New Year's Resolutions!

Hello!

I suck at blogging, or so it would seem, since this is my first post in a lot of years....  

Today is December 30, 2015... 2016 is right around the corner and so it is time for me to make some New Year's Resolutions and see how long they last!

1.  Blog.   Yeah, you know, more frequently than once every 4 years.  I'd like to really get this blog going as well as my crafty blog and actually feel a bit more accomplished.  We will see!

2.  Physical Health -- Weight loss.  Everyone says it.  No one follows thru.  This blog started as a weight loss journal and so it will remain, among other Truths, naturally!  The good news is that I'm not much heavier than I was when I abandoned this blog last.  That means that I haven't been on a huge weight gain binge over the past few years.  Right?  Look for a New Year's Day weigh in right here!  I'll be using the 21 Day Fix diet, which I have used in the past, but never blogged about.  Stay tuned!

3.  Spiritual Health.  I want to start doing a regular Bible study.  Nothing too big, just a one on one devotional between God and me.  I want to go back to some of the basics that I left behind years ago.  That also means attending church more often.  I want the kids to go, too.

4.  Mental Health.  Curse less, be more patient, be more accepting, be happier.  Accept that I am allowed to be happy.  Don't sweat the small stuff.

5.  Help out the Hubby more.  Poor hubs.  Love him to death and he does so much for our family.  I work all day and am too tired to do anything at night.  It isn't fair to him.  I need to find the willpower to muscle through and help him out more around the house.

There you have it!  2016 Resolutions!

Wish me luck!

Today is a New Day!

My daughter has been watching the movie, Chicken Little, a lot lately. It’s her new favorite and a welcome change from the endless barrage of Disney Princesses and Tinkerbell. If you don’t know the Disney retelling of this classic tale, it deals with the family embarrassment over Chicken Little’s “mistake” that the sky is falling. His father just doesn’t believe in him anymore. Chicken Little, in his desire to make his father proud of him, proclaims, “Today is a new day!”

Today is a new day for my weight loss adventure. After my last ‘restart,’ I faced a whirlwind of stress that led me to total abandonment. Today, I’m starting fresh with a new goal.

Beginning Weight: 260.8 (OUCH!)

My heaviest yet, including when I was pregnant.

First Goal: 20 weeks/40 pounds. So, the anticipation is to weigh no more than 220 on Sept. 3, 2012.

Is that too lofty? Probably. As always, I have a plan! I spent the past week or so reviewing my weight loss past. When I do plans like Weight Watchers or fad diets I always lose a little… then I find it again, and it brings friends to the party. Yeah… not my idea of a good time.

Then, I remember what happened when I was pregnant. I had gestational diabetes. I controlled it with a diabetic diet. I gained less than 5 pounds for each of my two pregnancies and after giving birth, dropped a whopping 40 + pounds within a week. Basically, had I not been carrying a child that kept on growing, I probably would have been losing weight. So, I’m going to try a diabetic diet in conjunction with Weight Watchers points.

Yeah. I have no idea if it will work, but I’m going to try. I’m also going to try to add exercise in the mix. What it comes down to the bare facts, I need to move my butt if I want it to shrink. Nuff said.

On the embarrassment end of things: I went to an Easter egg hunt with my girls this past Saturday. When we got home, my husband said, “Burn that shirt, it makes your tummy hang out like a bad piece of white trash.” Yay… ‘cause THAT is the look I was going for. UGH!

Someone pass me a salad.

I'm Dreaming of a White Halloween!

Welcome to the wacky weather of Pennsylvania!

For the first time since 1925, we have experienced a snowstorm in Eastern, PA, in OCTOBER. The last time this happened, our area was hit with 2.2 inches of snow. This time: 8 in my back yard. Just in case that wasn't enough to mess up Halloween plans, I would like to present you with 30 hours without power (and counting). Since the power went out at 3:00 pm on October 29, 2011, we have been given the following estimations of the time the power will be restored (in order accordance to the time we called):

• 10/29 - 7:15 PM


• 10/30 - 10:00 AM


• 10/29 - 10:30 PM (for the record, they were right on this one, except it only lasted for about 5 mins.)


• 10/30 - 3:00 PM


• 10/30 - 3:00 PM (given at 4:00 PM on 10/30)


• 10/31 - 3:00 PM
  

*sigh*

Here I am, just a few blocks from my house, in a hotel that jacked up their prices to take advantage of the town being without power. Did I mention that have two adorable little girls with me who are driving us UP A WALL????

My eldest, wants to play in the snow. You don't have to ask her, she'll tell you. TRUST ME, it's the only thing she can think of. The little one, Ms. Autistic-must-have-everything-just-the-way-it-always-is, is having issues. We are rather impressed at how she is handling things, but she hasn't slept in a LONG TIME.

Diet/Lifestyle news: Right, like there's any way to diet when you can't cook and are freezing, and stressed out the wazoo! Friends, I assure you that we went OUT for breakfast, had peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, and PIZZA with DORITOS for dinner. Oh, and hubs and I decided that the best way to save the ice cream in the freezer would be to eat it as it melts. So... yeah... not looking forward to the scale.

As for the child desperate to play in the snow???? She made a snow pumpkin -- with a little help from mom.

Weigh In

Weight: 255.4

Weekly Difference: -0.2
Total Difference: -1.6

Not bad for this week. I've had a full week of chocolate and other indulgences. It's hard to diet with all the Halloween candy floating around!! I also baked cupcakes for a party I threw for my knitting ladies. We always have a good time!

I'm very busy today with school and work... I hope to blog more tonight.

Stay Tuned!

Weigh In

Weight: 255.6

Weekly Difference: -1.4
Total Difference: -1.4

SMALL SUCCESS!

Reflection of the week:

I'm incredibly pleased with this progress. This past weekend found me throwing the diet to the dogs as I participated in a bachelorette party weekend! WOOT!
WHAT A WEEKEND!!! I have to tell you about a wonderful salon in Rehoboth Beach, DE called Bad Hair Day!!! First, I must ask, WHY DON'T WE HAVE ONE OF THOSE IN PA???? I am in love. Truly in love.

Should you ever make your way to Rehoboth for a day of pampering, you must go to Bad Hair Day (BHD) and get your hair washed. I know that sounds silly... but you need to do it.

SKYLAR!!!

Skylar is a young, attractive man who washes hair at BHD (one of many). First, he kicks your feet out like a lounge chair and squirts some lotion on your hands. In his sexiest voice he says, "Rub it in for me, dear." Commence melting into a puddle of goo on the floor. Skylar then wraps your hands with hot towels to allow the lotion to do it's work.

The next step is a simple hair wash followed by the same Skylar voice asking if you would like cucumber slices on your eyes. Over the cool cucumbers, he lays another hot towel over your eyes. At this point, I assumed I would simply relax for a few minutes for the cukes to do their magic... nay nay!!!

As you lay there enjoying the sensations in your eyes, you feel two strong hands beginning to massage your temples. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... Then, Skylar gives the best head massage you could ever image. I'm talking about a curled toes experience!!!

Sadly, it all comes to an end eventually, when he rinses your scalp, removes the towel and cucumbers, and gently cleans your hands. He then walks you to your stylist and brings you a tasty drink (in my case, wine).

Ahhhhhhhhhhh.......

In our group of 5, 4 of us enjoyed Skylar's attentive skills on our heads. We decided collectively that he needed to come home with us. We can rotate him among us so that every 5 days we will have him to wash our hair. He can live in the closet... I'm sure he doesn't eat much! I regret that I didn't get his picture for the blog!!!!

The night that followed our salon experience was a night of reckless eating, drinking, and dancing. I'd like to believe that I danced enough to work off the bad food, but the scale doesn't reflect what I had hoped. We had a great time celebrating the end of being single with our dearest friend, Duckie (a nickname, of course). Bless her, she had a blasty blast!!!!

Stress Eating

Yep... I'm a stress eater. I've known that for a while now. The question is how to combat it. Last night, as is normal for most nights, I put the children to bed and went straight to the fridge. I honestly don't even remember what I ate. (mental note: start logging food intake)

Here's my typical day.....

Butt crack of dawn:

1. Wake up to child climbing in bed with me and chattering about everything under the sun.


2. Get up.


3. Feed children.


4. While they eat, dress myself.


5. Clean and dress children


6. Wake husband (not an easy task)


7. Pry children off of legs while I attempt to leave for work.

At work:

1. Answer the phone and deal with unhappy, screaming person who has lost money in the stock market.


2. Repeat step 1 for the next 8 hours.

Returning home:

1. Greet children at the door.


2. Send husband to bed.


3. Feed children (note: feeding children rarely includes feeding self)


4. Break up fights between children.


5. Follow the bedtime routine to the letter in attempt to not disrupt the delicate nature of my autistic daughter.


6. Wake husband to go to work.


7. Repeat step 6 about 5 times.


8. Put eldest child back in bed.


9. Repeat step 8 about 3 times.


10. Kiss husband goodbye.


11. RAID FRIDGE.

The last few hours of the day are spent doing homework for my graduate level classes, laundry, light clean up, and squeezing in some valuable knitting/TV time. I'm very fortunate that my dearest husband does most of the cleaning while he is home during the day. He's a very good man.

Now... remind me again why I'm stressed? Better yet, give me an idea as to how to NOT eat when stressed? I've avoided a lot of the stress eating by picking up a fiber project when I get the urge to chow down, but it doesn't always work. It's too easy to knit one, purl two , pop a few candy corns, knit one, purl two, etc.

This is my day to day life. I've got to find a better way to fight the stress. Any ideas?

Success and Failure

What exactly measures a success? What is a failure?



Yesterday's perceived successes: Yogurt for breakfast, Salad in the afternoon, Weight Watchers meal for dinner.



Yesterday's perceived failures: Mindless and random attack of candy corn, raspberry shortbread cookies (yes, as good as it sounds), and lack of exercise.



These successes and failures are perceived because I'm not sure how good or bad they were. Yogurt, salad, and diet food are clear enough, but should I be concerned about how much dressing I used or carb contents? Candy and cookies - ok, definitively bad, but I caught myself with the candy corn just as the second piece touched my tongue and thought, "What am I doing?" The cookie... well... they're just really good and my kids and hubs don't like them. What else can I do?



In earlier diet attempts, the key to success was in keeping contraband (sweets, high fat, high carb, etc.) out of the house. With kids, I don't have that luxury. I'm going to have to test my inner strength even more.





On a lighter note: I decided to research Christian weight loss programs. I thought that perhaps the answers could be found in the Bible, since it is God's life lesson book! Every plan I found online bore the same message -- You are a SINNER for being FAT because you are a GLUTTON. One website indicated that the bulk of women in a church family are overweight because the church is the only entity that will accept them as they are. The ideas behind these "plans" involve massive amounts of Christian guilt, fire and brimstone, and the fury of the Father. One book was titled, "You're a big FAT sinner and it's time somebody told you the truth."



I believe that God is patient, kind, loving, and above all, forgiving. I don't know that the BIG FAT SINNER approach is going to be effective for me.

Since I have determined that there is a psychological reason for my obesity that needs to be cured, I have decided to give it to God. Who else can heal the spirit and psyche? I'm not going to follow the GUILT approach, but I am going to pray. A lot.

Can I get an AMEN from the choir??!??