Dirt, Work, and Weight

Hello - I know I haven't posted in a while. It's been so busy getting ready for vacation I haven't had a lot of time.

We got loads of dirt for the backyard. I'm so stinkin' excited about it too. It's ditch dirt and free - gotta love it. We're going to wait until mid-October and get it levelled, add some topsoild, and call it done. After 8 years, I'll be glad to be done with it, too. Right now we have about 20% of what we'd like and will settle for whatever we get. It was still coming as of yesterday.

Weighed in last night and am back to 143.8 lbs. I seem to be playing with this particular number often and have seen it several times over the past couple of months. We'll see how things go on vacay. I bought 2 boxes of WW pretzels and 3 boxes of WW bars as snacks for the next 2 weeks.

Take care.

Beans, Beans, the Magical Fruit

Well, the lower body workout got trashed because you can only let navy beans soak for so long (gee, thanks Mark) before having to feed them to the composter or cook. So, I spent time getting a pot clean and boiling the beans and putting together the necessary ingredients. I went with this recipe last night since I couldn't find mine. We're not fans of ketchup in the beans, but I was in a hurry and didn't have time to look for a good molasses only recipe.

Then it was off to read to the 10 year old. She's into 'Elf Defense'. I'm not sure about this book, and I'm hoping she get bored with it. Anyone else read it?

So, tonight I'm working around 1 hour late to get in some processing whereby I need everyone off the system. Then home to get in my lower body workout. The weather has been suck and my consumption of baked goods has been up. My home scale is up several lbs - like 7 or 8. After the wine, heat, humidity and chocolate chip oat cookies it's not a surprise. So, here's to drinking some water - Cheers.

Weekend Wipe-Outs

Wow, I'm exhausted. I've been exhausted all weekend. I was out Friday night (no booze, just visiting) and got in around 1 or a little later. Now, I got to sleep in on Saturday so that should have been enough. I was falling asleep by 7pm and struggled to function until I could get to bed. Sunday was no better. Hubby got up with the kids and I slept until 8:30, but was beat mid-afternoon. Today my eyes feel like they're popping out of their sockets.

What else did we do? Kids went for a play date and we visited a friend, who just happens to be 4 lbs from his WW goal. We haven't seen each other in a year, so we were trapsing off to see his exercise equipment and chat about the different leaders. He attends an at-work program, and I attended one of his leaders meetings. He's also been to my meetings - but we always missed each other. While there I had 3 glasses of wine. These exceeded the 2oz serving, but what the hey. Hubby planted some bushes for them and the missus picked me some greens. Yummy.

I finally made it to church on Sunday. The kids had friends over, so hubby stayed behind. I felt a little bad about leaving after having slept in, but he was good with it. Also, menu planning and the grocery list on Sunday. I went by myself - quicker that way.

And, the back yard got re-mowed. It's starting to look normal again. We need a couple more lengths of extension cord so hubby can finish clearing the back end. We worked so hard to re-claim our yard, it's discouraging to watch it grow up again. Finally, I took the 10 yo to the pool. The water was warm, but I didn't go in. She took the thermometer out of the pool and watched it drop almost 10 degrees farenheit. Crazy stuff.

Also, got in an upper body workout Saturday. I am doing reception training tonight and would like to get in a lower body session before bed, but it will be after 8:30 before I get home, so if I'm still feeling this tired, I'll be going to bed.

Take care and have a great week.

Water Retention? Clothes?

Not sure why, but the scale is way down at this weeks WI. 141.6lbs - A new number. I'll take it.

I've been the weigher-inner at 2 meetings this week. It went well. I also reviewed how to do the tally. I did a 'remote' location on Monday night (trunks, tear-down) and the base location on Wednesday night. Good stuff.

After today - there's only 2 more weeks before vacation. So MUCH to do at work before then. We're going to PEI over-night during the first week and spending the second week at the cottage. Can you say Relax. I'm looking very much forward to it.

Good-Bye Sears and 28%

Last week Sears had on their Warehouse Sale. Interestingly enough, we needed a new lawn mower. We bit the bullet and went to buy one. Mark wanted self-propelled with side and rear-bag discharges and big back wheels. I mean, he really wanted a ride-on, but this was the second choice. I had cashed in my Sears Club points for $35 in gift certificates and used them towards the purchase. The rest went on the card and then...I paid the card off. Woohoo. Thank you Sears.

Left to do: Cancel whatever insurance policy is going through that card and reduce the limit to $500. I do like this card for on-line purchases from Sears, but the 28% interest has GOT to go. I lurve Sears and can't bring myself to cancel the card - at least not yet.

The Mouths of Babes

So, last night I was telling my daughter that I lost 0.6lbs this week and would like to lose another 3.8. She asked if I was still under my goal weight, to which I told her 'Yes'. "Hmmm, It would be amazing if you lost 10 more lbs (from goal)". "Really, you think it would be amazing?" "Pfft- the way you've been eating, Yes"

OK - I've been kicked and checked. Got it. So, my food yesterday did NOT include: ice cream cake from DQ, hazelnut vanilla spread, cheeze whiz sandwich, pours of oil for frying, or donuts.

It DID include oatmeal, eggs, berries, cottage cheese, frozen lf chicken meatballs, frozen veggies, brown rice, almonds, rice cake with a skim of peanut butter, sushi, and LOTS of water.

The Goings On

This week is kind of crazy with planning a combo birthday party on Saturday. So, I have my supper meals planned out and posted by the stove top. Mark usually prepares the suppers, so I've included the meat, carb choice and veggies. Tonight is steak and I've put the meat in the fridge for him. I have my general lay-out for the days:

Meals:
Breakfasts: 5 pts oatmeal/egg mixes (berries, pb, pp, or cheese)
Morning snack: 3 pts dairy/fruit mix (cottage cheese or lf plain yogurt)
Lunches: 5 pts Meat source and green veggies (left-overs or chicken/beef stir-fry cuts, asparagus, green beans, lettuce and spinach, or snap peas)
Afternoon snack: 2 pts snack of rice cake and tuna
Way home snack: 2 pts almonds
Supper: 5 pts meat, carb and veggies (list is made for family for week)
Evening: 2 pts soy drink (or combo with pts of milk in coffee's for day)
Post-cardio/st: grapefruit/pro shake (no value assigned to activity or associated foods - it's a wash)
24 pt days. My daily points allowance is 19 + 4 for maintenance + weekly (I still have 10 left). On Thursday, the meals won't change substantially, except that I may switch out the rice cake for a Core option - especially since I've moved my carb to dinner with the family.

For my breakfast, I boil the water, add the oatmeal and egg together and stir. I later add the extra. Yesterday was blueberries and today was strawberries. Add a bit of splenda and a splash of soy drink (or not) and voila. I use 1/2C egg whites or 1 egg, depending on the day. With the egg white, it's less points (more for coffee milk and that splash of soy drink) and is a smoother texture. Hubby says he still tastes the egg, but I don't - or maybe I'm just getting used to it. I've been doing it this way almost every day for a couple of months now.

A few other things on my to do list:
Today: Get paper and do up invitations for hand out tonight and tomorrow.
Shop for party favours and prizes
Order cakes
Call Visa to get more low interest cheques
Pay off my student loan, Sears, my MasterCard and Mark's MasterCard

'Tis true, we came into a bit of funds with which I put on my Visa and will use low interest (3.99%) cheques to pay off my higher interest debts in full. The student loan is almost paid off (only a couple of months left), but has the largest cash flow effect. This will only leave the Visa - which will be a substantial amount - but over half will be at the low interest rate, so I can't complain. Kudos to planning - funny how things happen.

Happy Birthday, Little Ones

Maintenance and Core

This week was, amazingly, a 'stays the same'. Since I AM in WW maintenance, I'll take it. Yet, I would still like to lose another 4.4 lbs and get to my personal goal of 140 lbs.

SO, last night I took all my little books down to my meeting and went through them to make sure I have everything I need. I picked up a new week 1 package, since I'm missing the Getting Started book. Got a new slider and everything. I wanted to make sure I had everything, especially the Getting Started book because I've decided to try out Core. For today I'm documenting and counting.

Breakfast: 6 almonds, oatmeal, 1 egg, slice of processed cheese (6)
!st thing at work: Tims coffee (1)
10:45 am: 1/2C cottage cheese with approx. 1/2C mixed fruit (3)

Total so far is 10 pts. For lunch I have salmon, 1/2C rice and frozen veggies. Later this afternoon I have some baby carrots and 15 almonds. For supper I don't know what we're having.

Why the switch? I was following some menus I was getting from PnP. They were good and I learned a lot of new ways to eat healthfully; however, they were also extremely high in protein and, although I am working out, I don't feel I am working out to support that menu. And the bottom line - the menu was very expensive. For the summer, I have 2 kids in daycare and will be running at a deficit each month - this was adding to that deficit. I don't want to scrimp on food, and think that Core will fit into my budget and my life much easier.

Why Core? Mainly because I'm not a fan of journalling. It's been my nemisis. I've also been eating mostly Core foods anyway. I'll still be planning the weekly meals out and using that to create my weekly shopping list - so there's still the element of journalling to some extent. Also, I find I have started (the past 2 weeks) for some crazy reason, to dip into non-Core, fatty and carby items such as donuts, hazelnut vanilla spread, ice cream. My daughters have their birthdays tomorrow and their party next weekend, so this seemed as good a time as any to start a new program.

It's exciting to start a new program. You feel all energized and eager to succeed. Life is good.

I won't likely be posting again until next week. Everyone have a great weekend, and to my American readers, Happy 4th of July.