Friday, July 23, 2010

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!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

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.