Happy Birthday!

Thursday was my birthday. At one point it hit me that I was a year older. Boo! My birthday was quite a mix of emotions. We had a MOPS Meet Your Table Day. That's where we all get together at the playground and meet the new people who will be at our tables. Scott came suddenly with a plate full of breakfast burritos with candles on top. YUM!! Then Jasmine (chef extraordinaire) brought out a brownie cake platter. What a wonderful surprise. I really was overwhelmed with joy. The fact that they would all conspire to something so incredibly thoughtful for me was amazing. I have the best friends and hubby ever. I even got a couple presents and several cards.

Then my day took a weird turn. I had to go to a funeral. Well, we opted to wait to go until after we got Courtney from school so we could all go. It was in Riverside so it was quite the drive. We missed the graveside part. I was thankful of that since I didn't really want to do that part or have the girls there for that part. So, we were with the family gathering afterward. I'm thankful that it wasn't a big downer. It was actually just a nice gathering with our family on my mom's side for my great aunt's memorial.

Then we headed home but had planned to go out for my birthday for dinner. We knew we had a long drive ahead so we just stopped by McDonalds to let the kids get out some energy before the drive. We played all kinds of fun car games on the way home.

Then I stayed up until just after midnight finishing MOPS folders for the mentor mom brunch the next day. We just came up with the idea on my birthday (to do the folders) and I decided to just go for it and do it. It took a lot of time, but it was worth it. They all really appreciated having the folders with all of that information.

Yesterday (Friday) my parents took me out to dinner (with our family and my aunt) for my birthday. Tonight we are going over to my in laws for a birthday dinner at their house. And tomorrow we are having some family over for superbowl/birthday gathering. :) Quite the fun birthday days, indeed.

Meanwhile, on the weight loss front. I have been doing well. The first week of the challenge I lost 7 pounds. Then .4 the next week. lol I had lost 3 pounds before my birthday and have since gained it back. I'm hoping to get some more of that back off before weigh in on Monday. :)

Biggest Loser Challenge Week 2

I'm so excited to report that I am FINALLY at 65 pounds lost!!! I had been meandering at 60-64 pounds for months!! I finally broke through that barrier. I lost 3 pounds this week!! I'm so excited!! There were several temptations this week that I did not indulge in. It felt great to overcome them each time. It feels great to have 2 big losses 2 weeks in a row.

I was so excited to get my new badge (see above) from scalejunkie. I added my new weight in the Weight Loss Progress area in my blog too and decided to add my current loss to that section. So, it won't just be for milestones, but for the current loss I am at.

Since I was achy from being sick most of the week I only exercised twice. I worked out on Friday since that was the first day I felt a tiny bit better. Bad idea. I still did it. I did the 30 Day Shred Level 1 and I have never been so exhausted doing that one before. Even the first time I did that level I didn't think it was bad. This time I was exhausted by the end of the warm up. But I persevered and finished it. Then 2 days later I did the Biggest Loser DVD I have. It was the "Low Intensity Cardio". It's a great workout and harder than the bootcamp on there. (Well, parts of it anyway.)

I am in a 2 way tie for 8th place this week. I was in a 3 way tie for 9th last week. I like moving up!!

I feel so much better. Today marks 4 weeks with this cough. I am just left with the cough, congestion, and my voice sounds funny still.However, the cough and congestion are way better than they have been. Hopefully this means things are looking up.

Biggest Loser Challenge Week 1

The challenge first week with weigh in results started and I lost 5.2 pounds!!!!!!!!

I really am proud of that. However, other people started pulling in 9.2 and 11 pound weigh losses. arg!! Thankfully it's only the first week and anything can happen. As of right now I'm in a 3 way tie for 9th place. Everyone's really close, besides the top 3. Come on people, have a donut. lol I really do want them to do well, but I really want to win this time.

It has been hard to get workouts in because I'm sick. I can't stand excuses so I tried to do a couple workouts anyway. I walked to school a few times last week which was fine. Then I went for a run with my hubby for only 1.55 miles and it was hard. I was so tired. Then I tried to run at the gym one night. I ended up still doing a 5K, but it was rough. I ended up having to walk for the last half mile. That's when the aches started settling in. I was feeling so tired and exhausted and my cough had been there for almost 3 weeks. Monday it hit 3 weeks with this darn cough. I finally went to the doctor. I ended up having a fever when I was there. I have an infection, cough, sore throat occasionally (with a real hard cough), drainage...etc. Eww! Hopefully with all of the drugs he gave me I will get better.

I will try to workout a little this week when the aches are gone. Hopefully that will happen soon. In the meantime, I will keep track of what I eat and attempt to only drink water. (Minus the Sprite Zero that I just had.)

Biggest Loser Challenge #3

Is over! Out of 40 participants, I ended up in 5th place! 

#5 Traci (Bob & Jillian's Favorite) lost 6.5% (14.6 lb.)

(please don't figure out the math...lol) 

I'll take it. Especially considering I didn't do very well. Or at least, not in my mind. I should have been in 3rd at the least if I was going at a better weight loss pace. In all honestly, I didn't try very hard. Partially because weigh ins were on Friday (and it was easier to cheat on the weekend). But really, I just was giving myself permission to sabotage myself too much. But I know exactly what I did and how to change it. And I will. The next challenge weigh ins will be on Mondays. That will stop the weekend madness once and for all. It seems like a fun idea to weigh in on Fridays so that you can cheat on the weekends. But all you do the rest of the week is recover from whatever you did on the weekend. Then you either maintain or barely lose. Not a winning strategy in my book. So, I'm changing it back to Mondays. The first challenge was Friday weigh ins. The second challenge was Monday weigh ins. The third was back to Friday (my first one) and the 4th will be on Mondays again.

Here is part of the email that I sent out to all of the participants after the finale weigh in:

What an awesome challenge this was. Thank you to all who participated.

Congratulations to SHEILA (Mariposa) for winning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I am so proud of all of you! It was fun having some of you come to see who the winners were too even if you weren't weighing in. :) We started with 40 (plus several in the "for fun" group) and 8 showed up to weigh in for the finale.

I am planning on doing another challenge starting probably at the beginning of September if you are interested. So tell your friends. It seems like those who have friends doing this along with them stuck it out a while longer. So, I encourage you to have a friend join you. I also will probably change it to Monday weigh ins because I have found that Friday just is not working. Monday will encourage us to continue to do well on the weekend and end the cycle of binging after weigh in each week.

After doing 3 of these challenges now (this is the first that I have run), I have found a few things out. I'm not sure if I have this mentality because I haven't ever won or not, but it's not about winning. Ultimately it would be awesome to win. But in reality, only one person can win. (Shauna, Eva, and Sheila so far have been winners.) You have to be in this for the healthy lifestyle changes that this encourages. For it to jump start you to reach your goals. I have seen several people reach their goal weight doing this. It's all worth it. Even if you managed to maintain instead of gain during the same 12 weeks you have done good. Or even if this has challenged you to think about what changes you want to make in your life regarding your health and weight, it was worth it. We are all winners.

Sometimes it feels like it's just not the right time for us. Whatever is going on in my life is too much right now to add in a healthy lifestyle change. But I challenge you to change. It took Jillian Michaels looking into the tv telling me (she said, YES YOU) that "There was NEVER going to be a right time. That you need to stop the excuses and start now." You are worth it. You deserve it. You can do it.  It really was life changing for me.

So take this time to relax a little from the friendly competition. Keep being healthy. And come back ready to fight for it. For your health and well being. For your kids, husband, family, & especially YOU.

It has been great. Thanks so much for joining us.

Weekend Review

As always, our weekends start on Fridays since Scott has the day off.

This Friday I had weigh in day for the Biggest Loser Challenge. I'm amazed at how few people are continuing to show up each week. Furthermore, I'm sad that so many people gave up. 14 out of the initial 40 showed up this week. I gained, like I thought I would. At least it was a smaller margin than I was expecting. This weekend isn't going so great for weight loss either. Nothing like throwing everything to the wind for your anniversary. Friday night Scott was at the Dodger game with my brother.

Saturday was our anniversary. This was our 11th wedding anniversary. I think this would be a great time to tell our love story. But that seems like it needs it's own blog. :) I'll post pics on that too.  This next picture is what my husband looked like when I met him. I was 8 and he was 10.

Sunday we went to church and a birthday party for my friend Sunshine's 1 year old, Harmony. It was a lot of fun.

Ok, now on to the anniversary blog. :)

Weekend MADNESS

Ug! I gained .4 this week. Not much, and I could have worked out in the morning to lose it, but I didn't really want to have to do that. Especially since I was such a workout queen yesterday. I was so determined to lose this week, but it just wasn't happening. I had done too much damage over the weekend to recover from that.

The weekend madness is OVER! I'm sick of it. I'm so tired of having to make up for whatever I did on the weekend. A couple friends of mine are having the same problem. So, we are weighing in together on Mondays as well. Just to make sure we did well on the weekend. I really need this. And I need to exercise on the weekends too. I have been slacking on that too. Then feel rushed to lose the weight during the week. I hate to do it, but I think for the next challenge, I might have to switch it to Monday weigh ins. Fridays seemed so much better because then I didn't have to be as stringent on myself on the weekend. Well, that is NOT working.

On a good note, I got one of the best workouts of my life yesterday. It started in the morning with doing the 30 Day Shred DVD (with Jillian Michael's). I did Level 1 and Level 2 with no breaks. That alone was insane. Then I told Skyler that we were going to walk to go get Courtney from school. She told me she wanted to run. How do you like that? I got a challenge from my 4 year old. So, we ran to school. Skyler did so well. She's really a runner anyway. She loves it. She only stopped a couple times to pick a flower. :) That's so Skyler too. We picked up Courtney and all 3 of us ran home. We couldn't go quite as fast on the way home because Courtney is not a runner. She needed more breaks. I was so proud of them. Then at night I went to the gym because it was so late (and dark). I really wanted to run outside because it felt so great. I waited too long to leave. I ended up running 4.55 miles there (5.67 total for the day)and doing stretching and abs too.

It felt so good to push myself past what I thought I could do in one day. It felt like a Biggest Loser workout day to me. It was my last chance workout for sure. And I still gained. I guess I just need to take it from here.

Today was not a good start to that goal, however. I went out with my hubby for a date lunch to Chilli's. We hardly ever eat out so eating out was not good. I did eat well though. I had their guiltless grill chicken sandwich (however I had to substitute a different roll because I'm not supposed to have wheat) minus the sauce and minus the onions (yet another thing I'm not supposed to eat). That came with a side of steamed broccoli (and tiny pieces of carrot and a little cheese). I tried to take off as much cheese as I could. It was just a tiny bit on it but still. Then we tried Frugos for the first time. Also not a good choice. It's a frozen yogurt place. I didn't have a ton, but shouldn't have had any. Then my parents wanted to come over to have dinner with us. They wanted to have pizza. Ug! They ordered mediums at least so the pieces were smaller. I had a little salad and one piece of pizza. I'm going to be working out tonight at home. Scott is at a Dodger game tonight so I have the night open after the kids go to bed.

At least I tried to make the best of the situations and I am going to work out tonight. I need to be more accountable for my actions. That's why I'm putting it on here.

10 on Tuesday

Ok, so I logged into my blog on Tuesday, and as I'm writing this it is already after midnight. Why am I still up?

1. I went to Disneyland again today. My sorority sister's daughter was celebrating her birthday at the happiest place on earth. I'm so glad that we went. The girls all had a blast together. So compatible as friends. And it was great reconnecting after so long.

2. I let Jillian kick my butt tonight. I did the 30 Day Shred LEVEL 3!!! This was only the second time I have done level 3 and it was easier this time. I was actually able to do the full sit ups. I couldn't even do it last time. I was so excited. I also did a few other moves better/easier than last time too. woho!

3. I am determined to make this week a great week for my weigh in on Friday. Last week I lost 1.8. It's good, but I want to be losing more. I know I can if I just get better on the weekends. A couple friends and I talked about our weekend battles today. We decided that we are going to pretend that we have another weigh in on Monday as well. So, the 3 of us are actually going to weigh in together just to make sure we were good on the weekends. Keeping each other accountable. I'm so excited about this. I think it's just what I need. Motivation to stay the course.

4. I hear Skyler coughing in her room right now. Oh, how I pray that she isn't getting sick. The poor girl seems to be getting sick left and right.

5. Oh the drama with the doctor. I will have to elaborate more. I have a follow up appt. on Monday.

6. The girls and I ditched the BMX bike show tonight. I seriously did not want to go. And I totally forgot about it and had thought we were doing Disneyland. Then I get the illustrious "golden ticket" home from school that Courtney won. This entitles her to get there early for better seating. Still no desire to go other than to make her happy if this is what she wants to go to. So, I gave her the choice. I told her all about the bike show and that her friends would be there or Disneyland where she would meet some new friends. It was such a quick choice. Disneyland it was. Then she kept going back and forth, but ended on Disneyland. :)

7. Oh good. No more coughing sounds from the other room. I hope she can get some good sleep tonight. They both should with all of that fun and exercise tonight at Disneyland.

8. I asked the teacher about the "3rd grade phonics book" because it was hard to believe. She said that she didn't really know for sure if it was 3rd grade for sure, but that it was the 3rd phonics book. So, even if there is one per year, it would be 2nd. Regardless, it's above reading level.

9. I also found out that she started the Accelerated Reader Program at school too. And from the mouth of her grandma (who is the librarian), she didn't think there were any kindergartners in that program. How exciting. Charting new waters. So, she will be reading the book and coming to school and taking a test on it. Then she gets a new book. There are points and prizes and fun stuff like that. We read the book today and she did so well with it. Several new words and she is learning them fast. She could probably test on it tomorrow. I'll have her read it again just to be sure before school. Ya, ya....I'm a bragging mom tonight. So proud of how well she is doing and excited about her eagerness to learn.

10. Only a couple more days until weigh in. More workouts coming my way. :)

10 on Tuesday

1. Today marks one year since my dear friend, Monica passed away. It's so hard to believe that it has been a year already. I think about her all the time.

2. I lost 1.2 last week in the challenge and am tied for 7th place. I'm hoping this week is better.

3. I feel so much better today. I need to get my booty back to the gym. I have been sooo slacking with that.

4. There is such a fine line between eating enough sugar to combat low blood sugar and overdoing it and making myself sick and too much to overeat. ug! I want to lose weight, but this is all complicating matters. I will be reaching for more fruits at home when it's low, that's for sure.

5. It scares me a little to think about the results not coming back as having this. Because otherwise, it's like, what the heck?! The side effects of both scare me too. Those foods making me sick is only the beginning of the underlying problem of it causing liver, kidney, and small intestinal damage. Let alone the horrible things that can happen with damage from low blood sugar. I'm going to try not to think about it in the meantime.

6. We had a good sex talk at bible study today. You read that right.

7. I'm a little sad and a little excited that softball is over. It was so fun to watch. It made me want to play. But exciting that we don't have somewhere to be 3 times a week.

8. I have really been enjoying reading with the girls. Courtney started reading her Fancy Nancy books to me yesterday. I'm so amazed at how great she is doing after asking about the words once. Most of them she remembered when she read it.

9. I feel a little stressed right now. I think it's from all of the testing and figuring everything out. I need to go work it out at the gym.

10. You would think with my fast yesterday that I would have lost some weight with it. NOPE! Boo...that bad scale. Come on...at least .2! Nothing.

Biggest Loser Challenge

The Biggest Loser Challenge started up last Friday. We officially have 39 participants!!! That's just insane. So many people telling other people. I was talking to Roselia, because I couldn't remember how many we started off with last time and it was 34 last time. This challenge just keeps growing. I love that more and more people are wanting to make a change to their life and take control. And huge kudos to Roselia for starting it all. It's fun making new friends. It's hard to remember everyone's name though. Especially when they are only here for a few minutes once a week. lol I'm glad to be hosting it this time. It adds a fun dynamic to it.

My first week I lost 8.4!!!!!!!!!! I haven't ever lost that much in a week....EVER!!!! I'm still recovering from gaining after the challenge. Why oh why did I let myself just eat whatever in between challenges? I still have a tiny bit left to go before I'm back at 60 pounds lost. Then I will not be looking back. I'm starting off the challenge in 6th place!! I was 4th in actual pounds lost. I plan to climb the ranks like I did last time. Only this time I would love to be in 1st. :) Watch out ladies! Here I come.

10 on Tuesday

1. We soooo need to go to the store.

2. Only a few more days until the pile up of donations will be out of here. We are still accepting donations for our yard sale. We also need shoppers 6am to 1pm on Saturday the 1st of May.

3. Ug I am sick today. I ran out of Zicam. I usually take it at the first sign of sickness. I couldn't this time and now I'm really feeling it. It's amazing how different a cold is without Zicam. I'm all achy and miserable today. Courtney's not feeling well either. She has a bad sounding cough, and has been more lethargic than normal. I kept her home from school today.

4. Don't know why I'm blogging and facebooking while I'm just wanting to lay down.

5. I had fun on Sunday stamping. It was so fun to be so crafty.

6. Needs to borrow lots of folding tables for Saturday. Do you have one we could borrow for the day? I will label it with masking tape on the bottom to be sure yours gets back to you.

7. Can you tell what's consuming my thoughts right now? So much about the sale...and other things too. Not enough energy for it all.

8. We are at 35 people in the challenge!!

9. What's up with T-Ball having playoffs?? I thought the point was not to point out who won or didn't win.

10. Loves our new table and chairs!!

10 on Tuesday

1. Once again, the baby item exchange stuff in my house is driving me nuts. And of course, there are people who are still giving me stuff for the exchange. ahhh...The exchange is on Thursday. I just know people will be coming over all day. We really appreciate any donation. But it takes time to sort it all. At some point I'm just going to tell people that it's going to have to wait for the yard sale. Because I don't want to be sorting all day today and tomorrow only to have to do set up tomorrow night.

2. Set up for the exchange is tomorrow night. I have lots of stuff at several houses so that carting it all to church is possible. And even with that, my house is stuffed full. Thankfully it's sorted, so I know what's for the yard sale and what's for the exchange.

3. The actual exchange is Thursday morning at MOPS. Once it all gets in place, it's pretty fun watching people shop for stuff. Then the joy of trying to get everyone to put stuff back in bags according to the label on the bag. If only they would do it. I hope.

4. I keep trying to sneak toys out of the girls rooms. I got a bunch out today. Skyler seemed almost oblivious to what I was doing.

5. I've been thinking about friendships and how they change over the years. Sometimes for the better and sometimes not. When you get closer to a friend and start hanging out more, or intentionally going places together and making time to spend together. That's wonderful. It's the friendships that drift away to almost nothingness that make me a little sad. I know it's a fact of relationships that we aren't all going to be each other's best friend. Just sad when a good friend drifts away. Stops calling, calling back, emailing, caring if you are at a birthday party or not. Or not ever inviting you anymore. Oh well, I guess. I don't always invite the same people to our parties. And it's nothing against those we don't invite. It's just a matter of numbers sometimes. Too many people invited can be a bad thing if they all show up. I guess I long for the time in our lives when those friendships meant a lot to both parties.

6. The Biggest Loser challenge starts back up on the 23rd at my house. I'm excited to be using our scale this time too. So I always know where I'm at. We have 14 people signed up so far!!! Lots of room for more! And I'm so excited that my cousin decided to start the same challenge in her area (Huntington Beach).

7. I started Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred DVD a couple days ago. It's fun. I love getting new exercise things. So much fun to have variety in my workouts so I don't get bored. I started with Level 1 on the first day and it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. Then the next day I did Level 2. Now that was a workout! I was breathing hard, couldn't quite do all of the moves with Natalie (who does it full out and hard), and was dripping in sweat. Loved it!! That's the kind of workout I want to do. And I can feel it in my muscles more last night and today too. Especially my butt. :) Not in a super sore way. Just in a, I feel my muscles, kind of way.

8. I want to run again soon. I really pushed myself the last time. I would like to see how fast I can do a mile again. I know my second mile last time was faster than the first. But I don't know by how much.

9. This week (Friday) is Scott's birthday!!!! We are celebrating by going to a Dodger game that night.

10. Saturday is a game for Courtney and a pizza party after!

10 on Tuesday

1. I really need to stop eating the Easter candy.

2. I sent out a mass email and a few posts on facebook to start up the new weight loss challenge that I'm going to be running this time. I have 7 officially in already!! And a bunch more who requested more more info. It starts April 23 if anyone is interested. You need to be local to weigh in on the same scale.

3. I'm excited to start it again. I need that motivation to keep eating right and exercising more. I have not been eating well since the last challenge ended. Time to go back to my dieting ways.

4. I changed the name of the challenge to the Biggest Loser Challenge. So many people were calling it that anyway. Plus, it makes it easier to see in my word docs which are the new forms and the old ones from the last challenge. :)

5. This is "Spring Break" this week. EASTER VACATION more like. Anyway...I'm enjoying it. Mainly because I don't have to set up an alarm and be up at a certain time to get the kids off to school. Granted, I still have to get up at 6 something because the girls will come in and wake me up. Especially if Courtney gets up with Scott. That is way too early (like 5 something).

6. Some aspects about running on a treadmill are easier and somethings about running on the street are better. I want to put all of my favs into one. :)

7. I love the wind on the face feeling that you get when you are outside. When I'm on a treadmill sometime I feel like I need a fan. Like I'm overheating from not having any wind. I also like that I can speed up a little bit immediately and not be hindered by how quickly or slowly the treadmill can move up or down. And also slowing down can be fast and I can slow down for shorter periods of time that way. But on a treadmill I have to keep pushing the button to make it go faster.

8. I do however like that I'm not going anywhere on a treadmill and I can stop at any point and just finish later or whatever if something comes up. I also can have my phone accessible and not have to carry it with me. Also I like that I have a towel handy. I also like that I'm not running in the sun and don't have to run with sunglasses on. My eyes are very sensitive to the sun.

9. I'm so behind on printing pictures. I need to get on that.

10. I need to stop sabotaging myself. No more excuses. Back to the hard work!

3rd Place!!!!!!!!

The 12 Week Weight Loss Challenge is over. So, I'm not the Big Fat Loser. lol But I am a big fat loser after all. :) I got 3rd place in the competition. I am so happy about that. I lost 32.4 pounds (13.1%)!! (Go ahead, figure it out...whatever.) Heidi won second place and lost 33 pounds!! Eva won first place and lost 43.2 pounds!!! It was based on percentages lost.

What an exciting, exhausting, stressful thrill ride to go through. Especially when you are near the top. Trying your hardest to do everything you possibly can to do better. I knew several weeks ago that there was no way I could win. I was just way behind on the percentages. Since I weigh more my percentage is less than someone who is smaller and loses the same amount of weight. Oh well, that's the nature of it.

Roselia said she's not going to do another challenge so I said I would do the next one. Not just yet though. I need a break. It's so worth it. Even if you are just weighing in somewhere vs no one knowing if you are losing or gaining. More accountability and support. I know I wouldn't have been losing this fast without it.

It was kinda nice to let loose a little last night and have some Panda Express. I also had some pizza and popcorn today. :) I won't be doing much of it though because I'm still trying to lose. I even lost more this morning than yesterday morning. Even with Panda. lol My stomach has definitely shrunk. I couldn't eat as much as I do. I was so full and had to save the rest for another time. I'm going to take my first break from the gym/working out at home/running in quite a while tomorrow. I need it.

Friday Fixations

Instead of having my Thoughtful Thursday yesterday, I opted to blog day and call it something different. Random things I've been thinking of or are going on in my life.

Yesterday was packed full of organizing. You would not have wanted to be in my house yesterday. I had bags and bags and bags everywhere. All of the donations have started coming in for the baby item exchange and yard sale for MOPS, so I am organizing it all. It's pretty much all sorted out now. I spent pretty much all day (besides a short play date and pick ups and drop offs for school). I also was getting rid of some of our stuff, so I have been sorting through some of that too. I still have a ton of that to do. I need to go through their rooms and find more to donate. There is still plenty of time to donate if you want. And now it's easier that it's all sorted. So I can just filter it in with everything else.

I found out yesterday that my Grandpa Hanff has cancer. It has already metastasized to several other areas in his body. He was having a bone scan done because he had unexplained hip pain. Now we know why. They don't know where it originated yet, or what kind of cancer it is yet, or his prognosis. I'm assuming it's stage 4 cancer at this point since it has moved to so many places. This makes me so sad. I love my Gramps. His wife was taken by cancer.

I just hit 60 pounds lost today!! I'll post pics in the next blog.

My race is tomorrow!!!!!!! And then final weigh in is Sunday. She moved it up one day.

One More Week

One more week of the Big Fat Loser weight loss challenge. This one has seemed to drag on. Not sure why. Maybe because I had just done the other one. I'm so looking forward to having a little Panda Express to celebrate the challenge being over. There is NO WAY I'm going binging though. This is not the end of my weight loss goals. I need to continue on my merry little way down the scale. I'm so close to a HUGE weight loss goal. And I'm already so far into what I wanted to lose for the entire year. I'm at 27 of the 43 I wanted to lose this year. So, I'll be adjusting my goal once I hit that 43. That WILL happen this year. I'm so determined to get all of this extra weight off.

Also this week is my first race. It's the La Habra 5K/10K. Somehow Shauna has convinced me to do the 10K for my first race. It really makes more sense though. I've been pushing myself to do more and more running that I'm at least doing 5Ks when I run. So, only doing a 5K wouldn't be that challenging. The hilly course is what I'm NOT looking forward to. And doing it twice doesn't sound that great either. lol But we'll get through it and finish the race. I never imagined myself doing these things. It's so exciting pushing myself and seeing what I can do. Just wait until all the weight is off. Then I'll really be more in shape to run.

10 on Tuesday

1. Skyler got sick last night throwing up. So incredibly gross. And I'm trying to not puke on her from the smell. Uh, how that gets me queasy. Today she is feeling better already. She says she feels all better, her tummy doesn't hurt, and she just started eating some normal foods. Hopefully it's a sign of a really quick bug that's about to be gone. Poor thing.

2. Sometimes it's just nice to talk to a friend. Just someone who gets you and loves you anyway. Who needs grace and shows grace. (Grace = Showing someone Mercy when they do not deserve it/not earned)

3. Is so frustrated right now.

4. I missed hanging out with my bible study ladies today because Sky was sick and last week had to miss MOPS because Courtney was sick. And Scott was sick in between. I really have had enough of the sicknesses in this house.

5. I'm back to 5th place in the competition. I'm hoping something was off with the scale for a bunch of people because it seemed like a lot of people didn't do as well as they normally do this week. Hopefully it will bounce back to normal next week.

6. So, with Scott's bonus coming in we were able to finally get some things we have not been able to get due to lack of money. It totally felt like a shameful spending spree since we should be saving most of it. But some things needed to happen and others were really fun things we splurged on (that we have not been able to spend money on at all last year). Scott's car was a necessity to fix several things. My car too. We also had to put a bunch away for property taxes.

7. I got the Nike+ Sportband to go with the shoes my friend, Sarah gave me. I can now run anywhere and be able to keep track of my time, miles, & pace. It's been fun trying it out. It makes me want to run more. Anything that offers me more motivation and variety is a good thing. I'm always looking for new ways to get exercise or be healthy.

8. I haven't even really said anything about this because it feels like such a huge expense that we weren't planning on. I can not be more excited though. We finally got a new camera. It has been hard not having one since Christmas day. We were originally going to get another one like we had but ended up getting the Canon Rebel SLR. (I'm totally drooling over it.) Since I have always had an aspiration to have my own photography business, this camera just brings out that photographer in me. Especially since it has an incredibly fast shutter speed. Getting the exact shot I wanted will be much easier now. Purchasing this new camera was supposed to be my award from my hubby for reaching a huge weight loss milestone. But we figured it would be better to get it now while we had the money. Because I will for sure be hitting that milestone this year. 20 pounds away. I promised Scott he could use it too. :) And he already has several times. Maybe at that time I will finally reveal my weight. Maybe.

9. I can't wait, but when we get the taxes back I can go clothes shopping for some much needed smaller clothes. Especially jeans. My jeans are all big. Even straight from the dryer I can wear them for a couple hours before they start falling off. What a problem to have, right? I love it.

10. I can't wait for this challenge to be over. It's wearing on me a little bit. It's hard when I feel like I have done a great job losing (like last week of 5.6 lb.)and still only gain a fraction of a percentage on people above me. If Roselia doesn't do another challenge again, I might run one. I would add a couple rules too. I like the motivation of the challenge, but being part of the front runners feels stressful. I need a break. A chance to relax a bit. I want some PANDA!!! (Panda Express that is.)


This blog would have been so much better unedited.

10 on Tuesday

ya ya so it's a day late. Who cares?

1. Please pray for my husband's job. Right now if you can. He and his whole department yesterday were asked if they were mobile (willing to move to another refinery far away to keep their job). He said no because really, we don't want to move away. I'm hoping they are going to weed out those who can just switch to somewhere else instead of being let go. His company is doing massive lay offs. He said it's getting scarier today because he sees people being walked out (being let go) today. PLEASE pray hard. We are just barely managing to get by WITH his paycheck, let alone if we didn't have it.

2. I ran 4 miles yesterday!!! That was a major accomplishment for me! I haven't ever run that far let alone in 49 minutes. It was hard and felt like torture. I didn't have my running buddy with me, so that's probably partially why. It's the first time I went past 3.1 miles (5K).

3. My asthma is driving me nuts. I keep feeling it come on. I had to use my inhailer 2 different times yesterday. Yet, it was fine during my run. Go figure. I can feel it again today too.

4. Courtney has her 1st ever softball game tonight. I'm excited and hope it doesn't get rained out. 5:15pm at EWMS.

5. I'm now in a 2 way tie for 4th place in the challenge. I lost 5.6 pounds last week. Insane. I can't believe it was only 2.2% for the week though. ug!

6. Why do cookies have to be so good?

7. Last week we woke up to find 2 chocolate bar wrappers on the table (with no chocolate in them). We knew there had been some candy thieves. Then all of a sudden we noticed 20 little dimes piled on the table. See, the night before we told them that they couldn't just eat the softball candy we were selling. They had to buy it. Then we let them eat buy a candy from the money in their piggy banks. We had a lesson about coins and they ended up paying in dimes. I guess I should have explained that they couldn't just buy as many as they wanted. It was a one time thing. lol But cute that they now know how many dimes are in a dollar.

8. Taxes are done. Woho! That was a huge accomplishment of last week. The whole process stresses me out.

9. Can't decide if I'm going to the gym after writing this blog or going to skip it today. My body says skip it. My mind is reminding me of how little we have til the final weigh in. Maybe I'll just do a smaller workout.

10. I should have a PartyLite shipment coming soon. I finally spent a bunch of gift certificates I had been saving to get some new product. I will probably be hosting my own party in April (PL's anniversary month) and have all kinds of stuff to sell off my table as well as all of the incredible specials and catalog they always do.

50 Pounds Lost!!!!!!!!

I am so excited to be at 50 pounds lost! Wooohoooo!!!! One pound at a time. ahh it feels good. I'm so amazed at how much support everyone is giving me. I am overwhelmed by love. The wonderful comments are helping motivate me to continue every day.

The pictures aren't the best this time. The differences in cameras is a little bit more noticeable this time. Oh well. We get a new camera in a little over a week. I can't wait for that. Ahh to be able to take pics whenever I want again. That will be awesome. The photos are so small on the blog. I made them smaller for the blog assuming the full size would be too big. If you want to see a bigger version, you can go to my facebook page. I don't know why the tops are being cut off of the photos either. Oh well. You get the idea.

I had another 5K run today (3.1 miles). It was so much better today. I actually ran it the whole way. Minus the signals we had to wait for. Shauna and I ran on the trail in Whittier. It was nice having markers every .1 mile. That made it more encouraging to go further.

On a side note, I can't wait for the Biggest Loser to come back on. Don't they know I'm missing that extra motivation they provide me??? Those darn Olympics. haha I really enjoy the Olympics. It's fun to watch. I just can't wait for my Biggest Loser to come back.

It's hard for me to see the differences in these pictures. It might be camera differences, or angle, or distance. Or the fact that it was at night so my pants weren't freshly washed and you usually are heavier at night. Not sure if that makes you look bigger. lol Just a thought. It's probably just the camera. I can't wait to get our new one.

Running

I've been running more lately. I did my second and third 5K (3.1 miles) this week. My first 2 were on the treadmill. The last one (yesterday) was out on the street and it was in the hills near Macy school. Wow, that was hard with those hills, but I'm glad we got through it. It is getting easier it seems. My time keeps improving.

1st 5K: 40 minutes 25 sec.
2nd 5K: 37 min. 51 sec.
3rd 5K: 36 min.

However, I think I'm holding on to all of that lactic acid and just my muscles getting used to the running. I lost .8 at home and NOTHING at the challenge weigh in. Oh well, at least I didn't gain. I really thought it would be a better weigh in since last week it didn't show my loss really. This week the scales were off by 5 pounds. ahh This last week was hard for me too. It was just a different week for me. I seriously couldn't remember the last time I hadn't worked out on any particular day. I really had been working out every single day. Either at home or the gym. Then this week happened and I didn't work out 3 days this week. So, that compiled with whatever is going on with my muscles from running.

Ah, whatever. It really in the grand scheme of things is all worth it. This challenge isn't the end all be all. It would be great to win this challenge, but in the long run, my overall health is what is important. I did lose on my scale and that is what will keep me going. And exercising is so important to overall improved health. Especially when you are losing weight. This way what's under all that fat will be fit or fitter than if you hadn't been working out. You want to be strong not just skinnier. Because what's the point if you can't even do simple exercises if you are thinner? You won't be as fit. I want to be fit and I'm getting there. I'm always amazed when I can keep up with some of the thinner crowd at the gym. Just wait until this weight is all off, then I'll be seriously rockin' it at the gym. So, watch out. :) In the meantime, I will not be afraid of not losing because I'm exercising. I will just adjust when I run to the beginning of the week instead of right before a weigh in. Plus, there are only 5 more weigh ins to the challenge.

I hit a milestone this week too. I made it to my all time low since having Skyler. WOHO!! My next goal is only a few tenths of a pound away. I was soooo hoping to make it to there today. Oh well. So the next pound marks 50 pounds lost. And then I can post new pictures. I love it when I can do that. It really helps me to see the changes if I take pictures. So, I get all excited when it's almost time to do so.

50 seems like such a huge number to me. Even though I know I still have so much further to go, I can appreciate how far I have come. 50....half of 100. Wow...I'm so close. I'm hoping to get there tomorrow. I'll post when I do. I need to borrow a camera to take some pictures. Yes, our camera is still broken and we can't buy a new one for at least another week.

10 on Tuesday

1. I'm officially a "Purple Pixies" fan! That's the name of Courtney's new softball team. Oh how exciting this all is to see her playing a sport that I love so much. She LOVES going to practices and can't wait for the next one.

2. I seriously need to make some cards. I guess that's what happens when you enter birthday season and I just gave out a bunch of thank you cards too. Time to re-supply my stash.

3. Courtney's birthday and party is this Saturday. I'm going to take her to Disneyland most likely the day before. Just the 2 of us since we are the only 2 with passes right now. Then her party is on Saturday. I was getting worried since some of her close friends couldn't come. Then the rsvps started coming in. ahh no worries at all.

4. The Fab 4 will be in full effect on Saturday. That's Courtney's little group of really close friends at school. (Or what I just now decided to call them.) Jaden, Erika, Avahry, and Courtney....those 4 could spend all day, every day together if they could. I'm glad that Courtney initiated talking about introducing school friends and church friends to each other so everyone can be friends and have fun.

5. Skyler is sick right now. She has green snot. Oh lovely! She had asthma issues last week, then a fever, now the fever is gone so I thought she was all better, now the green snot. I put a call into the advice line and they either want her to come in to get an obvious prescription (hello..do it over the phone), or wait it out to see if it goes away. ug I'll have to take her in and waste $25 so they can give me a prescription that is so obvious that she needs so that she isn't contagious at the party. Oh joy. (Oh and it doesn't help that her doctor isn't in right now so this is based on some other doc.)

6. I'm so thankful for the people in our life who continue to help us.

7. I really want to get the band for the Nike running shoes. I have the sensor and all of that but need the band so I can start running on pavement and not just the treadmill. I need to train more. The band tells you how far you have gone and your time while you are running. Then you plug it in to your computer, I believe to see all of your stats.

8. I don't think I ever blogged about the 5K. Shauna and I are doing the La Habra 5K together. My cousin, Bryan (her hubby) is also going to be running, but he'll be way ahead of us. ;) The race is on March 27th. 5K is 3.1 miles. I just ran my first 5K on the treadmill last week and it took me 40 minutes and 25 seconds. I hadn't ever tried it before so I thought I would go for it. Also, I'm trying to see how much I can do since 2 people want me to do a 1/2 marathon with them in September. That scares me a bit. But the 5K I think I could do. Even if I end up having to walk some of it. I'm sure I will because I'm not trained enough to run the whole thing. It's making me nervous just thinking about it.

9. Ah Summer...it's so nice during the winter months to feel like summer. What a blessed relief from the downpours we have been having. The warm sun has been such a treat. It's been nice to be outside with the kids enjoying the weather and not be as freezing at softball practice. (It started off warm, but turned cold this last time.) Of course this makes me think of all of those poor people who have been snowed in forever. ah the perils of living where you do. I love California weather. You WILL NOT be able to convince me otherwise.

10. Want to buy some candy? $1.00 each. haha