Shall We Shrink??

Remember how excited I was to go to Europe next summer? And how important being a part of my sister’s wedding was? And how much I loved my new car that I got only 5 months ago? Well, there has been a slight change of plans. It seems we are moving to Japan. ASAP. As in not even sure if I am going to get to go home for a little bit before we go. As in missing my sister’s wedding. She is devastated and wants me to fly home for it. Only leaving my kids alone 10,000 miles away and also paying 1500 bucks to do it only a few months after we move? May not be do-able. OY. So needless to say, sorry I have been absent, but I am a little preoccupied. We have to sell both our vehicles, a lot of our furniture (we can only move 2000 pounds, but they provide us with furniture), and gear up for a major move to a place we know next to nothing about and don’t speak the language.

That being said, OMG, I’m totally moving to Japan! And I am applying for THREE jobs that I would love on base! They didn’t have any here that were decent. Think of the extra money! Think of the sushi! Think of the inability for a woman who is 5′9″ to shop! buahahahah I need to focus on my diet so I can at least get some tops and dresses while I am there. I mean, hello! It’s Japan. Have you seen the Harashuku girls? They got style. And our next family vacation was going to be The Great Wolf Lodge, only now? It’s climbing Mt. Effin FUJI! Yes! Mt. Fuji!!! Does it get better than this? Me thinks not.

So, sorry I am absent. That might happen a lot in the next few weeks. But I am still reading your blogs and I try to comment, only it’s hard on my iPod Touch. And I can’t post on that. Boo!

Today we are celebrating Mother’s Day because tomorrow is my baby’s 4th birthday, and I don’t want to take away from his day. I offered to take him to Disney Land. No. Sea World. No. He wants? A beach party. Simple man. And, lucky for the beach bum, his Dad is a Marine, so the beach is never far away. Have you seen the beach in Okinawa? Oh man, it is GORGEOUS. The boys have already sang to me, I got homemade school presents (the best kind), and they are poaching me two eggs and making me coffee as we speak. I love these turds.

Happy Mothers Day! You girls are really some of the bestest Moms out there! And yes, I realize that as Moms you are thinking I shouldn’t have said bestest. haha!!!

Oh yeah, and the point of this blog… I have walked every day this week, and today I’ll be going hiking. Not sure about tomorrow yet, but may not be any formal exercise, just running and playing on the beach. My eating has been good, though I still have no scale so I don’t know my weight. I tried on a pair of too tight jeans, and they button but are still a bit muffin toppy. So the goal is to get them to fit. It’s way funner than a precise weight anyway

B: 2 poached eggs, 2.5 piece toast w/black cherry jam, copious amounts of coffee.
L: balance bar, several handfuls of cheeze nips, and a lemon filled donut. buahahaha
D: cup of “Mother Earth” soup (healthy), cup of potato soup (not so healthy), strawberry fields salad (yum!), part of a cornbread piece, strawberry mini muffin, and some strawberry apple cobbler (OMG, so gooood). Souplantation is fabulous. And it was my first post swine flu buffet (or dining out for that matter) so let’s hope I don’t die!
S: few cheeze nips and some peppermint tea w/ biscotti
Water: lots, it’s all I have drank today besides this morning’s coffee, just not sure how much.

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Back from hiking and it was AMAZING! Like, more than amazing. Wow. Here’s a pic.

I am so thankful I have kids who were willing to do that. I mean, the initial hike to get up to the trail was about a quater mile hike straight up!! My poor 3 (almost 4!) year old!

So I have walked three days in a row. boo-yah! I have to admit, I am sore this morning from yesterday’s walk. Makes me feel like a wimp, but whatev. I forgot to blog yesterday, but I did good and my eating was good, too. TBL made me cry. I kinda like Ron again, if only a little. And brseay, a body bugg is what TBL uses. You have to be heavily involved with tracking your input, but obviously it works… www.bodybugg.com (sorry, can’t get the link to work right, grrrrrrrr)

I want one, but I am too poor! Boo!

B: oatmeal, protein, 1/2 banana
S: banana w/ almond butter, balance bar
L: salad w/ spinach, feta, cranberries, and a few walnuts w/balsamic. (my new fav lunch! YUM!)
S: bowl of chicken gnocchi soup (leftovers from last night) and a mini scoop of low fat ice cream
D: leftover sweet potatoes & a roast sammy w/ light mayo. OMG, so good, but I am still hungry!
W: ~50 oz

Thank Gawd my kids are going to school today! They are driving me INSANE!

I am going for a nice, healthy, cupcake free day. Let’s see what I can do! I’m going to aim for maybe a half hour walk. I don’t think that’s too much to start with. And also healthy foods and plenty of water. I’ll check in later.

B: 2 packs weight control oatmeal with a splash of skim (my 10yo made it for me and he likes it thick. ick!)
L: romaine, baby carrots, 1TBSP lite ranch, a few carrots and 1TBSP pb
S: Balance Pure bar, small apple w/ just a smidge of almond butter
D: will be roast, sweet potatoes, cabbage, and carrots. yum!
Water: ~60 oz

Exercise: 40 minute brisk walk with the hubbinator. He is so sweet to walk with me We went almost 3 miles. I burned around 250 calories. So, not exactly a marathon, but a nice start!

In other news, my neighbor bought a body bugg and started using in 6 weeks ago… she has lost 40 pounds and is half way to her goal. Seriously. I was so green with envy when she told me that today. In the last 6 weeks I have managed to gain 2 pounds! ha. So if all else fails, buy a body bugg.

I have decided that I want to take a hands off approach to this. I don’t want to log calories, just what I eat, and I am not going to be hard core on exercise, just make sure to do something every day. Also, I am not weighing myself. At all. Our scale is officially dead, and I am not going to replace it. It stresses me out too much.

I am so over our bank. Like over it. I’m switching banks tomorrow morning. So I am now a few hours into a gorgeous Sunday morning and I am in a pissy mood. The White Stripes are making me feel a little better, I must admit. I feel like a teenager with the whole earbuds in and blogging on the laptop. Ha! So I think I am going to take a long walk this morning. I need to just get out of this house and not focus on being poor. I am not used to that… I make a lot of money when I work, and I HATE not working. This stay at home stuff has advantages, but also has disadvantages. I just need to keep telling myself that the advantages win out.

I’m not a mad eater, so at least that is working in my favor!

B: 2 packets weight control oatmeal (my MIL left them here so I am using em up)
L: 2 cupcakes, a smart ones egg mcmuffin thing
D:another cupcake (they are almost gone. thank gawd, as my belly is hurting), something hubby made with spinach and pasta, and one turkey meatball.
Water: none yet, or coffee for that matter… Update: about 40 oz, but I need another water bottle, so I should end around 60.

My day got a lot better. I was kind of having a melt down, so I did what any reasonable woman who had no money to shop would do: clean. I have a closet that had my shoes and the boys games in it, as well as a bunch of books that were unpacked and about 9 boxes of packed books (yes, we have lived here a year and a half… pathetic, I know). It was heinous, heonous I tell you. But I am in declutter mode lately, and this is like the Mt. Everest of decluttering. So, I did it. And I got rid of about 5 boxes of books and 2 boxes of shoes. I think I am down to around 40 pairs of shoes, which sounds like a lot, but is next to nothing. Think about it… boots, sandals, heels, casual, running shoes… I mean, a girl needs a pretty large inventory of shoes. I got rid of a lot before we moved here, but I still had over a hundred pairs. I am proud of myself. I also am down to about 6 purses. Seriously, I rock at decluttering! And the goodwill loves me!

Then, as I was feeling all smug, my aunt calls and tells me that she had a whole day of clean eating. I felt so inadequate! haha. I told her I needed a cupcake intervention, stat. So I promised her I would be on track tomorrow, and I plan on doing it. For real. And I want to walk too. I miss running and weights so much. Absence DOES make the heart grow fonder.

And it is Red Velvet. Cupcake, that is…

I have thus far managed to eat only 1.5 (the .5 was from my oldest son, who didn’t like it because it was pink, which happened because I had less red food coloring than I thought), but oh, I want to eat more. They are delicious!

I ran around getting birthday stuff for my aunt and little sister all morning with my 6yo. He is being super good today. Actually, all the boys are. I wonder what is up with that?! I’m definitely looking forward to my night alone. I have netflixed some movies and I have my new books so one way or another, I am going to tae advantage of the peace!!!

I’m thinking of going for a walk today, but we’ll see. I am really tired from running around all morning and then being on my feet baking, so I might save that tomorrow.

B: honey bunches of oats cereal, skim (super small bowl)
S: nf latte (resisted the coffe cake for only 50 cents more! yay!)
L: almond butter & black cherry preserve sammy, handful of oat pretzels, 1.5 cupcakes of doom
S: another cupcake…
D: okay, this is hard to admit. ANOTHER cupcake! Seriously. Good news is I am all alone and don’t have to make dinner, so I will probably just eat some baby carrots and hummus when I get hungry later (IF I get hungry later! ha!) UPDATE: ate a few carrots with hummus, then settled for a salad with just romaine, carrots, and a TBSP of low fat ranch. and a few pretzels
Water: ~80

Happy Saturday, chickies! 

Today has been a great day. I woke up feeling much better (that is the most ladylike way I can think of to say my issue has resolved itself!), got dressed in cute capri’s (thank god I have fat-fat clothes still, because my regular-fat clothes are too tight as my belly is still swollen) and heels, and even put on a little mascara. I had the follow up appointment with my 6yo’s psychologist for the results of the iq and personality assessments. Apparently my son is a genius, literally. I mean, I knew he was smart, but wow. So with that comes great responsibility. He is VERY emotional, and though we tell him how great he is, he doesn’t have a good self worth. The dr said that was evident. But he is smart, and is a people pleaser, so if we can get him to work on dealing with his emotions and realizing not everything is a personal attack on him, he thinks he could be a future Nobel Prize winner. CRAZY!! My Uncle’s brother (not my uncle caue of marriage LOL) was a chemical engineer and was up for the nobel prize before he died in a plane crash many years ago. It is hard for me to fathom that ability. He thinks he needs to be in a better school, but we’re leaving soon, so I am going to wait til then. I don’t want to uproot him just to do it again. I would like for him to be in a private school, but I want to finish grad school first, plus the dr said there are seminar schools that are public, but for gifted kids that are just as good as the small private school he’d recommend. Nice.

So, I came home and called the school counselor, and we’re having a meeting tomorrow (random, I know, but she is so awesome and suggested it since the boys will be gone at a birthday party with the hubby). I’m excited to see if we can make some progress. Poor lil guy… he doesn’t realize how fabulous he is. I HATE his biological father. What a complete loser. And he was just like our son… so smart, but no ability to control his emotions, and he ended up doing drugs and going nowhere for it. I do not want that fate for my son. He deserves so much better than that.

Ok, I’ve talked enough. I’m going to start writing what I eat again. Lord knows I need the accountability.

B: usual (oatmeal, protein, banana, skim (gave up the soy))
L: micro healthy choice meal, bit o honey candy bar (nom! good stuff)
S: pear and a banana with almond butter and also a few crackers and hummus (snacky lil thing)
D:healthy choice meal (good actually) and a slice of the boys pizza. oh, and a fun size box of juju something or the other
Water: ~80 oz

I’m making homemade red velvet cupcakes for a friend tomorrow morning, and I am going to try to eat only 2. That is the goal. I mean, I could say zero, but that would be unrealistic.