Friday, September 30, 2011

Friday Five: My favorite baked goods






1. White Chocolate Chip Cookies

YUM.  White chocolate is my crack.  It is so yummy, I swear I could eat it forever.  Which is why I don't make them that often because I will eat them all.  In one night.  And that's after eating the chips themselves while I make the cookies.

2. Snickerdoodles!! 

They're easy, fun and delicious.  And how can you not like something with cinnamon in it? That's called snickerdoodle! I mean come on, it's a great word!  And I just made them today. Celebrating getting an interview for next week!

3. Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.

It's so much better when you make it from scratch.  And it's great fun to grate the carrots.

4. White Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Frosting.

See number one.

5. Breadsticks

I don't know if these technically count as a baked good, but I count them, so they are.  And they are delicious.  So, YUM.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

I've Forgotten

How absolutely exhausting orthodontia is.

For the last three years I have had a permanent retainer on my bottom teeth.  Unfortunately, during our Century Ride, an errant nut in a Clif Bar and my inability realize what was happening while I bit down, I bent my retainer.

It HURT!

But I couldn't get into my original orthodontist without a long wait time, so I got one here in Lansing.  I still waited far too long to get in and get everything taken care of though.  I only got in last week to the ortho down here.  It took 6 days to get another retainer made, but as of today I have gone almost a month with a bent retainer.  They removed my permanent retainer (I'm free!) and gave me a plastic retainer.  Which is what I originally wanted when I got my braces off three years ago.

Problem: because it's been so freaking long since I bent my retainer, they had to do a reset on a couple of my teeth.

Problem: It hurts like a mo-fo.  Oh, geeze, it hurts.  And it doesn't fit properly either, because my teeth moved so much.  As in, when I put it in the first time, it popped out.  I've had to keep clenching on cotton things to keep it in.  I only had to do it for the first half hour after I had it in, but it hurts less with them in there.  They told me it should stop hurting after three days, if it doesn't, call them.  And it should finally sit all the way down on my teeth after a week, if it doesn't, call them.

And, re-reading this tells me that you're probably bored by this point, so here is a fun GIF to entertain you.

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lp9m5x3msb1qcfba3o1_500.gif

Silly doggy.

So anyway, basically, my mouth hurts a lot, I'm eating mushy food, and I am sleeping a lot.  And I'm still tired.

Another thing I forgot is how fricken long you can wait at the doctor's office.  I had a 9:30 doctor appointment and I was still waiting to see the doctor at 10:45, in a room, but still waiting.  Silly me thinking scheduling my doctor's appointment an hour and half before my ortho appointment, thinking that would be enough time to get from one appointment to another. Ha.  Fortunately I was only 3 minutes late.  FOR PAIN.  

In the end I've been diagnosed with Pharyngitis, a sprained foot and re-arranging teeth.

And a dose of adorable to end out this scattered post!

http://chzgifs.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/walking-the-dog.gif


Monday, September 26, 2011

Libraries are AWESOME!

I already knew libraries were fantastic, I grew up a block away from my local library.  I spent a lot of time there in the summer and would check out as many books as I could at once then take them home, devour them and return them for more.

Hi, my name is Jenny and I'm a read-oholic.

I have grown up with a love of reading and books and libraries. So when I was looking for a way to get out of the apartment while I'm still job hunting, the best place to go to volunteer was the local library!  The beauty of libraries is they are all different, but they are a great resource for entertainment, education and research.

Which make my revelations today a little redundant.

Basically, this is how my afternoon of volunteering went down.  I was working with another volunteer re-shelving returned books, chatting, having a grand old time.  I picked up a couple books to re-shelve and one of them was rather thin.  I read the title and it was 'Working'.

I thought, "Hey, I saw a musical called 'Working' while I was at Central!"

OMG, IT'S SHEET MUSIC!

It has never occurred to me, until today, that a library could carry sheet music.  DUH.  How have I not thought of this before?!  Sheet music is expensive to buy, especially when you're broke, and what better why to continually having a fresh supply than the library!

I pranced walked over to the section where it needed to be shelved and found an entire section of musical sheet music, and stuff about the industry, etc.  I couldn't believe it.  I, of course, promptly pulled about a half dozen of the sheet music books onto the cart so I could check them out before I left. (insert excited squealing/squeaking here).

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

I continue shelving and chatting with M, and we're talking about traveling and living abroad (because Adam and I are talking about it a lot, France and Italy being at the top of the list).  I head over to the next row to shelve a different book, and BAM! I find myself amidst a bunch of travel books!  Again, never thought to look at the library for these things!  I mean, I usually spent my time in fiction, not non-fiction, so I suppose my gaffe can be overlooked, kind of.

GAH! I LOVE LIBRARIES!! They always seems to have another surprise around the corner!

So, go give some love to your local libraries, they deserve it!  How might you do that you ask?  Well, here's how!

1. Become a patron.  Go check out books!  Lots of libraries also let you borrow DVDs, books on CD, many of them have communal computers.  Some even partner with a website to allow eBook lending!

2. Volunteer.  Libraries LOVE volunteers.  You can volunteer for day-to-day assistance, volunteer to plan a fundraising event, or volunteer to work at a fundraising event!

3. Donate books!  Have some books laying around you'll never read again? Donate them! It's tax deductible!

4. Donate money. TAX DEDUCTION!

5. Ask them what they need help with, then help them with it!

Go love on a library, you will thank me for it!

http://www.oddee.com/_media/imgs/articles/a300_l8.jpg

Friday, September 23, 2011

Friday Five - 5 Things I Hope My Kids Inherit from My Husband





1. His metabolism.

I am so jealous of his metabolism.  Adam weighs 10lbs soaking weight.  I really want them to grow up with at least a little help from his biology.  My metabolism sucks.  It works, but it's a constant battle against my weight and I do not wish that on anyone.  Especially my children.

2. His immunity.

He has been sick all of like, three times, in the time we've been together.  Which doesn't count the time he got food poisoning.  I, on the other hand, get at least one cold every season.  I've also had the flu, strep, bronchitis and other things since we've been together. They should have all of his immunity, plus whatever I can add so they don't get sick as often as I do.

3. His intelligence.

He's so smart.  I want our kids to have choices in life and having intelligence certainly doesn't hurt.

4. His curiosity.

He's learning French, he just finished a book about economics, he knows, like, 1,000 programming languages and he asks all kinds of questions.  A lot of what he learned about computers he learned outside of school.  I hope our kids have that quality and that we can encourage it forever.

5. His athleticism.

I'm not so sure about his ability to throw a ball, but he's pretty athletic.  He bikes and runs (the 5K we did last weekend, he didn't train hardly at all and took fourth in his age group.  And he was upset with his time. Which is bull.  He averaged a 6:42 mile.)  He likes all kinds of sports.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Whew, that was close!

Last Friday was my baby brother's 17th birthday.  It makes me feel so old. 

But a family tradition for birthdays for us is this wonderful concoction that is known as Dirt Cake. Dirt Cake is crushed oreos, cool whip, cream cheese and some other stuff like butter and powdered sugar which makes it a very rich dessert that is yummy, sweet and not kind to the waist line.  Each recipe makes a 9x13 pan of yum that is 5 points plus per serving for a half cup (I think it's a half cup, might be per quarter cup).

So while we were at my parents' I was very careful to count every tiny bit that went down my gullet, because it is very easy to get out of control where Dirt is concerned.

I tracked everything and it went great.  Then Sunday came and I woke up sick.  And I became a slacker.

It is not an excuse, but I stopped tracking Sunday and didn't track my activity, food, nothing. Of course, the only activity I got this week was the 5K on Sunday, since I can barely walk on my right foot.

I was very incredibly nervous this morning, and I was dreading stepping on the scale.  But apparently being sick takes a lot of work and my non-tracking didn't take as terrible a toll as I thought.  I still thankfully lost 0.8 lbs this week.  Whew.

Now I have to ask you wonderful people a question.  If you are a Weight Watchers meeting member, did you have to do anything special when you changed your weigh in day?  I need to change from Thursday to Saturday.  Today was my last Thursday meeting.  Even though I love my meeting leader, Amy, I need to switch to Saturday so I can work more.  So I'm changing.  I hope to eventually get to switch back, because Amy is amazing.

How was your week, peeps?

P.S. I think I broke my foot, but I'm afraid to go to the Dr. and have that confirmed.  Argh.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Looking sexxy in my hot new pants!

Ok, they're not new, but I'm looking good in my size 12s!  The post title comes from an old episode of '8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter' with Kaley Cuoco (now as Penny on The Big Bang Theory), Katey Sagal, Amy Davidson, Martin Spanjers and John Ritter (R.I.P.).


Anyway, this morning I realized that my jeans were in the dirty clothes, since I had been sick the last few days, I confined them there.  I had an appointment this morning but I didn't want to be dressy and I didn't want to slum it either.  I was looking through my drawer and came across a pair of size 12 jeans.  I had saved these because they were fairly new when they stopped fitting.  And jeans are expensive.  I thought, what the hell?  If I try them on and they don't fit yet, no biggie.

I pulled them on and I was worried as I pulled them over my thighs.  But I kept pulling, they slipped over my hips and they were on!

Now for the big test: will they button and zip?!

Breathe, breathe..... ok, here goes nothing.

They button, they zip, they fit!!

YAY! At this point I run out in the kitchen where Adam is making coffee and I dance around singing the song that Bridget sings while she's dancing around in her leather pants.  Because I am so happy they fit!

Unfortunately, this is the only pair of 12s I own, so once I get rid of the 14s I have, I will be back to one pair of jeans.  Dagnabbit! (Is that how you spell that?)

Fingers crossed that I have a steady job soon so I can get a few new skinny clothes!  Also, for Christmas I'm asking my family to donate to my Skinny Clothes fund.  JC Penney's generally has a big sale after Christmas, so I will be able to streeeeeeetch it out and get as many skinny clothes for a dollar as I can!

Like my white nail polish? I'm not so sure I do.....

Monday, September 19, 2011

Cooley Law School 5K for Education

I did it!  I trained, I worked and I finished the first 5K I ever paid to enter.  And I ran the whole thing!  Woo!

I finished in 36:46, took 51st in my age group (according to the picture I took, but the online results say I'm 52nd), 336th overall for women and 609th overall.  My mile time was not very good, 11:50, but I have something to improve on for next year.

Next year I will be running in the 25-29 age group and the winning time for that was 19:21.  So that's my goal, to get my time down in the next year.  Guess who's going to be running intervals? (Me, in case you didn't guess!)  It won't hurt that if I make my goal weight by my birthday, I will be running next year's 5K with significantly less poundage dragging me down.  Even if I decide to maintain a higher weight than I currently am aiming for now, I will still be much less heavy.

Which will be very good.  For many reasons.  Besides the obvious of not having extra weight, I will hopeful not injure myself while running the 5K.  During the 5K I must have just been running high on adrenaline and not noticed, but my feet killed afterward.  My right foot still hurts, although less than it did yesterday.  Ice and acetaminophen will do that.

The big suck for yesterday was that I woke up with a sore throat and stuffy nose.  Ick.  Not really what you want when you're about to run 3.1 miles.

Alright, race report: (OMG, I get to do one of these!)

Mile 1 (10:36, about 8:40am)


We had to rush to the starting line because we had to take stuff back to the car after we checked in (and now we can't find my keys).  I plugged into my phone for music and turned it up.  The air horn went and we took off, the 5K in one direction and the Half Marathon in the other.  I felt alright, but as mile one came up, I was starting to get down a bit, and was thinking about walking after I hit the mile marker.  I got to the marker and said, if you still want to walk after mile two, you can for a bit.

First Water Station


As we approached, I thought they were people waiting for certain runners and was cursing myself for not asking someone to water us.  Then I realized it was for everyone and I was happy!  I cannot walk and drink out of a paper cup let alone run and drink.  So after slopping a large amount of it down my front I stopped, finished the water and continued.

Mile 2 (22:42, about 8:53am)


I didn't let myself stop and walk here either.  I wasn't going to let myself walk at all during this.  And I am stubborn, especially with myself.  I kept on keeping on.

Second Water Station

There was a band playing along the second water station, which was nice.  I got some water, stopped to chug it down (attractive, I know) and kept running.

Mile 3.1


There were tons of people flanking the finish and the last bit leading up to the finish along the River Trail.  They cheered on everyone, not just who they came to support.  It was wonderful. Thank you! We really, really appreciate it!  I sprinted with everything I had left to get across before another minute ticked off the clock.

After the finish Meijer had donated bagels, fruit, water and apple cider.  All of which was awesome.  I had a bagel, an apple, some water and cider.  We also got a free beer from a local brewery.  I had a bite of Adam's pizza but didn't give in to the desire to get my own slice.  Also, my feet hurt, so I didn't want to walk around to find it.

We stayed to watch the Half Marathoners finish, and we had a friend running in it.  We stayed til she finished, her husband couldn't run because he broke his toe a few weeks ago. :(  It was really nice to see them.

Adam and I look forward to racing again next year, but hopefully we'll get to race again before that! (Read: when I find a job)

Well, that's all I got, I'm going to see if I can convince Adam to write his own race report to post too.

'Night!

Adam and I after we finished!

I Love My Hubby

Yesterday Adam and I were catching up on season 4 of the Big Bang Theory and in between episodes I was watching something, I think 50 First Dates on ABC Family, and that new J-Lo commercial came on. You know the one. For Fiat, where she's singing a new song.  I think it's called Papi.

Anyway, I was on the couch icing my foot and sucking on cough drops (story to follow) Adam was making a salad for his lunch.  Then, out of the corner of my eye I see more movement than required to make a salad coming from the kitchen.

Adam is just off in his own world, making a salad and shakin' his booty to J-Lo.  Even when the commercial ended he kept dancing.

As I write this, I'm giggling.  He's just so silly.  I told him why I'm over here giggling and he said,

"I was just havin' myself a good time."

I love my hubby. He makes me laugh.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

It's Always Worth It To Check - ALWAYS

Last week at my normal Weight Watchers meeting I was talking to some of the ladies who had also arrived early, which is not unusual.  Sharing how we did that week, what surprised us, etc.  But some how we ended up discussing cost of Weight Watchers.  I don't remember how.

Anyway, my meeting leader said that there was a Blue something insurance plan that pays for Weight Watchers outright as a preventative measure to help their customers be healthier.  Then a lady who always sits in the row in front of me said that her insurance gives her a $300 reimbursement each year to help pay for WW.

This is all very interesting to me.  I like to save money on things, especially things I plan to use a lot.  Like food.  And Weight Watchers. So I made a mental note to check and see if my health insurance provider covers WW at all.  Of course, I didn't check until two days ago because that's when I remembered the mental note I made.

I really should write these things down.

But I never have paper to write on with my pens.

Whatever, anyway, so I checked the website for my health insurance and hot damn!  They have three different ways for you to save if you do your thing through them!  You can save 15% off of the monthly pass (which is what I use).  That's 15% per month. that's $7 saved each month! YAY!  And, when I called to switch over, more good news!  The first month of my "new" subscription through my insurance provider is half price! Niiiiiice!

So, lesson for today: Always, always, always, ALWAYS check to see if you can save some moolah, because chances are, you can.  And then you can save what you saved for a new dress.  Or shoes.  Or for food. Or rent.

Right, I think I'm a little slap happy.  So, go save yourselves some cash!

Friday, September 9, 2011

Conflicting Feelings and Remembrances

6 years ago on Saturday Adam and I had our first date that started us down the road to wedded bliss.  This day is a happy one for us, but as we celebrate fond memories we remember with the rest of the country the terrible tragedy that occurred while we were both still in high school.

I was 14 and a freshman in high school on September 11, 2001.  I had first block Health Class and my teacher was just as much in the dark as the rest of us.  My next block class was Biology I and I was supposed to have a test that day.

But as some friends and I walked in joking around to see my biology teacher, Mr. Miller, sitting on his stool in front of the TV which was highly unusual.  We all dropped our books on our desks and walked up to see what was going on.  Mr. Miller told us what had happened and we sat in shock and aw as the second plane hit and then news rolled in about the Pentagon and United 93 crashed in Pennsylvania.

I am a normally very teary person, but I didn't manufacture tears, I was in too much shock.

We watched as people chose to jump, rather than burn or die from smoke inhalation.  The Towers fell, and heroes died trying to save as many of the victims in the Towers as they could.

The rest of the day passed by subdued and still quickly.  We still went out on the marching band field and I can't even remember what we did in Algebra that day, if we did anything.  I went home and turned on CNN.  The whole day is one I won't ever forget, as long as I live.

The country came together and I hope that as we remember 9/11/01 ten years later, that politics stay out of it.  I hope we can come together as a country again to remember those who perished in this terrible tragedy and continue to move forward as a country.

Keep yourselves safe, and hug your loved ones.

I leave you with a video from September 20, 2011.  The opening monologue of Jon Stewart's from the Daily Show, the first one after 9/11.  His raw emotions speak to me, and I think it is one of the most honest moments in the media done by a performer who makes his living on parody news and comedy.  Words really can't describe how much this video means to me.


Here is the transcript if you don't want to watch.

JON STEWART'S OPENING MONOLOGUE
DATE: September 20, 2001

Good evening and welcome to "The Daily Show." We are back. This is our first show since the tragedy in New York City. There is no other way really to start this show than to ask you at home the question that we've asked the audience here tonight and that we’ve asked everybody that we know here in New York since September 11th, and that is, "Are you okay?" We pray that you are and that your family is. I’m sorry to do this to you. It’s another entertainment show beginning with an overwrought speech of a shaken host. TV is nothing, if not redundant. So, I apologize for that. It’s something that unfortunately, we do for ourselves so that we can drain whatever abscess is in our hearts and move onto the business of making you laugh, which we really haven’t been able to do very effectively lately. Everyone’s checked in already, I know we’re late. I’m sure we’re getting in right under the wire before the cast of "Survivor" offers their insight into what to do in these situations.

They said to get back to work. There were no jobs available for a man in the fetal position under his desk crying, which I would have gladly taken. So I came back here. Tonight’s show is obviously not a regular show. We looked through the vaults, we found some clips that we thought might make you smile, which is really what’s necessary, I think, right about now. A lot of folks have asked me, "What are you going to do when you get back? What are you going to say?" I mean, what a terrible thing to have to do. I don’t see it as a burden at all. I see it as a privilege. I see it as a privilege and everyone here does see it that way. The show in general, we feel like is a privilege. Just even the idea that we can sit in the back of the country and make wise cracks, which is really what we do. We sit in the back and we throw spitballs, but never forgetting the fact that is a luxury in this country that allows us to do that. This is a country that allows for open satire, and I know that sounds basic and it sounds as though it goes without saying - but that’s really what this whole situation is about. It’s the difference between closed and open. It’s the difference between free and burden and we don’t take that for granted here by any stretch of the imagination and our show has changed. I don’t doubt that. What it’s become, I don’t know. "Subliminal" is not a punch line anymore. One day it will become that again, and Lord willing, it will become that again because that means we have ridden out the storm.

But the main reason that I wanted to speak tonight is not to tell you what the show is going to be. Not to tell you about all the incredibly brave people that are here in New York and in Washington and around the country. But we’ve had an enduring pain here - an endurable pain. I wanted to tell you why I grieve, but why I don’t despair…I’m sorry. Luckily we can edit this. One of my first memories is of Martin Luther King being shot. I was five and if you wonder if this feeling will pass…When I was five, he was shot. Here’s what I remember about it. I was in a school in Trenton. They shut the lights off and we got to sit under our desks and we thought that was really cool and they gave us cottage cheese, which was a cold lunch because there was rioting, but we didn’t know that. We just thought that “My god. We get to sit under our desks and eat cottage cheese.” That’s what I remember about it. That was a tremendous test of this country’s fabric and this country’s had many tests before that and after that.

The reason I don’t despair is because this attack happened. It’s not a dream. But the aftermath of it, the recovery is a dream realized. And that is Martin Luther King's dream. Whatever barriers we've put up are gone even if it's momentary. We're judging people by not the color of their skin but the content of their character. You know, all this talk about "These guys are criminal masterminds. They’ve gotten together and their extraordinary guile…and their wit and their skill." It's a lie. Any fool can blow something up. Any fool can destroy. But to see these guys, these firefighters, these policemen and people from all over the country, literally, with buckets rebuilding. That's extraordinary. That's why we've already won. It's light. It's democracy. We've already won. They can't shut that down. They live in chaos and chaos…it can't sustain itself. It never could. It's too easy and it's too unsatisfying.

The view from my apartment was the World Trade Center and now it's gone. They attacked it. This symbol of American ingenuity and strength and labor and imagination and commerce and it is gone. But you know what the view is now? The Statue of Liberty. The view from the south of Manhattan is now the Statue of Liberty. You can't beat that.

So we're going to take a break and I'm going to stop slobbering on myself and on the desk. We’re going to get back to this. It's gonna be fun and funny and it's going to be the same as it was and I thank you. We'll be right back. 

Thursday, September 8, 2011

100 Miles and Pain In The Neck!

We did it!

After two months of training and riding and nutrition and hydration and pain and flat tires plus 8 hours and another flat, Adam and I rode a century on Sunday.  100 miles on a bike!  My first, and Adam's second.

Whew.

It was so much work, but so very much worth it.


I really need to re-paint my nails....

It took us 8 hours, and I earned 43 activity points.

43!

Here is where I would post a picture of Adam and I after we finished, but my phone died and Adam's phone erases pictures.  Fortunately, he tweeted the picture of my odometer so I could get this from the internets.

The first 25 miles were pretty good.  It was a beautiful day for a ride.  Sunny, white puffy clouds and a slight breeze that was a cross wind while we road the Rails to Trails from Reed City to Evart and into Clare County.  We stopped and ate a Clif Bar, then turned around to do the next 25 miles.  The wind changed direction at this point and was giving us a stiff head wind that made me very frustrated.  I hate  head winds.  They make things so much harder than they need to be!  We hit 50 miles when we arrived back at my parents' house for lunch.

We were there for about an hour, re-fueling, recovering and re-hydrating.  Then we set off for Big Rapids to avoid the head wind and get up to at least 75 miles before heading back to Reed City.  We rode on the White Pine Trail to Big Rapids until it ended, turned around and then just tooled around Big Rapids a little until we returned to the White Pine Trail.  We did circles on the North End Park loop (that hill going back up to the WPT is wicked!  It's almost straight up!)

We headed back to Reed City with 77 miles on our odometers.  Stopping at 2 Mile Road, we were 13.25 miles from the end.  Adam crossed 2 Mile first, and I followed.  I heard/felt a whump and then a flump flump flump flump.

I had another freaking flat.

This was like the FIFTH flat that I have had in three weeks.  And I had had enough.

I was tired, in pain and pissed beyond belief.

I may or may not have screamed at the top of my lungs a mixture of curse words and the fact that I had another flat up to Adam.

Adam couldn't believe it either and returned to me.  We started to change the flat and I called my parents to ask them to bring our bike pump so we wouldn't have to waste a CO2 tube.  My baby brother, Zack, came out in our car to bring us our pump.  He saved us.  While we were waiting for him, Adam broke one of my tire levers.  It probably broke from over use over the last few weeks.

With the flat fixed, Adam and I thanked Zack for his road side assistance (Zack thought it was cool because he got to drive "the team car" and save our butts) and hopped back on the bikes.

We rode the final three miles into Reed City, rode the spike up towards Cadillac to collect another mile or so then we set out to ride approximately a 0.8 mile loop in a criterium setting to do the final nine miles.

As we rode the criterium, darker and darker clouds rolled in.  It got to the point that even though we were working hard, we were getting chilly.  I even was wishing I had my thermal jersey and I have much more, erm, insulation than Adam does.  It spit on us a bit, but didn't truly start raining until we pulled into the driveway after our 100 miles were completed.

During our criterium, we passed a number of kids a number of times and they cheered us on every time we passed, it was so cute!

Then, as our odometers turned over 100 miles, we were holding hands and smiling like fools.  We had trained for this, we had worked  for this.  We had become masters of our own pain to ride 100 miles in a day.

We were tired.

We were cold.

We were hungry.

We were so freaking happy.

We had done it, and as the giddiness washed over us, the pain disappeared.  At least for the moment, my neck killed for the next three days!  Still hurts a bit actually...

Anyway!

After we rolled over 100 miles, I jokingly said, "Ok, mountain biking is next."

I only wonder how much I was joking....


Click here for more graphics and gifs!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

The Day of Truth - What Did You Eat Today? Day 7

And so the week comes to a close and today was the day of truth.  Did my super-OCD tracking do the trick?  Did I eat too many carbs?

I lost 3 lbs when I weighed in this morning.  THREE WHOLE POUNDS! YES!  So to answer my questions, yes, super-OCD tracking worked.  And no, it appears that if I don't eat the extra weekly points, that I can eat as many carbs as I did this week and still lose.  Of course, I still made sure to exercise and get the Good Health Guidelines checked off (except the oils, I just can't seem to get those oils in. And I can't seem to mix them with anything that hides the taste of the oil enough that I don't want to hurl.)

GAH! I am so exited! As it stands, if I lose 2.6 lbs this week, I will have lost 10 pounds.  Of course, that just motivates me even more! In part because of this success, and in part of my OCD crazy, I have set two new goals for my weight-loss progress.  And they are thus:

1. Be at goal by my birthday (29 May 2012)

To do that I have to lose 61.2 lbs.  Which leads to my next goal:

2. Losing 30.7 lbs by 1 January 2012.

This seems to be a good mile marker to mark my progress by.  I have 38 weeks to accomplish this goal because my birthday is on a Tuesday, two days before the end of week 39, I can't count week 39, but all days leading up to my birthday count.  It would mean that I have to lose about 1.6 lbs per week.  I think this is one of the first times I have set an actual, realizable goal for my weight loss. Wow.  Look at me, I'm all grown up and realistic!

Another thing that I have realized is that by posting my daily tracker here, I feel much more accountable to stay on plan than ever.  Today I was doing some baking for this weekend, and before I would eat something, I would think, "Do I want to have to put that out in cyberspace?"  It is strangely liberating to have that extra accountability.  I'm going to put some thinking in to how I'm going to continue to do that and incorporate it into the blog as well.  If I could just figure out how to make the other pages have actual posts in them, I would totally do that and just have a separate page for my daily intake.

Hmmm....

Well, anyway, here's what I ate yesterday, sorry it's so late!

Morning
3/4 cup Post Honey Bunches of Oats - 3 P+
(I got yogurt after my WW meeting, so I can have Berry-Cereal Parfaits again!)

Midday
1 Hard Roll - 4 P+
1 1/4 servings Spoke Dip - 4 P+
1 bag WW Popped Cinnamon Swirl Crisps - 2 P+
1 WW Candies - 1 P+

Evening
2 servings Onion Topped Potato Casserole - 8 P+
1/2 cup Chocolate Milk - 2 P+
1/2 cup Regular Ice Cream - 2 P+

Anytime
2 cups Carrots - 0 P+
2 cups Grapes - 0 P+
1 oz Plantars' Honey Roasted Peanuts - 4 P+
1 WW Candy - 1 P+

How about you?  How was your day? Your week?