Breakfast and Saturday Morning Musings

I think that my most anticipated meal of the day is breakfast.  Not because I wake up hungry, but because it's the only meal of the day that is truly tasty and lacks the guilt associated with the "big spender" dinners (i.e. 5-9 Points values).  I know I shouldn't dread dinner calories, but it ends up that way.  I feel like I'm a frugal calorie bank - not really wanting to spend them without a high rate of return.

Anyway, breakfast.  Breakfast every day is usually some combination of Egg Beater's egg whites, Canadian bacon slices, broccoli, and sometimes cheese.  It's pretty good.  This is my newest favorite combination of these ingredients... with a tablespoon of sour cream on the inside:

This is pretty yummy stuff, actually.  I also sliced some shallots for this dish.  It just sort of completes the whole ambiance of the plate.  I guess I like food pretty.

Speaking of food, last night I had some rum & Coke Zero's and had some serious salt cravings.  It's pretty unusual for me to snack when drinking in general - but my wonderful man drove to the store and picked me up some jalapeno Puff Corn Curls.  Holy smokes.  I ate 1/4 of the bag before I handed it to him to put away.   It was delicious!

Then, this morning was weigh-in for me.  I was a little nervous, given my salty not-good-for-me snack and given the fact I retain water like a sponge.  Still 1/2 a pound down this week.  This makes 10 pounds I've lost - and I'm super stoked about it.  I do wish, however, that it was MORE than just a half a pound lost (of course) but given my decreasing motivation this week - I can only fault myself.   This coming week I vow to myself to get on the damned elliptical more than twice (as I did this week), do my rowing more than twice, and finally add in some strength training.
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These next few months are going to be NUTS.  Fun nuts, for the most part - but nuts nonetheless.  In three weeks we head to Florida for a six day family vacation.  We rented a vacation home (with a pool!) for less than staying at a hotel.  We're going to Disney for one day, Universal Studios for one day, to the beach one day, and we get to go kayaking with manatees & dolphins through the mangroves on the ocean side of the state!  I'm really excited!

Then, at the end of April I have my bridal shower at the Butterfly Gardens.  That should be lovely... I hope/think.  My mother-in-law is planning it, and my... aunt-in-law (is that a relationship) is helping her and offered to pay for it.  So nice of them!

Following that, I'm going to try to squeeze in a garage sale to rid our house of clothes that don't fit (hopefully some of the larger sizes I wear now too!) and misc. junk.  Mid-May I'm taking my girlfriends to Chicago for a weekend bachelorette party of pampering, shopping, and drinking!

Then, June 2nd - the wedding.  I'm sure there's a billion things I haven't done to prepare for it.  Yikes.  I almost can't think about it.  Not because I'm afraid to marry my wonderful man... but because I'm certain I'll forget some major part of the actual day and make a travesty of the ceremony or reception.  I wish my bridesmaids would help - but all of them have small children and only my maid-of-honor has even had one night to spend helping plan decorations.  Holy crap.  I hope it doesn't fall apart.

BUT - right after that we leave for the HONEYMOON and I'm SO EXCITED(!) about it.  We're going to Isla Mujeres off the coast of Cancun.  It looks and sounds so wonderful.  Ten full days of blissful island life.

We're staying at an all inclusive resort on this tiny island in a honeymoon suite.  I am bursting with excitement about it!

Getting Bored with Lunches

I'm not an innately healthy eater.  Sure, I use whole wheat flour, tend to buy a fair amount of produce every week... but I enjoy all those bad-for-you foods like mashed potatoes, big roast beef sub sandwiches, and cheesecakes.  This is precisely why I'm in the physical shape that I am.

So the past few weeks I've been really watching the calories - joined Weight Watchers - and working out.  For lunches, the lowest Point lunches I've found are salads with a little protein.  I've learned I have to add a carbohydrate, or I get dizzy spells.  So, salad day in... salad... day out.  Getting tired of it.  They look lovely, though, and at first I was delighted by my renewed zeal for salads.  Here's today's:

I paired with with two slices of Pepperidge Farm's Very Thin Whole Wheat (2PTS) spread with a wedge of Laughing Cow French Onion (1 PT), a cup & a half of sliced strawberries (0PTS) with 1/2 cup of Fat Free Cool Whip (1PT).  The salad has a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil (1PT) and balsamic vinegar.  It does still look pretty...    And for Five Points, well... it's a lot in my belly for a little cost expenditure. 

I like food, and while I'm sure I could spend those calories on some whole wheat pasta dish - a half cup of pasta is not going to fill me up.  This does... but I'm tired of balsamic vinegar taste.  The strawberries were a new addition today, and were very       very       good.  

In the beginning...

My wedding is 89 days away.  I'm 32 years old, overweight, mother to one (mostly) darling six year old, soon-to-be wife of a locksmith, "mom" to two pushy Doberman Pinschers, and I now live in the suburbs with a big house with a fenced-in yard.  

Maybe I should become a Republican.  I'm joking, I swear.  Mostly.

My wedding:  I'm feeling completely unprepared.  All the big issues are sorted out, but I suck at decorating and I'm terrified of how the little details form the big picture of the wedding.  I'm also frugal out of long established habit, and I can't stand spending big bucks on frivolous non-essentials.  89 days to go.  I need a glass of wine just contemplating it.  I'm not scared of getting married, although it's an odd thought for me.  I've never been married but have had several long relationships (9 years, 5.5 years, 2 years, and I've only been in this one for < 2 years!)  I just never thought I'd find "the one" - but I was unwilling to ultimately settle.  It's the wedding stuff that's stressful!  My biggest stress is losing the weight to look good in my dress

I'm the one in the dress... obviously.

My weight:  I'm on a mission to lose 20-30 pounds before my June 2nd wedding.  So far I've lost 9.5 pounds in a month.  I'd be happy with another 11.5 pounds in the next three months - but I'm really shooting for more.  I've joined Weight Watchers to help, and was slightly deflated to see the new program.  It's emphasis on losing weight super-slow seems like a marketing ploy to me.  Get people to stay on the program longer, make more money... it makes sense to me.  So I tweaked my program.  I dropped my Points Plus daily target to 26 (I was set at 29), and I only use my extra weekly points for rum & cokes on Friday nights.  Hey - a girl's got to have some fun! 

My six year old:  She's what I consider a "precocious" child.  She's so smart.  Really.  That's not just mom-talk, the kid amazes me.  She reads at a third grade level (she's in first grade) and she argues like a defense attorney.  Right now we're going through child-boot-camp with the need for her to listen to direction.  I wasn't good at that as a child myself; but I believe children need boundaries, discipline, and positive reinforcement in order to become strong adults.  She's wonderful and trying, all at once.

My Doberman Pinschers:  I have an almost 9 year old male who is GIGANTIC.  He's way too big for his breed.  Like someone crossed a Doberman and a brontosaurus together.  He's so sweet, but his bark makes me feel like we'd be the last house in town to case for robbery.  My other Doberman is a four year old fawn female.  Most people don't think she's even a Dobie, since her coloration is so funky.  She's legitimately a Doberman though, papered & everything.  Here's the two of them:

Loki (black & tan) & Claire (fawn & rust)

We also have a cat, Monkey, who has to be separated from the dogs for fear of her furry life.

Monkey, the cat.  She needs WW too.

So, if you follow my blog you'll be diving into my little world of weight loss, wedding & honeymoon madness, friends & family, child-rearing, and pet life.