This and that

The ice is FINALLY melting nicely here. Of course that means lots of water and mud and yuck. The ice ripped the gutters off of the building where my office is located. It has done a lot of damage and our area has been declared a disaster area. There are many places that aren't predicted to have power until mid Feb!! I feel so blessed to have power.

As for my weight loss and being on track with the points system, I am doing well. Tomorrow will be my challenge for the week because we are hosting a Super Bowl party and entertaining about 25 people at our house. I plan to have typical unhealthy food (bbq pulled pork sandwiches, chips and cheese dip, bbq baked beans, and dessert) but I will also have a fruit tray and veggie tray (for me). I know I will make it through just fine because there is no way I would cheat on the night before weigh in! It will still be tough with all that good smelling fat and calories in front of me. I love the Weight Watchers plan. It really does allow me to have whatever I want if I am willing to pay the price. I can have that piece of Snickers Pie tomorrow if I want to use 8 points for a slice. But when I think of what all I can fill up on for 8 point that piece of Snickers Pie doesn't seem so good. If I do want it I can steal a bite of my hubbys for 2 points. When I was attending meetings I had an amazing leader and she said "the first bite taste the same as the last bite," so why eat 8 points worth when I can have one bite for 2 points and it taste the same as eating the whole thing.

Also, I would like to say hi to Lisa. Lisa, thanks for the nice comment! I wanted to visit your blog but could not find a link to it. If you don't mind me visiting to say hi you can send it to me via email at daydream89@hotmail.com. I hope you have a good week following your Weight Watchers plan!!

Here are some of the cards I made on the last day that I was at home due to ice:

This one above will be for my sis and bro-in-law's anniversary.
I made this one pictured above or my hubby for our anniversary and for a card challenge at Daring Card Makers Blog.

The card above and below are for two of my hubby's nieces. They are such sweet girls!
This last card is for my grandma's bday.

Sunshine Predicted...

Well. We had icy rain ALL day yesterday!! I am not one that likes to be stuck in the house against my will but what can I do. I am very thankful for answered prayers that we did not lose our power at all. There were so many people that lost their power. My mom-in-law lost her power and came over and stayed the night last night but her power was restored this morning. On top of that, all the channels went out on the satellite EXCEPT the locals so I was still able to see Biggest Loser!!! It is still supposed to be cold today but the ice has stopped falling and moved out of the area and the sun is supposed to come out today!!! Below are some pics of the ice storm (the pictures don't do justice):

This is a tree on our deck.

The picture above and directly below are of some trees and was taken from our deck.
This picture is of icicles hanging from the roof. Look how thick they are!

Okay, so since I was trapped in my house all day yesterday (and I will be today as well) I did some more scrapbooking, well, actually card making. I am up to June on my Birthday cards. Here are some I made below:

The card above and directly below are cards for two men in my family. I find it difficult to come up with masculine designs.

I got the idea for the card above from the web. I thought it was cute. It will be for my niece's third bday.
This card is for my hubby for Vday. I wanted to do something a little more masculine and get away from the typical pink and red for him. I will be making some Vday cards using red and pink to mail to my fam.

As far as my diet (okay really lifestyle change) goes, I am doing great. I am patting myself on the back for yesterday. I kept busy and didn't even tap into my weekly allowance points!! Actually, quite the opposite, I found myself trying to find something to eat/drink to use up my last three points last night after dinner. So I treated myself to a glass of red wine. :)

I am off to make some more cards...

ICE....YUCK!!!!

So we had an ice storm last night. Sure it can make the trees look beautiful but I HATE it. I have too much going on at work for my office to be closed today, but it is, and I just need to get in the right frame of mind to enjoy the day off. I think I may do some more scrapbooking today. I will also do my Biggest Loser workout dvd today. As much as I work out that dvd can still kick my butt. I look forward to watching the Biggest Loser tonight. So far I am enjoying this "season" better than the one that just went off. I have never disliked a person on that show as much as I disliked Vicki. She just got right under my skin. I told my sister that I didn't like her from episode two and she laughed and said you already don't like someone. After episode three my sis called me and said oh, I can't stand her. HAHA. Told ya sis! I would absolutely love to train with Jillian!!! Okay, Bob too but I may just be concentrating on him and not working out. HAHA. Honestly, I had to crack up this season when he went off on that chick. Bob mad was so funny and I loved Jillian's reaction. Well, maybe I will post again when I finish some scrapbook stuff.

weigh in day...

Today is my weigh in day. I lost 3 pounds this week!!!! I am excited about that. It isn't the number that the people get on my favorite show, Biggest Loser, in their first week, but I am happy about it. I got through the first weekend without any problems at all. I am STILL battling this terrible cold I have. I hate going to the doctor but if I don't get better this week I may be going. I felt like I was getting better Friday and Saturday and then I woke up Sunday all stuffed up again and sneezing. I am so ready for Spring. It will be nice to be able to get of the treadmill and get running outside again.

I did make a few cards. I haven't scrapbooked in forever and I think it shows in the lack of creativity in the cards I made yesterday. It was fun to get back in there and make some cards.

The card above is for my sis-in-laws bday.

The card above was my least favorite one I made. I got the idea from a page I saw in magazine. It was a lot better on the page.

The card above was my favorite bday card I made.

Another bday card for my uncle-in-law(one of the biggest hog fans I know).

I just had to include the above pic. This is my niece. The sweetest thing in the whole world. My sister and I had taken her to Fastlanes (an arcade/bowling ally) and we had won her some tickets and she happened to pick a pack of smiley face stickers and flower stickers as a prize. Well, on the way home my sister and I were talking and my niece starting giggling and saying I'm such a mess. I turned the light on in the car and looked back at her and indeed she was a mess. She had put stickers all over herself. She makes me laugh so much.

Been a few days...

Okay, it has been a few days since I have posted anything. Still on track. :) :) :) Almost one week down. The first few weeks are always the hardest for me. So my big challenge is going to be the weekend. The week is a lot easier as it is filled with work and other busy stuff. The weekend is my time to unwind and hang out with family and friends (which usually means a drink or two). This weekend my husband and I have some plans with friends both tonight and Saturday night. I will eat dinner tonight before going out and have allotted myself enough points for one drink (which is all I usually have anyway) although I am not really in the mood to drink anything. I am still not feeling 100% better from this cold I have had for a week now. Tomorrow I plan to get up and tidy up the house, workout, and make some cards. Hopefully, Sunday I will be able to post some pictures of the cards I make. My plan it to make all of my birthday cards for the year so that I will have them ready to mail out to family and friends when their birthdays approach. I have to get on it because I am already late with two January birthday cards.

discoveries

Even though I have only been back on track for two days now, I am discovering some things already. My first discovery, the night time is the hardest time to refrain from snacking. I guess it is just a bad habit I will have to break. I am used to coming home and grabbing a snack while watching TV. I will have to have healthier snacks on hand and reduce the number of snacks I eat in the evening. I think that this will be a lot easier to break when I start feeling better and can get back to working out. I find that when I work out in the evening that I am a lot less tempted to snack afterwards. I haven't worked out since Thursday because I have been sick with a yucky sinus infection. I plan to go to the clubhouse in our neighborhood tonight to do a "light" workout to at least get going again, even though I still don't feel very good. My second discovery for the day is that it is crazy to realize how many points certain foods are again. Eating out is just not going to be possible more than once a week, at least not for me at the beginning. For example, I had a Subway foot long veggie sandwich and a bowl of soup and it was 17 points! I am sure I could have made a smarter choice, but thought I was doing good by switching to wheat bread instead of cheddar bread and mustard instead of mayo, however I didn't want to spend 17 points on one meal! That only leaves me 3 points for the evening if I don't want to tap into my weekly allowance. Anyway, those are my little discoveries/eye openers for the day.
I am off to the grocery store to do some healthy shopping.

And so it begins...

First a little about myself. I am 28 years old and married to my wonderful husband, Ryan. We live in Hog Country (Northwest Arkansas) with our "baby" Ginger. She is our mixed dog. We absolutely LOVE this area. I love to travel, scrapbook, and hang out with family and friends.

Today is the first day back on Weight Watchers. I did the program before and stuck to it extremely well and lost 70 pounds. I have managed to keep off 30 pounds but 40 pounds managed to find their way right back on. I know exactly how this happened...I got really comfortable with how much I had lost and began eating a little here and there and told myself it was okay, I would make up for it tomorrow. Well, after a year, it is finally TOMORROW. I am very excited to be starting over and when I reach my ultimate goal (which requires me to lose 63 pounds) my husband has agreed to let me go on a 500 dollar shopping spree!! I am not a big shopper but the idea of being able to spend 500 dollars and fit into clothes that are more stylish is great motivation. The major change I have to do is change what I eat. I already workout about 5 days a week and have been working out for years (I think that is how the 30 pounds that I haven't gained back have stayed off). I love to workout. Sure, there are many days when I dread it, but when the workout is over I feel soooooo much better.

I have had a good day today. Perfectly on track; which is a great start considering I have been home all day today since our office is closed for the holiday.

I look forward to hearing from anyone that wants to share a similar journey with me.