bedrest to boys...and then a girl.

Wednesday weigh-in

2012-01-25T19:26:00.002-05:00

Loss: -0.4
Total loss: -50.6
Feeling: relieved. A loss is a loss. And after the amount i drank and ate this past weekend, I call that a victory.

Wednesday weigh-in returns!!!

2012-01-19T21:12:00.000-05:00

Loss: -0.8
Total loss: -50.2
Feeling: rejuvenated!

"working out sucks"

2012-01-17T20:03:00.001-05:00

So there's this book out that I've been reading after reading about it on jack sh*ts blog called "working out sucks" by Brian zehetner. It has been ok for the first few chapters, typical reasons why you should exercise more, yada yada yada. Then I got to a really good part where the author made 3 suggestions to help people make and meet their goals: 1. Imagination- the author suggests we make a list of things we imagine for ourselves, what we want to do with our lives, where and how we want to live, what we want to do in our jobs and with our family, and what makes us happiest. 2. Create your vision statement based on what you imagine for yourself. And 3. Set your goals to get you there.

So that's what I'm going to do. Make a list of all the things I want out of life and figure out how to get there. The author suggests you work on step 1 for 2 weeks by journaling every night. This will give me an excuse to use the many half-empty journals lying around my bed. Can't wait!

Ps. If you use escarole in your ww soup instead of cabbage and Swiss chard like the recipe says,your fridge will stink. That is all.

My fridge is full, my house is quiet, I'm planning a triumphant comeback!!!

2012-01-16T17:33:00.000-05:00

I just made a huge pot of 1 point weight watchers veggie soup, put it into 4 lunch containers and 3 dinner containers. I did the same with salad. I measured 1 tbs of parmesan cheese into ziplock baggies for each bowl of soup, put a tbs of salad dressing into little containers for my salads, and got 4 fat free yoplaits and some vita muffins for the week. IT'S DETOX TIME, BABY.

The dogs and I took a long walk today, I went to target, I got some new shoes, I browsed wegmans, I straightened my hair, I cleaned a few cabinets and the fridge, I watched "Men who stare at Goats," and I am about to go to choir practice. Busy as a bee. I mostly can't believe I didn't lay on my butt all day and nap. Good for me.

Just when I thought I got my S together....

2012-01-12T11:37:00.000-05:00

I let it get to Thursday without posting an MPM! Crap. So, a recap of what we've been eating....

Monday we ate spaghetti.
Tuesday we ate Wendy's and Moby Dick's.
Wednesday we ate Nutella sandwiches.
Tonight we are going to have the coconut shrimp I wanted to make last week but never did.
Friday we are going to figure it out
Saturday we are having the stuffed pepper soup I wanted to make last week but never did.

And then next week?? Guess what I will do? Finally return to weight watchers meeting. I've been avoiding it. It's time.

MPM - it's back in action.

2012-01-02T15:34:00.000-05:00

Monday - Leftover chili from this recipe we made yesterday. Black eyed peas for prosperity!

Tuesday - Chicken breast, leftover salad, and quinoa.

Wednesday - The rest of the chili over hot dogs, frozen fries, and some kind of veggie TBD.

Thursday - Coconut shrimp from here, edamame, and rice dish (see below for recipe)

Friday - frozen pizzas

Saturday - restaurant

Sunday - Stuffed Pepper Soup from here, crusty bread.

Garlicky Brown Rice - (from here)

2 cups short grain brown rice
6 cloves garlic -- minced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 15.5-ounce can fat-free chicken broth
1 cup water
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds or green onions
Saute rice and garlic in oil for about 3-5 minutes.
Add chicken broth and water.
Cover and cook for about 45 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.
Fluff with a fork, sprinkle with sesame seeds or green onions.

Happy new year 2012!

2012-01-01T21:17:00.000-05:00

The year 2012 will be the year, y'all. Definitely have to hit my goal weight. It is time to stop effing around and get down to business. Sorry boys and girls, after tomorrow the sweets are going bye-bye.

I have resolutions to make, goals to revisit and renew, and shit to get done. Plus some pictures and stories to share. I have too much to catch up on. Like how last night in the car I cried tears of laughter when Henry said, "good lord," Owen said, "Jesus christus," and Charlotte said, "that's disgusting," all immediately following an episode of gas passing from one certain 5 year old blonde boy named Owen or Henry. Ah, kids.

Happy new year to you, loyal readers. (aka my mom) xoxo

2011-12-23T17:42:00.002-05:00

Owen, our photographer

2011-12-09T10:59:00.000-05:00

Owen has been taking a lot of pictures lately. Here is installment one of Owen's photos. Coming soon will be his race photos - they are stellar!
Don't tell him, but he's getting a kids' digital camera for Christmas. I'm so excited to give it to him!!!

Birthday Boys

2011-12-04T20:33:00.000-05:00

The big boys turned FIVE this weekend. I can't believe it. I must post the requisite newborn photo comparison shot, right!?

Need to get it together!!!

2011-11-27T16:34:00.000-05:00

After the race, I ate a lot. So I skipped my weigh-ins here and there. So now I am 2 weeks out and I finally went to ww last wednesday....and gained 2.8! Sheesh! So I of course did what any sensible loser would do and ate whatever I wanted during Thanksgiving and the days after, drank a lot of alcohol, and didn't really exercise! Woo! Way to go, me! :)

One thing I did do well was a Turkey Trot on the morning of Thanksgiving, though! Todd and I ran the Lansdowne Turkey Trot 5K and I beat 30 minutes. I was excited - 29:12 is the fastest I've ever run a 5K. Yay, me!

So now it's time to refocus and not get sucked into the "I'll start over after the new year" trap of the holidays. I CAN lose weight over the holidays! It's GO TIME.

And here's a cute picture of Charlotte reading a book to one of her new babies from Mamere. :)

Race pictures

2011-11-15T13:39:00.002-05:00

You can go here to check out race pictures of me.

You can go here to check out race pictures of Todd.

My first half marathon story!

2011-11-13T17:01:00.000-05:00

Me, afterwards.

It was a great race! :) Overall very friendly cheerleaders and volunteers, police officers cheering us on, funny signs and lots of nice scenery. The trees were gorgeous and the race course was lovely.

I met my friend A at the library steps at 7:20 to get down to the starting line. We were standing in our corral wondering how on earth we would ever find our friend K when we turned around and there she was! Yay! The three of us ran together for the whole race and I couldn't be happier that we ran together. We were a great team. :)

The first few miles were chilly but when the sun hit us it was nice and warm. I "donated" a shirt, hat, and gloves to the street (the race was picking up all the discarded clothing and donating it to a homeless shelter). The first hill was a doozie, but we did it just fine. People were already looking exhausted at mile 2 but we just passed 'em on by.

The middle of the race was fine - we went through a nice park. There weren't any cheerleaders through the park, which made it more just like a regular jog (with a lot of people), and that was pretty cool. I imagine if I had been running by myself it would have been a nice respite and time to think and reflect on LIFE and training that got me there. Lucky for my therapist, I had 2 lovely ladies to chat with the whole time and we took full advantage of this time by gossiping about co-workers, lamenting our public education system, and chatting about relationships. It was awesome.

When we got to mile 10 we were super excited because we knew we only had a 5K left. We told each other that we had done a 5K before and it was no big deal. :) The last 3.1 were great - lots of support on the roads, and we just booked it in with no problems. (Well, one minor problem....I thought my toe was falling off....) (It didn't fall off). There were beer stations along the way, some junk food stations, a station that was giving away shots of some liquor, and some great signs near the finish. My favorites were "Worst Parade Ever" and "You will feel so great after you get drunk on one beer tonight!"

The finish was a steep downhill and I felt like my legs were going on their own! We crossed the finish line with our hands held high! Here is my official time, which I am excited about - I wanted to beat 2:30! Yay, us! We should be getting a few pictures from friends soon and I will post them. :)

15176 JANE WALDROP 32 F 2:25:07

How I blog if I am sitting at my desk with no blogger access...

2011-11-08T16:09:00.002-05:00

Aloha 4-5

2011-10-23T19:52:00.001-05:00

Day 4 was kind of a lazy day - we spent the morning eating breakfast with this little guy at a cafe then wandered through the ironman exhibits. We got some new shoes (thanks Gaga and Papa!) and some samples of other goodies. We went to the grocery store and then got Kim and Rob at the airport. We had a nice Italian dinner together.

The next day was Ironman. Here are some shots I took. None of them are of Papa, you can go over to Kim's blog to see some awesome pics of the trip and the race.

Aloha 3

2011-10-17T20:36:00.000-05:00

Day 3 in Kona, Todd, Debbie and I headed out on an adventure. We drove to the volcano! On the way, we stopped at The Coffee Shack - check out the view! We thought this restaurant was so cute, we went back and ate there a few days later with Kim and Rob. (Gecko pictures to come!)

After grabbing a coffee, we headed south to the Black Sand beach. Apparently, there are turtles aplenty there, crawling up your legs, giving you kisses, letting you ride them, etc.....but we didn't see any. But it was still lovely.

We arrived at the volcano after stopping for lunch in Volcano at a cute little wood-fired oven place. Todd had a pizza, Debbie had a chicken sandwich, and I had a prociutto and mozzarella sandwich. YUM. Here is a picture of the volcano!

This is a picture of one of the paths we walked down. We had a good hike while we were there:

Here I am, about to skype the kids from the volcano (awesome!)

After the volcano close-up, we drove down to the coast to see where the lava had gone into the ocean and over the road. It was pretty cool. There was a lava bridge-type thing, and a Japanese couple that wanted Todd to talk "full body" pictures of them.

On the way back up the mountain, we stopped at the lava tube, which was a cool....um....lava tube.

That night, we ate at a great place where I had my best meal of the week! It was a portabello mushroom with couscous and feta and asparagus. YUM to the O.

Aloha 2.2

2011-10-15T07:33:00.000-05:00

The rest of our second day was spent visiting the Puako Petroglyph park. A very interesting place. We parked in a parking lot by one of the resorts and hiked through a weird little forest that we started calling the "Enchanted Forest." We saw about 20-30 petroglyphs, hiked until we thought we might be done, and then want back to the car. When we got there, we read in the book that there were 3,000 petroglyphs on the site. Oops, we missed a few!

Aloha Day 2.1

2011-10-13T19:41:00.000-05:00

We started our day on Tuesday with a walk downtown and a jog back to the condo, stopping at Lava Java's for a cinamon bun. After showering, etc. we set out to Hawi, in the northern part of the island. Once there, we ate at Bamboo Restaurant. It was very yummy. We had potstickers (which I ate and had peanuts in it, and even though I freaked out a lot, I didn't go into anaphalaxis, so maybe I'm not allergic to peanuts!?) and then fish sandwiches and fish quesadillas. Yummy.

After lunch, we wandered through the local shops, posed by an alien, and then drove up to Pololu.

Here there was a long hike down the mountain to a black sand beach. Todd and I went about halfway down to get a better picture of the beach. It was a tough hike back up, but very pretty!

After our hike, we did a drive-by shooting of the King Kamehameha statue. It was much smaller than I anticipated:

Kona, day 1

2011-10-13T13:16:00.000-05:00

We arrived in Kona on Monday late afternoon. The airport on the Big Island is outdoors, which was cool. Here is a photo from the outside of the airport:

The next few pictures are of the view from our lanai. We stayed a little south of the main downtown of Kailua-Kona. When we arrived, we dropped our stuff off and then headed to the grocery store. I may or may not have had a confrontation with the checkout girl, hard to say what really happened with my lack of sleep. We grabbed some goodies to eat for dinner and then hit the sheets. We were tired.

Kids and adults would surf outside of our window daily, all day long from sunrise to sunset.
A lot of the island is made up of black lava rock, and people will often take the white stones from the beach and spell out words on the rocks. No idea what this meant, but it was outside our window the whole week:

Wednesday Weigh-in and Aloha!!

2011-10-13T13:09:00.000-05:00

Loss: -2.6
Total loss: -53
Feeling: Surprised.

We got back from Hawaii on Monday. I wasn't expecting to lose that much weight, but knew that we had walked a TON while there. I had also gained the week prior, so I knew some of that would come off. So, there ya go.

I have so much to tell you about our trip to Hawaii but I can't find the time to upload pictures and tell you all about it. I will. In time. Be patient, little ones.

I am a slacker!

2011-09-23T07:45:00.000-05:00

Loss this week: -0.6
Total loss: -52.2
Feeling: Complacent...a bad place to be!

weigh-in wednesday

2011-09-14T19:05:00.000-05:00

Loss: -0.4
Total loss: -53
Feeling: Hungry! I am eating fat free frozen yogurt with a chocolate cookie right now....

Oh, do I have a blog here?

2011-09-11T09:24:00.000-05:00

Sorry, peeps. I forgot about my blog!
Recap time.
- I gained a pound a half at ww! I was pissed!
- It was jersey day at school on Friday and I dressed Charlotte as a white trash jersey girl. Right?

-Yesterday the kids were playing "backpack" (a fun game that consists of filling your backpack with a bunch of shit from the floor/shelves and then forgetting you put it in there a few hours later and throwing a massive temper tantrum because you want whatever it was) and we had to take another white trash picture of Charlotte, which led to each of the boys taking a picture of the other boy. Yay, Saturdays!

- Ran 6 miles today and it was good!

-We had our first "SNOW" day on Friday. Because of the massive rain and flooding, we had no school on Friday. Best day ever!!!

- That about sums it up.

Wednesday Weigh-In 2 days late!

2011-09-02T19:55:00.000-05:00

Ack! Time has gotten away from me this week with work starting back up....but I did go to WW on Wednesday....
Loss: -2.6
Total Loss: -52.6
Feeling: Yay!

I actually RAN to ww on Wednesday. It is 5 miles from my work to ww, and I left my car at work and ran there. That could explain how I lost 2.6 pounds....I might have been a bit dehydrated. It was a hard run once I got of the trail because it was VERY hilly. I had to walk the last 1/2 mile, but that's OK. I will try it again when someone can pick my sorry butt up after the meeting.

This week I ran 4 miles Tuesday, 5 miles Wednesday, and 3 miles yesterday. My legs are sore! I have to do 3 tomorrow and 7 on Sunday - my longest run yet! We'll see what happens....

Wednesday Weigh-In: The streak ends

2011-08-24T19:51:00.002-05:00

Loss: +1.6
Total loss: -50
Feeling: Not surprised....

Beach: 75% chaos.

2011-08-22T10:24:00.000-05:00

Ah, the beach.....what a relaxing, beautiful, sunshiny way to rest before school starts.....ahhhh, smell the ocean air, feel the gentle breeze, listen to the screaming children. Screaming children?! Where's the sound of the waves crashing on the shore?! Where are the seagull calls and the gentle engine sounds of the advertising planes?!!!! NO WHERE BECAUSE I CAN'T HEAR MYSELF THINK OVER THE SCREAMING, WHINING, CHILDREN!!!!!!

OK, OK, it wasn't that screamy...but there were moments of total insanity at the beach. Here is a picture of Owen's usual location. We would be sitting on the beach, enjoying the moment for 4.6 seconds and he would say, "Can we go watch TV now?"

Beach baby Charlotte. Sand in every orifice and skin fold is a sign of a beach baby, right? Nevermind that she was afraid of the water. The beach we stayed at had these cute little swingsets spread out on the beach - great idea. Char would spend all day swinging if she could. Unfortunately for her, Todd and I would only push her for 30 minutes or so each day. (Mostly Todd).

The beach one night after dinner:

Muscle man Owen:

Building a sand castle. The condo we stayed in is two balconies above Owen's head!

The elusive bathing suit photo.....AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....can you believe that I have lost 50 pounds! (We'll see how much I kept off while eating ice cream and cheese balls at the beach....)

Charlotte, during one of her timeouts for hitting Owen over the head with a shovel:

This is a pucture of Owen acting like "King Grog the Old" during Viking putt-putt. Cracked me up.

The adorable boys at putt-putt. :)

Charlotte, taking a break from putt-putt to sit in a dragon egg, and then demonstrating her putting form. Look out, LPGA!!

Riding a bullfrog. That's what she said.

Family photo-op. I set the camera on one of those swingsets, hit the timer, and BAM! Look how it turned out! I should be a pro.

Henry wasn't a big fan of the camera this weekend. Here he is, giving me the finger:

Alcohol and Running? Not so much.

2011-08-15T09:58:00.000-05:00

Friday night we had a little mini-Overtones reunion. The Overtones is an a cappella group that Todd and I were in at JMU. We have some great friends from the group and while we don't get together as often as we'd like, when we do get together we have a blast. Friday night was a great get-together. Kerry (aka Sparkles) made some sangria (aka 2 bottles of red wine with some tequila-soaked fruit) and we ate BBQ food. We actually had dessert first because Craig brought a huge cake that wouldn't fit in the fridge. I wish I had a picture of that. It wasn't until dinner was over that I thought to bring out the camera.

Sparkles.

David and Craig.

Me and Danny. This picture is here because my face looks SO THIN!!!

Anyway, what is the point of this blog post? Well, it's to share that drinking a lot is not conducive to running. I skipped my run on saturday because of a mild dehydration/headache/hangover and vowed to do my 5 miles on Sunday with extra power! Ummmm...nope. Even 2 days later, I still couldn't get moving enough to have a good run. I felt slow, tired, and seriously dehydrated.

The verdict? No more than 1 drink a night until marathon is over. Phew, that's a big challenge.

Wednesday Weigh In

2011-08-10T19:06:00.000-05:00

Loss: -0.4
Total loss: 51.6
Feeling: Surprised.

Weird food week this week...ate a lot of random and not healthy stuff. But I did run 19 miles this week! I think this losing streak has got to stop soon.....

PS. My 1 year weight watchers anniversary is tomorrow!!!!

Pirate Day

2011-08-09T18:54:00.001-05:00

We had a really fun playdate today. Our friends came over and we decided to have "Pirate Day"! We got some ideas from other blogs and kind of just went with the theme and had a great time!

We started our day doing pirate mazes (found here) and making pirate hooks, eye patches, and hats (found here and here)

Next, we painted treasure boxes that I found at AC Moore for $1! The kids had a great time painting. While they painted, I called them one by one into the kitchen (sort of) to make their fruit kabob for lunch. We skewered bananas, strawberries, cantelope, watermelon, and grapes to make kabobs. Then we put a little flag with each kid's name on it and popped them in the freezer.

While the fruit froze, we got into and our pirate ship and played. We made a sail and colored the outside.

Then we went outside and had a swordfight with pretzel rods. The rules were simple: If your pretzel rod was broken by another pirate, you had to walk the plank. Well, as you can see by our line, everyone's pretzel rod broke instantaneously. Next time we'll use something stronger! :)

The kids played in the pirate ship while we got lunch ready:

The lunch menu was: fish sticks, french fries, pirate booty, goldfish, and the fruit kabobs we made earlier. For a special lunch dessert we had jello cups with pirate boats. (Found here)

After lunch, we put pirate Charby down for a nap and our friend Madison read us "How I Became a Pirate" by David Shannon and we watched "Hook"!

Charlotte woke up and we were sitting around the house when DING DONG DING DONG! The doorbell rang! We ran to the door and found a glass container filled with golden chocolates and a treasure map!!!! The hunt was on for the pirate's treasure....

We followed the map down the street, around some corners, up some hills....

Till we got to the X! We found the treasure under the bridge!

It was full of jewels, bracelets, and more gold nugget chocolate - yummy!

Here are the pirates posing with their box of treasure. What a great end to a fun pirate day!!!

Arrrrrrrrr, matey!!

2011-08-09T08:26:00.002-05:00

It's Pirate Day at my house today. Just wait until you see what we are doing! Yippee!!!

MPM8?

2011-08-08T08:03:00.000-05:00

Monday - apple/carrot salad and turkey wraps with grapes
Tuesday - Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken
Wednesday - FFYS
Thursday - I really want to try pizza on the grill!
Friday - BBQ with friends....hamburgers, hot dogs, typical stuff. (Must remember ww meeting about bbq's.....)
Saturday - Probably some kind of carb load for the racers in the family (The Daddy and Papa are running a 20K Sunday morning....) I predict Mediterranean Breeze, the usual.
Sunday - Todd's choice.

Wednesday Weigh In and WINNER

2011-08-04T07:06:00.000-05:00

Scene: Weight Watchers Meeting Room, 5:30 PM. Enter Jane.

Jane: Hi Leader Becky! I was so sad when you weren't here last week, so I thought I would eat like a fatass this week, gain back some and celebrate hitting 50 pounds again next week!

Leader Becky: ha ha ha, Jane! I am so proud of you....ramble ramble....

Jane gets on scale. Leader Becky still rambling

Leader Becky: Listen to me! I am just talking about everything and look! You lost a pound!

Jane: What!? HA HA HA HA HA. So, let's see. This means....you can eat whatever the hell you want and STILL lose weight!!!

Leader Becky: More rambling, ha ha ha ha, good job! I don't even remember what you looked like 50 pounds ago! Wow!

And....scene.

Loss: -1.0
Total Loss: -51.2
Feeling: Excitement, hottness, and a little bit of dread about next week! This can't keep going!!!

The winner of my book giveaway is Anna! Here is her comment:

Anna said...
-0.8 Hanay. :) So proud of your continued progress. <3 Anna

Anna, I will bring the books over to your new house as soon as I finish reading them. Hee hee.

A GIVEAWAY!!!!!!! Books!!!!!

2011-08-01T20:32:00.000-05:00

I am super excited to host my first giveaway!!!!

I thought it would be a fun way to 1. ~~get rid of~~ donate some great books to someone that wants to read them 2. create a little mystery about my next weigh-in and 3. demonstrate how going "off-plan" can affect your weight. :)

So, I have two books for the winner of this giveaway. The first one is Vince Flynn's latest "American Assassin". This is a Todd book and he recommends it highly. "4 stars. 5 if you have read the rest of the series." He describes it as CIA super secret commando Jack Bauer-esque. The second one is a Jane book - the latest by Jennifer Weiner. Her stories are about women, relationships, friendships, and love! This one is about donating your eggs, friendships and family dynamics. Click the books to read their descriptions at Amazon.

So, what do you have to do to win these awesome books!???

You have to be the closest guesser to what my weight gain (or loss) will be on Wednesday!!!

Here are the rules:

1. You must comment on this blog, listing what you think my weight gain/loss will be on Wednesday night. (For example, you could write "I think you will be +4.6" or "I think you'll be -0.4". If you are anonymous, don't forget to write your name.)

2. You have to have your comment in by Wednesday at 5:00 PM EST.

3. Whoever is closest without going over wins the books! (In the event of a tie, we'll have to have a run-off. I'll think of something interesting. Or, I'll just give the books to the person I like more. That's fair, right?)

Here is what I have eaten this week along with the points breakdown for ww. Each day I am alotted 29 points. I am also alotted 49 "extra" points to use however I want.

Thursday - yogurt/granola/banana, coffee, turkey wrap, hummus/carrots/pretzels, goldfish, a lot of food at a tastefully simply party. I gave myself 40 points for the whole day. (11 points over)

Friday - yogurt/granola/banana, coffee, cheetos, turkey wrap, hummus/carrots/pretzels, snacky stuff, pizza and beer for dinner. I gave myself 45 points for Friday. (16 points over)

Saturday - yogurt/granola, coffee, turkey wrap, carrots, cookies, pretzels, taco bell crunch wrap supreme (no meat), some taco bell chips, dr. pepper, beer. 47 points. (18 points over)

Sunday - usual breakfast, frozen pizza for lunch, salad for dinner, some bites of pita, ice cream for dessert. 42 points (13 points over)

Monday - usual breakfast, hummus and pretzels/carrots, cheez-its, grilled chicken, corn on the cob, salad, strawberries, 1/2 a light beer, 1 ff fudge pop. 29 points

Activity points earned so far: 18

Total weekly extra points left: -12 (that means I used all 49 points PLUS 18 activity points.

I still have Tuesday and Wednesday to "fix" myself. I plan on not going over my 29 points the next 2 days, and I plan on earning back the 12 points I am over for the week. So I will hopefully end up even (points-wise).

Now you know EVERYTHING. Go forth, and guess!

Remember when I lost 50 pounds?

2011-07-31T19:39:00.000-05:00

I have been eating so badly this week that I am fully expecting to gain back the .2 (and then some) that is keeping me above my 50 pound loss! Save me!!!!

I lost 50 pounds with Weight Watchers!

2011-07-29T08:33:00.000-05:00

Reaching a 50 pound loss on Wednesday night was very anti-climactic! My regular leader wasn't there, my friends weren't there, and only a few of the "regulars" were in attendance. So, it was a very blah celebration. I left the meeting skipping, very excited, but without my regular celebratory group. It has taken a few days to sink in. But now I am starting to think, "HOLY SHIT I LOST 50 POUNDS ON WEIGHT WATCHERS."

So, what made this work for me?

1. Over the past few months, a definite mindset change occured. I know the plan works. I have to trust it and follow it. If I don't follow the plan, I only have myself to blame. It takes a lot to stop making other excuses and realize the real problem is ME and the choices I make.

2. There will always be bad days, weeks, months, hours. One of the biggest problems with people on diets is the thought that "oh, I had a bad morning, so screw the rest of the day" or "I know i won't lose weight this week, so I'll just forget the diet for now." There is always going to be a party, or a barbecue, or a 12-pack of light beer in the fridge, or a chocolate cake, or a pack of oreos from a neighbor.....and we are most of the time going to screw up now and then. But that's OK. It's taken a while for me to accept this. You make a mistake? IT'S OK. We are human. Start over right now!

3. Friends and family. A good support system is necessary. Avoid the negative people. Avoid the people who badmouth Weight Watchers! Share your successes and your challenges with them. Help them help you!

What now?
I am still 16 pounds from goal weight. I wanted to make it by my birthday....which is 2 months away. I know this is DO-able...but not probable. If I look at my weight loss lately, we are looking at a pound or less each week. To lose 16 pounds in 8 weeks I need to lose 2 pounds a week...and this is with a beach trip and a TRIP TO HAWAII all before my birthday. Hm. I am going to try - no giving up! - but I am going to be realistic.

The Half Marathon I signed up for in November. I have an internal panic attack almost daily about this.

Another before and after. The first picture is the day we brought Char home from the hospital. OK, I know, I had just a baby, but good lord. The second picture is from just now. :)

Weigh-in Wednesday

2011-07-28T15:52:00.002-05:00

Loss: -0.8
Total loss: -50.2
Feeling: Awesome!!!!!

I finally hit the 50 pound mark! I missed the entire meeting, but got there just in time to weigh in, turn around and share my celebration, get my little keyring for my keychain, and boogie out the door. Yippee!!!

Wednesday Weigh-In

2011-07-20T19:28:00.000-05:00

Loss: -0.8
Total loss: -49.4
Feeling: Nervous!

Tonight's meeting was about how to choose wisely at summer barbecues and what the challenges are. My biggest BBQ challenge is baked beans. Damn, they are good! A half a cup is 5 points, and I can't eat just a half a cup. On Sunday we had a delicious barbecue with shrimp and chicken kabobs, zucchini, fresh fruit, roasted potato salad and corn on the cob. Would have been very weight watchers friendly if it weren't for the beer!

My Charberry

2011-07-19T08:48:00.001-05:00

Oh, my sweet Charbaby!!! I uploaded a bunch of phone pics today and thought I'd share a bunch of cute Charlotte pics. :) First up, her crazy-long hair! Look at this!!!! This is right after I brushed it, and I was amazed at how long it is!!!

Then here she is on the deck, cheesin':

Here is one of Charlotte eating ice cream at the local spray-ground. She won't let me pull up her bathing suit half the time because the boys don't wear shirts.

"Where Charwotte go?"

Eating celery at BW3:

Another shirtless fountain day:

Me and Char, being goofy:

Charlotte, earning her nickname "Grandma Estelle" because she is last at the table every meal. :)

Me in high school

2011-07-18T17:39:00.000-05:00

A friend just posted this picture on facebook of me in a HS drama production.
A la Jack Sh*t Gettin' Fit, my version of "The Way We Were" (youtube link here to Babs)

Memories, light the corners of my thighs.
Misty watercolor memories of the weight we were.
Scattered pictures of the pounds on our behinds
pounds we gained with one another!
Look at the weight we were.

Can it be that it was all so simple then or has the USDA rewritten every line?
If we had the chance to eat it all again tell me would we? Could we?

Memories, may be super skinny and yet...what's too healthy to remember...we simply choose to forget

So it's the weight we will remember...whenever we remember...the weight we were.

MPM 7

2011-07-18T00:00:00.000-05:00

Monday - hot dogs, chips, fruit, pasta salad (we never had this last week....)

Tuesday - Big salads with chicken

Wednesday - FFYS

Thursday - taco salad

Friday - taco salad pasta

Saturday - pizza

Sunday - steak on the grill, quinoa, a fresh veggie of some kind, fruit salad.

Top Ten Reasons I am not a Stay-at-Home-Mom

2011-07-13T21:02:00.000-05:00

10. I need at least 30 minutes of "planning" time every morning at my desk/kitchen table uninterupted to check facebook, my google reader, my email, and drink coffee. 2 weeks into summer and I have to get up at least 22 times each morning to get stuff - like juice, waffles, empty cups, banana peels, and other extremely inconvienient items that these kids keep asking for. (Whose kids are these people anyway!?) This morning they even asked me for BREAKFAST! The NERVE!!!!

9. I don't have enough money to stay at home AND send them to daycare.

8. I can't manage my time well. For example, each day at 4:45 I madly run around the house picking up breakfast plates, markers, paper, crafts, diapers, pajamas, 1/4 full cups of water, bathing suits, towels, toys, books, and bowls of cheeze-its. This is because Todd will be home soon and I don't want him to know what a slob I am. No, wait, he already knows. Well, I try to make the problem seem not quite so bad before he gets home. A good stay-at-home-mom would use her time more wisely and clean up as the day goes on. When Todd is home with the kids he cleans up as he goes, does 5 loads of laundry, picks up the dog shit, and plays with the kids!!

7. I don't really want to play with the kids all the time. I'd rather meet up with a friend and let them play/fight/yell/laugh while we drink beer and eat animal crackers.

6. I sometimes say "no" when they ask me to read them a story.

5. I let them watch "Despicable Me" and "Shrek Forever After" instead of taking an actual nap (although, I dare any of you to come over here and get twin 4 year old boys to nap in their beds. You might have success 1/5 days. Big deal.)

4. It's only been 2 weeks of summer and I am actually looking forward to going back to work.

3. The 4:00-6:00 hour is pure torture. No naps and high heat and general pissyness causes Todd to walk into an explosive situation every day. I feel badly that I am always about to lose my shit when he gets home, but god dammit, kids, can you just TAKE. A. NAP!? Or go play downstairs? Do you really need to be all up in my shit all day long and then get all screamy and mad at me when I tell you that we can't go to the pool in the middle of the thunderstorm or go play tennis in the 105 degree heat? Also? Can we avoid the temper tantrum at 5:00 every day when you are asked to leave someone's house/share a toy/get off your brother/clean up your mess/put back the oatmeal? Because these tantrums and the things you say are making me CRAZY! Today, Henry told me that he didn't want a mommy anymore and yesterday he told me he was "done with me." Owen repeatedly tells me I am going to jail and that I am a "meaniac." Don't get me wrong - the other 22 hours of the day are awesome. But the 2 hours in the late afternoon when they are exhausted, hungry, hot, and generally pissed off should actually count as the 120 reasons I am not a stay-at-home-mom - 1 for every minute of this time period each day. Phew.

2. I like Starbucks and wouldn't be able to get a nonfat vanilla latte if I didn't receive Starbucks gift cards from my students/coworkers.

1. And finally... it's too hard!!! I know, there is an endless debate about whose life is harder - the working mom or the stay-at-home mom?? I'll tell you what. The working mom of children between the ages of 2 and 5 has it easy. After that and before that - it's a toss up. Staying home with the boys when they were 1 was awesome and easy and fun. But now? Hard. Summer with kids older than 5? Going to be awesome. I think this summer is just a weird paradox of a 2 year old mommy-obsessed girl combined with twin 4 year olds that "don't need a nap" anymore and a mom that enjoys napping and drinking coffee. Yes, that's what I'm going with as my excuse for when they cart me away to my own special room with soft walls and people wearing white.....

(I just hope they leave me alone for my 30 minutes of planning time in the morning.)

Wednesday Weigh-In

2011-07-13T18:53:00.000-05:00

And the result......
Loss: Bupkis!
Total loss: -48.6
Feeling: Phew!
I gave up alcohol this week (cheated once) and replaced it with ice cream sandwiches. I didn't gain, so that's good. I'm drinking a light beer now. Ahhhhhh...

Kickin' it

2011-07-13T14:01:00.001-05:00

Creating a "bucket list." Lame? Not lame? Jinx-worthy? (Like, if I create a bucket list for myself is that just asking a bus to run my ass over?) I have some good ideas for my own list and I've been reading a lot of other people's lists, too. If I were going to not jinx myself and create a list of things I'd like to do here are some of my ideas:

1. Finish the damn t-shirt quilt that I started when I was pregnant with the boys.
2. Learn how to use grandma's sewing machine and sew some stuff!
3. Spend an entire summer on a beach somewhere.
4. Go to Africa.
5. Finish my bucket list.

MPM 6

2011-07-11T19:09:00.001-05:00

Last night we made a yummy meal of grilled shrimp marinated with garlic powder and lime juice along with some quinoa with jalapeno cheese and black beans (it was ok) and fruit. I had planned on eating the leftovers tonight over salad, but the power went out and it was hot as butt in our house. So....

Monday - Applebee's
Tuesday - shrimp leftovers over salad greens
Wednesday - FFYS
Thursday - Pasta night (make a double batch for pasta salad the next day)
Friday - Hot dogs, pasta salad, fruit, and chips
Saturday - Leftovers
Sunday - Chicken and polenta on the grill, corn on the cob

Best Gift Ever

2011-07-10T09:35:00.002-05:00

A few months ago, I came to school (work) to find a plastic grocery bag shoved into my mailbox. It had a single address label stuck to the outside with the name of parent of a student at school. "What is this?" I asked the office ladies. One of them responded with "I don't know, she just left it here for you." "Okay...." I reponded, grabbed the bag, and went to my room. I got distracted with a few things but finally remembered the bag. What this simple, plain grocery bag contained ended up being 1. the highlight of my year, 2. the best gift I have ever received from a family and 3. the most wondrous conversation-starter of all time.

I have received used lotion bottles before, or obvious re-gifts from students. I have gotten half-eaten snacks, homemade cupcakes with finger marks in them, and half empty bottles of perfume. This gift leaves these delights in its dust. This is the piece de resistance of awesome teacher gifts.

Upon opening the grocery bag, I found this lovely handbag with matching shoulder strap stuffed to the brim with delights:

The first item I pulled out was a handmade sewing design that I can only assume was a 3rd or 4th grade project. Getting this framed crossed my mind for a second, but then I realized I wouldn't be able to feel its lovely texture if it were permanently behind glass.

The next item was a child-sized winter hat. Charlotte is actually wearing it right now as I type.

After that, some useful blank note cards with envelopes and a stylish silver necklace (still in its box!)

And, really, what purse would be complete without some fishing twine, gauze tied with a hair elastic, and butterscotch candy? ("You eat it!" "No, you eat it!" and "How much would it take for you to eat that?" were frequently uttered in the teacher's lounge whenever we brought out the purse.)

Some of my favorite items have been lost since I received the purse (or used, thank you!) including: a half burned candle, half used matches (we used these for the fireworks!), CIA visitor badges, a photo wallet, empty badge holders, a mint, and a jean belt.

I will leave you with this. A jar of vaseline? Lip gloss? Body butter? There is no label, so your guess is as good as mine:

A monumental moment

2011-07-09T20:29:00.001-05:00

I went to the CDC website and calculated my BMI. Check out my results. This is the first time I've been in the "normal" range in at least 4 years. At least.

Results
Height: 5 feet, 9 inches
Weight: 168.6 pounds
Your BMI is 24.9, indicating your weight is in the Normal category for adults of your height.
For your height, a normal weight range would be from 125 to 169 pounds.
Maintaining a healthy weight may reduce the risk of chronic diseases associated with overweight and obesity.

BMI Weight Status
Below 18.5 Underweight
18.5—24.9 Normal
25.0—29.9 Overweight
30.0 and Above Obese

Wednesday Weigh-In

2011-07-06T19:40:00.001-05:00

Loss: -0.8

Total loss: -48.6

Feeling: Anxious! I am 1.4 away from 50! (Did I add that right? Really?! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!)

MPM 5 and a recipe

2011-07-05T11:08:00.000-05:00

Monday - 4th of July BBQ at friends - YUM.
Tuesday - shrimp, rice and edamame
Wednesday - FFYS
Thursday - Pasta
Friday - Chicken salad sandwiches, fruit, and chips
Saturday - Outback takeout (gift card we didn't use last week!)
Sunday - Quinoa with black beans and jalapeno cheese, fruit, and shrimp on the grill.

Last night I made a fruit dip to go with the mega-bowl of fruit I brought to the BBQ. It was yummy and only ONE WW Point for a serving, which I consider about a tablespoon to go with a big spoonful of fruit (0 points)

Ingredients:
1/2 block of fat free cream cheese
1 cup of marshmallow creme (I didn't measure, just took a big spoonful)
2 cups of Cool Whip Free (again, just 2 big spoonfuls)

Directions:
Let the stuff sit out on the counter for a bit so it gets soft. Mine sat out for about 45 minutes. Throw it in a bowl and mix it all up, smushing up the lumps. Put back in fridge until time to eat, give it another good stir before serving.

We ate it with all kinds of fruit - watermelon, cantelope, bananas, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, and apples. I'm sure it would taste good with every kind of fruit. :)

Happy 4th!

2011-07-04T13:31:00.000-05:00

Here we are, participating in our neighborhood parade. Lots of fun, decorations, flags, and heat! :)

Nail polish isn't just for girls

2011-07-02T10:10:00.001-05:00

Here are some shots of Owen painting his nails. :) The minute he was done, he said "OK wash it off," but he had a good time while it lasted. :) And here is a fun group shot of me and the kids lounging on the couch:

Also check out a pic I added to the weight loss pics today.

Wednesday No-weigh-In

2011-06-30T07:58:00.000-05:00

I've only skipped a handful of weigh-ins since last August. Usually because I was galavanting around Paris or had other random plans! But last night I didn't go because I felt like I might have gained! For the last 3 weeks I have lost at weigh-in and last week I went below 170 for the first time in FOREVER and I was too scared to go back to 170 last night! I didn't have a good week food-wise, the first week of summer threw me off of my routine. I vowed that I would get my act together THIS week and go back next week and hopefully lose or maintain.

This morning I attempted a 4 mile run, made it 3 miles and then walked the last 3/4 of a mile home. It was just what I needed to jump start this week! I am starting my pre-pre-pre training for the Richmond Half Marathon. This consists of running and other exercise to build my mileage before the REAL training starts in August. This is the plan for this week:

Thursday - 4 m
Friday - off (Jillian's level 3 shred, though)
Saturday - 5M
Sunday - Spin Class
Monday - off
Tuesday - 3M run
Wednesday - stairmaster and weights at the gym

On a completely unrelated note, here is a picture of the boys that Todd found on his computer. So teeny!

Before and after with Dawn

2011-06-29T07:27:00.001-05:00

I have a friend, Dawn, who is awesome and wonderful! She is a twin mom, too, and we see each other maybe once a year because we don't live close to each other. So I thought it was cool when we saw each other last night and took our usual pic to do a little before/after!

This first picture is in Colorado in October 2008. I was pregnant with charlotte but didn't know it yet....Nice cheekbones!

This one is from New York last August - when I was at my highest weight. Cheekbones MIA.

And this one is from last night - look how skinny BOTH of us look (not that dawn ever looks not-skinny, but she is super skinny here!) Cheekbones coming back!

Our summer visitors

2011-06-24T07:27:00.000-05:00

Char loves the school fishies!!! "Hi shissies!" She says this all the time, all day. Yesterday, on her own, she dragged a chair up to the fish tank and sat and watched, giving kisses every now and then.

(Hoping we can successfully fish-sit them the whole summer....you know how fish are!!!)

"I don't want it to be summer anymore!"

2011-06-23T15:46:00.000-05:00

Our first full day of summer vacation and those words were ~~uttered~~ screamed by Henry after he got an itchy bug bite.

This bug bite occured as we walked back home from the little park with Owen hysterically yelling "PIGGY BACK RIDE NOW!" and "BAD MOMMY!"

Today after swim lessons, Henry darted across the street twice without me. I freaked out, told him he would be in time-out at home and he responded by slapping Owen across the face.

This morning while snuggling up with Owen reading a book he looked at me and said, "When are we going back to Chrissy's?"

Charlotte woke up from her nap and said, "Mommy, ear hurts."

Sheesh. I remember pre-kids how I would sleep in, eat croissants with jelly on the deck, then go sit by the pool all day and read.

I know, it's just day 1. I hope days 2-60 are a little better....

Weigh-in Wednesday

2011-06-22T19:12:00.000-05:00

Loss: -0.8
Total loss: -47.8
Feeling: Good!

Summertime is here! As the kids and I ventured to their swim lesson today, Owen said, "Mommy, why is it summer?" and I said "You mean, scientifically?" He nodded, so I launched into a lesson about the earth's rotation and how close the sun is, etc. when Henry interupted me and said, "Owen! It's just summer cuz it's hot." So there ya go.

MPM 4

2011-06-20T09:26:00.001-05:00

Monday: Leftover steak, shrimp, and chicken made into quesadillas, beans, salad and fruit

Tuesday: Salad

Wednesday: Pasta and garlic bread

Thursday: Turkey melts, pita and hummus, carrots

Friday: Outback takeout with a gift card! Woo hoo!

Saturday: Depends on the weather....pool sandwiches or crock pot pork.....

Sunday: Wilma's meatloaf, (my first attempt), roasted potatoes, green beans

Countdown to summer!

2011-06-17T12:37:00.000-05:00

Summer is soooooo close.....2 more days of work before I can officially answer "Yes!" to the boys' constant "Is it summer yet?" question! Hooray!

While I am not necessarily a fan of over-scheduling children, I do need a summer plan. I need to KNOW what's going on so that we don't stay in our pajamas all day every day. If I have a plan, I can at least get off the couch before 9AM and stop the repetitive "Just go play in the basement" chatter.

Draft #1 of our weekly summer schedule:
Mondays - A new park every week and friend playdates!
Tuesdays - $1 movies at Regal Cinemas (not as good as last years FREE movies, but still a great deal...)
Wednesdays - Adventure Day (Glen Echo play, the zoo, Wolftrap, water parks, etc.....)
Thursdays - Moir Day
Fridays - Pool and a picnic day with friends

And of course, most days will consist of some type of pool visit, too.

Can't wait!

Wednesday Weigh-In

2011-06-16T11:07:00.002-05:00

Loss: -2.6
Total loss: -47
Feeling: WOO HOO

Wednesday Weigh-In and Curly-Q's

2011-06-09T07:49:00.001-05:00

Good morning!

Loss: -2
Total loss: -44.4
Feeling: Fuck yeah!

I sat down the other day and calculated how much weight I need to lose to meet my goal by my birthday....and it was a little depressing because if I lose 1.5 pounds per week, I'll make it. It's hard to lose 1.5 pounds a week consistantly (duh) so I am nervous about my goal.....but I'll keep trying. This week was a good start with a 2 pound loss. So close to 45!

Last night I found a tutorial on youtube on how to make my hair have "vintage curls" with no heat. So I tried it last night and check out the results!

I'm so excited because it's not the usual stringy look and it was SOOOO easy. Todd did make a few comments about the way I looked last night before going to bed....something about "say hi to C3PO" or something.....but I like the way it turned out. Now I need to perfect it so the back isn't still wet in the morning. :) Yay, curls!!!

Eat my dust

2011-06-07T10:56:00.000-05:00

Last night, Todd and I were sitting around on the deck after the kids were in bed. I finished the crossword (with help, of course) and thought "Gee, it's a nice night. I should go run." I mentioned that I could either go to bed or go for a run. It was 8:45.

I surprised myself because I went upstairs, put my shoes on, and went for a run. At 9:00 at night. WHO AM I???

Another surprising tidbit is that I have never run under a 10 minute mile. In elementary school, middle school, and high school I was always the last runner during the mile test. I rarely, if ever, broke a 12 minute mile as a child. Then in college, I never ran. (That would have taken away time from drinking, duh.)

Last night as I ran around the lake, my NIke+ said in my ear, "You have completed one mile. Your pace is 9 minutes and 20 seconds." I almost stopped dead in my tracks! I laughed out loud, did a little jump, and continued on. (Mile 2 and mile 3 were drastically different speed-wise, but that's ok). I got home from my run, took a shower, and then could barely sleep.

Today I am freaking exhausted.

MPM 3

2011-06-06T12:37:00.000-05:00

Monday: Grilled Chicken, Quinoa with black beans, corn, cheddar cheese, and salsa, Fresh fruit

Tuesday: Leftover chicken by the pool. Nutella sammies for the kids.

Wednesday: Dinner Out

Thursday: Sausage and Shrimp Pasta, bread

Friday: Homemade Pizza with leftover pasta sauce

Saturday: Something easy and poolside like ready-made salads.

Sunday: Shrimp and Sausage on the grill

Wednesday Weigh-In

2011-06-02T07:47:00.000-05:00

Loss: +0.2
Total loss: -42.4
Feeling: Repeat mantra: BIG PICTURE, BIG PICTURE, BIG PICTURE

Ok, so I gained a bit this week. It was Memorial Day, I ate all of my weekly points (drank quite a few, too) and then some. By yesterday, I had earned them all back with activity, but still...this is one of those weeks where I have to remind myself to look at the big picture, not just the weekly gain.

MPM 2

2011-05-30T13:30:00.000-05:00

Monday: Steak and chicken kebabs on the grill with peppers and onions, zuchinni on the grill, quinoa with white beans and salsa, and fruit.

Tuesday: Leftover meat in soft taco shells with cheddar cheese, black bean/onion/pepper stir fry, fruit.

Wednesday: FFYS

Thursday: Pasta

Friday: Something take-out with Gaga and Papa! (Our go-to take-out meals are Mediterranean Breeze, Subway, or Vocelli's Pizza....we'll see if we change it up this weekend or not!)

Saturday: BBQ food with family and friends

Sunday: Leftovers and poolside food. :)

AUNT RITA ROCKS

2011-05-27T12:10:00.000-05:00

Dear Aunt Rita,

I am the worst niece ever! You are so wonderful to send me cards, gifts, money, and wonderful messages and I don't reply. And the guilt is eating me alive!!!

I love you and Uncle David and I can't wait until you come visit me in November.

Thank you for the gifts and notes and kindness. You are such a special person and so thoughtful.

I am going to try harder to show it!!!!

Love,
Jane

ps. I will let you win at spoons at Thanksgiving.
pps. Here is a picture of Charlotte in her Austin t-shirt.

Birthday Fun!

2011-05-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

Big Cheese from Henry:

Char shooting her water gun:

Owen and Charlotte in the sprinkler:

Getting ready for her cake!:

Blowing out the candles:

Yummy!:

Opening gifts, one scrap at a time!:

CHEESE:

Birthday Girl

2011-05-26T08:55:00.000-05:00

Fun with squirt guns!

Excuses

2011-05-26T08:41:00.000-05:00

Last night's weight watchers meeting was all about exercise. It was a good topic, and the meeting was pretty good, but the participants were very lack-luster in their feelings for exercise. I did earn *2* of the 5K charms pictured above, since I ran a 10K on Sunday. :) That was cool.

The meeting got me thinking about exercise and the excuses I give myself to NOT exercise. Some of the excuses our group listed were: too tired, too lazy, too busy, too embarassed, too rainy/hot/humid/cold, too yucky, and too painful. This morning I set my alarm to start Jillian's 30 Day Shred and definitely hit the snooze button two times and had to really motivate myself to get out of bed. I didn't want to, I was making excuses in my mind, I was trying to justify doing the video later, I was trying to say "but it's Charlotte's birthday" and "I need sleep" and even "What if I can't do the moves?"

There were two monumental thoughts that got my fat ass out of bed:

1. I want to be at my goal weight MORE than I want a few extra minutes of sleep. I want to be at my goal weight MORE than I want that extra cookie. I want to be at my goal weight MORE than sitting on my butt not exercising.

2. I am worth it.

It's time to stop making excuses and really buckle down. It's almost summer and it's only 5 months until my birthday. 5 months to lose 24 pounds. Time to get it done. There is a time to eat that special cookie, there is a time to eat that extra cupcake, drink that extra beer (or 2 or 4). But that time is not EVERY time. Balance, exercise, and confidence. I can do this!

30 Day Shred

2011-05-26T05:54:00.000-05:00

Level 1 started today. Here are my measurements:
Biceps: 13 1/2 in
Waist: 35 1/2
Hips: 41 1/2
We'll see what happens. I know I'll be sore later today - Jillian is pretty rough! :)

Wednesday Weigh-In

2011-05-25T20:15:00.002-05:00

Loss: -1.0
Total Loss: -42.6
Feeling: Motivated!

Henny boo and Me

2011-05-25T08:40:00.002-05:00

After the 10k on Sunday.

Something new....Meal Plan Mondays!

2011-05-24T13:03:00.000-05:00

I know, it's Tuesday. But I have decided on another way this blog can help keep me accountable for my continued weight loss success....and that is with Meal Plan Mondays. Every week that I PLAN my food intake, go shopping for the week ahead, and follow my plan, I do well. Every week that I DON'T plan my meals, I end up suggesting take-out, eating on the run, and foraging for whatever crap is in the fridge each night. I even sometimes end up eating from the vending machine at work. GROSS! So, maybe sharing my plan for the week will help hold me accountable, tell Todd what we are having for dinner if we forget to speak that day, and give someone else some ideas about things they haven't tried yet.....

So, here we go, our first....

Monday: Last night we had big salads with feta, craisins, lettuce, cukes, green pepper and low-fat dressing. And wine.

Tuesday: FFYS (for future reference, this means "Fend For Your Self")

Wednesday: PB

Thursday: Hot dogs, polenta "fries", zuchinni on the grill, black beans (for Charlotte's birthday!), and fruit. And cupcakes!

Friday: Soft tacos, refried beans, quinoa, chips and salsa, and leftover cupcakes.

Saturday: Kebabs on the grill.

Sunday: Out and about.

Hello, 10k.

2011-05-22T09:35:00.000-05:00

Just finished the Ashburn 10K with my friend Karen. She pushed me and I'm so glad she did! Here are my uber-official results:

79  31/41     284 Jane Waldrop          31 Ashburn VA       66:41 66:32 10:43

Heyoooooo! I beat my last 10K time by nearly 10 minutes. That's crazy! 10:43 pace? THAT'S CRAZY.

A little Monday motivation...

2011-05-16T07:33:00.000-05:00

I forgot to put up my Wednesday weigh-in last week. Oooops! I was up 0.4 pounds. Still at a total weight loss of 42 pounds. I need some motivation this morning so I did a google image search of "42 pounds" and here's what I found.

40 pounds of marijuana:

A 42 pound bunny:

A 40 pound cabbage:

A 42 pound fish:

Didn't find this one on google, but in my own pictures.....a 42 pound child:

Just keep running.....

2011-05-10T07:41:00.000-05:00

I just signed up for the Ashburn Village 10K. I also have the Girls on the Run race this weekend. I am a running fool! Or just a fool. The pollen is killing me, my knees are hurting, and I really need to add strength training back into the mix but feel like there's no time for that nonsense.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T18:16:00.000-05:00

I am so thankful for my wonderful children and husband who got me some chocolate-covered strawberries and some yummy cupcakes for Mother's Day today! :)
I am thankful for my wonderful Mom who took me on a wonderful trip to Paris and has always instilled in me the importance of travel, being a democrat, and always taking the higher ground. Love you!

I am thankful for my mother-in-law who beats me at Words with Friends, outfits our children, and shares wine with me! :)

I am thankful for all the Moms in my life that have directly or indirectly had an impact on my life. What would the world be without MOTHERS? Love to you all!

And if that didn't melt your heart, then you are cold and heartless. But these pictures will:

OBL

2011-05-02T11:22:00.000-05:00

I have this weird, creepy feeling about the news about bin Ladin. I don't know how to express my creeped-out-ness because on one hand, I believe he should have been stopped but on the other I am dismayed at the celebration in the streets over his death. I found this quote on a blog I read regularly:

While it's necessary to stop terrorists, sometimes with violence, it is barbarous to gloat over the execution of an enemy. I find the chanting crowds cheering over the corpse disturbing, and the triumphal tone of our leaders is misplaced. We killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and threw away trillions of dollars, and our trophy is the bloody corpse of one old man? There's no victory in that.

I thought he did a good job summing up my thoughts. Too bad I can't put my own thoughts so eloquently.

Also?

2011-04-28T07:52:00.000-05:00

I'll have you notice I hit 100 miles yesterday.

picturesof.net

Wednesday Weigh-In

2011-04-28T07:46:00.002-05:00

Well, I guess I can just eat croissants every day and go to paris whenever I want. Hee hee hee hee

Loss: -1.8
Total loss: -42.6
Feeling: Tres fin

All of the photos!!!

2011-04-27T09:53:00.002-05:00

Paris 2011

Back Home. C'est la vie.

2011-04-25T10:00:00.000-05:00

Back to the real world. Sitting at my desk in my overly-dusty classroom. Trying to motivate myself to work.

Saturday at the Rodin Museum pictures to come. It was a lovely museum with beautiful gardens and perfect weather. I very much enjoyed the sculptures and took many pictures.

After the museum we walked over to find the crepe shopped closed for the holiday weekend, so we ate at a cafe near the government center. I had a risotto that was yummy and a capuccino. We then took the subway over to St. Sulpice and St. German-de-Pres churches and checked them out. Very lovely. In St. Sulpice we saw some interesting things that were a part of the The DaVinci Code. Also on exhibit was the Shroud of Turin. Interesting.

We had a beer in a cafe nearby then caught the train back to our apartment. We rested a bit while a thunderstorm flew by and then went to Cafe De l'Alma for dinner. I wish I had eaten the steak, but I went with the roasted chicken for dinner - it was still delicious. We had some gelato at a nearby place after dinner, then went home and packed the rest of my stuff!

Sunday morning Mom rode with me to the airport and I enjoyed some coffee and my last croissant in the business class lounge (THANK YOU TODD) and then had a VERY enjoyable flight in business class. Seriously, if you are rich why would you EVER EVER EVER ride in coach? It was seriously ridiculous how much better it is in business class. Ridiculous. They served us fois gras in business class. Seriously ridiculous. I felt like an imposter.

Back home, the boys picked me up at the airport and were excited to show me their new robot dance and their bike-riding abilities. They had a few disagreements over who should hold the light-up Eiffel Tower I brought them, and declared the shirts I brought them "too itchy." Oh well.

Hopefully I will have time to upload some pictures tonight.

Where did I leave off?

2011-04-23T03:25:00.000-05:00

Friday was a gorgeous day in Paris. The weather this week has been unbelieveable. I can't believe the blue sky and spring weather. It's perfect. Yesterday, the weather was beautiful and warm and sunny again. Mom and I went to Pere le Chais, a cemetary that "houses" some famous people. We saw the graves of Edith Piaf, Chopin, Rossini, Moliere, and some others I can't remember. Pictures to come, as this was a beautiful cemetery and I took a lot.

After the cemetary we jumped on bus #69. Rick Steves book says that bus 69 is a tour of Paris because it goes everywhere. And it just convieniently enough stops near our apartment. We got off closeby and stopped in a little store for a crepe since we skipped lunch. Banana and chocolate! Delicious!

We came back to the apartment to rest a bit, and I went and sat out by the Eiffel Tower to finish a book. It was very nice out and only 2 people came to me to ask me something - one was selling water and the other was selling something for deaf people. I finished my book and headed back upstairs to get ready for a visit from Mom and Wilma's friends. We had a yummy American meal of meatloaf, potatoes, salad, and cherry pie. And a lot of wine. After their friends left, we played Hearts and I got killed again. I need to redeem myself but I am afraid there is no hope.

Today we are heading over to the Rodin Museum to see "The Thinker" and other sculptures by Rodin. I am looking forward to it. Then we will probably eat another crepe.

I head home tomorrow to see my cute family and give them hugs and kisses and chocolate.

Good night and day

2011-04-21T16:11:00.000-05:00

We had a very nice time last night. We met Mom's friends Madeleine and George and they took us to a cute little place for dinner. The dinner was prepared with spices traditionally Corsican, so there was a nice taste to everything. I had Canelonni, which was good, and ham for an appetizer. We shared some strawberries for dessert. After dinner, the owner of the restaurant gets up in his chair with his guitar and mic and starts belting out favorite songs. Everyone seemed to know the songs, so we tapped our feet and pretended. :) Then he switched to English. A woman came in and sang "Fly me to the Moon" and then he started playing "Wonderwall," and looking at me, suggesting I come sing. I had had enough wine, so I did. I got up and sang "Wonderwall" and then "Your Song." It was fun. The restaurant was near Sacre Cour, which is a stunning place, and it was packed with young people having a fun night out. George and I walked up the loooooonnnnngggg staircase (we earned our dinner!) and the other ladies took the cable car thingie. Un bon soir!

Today we have been busy bees, shopping around for new sandals because our feet are hot, and checking out the Beau Marchet for clothes and other things we can't afford. We had a nice lunch on a busy road with a nice waiter. I had a salad (after my croissants in the morning, which my lovely weight watchers leader reminded me are 10 points each I can't manage to eat toooooo many pommes frites for lunches) and some light wine. Then we wandered over to Napolean's tomb at Les Invelides. We didn't go inside because the line was long, but we admired from outside (Mom has been in many times).

Then I went for a run along the Seine - it was very nice. The sun was hot, and there were people everywhere, but it was a nice run. It ended up being about 2.9 miles.

We went to a concert tonight that was stunning. The picture left is from my phone, so not great, but you can kind of get the idea. It was a Vivaldi and Pachelbel concert by a string ensemble in the Saint Chappelle chapel. This chapel is unbelievably beautiful. And it was built in 1287. Kings and nobles and everyone has been in this chapel. And here we were, sitting in this amazing place listening to gorgeous music. I listened to the music, which was familiar and amazingly played, and looked around the chapel at the amazing stained glass and statues. Amazing.

After the concert, we had dinner at Le Rose du France in a square at the Place de Pont Neuf. I had a light fish with a vegetable tartin. It was lovely.

We rode the RER back to our apartment just in time to see the 11:00 Eiffel Tower sparkle show.

A great day!

Je ne pas parle Francais

2011-04-20T11:30:00.000-05:00

Well, I know enough French to say that to the lovely couple that stopped me mid-run yesterday asking me where this or that was. I must look like I know where the hell I'm going as I leap over piles of dog shit and dodge my fellow tourists milling around the Eiffel Tower.

I definitely took a picture of my appetizer last night at La Petite Troquet. I thought I was getting some shrimp....and I did, but it was miniature prawns. They were kind of like the teeny shrimp you get in shrimp salads, but with shells. They came with an empty bowl for the shells and heads, a bowl of butter (for something we never figured out) and a bowl of lemon water to wash your hands afterwards. I ate about 10 of them, making a small dent in the rest of the bowl, and gave up, It was not worth the work. Mom guiltily ate the rest. Wilma had a mushroom "cake" with salad and Mom had escargot. For our main courses, Wilma had Beef Bourginon, Mom had Steak Au Poivre, and I had Tuna over zuchini. Delicious! For dessert I had a macaroon with a small spoonful of vanilla ice cream.

After dinner we walked back to the apartment, stopping to get a bottle of wine and a few postcards. We played Hearts and watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle and then went to bed. We stayed up so late we even got to Skype with the kids. A fun day!

This morning, we slept a little later, bought our paper and croissants, then went to La Mairas, the Jewish quarter of Paris. We walked around, shopped, sat and had a cappucino, looked in windows and courtyards, and ate lunch at Carette (Salon de The) on the Place de Vosges, the oldest planned square in Paris. We each ordered a sandwich and shared them so we got 1/3 of a chicken, ham/swiss, and parma ham sandwich. Yum!

Mom and I spent the afternoon walking around and visiting the Pompadou Museum, which houses modern art. It was interesting, but hot. We walked back via St Merri church and Hotel De Ville. We took a water taxi back to our apartment and are preparing now to take the metro to meet a friend for dinner.

It is hot here!!!!!!!!

Eiffel Tower? Jane here. Just wanted to tell you that you're awesome.

2011-04-19T11:28:00.000-05:00

Mamere, Wilma, and I are in Paris for a week. I can't wait to show you the pictures.

We arrived yesterday and promptly dragged our jetlagged asses to lunch. I ate a goat cheese salad with honey dressing which was delish. Wilma had a bowl of French Onion Soup (or do you just say Onion Soup since it was IN FRANCE?) and pate. Mamere had a croque monsieur and side salad (which I hope to replecate for my meal later this week). It was lovely! The place we ate was a little modern cafe that Mom and I ate at 6 years ago. After we had successfully killed enough time for the apartment to be ready, we trudged back to the rental place and got into our apartment.

The apartment is gorgeous! It has a view of the Eiffel Tower from the living room and is decorated in ivory colors and beiges. The picture on the left is from the living room (my cell phone, sorry for the quality) and the one below is Mamere having breakfast this morning.

After we got into the apartment and unpacked, we trudged out again to go to the grocery store. We purchased a bunch of things to tide us over for the week, and some cheese, fruit, wine, bread, crackers, and tabouleh for dinner. We sat in the living room and ate last night. It was very relaxing and nice. After dinner, Mom and I took a walk around the Eiffel Tower park and saw an estimated 1500 joggers, which was surprising - I didn't think French people exercised! Well, the ones we saw do, and they do so in whatever clothes they happen to have on - we saw runners in Polo shirts, jeans, random sneakers, sweaters, etc. Odd. After our walk, we made it back to the apartment in time to see the twinking Eiffel Tower show (I took a phone video for the boys!) and then we fell asleep instantly.

This morning, we woke up to some kind of bird cooing outside the window and Mom and I got up and walked to Rue Cler to the street market and bought grapes, oranges, and strawberries. Then we stopped in a shop and bought some cheese, then another shop for croissants and palmiers. We came up and had our coffee and breakfast and then got ready for our adventure!

We walked all the way to a friend's apartment for lunch where we had a yummy risotto and bread and visited for a while. We stopped on the way at La Madeleine, which is a church Napoleon built. It was huge on the inside. Then we continued our walk (and bought some sunglasses por moi) to Notre Dame on the Ile de le Cite. The line to go in and to go up the tower was ridiculous, so we just walked around, rested on a park bench, and then visited the Deportation Memorial, which is a memorial that honors the victims of the Holocaust from France. The lady at the entrance told us we could take some pictures but we weren't allowed to post them on facebook. :)

After this, we walked back to the left bank and walked by the river. It was a long walk back to the apartment. After we got in, I went for a short run around the ET and then ate an orange. I decided to use Map my Run to figure out the mileage of our walk today and I was surprised and delighted when it told me we had walked over 13 miles! Plus my 3 mile run! Well, I'm an "idiok" because it was in kilometers. So, we walked about 8 miles and I ran about a mile and a half. Oh well. Still a lot.

We are getting ready now to head out to La Petite Troquet for dinner (Mom's favorite restaurant) and hopefully have something delicious.

Abientot!

National Zoo in pictures (because I'm too lazy to write about it)

2011-04-13T18:25:00.001-05:00

Wednesday Weigh-In

2011-04-13T18:20:00.000-05:00

Perhaps I should wait to claim victory on the first 40 pounds because of my upcoming trip to the Croissant/PommesFrites/SteakauPoivre/CrepewithNutella/redwine/baguette/cheese capitol of the world, but I finally did hit the 40 pound mark tonight. We'll be skipping weigh-in next week because we'll be busy roaming the streets of Paris, so hopefully I can keep the croissants off my ass for my weigh-in in 2 weeks.
Weight Lost: -3 pounds
Total Loss: -40.8
Feeling: heureux, mais prudent

Official pic!

2011-04-06T14:05:00.000-05:00

You can see all the rest of my pictures (and video!) here

before/after

2011-04-06T07:46:00.000-05:00

My PE Teacher asked me for some before and after pictures today and I thought my face looks so much skinnier in these pictures that I'd share with you, too. :)

Lo Hicimos!

2011-04-02T11:58:00.001-05:00

I was thinking of Dora when I wrote the title - "We did it! We did it! Lo Hicimos!" Todd, E, and I ran the Monument Avenue 10K this morning. We did awesome, and I finished under my goal of 75 minutes by 40 seconds or so. :) It was a great run, with bands on every corner, lots of people in costumes, and lots of crowd cheering. I had a great time taking in the sights and sounds, and especially loved running with E. Here is a pic of us at the start, and then a pic of the starting line. Lots of people!!!! Another cool thing was running around the VCU campus with all the black and yellow signs and shirts because of their Final Four game tonight - exciting!

Wednesday Weigh-In

2011-03-30T18:50:00.000-05:00

I know last week was a weird fluke....

Loss: -4.2
Total loss: -38.4
Feeling: Cautious.

The big 10K is this weekend! Nervous! I really want to hit 40 pounds this week. I took the Magic Tracker from my ww meeting this week. We'll see what happens....

Book recommendation

2011-03-30T09:20:00.000-05:00

Patricia J. DeLois wrote a book called Bufflehead Sisters that I just finished reading. It was a great read! I found it lying on the table in the teacher's lounge (thanks, Katie!) and snatched it up. I have had Barbara Kingsolvers' The Lacuna on my nightstand for a year now, and I have been avoiding it. So every little easy read I can grab up I take advantage. This was a great grab. Once I started, I was dying to finish this book, and even though it was pretty predictable, I enjoyed it very much. The two main characters, Janet and Sophie, are BFF's and Sophie is like a car accident - I didn't want to know what she was going to do next, but I couldn't help looking. Check it out here.

Martha, I'll bring it to Paris for you.

"Boppee Boppee" = "Bouncy Bouncy"!!

2011-03-27T20:00:00.002-05:00

It’s almost April, which means Spring Break is coming soon. This also means that teachers all around are getting that much-needed boost to finish the school year strong. After Spring Break, summer is in sight, so teachers are more motivated and they actually start looking forward the changes they are going to make for the next school year. It’s the same every year. The slump begins in February and continues through March. I start looking at the job openings on Craigslist and Monster and make grand plans to change careers and make a difference in the world. Of course I am qualified to lead the ACLU! Yes I am prepared to work 80 hours a week counseling teen mothers! I can definitely become a foster parent to Haitian orphans while sewing reusable shopping bags out of recycled Deer Park water bottles and still maintain my weight loss and FEED MY FAMILY! YES I CAN.

This year has been no different. For the past few months I’ve been checking ads, considering how to beef up my resume so I actually sound qualified for something other than teaching music, house hunting for more space for my kids and my business and my dogs and my 15 foster children, and trying to decide which masters degree to get next!

Then I wake up one day (yesterday) and have one of my favorite phrases running through my head: You get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit. And that’s my life. And that’s not bad. My life is great. My kids are wonderful and I want to be with them all the time. I never want them to leave me. (I might be the Mom that goes to college with them.) But every once in a while it’s OK to feel a little sad about it, right? Last night I was feeling so sad because I will never have another baby. I mean, I CAN have another baby, but we are done with the three lovelies we have. And I will never get to snuggle a fresh, warm newborn and smell her skin and stare into her eyes and breastfeed her and buy sweet clothes and carry her around in that carseat carrier thing. Ever again! It is the end of something and that is very sad. With Charlotte almost 2 years I feel a little empty about not having any more babies.

(Is this a normal feeling? Do other women feel this way?)

So, while I weather my annual end-of-winter-teaching-funk and my end-of-birthing-babies-depression, I leave you with this video of Charlotte at the park. I call it “Gaga and Papa Should Totally Buy Me this Toy.”

Wednesday Weigh-In IDON'TWANNATALKABOUTIT

2011-03-24T08:58:00.000-05:00

Loss: +3.4
Total loss: -34.4
Feeling: FUCKING PISSED.

That is all.

thursday weigh-in

2011-03-17T17:48:00.000-05:00

Loss: -0.8
Total loss: -38
Feeling: Resolved

Home with sick boy almost all week makes me nibble all the treats all around the house. Cookie cake? Sure, why not? Nilla Wafers? Ok! All the food I made for Henry to make him feel better that he didn't end up eating? Delicious!

Tonight I am eating a sauteed sweet potato and black beans with Charlotte and we both love it! The boys are eating leftover grilled cheese and lucky for me, Owen is eating all of Henry's extras. Back to school tomorrow, I hope. He's had a reaction to the amoxicillin, but his fever hasn't gone above 99.5 today, so we're gonna try it. He's pretty weak and sore, so I hope he takes it easy.

Because of all the sickness and busy-ness, I forgot about St. Patrick's Day. Dumb. My kids were the only ones not wearing green at school today. BOO to me.

Round 2

2011-03-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

Henry caught the bug and is enjoying some much needed snuggle time at home. Here he is at the doctor's office with a 103 fever and a popsicle. After the doctor he fell fast asleep on the couch looking pitiful. Poor baby's fever got up to about 103.5 last night but this morning was around 101.9. He's moaning and groaning but did tell me he was feeling good enough to go out and buy Daddy's cookie cake later today. Happy Birthday, Todd!!!

Cuties (and weigh-in)

2011-03-11T11:47:00.001-05:00

Wednesday Weigh-In (a little late!)

Loss: -1.2

Total Loss: -37.2

Feeling: OK. I got rid of almost my 1.6 weight gain last week, so I am back on track. I am so close to hitting the 40 pound mark, I can taste it.

Here is Owen drinking a milkshake while waiting for his Dr. appointment. He had the flu last week, poor guy. He looks so sick, right? Ha ha.

Here are the boys goofing around in the kitchen and Charlotte wearing a sweater made by our friend JK

Wednesday Weigh-In Whoops

2011-03-02T21:05:00.000-05:00

Loss this week: +1.6
Total loss: -36
Feeling: Blah. I had a meeting out of my building today, ate a bagel for breakfast (oof), a big panini for lunch (double oof), 3 cups of coffee, 1 diet coke, and ZERO water. Plus, no exercise in 3 days. So, I expected a gain. Next week I will lose it.

Winner winner chicken dinner

2011-02-28T13:23:00.000-05:00

I won the Oscar Bet this year.
8-4.
I think this is pretty good since Todd and I have only seen Toy Story 3.
A million times.

Weigh-In Wednesday Back on Track

2011-02-23T20:13:00.000-05:00

After my disappointing gain last week, I was looking forward to a good week. Back at my usual meeting with my usual leader, Becky, I had a good week. No, a GREAT week. I lost that 2.6 from last week PLUS an ADDITIONAL 2.6. I was down 5.2 tonight! CRAZY. I passed the 180's and hopefully won't see them again. :)
Loss this week: -5.2
Loss total: -37.6
Feeling: Re-energized! Let's DO THIS.

Three Sisters

2011-02-19T16:53:00.001-05:00

This is a picture of my grandmother, June (left), her sister Bessie (middle) and other sister Julia. Bessie passed away last week and I saw this picture of the three sisters on her online guest book and thought it was beautiful!
We miss grandma June and Bessie and send our thoughts to Bessie's family.