Pretzels and Oatmeal

In January, I decided I was DONE carrying around the extra 20lbs I had accumulated in the past 4 years. When I came back from our family cruise to Mexico, I started hitting the gym more and watching what I ate using the Weight Watchers point method which had been successful for me in the past. It went well and I lost a few pounds. Then my employer announced they were going to start a "Biggest Loser" challenge and my SIL was going to participate with her work also and we made a side bet for the loser to buy the winner a pedicure. We divided into teams at work at weighed in on Feb 28th. I weighed in at 158.5 and I am 5'4". My goal weigh was/is 135. I really don't know if that's doable, since I seem to be hovering right around 143, but I am still trying.

For 10 weeks, I went to the gym 6 days a week, ate well and changed my lifestyle habits. I cut out coffee completely (because of my cream usage), increased my water, cut back on drinking and did all kinds of physical activity at the gym (weights, cardio, yoga, pilates).

On May 8, I weighed in at 141.7 and actually won the biggest loser competition at my work (top female) because I had lost 11% of my body weight. I was shocked that I had one, but very pleased because of all my hard work. I won a year's paid membership at the gym which was really cool because that of course saves me money every month.

I've always liked oatmeal, but became very discouraged when I found out those little packets were 3 weight watchers points each. Well, 1 never filled me up and I hated to blow 6 points every morning so I bought some instant oatmeal in the bulk, a bag of frozen blueberries and a bottle of maple syrup. For about 4 points, I now have every day a cup of 5 grain organic oatmeal, blueberries and a bit of maple syrup. It is delicious, filling and by far my favorite meal. I've had it every day at work for 6 months and look forward to it every day.

My other favorite snack is pretzels. Frequently at night, after dinner I want something. I'm not really a sweets or chips person, but I do like a little something. Needless to say, whatever I would find (granola bar, ice cream, crackers, etc) was never a very good choice or satisfying. I now keep pretzels and whatever I can fit in 1 hand is my night time snack (if needed). They are crunchy, salty and only about 118 calories (approximately 2 points). So, now I buy the pillowcase sized sack of pretzels and forget those expense 100 Calorie snacks that are good, but tiny and not very satisfying.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my journey. I'm still eating well, weighing in weekly (and documenting my weight on my calendar) and going to the gym. My goal is still 135, but I'm happy to stay where I am (in my size 8 jeans!!)

Aaron's Back!

Well, I wondered how long it had been since I had posted and alas, my last past says "Happy Father's Day" so I guess it's been a while! Well, I may work backwards here because the biggest thing that's happened lately is that Aaron came back home last Thursday the 26th. It is wonderful to have him home. He's been at his Dad's for 7 month's and since July was such a busy month, I held off on having him come back until my big project at work was done and then I had a week after. So he got home last week and we went to the dentist and then spent the afternoon at Roaring Springs, which was a lot of fun. We also got him a haircut, which he desperately needed!

Since June, we had our big garage sale which was a huge hit. We sold tons of stuff and made close to $500. The rest of the stuff we donated. As soon as Dave leaves with all the stuff I have for Matt next week and heads back up to U of I, our garage will almost be livable again!

Since the end of April when my gym closed, I've been wanting to go somewhere else and since Aaron was interested in the Y we signed up on Monday and I went for our first workout last night. I went to a Yoga class while Aaron did the machines. It was a great teacher, small class and a good workout. Next week, Aaron is signed up for a 2 hour a day training which will teach him how to safely use weights and all the gym equipment, then he'll be able to do whatever he wants there. It should be fun and I'm so glad I can bike there like I did with the old gym to even further enhance my workout.

The other big news is our upcoming wedding! Dave finally decided to set a date and I said, let's make it happen! So we are headed to the Oregon Coast where we took our first vacation together in August of 2001. We are staying in Lincoln City and getting married at the Yaquina Bay lighthouse in Newport. I've been busy shopping for a dress and getting together all the little details. It's a destination wedding, no guests or even kids and we'll be sending announcements from there. I can hardly wait!!

Vacation in AZ

Over the long Memorial Day weekend Dave and I traveled to Tucson, AZ where we vacationed for 6 days with his Dad and Barbara. They live in Green Valley, which is about a half hour drive south from Tucson and only about 20 miles north of the Mexico border. I had no idea what the town was like and had printed off some information on area shopping off the internet. I was a bit disappointed to see how dinky the town was and in fact the advertised "mall" was just a shopping strip. It's a retirement community town and VERY quiet. We relaxed, read a lot, ate, sat in the sun and did some site-seeing. We arrived on Thursday morning and Barbara took us to Trader Joe's which I absolutely love, especially since we don't have any in Idaho. We filled up on groceries and then headed to a wonderful bakery where we had delicious sandwiches for lunch.

Dave and his Dad played golf twice and even took me out to the driving range (which is in their back yard!) for a lesson. I was also able to get 2 massages while I was there and attend 1 yoga class. Dave even read 2 books and I read 3. It was great. We visited Rex Ranch for a wonderful dinner where we had to drive the car through a river. It was a very cool place with great scenery. Barbara and I drove into Tubac one day and did some shopping. Mike is a recent member to the Elk's club so on our last night there we attended a buffet dinner with a "spanish" theme with some of the ladies from the neighborhood. It was a lot of fun. Mike and Barbara's house is a really nice dual master suite home perfect for vacationing. They even rent it during the summer. I helped Barbara update the webpage, so I was able to get a tiny "online" fix during the week.

We learned during our trip to OR that Dave's Dad makes a great latte. As soon as you get up in the morning, he makes it to order. Ahhhh. Another favorite thing of mine when visiting them is their dog Jazz and cat Gigi. Jazz has a lot of character and I always enjoy taking him for walks. With their great location on the golf course, we walked along the greens every night and saw lots of bunnies, birds and other animals. We even had a scare where Jazz got into some rat "cakes" that had been left out and then moved by the creatures in the night. Luckily we were able to get most of it out of his both before too much was ingested to make him sick. The vet said those things are really powerful and can easily kill even large dogs like Jazz.

I did manage to eat pretty well while on vacation and after many days of being in skimpy summer clothes and sunbathing I came home and decided to get back to good eating and trying to exercise. This week I've walked the dogs 4 times and have ate really well. I still need to start getting up early and doing some Yoga or something but I've just been really tired this week. Maybe this weekend I can get started. I am taking golf lessons for the next 3 weeks, so I hope to get out a practice and I think that counts towards exercise also ;)

The dogs stayed with Heather and Randy and of course had a wonderful time there. They always come home obedient and well groomed, which of course, neither lasts long at our house.

Matt is home from school for the summer and is working full time which is great. Jeff is working but apparently doesn't like the job and will either be soon quitting for the summer or looking for something else. Last weekend we attended Kim's graduation party and it's hard to imagine in 2 years Jeff will be graduating and only 3 years after that it will be Aaron's turn. Aaron finished school yesterday and we are still in talks about where he will live for next year. He makes a good point that the schools are better here. For now, he will spend the next 2 months at his Dad's and then the month of August with us. After that, who knows. Hopefully, we will be able to take a nice long vacation visiting family and friends in CA in August.

Work is crazy busy. We are gearing up for everyone to be reimaged during a 2 week changeover to new document management system. It's going to be crazy. PC's and laptops everywhere and users complaining about every icon in a different place. I'm trying to stay calm and realize there is only so much I can do and it will be what it is regardless of my stress level.

The day before we left on vacation I went to my laptop in the morning to sync my ipod as I always do (to get a refill of podcasts for the day) only to find my Itunes library was wiped out. Gone. Nothing there. I had a backup from a few months ago, but what a mess putting all that back together. While I was on vacation the podcasts really built up and I made a decision to really wack down what I was subscribed to so I'm just now getting caught up on my "favs" and am now on the long list of 2nd priority podcasts I listen to and I imagine I will need to do some pruning there also.

Hot and Cold

Last weekend we "decorated" the newly planted tree in the front yard. I even put some flowers around it. Hopefully they make it through the freezing mornings we've had.

Though Spring has sprung, it's really been a variety of weather these days. We had some warm days, followed by wind and then freezing nights again. I hate this time of year because no matter how you're dressed if it's windy, you're going to freeze and be miserable. I'm typically on the cool side so I like to dress warm but then if I go out and do any walking during the day, I roast and sweat. Oh well.

Saturday I went to the Fun Match at Ann Morrison Park and met Heather who showed both Tootsie Pop (Chloe's sister) and Tico. The weather started out nice, but as the clouds built up and the wind picked up it definitely cooled down. By the time we left, I was glad I was headed back indoors.

Saturday night Dave's friend Rick got married. It was a nice, simple ceremony and there were some of Dave's work friends there so I mostly visited with their wives. It was nice to get out and dress up, though I didn't wear anything fancy because the party was originally suppose to be outside I was (again) afraid of being cold.

Sunday I really just lounged around and even took a long nap. I spent a good part of the day up in the guest room with the computer, the Tivo, a stack of magazines and my heater blanket. I sewed up some of the girls' toys that had been ripped open and also straightened up the desk a bit more.

The last few weeks, I've really been struggling with depression and missing Aaron. It seems to get harder as time goes on and not easier like I thought it would. Combine that with being crazy busy and stressed at work and trying to workout and diet to lose weight for summer clothes and it's just overwhelming. The first phase in the work changes will happen on the 28th. We will be changing from GroupWise to Outlook for our email. This is going to be a MAJOR change for people and I'm really nervous about how it's going to go. Also at the end of the month, my gym that I've come to enjoy so much is closing. The owner has it for sale, but I doubt that someone would buy it and keep it open for business in such short time. I've been walking the dogs in addition to biking to the gym and working out so I'll just have to start taking longer walks. I've looked into joining the YMCA and may do that just so I have somewhere to go for Yoga/Pillates. I do enjoy that.

I really thought that once Aaron got his computer that I took him over Spring Break, I would hear from him more. I've emailed him more and still never hear from him. He calls when something isn't working right or he has question. I sent him money to get new pants since he apparently ripped his new pair that I bought him last month. I also sent him money for Easter since I had no idea what to get him or send him. I talked to him yesterday and it seems as though the one unsecured access point he was using at the apartment complex him and his Dad live in got locked down so now he has no internet :( I reminded him that his Dad said he would get him internet if he had a computer, so we'll see what happens next.

With the whole Twitter / Jaiku debacle (Leo leaving Twitter) I'm glad to see most like me, have stayed with Twitter and just signed up for Jaiku and put the feed in. I think that's an excellent solution. Twitter is fun, I enjoy seeing what others are up to, especially the ones I listen to their podcasts.