This Could become Addicting

175 lbs this morning. Hallelujah. I am wearing pants today that have always been a touch "too tight" but are now just fine!!!

I wonder what will happen when I finally get to exercising consistently 6x a week?

Goal, next week: 174 lbs.

• 13:25 Have insurance, but they don't pay for vaccines. Doctor and clinic refuse to give them to me because I have insurance. What is wrong here? #
• 13:29 I should just stop paying the mortgage and insurance premiums. Then maybe someone could help me... #

Wonder of Wonder, Miracle, Miracle

I don't know how, and I checked twice, but this morning I weighed 176 lbs!

So, next Saturday's goal: 175 lbs.

• 11:00 Playing on the ground with my boys, Why don't I do this more often? It is so relaxing. #

• 08:06 First day of school for my little one. (Tear.) #
• 12:55 Paying bills. #
• 17:23 Some old lady just yelled at my children at the library. When she noticed me, she gave a sheepish smile and slunk away. #
• 17:23 Help me not become a crotchety old lady when I grow up... #
• 21:12 Sleepy. #

A Day Late (and a few dollars short...)

What a great surprise this morning. I made the goal after all.

177 lbs. Today.

Goal: next Thursday, 176 lbs.

• 08:38 Didn't make the weight goal for today, thanks to the hiatus to Utah. Curse you vacation munchies. #
• 11:52 Did pilates with HY. EZ and ASH added resistance by taking turns sitting on my head/abs the entire time. #
• 12:29 Signed the boys up for "build and grow clinics" at Lowes in September. Thanks for the great idea, Jill! #

• 16:27 Trying to get things done. #
• 16:30 Started a food journal-ing blog today. www.greeneyeddebonadiet.blogspot.com #

• 15:01 Back to the old grindstone. Back to the old diet. #
• 15:32 Life is so sweet with little children. With them the whole world is filled with treasures and wonders. "Look, Mom, another semi-truck!!!" #

Celebrating Little Victories

Made cookies for the neighbors yesterday.

Avoided dough and finished product (mostly).

Got out some creative energy with the boys, without breaking the diet.

Down one more pound: 178 lb!

Goal: next Wednesday, 177 lbs.

BTW

179 lbs. Today.

Goal: next Friday, 178 lbs.

Confession #14

The other day I went to a workshop about green cleaning products. It got me thinking about my cleaning products at home. And I came to this shocking realization:

I don't clean my house very often, if at all.

Seriously, the 409, Windex, everything...are probably still the same bottles of cleaning supplies that I purchased when I first moved here over three years ago (with the exception of toilet cleaner, wipes, and Mr. Clean magic erasers).

Juxtapose this with my almost compulsive need to have everything "picked up" and "put away." It gets really bad sometimes. Like, for example, the other day HY said to me, whilst in the midst of playing with blocks, "Mom, please don't put the blocks away yet..."

Hello?

Now, if only I could channel some of this obsessive energy towards some loftier goals like exercising or reading scriptures.

Chilled blah blah blah blah blah with blah blah blah...

For the last couple of weeks I have been thinking about making some summery gazpacho type item to accompany dinner. It just sounded good...some chilled, fresh tasting soup to counter the BLAZING heat outside.

So yesterday Hy and I whipped one up. (Literally. We whipped it up using a blender. Outside. Because the babies were asleep and my blender sounds like a small jet plane getting ready to takeoff. Good times.)

It was supposed to be grand: Chilled Cucumber Soup with Fresh Dill; perfectly complementing dinner (Grilled salmon, rice pilaf, sauteed summer squash) and rounding out the menu (only 70 calories per 1/2 cup!). And when it was finished it was quite beautiful. But the taste...

Well, it tasted just like what went in: watery cucumber puree with dill and buttermilk. I was somehow hoping that the combination of ingredients would mesh together and make some wonderful culinary combination.

Umm no.

Aaron finished his entire bowl--mostly out of generosity to me--but I couldn't stomach it (and chalked it up to saving calories).

---

So funny. I have all these great ideas and try to get all fancy and froo-froo, and really, sometimes it is just gross.

Tonight we are having chicken soup and biscuits. A winner all around.

Philippines, Cebu City

Wow Meridith! Congratulations!
I am still crying today.

More evidence that I need to lose a few...

10 year high school reunion

Deal of the Century

I bought milk today, in half-gallon containers, for $.15 each. (Their sell-by date was today so they were marked down.) I bought eight of them. Isn't that a steal? Pretty much 4 gallons for $1.20.

Get back!

In the past three days:

*I have stayed under 1500 calories, each day.
*I have exercised, each day.
*I went visiting teaching.
*I did all the laundry (washed, folded, put-away).
*I did the dishes, twice, every day.
*I did some other stuff that needed to get done.

Small potatoes for most people, but for me. Get back! That is awesome!

Ich danke dir für all das Gute und Liebe und Schöne...

I've been reading the "Diary of Anne Frank" this week. Except this edition is not the one we read in school. About ten years ago, the Anne Frank foundation in Switzerland allowed publishers to re-release her diary in its entirety.

Previous to this, Anne's father had only allowed specific edited passages to be published. And I can understand why he would feel that way. Reading over the passages I feel somewhat like a voyeur... Almost every entry is explicit--the mind and soul of any teenage girl looking forward to "impending menstruation," struggling over the clashes with her mother, suffering from want of attention from her father, and discovering boys. Sometimes I think "Why did you write this?..." But then I remember that she never expected this to be published or that anyone would ever see it.



What touches me most is that, though she certainly faced some exposure to the horrors of the Nazi regime (via radio, etc), she seemed wholly unable to see her life and the future without optimism.

Last night, after reading passages for an hour I flipped to the afterword--a cold and frank paragraph that snuffed out the life and vibrancy of a stubborn, vulnerable, candid and witty little girl.

Anne must have died in late February or early March. [Her body was] probably dumped in Bergen-Belsen's mass graves.

I couldn't help but pray more fervently in gratitude, this morning, for the freedoms I enjoy but don't always appreciate.

Boys Are So Lucky

"Men are Just Happier People"

What do you expect from such simple creatures.Your last name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can be President.. You can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park. Car mechanics tell you the truth. The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky. You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Same work, more pay. Wrinkles add character. Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental-$100. People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them. New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet. One mood all the time.

Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. You know stuff about tanks. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. You can open all your own jars. You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.

Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough. You almost never have strap problems in public. You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes. Everything on your face stays its original color. The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades. You only have to shave your face and neck.

You can play with toys all your life. One wallet and one pair of shoes -- one color for all seasons. You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look. You can 'do' your nails with a pocket knife. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a moustache.

---

I stole this from my brother. Who knows where he got it. But it certainly made me laugh. I think that I am going to write a dissertation, next week, on women and all their great advantages in life. We'll begin with the obvious: We just plain smell better!!!

...Trusty, dusky, vivid, true...

Often times, when I am away from Aaron for long periods of time, I feel much more sentimental and dreamy-eyed. (Sometimes to a point that becomes extremely sappy..) I think it is waking up in an empty bed and feeling the immediate loss. This is certainly the case today.