Catching Up

Life has fallen into a kind of rhythm these days. Between reading, working two jobs, couponing (and shopping), TV watching, computer game playing, and hanging out with friends, I feel like I need twice the amount of time in the day. (Notice I didn't say anything about keeping the house clean in there...it's kind of a wreck around here.) I've gone out after work on Friday for the last two weeks...something I haven't done in a long time. But I'm finding that by sticking to my grocery budget, using coupons wherever I can, and moving around some funds, I have the money to do the things I didn't think I could afford before. I got together with two of my good friends and one old friend whom I haven't seen in almost two years to have drinks and dinner at a local Chili's restaurant. (I LOVE Chili's...two for one margaritas, how can you beat that?)

Tonight, we went to the in-laws for dinner to celebrate Father's Day. My brother-in-law grilled us burgers and Ricky and I brought dessert. It was a nice chance to get together with the family. And we came away with some home-grown basil and mangoes from the tree in their backyard.

As far as work goes, it's been slow for a while, but I have a trial set for the week of July 4th. I'm kind of excited about this one, so we shall see how it goes.

Oh! I went back on Weight Watchers at the end of April, and so far I've lost 15 pounds. I have high blood pressure and high cholesterol/triglycerides, which is largely related to my terrible diet, pre-WW. I'm on two different meds right now, and it is absolutely ridiculous that someone my age should have to be on so much medicine, so I'm trying to lose the weight to get off the meds. I want to get healthy AND look good, and I'm doing well so far. The challenge will be staying on the program. I lost somewhere between 50 and 75 pounds a few years ago by doing Weight Watchers, but then I quit following the program and gained it all back (plus some!). Hopefully, this time it will be a true lifestyle change and I will keep it alllll off. I joined the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge to try to help me get in my exercise. We'll see how well I do...

I'm currently reading The Beekeeper's Apprentice. And I LOVE it. I've heard nothing but good things about this series by Laurie R. King, and those comments are proving true. I have the rest of the series on my shelf, too, so now the question is whether to pace myself or to rush through the rest of the series ASAP. I think I'll try to pace myself. Now, with the Outlander series that I'm re-reading, I'm in the midst of two series that I really love. Sigh. Book heaven!

What are you reading these days? What series do you absolutely love?

My Creations

So, I'm trying this new thing called organization, perhaps you've heard of it? Ricky and I went to the store today and I spent all evening cooking the meals for the week. Hopefully, I'll be better able to handle Weight Watchers (yeah, I'm back on it) if I have the meals made in advance. I even froze some for later in the month. I hope it doesn't backfire, and I end up throwing out a whole bunch of cooked food that we just didn't get around to eating.

What did I make? Here it is (if I can figure out the pictures):

This is Layered Mexican Chicken, which has chicken chunks, black beans, sour cream, low-fat Mexican cheese, chilies, and corn tortillas. VERY easy to make. (All recipes courtesy of Weight Watchers.)




This is Vegetable-Peanut Stir-Fry (sans peanuts at this point). I'd just finished making it and the white misty stuff is not a ghostly visitor from another realm, but steam coming off the just-finished stir-fry. It was supposed to be tonight's meal, but it was the Fiance's turn to do dinner, so he just Foreman-ed up some chicken for us. (Why do I go to so much trouble?!) This dish will be reheated later this week and served over brown rice with crushed peanuts on top. YUM!

This is Green Beans with Caramelized Onions and Dill. This is to be a side dish with the Mexican chicken thingie and/or a lunch for me to take to work. Also VERY easy.

And, last but not least, the Tri-Color Pesto Rotini. This is probably going to be my favorite of all the things I made tonight: rotini, sun-dried tomatoes, red and green bell pepper, PESTO. I can't wait to heat some up for dinner and take some as a cold pasta salad for lunch.

I have to say that I am impressed with the ease of the Weight Watchers recipes. I was worried that this would take me all night, but it only took three hours...during which time I also stopped to eat dinner with My Beloved. I've used every dish in my kitchen, but now I have (HEALTHY!) food enough to last me until I've washed them all...

Vacation

I've been spending a lot of time at the beach with my sisters, and I have the lobster-shoulders to prove it. We're taking a break from swimming today in favor of indoor activities, which, hopefully, will not burn us. I've taken them to eat at one of my favorite places, and we've eaten at home a bit, too, since we're all poor. We've been watching the Olympics obsessively, when they're on, although I've been falling asleep much too early. In between all that, we've been having all the fun a flock of us generally have when we're in the same place. Ricky seems to fit right in...it's been a great week so far.

Unfortunately, I have to go back to work tomorrow. I think we're going to have brunch at our favorite diner today, and probably do dinner with a couple of my co-workers. Ricky's brother is supposed to come into town today, also, so maybe we'll have dinner with him tomorrow night. All this eating out is kind of hard on the wallet (and the waistline -- Weight Watchers is out the window this week), but it sure is fun.

More book news when I get a chance to get back to reading. It's been mostly magazines and the beach this week.

Saturday

Went to the lighthouse to reserve it for our wedding next year, and they are not currently accepting applications! Rest assured, however, they will be back online in a couple of weeks and we will see, then, if they have our date available. I'd like to get this show on the road. We need an officiant next. We are thinking of asking Mr. Hugh, if he is a notary. I don't know. We are not church-goers, so we have no priest, minister or pastor. And it's hard to pick just one of the many friends who would be qualified to be the one who presides over our wedding. I think, by picking Mr. Hugh, we are striking the right balance between a good friend and someone removed enough from us to not make others upset. I hope.

I finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn today and started The Hobbit. I started reading this as a kid, but couldn't get into it. I don't think I ever finished it. Maybe I did, but didn't finish The Fellowship of the Ring...can't remember. I just remember my teenage self thinking my mom was awfully weird for loving that book so much.

Emaline is consistently eating all of the other cats' food. I don't know what to do. I can't watch her 24/7. What a pig.

I'm down 3 pounds this week; 33.5 pounds, total.

Pushing Away the Inevitable

I'm spending the rest of Saturday morning trying to put off what I don't want to do...WORK. I have a major trial coming up this week and I need to be working on things, but I am quite disgruntled that I have to spend my weekend, my THREE-DAY weekend, my EASTER weekend, that way. But it can't be helped. Sigh.

I've lost 30 pounds as of today. None of my clothes fit anymore. This should be a good thing, and I am glad, but I'm also broke right now. I can't afford to buy several new suits, new jeans, new EVERYTHING. I WILL get myself a new pair of jeans, however. That was my reward for reaching the 30-pound mark.

Things with Ricky are good. We should be planning our wedding, but I think we're really, honestly just going to call up our parents one day and go, "Hey, can you make it to City Hall next week? We wanna get hitched." Oh, that's another thing about losing weight...I need to get my rings re-sized before they fall off my fingers.

Sick

I'm sick with a chest cold. It sucks. We had a half day at work today, so I went in at noon, but left right away. My co-workers sent me home! Spent the rest of the day in bed. It's questionable whether I will go in tomorrow. I probably will stay home, regardless, because I have trials and, because of being sick, am not prepared to try CRAP. God, I hate being sick.

On a happier note, I've officially lost 17 pounds. Unofficially, I think it's more like 19...once I hit 20 pounds lost, I'm getting new workout gear!

Another Week Over

Lost another two pounds this week...go Weight Watchers! And this is despite pigging out at Ruby Tuesday's with friends on Thursday night, pigging out on homemade tacos with other friends on Tuesday night, and going to the Olive Garden with my future in-laws on Monday. I think I'm getting the hang of this thing.

Got plenty of errands planned for today: pick up dry cleaning, find someplace to take the links out of my new watch, get the car washed, work on a file for work. Try to get some relaxin' done. It's a three-day weekend, so that's nice. I plan to spend all of Monday with Ricky, doing our thing, shopping, spending gift cards from Christmas. I can't wait. It's been a while since we've had a whole day together, what with his crazy work schedule. He has a job interview on Tuesday for what seems to be the perfect job...God, I'm hoping he gets it!!!

First Weigh-In

Today was my first weigh-in with Weight Watchers. My scale is not as accurate as some, since it is only accurate to the half-pound, but it reflects that I have lost eight pounds in my first week. WOW! I'm definitely motivated for next week!

I have tons of errands to do, so I'm going to go eat a late breakfast and get started.

Joining Up

I joined Weight Watchers online today. I was going to join the meetings/live version, but when I saw how much that shit was, I changed my mind. The online version is cheaper and requires a little less effort on my part. I have friends doing the online thing to support me, so now it's just willpower vs. hunger, I guess. My goal weight is apparently 115.9 pounds. I do not think I have EVER seen 115.9 pounds. Maybe when I was like 12. And it's discouraging to think about how far I have to go to reach that. What the F, man? Wow. But I'm trying to imagine how good I'll feel if I do.

Happy New Year!!!

Christmas with the fam was great. With the exception of the nightmare trip up to Ohio. My flight was from West Palm Beach to Washington DC, then on to Dayton. Unfortunately, when our plane reached Reagan National, fog had beset the airport and we couldn't land. We circled for something like an hour (I'm not exactly sure, as I was asleep through most of it), then put down in Pittsburgh to refuel. We were supposed to refuel and head right back to DC, since the fog was lifting, but after about ten minutes we were told that the fog had descended again and we were stranded indefinitely in Pittsburgh. After standing in line to speak to an airline representative for about half an hour, I learned that there were no alternative flights into Dayton, Columbus OR Cincinnati, at about the same time that I learned we were RE-boarding the plane and heading back to DC. Of course, by the time we reached DC, I had long since missed my connection to Dayton. I was supposed to be in Dayton around 11:30 AM. The next flight they could get me on left at 5 and got in to Dayton around 7. I took it, thinking I couldn't do better. Shortly after eating, I received a call from the airline, which shall remain nameless, saying my flight had been delayed 140 minutes. Meaning I was now getting in to Dayton at around 9 PM. I called the 800-number to try to get a better flight into either Columbus or Cinci. After being transferred to three different people, I finally reached someone who could help me. But her computer crashed, as she was confirming me on a flight into Columbus. So she transferred me again. After holding for about 10 minutes, I was fed up and hung up on them. About ten after five, The Fiance' called, telling me I was on a 5:12 flight into Columbus and I'd better get a move on! (How he found this out, I STILL have not discovered.) I raced to the gate he specified, with no boarding pass or any but the faintest idea I was even supposed to be ON the flight. Of course, there were approximately 100 people in front of me and the flight was boarding IMMEDIATELY. Fortunately, they changed the gate to the one right below it, so I raced down there and confirmed that I was indeed somehow on the flight. No questions asked, I just boarded the shuttle that would take me to the plane. I arranged a ride from the Columbus airport and eventually arrived at my parents' house at 9:30 PM, about 10 hours after I was originally supposed to arrive.

After the travel nightmare, Christmas vacay was entirely enjoyable. I was spoiled rotten by my parents, as usual. Getting to spend time with everyone and enjoy not one, but two! family Trivial Pursuit challenges was the best. My only regret was that The Fiance' could not be there to share it with me.



Nat's engagement ring is HUGE. We spent half a day together, having lunch and browsing David's Bridal for bridesmaid dresses. I tried on quite a few. It's between the chiffon dresses and the satin for her. Luckily, I found one in each fabric that flatters me. I'm hoping she goes with the chiffon, though, because I kind of want to buy the satin one for my wedding dress. In red, of course.

I'm joining Weight Watchers for the new year. I know several people who have had success with that program, and I think it will do me well to have some structure to my weight loss program.