Could it really already be August?

Good grief... August is here already. The boys start back to school at the end of the month. I took Alex and Erik to the dentist on Monday - Alex needs $600 worth of fillings, Erik needs a baby tooth extracted and a couple fillings (to the tune of abotu $160 out of pocket.)

On top of that, Darren let me know that the great City of Las Vegas has decided they will most likely be farming out their jobs to outside contractors come next June.

So remember my last post of so much that I want to do with no money to do it with... it just got worse.

On top of ALL of that - they asked me to take the Supervisor position back in Training as well as do my current duties. Again - even more to do with less time. I have to keep telling myself - at least I have a job. But my OCD side says I have to shine in this job. I hope the stress doesn't kill me. I DID just get off the blood pressure medicine for goodness sake.

As for the saving - didn't happen last month. I don't know that it will happen this month either - I want it to but there is so much going on.

So not the cheeriest post. At least I made it over here though.

A week has flown by

I managed to remember to keep my promise and blog more often so here I am back again!

This week... wow - food is my enemy. Although I should be pleased that I haven't gained any... I haven't lost any either. We had an offsite customer gathering this week so I didn't work out as much as I would have liked either.

Alex and Erik have been away at Boy Scout camp... I definitely miss the random hugs and kisses that come with having the boys in the house. And Erik is headed straight to Oregon with Grandma so there will be even a longer absence of hugs/kisses. *sigh*

So back to food... I am not sure about other women out there but the week before mother nature calls is like releasing the starving beast! I am hungry all the dang time even though I may have eaten a couple hours ago. I try to make good choices but sheesh... really Mother Nature? leave me alone, dang it! It is hard enough to stay away from food as it is!

To continue my rambling...
I have realized there is SO much I would love to do and seriously not enough time/money to do it in/with. My niece is on an amazing road trip across the continent and I am so envious!  Or maybe "covetous" is a better word. How I wish I could be on that trip with her. Her and her husband have an amazing blog that recounts their adventure. (thegreatnorthamericanroadtrip.blogspot.com) But I tell you what... something I have wanted to do for a VERY long time is take a road trip cross-country and see all this country's national landmarks! When I was about 8 the family drove in our motorhome to Alaska. It is a trip I will never forget and would love to do with my children. Ahhhh to hit the lottery or something! So I am now scouting possibilities to make this happen - or at least a small road trip - maybe up the coast of CA. We will see.

Shopping/Saving
I am in need of new work shoes but I will have to save up to buy them.

I have created a budget that not only tracks when I have to pay what bill BUT I have started putting away money for Christmas and our annual trip to Disney.

Something I haven't mentioned here in the blog is the Cruise to the Mexican Riveria that I am doing with my BFF since junior high in November. We got an amazing deal with the radio station and got a balcony stateroom for like $600. So I am also saving money for that as well... so I have decided - starting next week - I will be bringing my lunch at least 3 if not 4 days a week.

So in all - I have decided that each month at least $500 will be going to this savings fund. Keep your fingers crossed that I can stick to this!

Talk to you soon!

oh blog how I have missed you

Ok so I have been very lax in updating the blog... good grief it has been way TOO long.

But to catch everyone up...

Weight Loss Journey
I am now at 65lbs of me gone. Thank goodness! I no longer take blood pressure medicine. I am working out almost every day at the gym at work. (Right now I do 35 minutes on the treadmill - level 6, Random, speed 3.5 - 3.7 miles per hour. (What does that mean? Level 6/Random means it randomly changes the incline up from 0 to 5% which when it hits that 5% - I usually start cursing it's name at the steep side.) I bought new work out clothes and shoes as I was still wearing the shorts/tshirt that were from 2 sizes ago. I had to sintch the shorts and pull them up almost to my arm pits :D

Fun side note - a guy friend of mine in another department (who is also easy on the eyes) ;-) was talking to me in the gym the other day about the progress of sales training - when I went to leave - he complimented my legs and how great they look. (To which I giddily said - THANKS that is one thing I have always been proud of - I have never had fat girl legs!) AND when I wore my new work out clothes complimented them too! Quite the morale booster!

I tried the eliptical on Monday - I hate that thing. It is made from the devil... I plan on doing it again today for at least 10 minutes. damn thing...

I had an adjustment in March (more saline into the lapband) - cons to this - I now can not eat hamburger buns or shredded meats.

I had an adjustment last Wednesday - cons to this - a drier piece of london broil not chewed properly gave me HELL on Monday night. (Thought I would die as this tried to pass through!)

Food - I have pretty much moved to a high protein LOW carb diet (since most carbs are causing me problems.) I have also acquired a LOVE for roasted salted almonds. Very filling with the new adjustment.


Couponing... well to be honest - I have been doing it as much as I used to. I just haven't seen anything at a super great deal with use of coupons that I could use. Not to mention there is a great new local grocery called "Glaziers" that has awesome deals. Their weekly "meal deals" make it great to stock up and have ideas for the week. They also sell Boar's Head deli meat which the boys love. I spend about 100-150 a week and only occasionally have to go to Sam's for the bigger items.

Shopping
About a month and a half ago; my replacement for my POS Dell that had died... died. So I checked the ads and looked around - knowing we had gotten an awesome deal on our TV at Fry's - I checked there online. Darren suggested stopping at Best Buy first which I was thinking... no way it would have a good price. Well! They had the same laptop my son was given for his Eagle Scout (by his uncle) on sale as the last one for $259 but I would have to wait 2-3 hours for their Geek Squad to clean it. Well they had this Compaq on sale for like $279 so I took that. So for about $300 I got a new laptop WEEEEE! So happy!

Personal
Finally - I adopted two more puppies. I know like I needed more critters in my house. But they were so adorable and frail and needed love! And what better to put them in a house with three boys (and a dad) who just gives them SO much love ALL the time! They are now happy and getting plenty of love and chow.

I will stop in and blog more often and let you know how I do in not only weight loss but shopping as well.

Journey 01/23/10

So not good news on the diet journey. I am sad to say I am up a pound this week. Dang it all!

I knew I was not eating properly. I had three meetings this week that they catered in food. If only I had watched my portions and what I was eating better - I would be at least even. But darn it if I didn't indulge in those cookies and pastries!

Again, there are times when I can't help but wish that this was a miracle cure. That some how by putting this band on my stomach that it would magically zap all the bad food I ingest. But unfortuantely - it is not. I know this.

So back on track for next week. It helps that a cold has settled in on my head and I haven't felt like eating after breakfast today. Let's hope I can get back on that track of 3-5lbs a week. But I would be happy just to see the ounces come off through out the week.

Grocery Shopping - Sam's Club style

So I wasn't happy with the couponing site this week. There was not enough that could drag me to dig through coupons and then shop two stores to get what I wanted/needed.

So I decided to just go to Sam's Club. My reasoning - I "know" that there are certain things that I can get there that are cheaper than any other store. For example - Country Time Lemonade Mix - I had price compared from Walmart to Sam's and knew I could save at least $1 on each can. (Think max pack here and we go through about a can and a half a week.) Also I had price compared the Nesquik Chocolate Milk mix - also coud save over a $1. So with that in mind off I went.

So I sat down today after I went shopping and went on the Albertson's website and did a price comparison for like items - line by line! So if I bought name brand - I looked for name brand on Albertson's site. If it was generic - I went generic on their site. The one thing I didn't price compare was milk - because I have been finding it for 2.19 a gallon at one of the three stores (Albertson's, Vons or Smiths) and I paid 2.23 at Sam's. It was the only thing I paid more for at Sam's. (On the Albertson's site it was much higher than that.)

So here is also the SHOCKING savings!
My bill would have been $373.64 at Albertson's! (Granted without club card sales prices or coupons.)
Albertson's Bill - $373.64
Total Savings: - $151.06
Actual Out of Pocket: $222.58
That is a 60% savings!

I got home with all my stock pile of items and did find one extra bonus! I had picked up 90% lean ground beef that was reduced for quick sale. I happened to look a bit closer to the two stickers. One of which was the original price - the other the reduced price. They had different weights! At first I was concerned because I didn't want to get cheated out of meat. But instead it was in my favor. Whoever had added the second sticker must have hit a 4 instead of a 6. I put the meat on my scale and it registered 7.1 pounds - the original sticker showed 6.98. So I figured with the tray and wrap that would be the accurate one. The reduced sticker was marked as 4.98 pounds. I ended up getting 7lbs of meat at 1.27 a pound! And 90% lean to boot! That is excellent if you do price comparisons!

The other big savings came in the form of the Cascade dish detergent. To get close to the size I bought I would have had to buy 2 of the large ones from Albertson's - basically it was like getting one free - I save $20 by buying the max pack one at Sam's.

So this week was a score at Sam's Club. I don't suggest Sam's as a normal weekly venue because there are things that when the sales ads and coupons align - you can't beat couponing :)

Journey Update 01/16/10

I am down 3 pounds this week! Weeeeee!

I am so very pleased with the progress. People have been coming up to me at work noticing and asking questions.

I went through my closet and tossed everything that was a size too big. ACK! Is it empty!

I had my first experience with getting something "stuck" this week. Essentially if something gets "stuck" there is a sharp almost pinching feeling in the middle of the chest. This happened this week when I was trying to eat French Toast. I made it with the same bread I eat every day and eggs... I don't think I soaked the bread long enough nor chewed well enough. Trust me not a pleasant feeling. So I am being much more careful again.

Weight Watchers is still my guideline for what to eat. Lean meats, high fiber, low fat and it really seems to be helping.

Shopping update 01/16/10

Great couponing week! I went very lean last week as I was a bit tight on money.

This week looking at the ads and the Coupon website list - I decided to get the best deal I had to go to two stores.

First up was Smith's they didn't have a ton I wanted/needed so it breaks down like this:
Total Bill: $80.22

Club Card: -$31.60
Coupons: - $5.50
Total Savings: - $37.10
Out of pocket: $43.12
19 items purchased - $2.27 an item.

Here I picked up 10 four-packs of Cottonelle toilet paper for 1.50 a pack. 2 L'oreal mascara, 2 cases of Aquafina and a couple other items.

Then it was off to Albertson's for the bulk of my shopping.

Total Bill: $330.43

Club Card: -$111.91
Coupons: - $15.90
Total Savings: - $127.81
Out of pocket: $202.62
114 items purchased - $1.78 an item! I got 10lbs of bonless/skinless chicken breasts for $1.49 a pound, 6lbs of ground turkey for $1.99 a pound! And 5lbs 90/10 ground sirloin for 2.99 a pound!

I also picked up some good stuff off their clearance rack - they had 20 count quart size zip locks for $1 (they have christmas deco on them), kleenex tissues for a $1 (again with the christmas deco) and some La Victoria enchilada sauce for a quarter each!

I tried very hard to avoid things that were not on sale. Unfortunately, the juice was not and one or two other things. I had coupons for Softsoap which they had on sale for $1 with the coupon I got them for .65. Also Healthy Choice Steamers were on sale for $2.49 plus I had a coupon getting another .50 off each one.

I could have kicked myself though, I had picked up La Banderita flour tortillas at Smith's for 2.39 a pack and darn it all if Guerrero (these are the only two brands that Darren like) were 10 for $10 at Albertson's! So we have enough tortillas for long while!

Overall - I think it was a good week. My freezer is stocked full of meat and I got a few staples in too.

Update on previous attempts at a few recipes
Seared Scallops - to me were yummy - family wouldn't touch them.
Coal Miner's Pasties - made straight from the recipe they were VERY bland. The turnip was actually quite good though.
I did not make home made corn dogs (thank goodness!) We had pizza for his birthday instead.

This week is a more mundane dinner planning week, chili, lemon chicken, roast etc...

Journey update 01/11/10

I couldn't be more pleased! I got my first adjustment on Wednesday last week. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! I can definitely tell that I am more restricted! And thank goodness for that. I was struggling with snacking or "grazing" as I like to call it. However, I was limiting myslef to Yoplait Light Yogurt and/or Sugar Free Jello Pudding Cups (1 or 2 points on Weight Watchers) for snacks. However, because lapband essentially "slows" the process down by holding your food above the "band" thus making you feel full - the Dr discouraged the "milkshake" like snacks - because they just go right through. So I am bringing apples for snacks - if I still feel hungry this week. Which if the end of last week is any indication - I doubt it. I wasn't hungry between meals at all and I could definitely feel the faster full feeling.

I lost 5 lbs last week! can you believe it!? I am so excited.

Now I just need to start adding in a regular excerise schedule. whew!

Weight Loss update 01/05/10

I have exciting news. I have exceeded my first weight loss goal. A little over 3 years ago I lost weight to be in Melanie’s wedding. It was the lightest I had been in over 10 years. I am now under even that weight!


In February of last year was my heaviest weigh in – since then I have lost 46lbs. The day I call the beginning of the surgery journey is 11/3/09 (and the day Derifield made a bet with me) since then I have lost 32lbs. (Might as well just buy me a bottle of the good stuff Derifield :P) – 28 to go and I win that bet!

My next goal is now within my reach, to be under 200lbs. I will let you know how I do. I am very excited – thank you all for being there with me. I haven’t seen under 200 since Erik was born – 11 ½ years ago. (and possibly longer…)

I not only have the assistance of the lapband, but I have started back on the Weight Watchers philosophy for eating properly – that seems to have jumped started me back on track. (The holidays kicked my butt – but I didn’t gain or lose… so it could have been worse.)