Make over

Earlier in the week, I got an email from Arkymom asking if I (and the other people she sent it to) wanted to go to a Mary Kay make over party with her this morning. I didn't really have anything better to do so I decided to go. Quigs demanded before and after pictures but Arky refused to pose for a before picture. She said that anyone that had seen her knew what the before looked like and she didn't need any pictures, thank you very much. I agreed, but stood firm on the after pictures!

Here she is, doing her "sexy pose" in the bad lighting in the room. Not a lot of change and you can't tell it from the picture but her skin looks very soft. Nice subtle colors, unlike the lady doing the class who looked like she got hit in the face with a make up gun!



Here is me, an hour or so later, in totally natural light. You can absolutely tell I spent an hour and a half putting on make up. Oh, you can't? Neither could I. This is why I don't mess with make up because other than my face being little itchy, I can't even tell I have it on.



However, I did have a good time, even if the soup and bread were screaming for me to eat them. :) Arkymom is always a kick to hang out with. Even if I have to go to "clown college" to do it LOL

Love and Marriage

We have been having some issues getting TB to brush his teeth. The other night I told him "Dude, if you don't brush your teeth, PK (the girl he has a huge crush on in his class) won't want to kiss you" I said this fully expecting the response of "eww, girls are gross. Instead he promptly turned and ran for the bathroom to brush his teeth! When he came back, he said "PK will never want to kiss me anyway"
Me: why not?
TB: because I'm 7 (said with all the "DUH" he could muster
Me: what does that have to do with anything?
TB: She's 6!
Me: Again, what does that have to do with anything
TB: We are different ages
Me: Daddy and I are different ages, Nonni and Paw-paw are different ages. It is ok to be different ages.
TB: turns and goes to his room "whatever"

The other day MT and I were at the grocery store and out of no where she says "I'm getting married"
Me: Who are you marrying?
MT: you
Me: you can't marry me, we are related. You have to marry someone you aren't related to
MT: well who am I not related to?
Me: X-man, PG (equal opportunity, of course), Bubba, Curious J, Lightening McColin...
MT: Oh, I need to go on a date with Bubba!!

Wild Weekend

Yesterday morning, I went to Weight Watchers at 8:15. There, I found out that I lost 5.8 pounds and I was crazy excited. The leader asked if she could give me my 5lb star during the meeting and I said "are you kidding me, I'm screaming this one from the rooftops"! LOL Incidentally, I need to mention that I thought those little rewards were kind of lame. I mean a ball of name tags or a little fuzzy flower? Lame, really really lame. That is, until I got them. I got a 5lb star, a little bravo star for walking 3 miles on Monday and the baby biggest loser flower. I was outrageously excited to get those things, which is just a little sad.

After my meeting, I ran home and picked up the kids to go to our post-Easter egg hunt. Loosey is a genius for scheduling this like she did. First because it wouldn't conflict with the million other egg hunts that go on in town and second because everything was on clearance. The kids had a great time. Loosey did a fab job of roping off areas of the yard and separating the big kids from the little kids. MT was a little angry when she was done getting eggs and saw that the other half the yard was still full of them. She was able to be distracted by a cookie and quickly got over it :) TB ended up with the big prize egg, which had a Cars car in it.

We came home and sorted through their eggs and then headed to the Biology open house on campus. Originally, MT was supposed to stay home with my mom but because my aunt was in town she couldn't. I promised her that there would be a real crab, like Mr. Krabs and she decided she wanted to go. I lucked into parking just across the street from the building but it was near the back door (apparently, nothing said that) so we had to wonder around for awhile because there were no signs telling us where to go. We finally found someone that had a Biology shirt on who directed us to the right place. They got to see a baking soda and vinegar volcano, extract DNA from a strawberry, dig for fossils, hold and pet real crabs, and attempt to make their own ice cream. MT was much more interested in holding the crabs than TB was. He poked at them, but wouldn't hold them.

We came home and the kids played outside for awhile, then MT came downstairs, asked to lay down with a blanket and promptly fell asleep. After she woke up, we had dinner. My aunt and uncle are visiting and when they come down, he always gets steak and grills it for dinner one night. Last night was the night. I knew it was coming so I saved my points so I could have steak and a baked potato. I was little sad that I couldn't have a second baked potato because I didn't save that many points. I was going to have some popcorn to finish off my points, but I was too tired to actually make it so I passed and went to bed.

This morning we got up and I took TB to see Hotel For Dogs. It was cuter than I expected but it was a Nick movie so it wasn't stellar cinema.

After that, we went to Ruby Tuesday for lunch. I was good, only having the salad bar. Apparently, everyone else was super starved so by the time I ate my one small plate, they were done so it was time to go.

After lunch, my mom and I took MT and TB to the library. TB wanted to go to the Pokemon club. My mom took MT and entertained her for awhile. I sat with TB and tried to figure out the rules of the game and I'm fairly certain so that if I really tried to understand it, my head would explode! There are so many rules and special exceptions and conditions and all kinds of stupid nonsense. However, he was in hog heaven and the guy that runs it is very helpful. He spent a lot of time helping TB figure out strategy and learn some of the rules.

When we left the library and headed for brain awareness day at Lincoln Square. They had several brain themed stations set up, including one where you could make a play-doh brain. They also had a giant ant farm, showing how they work as a collective brain, they had a sea slug that you could hold (MT did TB wouldn't). But the big hit of the day was holding the REAL brains. They had real human brains out for the kids to see and touch. MT picked it up, hefted it, showed it to me, talked about it, etc. TB poked at it, looked at it and said he was done. MT can't wait to go to school tomorrow to tell the kids she got a hold a brain. TB doesn't want to talk about it.

When they had their fill of brains, we went to Target to buy him a Pokemon deck so he doesn't have to borrow one again next week. We came home from there and I helped him sort his cards and MT watched TV.

Then we went to dinner at Monical's. I was STARVING but I knew we were going to be there so I saved plenty of points for running wild. The problem was, when dining with my aunt and uncle and other uncle, one should never plan on eating in ay kind of a timely fashion. It forever to order their food, just like it always does. This was even at a restaurant that offers a gluten free option. I went with the foot long turkey sub, no mayo, one bread stick, a dab of cheese (thanks Quigs for looking up those points for me) and a big salad. I'm very full but I ended up 2 points under for the day, even with that big dinner.

We came home and the kids played for about 5 minutes before MT melted down completely and asked to come in the house and watch TV. As soon as her show was over, she crashed and now I'm sitting here on the couch, deciding whether I want to do a little scrapbooking of if I just want to go to bed. I'm worn out and I'm thinking bed might win.

I'm totally flipping out!

So I can't really land it yet, but at least I can get all the way over :)

You were?

MT just came in the living room and we had the following conversation.

MT: I'm really brave
Me: Oh, you are? What did you do that was brave?
MT: I was beating up the guy with the thing that beats up and then I had to beat Inferno*. So that means I'm really brave. Can you turn on the TV for your brave little girl
Me: Uh, sure :)


*For those not in the know, Inferno is the final bad guy in Soul Caliber, which she was playing with Evan.

It constantly amazes me how technologically advanced she is. She can log herself on and off the computer, access her favorites, and play all the games without any help. She also plays video games like a champ on all the consoles we have. She often beats TB at some of the various games :)

Do I?

Do I burn some extra points on some sweet snack? Not that I have any here but when I go to the store later? I'm averaging about 5 points under each day (and I'm not hungry) and I have yet to use any flex points.

WWers out there, suggestion for not so bad for me sweet/chocolate snacks?

Weighty issues

I joined Weight Watchers. Tomorrow is my first meeting and I'm a little freaked out about it. I have never in my life had a "weight problem". I put that in quotes because I've never been skinny but I never had a problem with it. I've always felt that I looked fine and didn't need anyone else's opinion. If someone didn't like how I looked, that sucked for them. I was always happy not to be some little dainty thing who would get blown over in a stiff breeze. I was healthy, I was strong and that was enough for me.

When I got pregnant with The Boy, I gained 50 lbs and tipped the scales at over 200 lbs. I was unhappy that I had to buy all new clothes but I didn't feel like I was that heavy and it still didn't bother me. Over the last year, I've made various attempts to start a regular exercise routine because while I didn't have a problem with the way I looked, I had a problem with the way I felt. I was always sick, could barely breathe, couldn't walk quickly without getting winded, etc. Through various circumstances, none of those attempts have been that long term and with summer coming on, I imagine this one will go down the drain as well. In January, we got the Wii Fit and I made a serious attempt to do it every day. When I started, my weight was 206. April 1st, my gym started a program called "resolution renewal" to get people back working out on a regular basis. If I go 3 times a week for 30 minutes each time for the entire 8 weeks, I get a $30 when I'm all done. In addition to that, I had to fill out a food and exercise log and turn it in each week. At the beginning of the program, I said that my goal was not to lose weight but to feel better. Because of that, the food log was irrelevant and I made most of it up on Monday morning right before it had to be turned in. My first day one the new program, I weighed myself, just to see how I did with no food effort. I made a real effort on the exercise, logging an hour (instead of the required half hour) most days, which included both cardio (5 minutes at 3 mph on the stairs and 35 minutes at 4 mph on the elliptical) and strength (arm and leg machines) most days. When I was strapped for time, I would just do the cardio but I've been there 3 days a week for at least 30 minutes every week since April 1. I weighed in at 210, 4 pounds heavier than I was in January. Fine, no biggie. Over the last 6 weeks, I have added another 8 lbs, putting me at 218 lbs, which is a gain of 12 lbs in 4 months time or 3 lbs a month. Every week, I watch it creep up and creep up. None of my clothes fit right anymore. I put on my shorts from last summer today and I could barely button them. These are the shorts that, last summer, I had to be sure to tie the drawstring on or they would fall off. This is not cool. So I decided that something had to change and obviously I can't exercise the weight away so I'm going to have to change the way I eat.

The problem is that I eat like your basic 2 year old. Plain meat, plain potatoes, very few veggies. Deep fried, covered in cheese, giant bowls of ice cream, etc. I do eat raw veggies occasionally and I'm absolutely addicted to green beans. In fact, I'm trying to figure out how many green beans I can eat every day without having to count the points. Quigs says that 1 pound is 2 points. :) I also have no idea about portion size or even the beginning of figuring calories and points. I need this to be easy. I don't want to spend every spare moment of my day, shopping for food, prepping food, cooking food and writing down food. What is going to end up happening is that I'm going to figure out the points for a handful of items and that is all I will eat. That way, if it is always the same, I don't have to think about it. The other thing I'm sure I'm going to do is, instead of learning to eat new things, is just not eat. For example, tonight we had ribs. I ate my fill because I'm not counting points until tomorrow. In the future when we have ribs, I will eat my point limit and be done. If that is one rib, then that is one rib and I'll end up being hungry. And pissy, but that is nothing new.

I imagine I'll spend my time being hungry because of my lack of flexibility, so if I bite your head off for no good reason, feel free to tell me to eat something and STFU. Also, I am stubborn and obstinate and if someone tells me that I can't do something it makes me more determined that, by God, I damn well will do it. I kept my old busted down couch for years past it's lifespan simply because my MIL made such a big deal about how I needed to get rid of it. If she had just shut up, I probably would have gotten rid of it long before I did LOL So, if you see me, please don't tell me that you think I can do it. If you want to talk about it, you need to be telling me that you are sure that I'm totally over my points for the day and that it is obvious I'm destined for failure. You could also point out the sheer amount of money I'm throwing away and the time I'm wasting for good measure :)

My starting is 201.5. I'll let you know when I get there.