Monday, October 11, 2010

Wanna win it...

I love jewelry. And I love jewelry that no one else has. Something that's interesting with texture. Kayce Hughes is giving away one of her necklaces over on her blog.


Know what else I love? I love that the world seems tinier because of blogs. I was LITERALLY last night re-reading my April 2010 Country Living magazine and Kayce and her family's home was featured. I had a few of their pages folded down for future reference. This morning there's this post...small, small world.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

L.O.V.E...


My husband is a genius. I'm loving our new front door. Now we need to change the sidelites, perhaps get a storm door before it gets stormy, apply trim, decide on a door color, paint the house...blah, blah, blah. But hey, this is a start!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

What i'm wearing this fall...

Maybe I should say "what i'm buying this fall." I've purchased a few things that I haven't been able to wear simply because it's been too warm. But here's what i've got sitting in my closet so far:

Old Navy

Old Navy

Target

Target

Target

Piperlime

Old Navy

Old Navy

Target

Target

PLUS...

Yep, this is from Target too...

My cute target bag that I bought as a diaper bag-turned-purse three years ago has handles that are ripping. They are literally hanging on by threads. I'm ashamed to even be carrying it around it's in such bad shape. So this is what i'm going with. I'm thinking i'll also do something in either silver or a darker gray. I plan on having a plum or peacock wool coat (time for something besides black) and think the orange will work with either one. Maybe this one:


J Crew

So what are you wearing this fall?

Monday, September 13, 2010

Wowee...

I can safely say that that was one hell of a summer! From getting our house ready to sell, to buying the new one, starting renovations on it, getting over the emotional roller coaster of moving and saying goodbye to our old place...it was a crazy 3 months! Make that 4 months! Baby Kara arrived in June (see my previous post) and she's one beautiful girl. Our house is coming along and we're so busy that it may be a while before I post anything about the remodel (which I had hoped to do as we were in the process). Suffice it to say that we've ripped out floors, painted 12 foot ceilings, fixed a leaking chimney, measured for doors, measured for blinds, installed carpet, measured for kitchen islands, painted, painted, and painted some more. Soon, very soon, I will start on the new blog. Then i'll have to rely on the dates on the photos to know when we did what. Over the short summer I lost my focus on exercising and eating right. I keep telling myself that it's okay, I had an excuse. But you know what? I HATE excuses! So no more of those, I am doing Weight Watchers again. This is how I lost 22 pounds 10 years ago. Now i've had two kids and sit on my rear for work a LOT. My goal this time is to lose 21.9 pounds. I'd like to do it by Thanksgiving, we'll see what happens! Just for fun here's some pics of the boys (and Max's friend Jaidyn) at the fair in July:

One final note, it's September and we've got a Thunderstorm Warning here and a Tornado Watch north of us. What's up with that?

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Nine more weeks...








My beautiful sister-in-law is having her first baby (a girl!) in about nine weeks. This past weekend we had her baby shower and took some time to get some pregnancy photos. I call her Mego Prego (not to her face of course)...but really her name is Megan.

I hope to get some more of her, and maybe her good-lookin' husband too, before the little one gets here in June. Thanks for letting me practice Meg!







Argh...

Please remind me to never buy a house again. And to never buy a house until mine is sold. I'm frustrated and scared and this is all after the elation that I felt on Monday night that we had actually done it...and without a realtor. All of our hard work and extra money was going to belong to us. But as of today (yep, three days later) they haven't signed the contract. His wife needs "convincing." That doesn't sound very good to me. Does it sound very good to you? Every single penny that we have is going to the closing of the new house on June 1. No lie. And if we don't get this house sold, I don't know what we'll do. Back to praying I guess...

160.4 (just in case you were curious).

Thursday, April 15, 2010

This would be awesome...


(image from cameraimage)

Rachel B has a fantastic giveaway on her blog! She's giving away an actual Polaroid. Oh my, if 5 years ago I had known I would want one, I would have grabbed Ryan's grandmother's at her estate sale. But I didn't know. I didn't know i'd turn to photography as a hobby and I certainly didn't know that I would want to try to get creative with a Polaroid! But as luck would have it, I stumbled upon Rachel B's blog a month or so ago and have fallen in love! What a fun new challenge. So she's giving one away here and cross my fingers, i'll win!! You should try too, and give it to me for Mother's Day or something! Hee hee!

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

It's all okay...

I survived. Dare I say that I even had a good time? I told Ryan that I generally gauge things on how blotchy I get. Before I even had a chance to blotch up, his new employer (who is younger than me by the way) was asking me about my job, about the boys, about the new house...just being a really great hostess (it was their party after all). I really did have a nice time. Everyone there is salt-of-the-earth. I'm relieved...and really happy for Ryan.

Today started out yucky. Jazzercise was good, it felt like I got in a good workout. And surprisingly, it wasn't difficult (too difficult I should say) to get out of bed and go. But it was cold. Colder than I wanted. After mom left this morning she called ten minutes later to tell me she'd been in an accident. What?! She's okay and there was minimal damage so i'm fully relieved. She's just started PT on her back so i'm hoping she doesn't feel any after effects tomorrow. The rest of the day got better as I had lunch with my birthday buddy and managed to be productive for work.

I'm starting to worry about the house. This one and that one. We're having two open houses on Sat and Sun this weekend. Hopefully we've got enough emails and advertising out to entice people to come in. And I emailed the girl who loved the house from last weekend. Told her we dropped the price and was there anything else I could tell her about the place? So basically i'm grasping at straws...thus the photo above. Wish us luck!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Down it goes...


Whatever i'm doing is working FINALLY! This morning I was at 161.3...the lowest i've been since I was pregnant with Owen. It's really just exercise (and not even enough of it...just think what I could do if i'd push myself) and eating less. You know what? My one "thing" is that I don't eat after supper. I just don't. It's not even something that I think about anymore, I just automatically don't do it. I suppose that helps! Anyway, I'm still thinking 145 is the goal and that seems like a long way off. So i'm hoping that by my birthday i'll be at 155. That would make me REALLY happy! :)

Ryan started his new job on Monday. Tonight i'm going to dinner with their "peeps." This includes all of the local people here that i've never met. Um...i'm way nervous. Of course my main concern is that I don't have anything appropriate to wear. My next concern is that i'll break out into my red blotchiness that's oh-so-attractive. My last concern is that I simply won't know what to say. That's silly, I know, because I talk to people all of the time. And i'm in social situations where I don't really know people all of the time. But this is his "new" life and I want him to fit in. So I want to help. It will be fine, I know it will, but I can't help worrying.

Speaking of worrying, i'm worried about our house not selling. Of course I love it more than ever now that we've got some stuff in storage and it's neat and tidy all of the time (just in case). And I want to find someone who will love it as much as I do and take care of it while they're here. I thought we found the person but she hasn't called us...sad. It'll sell eventually. Last night I buried a statue of Joseph from our nativity scene in the front yard. Ryan's aunt said that the ladies at coffee swear by this trick. So I hoofed it downstairs, found the nativity, wrapped him up in a Walmart sack and buried him in the front landscaping. We'll see what happens! (mine is porcelain and not plastic so I hope that doesn't matter!) Anyway, if you've got friends in the market, send them here: http://1715jefferson.blogspot.com/

Have a fantastic week!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Happy spring...




(photo from natures-desktop.com)
It's finally here!! But unfortunately between work and the boys, sickness (Owen then me), planning a baby shower for my SIL and buying a house, i've been such a slacker here at the ol' blog! And with the exercise and writing down what I eat (not to mention actually watching what I eat). I took all of last week off from exercise because my chest hurt so bad when I drew deep breaths that I knew I couldn't keep up in class. Not to mention the coughing fits that happened repeatedly last week, the girls in class would have probably given me dirty looks!! I guess it was fine because springing ahead definitely stunk this year and I needed my rest! Oh my...how I hate it being dark again when I get up. Blech!

So to get back on track I weighed in this a.m. If you'll remember I was to be at 160.6 today...no can do my friends. 163.2. So not awful, just think of how I might have been today had it not been for being sick last week. But we can't go backward, only forward!! So a good breakfast, a little coffee and some water today. Watching what goes in my mouth (thank goodness the Girl Scout cookies are almost gone)...i'll get back on track. After all, summer is only a season away!

So spill it...how are you doing?

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Just plain weird...


I've heard other people have done this quiz to find out what their best career path is by simply choosing the colors you most like to look at (of the above it's orange) and the colors you least like to look at (of the above it's lime green). If you know me at all, you know this fits:

"Best Occupational Category"
You're an ORGANIZER
Keywords

Self-Control, Practical, Self-Contained, Orderly, Systematic, Precise, and Accurate
These conservative appearing, plotting-types enjoy organizing, data systems, accounting, detail, and accuracy. They often enjoy mathematics and data management activities such as accounting and investment management. Persistence and patience allows them to do detailed paperwork, operate office machines, write business reports, and make charts and graphs.
ORGANIZER CAREERS
Suggested careers are Administrator, Secretary, Printer, Paralegal, Building Inspector, Bank Cashier, Private Secretary, Statistician, Operations Manager, Financial Analyst, Bookkeeper, Medical Records Technician, Developer of Business or Computer Systems, Clerical Worker, Proofreader, Accountant, Administrative Assistant, Banker, Certified Public Accountant, Credit Manager, Store Salesperson, Actuary, Dental Assistant, Business Education Teacher, Food Service Manager, IRS Agent, Budget Analyst, and Underwriter.
ORGANIZER WORKPLACES
Your very careful, conscientious, conservative nature gives others the confidence to trust you with handling money and material possessions. Structured organizations that have well-ordered chains of command work best for you."

Weird no? The only thing that's TOTALLY wrong is that "they often enjoy mathematics...accounting and investment management." I definitely do NOT enjoy these things. However, the suggested career of "Administrator" is freaky right-on. Try it out!! You might figure out you'd be happier somewhere else? :)

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Spring is coming...


I can finally feel spring is on its way here. The boys are getting more and more restless which makes me think that they know something I don't. Like they can feel the impending spring and are just starting to get impatient.

After some tweaks and the addition of my running program (i'm running a race in May), things appear to be on the downhill slide! Tuesday i'm having my Mirena removed and hope that that will increase the losses even more instead of making my body think that it's pregnant! Eeeek! I think that March and April will be even more productive than February after getting into more of an active routine and now counting points.

I ordered the cutest spring jacket in begonia, a flowery umbrella and some black medallion flats on Saturday. Eddie Bauer was having a 30% off of everything sale!! I can't wait to wear everything!! This pair of flats is on my birthday list:

Finally, i'm making this dress (the short sleeved version) for my meeting in Chicago in May. I think i'll use a menswear fabric and some red pumps for impact:


Enjoy your week, hope it's successful and full of sunshine!!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Week four...


Not sure what to do now, I feel a little bit lost. Three weeks ago I was determined that I could lose 12 pounds by the end of February. It was too much and I knew it. But I put it out there. The only thing I have to show for it is 3.6 pounds lost. Where is my inner cheerleader? I'd tell anyone that 3.6 pounds is better than none. And it is certainly better than gaining. But i'm not happy. I'm not happy with myself for getting lazy about the weekends, when I don't track what I eat. I'm not happy with myself for not having a consistent workout schedule. I'm not happy with myself for being unhappy with myself. So it's time for a new plan. (Hey, i'm not one to stick with something if it doesn't seem to be working.)

-2 pounds per week. By March 29 (5 weeks from now) i'd be at 158.6
-Eat somewhere between 1200 and 1400 calories per day. Less than 1200 seems to be telling my body to do the opposite of what I want it to!
-Starting my 5K training program today and want to do Jazzercise twice a week (min.)

So there is really only one true "action" that I need to change/add (since the first is merely a goal and since i'm already eating and writing down what I eat (yes, this will include the weekends from now on), i'm just eating a bit more. The third will be the hardest. Starting a new habit is tough for me, especially since it's one that I don't particularly enjoy. Oh well, it's good for me and will eventually be worth it right?

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Catching up...

Being sick can definitely throw me off of my game. I didn't blog religiously but I DID track pretty well (with the exception of dinner on the nights I was sick) on SparkPeople. I guess rather than post everything, i'll post calories:
Monday, Feb 8: through lunch 683 calories (no dinner posted)
Tuesday, Feb 9: through lunch 420 calories (no dinner posted)
Wednesday, Feb 10: 1034 calories
Thursday, Feb 11: 942 calories (I was full, I promise!)
Friday, Feb 12: 1635

Last night I decided that I wanted a junk-food dinner! So we had McDonalds. I had one of their new Big Mac Snack Wraps. It's only 330 calories but TOTALLY tastes like a Big Mac. And I was thrilled with dinner! :) Fries (and soda) included!

That's all for now!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Week two...

Can you say slacker? I didn't write down the remainder of Friday (which consisted of dinner out with friends and drinks out with those same friends). Grownups actually. It was fantastic!! Saturday was spent at my parents. Mom always makes breakfast for us. This weekend it was pancakes and sausage, lunch was chicken strips and potato salad, dinner was Haley's birthday with sloppy joe's, chips, Debbie's crazy coleslaw salad and cake! Oh, don't forget the mocha mudslide ice cream that I ate...TWICE!

And yesterday was eggs and bacon (lots of it), frozen pizza for lunch and then the Super Bowl. BBQ wings, pigs in a blanket and tortilla chips with cheese. Horrible. And I'm trying to figure out why I didn't care. But for some reason I didn't.

Okay, I know you're waiting for it. Today I was 168.6. So all in all not too bad. Gee, what would it look like if I hadn't been weak? That's a question that won't be answered. Can't be answered. This morning i'm feeling like I might have the flu. Just typing what I ate made me a little nauseous. So we'll see how this week goes. I'm not down by any means but i'm not hyped up like I was last week. It's probably just not feeling good. The good news is that I didn't lose much ground, and I need to keep things in perspective.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Look what's keeping me company...


Look at all of the lovely yellow! My flowers are doing wonderfully well after nearly 6 days. Ryan bought them at the store for me. I love taking the inexpensive Wally-World flowers and creating a happy, beautiful arrangement. I got up to get some coffee and as I went to sit down I realized that not only are the blooms yellow, but so are both of the files/folders that i'm in this afternoon. So fresh and springlike, even when the weather outside is snowy and slushy. Oh well, i've got sunlight and flowers, beats sitting in the cube.

Have a good weekend!

Day five...

Michael Bublé! Woo hoo! Just purchased two tickets to this hot number's show. In case you're not familiar, allow me to introduce his royal-hotness to you:



But I digress...

So it happened to me this morning. The scale didn't say what I wanted it to and I was mad. And yet .1 pound is not something to obsess over and biological fluctuations like this can't be helped. I know that. I have a big brain. I'm a high-functioning individual. But I ate a good breakfast just to prove I was above this!! Take that you stupid scale! (Might have something to do with not doing a single activity yesterday no?)

Breakfast
1/2 of a nature valley crunchy peanut butter granola bar (90)
2.5 egg whites + .5 egg yolk (that was tricky) (80)
1/2 T extra virgin olive oil + 1 T blue bonnet light margarine (110)
green peppers, onions and mushrooms (33)
no cheese or toast, i've got a date tonight!
Running total 312

Back soon with more updates!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Day four...

And have I mentioned this?
Ah yes, the perfect summery dress. For whatever, whenever, easy, breezy, beautiful...

And so to day four: 169.8 this morning even after all of that pasta last night. Isn't it funny how it's not enough? It's NEVER enough. You can lose "only" one pound in a week and yet why are we disappointed? It's a loss girlfriends! It's better than a gain. And even though we are rational beings (most of the time), if we get just a little, we always want more! More and faster...sounds like a line from a dirty movie. (Sorry!) So my thought is this, if you are given two choices, A) lose one pound or B) gain one pound, which one are you going to choose? Duh! You'll always pick A. And that, my friends, is how to look at it. Not that it's only one pound, instead that at least it's not a one pound gain.

So for today i'm eating really poorly. Lots going on and not enough time to get in an actual lunch.

Breakfast
Lean Cuisine Denver Egg Panini (new and very yummy) (270)
2T of coffee mate (70)
Running total 340

Snack/Lunch
Special K Chocolate Bar (90)
Running total 430

(by the way, 8 glasses of water before 1pm thank you very much)

Another snack
6 cups of Orville Redenbacher's 94% Fat Free Kettle Corn (90)
Running total 520

No sure i'll get time to do the treadmill tonight but we'll see! I think Ryan likes this new, focused on the prize, me!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Day three...

I know, I know, it's water weight. But two pounds is a lot to this girl. If I can get out of the 170's i'll be catapulted into a new level of commitment. And because it's water I know that this means that now I can get down to getting rid of the bad stuff. The yuck, the gross, the unattractive. Bring it on, cuz I want to wear this:


So here's my food journal:

My cheerio breakfast, including coffee (243)
Plus an apple for a snack (81)
Running total 324

Wow, can I already be thinking about lunch? Ugh.

So here's lunch:
Omelette (one egg, two whites, peppers, onions mushrooms cooked in Olive Oil), 1/4c shredded fiesta blend cheese and a slice of toast (with ICBINB spray) (421)
Running total 745

Snack
Hunt's snack pack (130)
Running total 875

Dinner
Spaghetti feed at the VFW...really hard to estimate but I figure:
1.25 c of pasta (247)
3/4 c sauce (120)
1 slice garlic bread (150)
1 3x3 slice of white cake with white frosting (211) and TOTALLY NOT worth it
Running total 1603

Later
Yogurt (100)

Total 1703...I told ya, not a 1200 calorie day!

15 minutes of my Wii fitness coach and 15 minutes on the treadmill at 3.5mph while watching Project Runway. Whew!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Day two...


Woo! These babies are changing the way I look at breakfast! I actually ate before heading to work today. It was a good thing...I didn't eat a bagel for once. But I did have my usual french toast coffee. Yummm! So here's the day:

Cheerios and milk (173)
Coffee mate (140)

Express Quaker Oatmeal, Golden Brown Sugar (200)

4 oz Roast Beef (336)
3 oz Schwans Quick Bake French Fries (150)
3/4 cup corn kernels (121)

And i'll end the day with a Keurig Cocoa (60)

Total for the day 1179

And for exercise walked for 35 minutes (first 5 at 3.0, 25 at 3.5 and 5 at 3.0)...i'm exhausted and ready to watch some Dexter.

Day two seemed to be easier than day one. Here's hoping for a good day 3!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Moments of brilliance...


Mine came Saturday. Max gave us a gorgeous, hand-made 2010 calendar for Christmas. And for the past month or so it's been hanging by it's binding, from a plain nail in the kitchen. In the past my calendars have hung in a holder, kinda country but who cares? It's at least attractive. My calendars are the timeline of our family, the cute things my kiddos say or do, milestones that are met, that kind of thing. So I knew it had to go up. But the calendar was too narrow and not long enough to fill the space. On Saturday I had had enough! I headed to the basement for the scrapbooking paper. I was determined to make something beautiful out of my calendar holder to incorporate the already beautiful calendar my thoughtful and creative kindergartener had made for us. The results are fantastic!! I love it...giving each month the spotlight on a gorgeous background had me smiling all weekend. I just had to share.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner...

1 cup of chocolate cheerios (133)
1/2 cup of skim milk (43)
Running total 176
(P.S. The chocolate cheerios are new and to DIE for!!)

Gloria Jean's Hazelnut coffee for the Keurig (0)
2 T Coffee Mate, Hazelnut (70)
Running total 246

One slice of Pizza Hut Pan Pizza, Cheese (270)...had a board meeting
Running total 516

McNugget Happy Meal minus one nugget courtesy of Owen (520)
A little more coffee mate (70)

Total for the day 1106 (and I wasn't even hungry at bed time)

Exercise:
Walked for 30 minutes (first 5 at 3.0, last 25 at 3.5)

Why weight...


Why indeed? Summer isn't getting further away. Today is a Monday. Today is the first day of February. Okay, here goes...172.2. Ugh. It looks even worse in print. It's terribly embarassing. My goal? 160 by March 1. Is it too lofty? Is it doable? I suppose that there's only one way to find out. After that the goals will be smaller, maybe 5 per month. But if I know anything it's that it's easiest to lose the first 10 (or 12.2 in my case). I ate like a pig this weekend, like a girl that knew she had resigned herself to deprivation and desperation come Monday morning. I know, I know...it doesn't have to be like that. I could just eat less and not do the whole "you don't have to give up what you love" thing. But no, that's never worked for me. And when it comes to losing weight, aren't you supposed to do what works for you? Eight years ago I lost 22.4 pounds. I weighed five pounds less than I do now when I started that. I haven't settled on the tools yet. Weight Watchers worked then, but Spark People wasn't around. Suffice it to say that I will be writing it all down. Everything. Even the stuff i'm ashamed of.
I plan to do measurements later, when i'm alone in the house. When I can work up to it. And i'll be planning the exercise that simply must accompany the eating less. Wish me luck!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Maybe if I write it down...


Then the weight loss thing might actually happen. If I write down what I eat, how much of it I eat, how much I exercise and *gasp!* how much I weigh, will that help? If I tell the whole world (or the 1.25 people that read this thing) how many m&m's I had, about the Oreo's I snuck from the boys, how I just had to have bacon on my burger tonight, perhaps i'll feel just the teensiest bit accountable. Maybe, just maybe, that will light the fire that I need to get this 25 pounds off. I'm going to consider posting my weight...that number just makes me feel like i'm already standing naked on the scale. Horror!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Quit your whining...

(photo from Huffingtonpost.com)

I was shopping yesterday for these little "relief kits" we're putting together for my son's school. Handtowel, washcloth, 6 bandaids, a bar of soap, an adult toothbrush, a comb and nail clippers. Nail clippers...yesterday, the bane of my existence! No store in our little town of 12,000 seemingly had any. Five different stores AND it was 20 degrees outside AND I couldn't find any gloves or mittens AND what on earth was I complaining about? That I couldn't find nail clippers? That I had to get in my CAR and drive down a STREET with potholes in it and be COLD while wearing my coat and cozy shoes? At one point I thought, "Who am I to complain about this? People don't have homes, their friends and family are dying all around them, they are missing loved ones." I decided i'd go to 100 stores if I had to and shut my mouth and not complain. But as luck would have it, in that 6th store, there was a whole bin of 50 cent nail clippers. And while I was watching my 5 year old organize and build his kits, my heart was warm as the sun, knowing that somewhere along the way he learned compassion and love, for strangers he's never met. We're doing something right.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Wanna win this...

I already have one treasured piece of jewelry from Lisa Leonard...she's only THE hottest personal jewelry maker out there today. Seriously! She's everywhere...and with good reason. So today when Sloan Photographers blogged about her and the gorgeous necklace of hers that they're giving away, I wanted to put my second entry out there. So here it is!