The Year of the Rat

Most of you that read my blog have already seen this, but I wanted to post it anyway because I think it's hilarious!

Trevor loves making cakes (he makes all the cakes for our kids' birthdays), so when he found out that all the Cub Scouts were supposed to bring a Chinese New Years themed cake to the Blue & Gold Banquet, the wheels started turning in his head. This is what he came up with.

The tail, ears, and feet, and whiskers (oh, and pellets) are made of tootsie rolls. The cake inside is a bright green color. Trevor and I were watching as the leaders cut into the cake at the banquet and saw their surprised reaction. He said that was the highlight of his day!

I wish I had a fraction of my husband's creativity and talent!

Throwdown Report

The past week was a busy one, filled with trips to my MIL's new "apartment," which is what we're going to call if for lack of a better word. (It sounds silly to say "Let's go to Grandma's room," plus it seems to give her more independence to call it an apartment.) I also took her shopping for a new couch and we'll be doing more shopping this week for additional needed supplies. I'm pretty sure there's not going to be much free time this week with more moving to do, shopping, decorating, etc.

All in all, I did well last week. I managed to stay on track for the most part (see below). My exercise has been minimal, but I was still able to get in a little. I even have a loss to report! I'm down 1 1/2 pounds. It ain't 4 pounds, but I'll take it with gratitude.

I discovered a new favorite lunch, too. I went to the grocery store early one morning after I had taken my kids to school when they missed the bus and found some short-dated packaged greens that they had marked down half price. They come in a plastic container and are about 25 calories for the whole thing. I bought several. There are a few different ones and they're dee-lish. They have some arugula and herbs in them that just taste good all by themselves. But I put in low-fat feta, slivered almonds, ham, tomatoes, or whatever I have in my kitchen and it's a huge, filling salad. We've also been roasting a lot of vegetables lately. I can't believe how sweet raw carrots taste to me now, but roast 'em and they're like candy!

Previous weight: 145.6
Current weight: 144.2

Pounds left for 7%: 3.4

My goal for this week: eat more salads and stay sane!

Apple Fritters and Instincts

Yesterday was moving day for my MIL who, as many of you know, is moving into an assisted living center. She's beside herself with excitement, so it makes us happy to see her so happy about life. She can't actually move her self in until March 3, but we moved all her stuff out of our house and into her new room. It's going to be a really nice place for her and she SO wished she could stay.

I had to run some errands beforehand and the kids begged me to stop at Krispy Kreme for donuts to share with Trevor's brother & nephew that were helping. (Ya, that was it.) I told myself I could have one donut and that would be my treat. I had had a good run that morning and I'd be spending a good portion of the day moving stuff. That was my rationalization. So against my better judgement, I chose an apple fritter. I knew I should just stick with a regular glazed donut, but a powerful force took over my brain and I ignored my instincts. Ohhh, it was good, too.

When I got home I checked the calorie content online for my daily log--I was going to be brutally honest with myself, and I knew it would be brutal--and found out that the apple fritter is the HIGHEST CALORIE PASTRY sold at Krispy Kreme (along with the Caramel Kreme Crunch, which just sounds sinful). I didn't think it would be that brutal. It has a whopping 380 calories, compared to the 200-calorie original glazed donut. My instincts were right, but I kicked them to the curb like yesterday's trash. Doh!

Weight Loss Throwdown: Tuesday Update

All my kids and my husband were home yesterday, so we went and had some inexpensive fun together. I only had time for one post and decided to do the other one first.

So here's my update for the throwdown as of today: I HAVE A HEALTHY BMI! Yes, I weigh 145 lbs., which means I'm at the very tippy top of the healthy range. All that time I spent in the 150s and would calculate my BMI, I could see that it wouldn't take much to get in the healthy range, but couldn't motivate myself to do what it would take to get there. Finally I have the focus and momentum, and it wasn't (extremely) torturous, either! I would have loved to have eaten more than 1/2 piece of the pizza we got last night...

Previous weight: 146.6
Current weight 145.6

Pounds to go for 7%: 4.8

I've been tagged

I'm finally getting to posting my response. Sorry for the delay, Erin!

10 years ago I was... a new mother with a 5-month old baby girl and loving life. We had one car and Trevor had to drive 30 min. to work, so Autumn and I didn't go out a lot. We lived within walking distance of the grocery store, so I'd take the stroller and do my grocery shopping and then try to haul it all back in the stroller. Didn't always work really well...

5 things on my 'to do' list today: My To Do List is ongoing and I cross things off and then start a new one when I've accomplished most of them. 1. Clean off the computer desk. 2. Fold laundry. When is this NOT on the list? 3. Take MIL to clinic to have blood drawn. 4. Clean bathrooms. 5. Call Dish Network to cancel one of our channels.

Things I would do if I became a billionaire:
1. Pay off debts (like student loans).
2. Buy my dream house.
3. Get Trevor a new car. He drives a 15-year-old Taurus that's running on blessings. And I need a new van, too--one that's from this century!
4. Go on a trip (or ten) with my husband anywhere but here. We've NEVER taken even an overnight trip alone.
5. Donate, give, invest, and breathe easy.

3 of my bad habits:
1. Procrastinating. Notice it took me several days to get this post up!
2. Being impatient with my kids.
3. I grind my teeth at night and have to wear a mouth guard so I don't wear down my teeth.

5 Places I've lived:
1. Sunnyvale, California
2. Tacoma, Washington
3. Paraguay
4. Salt Lake City, Utah
5. Syracuse, Utah

5 jobs I've had:
1. I worked as a babysitter at a Jazzercise class when I was 14 & 15.
2. Dishwasher at the Morris Center at BYU. Luckily no one could see us in there. :)
3. Receptionist at BYU Multicultural Services. Loved that job.
4. LDS Church Office Building. I was a clerk in the Humanitarian Services Dept.
5. Clerk in mail room at IRS on the graveyard shift. Yuck.

Things most people don't know about me:
I was a member of Weight Watchers with my best friend when we were about 13. She lost something like 20 or 30 pounds and I can't remember if I even lost more than 5 pounds. We'd ride our bikes to the meetings then go over to McDonald's afterwards and have a Diet Coke and watch people.

I played field hockey in high school. A friend talked me into trying out (I never would've done it on my own) then she dropped out and I stayed. It was a lot of fun!

If I didn't pluck my eyebrows I'd probably have a unibrow. LOL

Weight Loss Throwdown: Monday Update

I had another decent week and I'm sooo close to being within the healthy or "normal" BMI range. I weighed in at 146.6 this morning and that's a BMI of 25.1, which is still overweight. But when I get to 145, I'll be at 24.9, which is normal. I'm not going to let myself be controlled by the numbers, but it's just a milestone that I plan to surpass and never see again! The next milestone will be the 130s!

I went shopping over the weekend and got some size 8 pants! I don't remember the last time I wore an 8. Not even in high school! (Wow, that's embarrassing to acknowledge.) But this isn't my goal weight, so I got the pants at a second-hand store. I don't plan to stay at this weight for long!

But I do have a question for all of you out there in blogland. How does a person determine their goal weight? I've never been at a healthy weight in my adult life, so I don't know what weight will feel right. According to some schools of thought, a 5'4" medium -frame woman should weigh about 120. But I don't know if I'd even be able to maintain that weight without killing myself. So I guess what I'm saying is that I don't know what my goal weight is until I actually get there. Right now my goal is just to have a healthy BMI and then to get out of the 140s!

Previous weight: 148.4
Current weight: 146.6

Pounds to go for 7%: 5.8

And now, a moment of silence...for my pants. My favorite comfy sweatpants don't fit anymore. They're just too big! Yes, they were roomy to begin with, but now they just don't stay up. I guess I'll just be on the lookout for a new pair of SMALLER favorite pants!

Payback

We went to parent-teacher conferences yesterday. We were told that our children are smart (I didn't need to be told that) but stubborn (I knew that, too). Don't know where they got it. Not a clue! Simon, our kindergartener, turned in an assignment (one that he probably could have done in his sleep) with just scribbles on it. And he can rarely be cajoled into reading when he doesn't want to.

Although not so stubborn, Autumn is excelling in school. Her only problem is that she's friends with everyone and she can talk and work at the same time, but not everyone else can do that. Hmm...I can't imagine where this attribute came from either. Certainly not me, though. Perhaps Grandpa Parker or Grandma Fay. That's both sides of the family.

Eli, the 2-year-old, is growing out of naps (yikes!) already. I put him down and he just cries for as long as I let him, sometimes 20-30 minutes. And don't try to get him to eat something he doesn't want to. It's not gonna happen.

What's a mom of stubborn kids to do? I remember a book my mom and dad had while I was growing up called "The Strong-Willed Child." Guess they had the same problem. Could it have been me? If so, I guess I've got my payback.

On Being a Doofus

I need to change my attitude and this post will hopefully help. In my last post I said that my 1-pound loss felt overshadowed by KariAnn's 3-pound loss. I was whining and going about things all wrong. All I was doing was putting a pall over KariAnn's success and making it so she couldn't enjoy it! Well, I need to apologize and congratulate her on some awesome accomplishments. You are amazing.

I know you didn't ask for this KP, but as I thought about it I realized what a doofus I was being! I'll do better in the future!

Positive Thoughts

I'm really trying to have them!

Any other time I'd be thrilled to be weighing 148.4 pounds. But today it seems overshadowed by KariAnn's huge losses. She's amazing and I admire her for her diet skills and self-control. She's an expert at healthy and creative eating. Truly she's a superwoman and I don't want to take anything away from that.

I felt like my eating was pretty good this week. I'm improving at eating less and better things for breakfast, which is my biggest challenge. My kids are eating, for the most part, the new recipes I've been trying for dinner. I'm not going over my daily calories. I had successes in social situations, too. I went to two gatherings with lots of yummy, fattening food--a scrapbook party and only ate one bite of a butterscotch chip cookie, and the aforementioned MMA fight and only had a diet soda. I'm happy with my exercising, when I can do it. I missed or cut short a few workouts this week due to a needy 2-year-old, but I also got in lots of snow-shoveling, including twice yesterday. I guess I just need to forget the throwdown thing and just concentrate on my own successes, because that's what's going to get me to my goal in the end. Although I don't think there's any hope for me in this throwdown competition, I do know that I'm finding strength that I haven't been able to muster for a very long time. When Eli was born 2 years ago, I weighed somewhere between 190 and 200 pounds (I tried to avoid the numbers). I've lost a lot since then, but these last 25 have been stubborn. I will continue my fight. I can't lose the mental edge, because that's what weight-loss is all about for me. It's all in my focus. And I'll stop comparing myself to my incredible sisters and SIL and just do what works for me.

Don't worry, I'm still in the competition, but I have to find my own way. What does that mean? It means that I'm not worried about winning. I just wish I could go with you and help you pick out your new skinny clothes, gals!

Last week's weight: 149.4
Current weight: 148.4

Left to go for 7%: 7.6 pounds

My goal for this week is to work on a weight-loss mantra that I can repeat when things get difficult. Something POSITIVE!

Eating Crow

My husband is a big fan of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), AKA cage fighting. (Remember Kip in Napoleon Dynamite? "I'm training to be a cage fighter.") Now, Trevor doesn't watch football or other sports on TV, so I have to be grateful that it's limited to that. It could be worse, I suppose. Even so, whenever he turns it on, I leave the room. I can't stand the stuff and really have no desire to be around when it's on. I just don't get the draw of watching two tattooed guys with morbid nicknames and weird hair beat each other up to a bloody pulp.

But last night we both were invited to a pay-per-view event at the home of Trevor's friend Gary. I really didn't care to go, but agreed to so I could spend more time with my hubby on a pseudo-date, and also to enjoy the company of our friends. Gary and Amy are fun people and have a beautiful home. Amy has a vinyl business and her home is decorated with tons of cool vinyl sayings. But that's a whole other post. I brought a magazine as boredom insurance.

As the night progressed, I enjoyed talking to our friends and even watched the fighting a little bit. I did take my magazine out during the slow fights, but that's mostly because I had been looking forward to reading the new Runner's World that had just come. There were some pretty cool takedowns (don't know if that's the correct terminology, but I heard it a few times, so I should be safe). After a while, the main event came on, and I watched. There was a lot of hype and drama, but the actual fighting (and this is hard for me to admit) was kind of exciting and I was actually interested! *GASP*

Don't get me wrong; I'm not turning into a MMA fan and don't think I ever will (I'd rather scrapbook any day than watch Randy Couture fight), but I'm repenting for not giving it a chance and losing all that time with my husband. From now on, maybe I won't leave the room when he's watching and just find a magazine to read when it gets boring...