My Top 10 reasons.....

....that I gained weight over Christmas week. Actually I don't know for sure that I gained because I am refusing to weigh until next Saturday. That is partly because I have to work this Saturday and partly because I need at least that long to detox. Anyway, on with the list:

10. Chex Mix- I made the KB version with Tobasco this year. And KB I can't do your "I just shake in some" method. Last year it was so hot I cried so this year I measured and I am using 4 teaspoons of tobasco. And I also put 1.5 times all of the other spices, double the amount of nuts, and add in 2 handfuls of cheez-its.

9. Real Dr. Pepper- for some reason my mind decided that since I was eating everything in sight I might as well go all out and drink DP like it was water. It was fantastic though. No regrets.

8. Breakfast- sausage sausage sausage everywhere! Sausage ball muffins, sausage biscuits, sausage and egg casserole....and of course a good Cracker Barrel breakfast to mix it up a little bit

7. Going out to eat with friends and family- the aforementioned Cracker Barrel, Pei Wei, Mi Chula's, pizza on Christmas Eve, Birraporetti's..there are probably more but I can't remember them now. They were all fabulous!

6. Parties- 4 Christmas parties and 2 birthday parties...do ya think I just had veggies? you're right, no way!

5. Rolls- I can't have just one

4. Casseroles- I made hashbrown casserole and mom made corn casserole- very similar ingredients- starch, cream of something soup, sour cream, butter, cheese, and a crumbly topping make for cheesy creamy goodness for days

3. Deviled Eggs- I seriously could eat a dozen deviled eggs without blinking. I love those things so much and I'm glad I ate so many because they were amazing.

2. The Perfect Chocolate Cake- not because I made it but that was really the name of the recipe. And it required weird things like sifting and separating eggs and making your own whip cream and putting the hot icing saucepan in a bowl of ice cubes and mixing it for like 5 minutes. Was it worth it? Um can you say it was half a cake worth it?

1. Fudge- I can't explain the fudge this year. Every year Mom and I make it together and we never know how it's going to turn out even though we use the same recipe (the one with marshmallow creme). Sometimes it's too hard, sometimes it doesn't firm up, you just never know. But this year? This year it was yummy fudgy chocolatey creamy smooth but not hard heaven in your mouth. I can't say how many pieces I had because I didn't count. But it was so awesome that I would do it all over again. Fudge and chocolate cake? That's right, don't judge me.

I'm boycotting writing captions because I just wrote a bunch and went to post and then the whole thing froze up on me....so here are some Christmas pics and they can speak for themselves!! We had a great time!

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to say a quick Merry Christmas to everyone! I am trying to sort through my pictures and will probably post them tomorrow. I hope everyone had a great holiday and hope to see you soon! (BTW my hair has totally gotten lighter than when I first got it done)

RED HAIR!!

Well I know I'm posting this without a picture but I just wanted to let everyone know not to be shocked if you see me on the street because my hair is totally daaarrrk red! At least I think it's dark. I was tired of the highlights for a little while and told Ian to do whatever he wanted and I ended up with dark red and I love it! I can't take a pic right now because I am totally gross from the gym. Speaking of the gym I think I am behind on The Challenge. I'm not sure because I haven't counted lately but I missed quite a few days last week because of stupid work. I kind of don't want to count it up because if I'm behind I would probably just give up altogether. So I'm not counting. Not yet anyway. And I didn't lose any weight this week either because of Thanksgiving. But I didn't gain either so that was actually very exciting! My goal is to lose 3.7 more pounds just by the end of the month so I can be at an even 40. But it's getting really hard to lose right now so we'll see! I hope everyone is having a great week and is not as busy as I am! Talk to you soon!

OH and a quick Congratulations to my 2 friends Sarah M. And Sarah L. for their pregnancies! Both are due in July! I don't know if you read this but I wish you well and can't wait to see the little babies!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A little late Thanksgiving post....Mom and I went down to the well known De Leon, TX for my dad's family's Thanksgiving reunion. We always used to go when we were growing up and we haven't been for 3 years so it was a fun time! Then after that we came home and had a little mini-Thanksgiving which was too big even though we tried to make it small. So I am sitting here feeling like a big balloon but it was all very yummy and worth it! I will be starting food detox week tomorrow! This is my dad's sister-my Aunt Ann- any family resemblance?
This is my dad's Aunt Hazel- she is 94 and still very feisty! She's the oldest member of the Preston's. She has always organized the reunion and she was in the hospital last year so it was good to see her back to her old fun.

Minor Success

Just wanted to post a quick note for those of you who may be concerned...I lost 0.8 this week! Hey it's not much but it's more than 0.2! And I lost it just in time to gain it again because of.....cue scary sound effect....THANKSGIVING! My most favorite holiday of all! Anyway, I hope everyone has a great week and I may try to post again soon. BYEBYE!

God is teaching me patience

Another week of no weight loss....BUT I really think I have been building muscle this week because I have really been lifting more weight. I did workout # 15 today (very fun Everlast Shadow Boxing if you go to 24 hour fitness) so that means I am 1/3 of the way done! Yay!

One of these days the results will come...I just need to learn to be more patient.

Here are some more food finds for you KB:

Little Debbie Nutty Bars- 100 calorie- 2 points- these are the same things that used to come in packages of 2 and now they are just singles....but still very yummy

Weight Watchers Smart Ones Breakfast Quesadillas- 4 points each and you just microwave them!

I am a huge fan of the 100 calorie pack and one of the newest ones out there are the 100-calorie twinkies! It's like the hostess cupcake 100 cal packs but there are three little bite size twinkies. They taste just like twinkies so if you're a fan you will love them! I'm going to stick to my chocolate ones though...

I also wanted to share a recipe this week:

Pumpkin Cupcakes

1 package yellow or spice cake mix
2/3 cup water
1 15 oz can pumpkin (not the pie filling but the actual pumpkin)

Okay this is the complicated part: stir up all the ingredients and pour it into the cupcake pan and bake it according to the box! It's supposed to make 24 cupcakes at 2 points each- I made it into 18 cupcakes and counted them as 3 points each. I have also made this with a chocolate cake mix and it is just as good....they are kind of like muffins...very thick batter. And if you have to have icing you can spread a very thin layer on for an additional point I think. Anyway if anyone decides to make them let me know if you like them! Have a great week!

Sometimes honesty is not the best policy

I have this really sweet patient that I totally love...she is in her late 60s and had a stroke and is just a really fun lady....until today....

Yesterday I looked like crap and I admit it. I didn't have time to flat iron my hair so I pulled it back and by the end of the day it was going everywhere. But really when you wear scrubs to work you don't care as much anymore. It's just a fact. You basically work in your pajamas all day so what's the point? Anyway yesterday that "nice" lady saw me walk by her at the end of the day and said, "Paige you look really tired. You need to go home." And I was like good idea! See you tomorrow! So today when I had her for therapy she told me that I looked much better today (in my opinion it wasn't that different...hair still back...maybe a little straighter) and that she was worried about me yesterday. And it's nice to have someone worry but there was no reason for it.
So I said: "Come on it wasn't that bad"

and she said: "Oh yeah it was...you looked horrible."

And I was like :"Horrible? Really? I know my hair was a mess but it wasn't that bad."

And she was like..................................................wait for it..............................................................
"IT'S A GOOD THING YOU DIDN'T MEET YOUR FUTURE HUSBAND YESTERDAY BECAUSE HE WOULD HAVE TAKEN ONE LOOK AT YOU AND TURNED AWAY."

SERIOUSLY????????? Do you say that to people??? Even if you have had a stroke that's just wrong. A stroke is no excuse in my opinion for this one. And she's not old enough to get away with it either! I was speechless so I just told her we needed to get to work and we didn't talk about it anymore. Isn't that weird??? Actually it was all kind of funny and I laughed about it after when I was telling my friends at work. But I thought I needed to write this one down so I don't forget it. People say the weirdest things sometimes.

*Challenge Update*

I have worked out 13 times since the challenge began...I probably need to step it up a little bit but I think I'm pretty much on track. I still don't think I'm going to lose any weight this week but you never know!

Video

I don't know why the video won't work...it took forever to upload but it played on my computer just fine! I tried it again and the same thing happened. I would appreciate any tips!

I don't know what happened this time with the pictures... I got to spend more time with William this week YAY! And on Thursday we all went to Chuck E. Cheese...I will say he enjoyed it a lot more this time...he even rode a ride and stayed on it the whole time!

Chuck E. Cheese was funny until he got up close to him

CHEEEEEEEESE!!

This one is only funny if you watch the very end....

And for those of you who are keeping track....another loss of 0.2 this week. I can't say that I'm ecstatic about it...but I guess that it will keep adding up. I'm still waiting for my big loss from all of this working out.....if it doesn't happen soon it won't be pretty........

Death Bars

My mom wanted us to try these pecan squares that she saw on The Barefoot Contessa on food network....so I thought I would try my hand at food photography....I think I should stick to my day job.... First you have to make the cookie crust....more like a butter crust....you have no idea how much butter was in this thing

Then you pat the crust in a huge jelly roll pan and bake it

Then you have to boil A LOT MORE BUTTER and other ingredients to make the topping

IMPORTANT NOTE: I was not able to take a picture of them as we took them out of the oven because there was smoke everywhere and we couldn't see because our eyes were stinging so bad. The contessa forgot to mention that the bars would overflow into the bottom of the oven that would burn and make you think the house was burning down....

The final product!! This recipe made like 80-90 1-inch square bars. I know that sounds like a small bar since I can usually eat a brownie the size of a 4x6 picture. But believe me 1-inch of these was plenty. They are super rich but absolutely fantastic. And what is that pretty serving dish you ask? It is the Cinnabar appetizer tray from Southern Living at Home
You too could get it at 50% off or FREE for having a party in November. Please click on the link above and click on November Specials to learn more!!

Not the best close up shot ever

Really these bars were absolutely amazing but they also took us about 2 hours to make....and since I know how much butter went into them I am not all about eating as many as I can....I am calling them death bars for a reason people.... We'll see if she wants to go through this again for Thanksgiving!

Challenge Update

Well I have worked out 4 times since I initiated this challenge and I would say that is pretty pretty good! And just in case anyone else wants to join me you are more than welcome to join in on the fun. I had 1 person join me and 1 maybe so please come on in with us! And if anyone was keeping track I did lose 0.2 again this week....kind of a bummer since I did work out so much BUT the good usually catches up with you the week after so hopefully I'll have a good loss next week. Although there was the death bar incidient....more about that later!

A Challenge!

Okay, there are 9 1/2 weeks left in this year....65 days including today...and I am going to issue a challenge....basically to myself because not very many people read this BUT here it is:

Let's lose weight BEFORE the new year....let's not wait until January first to make a resolution! I am going to try to work out 50 times in 65 days. Is that realistic? I think it could be. That means between now and December 31 I will work out basically 5 times a week plus an additional 5 work outs...hmmm maybe I should say 45 times in 65 days. Just to give myself a little leeway. I don't want to be the one who sets the goal and also the only one playing and the only one who doesn't meet the aforementioned goal. Okay, that's the challenge: 45 workouts in 65 days. And a workout needs to be at least 30 minutes to be counted. Of course we will be using the honor system on this challenge so I don't want any liars to play.

Now what do I win when I complete the challenge? Hopefully a smaller size...maybe I will treat myself to a spa day. Yes that sounds like a good prize. And what shall I give as a prize to anyone else who wins with me?? Hmmm maybe a pedicure? or a Southern Living at Home item? We'll just have to see if anyone participates. I expect no participation but if anyone wants to then please let me know! Or maybe you could pretend to participate so I could pretend to be in a competition? And I'm sorry but I have a head start because I did work out today. Is work out 1 word or 2? I have written it several different ways. Okay that's all....let the working out begin!

Sprinkles!

I have never uploaded a video before but hopefully it will work! I sound like an idiot so turn down the volume.

Pumpkin Patch and a Busted Lip!

Martha and Mike were kind and generous enough to let me spend time with William over the weekend. We had a really great time....we went to the cracker barrel for breakfast, did some shopping at Kohl's, went next door to the pumpkin patch, took a long nap, and then we went to Arlington Highlands because I thought it would be fun to walk around and look at the stream and the fountain.

Arlington Highlands is a shopping center that has a cute little stream running down the middle of it with rocks and plants and a fountain (there's a pic below). And we did have fun looking around, and we got a little tired so we sat down on a nice bench. THEN William wanted to go play in the gravel that was underneath us and he got down from the bench, tried to run and then fell down face first. I thought he had just fallen but then I saw that oh no it was actually worse than your typical fall....he had torn through some skin on his lip with his teeth!! There was some blood involved (which washed out of both of our shirts) and so we were going to take him to the bathroom in Borders to wash him off and we turned around to find that a fire truck was parked a few yards from us! Evidently that was also a picture taking opportunity bc they were giving tours...but we were too busy to tour. Soooo we took him over to the nice firemen (I don't even know if they were cute because I was so frazzled) and they cleaned him up with some saline, gave us some gauze and an ice pack, and told us that he didn't need stitches.

So we got back to the car....and by that time William had stopped crying...he was such a brave big boy! We took him home and he acted fine...played with his toys and read some books...and then we made some cookies! I kept trying to put ice on his lip but he would have none of that. He woke up this morning a little puffier than he was before he went to sleep, but I think he's going to be okay. And his Mommy and Daddy were super understanding and very nice about the whole thing. Some things I learned in this situation:
1. Babies bounce back from stuff way faster than adults considering I am still upset about this.
2. My mom can be very calming in an emergency.
3. Always have a first aid kit in the car! Seriously!

So if you haven't lost interest yet here are some pictures of our weekend...and no I didn't get a pic of the lip incident!

Very serious at breakfast

He has his lion that he won in his lap


The hayride

Cuteness

I thought that was funny but I can't rotate it now

Pre-incident at the highlands

No he didn't bust it on those rocks....praise God!

This is post-incident cookie decorating. You can't really see the lip because it was more on the inside

I wish I could take this one out but I can't

Today in his Mr. Mischief shirt

We really did have a good weekend, and I'm sure that William has already forgotten what happened. But I still feel bad about it, and I appreciate Martha and Mike being so sweet about it. And I will not ask to keep him again until he's 10. Goodbye!!

New Camera!

I got a new camera! Yay!! Not that I needed one or anything....I bought a computer at the beginning of the year and I got a $200 gift card with it that expires next month so I didn't have ANY choice but to get a new FREE camera! And I didn't really have anyone to take pictures of except sweet Lily, so here she is! She is actually very annoying lately....she hasn't stopped barking since Rosie died. And I do feel sorry for her, but not at 3AM! I should have some new pics this weekend because I get to see Will!! Have a good weekend!

Thanks Lora for those chewies! She still loves them!
That's her sad face....awww

I thought that since I haven't had any pictures lately I would go a little old school for you.....this is my very favorite Halloween costume I ever had. And I really don't remember it since I was 2 but I do remember loving the wig and the shoes. And I don't know who that yoda dude is next to me....were we children of the 80s or what??

Well I know I haven't been blogging about my food lately because let's be honest it is just totally boring. I stayed the same this week with my weight which is better than gaining but still disappointing. I'm doing good so far this week but tomorrow I have to go to Love and War in Grapevine for dinner. I'm going to try my best there so wish me luck. I do want to share a couple of new food finds:

1. Fiber One Pop Tarts (or toaster pastries, whatever)- they are totally good!! And I used to always eat the brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts when I was younger and these are nearly as delicious. They are 3 points each. I had 2 this morning and some milk and I honestly didn't get hungry until lunch. It's the fiber baby!!

2. Healthy Choice Fresh Mixers- these are totally cool but they have a little higher point value- they range from 6-8 points each but are a substantial amount of food. They are basically some rice or pasta that you heat up with water, then drain, heat up the sauce (which also can have some meat or vegetables in it) and mix everything together! Super easy and very yummy. They have flavors like sweet and sour chicken, southwestern chicken, ziti, rotini with meat sauce, etc. Totally good!

Well I haven't been posting very much because I have just been lazy! But I have still been tracking what I eat...this time though I have been writing it down as I go. So that actually has been working a little better. Last week I lost 0.6 and this week I lost 1.8! So I think Im getting back in the groove of this weight loss thing. Unfortunately I still have a ways to go until I get back to my lowest weight...and then I have like 15 or 20 more until I get to my ultimate goal. So that could take like 3 or 4 years at this rate. Oh well. I haven't been eating anything exciting, just a lot of Fiber One cereal for breakfast, salad or soup for lunch, and usually some type of sandwich for dinner. My new favorite thing is the Tomato Soup from Panera Bread...it's 5 points for 8 oz and I usually get the bread that goes with it for 3...or a salad for 4....so it's a pretty satisfying and yummy meal!

Too many rolls!

I know I have missed a couple of days of blogging, but things have just been too busy to blog! On Monday I had to work late and then I had Lora's birthday dinner at Logan's(had a great time by the way!) and then yesterday I was just working late again. But I've done well the past 2 days, Monday I was over by 1 and yesterday I was even. AND I had some success because at Logan's (best rolls ever) I only had a salad, a baked sweet potato, and 1/2 of a roll. I was going for a roll-less evening but couldn't do it. Then today we had our stroke support group at lunch which we always order food for...today it was Colter's...again great rolls! So I had a little tiny plate instead of the big plate and I had like 2 strips of beef, some baked beans, a little tiny spoonful of the potato casserole (fantastic!) and again...1/2 of a roll. But I'd say that is pretty darn good! And for dinner I just had a chicken breast and some vegetables...did you hear that? I said vegetables! Okay I'm going to watch TV now...I think just Private Practice tonight....oh wait also Project Runway. I have to watch PR first since it's almost over. Goodbye!

0.2!

Well I gained 0.2 this week! Who knows what would have happened if I had been wearing a different shirt. It's really not surprising considering all that I ate last weekend. Oh well, it could have been worse, so I'm just going to try again this week!

A note about the Western Bagel: if you click on the link it will take you to their site, where you can order them online. So if they don't have them in your area, KB, you can order them online. And it's actually The Alternative Bagel, produced by The Western Bagel company. And yes they are only 1 point and they're extra yummy toasted!

Nothing too exciting to eat today, just cereal, bagel sandwiches X 2 with chips and salsa, some yogurt, some strawberries and bananas, and a 1-point WW peanut butter bar. I did go work out today but I'm going to try not to use those activity points unless I have to. This week may be a little tricky because I have lots of "special occasions." Today instead of eating when I was getting really bored I went and got a fantastic pedicure! Hey it was $40 but at least I didn't eat! And they give free margaritas and cokes there but I didn't have one...I brought my own sonic diet DP instead! Have a good week!

Friday Night of Fun

Well I got invited to a happy hour tonight but did I go? NOPE! Why you ask? Because I cannot trust myself around margaritas and chips! I love chips too much! And I didn't have any of my baked scoops with me or I would have gone. So I went home and put on my pajamas to do something very adult-like- watch the presidential debates. Well I made it for about 45 minutes and now I'm bored to death so I'm going to do my blog and then go watch Gossip Girl on my DVR. I guess I'm not an adult after all! Here was my Friday- very very boring

Fiber One Cereal again-6
Bagel Sandwich for lunch- again the Western Bagel is only 1 point people! And I put turkey and mustard on it for the other 2 points (mustard is 0)
Yogurt- strawberry-2
I had a banana in my lunch but I gave it to my patient- I had saved him a bowl of oatmeal for trial feeding but some idiot threw it away and we didn't have any pudding or applesauce so there goes the banana!
Another bagel sandwich for dinner-3
Baked scoops-5- it was a bad day that called for more chips
m&m 100 cal pack-2

A note about 100 calorie packs- they are really awesome if you just want something sweet but don't ever try to eat them when you're hungry because they will do you no good. You can get 100 cal packs for snickers, m&ms, twix, 3 musketeers at Target. And they're with the candy at my store, not with the cookies like you might think! And of course there are many other 100 calorie packs that are yummy- the pretzel bars, wafer bars, oreos, fudge stripe cookies, etc. All of those are with the cookies at my Super Target and at Wal Mart if you wanted to know. Off to watch Gossip Girl! Wish me luck on my weigh in tomorrow....I doubt I will lose much since the debaucle of last weekend but maybe I will at least stay the same. Goodnight!

Quick!

Okay very quickly because I need to watch THE OFFICE!

Fiber One Caramel Delight cereal and milk-6
Salad from Nino's and a roll (oops) 12
Bagel sandwich- 3 The best bagel is The Western Bagel- only 100 calories and 1 point for the whole thing....they come in Onion, white, wheat, and cinnamon. You can buy them at Wal-Mart or Sprouts....just a tip!
Baked Scoops and salsa- 2 (I cut down the chips a little)
Jello- 0

IT stinks that I didn't eat much and I went over one point! It was that stupid roll! But it was a good one!

Deep thoughts from patients

I have to post some highlights of my conversation with one of my patients at work today. He is a 50-year old man with schizophrenia who has been living in a nursing home for at least 5 years...and now he has a head injury from a fall...a great addition to his problems! I love how when we have a psych patient speech therapy is automatically ordered. I'm sorry but I can't fix crazy. It's the same thing in the schools when a kid has a behavior problem they automatically refer to speech. ANYWAY, here are some of the things he told me:

1. His mom is going to bring him some colorful underwear after she is finished with her meeting with vice president Rockefeller.

2. He is the owner of American Airlines and "all of the planes in the world" which of course makes him a trillionaire.

3. He also owns a pharmaceutical company called "Rockefeller Pharmaceuticals" See any trends?

4. He used to be a bodyguard for President Reagan. And since he was a bodyguard he is now being protected by the secret service. And he told me that I could recognize the secret service agents because they all have a "piece."

5. When he was a teenager he was "knifed in the back" and you know who did it? You're never going to guess so I'll tell you... Lee Harvey Oswald. Keep in mind this man was born in 1958. When I tried to point this out to him he changed the subject to...

6. JFK was not assassinated, he had a heart attack and so he didn't want to be president anymore. So now he is actually posing as Ted Kennedy so he can be a part of the government in the senate.

I can't think of any more at this time but I'm sure I'll be in for more tomorrow. I enjoy talking to him because you never know what he's going to say next. Unfortunately I really don't think I can help him but we'll see!

Here are my points of the day:

Slim Fast 4
Lean Cuisine Chicken Alfredo 6
Yogurt- thick and creamy key lime pie- my favorite! 2
Chicken sandwich as my afternoon snack because I was starving to death 4
Another chicken sandwich for dinner 4
Chips and salsa 3
m&m's 2
1 baby real DP 2
Step class -5 (today it was extra hard because we had to do push ups and around the world lunges)

Total: 22!

Unfortunately I didn't get any fruit/veggies again! BUT I did go to the store tonight so maybe tomorrow will be better! I'm off to watch Project Runway!

A Success!

Well I'm back again to blog about my lovely day of eating. Today I had a success because I had to stay at work until 7 (that's 7-7 if you really want to know) because we were having an open house for any member of the community that would like to tour our hospital. That wasn't the success because we had about 5 people show up and I had to stay 3 extra hours for that. The success was that at the open house there were hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, cookies (all of the foods that you would totally serve to people whose health is compromised) and I didn't eat any of it! Yay me! So here is what I ate instead:

Slim Fast 4 (still haven't gone to the store)
Banana 1
South Beach Meal (very yummy and comes with jello!) 5
Yogurt- yoplait pineapple upside down cake- TOTALLY GROSS but I ate it because I needed to get another milk in somewhere- 2
Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad from McDonald's-9 hey I had to eat something and it was better than a hot dog

Total: 21! I will probably go over by 1 point today because I will have to eat something sweet(2 point pretzel bar) while I watch dancing with the stars....maybe I can hold out but it's doubtful at this moment.

I did better today because I had 2 milks and 3 fruit/vegetables! Yay again! I'm really bad at the fruit/vegetables thing. You're supposed to get 5 and I doubt I ever have more than 3. But 3 is better than zero! Goodbye

Eating issues

I've learned over the past year that I definitely have huge eating issues, one of which being "special occasion eating." And by "special occasion" I mean "anything out of the ordinary." This means that if anything unusual occurs, such as a birthday, wedding, party, long day at work, happy hour, going to a meeting, having to eat at a different time during the day, or fall TV premeire week, totally throws off my plan and gives me free reign to eat whatever I want. This plan is definitely not part of the weight watchers program, as you might suppose. This weekend I had a few things to do so guess what? I ate whatever I wanted for 3 days. I wasn't completely horrible (except for the Mexican food with Mike, Martha, Mom, and William yesterday at Nelda's....yum!) but I wasn't on plan. That really doesn't work for me at this point in my life. I can't just go from really bad to really good without a little lag time in the weight loss. I don't really know how to change it but I guess it's good to at least identify that you have a problem right? Okay so I have decided to see if I can use this blog for an actual purpose...counting my lovely, fun, weight watchers points. So this blog is about to turn from a pretty boring blog to THE MOST BORING BLOG EVER! I used to be very good at writing down points but since I've been slacking I've noticed a proportional increase in pounds. I doubt this will last long, but maybe it will at least keep me accountable for a little while, since anyone and everyone can read what I eat.....here it is for today...keep in mind that I need to go to the grocery store:

Food Points
Slim Fast (chocolate royale) 4
Turkey Wrap and fruit (Jason's deli) 11
Sugar Free Jello 0
Chicken sandwich 4
Baked scoops ( 35 g- yes I have a scale!) 3
Salsa 0
100 calorie pack m'n'ms 2
Activity- step class -4 or -5...we'll be conservative and count -4

Total: 20 points! That is 2 under my max of 22! Yay me! What else can I eat?

There are a few things wrong here, one being that I only had 1 milk serving and 1 fruit/vegetable unless you count the salsa. So there are some things to work on here. Tomorrow my goal will be to get my 2 milks in. There, I've set an attainable goal for myself. There are firsts for everything! Good night!

Bank Crap

So I have to post a brief rant about banking....I am an avid online banker these days...no paper statements, online payment of all bills, etc. Well my bank signed me up for some online bill pay free trial (which turned into a not so free trial a brief 30 days later) which I never used. The other day I tried to log into my online banking page to be DENIED! Try try again...DENIED DENIED! So I call them....somehow some random hacker had tried to pay a $906.45 bill to some ebillme.com site using my UN-USED BILL PAY! And no, I did not open any email that required my sign on info!!!! So that's why I was locked out, and why I of course had to follow a list of steps to prevent any further breach and/or identity theft, including changing all online passwords, getting a brand new checking account (which included going to the bank TWICE because there was an error the first time), changing PINs, signing up for identity theft protection, getting copies of credit reports....lalala and so on. All of this is exceptionally annoying because as many of you know I had to do it 4 years ago when my purse was stolen. This is not nearly as bad because none of my funds (which were very limited) were used. But all the same, it is very very annoying and time consuming. Not to mention that I had to make my second trip to the bank today in the midst of a monsoon! Anyway, I think it's all fixed now...and they assure me that my direct deposit will go through on Friday as scheduled...I'm a little suspicious about that one....I may be contacting you all for a loan if needed....

Zoo pics from two weeks ago

One would think that I could figure out how to change pictures that are out of order, but I can't! So we have some random backwards order pictures from our trip to the zoo a couple of weeks ago. I got to take Will with my friend Mary and her son Gray to the Fort Worth zoo!! It was so fun! I had not been to the zoo in years so it was really a nice time for all! Here are a few highlights....

This is after

This actually didn't have anything to do with the zoo but I like the picture

After again trying to take off our shoes to be like Gray

Giving the alligator (or crocodile?)a hug even though we didn't like him at all

I can't believe we were that close to the gorillas!

Florida Pics Finally!

Aaahhh Florida..

Frenchy's restaurant- where I got my fried grouper sandwich and the best key lime pie ever

Please note the sunburn...and it's not fair sitting next to someone who returned from a Maui Honeymoon earlier in the summer

On the Jolly Trolley

The pretty Sheraton Sand Key Resort

This is the closest we got to a bathing suit picture...sorry to disappoint

Playing with the self timing picture feature while waiting for the Jolly Trolley

Just in case any of you were concerned, I would like you to know that I have now returned back to my pre-Florida weight. I think that a few of those 10 pounds were just weird water weight or something because they were gone the day after I posted last week and now I have been back on my good behavior so the rest have slowly faded. I still am 5 pounds above my lowest low so I still have some work to do but I am relieved that most of that extra weight is gone now. And no, I haven't been starving myself or anything. I could never do that because I just love to eat! I usually eat cereal for breakfast, a sandwich or lean cuisine or salad and yogurt and fruit for lunch, and then something pretty substantial for dinner. Like this week I made a whole chicken in the crock pot on Monday- I've never done that and it was super easy and very yummy! So I had chicken and vegetables (yuck) on Monday and then I was very proud of myself because I used the chicken to make a low fat version of my mom's Mexican Casserole. I just used chicken instead of beef, used 2% cheese and fat free cream of chicken soup and there you go! So just in case any one is actually reading this I don't want any worriers! I do need to work on getting more fruits and vegetables in my diet. I just don't want to eat them. It's nothing more than that. I was trying to eat one of each every day this week but I think I only did that for three days. I also got back into the gym this week, which was actually great...I really do like going once I can get myself off of the couch....and speaking of couch............

These Olympics are wearing me out!!! I have been staying up WAYYYYY to late all week! I normally am falling asleep on the couch at like 9:30 so it's been a beating staying up so late every night. But I do have to say that it has been totally worth it and I loved last night with the gymnastics so much. I tried to take naps this week and I think that helped a little bit but I am still totally worn out. Anyway, on that note I hope everyone has a great weekend!