~~ Good weekend! ~~

The past weekend was a good one for me, hopefully everyone else had a good one ?

Saturday my hubby got up early to go to the race track, I slept in and met him there around 10:30. It was freezing and so windy I had to wear my toque! For it being the first race everything seemed to go good, no glitches except that the score boards weren't displaying the E.T.'s - no big deal though cause the drivers still got a time slip, just the spectators couldn't see how fast the cars were running (all 3 of them?) LOL I left pretty much right after the races were over (4:30) and headed home but my hubby stayed for a safety talk. A few hours after I was home I got a call from my MIL, she asked if hubby was home and sounded out of breath so I said had to ask what was wrong!?! Apparently her basement had flooded and my FIL was out of town so I offered to go over and help clean up since hubby wasn't home yet. When I got there it was already mostly cleaned up, I just had to take the roof tiles out so they could dry out a bit. A few minutes after I got there FIL pulled up, looks like the pipe that goes to the outside faucet had cracked and water was running down the wall. We sat and had a chat after everything was mostly dry - the couches were still wet but the floor and wall seemed good. We waited for my hubby to call and thought we would go for dinner after waiting till almost 8:00pm we decided to go for dinner without him. When I got home he was in a panic, I had left a note stating how his parents basement flooded and I went over there to help, so I guess when he read the note he tried calling but I had forgot my cell phone at home and since we had already left for dinner no one was answering the phone at his parents. So he packs up the dog and heads over to see the damage, I guess he also called his Grandma to see if maybe we went over there (so now his Grandma is all worried about us!). He kinda gave me crap for not having my cell phone but I just turned it around cause he was suppose to be home for dinner and never called me saying he would be late!

I woke up Sunday morning with a tickle in my throat and a persistent cough! I also had to go to that lunch date with other NS members, so I did a little bit of house cleaning, waited for Denise to come over so we could car pool to the lunch. By now my voice was starting to sound funny and the tickle had turned into a scratch! I thought I knew exactly where Kelsey's was in Sherwood Park but I guess I had forgot so we ended up taken the scenic route and were 15 minutes late! There were only two other NS ladies there, Shelley and Sandy and boy were they ever a hoot!! :) If my throat hadn't hurt so much I probably would have laughed way louder then I did! It turns out that Shelley's hubby is one of our customers and I talk to him all the time!? She had also mentioned that she wanted to get a M&M tattoo so I mentioned how my hubby collects the M&M candy dispensers and so does too!! WOW They were super easy to talk to and Sandy's imitation of how the geese's hissed at her was hilarious! I can't wait to have another lunch with them and maybe meet a few more NS'ers! The service at Kelsey's sucked so we were there for about 2 hours and the waitress hardly ever came by! But we were having a good talk so it was hardly noticeable!? Shelley had the waitress take some pics so hopefully she will send me a copy and I can post them here!

By the time I got home from lunch I could barely talk, my throat had had enough! I gave the hubby my "puppy dog" eye's and asked him to go to the store to get something to make it better!? (works every time!) So he did, and after Denise's hubby came to pick her up I crashed on the couch! I'm feeling a tiny bit better today but my throat is still sore, sucks cause all I do at work is talk on the phone which is just irritating it more!? Hopefully I will feel a bit beter tomorrow!

**** UPDATED ****

I just got the pic of our lunch e-mailed to me from Shelley! Here it is:

Front row: Shelley (on the left) and Sandy

Back row: Denise (on the left) and me! :)

One of those days .....

Good news / bad news .....

Good news is that it's Friday!! YAH!! :)

Bad news is that nothing seems to be working right today in the internet world!?! Like as I'm typing this the letters appear after I've already typed the whole sentence!? It seems like on days that you are incredible busy nothing seems to want to work proper! ? Work is busy today which is good cause then the day flies by! But it is so frustrating when I try to look up things on the internet and my computer has decided that it's time for a coffee break!? Grrr It's like going from a push button phone back to a rotary phone!? Maybe it's from all the porn I look at on my computer ~!? he he JK !!

It's the first drag race of the season this weekend, the hubby is going to be out at the track from 8am till probably after 8pm! I on the other hand am not that devoted to the track and won't be showing up until closer to the actual "start" time of the race, 1:00pm, he is going early and staying late to help clean and prep the track. Hopefully the weather is nice and it doesn't rain but I have a feeling that it will rain and the races will be cancelled! At least my tulips will get watered !?! LOL Speaking of my tulips .... they are growing like crazy! I think the last time counted almost 40 of them sprouting up!! Although I also planted iris bulbs last fall and some of what I think are tulips could actually be iris's!? I'm such a dummy when it comes to flowers, I get so excited when they do well though makes me feel like actually know what I'm doing! ?!

We are having a BBQ at work today, I brought my "Veggie dogs", hopefully my co-workers won't think I'm too weird!? Not that I care too much about what they think but it's just nice to not have people talk about the things you eat and how odd they might seem to them!? I have a feeling that only one of our drivers would say anything at all and that's only because he would think that I was eating "hippy" food and then go on a rant about "those hippies"?! I've never tried these Veggie Dogs BBQ'd yet but I'm sure that they will taste better BBQ'd then microwaved as most things do!

Well that's about all for now! :) Hopefully everyone has a great weekend! ;)

Oh- and if you are looking for my Friday Fun and you need a good chuckle, you should check out this blog - it usually has some pretty funny stories! (Must get Hobby )And if you haven't already you should totally sign up with Facebook, it is a good way to find old friends and keep in contact with current friends!

It's hammer time!

My brother took the day off yesterday to help my SIL look after Kenzie while she was at a dance thing all day with my other niece. He stopped by my work for a quick visit and I got to show off Kenzie, she was full of smiles and giggles! I just love her laugh it's so contagious, like a belly laugh! After his quick visit he was off to feed his addiction, yup that's right, my brother has an addiction! I never knew it was so bad until my SIL told me about how he made a list, of all the stores where he can buy them and the ones he doesn't have yet! He wants to get them all, they have about 10 in their basement that they haven't even brought out yet! I haven't even heard of these things before ... it all started with my nephew, he got one and gave it a name, then everyone wanted one! What is it you ask ??

Something called Webkinz, bets me? I guess you buy these stuffed animals and have to register them on the computer, give them a name and make sure you feed them and play with them! You earn money by playing games and then you can buy them things!? I tried having a virtual pet before and it didn't live that long, I do have a Furby that is still alive and I wake up once a month to feed! LOL I think it is more meant for the kids but it seems like my brother just can't get enough of them! He's a big kid at heart! ;)

Since I was home alone again last night I decided after I took the dog for her walk I headed to the niece's dance festival. I've never been to one before and I do enjoy watching things like that on TV, like The Pussycat Dolls and syncro swimming when the Olympics are on. I find it neat to watch everyone in sync. I got to the auditorium just in time to see the 'hip hop' performances. There were some good ones and there were some that looked uncomfortable on the stage. One of the groups before my niece was super cute, I think they were 6 or 7 years old - they did Walk like an Egyptian. Then my niece's team was up, they danced to

MC Hammer - Can't touch this!

It was super funny, they did a really good job and the team earned a 'high gold'! My brother showed up after the show so I hung out with him and Kenzie while we waited for Maddison to get changed.

I also saw one of my girlfriends in the lobby too, she was one of my bridesmaids and I haven't talked to her in almost a year!? ? It got me thinking about how a lot of the people that were very important to us when we got married we have seemed to drifted further away from!? I think this happens to a lot of people, after the wedding they don't talk to the people in there wedding party!? Or maybe it's just us? We got to catch up on things, not that there was much to talk about, but it was nice to see her again!

Weigh in Wednesday!

Week 35 = 179.2lbs

down -1.4lbs ! :)

Not bad, actually pretty darn good for gaining last week!? I'm happy to see that I'm into the 170's now !! I haven't seen a 170 # in a really long time!! A lot of people are telling me that I should not loose anymore weight and that I should just stay a little "curvy". Well my thoughts on this are, I am going to keep eating the way I do and intake the same amount of calories (1250-1300, which I'm comfortable at and don't feel like I'm starving myself) and I'm sure when I get to a certain weight I will no longer loose weight anymore because it will balance each other out?! This will be my finishing point, as long as I don't start looking sickly thin - then I'll have to up my calorie intake but It's not like I'm going to be thin for long, pretty soon I will be putting on weight (baby weight). So I feel a little funny having an actual "goal" cause I know it's not really a "goal" it is more like a finish line on a marathon and even though you have finished this one race there will still be another one. It's hard to explain but I really don't feel like I'm on a "diet" - now I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not? I just feel like I'm plucking away at life in a routine that I am comfortable in and every Wednesday I get on the scale just to find that I lost a pound or two!?

My hubbies Grandma called me on the weekend to tell me that she wants to go on the same diet that I'm on! OMG!! Although she does need to loose weight and it is affecting her health I think there are other things she should be doing first before starting on a program. Like cutting down on oil /fried food, increasing her veggie intake and changing from 2% milk to even 1% would be a good start! She is getting old and stuck in her old way of cooking and eating, I don't think she would enjoy NS - she wouldn't like the food and I don't think she would stick to the program. I think it would be better if I went shopping with her and helped her make some healthier choices first. She did loose weight before, about 20lbs, just by cutting down on the amount of oil she cooks with! But gave up, probably because her food didn't taste as juicy, and gained all the weight back.

I am coming home to an empty house again today, yesterday my hubby had to go help a friend do some work on a car and tonight he needs to go over to another friends to help install a counter top! So I will be dining alone again, then taking the dog for her walk and after that I think I might work on cleaning out the trailer. Hubby brought it home the other night and it actually doesn't look too bad inside, no huge cob webs or millions of mouse turds that I was worried about! I need to get the sleeping bags cleaned and there is still some food (sugar, tea, pancake mix, granola bars and some tooth paste!) in the cupboards that is clearly garbage now! oops! LOL

Check up .....

My car is in the shop today, nothing major just a oil change and it's yearly 'check up'! We have only had the car for a year so there shouldn't be any problems and if there is it will be under warranty. Even if it wasn't under warranty it wouldn't be a huge deal, because I work in a auto parts store I get all my parts at cost which helps a lot. Usually my hubby also does the oil changes but since it has to go in for the inspection they may as well do the oil change too!



Yesterday was a busy day too, work was crazy busy (seems to be a trend lately -on Mondays). I was exhausted by the end of the day and starving! So after a dinner with a few extra veggies to fill me up I took the dog for her walk. It was beautiful out last night and only needed a light sweater on the walk. After that I had to take those TV tray's back to get them exchanged for a full set, what a pain in the butt! But I got them exchanged and had to drop off the receipt at the aunts house which is fairly close by. Then back home to finally sit and relax for a bit. The hubby was busy working on the Ford that he crashed a few months ago and went over to his Grandma's to pick up our home made holiday trailer! We haven't used it in almost two years!! He made it, frame and all, so it's not pretty on the eye's but it keeps us dry and it's way better then using a tent! We want to bring it out to the race track this weekend and just leave it out there so sometime this week I have to get in it and do a serious cleaning! I'm kinda scared, there might be things in there that should have been cleaned out two years ago!!



I'm kinda excited for my weigh in tomorrow, I think I've lost at least a pound or two! ;) I think I still need to work on my dinner's, I often find that I have no idea what to make!? I need to find more things to make so that there is a little more variety then just wheat pasta and chicken with veggies! I've never really been one to experiment or cook up these extravagant meals - the simpler the better! I am in the process of making my cook book and I'm hoping that I will be able to have a link on this blog so that all of you can also check it out! Some of the recipes I have yet to make but look really good and simple (8 ingredients or less, type recipes). And they are recipes that have ingredients that I think everyone should have in their cupboards! If it calls for something that I have to look up on the internet to find out what it is, it's not in my cook book! ;)

Busy, busy!

Well this weekend was really busy, I felt like I was on the go the whole time! Which is good cause I thought that since the hubby would be gone all weekend that I would end up bored and start thinking about Kitty. Friday was a typical day but Saturday was fairly hectic. In the morning I went shopping - 1st stop, Payless Shoes to find myself nice dressy shoes/ boots to go with my outfit for that evening. They had already put away their boots and I did see a nice pair of shoes but I thought I would check out Wal-Mart first for boots. They are close to each other so I walked over, they also didn't have anything I liked but I did find some new "under garments" that I picked up. My old ones were not doing their job anymore so I figured it was time to "down size" and get the proper size. LOL So back to Payless I went to get the pair of shoes that I saw and on my way home I stopped at Costco to pick up a few "staples". By the time I got home and had lunch it was time to go to the anniversary dinner. I stopped at my in-laws to pick up my MIL and watch a little of the entertainment that was going on at her place. There were cousin's and aunt's and uncle's staying there for the weekend which made her place quite hectic! Dinner was awesome at the hall, lots of salads and a fruit tray, plus turkey and roast beef with the fixin's. I got tons of compliments from everyone there which made me feel good. I didn't stay too late after dinner was over cause I had to head to the bowling banquet to pick up our prizes. I not only had to get my prizes but also my FIL and hubbies! I picked for our 1st place grand aggregate prize a set of 4 TV tray's and for our 6th place win I picked a cute little garden frog that has a gazing ball on his back. I also won a candle holder as a door prize and I got my perfect attendance pin and $10 for winning a quarter! After I loaded up the car with every one's gifts I headed over to the in-laws to drop off FIL's prizes and have a little visit.

Sunday I had to catch up on all my house cleaning stuff and was hoping that I had time to go to the car show that the hubby was working at and swing by my mom's for a visit but I ran out of time. I opened my box of TV trays to put them away only to find out that there were only 3 in the box!? So now I need to try and exchange them for a box that has all 4! When the hubby got home from the car show we called his parents to come over cause they needed to give us one of the "family tree"/ "time line" books that his Grandpa made. It has pics of the whole family and a story line of everything that happened from the 1900's to current. I flipped through the book last night and found it interesting to read about how they grew up with the scare of Hitler and his army, how they escaped and the conditions they lived in just to get away from Germany! They also brought over my birthday present!! My birthday isn't until September (the big 3 -0) but It is kinda a summer gift so now I get to enjoy it through the summer months! They got me a bench that converts into a picnic table!! It's really neat and I had mentioned before that I wanted one! Here is a pic: We will probably have it set up as a bench for most of the time unless we have a lot of people over, then we can convert it to a table and have extra seating! I was so exhausted on Sunday, my back was killing me, I think it's from caring around one of the cousin's babies at the anniversary dinner. He wasn't even that heavy (14lbs) but after holding him for about a half hour my arms were like Jell-O! It will definitely be an early night tonight and a back massage is also on order! ;)

Friday .... at last!

Things are getting better, I find that the more I tell people the easier it is, which is odd for me because usually I would just hold it in and hope no one asked questions. But because I deal a lot with customers on the phone and they call in regularly they know my voice and most of them are asking if I am sick?! I didn't think I sounded that bad but I guess they can tell that I'm not my usual self so I have to tell them that no I'm not sick and that we had just put our cat down. Each time it seems to get easier, I was thinking yesterday that this is probably how a parent would feel when their child leaves the home to go to college or moves out. It's odd to come home to one less 'kid' but at least I still have one 'kid' at home that brightens my day.

This weekend is fairly busy for us, the hubby has a booth set up at the local car show called 'Powerama' - so he will be there all weekend starting tonight! Then tomorrow we have to attend his grandparents anniversary, 60th I think? After we finish eating with his family I need to scoot over to the bowling banquet to pick out all our prizes!! I'm so excited about winning the top prize, I hope there are some good prizes to pick from! I also think I will go shopping tonight or tomorrow morning for some new boots to wear with the outfit I want to wear. I'm not sure what I have planned for Sunday yet, I know I want to keep myself busy so that might mean a road trip to do some visiting or I might use my hubbies free pass to go see the car show - or both!? LOL If it's nice out I would also like to clean the inside of my car - there's nose prints all over my back window! ;)

Good news ..... only 3 more weeks till my holiday's!! YAH!! Not that we are going anywhere or doing anything exciting but it will be nice to have some days off! :)

You Are the Very Gay Winnie the Pooh!

Come on, he doesn't wear pants!And he's a little too obsessed with Christopher Robin

What Gay Childhood Icon Are You?

I'm ok with this .... I like Pooh Bear! :)

Well we did it..... took Kitty to the vet..... it's for the best, she really was just suffering. I was doing fine, keeping my "tough act" up, until I got home and found my hubby very upset, this is only the second time in 6 years that I have ever seen him cry! It was tough, probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do! I don't ever want to have to go through that again but I know will cause we also have a dog that is getting old and it's inevitable. After we got home from the vet I started cooking supper, my hubby picked up some Chicken Quesadilla's the last time he was at M&M meat shop he even compared them to my NS dinners to make sure they were "healthy"! As I prepared dinner I noticed he kept going downstairs and sneaking past me, he was bringing up flowers from the basement! When I went into the living room it was full of flowers!! Three dozen roses (red, blue and purple ones?) and a bouquet of Gerber Daisies, there was a card that he signed and had the dog sign by tracing her paw print out on the card - isn't he a sweetie!! ? I love him! I couldn't even read the card cause my eyes were so full of tears! After supper I took the dog for her walk to clear my head a bit, just a quickie cause the in-laws were on their way over. My FIL works with a guy who absolutely loves animals and has tons of them, he lives out in the country and his vet bill is like $10,000 a year! So we were going to give all Kitty's stuff to him cause we knew he could use it and it would be going to a good home. This was why the in-laws were coming over - to pick up all the stuff. They also brought with them a bouquet of flowers, I wasn't sure if I would feel up to having visitors so soon but I think it was good cause it made me forget about what had just happened. Needless to say it was a crappy day yesterday but the good news is, is that it is over now, no more worrying about Kitty, no more stress about what to do. It's better where she is at now -- the weird thing about it all is that this morning we woke up to a lot of snow and deep down I thought it was Kitty's way of saying good-bye. Maybe she is up there playing with a roll of toilet paper!? Yeah - I know I'm crazy!?

I wanted to post this recipe for a salad that I am completely addicted too, it's really good for a change!

Shredded Asian Cabbage Salad

5 cups cabbage, thinly sliced

1 sm. red pepper, cut thin

3 green onions, cut thin

1 med. carrot, cut thin (matchsticks)

1/2 cup snow peas, blanched, halved

1 pkg. Ramen noodle soup mix (any flavor)

1/3 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup KRAFT Asian Sesame Dressing

#1- Mix veggies in large bowl. (Reserve season packet from soup mix for another use)

#2- Coarsely crush noodles. Add to veggies along with peanuts, toss lightly.

#3- Drizzle with dressing right before serving.

***NOTE*** Jazz it up by adding cooked shrimp, chicken, pork or tofu cubes along with the noodles and peanuts.

Calories = 138

Fat = 8.1g

Carbs = 14g

Fibre = 1.6g

Protein = 3.8g

I do a few things different from this recipe -- I just buy a bag of shredded cabbage (coleslaw mix) cause it has carrots in it and it's easier. This way I don't have to make a big bowl of it at once, I can just make a bowl as needed. I didn't have red peppers so I use green and I forgot to pick up the snow peas so I left those out. It's a nice salad for a change and I use the peanut serving as my daily "fat". I hope you enjoy!

Wednesday weigh in!

Well my weigh in for week 34 was not so good .... I gained, only +0.6lbs -- I'm OK with that though. I had a huge loss last week and this week has been quite the challenge~! A co-worker celebrated her birthday which meant birthday cake was being offered (I refused), then I had Denise's boy's 1st birthday party which was a total blast and this time I enjoyed the birthday cake being offered. Then on Sunday we had a BBQ with friends and even though I brought my own Veggie burger (instead of having a beef patty) there were no veggies to be seen anywhere and I ate way too many carb's (cheesy garlic toast, a bun for my burger and half a baked potato with whipped topping!) Then with all my emotions running wild my hubby called me last night to say he was stopping at DQ to get himself a Peanut Buster Parfait and asked if I wanted anything? Immediately the little angel and devil appeared on my shoulder to duke it out. The angel saying "but tomorrow's weigh in day and you really want to break into the 170's" and the devil responding with "but you've had a rough week and you have to put your precious Kitty down tomorrow - enjoy!!" So the devil won and I ordered a Kit Kat Blizzard (the smallest size possible) which stilled worked out to an extra 700 calories for the day!! But I shared it with Kitty as her last meal that she didn't really eat. It was really good, the chunks were a little too big but it was still yummy. I think I would have preferred a bouquet of flowers and I think next time I would be OK with just having the chocolate bar and skipping the ice cream all together!? So for this week I have two goals that I would like to accomplish or at least try:

#1- I would like to start a food journal, this way I can keep track on Sparkpeople of my calorie intake for the day to make sure I am on the right track. I am getting closer to the end of using NS and even though somethings seem to be working I would like to know exactly which ones are the better choices.

#2- I would like to get in more exercise, I think this involves me using the treadmill a little more (which I like) but there is still no satellite on the basement TV and the hubby needs to fix the box !? It looks like we are in for some rain for the next week so I should have no problem completing this challenge. I can take the dog for a quick 30min walk (hopefully without getting rained on) and then get on the treadmill to do an additional 30+ minutes. This will be good for two reasons - it will keep me occupied so I don't think about Kitty and the fact that she is no longer around and it will help me in getting into the 170's!

I will be leaving work early today in order to take Kitty to the vet. I have been running the situation through my head all week to try and help myself prepare for it. I like to think that i am a strong person and I hate showing too much emotion in front of people. This usually causes me to wait until I'm by myself (like the car ride home yesterday) or when I'm in the dark (like going to bed the other night) and then the water starts flowing and I can't stop the tears. Hopefully I can keep my composure while at the vets but I think the minute I get in my car it will hit me and then to go home and pack up all her toys, food and clean the litter boxes it will be even worse. The best thing for me to do is to keep busy, and hopefully no one asked about her in the next few weeks. I need to make an announcement I suppose but I'm sure I'll forget someone and they will unknowingly ask "how's Kitty doing?" and that will be a very awkward situation. Here is a little poem I found that I thought was appropriate, I hope you enjoy it. :(

Kitty 1996-2007

May she rest in peace.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glint on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you wake in the morning hush,

I am the swift, uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circling flight.

I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there, I do not sleep.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.

I am not there, I did not die.

Mary Frye

Tuesday ....

It was a rough night last night, I became very emotional about the whole Kitty situation!? Like I just realized what was going to happen. She still hasn't eaten anything, except for licking a little gravy on her wet food. I made some phone calls today to see how much it was to euthanize her and if I needed to make an appointment. These calls were much harder then I had imagined, they asked if I wanted a private room to say my good-bye's and if I wanted to keep her ashes. I said no to both - I couldn't even imagine being in the room when they give her the needle, I get very emotional just thinking about it! :( I was also surprised to find out that it cost over $150 to get this done! Not that price really matters too much in the situation but I just think it is one more thing to worry about, what if someone needed to get this done but just couldn't afford it!? How much worse would that make you feel!? I also called the local humane society (used to be called the SPCA) to see if they would take donations of all her old toys/ litter boxes/ and scratching posts -- they said they would but they needed to be cleaned (duh-like I'm going to give them the litter box full of litter?). I'm not sure if I want to give them the scratching post though, we just bought it and it is fairly big -- I think I'll see if family or friends want it first?!

We had a really late dinner last night so by the time we finished I didn't bother going for my walk. I think I'll go for one today though, I find my walks to be somewhat relaxing and I can clear my head a bit.

my Kitty is sick again! :(

My Kitty is sick again, she was doing really good for awhile - eating lots and putting some weight back on!! But now I don't know what happened just one day she stopped eating! ?! She hasn't eaten for 4 days! She is back to looking like a bag of bones and has very little energy. I've tried everything to get her to eat, she is even having a hard time getting water down?! On the weekend I tried to cater to her a little and would bring the food/ water to her in hopes that she would eat/ drink something. After sipping on a little water I noticed that it looked like she had fallen asleep at the water dish and her little chin was dipped in the water!? Like she didn't even have the energy to pull her head out of the dish! I think it is time..... I'm not sure how long I can let her keep going without eating!? She doesn't look very good at all, I was so hoping that she could have one last summer - sitting in the sun relaxing, chasing butterflies but I don't think I can prolong the inevitable any longer. :(

On a happier note -- I went to Denise's son's 1st birthday party on the weekend! It was awesome, he got tons of gifts and he actually took part in unwrapping most of them (unlike my nephew who was much more interested in having people do the work for him)! Every time I see the little guy I'm amazed at how much more advanced he is from other kids I know. He walked younger then most kids I know and got teeth pretty young too!? I suppose all kids are different and you can't compare one to the other but as a parent and having a child that seems more advanced then most it must give you a huge sense of pride?!?

We also went over to our friends house for a BBQ (the friends that the hubby was helping put the floor in for) and she has a 16 month old that I haven't seen for a while and has turned into a vicious little girl!! I was amazed at both the parenting and the attitude of this little girl! She is such a bully, there was another little girl there that was 15 months old and a little smaller then her that she would pinch on the cheek (hard enough to make them go rosy red) and she bit her nose (I thought she was going to give the other little girl a kiss - but then she went for the nose!! ) She would grab toys from this other little girl and when my hubby said "oh-no no ... you need to share" the mother got a little excited telling us that you aren't suppose to say "share" !?! WTH ?? She works in a daycare and that's what they taught her! You're not suppose to tell them to share until they are over the age of 2? And when this little girl started pinching the other girl the mother handled it by pinching her back? Now I don't know much about raising kids but I would think that by doing it back it would teach the little girl that it was kinda OK to keep doing it and that it is a way of getting attention? The mother blames my hubbies friends dad cause he will innocently pinch her checks or rough her up a bit!? I don't know.... I do know however that this little girl is evil - she would get this evil look in her eye every time she was going to do something bad!

Got the green light!

So as most of you know I had my doctors appointment yesterday! I made a small mistake, because I had to reschedule my appointment I must have forgot to change the time and I only changed the day. So yesterday I showed up for my 9:30am appointment only to find out that I wasn't scheduled to see the doctor until 2:30pm!! Wowser's -- I suppose it all worked out though, because my doctors office is almost an hour away from where I live and work it didn't make much sense to come all the way back to work just to work an hour and leave again for my appointment. So I stayed in the city that my doctors office is in, called my boss and told him I made a mistake and wouldn't be in that day! Instead I went over to my SIL's and visited my niece - boy is she ever a cutie!! :) I just can't get enough of her! Then my girlfriend Denise called and I went to go visit her and her little boy for a few hours before my appointment! It was great!! My doctors visit went fairly well, she was very happy with my weight loss letting me know most things that I already knew, like that by me loosing weight I will have a "less risk" pregnancy -- less chance of high blood pressure and diabetes. She pretty much gave me the green light saying that now is the perfect time to have a baby. I told her that I was fairly paranoid that we might have problems getting pregnant - just because we haven't been preventing for over two years and haven't had a "oops" yet!? ? She told me that if we are actively "trying" and don't end up pregnant by October that I should go back and we well get that ball rolling! So she is giving us 6 months !! Which I'm happy about cause I thought that most doctors want you to "try" for at least one year before they do anything for you!

I have a birthday party today after work!! Denise's boy's 1st birthday!! It should be a blast, I'm looking forward to it. I am meeting my hubby there cause he is helping a friend install a floor today and I am working, the hubby also has to go back to his buddies after the b-day party to finish the floor so I can stay a little later and have another visit with Denise if I want! (which I probably will). Crappy thing is that I forgot my camera at home - so I may have to stop and pick up a disposable one!! We got two invites in the past week for weddings!! They are both for cousin's on my hubbies side, one in Edmonton and one in some tiny little town about 4 hours away - called Robb! I am excited for both weddings not only because they are for two people that I like on the hubbies side but because by the time the weddings are to take place I should be at goal and I can dress and look really good!! I can't wait to show off my new look, I'm hoping to impress a lot of people! ;)

A lady that is on NS and lives close to me is trying to set up a lunch date to meet other people that are on NS in our area. It is for April 29th and I need to decide pretty soon if I am going or not!! I kinda want to go but I've never really been a very sociable person and I really don't want to go by myself! I'm trying to convince Jordanna and Denise that they should come with me but I'm not sure if either of them want to go!? So now I need to decide if I should go by myself and venture outside of my comfort zone to meet new people? Or resort back to my old self and not go!? I'm pretty sure I know what everyone will tell me to do and I know what I should do. I think I'll try and talk to Denise about it tonight and see what she has to say!? I'll probably go with or without them, but I do hope at least one of them will join me! ;)

Too funny!! :)

I found this blog that was so funny! It is a weight loss related blog and I absolutely split my gut when I read her muffin recipe!! LMAO !! It's so funny I hope my link works! -- Only the mature readers should check it out ;) http://www.pastaqueen.com/halfofme/archives/2007/02/the_joy_of_cook.html

Penn And Teller Get Hippies To Sign Water Banning Petition

Since I will be away tomorrow morning I wanted to post my Fun Friday stuff today. So scoll down to see today's post! ;)

This clip is too funny!! I could not believe the number of people that had no clue as to what they were signing! ??

Thursday --

So we had our meeting for the race track the other night and they seem to have lots of new ideas in mind for this year. They have also been doing or plan on doing some improvements to the grounds! They plan on adding more suites on the drag side, improving the lounge, adding a real coffee shop with 'healthy' snacks and upgrading the bathrooms!!! Their bathrooms were horrible out there - because it is a race track it is situated outside of the city close to the airport (too many people complain about the noise and pollution when it was in the city). So because of this it was like going to a camp, just recently they got running water for the bathrooms (before all they had were outhouses) and the water that they did have in the bathroom was ice cold cause there was no hot water tank! The toilets were constantly getting plugged either from idiot people that thought it was fun!? or because the toilet was just a piece of junk!?






I have been interested in getting more hours with the track - cause I'm money hungry and could always use a few extra bucks! So we talked to the manager last night who also wants me and the hubby to work more or at least come out more to help fill in for breaks and be kind of a floater!? I think being a floater will be fun cause I'm not stuck doing the same job all day, sitting at a desk typing in numbers! I did mention to her that the only issue I had was with pay and how last years pay was crap! She agreed and asked how much I would like to get -- I absolutely hate this question! I always seem to under cut myself cause I don't want to sound greedy by saying some outrageous number! So I spit out $50 an event - WTH was I thinking! Grrr -- clearly I wasn't thinking, $50 stinks too! I don't want $50 an event that's still crap pay!! It's still works out to less then minimum wage, I hate my big mouth! I hate when I open my big mouth without thinking first - and I seem to do it a lot (un-intentional of course)!! She was so quick to say OK to my stupid $50 an event that I felt like an idiot! Now how am I going to tell her that I was stupid and actually I want more .... like $75 an event!! @#(*&@ DUH !! ((sigh))






On a plus note, everyone (on the drag side) commented on my new look and weight loss! I love being able to dress up a little and feel good about the way I look - I love being able to impress people and have them look at me different. But I still feel really awkward when they start to talk to me about it and ask questions! I sometimes wish that people would just talk amongst themselves and I would just know that I look better - I don't need everyone telling me that! But if no one did I would wonder what the problem was! ? !? It's tough, or maybe it's just me being weird!? ? I was surprised at how many people made it sound like I was a failure for not being able to loose weight on my own and that I had to go to a company that supplied food to help!? Just the things they were saying, it would go something like this:






"Wow, you look good! You were busy this winter! How did you do it?"


So I would reply....


"oh, thanks- I am on Nutrisystem"


and then they would say something like...


"OH - Well .... whatever works I guess" or "well, I'm a firm believer in going to places that help you loose" ? ??






I probably would have never even said NS if it wasn't for the fact that I told a lady last year that I had joined and she started some crazy diet (similar to Atkins) where you are only allowed X amount of carbs for so long then you can slowly bring them in and she had these powdered 'energy' drinks? It clearly didn't work for her, since she looked like she had gained back all the weight she lost before winter and was back to where she was a year ago!? She is a super nice lady and we do get along so I do feel bad for her, I just think it was a crazy diet that isn't meant to be long term - there is no way a normal person could live on that diet for life! She gave me a bunch of these to try:

They are coffee sweeteners that are flavored like Mocha, French Vanilla and Hazelnut! They are not available in Canada yet and I was anxiously waiting to try them! Because they are made by Splenda they are 0 calories and I absolutely love hazelnut in my coffee! Unfortunately that was the only flavor she didn't have but I tried the French Vanilla one last night and I'm not sure if I liked it? I missed the "cream" flavor, the coffee looked like a black coffee but smelt like a French Vanilla! I felt the need to add milk to it just to get the cream flavor!? Kinda defeats the purpose in using it?! I also needed to use 2 packets in my coffee just to get enough to taste, I'm not sure if I would buy these when they do become available to us Canadians, it did taste OK but I still really like my FF Hazelnut creamer! This lady did mention that her daughter likes to put the french vanilla one in her plain yogurt to give it a boost and I think this would be a great idea! The one tiny little pack of french vanilla made my kitchen smell great! The smell was much stronger then the taste.

Wednesday weigh in ~~ !!

I am totally thrilled by my weigh in today!! I can not believe I managed to pull off such a big number!!!

For Week 33 I freakishly lost -3.8lbs!!

Bringing my grand total to -71.8lbs ~~ Amazing! That's all I can say! :) I suppose the big loss is a direct result of having such small losses the past few weeks? This week I earned my 70lb blue bear and only have two more bears to go!! I am however slightly upset and amazed that I lost more this week then I had for the entire last month!! Here are my stats ....

START=251.8lbs

Week 1-4=233.6lbs (-18.2lbs)

Week 5-8=223.4lbs (-10.2lbs)

Week 9-12=215.2lbs (-8.2lbs)

Week 13-16=208.0lbs (-7.2lbs)

Week 17-20=200.4lbs (-7.6lbs)

Week 21-24=193.6lbs (-6.8lbs)

Week 25-28=187.0lbs (-6.6lbs)

Week 29-32=183.8lbs (-3.2lbs) WTH??

Week 33 = 180.0lbs (-3.8lbs)

****Grand total*****=(-71.8lbs)

I have a pretty good feeling about this month, at least I feel that I'm off to a good start anyway!? I'm not too sure what I did different this week ~ I was sick for a few days but still tried to eat all my meals and I drank all my water just like every other week!? I missed my evening walk twice last week and ate two big Easter dinners !? I am trying to switch my coffee and tea to decaf (one more step for having a healthy pregnancy - whenever that happens)? And I have been getting awfully tried of carrot sticks and celery so I've been switching up my veggies a bit- more peppers (red,green and yellow), mushrooms and cauliflower?! I may have been a little bloated last week due to TOM? Other then that I haven't really changed much!? Either way I'm very happy with this weeks numbers and I'm hoping that I can keep it up! ;)

~~MY BEARS~~

10 - Pound (Female) Pound says congratulations on your initial weight loss.She's here to keep you motivated as you continue toward your goal weight


20 - Commitment Losing 20 lbs. proves you have the commitment you need to succeed, but a little inspiration from Commitment couldn't hurt

30 - Community Community Bear says take advantage of the support systems around you. Whether in a chat room or living room, don't be shy about your goals


40 - Determination You said you would do it and you did! That's 40 lbs. down and your very own Determination Bear to boot

50 - Encouragement Wow! Losing 50 lbs. is a great accomplishment. Encouragement Bear hopes you will help other people reach their weight loss goals


60 - Focus You set your mind to it and you stuck to your meal plan.Focus Bear wants to be the fuzzy little reminder that helps you lose more weight


70 - Willpower Just in case you need a little extra help.Willpower Bear is here to keep you on track until you reach your goal

Yesterday I was asked where I got the YVES "Mexican" veggie ground round

and I just wanted to let you know that I bought it at our local grocery store -- IGA or Sobey's. They have a wide selection of the Yves products and they are usually in the organic section of the grocery store. The mexican one was really good and It made a lot - one of their little packs are equal to 1 1/2lbs of ground beef! I have lots left over in the fridge, probably enough for two more meals! I'm excited to try more of there products - hopefully the other ones are just as good! :)

Tidbits

It's snowing AGAIN!! gesh .... I suppose I can't complain too much unless it is still snowing after May long weekend!? We have had lots of snow this year compared to previous years, I hope that doesn't mean that our summer will be more wet then previous years as well!? At least not on weekends! ;)






I'm slightly grouchy and slightly irritated today, in our house I'm the one in charge of paying the bills and making sure everything ticks along with no bumps! Well this morning my hubby called to ask if I had paid his M/C that he uses for his work and with me switching the banks around and making sure that all our direct with drawl payments were changed over I somehow forgot to pay it!? It doesn't help that we seem to miss bills, we only seem to get a bill every couple months, so if I'm not on top of things and just pay the stupid thing on- line I tend to forget that we even have the card? So now the hubby is mad cause he can't buy the supplies he needs on the card and I'm sure he figures it's my fault! I just wish we got the bill every month so that it was easier to keep track of! ((sigh)) Whatever, it's too late now - so much for getting our credit score to go back up!

I also forgot that we have a meeting tonight with the race track, we need to fill out our applications and have our orientation. We go through it every year and every year it seems like we never have enough employees to work the various stations in order to make the races run good!? But every year people show up to help for the pathetic pay that we get, I suppose it's more for the entertainment then the job!? I haven't seen any of these people since the banquet in October, so I'm 20lbs lighter since then and hope to impress a few people with my new look! I'm also hoping for a raise this year, last year I only got $30 per event. It didn't matter if I was there for 4 hours or 16 hours, I only got $30! ! It's not a bad pay if you are only there for 4 hours (minimum wage) but if your there for any longer then 4 hours it's like slavery!! There were no perks last year, we didn't even get a discount at the concession, this year is apparently going to be different? I was thinking of working the Sat., Sun races too just to get extra pay but I think they found someone for that position, so I will just be there for Friday night Street Legals!

I have a somewhat good feeling about my weigh in tomorrow, even though I haven't been 100% with my walking or the eating. My clothes feel a little looser and I just feel lighter?! I'm hoping that it's not just my mind playing games on me, I'm really hoping that my mini-challenge ticker starts moving!

There was a new season of Little People Big World that started last night, we watched it - I like the show it is fun to watch and last nights show was very exciting!! Did anyone else watch this show? Last night for dinner I made taco's (not NS - on my own), I found YVES ground veggie burger last time I was grocery shopping and picked up one that was "Mexican" mix. It is pre-cooked (which I didn't realize until I looked at the cooking instructions). And I must say it was petty darn good! It has only 90 Cals per 1/3 of a cup, only 2.5g of fat and it had like 11g of Protein. Even the hubby liked it, you couldn't even tell it was veggie 'meat' ? LOL Unlike the YVES Veggie burger and veggie dogs I tried and was a little unhappy with, this ground round was really good! I wouldn't recommend the patties or the veggie dogs though, they seemed quite rubbery and bland? I think this is similar to 'Boca meat' that a lot of people on NS talk about but I have not been able to find? Maybe it's Canada's version of Boca? Yves has a pretty good website if you are interested just click on the red YVES link above! :)

Monday!

Morning! ~~ Hopefully everyone had a great weekend full of family and food! ;) My weekend was good, I could have used one more day off, but I say that every weekend! :)

Friday was a day off for me but unfortunately I woke up at 6 in the morning with a killer headache and a voice that was hardly recognizable! This was also the day that we were suppose to have dinner at my brothers so I was a little worried that I was too sick to make it. I took it very easy all morning - sipping on tea and OJ, feeling somewhat queasy. I took a bunch of cold pills and hoped that I would feel better by the time we had to leave. Thankfully I did feel much better and we headed to my brothers, the whole family was there (except for one aunt that seems to come and go as she pleases and my uncle that leaves in a different city). My nephew was dropped off 2 1/2 hours late by his mother - I was ready so snap! She thinks she can do what ever she wants and has no consideration for anyone else! It was a nice visit and dinner was great! I didn't over indulge, although it would have been easy too, everything tasted very good. I think me not feeling very well had a lot to do with the amount I ate. We also received pics of Kenzie, my SIL got a whole bunch done at Wal-Mart, I was surprised at how cheap it was. I think they got about 7 different positions and a huge package of pictures (even a puzzle and 16x20) for only $160!! I took a bunch of wallet size pics and I got a 5x7.

Saturday was a day to ourselves, I went shopping in the morning for new sneakers, a nice top to wear to the bowling banquet/ anniversary dinner and picture frames to put my niece's pics into! In the evening after supper my in-laws called and told us they were picking us up to go for coffee! I was a little concerned thinking that they had some bad news for us but they just wanted to give us our Easter presents and have a visit! ? The hubby got some chocolate eggs and I got the movie Happy Feet and a solar Welcome sign with little turtles on it (it's cute)!

On Sunday I watched my new movie (it was ok) and we went to the hubbies Grandma's for dinner - it was also OK. She tends to either over cook everything or drowned everything in grease! So needless to say the turkey was more like jerky and the ham was kinda greasy!? I was also surprised to see that she had put out veggies! She never has veggies with her meals and it was nice to see that there was some there this time! We didn't stay too late cause the hubby had to go help move a deep freezer and I wanted to take the dog for her walk and try to burn off some of dinner!

I'm hoping that my little chicken ticker will move a least a little this week! I'm really hoping to "Beat the Fat Kid" ! LOL I can hardly wait for this weekend too, it is Denise's boy's 1st birthday party and I'm excited to see him eat his first cake! I also have my doctors appointment on Friday so I'm hoping for some good news there! :)