Well, that didn't work.

We went yesterday and picked up a new washer and dryer. I love them. I chose the Whirlpool Duet set. They are both front loading. So far, I've loved everything about them. They use less water, less detergent, less electricity and are much faster at washing and drying then what my old ones were. They were a tad on the expensive side, but hopefully they'll last a long time with no problems.

The only problem though is that it didn't solve the water leakage problem. Yes, there was water coming from the bottom of my old washing machine. But, after installing the new appliances and cleaning up all the old water mess, I noticed that there was another puddle forming over by the water storage tank. I cleaned it up, thinking that it was just a leftover spill from moving out the old washer, but it came back. SO, it looks like now the storage tank is going to have to be replaced. That is something that we'll need to hire a professional to do too. My hubby can fix a few things, but this is one that he would rather let someone else do. Just too many things that could go wrong. It is frustrating that all things seem to be breaking down at the same time, but I guess that is all part of the fun of home ownership.

Saturday news

Hello all,
Sorry I didn't post yesterday, but had some major problems here. I'll explain in a bit. First of all, my Friday weigh in. Wasn't good, but wasn't bad. I stayed the same as last week. Happy I didn't gain, but really wish the stupid scale would go DOWN!

Now for the major problems. Our washer AND dryer decided to both die on me this past week. First the heating element went out on the dryer and now the washer has decided to break. That happened yesterday when I was doing a load of towels. I noticed after it had been running for awhile that there was a small puddle of water coming from underneath it. I finished up the load and let it sit until hubby got home to take a look at it. When he was looking it over, he noticed a stale water smell coming from underneath. Come to find out that the washer hadn't been draining completely after each load and all of that excess water was just sitting in the bottom of it, stagnating! Yuck! Anyway, he also found a crack in the drain (not the hose, but the machine part) and figures that all that stagnant water was what was leaking out onto the floor. He called a friend of ours who works on washers and asked him if it could be fixed. Well, it could be, but he said that it would probably be cheaper if we just bought a new one with a warranty. So, looks like this afternoon we'll be heading out to buy a new washer and dryer. I can't complain (too much anyway) because we've had these since we first got married (15 years) so we have gotten our money's worth out of them.

On to better news, only 5 more days before we head back to the doctor to check on my son's wrist. He's been counting down the days since Day One to when he'd get this silly splint off and get back to normal. I really hope the xrays show that he is healed and he can take it off. Besides the fact that he'll be able to do things for himself again, which will be pure heaven for all of us who've been doing things for him, we'll get rid of the pungent smell coming from the splint itself. It's getting pretty ripe. We didn't think it would get this bad since it could be removed and aired out, but he has been so afraid of hurting his wrist even more that he won't leave it off for more then a couple of minutes tops. That just hasn't been enough time to air it out and get rid of the smell. So, we've been spraying it with Febreeze and hoping for the best. But, hopefully this week will be the end of having to wear it. We'll find out Thursday.

Weigh In

I was hoping to have at least a 5 lb. total loss for the month of January, but didn't hit it. I lost one pound this week for a total of 3 for the month. Not bad, but I want more. More! More! More! Maybe if I would quit eating off program, that might help. Hmm, makes sense. Now to just do it. No eating frenzies this weekend for me. I'm also going to get back on the treadmill and get moving again. I was doing so well on that before I got sick, but then when the bronchitis caught me I just couldn't get my butt on there. I think I would have passed out from lack of oxygen anyway if I'd even tried to walk. Just getting out of bed and walking around the house wore me out. That sickness is over with now though so I have no excuses not to get back on track. As long as hubby doesn't give me his cold, that is.

Daughter's test results

Just got off the phone with my daughter's doctor and thankfully all of her test results were normal. No low blood sugar, no thyroid problems, no heart problems. Nothing. The doctor said that she doesn't need to come back in for another appointment either since she's been feeling fine these past two days. I am just supposed to keep an eye on her and if she starts feeling that way again, especially if it is recurring, THEN they will run more tests. But as of now, this girl.......



is pretty dang healthy. And her mom is breathing a big, huge sigh of relief. Whew!

Which Peanuts Character are You?

You are Linus!


Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I just took this quiz which I found posted on Karon's blog and this is what came up for me. I think it does describe me to a point, but not exactly. At least I don't think it does.

Round and Round

I feel like I'm on a carousel and I can't get off. I'll be so glad when warmer weather gets here and the sickness and colds aren't as common. A few weeks ago, my daughter was sick. She quickly gave the cold to me which turned into bronchitis. Then my son broke his wrist. After that I thought things would calm down. WRONG! Yesterday my hubby woke up with a bad head cold. I also got a call from school to come pick up my daughter because she'd passed out in class. Not good. We took her to the doctor for that, they drew blood to run tests, but we won't find anything out until tomorrow or Friday. She is feeling fine today so we think it was possibly low blood sugar, but we're not positive.

Anyway, I think I'm ready to get off this merry-go-round and get on to better health for the entire family.

Eating Frenzy Weekend

What a weekend! I really wish I could get a handle on my thinking that just because others are eating crap that I can too! This was a terrible eating weekend for me. I completely and totally let myself go. We went to St. Louis for the weekend. Friday evening, on the drive there, I was starving (not a good start to this) so we stopped at McDonalds. Instead of getting the grilled chicken salad, I ordered a Quarter Pounder w/ cheese, LARGE fries and diet coke. I inhaled all of it! Then when we got to St. Louis and to our hotel, hubby decided that he wanted a midnight snack of pizza. He ordered one and when it got there, even though I was NOT hungry, I ended up eating four slices of it! Granted it was thin crust, only one topping and the slices were teeny tiny, but still. I didn't need it.

Next morning, we get up and go downstairs to eat the complimentary breakfast. I tried to eat light, but they only had biscuits and gravy, muffins, donuts and juice. They HAD cereal, but it was all gone by the time we mozied our lazy butts down there. So, I ate one biscuit with just a spoonful of gravy and one muffin. Also had one small glass of oj. We then went out and about for the day, visited the Arch, did some downtown driving and sightseeing then out to lunch we go to Burger King! I did manage to order the smaller burger (whopper jr.) with onion rings and diet coke. I ate all the burger and only half the onion rings. Truthfully though that was probably the least amount I ate at one meal the entire weekend. That night we again had pizza and I again ate a ton.

Sunday morning, I was still bloated from the pizza so skipped breakfast, only had some juice, but lunch was again at Burger King (I had the small chicken fries, onion rings, diet cola) and dinner last night was Arby's (Big Roast beef, small fries, diet cola). I felt like such a pig last night when I went to bed. I am afraid to even step on the scale to see how much damage I did.

Today I'm back to following NS, but I know it's going to be hard getting back in the saddle. I know I'm going to be hungry all day especially later tonight. But, I'm determined to do this. I've lost 42 lbs. since I started and I don't want to gain it all back so I NEED to get going in the right direction. No more eating frenzies! Wish me luck:)

Back to normal

Weighed this morning to no loss. What's new there? I lost last week, but know that's because I was sick. I truthfully wasn't even expecting a loss today. It's gotten to the point that whenever I hop on the scale anymore, I KNOW it's not going to be a different number.

Things have finally calmed down here though. At least that's good. My son is getting along fine with his broken wrist. He's actually doing better then we thought he would. When he first broke it, he just knew that the next month was going to be terrible, but after going back to school and seeing how he was going to be waited on pretty much hand and foot, well, let's just say he's liking all the attention:)

I'm feeling much better too. The only symptom I have leftover from my being sick is a slight cough, which doesn't even show itself until I go to bed at night. Then I get a tickle in the back of my throat. Even that is occurring less and less though. I have actually managed to go the last two nights in a row without waking up with a coughing fit. Hopefully within the next week, I'll be back to 100%.

Friday the 13th

If I were a superstitious person, I'd still be in bed with the covers pulled over my head. But I'm not.

It has been a hectic week here though. My son swears that it's because today is Friday the 13th that there have been so many problems this week. To start off, I woke up sicker then a dog Monday morning. Thought it was the flu, but have now come to think it is more like bronchitis instead. The coughing and hacking. The fever. Ugh. Will I ever feel better? God, I sure hope so.

My daughter has also been sick. She's better now though. Young bodies seem to bounce back so much quicker then the older ones.

My son, however, isn't going to be bouncing anywhere for awhile. Yesterday, I got a call from his school nurse, asking if I could come pick him up and take him to the doctor because he'd fallen during recess and hurt his wrist. It was swollen and he couldn't move it. She thought xrays would be a good idea. So, even though I felt like crap, I drove into town, picked him up and took him to the medical center. After waiting only a few minutes, they called him into an exam room and looked him over, sent him downstairs for xrays then back up to the exam room while the doctor looked them over. Unfortunately, he did have a break or buckle fracture as she called it. The bone didn't actually break, but buckled up. They put a splint on his wrist and he has to wear it for four weeks. If, after that amount of time, he's healing then he'll keep the splint. If he's not healing then they'll go to a regular cast for six weeks. So, he's not happy and he swears it is all because today is Friday the 13th. Even though he hurt himself on the 12th:) The doctor also told him that he can't participate in any contact sports or PE for the next month. He's really annoyed about that because he was involved in a championship basketball tournament and his team was one of the top contenders for first place.

A bit of good news did come from all this mayhem though. I hopped on the scale this morning to a 2 lb. loss for the week! Granted, I've not eaten much, no NS food at all actually, and know that's why the weight has disappeared, but I'll take it anyway. I hope once I start eating again that it doesn't come back, but if it does oh well. At least I'll be able to enjoy a meal again. Yesterday, even bland mashed potatoes tasted bad! And I'm a mashed potato fanatic.

So anyway, I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. Mine will be spent trying to feel better and tending to my son.

Not a nice post today

Ok, I'm in a crappy mood so this will be a super short post. I weighed this morning to another week with no loss. I'm starting to get really po'ed with the scale. Two weeks in a row of being 100% on plan and no loss? What the f**k?!?! Sorry, but I'm really upset. I knew last week that I probably wouldn't show a loss because it hadn't been a full week yet, but why did I not show one today? I drank all my water, ate only on plan, walked, etc. If the scale doesn't move down next week then I'm going to really wonder what's going on. I'm gonna go now before I really start ranting. Hope you all have a good weekend.

Not happy about it

Weighed this morning and was hoping to see a loss, but nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zipola. Granted, I've only been back to NS since Monday so it's not been a full week yet, but I really thought I'd at least see a pound gone. I am annoyed. I hope going off over the holidays didn't royally screw me up to where now I won't lose at all. Hopefully next week's weigh in will be better. I'll keep you posted.

Moving in the right direction

Hi all! I hope everybody had a great Christmas. Mine was good. I am glad that it is over though so I can get back to eating more healthy. I'll admit that these past few weeks have been pretty sweet (literally) because of all of the treats that have come into my home. I've done pretty good about not going overboard, but I have ate what I wanted lately. I restarted NS Monday though and, so far, seem to be moving in the right direction. The first day back on plan was hard though. My stomach was rumbling all evening. But I forced myself not to give into temptation, drank some more water and went to bed. Tuesday was a bit better. Still had the growlies at bedtime, but again ignored them. Hopefully today they won't come visit me at bedtime. If memory serves me right, the first two days on NS back when I first started were my hardest too and then after that things seemed to fall into place. At least I'm hoping that's how they were and will be again:)

I dont' know if I'd mentioned getting a treadmill for Christmas or not. Well, I didn't get it, but am going to go pick one up this weekend. I had told hubby that I really really wanted one for christmas, but I guess that even though he acted like he'd not gotten my gift yet that he already had when I started talking about the treadmill. Oh well. No biggie. I loved what he did get me (camcorder) and will just buy my own treadmill. I already have a space cleared out for it, have researched different models online and pretty much know what one I want. Now it's just getting over to the mall to pick it out. I think it will be the best investment I'll make too. Not just for my health, but also for my family's since they'll be able to use it too.

Well, guess that's it. I'll be back Friday with my official weigh-in for my first week back on track. Talk to you all then.

Tis the Season...

I thought I would share with you some history about one of my favorite Christmas songs and give you the list of the "ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) Top 25 Holiday Songs." What are the holidays without a little music!

1. Santa Claus is Coming to Town (one of the oldest songs of the 25 - 1934)
2. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting over an Open Fire)
3. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Introduced in motion picture "Meet me in St. Louis" in 1944)
4. Winter Wonderland (One of the two oldest songs of the 25 - 1934)
5. White Christmas (Introduced in the motion picture "Holiday Inn" in 1942; The most recorded song with well over 500 versions in dozens of languages)
6. Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
7. I'll Be Home for Christmas
8. Jingle Bell Rock
9. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (Written by Johnny Marks)
10. Little Drummer Boy
11. Sleigh Ride (Originally written as an instrumental piece and first performed in a concert conducted by Arthur Fiedler at Symphony Hall in Boston, MA in 1948)
12. Silver Bells (Introduced in the motion picture (The Lemon Drop Kid in 1950)
13. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
14. Feliz Navidad
15. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
16. Blue Christmas
17. Frosty the Snow Man
18. A Holly Jolly Christmas
19. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
20. Here Comes Santa Claus (Right down Santa Claus Lane)
21. (there's no place like) Home for the Holidays
22. Santa Baby
23. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
24. Carol of the Bells
25. Wonderful Christmastime (Newest song of the 25 - 1979)

"Silent Night" was written and first performed on Christmas Eve at St. Nikolas Church, in Oberndort, Salzburg, Austria in 1818. According to legend, the church organ was broken and the town was snowbound. Church vicar Joseph Mohr wrote the lyrics on the spot. Choir Director, Franz Gruber, composed the original melody for two voices and choir with guitar accompaniment, just in time for midnight mass.

On this note, I will end by wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and the joy of the sound of music this holiday season!

Weigh In

Another maintain for the week. I'm happy about that, but will be happier when I get back to losing. After Sunday, I'm going back at the NS plan and exercise full force. I am ready to see lower numbers on the scale.

So far, So good

Weighed this morning and am at 245 so up 1/2 a pound this week, but hey, that's fine by me. Maintaining is harder then I thought it would be, but at least I've not gained five or ten pounds back these past couple of weeks. A half pound I think I can handle. One more week to go then the Christmas food and treats will be gone and hopefully I'll get back on track and start losing again.

I told hubby last night that once the holidays are over, I want the whole family to get into some sort of fitness routine. Be it walking after dinner, shooting hoops or doing an exercise tape or something, we all need to get moving more. I hope I can get everyone interested in that.

I'm off to get some work done around here. It sure would be nice to have a day of doing nothing but relaxing for a change. Maybe someday. Talk to you all later.

Think I'm almost finished

Whew! I've had some mad dash shopping trips these past few days, but I think I'm finally almost finished shopping for Christmas. I thought I was finished last week, but I had five more people thrown onto my list at the last minute so had to buy for them. The house is decorated, the tree is up, most of the presents are wrapped. I'm NOT baking cookies this year so I dont' have to deal with that or have the temptation laying around. We only have two parties that we are going to this year also. Only one will have tons of junk food. The other is at my parents and they are really healthy eaters. Only a couple of tempting treats and the rest is healthy stuff. Anyway, I will enjoy myself at both of them and not let it get to me. This is the only time of year that I eat these types of treats so I'll enjoy and worry about taking the extra calories off after the fact.

I've actually been doing really good on my eating. I told myself last week that I was just going to shoot to maintain my weight loss over the holidays and it's actually had the opposite effect on me that I thought it would have. Instead of going out and eating all the tempting treats I come across, I've passed them by. Hmm, could this be a bit of reverse psychology at work? I guess I'll find out how well it's working when I weigh in. I'm still shooting for a maintain, but hey, a loss wouldn't be bad either.

Winter Wonderland

What a change a day can make! Yesterday you could see the grass and the roads. Today everywhere you look it is white! I'm not a big fan of snow. Sure, it's nice to look at, but I don't like to be in it at all. I don't like to walk in it or drive in it. Now, my kids on the other hand, are ready to go outside and play. They are dressing in their coveralls, gloves and hats as we speak.

No change in my weight for the week. I think for the time being, at least until the holidays are over, that I'm not going to worry about trying to lose weight. I'm going to shoot for maintaining instead. I'm not giving myself free reign to eat whatever I want, but I have realized that I just can't pass up the temptation of some of the things being brought into my home right now. I've not gone overboard on eating any of it, but I've HAD to have at least a piece of the candy or whatever every time I pass it by. Some of you are probably saying now to not even let those things come into the house if they're that big of a problem for you. Well, not an option. My hubby gets treats from his customers at this time of year and he will not let them go to waste. He feels that if the customer was nice enough to give him a gift then he should be nice enough to use it...even if that means gaining ten pounds over the holidays. So anyway, I'm going to keep following NS, but if a piece of fudge or a candy cane call my name, I'm going to enjoy it. It's not like I eat like this all year long either. These things are only around during the holiday season. Not an excuse, I know, well, maybe it is an excuse. Ha! I guess I'm just trying to validate my reasons right now to make myself feel better about them.

Weigh-In

Well, only down 1/2 a pound this week. I'll take it but I was really disappointed that it wasn't more. I really thought that since it had been two weeks since I stepped on the scale AND that I'd been so good over Thanksgiving, there would be at least a 2 lb. loss for this week, but guess it just wasn't meant to be. I need to step up the exercise now to get things moving faster, I guess. Apparantly, my body has gotten to the point that following NS alone isn't enough anymore. I really dread the thought of exercise, but if it will help me get to where I want to be faster then I guess I'll do it.

Not the day I'd planned on having

Things sort of got messed up today. I'd planned on going Christmas shopping and getting a big chunk of that done, but instead of doing that I've been home with my son. He twisted his ankle last night pretty badly and couldn't walk on it this morning when he got out of bed. So, kept him home instead of sending him to school. I normally would have thought he was faking it, but he was crying last night because it hurt so bad. My son does NOT cry so you know he had to be hurting. He is doing better now after the ice packs and tylenol. He's kept it elevated for most of the day and is just now trying to walk around on it. He says it still hurts, but nothing like it did last night so I'm hoping he'll be good to go tomorrow. It's not swollen or bruised and he can rotate it without pain. It just hurts when he stands. I feel for him because I know how it feels. I broke my ankle a few years ago and it was almost unbearable at times. A sprain can feel just as bad.

It snowed here this morning too. First big snow of the season. We've had flurries a few times, but nothing has stuck to the ground. It stuck this morning, but I'd say we only got maybe one inch. It's pretty much melted away now, but there are still a few areas that are covered. Our deck still has a good layer of the white stuff on it. I don't like snow, but have to admit that it did make things look really pretty outdoors this morning.

So, I didn't get to do any shopping and I've been stuck in the house all day. I did accomplish something though. I pulled out the box of Christmas cards and actually got all of them addressed and ready to send out. I do have to get stamps, but should be able to do that tomorrow. I'm proud of myself. Usually Christmas cards are the last thing on my list to do. If I don't do them first thing after Thanksgiving then they sit in the box until most every thing else is finished.

I'm hoping that weigh-in goes well tomorrow too. I didn't weigh last week because of Thanksgiving and I'm anxious to see what the scale says now. I'm hoping and praying that it has gone down and not up. I've only had Turkey day that I've not been on program so it really should show me something good, but only time will tell. You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what happens. Wish me luck!

No weigh in today

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine was good except my grandma wasn't able to make it over this year. She'd said she would come, but that morning when my mom called her she wasn't feeling well. I totally understood (she's 97 years old), but it was still disappointing not to get to see her.

I think I did pretty well on the eating. I had planned on eating what I wanted, but watching the portions and only eating one serving. I did just that. I wasn't stuffed when I finished the meal like I have been in years past. Just pleasantly full. Today I'm back to eating what I should. I actually did well on figuring out how much to cook to where I didn't have leftovers to deal with today. Just turkey and that fits into NS anyway.

So anyway, I'm not looking at the scale today even though I didn't go overboard on my eating. I know if it shows a gain that I will be disappointed and I don't need that. Plus TOM decided to visit this morning and I always gain water weight when he shows up. I will just do my best this weekend and next week and then will show a great loss next Friday.