Friday, August 31, 2007


Tomorrow is the big 8 for Reuben on Rye...I can't believe that he's that old (and still has that much energy). He will be having a sleep over with the famous Una tomorrow night, so I'm sure there will be many picture of dog to dog torture.
I made it through my first week back to work, but just barely. All I did was act as literacy consultant all week...not one student to be seen...and I came home exhausted each day. Wednesday I came home early, ate lunch and fell asleep on the couch for almost two hours...and still got to bed on time. Yikes!
It was also a bad week when it came to eating...mostly breakfast foods. Bagels from Panera. I'm happy to report, that as tasty as they are, I am sick of the cinnamon crunch bagels and reduced fat hazelnut cream cheese. At least I've got that in my corner. Soon, I'll be bringing my lunch to school and a supply of core snacks to leave in my fridge. My office is going to be a "safe" place. I also had a co-worker ask me if I would like to walk everyday at lunch to which I agreed.
Also: Happy Birthday, Marta!

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Honey, I'm Killing Myself

I'm watching the ever entertaining "Honey, We're Killing the Kids" and I had that revelation...again: I know what I have to do to be successful and lose weight and yet, I'm not doing it. Ridiculous. My best weight loss is when I'm doing a variety of fun exercises and eating mostly core foods. It's just so strange that I know and understand the ins and outs of nutrition...but I can't get my emotions/motivation/self-esteem to actually get it done! WHY?

Update:

I got off my sorry ass and made a core dinner of lemon-pepper tilapia with quinoa

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Kinesis

I was inspired by Marta, who just signed up to have her own personal trainer to ask what ya'll thought of:

Kinesis
Kinesis is a functional fitness strength training system done in small group sessions. It involves integrated movements of balance, core strength and burns 30% more calories than traditional equipment training. Thirty minute sessions include a circuit of 5 stations.

Yeah, it costs extra, but it sounds cool. The people I know who tried it are totally into it....so readers, tell me what you think!

Are you kidding me?



Hello...does that kid really say he plays with his poops in the toilet? Poops? In the toilet? And this is run during the day? Jeezie creezie, people. The first few times I saw this commercial I thought he said "boat" in the toilet. That was scary enough. Where are today's parents? Yikes!

Nothing special going on. I worked today. I'm thinking of telling them I can't come in on Friday, which would give me a 4 day weekend. Nice. Food is going so-so, but 5 o'clock is another hour, and tomorrow is day one of my WW week.

And Chai, no worries. At work I only blog complaints about my weight, and I don't care if they record that. I would blog about training if I were actually participating in any.....(sniffle, sob)

Monday, August 27, 2007

Busy-ness!

I am back to work as of today..just helping to organize the English curriculum, but it's back to work all the same. I had a fun day today with all the other high school Reading and English people, so I'm getting excited about the school year.

Next week is when I'll have my office set up with my office computer and I think I'll be able to blog more often.

I am exhausted, and not quite eight PM. Sheesh!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Hello from space!

I am feeling very motivated these days. I'm really tempted to plot my motivation cycle and compare it to my other cycle, if you catch my drift. It does feel like the planets are aligning for me these days, so I'm going to ride the wave while it lasts, and I hope it's a long ride....I'm rockin' Core hard and I'm enjoying it.


I have to send out a big "Thanks!" to Chai for having slide presentations on her site because that's where I got the inspiration for doing my photos that way. So, thanks Chai!

Summer is coming very quickly to a close, and although I'd like it to last a bit longer, I am getting excited about school. I get to make my own schedule this school year. My crazy coworker is going to be working out of another location, so I won't have to look at her. We have a new principal who, so far, is really awesome. I get to keep the office I had last year, so I don't have to move like I did the last 2 years. Nice!

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Bronx Zoo

I spent mid day today at The Bronx Zoo with Mom and Ian. I'm estimating that all that walking earned me about 6 activity points, so double cool!



I might add more pics once I get the ones my mom took!

I'm feeling really motivated so far this week. I'm thinking it's going to last.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Farm Fun!



My mom, Ian (my baby brother) and I went to visit the animals at Muscoot Farm and had a blast. Ian hadn't been there since he was 9...he'll be 24 next month. We were the only adults there that didn't have toddlers with us....but who cares?

Sunday, August 19, 2007

The Unkown Post

I have not one clue as to what to title this, so there you go. I think this post is going to wind up being an even bigger mish mosh of stuff than I usually stick in here, but what the hell?
I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I decided to make a sock monkey's for Chris' boss' daughter's 1st birthday. I finally finished it. Here she is, all wrapped up. She actually has a couple of board books and a cloth book on her lap because I have to give books to babies as gifts. I'm a reading geek, after all.
The evil sock monkey will be sad to see the new one leave the house, but Evil Sock Monkey still has Reuben to snuggle with, and Reuben needs a ton of snuggling today because he's exhausted from swimming this morning.
And for no reason at all I decided to stick this picture in. It's the underside of an elephant ear leaf. I love those plants, and I never realized how beautiful the underside of those leaves are!

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot Piiiiiiiieeeee!



It's a good thing that my goal for the week is to journal everything and not actually lose weight. You see, I love chicken pot pie*. Chris and I used to get a whole wheat double crusted one that was a measly 5 points. We haven't been able to find those in quite a while, and I've been craving one for about three weeks, so last night I was at the point of desperately needing one and it was cool enough to turn on the stove, so why the hell not? I ran out to the store and grabbed one that bragged of using only white meat, so I grabbed it and ran out. I ate it; it was delicious! I later figured out that it was 25 points. Twenty. Five. Points. I need to find those whole wheat ones....


In other news, I decided that I'm going to use the little purple cool notebook that I originally bought to use. Instead of taking a ruler to it for the points, I'm just putting a check at the end of the line for core, or the points number/flexies left. I had to get it into my head that nothing is going to be absolutely perfect, so why get frustrated.


I wrote recently about going to a tea room and to answer Marta's question: it's like a coffee house excepts it's all about tea, and tea traditions. It's very luxurious. You can have scones with creme fraiche and jam. You can have tea sandwiches that come on toasted bread with the crusts cut off. It's a very girly thing to do and definitely wonderful. We went to Silver Tips Tea Room in Tarrytown, NY. It is fabulous!




*Not as much as I love hotdogs, however.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Hanging in there

I had a rough start to the week, and I screwed up yesterday when I went with my mom and the local elementary school volunteer "grandma" to a tea room. It was wonderful! So I actually started logging in food today. I don't care if I wind up with negative flexies as long as I get it all down on paper. It's a start, right? One thing at a time, one thing at a time.

Oh Mah Gah!

I am floating on bloggish air at the moment because Jojo gave me this award:





"This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you've been awarded please pass it on to others who you feel are deserving of this award."

In turn, I am going to award this to:

Marta at The Pudge Budge
Trixie at Last Pick
Cory at Dragon's Loss

For all the extra support they've given me!

And to Chai at Eye2Mind for being just plain nice.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

What have I done?

I think I screwed the pooch...now that I have sitemeter, and I can see how many people visit here, I feel compelled to be funny, charming and work on my writing skills. It's a little stressful. I'm sure it'll pass. I have to admit that the sitemeter thing is awesome. I had a hit from a European country today. Who knew? I sure didn't, but I'm glad I know now!

On another note, I'm back from WW and I'm down to 181.4, which is different from my Fatbloke weight. Strange, but true. I consider them to be separate entities, and life goes on. I'm feeling more back on track with food choices, which is awesome, but I'm struggling with the journaling thing. The 12 week planners don't do it for me...I feel conspicuous when I use them. I've tried using notebooks, but because I feel the need to transform them to be more WW friendly, they become too time consuming. I'm at a loss. Do any of you have a journaling system that works for you? I'm curious to know.

I'm also going to start running again. Just running. At least at first. I think that in the past I've tried to do too much when it comes to exercise and I get overwhelmed. I think I'm going to focus on the running, and maybe do some push-ups and various ab exercises at home. Once I get into a good routine with that, then I'll add spin or swimming.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Lurkers!

I just signed up for the freebie version of sitemeter because sometimes I would look at my sitecounter and do a mental head count (me, Marta, Darth Bruce, Trixie, Cory, Chai *and others that come around once in a while ) and sometimes the numbers don't gel. Sitemeter will let me me what state people are from, and how long someone stays. It's all in fun, I'm not trying to be Big Brother, I'm just curious about who comes and reads but doesn't post!

I hope I'm not freakin' anyone out. Please, come in, stay as long as you like. I'm just curious by nature and I love new people. Maybe I'm just plain nosy. I'm not expecting to see a million new people on here....I'm no Snackie, Foo Foo, Anne, or Nytro...all of whom get tons of hits. I just want to know a little more about you all.

So, if you are a lurker or a sometimes visitor, don't be afraid just to say "hi" so I can visit your blog and do the same.

* If I forgot someone, please don't be insulted!

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Breaking out

It occurred to me today, as I sat with my 93% fat free burger with soy cheese, no bun, and a handful of french fries that I'm stuck in the mental rut of labeling myself as either being "good" or "bad" with food. I think that mindset is getting in my way, tripping me up, and possibly could be part of the reason that I self sabotage so often these days. I have to stop thinking in terms of good vs. bad; it only makes me feel down if I have something I've proclaimed as "bad". I need to think in terms of "Core" and "gotta spend some flexies"...that's all it really is, isn't it?

There has got to be more to eating to live than bad and good food. I admit, there are foods that are better for you. That's obvious. But is any food really that "bad" when eaten in moderation?

Monday, August 06, 2007

Day by day


I went to Target today and bought myself some stuff to help get back into gear. I got my self a small blue spiral bound notebook to use to journal my food. I also bought 2 athletic skorts! One of them is nice enough to double for work...like I can work and then just go running in it. How awesome is that.
I've decided that as part of this 600th new beginning, I'm going to take things in small increments....like 2 hours at a time.

Garden of Paradise

My mother's backyard had turned into an awesome place to hang out with the dogs. She decided to plant Elephant Ear plants and they have gotten HUGE!
Una is sitting a couple of feet in front of the biggest leaf...it makes her look like a small dog...she's not. She's a good 65 pounds!

















Thursday, August 02, 2007

I'm not going to do it

I'm not going to get on my own case. Like Marta commented here recently, losing weight is not a do or die situation. I refuse to drive myself crazy...especially this week where I've been hole up in a classroom from 8-5 (most of the time 4) learning about being a teacher-leader. There is a lot of moving around in this class and I come out of there totally beat! And then I drive home in a carb coma. I've decided that I'm still going to log all the stuff I ate for posterity. Then when I finally get myself together I can look back with the ghost of bad-eating-habits-past and laugh at my bagel gorge.

Other than struggling mentally with the whole process, I am tired from being in class all day...plus, I'm at work now. I want my vacation back!