So this is Christmas.....

I made it through thanksgiving without doing too much damage to my diet. Only gained a few pounds and have taken that back off already. But now, here come Christmas. Lots of goodies and other great foods. That will be followed closely by New Years and I'm just SURE that there are some margaritas with my name on them out there somewhere. So after the first of the year, I'll be back to getting serious about losing more weight.

But seriously, I am really looking forward to the holidays. Aside from the god awful cold freakin weather, I love going up to Michigan and spending time with my family. My grandchildren are awesome. And they are so funny!!! Love them! Cassie and I will stay up into the wee small hours of the night chatting and watching chick flicks. Adam will most likely be working out on the road but I hope I get to spend a little time with him as well.

So in the spirit of the season, while most of us are moaning and groaning about the economy and such, I came across this classic Youtube video. It kind of puts things in perspective.

Yeah, I'm still here.....

I'm not sure why I don't update this thing more often. Probably because I'm the only one who reads it! LOL!
So anyway, I'm still plugging along on my weight loss. Up to 61.4 lbs now and feeling pretty good about it. I've dropped 4 sizes in jeans and will probably be dropping another size soon. Yay me!!

Other than that, I've been working on making some Christmas gifts and cards. I've never really liked making cards before but for some reason, I'm hooked on it now. I've made around 15 cards so far and have a ton more ideas in my head.

The weather has turned the corner towards winter and I hate it. I hate being cold. Hate it. But there's nothing I can do about it so I dug out some of my favorite soup recipes to console myself.

I guess that's it for now. I'll try to upload some of my cards soon.

Wow...it's been a while huh?

I'm not sure why I haven't updated this for so long. Lazy I guess. Anyway, I'm still plugging along on Weight Watchers. So far, I've lost around 55 pounds. I'm very pleased with my progress and I can really see a difference in how I look and feel. I've finally had to put my "big" clothes away and dig through the closet for smaller sizes. Woohoo! There's been no major setbacks but there has been a few weeks that I really had to give myself a pep talk to stay focused. I keep track of my weight everyday even though the 'experts' say not to do that. Eh, what do they know...

Now scrapping....well that's a whole other thing. I haven't done much at all in that category. I do have plans to work on a layout or two this weekend. But I have a whole laundry list of things I want to get done this weekend so we'll see...

So, I guess that's it for now. I'll try to be a little better about checking in here.

Check out my Slide Show!

I just gotta tell ya.....

This losing weight thing ain't easy! I've been working at it since November. I wanted so badly to hit the 35 lb mark this week. I didn't. I stayed the same....to the tenth of a pound. Next Thursday is the last week of this session. I, of course, am signing up for another session. So I will have to think of a new set of goals to achieve this time.

For starters, my long term goals for the session are to lose another 10% of my present weight and then to hit 50 lbs by the end of June. That would give me 10 weeks to lose 15 lbs...a pound and a half a week on average. Should be doable. (crossing fingers)

Short term goals...hmmmm. I need to drink more water and get more exercise. I do have a 4 mile walk coming up on April 25th for the March of Dimes. But I need to more. the problem is that I don't LIKE exercise.....at all. Never have. Never will. But I KNOW I have to do it.

So for now, that is enough to think about.

Just a little update....

I'm still pushing toward my weight lose goal. I lost 2 lbs last week, which puts me at 32.6 lbs total. I'm pretty darn proud of myself for hanging in there this long. There's been days that I didn't think I could do it, believe me! But the pay off on weigh in day always makes it worth the struggle. The WW leader had a little motto written up on the flip chart during class. It's nothing that I haven't heard before but I wrote it down anyway.

There are people who make things happen.

There are people who let things happen.

And there are people who say how in the world did that happen?

I'm going to be one the people who make things happen. I'm going to keep working to reach my goal and be healthy.

Thirty pounds of Potatoes!

Yep! That's right! That's what I've lost now! Well, 30.6 to be exact! I envision 3 of these attached to my body. And now they are gone! Woohoo!!!

More layouts...

I've been keeping busy with my scrapping lately. Between the challenges on the Sneaky site and working on my heritage albums, I've been scrapping at every opportunity. These are two that I completed this weekend.

The first one is one of my grandmother when she was 12 years old. Love this photo! The paper flower was made by folding 8 circles into petals. Karen gave us the instructions on the Sneaky site.








This layout is also of my grandmother. I don't know how old she was in the photo but I am guessing 30-ish? The paper is Basic Grey and I have had it forever but have always been intimidated by it. But I pulled it out last night and it matched the photo as if it were made for it! The chipboard title was laser cut at my LSS. I painted it with Tim Holtz Crackle Paint. The jury is still out on whether I like this stuff or not. I've used it a few times now and I'm never sure what the results are going to be. Maybe I need to try another color or something. I chose a neutral color so I could use it with more things.

missed it by THAT much!

These are my two latest layouts. Both of them were for challenges we are doing on our Sneaky site.

Today was weigh in day. I wasn't really sure how it would turn out. But I didn't make my 30 pound mark like I had hoped. I lost 1.4 lbs, which puts me .4 (yes that's point 4) lbs from the big 3-0 mark. Oh well...I'll get it next week.

I have also come to the realization that I am not going to make my previously set goal of 15 more pounds by the first day of spring. And it's my own fault. I've been pretty lax about journaling what I eat and keeping track. I gotta get my ass back in gear here.

Other than that, not a lot going on. I've been scrapping pretty steadily and feeling good about it. I did set a goal to work on at least one of the layouts each weekend for the four heritage albums. I completed one last weekend and have another one ready to work on this weekend. I have a few altered projects to do as well.

Running out of time

Well, the weight loss is till coming along, although I have to confess that I haven't really been putting alot of effort into it. I had two weeks in between weigh ins because of the bad weather. But this week, we had a meeting and I lost 2.2 pounds. That puts me at 28.2 pounds. My goal for this week is two pounds. That will put me over the 30 pound mark.

I'm really trying to stay focused this week and track what I eat and how much. I made a bracelet to help me track my points. It's not original idea by any stretch. Weight Watchers used to sell them but they were asking around $20.00 for them and I didn't really like the style. So I designed my own using beads and supplies that I got for 50% off at Hobby Lobby. So far, I think it has helped me stay aware of how many points I have consumed and what I have left for the day. A couple of girls at work are asking me to make them now.

I'm not sure if I am going to make my First Day of Spring goal that I had set in a previous post. But that's okay. I won't beat myself up over it. I AM losing and that is what is important right now. My jeans are all getting baggy on me and that is a great feeling!

My newest favorite thing!

I have been wanting an owl stamp for months! Either the websites I lokked at were sold out or they cost more than I was willing to pay. But yesterday, I was at Hobby Lobby (Gawd, I love that store!) and stumbled across this stamp. It was 6.99 but I used a 40% off coupon! They have another one that I am going to get too. Is this sweet or what?

A few recent layouts

Between work and everything else, I managed to gt a few more layouts done. Yay me!!

Scrappity Scrap Scrap!

So tonight, I finally sat down in my newly re-organized scraproom and did a layout. It was so nice to be sitting in my chair again, letting my attention focus on nothing but the layout. I hope I can contiue this new trend. Here's the layout I did...

I even cleaned up my desk when I was done!

I did it!!

I had set a goal for myself to lose 25 lbs by Valentine's Day. I DID IT!!!! In fact, as of today, I have lost 26 pounds since November 16th. So now it's time to set another goal. I had a small gain last week of .2 lbs. Yes, that's point 2, as in two tenths of a pound. But this week, I came rockin' back with a 3.6 pound loss!

Ok, here it is....my new goal.....

15 more pounds by the first day of spring. That gives me 6 weeks to make it. Hmmmmmm....not an easy task but I think I'm up for it.

My Inspiration Piece

I said in an earlier post that I would post a photo of my inspiration for losing weight. By the way, I am up to 22.4 pounds and hoping to hit 25 this week. we'll see....

Anyway, I have this hanging on my wall and look at it everyday when I am getting dressed. In case you can't tell, it's a little black lacy cammie tank top. It fit me at one time and I looked pretty damn good in it. I want to look good in it again.

Yeah, so I forgot about updating this.....

It's been a while since I've updated my blog so here is a short rundown.

January sucked. That's the best thing I can say about it. I'm glad it's over. February really cannot be any worse.

First of all, my best friend's granddaughter died unexpectedly at the age of 4 months. She was born with Down syndrome and had a heart problem. But it was not something that they couldn't fix. But Brenlee had other unexpected complications that delayed scheduling her heart surgery. At first, they thought that a blood clot had gotten to her lungs. The autopsy ruled that out. Then, they said that her heart just gave out and stopped. But her mother went to meet with the doctors for the final autopsy report and they told her that the cause of death was a stroke. That caused her lungs to shut down which in turn, caused her heart to stop.
So I went to the viewing....a viewing of a 4 month old baby girl laying in a casket. It's just so wrong. I will never get the vision out of my head. It's haunting in more ways than I can explain here.

On the same day that Brenlee died, my brother's best friend was killed in a car accident. The other driver ran a stop sign and Dan was ejected from his van. Granted, he wasn't wearing his seatbelt but that doesn't change the fact that his death was so hard to take for my brother. I hurt for him.

When my son was younger, he was in Boy Scouts. I was one of the troop leaders. I formed several great and lasting friendships, which I have maintained, even though my son is grown. One of those friendships was with Sherry, the mother of one of the other scouts. She was what I call 'good people'. She was always ready and willing to help out in any way that was needed, in or outside of scouts. She was down to earth and funny.
But Sherry had heart problems. She has had several episodes of being hospitalized and having different procedures done on her heart. She has just told us this past Christmas how excited she was that she had gone more than a year with no more problems.

Sherry had a heart attack and died on January 28th. I am so sad. Sad for myself but mostly sad for her son and daughter and two granddaughter's, whom she adored and lived for. The world was a better place with Sherry in it.
So me and Robin and Chris (the other two of the moms' who have kept in touch since scouting) planned and prepared a dinner for after the funeral. it went well and everyone was very grateful. But Sherry wasn't there.
Her son, Nick, has asked that the remaining three of us continue to get together at Christmas because his mom would want that. She loved out get togethers each year and looked forward to them. So we will continue to do so....in Sherry's memory. And I will buy a rum and Coke and place it in the Center of the table for Sherry. It was her favorite drink.

So that's how my month has gone. I'm glad January is over with. Seriously.

I'll try to make the next update a little less of a downer.

Post Holiday Blues

I'm not really sure what's going on with me. But I'm not happy. Maybe it's just the holidays being over with. Maybe it's work. Maybe it's the situation my mother created by contacting my bio father and trying to salvage a relationship between me and him that was never there. Maybe it's a combination of all of the above.

About the only thing I feel that I'm half way in control of is my diet. And that's not saying much. I could go off the deep end in a heartbeat. But so far, so good.

I try to get excited about scrapping but then I never find the time or make the time to do it. Maybe once I get my scraproom in order, that will change.

My life is full of a lot of maybe's and what if's right now....

I did it!

I reached my goal of losing 15 lbs by Christmas! And to top it off, I lost another pound after that! Yep, I made it through all of the holidays and LOST 16 pounds! I have a new goal of 10 ponds by Valentine's Day. Very do-able.

As much as I love the holidays, they reek havoc on my diet! So I'm sort of glad they are over with and I can regain a sense of normalcy. Now I can focus on exercise and eating healthy.

Now scrapping is a whole different ball of wax. I want to scrap but I just can't find a chunk of time to do it right now. Before I can do anything, I HAVE to get my scrap room in order. That will take a few days at least! The one thing I don't need to do is buy any scrap goodies. I just need to organize what I have.

but not today.....