumber)

And it makes me feel so much better about myself to know that there's other Wrappers Anonymous here in this world. And MMalloy, I totally scope out the other rival presents to make sure mine's the best wrapped, too. If God had not blessed me with these wonderfully magical talents I would not have to struggle so with my pride. :o) (how cocky was that statement?)

It's taken me about an hour to write this blog because I've been interrupted a few times (and I'm at WORK! Don't these people have any sense of decency?) and by now I'm laughing at myself. My faith in my ability to accomplish something at the last minute (although it is what I hate most in this world) is kicking in (or maybe it's the Xanax...) and I'm thinking I can handle it. Now if I can only remember that at 2:27 tomorrow morning.

I hope you all have wonderfully OP weekends!!

Smooches!

obsession confession

2007-12-06T08:41:00.001-06:00

Whew! It's been one of those mornings. For some reason I just could not get my booty in gear and I ended up running late. I'm sure the forty billion different outfit changes didn't help matters either. See, I was roped into attending 2 separate Christmas functions yesterday. One is tonight and one is tomorrow night, so I had to totally reassess the wardrobe situation. I still don't have a lot of clothes in this size (like 3 pairs of dress pants with various tops...) so I have to really navigate through. So, needless to say I didn't make it to the scale this morning. It's probably just as well - we ate Mexican food last night. (And I thought of my favorite pregnant cyber friend!!) I got the fajita taco salad, so I made a descent choice, but the chips I munched on probably caused some water retention.

I'm doing my best to not freak out about the lack of stuff not accomplished, but everyone seems to be doing their best the steal my time. I was planning on packing all tonight, tomorrow night and all weekend, but it looks like that's not happening. I have to have a 10 ft UHaul's worth of boxes in a week, and I'm no where there. But the up side is that I'm caught up on Christmas stuff. (I just remembered the church Santa Party I'm supposed to plan - so, well, I'm ALMOST caught up!) I just have a few more presents to buy, and everything that I have bought is wrapped.

I have this sick love of wrapping presents and it can take me 30 minutes easy to wrap just one. I try not to take that long, but I'm such a perfectionist with that sort of thing. And I've learned how to make a new style of bow this year, too. The hub made fun of me last night when I showed him our nephew's present. I had wrapped it with this gorgeous olive drab green foil paper and used a sort of rusty gold ribbon for his bow. And Jeremy said, "honey, you just spent no telling how long on that pretty pretty package just for him to rip it open". Oh well. It makes me happy. (and besides, my mom is a freak about wrapping, too, and with this new bow I'm totally kickin her little arse this year!) :o)

So there's just one more sick thing that you probably wished you didn't know about me!

Have a wonderfully OP day!

just checking in...

2007-12-05T08:26:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to post a quickie (hee!) this morning. We're interviewing replacements for me all day today and tomorrow, so I have a ton to do. I just wanted to say, "Yay! The scale is going down!!" It was somewhere around 191.4 this morning. The only thing that I've successfully changed is my breakfast and lunch routine (and no 3 pm cocoa...), and I'm not doing the best that I can in the evenings, but for now it's enough of a change to help.

Last night I was daydreaming about taking morning walks when I no longer have to slap on trousers and heels every day. That right - me wanting to exercise. It was a disturbing thought! :o)

Have a Wonderful OP Day!!

14 days and counting

2007-12-04T08:27:00.000-06:00

That's how many business days I have left as a working girl! The time is flying by and I still have sooo much left to accomplish. That's okay. I can handle it.

Now for the diet blah stuff: YesterDAY was wonderfully OP, but the evening proved to be a problem. Jeremy wanted pizza, and since he had an almost migraine all day I caved and picked up a Little Ceasar's then remembered that my nephew's birthday party started at 6:00. So I ate pizza thinking that I wouldn't eat anything else, then went to the party and ate roast, mac & cheese, and baked beans. Oh, and cake and ice cream. Then I came home and ate some fig nutens. (or however they're spelled) WHY? I have no idea why. Because it was THERE. It's all so shameful and sad. I'm really going to mull over it today and try to figure out what my deal is. I mean, I want to at least be at my smallest pronto, and I want my new denim trousers to fit me well again, and I don't want for these pants that I'm wearing to fit so well, but after 5 pm I'm not doing anything about it. I think I'm going to set up some sort of time law. Like after 7 I can't eat anything, period. That seems a little tough, though. I'm just frustrated with myself this morning.

However, one good thing about the party was that I got to see the ultrasounds of the peanut that I call Mandy, Jr. It made me so happy, and I totally faked that I could tell what every thing was. :o) Her new due date is July 15, so at least she'll have him/her before it gets too hot. Hopefully I won't be that lucky! :o)

I would like to ask for ya'll to pray for her, though. This baby was a total miracle to begin with because she had been told for years that she probably wouldn't be able to have children. She only has one functioning ovary and she has endometriosis. The OBGYN himself said that God must have just wanted her to have a baby. (It was finding all this out that made me snap out of my selfish fit and get excited for them...) But yesterday during the ultrasound they found a big cyst on her ovary. The doctor said that they usually go away on their own, so I'm not super worried about it. I just don't want Cyrena worried. I know I would be if it were me and my baby. I just know that God is going to protect this child, and my prayer is that He gives them peace. They're so young, and they have so many things going against them.

So, thank-you for your prayers. I know in my heart of hearts that it changes things!

I hope you have a wonderfully OP day!!

warm fuzzies

2007-12-03T08:23:00.000-06:00

Well, the good news is that the previous posting of 197.6 was some sort of water retention fluke. I weighed myself Sunday morning and it was closer to 193. It's not great, but it's better. I had a great OP day on Friday - lots of water and healthy foods, but the rest of the weekend wasn't as healthy. And I drank next to no water. I feel so dry that I could crumble up and blow away. I don't know why it's so hard to drink my water while at home. It's something I've gotta figure out before the move - there won't be any water coolers for this future house wife. (That's still blowing my mind.)

Thanks so much for all of the sweet & encouraging comments. Unfortunately my hub is a little weird about the crock pot. It's all good unless I want to leave the house with it on. (I know - that's the point, right?) I think he's afraid that it'll burn the house down. He's going to have to get over that, but until then it's not an option. The salads and Lean Cuisines are, though. I'll figure it out. At least during the work week I can have super healthy meals. My skinny coworker and I have taken to eating lunch together and we hold each other accountable. (Which means I don't pig out in front of her!) :o)

I have to tell you the sweetest thing. Jeremy has gotten bitten by the baby bug. There's this little girl at our church who is 6 months now, and he is absolutely crazy about her. He's constantly holding her and kissing her fuzzy little head. And then every time we come home from church he asks, "Can we have a baby NOW?" and I'm like, "umm, honey, that's what we're trying to accomplish here" and he says "No, NOW." lol. It's so cute and makes me so glad that we decided to wait until we knew that we could handle a baby. It makes my heart melt to see him so excited about it.

I don't think I've told ya'll yet that my little brother and his wife are expecting a baby in July. Yep. The one that was just married in September. It totally freaked me out and upset me that my brother who is five years younger than I am would have a child older than mine, but I'm okay with it all now. I know it's incredibly selfish sounding but I had a hard time with it for a while there. Now I'm pushing for them to name my new niece or nephew after me. :o)

Well, I hope you all have fabulous OP days!!

the good, the bad and the ugly

2007-11-30T08:12:00.000-06:00

The Good:

Jeremy and I have been called to a church outside of Auburn, AL. It's a wonderful opportunity to serve a really sweet church, and it's totally a God thing. And it was the secret that I was hinting around a few months ago. His first Sunday will be January 6th of 2008 so we'll be moving the first week of the year.

The community is actually called Little Texas, which is about 4 hours away from here. It won't be too far away from family, but it's a little daunting to move all of my earthly possessions four hours away. We'll take a 10 ft U-Haul truck's worth of boxes down on December 15th, so I'm packing like crazy. It has been a crazy time in our lives filled with quick meals and junk. Which leads me to...

The Bad:

I haven't blogged in a month of Sundays. Mainly because I just didn't feel like putting myself out there. I'm an extrovert, but I have had so much people time that I just drew into my shell a little. Not so much that people IRL would notice, but Cyber Mandy definitely didn't want to talk. (Shocker, I know) And you know I avoid you guys when I'm not eating well, and I so totally have not been making good choices. I haven't gone grocery shopping in who knows when. We've been eating either scavenger type meals or quick fast food. Pizza and chicken fingers have been my diet for the past month, and it so totally shows. This, of course, leads me to...

The Ugly:

I woke this morning to an exercise machine infomercial blaring on the tv, and it made me feel like total crap. I knew that I had been bad bad bad, and I needed to face the music. So I nervously stepped on the scale and it read 197.6! Yep. That's about 16 pounds from my lowest weight, which was at the end of August. It was a huge wake up call. I mean, here I am trying to get pregnant and I'm treating my body like a garbage dump. I kept telling myself that once we moved I would get back on track, but I almost procrastinated myself out of Onederland!

So, here's the plan. I know I can't diet once I get knocked up, but I sure can do my best to get back down before I get the little plus sign on the stick. And then once I am pregnant I can just be sensible about it. I think I had already started eating for two. :o)

But, I still have serious time constraints on my hands. How am I suppose to do a healthy dinner on the fly with my house turned upside down? Well, if worst comes to worst I can live off of SubWay while the hub gets whatever junk it is he thinks he needs. Any suggestions would be wonderful. That's assuming, of course that I haven't made all of you horribly mad at me.

Big thanks to all of you who have checked in, even though I've been MIA.
Now I'm going to check in with all of you and see what's gone down since I've been gone. :o)

I hope all of you have Happy Fridays and wonderful OP weekends!!

at least it's Friday... :o)

2007-11-02T08:39:00.000-05:00

Hey Ladies!

I know I've been horrible about not blogging lately. I just haven't felt like it this week. It's been a rough one. I've taken care of a flu ridden hub while having some other cold myself, dealt with a clogged sewer line and resetting our (one and only!!) toilet, had the most horrible TOM ever (a little bit of drama queen), burned my hand to the point of considering the ER, and had a deadline to deal with here at work. Tonight we're going to Atlanta again for the last part of our class, and I made brownies for a bake sale last night, just to burn them while I was freaking out over my hand. Needless to say, I'm not contributing to the bake sale. These things only happen to me. No. Really. I have the worst luck in the world. God must know that I can handle it, and it's really useful when searching for a way to give others a good laugh.

I'm over my horribly difficult week enough to laugh about it now, but when I was in the middle of it I definitely did not want to focus on it.

I hopped on the scale this morning and I knew I'd be up. And I was. I know it's TOM related, but that's not all of the weight. I'm sure some of it has to do with not caring about what was going into my body this week. And tons and tons of Orange Juice. So I'm trying my hardest to reel it back in today. And I need more water!!

I know I want to get back to where I was, but I'm not sure how I feel about trying to get out of my new clothes. I'm sure it's the cheapo in me, but if I'm going to have to buy a whole new wardrobe soon (ie: maternity clothes) I really can't see buying a size smaller just to wear them for a little while. We really can't afford that right now. And I'm really happy with myself where I am. But I don't want to bail out, either. I'm not sure. I just wish I'd hurry up and get pregnant so I don't have to make that decision. :o) Well, I know I need to lose about 7 pounds to get back to my lowest, so I guess I'll just focus on that right now. I just hate this yo-yo'ing.

I've decided not to beat myself up over it. I've dealt with this crazy week in the best way that I could, and I know that all the relapsed weight didn't just happen this week, and I'm just going to turn it around.

See why I haven't blogged? Nothing fun to talk about and a dilemma that ya'll will think is silly. :o)

Well, I'm going to get over myself and take these free minutes to check in on ya'll.

I hope you have wonderful weekends!!!

PS: Amanda, I promise that I'm not pregnant. Ugh. I thought I was, but I'm not. I would never be able to keep something like that from ya'll! :o)

long time no see

2007-10-24T08:33:00.001-05:00

Sorry it's been forever since I've checked in. I've just been blah lately. I think I'm suffering from burn out, or something. I'll get over it soon, I think. I know it's just my state of mind.

Meanwhile I've been successfully maintaining. I don't really know how, but I know the scale isn't moving much up or down. I feel like TOM is just around the corner, but it won't go ahead and get it over with. It was supposed to be over with by Friday, but nothing yet. You know the feeling. "Come on already! I'm ready for my body back, please!" I've just been bloated and a little quick to cry, but not really a hormone monster. The unexplainable anger and frustration hasn't happened, so I guess it's all good. :o) (I'm sure you all really wanted to know about my cycle and state of mind, didn't you?)

We're having a "Harvest Party" at church on Saturday, and Jeremy and I have decided to dress up like hippies. Sadly, I already had appropriate clothes in my wardrobe. All we had to buy was wigs (he's wearing an afro and I'm wearing long blond hair) and blue eye shadow. It should be really cute. Jeremy disturbingly really likes the blond wig. Lol. I now know why Cher always flipped her hair in that weird way. Having hair past your butt is a pain! After our party we're going to my dad's for our annual bonfire. I guess I'll have to ditch the wig after everyone gets to see our costumes. I'm sure it's really flammable and as clumsy as I am...

That's about it in Mandy Land. I guess that's one reason I haven't blogged. I don't really have anything to say, if you can believe that!

Well I'm off to see what ya'll have been up to. Have Great OP Days!!

a bleah blog

2007-10-19T08:17:00.000-05:00

Ick. I'm bloated and my tummy hurts. I thought it was TOM symptoms last night, but my poor hub woke up at 2 with intense stomach cramps, too. I guess we got a bug or something. I hope it all settles down soon. He felt better this morning, but mine's still lingering. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't HAVE to come to work today. My coworker is out of town and that only left our boss to come in and open the office and I knew it wasn't worth it. Maybe he'll have pity on me and let me leave early.

It's not that bad, really. I just don't want to be here. :o)

But it's Friday and that's reason enough to be happy, right?

I hope you all have wonderful weekends!

I love Wednesdays!

2007-10-17T08:41:00.000-05:00

I really do love 'em. I really don't know why, I just do. So yay for Wednesday! :o)

Remember a little while back when I said that I was afraid of Mandy with out birth control? Well, she hasn't been that bad. Despite the extra stress of this week and several funerals to attend I've managed to only cry once. And that was after a sad movie. (Had I realized that it was sad I wouldn't have watched it...) And I haven't been mean to my hub, either. I called after work last night to warn him that I was feeling extra stressed and maybe a little irrational, but I didn't even have to control myself. I wasn't feeling like a hormone monster at all. So yay!

That just goes to show you that God really does answer prayers, 'cause I'm sure my sweet hubby has been doing some major praying this week! :o)

And I expected a big headache, too, because a few days off the hormones always gave me a splitting eye headache. But I'm on day six with no drugs and no headache. I'm beginning to think that I'm actually going to like not having these extra hormones I was so dependent upon. And maybe I'll lose a few extra pounds, too. Mom always said that BC made you gain weight.... (but I honestly always thought that she said that to prevent me from taking it BEFORE marriage!) lol.

Okay, sorry I'm rambling on about this. It's just fascinating to me. :o)

I got some new clothes in last night from Wal-Mart.com. I've been cruising the clearance racks from all my favorite online stores and I've managed to find a few things pretty cheap. And shipping isn't bad either. I'm wearing one of my new outfits today and the whole thing cost less than $20. I've never shopped for clothes online and actually bought anything before, but I could really get the hang of this. Since I'm such a regular size it's hard to find cute stuff on the clearance racks (I mean, really, how many woman wear large tops and 14/16 bottoms? A ton!) and this way I can find the cute stuff and just return them at the store if it doesn't fit. I found some great Dockers khaki's for the hub from Sears, too. They were only $24.99 a piece and I got free shipping. I think he's scared that I've found a way to bargain shop while at work. But how cool is it that I'm getting paid to shop? I love it! :o)

I hope you all have wonderful Wednesdays!!

Is it Friday yet?

2007-10-16T09:09:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all of your supportive comments yesterday. The in-laws behaved marginally well, so that's a relief, and my ten hour work day flew by. Today is another busy busy day (because "we" didn't get it all done yesterday) but I can handle that.

The scale is up, and I'm thinking that it could be from an upcoming TOM. Or it could be eating too much junk. Whatever it is, it's not something that I can't handle. I'm sure if I pound the water for the next few days it'll be back down.

I've gotta figure out what I'm going to be for Halloween. Any suggestions for an easy, cheap costume? (umm... that is, one that's easy and cheap to make, not one that makes me look cheap and easy) :o)

I hope you all have wonderful Tuesdays!!

a little vent...

2007-10-15T07:54:00.000-05:00

My weekend was non-existant. I feel horrible complaining about it, but I can because it's ya'll and I know you love me. :o)

Jeremy's great aunt died in a really bad car accident on Friday. I never got to meet her, but she was a really sweet lady. He was asked to do the funeral and so most of our weekend was spent either with the family or preparing. But that's not what I'm complaining about, really. It's part of being in the ministry.

My complaint is my FIL's family. Ya'll, they are so bad. Like, bad bad. Like, pulling weapons on each other, selling pills, cheating, cussin, mean, lying, horrible people. And I'm being nice. (okay, not really, but I'm definitely not exaggerating.) The lady who died's immediate family is really sweet, but all the rest of them are no count. (That's what my MIL calls them.) :o) We have nothing to do with them at all costs, but there was no avoiding them this weekend. And they definitely put on a show. At least the funeral is today and then I won't have to see them for a while. It sounds horrible, I know, but it's the truth.

So, needless to say, when I had to come in to work an hour early to make up for time lost at the funeral I was in a bad mood. I'm not a morning person to begin with, but I had a serious case of the grumps... and then I read ya'll's blogs and it brightened my day. So now you can spend the rest of the day knowing that you're personally responsible for me not going crazy ballistic on the in-laws that I don't claim. :o)

So, I'm off to actually work. Today's the busy deadline day that I've been mentioning and it's really not busy enough. (as in, peeps aren't getting enough work in to me and things are totally not going to get done on time - but as long as it's not my fault...)

Happy Monday!! :o)

can you keep a secret?

2007-10-12T08:33:00.000-05:00

Psst. Hey. Come over here. I wanna tell you something. But you gotta promise not to tell anyone else, okay?

Jeremy and I decided last night that we are no longer going to prevent pregnancy. As in, the BC pills are going in the trash. Yay!! :o)

We decided that we're trusting God with every aspect of our lives. And we're going to trust God with our children's lives, so why not trust Him in the timing of those lives being created?

I personally have no qualms against birth control. Obviously, I've been on it for the past three years, but it has felt like I was taking control of things too much. For some woman that's a good thing, but for me it was taking my babies out of God's hands. I've wanted children with every fiber of my being for a while now (like, nearly 3 years...) and it gives me so much peace to know that it'll happen when it's supposed to. Now, I know that God can overcome the powers of birth control, but this way I'm not putting myself in His way. Does that make sense?

So you're the first and only people that I'm telling. It's too weird to tell people IRL. I know they know what we're up to (mainly because they razz us about if for some weird creepy reason. No one wants their mother saying, "Fooling Around" at all, much less as often as mine says it!) But if I tell them that we're trying then they'll KNOW what we're up to.

Oh goodness. And when we have to announce that we're pregnant, they'll definitely know. I'm gonna die.

They say that prudish woman are no longer prudes after birth. We'll see. :o)

Have Great OP Weekends!!

Toot Your Own Horn Tuesday

2007-10-09T09:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was another non-OP day. Darn. Between this unexpected, unfair TOM and the extra stress of this week (all you other accountants and accounting support staff can understand...) I just can't handle it. So I'm going to maintain. I'm not taking the week off - I'm just not going to add one more thing to my crazy week. Besides, I've never worked on maintaining before. I'm either OP or waay off plan so it'll be good to have this week of "normal eating habits". That is, the eating habits that I want to have once I stop trying to get this last 10 pounds off.

So, since I'm not going to be blogging about the things we put ourselves through to lose weight, I've decided to blog about loving ourselves. I know - I've blogged about it before, but it's a big deal to me. I was cruising some sites yesterday and I found a really interesting one about BMI. Now, I personally think the whole concept is a bunch of bunk. According to them I'm obese and until I get under 145 I'll be overweight. My mother weighs 145 and she's tiny - and two inches shorter than I am. According to "them" my mom's overweight, too. And she's a size 6/8. She's a tiny little crazy running around thing and they think she's overweight. That's why I think it's bunk. But, just in case you think this is some sort of anomaly, check out this http://kateharding.net/bmi-illustrated/

People come in all different shapes and sizes. I don't think that God created us to all look the same, and I'm finally getting that into my thick head. (pun intended!)

So, check it out and form your own opinions. Be sure to notice the atypical triathlete while you're there. That one even surprised me. :o)

And be sure to toot your own horn today. Love yourself and let others love you, too.

Now let's all gather around the camp fire and sing Kumbaya. :o)

boo!

2007-10-08T10:44:00.000-05:00

I did so great Friday and Saturday. I was totally OP - and I even faced down some really sinful looking chocolate cheesecake at the cookout.

But then Sunday it wasn't so good. I started out fine with breakfast, but after church the hub really wanted Mexican food...

My chips, rice and beans were definitely not low carb, but I at least ordered fajitas and not something fried. And then I felt guilty and decided for some strange reason to have a cheat day. But it wasn't too bad. I think the only other non-low carb thing I ate was an apple strudel, but that sucker had to be loaded and it wasn't that good.

But I'm gonna blame it all on TOM because I started today and it's not even my turn! (sorry if it's TMI - shoulda warned ya'll) It's not fair, but at least it explains the gain that I saw on the scale on Saturday (before my bad cheat day...). So I'm throwing back the water today and getting right back on the horse. I'm gonna try not to weigh myself for a few days so that I can assume that my efforts are working again and not let this surprise TOM get me down.

I do have to say that I at least had some control on my cheat day. I didn't eat everything in the house. So that's good, I guess. We can't be perfect 24/7, but I was hoping that I could make it OP for a good stretch. But today is a new day, and my body has already worked out all that sugar.

I'm so proud of the progress that all of you are making. Ya'll keep up the good work & have wonderfully OP days!! :o)

and all the heavens sang

2007-10-05T08:47:00.000-05:00

I was totally unaware of the controversy surrounding James Frey. I really don't care because I read it like it was fiction, so that just goes to show you how "aware" I am of Oprah. :o) It is disappointing that the author was such a poser. Who would want to claim that sort of lifestyle? That's like a chronically skinny girl claiming that she was once fat.... (Okay, maybe not quite the same thing)

So today is Friday. Ahhh Friday. The day before the weekend. The day of anticipation of what's to come. The day of jeans at the workplace. And its the day of WI for Christmas Challenge. You know I've had a really good week when I get all excited about WI. :o) And here's the results: (hold on to your panties!) 182.6. That's 3 down from last week (and like 7 down from the beginning of this week). Now I totally realize that it's water weight, or crazy Atkins loss, or Alien abduction of fat cells or something crazy, but it's a loss. And if I keep it up it'll be permanent.

I'm still rockin along with the low carb. And I have a NSV to boot: I didn't scarf down my entire plate of food. We went to Ruby Tuesdays last night and I got the petite sirloin, broccoli & mashed cauliflower. And the salad bar, of course, because what person in their right mind can resist it? Well, I ate a big salad with lots of low carb yummies and when my food came I only ate about half the food. I realized that I was full and that I was satisfied and that I didn't need to eat anymore. This is HUGE for me because I'm such a carnivore and I LOVVE steak and I was really digging the mashed cauliflower. But I just got a to-go box and it'll be a meal for me sometime in the near future. What's really cool is that I could have eaten it all and Dr. Atkin's wouldn't have had a problem with it at all. But Core would and I chose to listen to reason. :o)
Yay Me! :o)

I could ramble on forever today, but I'm gonna spare you all. Instead I'm gonna go check out some of my co-Christmas Challenger's blogs.

Good Luck to all my Canadian friends as they face their Thanksgiving this weekend, and may you all have totally OP weekends, whatever your plan may be. (That sounded totally WW zen, didn't it?) :o)

inspiration from an unlikely source

2007-10-04T08:46:00.000-05:00

I'm totally kickin Dr. Atkin's booty. I'm limiting the fats & still doing Atkins straight up. And the scale is showing it already. I was 184 exactly this morning - so that's already a pound lost from last week. Official Christmas Challenge WI is tomorrow so I'm excited to be able to post a loss. :o)

I just finished reading a book called A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Have any of ya'll read this yet? It's one of Oprah's books, but I bought it because I found it really cheap at a warehouse store. (Although Oprah seems to have pretty good taste in books...)

It's about a guy going through rehab and the people he meets there. I won't ruin it for you, but it really make me think. I mean, if there's people out there trying to kick drug addiction the least I can do it kick the carbs, right? I may have had a slight headache the past few days, but these people go through some serious DT's. And if a crack addict is strong enough to come off of it, then surely I am too. It just sorta puts things in perspective, you know?

But before you run out and buy this book, I must add my disclaimer. The language used is filthy. Horribly filthy, so much so that I sorta became immuned to the f-word. And I really don't like that word. But I personally think it's worth skipping over words to get the meat of it. But it's offensive. (But not racist or degrading to women. Although the protagonist is an atheist there's an overall support in the belief of God...) I would love to take a lit class on this book.

Okay. Now I'm showing you how nerdy I really am. But just think about that, ladies. Really think about what some people have to endure. And in most cases, they're in the place that they're in for the same reasons we are where we are - We decided to abuse a substance. I abused food. They're abusing hard drugs. We're the fortunate ones by far.

I know this line of thinking has made me feel much stronger against temptations. I hope maybe it does a little something for you, too.

Have Wonderful OP Days!!

Livin La Vita Low Carb

2007-10-03T08:58:00.000-05:00

I know you've probably heard me say this a million times, but it makes me giggle every time. What can I say? It doesn't take much to get me tickled! :o)

Yesterday went pretty well. I stayed completely OP, and I didn't eat after 7'ish. (we won't mention that it's because I went to bed early with my headache and the hub wouldn't fix me turkey bacon because he said that it had nitrates that would just make my head hurt worse. I don't know if this is true or not. I half-way believe that he just didn't want to do it. How mean is that?) :o)

Today is off to a much better start. My headache is gone, I'm already drinking the water *stops to guzzle more* and my breakfast was much yummier. Two eggs and three pieces of turkey bacon. And a cup of coffee. Yum yum.

Today is my last day sans exercise. I'm walking tomorrow with my mom and I'm gonna try to keep it up. I'm feeling pretty good. I'm not eating too much fat and I'm getting in lots of good protein. I'll really have to work on getting in the greens, though. All I had yesterday was a salad.

Oh! And I was teasing Randi because this weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving and she asked us to keep her accountable. Well, I really rubbed it in that I wasn't going to have those temptations this weekend and I could be really hard on her. Karma must have caught up with me because we were invited last night to a cook out on Saturday. There's no telling what they'll have there (definitely hamburgers) and it'll be a real challenge for me to stay OP, but I'm bound and determined to do it. I'm gonna bring a few low carb sides like deviled eggs and maybe a seven layer salad or something. And I guess I'll bring some sugar free pudding for dessert 'cause there's no telling what the sweets will be. But it'll be the first time my whole family has gotten together since my little brother was married, so it'll be nice to have our first family dinner. I'm sure my little sister will bring her bf, but I guess we can allow one non-family member. :o)

I hope you all have wonderfully OP days!

{{hugs!}}

give me drugs!!

2007-10-02T09:27:00.001-05:00

I've got a huge headache this morning. Maybe carb withdrawals? It seems awfully early since I've just had one meal sans carbs. Maybe my body knows what I'm fixing to do to it and it's rebelling.

Randi & Candace have gotten on to me for being all over the map, and I totally hear you girls. I've talked a big game about doing one thing or another, and honestly I just haven't done it. Not for enough days in a row to really be following a program. So, I'm going to do a modified Atkins (again, modified as in I won't eat unlimited amounts of fat) and jump start myself. I need to see some drop on the scale in order to stay OP. Thank goodness I've never hit a real plateau - I don't think I have what it takes to make it through that. My deep respect goes out to you ladies who have.

I started my morning with 2 eggs and a sausage patty. It was one of those pre-cooked thingies and it was really nasty. I squeezed no telling how much grease out of that sucker before I ate it, and it still was gross. I think I'll let the hub eat the rest of those babies and I'll stick to turkey bacon. I love that stuff and it's really easy to fix here at work. I'll eat a grilled chicken salad from somewhere to get in some greens and I have some lf cheese and a low carb/low sugar yogurt smoothie thingie for snack. I'm gonna have to get some benefiber or something like that to keep me regular since I'm sure I'll be eating a lot of cheese. (TMI? Sorry!) And I'll also pick up a really good multi-vitamin to make up for limiting my diet so much. I should be taking one anyways. And after a few days I'm going to try really hard to get back to walking. I know I need the exercise and now that it's cooled off some I have no excuse, right? Maybe I can even manage to walk during lunch without coming back looking like a lobster.

I haven't said this in a while, but I really love our community. I love that ya'll really care about me and that you're not afraid to give me a reality check when I need one. Thanks for the accountability. Without ya'll I would have given up a long time ago. I know that I'm not really OP right now, but you ladies make me want to get back OP. (Mainly because I'm afraid of some of you and I know I'd really miss ya'll if I just stopped checking in!) :o) So, thanks a hoot! I love you bunches! :o)

Have wonderfully OP days (and pray that my carb detox doesn't end up in some sort of multi-person man-slaughter!)

Monday never looked so good...

2007-10-01T08:46:00.000-05:00

Yay! I'm back! This past weekend has been so wild that it's actually nice to come into work and get back into my routine. I need routine.

We left out Thursday night and made it as far south as Montgomery. We slept in and lazed around a little Friday morning and headed into Auburn (which is a great town) and then went to our meeting. It went really well. I think that they liked us and I really liked them. Send me your email and I'll send out a mass email with all the details, okay? Even if I already have your addy, give it to me again because I can be a real ditz and you might miss out. I'm sure you're all just dying to receive your very own personal email from yours truly. :o)

We woke up at the butt crack of dawn on Saturday morning to make it to Atlanta by 9:30. (and we lost an hour going over the state line so we really woke up BEFORE the butt crack of dawn) The class was on Spiritual Maturity and Prayer and I really enjoyed the tools that she gave us. One of the books is a daily devotional and Jeremy and I have started using it every night before bed. It's really neat and it kinda spurns you to certain thoughts vs telling you what to think. Very cool. :o)

Sunday after church we took our kids to the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. I think everyone had a lot of fun and it was nice to get to spend the extra time with our "kids". When we first took on the Youth Ministry one of our girls was so shy and never would let you take her picture. When we got home last night and was scrolling through the digital camera we realized that this same girl voluntarily took a picture with me. Jeremy told me to pose next to a yellow submarine (because I like the Beatles...) and Hannah just decides to pose next to me. We have other pictures of her smiling and having a really good time. It really touches my heart. :o) My sweet hub also pulled out our photo album and had me look at some pictures taken in January, just before WW, and said, "Can you not see the huge difference in you now and then?" It was definitely a boost - especially after the non-OP weekend that I just had. Needless to say with all the running around I didn't make the best choices and the scale is back up to 190. But I know that most of that's just water retention and TOM so it'll be back down in no time. (I predict a big improvement by Wednesday).

I think I'm going low carb (not quite Atkins because I don't like the high fat) just for a few weeks and then switching back to something less restrictive. I guess I just want a few weeks of quick gratification. I can't seem to settle on anything before going somewhere and throwing everything out the window. Maybe I can stay in town for the next few weeks and stay OP! (Although the Fiddler's Convention is this weekend. I'm just gonna have to have some will power against those funnel cakes!) :o)

Well, I have tax returns to assemble so I really should stop rambling. I hope you all have wonderful OP days!! :o)

I'm so dizzy my head is spinnin'...

2007-09-27T08:34:00.001-05:00

We bought a new chair this weekend, and so we decided to turn our inside/outside cat into a mainly outside cat. But the cat is such a creature of habit that he doesn't understand that he doesn't come in every morning to eat. I put his food outside the door where he can eat with the other kitty. Well, this morning I was trying to get out the door, and the cat was trying to get in, and I did this quick spin to block him while scooting out and now I'm incredibly dizzy. Hee. DizzyDazey is dizzy. Go Figure. :o)

That's totally unrelated to anything, I'm sure. But it's really my main focus this morning, as you might imagine.

I haven't focused on the weight loss in my blogs lately, so I suppose I should update you. I'm currently at 185.6 - which is about 5 pounds down from coming back from vacay but almost 2 pounds up from before the wedding. I'm ready to get out of the 180's, but I keep sabotaging myself, so I guess when I really get serious and stop playing around with it I'll see the 170's. In the meantime I'm not freaking out over it. Especially not this week. I'm just trying to make healthy choices and go on with life.

I'm doing a pretty good job about loving myself. It's been a little difficult this week because my tum has seemed bigger (remember the girdle?) but I'm just gonna chalk that up to TOM. My pants feel a little tighter, but the scale's basically the same so I guess it could be in my head. Meanwhile it's totally taken the focus off of my batwings. *rolls eyes* I'm such a silly thing. I have, however, made an effort to look cute the past few days and I think that's made a big improvement in my self esteem. It gets really old dressing up everyday since I only see two people and they're like family. On the rare occasion that we have a face to face with a client they see me for about 5 seconds. All this gives me little incentive to do much more than the bare minimum in the mornings (totally not a morning person) but I have been lately just for me.

I'm walking with Mom tonight and then we're packing for our trip. The hub is going to clean the house while I'm out so hopefully I'll come home to a nice clean house. (He's cleaning by himself because I wanted to do it last night, and had only asked him to handle the kitchen, but he said if we could watch Robo-Cop then he'd do it this afternoon. Deal!) :o)

We're going to Auburn on Friday and then Atlanta for a class on Saturday. Say a little prayer for us because this meeting is sorta a big deal.

So I'll be MIA until Monday, but I hope that you all have wonderful weekends!!
*smooches!* :o)

UPDATE!: Eeek! Jeremy just called and a said that he's decided we're heading down to Auburn tonight! I'm super excited about it, but come one! He's knows I'm a planner & I definitely didn't plan on this!! :o)

Hormone Monster

2007-09-26T08:46:00.000-05:00

Well, it's that special time of month again. I haven't started TOM yet, but the PMS was in full force last night. I'm not quite sure what was up with me last night, or what triggered it exactly, but I ended up crying like a crazed marmoset last night. I was pretty good about not making untrue accusations, (like, "You think I'm ugly!" or, my personal favorite, "You left the toilet seat up because you think that my butt's too big for me to fall in! Well, I've got news for you mister - it's not and now my butts all wet!") but I did a fair bit of crying. (At one point just saying, "I just need to cry right now and I don't feel like making up a reason to justify it") Fortunately I didn't pick a fight with my long suffering husband, and he seems to deal with it much better if I don't try to make my emotional outbreaks his fault. I honestly have no idea that I'm being a hormone monster until it suddenly dawns on me, and then I feel really bad and cry about that for a little while. Then I'll get distracted by something and it's all better. I wish I wasn't like this, but I guess it's just me. At least I know that it's TOM and I'm not manic/depressive or something. (although I sorta wondered about it for a while until Jeremy pointed out that it was PMS)

I've tried switching to Yaz, but that just lead to crazy TOM's, making me think that I could be pregnant, which just lead to crazy crying jags more often. *rolls eyes* I'm sure PMS Mandy without birth control is going to be lots of fun. But it's one night every few months. I don't suppose it's the worse thing ever, and you know, it's not forever. There's always menopause. (j/k!)

My husband's really great about it. And I'm getting better about accepting the fact that it's just hormones and there's no need to torture him any more than he deserves it. (And I really want to, and he rarely deserves it)

It's kind of funny today, but it sure wasn't last night. Let's just hope my emotions hold up until Friday, because I really don't think that I'll make a good impression at our meeting if I'm saying, "You think I'm fat, don't you?" to complete strangers.

But on the up side I dont' have any cramps yet. Yay! :o)

I know it's unfair to complain to a group of woman about this sort of thing, but I figure that there's an off chance that one of you are a hormone monster during your special time of the month and you think that you're a possible manic/depressive, too. Now, after hearing my sordid tale you'll feel much better about yourself because you're not alone in the world. Maybe we need some sort of support group. Or maybe they should just start putting valium in those little "placebo" pills provided for the last week. I'd actually take them then!

Take care and have a wonderful OP day!

oh gosh we're getting old

2007-09-25T09:18:00.000-05:00

The hub and I have an important meeting that we have to attend on Friday. It's in Auburn, which is about four hours away from here, and we really want to make a good impression. So we went shopping last night for new clothes to wear. My wardrobe is bone thin, and I realized yesterday that I was wearing black pants that I have stopped wearing 20 pounds ago, so of course I needed new ones. I found a really nice pair really cheap ($5.40 to be exact) so I bought them and a cute top to match. When I tried them on at home I realized that I had lumps where lumps didn't used to be. Intrigued, I looked further into the issue and realized that the tops of my thighs have shrunk while my love handles haven't. It's funny because I never remember this being a problem when I was this size before. But then again, I was still in my teens when I was this size before, and my body is now 5 years older. And now I need a girdle. :o) It really doesn't bother me at all - I'll find one that's comfortable but smooths out my lovely lady lumps. (Somehow I don't think that's what Fergie was talking about...)

Jeremy found a pair of khakis that he liked and tried them on. I, of course, had to give them the final okay before the purchase, and I said, "Something looks funny" and he said, "I'm wearing them higher up like you're supposed to" See, he's been wearing his pants low, like around his hips because that's the way he always wore his pants. (I think because his hips are smaller than his stomach...) It didn't look bad like he had a beer gut or anything. Maybe that's just how guys wear them. But now that he's dressing like a grown up he's wearing them at his waist. And it looked old. I didn't tell him that he looked old, but I definitely thought it. But who am I to tell him how to wear his pants? All I can do is make sure he doesn't get pleats or something. He'll still look nice, but man, we're getting old! I thought that I was going to freak out when he got his minister's robe. He looked like a complete stranger. It's weird to see your husband in stuff like that. That's what old man preachers wear! :o)

We've always teased that we're much older than our actual age, and now we're dressing like it! Well, not me. I may be a bonified preacher's wife, but I refuse to dress like it. (now that sounds like I run around looking like a tramp. Really I don't. I'm too much of a prude, plus I don't think anyone really wants to see cellulite. But when you start handing out the orthopedic shoes and suits in colors that would make the Easter bunny blush and hair that has to be rolled in toilet paper - count me out) (Now I've just stereotyped my own kind in a parenthetical statement - oh the shame!!) Back to the point. I may wear a girdle but that's where I draw the line.

Now, with all the things that's wrong with the world, I chose to waste your time on my underwear. I hope that it at least made you giggle.

I hope you all have wonderful OP days!

these things I can accept

2007-09-24T08:24:00.001-05:00

I'm so sick and tired of tearing myself apart for my shortcomings. No one is perfect. No one looks perfect, no one says just the right thing all the time or is able to keep her to do list done before vegging in front of the tv.

Here's the deal: We, as women, have struggled ever since the Victorian age to be seen as human, right? We want equal rights, we want our voices heard, and we no longer try to portray this image of ourselves that is unnatural. We no longer expect ourselves to be Donna Reid - perfect dress (with a crinoline, of course) perfect apron, perfect coif, smile, nails while cleaning up after our messy noisy men. We're telling our husbands, boyfriends, fathers, sons & friends, "Look - we're real!"

So we might have convinced our guys that imperfections are what's really beautiful, but why aren't we covincing ourselves? As I look at other women, I can see the beauty in many of them. Sarah Jessica Parker, while a completely gorgeous woman with a kickin sense of style, isn't exactly your typical beauty. And yet I love her. It's not her perfections that make her beautiful to me, it's her quarky inperfections. The list could go on and on. But stops when I look into the mirror.

There are days that I look in the mirror and think, "Well, you do have a cute nose and pretty eyes...". In fact, I had one of those moments this morning. That all came crashing down when I looked at a picture of me on my sister's myspace. I didn't like my face at all. I didn't like anything about the picture - and it wasn't half bad.

So I'm tired of it. I'm tired of perpetuating this self-loathing that surrounds all woman. High self-esteem or low, we all do it. And the Buck stops here.

These are the things that I'm going to accept, nay celebrate, about myself from now on:
(if, when reading this you find it horribly narsassitic, then blah you. It is narsassistic because it's about me. It's my blog. :o) )

1. I can't take a good picture for the life of me. Because a still photograph has a hard time capturing what's pretty about me. It's not one second of my life but all my past, present, and future and all the ways that it's made me me. That's my real beauty.

2. I will forever sing constantly and annoy my husband.

3. I will never have the time, patience, or gumption to have a rock hard body. My arms may always be a little flabby. So what? Just don't wear a sleeveless shirt. Problem solved.

4. I will always love junk food. Eating healthy foods will never become my choice. I will do it because it is healthy for me and my family, and I will enjoy eating these healthy foods, but I will always enjoy junk more. I can either eat junk 24/7 and be 240 again, or I can eat healthy foods and be slimmer. I choose to walk the line and just be regular size. Not fat nor thin. The average person doesn't even label me as either one now. I'm just normal size. I'm realizing that woman I think are skinnier than me are actually my size. I was down about my weight last Friday and Jeremy said, "No one thinks anything about your size but you". And he's right. My mom has been saying stuff recently like, "Just don't go too far..." and I realize now that it's because she sees that I have an unhealthy view of myself. And it's this low body image that's making me yo-yo (even if it is just a few pounds right now) I've blogged about this before, but it didn't stick. I'm sticking it now.

5. I'm not going to keep my house perfectly clean. My cooking won't taste as good as Jeremy's momma's (because I dont' cook with lard...) and my children may not always look or act perfectly, but I'm already a dang good wife and I will be a great mother. Because I love my husband and I already love my children enough to keep trying until I get it right. My family doesn't need perfection from me - they just need the best me they can get. And if I'm constantly thrashing myself for not always getting it right then they can't get the best of me. Besides, if I don't let my family see my faults then they might grow up expecting the same perfection from themselves and then they'll have the same mental trauma that I have. :o)

So I'm going to start loving myself more and expecting less. I'm going to lose down to 175 because that's what I've decided was a good weight for me, but I'm going to buy whatever size 175 is. If it's a 40W then I'm going to buy it. Because I know that I look pretty good at this weight, and if I keep trying to achieve perfection then it's never gonna happen. I'm going to keep active, exercise moderately, and take some of the time I spend in front of the mirror hating what I see and spend that time learning something that I want to know. I bet I could learn to knit in the time I spend putting myself down. Wouldn't it be a lot cooler to be able to make my own scarves than it would be to keep being my own worse critic?

Mandy-Core :o)

2007-09-21T08:16:00.000-05:00

Amanda said that I could do Mandy-Core, so I'm gonna. (Cause she's the boss of me)

Mandy-Core looks a lot like WW Core, only I'm not such a stickler for the snack rules. It's more like common sense dieting. Eat healthy foods, don't over do it on any one thing, and eat until satisfied, but not stuffed. We'll try it and see. And I'll still get in my daily good health stuff.

Other than that nothing too exciting going on here. The scale is down to 186.6 this morning and I can handle that. Only a couple more pounds and I'll be back down to my lowest.

The hub has volunteered to go shopping this weekend, and you know I'm all about that. And this Sunday is the first day of fall! Yay! I'm so excited about the cooler but not freezing cold weather! I have this really cute corduroy blazer that I just bought and I can't wait to get to wear it! :o)

I hope you all have wonderfully OP weekends!!
See you Monday!

groove is in the move

2007-09-20T08:31:00.000-05:00

My title has absolutely nothing to do with anything. Except for the fact that I stayed Core all of yesterday. Even when I got home from work and the hub was eating junk. Go me! *doing cabbage patch* It feels sooo good to have a good day. Now I know that I'll have a good day today, too, because I want to keep it going.

The scale was nice this morning, too. Down 188. That's about 3 down from the vacay, so I'm sure a bunch of it's water weight. Hopefully all of it's water weight and I can get back to the low 180's soon. (Then 170's here I come!) It just seems do-able today. Ever since I figured out 25 pounds would equal 165 I've been highly motivated. It's weird the mind games we play with ourselves, but whatever works, right?

I just finished up my yumo breakfast of apple cinnamon oatmeal, 2 slices of turkey bacon, and a cup of green tea. I'll have to eat out for lunch today, which is really hard on Core, but I can get away with a baked potato and a protein from somewhere. I'll actually cook supper tonight so I'll have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. That's the hardest part about Core - lunch. But I'll get it down pat soon. And I'm sure the hub will like me cooking more.

Bless his heart. I noticed that his pants were a little too tight the other night and he said that they're shrinking. I think the way he's been eating lately has a lot to do with that, but when I hinted at it he got a little defensive. I don't care if he looses weight, but I'd like for him to at least maintain so we don't have to keep buying new clothes. Besides, that's just not healthy. So maybe Core will help him loose, too. He rebels when I'm on Core, though, because I never buy any junk food (even low point junk usually doesn't get bought) and then he starts going through the DT's. :o)

I did break a Core rule yesterday. I ate a grilled chicken finger as a snack. With pineapples dumped on top of it. It was soo yum, and I really couldn't see that it was going to hurt me as long as I don't make it a habit. And I have a question for you Core peeps: Do ya'll know if FF Kettle Corn is Core? I really think that it's technically not, but I'm gonna eat it anyways. It has basically the same NI as plain FF popcorn, so who cares? Besides, that and fruit are the only sweet things I eat while rocking Core.

Okay, this is getting waay longer than I had intended, so I'm gonna just shut up now. :o)

I hope you all have wonderfully OP days!!

note to self

2007-09-19T08:28:00.000-05:00

Dear Mandy,

What's the deal, girl? You have a million different excuses for not getting back OP, and, quite frankly I'm sick of them. No matter who or what you may want to blame it on, it's really just you. You're in control of your life and you're choosing not to do what you know you need to do. Get back in the game! You've come waay too far to stop now. Besides, if you lose 25 more pounds you'll be smack dab in the 160's. How awesome will that feel?

You've agreed to join Randi's Christmas Challenge, and you're not going to waif out on this one. (Do I need to remind you of the CP25K debacle? No? I didn't think so.) You've gotta somehow conquer this addiction to food, home girl. And you really need to move more. No wonder you're feeling flabby. *rolls eyes* Use the good sense that God has given you! Sheesh!

You need to love yourself more than the way that you've been treating yourself. You're not a human garbage disposal, and there's much more to life than food! Don't forget that it's much easier for healthy weight women to conceive than it is for over weight woman.

You know what works, so why aren't you doing it? Oh, again with the excuses, eh? Well, no more of those. I don't care if it's a month before you manage to go grocery shopping - you're still going to stay OP. And really, last night? You so could have gone. You just didn't want to because of that whole Barnhill's Buffet thing. (Oh, you didn't want me to tell everyone? Ooops, I'm sorry!) So get your act together!

Now, real quick before they all start to think you're totally schizophrenic - I love you. I only say this because I know it's the best thing for you. I hope I wasn't too hard on you, but I'm really excited to see the scale move in the right direction. Because I know you're gonna get over this hump, stop kicking your own ass, and start kicking ass for real, like right now.

Sincerely,
Mandy

about 75% angel

2007-09-18T08:09:00.000-05:00

I behaved myself much better yesterday. I wasn't a perfect angel, and I accidentally drank some sweet tea at my Gran's house (seriously, I didn't think anything about it until it was too late) but it was definitely an improvement from the food free for all that was the last two weeks. The scale was down a little bitty bit this morning so that was nice. Maybe a lot of this is water weight. All I know is that I'm all ramped up to get started for real. I haven't felt pumped up about WW in a while, so I guess I made the right decision to take a break. I guess I needed it - but I proally went a little too far. :o)

I didn't make it to the grocery store yesterday but I'm bound and determined to go today. Everyone else is at a seminar out of town today so I'll have plenty of time today at work to find all of my favorite Core recipes and maybe a few new ones. I'm really bad about not cooking, but Core really makes me get my life more organized. (Because apparently my life still is centered around food...) It's really how I want my family to eat so maybe since starting a family is actually becoming feasible then I'll be more dedicated.

All I know is that I've had baby fever forever now and it's crazy to think that we could be trying soon. (This is all wrapped up in that big secret that I can't share yet...) I know that you're not supposed to do WW while pregnant, but I think that Core would be a good guideline to help me not gain too much. I'm hypoglycemic, and the women in my family have a history of gestational diabetes. That, coupled with the fact that I was over nine pounds and Jeremy was nearly 10, makes me hyper aware of keeping everything in check. :o)

Okay, sorry. Enough about talking about stuff that's not even happening yet. :o) I'm just soo excited. :o)

Alright. That's enough for me. I wanna hear what's up with ya'll now.

I hope everyone has a great OP day!!

playing catch up

2007-09-17T10:17:00.000-05:00

Hello Ladies!!

I'm back! The beach was great. We had so much fun. Lots of beach time, lots of seafood and fries, and lots of family time. I think it's the best vacation I've been on for years. And we were gone just long enough for me to be ready to come back home. Perfecto all around.

I hopped on the scale this morning and it was bad. Real bad ugly. 191 point something. That's a huge gain from just before the wedding, and I knew it was going to be scary.

But I told myself that I was taking a break, and this icky feeling that I have right now (clothes too tight, being able to see the gain in my face, etc) is definitely enough incentive to get back on track. I think that I'm going to go Core for a while, and then switch back to counting points when I start feeling burned out. I'd really like to lose about 20 pounds and then see how I feel there. I'm still not going for stick skinny - I just don't like feeling this fluffy. (actually right now I feel down right fat - but after a few days I'll feel better I'm sure)

One of my reasons for not wanting to have a real low goal weight is the fact that we might (Lord willing) be able to start trying to have a baby soon. Like maybe hopefully possibly before the year is over. And since I don't know how hard it will be to lose the baby weight I won't set my goals too high. But I definitely want to adopt a healthier lifestyle that includes exercise. And I'm tired of my bat wings! They must go!! :o)

I've spent some time trying to catch up with all of you this morning, and I'm so excited about all the good things that are happening in your lives!! I'm uber excited about our girl StrawGirl expecting another baby! Yay! I'm so happy for you!! Congratulations again! (again!) :o) Your meez is too precious, and I love the pix of your DS's T-Shirt! What a cute way to break the good news!!

So that's about it for me. I really need to go grocery shopping, but since today is Corporate Tax Extension Deadline who knows if I'm going to be able to go tonight. If not then I'll just limp my way through Core until Tuesday. I might have to break a few little rules today, but I'm going to start kickin ask for real tomorrow. :o)

I hope you all have wonderfully OP days!!

oh joy!

2007-09-11T10:58:00.000-05:00

Yay! We're leaving for vacay tomorrow and I'm so excited!!

I've been running around crazy trying to get everything done, but I wanted to stop in and say Hi and to let you know that I'm still alive. :o)

I'm loving the break from WW - but I bet I'll have a lot of work to do when I get back. Oh well, I'm not gonna let that stop me from having a good time. :o)

So I hope everyone has wonderfully super weeks & I'll see you on Monday!

*smooches!*

weightwatchen confessional

2007-09-07T09:01:00.000-05:00

Morning Ladies!

I know I've been MIA the past few days, but work has been crazy and I've been bad. Not horrible, but definitely not OP. I've decided to "take a break" until after the vacay and then hit it hard Core. I'm sure some of you don't love this idea, but I just don't have the gumption to get back OP and then face going to the beach with the family and screwing it all up again. So I'll wait and then really focus in on losing this last 10 or 15 pounds. I just don't want to get complacent with myself before I hit my goal. You know?

The hub is out of town again, but he'll be back today. We'll take it easy on Saturday because Sunday is jammed packed with church stuff and a baby shower. (yay! I love baby showers!!) Then next Wednesday we're leaving for the beach. Yay! My bathing suit is a size too big, but I don't care. It's just family, and since I don't like to swim in the ocean and the house we've rented doesn't have a pool I doubt if I'll be doing any actual swimming. At least this way it'll be comfy, right? :o)

I don't have much to say (shocker, I know) so I guess that's about it for today.

I hope everyone has wonderful weekends!!

insert witty title here

2007-09-04T09:17:00.000-05:00

I had a wonderfully fabulously long weekend. And I totally didn't want to come back to work! :o)

The wedding was beautiful. I didn't look too much like Ronald McDonald and I managed not to trip in my dangerously high canary yellow heels. I think that my little brother is a very lucky guy. My new SIL is an incredibly precious girl. I'm incredibly happy for them. And incredibly happy that it's all over now! :o) I'm totally not a girly girl - despite the fact that I love to shop and pink is my absolute favorite color!

Pictures will come soon, I hope. I only managed to take one during all the craziness, but my little sister took a bajillion. All of them are of her, of course, but I'm in a few. *rolls eyes* I'll steal one from her MySpace and post it here.

I took a couple of other encouragement pictures while I had my camera out (but not in wedding garb) and I'll try to post one of those, too.

The rest of the weekend was great. We watched a ton of movies, ate waay too much junk, and just enjoyed each other. It's nice to have down time with the hub. It's pretty rare that we have a day totally off with nothing that we have to accomplish whatsoever. Very nice.

If you caught the way too much junk remark then you already know that I wasn't exactly OP this weekend, but I wasn't horrible and I'm just going to go on from here. I'm thinking about trying Wendie again. It makes sense to me, but last time I tried it I wasn't disciplined enough. We'll see.

Here's the goals that I'm working towards this week:

1. No WP's during the week!
2. At least 12 8 oz servings of water.
3. Several mini meals throughout the day.
4. Limit coke intake.
5. At least 2 servings of dairy a day.
6. At least 5 servings of fruits/veggies a day.
7. Some sort of activity daily.
8. *A New One* Getting to bed at a decent hour each night.

I like having these mini goals because it really makes me feel like I've accomplished something.

Tomorrow it will be a week until our family trip to the beach. I'm soo excited about going to the beach and it'll be really nice to have a long vacay! (this said right after a long weekend, I know...) :o)

I hope you all have wonderfully OP days!!

PS: We're 18 days until the first day of fall! I can't wait!!! :o)

Happy Thursday!!

2007-08-30T08:46:00.000-05:00

Hey Ya'll! Today's Thursday, but it's my Friday and I'm so uber excited about a four day weekend that I don't even care that you're probably rolling your eyes in disgust because you have to go to work tomorrow and I don't! Yay!! (sorry - that was a little cruel...)

So I wasn't so much of a Hitler yesterday, but I did manage to get 20 8 oz servings of water in. I was really good until after church when ice cream and chocolate cake started calling my name. Oh well. I'm still down 2 pounds. Oh yeah. See how I casually snuck that in? Down two pounds baby! 182.something or other. I'm so excited!! Who hoo!!

I've got a ton of work to do today since I'm off tomorrow, and I've already spent a lot time reading your blogs so mine's gonna be short. I'm liable to be MIA until Tuesday, but I hope you all have wonderful and safe Labor Day Weekends.

Cross your fingers, say a prayer, and wish me luck that I don't look like Ronald McDonald in my canary yellow bridesmaid dress on Saturday. (Red hair + yellow dress = big mac cravings)

If I get some good pix I'll make sure and post them soon. I hope I can really tell a difference - I haven't had a picture taken in a long time!

{{BIG HUGS!!}} I'm gonna miss you ladies!

you know the Nazis wore flare...

2007-08-29T08:48:00.000-05:00

I was feeling yucky and pissy and ready to crawl under a rock this morning, and then I read all of ya'll's blogs and it totally lifted my spirits. So I owe ya'll a big thank-you! (and I bet my coworkers really appreciate it, too...)

I didn't rock the goals yesterday. I got my water in and stayed really low in points while at work, but once I got home I had, like 25+ worth of total junk. (chicken fingers, fries, 1/2 a biscuit and a zebra cake...) But the scale wasn't up this morning and I feel like I've dodged a bullet. I'm DETERMINED to be a WW Nazi on myself today to make sure that I don't gain the weight I deserve.

Being a WW Nazi includes (just for today)

1. Drinking at least 20 8 oz servings of water.
2. Eating only fresh foods. (ie: salad, fruit, whatever)
3. Only drinking another coke if it's an absolute emergency (I've already had one today)
4. Drinking Green Tea when I need an energy boost.
5. Not sitting around watching TV tonight. (I really should grocery shop and make the hub get a haircut after church tonight...)

I think that's it. I'm just going to be really hard on myself today and lessen up on the Hitler stuff just a little tomorrow and Friday. I have this goal of 180 before the wedding, and I'm still 184. I doubt that I can lose 4 pounds in less than 4 days, but I'm going to give it my best shot. I'm not going to take seriously extreme measures, but it's just a few days. I can't hurt my metabolism too much in 4 days, can I?

So wish me luck! I'm hoping the excessive points of last night will have some sort of Wendie effect....

Hey! I can always hope, can't I? :o)

Have a Wonderfully OP Wednesday!!

Three More Days...

2007-08-28T08:58:00.001-05:00

Until I have a four day weekend! I can't believe I didn't realize that I was off on Friday and Monday until yesterday! I'm off on Friday to help get ready for the wedding on Saturday and then Monday because it's Labor Day. Paid Holiday - Sweet! :o)

I just hafta say Congratulations to our MMalloy! I'm still dancing around clapping my hands from excitement about her news! Yay! (I'm obviously very physical with my emotions!) Lol!

Yesterday went really well on the WW front. I only hit 20 points for some reason (my min is 25) and I have 11 points to last until 5 tonight. I don't really know how because I'm not hungry at all. After starving all of the past two weeks not feeling hungry is just weird. But I'll take it. :o) I'm going to have to be uber good this week to help make up for the rehearsal dinner (Soul Food - yum!) and wedding cake. The scale is down a little 184 & change from 186 yesterday. I know it's bloat - but it is a little frustrating. I was just seeing that 183 and then TOM comes a visitin!

Now the goals:

1. At least 12 8 oz servings of water - no check. Bummer. I just wasn't focused enough on it yesterday.
2. Mini meals throughout the day - CHECK!
3. Some sort of activity every day - CHECK!
4. At least 5 servings of fruit and veggies - CHECK!
5. At least 2 servings of dairy - no check. I've GOTTA go grocery shopping. There's no dairy in my home!!
6. No WP's during the week - CHECK!
7. Limit Coke Intake - no check - obviously less water = more diet coke for me. I think I only had 4 or 5 which isn't too bad since I wasn't monitoring them yesterday but today I'm gonna do much better than that!

So there's that. Thanks for all of your prayers! I hope I can tell you more soon - but to be honest I don't know anything FOR SURE yet myself. But either way - we're still receiving some major blessings. It's really cool to see how God works - to see things happening in your life and to KNOW that it's all Him. Gotta love that! :o)

{{Hugs!!}} Happy Tuesday! Have a Great OP day!!

it's definitely a Monday

2007-08-27T09:19:00.000-05:00

So, today got off to a rocky start (lost keys, late to work, havoc when I stepped in the office...) and I'm off my typical routine, but it's calmed down now. I had a pretty good weekend. I didn't hit my goals, but I had all those saved WP's, so I think I'm going to come out all right. The scale's up a little, but I'm still blaming that on the looming TOM. I'm just going to stick to my goals today and the rest of the week and try to not let bloating get me discouraged.

I did have a NSV this weekend. When Mom and I went shopping Friday night I found a great dress that was a 12 petite and it fit great. I wore it Sunday and got lots of compliments. :o) yay!

There's a lot going on in our lives right now that I haven't been able to tell ya'll about, but I just gotta say that God's really working in amazing ways. I'm really excited about these things (no, I'm not pregnant! :o) ) and hopefully I'll be able to fill ya'll in soon. It's killing me to not be able to say anything, but since I have peeps that know me IRL that read my blog I can't spill the beans yet. But it's all good things, and those of you who pray please keep us in your prayers. Thanks!

I hope you all have wonderfully OP days - I'm gonna check in on all of you now!!

Fabulous Me Friday

2007-08-24T08:23:00.000-05:00

Today went pretty well. I ended up eating 1/4 of the hub's Mexican pizza at like 9 last night, and I really shouldn't have since I wasn't hungry, but I counted points for it and now I have about 6 points to last me until 5 tonight, but I'm bound and determined to make it. I do have WP's, but the scale was back up to 184.4 this morning so I don't want to use them. I think it's up because of TOM, or maybe too much sodium late at night? Whatever it is it can't be permanent, but it's not helping my mood this morning.

The hub left for a conference this morning and I won't see him until Saturday night. It's the first night we've spent apart (aside from camp where we slept in adjacent dorms) and I miss him already. I have a lot planned to keep me busy (shopping, anniversary party, girlie movies, hair cut) because I definitely don't want to get lonely and start eating junk. I think it'll help that I won't be home much in the evenings.

I noticed this morning that a friend of mine has a picture of me on her myspace that was taken who knows when. I know it was during WW, but it's such a horrible picture and makes me look fat. I don't like it and I wish she would take it off, but I don't want to seem so shallow. I think it was about 15 pounds ago, so maybe I don't look like that now. *crosses fingers* My posture is really bad, too. I need to work on that.

So since I'm sorta down on myself I've just decided to list 5 ways that I kick ask. Prepare yourself:

1. I've lost 46 pounds while doing WW and I'm down 56 pounds from my highest.
2. I can now easily shop in the "normal" section of stores. No women's sizes for me.
3. I'm making changes in my life that are starting to stick.
4. I can sniff out a bargain like a bloodhound.
5. I'm finally embracing my curves and I am realizing that I may not be a stick but I've got a cute shape.

There. I highly encourage you all to tell me 5 ways that you kick ask in comments. We need a pick-me-up. :o)

Now for the goals:

1. No WP's during the week - CHECK!
2. Limit coke intake - CHECK! Only 3 & 1 was caffeine free!
3. 5 Servings of f/v - CHECK!
4. 2 Servings of dairy - CHECK!
5. Some sort of activity daily - CHECK!
6. At least 12 8oz servings of water - CHECK!
7. Several mini-meals throughout the day - CHECK!

Whoa - I think that's all of them and the first time that I've gotten all checks! Go me! :o) See - the gain has to be TOM I totally rocked it yesterday. :o) (apparently now I'm arrogant!)

I hope you all have wonderful OP weekends!

ya'll know you do it, too

2007-08-23T08:33:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was another fabulous OP day in Mandy's fabulous OP week. I feel this urgent need to lose as much as possible while I'm on a roll. The scale was down .4 today - 183.4. Makes me happy. If this keeps up I just might reach 180 before the wedding. (It's next weekend - can you believe?)

I went to Wally World yesterday during lunch and decided to try on some size 12's - and guess what? They buttoned. They were waaay too tight and was a little too obscene to wear in public, but THEY BUTTONED! Without me having to lay down and sweat and pull a muscle and harm internal organs. I almost bought them, and then I realized that I would have just bought them because they were 12's, and it was part of a suit, and I could have felt compelled to buy the jacket, too, and it was going to be like $60 - and that's just too much for Bargain Barbie to handle. Besides, I'm shopping with my mom tomorrow night and I'll want to spend money then, too. So I didn't get them, but they still made me happy happy happy.

So, I have a little confession for you ladies. My dear hubby has taken to teasing me about my before size lately, and every now and then he'll say something about the size I am now. Completely joking, mind you, and since I joke about it I guess he thinks it's okay, too. Well, he never did this when I was heavier. (I just realized yesterday that at my highest I was 240) But I guess he thinks it's safe now. Anyways, he said something yesterday before church about my before size. I don't remember what it was, but it burned me. My mental image is still of that girl. So, I asked him not to say stuff like that, AGAIN, and moved on. Last night we were in bed, and he was hyper so he was trying to get me to wrestle (I don't know if this is normal, but growing up with so many brothers I learned to like to beat people up - it has nothing to do with any sexual thing whatsoever) So he was taunting me and he said something like, "Geesh - you could fit the entire ocean in that stomach" and I give him this wounded look, and he says, "Aww, I was just kidding. Obviously you couldn't fit the entire ocean in there...maybe half of it" And I know it was a stupid joke, but I was sick of it. So I let him have it. I looked at him, my face crumpled, and I cried like a baby. And I started saying "Do you think I need to lose more weight - I'm only planning on being a 12, but if you think I need to lose more I will" and other things that I knew would make him feel like crap. Now, honestly, I didn't like what he was saying, but it didn't hurt my feelings enough to cry like that. But I knew it was the ONLY way to get him to stop. All of his teasing was chipping away at my self-esteem. So, obviously he starts apologizing all over himself and felt really bad, and once I thought that it lasted long enough I told him that I forgave him and that it was okay. Then he said something like, "But the words will be there forever, won't they?" and I said, "No. When I forgive, I forget, too." So, I was the hero, the hub learned a lesson, and I slept the sleep on a baby. :o) I guarantee he won't make stupid jokes like that again.

I know it was awful of me, but it's the only thing that worked. He didn't mean what he was saying, but as a man, he had no idea what it could do to me. So there it is. I hate to say it, but I'm proud of myself. :o)

Now for the goals:

1. At least 12 8 oz servings of water - CHECK!
2. No WP's during the week - CHECK!
3. Several Mini-Meals during the day - CHECK!
4. At least 5 servings of f/v - no check - but I'll get them today!
5. At least 2 servings of dairy - CHECK!
6. Daily Activity - CHECK! (wrestling with Jeremy - not quite 30 minutes, but it was something)
7. Limit Coke Intake - CHECK! only 3 for the day

I know this is getting long, but I wanted to tell ya'll that I've been drinking green tea in the mornings. It's supposed to be great for your metabolism, and it's a great pick me up that's not coke. Since I can't drink my coffee black, I had to find an alternative when I decided to cut back on the artificial sweeteners. Green tea was the perfect choice because I can drink it straight up! :o)

I hope ya'll have wonderful OP days!!

doing a happy dance

2007-08-22T10:46:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was a great OP day. It was much much easier than Monday and I even stayed OP at the meeting. Thankfully there was lots of healthy stuff to eat.

I've already written this blog once, but the server went berserk before I could post so now I'm rewriting an abbreviated version.

Here's my goals for yesterday (with 2 added):

1. no WP's during the week - CHECK!
2. at least 12 8 oz servings of water - CHECK!
3. limit coke intake - CHECK! only 3 and one was caffeine free!
4. 5 servings of fruits or veggies - CHECK!
5. 2 servings of dairy - no check - only one
6. some sort of activity daily - no check - I spent 2 hours driving and 2 hours in a meeting last night after work, so no exercise. But I didn't spend the night in front of the tv either, so that's a good thing! :o)
7. several mini-meals throughout the day - CHECK!

So, all in all I did pretty well. But here's the best bit. I stepped on the scale and it said (drum roll please) 183.8. I had to look twice because I wasn't expecting a 3 before the decimal and of course it made me uber happy. It's just what I needed to make sure I stay OP today!

So I have about 5 points to last me until 5 tonight (it's about 11 now). I'll have a 4 point lunch with a 1 point mid-afternoon snack. I think I can make it. Oh! And I've already gotten in 8 servings of water, so I'm peeing like no one's business! :o) Can I get AP's by running to the potty?

Have a Great OP Day!!

OP!!!

2007-08-21T08:55:00.000-05:00

Last night was hard. I was starving and I only had 10 points to last the rest of the night and I thought that I was going to die. Okay, maybe not that bad. It's a little too early in the day to be that much of a drama queen. But it was bad. My personal mantra was "It's just food and you don't want it" and guess what? I stayed OP. Here's my checklist for the day:

1. at least 96oz of water - CHECK! I drank at least that much
2. limit coke intake - CHECK! Only 3 (I know that's still a lot, but it's an improvement)
3. eat mini-meals - CHECK!
4. get some sort of movement everyday - no check - but I did get in bed waay early and I needed it!
5. No WP's used during week- CHECK! - Technically I used 4 for a glass of milk to keep my stomach from eating my kidneys. But since my points renewed at 5pm I'm counting it for today's points. (does that make any sense at all?)

We're going to our denomination's regional meeting tonight and they're supposed to feed us. Hopefully I'll be able to make really good choices, but I'll just do the best that I can. My hypoglycemia is really making itself known lately so my focus today is to eat plenty of protein. I'm thinking grilled chicken salad for lunch since I only have 8 points to last until 5 tonight and I still need to get in my mini-meals. (I've already had breakfast - thank goodness!)

So there you go. Mandy is getting back to kicking ask. And the metal demon was nice this morning - back down to 184.4. I'm hoping that I can get to 180 before the wedding on September 1st, but we'll see. I'm not going to kill myself trying to get there.

I hope you all are having wonderfully OP days!

I'll definitely be checking in tomorrow because Amanda has threatened my life if I don't! Geesh - you gals sure can pack a mean punch! ;o) And that's why I love you!! {{hugs!}}

Monday's Silver Lining (if you squint you can see it)

2007-08-20T08:31:00.000-05:00

I had a really good weekend. Notice that I didn't say I had a really good OP weekend, because I totally didn't. But the only good thing about Monday's is that they feel like fresh starts, so I'm going to refocus again (again). Obviously what I'm doing isn't working for me (motivationally speaking) so I think that I need a new program. It'll still be WW, and for now it'll still be flex, but I'm hammering out some rules for this week.

For example:

I'm going to try to focus on eating several smaller meals. I know this is a duh thing, but I haven't really done this and I want to try it.

I'm force feeding myself water like it's nobody's business. I realize that it's possible to drink too much water, but it's really not possible for me to. I do good to get in 6 servings, but I'm shooting for like 12 8 oz servings. Big difference, and water helps in ways that I don't even have to waste our time listing because we all know them.

I've read somewhere about someone setting up their WW day from 5pm to 5pm, vs just from when you wake till when you sleep. This makes you watch your points at night and encourages more points spending during the day. That would keep me from saving points for snacking all night, and I personally think that it's best to eat more while you're up and about and not when you're just sitting on your bum or sleeping. (although the hub and I have gone round and round about this)

I'm doing some major coke drinking cutting out. I drink no telling how many diet cokes, and since there's this theory that aspartame causes sugar cravings I'm giving it a shot. Besides, that means that I'll drink more water. And it's a no brainer that water is better than diet coke. I've picked a crappy day to start, though, 'cause I didn't sleep well last night and I could totally throw back some Diet SunDrop. (my pity for those of you who don't know what it is - it's like liquid crack sent from heaven) The lack of sleep is also my excuse if this blog is boring and rambly. (I don't want the cracks that all of my blogs are like that!) :o)

And I'm gonna make myself do some sort of activity. Despite my best intentions I still hate exercise like cats hate water, but I'm going to do SOMETHING on a regular basis. (even if it is 30 minutes on the elliptical from hell)

So that's what I'm thinking I'm going to do. And oh yeah, no WP's during the week. I have a HARD TIME on the weekends because I'm such a social butterfly and everyone wants some face time with Mandy (not really) and all I seem to want is some face time with chocolate cake. So I might as well save those points for that time, and maybe, just maybe, I won't use them. (ha!)

I hope everyone had a loverly weekend and I hope ya'll have a great OP day!

PS: Thanks for the comments, you guys know they keep me going. And, Randi, you really really shouldn't feel bad about kicking by butt because I was totally crusin for a bruisin! ;o)

appropriately humbled

2007-08-17T08:37:00.000-05:00

Thanks ladies. I asked for a butt kickin and you delivered. :o) I really appreciate the comments - they've really helped. Randi's right, though. It may have been unfair of me to ask you to motivate me instead of trying to be a motivation myself. I truly apologize for being so self centered. I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me...

Yesterday was better, but not totally OP. I was down this morning, though, so I can only assume that some of the gain was water weight. My lowest has been around 184, and I had gotten back up to 188, but this morning it was around 185. We're getting there.

I'm so amazed by my weight vs size. My step dad asked me last night how much I have lost and then asked how much I weigh now (he should have better manners) and he was floored. Apparently I don't look like I weigh 185. That's a good thing. My mom is a 10 and she weighs 145 - if every 10 pounds is a size then I would be a 6 a 145. It doesn't quite make sense, but either way I've decided on a size rather than a weight a long time ago. Once I get to a 12 then I'll try to stay within that weight. I hope all that garbady gook makes sense.

I went walking with mom last night on the hill by her house. She has this wonderful tree lined road that no one ever goes down because its in the back 40 and it's so shady and peaceful. That's where I always walked when I was in high school. So that's where we're walking lately because it's shaded. Well, we usually get in 3 back and forth trips before mom has to tap out (she's been telling me when she needs to quit) but yesterday the air was so hot and thick, even at 7:15 pm in the shade, that we only made 2 trips. But it was enough to get my heart rate up for about 25 minutes, so it's better than nothing. I honestly exercise outside more in the fall & winter than in the summer. It's too hot for me here. So I'm really super duper looking forward to the fall. Plus I'm in love with a houndstooth jacket I saw in my Elle and I can't even think about wearing it until at least November. Then I'll be complaining about the cold. :o)

I'm focusing on pushing the water today and it FEELS like I can handle being OP. Maybe this past week has been hormones or something. Who knows? All I know is that I'm digging myself out and I couldn't do it without ya'll! Thanks so much! I love you ladies!!

Have a Great OP Weekend!!

somebody please kick my butt!

2007-08-16T08:24:00.000-05:00

Hullo. I've avoided ya'll like the plague this week because I have been sooo bad. Horrific. I have no gumption to have self control. It's really bad.

I know I want to lose another 10 or so pounds at least to get to size 12's, and I know that if I don't reach this goal I won't maintain, but I just totally seem to lack the will power to do it. So, will somebody please kick my butt? It's like, "come on Mandy! We're SO CLOSE to goal" but it's just not enough anymore.

Maybe it's the excessive heat, or job stress, or the fact that I'm a lazy bum who likes chocolate waay too much lately.

So, there it is. When the tough get's going apparently Mandy gets lost. Today is the beginning of my WW week and I'm DETERMINED to stay OP and drink my water/ get veggies & fruit/ exercise.

Wish me Luck!

(and seriously, please, let me have it. Having a bad day? Here's your chance to vent some of that pent up anger...)

TGIF! (not particularly original, but so totally true!)

2007-08-10T08:19:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all of ya'll's uplifting comments. I really love you ladies!

Yesterday went really well. I stayed OP, drank all of my water, and even exercised in this excessive heat. (although mom & I did wait until 7'ish and walked in the shade...) I didn't get in my veggies and certainly not my dairy. I'm still avoiding milk like the plague because I'm still coughing up crap. Bleh. So, not a total victory, but pretty good compared to previous days.

I hopped on the scale this morning and was reward with a .2 pound loss. It was enough to encourage me, but then the urge hit me to spend some special time with my potty. I realized yesterday while reading mmalloy's blog that I hadn't "gone" in a little while, so once I was finished I weighed myself again. And I gained back that .2! What's up with that? I was frustrated until I saw how hilarious it was that I weighed again after uhh, well you know what I'm talking about. (TMI, huh?) What really cracked me up is that I knew that I would tell ya'll about it, and I'm sure that some of you have done the same exact thing. lol. Dieting makes you do crazy things.

Mmalloy also reminded me that I wanted to try the Wendie Plan. I know you're supposed to do it to get over a plateau, but I think that it'll be something a little different to get me revved up. So here's how I understand it goes. Chris, please correct me if I'm wrong!

Since I get 25 points a day -

Day 1 - 25 points
Day 2 - 32 points
Day 3 - 26 points
Day 4 - 40 points
Day 5 - 25 points
Day 6 - 32 points
Day 7 - 30 points

That uses 34 WP's I think, and I won't eat my AP's unless it's just absolutely necessary. (I never eat them anyways) I decided to start yesterday, but I might tweak it a little this first week so that my very high point day falls on a day that I'm most likely to be able to talk Jeremy into taking me to eat Mexican. I've already asked for a date this weekend, but I'll pester him into locking in today or tomorrow so I'll know how many points to eat today. A diet that's fixed around my chips and queso fix? Now that's perfect for me! :o)

Jesse didn't go to school yesterday because he was just to tuckered out, but I think he's pretty much on the mend. It was super hard to get up this morning, but I'm slowly catching up on the sleep and by the end of this weekend I hope to be caught up on sleep, laundry, dusting, vacuuming ...

Luckily it's too hot for the hub to be outside and he finally finished his most recent distance class so he'll be at my complete disposal. *evil laugh*

I've got lots of cleaning to do here at work, too, so I'm gonna go ahead and take care of a few things then come back and check in with everyone as a break. I hope ya'll have a great OP weekend - TGIF!!

square peg + round hole = never good

2007-08-09T08:30:00.000-05:00

Oh my. It's been a crazy 48 hours!

We went to open house on Tuesday evening and Jesse, my BIL, started complaining of sharp stomach pains. His mom said that she was having them the day before and since he looked kinda nervous I honestly figured it was just gas, but we weren't there 20 minutes before he wanted to go home. So we took him home and about 30 minutes later his mom calls and says that she's taking him to the emergency room. We still thought that Jesse was laying it on a little thick because he was too nervous to switch schools but didn't want to disappoint everyone...

A couple of hours later we get a frantic phone call from his mom at the hospital saying that they're transferring him to H'ville's Woman's & Children's hospital and that they think he has E. coli. My poor in laws thought that it was untreatable for some reason and they were totally freaking out. (as would anyone if they thought their son had an incurable disease...) So long story short, Jeremy and I ended up staying up most of the night with his family in the hospital, Jesse just has some sort of weird stomach bug, we're not moving because he doesn't want to switch schools, and I'm T-totally exhausted from all of it! :o)

I still had to work yesterday because there was no one here to cover for me, but I managed to sleep a little during my lunch break, so it wasn't too horrible. And I was really disappointed that we're not going to move, but I realized that it was God's will. It was really beginning to feel like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, but unfortunately, when I really want something I keep blindly pushing forward despite all obstacles. Jesse really did lead us on, but I'm not upset at him. I really thought that this would be a good thing for all of us, but God knows better than we do - and this hit me so hard on Tuesday that there's no denying the fact that God was doing a little finger waging at me. Yet another lesson learned! There's been sooo many this year!! :o)

I WI this morning and was up 2 pounds. I really am not surprised, but I've got to find a way to get it back in control. Between being sick and getting away with eating what I wanted because I wasn't eating much, stress eating and then exhaustion eating I've not had an OP day in a couple of weeks. So I'm just trying to get back in the saddle. I just really don't want to, you know? ;o) Well, it must be done!

I hope you all have wonderful OP days! I'm gonna go see what I missed yesterday!

please excuse the vent...

2007-08-07T08:43:00.000-05:00

Jeremy and I went looking at apartments yesterday. There's one in particular that I've always thought was really nice, so I got off work 30 minutes early so that we could tour it. I get there and we find out that there's an income limit - $31,080 gross for two people. Frustrated we moved on to the next set on the list. These were $475 a month so we figured, "Surely there's no limit on these" (that's kinda high for a 2 bedroom here in Athens) but we get there and find out that the same limit is on these apartments! Both of these apartments are less than 5 years old and are really nice, so we were disappointed, but moved on.

We found a set that doesn't have an income limit but they won't be open until mid September, and they only have one that will be available. Mid September, as in when we're going to be on vacay! We went home at this point, but I was obsessing over it so much that we went back into town to drive around and see if we couldn't find anything else. And we did. There's this gorgeous set that are brick and have to be almost brand new. They're in the townhouse style that we want and they have a pool and a cabana looking thing. We think, "Surely this place doesn't have an income limit. Why would they go to so much trouble if they were going to send people away for making too much money?" but when I called this morning I find that they are limited to the same $31,080 gross for two people. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?!?!

I think it's great that they have really nice places that the rent is based on income. I think it's fabulous, but why are they turning us away? And besides, we'd have a hard time affording $475 a month plus other bills if we didn't make more than the limit. It's not like we're rich - we just don't have kids yet and we both work two jobs!!! GAH!!

*deep breaths* I don't understand, but I'll accept. There's one more that has townhouses and doesn't limit your income. They don't have any openings right now and the landlady was rude to me yesterday, but we'll see if it's any better than the first one. The hub has said that I can pick where I want to move, which is nice since it's hard to get us both in town while the office hours are open and I'm off work. I'm tempted to rule out the rude landlady on principle, but I guess I should forgive and forget. We'll see... :o)

Okay. I feel better having gotten that out. It's going to be a little stressful in Mandyland for the next month or so, but I really feel like the benefits far outweigh the stress right now. I feel bad for the hub, though. He'll be starting seminary again in September and he'll be sharing pastor's duties with another associate pastor then, too. I'll just have to be really good at uber planning. I feel the need to make lists...

:o) Thanks for listening to all this. I did great yesterday with WW until some chocolate moosetracks found it's way to my mouth repeatedly. Stress eating anyone? It'll be okay. It's a journey and I'll have to learn to control my intake while under duress. (me? a drama queen? surely not!)

I hope ya'll have great OP days!

up in the air

2007-08-06T08:47:00.000-05:00

We had a really good weekend. Underdog was surprisingly enjoyable, but I'm sure a lot of that enjoyment had to do with the fact that I got to hold my nephy the entire time. I haven't had him for 90 minutes in years. :o)

We've planned for my in laws to buy our house in about a year, when we got a church of our own, but due to events in their current neighborhood they might be buying it sooner. Like this week. My brother in law would have to change schools, and if he decides that he can handle that we'll be moving out. School starts on Thursday, so we'll know soon. I'm trying not to get too excited about it, but it would be awesome to live in an apartment again. For some reason we haven't really been able to function in this house. We knew it was a fixer upper when we bought it, but we had no idea that we were about to be called to the youth ministry and would no longer have tons of free time. So we fixed it up just enough that it was livable and now it feels like there is always something that we should be doing. Does that make sense? Every where we look there's a project so home doesn't feel like a safe haven after a long day. Plus, we're townies. We like to be able to run to church or to Wally World, or wherever at the drop of a hat. We don't live that far out now, but the difference is huge. So, fingers crossed. The school that Jess would go to is my alma mater, so I'm taking him to the open house tomorrow night. If he likes it then we're on. I saw today on his myspace page that he said he's probably changing schools, so maybe the chances are really good. I know I'm rambling, but you really don't know how awesome this would be for us. No huge yard, one less room to clean, the ability to have company.... it would be great.

So that's that. We're keepin it on the down low for now until we find out for sure, so ya'll are the first people I've told. Yay! :o)

On the WW front I wasn't too good this weekend. We had no groceries in the house, and I let it get a little out of hand. That's okay, I'll just reel it back in this week and try to make sure I get enough water. I haven't weighed myself, so I don't know the real damage, but I'm finally breaking my addiction to the scale. I'll WI on Thursday and hopefully it won't be a big gain.

I hope ya'll had a great weekend, too, and I hope you have a great OP day!

hip hip hooray!

2007-08-03T09:07:00.000-05:00

It's Friday! That makes me insanely happy.

I'm finally off the drugs, and I feeling more like myself. My ear is killing me, though, and if it keeps up I'm going to have to go to the doctor. Bleah. I've been such a downer this week - sorry!

On the up side, Shopping Barbie finally did some shopping yesterday and bought a couple of tops and a pair of denim trousers. I love these pants. I can now say with confidence that I'm a size 14 because everything I tried on, no matter the brand, fit in 14's. That makes me happy, too. It's a tax free weekend here in Alabama and me and the hub are going to the JC Penny outlet store in the next town on Saturday. Imagine how shocked and excited Shopping Barbie was when her Ken suggested this trip. He's all about the dress clothes lately and he looks so cute in a tie. Awww!

My nephew is taking us to see "Underdog" this weekend, too. Should be fun times, even though I honestly think the movie looks lame. Don't get me wrong, I love me some kid's movies, but this looks blah. I could be wrong, but even if I'm not I'll get to spend some quality time with Jack.

Oh! I can't believe I almost forgot! I weighed in this morning and it was 184.2! I've finally beat 185!!! That was my second 10% - and seeing as how I'm on the brink of TOM I think that's an extra big yay! *doing happy dance in chair*

I hope everyone has a great OP weekend!!

purple haze

2007-08-01T08:24:00.001-05:00

Warning: I'm stoned out on cold meds, so please forgive me if this one is rambly and pointless. :o) (But no worries - it'll wear off before I have to drive or operate heavy machinery)

I've been eating bad things, but not in large quantities. I haven't had an appetite, yet I still eat. I guess it's a comfort thing. I'm also drinking OJ that's 3 points a can. And I'm bloated from TOM. So when I stepped on the scale this morning it was up a little over 2 pounds from last Thursday. Yuck. It's water weight I'm sure. Water tastes blah when I'm snotty. Maybe I'll drink Crystal Light instead. I know it's technically cheating, but it's better than nothing, right?

My mom's fridge died last night, so now my refrigerator is full of non-healthy left overs and condiments. Somehow I got stuck with all the weird stuff, too. Oh well. My brother finally noticed that I've lost weight, too. He's a really big guy, and it really concerns me because he has a mechanical heart valve and common sense says that he doesn't need to be that overweight. I was hoping that once he noticed that I've lost (he's not one to compliment...) that I would be able to talk to him about WW - but I was so out of it yesterday that I didn't realize that I had my chance. Maybe it'll come up again.

My house is filled with pictures of me from before WW, and I have a hard time changing my mental image of myself. I really should take some pictures I guess, but I'm afraid it'll be discouraging somehow. Why is it that? I guess I don't really feel how far I've come because I've yet to buy many new clothes, etc. I see it on the scale, but its not registering. Besides, my weight at this age seems to be equaling a smaller size than this weight when I was younger. Does that make sense? I guess I've gained muscle since then.

Well, that's it for now. I hope ya'll have a great OP day!

I'm plastic - it's fantastic

2007-07-31T08:38:00.000-05:00

I'm a Barbie now, too! Steph has named me Shopping Barbie - and you know nothing makes me happier than that. :o)

Shopping Barbie is a fabulous red head who has an uncanny ability to find designer labels as bargain prices. Note her timeless Jackie O style - whether she's diving into bargain bins or beating down other shoppers with her purse - she always look chiche. Just look at that look in her eyes. It's the same crazed look I have on the morning after Thanksgiving! :o)

Now for the oath:

I promise to uphold the Barbie ways which include whining when you feel like it, being bitchy on cue and knowing that NO MATTER WHAT or WHO (yeah even if she is a rich, plastic surgery induced, exercise obsessed, bubble head) comes across your path - that you are Barbie.....beautiful and worthy!!! Size 6 or 60, Porsche or Pinto, flat belly and good boobs or pannus and dried prunes - we are AWESOME!!

BARBIE POWER!!!

Yay! That makes me happy. Thanks everyone for the well wishes. I'm still snotty and I'm starting to feel like a bit of a martyr for not calling in today, but at least the boss is out of town and I can do pretty much nothing all day. Thanks for the props to Jeremy, too. I'm really proud of him. The plan is to wait another year before looking for a church of our own. Since our pastor has left and we're right in the middle of setting up some youth programs, it would be too hard on our church to leave them. So that's the PLAN - but if I've learned anything this past year it would be that God's plans and my plans are two different things completely. I'm finally learning to not freak out when things don't go according to my plans.

I'm off to check in on all of you! Have a Great OP Day!

I'm snotty

2007-07-30T08:13:00.000-05:00

Ick. I've somehow managed to get sick. I don't know if it's this summer cold or if it's all the dust I stirred up last week in my big office revamp or what. I just know that I hate being sick and I have the po pitifuls. I took some miracle drug this morning from the last time I was sick, and it'll help me get rid of all this junk. And if it works like last time, I'll have crazy energy and no appetite after a few days. Bonus! ;o)

I had a really good but busy weekend. We took my little BIL to see the Simpson's movie Friday night (it was hilarious, but some of the "badness" was unnecessary - I still loved it) and then Jesse spent the night. Saturday was dinner at my mom's for my grandma's b-day, and my step-brother who I haven't seen since 2000 (literally) came with his wife and son. It was nice to see him and meet his family - I just hope he starts coming around more often now that our parents have met his son. It would be even harder on them not to see their grandson now that they know him. (he's 2 1/2) Sunday was crazy busy with Jeremy being presented his ministerial license, our pastor retiring and a region meeting. After all that we went to Wal-Mart, and I saw this really pretty brown suit jacket. I grabbed the 16 - just to see how it looked - and it was too big. So I tried on the 14, and it fit okay, but I decided to try on the 12 just to see how tight it was and guess what? It fit like a glove! I could have totally worn that jacket last night out in public and not feel like it was pulling too tight in anywhere! I was totally blown away. Now, I know it could have been vanity sizing, or whatever, blah blah blah. I don't care. It was a 12!!! I'm still wearing my size 18 pants! I totally need to go shopping. I did finally buy some new panties, though. Although I'm still too cheap for VS, I no longer walk around in baggy bottomed granny panties. (they weren't granny panties when they fit!) :o)

So I'm super duper excited about that. I'm 2 seconds away from TOM so I'm not going to brave a dressing room for another week or so, but after that I'm all about some new clothes! yay!!

I hope you all had a great weekend, too, and have a great OP day!!

hullo

2007-07-27T11:27:00.000-05:00

Hey gals! I've missed ya'll to bits and pieces, but I got so caught up with reorganizing here at work that I didn't have a spare second to check in. Sorry!!

Thanks for worrying about me! :o)

I've got a busy busy weekend planned and will do my best to make healthy choices when I can.

Since I don't have much time, I'm gonna stop short and check in on everyone.

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

RE-DO!

2007-07-23T08:35:00.000-05:00

Well, it's Monday again, and I really wasn't ready for the weekend to be over. I don't feel like I accomplished the first thing (probably because I didn't) and now I want a "re-do". :o) I woke up this morning, surveyed my messy house and felt like a crappy wife. If I can't keep my house out of CHAOS while there's just the two of us, how can I ever hope to make it with children? So, I guess just like I'm trying to learn good eating habits, I need to try to learn good life habits.

I'm an all or nothing kind of girl - It's either gotta be perfect or I'm not going to bother to do it. That character trait controls everything I do. I don't like to learn how to do new things (ie: knitting) because I don't like to do things I'm not good at. And if I eat a little too much, I scrap the whole day and don't even bother trying to get OP. And if I don't have the time or energy to clean my house until it sparkles in every corner, I'll let it go until I do.

Since I've recognized this, I'm hoping that I can start changing this mindset because it's obviously holding me back.

I went Sunday to DB to have my bridesmaid dress altered. They wanted me to spend $100 in alterations! I told them, "Look, I'm sorry, but that's more than I paid for the dress. What's the bare minimum?" So, I got it down to $40 (which, by the way was just taking up the halter and putting in bra cups) and that's going to have to be good enough. I mean really, there's 5 of us - no one's going to be scrupulously looking at me - I'm just another bridesmaid! :o) I may be cheap, but I see no sense in paying out the butt for a dress that I'll never wear again. (and I'll never ever wear it again - it's SOOOOOO not my color!) :o) *sigh* But, of course, all of you are hearing this, because there's no way that I'm venting to my family and risk the chance of it getting back to Cyrena (the bride). She's got enough going on without worrying that her Future SIL is freaking out!! (I'm not really freaking...)

The luau was fun. Lots of yummy fruits and veggies (and mini quiche, cheese balls, cookies, and cake!) We have no idea how many points we ate, but since we filled up on the low point stuff it couldn't have been too bad. We just went easy for the rest of the evening and ate a couple of low point snacks.

I guess that's it. Now that one of my coworkers quit I feel like I have a ton of organizing to do, which is weird because the organizing has nothing to do with him. I guess I just want our office o have some sanity to it since we're one accountant down and it's liable to be stressful for the rest of the accountants. (There's only 3 of us here now) Lucky for me I'm just the office manager. A glorified secretary, really. My job is much easier. (and my paycheck is much smaller!) So I guess I better check in with ya'll before while it's still calm!

Have a great OP day!!

it's good to be back

2007-07-20T08:33:00.000-05:00

I'm sooo glad that I switched back to Flex. I know that counting points gets old, but it really is a good program, and we all know that it works. I'm really glad that I tried SB, though, because it introduced me to some yummy low point foods. Turkey bacon is my new thing, and it's only 1 point a piece. I'm eating almonds at least once a day now, and although they're a little pointy, I can make 15 of those babies last for 30 minutes. Kraft has a 2% Cheddar stick (I'm not positive of what they're exact name is) that's only 2 points and it is delicious. And, of course, I'm still eating the spinach quiche, which are 3 points for two, or 1 point for one. (that's crazy WW math for you) They're a great source of protein and a veggie on the go.

It's a nice rainy day here in Northern Alabama, and normally I'd be thrilled about that, seeing as how we're going through the worst draught in 50 years, but our A/C went out yesterday and the repair guy is coming today. Something tells me that he won't be able to work that efficiently in the rain. I don't know if I can handle a weekend without my A/C! :o) We might be spending a lot of time away from the house.

Today is my coworker Paul's last day here and he's chosen KFC for his going away party lunch. I was a little freaked out about it, but then I looked up the points for some stuff there and it won't be too pointy - as long as I resist that yummy fried chicken skin! Tomorrow is our pastor and his wives's retirement luau, and I'm sure there will be lost of yummy temptations there, too, but I expect fruit and veggies and I might have a little piece of cake. It'll be easier with Jeremy there with me - for once I won't be tempted by what's on his plate! He's doing really well with counting points. He's lost about 4 pounds and says he wants to get down to around 160 (which, according to that Shape Ideal Body Weight Calculator, is his healthy range) I keep telling him that I think that's too skinny, but then I thought "What if someone told me my goal, which is in my healthy range, was too skinny?" I guess I have a double standard. :o)

I walked with Mom for a long time yesterday, but she has lupus and I can't walk too fast with her. I just don't want to push her, because she rarely says, "I can't do this." She refuses to recognize that she has different abilities from everyone else, and while that's a good thing (she doesn't just lay around all the time) it makes it kinda hard to gauge how she's holding up. (while walking, shopping, cooking, or painting her kitchen) I'm glad we have the time together, though. I keep telling her that we're going shopping just as soon as I hit 185, but I keep being few pounds short of it. Maybe in a couple of weeks we can go and I can get a few things to stretch my wardrobe.

Alright, I'm rambling now because watching the rain outside is so conducive to writing my thoughts (aka Carrie Bradshaw!) so I'm going to stop now and check in on all of you.

I hope you're having a fabulous Friday and have a fantastic OP weekend!

rehab is for quitters

2007-07-19T08:28:00.001-05:00

I quit South Beach! It was just waaay too limiting, and too difficult for Jeremy to be counting points while I was doing it.

After the funeral yesterday, Jeremy and I were starving and exhausted (mentally and physically) so we decided that we'd grab something to eat before taking me back to work. We were limited in restaurant choices in the area, and after a tiffle of "I can't don't know points for there" and "I can't eat SB there!" we pulled into McDonald's. I figured I'd get a salad, although our McD's have bad salad reputations. (as in, they're so not fresh they're rotten) I ordered the infamous Southwestern Salad (or whatever it's called - you know the one that Colette has raved about so much that Hungry Girl herself had to review?) and when I got it I thought, "This has corn in it. These has some sort of glaze on it. This has these yummy little chips and this delicious dressing. This is not South Beach!" and then I started tuckin it in. That's when I realized that I couldn't do South Beach. There was no way that I could eat that yummy and pretty healthy salad and make up for it on SB. There's no leeway there. And a world where I can't eat that salad (which satisfied me in a way that no salad has ever been able to) is not a world that I want to live in. So, I'm no longer making myself the guinea pig. I wouldn't even say, "South Beach isn't for me" - I'd say, "South Beach is Flicktarded" (no offense, Dr. Agatston) I'm going back to WW! I'm counting points again and I'm going to stop trying to find an easy way out. GAH!

We didn't make it jogging yesterday. We were just too tired. I think I'm going to ditch my husband and just try to do it on my own. I'm walking with mom tonight, so I won't be running then, but I'll figure something out. It's just so stinkin hot here and I can't run alone at night because the track is scary then. I'll figure it out. I love that so many people are doing CP25K, but it honestly makes me feel sorta guilty that I haven't had the first successful run after instigating this.

I had enough energy, however, to go to my favorite Mexican restaurant last night and chow down. (and I thought of you, StrawGirl!!) I over did it on the chips, but there's little suprise in that. I hadn't had any carbs in 3 days, and I was definitely feeling that chips and queso. (oh and the guac!!) And I convinced Jeremy that we needed to have the same WW starting day so our WP's and everything will be on track. I really had to beg him to take me to Fiesta Mexicana - he was wanting to be so good and stick with it. Come on - he had WP's! That's what they're for! ;o) So I got my fix and maybe I'll be good for another couple of weeks.

I don't have much else to say (I know *shocker*) so I guess I'll check in on all of you. I hope ya'll have a wonderful OP day! (only one left until Friday!!)

risque business

2007-07-18T08:26:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all the encouraging comments! I love you guys!! Awww!

Yesterday on SB went okay. Although I proally didn't drink enough water, I was pretty OP. I even tried this dessert from the book. It sounds funky and the texture was a little weird, but it was actually quite tasty:

1/2 cup part skim ricotta
1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla flavoring
1 packet of sugar substitute (I used bootleg Equal)

You just mix it all together and relish. I might use my mixer next time and try to work out the little ricotta clumps. (I'm pretty picky about my food textures) They have several versions of this in the book (including one with mini dark chocolate chips) so I'm bound to experiment.

Jeremy had to go to a board meeting last night, and I decided that I would mow the lawn for him while he was gone. I proally pushed mowed for an hour or so and when I came in I thought, "Oh, I told Randi that would lift weights tonight" so I picked up the new five pound handweights and did like 5 reps on each arm and had to stop. Push mowing is hard work! :o) I was just give out, and I figured that since a good bit of it was up hill, I'd gotten in some pretty good resistance exercise, anyways. And it made the hub happy. So, all in all a good night.

Today is day two for CP25K. Just before we fell asleep last night I asked Jeremy if he was up for running tonight and he said, "*sigh* Are YOU up to it?" Hells yeah I am! He obviously thinks I'm weak and I obviously have to prove him wrong. He didn't mention, however, that I was able to push the broke down riding mower back to her home all by myself when last time he had to call me out there to help him. He could even budge it without me and I did it by myself!! How convienient of him not to notice, eh? ;o) So, wish me luck. Even if my entire bum falls off I'm not going to quit this time!!

Oh! and a little NSV: I'm wearing a sleeve-less shirt out in public for the first time in years. I have a funeral to go to this afternoon and will put my jacket on then, but for now I'm showin some skin, baby! :o)

I hope everyone has a wonderful OP day!!

so stinkin frustrated!

2007-07-17T08:10:00.000-05:00

I did pretty good yesterday on SB. It was hard, but not horrible. I think the hardest part was just not having any sugar at all and being drained. I think I can handle this for another 13 days. Besides, they say that the first 3 are the hardest - one down 2 to go. So that's gravy.

I'm super frustrated about my non-skills as a runner. The hub and I went to the track around 8 last night and began the program. We were through our 3rd cycle (there's 8 total this week) and I start having these serious pains in my left butt cheek. It was horrible. I was gasping for air (because I'm out of shape) and I was gasping in pain and we were forever away from the truck.

Long story short, we had to call it quits and for the first time in my life I was embarrassed in front of Jeremy. It was bad and now my husband must think I'm this huge wimp when I was going to prove to him how strong I am. But it's in the past now. I'm going to try again on Wednesday, making sure I stretch out really well. I don't know if it's a muscle thing or a pinched nerve, because this has happened before while I was bowling or just goofing off at church - but never to this level because I never had to walk back with it acting up before.

*shrugs* I'm out of shape. No one said it was easy to get in shape and since I've never been in shape I have nearly 25 years worth of training to do. But I will do it!

I'm going to go check in on everyone else, but I hope ya'll have a great OP day!

Day One

2007-07-16T08:22:00.000-05:00

So I started South Beach this morning and I will start CP25K this evening. I'm nervous about both but I'm pretty determined to succeed. Especially with CP25K. Honestly, this SB thing is just an experiment, but it would be nice to drop a few pounds quickly. Phase 1 is extremely limiting - no oatmeal & no fruit (unless you count tomatoes...) but I believe I can handle it for 2 weeks. Although you can go longer than that, I'm not going to, no matter how much weight I'm losing. It just seems like trying to go too long on such a limited menu will just ultimately make you burn out.

So for breakfast this morning I had a Crustless Mini Spinach Quiche with 2 slices of turkey bacon. I got the quiche recipe from the SB book, and it was pretty tasty. I made six of them last night and I just heated one up once I got to work. Turkey bacon - why have I never had this stuff before? It was really really good and it crisped up perfectly in the mike here at work. Maybe it's just because I haven't had real bacon in so long, but I'm diggin this stuff. You can have 2 slices a day, and I think it's going to be a breakfast staple for me. It was hard to not have my oatmeal - I'm such a creature of habit! Hopefully this will stick with me for a long time. I'm supposed to eat a little snack around 10:30, so surely I'll be good until then. I'm also drinking coffee and skim milk.

Lunch will be some chili that I made up last night. I don't know if it's technically SB. I mean all the ingredients are, but all the recipes in the book are these dainty fru fru meals and this chili is nice and hearty. I'm not going to worry about it. I know that the ground beef is low fat and that the beans and tomatoes are healthy and full of fiber. I also have some almonds for a snack. It didn't specify in the foods list, but in the book it says that you're supposed to have salt-free nuts. Of course, mine are salted, but I've already bought them and they're waay too expensive to waste. I know excessive salt will make me retain water, but *shrugs* this diet is so limiting that there's no way that I can be perfect. I'm making a good effort, though, and that's what counts.

Okay, I know I'm rambling on, but brace yourself, Effie, I still have lots more to say. :o)

We went on an impromptu camping trip Friday night. It was really fun, but the camp site was a little over run and the bathhouse was in horrible shape (though the toilets were pretty clean...). We got a spot right in front of the river that we fished in the next morning. (I caught the biggest fish, btw!) So I used this unexpected time alone with the hub to discuss nutrition. I told him that I didn't feel like he need to lose weight but that I wanted him to have healthier eating habits. I said that it won't do any good for me to be eating healthily in front of our children if he doesn't, too. I said that I was starting SB this morning, and I would really like it if he at least ate supportively. So he agreed, and I was surprised.

What shocked me even more is when we went grocery shopping last night and he said that he was going to start counting points. Now a part of me is a little put off by this because I went at it alone for so long, but most of me knows that this is a good thing. So hopefully he'll keep it up. I casually asked him if he was interested in going walking/jogging with me tonight and he said, "Sure". So maybe if he starts working out with me I'll be more inclined to do it more often, since I know that a lot of times I don't work out because I want to be home. I was really looking forward to jamming out with my ilo, though. Maybe I still will. :o)

I suppose that's about it. My tum is still being weird, although I'm "going" now. (TMI?) I keep having these pangs and have to rush to the bathroom. I can't talk to my mom about it because then she'll swear it's my gallbladder and I'll have to go to some doctor. (I HATE doctors) So that's why ya'll have to hear about it. Sorry!

On that note, I'm signing off. I hope everyone has a fabulous OP day!!

yay! It's Friday!

2007-07-13T08:05:00.000-05:00

VBS is over! I had a really good time, and it was nice to see our kids every day, but they wear me out. I'm looking forward to getting to go home after work tonight and stay home. Maybe it'll stop raining by then I can take a nice little swim in my pool. :o)

The scale this morning said 189.3. Of course it made me happy to see it going down, but I've gotta assume that the gain was water weight. I haven't been doing too terribly this week, but I haven't journaled and I know I ate more than what would justify actual pounds lost. I'm just glad to be getting back on track. Amanda (StrawGirl) suggested I check out South Beach (because it offers nuts) and I'm going to have to do my research. Phase One looks pretty restrictive, but that only lasts for 2 weeks. My main qualm with it is that I eat oatmeal EVERY morning, and you can't have that on Phase One. We'll see. I think food limiting diets are a little ridiculous, but I'd like to do something that #1) helps me play catch-up and #2) gives me a sort of detox.

I got a call from my Kelley that said my bridesmaid dress is in and I need to get fitted. I think that I'm a 14 by now, but at least since I ordered the 16 I won't have to worry about squeezing into it - they can just size it down. I really need to do some arm exercises. I've done some here and there and I can see an improvement, but the more weight I lose, the more flabby I get, and while my arms may be smaller I still have batwings. So, there's another reason why I need to be doing weight training. I'm still looking for a program online, but I might just do what I know will work. Maybe that can get me along until I can join a gym.

I'm so glad it's Friday! I plan to stay home a lot this weekend and catch up on housework and sleep. It should be a good time! :o)

I hope all of you have a fabulous Friday and a great OP weekend!!

Rocky Theme Song Playing in the Back Ground

2007-07-12T09:32:00.000-05:00

I'm starting Couch Potato to 5K (from hence forth to be called CP25K) on Monday. I'm nervous and more than a little apprehensive, but I'm determined. My girl Erica is starting Monday, too. I'm trying to talk her into starting a blog here so that she can be encouraged by you lovely ladies as much as I have.

All's I need is a new pair of kicks and a el cheapo digital watch and I'm all set. This weekend I'm gonna fill my ilo full of pumping songs so if any of ya'll have a must have favorite workout tune, lemme know. Personally mine is "No Diggity" by BlackStreet and "Bow Tie" from OutKast (which is just hilarious, because I'm as white as they come...) (ps: "no diggity" is really filthy - but I can't help loving it! I have the edited version so that I don't feel quite as bad about it!)

I'm also taking Randi's advice and doing strength training on my "off" days. I don't know what or how yet, but I realize that I can't make sure I'm burning off fat and gaining muscle without it.

I'm trying to find some sort of nutritional food plan to follow. I really like what everyone is saying about "eating to fuel myself". I hate the fact that I don't eat stuff like almonds because they're not core and they're too point expensive. We'll see. I mean, I won't really be getting healthy if I'm just losing weight eating ff popcorn, now will I?

I think that's enough for now. I still encourage anyone who wants to join in the CP25K challenge to come right on! Here's a link with more info about it: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

This blog has taken me like an hour to write because I'm so ADD today, so sorry if it's choppy. I hope you all have a wonderful OP day!

PS: Erica has finally joined our community! Check her out at http://dancingqueen629.blogspot.com/

such a crazy coincidence!

2007-07-11T10:34:00.000-05:00

Since I posted last I've been talking to my best friend from high school, Erica. We think we're going to do Couch Potato to 5K! Yay! It would be awesome if we could all do it together! She lives like 30 miles from here so I'll be training solo but we're looking at marathons in our area to get ramped up about. I'm excited!

Lemme know if ya'll decide to do it, and anyone else who wants to should join in, too. It'd be great to have so many accountability partners!

*claps hands excitedly!*

so much for that!

2007-07-11T08:32:00.001-05:00

So I pitched the Curves idea to Jeremy last night and he wasn't too excited about the start up fee. In fact, his exact words were "why don't you use that elliptical we bought a year ago and then if you know you're going to stick to it then maybe you can join." *rolls eyes* Thanks, Babe. Way to make me feel like I can do this.

I totally understand his point, though. It's just not what I wanted to hear. So I guess my goal is to "prove" to him that I'll stick to an exercise regime and then maybe I can join a gym. It sounds like from your comments (btw - thanks so much for all the info!!) that if I actually work out long enough to show that I'm sticking to it then I'll probably be more advanced than the Curves level. (ummm... I hope that made sense)

Soo... we're back to square one. But the whole point of going to Curves vs one of the other four gyms offered in our area is that at least with a bunch of old ladies I wouldn't feel self conscious. So maybe if I work out on my own for a while I won't feel as self conscious at one of the more serious gyms. There's this one place that's open 24/7 (which is a big deal in small town Athens) and is pretty much for serious workouters. It's always intimidated me before, but maybe it won't eventually. The whole point of a gym, for me, isn't necessarily the cardio aspect, but more of the weights. I can do cardio on my own if I set my mind to it, but I think I need to build muscle, too. My previous job was a pharmacy technician, and part of it required me to lift and carry these 30 pound boxes of IV fluids to the different med stations. My arms were so strong back then! Of course, it was the physical demands that ultimately made me want to switch jobs (that and the drama) but now I have a desk job and I can barely handle carrying a box filled with paper. I want to be strong again.

When we were camping all of the fishing sites were down these steep inclines. They had paths cleared, but the trip back up was killer. We made the trek a couple of times, but eventually we had to find a place that was easier to access because my legs were all jello like. We still had some great scenery, but we were at a boat launch, so of course, there were lots of motor boats and people. Had I been able to hack the trails then we would have been able to be secluded right on the water. I want to be able to handle the physical demands of an active life. I want to be able to kick my husbands butt! ;o)

So, yet again I'm going to try to find something that will work for me. I'd like to be a runner, but I never seem to have the gumption to start. Maybe this whole "proving myself" thing will help.

Thanks again for all your support! I love you guys!!

Have a great OP day!

Curves

2007-07-10T13:27:00.000-05:00

During my lunch break I visited our local branch of Curves. I wanted to see about their operating hours, costs, and a few other things, and since the website wasn't too location specific my only choice was to visit them in person.

I talked to a very nice lady who owned the place and was pleased to see that she was nice and fit, but not too skinny. (I feel more comfortable with people who actually look like they work out owning workout facilities) While I was there I told her that I'd been doing WW and have lost about 40 lbs. She was really excited for me and encouraged the idea of starting an exercise routine. Then she wanted to check my body fat %. Bleah.

Here's how it went down:

Using the Tanita Body Composition Analyzer -

Weight: 190 (a little less than mine this morning - yay!)
BMI: 32.6
Fat %: 40.2%
Fat Mass: 76.4 lb

Desirable Range:
Fat %: 17-24%
Fat Mass: 23.2-35.81lb

Target Body Fat%: 23%
Predicted Weight: 147.6lb
Predicted Fat Mass: 34.01lb
Fat to Lose: 42.4lb

The downside is that the beginning cost is like $147 with a $33 a month charge. They've got a deal going that you can exercise the rest of the summer for free, but you still have to pay the beginning cost. I really think that I'd like it, but Jeremy is always hesitant to shell out money for something that I might not like. We have a coupon from one of those coupon books here at work for a free week of working out at our Curves - but I don't know if they'll let me use it. We'll see.

Have any of you been to Curves or know anyone that has? I obviously need to lose some of this body fat. Nearly 77 pounds of fat is just waaay too much for me to handle.

Let me know what ya'll think & thanks for all of the encouraging comments!!

lost and found

2007-07-10T08:51:00.000-05:00

One week. Seven days. 168 hours. That's how long I've been totally off plan, and it's gotta stop.

I got on the scale this morning and it said 193. This time last week it was saying 187. That's so not good that I don't even really want to think about it. But I HAVE to address this because if I don't it'll just keep spiraling out of control.

I knew I went a little overboard on the 4th, and I knew that I wasn't making the healthiest choices while camping, but I thought that I could reel it back in when we came home. No such luck. We eat at the church every night for VBS and the food is so stinking good that I don't resist. Sunday night was pancake night. Did I skip the "better butter"? (which is real butter mixed with Olive Oil) nope. Did I say, "hey here's some sugar free syrup, let's make a healthier choice?" nope. Even last night, which was Hamburger night, I could have ate a ton of the raw veggies there but did I? no way. I didn't even give up the cake like I had promised I would. In fact, I cut myself a bigger slice of cake than was cut for the kiddos. Fortunately I realized what I had done and only had about five bites, but COME ON! What gives?

I'm beginning to think that it's never going to come naturally to me. I'm always going to have to think about what I'm eating. I believe Colette (pardon me if I'm wrong) blogged recently about a friend of her child's asking "are you ever going to not be on a diet?" and when I read that I thought, "I'm not." There's never going to be a point when I just magically make Skinny Girl choices. It'll be a constant battle, BUT it's worth it.

I was thinking about all this this morning when I weighed myself and I thought, "I'm not going to be able to get back on track as long as VBS is running" then I realized that I need to practice what I preach. I've said countless times to ya'll to just start over RIGHT NOW - not tomorrow or next week because then it might not ever happen. So I'm starting over again. (AGAIN!!!)

I know some of the weight may be because of (TMI ALERT!) the fact that I didn't do "#2" the entire time I was away, and I know that I'm not completely cleaned out (so to speak). I just couldn't go in the woods. I may be Nature Girl now, but I'm not Gorilla Woman. I also know for a fact that I didn't get enough water because I battled an on coming UTI the entire time. So maybe after a few days of system flushing I'll lose some of the found weight. I'm thinking about researching colon cleanses, too. Note the words "thinking" and "researching" - I believe that it could be beneficial (from what I know about it) but I also believe that some stuff is a hoax.

Speaking of hoax, I was trying to figure out yesterday what I can do differently to try to get ramped back up about losing weight. There's a lot of crap and gimmicks out there, but I'm hoping that today I'll find something that will work for me. I know that WW works, but I need something new to be excited about for a little while to boost me and then maybe I'll switch back to flex. (or I might just do Core again for a little while...)

So I'm totally up for suggestions. I WILL do better tonight at VBS and not see that bounty of food as a free for all for Mandy. I WILL drink mucho mucho water today and continue to do so until I feel like a camel. I'm really trying to cut out caffeine and am seriously considering reducing the amounts of aspartame I consume. It's an insane amount, and they say it's not good for you. (It's also not good to be overweight, though, and I'll chose aspartame over flab if it comes down to it)

So that's enough garbadly gook for today. Thanks for hanging in there with me and getting to the end of this blog!!

I hope everyone has a great OP day!

the lemming

2007-07-09T09:47:00.000-05:00

*thanks, collette, for giving me the link to help me fix my "won't let me insert a title" problem. For those of you having the same thing, here's the link she gave me: http://bloggerstatusforreal.blogspot.com/2007/07/entering-title-in-new-post-isnt-easy.html *

I back from camping - yay! I blogged a little about it on weightwatchen, but it's nothing too excited. I'm honestly a little too shell-shocked to regale stories yet. It's hard to get back to the real world (one with four walls and a roof that doesn't leak!!)

I've thought about it while I was away, and I really think that I'm keeping my blog here. I like it here a lot and as someone else said, I really like that I can really keep up with you guys. I honestly was only moving because I assumed that everyone else would, too. I'm such a lemming! :o)

I'm going to spend the rest of my free time here at work trying to catch up with all of you, but I will say that our 3 day camping extravaganza has seemed to turn me into the outdoors type. I've found that I absolutely love to fish! Can you imagine that? I'm so OCD that I don't like for my hands to get dirty, but I can bait my own hook and take my own fish off said hook.

Look at me - I'm Nature Girl!! :oP

MIA

2007-07-03T08:12:00.000-05:00

I'm probably going to be MIA from our community for the rest of the week because today is my Friday. Yay!! We worked it out at church to be off Sunday morning, so we won't come home from our trip until Sunday afternoon.

I didn't make it to WI last night because I was sent to the storage building around 2:30 yesterday to find some dead files. I ended up so dirty and sweaty that I was too embarrassed to go. So I didn't. My scale at home is holding pretty steady around 187, though. That's around five pounds less than what I weighed on last Monday, so I'm making progress.

I've got a ton of stuff to do today since I'm not going to be at work the rest of the week, so I'm going to have to spare ya'll of having to read my daily novellas, but I hope everyone has a great, safe, and OP Fourth of July and a great rest of the week. I'll miss you!! :o)

oh but it was good!

2007-07-02T08:50:00.000-05:00

Good Morning All!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I sure did.

We were riding around Saturday and noticed that a storm was coming towards us (my hubby is a weather nut) so we went to a nearby lake to watch it cross. Well, since the storm fell apart before it got to us and I really wanted to see some action, we went storm chasin' and got lost! It was great - I love being lost and having an adventure. We eventually found ourselves and headed home. We realized that we had made a huge oval in North Alabama. :o)

Sunday was good, too. After church it poured, and I watched the storm in our sun room while Jeremy napped. We then went to Wal-Mart to buy another tent (the one we'd bought the day before was waaay too small) and ended up buying fishing rods and licenses for our trip. It's going to be so much fun! I'm excited.

Oh! and my MIL brought over some of her garden's veggies on Friday so I ate fresh tomato sandwiches with cucumber chips all weekend. Yumo! The only problem was that I didn't eat enough protein so by Sunday night my sugar was out of whack and I was on the verge of going crazy. (does anyone else do this? I'm hypoglycemic - but does anyone else turn into a monster for food?) I HAD to have a burger, so we went by Burger King and I got a Whopper, Jr. (should have ordered it without mayo, but I didn't!) and I shared some onion rings with hubby. Not exactly nutritious, but it was exactly what I had to have. (I'm sure my upcoming TOM (again!!) didn't help the situation) So I'll just drink extra water today and hope it doesn't undo all my hard work at WI.

But you know, it might hurt tonight, but it's not going to undo all the work that I've done permanently. Over all last week I made really good choices, so I'm not going to beat myself up over a burger that used my WP's right before WI. :o)

Have a grandola granola OP day!!

planning to succeed

2007-06-29T08:30:00.001-05:00

The mean old hateful ugly scale is actually kissing up to me lately. He's been telling me nice things in the mornings and right now we're on good terms. I know he's a sneaky snake, though, and if I don't watch myself he'll start pissing me off again every morning and then Jess and Amanda will be right! (you know I love you girls!!) I know I have to mind my P's & Q's to be able to ride this as long as it will last, but the next two weeks are going to be rough. And when the going gets rough, the Mandy starts planning.

All of the sticky eating circumstances coming up are all in my control. On the Fourth I'm planning on bringing my own low fat hamburger patty and my own healthy bun. I'm bringing FF mayo so that I can make a single serving of deviled eggs, cole slaw, and maybe potato salad. I'm going to find a healthy ice cream recipie and not tell the family that it's healthy and see if they can tell. (I ALWAYS make homemade ice cream on the Fourth of July) We'll have cake because it's my SIL's b-day, and I can either have a small piece of that or some of my mom's baked beans. (trust me - the way she makes them cake and baked beans proally are equal in points) No margaritas and lots of water.

On our camping trip I will allow Jeremy one restaurant a day that will offer unhealthy foods and I will do my best to control my portion sizes and choices. (I'm sure he's going to chose Chinese buffet for one of them - DANGER! DANGER!) I will enjoy one meal of small endulgence and the other two will be strictly healthy. And I will bring my favorite healthy snacks along, too.

For VBS, I will review the menu and plan my points around it. If it's too high in points or if I haven't succeeded in planning my points accordingly - I will eat SubWay. I WILL NOT EAT THE CAKE THAT IS PROVIDED EVERY NIGHT!! :o)

Most important of all: I will count points for everything, and if for some reason if I mess up one day I will still count points and move on the next day.

There. Now that ya'll know it maybe I'll be more accountable and feel stronger. :o)

Happy Friday! I hope everyone has a wonderful OP day and rock the socks off this weekend!

at least banana splits have fruit in them...

2007-06-28T08:31:00.000-05:00

Last night after church Jeremy and I decided to go out for ice cream. So we went to Sonics and I got a banana split! That sucker was 10 points - and I ate the whole thing! I had to use 3 WP's to cover it, and it honestly wasn't that fabulous. It was already melted before the carhop brought it out. But I ate it because it was there and we had spent money on it and because I guess I wanted to. I feel sorta guilty about it, but I stayed OP and had all my GH points in for the day. (uh, ice cream is a dairy, right?) j/k!

Last time I was on Flex I would use all my WP's at once - typically pigging out eating Mexican food! But this time around I seem to be using them a little bit at a time. I have less points to use each day so that may be part of it, but perhaps this eating in moderation will help. I mean, I can still eat my chips and cheese dip, just maybe not so much of it and with a healthier entree. (Because, let's be honest, my favorite part of Mexican food is the cheese) I'm going out to eat with my skinny girl coworker tomorrow, I'm going to suggest we eat at Casablanca so that I can get the Mexican food urge out of my system while in front of skinny minny. I always eat healthier around her. :o)

Oh - the doc's appointment went really well yesterday. I talked to him for about 5 minutes and he confirmed NCChris's thoughts on weight loss & weird TOM's. Chris had told me that fat has estrogen in it and when you lose the fat your body loses some estrogen, which could lead to messed up cycles. So yay! We're not all in some weird cyber-sync - we're all just gettin skinny! Way to Go! ;o)

I hope everyone has a grandola granola OP day!!

honky tonk heaven

2007-06-27T08:25:00.001-05:00

Yesterday went really well. I got in all my water/fruit/dairy and even played in my pool for a little while. Somewhere around 9 o'clock last night Jeremy and I needed to run to the store down the street, and while we were there he decided that he had a sweet tooth. (Can I just say that my hubby always has a sweet tooth?) He grabbed a fried apple pie and I zoned in on the fried chocolate pies. Okay, now I love me some fried foods and I love me some chocolate and when you put the two together I'm in honkey tonk heaven. So I got it, but not before I swooned at the nutritional facts on the back. I knew I had six points left and I had achieved all of my GH points for the day. (minus a milk serving - but you HAVE to drink some milk with fried chocolate pie anyways) And when I got home I realized that my slide points thingie wouldn't calculate the points because it was over the charts! I got on Roni's site and used her little points calculator that she can no longer call a "points" calculator. It was a whopping 11.8 points! :o) So I ate half of it and used 2 WP's for my milk. I zapped it for a few in the microwave and it was delicious - totally worth the 6 points. And since I only hate half of it I didn't feel like I was going to go into diabetic shock.

So it's all gravy. I had my chocolate fix, stayed OP, and have hopefully headed off that "whoa is me I'm on a diet I can't have no fun" feeling. The bad thing is that I encouraged Jeremy to eat the other half of my pie so it wouldn't be there to tempt me. This is after he ate his pie. I'm a bad influence.

It's going to be pretty busy busy in Mandy Land for the next few weeks. We're going camping on July 5th and won't be back until the night of the 7th. Then July 8th we're starting VBS at our church and I'm the storyteller, so I've got to get all my props together and my backdrops painted and my peeps organized before I leave for camping. I'm nervous about my eating habits during this period b/c we'll eat out for all of our meals while we're away (I know it's not real camping if you don't cook you own food, but we're taking baby steps) and then we'll have kiddie meals everynight at VBS. Maybe I can get a hold of the menu in advanced and plan ahead. Being the youth minister has its perks! ;o)

So, I suppose I should stop procrastinating and get int the middle of my planning. I'm blessed to have a job that allows me to not only blog and comment with my favorite cyber buddies, but also allows me to work on church stuff while on the clock!

Have a Great OP Day!

yippy skippy!

2007-06-26T08:44:00.000-05:00

I went to WI last night, and, (are you ready for this?) I actually lost 1.8!! I have absolutely no clue how it happened because, as I said yesterday, I didn't make the best choices in the recent past, but of course I'm not complaining! :o) I finally busted out of the 190's and now I'm working on getting out of the 180's. I haven't been in this "decade" in a long time, so it's nice to be here.

I switched back to Flex yesterday because my portion sizes were getting out of control. I had that "I'm on TOM and it's not my turn so I deserve to eat whatever I want" mentality going on, and I needed to get back to the basics. I did really well yesterday. I drank all of my water (yay!) had at least six servings of fruits and veggies (yay!) and over two servings of dairy (yay) and my point total came to 24. My target is 25, but I didn't want to eat late at night when I wasn't hungry, so I didn't. An even bigger NSV for me is that I only "spent" 2 points in empty snacks. I ate a granola bar with a glass of milk last night for dessert, but all my other snacks were nutritious. That's a really big deal for me! It seems that every time I go from Core to Flex I've learned a new healthy habit that sticks with me. That makes me happy! :o)

Somehow our another I screwed up the links to everyone's blogs, so I'll work on fixing that today. I'm just stalking everyone on other people's blogs! :o)

Have a Great OP Day!!

jumping up and down

2007-06-25T16:43:00.000-05:00

Okay, not really. But I'm super duper glad that so many of ya'll have come here! I've been working my booty off trying to keep up with everyone and add links to my page, but if you don't see yourself here then make sure you leave me a comment and I'll add you!

I was able to find a lot of my past blogs with Google Cache, and it's really creepy/insane that I can Google my alter ego and find all of my past blabberings. I know that you're all as relieved as I am! ;o)

Okay, I just wanted to say hi again! :o)

the journey continues

2007-06-25T09:17:00.000-05:00

Since I assume that you (the reader) know me from the weightwatchen community, it seems sort of silly to reintroduce myself with this new blog, so I won't. :o) I might see if I can't make an "About Me" page with all that junk on it.

I already miss our community so much! Hopefully we can all stay connected until it's back up.

Okay, back to me. :o)

I had a really "Off Plan" weekend. Well, probably ever since Wednesday night. I've been stress eating, and lazy eating, and bored eating and hormone eating. And it's gotta stop. Even if my stupid TOM is driving me insane. I have to go to my gynocologist on Wednesday because of the slight concern that I might have endometriosis. My mother had it when she was my age, and since I've been having crazy symptoms we just want to be sure. I'm totally not looking forward to this - but I'm really not freaking out about it, either. (the old Mandy was borderline hypochondriac - so this is pretty huge) What I'm obsessed most about is the infertility issues that it can cause, and that's exactly why I'd rather be safe than sorry on this one.

So I'm trying the Flex plan again. I feel the need to go back to basics. I need to measure portions and get my dairy/veggies/fruits in each day. Not to mention water! These are all such great habits - why am I such a slacker?

Alas, today is new day, and this is a journey, not a hop skip and a jump, right?

Thanks for finding me here and I hope you all have a great day!!

I Love My Curves!

2007-06-21T10:58:00.000-05:00

If you look back at my high school pictures, you would probably think that I was a skinny girl back then. I look curvy and happy. But I never ever was happy with my size. My best friend from High School and I was talking about this the other day. We thought that we were fat, but we were such a cute size! Why couldn’t we appreciate ourselves?
My smallest size back then was a 9 - my largest was probably a 15. In four years time I yo-yo’ed back and forth. This up and down isn’t healthy for anyone, let alone a teenaged girl with a low self-esteem. I never could maintain what I had lost because I never felt that I was finished losing weight. I was never happy with myself.
This yo-yo cycle has continued into my adulthood. I will loose weight just to gain it back because I feel like I’m so far away from my goal that I just quit.
Today as I was looking in the mirror before I got dressed I thought to myself, “You know, you’re looking pretty good”. I could easily point out areas that needed work, and I would by no means like to show you just how “good” I look naked (not that you would want to see…) but I realized for the first time in a long time I am becoming happy with myself. And what’s more for the first time, ever, I love my curves. I love my shape. I love that I look like a WOMAN. (hear me roar!) I am by no means a Marilyn Monroe (36-24-35 or something like that) but I am happy with the body that God has given me.
With all that being said, and with the effort to not yo-yo anymore in mind, I have decided that my new goal is to be a size 12, no matter what I weigh. This is probably WW heresy, and I probably won’t make lifetime, but I don’t really give a flip. I don’t want anyone else to be able to tell me when to me content with my body, and as long as I continue to eat healthy foods and exercise I will be at a healthy size then. I would much rather love my curvy body than try to lose too much and not be able to keep it up. My dad and my Kelley both have had a hard time maintaining the weight they lost, but I think they look great now. They looked too skinny when they hit lifetime. :o)
So there it is. I hope ya’ll don’t think I’m chickening out, but this decision feels right for me.
As a totally TMI side note, I believe I have figured out why I’ve maintained for the past two weeks. The first week I was on TOM, and I have just started TOM again. Unfair!! But it makes sense that I wouldn’t lose during this crazy hormonal time. There seems to be a lot of us going through this. You know how they say that women who spend a lot time together sync up? I wonder if that works with cyber relationships too? lol
Have a great OP day! :o)

playing dress up

2007-06-20T10:59:00.000-05:00

I did pretty well at following the mission statement yesterday. I drank more water and I made healthy food choices. I even managed to get my house out of CHOAS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome). When I kicked back to watch The Wonder Years (my nightly addiction) I was completely relaxed and guilt-free. It was great. I even managed to only eat three times yesterday - not that there’s anything wrong with a snack if you need it. I just wasn’t hungry the rest of the night.
My Kelley is a really good photographer, and she wants to take pictures of Jeremy and I at a new spot she has found. She said that she thinks that I should wear a sundress, but the only “sundress” I own is my Senior Class Day dress my mom made for me over six years ago. I tried it on last night, and it almost fit! It was a little tight around the tummy, and really looked ridiculously too young, but I was excited that I could wear it in another five pounds or so. (although it’ll probably stay in the closet forever) While I was at it, I also tried on my Junior Prom dress, which didn’t look too hot but I could put it on. I know it’s silly, but I’m glad to see that I’m at least getting close to the size that I was back in high school.
That’s it for today. I hope everyone has a wonderful day!!

mission statement(s)

2007-06-19T10:51:00.000-05:00

I went to WI last night and I have maintained - again! It’s disappointing and frustrating, but it’s made me realize something. I started this journey with the idea that I wanted to improve myself for my future children. To have a healthy pregnancy was my biggest motivation, but some how I’ve warped this into a vanity issue. If I were honest with myself (which I’m trying to be) I would admit that I really just want to lose weight to look good. I want to be skinny. I want to be able to wear whatever I want, and if I want to prance about in a bikini, I want to be able to with pride. There’s just one problem with that: it’s wrong. I’m sorry, it may not be wrong for you, but it’s wrong for me.
It’s one thing to want to be healthy, but it’s another to want other people to look at you and base your worth on your appearance. My husband has thought that I was beautiful all along, and other people’s opinion’s of my appearance really shouldn’t matter to me. (and for the most part, they don’t)
So, with all that being said, I’m returning to my original purpose- to learn habits that I would want my children to have. But rather than carrying on with this vague mission statement, I’ve decided to specifically list the habits that I want my children to have. (as they relate to me, of course)
1) I want my children to make good food choices. - Junk food is okay every now and then, but I want my kids to eat healthy foods on a regular basis.
2) I want my children to have an active lifestyle - watching TV isn’t a horrible thing, but watching TV all night, every night is.
3) I want my children to clean up after themselves - okay, this seems like something I would have down pat right now, but if you were to see the current state of my house you would totally understand.
4) I want my children to drink lots of water - everyone knows that most kids don’t get enough H2O, and I definitely don’t.
I think these just about sum it all up. These are the habits that I want to have. I know that if I do these things I will lose weight, but I don’t want to care so much about that anymore. I’m trying to make self-improvement my main goal, and if that also registers on the scale it’ll be an extra bonus.
So I’m going to keep on following WW’s Core plan. It’s an easy program and I can make sure that I eat well-balanced meals. I’ll still go to WI and all that jazz, but I really think that I need an “inside makeover” before I can be truly happy with the ways that I’ve changed on the outside.
Thanks for listening and have a great OP day!

yay me! :o)

2007-06-18T10:50:00.000-05:00

I’m pretty proud of myself. I was really good on Saturday at the family reunion - the only non-Core thing I ate was a tiny tiny slice of key lime pie and a tiny tiny slice of chocolate pie. They were itty bitty, but I just couldn’t pass them up. (note: last year’s reunion included me eating as much of whatever I wanted, so this is a big change) I made Penne Bake and Tomato Pie, and they were both really yum.
Sunday we ran around to see all of the dad’s, and we had dinner at my mom’s house. She made this yummy stir fry using that broccoli coleslaw stuff and I skipped everything else except the asparagus and banana bread. No, banana bread is not Core, but I had to have some. But I skipped the cream cheese. All in all it amounts to a victory, I think. I like that I’m learning (at least I think I am) to eat healthy choices while at family functions, but to allow myself a little desert so I don’t feel like such a martyr. Besides, the desert is the best part, right?
I also managed to exercise twice this weekend: car washing and swimming. All in all it was a great and busy past two days. The scale still isn’t budging, but we’ll get the official verdict tonight at WI. If I don’t lose, I know it’ll be a direct reflection of what I did or didn’t eat this past week. I went a little overboard last Tuesday night, but have tried to do damage control all week. However, I realized this morning that I haven’t been getting enough dairy or water - so that really could be the culprit. We’ll see. I’m not letting it get me down. I feel good and I’m wearing clothes that I haven’t worn in forever. I think I just got into the “wanna lose weight fast” mode with this wedding coming up, and we all know that the slower the better, right?
Have a great OP day and wish me luck tonight!

i'm a bottom-less pit with a big bottom!

2007-06-15T10:49:00.000-05:00

Honestly yesterday was kind of rough. I’ve had a dull headache since Thursday morning and I felt hungry all stinkin day long. I don’t know why - I ate foods that should keep me full, but I was starving!! I went walking with mom last night and that helped a lot. Exercise always curbs my appetite! :o)
When I got home Jeremy had already eaten so I just fixed a bowl of oatmeal. I love this stuff and it really sticks with me. Then Jeremy got a sweet tooth so I sorta had a talk with him about baking stuff that he would get on to me for eating. I told him that it was unfair, and that he should make something that was a single serving. He ended up making a oatmeal & chocolate concoction that I tried a couple of bites of, and it was pretty good. The only thing in it that wasn’t Core was the sugar - so I’m counting a point for my bites. I’m glad he worked with me.
When I first started WW, I refused to have anything in the house that I couldn’t have. I’m not so much of a nazi now, but I still can’t have my trigger foods at easy access.
We’ve got a busy weekend coming up. We’re decorating for the reunion tonight and grocery shopping for the dishes I’m making, tomorrow my in-laws will inevitably come over in the morning (they always do) and then there’s the reunion and we have to shop for Father’s Day gifts (which drives me crazy because I’m a shop ahead kind of gal, but the men’s gifts are Jeremy’s job) and then Sunday after church we are visiting all of the fathers!

Busy Busy! :o)

I hope ya'll have a great weekend!

my husband is a brave brave man

2007-06-14T10:48:00.000-05:00

I think that I’ve offhandedly mentioned before that my normally very intelligent husband has taken to supporting my weight-loss efforts by taking food away from me. Example: if we go out to eat and he orders French Fries then he’ll smack my hand if I try to reach for one. This is a semi-new habit of his, and I must admit it burns me.
I got in his car last night to go to church and there was a bag of gummy cherry thingies, and I reached into the bag to get one, and he took the bag away from me, prying the gummy out of my hand. He said, “You don’t have the points” and I said, “Yes I do.” and he said, “You ate a lot last night at the woman’s picnic, you don’t want to eat these.”
Now, I love the fact that he’s holding me accountable. It’s hard to hear, and I don’t like it (especially last week while I was on TOM and HE MADE BROWNIES FOR HIMSELF!!) but I appreciate the fact that he’s willing to risk ticking me off to help me stay OP. But come on! If he wasn’t eating so much crap, I wouldn’t be tempted by it. Then he said something like, “If I’m going to pay $40 a month for this, you’re going to stay On Program”. I think he was kidding. He better have been.
Like I said, my husband is a brave brave man. But what kinda bothers me is that my mom was like that when I was a little girl. She’d tell me that I didn’t need to eat something because she didn’t want me to get heavier. So things like ice cream and cookies were often totally off limits. So I began to sneak foods up to my room and eat at night. I really think this is what started my inappropriate relationship with food. I don’t want to start sneaking food in my own house.
Honestly - what do ya’ll think? Maybe I should talk to Jeremy and let him know that I’m scared of having a food sneaking relapse. It’s really hard for me to accept his “help” for what it is rather than thinking, “You hypocrite!”.
In other news, I stayed OP yesterday and only used 3 flexies (thanks to Jeremy!) When we got home from church we got in the pool and I worked out. Working out in the pool is so much fun because it doesn’t feel like work!

freshy-fresh start

2007-06-13T10:48:00.000-05:00

Thank ya’ll so much for all of the comments about spray tanning and maintaining. You’re so sweet! :o)
Yesterday afternoon I was invited to our church’s woman’s meeting/picnic, so I went after work armed with store bought cake and Milo’s Splenda Sweet Tea. (I brought the only store bought item, by the way) I didn’t have time to plan a healthy dish to bring, and once I got there I ate with little abandon. All of the ladies had fixed their very best dish (ie: extra butter, extra fat, etc) and I was starving, so I ate like a normal person. I didn’t really over eat too much because I looked around and noticed that no one else was still eating so I stopped! Saved by the southern belles! :o)
I have no idea how many points I had last night, but today is the beginning of my WW week, so I’m starting fresh. I have a family reunion this Saturday that I’m absolutely dreading because they’ll be so many yummy things there. I think I’m going to find a really good Core dish to bring and munch on the veggie/fruit tray that’s always there and then I might let myself try a small piece of one dessert. That way I won’t feel like too much of a martyr. :o)
Ya’ll have a great OP day!

oh well :o)

2007-06-12T10:47:00.000-05:00

I went to WI last night and maintained, like down to the last ounce. I’ve never done this before, and I’m not sure how to take it. My hubby said that he thought it was good because I’m experiencing heinous TOM, but it’s so dull that I can’t even process it. Like if I had lost I would have been excited, and had I gained I would have geared up to start kickin booty this week, but no change? It’s odd. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take it, and maybe I’ll have an extra big loss next time.
I really really want to break the 190’s so I can get some more clothes. Yesterday I said that I felt heavy, and I still do, but when I was picking out my clothes this morning I went through a pile of them because nothing fit. They were all too big. :o) I’ve never had a hard time finding an outfit because everything was too big. After years of making things work even though they may be too snug! It’s a great feeling, and I know that I’m losing something somewhere even though the scale isn’t registering it yet. Yay!
Do any of you know anything about spray on tans? I’m going to have to do something to wear this yellow dress and obviously getting a real tan is out of the question. I guess I’m lucky that I can’t tan. Since I have to be so careful out in the sun, it’s not such a hassle to me. Plus I’ve read that tanning beds are addictive.
See? There’s a silver lining to everything. :o)
Have a great OP day!

thank goodness it's monday (what?)

2007-06-11T10:47:00.000-05:00

I’m actually glad it’s Monday. It was a stressful weekend, and a major issue couldn’t be resolved until this morning. Actually, it’s still not resolved, but hopefully it will be soon. *rolls eyes* I need a vacation. :o)
I went to David’s Bridal yesterday to get my dress. I ended up getting the 16 because no matter what size I bought it would have needed to be altered and this way they’ll have more altering options. I wasn’t exactly feeling confident that I could lose enough in 6 weeks to fit into a smaller size. Maybe it was because of the stressful weekend, or because of TOM, or because the bride and the bridal consultant are stressed out enough without worrying about a bridesmaid not fitting into a dress. But, the decision’s made now and maybe they’ll just have to alter the heck out of it.
I tried on several of the dresses that was tea-length and came in Cyrena’s Canary yellow, but my original halter was my favorite, so I went with that. It was the cheapest, too. You know I love that. I think I’m the only one with that dress, so at least there won’t be some skinny girl (ie: my little sister) up there for people to compare how different the dresses look. That’s the way my mind works. :o)
I’ve gotta admit - I’ve stepped on the scale twice since I said I wouldn’t until tonight. I really was just curious because I feel really big this week. I’m sure it’s just feeling bloated and hormones because I hadn’t gained any, but I don’t expect a huge loss tonight. Just in case I wore really light clothes today. ;o)
I’m hoping tomorrow’s blog will be a little more upbeat. I just feel sorta blah. I’m sure it doesn’t help that I got up extra early this morning to send the kids off to camp before work. I’m going to bed extra early today, and by Tuesday morning
**UPDATE!!**
I just got a call from Jeremy. He said that the issue was resolved before he could walk in the bank to see what was going on.
God Is Good!! :o)

Ode to Budget Shopping

2007-06-08T10:46:00.000-05:00

I got off work early yesterday because the office was dead, so I decided to go grocery shopping. It was definitely time to go, and I’ve learned that if I let my cabinets get too empty I end up reaching for my hubby’s kiddie cereal. :oP
I didn’t want to fight the crowds at Wal-Mart, and we really needed meat, so I went to Hometown, a little mom and pop kind of hole in the wall place. It’s clean, mind you, but the building is old and the selection is limited. I like to go there sometimes, though, because they have really good looking produce (a lot of which come from local farmers) and their meat is handled there in the store (verses Wally World’s pre-packaged stuff) and they have this wonderful thing called “Pick 5″. You get 5 packages of meat (of a specific selection, of course) for $19.99. And ya’ll know me - I love a bargain. I can get fresh looking pork loin and steaks and save $5. Love it! :o)
Okay, I don’t know why I just rambled on like that (I’m obviously a carnivore) but the point of the blog is coming, I promise.
Even though Wal-Mart has cheaper prices, I’ve noticed that the last 2 times I’ve gone to Homietown that I’ve spent around $50 for a week’s worth of groceries - verses over $100 sometimes at Wal-Mart. I started thinking about why this could be, and I’ve realized a few things. Here they are. From Mrs. Cheapo to you: (not that I’m an expert…)
1) While on Core I’ve been having to really plan out my menus. Since I take the night before’s leftovers for lunch the next day, I have to plan when I’m going to use my daily starch and plan accordingly. This results in me knowing what I need and what I don’t.
2) Hometown may have a smaller selection, but that could be a good thing. Since they don’t have a ton of 100 calorie packs or 50 different tempting brands of rice cakes, I don’t end up making impulse buys, so I don’t have the extra junk in my house but more cash in my wallet.
3) Hometown is nice and quiet. I have plenty of time to wander through the aisles and really compare prices. For example: I started to reach for a gallon of skim milk, but I could actually SEE the selection well enough to realize that if I bought 2 1/2 gallons that would save about 30 cents. The 1/2 gals were on sale, but the gallons weren’t.
4) I’m less likely to run into someone I know, so I’m able to really concentrate on my mission. I can make sure and get everything on my list, and take my time making my way to the check-out instead of rushing there to avoid talking to someone I know will be hard to get away from. (you know ya’ll do it, too!)
5) The check-out lines are shorter. Enough Said!
There are a few things, of course, that I can’t get there, so Wal-Mart trips are necessary. (I love the Diet Sam’s Cola’s for some reason) but I’m trying to plan ahead for that, too, and buy like 2 weeks worth at a time.
Okay. Just thought I would share my newfound love for our little grocery store. It’s hard to find some of the cool WW friendly foods that ya’ll always mention, but at least I have a little hometown grocery store when I can find my shopping zen. :o)