Lessons Learned?

This healthy eating/weight loss thing reminds of relationships.

In relationships, when people get bored...they stray.

I think my recent attempts to stray from my newly acquired healthy lifestyle changes result from the lack of excitement with my recent boring meals. Lately, I seem to eat the same fruits, vegetable, and meals over and over and over again. The reason for the redundant, unimaginative food choices, a lack of planning.

Our WW meeting leader always says members must learn from their experiences. So, from my experiences I learned, if you FAIL to PLAN, you PLAN to FAIL! When I choose to wing it, I usually find myself standing in front of the fridge, freezer door wide opened with a container of Cool Whip stuck to my face as I lick the remaining contents from the deep recesses of the Cool Whip container.

My lack of planning not only results in food boredom, but also in 2 of my enemies rearing their ugly head:

1. Enemy #1: OVER EATING-Unplanned eating means walking into the kitchen and just standing there wondering what I want to eat. The longer I stand there, the hungrier I get, and the hungrier I get the more likely I will eat the first thing I see, GOOD or BAD. 9 times out of 1o I choose the BAD.
   
   
2. Enemy #2: UNPLANNED EATING- When I PLAN, I usually prepare my meals and snacks ahead of time and I then divvy my "culinary masterpieces" into containers so I can grab and go. So, that means I already know what's on the menu AND I can track and log my meals in advance in order to keep track of my daily points allowance.
   
   When I choose not to plan, I tend to follow the "Seefood Diet", any food I SEE I eat. If I see a bag of chips or cookies, it's on!

As I enter into 2010, PLANNING must remain as one of the weapons I use in this weight loss tug-o-war. In addition, to keep things exciting I PLAN to try at least 3 new recipes weekly. The other day, I tried this Mexican Stacked Pizza:

As usual I used my Xpress Redi Set Go. I love this thing!

I placed one corn tortilla in the RSG. I then mashed 1/2 cup of black beans and spread the beans on the tortilla.

Next I placed another corn tortilla on top of the black beans. I topped the tortilla with 2.5 oz of ground turkey and 14 oz of 2% Mexican cheese. Cook for 5 minutes...

Top with lettuce and tomatoes and...

BAM!...Mexican Stuffed Pizza!! Olé!!!

Well my friends, I must go and shed my pajama cocoon and venture out (and back before the loonies hit the streets) into the world with my boys to celebrate this new year knocking at our door. Happy New Years Eve!!! And here's to bringing SEXY BACK in 2010!!!

Christmas Calamity

I decided to blog to keep my mind off food. Well folks, this Christmas provided joy as well as a few mishaps and hi-jinks:

For starters I waited until the last minute to mosey on over to Wal-Mart to buy groceries for my Christmas dinner. WHY on earth did I do that? While scurrying around the store, I was asked by Wal-Mart personnel to take my purchases to the front for checkout. If I worked at Wal-Mart, I would detest people like me that wait until the last minute AND shop after the store's POSTED closing hours. On behalf of all inconsiderate shoppers, I apologize to all retail personnel I ever kept from leaving at the end of their scheduled shift. My bad.

After waiting in the horrendous check out lines at Wal-Mart, I returned home and sat down to wrap my boy's gifts. Well, as I started gathering my purchases and wrapping supplies I soon discovered...NO WRAPPING PAPER! I forgot I used the paper my mom gave me to wrap gifts for our Pre-Christmas celebration at her house the day before. Check out my montage of Christmas at MiMi's.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

During the midst of the wrapping paper fiasco, my "friend" arrived and he generously agreed to run me to Walgreen's and back. But before we left, he felt compelled to discover the source of my vacuum's earlier malfunction. I confessed that the vacuum sounded like a rocket about to liftoff. Like all men (who THINK they can fix EVERYTHING), he dilly-dallyed for about 15 minutes, and concluded the vacuum SUCKummbed due to natural causes...RIP DD (short for Dirt Devil).

So...after the long Wal-Mart lines, the wrapping paper adventure AND dealing with my vacuum's untimely demise, I decided to make US some cocktails...BIG MISTAKE! I poured myself 1 shot of Hypnotic and my little "happy hour" turned into something more like happy minutes. The Hypnotic hypnotized me right to sleep.

I originally planned for us to enjoy cocktails, snacks and a movie. You know the saying about the best laid plans. Instead of enjoying the movie and snacks, I woke up apologizing for drooling on my friend while sleeping (Lol). Needless to say he called it a night, and my presents still sat unwrapped. Long story short, I woke up the next morning, wrapped the kid's gifts and placed them under the tree.

Lessons learned:

• No last minute grocery shopping
• Keep extra gift wrap on hand
• Wrap gifts before cocktail hour

Calling All Shopaholics!

You might be a shopaholic if...

• Is your closet overflowing with new or never-worn clothing, with price tags still attached? Answer: No. Actually, my closet recently overflowed with my "before" clothes, sizes 18-20. While cleaning my room last week, I decided to pack my "before" clothes away...out of sight, out of mind!

• Is your closet overflowing with new or never worn shoes? Answer: No comment. At my highest weight, the extra pounds sometimes restricted my choices when purchasing clothing, but my feet never really changed. As a result, I frequently splurged on shoes...no crime in that. Can anyone relate?

Well, no need to proceed any further with more questions. Why you ask? In order to call yourself a shopaholic you need a little something called money, currency, coinage, and/or SOME type of medium of exchange. And in this economy for many people an abundance of financial resource is few and far in between.

BUT...even though the economy remains in turmoil, my Mom and I decided to still go forth with our annual Girl's Day Out Shopping Excursion! Usually around Christmas, my Mom and I choose a shopping destination other than our usual haunts, and shop till we drop or until we get hungry! And for the first time in a long time fellow bloggers I enjoyed going to the mall and shopping!

Since losing 45 pounds I felt I deserved my new mini wardrobe and I welcome my new clothes with open arms. Take a look:

It's all about the t-shirt y'all!

My first piece of clothing from the Loft (around $9 bucks)...NSV! My camera failed to do the actual color of this tee justice.

Macy's...around $11 bucks


I rocked this tee under my new "leather" jacket I acquired on another shopping venture.


$7.99 at New York & Co.


I posted this shirt on a previous post...crisp white ruffled shirt $7.99! What a steal!

Prior to my shopping venture with my Mom I partook in a little shopping practice run at Macy's. In all honesty, I wanted to see what size I wear since I purchased my last pair of jeans back in March. To my surprise, I purchased a pair of size 14, $46.00 Bandalino jeans for $13 bucks.

I got these $40 Style & Co. pants that zip at the ankle for around $11 bucks.

I bought these $46.00 Style & Co. jeans for a mere $11 dollars. Now check this out...the shirt pictured below WAS priced at $49.oo and I paid $ 12 bucks...$12 greenbacks! This shirt is reserved for NIGHTS OUT ON THE TOWN!

These babies were a steal at $3 bucks a piece. You can never have to many tank tops!

Old Navy Tee $5 bucks

Well the moral to this post...as quick as clothing and shoes go on sale, NEVER buy anything at full price!! The real moral...hard work and perseverance really pays off! Who'd-a-thunk (bad grammar alert) that I'd be shopping at the Loft and bypassing the plus size section. Sometimes it feels weird to walk in a store and pass up the women's section. It feels weird but it feels good!!!!!

And MY Belly Shook Like a Bowl of Jelly. . .

First things first...to my surprise, my weigh in results yielded a 1 pound loss. I walked through the doors of WW this afternoon with the mindset that I failed last week and I expected to see a gain. You see, sometime last week during winter break, I decided to somewhat step back and take a small break from this whole weight loss battle.

For those of you struggling, do you ever feel exhausted from constantly thinking about weight loss 24/7? I know I do. The stress of not meeting a personal goal, losing 50 pounds by the end of 2009, began taking a toll on my motivation and started to make me feel like a failure. So, last week around my 4th buffalo chicken bite and 2nd pot sticker at T.G.I. Friday's I decided to just chill and relax. At Friday's I wanted to enjoy myself and not think about weighing in, working out, food point values, tracking, etc.

Constantly thinking about those things when hanging out, partying, or just chilling with friends SUCKS the fun right out of any festivity. I took the "chill approach" on quite a few outings last week, which explains my surprise of this week's weigh in results. But now as I write this post and think about last week, I still made the occasional good choice, such as spliting a burrito at Chipotle with my Mom.

Even though I occasionally chilled I still worked out by running 3 miles 4 days last week. And working out also proved challenging as well. One day I sat in my car at the park just looking out the window. I somehow hoped the results of jogging 3 miles would somehow cosmically transfer to my body while silently sitting in my vehicle. As I feared the approaching sunset, I finally decided to leave the comfy confines of my car to complete my workout.

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!! Sometimes I just feel like screaming.

SO WHAT NOW?
After attending today's meeting, I understand that I must commit to working harder when dealing with emotional eating. Part of my plan to combat mindless eating includes asking myself the following questions:

1. Why am I standing in the pantry with my hand submerged in a bag of marshmallows? Am I really hungry?
2. What am I feeling? Boredom? Anger? Frustration?
3. What is my mind saying? "It's only one." "You can walk an extra mile. " "You weigh in on Saturday...there's still time."

Equally important, I realized (yet again) that my mind generates and maintains the psychological uproar in my head surrounding my perpetual battle with losing weight. The battle exist right here in my head, BUT I also realized that each one of my little victories (listed below) helps to win part of the battle:

• wearing clothes in a smaller size
• receiving compliments about my appearance
  
• discovering new foods, like jicama
• introducing others to WW
• attending more than 16 meetings
• moving more
• finding a substitution for stress eating...blogging (sometimes I still choose the food)
• trying new recipes
• using my food scale
• making better choices
• knowing the points values of fast food
  

So in short, I recognize the fact that I MUST CELEBRATE EVERY SUCCESS! And yes, even the little victories make a BIG difference!

"Recognize and celebrate what you want to see more of!"

I originally planned to write some holiday related posts, but I wanted to work through my mini crisis by managing my feelings through writing. Well, I am off like a dirty shirt...my stomach is growling! Stay tuned for some light and more humorous holiday posts.

Survey Says...

Remember that show...Family Fued. My favorite line from the host, Richard Dawson, "SURVEY SAYS!" I discovered this fun little survey on Erin's blog Losin' It. Just for fun, I decided to complete it! Enjoy.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

I prefer gift bags, less work. However, every Christmas Eve I wrap the boy's gifts while I listen to Christmas tunes and drink hot cocoa, my own little tradition I created. Check out the cute handles on these bags.

2. Real tree or artificial?

As a child my Mom purchased real trees. As a Mom myself, I rather an artificial tree, less muss and less fuss. For a couple of years I purchased a real tree for my own children. But loading the tree, unloading the tree, and adjusting that godforsaken tree stand to make the tree actually stand proved a bit challenging, challenging enough to make you want to untie the tree and leave it in the middle of the freeway.

I now own two trees, a big 50 ft tall bank tree and a 2 ft tall Charlie Brown tree. Since I moved, there's not much room for the huge tree. I purchased the huge tree, regular priced at over $100 bucks, for around $20 dollars.

3. When do you put up the tree?

Since I purchased the Charlie Brown tree, I usually put the tree up on Thanksgiving Day.

4. Do you like eggnog?

NO! I prefer Hot Scotch...hot cocoa and butterscotch schnapps.

5. Favorite gift received as a child?

My Speak-n-Spell and my Easy Bake Oven, which my Mom still owns.

6. Do you have a nativity scene?

No.

7. Hardest person to buy for?

My Mom. I usually ask her what she want and then I purchase it. If you decide to purchase a gift on your own, you risk the possibility of your gift winding up in the land of misfit gifts, in the closet under the stairs .

Last year she asked for toe socks for Christmas, this year...fancy hair clips.

8. Easiest person to buy for?

Myself of course. I always know what I want. Check out my new crisp white ruffled top my Mom bought me from New York & Co. (size large) for $7.99! Purchasing this shirt marked the first time in 5 years since my last shopping trip to New York & Co. It felt great to shop somewhere other than Layne Bryant or Ashley Stewart.

9. Mail or email Christmas cards?

Neither. I rarely send cards.

10. Favorite Christmas movie?

Miracle on 34th Street.

11. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

At the last possible minute. My middle name...Procrastinate.

12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

My Mom's desserts, specifically her pecan candy a.k.a. pralines.

13. Clear lights or colored lights on the tree?

Clear lights...I like my tree color coordinated.

14. Favorite Christmas song?

I like any song from The Vince Guaraldi Trio's CD "A Charlie Brown Christmas". I also like Mercy Me's"Christmas Time is Here" and Nat King Cole's "A Christmas Song". O, and Johnny Mathis' version of "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year".

15. Travel or stay home at Christmas?

Sometimes we travel to my Grandma's home in Louisiana, but this year we chose to stay home.

16. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?

Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen, and of course Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer!

17. Angel on tree top or star?

Star, but sometimes my Mom make me a bow.

18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Morning?

Both. The boys get to open one gift on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas morning. Since my Mom is going out of town, tonight is Christmas at her casa.

19. The most annoying thing about this time of year?

THE TRAFFIC! That same stuff everyone rushes to the stores to buy sat on the shelves before the hustle and bustle of Christmas began. Also, the insincerity of Christmas. I told my kids make their list short...life exist after Christmas, and we still need to eat. Why spend my last dime on gifts that I will vacuum up a week or two after Christmas?

20. What I love most about Christmas?

I love the family time, as well as the me time I receive when shopping with my Mom for our annual Girls-Day-Out Shopping Venture. Christmas is also a time for traditions. I look forward to my boys and I viewing Christmas lights followed by treats and hot cocoa at Starbucks. My son JUST asked for the SECOND time about looking at the lights.

My Mom pictured below enjoying this year's shopping excursion.

The Rubber Band (Wo)Man!

Week after week I contemplate changing my weigh in day from Saturday morning to a weeknight. But week after week I choose to keep my standing date with the scale on Saturday morning for two reasons:

1. A Saturday weigh-in keeps me honest on Friday nights (not ALL Friday nights, but most). On Friday nights I try to avoid salty foods and cocktails loaded with sugar. So that means I spend more Fridays at home than at Don Pico's eating chips and salsa while drinking the best Margaritas in town. And yes, this blows!! A little known fact about me...salty food makes me puffy. The salt makes my fingers look like a pack of Ballpark Frank hot dogs.
   
   A Saturday weigh-in also means I miss out on a lot of outings with friends on Friday nights. If I feel like my willpower may waver, then I choose to just stay home rather than torture myself with food and drinks that jeopardize positive weigh in results. So friends, nothing personal...I just want to reach my weight loss goals and maintain a healthy lifestyle (but keep the invites coming!). That's me enjoying a Friday night out with coworkers.
   
2. The second reason why I choose to keep my weigh in day the same, the Saturday meeting always provides the support I need after a disastrous week...like THIS PAST WEEK! I relapsed, more like collapsed thanks to two holiday parties this week. I saw a pizza box and lost my mind. Pizza for me is equivalent to someone waving a red cloak in front of a bull.
   

This week's meeting topic, The Snowball Effect, helped me to put my indiscretions behind me, forgive myself, and move forward. The leader gave everyone a rubber as an ANCHOR reminding members that quitting is NOT an option, so we need to bounce back like the rubber band.

An ANCHOR, one of Weight Watcher's tools for living, serves as a process for creating cues and triggers to remind yourself of your weight goal and the inner resources you have to achieve your goal. When this weight loss endeavor gets tough, that's when ANCHORING come into play. People use anchoring every day. For example, when you hear a song that makes you smile because you associate it with a certain memory, that's an anchor to that memory.

I myself use several anchors:

When you lose 10% of your starting weight, WW reward members with this gold key ring. After losing 25 lbs, I received the silver ring, and after I lose 50 lbs (7 lbs away from this goal), I will receive my 50 lbs ring to add to my key ring.

I also use Hungry, the star of the WW commercials as an anchor. Hungry lives on my fridge and his bro resides in the pantry. Sometimes Hungry keeps me honest. Other times, I roll my eyes at Hungry and threaten him to try and pry the bag of Hot Fries from my hands.

During times of trouble and distress he knows it's best to just sit by the soup and keep his mouth shut!

My favorite and most treasured anchor, my butterfly ring. When I first began my weight loss endeavor years ago, I told myself I no longer wanted to be the big fat fuzzy caterpillar...I want to be the butterfly. As I alter my lifestyle I spin my chrysalis. Soon I will break free from my chrysalis of fat and emerge as the beautiful butterfly!


O, my weigh in results...
Despite my week of food calamity, I managed to stay the same -/+ 0...talk about second chances. Folks, this week I WILL bounce back like my rubber band...TWANG (the sound of my rubber band bouncing back...lol)!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. . .

Really? I promise not to make this a Christmas bashing post, so moving on. Sorry new followers. Usually my comedic posts reflect my bubbly award winning personality...lol at myself because I dubbed my own personality award winning. Even though my inner Scrooge emerged, I scrounged up enough Christmas spirit to put up my Charlie Brown Tree and light the fireplace.

I think my foul mood results from the possibility that I may not meet my goal of 50 by 50 (not 50 in 50, but 50 by 50). I had 50 days to lose 5 pounds. Piece of cake right (...a piece of cake sounds good right now)? WRONG! For the past few weeks I continue to lose and gain and lose and gain the same 2 pounds. (Cue A.D.D.) moving on to another subject.

Of course as the end of the year nears, I start thinking about all of things left unfinished and the things I plan to accomplish in 2010. So I present my to do list:

1. Wait for my husband to find me.
   
   
2. Unsubscribe from Layne Bryant's email list. At the mall, I now walk past Layne Bryant while rolling my eyes. More than one option awaits when I shop at the mall. YOU CAN SUCK IT LAYNE! BAM!
   
   
3. Open an Etsy shop.
   
   
4. Decide what to sell in Etsy shop.
   
   
5. Get A.D.D. checked out ( I almost rolled off the end of the treadmill last Friday, but my quick cat like reflexes saved me.).
   
   
6. Continue to stalk Oprah.
   
   
7. Ask Rose if she wants to still take the dance class we discussed.
   
   
8. Start weight loss scrapbook.
   
   
9. Organize a campaign to rid the world of all types of hot chips (guilty pleasure): hot Cheetos, hot lays, hot funyuns, hot fries, hot Fritos, you get the point.
   
   
10. Learn how to knit...possible Etsy merchandise.
    
    
11. Seriously begin writing my book, titled Fat Chance or Take a Chance about my overweight heroine Riley Chance or Presley Chance (...haven't decided on a name yet).
    
    
12. Cut down this list to maybe 2 items.
    

BAH-HUMBUG!

Bah-humbug describes my mental state right now. Not really in the blogging mood, as evident by my lack of posts. My dismal mood started with my weigh in of +1.6, and the Saturday traffic filled with insane holiday shoppers magnified my Scroogeness. Hopefully my foul mood turns around.

Make New Friends but Keep the Old

I remember that song from Girl Scouts...Make new friends, but keep the old...one is silver and the others gold...(flashback over).

Okay, finished reminiscing about my Girl Scout days of yore, and now on to the meat of this post. So a few weeks back I made new friends with Ralph Lauren and Bill Blass while on a shopping excursion. As my body continues to adapt to my lifestyle change, I decided not to spend large amounts of money on new clothes to dress my still changing body. I choose to explore more frugal option like my local Goodwill.

Believe it or not, another option worth exploring...my old clothes. The funny thing, some of my old clothes actually fit better now since losing weight. The reason for the better fit, the clothes were too tight, but I wore them anyway thinking I looked fabulous. Case in point, this outfit pictured below. I loved (and still do) this black bolero jacket and pin-stripped mock corset.

On the left my boobs are clearly trying to escape the corset. On the right....what boobs? You know? I just knew I rocked the crap out of this ensemble every time I wore it until.........one day.

Here's the one day...
So last year, I wore this outfit to my friend's karaoke party, and at the party a group of us sang or rather screamed Poison by BBD. Before I went on stage, I asked one of the other ladies sitting at the table to video us making complete fools of ourselves. So, fast forward to several months later. I decided to put together a photo montage of the karaoke party as a friendly gesture to the birthday girl. While trying to cut and edit some video clips I heard the following:

Former Best Friend: ...yeah but that shirt is too tight though (I failed to hear the comment that provoked that statement, but they were talking about me).

Former Best Friend: Who? My used to be best friend. That shirt is like a corset.

Other party Go-er: What? Wait...who's shirt? Who? What? Who?

Former Best Friend: If I say who, then they (I don't know who "they" is.) are going to know who I'm talking about. You know who. The one who used to date my brother. (True, I dated her brother which was probably the beginning of the end of our friendship. But everything happens for a reason.) It's not a shirt. It's a corset.

Other Party Go-er: It's made like that (it meaning the shirt).

Former Best Friend: No its a corset and it's tooooo tight. (The rest of the conversation sounded muffled and then I hear a burst of laughter).

WHO'S LAUGHING NOW! You know, even though I looked like a big fat pig on stage, I appeared to be enjoying life and not hiding from the world (unlike some people). Yes, I still possess the infamous video, and every time I think about calling up my former best friend to reconcile I remember what I heard.

Let me clear up something. Our friendship ended way before the making of the video, but every now and then I think about being the bigger person and calling her. But in this instance, I can live with being the smaller person

Now, on to my OLD friends..
I paired this OLD turtleneck purchased 3 years ago with a patent leather belt from Wal-Mart.

Socks on sale at Target for $1.24. $40 dollars Bandolino shoes purchased at Shoe Cents' going out of business sale for $10 dollars.

My mom bought this denim blazer, size XL Juniors, a couple of years ago but it was to small. The Ralph Lauren pin-stripped shirt, I purchased a while back became to small as my body ballooned. HELLOOOO Ralph!!! Nice to see you again.


OLD size 18/20 sweater and button down shirt paired with thrifted $2.99 belt. The belt makes my waist look slimmer therefore altering the bigness of the shirts. BELTS ROCK!

Oh by the weigh (lol) I lost 2.2 this week. I posted last week's results of a 1.8 gain in my Thanksgiving post, but due to the jacked-upness (not a real word) of my Thanksgiving post, I removed it so that I can repair the post and publish again.

A December to Remember!

Houston made national news yesterday with headlines of snowy wintry weather. Around 8:15 the flakes started falling and everyone, students and teachers alike, went ballistic. I put together a little montage of yesterday's snowy events. I present:

There's (S)no(w) Stopping US!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Let it Snow. . . Let it Snow. . . Let it SNOW!

The city is abuzz with talk of the impending snow. My BB Weather Eye App, in addition to several weather forecasters predict some "snow-like" activity in various parts of Houston.

Why the excitement? Well, as I previously mentioned, we rarely see snow in these here parts. AND if the weather proves too challenging for commuters, perhaps the school districts will cancel school resulting in a 4 day weekend for ME and my coworkers! One can only hope...lol.

So, I forced myself to workout today. As per my goal, that makes 3 out of 5 workouts completed this week, and since my "week" ends on Saturday, I must confess I failed to meet my workout goal. Tomorrow's workout will make 4, and 4 out of 5 ain't bad. How bout some good news (well good news for me)? A new management team took over our complex and they started making changes already. And one of those changes...A NEW TREADMILL in the "gym."

Yesterday, I shared my Frosties with you guys, and unfortunately Frosty will not make an appearance at this year's Polar Express event. Basically, my Frosties refuse to adhere to my butt giving a whole new meaning to the term assed out.

Definition of Assed out: To be out of luck

So, my ill fitting PJs got me to thinking:

"Trina (my internal dialogue with myself), did your butt really fill up these pajamas last year or did I buy the pajamas a little bit too big? Then I answered myself, which is not a good thing. YEP, my butt was really and truly that BIG...big enough to fill up the seat in my Frosty PJs."

When I look in the mirror, my weight loss seems surreal, but "wearing" old clothing, such as my Frosties and other baggy previously owned garments helps me grasp the reality of my successful weight loss efforts. Does that make sense? I just need to work on my brain and my eyes accepting the reflection in the mirror.

A Frosty Friendship

So, I thought about yesterday's post, Experiencing Technical Difficulties, and somewhere between publishing the post and arriving at the grocery store after work, I started to come to my senses about my weight loss frustrations. Well first off, I thought about all of my hard work thus far and I realized (yet again) I ain't going back. Plus, I like the response I get from family and friends. Last weekend we dropped by my aunt's house and she and some of my other family members complimented me on my new developing shape. AND, this weekend I went out with some friends and one of them said, " Woo, hey skinny!" It felt good...real good to hear that.

Anyway, as I previously mentioned I started to come to my senses...
I set some goals and I want to see them through to completion. More specifically, A few weeks ago Actual Scale published a post explaining that 50 days remained in 2009. So, I made up my mind that I want to lose 50 pounds by the end of 2009. Thus, my 50 by 50 goal was born. At that time, my weight loss totaled a whopping 45 pounds. So I thought 50 by 50...no problem. Or so I thought (cue frustration). Since then, a couple of pounds found their way back home.

Time waits for no one, so I decided to make every effort to hit my 50 in 50 goal. For starters, I made myself go to the "gym" and workout. Rain, sleet, or snow, I was determined to workout yesterday, and I did.

I ran through the freezing rain to and from the gym in my complex.

As soon as I reached home, I ran upstairs and immersed myself in a steaming hot shower. And after my shower, I treated myself to my Frosties.

Meet my friend Frosty!

I purchased this ensemble last year for Polar Express Day at work. Yes! I wore pajamas to work. In my opinion, all companies should require employees to wear pajamas at least twice a month. What is Polar Express Day, you ask? On the last day before Christmas Break, the librarian hosts Polar Express day where the entire school wears their PJs, watches the movie, and drinks hot cocoa.

And unfortunately last year, Houston's unpredictable December climate made wearing fleece pajamas in 70° weather a nightmare!

Today the weatherman predicts snow this Friday. It snows in Houston maybe once every 3 or 4 years. My kids reveled in last year's winter wonderland...their second snow experience.

Making a Snow-not-so-much-an-Angel