little victories!

I have lost a total of 14.6 pounds on Weight Watchers so far. I am so proud of myself. (flipping hair and spinning on my heels.)

And now, for something a little serious.

This is cheesy, sort of, but sometimes I am in total awe of God and nature. It is nice to be reminded about the natural world we live in. Examples: (a) the hummingbirds in our yard. They are so territorial about our feeder. I love sitting out on the deck and hearing the buzz of their insanely fast little wings as they dive bomb each other. . . and I now can recognize their little teeny peeping chirps in the trees. The amazing tiny-ness of them just entirely fascinates me. (b) rain!!!! The weather has changed so much in the last week. We have had quite a bit of rain compared to the rest of the summer and every time it even looks rainy, we are all being a little nicer. I think it is because we are happy for the break. The best part of rain, which I haven't seen in a long time. . . rainbows. It is a terrible photo which doesn't do it justice at all. . . but considering that I was actually driving at the time - not condoning that, by the way - it turned out okay. Huge double rainbow. sigh.

c) Owls. I was just telling my mom the other day that we hear a lot of owls in our neighborhood. . .but haven't heard them in quite some time. Then, Tuesday night, I went out on our front porch and there was this owl in the trees maybe 50 feet away. Assuming it was a 'he' - you could hear him hooting to another owl way off in the distance. That sound is occasionally a little eerie late at night when it is very still, but Tuesday, it was almost like it was reminder that we share our neighborhood with them.

Well, poo.

The dishwasher panel reverse side is the worst of all possibilities. It is beige. Gross. I am re-evaluating Plan B, because all of a sudden, the black dishwasher just isn't that bad. I mean, it could be beige.
I have now lost 12.8 pounds on weight watchers. I don't feel like I look any different, but I am really proud of myself.

Our lovely kitchen. and getting lovelier.

So, I have lost just over 11 pounds on Weight Watchers thus far. This is the time that is most difficult because I lose steam and start to think I am doing well and then kind of mess up on the eating plans. . . .so I am re-dedicating myself for the upcoming week.

Our house is starting to really look like a home. I have been making a true effort to keeping (most of) our house picked up, we have started hanging much more stuff on the walls, and I repainted the kitchen over the weekend. It looks very updated. I have an electrician coming Friday to change a number of sockets and switches from the icky 80's almond colored plastic to just plain white plastic. I also have plans to re-face the dishwasher. I got to thinking that a stainless dishwasher would look so much better in the kitchen. I did some research and learned that no one has ever heard of a "Crosley" brand dishwasher. (you?) Apparently they are made by Maytag, but I think they're the 'lower end' Maytag line. The dishwasher is fine - does an adequate job as long as we scrub the dishes before they go in the machine. . . so I am not in the market for a new one anytime soon. Sometimes you can buy a new door panel for your dishwasher. I started looking online for one and didn't have much luck. I then called a Maytag dealer/repair place in town, and asked them about my Crosley dishwasher. The gentleman on the phone told me that they 'didn't carry that manufacturer'. .. I had to educate him that Maytag makes Crosley. Clearly, this is a very popular kitchen appliance line. I provided my model number to him and he was able to look up available parts for my dishwasher. The good news is that there is a replaceable door panel - and also reversible - and one of the door panels comes in black with aluminum on the reverse. That was exciting to learn. . . until he told me that the parts for my particular machine ceased in production in late 2008. Why couldn't I decide to do this last year????

So, our dishwasher is black, currently. I plan to try to remove that door panel today to see if maybe luck is with me and the reverse is aluminum. If not, I move to plan B, which is to buy a roll of stainless sheeting and re-cover the dishwasher. I priced it out yesterday. I can buy a roll for about $55 and shipping, which isn't terrible. I will have a ton of leftover sheeting if I pursue this option, so if you would like the leftovers, let me know.

Week One.

Well, this is not normal, and I never expect for it to happen again, but my positive obsessive thoughts and actions worked. I lost 4.4 pounds this week! I assume that two pounds are H2O and the rest might actually be real. . . . but yay!!!!!

Here we go.

Ok, so trying to have a baby makes for a bit of stress and obsession. I am trying to be more relaxed and not think about it ALL the time, but it is there. You do obsess about it when you live by your calendar. . .

AND: My body has suffered through my obsession. Between the legislative session and the slight bit of comfort eating that I have done through the baby-making process, I have gained a bit of weight.

So, I joined Weight Watchers (WW) last week. And, I am going to begin knitting like crazy. The knitting is just downright fun, and the WW helps to give me something else to obsess about. My first weigh-in will be Wednesday, and I am praying that my body didn't try to go into starvation mode this first week and hold onto every ounce. . I would like to even just lose maybe half a pound to prove that I'm headed in the right direction.

Weight Watchers makes you end up eating a TON more produce than you normally do - and for that reason, summertime is a really great time to start a structured eating plan. I am really looking forward to going to the farmer's market this coming Saturday - but for that reason, I need to eat everything in our refrigerator this week. I am up to this challenge. :) (I mean, Mr. Weller will help me, but he isn't someone who can eat just vegetables as dinner - or eat a tiny portion of chicken and a whole plate of veggies.)

Updates on this course of action to follow!

Birthday.

I have to say that this was probably my best birthday in the last five years. We spent time with my parents on Saturday - working in the yard and then went to lunch at Blue Dahlia, on East 11th Street. http://www.bluedahliabistro.com/ - I think I love the interior more than the food, but the food is also very fresh and very abundant, so it is one of my new favorites.

Monday, my actual birthday, my mom came in and we had lunch at East Side Cafe (I could eat there every day, I think) and went furniture shopping. We found a dining room table that is actually massive enough to the fill the space in the dining room, but wanted to leave it and come back later. Steven went with me to check out the table/chairs that evening, and we agreed to get them! (Yay!) We went to dinner at Guero's with friends, and it was lovely. I haven't done a 'big thing' for my birthday in a long time, and it was really a very good time.

On Tuesday, Steven and I went and bought the table/chairs. We brought home the pads for the table. (They are plastic covered heavy cardboard (I guess) with thick felt backing). . . The table and pads have clearly come from a home with a white cat. Gross. The pads are in the back of my car and I plan to thoroughly vacuum and then steam clean the felt tonight. The table will come home Friday, when my dad (thank you!) will pick it up with Steven and the trailer. So exciting! I will post photos when it is arranged in our dining room. After buying the table, we met up with family/friends for another birthday celebration (not really mine, but sort of) and went to Blue Star Cafeteria. I highly recommend the Garden Vegetable Bowl. Fresh sauteed veggies over boursin cheese grits. Amazing.

Now, I have to stop eating out!