The annual meeting went really well, at least according to our president, and I was told that the overall design (stage, signs, program, etc) received a lot of positive comments… I was able to see one of my big designs on the large screen in the ballroom, which was pretty cool… Since I had to hold down the fort, I didn’t get to see as many things as I would’ve liked too, but did make a point to see the session with George Lucas… He’s quite short and most people didn’t recognize him as he walked through the hallway (he’s dating the Chair of the conference planning committee)… I skipped the big dinner since we didn’t have a babysitter and was happy to see things finally come to a close after working on it since September! There are a few random things that still need to be done, but nothing compared to my workload from before… Yay!

Mother’s Day was nice – I made a point to get all the usual weekend chores done on Saturday so I could relax… Mom came down and we had lunch at our favorite Mexican place – Deck has found a new love, fried ice cream… Eric changed the oil on my mom’s car and we spent a lot of time outside, looking at the garden and going for a walk with the little guy…

I’m off tomorrow and Thursday – have a dentist appt, a foot doctor appt, and my big plan is to paint the basement bedroom… I worked on some of it tonight, but will try to get a coat on tomorrow and then finish up on Friday… Eric has been at a conference this week so I’ve been on my own since Monday night (he gets back late tomorrow night)… I think I’ve done pretty good, though I appreciate having Eric around especially when it comes time to make dinner and give the guy a bath…

We are headed to Pittsburgh this weekend, though I wish we were staying here to get more stuff done around the house… After this, there are only 2 weeks until our French guests arrive! Yikes! The new LR window is getting installed Monday so there’s a lot of prep work that we’ll have to do beforehand…

Well, I better go, but will check-in with some progress pics (hopefully)…

Happy Hump Day…

Back to my annual meeting… Happy Hump Day!

Weekend recap: on Saturday, we did our weekly trip to Home Depot and bought a new storm door, new fixtures and a gallon of paint for the downstairs bedroom… Eric spent the morning working on the yard and then tackled the new door which took quite a while… It looks great and it’s so nice having a breeze between the front and back of the house – the built-in screen is the best invention ever (though not very claw-friendly)… Since it was Cnco de Mayo – we headed to our local Mexican place for dinner where I proceeded to use up more than half 0f my weekly WW points (well-worth it!)… Yesterday, it was my turn to do work around the house – grocery store, clean, laundry, sort Deck’s winter/summer clothes, and prep meals for this week… Deck took a 3-hour nap in the a.m. ,which led to a very short nap in the afternoon, and then Mr. Crankipants showed-up around dinner… I was happy when he finally went to bed, though in hindsight – should’ve went to bed too…

This week may be crazy with the annual meeting and all, but I promise to be here Wednesday at least for my weigh-in…

Happy Monday…

I’m gonna help daddy mow…

Check-out our new storm door…

Eric bought these for Deck (though I’m not buying it)…

I apologize if I talk about greek yogurt too much, but it’s become such a staple in my lunch that I feel like I still have much to learn… I was emailing with a a friend of mine and she raised a question about how to flavor plain yogurt… I did a quick google search this morning and came across a list that shows 100 ways to flavor plain yogurt… Some of them sound really good so I may try a few next week – stay tuned!

I’m also happy to report a NSV (non-scale victory)… When I unpacked my winter clothes – the pile of “too small” was much larger than the pile of “kinda fits”… A pair of capris that I wore all last summer were super tight and when I got them out this morning, I put them on, and voila – they fit! Maybe after a solid month on WW, I’ll have to go back to my “too small” pile and see what else fits… So happy!

Any exciting weekend plans? Eric and I are slowing crossing things off our list of things to do before June, and we might tackle installing a new, storm door since ours is old, rather heavy, and doesn’t lock… I’m really liking the kind that have a built-in screen, so I think that’s we’re going to get… The more cross-thru ventilation the better and since our LR window isn’t being installed until the 21st, this will help in the meantime… Plus, I think Deck will enjoy having another window to look out of since he’s so into the outdoors…

Speaking of outdoors – we were in the kitchen last night and I saw a hummingbird come to the front window, looking for the feeder… We had been holding-off on putting them out until it was a bit warmer, so I think it’s time… We get quite a few hummingbirds in both the front and the back, so I’m excited to see them again…We’re also getting a nice batch of lettuce so I think it’s time for our first salad of the season…

Hope you have a fabulous weekend! Happy Friday!

So, since starting my weightloss journey back on April 2 – I’m down 6.8 pounds… Not too shabby! Go me!

Happy Hump Day!

We went to another huge yard sale on Saturday – found more summer tshirts and shorts, and a pair of Stride Rite sneakers for only $3 (they’re $40 brand-new)… I wasn’t really looking for anything else since it was rather cold and cloudy, but Eric found a collapsible tool bench for $2 and I scored a kid’s canvas papasan chair for $3… The rest of our Saturday was spent swapping out light switches, outlets, and I’ve actually started to hang items since the painting is done… We also moved the oak hutch from the kitchen to the dining room, which has given us a lot more room to move around… This required taking everything out, which was a pain, but we couldn’t move it full – I took advantage of the empty cabinet and gave it a good polish before putting all the dishes back in… Deck enjoyed playing in it, when he wasn’t trying to help me move dishes (photo below)…

Yesterday, Deck was up bright & early so when he went down for nap – I scooted off to the store… It took me a bit longer this time since I was trying to find the WW points for a few items, as well as buy a lot of ingredients so I could make some dishes for this week… I made quiche cupcakes, black bean soup, and a turkey penne casserole… I’m all for making things ahead of time, but when doing more than 1 dish – it requires a lot of time in the kitchen which I don’t like esp. when Deck is antsy or if it’s nice out and I don’t want to be stuck inside… BUT I did it and hope to make it a routine, at least for 1-2 dishes a week… We took an afternoon stroll so Deck could play on the playground for a while – he tried to make a friend with a little boy, but the poor kid would have nothing to do with it… I think Deck is going to be a social butterfly, like his dad…

New product—if you’re a fan of greek yogurt, you must this new frozen, greek yogurt by Ben & Jerry’s… Though for WW it’s a pretty hefty 5-points (per half-cup), it’s well worth it if you have some extra to spare… The blueberry vanilla graham was awesome – very creamy and tart – and I can’t wait to try the other flavors… Yummy!

Time to get back to work, hope you’re having a great Monday!

Wednesday’s post was about motivation and yea – we all try and stay motivated by taping pictures to our fridges, using Pinterest, reading magazines, etc., but I’m not sure I’ve ever really thought about what motivates ME… I’ve never thought about categorizing motivation as either external/internal and it’s a really good way of putting things into perspective… Here are a few that I’ve come up with…

External: I want to be healthier for myself and for my family, able to chase after Deck more easily, not get winded after climbing stairs, not dreading how I look in the mirror naked, able to jog a 5k again, fit into smaller clothes, not weigh more than when I was pregnant, stop mindless snacking… And the main reason I want to lose weight is so I can get pregnant again and be as healthy as possible (and not be 40 pounds overweight)…

Internal: I want to feel better in general, not be tired, and have more energy to do things… I would love to be the person I was before having Deck – eating well, working-out 5+ days a week, but I have to be realistic and know that he’s my #1 priority right now… I need to re-learn that I deserve a break during the day and going to the gym is good for me – both mentally and physically, and that feeling guilty is just stupid…

What are your motivators?

Happy Friday!

My daily target is –> 32 and my weekly allowance is –> 49…

I can do this!

Yesterday was Deck’s baptism and he did great! Not that I expected him to cry or anything – he loves water and barely flinched… My mom did pronounce his name wrong, when saying a prayer, which was funny since she was incredibly nervous… For the rest of the service, however, Deck did not want to be contained so we took turns keeping him occupied elsewhere… Eric’s brother and sister-in-law are his godparents so it was nice sharing this event with them… All of us headed to breakfast afterwards and then Deck crashed for about 2 hours… Since it was raining for most of the day – I was able to finish packing-up my winter clothes and reorganized some closets… We still have much to do before our French guests arrive in June, so next month is going to super busy…

I cancelled Nustrisystem this morning and since I signed-up for their automated ordering, I had to pay the difference between that rate and the one-month plan (still cheaper than the regular fee)… I was waiting for the speech and guilt trip, but the guy was nice and didn’t ask too many questions (I know they probably have too)… I still feel like this was the right decision for me so it’s onward and upwards to something else…

Happy Monday…