My computer died :(

My computer has DIED. It was like a cat--it had 9 lives. We have resurrected it several times over the years but when it caught this last virus a couple of days ago, we decided to let it rest in peace. So, with the exception of occasional library trips, I won't be online again until we recieve our tax return (mid or end of Feb). Surely by then I will quite the success to blog about! That's probably about 8 weeks.

In the meantime, I'm hoping Dawn texts, so I can still report to her and stay accountable.

So..............this blog is on *pause*.........but my healthy choices are not. :) See you in a few!

Today was great :)

We went to my grandmother's today and visited with a lot of extended family and ate beans and cornbread. No one can cook beans and cornbread like grandma can! And homemade coconut cream pie! (I only had half a piece but yum I could have eaten it all :) I love my grandparents so much. They are getting way up in years. My aunt and uncle moved in with them to help them. I know their time with us is coming to an end.....what a somber thought. Love your families.

clarification

There are two things I think people misunderstood in recent posts, that I want to clear up.

#1 I'm not going to go eat a whole tube of dough when I reach 290. One tube makes about 12 cookies. Divide that by my family of 4, and we are talking 3 cookies each. Three cookies, people. Three. Calm down. :)

#2 My "one sweet per day" plan is NOT an everyday thing! I am only talking about THIS week, aka the week of Christmas aka the week that no matter who comes to your house or whose house you go to, they are going to shove something sweet and yummy in your face and say "have some!". So, in that senerio, if I only allow myself ONE sweet per day, perhaps it will be easier for me to tell myself "I'm not going to eat that, because I've already had one sweet today, and that's my limit". Does that make better sense? This is just a "till Christmas passes" plan. :)

cookies = weight gain

Yep. Ate a lot of sweets this week. Had a gain of 2.25 pounds last night at weigh-in. With so much holiday stuff (parties,general sweets roaming the area)...6 of our 8 members had a gain.

But I have slapped myself silly and told myself to straighten up! I have a plan to survive all the goodies of this week: Allow myself ONE sweet per day.

Also, because cookies have been my weakness lately, I commit to NO cookies until I reach 290. Then I give myself permission to get a tube of my favorite cookie dough and eat cookies without guilt....just for that one day.

eyebrows and sugar challenges

Well, I *finally* went to have my eyebrows done...and I wasn't all that impressed.(top pic is before, bottom pic is after) I mean, they look fine, but really not much different than what I sometimes do in my own bathroom with little scissors. But at least now I know what it's like to have them done. I wish I could have my chin waxed instead.. now THAT is a problem area. ugh! I am allergic to nair and the wax at home stuff I got before didn't work on me. I must have determined hair. Why am I say this to the world? LOL Moving right along....

Last Monday we had a no gain meeting! With 7 members weighing in, we had a loss of 14 point something pounds. I weighed 297.25 for a weekly loss of 1.75 pounds.

I tried to have a "sugar free" day twice last week. Both times, I ended up freaking out and eating a lot more sugar than I normally would. One night I went and bought a cookie mix and ate about 700 calories of cookies!(and boy I felt sick afterwards) No sugar challenges for me for a while! I don't handle them well! LOL

(I want dentures) and (I feel like a sloth today)

(What am I thinking? Posting pics that point out the flaws in my teeth? Anyway...more on that later in the post)

Hubby has been sick for days. Yesterday afternoon I started feeling totally exhausted. I just wanted to go to bed. I went to bed early, slept well, didn't go to church this morning because I decided I was sick and now at 1:30 p.m. I still have the energy of a sloth. BUT I don't think I am "sick". I think I am having mental stuff making me tired. Perhaps I am jealous that hubby is sick. Perhaps it was the stress of the inlaws that came. I don't know. Weird. I'm trying to pick myself up and shake it off. Easier said than done. Blah! (suggestions anyone?) I must be, and AM, DETERMINED to not let this throw me off track with my weight loss. I don't have any time to spare.

I am planning to get my eyebrows done TOMORROW! yay!

I do not have dental insurance and I really want my teeth "prettied up". *sigh* I have a gap between my two front teeth. It doesn't bother me as much as the tooth that is missing on the side. I want dentures on the top. I am going to start a "denture savings jar" and hopefully before I am queen, I can get that taken care of. If not, at least I could get a partial to take care of the side.

The best day ever. (pretty much)

This morning I checked the mail and found a wonderful, happy thing :) It was my "I love TOPS" pin that Dawn, the TOPS Maryland Queen sent me for getting below 300 pounds!!! (She blogs here: http://bbubblyb.blogspot.com/ ) I LOVE, love, LOVE this! And it means even more because it is from her. It made me *giggle, giggle, happy giggle* like the above picture :D

She also sent me a journal that I look forward to filling out! The journal covers one year and as I looked through it, I got teary eyed thinking, "By the time I get to the final pages of this journal, I will be at my goal weight." I love this.

(I am distracted because as I am typing this, son is talking to me about star wars)

Anyway, yes, my inlaws *should* be here in about 45 minutes. I plan to take a shower and blow dry my hair soon. Maybe I will miss part of their visit. I know that sounds tacky, but I really don't jive very well with my step-mother-in-law.

After my shower, if they aren't here yet, I plan to go to the grocery store to get turkey and wheat bread for sandwiches, fiber one bars and more healthy stuff because I came in to $50 of unexpected funds today! I am going to spend it on healthy foods.

oh yeah.........it's a good day :)

THANK YOU DAWN!!!! I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AWESOME DAY AND THAT SOMEONE DOES SOMETHING FOR YOU THAT MAKES YOU FEEL AS HAPPY AS YOU HAVE MADE ME TODAY!

I hate you, sugar (by golly)

It's 8:36 and I am planning (in about 5 minutes) to curl up in bed and read my TOPS magazine and just chill out and go to sleep early.

I have been cleaning the house ALL THE LIVE LONG DAY because my in-laws were supposed to come visit us tonight.(They live about 3 hours away) Well, they didn't come. Or call. Finally, we called them and they said "yeah, we decided we'd just come sometime tomorrow instead". I'm sorry...but sometimes these people are really lacking in the common courtesy department.

So, I guess I have been stressing about that even though I keep telling myself that I really don't give a poot what they think about me or how clean my house is, or how goodwilly my furniture is or how educated my children are or.........or whatever.

Anyway...............I've been having visions of fudge :) LOL Seriously. I saw a store sign the other day that said "fudge" and ever since then, I have been like, yeah, fudge..........in that lusting kind of way. LOL

But there is very little junk in my house due to #1 I try to not keep junk in the house because I know how I am and #2 I'm broke. But today, I spent a dollar on a snack size cookie mix that made all of 12 itty bitty cookies...and I ate 4. The rest were quickly inhaled by my sugar starved family.

By tonight, my brain was once again chanting "fudge, fudge, fudge" and guess what I found back in the forgotten places of the fridge? I found a frosting container with TWO bites of chocolate frosting. No telling how old it was. Maybe I won't die. LOL

Anyway..............TOMORROW.........I will fork out the last little bit of money I have to buy some fiber one bars. Because they are that important. They keep me sane when I want sweets.

(Tuesday is payday.......I think I will stock up on these babies)

Ya know, as of last weigh-in, I am 109 pounds from goal. And I plan to reach goal by the end of 2011 so I can become the TOPS queen and attend IRD in California the summer of 2012. By golly. BY GOLLY! eerrr... I'M GOING TO DO THIS>>YOU HEAR ME??? (don't be offended by the yelling, I'm only yelling at MYSELF)

One year sounds like a long time. It's not.

I am going to have to tighten up even more. If I don't, I won't reach my goal and BY GOLLY (don't get started again, Amy).... Anyway, I'm going to. I AM DOING THIS.

Tomorrow's goals:
1. Buy fiber one bars and when I am craving JUNK, eat that instead.
2. Do twice as much exercise as I normally do, even if I have to do it in 2 sessions.
3. Consume 128 ounces of water. (I've never done this...but I CAN...and I'm going to prove it)

Thanks for reading :)

bling, bling

The above picture is the bling bling pin that is my reward for finally getting under 300. My friend, Dawn, who is the TOPS Queen in Maryland, is buying it for me. Isn't that sweet? aawww...thanks, Dawn! (Her blog is here: http://bbubblyb.blogspot.com/ )

I am still also looking into having my eyebrows done after payday.......if I get the nerve and if it doesn't cost too much. I haven't been to a beauty salon or anything in years and I don't even know where I would like to go. Feeling quite awkward, really.

Hubby is home sick today. :( It's the first sick day he's taken in probably about a year!

I'm making chicken stew for supper................YUM!

Have a great day!

...........drum roll please..............

I am finally under 300 on OFFICIAL TOPS scales! I was 299 at the meeting last night. I know I have been posting that my wii showed under 300 for a couple of weeks now...but this was the first time on official scales. so, yay me. :) Now I've lost a total of 32 pounds from my highest, or 28.25 pounds since joining TOPS.

And here it is, time to give myself an award and I have two problems.
#1 I am quite broke.
#2 I don't know what to get myself! (however, there is a cute blingy pin that says "I love TOPS" that is only $6 plus shipping, so I am considering that OR waiting until payday and going to have my eyebrows done--I've never done that-- but that's not something tangible that I could keep. What do you all suggest?)

My official weight loss this week was 1.75 pounds. My husband lost 2.5 pounds. All together, our group of 8 lost 20 pounds in week one!

Thanks for reading!