December 2012 Catch-Up

Hello. I am sorry for the long delay in posting.
 
I have been really busy and struggling with many things.
I really just needed time to get myself back on track.
 
Here is some of what I have been up to for the last month...
 

The photos above are when we were getting ready for Thanksgiving. I weigh about 194 here. I feel really good and skinny. Excited to wear skinny jeans and boots over them. This was a first for me. I received many compliments that I looked really good and to keep it up.
My son looks so adorable in his outfit with the hat and tie. He of course didn't keep the tie on for very long so I am glad I got pictures of him before.
 

My hubby was tired of me complaining about how our house smelled.
~I was letting my neighbor's dogs out for a couple of days and every time I would come back into our house, I thought it smelled. It's not like our house is disgusting or anything. I clean. I am always vacuuming and shampooing the carpets. They never seem to stay clean and I can never seem to get rid of the musty smell.~
SO...he tells me "that's it we are getting new floors for Christmas"!!! He found a great deal at a local place on laminate floors. We put in our order then headed to Red Robin for lunch. The photo above is my hubby and son at lunch. They are too cute!
 

Caleb and I went shopping for Christmas decorations and gifts at Michael's. We were having a special day together since he was going to his Grandma and Grandpa's for the whole weekend. I took him out for donuts for breakfast before hand. This was a special treat that we don't do often.
He saw a "baby" tree, that's what he called it, and asked if he could have one in his room. So we picked one out and picked up some decorations for it. Luckily, they were all on sale. Score!
We found a few things that he could make for his grandma's too.
 
 
Our niece had her baby on November 30. His name is Andrew. Isn't he adorable!!! Caleb thought he was pretty neat too!
 



December 1 we headed out for "wine country" off of highway 94. We stopped at Sugar Creek Winery and had lunch at Augusta Brewing Co. We tried a few different types of beer. Interesting that I liked the Imperial Pumpkin Porter beer the best. The only dark beer I have ever liked is Amberbach, it's not that dark though.
We continued on our journey down highway 94 and stopped at Stone hill Winery in Hermann. LOVE Hermann! Tasted a few different wines and decided on what to buy. It was getting late so we thought we should head on to the Bed in Breakfast that we needed to check-in to.
We arrived at Loganberry Inn and I realized that I lost my driver's license. Once we were settled in our room and I picked out a few movies from their movie cabinet, we called the places we stopped at to see if they found my license.
Not too long after I received a call from Augusta Brewing Company. Someone turned it in to them. We would be stopping by there on the way home. :)
The Inn was very nice and so were the owners. We just felt out of our comfort zone being in someone else's house. We walked into town to get dinner and window shopped a little. It was disappointing that many of their shops were closed early on a Saturday night. The Soda Fountain I wanted to go to closed at 6...bummer! So we walked back to the Inn to watch some movies and enjoy the gift basket I received. It had delicious, gourmet brownies, 2 different types of cheese, crackers, strawberries, grapes, and a bottle of champagne. Yum!
When we headed up stairs for breakfast, we met the other couples that were staying at the Inn. The breakfast was very good! They served ham and cheese quiche and cinnamon apple french toast. I had never had anything like them. Very fancy and elegant. My very picky hubby even enjoyed them. We had orange juice with our breakfast too.
We had a very nice weekend away.
 

(The wall is actually blue. The lighting was yellow so it looks green.)

Our floors arrived! So we pulled up the carpet in our bedroom and got to work installing the new floor. Love the color and love it so far!
 

Here is a before and after of my son's room. We originally were keeping the bedrooms carpeted but changed our minds. Rugs are so much cheaper to replace in the end.
We have completed our bedroom, Caleb's room, and the hall up to the living room. We still need to do the office and living room (which is like 2 rooms). We also need to buy new trim. The trim we tore off was cheap so hubby wanted to buy better trim. I can't wait for it to be done!

My friends and I make gingerbread houses every year in December.Caleb actually participated this year and he had so much fun putting candy all over. :)

My little stinker has not been taking naps or going to bed on time lately. I started waking him up early in the morning hoping he would nap. When I put him in his room for nap time he just plays in there the whole time. Then he falls asleep around 5-6 at night. When we move him to take him to bed he wakes up and stays up past his bed time. So one morning before I woke him, I noticed he fell asleep with his lap top open and Mickey Mouse laying on the lap top. It looks as if they had a late night at the office. lol.
 


Caleb painted ornaments and figures last week. He had a lot of fun doing this. He also sat still long enough to get his hair cut shorter then usual. He looks so handsome!

We celebrated Christmas at our first house last night. He was making Mickey and Minnie Mouse kiss. The first picture shows him making the kissing sound and the second is the hilarious face that came with the kissing sound. We laughed so hard! He's such a character!

We celebrated Christmas at our second house today. My mom had my Uncle draw this photo for me. It is my 2 dogs and my son when he was about 16-18 months old. The main photos he used for the drawing are below. I took the picture with my phone so there is a glare from the glass frame but it is so cool!

 





 

 

Now that you are caught up on what I have been up to with my family I can tell you a little about my struggles.

 

I stopped tracking and planning.

I stopped working out.

I had lots of cravings and rough days.

 

I did try to start over new every week though. I would tell myself I would drink more water this week or track every thing I ate. I also managed to stop by mid-week or something. I haven't gone completely over board but I am not eating as much vegetables or fruit as I did when I first started weight watchers.

 

I am not sleeping well at night at all. I am very restless and wake up several times during the night. I just can't seem to get comfortable. I get too hot or too cold. I toss and turn and I am so tired but can't stay asleep.

 

I didn't want to go to my weight watcher's meeting this past Saturday because I thought for sure I had gained weight. With me not tracking, not eating very healthy and not working out I thought for sure it was going to be bad. By some miracle I lost .4 lbs. Which I am very happy about but I am not happy that I am out of routine. I am trying not to be too hard on myself with it being the holidays and all. I keep saying, "when Christmas is over you can get back on track". I sure hope so. That's the plan any way.

 

My weight this Saturday was 190lbs. I have lost over 50lbs since January 2011. I am very proud of my accomplishments but I feel like I am slipping back into old ways and habits. I also think I am being too hard on myself.

 

It is hard though! Very hard! I just want to eat and have no consequences sometimes. But that's not possible.

 

I am just busy and it is the holiday's. Things will be normal again in a few days. I am not so far gone that I get back on track. I need to just enjoy the holiday's and my new "body".

 

So I will work on my plan after Christmas and see if I can get myself on a routine.

 

I did buy a dress for my hubby's holiday work party in February. It's a size large and it was on sale for $33. I need to find shoes to go with it but it is so nice! I still can't believe I can wear large in pants and shirts. It so surreal!

 

I need to keep focused on fitting into the dress I ordered at the end of November. It's a European size 16 which measures a little smaller than my current size. I'm thinking of making up a visual that I can see every day to remind me of what I need to fit into.

 

Oh yea and I bought a size 12 pair of skinny jeans that fit but are just a tad snug. I could try to work towards fitting into those better too.

 

My boys are watching Cars (Caleb's first time watching) so I better get off here and join them.

 

Until next time...

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

 

  

 



 

Weigh-In Day Saturday

Happy Saturday!

Well I weighed in this morning.

My weight: 196.8.

I gained for the first time since August. I feel like I deserved so much more of a gain with how bad I felt my week was.

I also figured my time was coming after doing so well for so long...I just need to get back on track.

I went to bed pretty late last night and I am very, very tired today. That seems to be happening a lot lately.

I had an apple and a WW string cheese during the meeting. With a bottle of 25oz water.

After my weigh-in and meeting I found out my husband got  a doe!!! Woo Hoo! I am so happy for him! He didn't get one last yeara because it was just too warm and windy. I felt like he was getting discouraged and he enjoys hunting so I didn't want to see him down. Wishing him luck on getting a buck! :)
Caleb and I went to Bread Co/Panera with Bobbie. I had their breakfast power sandwich. It is a half sandwich made with whole grain bread, ham, cheese, and an egg. It is so good and filling! I also had a mocha latte made with skim milk and no whipped cream.

We headed home to meet my niece. She is due to have her baby boy around the 28th!!! I am so excited for her and her husband! She wanted to drop off her house key so when she does go into labor we can pick up her Collie to take care of while she is in the hospital.

We visited for a while and after she left I made a bean burrito with 2% cheese. I didn't finish it all. I also shared a slice of the HG Chocolate Cake that I made the other night with Caleb. We didn't finish it.

I also finished the fudge covered pretzels and the cracker jacks.

I tried to take a nap and so did Caleb...that did not happen. :/

We went to my nieces house to see the baby's room. So adorable and loved the colors of green & orange. It made me excited to think about a future little brother or sister for Caleb.

We visited for a while and left to grab some dinner. On the way home Caleb fell asleep so I put him to bed. Unfortunately it was 6:30pm and I knew he would wake up later and be up for a while...

I had 1 Jack In The Box taco and 3 Jalepeno poppers with ff ranch. Full. I also had a chocolate shake with no whipped cream to help with my sore throat. My sinuses and allergies sure took off like a rocket today...BTW...I have been sniffling, sneezing, and sinus pain/headache too.

My friend Becky stopped by to watch a movie with me. I feel so special that she has came by 2 weekends in a row. :) We were going to watch Now & Then..great movie! I couldn't find it any where. So we settled on Practical Magic. Another great movie!

I was getting super sleepy but I chatted for a while with my friend before she left. Right as I was waving good-bye to her, Caleb woke up...10pm. Poor guy looked as tired as I felt. I got him some milk and I heated up his dinner. Of course he didn't want it and sat on the floor and whined about nothing for 10 minutes. Sigh...I wanted to join him.

I think it is only because it was late and I needed to stay up for a little while with Caleb that I decided to eat a package of brown sugar pop tarts with milk.

This needs to stop!

I turned on 90210 to finish catching up on last season and started to read a few of your blogs.

So tomorrow being Sunday...After I catch up on sleep, I need to walk and plan out my meals for the week.

Pretend I am a new WW's member. :) Today wasn't so bad but I just need to start controling myself again. It will be better when I have a clear head and sleep tomorrow.

Have a good evening!

I Wanna Do Bad Things To You...My Weight Loss that is

Hello Everyone!

Any TrueBlood Fans out there? Anyone? No?

So Halloween and my Birthday have come and gone.

So has my self control and motivation. YIKES!

Let's just say I made very little attempts to actually stay focused this week.

I had left over Peanut Butter Chewies that my mom made me. I ended up having to throw them away. I couldn't stop eating them and they aren't very good after a few days, even when stored in a container.

I had my son's Halloween candy out on the counter.

I ate pizza Saturday night. I did order the thin crust, garden veggie. Then I had a glass of wine.

My knees were bothering me and so I only walked once this week.

I had a Jack In The Box Ultimate Cheeseburger, no sauce. With curly fries and ketchup.

I ate left over pizza then 2 hours later, even though I wasn't hungry, ate chicken fajitas. I only had 2 and only 4-5 chips with salsa. I was miserable though.

I decided to buy Oreos one day this week. So all 3 of us plowed right in to them...No portion control.

I also decided, at one point before bedtime, that I wanted a Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Pop Tart. I heated that up and drank milk with it. I was satisfied with my craving and very full afterwards.

I did sit down and make up a meal plan for the week and followed through with it for a few of the days.

I have had a few spoonfuls of the "real" chocolate icing left over from the HG Chocolate Cake I made. I would just have a spoonful or I would add some to the slice of cake. Luckily there are only 8 slices and the kids had 1 each so that only happened once. But still...

I had a cute outfit on today though. Size 14 American Eagle capri's and a size Large top. Hair was unruly and I had no make-up on in the photo but all-in-all it was cute. Oh and I also wore one of my new bras. Not sure I like it so much though which bums me out. Lets just say the girls were not staying in place and that's just frustrating.

Cute story about the capri's. I was sitting on the front stoop waiting for the kids to get off the school bus, wearing these capri's. My son was outside and came up to me. He said; "Mommy, you leg coming through you pants" as he points to the holes in the kness of my jeans with a very concerned look on his face. I said to him, "yes, buddy. I bought them that way". He replies, as he rides away on his bike still looking concerned, "poor mommy". LMBO! It was like he was thinking A)I can't afford jeans without holes or B) I paid money for jeans with holes and it doesn't make sense to him. Eiher way I was dying! He is truly Awesome!!!

 While we were out today...my son talked me into buying him a batman cave. Here he was taking a gold fish break. You can see the Yellow and Blue snack up just in front of the toy, if you look close. hehe

Tonight...UGH! I did well this morning. Oatmeal (not instant). Lunch was Subway's Tuscan chicken Melt with no sauce. *This is where it goes down hill...
1 small bag of Ruffles Sour Cream and Cheddar chips. Almost and entire bag of Rold Gold Fudge Coated Pretzels. A healthy handful of Cracker Jacks Originals. About 4oz of of Blush Wine from Crown Valley. About 8oz of Barefoot Moscato.

I tried the new recipe that I posted about earlier, Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells. They were not as good as I had hoped. I am curious if it could have been because I was still full from my binge this afternoon. SO I wrapped that up and put it in the fridge. Then I made 1/2 cup of refried beans with WW mexican blend cheese, whole grain scoops, and 1/2 cup of pace medium salsa. I drank a diet cherry pepsi. UGH SO FULL but didn't stop. Old habits die hard!!!

I weigh-in tomorrow morning. I stepped on the scale this morning and it read 194 lbs...that is down from last saturday but I am pretty sure after tonight it will be up by morning.

I should note how I feel and maybe if I decide to do this again, I can go back and see why I don't want to do this again...

I feel like BLAH! I don't feel well. I feel heavy and tired. (It is late and I need to go to bed). I am not motivated and most definitely Dehydrated.

I am pretty sure I read somewhere...If you eat like crap you will feel like crap. That is Happening right here and now!

SO Lesson Learned...I still have a lot of learning to do. I am still on this journey to learn how to make healthy choices and still be able to indulge on things I love in reasonable portions. I am still a work in progress and I am going to have bad days and weeks. The important thing is how I learn from them and pick up and move forward.

Whether the scale in the morning says I gained or stayed the same or (by some miracle) lost weight. It is a new day. A fresh start and a new opportunity. I am in control. Food does not control me.

I just need to refocus and remind myself why I am doing this and how bad I really want it.

One good thing and maybe it will help me get going...

My husband referred to me as "Skinny", "Tiny", "Sexy", and "Hot" within the last few weeks and on more than one occasion. ***Sorry if this was TMI for some lol.

But hearing my husband say those words to me made me feel exactly the definition of each word. I want to keep feeling that way.

Don't let this week keep me from what I want. It's done. It's over. Move forward.

It is time for bed...otherwise I may repeat myself again and again.

Night All!

Monday and Tuesday

Monday

Monday wasn't so bad. I felt a little better when I woke up and thought well I can get my run/walking in during Caleb's nap today, no problem.
Got Caleb in to big boy underwear when he woke up. He did very well. He had an accident because he couldn't get to the bathroom fast enough. Poor guy.
I was finishing up some laundry from yesterday and picking up around the house. Then checking in with him to see if he had to potty.
I haven't watched the final Teen Mom Check-In part 2, so I turned that on in the office.
I decided to do crunches and push-ups while I watched the show.
I felt like I did pretty good. I did 10 sets of push-ups, 5 times each and 40 crunches 5 times each. I switched back and forth between push-ups and sit ups.
My little buddy did them with me. It was so cute watching him try to do push-ups and sit ups like I did. LOVE HIM!!! He would yell 1...2...3...GO!!! He can push me to keep going any time. LOL.
So I was a little sweaty and felt pretty good after I was done. I logged them on WW's app and was bummed when I saw that you had to log these type of workouts by minutes. I barely did 5 minutes each, I didn't keep track of the time. So I just put 5 minutes for both and a big fat "0" points was given. OH Gee thanks! I am not going to worry too much about it though because I am sore today from it and I know I had to have done something whether I made "activity points or not". I'll take the soreness! :)
Back to Caleb... He still did great. I decided to start making a "Work-Out Playlist" so I did that. Checked on him. He was sitting on the floor, kind of. I asked if he was sure he didn't want to go potty. He got very mad at me. Then I figured he probably went. I was right. As soon as I lifted him up I smelled it. YUCK! So I took him to the bathroom and stripped him down.
UGH! Cleaning out poopy underwear is so gross! I know it is part of the process and all. He usually does really well but he has bad days here and there.
Any who...cleaned him up, Started more laundry to wash the dirty underwear. Laid him down for a nap. Then a friend of mine called. I talked to her for a bit then went to get ready to walk. While changing I started coughing and it wouldn't stop. GREAT! So I didn't walk yesterday. I thought I would feel better later in the evening but I didn't and I got caught up in my playlist.
I had the roast I made Sunday for dinner. It was so good! Oh yea, it wasn't done in time for dinner on Sunday night. We were so bummed! Darn potatoes were not done.
We watched the new season of Boardwalk Empire on HBO GO.
Discovered that my dogs had played "grab ass"...what I call it when they both attack & chase each other all through the house...on our bed last night because the few items of clothes I had out on the bed were messed up. Some of the clothes were even thrown from the bed, across the room, to the floor. SERIOUSLY?!?! Plus since it was muddy out they had left mud chunks all over the bed and all over the floor. AWESOME!
I do love my dogs, even if they drive me crazy sometimes! Wouldn't trade them for the world!

Here is a photo of my 2 Aussie's from today. Aly is red and Brandi is black.

Tuesday

My alarm went off and I actually stayed up for once. A little disoriented but awake, so I watched the news. Probably the worst thing for me to do because I always here or read something on the news that peeks my interest and then I never hear about it. Then I think I am crazy and seeing/hearing things. Oh well...
Jerry is running a little late this morning. He comes to tell me bye and heads for the door. Then I hear, "Oh shit!". I'm thinking, Oh no, now what?
I go in to the living room and he's in the kitchen wiping his shoe. He stepped on a dog terd. Fantastic! He tracked it all through the house. Luckily the terd itself landed in the kitchen but there was a nice trail of poo marks from my bed side out of our room, down the hallway, through the living room and into the kitchen.
That is exactly what I wanted to do today, shampoo carpets. Especially since I had just shampooed them about 2 weeks ago. I will do that after my walk/jog this morning.
So my dogs get what we call "clingers"...it's when they go poop and forget to pinch off the last bit and come into the house. Then they realize something's not right with their butt so they take care of themselves, therefore leaving behind a nice turd on the floor. I can only assume that is what happened here this morning but I must have been from last night since Jerry tracked it all the way from our bedroom to the kitchen.
Now I am up so I get ready for my day. Take my medicine so I can eat in half an hour or so. Then wait for the kids. Meanwhile, the dogs wanted to go ouside so I let them out. Then Caleb woke up. He was in a cuddly mood so he sat on my lap while I completed my food tracking from yesterday. I love these cuddly times! He is so sweet!
The kids arrived and the dogs came in...then I noticed mud all over the carpets. At first I asked if the kids had stepped in mud but then realized it was Brandi, my black dog. GREAT! Good thing I already have to shampoo carpets later. I figured I'd let the mud dry and then vacuum before I shampooed.
Once the kids are on the bus to school, I take Caleb in to get big boy underwear on. Then we have breakfast. He did well except he had an accident as he was coming down the hall to tell me he need to go "pee pee". So I set him on the toilet. He ended up pooping on the toilet which is so great! I just know that everytime he has to go poop he pees a little. I am sure the feelings are confusing still and he parts are still developing and all. He will get it though. All in all I am very proud of him for being so young and going potty most of the time on the toilet.
We headed downstairs so I could get my walking/run in for the day. Caleb was excited to play with his toys downstairs.
Earlier this year we fixed up a play area for him and the kids I babysit. It's nice for me too because I watch TV or a movie while I walk/run if I want. I'll probably blog about my run on it's own.
When I was finished we headed up stairs so I could vacuum and shampoo the carpets. Caleb played in his room for the most part, while I did that. I had the apple tv on playing my playlist so our pictures pop up as our screen saver. He likes to sit and watch the pictures come up. It's cute!
After I finished shampooing, I showered and we had lunch.
I feel guilty that I have worked with Caleb on anything educational the past few weeks. I usually try to get in some reading and go over his shapes and colors in the mornings. But he likes to watch PBS in the mornings too which they have educational shows on so he is still learning something at least.
I will figure out a good routine.
Until next time. Have a great rest of your TUESDAY!

Do you have pets? Do you have children? How do you manage your time?

Quote of the Day:

It takes 4 weeks for you to notice your body changing.

8 weeks for your friends

and 12 weeks for the rest of the world.

Give it 12 weeks. Don't Quit.