Monday, January 31, 2011

My 1st weigh in

Good morning! Had my 1st weigh in for WW on Saturday morning, and off to a good start. Down 4 lbs. My Mom was down 6.2! Yay Mom! And she was wearing jeans. I hate her. Not really. Love you Mom!

The new program is really good. I am really liking it. I love that fresh fruit and veggies are all 0 points, so when you want a snack your 1st thought is to grab something healthy. And I am easily, easily getting all my servings of fruit and veggies every day. Even more.

As Mom pointed out, there are no 0 point other snacks any more. There used to be that certain things you could get away with being a 0 point snack, but not now. So your daily points allowance went up, but things cost more points, but that is offset by fruit and veggies being free. Before bananas used to be 1-2 points, so that's okay.

I actually found I was not even eating all my points every day, and by no means did I even eat all my flex points. And I'm dedicated. I am measuring everything, journalling everything... so we're off to a good start.

In order to kind of boost myself a bit further, we've decided on no wine in the house at all. Not that we were drinking so much of it, but we figured until we're well on our way with weight loss, lets cut it out. And that also saves us money. Also no take out. In order to afford WW I have also cut out on my Starbucks each day when I was at work. It was only $2/day, but that adds up. So I also now bring my own coffee to work. Look at me being all responsible!

Now... let's add in some exercise... that's the hard part.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Today January 25, 2011

In an effort to step up my blogging again, inspired by Colorado Nancy - here I am! Good morning!

Today...
Outside my window it is raining. Again. I don't mind the rain, but the kids really want to get outside and play play play. And it's just too cold and damp to do that right now.

I am reading:
Kind of inbetween books right now. I think I'm going to read Watermelon by Marian Keyes next. I just finished one of the books I won in the November Romance Book giveaway over on Simply Stacey, and before that I read a Carole Matthews book...oh my I can't remember I read something else inbetween, but for the life of me I can't remember what.

Life:
I've joined Weight Watchers again. You know, previously I lost 50 lbs on WW, so it's time to do that again. I know I can do it again. I actually really like the new Points Plus system as all fruit and most veggies are free, so I don't need to think 2x about grabbing a piece of fruit if I need a snack or something. I joined last Tuesday, but am changing my weigh in to Saturday mornings, and will go with my Mom. So I have not done my 1st weigh in yet.

In the kitchen:
Well in an effort to step up healthier eating I've reached for my Hungry Girl cookbook.
Faux Fried Chicken and roasted butternut Squash
Sloppy Janes - made this with veggie ground round and some PC Thins hamburger buns - was quite tasty!
Pork chops with potatoes and veggies
Hamburgers and Sweet potato fries
Seseame Chicken and rice

Around the house:
Well now we've been here for 6 months it's time to go through everything again, declutter more, clean things up, and do some painting. We need to finish putting casings around the doors downstairs where we moved the door for my sewing room into the main hall. We need to paint the 3rd bathroom and finish off adding things like towel bars and a mirror and vanity lights etc... Bill would like to paint the entry way. We need to fix the paint in Cordie's room as our sweetheart started peeling the fishy border off the wall and it looks really bad now. We need to price out and replace our back deck. This is the big one - we knew this when we moved in. Bill hopes he may be able to do work with my Dad helping him out. He's been enjoying doing more around the house and becoming a handyman. I also need to go through the kids drawers, pull out everything that no longer fits... Tanya, I will have clothes for your sons soon - maybe a good chance to get together?

This week:
normal week here. Monday night Bill had swimming lessons -yep, Bill is learning how to swim. I think it's awesome. he wants to be able to keep up with Duncan. Otherwise, drop off the kids, work, pick them up, dinner, play, bed.

And that's it here!! Time for some coffee and then get the kids up. Have a wonderful day!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Maui

Okay, so I've only been home for a week and a half. Sorry I didn't write sooner. I just haven't been spending any time on the computer. It actually took a bit to get over the 2 hour time difference. I think it's just enough to throw you off. Next time we stay longer!

Flight - this was what I was worried about the most. How would both kids do on the flight, and how would Cordie be if we didn't get a seat for her to use? Well Westjet stepped up and got us an extra seat - yay! They both did awesome. I brought a big selection of snacks, movies and other activities and they did really well. We landed at I think 4 PM and got into the resort around 6. Everyone else stopped at Costco to buy groceries but we figured with the kids it would just be best to get to our place and settle down. Oma brought us some breakfast chicken and veggies and stuff, and that was perfect.

The next day we had to go grocery shopping, but Duncan really wanted to go swimming at the Pirate Pool outside.

Well we had other stuff to do first, so thank goodness the Lord provided us with a downpour to put him off for a bit. We got lots of use out of the pirate pool though, which was just for little kids. In fact even Erik and Katie only managed to sneak in after it was dark out.

Anyhow, off to Safeway. Yeah, everything is expensive there. Actually we found lots of the prices are comparable to home, but just expensive compared to the rest of the US. Oh, and the booze was cheap, so we had enough wine and other stuff to do just fine.

Sleeping arrangements:
This was the other thing I was worried about was how sleep was going to work out. We actually thought we were going to need to sleep on the sofa bed and let Duncan have our bed. But the 1st night of laying on that thing I said forget it and climbed into bed with Duncan - you know the king sized gorgeously plush bed in the other room? Oh that felt nice. Oh, and Cordie had a crib, which worked fine for her. Anyhow, the 2nd night we said to Duncan do you want to sleep on the sofa bed? And he thought that was pretty cool. I was worried that he would wake up too much if we moved him - nope, not a problem. So that worked great, and we got the nice bed :)

Daily routine was some variation of this:
Get up, give the kids snacks, sit on the balcony and have some coffeem, have a nice leisurely breakfast, go play in a pool - the pirate pool or the shallow pool on side over. There was another one with a slide, but Duncan wasn't big enough for that one, and we didn't want to tease him that he couldn't go, so we just didn't swim there. Back to the room for lunch, naps for the kids while we napped/read/had a drink, and two times my Mom watched them while we went into Lahaina once and for a drive up Island once. After naps down to the beach for sand train building,

jumping in the waves, hanging with Oma and Opa,
and whale watching. Back to the room, clean up, dinner with the family. Most nights we all brought our own thing down to BBQ - the resort had BBQs all over which was really great, but we'd all hang out while we ate. Uncle Sean learned how much work it was to chase a Cordie. LOL! Then up to my brother's place (next door - we were all in a row) for drinks and hanging out on the balcony, which was nice b/c we could put Cordie to bed and use the monitor and still go hang out.

We also went to the Aquarium one rainy day - which was cool, but expensive, and perhaps the kids weren't old enough for it yet.

Bill took Duncan on the Sugar Cane Train - which Duncan just loved.


 (on the Sugar Cane Train)




We were supposed to use the round trip another day, but the day we were going to a Kona storm rolled in and it was closed down. I also took the kids to a local playground one morning while Bill was watching football. That was fun b/c it was a park local people use and I got to chat with some local Moms and Grandmoms while the kids played together.

Mom and Dad took us out for a family dinner one night. Cordie was a little owly at that one, but it was nice! And we also all went to a Luau one night, which was a hoot.


Again, Cordie didn't like to sit still - but she was just wiggly, not fussy, so I'm good if she is not screaming *grin*.


Final thoughts? How soon can we save up to go back? We loved it. I had been to Maui before, and Bill and I had been to Waikiki a few years ago, but seeing that the kids were so easy to travel with, and knowing how kid friendly Maui is, we want to go back - and for longer!! It will take a few years, but we'll swing it.

Thanks again to Oma and Opa for this wonderful trip.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Because I said So

Aloha!! Blog post about our trip to Maui coming soon, but 1st this:

Do you read Because I Said So by Dawn Meehan? Well Dawn is in a really, really tight spot right now, and so I am adding this in, in case you feel like helping

Monday, January 3, 2011

Happy New Year!

Quick note to wish you all a Happy New Year. Just getting ready for our little trip. No, potential thieves, our house will not be empty in our absence. We won't be gone long. See you on the flip side!