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

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.