I Suck.

Well, I've completely fallen off the diet bandwagon this weekend. Not sure what happened to the willpower I thought I had but it's definitely not here. I just got back from a b-day party at McDonald's (with my girls, of course). While there, I ate a cheeseburger AND fries. Last night we went to a 40th birthday party. They had catered in a pulled pork barbecue. And let's just say that cornbread casserole and the pulled pork and the mac-n-cheese were a little too good. And the cake... well, it wasn't that great but I still ate my whole piece. I did give Cass part of my ice cream. But I ate enough myself too. The past few days I've even way tooooooo much. More than I felt hungry for even.

I stepped on the scale this morning to see how much damage I've done and the good news is that I hadn't put the two pounds I'd lost back on. The bad news is that after McDonald's today, I probably have.

SOOOOO.... where do I go from here?

Tomorrow (and the rest of today) is going to have to be a new beginning. Again. I've got Pilates MWF and I am determined to get my fat arse back on the treadmill. And I will stop eating the stuff I am not hungry for. And I'll drink the water. And I'll stop making excuses.

And for now, I'm going to delete that weight ticker thingie. It's annoying me.

Thirteen Things About Jenna

Thirteen Things about Jenna 1. Goodness gracious, she is growing up so fast! She'll be 7 in April. She's currently begging me to get her ears pierced for her birthday. We're still debating that one. 2. She is doing a fantabulous job in first grade! She is already reading at almost a second grade level. I love to sit and listen to her. And she loves to write stories and lists and draw pictures. She realllllllllllllllly likes her teacher this year! And so do I! 3. Even though she's only (almost) 7, she is OBSESSED with High School Musical. Both the first one and the second. She thinks Gabriella is the coolest thing since sliced bread. Troy is ok but he's not her favorite. For Christmas, she got the HSM 2 DVD game. She makes me or Daddy play it with her at least a couple times a week. She's pretty darn good, but she doesn't always win... 4. She has the most giving heart. And the sweetest little smile with the most contagious giggle. And the cutest little face. And the most adorable personality. It always amazes me that I was given the privilege of being her mom. 5. I love to watch her play with her younger siblings. She ADORES Nicholas and can't get enough of lovin' on him. Of course, a 15 month old is a little hard to keep down but she's definitely gotten lots of snuggle time with him. 6. Of course, she does get annoyed at him (a little) sometimes when he gets into her things. I never fail to remind her during those times that she is the one who prayed for him.... lol.... I will be using that line a lot in the coming years I imagine. When she's 16, he'll be 10 1/2. I can already picture him hiding out and bugging her whenever a boy happens to come over. 7. She has a special kinship with her little sister. Some days, they can play for hours on end and never have any bickering. Other days, well... let's just say I've had to put them in separate rooms several times. But they're always back to playing with each other again before I know it. Watching them together makes my heart warm. 8. She's already got her own fashion sense. Gone are the days when I can go into Gymboree and get whatever I like for her to wear. She's had plenty of things that I thought were just adorable hang in her closet unworn. There is one pair of jeans (that I actually bought!) that she just loves. I have to limit the number of times she can wear them or she'd wear them every day! 9. She seems to think money grows on trees. Of course, so does every other child! LOL 10. A lot of people say she looks just like a mini me. Especially when I was younger. There is a picture that hangs at my parents' house of me and my siblings when I was younger. When J was about 2, I pointed to me in the picture and asked her who it was. "ME!" she replied! 11. She is also like me in the moodiness department. Even though I don't like to admit that one. But my sister enjoys pointing it out when J is in the middle of a "mood." 12. Because of this moodiness trait we share, some moments around here aren't so fun. I am already dreading those teenage years.... hopefully we'll both make it through unscathed. 13. And Finally. It took us three years to conceive Jenna. And I wouldn't trade a day of any of it. Because that would mean I wouldn't have her in my life. And I can't imagine my life without her.


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants



Someone Please Tell My Husband

To STOP making homemade caramel popcorn when I'm trying to be good and eat right. If you've never had homemade caramel popcorn, let me just tell you it is really good. And very hard to resist.

And it's not helping my "get skinny" plan at all. The good news is it's almost gone.... and even though I've eaten my share, I didn't go ridiculously off the wagon.




How I'm Doing with my fitness kick 1) Down two pounds. Most likely water weight but it's a start, right? 2) Survived my second day of Pilates Plus yesterday. I was still sore from Monday's class but managed to make it through with only a little slacking. So that's a good thing. I am looking forward to the time when I can go to class and keep up better without having all of the sore muscles. 3) Drinking more water! At least 64 oz a day, usually around 90-100. 4) Haven't walked on the treadmill in three days. I'm blaming this one on #2 above. I am planning to get back on tonight though. Even if I am only on for 10 minutes. 5) I've quit snacking on junk. Pretty much completely. Currently, there's a bag of carrots sitting next to my water bottle. They're surprisingly filling when the munchies hit. 6) I need to work on making healthier dinners. I haven't done awful.... but could definitely do better. Hubby's fried chicken on Sunday was NOT a good start to the week. But a grilled chicken salad with (I'm thinking) low-fat roasted potatoes for dinner sounds pretty good. I need to go google a recipe.... 7) One of my main goals with the healthier eating/ working out kick was to set a good example for my kiddos. It's already working. My four year old is drinking more water than ever! She even chooses water when given the choice between h20 and (watered down) juice. That's a huge step, right!??! 8) I really do feel like I am back in the groove that I was in when I lost the 18 lbs a couple years ago. It only took me 15 months after Nicholas was born to get there. But hey, better late than never, right!?! 9) I am hoping that I can keep up this groove. 10) I imagine the scale numbers going lower will probably help out with #9. Just have to patiently wait it out.... which is hard.... 11) I need to go through and organize my recipes. Find the ones that are lower fat and stock up on the essentials to make them. Thinking of dinner ideas is challenging... 12) I also need to set a mini-goal and figure out a nice reward for myself... 13) I have not eaten any french fries in 2008. French fries are my total weakness. Of course, I haven't had to face the actual temptation of going to a restaurant yet...


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants



Preschool- Next Year

The preschool where my middle kid goes started up a PreK class this year. The director actually teaches it. They set the birthday deadline for enrollment at Dec 31. Her birthday is Dec 16 so she was eligible.

So... for the past couple months, I've been debating back and forth if I wanted to put Cass in the PreK or keep her in the regular 4/5 class. The preK meets 4 days a week as opposed to 3 days for the other. The MWF curriculum is the same as the 4/5's. But on the extra day, the teacher focuses on letters/sounds/kindergarten readiness. The PreK class is only offered in the morning. The regular class is offered morning and afternoon.

Registration for next year was on Monday. I called and signed C up for the PreK class... with a little uncertainty on whether or not I really wanted her in.

Well.... today, I changed my mind and ended up putting Cassidy back in the afternoon regular 4/5 class. Several factors went into making the decision...

1) Cost is $35 less. Not a huge amount but on a single income, it's over half of our phone bill.

2) The morning thing... getting all three kids up and ready to go by 8:20... didn't sound fun or easy. I know... I know, working moms do it all the time... but I don't work....

3) The things they do on the extra day that the PreK has, I can do myself. I taught for 10 years. Surely, I can teach the kid her letters, right?

4) Carpooling. We carpool now with a little boy in C's class. He is not eligible for the PreK class because of his birthday. So he'll be in the afternoon MWF class. Which means, we can still carpool

5) The pilates class I'm in goes until 11:15. Morning preschool would let out at 11:15. If I keep up with the pilates class, that won't jive.

6) I reallllllllly like the teacher I ended up requesting for the afternoon class.


So, anyways, I told the director my decision when I dropped Cass off today. They already have a waiting list for the PreK so it wasn't a big deal at all...

I think I made the right decision.

Jello Legs

Well.... I survived my first Pilates Plus!! And I'm proud to say, I didn't *totally* humiliate myself!!

The first part of the class was more yoga and weights then the last part was floor and ab work. I kept up pretty well for the yoga/weights but OH MY... my abs are so freakin' weak! I remember when I first started pilates a couple years ago, I could barely do a sit up. I wasn't much better today.

BUT, I made it through without any tears and only totally slacked on a couple of the ab exercises.

I talked to the instructor for a minute or two afterwards. She said she had planned to go a little easier on us today since it was the first class of the session... but she ended up working us out pretty hard. Just my luck, eh?!?! LOL

So... then when I left the class and went to walk down the stairs, my legs totally felt like jello. Weird feeling!

I imagine I'm going to be a little sore tonight. Hopefully, I will feel less sore by Wednesday, the next class!

Class Starts on Monday!

Yesterday, I called the local YMCA to get price quotes for joining. Then I got online and looked at the classes that were going to be offered. There was a Pilates Plus class that does Pilates mat work and some yoga exercises also. Joining the class as a non-member actually works out to be cheaper than joining the Y and then signing up for the class.

So, that's what I did. For $65, as a non-member, I go to class for the next seven weeks, three times a week. It works out to around $3 a class. I will have to pay a small childcare fee but that's not a big deal.

I took a private pilates/yoga class a couple years ago and loved it. But the instructor was a friend and I was pregnant so it was not the most strenuous class ever. That's not to say I didn't work hard and make progress though.

However, I just talked to another friend who has taken the class at the Y and she said it's reallllllllllllllllllly hard. So, now I'm a little bit nervous that I won't be able to keep up. I know when I started the class a couple years ago, I could barely do a sit-up. That is how out of shape I was. It wasn't long before I could do the sit-up and more.

I'm hoping that is what the class at the Y is like. I might suck the first week or two... but hopefully I can perservere and make progress throughout the seven weeks. Enough progress that I sign back up for seven more.

So Far...

Ok.... before I start... I am on a total roll with my blog resolution. Third day of 2008 and my third post.

So anyways, so far, I am doing pretty darn good on my diet/lifestyle change. Of course, I've only been at it for a whopping three days. BUT, in those three days, I have stopped snacking (unless you count carrots and well, I'm not going to count them since they're good for me!), I've been drinking at least 64 oz of water a day, and for the last two days, I've gotten my arse on the treadmill. Only for 15 and 16 minutes respectively... but at least I'm on it, right? The first few minutes really tell me how out of shape I am... but by the end, I feel like I could probably go for a few more. But I'm taking it slow...

I think I've almost got hubby talked into letting me join the YMCA too. WOO! He is a little worried about finances after the Christmas holiday but he knows how much I want to join. So we'll see. If I join, the first thing I'm going to do is sign up for a yoga class (which reminds me... I need to see when registration is... hopefully, I haven't missed it?!!?). I honestly think the yoga I did last time I dieted was one of the big factors in my success.

One thing I'm actually considering for the first time is running/walking a 5K. There is one in April at the church when my moms' group is located. Not sure if I'll take the leap and do it. I guess it'll depend on how well I keep up with my new exercise regimen.....

Correction

My weigh in this morning was four pounds less than yesterday. I know I didn't lose that much in a day. I just had weighed at a different time yesterday. SOOOO... I'm still keeping my goal of 21 lbs. I'll just be 4 lbs lighter than my original goal at the end!

Here We Go Again

Back in the fall of 2005, I hit an epiphany about my weight/health. I'm not what you would consider extremely overweight but I am not in the best shape. I'm not an avid exerciser, healthy eater, water drinker, etc. But that fall, I was at my moms' group and heard a speaker. Her topic was keeping fit and healthy. One of her comments was about keeping yourself fit for your children, to set a good example for them and to be healthy so that you would increase your chances of being around for them for the long haul. Or something to that effect.

Anyways, that idea inspired me. And I began a lifestyle change. We bought a treadmill which I faithfully used, I watched what I ate, drank tons of water, and started a yoga class. Big changes for a former couch potato, chip-loving, cookie craving, momma.

By March of 06, I'd lost almost twenty pounds and my energy and fitness level were well on the way to being healthy. I was feeling good and everyone was noticing the changes. Then..... I got pregnant. With Nicholas. I continued to do yoga through my sixth month of pregnancy but sadly, all the other changes I'd made fell to the wayside.

Once Nicholas was born in Oct of 06, I gave myself a couple months to get back on the wagon. That couple of months has turned into 15. And I'm still trying to drag myself back to where I was when I got pregnant. Or at least somewhere close to that.

And so now here we are in a new year. And I think I'm ready. No, wait, I *am* ready to get back on the fitness and health kick. I weighed in this morning and I'm not too extremely pleased but at least I have a starting point. At the top of my blog, I've added a weight loss ticker. Currently, it's at 21 lbs to my goal weight. That's a pretty big goal but it's where I want to end up.

Wish me luck... I'm off to chug some water.....