Okay, Let's Resolve

Not to sound all Valerie Whats-Her-Name on the Jenny Craig commercials, buuuuut . . . this is the first year in a long, long, long time that I have not had a New Years Resolution that has anything to do with losing weight.

I'm not shedding tears over it (a la Valerie) but it feels pretty damn good.

Even last year when I was around 20 weeks pregnant at New Years, I made a resolution to lose weight (and look good in my favorite little black dress by the following NYE -- not that I'm going anywhere, but I could still rock that dress if I wanted to!). The year before that? Lose weight. The year before that? Lose weight (that one was halted when I found out I was pregnant just 6-7 weeks into the year). The year before that? Yeah. Lose weight.

So it feels good -- very, very good -- to know that my number one resolution does not have a thing in the world to do with my weight.

So, here they are. My New Years Resolutions:

1) Nag Hubs until he finishes the attic so we can start storing things up there (this is number one for two reasons: the first being that if he waits too late to do it it will be way too stifling hot to get it done and the second being that, well, he has to do that so that I can do my second resolution).
2) Completely organize and clean out my garage.
3) Re-organize my kitchen cabinets and de-clutter the junk drawer(s).
4) GET BUFF!
5) Take advantge of the classes offered at our community rec center.
6) Maintain my weight loss -- not weigh more than 145 pounds.

Six resolutions. All manageable (I hope).

Bring it on, 2009!

I received a Christmas miracle on the 24th.

I stood on the scale that morning and what flashed back at me? 140. 140 even at that. No point anything. Just 140. Christmas miracle. That's the only way I can describe it.

Of course, that was several days, several cookies, and several picks at leftovers ago. I'll wait a week or so for any "official" post-Christmas weighing in.

Honestly, though, I deserve to pack on a few pounds. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I ate almost constantly. A nibble on fudge here, sampling the mashed potatoes there . . . and then on Friday "sick" of the turkey so a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings (but, alas, not sick enough of the turkey to not eat it that night!). I missed the memo that said you're supposed to indulge but not OVER indulge. I was all on the over stuff this year.

New Years Resoluting

A few years back, when the big 3-0 seemed way, way, way off I made a list: "Thirty Things to do Before I Turn Thirty." It included a few typical single girl things (i.e. 'kiss an Asian guy'), at least one thing that'll never happen ('watch the Yankees play at Yankee Stadium'). And now that I'm just a little less than a year and a half from turning 30, quite a few "what the hell was my 24-year-old self thinking?" things.

Included amongst these?

Join a gym and actually take a class!

The joining of the gym isn't a problem. I love gyms. I've belonged to several of them. I love that I can hop on a treadmill or eliptical or a whatever, pop my headphones on, and cardio away while I'm secretly stealing glances at the hotties on the weight machines.

The whole "actually take a class" thing is where my problem lies.

Me + Classes that involve athleticism and/or coordinatio = Disaster.

The last time I took a class of any variety was Spring Break of 1999. I was a freshman in college, almost 19 years old, and on my first vacation that did not include either my parents or a church youth minister. I had done all the grown up things. Saved the money for the trip myself, requested time off for work, packed my own suitcase, the whole nine.

The trip was five days in Leadville, Colorado, scaling the slopes of Ski Cooper.

It seemed like a good idea when I agreed to go.

Seemed being the key word.

I had never skied before and everyone weighed in that "Ski School" would be a really great idea. So I signed up. There were ten or twelve of us on the trip together and only one other who had never skied before. He was a guy named Rob, a guy who would later pretend he had no idea who I was when I became the Ski School Retard. I'm pretty sure I messed up his mack a time or two. "Hey, is that girl . . . the one who fell down again with your group?"

Poor Rob.

And poor me!

Ski School was one humiliation after another. Five year old children and 80 year old grandmas in that class did better than I did. I spent the entire hour or so of it either on my ass or sliding backward downhill, my face crimson with embarrassment, and thinking that all I really wanted to do was head to the lodge for some hot chocolate (spiked hot chocolate).

So, yeah, classes and I don't do too well.

It's not just ski school either. I can remember some particuarly cringe-worthy moments playing badmitton in high school PE. I absolutely love sports, but I'm more of an onlooker than an active participant.

But, yesterday in the mail I got a flyer from our community's recreation center. It ran down a list of all the classes and two or three popped out at me. Pilates . . . could be interesting. Spinning . . . always wanted to try that. Kickboxing . . . Hell yeah!

So maybe it's time to swallow my pride, make a New Year's resolution, and scratch something off that 30 Things list . . .

Woman Cannot Live on Jello Alone

About three years ago, I came down with a case of strep throat so severe that I missed a week of work and dropped ten pounds. When I came back to work, my jeans finally fit again (it had been a 'OMG! Sonic has that again?' type of summer and I had packed on much more than 10 pounds) and everyone sort of did a double take and asked, "Did you lose weight?" Why, yes, I did. I joked around that I was going to figure out a way to bottle the stuff and sell it on Ebay.

And, once again, the dreaded stuff has hit. And while I may not bottle it and sell it . . . maybe I can just put an ad on Craigslist to breathe on anyone interested in dropping weight FAST before the holidays?

I started feeling just icky late Thursday night. I had noticed a bit of a sore throat earlier in the evening, but late that night it just hit me. I told Hubs I was really, really tired and by the time I laid down I was jittery and achy. Fun stuff. I spent all of Friday wishing for death and debating on whether or not to call the doctor.

I hate doctors. I decided against it.

Felt better Saturday and Sunday and then, last night, my fever spiked once again. *Sigh* So to the doct-ah doct-ah Mr. MD today.

Strep throat.

*Pokes fork in eye*

On the plus, it's almost gone and I have an antibiotic that'll take out the little bit that's left. On the minus, I'm beating myself up for NOT going in sooner and praying fervently that neither of my boys get it.

I weighed in Thursday morning at 145.8 pounds (I like to keep my weight at 144.4 and this was the third or fourth consecutive day of the 145.8 weigh-in. I was getting pissed). This morning. 141.4. Ye-owch! That's nearly four and a half pounds in just four days! Sheesh. That's what tends to happen when you eat nothing but Jello.

And, hello! Not that I've wanted to eat anything but Jello. If I have no appetite, then you KNOW I'm sick. Especially this time of year with all the goodies to taunt me.

I actually weighed in on the doctor's scale at an even 142. Fully clothed. Heavily fully clothed (Hi, Mother Nature? This is Dallas. Take that 28 degrees shit somewhere else. Mmkay? Thanks). In tennis shoes. I'd like to think that if I'd been perched over his scale butt naked at 7:00 this morning, I'd have seen something in the 130's peeking back at me. Who knows.

I keep telling myself that 144 is my magic number. It is, right? Right.

Strep throat has just served to give me a cushion for that orgy of Christmas goodies next week. I'll be thankful for all this when I step on the scale next Friday . . .

'Tis the Season to be Fat and Jolly

<===== Well, this guy thinks so anyway.

I spent $68.01 tonight buying the supplies to make cookies and candy for Christmas. 70 bucks! On sugar and flour and pecans and powdered sugar and all those other things that make Christmas really rock. S-e-v-e-n-t-y dollars. I got to addin' up in my head and, well, Old Navy had $12 jeans last Saturday. I could have bought FIVE pairs of jeans for what I spent on stuff to bake. Dude, my priorities are way straight.

If that's not enough, I stopped at Whataburger on the way home. And ordered a meal deal. And not the junior burger either.

You wouldn't think this would be the girl who'd be freaking out the past THREE days because the scale was up a pound and a half.

But, it's Christmas. And one of my favorite things about Christmas is getting in the kitchen up to my elbows in baking powder and food coloring and churning out cookie after cookie on top of candy after candy. This year, I'm making almost everything in the Paula Deen collection from Good Housekeeping magazine as well as my personal favorite sugar cookies, tuxedo cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and . . . well, would it be Christmas without chocolate covered pretzels? I'm pretty sure the shepherds had those on hand as they were watching their flock by night. I'm just sure of it.

So that this entry is full of something *other* than just sinful goodness, Imma list some new favorite recipes we've tried and liked here lately:

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder (I got this one for the 2003 Weight Watchers cookbook, but tweaked it to my liking)
1 can vegetable broth
2 1/2 cups fozen diced potatoes with peppers and onions
1 can cream corn
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1 tbsp four
1 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese
Real bacon bits
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix vegetable broth and potatoes in large pan and bring to a boil. Let simmer 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add in can of corn and milk. Mix well over medium heat and allow to simmer five minutes. Meanwhile, toss cheddar cheese with flour. Add to pan, stirring continously until all the cheese is melted. Makes seven 1 cup servings. I topped my bowl with one tbsp real bacon bits and chopped green onions. I also ate with the Pringles pizza flavored sticks. Yum-o!

This next one is adapted from this recipe at KraftFoods.

1 lb ground turkey
1/2 cup fat free Mozerella cheese
1/2 cup breadcrumbs, seasoned with season salt
1/4 cup barbeque sauce
Additional barbeque sauce
Turkey Bacon
Laughing Cow cheese

Mix first four ingredients together and form into four (or six -- we like flatter burgers in our house) patties. Cook on grill until heated through. Meanwhile, cook enough bacon to top each burger with one slice. Once burgers are cooked, top each with additional BBQ sauce, half a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese, and one slice of turkey bacon. These are YUMMY!

Errrbody Likes Freebies, Right?

I got links to these two websites in my daily Hungry Girl email. They're both sites to get you free samples and coupons of goodies from General Mills and Kraft. Who doesn't need coupons with the way the economy is right now . . . and you KNOW we all love a good sample of anything. Or maybe you're just like me and appreciate getting anything in the mail that's not a bill.

Kraft First Taste - If you're already a member at Kraftfoods, then the registration policy is pretty painless. I've played around with this one more than the General Mills one and you can create a profile and everything over there. If ya wanna look me up (if you can look me up, I haven't played around with it quite that much, my username is Brandiwalker1010).

Pssst - This is the General Mills site. I haven't played around with it quite as much, but I did find this site thanks to it: The Progresso Taste Challange -- with $3 in printable Progresso coupons . . . ya'll know I'm all about my Progresso soups (especially this time of year!)

Addictions: Of the Current Variety

1. Fiber One Oats and Chocolate bars. Yum-o!

2. Mrs. Freshey's brand (aka the cheap stuff) 100-calorie Swiss Cake rolls. Jaybird and I split a pack.

3. Chocolate covered cherries . . . 75 calories . . . one a day (so far).

4. Making my own version of McAlister's Spud Ole: big, honking potato, Wolf brand turkey chili, WW Mexican blend cheese, and jalapeno slices. Oh, and loads of zero calorie butter.

5. McDonald's hot chocolate. Seriously, yo, better than Starbucks by leaps and bounds.

6. The phrase "piss poor morally," thanks to T.I. (and a little bit to Rhianna, too) and Live Your Life.

7. Trying to convince Hubs that even though Santa already brought me a new digital camera I seriously need the three remaining books in the Twilight series.

8. Kraftfoods.com

9. Trying to refrain from constantly pulling out the pair of SIZE SIX jeans I bought before our trip. Seen here:

10. Belting out "If I Were a Boy" and "Womanizer" between Christmas songs.

All You Can Eat

I made a complete asshole out of myself at one of the infamous Vegas buffets. It was a breakfast buffet and, OMG, breakfast is one of my favorite things ever. It's the one meal of the day when you can have dessert (hello! Chocolate chip pancakes!) and get away with calling it a meal. I loaded my plate up with bacon and sausage and scrambled eggs (with cheese!) and fried potatoes. The aforementioned chocolate chip pancakes. If it can be considered breakfast food, it was on my plate that morning. I also completely skipped the fruit bar. I mean, if I was going to go unhealthy, I was gonna go unhealthy!

I was an asshole again when we had our Thanksgiving dinner (the Saturday after Thanksgiving). Scratch that. I was an a-hole the next morning when I had a HUGE piece of chocolate pie for breakfast and followed it up with a heaping helping of potato casserole to "cut the sugar."

Yeah.

Add to that alllllllllllllllll the food (and drinks!) I consumed on vacation and our actual Thanksgiving dinner, not to mention the fact that I had the buffet at KFC the first night we were back (why does the word 'buffet' make us think BINGE is okay?) and it's no wonder that the scale weighed four pounds heavier when I stepped on it Tuesday morning.

Yikes!

The Sunday before we left, I weighed in at 143 . . . my lowest weight to this point (and that is after having a late supper -- and a Sonic Brown Bag, at that, the night before). Tuesday morning, I was 147. This morning, I was back down to 144.2. So maybe Tuesday's weight was water retention? Who knows.

It's funny that 149 was my goal weight. 147 was the weight when I surpassed my goal. Yet I freaked out when I saw it on the scale. Was it the number? Or the fact that four pounds had attached themselves to my body in only two weeks of bad eating and little exercising? I'm hoping it's the latter . . . though, I'll be the first to admit that I like that number being BELOW 145.

Hubs and I enjoying a nice meal (crab nachos, Mmmmm!) in Veeeeegas:

December 3, 2005

Today is my dad's third anniversary in Heaven. He was driving home from work on a sunny Saturday afternoon, December 3, 2005, when he was hit head-on by a young man attempting to pass a bus on a hill. The other driver lived; they said my dad was killed instantly.

We were estranged at the time he passed away. In fact, we hadn't spoken in going on four years. What made that fact even harder was that I found out I was pregnant with Jaybird just two months later. I know Dad and I would have "made up" because I'm sure I would have contacted him when I found out I was pregnant.

So much of my personality *is* my dad. It's from him that I get my love of sports and can spout off knowlege of college football better than anybody. I love to read. That one comes from my dad. My love of writing. My stuborness. My distinct dislike for Notre Dame (unless they're playing USC). Dad, Dad, Dad.

I also get something else from him . . . determination.

Dad was diagnosed as a type two diabetic in 1995. Most type two diabetics that I know just don't seem to care what the disease can do to them. They eat what they want. Not my dad. There were so many foods that he loved, but he gave them up because he knew he had to if he wanted to be healthy. A few years before his death, he had to rely on insulin to control the diabetes. Funny how that works? He hadn't touched his favorite candy - Spicettes - in years and still ended up on insullin. My aunt cheats all the time, and has been cheating for ten years now, and her diabetes hasn't gotten any worse.

But Dad was determined to be as healthy as possible and not let food rule his life. I'd like to think that he was somewhat of an inspiration as I was working to lose weight. I'd like to think that he'll continue to be an inspiration as I work on maintaining my weight. Let's face it: if he could go without his favorite foods pretty much ALL THE TIME then I can deal with just eating my favorites in moderation, right? Right.

One thing I know for sure is that diabetes is no longer ravaging him. I'm sure he's up in Heaven, smiling down, enjoying a glass of sweet tea with half a pound of sugar. He's popping spicettes one after another. And he'll probably be eating chicken fried steak for dinner tonight. With is PawPaw, of course.

Rest in peace, Dad, we love you and we miss you a little more everyday!