Moving the Scale

Finally we have some major movement on the scale. I lost 4.4 pounds this week!!! Hallelujah!! I guess cutting back on the Easter candy was the trick. What a concept?! lol So excited to see that scale moving in the right direction. It just motivates me further to keep going to the gym and eating better.

10 on Tuesday

 Wow, it's been a while since I have done one of these.

1. Please pray for my hubby. He has 3 different interviews today with Disney. This would seriously be a dream job to him to go back to Disney. (Only in the corporate side.) He is just so excited to even have the opportunity to interview with them.

2. Speaking of not having a job. At some point this month the bank will be calling about our house. We will have 4 options. (2 if he has a job and 2 if he doesn't). We are really down to the wire on this one. I am so stressed out about the potential of losing our house. Who would have ever thought he would be unemployed so long? Not for a lack of trying though. He is constantly applying to jobs. It's just so stressful thinking of losing our home and what that will mean for us and the kids and all of that. We did hear recently about housing being able to go 1 year without paying the mortgage (when unemployed) and then having to deal with that. Right now it's at 6 months and August is our 6th month. And on top of that, Scott's unemployment checks will end in October. Please God, let him get this job so that we don't have to worry about either thing any longer.

3. MOPS is starting back up on September 22nd!! I'm excited about that. Planning time is under way. I love MOPS and am excited to be getting calls from new moms who want to join us. I hope they actually do. This will be my last year Coordinating MOPS. Originally it was because Skyler would be in kindergarten this year so I would be graduating at the end of the year (and out of MOPS). But we decided to expand our MOPS group to moms of 1st graders. We were going to expand to all of elementary, but we didn't want to put too much on our leadership team who was already on overload. So, we just expanded it one grade to include more moms. (Especially since there is currently no program at our church specifically for elementary school moms.) Maybe next year they could expand it to all of elementary. Or maybe not. Who knows? So, Amy (a fellow member of the steering team) and I will be done after this year but still in MOPS the year after. We can help them but won't be leading it. Hopefully this will make an easier transition so we can answer questions and be there for support.

4. My girls love this VBS (vacation bible school) they are going to right now. It's at Shepherd of the Hills and the theme is "PandaMania". The kids have rave reviews about it. Our church's was last week and they loved that one too. Courtney especially loved "Discovery Days". She picked the casting call (drama class) and water world (water games/play class). I was so excited for her to experience it because I remember doing it when I was her age.

5. Our whole family is trying to be healthier. So you're all on notice. No more pizza runs or letting my kids have 2 servings of ice cream when they're at your house. We are going to try to not reward with food either. We are going to try to be very active and have healthy eating combine with that. This will be interesting considering we are camping this weekend.

6. Yeah...camping is this weekend!! Usually we go to Shaver Lake. But the parental figures decided to do Lake of the Springs instead. Boo!!! It's never better than Shaver when we pick a different place (even if it's free). Let's do Shaver next year. lol Let's remember Bass Lake..lol My family knows what this means.  (1 ambulance ride and 2 trips to the hospital and 2 kidney stones later.)

7. This last year has not been good on my waist line. I have been giving myself too much slack in the eating department and trying to work it off only to stay the same or gain. This is going to change. I want my workouts to be decreasing the number on the scale not evening out what I already did that day. Now that I'm not in a challenge right now I just know I need to do this for me. No other reasons than that. No more excuses.

8. I often wonder why my "friends" don't "like" my photography page. I have more friends on facebook than people who "like" my page. (And some of my fans or people who like it I don't know.) I mean really, it's not like it really matters. I know not everyone will actually like it. Not everyone's work is going to appeal to everyone. Just thought my friends would do me a favor. Supposedly the more likes you have the further up on searches you are. So, it would help the business. I'm not worried about it though. It is what it is. People will like it or not. And my business does not hang on the balance of how many likes I have. Some people I have even invited a couple times. The thing about this is that Facebook doesn't tell you who ignored it or who just hasn't looked at the request that is sitting there in their requests. So, I don't know if you simply want to not have anything to do with it or if you just haven't looked at it. (However, the people who frequent facebook I'm assuming either don't know where their requests are or are ignoring it. boo) The really only reason this matters is when I'm posting pictures. I want to gain more interest so I was posting them on my personal page (simply to reach more people and so their friends can be tagged and make comments). But I would think it would drive more to my business page if I only put them there. That way if friends and family would like to comment on them they have to like the page first. This doesn't always work though because people just look and choose not to comment/like. Then you have no idea if people like what you just posted or not. Just my ramblings of the issues with using facebook to try to gage more interest for your business.

9.  I filed my first e-file for taxes for my business to the BOE (Board of Equalization) for the state of CA. It was easier than I thought it would be. Especially since I just had to have all of my numbers ready and wasn't sure which ones I would need. Getting ready for it was more than actually doing it. Glad that's over. I only have to do that fiscal yearly so I'm glad I won't have to do it til next July.

10. If we have funds I'm going to throw a business 1 year birthday party in October. My photography business started last October so I thought it would be fun to throw a 1 year "birthday" party. I'm thinking of inviting all of my past clients and anyone interested in the future. I'm thinking of holding a model search and taking pics of those interested. And I would take pics of everyone who came and give them those pics. And am thinking about doing a photo contest on my facebook page. I just need to figure out the details and get-er-done. So much fun just thinking about it all. :)

Boy, I guess I had a lot to say today.

Blogging

I keep thinking about all of the different blog posts I want to do and never get around to doing it. So I'm going to write a little while I'm thinking about it. Nothing special, no topic, just writing. I keep saying to myself that I will blog after that next project is over. Then I will have more time. Then the next project comes that takes over my world and I don't have much time anymore (again).

Life has been fun. We have been consumed by softball. In a good way. Scott is the manager of the girls' team and I am one of the coaches. The Ladybugs are so adorable. It's T-Ball still, but half way into the season they started doing coach pitching to try to hit it that way. They have been doing great. I can't believe the season is almost over. I am not, however looking forward to play offs. Didn't they learn anything from last year? Last year we had play offs for the first time in T-ball. What are they thinking? First of all, there better be an umpire this year. Last year it was a disaster with coaches making their own rules because the coaches were supposed to be the umpires. That totally doesn't work. So, there is one more season game (on April 30th) and then play offs, closing ceremonies, one more fundraiser for our team party, and our team party left to go. Seems like a lot, but it will probably all be within the next 2 weeks or so.

Photography is going great. I photographed 2 weddings now. The second was on a cruise to Mexico. That makes me officially an international destination photographer. hehe :) However, when you are a photographer not only for a wedding, but for a whole cruise, you come home with a TON of photos. I'm still editing them all. :) I am excited to be learning my new photo editing program as well as some actions that I just started using. It's so fun to play around with the pictures. Now once I'm done with these I can work on some of mine. ;)

I have been sick for a long time. I was sick for at least about 2 weeks (on and off) before the cruise. Then I was well for the cruise. Then the day after we got back (3/29) I started this sickness. So, that's over 3 weeks ago now. Thankfully the sinus infection/cold part is pretty much gone now. But I'm still dealing with the Vertigo. I finally went to the doctor last Friday because I looked at my medication label to find that if I had these symptoms I should stop taking it and call a doctor. Oh great...just what I needed. Turns out I was having at least part of my problem was a reaction to the medication (Mucinex D). So I got on new decongestants and stopped taking that med. The Vertigo, however, is still around. It's WAY better than it was for sure. Yesterday was so much better than any day since having it. I even took a walk and it wasn't that bad. (My leg and back were killing me, but I wasn't that dizzy.) Then last night had to sit a few times after feeling the motion again. So, it's getting much better, but I'm still dealing with it.

Due to dealing with the Vertigo, I haven't been able to exercise. The last really good workout I had was the day I got sick this time 3/29. Since then I have only been able to take 2 walks. I'm taking it slow and am planning to slowly increase my workouts to get back to where I was. Weight wise and strength/endurance wise.

I decided to stop doing the weigh loss challenges at my house. It became too much and I'm over it. Tired of the constant calls to have a different weigh in time and sitting here all day weighing in people. And coming home to weigh someone in and having them be late or not show up. I love getting to know everyone and encouraging everyone. But that I can still help do through facebook. The new Biggest Loser Challenge will be hosted by Marlo. She's the woman who won this last challenge. It starts the first Tuesday in May. I believe that's the 3rd. I can get you the info if you are interested. She's adding a men group on if she gets enough men to sign up. (Two separate challenges.)

I'm so thankful that my husband is who he is. He has been such a huge supporter and has helped an encouraged me along the way no matter what I am personally going through. He is still looking for a job. He had a second interview with the Gas Co. but they still haven't called him back. They did say they hadn't made a decision yet. So, I guess that's good. I'm hoping they are deciding to make a second position and this is why they are taking so long to get back to him.

Ok, time to move on to more editing and house cleaning after.

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. :)

Happy New Year

It's been a while. Christmas and New Years have gone and here I sit heavier than before they came. BOO!! Just means I have to work even harder.

Things I need to work on:

-Not undoing all of the work in the gym for food.
-Being more careful when going out to dinner.
-Eating way more vegetables
-Drinking more water
-Working out more often (getting back into that habit)
-Limiting my chocolate
-Not eating crap that will just make me sick
-Losing weight BEFORE the next challenge starts.

Etc...

I'm working on the 365 photos this year. One each day. I have a feeling most will be on my phone since we are out and about so much. So, not the best quality or anything but I will be posting them on my facebook page. I have been wanting to do that since I first heard it and thought the new year was perfect to start. I think it's funny that my husband is doing it too. So we can only count pictures we take. :) Or at least that's what I'm doing. He's already stolen a picture. lol

Photography is going really well. I just booked my first wedding!! So exciting!! It's my sister-in-law's sister who is getting married on a cruise in March. Pretty sure I'm doing my first event too in February. A high school reunion. Sounds fun! It's all so new so it makes me nervous. But I know once I'm doing it, it will be a blast and turn out great.

My little Skyler turns 5 next week. That is so hard to believe. She is getting so old. She starts kindergarten this fall too. She has started reading and I am so proud of her. We are doing a smaller party for her this year. We only invited a few of Skyler's friends (and their families) and our family. We are so incredibly thankful to be having a party at all. 

Courtney will turn 7 next month. AHHH!! She is going to be having a birthday sleepover. Oh help us! I can only imagine several 7 year old girls running around the house. She is amazing at school. She brought home a library chapter book and read the whole thing in 1 hour.

Skyler and Courtney are starting softball soon. This will be Skyler's first season and Courtney's second. This is probably the only year they could be on the same team so we are excited that Skyler finally said she would play. We just wanted her to try it out to see if she likes it. She loves doing it at home so we thought she would like it. Skyler did such an amazing job at soccer. She loves soccer.

I am the sole Coordinator for our MOPS group this semester. (Last semester I was Co-Coordinator with Danielle) So far it's going really well. Our team is amazing!! January (and August) is such a hectic month for MOPS. So many details to get lined up.

The Biggest Loser Challenge starts back up on the 17th. I could not start it before Skyler's birthday party. Too much craziness. And way too much to do before then. This will probably be the last one I run (with people coming over to my house to weigh in). I could see running more with people not coming over, but it's just so much having to be home all of the time during those weigh ins and all of that. It would be nice to just show up to a weigh in instead.

Anyway, that's my little update. I hope to get on here more often.

Long time no post

Hey everyone! It has been quite a while since I posted on my blog. Things are going well.

I am keeping up with the weight loss. The challenge is going well. We are in week 7 now. I am stepping it up by exercising a whole lot more. It's working. It is a miracle that I'm weighing the same right now as Monday though because of the influx of masses of candy over here. I am thankful that my favs are gone. No longer does the candy bowl call my name. (Ok, ok....not as much.)

The photography is going great. I'm continuing to constantly learn new things. Trying new things out and wishing I had better equipment to help in that endeavor. It will happen. :) I'm so excited that I'm doing my first destination photo shoot this weekend!!!!! That's right! One of my friends is paying for us to stay in Santa Maria for the night in a hotel so that I can do her photo shoot. I am so excited. I am loving this process of learning. Wishing I could learn more faster. :) I love finding new locations and seeing the beauty in all of the things around us and how wonderful pictures would look all over the place. It's definitely a learning experience. I'm already cringing at some of the early editing things I tried because I have already improved getting a similar look (but better) on a pic. But some of the first ones have yielded some of my favs as well, so I can't complain. I ordered business cards and cards for free photo sessions to give out for raffles and stuff like that. I'm excited to donate a photo session to our MOPS raffle and our Christmas Presence raffle as well. I am loving this business and so excited that I got out of my comfort zone of imagining the dream and just starting living the dream.

Something exciting happened on Monday. My family was called for an audition for a national commercial for Ford Explorer. They were picked after submitting photos to come to the audition. Courtney, Skyler, my mom, and my in laws were all part of the audition. They wanted real grandparents with their real grandchildren for the commercial. The grandparents were excited and nervous at the thought of it, but went anyway. :)

Here are a few of the kids from Halloween.

Sleeping Beauty

 Ariel

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.

Weight Loss Plans

I lost .6 last week! Ya, I was rather disappointed with that. Glad it was still a loss. But as of Saturday I was at 4 pounds down. That's right. I managed to somehow gain back what I had lost in 2 days. How the heck? Thankfully it's already down more. I just need to keep up the momentum from losing. Keep going and not sabotage myself like I know I have in the past. Since my weigh in on Monday I ran a 5K in the hills and went to the gym last night and did an interval workout on the elliptical.

I plan to workout again today too. Probably running today if it's cool enough.

I plan to take my own food to a pool party today.

I plan to workout Friday or Saturday (work it in one day).

I plan to run on Sunday night.

I plan to write down everything I eat. That seems to be the new key to keeping food out of my mouth.

10 on Tuesday

A little late. Who cares? lol

1. I have been so busy these past few days getting stuff done for MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). Especially yesterday and today. It's a good thing. A little stressful at times, but overall good. Since I am coordinating it with Danielle we have had so many things to do lately. A massive check off list of sorts. :) Thankfully, I am very organized when it comes to this stuff. That's just in my nature to do that. It's awesome seeing it all come together and getting together with all of my friends. I love those women.

2. Ok, well I already confessed my gain from last week (.4)..but look out everyone. This week is going to be awesome. I'm not going to spill the beans yet. But I have already been doing great. This writing down everything you eat is really working. What a concept! lol

3. I ran a 5K last night. I'm happy to report that my foot/heel feels fine. It definitely likes the shorter distances better. First of all I can't believe I'm calling a 5K a short distance. I said the same thing about a 10K the other day. Because compared to the longer ones I have been doing, those feel short now. I caught myself saying it too. Weird. I am so thankful it's ok today. My leg on the other hand is hurting. It started giving me a tiny bit of trouble on my 10K last Saturday but got better and I didn't think anything of it. Then almost the whole 5K last night it was hurting. Especially at the end. It's at the top of my leg like around it. I wonder if that is the hip flexors. I'll be resting tonight and tomorrow for my long run on Friday. 9 miles this week. EEEK!!

4. How does my house become a mess so fast. Oh wait! I can tell you. 2 kids who run around taking things out and not putting them back. ahh At least their rooms are still clean.

5. Not sure how healthy this is, but everyone asks for my meatball recipe. It's really not a recipe at all. Just putting a couple things together. It's totally cheating, but everyone thinks they are divine. 2 packages of frozen meatballs (Italian is the best....yes totally cheating), one bottle of Masterpiece BBQ sauce, Dr. Pepper That's it folks. You put the meatballs in the crock pot. Then pour in the bbq sauce until you cover all of them. You'll have to stir it around a little. Then pour in the Dr. Pepper until it reaches the height of the meatballs. Put on low for several hours or on high for a few.

6. I want to get one of these SpiBelts. So awesome. That way I can carry my phone with me and my key without worrying about needing a phone on my runs or my key coming off my shoe.

7. I just changed my picture for the header for my blog. I kept wanting to change it since I look so different. The last one was from Easter.

8. As of right now Skyler wants to be a black kitty cat for Halloween. (She got the idea from Dora's Halloween DVD). Courtney wants to be Jack Skellington (from Nightmare Before Christmas). Why she wants to be Jack and not Sally? I don't know. lol I'm sure they will change their minds before then. I'm really surprised how long they have said they want to be these 2 things. Quite a while.

9. Wow, it's hot here. We didn't have to have our ac on for a week and now I had to put it on. It's on 80 degrees and still the ac can't keep up with it. Actually, right now I'll go turn it off again and open the windows again. We get a good cross breeze here.

10. I've been trying to drink a lot more water lately. And since that's really all I drink, that's an even better thing. Occasionally I'll have a Sprite Zero, but I can't have too much of it or it will make me sick. Speaking of water....gulp

Weekend Review

This weekend was again packed full of fun events. Friday I got to go out with "my girls". We had a MOPS Steering Appreciation dinner at El Cholo. This is an amazing Mexican restaurant here. We decided to do an appreciation for Danielle too. We got her a gift card and I made her a "card".

This was the best one of these I have ever done. It's made with paper bags, scrapbook paper, ribbons, pictures, and staples. Each of the little ribbons on the right side pulls out a paper with a picture or writing on it. We all had our own space to write a message and I had a few cute pics too.

This is the inside of one of them. On the right was one of the spaces to write. She loved it. It was a lot of fun to make.

My girls!! The MOPS Steering team (minus Nanette who couldn't come). Amy, April, me, Eva, Sheila, Candice, Danielle, and Christina
The Steering Leadership team are the leaders of the leaders in MOPS. We all are in charge of some aspect of the MOPS group.

This was the first party of Saturday. A pool party for her softball team. Here is my poser.

Even though they already got their trophies at the Closing Ceremonies, the coaches wanted to make it special for each of them. They took turns talking about each girl and giving them the trophy. Coach Gene, Manager Sarah, and Coach John

I didn't take any pictures of the second party. Boo! I forgot. We went to Parnell Park for a farewell party for the Lane's. So sad to see them moving, but great things are in store for them.

Party #3 was Grace's birthday party. This one we did without the kids. We knew it would be a mainly adult party, so the kids would probably have been bored. Instead they got to go to their grandparent's house to have fun. Little did we know they would end up sleeping over. Woho! They begged apparently.

Sunday we went to church as usual. Then we got to see our nieces, nephew, brother, and sister-in-law. They moved back to California from Colorado. We couldn't be more excited to see them move back. We surely missed seeing them all the time. The only way we could be more excited is if Susie, Adam, and Bella moved down too. ;P haha Ya, I can dream. That's my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and niece. (Scott's sister's family)

Ah I just love this one of Courtney.

They both fell asleep in the car on the way home. I guess they were exhausted from playing with their cousins. The next day (today) we got to spend time after school swimming with them too. Ahh it's so nice having them back.

Ok, so now to the not so good part. I ate HORRIBLE this weekend. I snacked on chips galore at the first party, then had cookies on top of that and lunch. Then wasn't going to eat hardly anything at the third party but still ended eating dinner (granted smaller, but still) there and some little candies. Then Sunday we had donuts at church that I just apparently had to have. Then we went out for dinner with my parents. My meal was good (salad), but we had chips and salsa and I ate too much.

I did run last night to try to counter act some of it. ug I hate it when I do so horribly on the weekend. Seriously, why can't I get my act together? I need to either stop going to so many parties, or control myself better at them. ahh I need to get back into the mindset that it's not ok to have everything I want.

I weighed in this morning and was up 3 pounds since Friday morning. Ahh!! That's ridiculous! I have my work cut out for me for Friday's weigh in. I did workout this morning (elliptical for 30 min., stretching, abs, and strength training with legs). So, hopefully that helps. Thankfully my husband is eating what's left of the M&Ms right now. Those have been a challenge for sure. Adding some almonds to those has been a huge weakness. It's like a really awesome trail mix. One that I can not stop eating. I can't eat peanuts, so that was a great alternative. HOWEVER, it's sooooo bad. The almonds alone would be a good snack. Uh, I feel sick just thinking about it. These and other such snacks have to find their way OUT of my house. Because I will eat them.

Dear Traci,
It's not ok to make trail mix (for me).
It's not ok to have so many chips, let alone 3 nights of chips.
It's not ok to eat what makes you sick (especially when you don't know the threshold).
Stop working out just so you can eat more.
Eating 2 bowls of cereal is NOT acceptable.
Drink even more water. Especially with this heat and all of that exercise.
You're not going to lose as much as you could if you keep eating like that on the weekend.
You don't have to win every challenge that presents itself, let alone participate in them all.
Take care of your hip and fix that bed just in case that's the problem.



I got the idea for the letter to myself from Jack Sh*t Gettin' Fit.

10 on Tuesday

1. Why do I do this to myself? I have a great weekend (first in a long time I actually lost over the weekend), then gain yesterday. Then have an awesome salad for lunch and scarf down a bunch of little cookies. ahhhh Why oh why do we even have these little morsels of goodness? Don't we know they call my name from the cupboard. And I shouldn't even be eating them at all. Let alone scarfing them. I think I need to remind myself how bad they are for my body. In more ways than one.

2. Ah my Panera girls. I love hanging out with you. This morning it was Danielle (and Elliott), Dawn, and Nanette (and Matty). We started this tradition of going to Panera before our bible study. Now that bible study is over we decided to keep it going. No, this is not a closed group. lol Feel free to join us at about 8:15 on Tuesdays.

3. We weekly have to fight over the big table with this group of "older gentlemen". Not really a fight, but we try to get there first. We never know how many of us will show up and most of us with kids so we need the room. It's the days like today when Sky and I are waiting or Danielle is waiting that they get all uppity like we are snagging their table. I wonder if they go there every day. We usually end up having the same number of people they do. We just get there faster usually. One week Danielle was standing in front of the chair about to put her stuff down and the little old man came and threw his paper on the table in front of her trying to snag it from her. She was shocked of course since she kinda was already at the table with her stuff. In the vast scheme of life, our little battles with the grumpy old men are nothing. I just think it's a funny story to share.

4. I lost .6 last week. A loss is a loss, right? Man I want this week to be better. I'm hoping to recover from yesterday and today quickly so I can lose more this week. The progress has seemed so slow lately.

5. I got some bad hip pain Sunday night after I ran. I am hoping it was from not stretching after my run 2 days in a row. I am in the habit to stretch after a run at the gym. It's just what I do. But at home, it's so easy to forget. All day Monday it was still hurting every time I stepped. So, I didn't get a workout in yesterday to help my hip heal. Then this morning it felt really good. I eased my way into a workout today. I did the elliptical machine and walked. I stretched a bunch of times on that particular muscle group around my hip. And so far since my workout it's not hurting. Little twinges here and there, but not much. A lot better than yesterday.

6. Yesterday really felt like summer. I got all thrown off when I thought about the fact that Courtney had school today.

7. I would love to spend a weekend going through our garage. I know there is a ton of stuff we could get rid of. Then we could put other things away and have more room in there. We also need more shelving. We definitely need some over the washer/dryer. Our stuff is just sitting on top of the dryer right now. A shelf would be awesome. I wish I had some of those sturdy metal shelves for our garage to put my PartyLite stuff on. I could be all organized like how I want. It would be awesome.

8. I ran in my neighborhood again on Sunday and ran the whole thing. This time was not as easy. I did not feel like I could keep going and going. This run was as the sun was going down and after dinner (an hour). So, I have a feeling that had something to do with it. The run on Saturday was in the morning (8am) after cereal (1 hour before).

9. We have been so blessed to be invited to so many parties. We are at the point that we are going to have to start saying no. Of course we have to if we already RSVPed to another at the same time. It's just hard when the second one you find out about is equally as important to go to as the first. Oh well, people understand, right? I hope so.

10. A couple times last week I got to the gym expecting to have an easier workout and do elliptical. To my surprise, all of those machines were taken, so I went to the treadmill. This is opposite world apparently. Normally every time I want to run the treadmills are all taken. So I ended up having more energy than I thought and getting through running just fine. It just took a little longer to warm up. This just shows that we really have more in us if we really want/have to try. I thought I needed an easier workout and had a hard one. :)

30 Day Shred

Awesome workout! I recommend it. Today I decided to push myself in my workout so I could lose weight this week. I did Level 1 AND Level 2 without breaks in between. It was pretty hard core. My muscles are feeling great and I'm not sore from it. However, by the end of it I was so exhausted. I have been battling being sick for a week now and am not 100%. I was so exhausted that I had to take a nap after my shower. I had this huge need to lay down. I guess I did too much too soon. Oh well. I was just excited that I did both together. That was awesome. I still have yet to try Level 3.

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. 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

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.