Festively Plump

Seeing Results!

2012-01-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

A three day weekend is simply glorious, no matter what age you are. Today I had a houseful, with five 12/13 yr-old girls and my 6 year old son. I love our big old house-the kiddos can run free and do their thing, it was a mild day so they were in and out, and amazingly no one fought! (A miracle for sensitive tweens and teens.)

I am amazed at the results of my working out. I have been sweating it out T/Th/S at P31 since mid-December and I am really starting to notice changes! My booty is higher and firmer, my abs are THERE under my chub ;), and I am able to do SO. MUCH. MORE. than just a few weeks ago.

The first night I was there, one of the exercises was called Up and Overs. You lie flat on your back, sit straight up, lean over to touch your toes, lie back flat, extend one leg up to the ceiling, then the other leg.

That was one rep out of 12.

I tried to do one. I strained and pushed and heaved, just trying to sit up. Not pretty I'm sure! But it straight up wasn't happening.

Well, fast forward a couple of weeks, and I did TWO. I felt like a fitness god. That was a visible result!

Last Thursday? I did Every. Fricking. One.

UNBELIEVABLE.

My eating is not where it should be, and I know that's why I'm not seeing the number of the scale move that much. I have lost about 10 lbs since Christmas, and I'll take that! But working out with this group of ladies is changing me. Skipping a workout is just not an option-I would miss it! I feel so much more energy and stamina. I am so proud to be in this place right now, and I know it's only going to get better.

Determination

2012-01-05T07:12:00.000-08:00

“Paths clear for those who know where they’re going and are determined to get there.”

― Anonymous

Are you going to get there?

Kicking Off 2012

2012-01-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

What an awesome Monday.

Small victories first of all: Last night the family was going to the movies. We stopped for supper, and having a 6 year old in the car means McDonald's is always in demand. Instead of giving in the the Golden Arches, I went to Subway thankyaverymuch. Also at the movies I had a small popcorn, no butter, aqua and that was it! Go me!

Today I was a water chugging, tuna eating, fresh fruit grabbing machine. I did an hour at the gym and feel like a beast :)

Tomorrow the real world hits: i.e. the kids come back to school! But I have my plan, my lunch packed, my gym bag in the car. I am ready.

I Resolve not to Resolute

2012-01-01T21:27:00.000-08:00

I am such a sucker for New Year's. I love the idea of starting fresh, a clean slate. (A new journal gives me the same thrill.)I also have a track history of failing miserably at a lengthy and wishy-washy set of resolutions I made every year.This year is different-I am NOT making resolutions.To me, when you make a mistake, your resolution is broken. Period, end of story.Goals, on the other hand, are more flexible. Bad day? Try again tomorrow. Semantics? Yeah, maybe, but it works for me! The past few days I have been soul searching and goal setting. I feel centered and strong. I feel more in control than I have in a long time. Also, although I've been MIA for awhile, I've been busy. In fact, I've have been working out three times a week with an amazing group of ladies (P31 fitness-it's changing my life!)So my fitness goals:Continue P31 fitness 3x/week.Compete in multiple 5k races (minimum 3).Plan all of my meals each weekTrack all of my meals.Blog consistently.I am so proud that I didn't wait for the New Year to begin working out-I started almost a month ago! I am doing dozens of push-ups, single leg squats, 90 second planks-I'm a beast!! 2012 is MY year. It is a year for change, for lasting results, for ME. I am ready!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T19:16:00.001-08:00

Blogging from a Kindle Fire-man I love living in the future!!

It's so cliche to wax poetic about how much I love this time of year. I love spending time with my husband & kids. I love visiting my sister and family, and Christmas morning with little kids is so special.

My amazing family!!!!!!!

Rocking 'n Rolling

2011-10-15T05:50:00.000-07:00

Two days running I have tried to blog and fallen asleep!

More sleep=good. No blogging= not so good.

I have been ROCKING the eating this week. And I'm feeling really good! Who knew eating tons of veggies ad fruits would equal me feeling better? ;)

I can't wait for my official weigh-in Monday. It's gonna be great.

Now it's time to go pick up trash with my Student Council group. Go service hours!!

Clean Eating. . . Except When I Fail

2011-10-12T18:23:00.000-07:00

Track, track, tracking away this week.

I meant to blog yesterday but I fell asleep. Hate when that happens!

I was super proud of myself yesterday because we ate out and I still came under calories (by quite a bit). Go me. And yay for Wendy's for having decent things to eat :)

This week I have been avoiding processed food. I have been eating so many fruits and vegetables! I figure if it came from the earth, it's probably good for me. Today was scrambled eggs, an apple, a spinach salad, artichoke hearts, french onion soup, walnuts, grapes, pork tenderloin, roasted red potatoes and cauliflower. So much food! So darn delicious.

Of course, after two days of 'clean' eating I totally slipped up today. I fell asleep on the couch for about 20 minutes. I woke up cranky, thirsty, and hungry. Dinner was still 30 minutes from being done. I glanced in my fridge-nothing I wanted. Glanced in the pantry-hmmmm. . . Fritos. . . I had a 30 second discussion in my head:

Rational me: I'm not eating processed junk.
Hungry, cranky me: I can have anything. . . in MODERATION.
Rational me: Not junk.
Hungry, cranky me: I want it!!!!!!!
Rational me: No junk-how about another apple?
Hungry, cranky me: Friiiiiiiiiitos!
Rational me: How about-
Hungry, cranky me: Friiiiiiiiiiiiiitos!

At this point my inner monologue was drowned out by the crunching of Fritos. Epic fail! I did put in the tracker, and I still came in at 1800 calories today. I'll take it.

The fact is Fritos are going to happen occasionally. Looking at it rationally, I know I was super tired and just eating to try and get some quick energy. Not a good choice, but it was what it was. It's in the past, and I'm moving on.

Have an awesome night you weight loss winners. I'm off to snuggle with some adorable kids :)

I am DONE

2011-10-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

In some ways I feel inauthentic as a blogger. I have been away for so long, yet I think about my poor piddling little blog EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

I don't b log because

I'm busy
I'm tired
I don't have anything good to say
I don't have time to read others' blogs
I don't want to repeat myself

and on. . . and on. . . and on.

So here I am. Back to work, settling into my routine (as best I can.)

At my highest weight ever.

Just writing that makes me want to cry. I HATE that I am gaining weight again. But when I look at my habits, it's not surprising. We are eating out 2-3 times per week. I have been buying sodas-I NEVER buy sodas! Working out-a distant memory.

I am going on a trip in March to Washington, DC. I am going to lose weight before I get there. Period. End of story.

I am done with putting junk in my body. I am done with added sugars and preservatives and dyes and chemicals that are supposed to taste good. I have shopped and stocked my fridge.

The fact after months I still have 90+ followers is amazing to me. I think support is vital, and I am committed to opening myself up, getting to the bottom of my eating problems, and finally moving onto the life I want.

I am DONE being the fat girl.

NEW BLOG!!

2011-06-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

First of a HUGE thank you to the sweet comments on my last post. Your support means so much in regards to me getting back on track :)

Exciting news!! I done gots me a new blog :)

http://ramblingreadereats.wordpress.com/

I haven't really liked Bloggers interface for awhile and some friends suggested Wordpress. It was super simple to set up and I LOVE the dashboard. VERY simple to use. I also ported all my posts/comments

I am afraid of losing bloggy friends though :( But hopefully it will be easy to find me over there!

Lost My Mojo

2011-05-12T06:48:00.000-07:00

One month ago I was excited about working out. I was eating right everyday, staying away from booze, and structuring my life around getting healthy.

What the hell has happened?

The last two weeks have been a blur. I'm too tired to cook so we've been eating out(excuse). It's been too hot to walk outside (excuse). A glass of wine, or three, is a great way to de-stress (EXCUSE).

I'm full of excuses and severely lacking motivation. My pants are tight again. The ten pounds I lost? Right back on my ass. I'm feeling weepy and emotional and unstable and unhealthy.

What is wrong with me?

Mother's Day Edition in Pics

2011-05-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

Hi Mom! We made breakfast!

But you only get one smile.

Mmmmm. Breakfast.

Now I'm going to throw sticks.

And they're gonna play sissy Barbies.

Wait! There's cake?!

Sweet.

50 degrees in May

2011-05-02T19:34:00.000-07:00

As I sit here in flannel jammies, listening to the heater rumble, it's hard to believe it is the second day in May. Two days ago I was sweating it out at the park; tonight is supposed to be 37 degrees o_O Veeery unusual for this neck o' the woods.

April was good to me. I started an awesome exercise regime and lost a whopping 10 lbs in the process. Ahhh the sweet smell of success.

Hubby and I had a $100 bet going last month, which he conceded to me, and it's on again this month! This time we are divvying it up-$50 bucks for coming under calorie goal the most days, and another $50 for the most exercise minutes. I'm hoping this will be keep me going on the exercise wagon-it's still my weak area.

I joined "10K a Day (in May!)" which I am super excited about. That cutie Jenn over at Watch My Butt Shrink is hosting it, and I am ready to win it! Errr. . . win something. Or nothing. I'm just excited to be tracking my steps.

I am so, so, so excited it is almost summer. Our school lets kids out 9 days early if they have good behavior/grades/etc, so I have 16 work days with the majority of my students. Glory glory hallelujah! I am in desperate need of a vacation.

I'm just looking forward to *time.* Time to read, write, work out, without skimping any other areas. I'm just so rushed all the time. I am ready to relax.

Well, that does it for. I'm going to visit a few blogs-woohoo!!

Till next time-

Val

Humiliation

2011-04-21T18:09:00.000-07:00

Last night the fam went out to celebrate. I got my TAKS results (state testing) and they were great. My daughter also made a 100 on her reading test! Pretty awesome :)

Plan was dinner and a movie, so we ate and went to see Rio. I was standing off to the side, wrapping up a cell conversation with my brother. A college girl, who had been behind us in line, spots me across the lobby and starts to smirk.

In my mind, I was thinking, "There is NO WAY that girl is looking at me. Quit over-reacting." Before I could talk myself down, she had called two friends over, whispered to them, and then they ALL THREE TURNED AND LAUGHED.

Oh yeah. That happened.

I was completely stunned. I glared at them as hard as I could, and said goodbye to my brother, but I could feel my pulse start to race and face going red.

My hubby, kids and I started walking toward the theater, and my husband noticed my face and asked, "What is wrong?!" I guess I looked a bit upset.

The girls were behind me so I quite loudly pronounced, "Those bitches behind me are what is wrong!"

I heard a gasp from behind and a low voice, "Did she just call us bitches?"

I turned and glared, daring them to say something. I was so angry, I almost wanted them to.

They didn't meet my eye, but stared down at the ground, and went quickly to their movie.

When we got into the theater though my anger dissipated and I felt like such a loser. I knew it was irrational, that their opinion truly does not matter, but none of that rationalizing does a bit of good in the moment. I silently sobbed for the first ten minutes of the movie.

Every taunt from school, every comment, every side-look I have endured came rushing back.

I hate that feeling. I hate even more that those twits could bring me to that stage.

I have lost 11 pounds so far this month. I am working out for several hours every week. Moreover, I am an awesome mother, wife, teacher, friend, sister, and I'll be damned if I waste another minute thinking about that scene.

Those girls can kiss my fat ass.

Rocking Week

2011-04-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

This week has been intense. I have worked out four out of five days, 45 minutes or more each (12 workouts so far this month). I also started the P90X regime on Tuesday (if you follow my Twitter, you've heard allll about it :D)

My eating is incredible. I've been keeping it right at 1600-1700 calories, eating tons of fruit and vegetables and protein.

I feel *amazing.* I am sleeping SO much better. My walking time has significantly increased. It's only been 2 weeks but I am already seeing and feeling changes in my body-specifically my booty! (That thing is tight-holla)

Two worrisome things loom: tomorrow night is my best friends sons' birthday party. Pizza, popcorn, cupcakes-lotsa trigger foods. It makes me nervous.

Saturday night is a work fundraiser I have to go to-some sort of BBQ buffet. Of course, that means high fat meats, rolls, 'salads' whose main ingredient is mayonnaise.

As far as tomorrow, I will be tweeting from the party- hopefully some accountability will keep me on my plan.

Right now the floodgates of heaven are opening up-a real Texas storm. I hope everyone stays safe and dry tonight.

Talk to y'all tomorrow!

Down 7 pounds!

2011-04-10T06:31:00.000-07:00

I have lost 7.6 pounds so far this month!!

Stats:
I have eaten approximately 2155 calories per day, I have exercised for 308 total minutes (~44min/day), and burned off ~3620 calories.

The changes I am feeling are incredible. I am sleeping better, feeling more energetic, and in just 9 workouts I can already walk longer and faster.

Yesterday I did the entire P90X Shoulders & Arms workout PLUS Zumba PLUS yardwork PLUS a mile and a half walk! Who is this person?!

Please excuse the exclamation point overload-I'm pretty excited :D

It's Sunday morning and I've been up since 6:30. I slept wonderfully and woke up sans alarm. My first order was a 2 mile, 45 minute walk. It was gorgeous.

Now I am off to breakfast, church and some shopping this afternoon.Y'all have an awesome day!

TGIF

2011-04-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

It is April 8th and I have worked out 7 times this month! Halla-frickin-lujah. I think I am off to a really great start.

My husband is now on the weight loss bandwagon and it has been an EYE opening experience. He can't believe the calorie counts for things. The first few days he was so gripey-"That's not even enough cereal for a toddler!" "Who counts cookies? Just eat 'em!" :P Now that he realizes how bad most restaurant food is, for example, he is MORE than happy to eat in. Woohoo!

Yesterday was the day from hell. I had so many encounters with rude students-one student (with a decidedly failing average I might add) accused me of "wasting class time" when I answered my class phone. WTH?! And he was one of many such encounters yesterday. By lunch I was so fed up I just stayed in my room and bawled. I am SO very ready for his group to be gone. I feel horrible saying that, but I am ready for a break!

Anywhosville, I came home yesterday exhausted and decided to just chill. With wine. Lots of wine.

Today was much better. I even resisted the siren call of Mexican takeout at lunch and stuck with my lunch my husband packed. (Have I told y'all my husband makes me breakfast and lunch everyday? He is absolutely the sweetest man on Earth.) I didn't even really want it. All that grease and salt-bleh.

I am SO glad it is spring. Strawberries, squash, okra, nectarines-so yummy!

Now I am going to watch Star Wars Episode 6 with my snuggle-bunnies and probably reenact some epic light saber battles. Be jealous. Be very jealous.

May the Force be with you-
Val

Helluva Start

2011-04-04T19:08:00.000-07:00

Calories: 1796
Exercise: 65 minutes

I woke up at 5:15 to workout only to be greeted by a good ol' thunderstorm. So I snuggled in bed for 45 minutes :D

Todays was dreaded state testing. I wish I had a pedometer. I probably walked 2 miles, just making laps around the room.

Tonight I walked for 40 minutes and did 25 minutes of P90X Arms/Shoulders and some ab work.. . and my arms feel like jelly!

Time to hit the shower and bed. Hopefully my workout won't be interrupted by anymore spring showers.

Happy April

2011-04-02T20:03:00.000-07:00

On a non-weight related note, it's a shitty time to be a teacher in Tejas. My best friend, who I've worked with for three years, was told yesterday her contract wouldn't be renewed. The politics and bullshit behind the budget cuts in education baffle and enrage me. And to be fired on April Fools? REALLY? Ugh.

Anywhoosville, I'm happy to report I'm feeling distinctly better than I was a couple of days ago. My husband and I made a $100 bet to see who can exercise/track calories int eh month of April. I am veeeeery competitive so this is just the thing to get my juices flowing!

Yesterday I walked 1.75 miles. Today I walked the same and then did 35 minutes of weight training and then abs and stretching. I have come in under calories both days as well.

The hubby and I were supposed to go tonight with my friends, but we opted out. I told Hman it's been too many weekends in a row that we have gone drinking. We don't necessarily get drunk, but it's still a risky behavior, especially since we are both children of alcoholics.

Also, whenever we drink I make *bad* food decisions and stay up waaaaay too late. Like 4am late. It throws off my sleep schedule for days afterward. Not worth it.

Instead we took the kids to see Hop, grilled dinner, and played Mario World. Now the kids are heading to bed and it's time for the hubs and I to settle in for a movie.

I Broke My Give-A-Damn

2011-03-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

So I've been tracking like a good little fat girl, and packing my lunch, and saying no to soda.

I start everyday with a good breakfast, am eating more fruit and reducing portions.

But I

Can

Not

Get

My Exercise

Mojo

Working.

And I *know* I'm losing fitness daily. I come home from work, change into workout clothes, and never make it out the door. I could wallpaper my living room with the excuses I put up, but that'd be depressing.

My mental tape has been really negative lately. I've been kind of depressive and moody.

Every time I look in the mirror I hear my mental tirade-you're fat. You'll never be thin. Why even try to lose weight? You'll still be hideous.

Ugly.

Ugly.

UGLY.

I just feel like I've been doing this for-fricking-ever and I have literally gotten NOWHERE. I know what I *need* to do-why don't I do it?!

Track Your Calories or the Puppy Gets It

2011-03-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had a big ol' epic fail I thought I would share.

Hubby and I sleep late-ish Saturday and had an amazingly productive day. We cleaned out the garage among other things. That night we ate fish and chips, put the kids to bed, and started playing video games with the semi-obligatory drinking.

The problem I ALWAYS have when I drink is that all inhibition towards eating goes out the window. And I develop the mindset, "Oh I blew. . . might as well REALLY eff it up and 'do better' tomorrow."

Ugh. Lame-o.

Long story short, my hubby ended up making a late-night Jack in the Box run (he had only had two drinks throughout the night-no drink driving round here) What an *awesome* decision for a pseudo-weight loss blogger!

In the cold, grey dawn of the next day, wide awake and cognizant, I decided to go back and track what I had eaten, just to see.

Breakfast tacos for brunch-400 calories
Fish and chips for dinner- 700 calories
Drinks- 800 calories

Obviously a splurge, but I was still at 1900 freaking calories!! Not that dang bad at all. I firmly believe if I had tracked Saturday night and realized that my 'binge' was not as horrendous as it was in my head. . . yeah the Jack in the Box run wouldn't have happened.

That little splurge? One cheeseburger, and a half order of wedges?

FOURTEEN HUNDRED CALORIES.*

Lesson learned.

TRACK EVERYTHING.

/rant

*I'm not a Jack-basher and I make no excuses for my choices. I know they have healthy items, and I chose poorly :)

Tuesday Update

2011-03-22T21:14:00.000-07:00

Mmmk, trying to get some sort of rhythm going with the blogging thang-so day two this week! Ooooh boy :D

I am loving myfitnesspal.com. The android is app is clean and easy so I am more likely to track (and I have been). The website is tight as well- there is a button you press when you are all done tracking and it says something like "Congratulations! If everyday where like today, you would weigh *** in 5 weeks." It's very motivating!!

I need to post pics of my adorable little garden area. It's totally off topic, but makes me so happy! I want to plant a full-on veggie garden, but I have an outside dog. . . and I'm not sure how to get around that. But I'm thinking on it.

Yesterday I walked for a half hour and did 30 minutes of the arms P90X video. Holy smokes my shoulders are feeling it. I am not good at doing free weights-I'm a cardio gal- but the video was fun.

Today I did nuthin' exercise wise. I left for work at 7 am and walked in at 7:20 pm. I did come in at 1700 calories for the day, so I figure I'm alright.

I am, however, having a MAJOR craving for a tropical blizzard from Dairy Queen, so I'm going to brush my teeth and go to bed!

Except for Almost Dying It Was A Great Week

2011-03-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

Spring break is officially over and I have had an amazing 9 days off. I tried to blog on my trip to Austin, but Blogger doesn't work on an iPad! (Lame Apple. Really lame.)

Our trip started off in a terrible way. We left Friday night toward Austin to attend a rally on helping reform/fix/change Texas schools. The whole family was going. We had signs. We had conviction. We were excited.

We were 2 hours into our trip and had a blowout on I35.

10 o'clock at night. On a hill. No shoulder. No GPS on our phone. Pretty much the WORST spot to have a flat. My husband tried to change it. He got the car jacked up and the tire off before a semi came barreling by (2 feet from my husband) and the wind created from the speeding asshat caused the jack to tip over. That's the point were I *burst* into hysterical sobs and we called AAA. It took a long time for the tow to reach us-during which time our car battery died and our cells lost service-so by the time the tire was changed and battery jumped I just wanted to go home. So we did.

Saturday we went to central Texas and visited my SIL and fam. We had a good time as usual, and Sunday she offered to watch the kids so my hubby and I could go to Austin. Woohoo! We stayed in Austin Sunday-Tuesday.

We had such a blast-food, food and more food. Mini golf @ 11 at night. The Elephant Room.

Watching The Big Lewboski (best movie of ALL time) at the Alamo Drafthouse was probably my favorite thing that we did. 160 people all quoting "I bowl, drive around, the occasional acid flashback"-so EPIC!! And we had props :D

The rest of the weeks has whizzed by. I had a massage and facial with my bestie, took the kids to the movies, lounged, napped. I also pretty-fied my front yard! I have discovered I love yard work. Who'd a thunk it? I mowed and weed-eated (is that right? Weed ate?) I dug up a whole flower bed and am creating a rock garden. I bought petunias and geraniums and gorgeous pots. I'm uber excited!

Tomorrow it is back to the grindstone. I am pretty much dreading it. Only 10 days until the almighty TAKS test, so I'm sure the pressure will be on at work. Bleh.

Hey-only 10 weeks till summer :D

Weigh In, Check In and Rambling

2011-03-07T19:14:00.000-08:00

Uuuum...you smell that? Desperation. . . exhaustion. . . a whiff of hope-yep-spring break's almost here! I am so ready for a break from my 8th graders.

Today I went back to the doc for IUD replacement. Mother CRACKER that hurt! But 5 years of being baby-free feels oh-so-nice.

My doc suggested a new food journal app, so I kinda bailed on Sparkpeople and I've been using myfitnesspal. The Android app is WAY superior, and I like their online stuff as well. We shall see.

I tracked *ALL* last week. And it was a hellacious week. Monday-Wednesday were uneventful. Tursday was one of those days when the kids were just awful, I missed lunch, ended up bawling in my friends room cause I know my kids are going to do poorly on the test. Good times! My hubby and I, another couple, and my bestie went to Applebee's where I ended up drinking WAY too much-like a thousand calories! But I was proud I tracked it, despite knowing I went over my calories.

Friday night my bestie and I had a girls night out Friday (planned for awhile)- massages and pizza followed by another club. More drinking. Too much drinking. Seeing a pattern?

Saturday was AMAZING. My mom's family is huge and spread out. She's the youngest of 7, originally from California, and siblings live from CA to TX. My cousin Shawna and her family moved from Oceanside, CA to Oklahoma-about 3 hours north of me. She came to Dallas this weekend so we got to meet for the first time! We talked from 7 pm to 2:30 am. It was like finding another sister. I got to hear so much family lore that was new to me.

Saturday and Sunday I ordered salads from restaurants- something I never do. They were really good. I'm glad it's spring and I'm craving salads again.

I finally went grocery shopping tonight. I got lots of yummy stuff to eat this week!

BTW- my weigh in today was pretty damn awesome. Even with all the vodka sprites I still lost 5 pounds! Bring it on baby!

Happy Monday y'all. 4 days!!

Blowing The Dust Off This Baby

2011-02-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

***Long overdue catch-up post ahead! Topics change at random!***

What a month February has been! I can't say I am all that sad to see it go. It has been a whirlwind of sickness and snow days, with little time left for *anything.* My house looks like a disaster, I haven't walked or tracked my food in weeks...it's AMAZING how I can sink so far, so quickly.

I have been veeery slow to recover from whatever respiratory infection I had. I cough alllll night, every night. I have been so tired this week, I can barely make it home. As soon as I get home, I collapse on the couch and don't move until 9-ish. And I'm not watching TV! I just sit, nap, talk to my hubby, nap, sit. No productivity whatsoever. Then I go to bed and the coughing begins.

Two nights ago last night I took Nyquil and slept 10 hours straight! It was amazing.

I'm a month away from TAKS and of course everyone is freaking out. To make things even MORE hectic, we just found out 25 jobs will be cut from our tiny 3A district before next year. I am so disgusted with the Texas legislature right now I can't see straight, let alone talk about it.

I went to the lady doc yesterday for my well-lady check. I have to go back in one week, because my insurance is a cluster and won't pay from my birth control and exam at the same time. Book them a week apart-AOK. Together? No dice. It confuses me too.

Anyway, since I have GAINED weight since the last time I saw her, we discussed what I was doing to try to lose weight. She strongly suggested I not get lapband, which is the opposite of my primary doc, because I'm still in my child-bearing years, I want at least one more child, and she thinks I can do this.

She was super encouraging and it made me feel good that she was so frank in stating I *can* do this if I will just commit to it every. single. day. She wants me to bring my food journal next Monday when I go back.

To help me track I downloaded myfitnesspal for my phone. It is SO awesome! I've tried other tracking apps, but this one is by far the most intuitive and easy to use. I'm excited! If anyone reading is on there I'm rambling_reader. Look me up!

Ugh sorry for the randomness-this is what happens when one skips TWENTY days of posting.

I suck.

Seriously.

Alright time to hit the hay. I gotta get my teach on tomorrow!

Snowpocalypse 2011 and a Case O' the Ague

2011-02-05T21:35:00.000-08:00

This has felt like the longest week ever. I'm talking 3rd trimester long. I'm talking week before grades come out long. Waiting for Christmas when you're 8 years old long. It has just been endless!

Last Sunday I couldn't sleep-coughing, coughing, coughing. I woke up at 3 with a 101 fever. I called into work (which I HATE doing) and went to the doctor and was told I have the flu.

Du-du-duuuun!

I started Tamiflu that day and some prescription cough medicine. Tuesday we didn't have school because of Snowpocalypse 2011 which pretty much killed us here in Texas. Seriously-we are not equipped for this kinda weather people!

Wednesday we were one of the few school districts that had class. We started at 10, and then got to suffer through rolling brown-outs throughout the day.

I went to work Thursday, sick as a dog, and was sent home by my principal. More napping. More coughing.

Friday I woke up feeling like I had swallowed glass and my chest and back hurting terribly from coughing. Luckily I was saved from calling in because we had yet *another* snow day. The 'dusting' of snow that the meteorologists had predicted turned out to be 5 inches of pristine snow action!

My amazing hubby took off work and schlepped me to the doctor in the snow-the 25 minute drive taking an hour and 15 minutes.

This time the doc diagnosed asthmatic bronchitis and strep throat. He gave me an antibiotic, a different cough medicine and an inhaler. I had a coughing fit while I was with him, and he listened to me hacking and asked me if my chest hurt. Trying not to be sarcastic to the one with the prescription pad, I politely said, "Uh. . . yeah!" He informed me it is possible to break a rib because of coughing-how horrible would that be?!

Today I have felt better that I have ALL WEEK. I have hardly coughed at all. I don't feel achy. My breathing is better. Hallelujah!!

I am praying this recovery continues and I can start eating solid food. If I never eat Campbell's chicken noodle soup again, it'll be too soon. . .

Buh-bye January-Resolution Check Up

2011-01-30T18:33:00.000-08:00

What a crazy month January has been.

I worked out for 10 days in a row, and then slacked off for two weeks. I ate perfectly during the workweek, and blew it on (several) weekends. In a lot of ways, it has been a month of extremes. Even the Texas weather is bipolar this month-we had had several inches of snow a couple of weeks ago and the last two days have been 70+ degrees!

This morning I weighed in and have lost a total of 6.6 lbs this month. Not a stellar start to my New Year, but like I told my husband if I keep this steady I will have lost 80 pounds by the end of the year-and that's nothing to sneeze at!

Yesterday I felt simply terrible. I couldn't speak, my throat was on fire-total misery. Today was much better, but my nose/chest/throat is still a mess. I sound like Harvey Fierstein! I'm on Mucinex and hot tea and VaporRub but I'm not feeling much better :/ And by Tuesday our high is going to be 27 degrees! I'm sure that will really help me mend *eyeroll*

I am debating if I will work out tomorrow. It will just depend on how I feel. My chest is so congested and tight right now, there's no way I could get a good work out. I'm hoping I wake up feeling loads better!

Jan. Resolution check:

Give away 10% of our income- FAIL! We gave away an embarrassing low percentage. I WILL make this up next month.
Lose 50 lbs- SUCCESS! 7 pounds down!!
Watch 50 movies- ALMOST! I'm not so good at tracking this one. And Netflix is down (lame) so I can't even ballpark it! I'll try to track this one better next month.
Read one enriching book per month- ALMOST! I'm in the middle of Teach with Your Heart: Lessons I Learned from the Freedom Writers, but haven't finished it.
Read 150 books total- SUCCESS! I've read 16 books, and I'm working on 3 more.

How is everyone else doing so far this year? Any resolutions that have stuck, or maybe struck out?

Until next time-

Val

Thursday Check-Up

2011-01-27T08:59:00.000-08:00

I *KNEW* this week was going to be rough. Tuesday I was up at 5:30 in the morning for the world's stupidest meeting at 7:15. Yesterday I was up at FIVE in the morning because we left the school at 6:45 for UIL. Which was ninety minutes away. On a schoolbus. With 45 hyperactive kids. *shudder*

Luckily, I got to ride the early bus back and was back at school at 3:30. Unfortunately the school has had trouble with viruses so I haven't been able to bring my laptop home for a couple of days-hence the lack o' blogging.

This week I have averaged 1750 calories per day. Not too shabby! So explain why I'm weighing in FOUR POUNDS heavier. LAME :/

I'm so frustrated at my lack of working out though. I REALLY want to buy a treadmill....I leave my house at 7 in the morning and get home around 5 pm. I have three hours with my babies till they have to get ready for bed. Time, time, time. . . I know it's an excuse though.

So, treadmill is at the TOP of my list. We'll see.

I'm at work so I'm cutting this short. Hopefully I'll be back later!

My Day Sucked-How About You?

2011-01-24T20:31:00.000-08:00

No time to visit blogs today :(

This afternoon I input around 600 grades!! Geez-procrastinate much? In my defense the grade program was down over the weekend, so I couldn't do as I originally planned. But still. Geez.

I was *running* around like a crazy woman today. Because I had a sub Friday, my 8th graders choose to act maturely, use their time wisely and produced lovely essays worthy of my grading.

*Bwahahahahahahaha!!!*

In reality, they lost their damn minds and I returned to disarray. WHY do half-grown people act like 5 year olds? Ugh.

Of course while teaching I received no less than 9 phone calls throughout the day, 4 people coming to my door with *urgent* questions, and of course, those 600 grades that needed to be put in.

Oh and I had after-school UIL practice till 5:00 pm.

AND we have a meeting at SEVEN FIFTEEN in the morning.

And I live 30 minutes away. Take me now Lord.

This day has been endless.

The week will be the same I fear.

And now I'm griping!

Breakfast-bacon and egg on an English muffin

Lunch-Lean Cuisine mixed with a cup of steamed broccoli

Snack-tangerine (LOVE these things)

Dinner-BBQ Beef on a bun, 1 oz potato chips

I didn't input my stuff into Sparkpeople. . . but I will! Sometime. Just not now. T-minus 8 hours until the horrific staff meeting ;)

I sincerely hope y'all had an awesome Monday- Till next time!

Aaaaaaaand she's back!

2011-01-23T10:58:00.000-08:00

I hate not blogging for 15 days! Such a backlog of moments awaits to be shared.

First of all, the student teacher is GONE. Glory, glory hallelujah. The story isn't too juicy-no Fox News clips thank God- but the behavior was enough to warrant him leaving. I'm SO glad my principal had my back and took care of it. I went to him on Wednesday and Student Teacher was gone Friday. Ahhhh.

Secondly, we have been battling snow and sickness. We missed a day and a half of school last week, due to 6 inches of the good stuff. Very unusual in our neck of the woods! Then my baby boy got sick and I missed *another* day and a half of work. He had strep throat and an ear infection. Yuck! So I have only seen my students 10.5 days and we are already at progress report time! *Gasp, shudder, die*

Thirdly, my adorable and beautiful and smart sister has been staying with us this week. She lives alllll the way over in Four Corners, New Mexico, so we don't get to see each other *nearly* enough. (I pray daily her hubby will get transferred to Texas-anywhere in Texas!-so we can see each other more often.) She has two gorgeous children, so I got to drool over my nephews all week :D

Fourthly, I am doing ok on my New Years Resolutions. I *just now* updated my resolution page, and I want to add my Uber List as well. All I will say for today is that so far I am down 8.6 lbs in January. Woohoo! From now on I will update my Resolution page on the last Sunday of the month.

Fifthly, I saw my doctor on the 13th. Cholesterol, glucose, everything was low/in range. My BP was 100/80-woo hoo!! And my doc said if I lose 40 lbs, he bets I could go off the meds. The only 'bad' result was that my vitamin D level was super low, so I'll be taking a supplement. Other that that it was a great day!

Last but NOT least, THANKS SO MUCH to Michele and Ash for their thoughts and ***awards***!! I will be posting those soon.

And now ends the dreaded catch-up post. Much love to all you bloggies <3

Until next time-
Val

Fried Chicken Destruction

2011-01-05T19:19:00.000-08:00

Today I was a hongry gal! I just couldn't eat enough today.

Breakfast: My usual egg n' cheese burrito

Morning snack: 100 cal pack Mr. Salty Chocolate Pretzels. Yummers.

Lunch: Ham sandwich, baked cheetos ---> NOT ENOUGH FOOD!

Afternoon snack: Oat and chocolate granola bar; mini box of raisins

Dinner: Church's fried chicken

It was all good till that darn fried chicken! I was driving home, the kids were starving, I was starving (no wonder looking at the lack of fiber/fruits/veggies in my day :? ) So I swung through Church's. And it was good. So very good.

When we got home, I made the kids a plate, intending to walk before I ate. Almost before I knew it I had inhaled a chicken leg. After eating it though, I did make myself stop, went and changed and walked my 2 miles. (I didn't fall today-yay!)

I thought about how I had eaten the chicken while I was walking because it upset me. I mean I was hungry, but I wasn't perishing from starvation. I hate that out of control feeling- eating while I stand at the counter, scarfing down the food. However, I was proud that I stopped when I did and walked as I had planned.

When I was done walking my hubby and I ate dinner. I had another piece of chicken, 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes (man, that's skimpy too) and a biscuit. A little bit later I had another leg and biscuit. Yikes! I came in at 1900 calories for the day, but I really did overeat at dinner. I feel yucky now-bloated and thirsty. Ick.

It's 9:30. Kids are asleep, I'm showered, warm and sipping hot green tea, and ready to hit the sack!

Until next time :)

Dreaming and Eating and Falling-oh my!

2011-01-04T19:54:00.000-08:00

First day back with students! Wowza :)

First-NO SLEEP LAST NIGHT. Thanks to that delicious cup of coffee after dinner last night, I didn't fall asleep until 1 am. With my dad was up all night talking to some girlfriend in Austin, the damn dog barking at Lord knows what all night long, AND Luke getting up at 4 with a bad dream-that alarm went off at 6 am and I wanted to die :/

Best part of the night? MY DREAM! It was fricking amazing. (I always have the best dreams. . . ) In my dream I overslept-badly. It was 8:56 am, I was freaking out, trying to get kids ready, etc. I had 6 missed calls from my principal. Not good. Not only was I late the first day back, but it happened to be the day President Obama came to visit!!!! Because towns of population 8500 in East Texas are HIGH on the Commander-in-Chiefs list ;) I was so upset I was going to miss the ceremony. *Luckily* Superman showed up, hit me with some "reverse-the-spin-of-the-Earth-to-turn-back-time" action, and voila! I was three hours back in my schedule. I made to school on time, saw the President, life was good. Happy times :D

My day back with the kids went fine. But jeesh I'm exhausted. I got to work at 7:45 and left at 4:45. Got home at 5:30, and went right into dinner mode.

Here's what we came up with

WE found these tostada shells at the Mexican grocery store. For three crispy shells, it's 190 calories and 9 grams of fat. They are so yummy. Oh, and they cost about 2 pennies each!

These nachos were refried beans, cheese, shredded carnitas from Sunday, and some black olives. In my salad I had iceberg lettuce, green olives, tomatoes, a couple of tablespoons of tomatillo salsa and a bit of tomato vinaigrette. My total calories for my plate was about 750-a bit high, so I had skimped on lunch. My daily total came to 1560-not too shabby.

Walking after inhaling said plate of food? SUCKY. I was so sluggish. I just wanted to go to sleep! And not because I overate, I don't think I did. I was just full and tired from the day.

However.

I did walk 2 miles! It took me 45 minutes which isn't really a racing pace, but I'm just SOOOO happy I did it. Working out during the week is hard for me-I have a hundred and one excuses. I'm proud I did it though!

One more dork moment-Last lap, literally in front of our house, my husband called my name. When I turned my head, I stepped in a fricking crevasse in the center of my street and BIFFED IT. Hard. Both knees bleeding, hands scraped, boo-hooing like a kid! LOL It hurt so darn bad. And of course I was uber-embarrassed. Thank God it was dark and no one was out to see me!!!

So now I have achy, scraped up knees and hands. But I'm still walking tomorrow dammit! ;)

Hope y'all have an awesome Tuesday. Now I'm going to sleep!

Monday Musings

2011-01-03T18:55:00.000-08:00

Too many thoughts floating in my head, so you get bullets!

I COULD NOT sleep last night. I was up till 1:30 am and my alarm went off at 6:50. *Yawn!*
I'm pretty excited to be back at work :)
I straightened my (veeeery curly) hair today. Three men and one woman told me I looked hot (throughout the day-not in unison ;P ) It was. . . flattering.
I have a student teacher. No comment.
I ate 2100 calories today, including a pretty heavy Chinese lunch. I should have gone light, but dayyyum that kung pao chicken was good :) In my defense, I left at least a cup and a half of food on my plate.
I walked 2 miles in 41 minutes. Yay!!!
My son is the cutest thing ever. He is in love with Clone Wars and he reenacts them. . . I need to video it. Words don't do justice.
I was openly mocked for carrying a Wonder Woman bag today. I don't care. It's awesome!

Awesome right??

It's 9 pm and my grades aren't totally done. And they are due tomorrow. At 10 AM. But I'm almost there!!

On that note I bid you adieu! Hope your week started off wonderfully :D

Happiness ahead!!

2011-01-02T21:32:00.000-08:00

Today was the last day of my vacation. Le sigh. I have to admit, 16 days without students has been ~~uplifting~~ ~~inspiring~~ long enough. We'll go back and start our Holocaust/Anne Frank unit. It's a challenging unit to teach, but the students always get so much out of it! Plus I rock at teaching it :D

I had a wonderful Sunday. It's a complete 180 from yesterday. I felt perfectly fine, no weird feelings at all. I slept in till 10 (oh the perks of my kiddos getting older!). We had an *incredible* church service. My mom and step-dad made it, for the first time months, so it was awesome to see them there.

When we got home, I had taco soup for lunch. We're trying to cut down our grocery bill, so it was kind of an odds and ends soup. Enchilada sauce, chicken broth, Rotel, diced cooked chicken, corn, onion. If I'd have had a can of beans I would have thrown that in too. It was so yummy!

My little sister was over (she's 12) and my daughter had a friend over, so the 6 of us all sat around after lunch and played Wits and Wagers. It is such a great family game! It's maybe a bit too old for the girls, but they had a good time-just trading in the cards they didn't know, like Casablanca and Frank Sinatra ;)

Later we walked to the park (about a half mile) and while the kids played I did 20 minutes of walking around the park. Halway around the loop there is this huge hill. It's probably 6 foot tall and 15 feet across (I asked my hubby for measurements since I'm a terrible estimator!). You bet I hit that hill ever time I did a lap. Toward the end of my walk, I just walked up and down teh hill for 4-5 minutes. Man that got me sweating!! Whew-what a work out. I walked home another half mile, even though my hubby had driven over to meet us. Go me!

Calories came in at 1733 today. My dad made pork carnitas for dinner. Un-fricking-believably good!! He simmered pork in chicken broth, oranges, onion and a tons of herbs. The oranges sound weird, but they give such a deleicious flavor. After three hours, he cooled it, shredded it, and tossed it in a baking dish with a couple of tablespoons of oil and crisped it up in the oven. I had mine in corn tortillas, with cilantro and homemade tomatillo salsa (which I'm pretty sure I could drink straight like a chunky smoothie-it's that good!) It was an awesome dinner.

Delish, eh?

As I said, first Sunday of 2011 has been awesome. Tomorrows plan- staff development! Woot!! ('K, it's fake excitement. Work with me!) If I don't die from waking up at 6:30, I'm going to be ok...And my work out bag is packed. I'm going to water aerobics tomorrow and I'm über excited!!! Night everybody :)

A New Year!

2011-01-01T21:55:00.000-08:00

I wish I were happier to see 2011 come, but this has not been an awesome vacation for me. I have loved being at home with my kids and adorable husband. Physically I just haven't been doing well.

I've been following the YOU on a Diet plan. Lots of walks and some strength training. I should feel better, more excited, more healthy. But I don't.

I'm constantly fighting panic attacks. I have been experiencing really strange feelings on my left hand and arm and leg-kind of like pins and needles? It's hard to explain. I also can't feel things normally. Like my fingers are desensitized. It's freaking me out *SO BAD.* So I just curl up and read or sleep all day. And this isn't the first time I've had these feelings. I've gone to the doctor about them a few times before.

I have another doc appt on Tuesday. I try not to give in to fear. And I hate being pessimistic. But my mind just keeps going around and around the horrible things it could be.

Gosh what a Debbie Downer I am!!!

I am abundantly blessed. I have a beautiful family, a nice home, bills are paid. I have so much to be thankful for. I am trying to CHOOSE PEACE. Not to give in to the dark edges of panic that are ever-crowding my mind.

I pray for peace and blessings this coming year for all my blog friends :) I want to make a concentrated effort to read more blogs and connect better with the awesome people out in the blogosphere. I have one glorious day of vacation left. The plan is church and then laundry and grocery shopping-getting ready for the week!

Happy New Year's everybody :)

The Hardest Part is Letting Go of Your Dreams

2010-12-15T20:05:00.001-08:00

I skipped blogging last night!! Oh the bitter gall of failure ;)

HOWEVER: tonight will be the THIRD night in a row I have gotten 7+ hours of sleep! It's Christmas miracle for this night owl. It's is SO hard for me to put stuff away, and call it a night. There is always one more blog to read, paper to grade, load of laundry to fold.

Sunday night I went to bed at 1:30 am and got up at 5:45. NOT a great start to my week. I felt 'orrible all day at work. So I PLEDGED that I would make sleep a priority and I have :D I've been in bed asleep before 10:30 Monday and Tuesday night, and tonight will be the samae. The difference in my energy is so exciting!! I feel so good, and I've cut back on coffee too. Woohoo!

Today: calories were around 1800. I walked 2 miles tonight. I drank liters of aqua. I graded 2 classes of essays and exams. Ahhh productivity!!

Now time to catch some zzzzzz's!

*title from My Chemical Romance, Sleep.

Countdown to Vacation!

2010-12-13T18:30:00.001-08:00

Oh yeah baby. 2 blogs in a row. I'm on fi-yah!

Today passed by oh-so-quickly thank the lord! We are getting ready for semester exams. Joy ;^)

Eating today was pretty good. Oatmeal and coffee for breakfast. Ham sandwich, soup, and some hot fries for lunch. Cheese and crackers for a snack and bean n' cheese tostadas for dinner.

Guess what? I NEED MORE FRUITS AND VEGGIES! I had beans and salad with supper but nothing else all day. And I love fruits and vegetables! I have no excuse.

Calories are at 1750, which I'm great with. It's 8:30 pm, so the big question now-sleep or work out? Since I only slept 4.5 hours last night this is an easy choice. I'd probably fly off the treadmill if I tried to walk!

Loooong day planned tomorrow. The band is having a spaghetti supper/concert @ 7pm tomorrow night. I'll probably just stay in town cause I don't want to drive an hour round trip just for an hour at home-doesn't make sense. But that means 14 hours away from home. Bleh :/

So early to bed for me! 3.5 days o' school left :D

Also-I wrote this post on my cellular device. I love living in the future!

A Letter

2010-12-12T19:59:00.001-08:00

Dear Blog-

I'm sorry I have mistreated you so lately. I realize I have not been communicating as much as I should. And it isn't you at all--it's me.

I've just been insanely busy at work as we bring the semester to a close. But only four and a half days to go! After that I promise we will spend more time together.

The kids-well, they are demanding. But I do know better. I need to carve out a little me and you time.

Hey-that's not fair. Don't bring Facebook into this! That's totally different. It only takes me 30 seconds to bang out a status update-a blog takes much longer.

Plus part of blogging is reaching out to friends, and I've been sucking at that part too.

But I'm not giving up on us blog. Me and you-we got a thing. I promise-this week I'm going to get back into the groove, k? Hey, I *know* talk is cheap-just trust me. 5 posts this week.

Yes- 5.

Yeah I said 5! Quit laughing!

I love ya blog. Thanks for always being there for me. Talk to you tomorrow.

Love,

Val

Sleepless Tuesday and Yummy Soup!

2010-11-30T20:10:00.000-08:00

I'm a cranky butt right now, so excuse any gripiness.

I got 5 flipping hours of sleep last night. Needless to say I wasn't hitting my A game today :/ Nevermind how I was feeling. We read 30 pages, defined vocab and reflected on important quotes. Hell yeah I make my 8th graders work ;)

I left school at 4:15. I proceeded to go pick up my son from daycare, go by the bank, go pay a bill, fill up the car, and get stuff for supper. I got home at 6:30. Uggghhhhh.

I made a YUMMY turkey noodle soup for dinner. I sauteed onion, celery, and carrot in a bit o' butter. Then I thickened with a little flour and added chicken broth. I added about a pound of shredded leftover roast turkey and simmered for 15 minutes. Separately I boiled egg noodles and combined for some serious good eating! And it made about 10 servings-not too shabby. For the first 10 minutes of supper all was quiet--just spoon hitting bowls and Luke saying "Yuuuuuum Mommy-Dis is gooood" in his adorable lisp so I count this as a definite success.

After supper it was back out the door. My little sister has her first formal dance Friday so we went to Penny's and got her a lovely dress. We also bought my son two more pairs of jeans because he won't. stop. growing!

Next we went to Payless to get him shoes and socks and then went by Big Lots to buy some miscellaneous stuff we needed. We got home around 9.

Then it was baths and bedtime for the kids. My hubby is making lunches. I got dressed to walk (again) but it's 37 outside and I don't have a coat. . . long story. Plan B was a workout video BUT (you see where this is going don't you?) we had computer issues and the damn thing wouldn't work.

I know-excuses, excuses.

Right now it is 10:30 and I am GOING TO SLEEP. And I'm so very excited!! Only 13 school days left till Christmas break :DDDD

Mostly Marvelous Monday

2010-11-29T22:01:00.000-08:00

I woke up feeling strong! Even though I didn't sleep por nada last night and then woke up to delicious thunderstorms. Out the door this morning with my usual egg 'n cheese burrito-love those things.

Lunch was a bit skimpy though. I made a salad-lettuce, leftover smoked turkey, a few green olives, and some leftover green beans w/ almonds. So flipping good I didn't need any dressing. But I was rushed so I didn't grab an apple or crackers or anything. The salad was only about 225 calories so when I left work at 5 I was HONGRY.

Got home and noshed on a half a Honeycrisp apple and a tablespoon o' Jif. Nommers. Also I immediately changed into my workout clothes, to show my intent for the evening.

I had cooked a roast in the crockpot all day so dinner was only a half-hour wait-BBQ sandwiches, baked fries, and more green beans for me :D

After dinner I needed to grade papers (the bane of my freaking existence), workout, and watch a Christmas movie with the kiddos.

Instead?

I fell asleep for 45 minutes :(

I woke up ticked off (at myself) and weirdly hungry/thirsty. The kids put on Elf (I love that silly movie!) and I chugged a bottle of water and got a bowl of caramel corn. I didn't really want caramel corn. I sure didn't *need* caramel corn. But I ate it in just a few minutes. I think I was just really tired, and I was trying to get some quick energy. There are worse things I could have eaten, but I'm still not happy that I just caved to a craving like that.

We turned the movie off at 8:40 to do baths and bed.

Oh and the workout clothes? Taunted me all night. It took me TWO AND A HALF HOURS to get my grading done. UGH why did I become an English teacher?! Essays take time man :/

Calories came in at 1800 and I drank all my water, so it was not a terrible day. But tomorrow?

Tomorrow Imma get my workout on.

Catching up, Food talk, and a (Surprising) Weigh In

2010-11-28T10:12:00.000-08:00

I survived the first holiday intact! I have had a luxurious nine days off work. God bless our calendar committee-they will forever be in my heart :)

Thanksgiving was really, really good. My dad has been living in England for 5 years, so this was our first Thanksgiving in quite awhile (his first ever with Luke). We went to north Dallas to be with our other kith and kin, including my cousins Keith and Kevin who I haven't seen in years and years. Kevin ships out to Afghanistan in January, so I'm very glad I got to spend some quality time with him.

Food was so yummy. Smoked turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn on the cob. Delish. I ate one plate, and only ate what I really loved. Afterward I got a slice of apple pie and a half slice of pumpkin. The pumpkin wasn't that great, so I just ate my apple pie. Nom!

I avoided Black Friday like the plague. Not for me thanks!!

Today I am weighing in a whole pound less than last Sunday. I'm pretty surprised because I have NOT worked out like I planned, but I guess I compensated by eating a bit less.

Tomorrow it's back to work. I guess I'm as ready as I can be ;)

Things I got done this week:

ALL the laundry
Played Mario Kart for ridiculous time periods
Got a massage
Cleaned out my daughter's room
pulled two of my son's teeth :D

The little sucker turned five and started dropping teeth like they were going out of style! He's too darn adorable, but I do get sad that my baby is most definitely *not* a baby anymore. Maybe I should hint to the hubby it's time for another. . . ;)

Not the most productive week, but I did a lot of resting, destressing, and meditating over what I want my life to be like. I am SOOOO ready for the Christmas season. It's my favorite time of year.

Ye gods!

2010-11-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

Time always seems to speed up as the holidays approach. October seemed endless, and yet here I am getting ready ready for birthdays and Christmas.

Work is just awful right now. Can't say too much (FERPA and whatnot) but I'm so demoralized right now. I actually dread going to work everyday. And there's not much to do about it, so I just need to suck it up!!

I had a big teary talk with my baby girl
(ohmygawd she's almost 11)
this weekend. She said she feels disconnected and like she doesn't know me :/ I am trying to stop working so much at home and I want to limit screen time. Time is just going by so quickly. I don't want to miss a moment with my beautiful daughter.

//sappiness

People keep commenting on my weight loss, which is nice, except for the fact I'm not really losing weight. . . I've been stuck the last few weeks. I eat great during the week and blow it on weekends-my usual cycle.

Tomorrow is my WW meeting. I don't really have high hopes for loss. I know I haven't tracked like I should.

Now that the 6 weeks exams grading frenzy is over, I look forward to reading some blogs again! I hope to catch up to all soon :)

Kick Ass Weigh In + Star Wars Party Pics!

2010-10-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

Perhaps my string of terrible Tuesdays is coming to an end. It started off pretty sucky, but turned out *awesome!*

My teaching year is not so pretty. Let's just say I have a batch of "don't-wanna-do-shyt"kids this year. As a result, my gradebook is looking pretty dismal just now!

Got home at 5:30 just in time for a quick 20 minute walk-go me! Scarfed some food and water then it was off to my WW meeting.

I lost 7.2 lbs.

Hell yes.

From mid-summer I am down about 12 lbs. Not fast progress, but progress thank the lord. I feel so inspired and I know this going to be an awesome week!!

The party Sunday was SOOOO fun! We had Han-burgers, Vader Taters, Yoda Ears, Sarlacc Dit Dip, Double Edge Lightsabers, Han Solo in Carbonite and Princess Leia Cupcakes :)

Photos from the EPIC Stars Wars Party

So cute!!

I hate dip but the kids love it (:

The spread

My beautiful Princess Leia

My daughter's only comment? ?

"He's not in the right position."

Thanks Jade. Thanks.

Tee-hee

My lovin' man

Hope everyone's week is going well. I can't wait to catch up with everyone!!

Happy Anniversary to Me!

2010-10-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my hubby and I celebrated 6 years of marriage (12 years together total). We had a lovely lazy day- sleeping in, a little shopping, and Cheesecake Factory for dinner. We have been through so much this last year, so we really has something to celebrate.

I was NOT celebrating when I put in my points this morning! LOL I only had half of everything, and I didn't eat until dinner yesterday and I STILL used most of my weekly points-yikes! I had crispy artichoke hearts, chicken with a basil cream pasta, and chocolate tower truffle cake. Yummy stuff but worth the points? Not so much.

Now I am recovering from my food coma. Whole wheat toast and eggs for breakfast, True Lies on TV, and catching up with my bloggy friends.

This weeks was CUH-razy. Monday was a half day for students, so teachers got to schedule parent conferences. Tuesday I was in training until 12:30 , so I only had to teach one class. Wednesday our students went over to the university to take the pre-ACT test. And then Thursday and Friday we tried to teach LOL

This group just wears me out. They are so needy it's like I'm having to teach everything 110 times. And that's on top of quite a bit of misbehavior. It's going to be a loooong year :/

My eating has been ok, this week but I am totally out of the exercise habit. Ugh. And I've been averaging 5-6 hours of sleep/night, which, uh, doesn't help the exercise thing. Also my sister was out so I didn't want to go to the Y because I wanted to spend more time with her. (Lame excuse! We could have worked out together!)

My plan this week? I am going to sit down with google calendar and map out my workouts and sleep this week. Then it's just a matter of doing it! (:

Today: I'm making a Star Wars themed spread for our anniversary. It's gonna be EPIC! I'll put pics up tonight. I'm hoping (praying!) the Cowboy's win, but I'm not too optimistic. I want to hit the Y, grade about a billion papers, and do some laundry. Don't be too jealous ;)

Weigh In~ And It Sho' Ain't Pretty

2010-10-12T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today I made myself go to my WW meeting. I skipped last week because I knew I had gained. LAME. No excuses this week!

So the Moment of Truth ~ cue music ~

In the last two weeks I have gained 5.3 lbs.

freaking

pounds.

That's a whole medium pumpkin. An entire bag of sugar. About 3 Cornish game hens. Sheesh!

My sister is in town and I am making an effort to not eat out, not binge as we usually do. I am making GOOD choices. I want to feel better darn it! And next week I will not see a higher number of the scale.

Thanks for the comments on my last post. I appreciate it so very much. I will make the rounds SOON. I know I have missed so much-ugh. I have been neglecting my poor laptop-haha!

Happy (almost) Wednesday y'all!

The Last 10 days

2010-10-09T20:11:00.000-07:00

Allergies making me want to cut off my own head

A day at the park with my kids that was worth it, despite the allergies

Taking a day off work to chill with mah babies

Unexpected crying jags

Lots of hopeless feelings

One of the worst days I have ever had at work

Breaking my 3 month old phone

Being driven slowly insane by my father

Skipping 4 water aerobic classes

Skipping a WW meeting

2 weekends spent 90% in bed

Gaining 7 lbs

Opening Blogger approximately 47 times and closing it because the world has enough whining

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOT GOOD

I have a mama and 2 grandmas that suffer(ed) from depression. I know it's not normal to take 2 hours naps everyday + sleep at night. Or to eat 3000-4000 calories one day and then exist on diet Coke and coffee the next.

Last night I just cried and cried and cried and I can't pinpoint one thing that set me off. Maybe I'm just having hormone issues. . . IDK.

But I need to turn this ship around.

I set Blogger as my home page so hopefully I can't ignore it as easily. I need the accountability of posting, even when I'm having bad days.

Alright- today I'm going to get some healthy food up in this house. I'm going to church. And I'm going to the gym!

Time to get HOT

2010-09-28T20:46:00.000-07:00

Today was weigh-in and I lost .2 lb.

Two.

tenths.

of a frakkin pound.

Really? REALLY?! I worked out 260 minutes last week and this is my reward? Geez.

Now I am certainly happy there wasn't a gain. To quote an awesome movie "I just don't think I can handle that kind of rejection!"

But I can also do much better. Looking at what I can improve on coincides with my Hot 100 goal setting party-holla!!

I eat wonderfully during the week and blow it by overeating on weekends. I also use my schedule entirely too often to justify eating out, which is NOT my friend. I retain sodium soooo freaking bad. Last weekend, after a dinner at a Mexican restaurant, I was up six freaking lbs the next morning.

IT'S NOT WORTH IT.

So my official goals:

1) Eat normally during the weekend. This means focusing on fruits and veggies and staying with my points.

2) Limit eating out to twice a month.

Yikes. Honestly I hope I'm not setting myself up for failure here, but I reeeeeally want to change our weekly (or more) habit of eating out. It's unhealthy and expensive. Time to change it!

3) 350 minutes of exercise per week. A mere 30 minutes per day-I can do that.

And that is it! I don't want to overload myself with goals. I'm keeping it simple, but I am confident these 3 things will lead me to success!

Less than 100 days left of this year. How are you gonna rock it?!

Great Start to My Week + a NSV!

2010-09-27T21:26:00.001-07:00

Just enough time for a quickie post before bed.

Today was a half-day for students so I got some much needed work done in my room. It was a lovely break.

New love: Chicken sausage from Costco-YUM! 130 calories per link and so tasty. We got the provolone and sun-dried tomato flavor and I was quite impressed.

Today's supper was chicken soft tacos-easy and low cal-my favorite :D

Today's **NSV**

Today I folded several loads of laundry. (There's a victory right there!) I skipped water aerobics cause of swimsuit issues and did housework, dinner, kids, etc. Then I got sucked into some TV and had about talked myself out of exercise today. BUT, at the last minute I made myself go out for a walk. I knew I would feel much better, the weather is beautiful, and my hubby agreed to go. I told myself I would just walk a lap or two and ended up going 2 and a third miles! Can I get a what what?! Lol I'm so proud of myself! That's means I've worked out 260 minutes this week!

Ana side: Anybody out there watching NBC's "Education Week" this week? Thoughts? IO pretty much threw out any hope when I saw John Legend was serving on a panel. I mean, what better person to decide the future of educational system? *derisive snort*

Hope everyone had a great start to their week!!

A Perfect Saturday

2010-09-25T21:12:00.000-07:00

Today was a gloriously rainy and grey day-my FAVORITE! But staying in bed and lounging was not on the agenda.

I got to the Y at 8:30 and was doing water aerobics by 9. Today's instructor did intervals of swimming-it kicked my butt! My obliques and sides are certainly feeling it.

Afterward I did 20 minutes on the treadmill. I probably would have gone longer if I had thought to bring a towel. I was so sweaty and gross and just wanted to go home.

This afternoon we hit the Bois D'arc Bash. So fun! But I swear every kid I ever taught was there. This is my 4th year, so my first crop of 8th graders are currently juniors in high school. In spite of this, one of my little darlings was sporting tri-colored hair, 3 facial piercing AND a tattoo. At 16?!?! Good grief. Another student asked me if I would get a tat with him when he turned 16! As if! LOL

The food was delish. I had corn on the cob, about 1/4 of my daughters funnel cake, and about a half a corn dog and I enjoyed every bite! So yummy.

That's a loooootttt of points right there!!
So I'll just have a taste :D

Grey day-my fave! Luckily the rain held off while we were there.
Corn-y goodness

Tonight my husband I enjoyed some MUCH needed date time. We went to a Mexican restaurant and were planning on a movie, but the last minute though I had an urge to go bowling so we did.

Lemme tell ya, bowling without kids is much quicker! No interruptions to dole out quarters or divvy up fries, no bickering or crying-just playing. Unfortunately I SUCK at bowling. My score was half my husbands each game LOL :D That's ok, it was fun to get out!

Now I'm catching up on blogs before a little Bible study and bed. Tomorrow I'll be putting up my HOT 100 goals-woohoo!! Hope everybody had an awesome weekend!

Carnival Food-Downfall or not?

2010-09-24T19:32:00.000-07:00

First off I just have to say I'm such a TV geek and this week has made me so happy! Glee, Biggest Loser, Community, BIG BANG THEORY! Thank goodness for DVR.

Secondly, I didn't manage to eat breakfast today and I could really tell. I was so tired all morning! Breakfast has become a must for me.

Thirdly, I made the BEST pasta last night. Fettuccine, spinach, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, Parmesan and a bit o' bacon. Delish and I enjoyed leftovers for lunch today :D

Which brings us to today! I went to the Y tonight and walked a hilly 45 minutes. My jams were popping and I was in the zone!

Tomorrow will be soooo busy! I am working out at 8 (cardio, then an hour of water aerobics). Then the whole fan-damily is heading to the fall festival the next town over. I'm super excited! There will be lots of cute booths and homemade stuff.

Oh, and FOOD.

Lots and lots of food.

Carnival food baby.

There'll be some of that.

A bit of this.

And I'll have one of these.

And some salty goodness!

So I'm excited but also a little worried.

I'm sure I will dabble a little in yummy fried food, but I am going to focus on the experience NOT the food. And I will track every little thing I eat-this is my pledge :)

And to stop at one funnel cake :D

Y'all have an awesome weekend-lots of pics tomorrow!

One of those Days

2010-09-22T19:47:00.000-07:00

Ever have those kind of days where life gets in the way?

I woke up late, which just sets a terrible mood.

I was supposed to have lunch with my daughter, but got there 15 minutes late because I had the time wrong. I ended up giving her my healthy tuna sandwich and pretzel thins b/c she hated her lunch.

Back at work-what was in the caf? Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and a roll. Yowza. Of course I ate it-I've got to keep up my strength with these 8th graders ;)

I now have 4 different preps for work-it's madness.

I worked until 5:30 grading projects. Buh-bye workout.

I did go to Bible Study tonight at 6:30, even though I had *plenty* of other things to do. It turned out to be the best part of my day.

Well, except for the crying uncontrollably in front of strangers part. What can I say? It was a stressful day and when she called for prayer requests I lost it and started boo-hooing like a fricking baby. Sheesh. Now I'm the crazy crier, but oh well. I really do feel better!

I finally ate dinner at 9 pm. I dipped into my weekly points, but that's what they're there for!

I read 2 blogs, checked my email, and now I am going to SLEEP. Here's hoping Thursday is better!

Weight Watchers Meeting Take 2

2010-09-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day. Well, as great as it can be trying to teach 110 8th graders about the writing process when they would rather be downloading Snookie's latest misdeeds or whatever.

Eating was very good. I'm in a breakfast and lunch rut but I like it! Raisin bran with walnuts (BF) and a tuna sammich (L) are keeping me happy.

ALSO today I went to WW. It was great. I lost. . . drummroll please. . . ONE POUND.

Ahem.

4 workouts later. 7 days of tracking later. And I get one pound ;) But I will take it. A loss is a loss, and I'm happy. I'm hoping for a better weigh-in next week, but either way that is 4 sticks of butter GONE for my butt forever :D

Another NSV today. I'm a salty gal, and chips and dip are one of my favorite foods. Now I don't really eat creamy foods (so no ranch, french onion, cream cheese anything-bleh) but I loooooves me some queso and salsa.

Tonight I was craving chips and queso and I had plenty of points left over. Instead of eating 5 points worth of chips though, I had about half that and bulked out with veggies.

<------ Oh yeah baby. You know you want that.

AND I looooved the broccoli! Better than the chips in fact. So I'm gonna take some more tomorrow for lunch. Well, with my tuna sammie :)

My one negative today was no workout. I could have squeezed in a 20 minute walk before WW, but no one wants to sit by the sweaty girl.

And then tonight was Biggest Loser and Glee-hello!! Excuses, excuses-I gotta million folks! ;) Tomorrow I will hit it tho.

Tomorrow we are half-way to the weekend! Woohoo! Also, in case you missed it, you gotta go read about Ms Fatgirl's encounter-best retort I heard all day!!

Keep it real peeps!

Friend Making Monday: Body Image Edition

2010-09-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

I'm joining Kenz again this week for Friend Making Monday. I love reading new blogs!!!

Health and Body Image

1) If you could magically change one thing about your body, what would it be? Stretch marks!! My babies are b-e-a-utiful and 110% worth it, but damn they did a number on my stomach.

2) What is your best physical feature? I like my eyes. They have a nice shape and are blue and green so I can play around with lots of color.

3) Do you weigh yourself daily? Hourly? Weekly? Bi-weekly? Never?Weeeeeellll. . . Until oh-so-recently I have been a daily, post-pee, pre-shower weigh-in kinda gal. But since joining WW last week I haven't stepped on. Which scares me quite a bit. But I kinda want to be surprised tomorrow night. And honestly, it has been kind of a relief!

4) Do you workout regularly? If so, how does if affect you from day to day? I would say I am thisclose to being a workout regular. I adore water aerobics! And for the last several weeks I have worked out regularly and I LOVE it. Talk about energy! I feel much better already.

5) What is the healthiest thing you do for yourself on a regular basis? I take ME time. As a wife, momma, and teacher I get spread very thin. So once a month I go and get a facial and a massage. I never thought I would be one of “those people” (I grew up dirt-poor and my momma still doesn't know I go do this-it would break her heart!) Although it seemed extravagant at first, it's really not that expensive and I like doing it for myself.

6) If you could look like a celebrity, who would you choose to look like?n Ummm. . . this is a bad question for me cause I never know people's name. I think Pink is super hot. She has a great attitude and looks super fit. So I'll go with her. . . except my own hair ;)

7) What do you do to make yourself feel pretty? Makeup goes along way! I always feel better with mascara and a little lip gloss. Also I use good face wash and moisturizer-you only get once face!

8) What are you most attracted to in the opposite sex? Brains and humor definitely. I like to laugh and I love intelligent conversation.

9) Have you ever avoided situations because you didn't want people to see your body shape? Ummm. . . ya think? I had a meltdown 2 weekends ago because I did NOT want to go to my husbands work thing. I haaaaaate meeting new people-even though I am certainly a people person. I usually hide my insecurity pretty well and I would venture to say most people I know have NO idea how really insecure I am :/

10) How do you feel about your overall appearance? Well. . . pretty damn bad honestly. I don't have much to like. I like my hair. . .and my face. . . and I think I do an OK job dressing for my figure (such as it is). I am excited to start seeing some changes in my appearance tho!

Happy friend making Monday!!

Weekend Update

2010-09-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

Busy week ahead. I have something every night this week!

Goals:
Breakfast everyday
4 cardio workouts
2 strength workouts
64 oz water everyday
7 hours of sleep

I feel like my goals are the same every week. . . And I'm not making them! I did workout 4 times last week! Go me :) But sleep, water, breakfast. . . not so much!! It's just hard to balance everything. Le sigh.

BUT: Crazy workout story ahead!!

Around my block is just over a third of a mile. I was aiming for 2 miles, but alas it was not to be.

On my 4th lap around I felt something on my shoulder blade. I kinda brushed at my shoulder and felt something crawl up me and bite the HECK out of me! I reached back and it was a big ol' handful of beetle. It was huuuuuuuuge! And it starting zooming around me for another taste!

So I did the natural thing-took off in a Phoebe run while screaming obscenities (my mother is so proud I'm sure). It definitely gave my neighbors a laugh.

Picture that does not do my wound justice:

Gratuitous workout pic!!

<---------------- Sweaty Val!!

Tomorrow: my students are learning complex sentences. Be jealous.
I'm hitting the gym @ 5 pm. Treadmilling and then water love. I'm excited!!
Now it's time for some zzzzzzzzzz

Peace out darlings!

Full Steam Ahead

2010-09-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

Laundry, dishes and grading done. Groceries (finally) bought. Coffee made. Can I get a what what?!

Water aerobics Monday was SOOO fun. I did go online today and buy a one-piece though. That tankini I've been rocking is not so work-out friendly! The last thing I need is an indecent exposure charge-bwahahahaha!

My first Weight Watchers meeting Tuesday night was really good. I loved the support and the topic Positive Thinking, was a great one to hear. It was only about 35 minutes long, so I don't feel like it's taking away from my night. Also I met a lady who has a verrrrry similar story to mine-been doing WW online for awhile, but not really feeling the mojo. Lost a little weight but it could be more, and looking for more support. Her name's Carol and we joined at the same time so I hope we can be accountability buddies!!

I feel bad I didn't work out yesterday or today :/ Not enough hours I swear. . . I will be going back to H2O aerobics tomorrow night. I might try to squeeze in a walk before hand too.

More news tomorrow. Can't wait to make the blogging rounds-I miss y'all!

First Friend Making Monday!!

2010-09-13T12:45:00.000-07:00

That cutie pie Kenz posted about Friend Making Monday and I figured I would join in!

Five Little Questions

1) What was the most enjoyable part of your weekend?

Saturday I had a spa day with my best friend-that was pretty epic! Facials and massages were long overdue :)

2) List two or three material possessions that you can't live without:

Laptop for sure. . . I like being connected. And my Uni-ball purple grading pens rock my students work :D

3) Which day are you looking forward to most in the coming week?

Tomorrow night I am going to try a Weight Watchers meeting. I have been doing online, so this will be new. I'm a little scared but mostly excited!!

4) Share one of your most embarrassing stories...

Weight-related: My ob-gyn's scale only goes to 350. ("Only" as if that is a small number...) I gave it the ol' college try, knowing i was at least 15 lbs over that. It was not fun telling Ms. Perky Nurse-Works-Out-Alot that I was too fat for the friggin scale. Ugh.

Nonweight related: Last spring we put Luke (our 4 yr old) in t-ball. The second practice I drive to the field (late as usual), send him out on the field and plop down to grade some papers. About 5 minutes go by and the coaches are clustered around Luke, consulting their clipboard. I was oblivious. Soon one walked over and asked who we were! Turns out we were at the WRONG field with the WRONG team. Whoopsie!! Boy my face was as red as his little uniform.

5) List three of your "must-read" blogs and tell us why we should read them too!

Only three? Well, Jennifer craaaacks me up. She is currently working on growing a baby. Steve is amazingly inspirational. The guy never gives up! Bitchcakes ROCKS-and she's hawtness personified. And I have a whole bunch more other there on the side. Peruse at will!

Well that was fun and I hope to meet some new bloggy buddies!

Church and Chili's and Cowboys, Oh My!

2010-09-12T16:23:00.001-07:00

What a blessed Sunday! This week went by in a blur of grading and talking to parents as the first progress report approached. I was more than ready for the weekend!

Yesterday was a spa day. My bestie and I went to Dallas for massages and facials. Heaven on earth! Last night I got to meet my husband's co-workers at a BBQ one of his colleagues had. It was fun. I always get suuuuper nervous at things like that tho :/ But it turned out fine.

Today also turned out to be wonderful. We have been looking for a church home for awhile and it's been tough. I missed the corporate worship, the leadership, the companionship of going to church.

Yesterday we got a flyer in the mail (of all things) and it just really struck a chord with us. It was for Grace Community Church and advertised a new series simply called "Reset" with a giant reset button. I looked at their website and really liked what they had to say. So this morning we loaded up the fan-damily and headed out.

It.

Was.

Awesome.

The worship, the preaching, the atmosphere were all exactly what we have been searching for. Even better as we were walking up the doors (never fun when you're brand new somewhere) I ran into 2 of my BEST friends from college, Angela and Melissa. I have known them for 5 and 7 years. It was so cool! So we didn't have to sit alone :D The kids loved their services and came home full of wonderful stories. I feel we may be going back real soon!

We hit Chili's for lunch. It was just ok. My hubby worked at Chili's for 6 years and it used to be a favorite spot. As far as today went, his burger was yummy, my chicken sammy was just ok, and the kids food was downright funky. And not to sound like a fuddy-duddy but TWO DOLLARS AND NINETEEN CENTS for a Sprite?! Good grief! haha

Came home and took a lovely nap. Sundays were made for napping :) Then we went to Y together and swam for a couple of hours. We are all water-babies so it was a great time!

Hubby just ran to the store to get stuff for taco salad, Thelonious Monk is booming on the speakers and my Cowboys kick off in an hour. Awesome Sunday!!!!

Best Tuesday in Awhile!

2010-09-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

I looove love love long weekends. And my family was here which makes it so much better :)

I've been tracking like a mofo. WOW! When I track throughout the day I really keep myself in check, even with my nephews birthday cake :) Sparkpeople has an *awesome* Android app that is so easy to use.

I walked a couple of miles each day this weekend which makes me happy. I do need to buy new sneaks. Mine are a lil rough around the edges, which is putting it mildly.

I'm really on a good streak. I didn't walk today because I think I have shin splints. Ouchie! I'll go tomorrow afternoon and hopefully the stabbing pains will be gone. Is there any remedy besides rest?

My BP meds seem to be working. It might be placebo, but I really am feeling better. No more spots or shakiness. Yay!

Today I graded spelling tests from last Friday and Oh. My. Gawd. y'all. . . I know we have spell-check and what not but seriously?!?! Thay=they? UGH!!

Trying to balance work and blogging and reading and grading. . . It's not easy! Thanks for the comments on my last post. I love all y'all!

Happy Tuesday!

Not a Good Doc Visit

2010-09-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

Today was my doctors appointment. I was so nervous last night. I prayed and cried and was just generally MAD at myself for all the missed opportunities. Ugh-NOT a good night :(

My wonderful hubby took me to the doc (yay moral support!). The nurse started to take my blood pressure and said the sleeve wouldn't pump up. She put on the normal sized one and took the reading down on my forearm. It read 130/80, but I was thinking of Steve's comment about using the right sized cuff.

My doc came in and he is such a good doctor. I dread going, but I really am lucky to have such a great doc. Anyway, we were talking about the number and I told him the nurse at school yesterday got 158/102. Then I told him how the nurse had taken my pressure. I was so proud of myself for speaking up!!

He peered at me over those little glasses with an "Oh reeeeeally?" look. So he took my blood pressure again (3 darn times!) and got 160/102 each time :/ I certainly wish the other reading had been right.

THAT being said, he went ahead and put me on a low dose of BP medicine, saying that we can always go off at a later date, but to go ahead with this plan. He gave me lots of literature and recommended reading, and I'm going to check back in 4 weeks.

I am not going to berate myself any more for my bad choices. I'm depressed that I have to take medicine, but this week has been great as far as food and exercise goes. Alllllllso, in the last 2 weeks I have lost 9 lbs!! I;m excited, but cautiously so. . . I have a long way to go :)

My beautiful sister and family are coming in for the week so I will have my adorable lil nephews to snuggle and love on this weekend :) Hope everyone had a lovely Friday!!

Up and Down Wednesday

2010-09-01T20:55:00.000-07:00

The field trip to Half-Price Books was one of my best experiences teaching. It was beyond cool to see those kids light up as they chose their books! Some of them chose books that were not. . .ahem. . . exactly what I would have chosen ;) but most importantly it was THEIR choice and they liked it!! I'm so excited for them :)

I'm going to the doc tomorrow. . . I think my blood pressure is high :( I tried to take it at Walmart earlier cause I was feeling a bit wonky. Of course my chubby arm doesn't' fit so I did it on my forearm. Is that reading accurate? I certainly hope not cause it was *high* Tonight I went for a walk and got too hot. It was terribly humid and I was sweating like a fool. I had/have a headache and at one point my vision went kinda spotty :/

My mom was diagnosed with hypertension when she was 32. I know first-hand how dangerous high blood pressure is and I'm not messing around, so I'll definitely hit the doc up tomorrow.

More news tomorrow!!

Food- 2286 calories- 500 calories OVER

Exercise- 26 minute walk- Not too shabby!

Water- Lots and lots

HALF-PRICE BOOKS ROCKS!!!

2010-08-31T20:18:00.000-07:00

Knock on wood, but so far this school year is passing by so quickly! Of course, my class is always hopping. . . I don't give them time to be bored! Everyday this one student says, "Daaaaaaang Mrs. R. How come time goes so fast in here?!" LOL

I am SO EXCITED about tomorrow. Not only am I joining the Y (wooohoo) I have an amazing opportunity to take one of my classes on a field trip. My friend and I teach a very small class (7 students!!) of very low level readers. As an early assignment I asked them to bring a personal book to class that they loved and we would discuss our books. It could be any book- The Pokey Lil Puppy-whatever, just something they loved. Well, 6 of the 7 students own no books. As in not even one.

I come from a book loving family where we never had enough real estate for books, so this *blew* my mind and I intensely wanted my students to enjoy owning their own books. They had never been to a bookstore :(

This is not as easy as it seems. We live in po-dunk-ville Texas and it's a 45 minute drive to Half-Price Books. But my principal found the gas money for us to go and we got the green light! After talking to the AMAZING people at 1/2 Price Books, it came together so quickly. They are putting together goodie bags for each student based on their interests with a bag, water bottle and 5-6 books PLUS they are donating $5 towards each students purchase. Another group donated $5/student and PTO donated money for lunch so it's going to be quite an outing!

The students are excited and I am just so happy this came together for them! We are going to have an awesome trip!

And since I'm essentially only teaching a 1/2 day tommorrow I should have plenty of energy left for the Y tomorrow night :D

Another School Year is Upon Us!

2010-08-29T19:24:00.001-07:00

Summer was lovely but I do love moving into fall, my definite favorite season. So far, this school year has proven to be a doozy!

Since we just moved I now have a 25 minute drive to work. I also drop off my son and daughter at their respective schools, adding about 10 minutes....Oh, AND my husbands van broke down so now I get to drive him to work as well. So now it's a 45 minute drive in the morning :(

Monday-Day 1-yay!!! Except that the a/c wasn't working-on the hottest day of the year thus far :/ I sweat ALL DAY LONG. Other than that, things went pretty well.

Tuesday-A/C works-glory glory! Unfortunately my dad is sick as a dog and wakes me up at 1:45 in the morning (Tuesday night/Wed. morning) to go the ER. It's his appendix!!

Wednesday-Due to NO SLEEP I decided to call into work-on the third day of school! :( Luckily my boss is quite understanding. Dad's appendix had burst so laproscopic surgery wasn't possible, but the surgery went well. They also diagnosed him with diabetes :(

Thursday-Parent/Teacher night and a hospital visit means I leave the house at 6:45 am and get home at 9 pm. Exhaustion is much too mild a word.

Friday-First week over!!

~Whew~ It was a tough week but so many things went well. I thank God my dad's surgery went well and he is healing. I'm thankful I was able to get him to the hospital and take off time. I'm thankful the husband's van wasn't our only car. Lots of things to be thankful for!!

Also I am super excited to be joining the YMCA on Wednesday! I went to get some info on it, and they are running a special. If you join September 1, your joining fee is only $1 instead of $55. Holla! And they have water aerobics everyday-I'm so excited!!!

In regards to last post, I did make a doctor's appointment, but missed it because in-service went late :( I haven't made another yet. . . But I will. Soon. Ish. But I am feeling good. I think a lot of that was stress.

Ugh I dread going to the doctor!

Tomorrow starts week 2. The honeymoon phase is over, so we'll see what these little suckers are really like LOL

Can't wait to catch up on everyone's blogs!

Web MD is the devil.

2010-08-14T23:31:00.000-07:00

The past week or so I have been experiencing some strange symptoms-mostly pins and needles in my arms and calves/feet. I have also had some flashy spots in my vision and I've had swelling in my hands and feet.

Here I am at 1:30 in the morning in tears, trying to tell myself I don't have MS or congestive heart failure or a brain tumor-all on the first search page after searching my symptoms :/

I told myself I would make a doc appt 2 weeks ago, but I just *dread* going. I know he's just going to gripe about my weight. I know he's right-it just stresses me out to get griped at.

And he's not saying anything new. I KNOW I'm terribly obese. I hate it. I hate myself. I hate being such a damn failure at this. I mean, it's not rocket science. I know what it takes to lose weight, and I continue to make bad choices.

I guess I'll make an appt. Monday. Now I just have to pysch myself up to actually go.

Oh my gosh a List!!!!

2010-08-13T22:06:00.000-07:00

Being a night owl by nature, I am trying to reacclimate for school starting next Tuesday. This has not worked that well. I was up at 5:30 am yesterday (vomit), fell asleep at 9:30 pm, was up at 11:45 pm and couldn't go back to sleep till 3 in the morning! Ugh. So here's a super quick-I feel bad I haven't blogged all week-post!

I just started selling Mary Kay-cause I love their stuff and I want everyone to :D
School officially starts Tuesday but I've been up there 3 days already this week. Debating on taking my last Monday off. . .
Got some more cuuuuute stuff for my room-I love coordinating things.
Yesterday was my birthday-FUNN! Hommade pineapple cake (like from scratch cake!) made me a happy 27 year old
My son loves to pray for dinner and the reason for this is *speed* He prays fast so we can eat! LOL I need to film it.
I'm nervouse as a cat going back to work. I always do this.
Going to check out the YMCA tomorrow and hopefully join. Hello beautiful pool!
Iced coffee w/ milk + 2 packets o' Splenda ROCKS my world. I lurve Starbucks :)

Aiight I'm out. More tomorrow w/ like, real content!

Back to the Starting board

2010-08-09T20:45:00.000-07:00

I just read an awesome post by Josie. Go read it. Really! I'll wait.

*taps foot*

THAT is what I need. Total transparency. Not dropping off the blogosphere cause I'm messing up. That's when I need support the most! I need to be 100% honest for this to work.

That being said, I weighed in at 381. 4 this morning.

That's a pisser as my English granny would say.

It is also what I weighed last Thursday which is surprising. I went on a scrapbook retreat this weekend that was really more of a food retreat! There was sooo much good food. I had way too many of these:

And more than one of these. . .

And even one of these I'm ashamed to say:

I had a great time but I wish my choices were better. I could have easily chosen grilled chicken at Whataburger. I did eat a lot of salad and veggies with dinner, but I snacked too much. I need to either cut out restaurant food or start making good choices darn it!

Tonight I walked 2.5 miles. I downloaded Cardio Trainer for my Android phone-LOVVVE! It's awesome. Tracks everything, calories, route, etc. Plus it integrates my music. It's pretty sweet for free :D

My 27th birthday is Thursday. Woohoo. That means I need to go get a check-up. Oh the joys of doctor visits :/

I'm glad I walked tonight-I feel good. Tomorrow it will be good food *and* a workout :D

And a big thanks to Josie for giving me the push to blog when I was NOT going to on aaccount of my. . . ahhh. . . weekend indulgences ;^)

Hope everyone had a great Monday!

Gorgeous pics thanks to Bakerella (cake pops) and Smitten Kitchen (hello dollies)!!

Summer's Lease Hath All Too Short a Date. . .

2010-08-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

We are settling into our new place. After years in a 800 sq. ft apartment we love having all this room to spread out!! I actually have empty cabinets in my kitchen-though that will probably change before too long ;^)

The Bard was true that summer seems too short. I'm not a lover of hot weather, but I do love long lazy days with my children. Yesterday I went in for a meeting and stayed to work on my room a bit. Thankfully I did because they cleaned the carpets and EVERYTHING was put back wrong. All of my computer, ELMO, and phones were unplugged and on my desk. All the files and crates I had around my room were also stacked up there. It was quite a sight. I managed to get my computer/phone/ELMO/smartboard all hooked up with only one wire left over-LOL.

Although I have loved my summer I am ready to get back. I'm ready for structure and school shopping, school supplies and schedules. Does anybody else just fall in love with school supplies? I'm pretty sure it's about 30% of why I became a teacher ;^)

Of course I'm not ready for my new 25 minute commute. My daughter is playing fall softball, I will be teaching 6 classes + tutorials, and will be coaching a UIL event. Bring on the crazy!

Today I tracked for the first time in awhile. I love the Weight Watchers site, but I miss seeing calories. I'm a calorie gal I guess. So I tracked at Sparkpeople today at came in at 1438 calories. Partly that's due to a skipped lunch. My friend and I were at this TERRIBLE staff development so I suggested we sneak out (it wasn't mandatory) and go to the dollar movie, so we did :D (Robin Hood was AWESOME!) But I had a small popcorn and diet coke and was FULL.

I got home about 5:30 and crashed. 5 hours of sleep will do that to ya ;) Then I had to run around-picking up kids, etc. Finally it was 8:30 and I still hadn't eaten and I was *cranky.* I almost stopped by a fast food place, but I really didn't want anything fried or greasy. So I took my fussy self home and whipped up a tuna sandwich and vegetable soup. It took less time than going through a drive-thru and it was great-and I was proud of myself! Of course hunger is the best seasoning!

Tomorrow we have an orthodontist appointment and registration for my babies. I'm still debating on if I want my little one to start pre-K in my district or go to the same private pre-K he went to last year. Public is free. . . but I like the private program. I'm just not sure. But I have to decide and quick!

The summer is winding down but I am gearing up! Hope everyone is having a great week :)

Moving Sucks

2010-07-18T18:47:00.000-07:00

I mean really *really* sucks. But I'm so happy to be in a real live house!!! :D

Just a quick check-in from the land of moving. We won't have net until Thursday at the new pad, so I gotta hit the wi-fi when I can.

Talk about a workout. Moving from an upstairs apartment to a 3/2 house 20 miles away is a lot of work. I was up and down the stairs countless times today-at least 25. So many stairs! And of course that was just loading the UHaul. Whew!

I noticed that when I work out I have much better body image. It was over 100 degrees here today and we were just sweating like crazzzy. At one point I caught a glimpse of myself in the vanity mirror and was like, "Hey hey girl! Check the curves!" It felt good to be moving and sweating.

And we did move it. My arms, legs, booty, everything aches. In a good way.

Tomorrow I have teacher training stuff in Dallas. I think I need a little retail therapy on the way home. . . :D

Thanks for the kind words after last weeks post. What a whiner I am! My husband summed it up pretty well, "You're happier working out. You like eating this way. You lost a pound. Why are you bummed?" Um. . . well said!

Hope you guys had a fabulous weekend. Enjoy the last bit of Sunday!

Thursday Weigh In

2010-07-15T17:49:00.001-07:00

Having no internet was really sucky :/ I still tracked on paper though. After going back and putting everything in WW I had 15 activity points and 17.5 weekly points unused. Go me ;)

Thursday is my weigh in. After weighing in this morning I lost one pound.

One.

Stinking.

Pound.

Despite chugging water like a thirsty camel. Working out for 50 minutes/day. Eating so many fruits and vegetables I am beginning to take on a distinctively green tint. . . I lost a pound.

If I were reading this on someone else's blog I know exactly what I would say. "A loss is still a loss!" Or maybe "It could be salt/time of the month/not enough sleep." And those things could be true. But it was still a hard day for me.

I mean, I don't want this to be easy but I want to feel like all this hard work is for a reason. But this feels like failure to me. And I cried this morning. I hate that a stupid number has that much power over me, but it does.

I ate according to plan today. I promised my kids McDonald's for lunch today and I stayed away from fries-go me! Howie and I will go on a walk in a little bit-2 miles today-and I have H20 Jam in the morning. I'm doing the right things. I hope next weeks weigh in reflects that a little better :/

Texting Tuesday

2010-07-13T21:07:00.007-07:00

When my husband called to have our cable next Thursday the people somehow heard this Tuesday so we are internet-less :'( Just till tomorrow thank goodness! So here is my 1st ever blog by text. It's gonna be short!

Food today was ok. I'm beginning to think pasta is a trigger food for me. I ate TOO much pasta bake tonight. Must plan better for the future.

Packing sucks. A lot.

I choose to walk 2 miles tonight *instead* of coffee ice cream thankyaverymuch :)

H2O jam at 6:20 tomorrow. Yay! Oh and I rocked day 2 of the water challenge :)

Happy Tuesday to everyone and I hope to catch up on blogs soon!

Watery Monday

2010-07-12T17:43:00.000-07:00

Despite a paltry 5 hours of sleep I totally rocked my workout this morning! I was up and put the door by 6:15. I have done water aerobics before, but nothing like this. This lady, Brandi, was *fierce*. She is 6 months pregnant, with twins, and totally kicked out butts! The class was 10 people and she had us all over that pool. The whole time we worked out we had these water weights that really amped up the resistance. She was constantly reminding us to hold in our tummy's and my abs are really feeling it! I was huffing and puffing, and yes, sweating! But that's what's epic about the water workout-just dunk your head and cool off :D At the end of 50 minutes I was tired!

The pool where I worked out-the fountains were off :)

After showering and breakfast I had to take my little sister to the dentist (45 min away) so she could have 2 teeth extracted. Poor baby :( But she will be feeling better now those teeth are gone.

After the appointment my mom wanted to go to Burger King. At this point it was after 2 and I was hongry, but BK was not my first choice. I got a mustard whopper jr and a small fry. That burger was tiny! I was finished in about 6 minutes and I. Wanted. More. But of course I wasn't going to go somewhere else and get more. As we were driving I was thinking of how I could get more food. Lame I know.

However after about 15 minutes of chatting with my mom, I had totally forgot about "needing" more food! In fact, it wasn't until I got home about 40 minutes later that I even remembered how dissatisfied I was ;^)

Got home, knocked out a few loads of laundry, had coffee with my hubby when he got home and now we are about to eat dinner. He grilled tonight-sirloin steak, squash, tomato and mushroom skewers and brown rice. YUM!! Then I want to take a quick 30 minute walk and snuggle in for a movie with my man.

Also-today was day one of the water challenge and I did great. I took water with me all day and have already had 64 oz. I'll probably have 24 more ozs before I go to bed. I like this challenge because it is making me consciously drink-not just "ohmygosh dying of thirst I need some water." I'm hoping it will help me see a good weigh in on Thursday!

This week is off to a GREAT start :D

Excited for the Week!

2010-07-11T22:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday is my favorite day of the week. I love sleeping in (a little) with my husband. I love eating pancakes with my kids. We try to do less electronic stuff on weekends, so we just hang out and chill. Today we packed, played Life (I whooped up too!!), ate, read, visited my mom and family, bought healthy groceries for the week. It was great :)

We shopped pretty big last weekend and still have plenty of meat so today was topping off breakfast and lunch stuff and lots of produce. We have been going through fruits and veggies like crazy around here.

Some of the yummy stuff I bought:

broccoli
romaine
cherry tomatoes
squash
cremini mushrooms
bok choy
lemons
cherries
grapefruit
plums
peaches
almond butter (I'm so excited to try this!)
coffee ice cream

OK, the ice cream was just to see if you were reading LOL I did buy a pint of coffee Häagen Dazs aka (heaven in a pint). I love their ingredients: skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, coffee. That will work for me. It is so decadent I don't really have a problem stopping at a half-cup. It will be a lovely treat once or twice this week :)

As far as the fruits and veggies, I love summer!! It is such a joy for me to buy delicious produce and no it is going to taste good.

I am going to a water aerobics class in the morning. I'm really excited! Well, except that it starts at 6:30 am. Bleh :/ But it will get me back in the habit for school ;) It meets Mon/Wed/Fri. I'm so ready!!

Goals for this week:

Follow through on Kenz and Sean's awesome water challenge!
5 cardio workouts
2 weight training sessions
Attend H2O Jam 3 times
No eating after 10 pm

The water challenge starts tomorrow and you can read about it at the adorable Kenz's blog or over at Sean's blog. Water is muy important, especially in these hot months. Join the challenge to drink 64 oz of pure delicious water every day.

I feel asleep earlier and napped from 2-4 and now I am wide awake and need to get up in 6 hours. UGH!

Hope y'all had a great weekend.

Ramblings of a Crazy Weight Watcher

2010-07-10T20:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was so fun. My hubby only had to work a half-day so we snuck to the movies and had a double feature-Grown-Ups and Eclipse. They were both sooo good! Adam Sandler is such a comedic genius-I was in tears at a couple of parts! Eclipse was good as well. I devoured those books and the movies are getting better and better.

Do you eat avocado on your sandwiches? Holy cow it is so good! 1/4 of an avocado only has 2 points and it is delicious.

Today was a lovely lazy Saturday. It was cloudy and rain all day. My hubby went shooting this morning (tre manly ;^) ) and me and the kids watched a bunch of cartoons. He got back around lunch and we had tomato soup, cheesy bread (2 slices high fiber bread with an ounce of lowfat cheddar, sprinkle of garlic powder, under the broiler till bubbly and yummy) and a boiled egg. Kinda random but tasty :D

Then we played Monopoly with our oldest. She's 10 and is finally old enough for good games. It was really fun, even though my husband beat my ass as usual. He's a damn mogul when it comes to Monopoly!

As we were playing I had the music channels on for background noise and because I think it's a shame my daughter knows more Miley Cyrus songs than Elvis. After oldies for a while I flipped it to a pop station. Well, towards the end of the game my hubby glanced at the screen (Battlefield was playing) and he goes, "Wow, she's pretty." Talk about a mood killer! Instanltly I got a stomachache. What the heck is wrong with me? I mean, Jordin Sparks is downright gorgeous. Just because he made one comment. . . but instantly my head is going "She's so much hotter than you. And younger. No gray hairs. And her boobs probably stay where they should without a bra cause she didn't have two kids dammit" and on and on.

Sidenote-I'm twenty six darn years old and I have gray hairs. WTH?

Anyways. . . I got really depressed and moody. He played dumb all night-whats wrong? blah blah blah. I didn't want to say, "You found another woman attractive and I acted like a neurotic nutcase." Ugghhhh.

One of my biggest fears is I will lose all this weight and still be like this. I have 200 lbs to lose. God that's a terrifying number. And I can't even begin to imagine what my body would/will look like. And what if I'm still crazy and neurotic? I repeat: ugggghhh.

One more weekend day! I hope it's sunny-I need to get in a little pool time before I move away from my lovely in-ground pool!

Finally-A GREAT Day!!

2010-07-08T09:07:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was not a good day. A somewhat innocuous remark made by my hubby about the troglodyte know as Megan Fox had me in tears half the night. (Imma big over-reactor baby. My hubby didn't do anything wrong.)

Usually I have pretty good self-esteem, and I am fairly confident. There's a lot of stuff I like about me. But sometimes I get SOOO damn depressed cause I don't fit into this "beauty" ideal I have in my head.

I've always been big. I was 5 foot and 115 lbs in 3rd grade and I was 5'5 and in size 16's in 8th grade. Even though I wasn't fat during late elementary/middle school I certainly thought I was. Having kids made me view my body differently, and even though I'm so heavy I am not into self-hatred. But I do get depressed that I don't look a certain way. I have been in plus sizes all of my adult life. I am ready for that to change and I get SO frustrated at myself when I get derailed. No candy bar is worth this misery :/

So I decided I needed ONE good day. A day to get me BACK ON TRACK. (Cause I always think in ALL CAPS and !! in my head. It's very exciting up there.)

Well yesterday I did it! I had Kashi cereal and milk for breakfast. A baked potato with light cheese and broccoli and cantaloupe for lunch. I took the kids to the pools and splashed around for a couple of hours. Dinner was pasta and salad. I worked out a hardcore 45 minutes and had sugar free pudding for dessert.

And it wasn't even difficult! I felt so good last night. I wanted to blog while it was all fresh, but I was also tired! Pooltime + workout + pasta = sleeeeepy Val!!

Today will be the same. I want to finish this week strong. I had my usual breakfast (egg burrito, coffee, water). I messed with my blog and am now happier with it :) Now it's time to go workout!

Also I changed my weigh-in day to Thursday. I get tired of the whole Sunday/next week thinking I get into. If I blow my eating Friday and Saturday (which I have been!) my weigh in sucks on Sunday. And I get all depressy and want to throw in the towel-at least until next Sunday/next week. I know it's crazy and doesn't make sense :/ But anyways, I changed to a random mid-week weigh-in. I'm hoping it will give the motivation to get through the weekend cause I'm feeling good! So far it's working-I'm down 4 lbs since last week!

Tonight my BF Jamie and I are going to see Dreamgirls! I haven't even seen the movie so this will be all new :D

Y'all have a great Thursday-almost the weekend!

What a week

2010-07-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

My day Thursday started out with a "reminder" phone call that my daughter had a dentist appt in 1 hour. We live 45 minutes away.

In the frantic process of trying to get ready I discovered the cat had peed inside my son's dresser drawer.

Getting in my car my gas tank was barely above E. I lost my bank card a week ago so had to swing thru the bank and write a check for cash. Amazingly we were only 10 minutes late, but still SHEESH!

yesterday I went to the post office and bought stamps to mail some bills. As I walked back to the car I asked my daughter to put the book of stamps and change in my wallet and then I walked over to the mailbox and dropped in the the letters. Getting back in the car my daughter still hadn't done what I asked, so I repeated myself. As she got out the wallet she asked where the stamps were. We couldn't find them anywhere. Best guess? I MAILED them with my letters.

So I walk back in the post office, feeling like the world's BIGGEST idiot, and tell the lady what happened. She laughed, but not meanly, and told her boos. He walks outside with this giant key ring and opens the mailbox. As he is pawing through the mail I see FOUR of my former students drive, ride and walk by. I'm standing there like an idiot and everyone's waving-"Hey teach!" "How's your summer?" Good times.

Best part?? After going though the mail twice the stamps aren't in there. I apologized profusely (my face was so red you could have fried an egg on it!) and went back to my car. My daughter found this all quite hilarious.

And of course I found the stamps. They got stuck between my daughters seat and the console. How I haven't a clue. Whew-what a week!!!

In typical Val fashion I have neglected my blog this week, AKA I ate like crap and didn't work out. This week was challenging, but so what? I am going to have challenging weeks and I have to get my head in a place where I hold myself accountable even when I'm not doing so hot.

June 14th-June 25th I worked out 10 times. That was GREAT for me! And when I weighed in on the following Sunday I gained 2 lbs :/ I was depressed and confused. I tracked my points and worked out and saw a gain? Not fair.

After weighing Sunday I just kind of though whats the point? How dramatic, after one weigh in! It's not like I plateaued after months of hard work! I basically gave up on myself :(

And I stop blogging and tracking I'm not fooling anyone.

I read an awesome post by Josie today about her goal setting and what her plans are. I love how honest she is. And plans. I love me some plans!

Now I am off to pick up a TV stand. (Craigslist-40 bux-holla!!) Tonight I will have a new plan up!!

You guys have a safe and happy 4th!

Munchy Monday and Eating Cuz I Haz A Sad :/

2010-06-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

In timely response to Jack Sh*t's whoopee blog, hubby and I had a...falling out last night. I am blessed with a very sweet, supportive husband who has never made a single comment about my weight. He is complimentary, playful, and just in general a loving guy.

So last night was all my fault.

See, I have my system. And other big beautiful women probably know the sex system (I hope). It's like lights off, hopefully shirt on, certain zones don't need to be touched. My tummy hasn't seen light of day in some time. And that's for my benefit. My hubby would probably love a strip tease or something. Huh-uh, not gonna happen.

But even with the "system" sometimes I get all caught up in my head. Because my body doesn't look like. . .porn stars. . .or Megan Fox. . .or it used to. . .fill in the blank.

Last night was a caught up in my head night, and my husband doesn't understand why I don't see myself as foxy. So I had a bad night. And a bad morning. I was just hungry ALL day. I kept putting my points in though, and I tried to eat healthy. Ish.

My husband leaves early for work and it wasn't until he got home and I had a resurgence of shame/munchies I put the two together. I am still eating my feelings. My go-to reaction is still food.

Ugh.

Today I ate Spaghettios for breakfast, 2 frozen bean burritos for lunch, and popcorn and 2 granola bars in the afternoon. What a start huh? For dinner I had a baked potato with ham and light velveeta, broccoli, and the best sauteed spinach of my life. And then some ice cream for dessert. I used 3 of my weekly points and I still want more.

But instead I am in bed blogging. I am NOT going back in the kitchen today. Or sending my hubby. My alarm is set and I am going to try my hardest to work out tomorrow morning before my hubby goes to work.

I hope the rest of my week goes better than this.

Girls Night Out!!

2010-06-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

Hola bloggy buddies!!

First of all, I am NOT feeling the way my blog looks right now-but does anybody else get intensely irritated when trying to work in HTML? Ugh!

Girl night 2010 was utterly fabulous. We started with some shopping-I got an adorably gaudy hair bow and some kickass skull earring (for Dia de los Muertos). Then we hit the pool for a bit and did a little pre-flight in the from of Mango Snapple and Malibu-YUM! I was tasting the island mon!

After getting ready-which took for.ever(4 ladies-one bathroom!) we headed to supper. We decided on Cheesecake Factory. I don't like cheesecake so I was a little indifferent, and the connotations of the word "factory" gave me a bad vibe about the restaurant, but I was SOO wrong. It was amazing! It was very nice inside, and the menu looked amazing-and huge!!!! They boast something like 200 dishes, all prepared from scratch. Also, they had several dinners under 590 calories, but I ate very light yesterday, so I wasn't too worried about dinner. We started with crispy artichoke hearts and mini crab cakes. I ordered the Chicken Bellagio-basil pasta, served with crispy chicken breast, prosciutto, and arugula salad on top. It was possibly the best thing I have ever put in my mouth. So freaking good!! And the greens were so fresh and bright, it was just delicious. I ate about half my dish, 2 crab cakes, and 2 artichokes. YUM!!

After dinner we went to a club/bar/sports grill called Cape Buffalo, where a friend was having a birthday party. I am definitely NOT a club kind of a gal, but it wasn't terrible. They had a live band that was actually really good. They played all kinds of stuff, from Michael Jackson to Prince (LOVE) to Earth, Wind, and Fire to modern stuff-Fergie, Adam Lambert, etc. I love music, so I was happy with that.

And after a couple of drinks I was on the dance floor with my friends and we danced our butts off!! We were at the club for about 4 hours and we danced pretty much nonstop. It was very much a Ke$ha scene!! I was a hot mess, but it was so fun! When we strutted in at 10 we were all looking fierce-hair and makeup, heels-and when we left at 2-makeup sweated off, flat hair, holding our shoes. It was too funny! It ended up being really fun.

And can I just say that this morning I am feeling parts I didn't know I had?! Oh my goodness! My abs, my butt, my legs-I am aching all over! And I'm not the only one. I'm the youngest at 26, and the others were 28, 29, and 34 and we were all passing around the advil and OJ this morning! I guess we are too old for the club life-either that or it needs to be more than once a year LOL So I would say I certainly got my workout :)

I was quite ready to get home to my babies and hubby today. I walked in and my husband had done laundry, vacuumed, and lit candles so it would smell good! And that was after 5 hours of hot, outside yard work. What an awesome hubby I have :)

Tomorrow's weigh day *bah bah BUUUUM* I'm not trying to calculate points for Friday... It's just a lot of effort. I did put in everything today and I had 14 points left over :O I didn't skip any meals, I just ate really light I guess. I just don't drink that often anymore, so the drinks last night hit me pretty hard today, so I am feeling pretty blah today (and bloated! Sorry TMI). We will see what the scale says tomorrow!

Also we are trying a new church in the morning. We have been out of church too long and this one sounds really good. I'm excited!!

What an awesome Saturday and I hope yours was as good!

Kicking up my workouts

2010-06-25T07:57:00.001-07:00

Las night I had a GREAT night with my sweetie. The kids stayed with my mom, so we got some long overdue alone time! We went to Hastings and some other stores, then Applebee's for dinner. I think I have talked about their Italian Chicken and Portabello sandwich before, but *ohmygosh* it's so tasty. That and some French Onion Soup was a tasty supper!

I was proud of myself for sticking to my plan. And honestly, that sandwich is so good, it doesn't even seem "diet-y." My hubby got a steak sandwich and it was just a mess! I'm discovering I don't like lots of competing flavors. Howard's sammy had aged cheddar, balsamic mayo, onion, steak, and au jus sauce. It's just too much for me. I like to taste each individual thing.

I have also discovered I like working out by myself! I love having an hour with just my thoughts. Also, by myself I am just competing with myself. Inevitably when I work out with other peoplr (friends or a group setting) I am comparing myself-am I the slwoest? biggest? sweatiest? (Usually yes to all three! LOL) By myself I jsut focus on pushing myself.

Last Monday (6/14) I walked 30 minutes at 2.5 mph with a few minutes of 2.8 mph. Yesterday I did 45 minutes-35 minutes at 3.0 mph, 2 minutes at 4.0 mph (as in pseudo-jogging!), and a few minutes at 3.3 mph!! I'm so proud of myself :D

Now I off on a girls trip! Three awesome ladies and I will be karokeing, getting pedis, watching movies and just generally goofing off-I'm very excited!!

I'll see y'all tomorrow-TGIF!

You were only waiting for this moment to arise*

2010-06-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...this feels vaguely familiar...

It's been a solid month since I blogged. And I have thought about writing so frequently, but I feel bad writing when I'm not having success. It's a vicious circle. It's kind of liking going to the gym. Once I'm there I love it...it's just the getting there part ;)

Anyways, back to the blatant catching-up. I am back on Weight Watchers and I really like it. It's slow but I am ok with that. I have lost 6.2 lbs so far. And last week I worked out Mon-Sat, and so far this week I have worked out Monday and today. I am LOVING working out. When I get to the gym I feel so PUMPED!

One thing I love about tracking my food is it eliminates the "I blew it" mentality. Today was stressful. My poor baby boy had to have a tooth pulled and I was a nervous wreck. *enter emotional eating* A quick stop by Sonic for lunch where I choose a small order of tater tots, a jumbo popcorn chicken and a diet limeade. What kind of whacked out ordering is that? I tell ya, denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

Anyway, my son is amazing and did phenomenal during the extraction (thanks in LARGE part to his awesome dentist) and when I got home this afternoon I put in my WW points. Since I was *ahem* a lil' higher then I wanted, I pulled out a Southern fave for supper and we had a veggie plate: ranch style beans, cornbread, tomatoes and corn on the cob-with watermelon for dessert. SOOOOO good. And I still have a few point left over for the day-which I'm happy with.

Today I read (and loved) Jack Fit's post today about bad days. I had a sucky lunch-too greasy, too fatty, little nutrition. I could have thrown in the towel and said to hell with it and followed it with an equally bad dinner. Instead I walked for 40 minutes and had a light supper. Yesterday I didn't work out. I had errands and kids and time got away from me. However, I was not letting today go by without a workout. "Once" is slip-up and easily fixed. I don't ever want to fall back into that mode of thinking where one bad meal or skipped workout equals failure for the day or week. This isn't a diet I am beginning or ending or messing up. This is my life and my health. So instead of putting it off until tomorrow/Monday/my birthday I am fixing it NOW-one meal, one walk at a time.

I am s-l-o-w-l-y catching up on blogs. I have missed reading so much! I hope it's a great Wednesday for any readers out there!

*from Blackbird by the incomparable Fab Four

Back on the wagon

2010-05-21T21:38:00.000-07:00

Only 8 days of teaching left. Oh just saying those words makes me sing!

Testing is done. AR is done. Novels are finished. Basically we're in a holding pattern, waiting on semester exams and field trips :D

Sooo...exciting things: Howard graduated!!! Last Saturday and we are thrilled he is done with school. I'm so proud of him. He started this past Monday as a full-time software engineer.

The kiddos are still doing softball and teeball. It's been fun but I'm pretty much ready for it to be over-we are at practice or games 6 days a week!

The last few weeks I have pretty much given up on eating right. At first it was because I was working on stuff for my master's classes. This last 10 days, I've had no excuse. It's like I've given up :(

A friend of mine has lap-band surgery Tuesday, and it really got me thinking. I started doing research and my insurance covers it. I am just so afraid of surgery :( I have my appendix and gallbladder out and two C-sections. That's enough surgery for a lifetime. But I realize I have to do something. Tonight I rejoined Weight Watchers. Last time I was on it, I lost weight. It was easy to follow and I love the website. Tracking on my own just isn't keeping me accountable. So I'm going to try this for 3 months. If I'm losing weight-great. If not, it's time for other options.

I'll be back tomorrow with a WW update!!

Everybody's working for the weekend

2010-04-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

Today was another long day of testing. We did have 4th-6th periods, so I got in a little learning :D We are reading Fahrenheit 451 in my honors class-sooo fun!

I had the most delicious salad for lunch. Lettuce, cherry tomatoes, a little smoked turkey and hard boiled egg for protein. Italian dressing and WALNUTS-my favorite! Walnuts are so good in salad. They are my new not-so-secret ingredient.

After work, my friend and I hit the gym. 2 miles in 40 minutes, arms for 30, then a few more minutes on the bike. I wanted to do 10-15 minutes on the bike, but my legs felt like noodles! I really need new workout shoes, cause my poor feet are hurting!

I always wonder how people on the Biggest Loser manage their workouts. My 70 minutes workout almost killed me and they bust out hours at a time. I guess they just work through the pain?

A guy in our apartment complex woke up to a not-nice surprise. Someone had egged his car and wrote a very inappropriate message on the side. He actually works at my school (!!!) so I thought it was pretty funny, EXCEPT for the fact that the ugly message ended with "F@#& you, you HOE." Really?? He's a long handled gardening tool? You could at least call him a rake. (Ba dum tsss LOL!)

And that's about my day. . . Luke tried to go to bed at 6 to avoid cleaning his room! Jade did an impression of her nutty music teacher that had tears streaming down my face. And I'm getting to bed at 10:30. A good day indeed!!!

Letter Lessons

2010-04-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

Another boring day of testing. Lord, these poor kids get tested to death :/

1900 calories today and a quick 30 minute walk made me pretty happy today. A sweet student brought me a Hershey bar with almonds. I was so glad I had calories in my "bank"-it was divine and just what I needed after a tortuous day of testing. I'm not sure if rewarding myself with chocolate was a good thing...but it made me happy and I don't feel guilty so that's a plus :)

My son is hilarious. His new game is to name a word for each letter I give him, so A=apple, etc. He's pretty good up thorugh O ;)

Well, he was stuck on J so I cut my eyes over toward his sister, Jade. I was jerking my head toward her and making eye movements, and all of a sudden Luke got a giant grin, nodded sagely and shouted "Can!"

As in:

LOL!!! I cracked right on up :)

Hump day is over and we are on our way to the weekend. That's a glorious thought!!!!!!!!

What do you call a cow with no legs?*

2010-04-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

Two posts in a row-hot damn!

Today was a cool 1500 calories. I had a yummy fried egg on toast for breakfast. Lunch was a sandwich, soup and strawberries. Dinner was a bbq sammie, 1/2 serving of pringles, and baby carrots. And tonight I walked 2 miles :D

It felt so good to get outside and walk! It was beautiful watching the sunset, and the hubby and I were able to talk without interruption for 45 minutes! That's like 2 weeks in "married with children" time.

Other than that, I read a fantastic graphic novel (American Born Chinese) for my fairy tale class. I played with our adorable new chi-weenie puppy. And I'm about to finish my night with Glee and hot tea. Fan-friggin-tastic!

A sweet and faithful bloggy buddy Jenn left me a kindly nudge on yesterday's post. She suggested that perhaps my less-than-stellar results during April {read: abject failure} may have been in part because I didn't blog A SINGLE DAY in April. *facepalm*

It was really like a lightbulb above my head.

I stopped blogging because I was busy/tired/not seeing results/blah blah blah. But when I stopped blogging, I stopped tracking on SP and I pretty much gave up on everything. Sure, I wasn't going to Chili's once a week, but I was snarfing Cheetos and birthday cake far too often.

Blogging gives me an outlet and an accountability that I am seeing is crucial to my success. My goal is to blog everyday this week. Even if I think I'm boring, or have nothing but failure to report, I'm laying it out there!

Happy Tuesday night y'all, and see you tomorrow!

*Ground beef!!!! Hehehe!! Hahaha!! LOL!! Ok, enough, go to bed you crazy kids!

Adios April??

2010-04-26T18:37:00.000-07:00

"The sun burnt every day. It burnt Time. "- Fahrenheit 451

Am I the only one who feels like time is burning faster and faster?

I feel as though I am stuck in a terrible vacuum. I am work, work, working all the time and I never have time left for things I enjoy.

Oh the drama *swoon* :^P

Work is hectic as always. I know I don't have a lot to compare it too, but teaching has to be one of the most ridiculous jobs. The paperwork alone is enough to turn you grey. I love it but Sheesh :/

My master's classes are down to the wire. I have a huge paper due in 2 weeks. Just saying that makes me to vom, so that should tell you how the writing is going!

The kids are in t-ball/softball which consumes more time than I thought it would.

And, uh, my ass? Still big. Bigger than big. Ginormeous!

I tracked on SP today and came in at 1900 calories, so a bit over my goal. It's almost 9 and I am going to BED. A place I have seen far to little of these past few weeks.

Here's a conundrum for anybody still reading (bless your hearts). During the month of April I didn't go out to eat AT ALL. In March I probably ate out 6+ times. And yet, this morning I am up FIVE pounds. WTF? How can that be??

Rawr.

And g'night.

tap, tap Is this thing on?

2010-03-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

2 months short of not blogging is pretty much the longest hiatus I've ever had. It wasn't planned... several times I opened up blogger, but felt like I had nothing to say.

The most important thing that has recently happened is that Howard and I are are working things out. He moved out for three weeks, and they were the longest weeks of my life! I just didn't know what to do with myself...

But I went out, I hung out with friends, I distracted myself as best I could. To my surprise I realized I really missed him. REALLY missed him. So he moved back in, and we are working on rebuilding our relationship. So far.....so good!!

Weight-errrrr....let's just say it hasn't been my focus! But I'm ready to jump back on this treadmill (which I did earlier!) and get back on track.

Today was 400 cals burned by walking 2 miles in 40 minutes, and I consumed 1700 cals. I'm glad to be back on track,and I can't wait to catch up with everyones blogs!

Happy Monday y'all :D

Where has the time all gone to?*

2010-01-24T16:20:00.000-08:00

10 days since I have blogged. Eeegads.

I blame working....and laundry....oh, and going back to class! I definitely blame that.

Of course, all blame lies with ME. I have opened blogger several times over the last week and a half, but never felt like I had any particular wisdom to give to the blogging world.

I am still walking, albeit infrequently. Yesterday I saw a guy at the gym sporting the 1980's halftop, shorts, and too-tall white socks! It was pretty amazing.

Eating is all of the place. Some days I eat wonderfully, and then ruin it with a 10:30 run to Taco Bell. Other days I hardy eat at all.

The battery in my scale died after 2 damn years, and I keep forgetting to get a new one. I haven't weighed myself in too long.

Things are very strange with the The Future Ex. Financially we can't live apart until he graduates. So he is living at home again...which makes things strange. We're not telling the kids anything until we can actually get separate houses.

It's horrible and confusing but I don't know any other way to do it, and at least they are happy for the time being. God I'm so afraid I'm going to mess my kids up in this whole ordeal :/ However, my mother stayed in a bad marriage for waaaaaay too long and ended up trying to commit suicide when I was 13. I don't ever want to get to that point.

I have an appointment to see a counselor next week. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time; I think it will help me on so many levels.

My teaching is going well. We are in the thick of The Diary of Anne Frank and the kids really enjoy this unit. I am taking two graduate classes-one of the way fairy tales have transformed as a genre (SO INTERESTING!!) and a models of teaching class, which should be pretty easy.

And that is all for right now....thanks for all the comments on last post, and I am going to try VERY HARD to comment on my bloggy friends who I have neglected. I'm sure my pithy comments have been missed ;)

*title from Frank Sinatra - Some Other Time (Well Catch Up)
*pic from flikr

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Now playing: Pearl Jam - yellow ledbetter

Mid Week Success

2010-01-13T17:49:00.000-08:00

I keep gaining and losing two followers. How funny.

I'm so glad this week is half-over! It seems to be draaaaaaging on forever. Of course the weekend will fly by--as usual.

Not much new. Still seperated. Still liking it. Work is going well. We are doing The Diary of Anne Frank-muy depressing, but so important. I love/hate this unit. The kids get so much out of it, but it's so hard to read about :(

Eating today: Breakfast was eaten at school because I woke up at ***7:05*** That's an HOUR late!! GASP! I had a scrambled egg, some CRUNCHY PIG (aka bacon) and a slice of toast. Lunch was Healthy Choice tortilla soup and crackers, and an orange. For a snack I had a Fiber 1 Apple/Oat bar (veeeery tasty) and I'm fixing to make dinner-a grilled cheese with turkey and avocado and I'm going to try kale chips.

I made it to the gym today! Go me! I did two miles of hills at 3.0 mph. Whew! I was a sweaty fool at the end.

Now I'm kinda shaky, so time for supper. Happy hump day!!!!

----------------
Now playing: Pink - Funhouse
via FoxyTunes

Food journal and some healthy cake!

2010-01-11T19:54:00.000-08:00

Good eats on this fine Monday.

Breakfast was my usual egg and cheese burrito. Lunch was a WW Fettuccine Alfredo (YUM!!!!), baby carrots, and a not so tasty, kinda mealy, apple. Dinner was baby lima beans with BACONNNNN and roasted broccoli on the side.

I believe bacon should be part of everyone's day. Like "Did you take your vitamin?" Check. "Did you eat your bacon?" Double check! Nom nom nom

I had a hilarious discussion with my mom today. She offered me some cake and I declined. Again, she offered. No thanks. Suddenly she appears in front of me with a piece of cake on a plate. "Here. It's lemon cake-it's healthy!!" Nothing I can ever say will convince that woman that lemon cake is the same as chocolate cake!! I just gave up and ate it. It was quite tasty :D

Calories came in at 1400-looks good to me!

No workout today. I tried-I just couldn't get away! I wanted to go to the gym-even dressed for it, but I just couldn't get away. Then it got so late, so I was going to do a video-the damn DVD player won't work! Ugh!! So no workout today-grrrrrrrrr.

Hopefully tomorrow good eating continues-WITH a workout this time :D

Plugging Away and a Fridge Mishap

2010-01-10T19:54:00.000-08:00

Holla bloggies.

I only ate 1076 calories today. I slept right through breakfast and wasn't very hungry today.
Lunch was a cheeseburger happy meal. Dinner was an eggbeater and bacon burrito and baby carrots.

I turned down cake at my daughters friends' birthday party! I guess I could have afforded the calories, but the cake didn't sound very good...

I went riding around today looking for a new place to rent. My apartment is pretty pricey, and I want the kids to have their own room. I'll call tomorrow at lunch-I really hope I find something!!!

For some odd reason my refrigerator has an off setting. As in "Coldest-------Colder-------Off." Why?? Why is that needed? Of course my 4 year old discovered that little knob and flipped that bad boy right off. I found out when I went to get ice for my glass and grabbed a handful of mostly water.

Not good.

I was hoping everything was still good. But when I poured the milk for dinner, Jade took one sip and said "Why does the milk taste funny? "Aaaugh! Throw it all out!!! So we lost most of a gallon of milk, and some hamburger. It did give me a good opportunity to throw out that pre-Christmas pasta *shudder*

In my perfect 10 post I forgot my little known fact, so here's goes: I play the cello. I even own one, but it's pretty dusty because I don't play as often as I should. So there ya go-now you know!

You guys have a fabulous Sunday!

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Now playing: Pearl Jam - yellow ledbetter
via FoxyTunes

Update 1-Perfect 10

2010-01-09T00:49:00.000-08:00

Time for my first Perfect 10 update!!

Cardio exercise 4 times per week.-Utter and complete failure. But this has been a week from hell. Not an excuse, just a fact. I am looking forward to getting back on schedule next week.
Strength train 2 times per week.- see above
64 oz. water per day.-I didn't accurately track this week. I know I was low several days, but I am definitely making a concerted effort to drink more water. And no sodas!
Track on Sparkpeople everyday- Not even close, but I did starting today.
Meatless once per week.- Yep!! Multiple times actually and it wasn't hard. Bring on the pasta!!

My first update is not so perfect...but next week will rock it!

Just keep swimming...

2010-01-07T13:33:00.000-08:00

This has possibly been the longest week of my life.

I am feeling better though, day by day. I am more sure than ever this is what I want.

Sleep still sucks. And eating hasn't been great, but I'm slowing getting my appetite back. Of course, it's pretty strange to eat a small bowl of chicken noodle soup and be stuffed!

In an effort to get my mind of everything, I am posting to join Steve's Perfect 10 in 2010 challenge-thingy. And my first update is due in the morning.

My goals are back to basics-

Cardio exercise 4 times per week.
Strength train 2 times per week.
64 oz. water per day.
Track on Sparkpeople everyday
Meatless once per week.

Nothing too fancy, but I want to commit myself 100% to accomplishing these goals. If I do the first four, the fifth will take care of itself.

Thanks for all the comments yesterday. Everyone had a little something different to say, and I appreciate the support. You guys rock.

Serious Stuff Ahead

2010-01-06T18:57:00.000-08:00

Hey bloggies. I am the title master lately right?

Good news first: weigh in today was 363.8! Another two pounds already!!

Thanks for the kind responses on my last post. They mean a lot to me.

I don't know how to say this, so I'll just lay it out there. My husband and I separated last Sunday. There's no big huge drama surrounding it, just a long, slow decline that has honestly been coming for awhile. Unfortunalty, my husbansd doesn't totally see it that way...but I think we will be ok. I am ok. I think.

I've been with Howard since I was 15 years old, i.e. my whole damn life. I never dated, never lived on my own, never did a LOT of things, and I don't want to wake up at 40 or 50 or 60 and wonder where my life went. Or what all I missed.

But I hate this. I haven't slept alone, not a single night, in 11 years. It's scary. And it's hard doing all of the kid stuff by myself. And I keep wondering if this is the right choice.

My family is kind of mixed. My mom straight up told me I would f**k my kids up if we split. Thanks ma. My brother and sister are awesome. My friends at school have been unbelievably supportive. Chocolate everyday (which is sitting on my desk), and they even sent me flowers today with a sweet card.

So I'm in a weird place. I am still weighing in, but not really tracking my calories. It just seems like a lot of work. I am hoping to go work out tomorrow. The kids will be with Howard and it will be a good way to de-stress. I want to keep blogging, but don't have a lot of stuff to say...

I'm halfway to the weekend. I can do this...

Catchy title goes here

2010-01-03T21:29:00.001-08:00

Today was my last of vacation. Tomorrow its back to work for a (blessedly short) workday and then Tuesday-bring on the kiddos!!

I went to bed last night at 2:00am and was up at 6:50 :/ Lots of personal stuff going down I can't really get into...but my eating is crappy and my sleep nonexistent. Today I had a jr burger from Sonic for lunch and a grilled cheese for dinner. Not exactly the bastion of healthy living...

I am still excited about 2010-but I am also AFRAID of change :/ Hopefully more details will come...and hopefully my appetite will return (only for healthy foods please!!) Prayers/positive thoughts/good mojo all appreciated if sent my way :D

So much to do and it's already so late!! I hope everyone is starting off the new year on a kickass note!!!

Surprise Weigh-In

2010-01-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everybody!!

I spent most of yesterday in the car, driving home from New Mexico. We have put some serious miles on my lil car! I had such a wonderful, laid-back vacation. I got to visit family and some of my very best friends from high school. (My 10 year high school reunion is next year-how did that happen?! lol)

Christmas week was eating was pretty bad, as I blogged about. This last week has been much better. We mostly ate at home and I did so well! Small portions, no dessert. Yesterday on the way home we stopped at McDonald's, everyone's favorite dinner place *eyeroll* The kids were excited at least! I ordered a Happy Meal, thank you very much. Got my burger and fry fix, even drank soda, and came in at about 550 calories. And I got a cute toy ;)

My last weigh-in (Dec 15) I was 369.6 (I had gained a few ounces).

Today I weighed in at 365.6. Four more pounds gone forever!! Dec 1 I was at 375, so I lost ten freaking pounds in December!!!! I am so damn excited I just can't stand it!

I hope everyone is having a great new year. I have two more days of vacation than it's back to the grind! Time to go workout for the first time in toooo long ;)

The Aftermath

2009-12-27T07:26:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe it's been 12 days since I have blogged! Oy vey as they say.

I am in beautiful northern New Mexico visiting my sister and her family.We got here laaaate last Sunday (actually about 3 in the morning Monday). It was a loooooong drive!

We have had an awesome time hanging out, shopping, cooking. Christmas was wonderful. It was great being with extended family.

At the beginning of the trip my eating was pretty rough...I just kinda ate whatever. I hate when I get in that mindset-like vacation mode. So I was pretty indulgent, but on the plus side we didn't go out to eat at all. And there are hardly any sweets in the house-I purposefully did NOT make fudge ;).

But while my eating was improved from last Christmas, it was still not what I wanted it to be. I'm disappointed in myself. I know it was just a few days, but damn it!! That could have been more successful days. And looking through those Christmas photos-good gawd y'all...Those pics are rough anyway, cause it's early and no makeup, etc. But add to that there are multiple cameras in action, and I can only suck it in from one angle! Suffice to say there were some pics that made me want to cry. Moral of the story-I cannot have anymore blow-off days. Period.

Yesterday I was feeling icky, so it turned out to be kind of a detox day. Today, come hell or high water I am back on plan and tracking on Sparkpeople.

I would like to say I'm gong for a walk but the temperature right now is 18. Fricking 18!! The low is 0. That's correct--it is so cold they officially have NO temperature :/

Today we are embarking in the second part of our trip-heading down to south-east New Mexico to visit my hubby's family. 6 more hours of driving baby! :/ Hopefully it will be warmer there....I do have my walking shoes, just in case it ever gets warm enough!!

I can't wait to catch up on everyone's blog! I have missed reading and posting. And as the countdown to New Years is in full swing, I thought I would share a quote I read this morning and really liked- "Make no resolutions-only change."

Happy Sunday!!

Road Trip Part Deux and a happy Monday to ya!

2009-12-14T20:58:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday peeps. The countdown to Christmas break is ON!!! I am so ready for 17 days w/o students!

No post yesterday cause I kinda effed up. And I hate blogging when I fail. But that's a part of the whole "experience" I guess...

Well, yesterday after church we were going to go home and eat sandwiches before we got back on the road to head home. We stopped by Subway and I grabbed and salad and we headed back to my SIL's house. However, once we got there, we decided to go out to lunch. To a Mexican place.

I had been avoiding this for a reason. Of course, it's no excuse, I should have self-control, but I don't. I stared at those damn chips and salsa and then told myself "I'll just have 8. That's about a portion." Well two and a half portions later.... Then I ordered a combo plate: crunchy taco, bean tostada and green chicken enchilada. And promptly ate every bit :/

Afterward I felt pretty icky. Way too full, not a good feeling. Later on, on the drive home we stopped for kolaches and you bet I had one! Those things are soooo good! And then later I had a Snickers. I had been craving it for a week.

I was dreading putting it in SP, and for good reason. I came in at about 2600 calories. At 5 in the afternoon. Eek! So I skipped dinner and went and busted out two miles at the gym. I'm not about to let one afternoon of bad choices derail me. That's what I've done too often in the past.

Today's breakfast was ham and egg on a english muffin, a Subway salad for lunch, and shrimp fajitas for dinner. That's right, we ate Mexican again tonight! I got home late from work, and when hubby suggested it, I didn't say no. This time however, I stuck to a few chips, ordered light, substituted corn tortillas for the flour, and enjoyed a much more moderate meal.

Tonight at the gym I walked two miles and biked 4. We'll see if it's enough to counteract "Salt-Fest 09" for my weigh in in the morning *fingers crossed*

Blogging from the Road

2009-12-12T16:14:00.000-08:00

I am 200 miles from home, sitting by a beautiful fire, hanging with my sister and bro in law. This was an occasion I was a little worried about. First of here is the roadtrip-bastion of food traps. This time was different. I prepped by packing healthy snacks for the road: peeled oranges, apples, and baby carrots. We stopped for lunch at Arby's and I got a chopped salad with grilled chicken. Of course when they first sent it out, it was covered with cheese, so I had to send it back and got a new one. It was pretty good, although I was verrrry tempted by some fried goodness. It was cold and rainy and I wasn't in a very "salad-y" mood. However I knew fries and a cheesy sandwich wouldn't comfort me when I put those numbers in! So I stuck with my salad and stopped by Starbucks and got a nonfat peppermint mocha latte. Comforting and within my calories count.

Tonight the plan for dinner was wings and pizza. Calorie downfall right? I spoke right up and asked if I could order a salad-two in one day! I'm on a roll ;) I'll have the salad and two pieces of cheese pizza and come in right at 1525 calories. Not too shabby for two restaurant meals and being on the road :)

I'm off to enjoy some good times with mi familia. Y'all have a happy Saturday!

Overcoming the Buffet

2009-12-11T20:37:00.000-08:00

What a Friday. I spent 12 consecutive hours with students today :/ It was our annual UIL meet-it's like a scholastic meeting where a bunch of schools compete.

My day started off on a good note. My principal came by with "Doughnut Patrol." However I had already had my egg beaters and cheese burrito thankyaverymuch and I wasn't hungry. So he asked what I wanted and I said "No thanks!" He looked at me and asked again "You sure? I got glazed, sprinkles, chocolate..." Again, I said, "No thanks-I'm good!" And I was. I didn't need to waste 200 calories on four bites. It's not worth it.

Also I knew this was going to be a tough day because I would spend 12:30-6:30 with easy access to the HOSPITALITY ROOM. Down here in Texas we are big believers in HOSPITALITY and by HOSPITALITY we mean food. Our hospitality room consisted of 7 tables covered in every imaginable food-chips, dip, 6 kinds of sandwiches, veggie and fruit platters, nuts, olives, and soooo many desserts- brownies, cake, cobbler, and cooooookies. And each table was covered in Hershey kisses and miniature candy bars. We don't do stuff small that's for sure!

Now I had packed my healthy little lunch but I didn't want to bust out with my sandwich like a weirdo so I looked for some good choices. I got a half a chicken salad sandwich, a few olives, a pickle, pineapple and strawberries, broccoli dipped in salsa, and some taco soup with tortilla chips. The chicken salad had apples in it (BLEH) so-I ended up whipping out my turkey sandwich from my bag anyway. Whole wheat bread, turkey, lettuce, mustard-yuuum. It was very tasty :)

Later my friend tried to entice me with some Texas sheet cake, which is one of my allll time favorites. But I stayed strong and said no thanks. And she asked me again! Why do they always ask me twice?! But I just smiled and said nah.

A few hours later everyone met back up and we went for another round. This time I grabbed some grapes, a few ham slice, and a roll. Yum.

Dinner was also courtesy of the school, and I had a half a ham and cheese, about 5 potato chips, and two brownie bites. And those brownies were soooooo good, but after two I was done. It gave me that chocolate fix, and I didn't want anymore.

I ended up at 2072 calories for teh day. And I DID not make my workout this morning because I am pretty sure God doesn't want me to get up at 5:30....so a little over my calories and no workout.

But when I think about how different my eating was this time compared to last time-Holy Cow!!! Last year I would have eaten, and eaten, and eaten...And then pretended to "go to the bathroom" or "check on something" to sneak some more. Today I felt in control. Not overly obsessive-just good. So I'm pretty happy with today.

Evidently we are going bright and early in the morning to my husband's sister's house. I suggested this awhile back, nothing was decided, and now suddenly we are going. I don't have presents bought, I don't know where our animals are going, and I have an astonishing amount of work I need to do. I am NOT happy with that man right now. Plus I think it will be really hard to eat well over there-they don't really eat veggies and fruit...very meat and potatoes people-and if it's covered in cheese and ranch all the better. Ugh :/

However, I'll keep my calories in check and I HAVE to go for a walk tomorrow. They live in a hilly area so it should be interesting ;)

Put one foot in front of the other....

2009-12-10T17:36:00.000-08:00

Another strong day makes my ninth day of being on track! If I was a better blogger I would go back and check to see if that's a record, but I'm feeling lazy.

I should have eaten more today. Breakfast and lunch were 6 hours apart and so was lunch and dinner with little in between. I was HONgry!!! And cranky. I need to regulate better. Breakfast was my usual egg burrito. Lunch was a turkey sammie and baked cheetos, and a gratis slice of cheese pizza from my principal :) Dinner was chicken, mashed potatoes w/ brown gravy, broccoli and I snacked on cashews(afternoon), and I enjoyed two cookie wreaths and hot tea after dinner. Those lil debbie cookie wreaths are sooo good, and only 100 calories!

Two NSV's-Already I can tell I am so much more energetic. Even my students comment on it, which is sad I know!

Secondly-I'm waking up hungry. I know that's kind of a weird victory but it shows me by cutting out eating late at night I actually want to eat breakfast in the morning :) Usually I am baaaad about eating at night, so I'm pretty happy!

My husband is so funny because he has no idea of what is healthy. Today they had a big potluck thing at his work and he commented that there didn't seem to be many healthy things. I kind of sagely nodded, b/c I know the pain of nothing healthy to eat at office things. Then he said there was one dish that seemed sort of healthy. He said it was kind of like a Spanish tortilla. I blankly stared at him-"The one with 1/4 cup of olive oil? That's twice fried?" So he backtracked-"Well it was a little different. It had a pastry bottom with some sausage and gravy and then eggs on top." I burst out laughing and told him that was NOT exactly diet food!!!!!

I came in at 1350 calories today, which is good b/c I didn't work out today. Stupid gym closed early! And I could have exercised outside, but man it's chilly. So instead I cooked yummy warm food and was in my jammies at 6 :)

I'm hitting the sack EARLY tomorrow for my 6 am workout (hopefully first of many) . I'm excited!!

Happy Wednesday to all and to all a good night!!

2009-12-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

My new laptop from my school is the BOMBdiggity!! I am loving it!

Another steller day. 1500 calories and a 30 minute workout. I had a veggie quesadilla for dinner, with a big ol' salad-yuuum. I love salad. I get on kicks where I eat them everyday the same exact way. Right now it's romaine mix, a sprinkle of green olives, Italian dressing and a few crumbled up wheat club crackers. I know if I went low-fat with the dressing, or left of the crackers, it would be a few less calories, but it is sooo delicious. And I have worked it in to my daily calories so I am happy :)

Work is stressing me out. I have gotten FOUR new students this week. Really?!?! Who moves 8 days before the semester is over? Ugh. They are totally behind and we are finishing a novel they don't care about at all. I am soooooo ready for a break!!

I'm going to try (fingers crossed) an early-morning workout this Friday. That evening I won't get home till after 8, and my gym will be closed. Also, that is the day we are going to our UIL meet, so eating will be a bit challenging. Lunch will be super early, at 11 (I normaly eat at 1:10). We won't be back until 7-ish and it will be a loooong, boring afternoon with a concession filled with goodies just a few feet away ;)

Of course, if I work out that morning I will have even more of an incentive not to splurge. But even if I don't, my health and confidence are not worth a measly order of nachos. I'll have a 100 calories pack of White Chocolate Rice Cakes (holy cow good) and an apple, and I'll be good to go!

If I can wrangle it, I might even find some wi-fi and be able to blog through my cravings!

Y'all have a healthy and happy Thursday!

Love,

Weighing In Time

2009-12-08T04:54:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday-375.8
Today-369.2

5 lbs gone baby!!! In one week.

However.

5 pounds is awesome. And I am certainly not complaining. But I realized that 5 lbs is such a drop in the bucket. I am very happy, but I have looong way to go. I can't relax. AT ALL. I have to stay dedicated. There is no turning back! This is such a lifestyle change.

But this time is different. When I got on the scale December 1 and realized I was 25 pounds aways from 400 pounds, I realized I cannot afford to mess around. It's now or never. I can't keep losing 2, gaining 3. That is what has got me here. I am 100 percent dedicated to this.

The delicious things I ate today:
egg and cheese burrito (egg beaters, 2% cheese, low carb tortilla-my hubby couldn't even tell they were different :p )
baked potato soup (homeade, including BACON and cheese-350 calories!!)
a huuuuge taco salad (romaine lettuce, chicken, beans, salsa, guacamole, a few shells for crunch)
and for snacks-a bernaner (morning) and an apple and peanut butter (afternoon)

All that for.....1500 calories!! Amazing! Also I walked 2 miles in 40 minutes this afternoon.

Since last Tuesday my calories have averaged 1844/day which is pretty much where I want to be. Two days I went over 2000, one day at 1200 and the rest in the middle. Not too shabby :)

I'm in it to win it!!

Weekend Success!!

2009-12-07T04:34:00.000-08:00

I do not have a good track record with weekends. In fact, they tend to be my pitfall. Without my structured weekday I find myself wandering into the kitchen and nibbling far too often. Combine that with eating out or a few drinks and my calories count over the weekend is usually horrendous.

Usually.

This weekend I braved Arby's and Sonic, a dance with a free sweets buffet, my husband making pancakes, and various other possible triggers (decorating, movie night, etc.) I planned and tracked the whole weekend, and I'm proud to say my biggest "splurge" was tortilla chips and guacamole last night! My calorie count Friday was 1780, Saturday 1800, and Sunday was 2100. A slight upward trend, but I'm not too worried about it. Quite a change from two weekends ago when I tracked nearly 900 calories in alcohol :/ Wake up call much?!

Also I went to church this weekend-YAY-got some groceries-Woohoo!- and finally decorated for Christmas. Today I'm not even bummed about going to work becuase I finally got my Promethean board all set up-it's UH-mazing!!! I'm very excited about it.

Weekly goals:
4 workouts (up from 3 last week)
Continuing my good eating(a snack/meal every 3-4 hours).
No eating out

I hope y'all all had a wonderful weekend and your Monday is off to a great start!