Happy Easter!!! 13 in 13 Round Up

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter, however you may celebrate it!

We got to my sister Laurie's house on Friday night and we all went out to dinner then back to Laurie's for some games & visiting.  Saturday was coloring eggs, the big family Easter dinner, then practically everyone left!  It was my family left to stay last night.  So we went into town & walked around a new store that recently opened up & stopped at Tim Horton's for a coffee & then back to Laurie's for some more games.  Today, Randy fixed us breakfast & we looked for some Easter eggs out in the yard & watched the Red Wings game until we got too disgusted and turned it off.  Then Laurie & I went horseback riding for a little bit.  Then we came home.   My whole weekend in a paragraph!

 Angel decorating the bunny cake. 

 Laurie & Angel decorating the tree - 

notice the 2 supervisors in the background. 

 Randy looking for eggs.

 Laurie & I looking for eggs with Jack's assistance. 

Angel & Laurie

Laurie & Captain and me & Princess.

It's been a long time since I rode bareback!

So anyway, I didn't attempt to stay on plan, but I don't think I did terribly bad.  I made sure to drink plenty of water, since I tend to forget & let myself get dehydrated while gone for weekends.

Oh my!  Time to check in on the 13 in 13 challenge!  I'm going to do my round-up a bit early since the A-Z Challenge begins tomorrow and it's going to mildly crazy for a while until I get into the swing of things.  I don't have as many posts pre-written as I would have liked, so I'm sort of concerned about that.

1. rededicate myself to WW - Doing pretty well with this.  I didn't make it 1 meeting this past month, but I did stop in to get on the scale.  I've finally settled on Wednesday evening meetings.  Rosa, the leader, has the most annoying voice ever, but she gets excited for people and does neat things like have everyone write down how many miles you've walked that week and she adds them up and moves a pin on the map.  These last 2 weeks, I've helped in my small way to get us from Rochester Hills, MI to Ft. Myer, FL!  This week we're supposed to have a Florida party for the meeting. 

btw, since 2/28, I've lost 2 pounds.  Not as good as I've hoped, but at least it's moving in the right direction!

*keep on trucking!

2. post eTools progress report weekly - check!

* keep on doing this!  I'm really conscious about tracking 100% since I'm posting them.

3. earn at least 15 WW activity points weekly - um,  Fail.  I have no excuses, it just has not happened.  I'm getting some, just not 15.  Need to work on that!

*get your butt moving!!

4. use my waist & arm / thigh trimmers while doing DVDs or Wii Fit - check!

* doing good!

5. plan meals weekly - check!

*saves lots of hassle.

6. eat more / new veggies every week - check!

*

7. be a better blogger - check!  I said above that I'm not as prepared as I wanted for the A-Z, but I won't be behind!

*This month I need to make sure I visit plenty of blogs, too!

8. spend at least 15 minutes per day straightening up my house - eh.  Judging by how it looks right now.  No.  But the bathrooms were cleaned before we left for the weekend and there were no dishes in the sink. There is still a mountain of laundry to fold / put away on the couch.. .but I have an able-bodied 15 year old who will be home most of next week for Spring Break (I'll be at work) who can take care of this while she sits in front of the TV.

*

9. make time for ME!! for exercise & meetings - getting better.

10. find plans & designs for holiday displays (tomato cage trees / MGC fence / potion book) - mostly fail.  I did look at some plans while I was researching "F" for the challenge.

*it's hard getting into the Halloween frame-of mind when I'm excited about seeing flowers in the yard!

11. work on RACES certification - fail.

*ugh.

12.

13. wean myself off pop - I did good this weekend (as in NONE!), but had a Coke Zero as soon as we got home.

Rebecca’s March Challenge - Try Something New!  Let's see.  I can't think of anything really new that I did, but I did several things that I haven't in a long time.  My bellydance DVD is one and horseback riding bareback today is another.  Riding with no saddle really took me out of my comfort zone, especially when the horses are frisky after a long winter of being not ridden often.  Really works your thigh muscles, too!

Alrighty, I'm going to wrap this up.  I didn't sleep well on the air mattress Friday night, since Randy set it up under the basement window & the Arctic blast on my head made it tough to sleep.  Saturday we stayed up late watching SNL, then I woke up at 4:30 and realized we didn't set out the Easter baskets, so I got up to do that.  Of course everything was still just tossed in the tote, so I had to assemble them.  Then I was up again at 7:30 to take care of the horses.  So I'm ready for my own bed!

Comp Weekend & FMM !

Ugh - I'm still exhausted & I didn't even dance!!! Miss Angela had her first competition of the season this weekend. I personally thought they all did amazing, but the odds were against our girls. Our entire team was in a total of 14 numbers. Several other studios had more than 70. Of course they're going to win more than us!

Of course I forgot my camera, so these crappy pics are off my phone.


Line hiphop. This included all 4 levels of dancers.
They got 2nd place overall.
Angel is on the right.


Line jazz
4th place overall


Small group jazz with their teacher.
9th place overall


Small group tap
sadly, they didn't place.
I want to see the judges notes on this one, since I personally only saw 2 small mistakes and other groups made worse ones.

Needless to say - I made lousy choices with my food this weekend. ugly, ugly ugly. I didn't even bother to track, since I was grazing from the huge buffet of food set up in the dressing room all day Saturday. Sunday was less grazing, since I didn't spend as much time backstage.

Now it's time for Friend Makin' Monday!!



If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section over at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Ten Questions

1. Describe the kind of home you would live in if money were no object. I would be happy to tear down my current house and rebuild. The challenge would be to make it continue to blend in with the rest of the 'hood. But I want a basement, an actual laundry room and a second floor. We have 849 sq feet right now and no storage. But I like our large yard and neighborhood. And I want the yard fenced so I don't have to go outside in my pjs in the morning to put the dog on his run.

2. Are you more conservative in your actions or more rebellious? It depends on the situation. I usually keep fairly calm & reasonable, but I can easily rebel.

3. Would you go to Mars even if it meant you could never return to Earth? No. Not to stay.

4. Name one song that makes you want to dance every time you hear it. I could probably make a list!

5. Share one thing that you wish you could go back and do differently in your life. I wish I would have made more of an effort to get in shape / lose weight after my daughter was born. I was in the Navy at the time and was not able to pass the twice-annual physical readiness tests. I could do the push ups & sit ups, but couldn't run the 1 1/2 miles in the time allotted and I was over body fat. I could have extended my enlistment, but not re-enlisted. And they would have given me orders to the crappiest place they had open, instead of someplace good.

6. Share at least one accomplishment that people wouldn't expect you to be proud of. I built all the props and headstones and a full-sized coffin by myself for my Halloween display. With some help from Miss Angela.

7. Describe one delicious thing that you’ve eaten lately. I took Angel and a friend to Olive Garden after her comp Saturday and I had Parmesan encrusted Tilapia that was wonderful!

8. If you had a theme song that would play every time you entered a room, which song would you choose? . Covergirl by RuPaul.   It totally makes me want to strut!



9. Has technology enhanced your life, or has it over complicated your life?  Enhanced. A lot of my work depends on a computer system and it helped me to get in touch with old friends and also I got my associates degree online!

10. If you could get paid to do any job, which job would you choose? I'd love to be a holiday decorator. I love to deck my house out for all holidays.

How was your weekend?

Ignore this!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

apparently I hove to do this to claim my own blog on Bloglovin.

So far I like the daily news feeds and actually being able to click the newer / older button to see actual blogs that I'm following instead of in a generic reader. And I like that I can organize the blogs I follow into categories that I make up.

{{expletive}} & the 10 Commandments

I think I'm going to be going to the Wednesday evening meetings for now on.  They're not as early as I'd like, but early enough where I can get home and still make dinner for the family without stressing about it or us eating at 9:30.  And the leader is pretty entertaining & she has a challenge each week where people write down how many miles you walked & she adds them up and moves a pin on a map.  They're "walking" from Rochester Hills, MI to Fort Myers, FL.  

I don't think I posted last week's progress report, so here are both. 

Yes, that is a 1.8 lb gain today.  Hence the "expletive" in the post title.  But I'm pretty sure it's punishment from this weekend.  We had our annual St. Pat's Girls Night Out Saturday night.  We are a rockin' bunch!  Mom, both sisters, niece & me.  We basically went out to dinner, drank a green beer or two and went back to Laurie's house, did a couple Chinese Fire Drills on the way and played games.  But on the way home Sunday around 5pm, I realized that we'd had breakfast pretty early and didn't have lunch, so I was starving.  And that means bad choices.  I stopped at McDonald's and got a medium fry, double cheeseburger & the fish bites.  And a bucket of sweet tea.  WTF was I thinking???  I did share with the dog, tho. 

Needless to say, I didn't accurately track that day. 

Before I came home Sunday,  I went out & spent over 30 minutes brushing one of the horses because the poor thing was shedding so badly.  btw, did you know that counts as WW activity Points?  yup.   Both horses had blankets on (horse #3 is away at the trainer's for a couple weeks) but Princess doesn't have as heavy a blanket as Captain.  That's why her coat is so thick.  She enjoyed the brushing!

I made a zebra cake from a recipe I found on Pinterest, but I've only had one piece of that.  I want to make one like this for Miss Angela's 16th birthday next fall, so this was my test subject.  It worked out quite well and was tasty, too!

I did get a 4 mile DVD walk in Tuesday.  Miss Maddie is my stupervisor.  She lays on top of the aquarium and watches until she gets bored, then either naps or looks at the fish upside down. 

I have a challenge this weekend.  It's Miss Angela's first dance competition of the season.  So Saturday from about 7am - 7pm and Sunday from 9am - 8pm (but not if I can help that!!) I'll be stuck at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts.   Saturday will be fine, since all 4 of her dances are then, as well as majority of the others from her studio.  Sunday there are 3 dances all day and the studio owner expects us to be there to cheer on those girls.   Ugh!  I love to watch the kids dance, but I can only handle 5 or 6 trio / duet / solo dances since most of them are lyrical or contemporary and they start to look the same. YAWN!  So my challenge is food.  I plan to stop at Tim Horton's on the way and I already know the Points value for what I usually get there.  But the rest of the day is iffy.  same with Sunday.  They only have a very basic concession stand during these events.  Mostly water & a small selection of candy.  

So anyway, at the meeting tonight, the leader (I can't remember her name, but I've been to her meetings before) did the 10 Commandments of Weight Loss.  It's cute but makes sense. too.

1. Thou shalt not wear stretchy pants.

2. Thou shalt get rid of "fat" clothes.

3. Thou shalt not eat whilst standing up.

4. Thou shalt chew each bite 20 times.

5. Thou shalt not graze.

6. Thou shalt not pile your plate more than 1" high or within 2" of the edges.

7. Thou shalt not carry small bills.

8. Thou shalt not eat in front of the TV, computer or book.

9. Thou shalt not eat late.

10. Thou shalt reduce your meat intake from 4 legged animals.  

Have a great week!

Friend Makin' Monday - Food Questions

Happy Monday!!

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section over at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Food Questions

1. What did you eat for dinner last night? BBQ beef ribs, baby taters & green beans with a nice spinach salad

2. If you could make one food calorie-free for the next year, what would you choose? Hmm, the options are flying thru my mind.......since it's getting to be grilling season - MEAT!

3. How often do you go to the grocery store? Once a week, but there is a Kroger at the corner if I need to grab anything quickly on my way home.  The local Hollywood Market has the best meat counter, but Kroger wins for produce and overall selection.

4. Do you make a list before buying groceries? I have to! Or else I'd forget half of what I needed and get a bunch of stuff I don't.

5. List three things that can always be found in your kitchen. Coke & Coke Zero, oatmeal, Pizza Rolls (not for me - those things are gross! but the girl "would marry them if she could")

6. How often do you clean out your fridge? I do the science experiment check once a week before venturing out to the store. But the full-blown shelf scrubbing happens maybe 4 times a year or whenever it gets too gross to look at.

7. Do you ever use a slow cooker? If so, will you share a recipe? I do use it, but for some reason everything tastes similar to me.  But the family is happy & eats it so I don't say anything.

8. How often do you try new recipes? I'd love to try them all the time! But again I have to consider Mr. Picky and Picky Jr. that I also have to feed. They're not as adventurous as me. 

9. What is the most delicious meal(s) you make? It would have to be grilled steak. Also with sweet corn on the cob and mashed potatoes swimming in butter. Om nom nom nom.

10. Share at least one thing that is currently in your kitchen even though you don’t like it. The above-mentioned Pizza Rolls, Vienna Sausages (gag) and Salt & Vinegar Chips.  

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions! Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments. Happy Monday, friends.

I saw a robin today!

SQUEEE!

For me, that is a sure sign of Spring!  And before leaving for work Friday (I had to catch a ride with a co-worker since my car was in the shop) I took the opportunity to check out my flower beds and I saw tulips and daffodils starting to poke up thru the mulch!  Hooray!!

Anyhoooo.  I set my alarm and got up earlier than I really wanted and went to the first WW meeting this morning.  Saturday's are insane at that place!!   Every single seat was filled & there were at least 6 or 7 of us standing along the back wall.

Today's topic was about taking 10 minutes out of your day and plan your meals, Points-wise. O.M.G. I felt like such a ditz that I've never done this in all the time I've been going to WW.   It's so simple!  I have been extremely good (lately) about tracking everything, but too often I find myself with like 8 Points for dinner or something like that.  So planning would be a good idea!

Although it also does not help that I've been getting munchies lately when I know darn well that I'm not hungry.  I'm fighting that right now.  The only thing that's saving me from going to the kitchen - to get another glass of water, I swear! - is the fact I have a sleeping cat draped across my lap.

I am extremely happy that I am down another 2.6 lbs!  I am so happy to be on the downward spiral once again!

I'm tracking all my healthy checks now!  Yay me!

Does anyone have this dilemma?  I did a 4 mile WalkAtHome DVD earlier this week.  It was a total of 5 minutes longer than the 3 mile WAH I've been doing - so I worked my butt off.  I felt wonderful afterward!  no soreness or anything.  Yesterday I got home from work and took the dog for a walk around the park.  Have to take advantage of sunny & 40*!!!  This particular walk is exactly 2 miles, from leaving my back step to arriving back at it.  And because I have a Beagle who must sniff everything and also insists on stopping to pee 19000 times and poo'ing 3 times, it took us 42 minutes.  Not a strenuous walk at all but I am still dying from how sore my hips & backside are!

The only thing I can figure is my stride.  When I basically march in place, my feet come down toes first and no butt muscles are really used.  While actually walking, there is a forward motion and my feet come down heel first.

Oh, and don't get me started on browsing in stores.  Moving that slow is even worse yet!  It kills my knees.

Check out the funky snow nuggets that are still along the trail - Jack was going nuts checking them out.  This first one was about basketball sized, the second was about the size of my foot.

Have a great weekend, even if we lose an hour sleep tonight!

Friend Makin' Monday - Almost Spring!

Happy Monday!




If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section over at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Almost Spring!!

1. What do you love most about Spring?  Sunshine, getting warmer, baby animals, seeing things turn green, spring flowers. 

2. If you’re lucky enough to have a Spring Break, what will you do to enjoy it?      I don't get one.  Pppbth.

3. What is your favorite flower?   Normally I'd say lilacs, but we will have an intoxicating combination of lilacs, crabapple and cherry all blooming at the same time in my yard.  Love it!!!

4. Do you have a garden? If so, what do you grow?  I have perennials in my flower beds around the house, but no actual garden.

5. Share one thing that you hope to accomplish during Spring.  Hmm.  I have a few ideas flitting thru my mind, but nothing set in stone yet.

6. Do you do Spring cleaning?   Not really, but I should.  I'm just not motivated by the time I get home from work.

7. What is your weather *really* like right now? {Just b/c it’s almost Spring, doesn't mean that it feels like it for some of you.}  The sun is actually shining today!  But it's only supposed to get around 31*.

8. Share one photo that you’ve taken during the month of March.   I got to play Grandma this weekend!  Angela is taking a parenting class at school and she brought home this baby for the weekend.  

This is a high-tech doll!  It's programmed with the habits of 15 different newborns, so it could start to cry at any time of the day or night.  She had to wear a special wristband and hold it near baby's torso until it beeped, then she had to figure out why it was crying.  She had to change it, feed it, burp it or just comfort it. Then she had to document why it was crying and how long it took to make baby happy again (it would make a cute gurgle when it was happy) and Heaven forbid you let its head drop back, it would scream bloody murder!  Diaper changes were pretty quick, but feeding could take 15 minutes.  I think she was rather happy to take it back to school today.   I confess I did babysit a couple times.  It was turned off during her dance classes on Saturday, but was still on during acro, so I took care of it then & while she was in the shower. 

9. What’s your favorite thing to do on a sunny afternoon?  We have several nice parks near us and a dog who loves going on walks.  Which is good, since my butt-head family doesn't like going on them!

10. If you could spend the day doing anything in your city, what would you do?  probably look for some geocaches.

Friend Makin' Monday - Blogger to Blogger

Boy do I feel dumb!  I linked up this post to Kenlie's FMM on 2/18/13 and just realized this was still sitting in my draft folder!  Sorry!  
Lisa (3/1/13)

*****************

Eeek, I never did post my 13 in 13 update last week. Let me at least do this much....



This is my WW eTools progress report. I vowed to post this weekly.  There is my 2.6 lb loss!

Now onto the fun stuff!

 If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section over at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!



Blogger to Blogger

1. Does your blog have one overwhelming theme?  Yes.  It's all about my roller-coaster journey of losing weight & getting fit.

2. How did you come up with the theme(s) for your blog? Was it intentional?  I started out with kind of a personal / weight loss theme & then decided to split them.  Now I have 3 blogs total.  This one, Random Ramblings & Maple Grove Cemetery (Halloween-themed)

3. Share something cool that has happened in your life as a result of blogging.  Hmm.  I can't think of anything spectacular.  It is pretty neat to look back at My Work in Progress and see how far I've come since I joined WW many moons ago.

4. How much time to do spend reading blogs everyday?  Probably 30-45 minutes.  I need to stop just staying on Google Reader and actually go to the blogs so I can see their layout & get the full experience.

5. Do you blog on the weekends?  Sometimes.   We have 2 computers on 2 desks but only one chair.  So if hubby is doing radio stuff at his desk or (the ultimate in annoying) instead of moving all the crap piled up on his desk, he will use mine to remotely access his computer and do whatever it is he does. I'll have to use my netbook, but I don't have access to my photo albums from there!

6. Do you keep track of your stats? Do they matter to you?  I look at them once in a while, and I find it highly entertaining to see what people search for and find my blogs.

7. How do you decide how much to share about your personal life?  I share quite a bit here, but my big rants & tangents are usually on RR.

8. Do you aspire to be a writer, or did blogging happen for some other reason?   I don't remember how or why I decided to start blogging.  At the beginning, I'd only write once a month or longer, so my posts were novel-like.  I've gotten better.

9. As a blogger, do you think it’s more important to write for yourself, or for your readers?  I think I do a little of both.  I like to tell stories as if I were telling someone else, but some of it is also a journal for myself.

10. What kind of plans do you have for the future of your blog?  I can't imagine any of them being much more than they are now.  I'm mostly happy with what I have.

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions. Don’t forget to head over and link up in the comments. Happy Monday!

February 13 in 13 round up

Happy March!  I can't decide if March is coming in like a "lion" or a "lamb".  It's cold & cloudy, but nothing horrible.  Not really my idea of lamb-like, tho.

So moving on to updating!  Here is my progress report from WW eTools - both weekly and a monthly overviews.  I did have a small gain - but it is PMS week.  Mother Nature is such a bitch.  But I am pretty happy with the 15 activity points.  For the last 2 weeks, it's been crazy with me going so far over my allotted points!  I've tracked it all (example - look at Friday below!)  I don't know why I'm having such a a hard time with this.

 and my big ol' blank healthy check tracking area....sigh.  Maybe I should do those.

1.  rededicate myself to WW - this has been really bad. I only went to weigh in 3 times and didn't attend any meetings at all. I really need to make time for myself to go. I wish they had earlier meeting times!
2.  post eTools progress report weekly - check!
3.  dust off my WAH DVDs - check!
4.  use my new waist & arm / thigh trimmers while doing DVDs or Wii Fit - check!
5.  plan meals weekly - check!
6.  eat more / new veggies every week - check! (for the most part)
7.  be a better blogger - eh. Somewhat.
8.  get my house de-cluttered - eh, somewhat.
9.  cut back on unnecessary spending (see #8) - somewhat.
10. find plans & designs for tomato cage trees / MGC fence / potion book - somewhat. I've been pinning ideas.
11. work on RACES certification - epic fail. I did find the book, but haven't looked at it since.
12.  
13.  wean myself off pop - a work in progress.  
Rebecca’s February Challenge - Keep it Simple. I confess I totally missed this whole step. But it was probably OK, since I prefer simple over complicated any day.

Alrighty then. Onward & upward to March!

1.  rededicate myself to WW - staying on the list. I really have to make an effort to attend meetings.
2.  post eTools progress report weekly - staying on the list. Knowing that other people will be seeing this really makes me feel more accountable.
3.  earn at least 15 WW activity points weekly - this hopefully will get my butt moving.
4.  use my waist & arm / thigh trimmers while exercising - staying on the list.
5.  plan meals weekly - staying on the list
6.  eat more / new veggies every week - I enjoy this one, so staying on the list.
7.  be a better blogger - the A-Z challenge is next month, so I need to get busy writing posts. Staying on the list for now.
8.  spend at least 15 minutes per day straightening up my house - ugh. Staying on the list.
9.  make time for ME!!! If I don't plan time for myself to exercise or go to meetings or blog, it doesn't happen.
10. find plans & designs for holiday displays (tomato cage trees / MGC fence / potion book) - I have quite a few ideas pinned and such.
11. work on RACES certification - ugh. staying on the list.
12.  
13.  wean myself off pop - this will be an ongoing work in progress.
Rebecca’s March Challenge - Try Something New! Oh man. I have no idea right now, but I'll keep my eyes open! There is a family Girls' Weekend coming up over St. Pat's Day so anything can happen.