Wednesday, April 2, 2008
McAlister's Rocks!!!
I'm so excited...they finally have NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION available. We eat there every Wednesday either before or after church and now that I'm back on WW I don't have to guestimate any longer. And excitedly some of the things I tend to choose as my faves are lower on the point scale. You'd think nice fresh deli sandwiches would be much healthier, not so much, but still now I can go and know what I'm getting. There are a few items that aren't on the list, but for the most part I'm covered. So I just had to share my excitement!!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
A Few New Layouts
These pics were taken at my Mom's Surprise 60th Birthday party, which was obviously a Mardi Gras theme. Our men went a bit overboard with the beads...doncha think?
This one is quite self explantory...I mean look at those beautiful baby blues!!
Oh my gosh..
...the lightning this morning was awesome yet somewhat frightening. There were a few bolts that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It rained a bit on and off until I got to work and then guess what happened? If you guessed that the sky fell out and I had 3 bags of stuff to carry in and that my umbrella is leaned against the wall inside my office...then you are CORRECT. So now my hair is nice and wet and I smell hairspray and my shirt is soaked and I'm sacrificing 4 points to a cappucino for breakfast. I did also have a wonderful serving of WW Amaretto Cheesecake Yogurt, oh my it was fine. So 5 points for breakfast is not bad if I don't get to the point of starving by 10:30 because there is no substance to the cappucino, but I was freezing.
We went grocery shopping last night and I must say that I forgot how expensive it is to eat healthy. All the powers that be gripe about how unhealthy and overweight americans are, yet the food prices are so ridiculously high that its easy to see why that is the fact. When its cheaper and easier to buy the prepackaged ready to go food then that is what people on low to middle incomes are going to purchase. On another note it feels good to have food in my house that is good for me and I'm looking forward to cooking again. It's been a long time since I cooked and enjoyed it. I think that is because there was so much guilt in what I was eating that if I had to cook it the guilt lasted longer. If you go buy something not good for you at a fast food joint, you buy, you eat, you feel bad then you move on. But if you cook it, you have to stand and feel guilty the whole time you are preparing and cooking and eating and then cleaning up.....therefore cooking becomes part of the "ick" factor of overeating.
Looks like the rain is letting up and maybe the sun is coming out? Not sure because I don't have any windows. I do have a rooftop camera that feeds into a monitor on my desk, but the monitor is black and white so I can't really tell if its the sun, but I can actually see the parking lot again so that means the rain has definitely let up at least right here.
Not much exciting going on yet, but it's only 8:30, so for now that's all, but who knows I may be back later...toodles...
We went grocery shopping last night and I must say that I forgot how expensive it is to eat healthy. All the powers that be gripe about how unhealthy and overweight americans are, yet the food prices are so ridiculously high that its easy to see why that is the fact. When its cheaper and easier to buy the prepackaged ready to go food then that is what people on low to middle incomes are going to purchase. On another note it feels good to have food in my house that is good for me and I'm looking forward to cooking again. It's been a long time since I cooked and enjoyed it. I think that is because there was so much guilt in what I was eating that if I had to cook it the guilt lasted longer. If you go buy something not good for you at a fast food joint, you buy, you eat, you feel bad then you move on. But if you cook it, you have to stand and feel guilty the whole time you are preparing and cooking and eating and then cleaning up.....therefore cooking becomes part of the "ick" factor of overeating.
Looks like the rain is letting up and maybe the sun is coming out? Not sure because I don't have any windows. I do have a rooftop camera that feeds into a monitor on my desk, but the monitor is black and white so I can't really tell if its the sun, but I can actually see the parking lot again so that means the rain has definitely let up at least right here.
Not much exciting going on yet, but it's only 8:30, so for now that's all, but who knows I may be back later...toodles...
Monday, March 31, 2008
I love WW...
...and I just remembered why....I can have 5 Hershey's Mini Special Dark bars for only 4 points!! With no guilt!!
Okay, so now that I'm done jumping up and down, I can say that I officially rejoined WW online this morning and I've not been so excited or positive about weight loss in a while...I did pretty good for about 6 weeks at the beginning of the year, but I had no plan and sadly any project without direction is doomed to failure. Now that my eyes have been opened to that I am really excited.
We had a really nice weekend. I got to scrap on Friday night and did 2 single page layouts and all but the title on a double page layout. I need to take pictures so I can upload them on here. It was so nice to scrap just for fun, it seems like its been forever since I had.
We got a new grill this weekend and its HUGE. We went all last year without one, so we'd been working towards a new one and had enough to get a nice one. I'm tickled and the steaks and grilled veggied I cooked on Saturday night were so fine. Tonight I'm doing grilled chicken breast (healthy...yes?). Also going to have Velveeta Light Shells & Cheese and baby lima beans. I'm determined to do a lot more cooking now that I'll be making healthier choices and have a new grill. It's much easier for me to make good decisions when I eat at home. So my goal is to eat at home at least 5 out of 7 nights (Sun, Mon, Tues, Thurs, Friday) then the other 2 nights and Sunday lunch will be depending on the day. We always eat McAlister's on Wednesday but I can make good choices there (although they don't have nutritional info available, I try to guestimate).
Nothing much more exciting going on at the moment other than as usual the clock is not moving fast enough to suit me. We have to go grocery shopping this evening but hoepfully that won't take very long.
Well, I reckon that's all for now......stay tuned for pictures of layouts soon....
Okay, so now that I'm done jumping up and down, I can say that I officially rejoined WW online this morning and I've not been so excited or positive about weight loss in a while...I did pretty good for about 6 weeks at the beginning of the year, but I had no plan and sadly any project without direction is doomed to failure. Now that my eyes have been opened to that I am really excited.
We had a really nice weekend. I got to scrap on Friday night and did 2 single page layouts and all but the title on a double page layout. I need to take pictures so I can upload them on here. It was so nice to scrap just for fun, it seems like its been forever since I had.
We got a new grill this weekend and its HUGE. We went all last year without one, so we'd been working towards a new one and had enough to get a nice one. I'm tickled and the steaks and grilled veggied I cooked on Saturday night were so fine. Tonight I'm doing grilled chicken breast (healthy...yes?). Also going to have Velveeta Light Shells & Cheese and baby lima beans. I'm determined to do a lot more cooking now that I'll be making healthier choices and have a new grill. It's much easier for me to make good decisions when I eat at home. So my goal is to eat at home at least 5 out of 7 nights (Sun, Mon, Tues, Thurs, Friday) then the other 2 nights and Sunday lunch will be depending on the day. We always eat McAlister's on Wednesday but I can make good choices there (although they don't have nutritional info available, I try to guestimate).
Nothing much more exciting going on at the moment other than as usual the clock is not moving fast enough to suit me. We have to go grocery shopping this evening but hoepfully that won't take very long.
Well, I reckon that's all for now......stay tuned for pictures of layouts soon....
Friday, March 28, 2008
Fun Time Friday!
I love Fridays! I thought it was time for a "just because" post. I think I've been way to "deep" in thought this week and though my posts were thought provoking, I'm in the mood for fun today. Unfortunately I have to be at work, but that's okay too, because well, it's Friday and that means the weekend is upon us.
I am sooooo very excited. Those of you who know us and our "yard" issues every year, will understand when I say that it is the end of March and my grass has already been cut 2 times!!
In 1998 we bought our brand new double wide mobile home and 2.64 acres to go with it. We were so excited to be land owners. We had no idea what we were getting into. Neither of us are "outside" people. Well, this was the beginning of what turned into quite a few years of distress. We had an old riding lawn mower we got from my dad, it was not very big and it took 3 hours to cut the part of the land that we were actually calling our yard. It was crazy. We ended up about 2 years later purchasing a larger mower to cut our time back some. Not to mention we had also cut the size of what we were calling our yard in half and letting the other part be overgrown.
Well during this process we also figured out that we were living in what we now call "Soggy Bottom" (got that from "Oh Brother Where Art Thou"). Our land is low lying and well you can probably figure out from our special name for our homestead it holds water horribly. It never failed that the months of March & April would be very wet ones. Therefore, by the time it dried out our yard looked like an overgrown field. It was horrible, all of the neighbors had pretty green well manicured yards and there was us...ugh. About 5 years ago our lawn mower bit the dust. We hired a guy to start cutting the yard. He was fabulous and it relieved some stress, but he didn't start coming till after the wet season, so we still had the issue of being overgrown. Then 2 years ago he decided to join the railroad and quit doing lawn care, that was a very sad day for us. He had spoiled us badly with his great care of our yard. We did find another man to take up where he left off and he cut it the spring/summer of 2006 and spring/early summer of 2007. About midsummer last year we decided it was time to buy a new mower and put that $100/month towards something that we'd at least own when it was over. (Are you bored yet?)
So, July 0f 2007 we purchased a nice shiny new red riding mower. I love it, it has cruise control and its mine! It was a great decision and I know it now more than ever. Having our own mower meant that when the grass started growing that I could cut the grass, not all of it, because there are a few soggy spots, in fact the first time I cut it I got stuck in the mud and Rocky had to rescue me and my pretty red Toro, but last night I cut it again and managed to get all but one small corner cut down to size. This might seem like a minor thing to some, but it is something that brought great stress on me every year, so for me it is truly something to be excited about.
Now....onto today, it's Friday, hopefully will be a nice quiet day at work and maybe the time will go by quickly and then I GET TO SCRAP!! It has been way to long since I was able to scrap just for the sake of scrappin and I can't hardly wait. I will be doing it just for fun, no projects for anybody else, just me! Please clock move fast!
Hope everybody else has a great Friday, I'm going to do my best to make mine a Fun Time. God Bless and have a fabulous weekend...I'm starting Weight Watchers tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have a good testimony on Monday on what a great weekend I had.
I am sooooo very excited. Those of you who know us and our "yard" issues every year, will understand when I say that it is the end of March and my grass has already been cut 2 times!!
In 1998 we bought our brand new double wide mobile home and 2.64 acres to go with it. We were so excited to be land owners. We had no idea what we were getting into. Neither of us are "outside" people. Well, this was the beginning of what turned into quite a few years of distress. We had an old riding lawn mower we got from my dad, it was not very big and it took 3 hours to cut the part of the land that we were actually calling our yard. It was crazy. We ended up about 2 years later purchasing a larger mower to cut our time back some. Not to mention we had also cut the size of what we were calling our yard in half and letting the other part be overgrown.
Well during this process we also figured out that we were living in what we now call "Soggy Bottom" (got that from "Oh Brother Where Art Thou"). Our land is low lying and well you can probably figure out from our special name for our homestead it holds water horribly. It never failed that the months of March & April would be very wet ones. Therefore, by the time it dried out our yard looked like an overgrown field. It was horrible, all of the neighbors had pretty green well manicured yards and there was us...ugh. About 5 years ago our lawn mower bit the dust. We hired a guy to start cutting the yard. He was fabulous and it relieved some stress, but he didn't start coming till after the wet season, so we still had the issue of being overgrown. Then 2 years ago he decided to join the railroad and quit doing lawn care, that was a very sad day for us. He had spoiled us badly with his great care of our yard. We did find another man to take up where he left off and he cut it the spring/summer of 2006 and spring/early summer of 2007. About midsummer last year we decided it was time to buy a new mower and put that $100/month towards something that we'd at least own when it was over. (Are you bored yet?)
So, July 0f 2007 we purchased a nice shiny new red riding mower. I love it, it has cruise control and its mine! It was a great decision and I know it now more than ever. Having our own mower meant that when the grass started growing that I could cut the grass, not all of it, because there are a few soggy spots, in fact the first time I cut it I got stuck in the mud and Rocky had to rescue me and my pretty red Toro, but last night I cut it again and managed to get all but one small corner cut down to size. This might seem like a minor thing to some, but it is something that brought great stress on me every year, so for me it is truly something to be excited about.
Now....onto today, it's Friday, hopefully will be a nice quiet day at work and maybe the time will go by quickly and then I GET TO SCRAP!! It has been way to long since I was able to scrap just for the sake of scrappin and I can't hardly wait. I will be doing it just for fun, no projects for anybody else, just me! Please clock move fast!
Hope everybody else has a great Friday, I'm going to do my best to make mine a Fun Time. God Bless and have a fabulous weekend...I'm starting Weight Watchers tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have a good testimony on Monday on what a great weekend I had.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The return to what works...
....and here's to hoping that I will work it. Yup, you are reading it here first, I, Robin Garrard, am returning to Weight Watchers.....*sigh*. I do not know why I fought this decision, maybe because it is the not the first time that I've walked away and found myself returning and I suppose that is my pride. Admitting that walking away was a wrong decision and that I in fact am not infallible, not that I think I am, but we all know how pride works...it goes before a fall and well I've fallen and have not been able to get back up. Yesterday I ate literally to the point of being miserable and when I did it, I KNEW I WAS DOING IT! What is wrong with that picture? I know what is wrong with the picture....ME.
The bible tells us that without a vision the people perish. Well, then He says to "write the vision". Okay, so I've had the vision of seeing myself Fabulous by Forty...but what I have I done about writing the vision. I've played with this plan or that plan and one of them even actually worked for about 6 weeks earlier in the year, but again with no true vision of where I am going and what I'm doing I always end up right back where I started...FAT AND MISERABLE.
A dear friend gathered her guts and stood up to me and my situation this morning. Pointed out that there was a time when I was truly an inspiration and not because of what I was saying but because I was walking in victory. I was dedicated and successful and in fact she is now doing WW and loving it and being successful herself. She bluntly reminded me that I had done it before and that she was concerned that if I didn't return to it that not just my physical health was at stake but my mental health was at stake. She was serious, real and to the point yet not confrontational, condeming or judgemental. Her words spoke volumes to my heart and got my attention and for that I am truly thankful and if you are reading you know who you are and I love ya for it.
I was going through some old emails today as I was cleaning out one of my personal folders and came across one where my signature line said..."Nothing tastes as good as SKINNY feels" and it made me sad to realize that I was so close to getting there and let circumstance and things in my life pull me back to food. I want to be there again, I want to have that same feeling of success and victory and looking in the mirror and liking the person looking back at me and its not just about vanity, its about feeling good and having self esteem because I'm successful and so although I have not discussed the expense of it with my husband yet, I am certain he will say its okay, I will be rejoining WW online as soon as they send me an email where I can skip the registration fee again (the plummer depleted the budget yesterday, sigh), my friend is going to get me a points counter on Saturday morning so I can go ahead and get started that day and our weigh in will be the same day. She goes to meetings and personally that is just not my cup of tea, I feel out of place and like a wallflower and like my money is going down a deep dark hole just for me to stand on a scale in front of somebody else, I can do that at home in front of my husband for free.
So there ya have it, me on a new leg of my journey, I consider this post me "writing the vision", because now there is a plan in place one that I know works and I'm getting more excited by the moment and it's a good thing since that countdown clock gets closer to my 40th birthday.
Please don't get tired of my journey, stick with me, I'm determined to get where I'm going in one piece and all of your encouraging comments help more than you know. Soon I'll be boring you with posting my food and points again so there is accountability. You can obviously skip reading those if you so choose to.
The bible tells us that without a vision the people perish. Well, then He says to "write the vision". Okay, so I've had the vision of seeing myself Fabulous by Forty...but what I have I done about writing the vision. I've played with this plan or that plan and one of them even actually worked for about 6 weeks earlier in the year, but again with no true vision of where I am going and what I'm doing I always end up right back where I started...FAT AND MISERABLE.
A dear friend gathered her guts and stood up to me and my situation this morning. Pointed out that there was a time when I was truly an inspiration and not because of what I was saying but because I was walking in victory. I was dedicated and successful and in fact she is now doing WW and loving it and being successful herself. She bluntly reminded me that I had done it before and that she was concerned that if I didn't return to it that not just my physical health was at stake but my mental health was at stake. She was serious, real and to the point yet not confrontational, condeming or judgemental. Her words spoke volumes to my heart and got my attention and for that I am truly thankful and if you are reading you know who you are and I love ya for it.
I was going through some old emails today as I was cleaning out one of my personal folders and came across one where my signature line said..."Nothing tastes as good as SKINNY feels" and it made me sad to realize that I was so close to getting there and let circumstance and things in my life pull me back to food. I want to be there again, I want to have that same feeling of success and victory and looking in the mirror and liking the person looking back at me and its not just about vanity, its about feeling good and having self esteem because I'm successful and so although I have not discussed the expense of it with my husband yet, I am certain he will say its okay, I will be rejoining WW online as soon as they send me an email where I can skip the registration fee again (the plummer depleted the budget yesterday, sigh), my friend is going to get me a points counter on Saturday morning so I can go ahead and get started that day and our weigh in will be the same day. She goes to meetings and personally that is just not my cup of tea, I feel out of place and like a wallflower and like my money is going down a deep dark hole just for me to stand on a scale in front of somebody else, I can do that at home in front of my husband for free.
So there ya have it, me on a new leg of my journey, I consider this post me "writing the vision", because now there is a plan in place one that I know works and I'm getting more excited by the moment and it's a good thing since that countdown clock gets closer to my 40th birthday.
Please don't get tired of my journey, stick with me, I'm determined to get where I'm going in one piece and all of your encouraging comments help more than you know. Soon I'll be boring you with posting my food and points again so there is accountability. You can obviously skip reading those if you so choose to.
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