MissJ08

So as those of you know, I have recently gotten a new tattoo. I talked about it in a previous blog, so you can read about the details there, but I know many wanted to see pics of it, so here are some pics of my new tattoo Also, I ended up using the quote, “1 Mother, 2 Grandmas, 3 in my heart” It wraps around my leg so it was hard to get every bit of it in the pictures, but you get the idea

I’m a weekend person. During the week, it’s all work and laundry. I rarely do anything during the week. I’d rather just go to work and then go home after wards to relax, do laundry, or whatever else. I don’t like having to run to the grocery store or here or there. But on the weekends, I like to be out doing things. I love having plans, and if it’s really nice outside, I especially want to be out doing things. I like going here and there, as long as it’s the weekend. It drives my boyfriend nuts many times, because he’s kind of the opposite of me, he thinks the weekend is for relaxing and not having to run here and there. I have something planned for the next 5 weekends. Something to look forward to every week. The only bad side to this, is I spend all week waiting for the weekend (for whatever reason) and then it’s over before I know it. (Most weekends are like that anyways, but I find it is worse when you really have something planned or are looking forward to) This weekend, my boyfriend and I are traveling to my best friend’s house (2 hours away) as it’s her birthday next week, we (us, my best friend, her husband, and some of her family) are all going to dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse, where the food is amazing and they cook everything right in front of you while doing all sorts of cool tricks. I absolutely cannot wait. You get to choose between 2 meats.. Last time I got chicken and lobster, but the lobster was so good, I was disappointed I got the chicken, so this time, I’m getting double the lobster (which is very healthy anyways). I know they fry some stuff in oil and of course you get white rice. so the oil they use to cook with and the white rice should be the worst of what I’m eating The rest is lobster and vegetables at least from what I can remember.  Then if I can just control the beverages (there will be some drinking going on, it’s her birthday) then I’ll be all set  :)  lol sometimes easier said than done. I don’t know if anyone has tried the Miller 64 (has 64 calories) or the Bud Select 55 (55 calories) but the Bud Select is wayy better than the Miller - taste-wise and calorie-wise. And they are both only 1 point per beer (for you Weight Watcher people) Only thing that sucks about that beer, is it is very low alcohol percentage, it’s definitely not something you will get drunk fast off of. Not that I’m looking to get bombed or anything, but just letting you all know. So I’m thinking I may get a 12 pack of that to drink while I’m there. And as long as I drink water off and on, especially before bed, that should offset the dehydration.

Anyhow, I hope everyone’s having a great week! Anyone have big plans this weekend or plans they are looking forward to in the near future?

So I’m looking at getting a tattoo in the very near future, next month actually. I originally wanted a tattoo that had 2 quotes woven into it. However, upon talking to the tattoo artist, my quotes I have are much too long for the style and tattoo that I want. I am trying to come up with some way to incorporate both quotes and the meanings behind them into one shorter quote. I know that the words are going to be very different having to come up with something new, but I’m hoping for the meaning to somewhat stay apparent (if that makes any sense…) Here are the two quotes I had in mind…

1. All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.
2. Grandmas hold our tiny hands for a little while, but our hearts forever.

It would be best to have it be around the length of the first quote, but a little longer may be ok. I was also thinking of something along the lines of, “My mother is my world, my grandmothers hold my heart.” But that just doesn’t quite cut it.. It’s missing a sort of finesse or “flow.” but you can see where I’m going with this. At least I hope so Both of my grandmothers have passed, one in particular I was very close to, and she was the second main person in my life behind my mom. My mom means the world to me and we are very close.  So I’m just tossing this out there in hopes maybe someone will have some good ideas or I can get an idea off your ideas

Updated******This is a picture of a tattoo that is similar to what I am getting:  http://www.eviltattoo.com/foottat123.jpg  Unfortunately, I cannot make the quotes I did choose small enough to fit them in, because the tattoo artist told me he would have to make those words too small to fit them in, that over time they may blend together or not even be able to read them. So I have to compromise. I could get another tattoo for this purpose, but I have no idea where I would put it or what I would get for the other  tattoo. it has taken me a long time to even decide on a tattoo like this and to weave the words around it  lol

It is that wonderful day of the week once again… It’s weigh in Wednesday. And today? Down 1.2 lbs :)  Now, of course I was hoping for more. Why is it we always hope for more than we get? lol We hope all week long for a loss, any loss, just something to get lower than what we are at, so we finally get a loss, and we wish it were more. Anyhow, considering I drank this last weekend, I had 5-6 glasses of wine (which calorie/point wise, I was on plan), but that drinking dehydrates you which doesn’t help at all either. However, I tried my best to avoid that issue, I drank 2 glasses of water at the bar, another 4 glasses of water when I got home that night, and I have drank a lot of water the last couple days on top of that. Also, for the last week TOM was in town, just left yesterday. So between those two things, a 1.2 lb loss is great, in my opinion   Which now I’m at 179.2! A new set of numbers, I absolutely cannot wait for the 160s!! But first things first, I gotta get these 170’s out of the way.

So I have been doing the walking thing at lunch. I came into work today, and one of my co-workers asked if she could come with me and do the walk with me. Now I prefer to walk alone, as it clears my head kind of a thing and I can go as fast or slow as I need to, but a walking buddy will be nice, give me someone to chat with and what not. I didn’t have a chance to go for my walk yesterday, it was chilly outside and really windy, so I opted to not go. But I did go home and do almost a half hour on my wii fit.  :)  So I felt good about that.

I don’t know about some of you, but for us in the Northern States, we are finally seeing some warm weather (70’s Thurs, Fri, and Sat and almost 80 on Friday!!) which is amazing, but it is also the start of something evil……. That’s right. It’s also Construction Season. I had my first hold up this morning on my way into work, due to some construction crap going on. Happy Freakin’ Construction Season 

Anyways, Hope you are all having a great week, and Happy Hump Day!

In case you haven’t heard the news, spring is almost here (tomorrow is gonna be pretty cold here, so I say almost), and Summer will be here before we know it. Which brings me to one of the loves of my life of summer. The ice cream store. Now, I don’t really care much for ice cream (yes, you read that right), BUT I love a good vanilla milkshake or a twist ice cream cone. I rarely ever eat ice cream at home out of the box. But there’s something to be said about the twists and milkshakes. I usually get the milkshake because it’s fewer calories –I can’t remember which it is, but it’s either low fat/sugar free or fat free/sugar free vanilla ice cream - I’m hoping it was fat free/no sugar because then a cup and half is 4 points — and I always have them make it with that ice cream instead of the regular stuff. it’s actually very good. And I’m a big lover of Rainbow Sprinkles, so I always order my milkshake or ice cream cone with rainbow sprinkles. I’m getting anxious for a milkshake just thinking about it  :)  It is a little thinner of a milkshake because there’s way less fat than regular ice cream, but I still enjoy it just the same. The twist is a different story, you can’t get a low fat or fat free/sugar free version. So I don’t get them very often. But if I can get my milkshake at least, I’m a happy girl.

As the title of this suggests, there’s something I’m going to mention about medicine and motivation…they tie in together for me today. I have no motivation this afternoon. I didn’t go on my lunchtime walk (I know, I know) I should have and I was going to, even brought my sneakers in with me today (I wore dress boots today). But I have been having this sinus issue for a few days now. I sneeze 20 times a day, nose is running half the time, and stuffy the other part of the time. So this morning I finally decide to take something around 8am. I went to the medicine cupboard and pulled out some Benedryl. Had all my symptoms on the box, dosage was 1-2 pills. So I took 2 with intentions of taking one every 4-6 hours after that. Holy crap, by 10:30-11 I was ready for a nap! It made me so tired/sleepy. I totally did not feel like myself. Definitely helped my nose, but the rest of me just wanted to go home! I’m better now, though not completely back to being alert, but I did not take any more. So on top of being tired from the meds, TOM is coming to town, full force any minute now, and I have slight cramps here and there, so today I gave myself a break. Who knows, maybe I’ll feel better for a quick walk after work.

Ok. So last night was one of those nights you just wish you could erase off the calendar - Pretend it never happened. I spent most of the evening messing around on the computer trying to buy my mom a cell phone. Now I live in the country and have satellite internet. Which for those of you who don’t know, satellite internet is in between dial up and dsl. It’s not super fast, but it’s wayy better than dial up. And it has it’s pitfalls - you can lose service during storms (just like satellite tv) and it you are online during peak times (6-10) monday-fri it is definitely way slower than other times. Well, I was online trying to purchase a phone around 7 on Verizon Wireless website. Now if you have never been on Verizon’s website, that website can be soooo slow on a good internet connection. So between my internet and their website, I went round and round for a good hour (I’d say hour and half) trying to buy a phone and go through the 20 steps to get it. Needless to say, I got frustrated and gave up. I’m just gonna order it today :(  So I get ready for bed, take 2 Nyquil Sinus, my sinuses were bothering and I just wanted to get some sleep. I lay down, check my email, and I just received an email stating a payment was late on something. I’m like how can my payment be late?? I already paid for April’s payment?!  So I call (thankful it was a 24 hour number) and get that straightened out. Yes, I owed more money :(  long story short, my payment amount was lowered and my letter in the mail said to start paying the lower payment on one day, but they had me down as starting the lower payment the next month. So I had to pay $180 unplanned last night. Didn’t exactly make me happy, but it had to be done :(  So then I figure, What else can go wrong? I’m going to bed before there’s anything else. Nope. Wrong. Shouldn’t have said that. While I was on the phone getting that payment figured out. I was on my bank website to be sure I knew what payments had been made and what not. So I decide to go to bed before there was anything else. So I come back to my computer to put it away for the night, and lo and behold - - I notice that when i got gas on Sunday -  I was double charged at the pump!!  :mad:  So for $33 in gas, I was charged the $33 twice. Ugh. At that point, I was ticked, so not relaxed, but thankfully fell asleep. So glad that night was over.

Now for my weight in… I lost 1.4 this last week :)  It wasn’t quite as much as i had hoped, I was really hoping for 2. That’s a pound and a “half” gone which is a great loss, but I was thinking and hoping for more like a 2 pound loss. Especially after when I first stepped on the scale it showed 179.something and I got all excited, then after I got on again (I always step on at least 3 times to get the same reading) and it wasn’t 179, I’m 180.4. The evil Scale strikes again   Especially since i started walking, which I know isn’t a crazy work out, but I’ve walked during my lunch 4 times in the last week. Oh well. 1.4 is great and this weekend I’ll just be more strict with food and hope for  2 pound loss next week. Hopefully then I’ll be in the 170’s

Another Monday, Another week to take control of our weight. I had a decent weekend (food-wise). My intake was a little high Saturday (2,300 calories, ugh, **I just came back and edited my calories because I remembered I forgot to count something I ate on Saturday..so my calories were a little higher than previously thought**) and Sunday was around 1500 calories. I almost stuck to my points exactly. I may have went a few points over, it was hard to really pin point an exact number, but it was pretty darned close. I would have liked to have been a little lower in calories Saturday, but overall I can’t complain too much. And believe it or not… I have started walking! Last week, I decided my lunches can be better spent with a 20 minute walk. So Thursday and Friday I got out and did a brisk 18 minute walk. I tried going for 20 minutes, but hard to gauge your time to be sure to be back so I can eat and what not. So I was doing anywhere between 18-20 min of a walk. I found that not only did it get my out of the office, but I think it made for a better afternoon. Although the first 15 minutes or so after I got back inside were a little uncomfortable because I was really warm/hot from walking, but after that it was ok. So of course, today I’m ready and planning to go back out for lunch, and it’s raining today :(  So I’m going to go for a walk after work if it’s not raining (but weather says it will still be raining then, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed) .

Yesterday, I went to my first Hockey game. It was fun It was a lower level semi-pro game. I always knew hockey was a crazy game and can be very brutal on the players, but actually sitting there watching it? Man, they are crazy. They are shoved into that wall so hard sometimes! I would definitely go again and recommend for anyone to go. Even if you don’t watch it regularly.  I have never watched hockey on tv before, except for maybe a couple minutes.

Well it’s a short post today. I hope the weather is better where you are!

Weigh in Wednesday.

Up .6 of a pound. Now I’m trying to not be too disappointed.. it’s not even a whole pound and I had one crazy, fun weekend. I knew I wouldn’t get lucky enough to just maintain. I was back on track Monday, and I’ll be sure to behave and not splurge over the weekend.  Sad part is, TOM is coming to town next week. So it may be 2 weeks before I see some real results. Sometimes TOM affects me, sometimes not so much.

It’s “funny.” You have a really great week and lose some weight, and it just gets you pumped and motivated to keep it up. You have even the smallest gain, and at the time you really need the motivation the most, you don’t quite have as much as you’d wish. We people are strange

Fat, I’ll give you your .6 of a pound this week, but next week I’m going to take away 2 pounds.. We’ll see how you like that. 

I can happily say that I have paid off my last credit card today. No more credit card payments.. at least for a little while. I never thought the day would come. Now I can’t wait to start receiving the offers again. Funny how you use credit cards for a long time, then you suddenly stop using them pay them off, and now, I don’t see why I even need a credit card. I really only need a credit card for emergencies. I don’t think I will ever find myself with high credit card balances ever again. Because now that I’m starting over, I don’t want to get buried again. So yay for no more credit cards!

Now for some randomness….

Coffee. I am not a coffee drinker. However, I have started on occasion having a cup of coffee mid-morning just to have something hot to drink on. Now it wouldn’t matter to me if it was coffee, hot chocolate, or french vanilla cappuccino, but coffee is only 1 point so I’ve been leaning toward that to save a point or two. That said, I now know why people stop after a couple cups of coffee. Caffeine has never really affected me, but I have one cup of coffee and wa hoo I feel like I’m ready for action  :)  I couldn’t even imagine drinking a second cup..not to mention, it makes you have to go to the bathroom a couple times and that is after just one cup. You regular pot-of-coffee drinkers are some crazy people. Just one cup for me thanks :p

Are there any gardeners out there?  I would like to plant a flower next to my grandma’s headstone. I don’t know if this is something that is allowed, but I don’t know the first thing about flowers… and since it’s almost spring time, I figure it’s the best time to plant something. Is there a flower that will come back every year on it’s own and not spread into a bigger plant? Any information is greatly appreciated. I don’t exactly have a green thumb..

Ok, onto sausage. I have never bought a healthy breakfast sausage. I don’t even know if it exists. Has anyone come across a breakfast style sausage that is low points/lower calorie or fat? preferably a sausage that I can fry up crumbled, but if it is a link/patty style that would be ok too. I haven’t gone to the grocery store yet to browse my options, but thought maybe someone in BuddySlim land would know a little bit about healthier breakfast sausage

This is totally not diet related. So I live at home with my mom and step dad. As much as I wish I didn’t, I can’t afford to move out by myself. Anyways, we have 2 cats. One is technically mine, although she hates me (and everyone else) the only one who can touch her about 90% of the time is my mom. Everyone else, she claws, hisses, and will tear you up if you try to touch her. So really, I call her my mom’s cat. The other cat is so sweet and a “fraidy” cat. I love cats. I love animals. I don’t like to see hurt, suffering, or neglected animals. Which brings me to the point of my story.. We live in the country.. and when I say country, I mean a dirt road and we may see 2-3 cars a day some days and one of them is the mail man. There’s a few houses somewhat near by, they have dogs and cats as well..some inside some outside. So the other day, our cats were looking out the window all interested in something. Sure enough, there’s a scraggly looking cat sitting on the porch. This is a cat, I have never seen before. I think the cat looks skinny, but my mom says the cat isn’t that bad. And of course the cat meows at us through the window. Anyhow, time goes by and one of us goes outside, well the cat comes right up and wants to come in the house. By this point, I feel terrible. I feel so sad for the kitty hanging around outside, meowing at us. My mom seems to think this cat belongs to someone or did belong to someone because he actually tries to come in the house and isn’t scared of us. So my mom, actually feeds this cat something. So now this cat is hanging around. it sits on our porch, staring at us through the window. And if you happen to look over at the window (I have done it a few times, forgetting he’s out there) he’ll see you and meow at you. It makes me so sad. I don’t like to see animals just sitting outside, no real home with food, I think that if he had a real home, he would be there. It does not seem to bother my mom. she’ll toss something out there maybe once a day, which I am partly blaming her, ok mostly blaming her for this cat hanging around. But there’s nothing I can do. This thing probably has fleas and who knows what else. I’m sure that taking it to the animal shelter won’t result in anything good for the cat. We can’t afford another cat in the house, the two we have eat and use enough litter between the two of them it’s insane. The shelter is probably booked as it is, I keep thinking of a place where they get so full they put animals down because they don’t have any room or can’t get rid of them. Now I’m not saying that’s how the local animal shelter is, but my poor conscience just can’t handle this sadness I have for this cat. It’s not like we have a barn to even put it in to call it a barn cat. My mom said today, “Well I don’t mind him hanging around outside.” Well yeah that’s all fine until winter comes back again, then this cat is freezing outside. I can’t imagine where he’s been so far this winter… Anyways, that’s my story this evening