Well how about that! Losing can be good!

I did better than expected this week - lost .6 pounds.  My goal for the week had been to stay stable.  I did a little better than that!  How did that happen with Thanksgiving and the last tailgate of the season?  Well first, I'm going to guess that when I weighed myself last Tuesday, maybe there was a little extra water weight.  I had eaten Chinese the night before, never a good thing right before weigh-in.  So, I'm guessing I took a little off in those couple of days before Thanksgiving.  Next, although I ate quite well at Thanksgiving dinner, I only ate two meals that day, so I probably stayed pretty close to my daily point allowance.  Same thing with Saturday and the tailgate, I really only ate two meals.  One was bigger than normal, but I likely stayed close to my daily points allowance.  I also got some walking in during the week and I'm sure that helped.  This week's goal is to lose again.  I'll be happy with 1/2 pound.  Another goal for this week is to get some exercise in.  The good news is that I don't have any real challenges for a while.  That should help out.

Happiness is....

...balancing the bank rec.  And I'm not happy.  Since my assistant retired and his replacement doesn't start until Monday, one of the things I have had to do is the bank recs.  Well, the big one just is not being friendly to me.  UGH!

Weekly weigh in

I'm up a pound.  I expected that getting on the scale.  I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised, but I knew I had done a lot of damage this week.  I was good up until Friday night.  We went to dinner with A's brother and his fiancee.  I had 3 glasses of wine, fried zucchini, too much of the entrees and then tiramisu for dessert and a cannoli.  Follow that up with tailgating on Saturday - beer, muffins, egg sandwiches, doughnuts, etc.  I think the worst though was on Sunday, when I could have gone right back on track and chose instead to eat the leftover muffin from Saturday and leftover cannolis from Friday.  I'm sure it didn't help that I really got not exercise in this week.  I did get back on track on Monday.  We'll see how Thanksgiving week goes.  My original goal for this week was to lose 1/2 pound and to stay stable for the week of Thanksgiving.  So, I'm 1 1/2 pounds behind.  I don't plan to make that up this week.  I'm still shooting for staying stable for a week.  That will require restraint at the table on Thursday.  I also want to get to the gym a time or two. 

30 years is not so long ago when you love someone

My father died thirty years ago today.  He is in the back row, last man on the right.  I wish I had more pictures of him scanned.  30 years seems so long ago, but it doesn't feel like long ago that my father was here with us.  I was a daddy's girl.  I think that's in part because when I was about 2, my father had to have back surgery and couldn't work, so my mother went back to work.  Daddy stayed home with me and was my primary caregiver.  My father liked to think we all looked like him.  Truth is, 3 of the four of us look very much like our mother.  My older sister does resemble Dad more.  We do have some of him in us, of course.  We three older children all have his brown eyes.  My younger sister's nose is more like Dad's than Mom's.  I inherited his lack of a butt.  My sisters got his wavy hair.  My brother's hair is very dark like Dad's.  Daddy was quirky.  He was pretty much color blind - or at least he appeared that way judging by his choice in outfits some times.  As a teenager, I once sent him back to his room to change when he was headed to some official function as First Selectman.  All I remember was that it was bad and there was orange involved.  He used to wait until my sister and I came home from school at Christmas to do his Christmas shopping for Mom.  He tried to get each of us to choose a college in Florida so he could come visit us.  He loved to do projects around the house.  Our first house had a brick wall he built, a sidewalk to the back door, a wishing-well to hide the garbage cans, a dry well for the gutters, a basketball court, a bridge over the creek running through the backyard, a large porch with a built-in bench and an extended covered front entryway that no other house in our development had - all because he built them.  He saved the motor from every appliance that died.  He was a good dancer, but gave up trying to teach me to dance because I always tried to lead.  He loved Julie Andrews.  "Gee she's pretty" he would say about her.  He liked to tease the dog.  He would fall asleep watching tv, but if you changed the channel, he would instantly wake up and say "I was watching that."  He didn't cook much, but would grill himself hotdogs for lunch.  Like every day.  Once, when our dog was sick, he would come home to check on him - thinking we didn't know he was doing that.  Such a softie.  He couldn't deal with his daughters pouting or just being quietly sad.  It was the easiest way to get him to do something you wanted that he had said no to earlier.  He had a distinctive walk.  I can still hear him coming down the hall.  He used to stand with his feet pointing outward, arms crossed and he would rock on the balls of his feet.  My cousins - his brother's sons - all do it too.  It is weird when I see them doing it from behind because they look like him.  He loved my mother.  So much.  He was proud of her accomplishments.  I will never forget the day he came home from the hospital and told us she had cancer.  He had trouble getting it out before he started to cry.  He was man enough that he could cry in front of his children.  I have to say we got our love of sports equally from Dad as from Mom.  But it was Dad who would come out and play ball with us.  "How about you let your old man take a shot?"  he would say when we were out playing basketball.  He liked to play golf - not that he was that good at it.   He was a bit of a picky eater.  Okay he was a really picky eater.  One of the traits I got from him was the ability to know, without even tasting something, that I would hate it.  But every once in a while he would try new things.  He was religious.  During Lent, he would walk from his office to church every day at lunch hour to go to Mass.  When we were little, our parish had a 6 am Mass on weekdays during Lent.  He would get us all up and every day we went with him.  He was an honest man and an honorable man.  I am so lucky to have been his daughter.  I think he would have loved my husband.  I can just see how the two of them would have tackled projects together.  And he would have loved his grandchildren - teaching them to ride a bike, throw a ball - he would have doted on them.  I like to think that he looks down on us and is proud of his family.

Happiness is....

....two things I'm happy about right now.  One is I'm nearly finished with a knitting project.  If you are on Ravelry - this is the jacket I made.  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/monas-jacket.  All I have left to do is to make the buttons, sew them on and put snaps on under the buttons.  The other thing I'm happy about is that it is Wednesday already!  I'm not wishing my life away, but I was afraid this week was going to go by oh so slowly - and it hasn't!  yay!

Weekly Weigh In

I just weighed in at 148.8.  It's not as large as loss as I've seen for the first week in past go-rounds with Weight Watchers, but I think that this is because it's a more liberal plan.  It's been very easy to follow.  My main change has been healthier snacking.  I've been taking fruit and veggies to snack on during the day.  I think the biggest thing is that it's made me once again be conscious of portion sizes.  A bit of a test this weekend will be tailgating at the football game.  But I barely touched all of my extra points this week, so I think I will be okay.  If I can lose 1/2 pound to a pound for the next couple of weeks, then stay level through the holidays, I think that I'll be in good shape.

Happiness is..

....autumn in New England.  Yes, I live in New York these days, but I work in Connecticut, so I'm home in New England 5 days a week.  Plus, one of my favorite things about autumn in New England is watching football - and we do that in Connecticut too!  It's the colors of the leaves, the smell of the leaves,  and the crispness of the air that I love.  If only autumn didn't precede winter it would be darn near perfect!

Trying to lose weight, yet again

The gaining part is so easy, the losing part less so.  I'm sure this is not healthy for me - I lose 10-15 pounds and eventually gain it back over the next year or two.  About eighteen months ago I had gotten down to a nice weight, gained a little over the summer and then come fall decided that I would enjoy the holiday season.  Boy did I enjoy the holiday season!  Now, I'm looking to drop that weight again.  I weighed 151.2 this morning.  More than I did coming back from vacation!  Damn!  Ideally, I would like to get down to 140.  I am restarting weight watchers.  I'm going to try to do it online and use this blog to keep myself accountable.  I think I will also make my husband be my conscience.  I'm not sure what workout strategy I'm going to use, perhaps heading back to the gym, maybe doing tapes at home.  The gym can be difficult as some days I need to get home to the dog and the gym is between work and home.  I would love to try out A's gym program - it has really worked for him - but it is expensive and since we need to be saving to go to Italy next year, I think I can find a cheaper solution to my workout issues.  Anyway, back to being accountable, I plan to post my weight in this blog each Tuesday morning.  Hopefully if I commit to that, it will force me to follow the plan and get on track.  One of my motivations is the clothes that I can't wear right now because the waist bands are too tight!  That is my reward - a revived wardrobe with little investment.

When Good Things Happen to Bad People

There is a book titled "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" that really helped me come to terms with my miscarriages and our inability to have children.  The book really helped me to see that there is no rhyme or reason to who is blessed with a series of wonderful events in their lives and who is visited with sadness and tragedy.  Just like bad things happen to good people, good things happen to bad people.  It can be hard to accept.  You see that bitch ending up with the 4BR, 2.5 bath house, with a bonus room and 2 car garage on 2 acres.  And there you sit in your 3 BR, 1 BA cape, no garage and 1/12 acre of land.  The witch has 2 children and is planning a 3rd, you have trouble getting pregnant let alone staying that way.  Her husband has a fabulous well-paying job, your spouse has been unemployed for 9 months.  She doesn't have to work.  You have taken on a second job to help make ends meet.  Why is it that she gets all the good stuff and you get shat upon?  First question - has she really gotten all the good stuff?  Let's face it - she's a bitch.  Starting right there I see that she's not a happy person.  Something is making her miserable.  (Fight the urge to say "GOOD!")   And she has a nice house filled with things, but you have a house filled with love.  And the kids - well, I've learned this from talking to friends and colleagues - it's not all sunshine and roses.  And sadly, a lot of suffering that people do over issues with their kids is done in silence.
Now, of course, maybe the bitch just really does have it that good and it's just an example of how life works sometimes, how life isn't meant to be fair.
The moral of my story is - it's not worth any angst over why the bitch has what appears to be a better life than you.  Looks may be deceiving.  And if thing are as they appear, there's nothing to be done about it - not legally anyway - and it is in no way a negative reflection on how you live your life.  And wouldn't you still rather be you anyway? 
PS - If it sounds like I'm trying to convince myself - well you might be partly right.

Happiness is....

....wearing hand knit socks.  Okay - yes, I know it's Friday, Friday is usually picture day - but I did that already this week.  So, today, I'm wearing my first pair of hand knit socks.  Well - my first finished pair.  The Jaywalkers I started a couple of years ago are still on the needles.  This is the second time I've worn these socks and I just love them.  I must knit more!!  I should note that the first time I wore these was to Rhinebeck (for non-knitting readers it's a big sheep & wool festival in Rhinebeck, NY) and the socks were the only hand knit item I wore.  These socks are comfy and squishy and just feel so nice on my feet.  It was just a plain sock pattern, knit on #2s using Madelintosh Sock in Ink.  Love them!  I have decided that after my Christmas knitting is done - keeping it simple this year btw, my lunchtime knitting will be devoted to socks.