An update in pictures

There hasn't been too much excitement around the Welcome to My Life house but here are a few fun updates in pictures.  

We had a small snow storm on Friday and I finally got to use the snowblower!  Please also take note of our ugly camper in the background, I hope I can talk my dear husband into selling it come spring.  It's more of a project than we imagined. 


Bessie also enjoyed the snow, for a little while.

We've also FINALLY hung pictures on the walls in our house after almost 4 years of living here!  My mom and brother did the wedding frames for me and I got the sign that's hanging in the kitchen at an auction about two years ago as a homage to my maiden name.
















I'm hoping that we can do some more home decorating as the winter slowly moves along.  My mom is still working on curtains for my kitchen and I'm hoping that soon we can buy our bed, a TV and loveseat for the office and some other small items to finish off the house.  In the spring we will start our next major project....the downstairs bathroom.

Hope that everyone is having a great week!

Down 2lbs and sticking with it!

Sunday was the start of my third week on Weight Watchers and I'm down two pounds!  It may not seem like a lot, but I've sucked at working out so this is mostly just from eating right.  I've also cut back a good deal on my weekend drinking which I think is helping.  I allow myself a few glasses of wine or a few under 100 calories cocktails and sip them slowly.

I am anxious to get to that first 10lb loss or to see that my clothes are starting to fit a little differently.  I went shopping this weekend and I'm obviously still in the same size but things aren't as tight as they once were.

I've noticed that my cravings for many of my favorite junk foods (chips, chocolate, chipotle, a nice Wendy's cheeseburger) have for the most part gone away.  I have let myself have a WW ice cream bar a few nights a week after dinner, but since they are the size of the palm of my hand and only two points, I don't feel bad about it.

My body is still adjusting though to this lifestyle change and not to make anyone say "TMI" but, my stomach has had problems adjusting to eating so many veggies and maybe a little more fiber than normal.  And that's all I'm going to say about that.

So what is my goal?  I don't think I've really talked about this before but here is the down and dirty:

Starting Weight: 180

Current Pant Size: 14

Current Top Size: Mostly XL

Current Weight: 179

Goal Weight: 145

Goal Pant Size: between an 8 and 10

Goal Top Size: No more XL, I've got some girls so I would be happy to wear a large again

And my current motivation:

So what Wednesday!!

This week I'm saying so what......

• that I'm obsessed with weight watchers, when I talk about it I feel like people around me are getting annoyed.  I'm just so excited about losing weight and making healthy choices!
• if I am once again addicted to pinterest, I have been using it to look up recipes for WW.
• if I have ordered so much stuff from shutterfly lately, It's all been wedding stuff, they had an awesome photo book sale so I got one for my mom, grandma and us!!
• that I'm still not quite back in a good workout routine, I will get there soon.  I keep going back and forth about buying an elliptical but I just can't make up my mind!  For now, I'll keep using my semi-crappy treadmill and workout DVD's.
• that I finally, officially changed my last name!  I got my new license this weekend and I'm in the process of changing it with the bank and so forth.
• if I cannot ever make up my mind about my hair.  I cut a good chunk of it off right before Thanksgiving and never went back for a trim.  Now I have a hair appointment tonight and want to cut it really short but I'm worried that I'll hate it.  I've also decided not to color it for a while.
• if I still have some stuff from Christmas to put away, its mostly gifts.
• if I'm already planning our Memorial Day party in my head and it's four months away.  I am so ready for summer!

What are YOU saying so what to this week?!

Weekend in review

For a winter weekend, this one was rather fun.  We had been planning to go to Amish Country for a few months with Andrew's family and this weekend we were finally able to make the trip!  It was 60 degrees in Ohio this weekend, which is unreal and although it was cloudy and sprinkled a little rain we had a nice drive through the country and spent the afternoon shopping, eating and having a nice time together.  Our first order of business was to find a bed frame (we've never had one) and we didn't want to buy something cheap from a furniture store, below is the one we've picked out.  We have to go back and order it in a few weeks and it will take 10 weeks to make.   I think we are getting the nightstand as well.  Its solid oak with a dark tan finish that nicely matches or hodge podge of antique furniture in our bedroom.

I was also able to restock all my dry good while we were there because its so cheap!  Spices, flour, oats, baking stuff is all pennies on the dollar compared to most grocery stores!  We go to Holmes County Ohio, about 1 hour and 30 minutes northeast of our house and visit Charm, Berlin, Millersburg, Walnut Creek and Farmerstown each time we go.  There is a great organic store in Berlin and the bulk food store is in Walnut Creek.

All the spices I scored, that big box of bay leaves was $0.88 and all that cinnamon (bottom left) was $2.00!

My restocked "dry goods cabinet" when we got home, love it!

I was also proud of myself for controlling my diet while we were there.  I opted for the soup and salad bar at lunch and split a piece of pie with Andrew.  Though when we got home that night, Andrew wanted pizza I only ate two pieces and had some fruit. 

Sunday was our typical cleaning, laundry and grocery store day.  We finally took down the outdoor Christmas lights and I made a big pot of healthy and yummy potato soup for dinner!

Sunday night kitty snuggles!

What did you do this weekend?

I'm going to stick with my fitness goals!

Last night while running/speed walking on the treadmill, as I'm staring at the blank drab wall in front of me, I realized I need to surround myself with things, words, phrases, anything to keep me inspired.  After I finished working out, I ran upstairs and pulled from the top of the closet, my "dream jeans."  The size 10 express jeans that I love and have not been able to wear since 2009.  I got a hanger and hung them from the rafters in front of my treadmill.

If that's not motivation, then I don't know what is, but I didn't want to stop there! I wrote down on two pages of white paper inspirational quotes that will keep me motivated during my workouts.  I may decide to add some pictures later on, but right now my printer is out of ink.  Thus the little kid craft project.

I wrote down all of the "0 points" foods that I love and taped the list on the pantry next to another list about CRAP and food (which I found on Pinterest).

The whole time I was doing this, Andrew was looking at me as if I was a crazy person but hey if it keeps me motivated who cares!

I want to fit in those jeans by this summer and I think if I stick with weight watchers, continue to incorporate more fruits/veggies into my diet and slowly start working out hardcore again, I CAN AND WILL DO IT!

I'm happy that nearly everyone at my work is participating in our Get Fit 2013 challenge and that we are all here to support one another.  We have all been packing our lunch and making better food choices each day, which is amazing and makes everyone want to keep up the good work.  Our next potluck is all focused on healthy foods too which I think is GREAT!

I'm not sure what light bulb has turned on in me to make me want this so bad but I am more determined than EVER!

So What Wednesday

 

I'm linking up with Shannon at Life After I Dew for another So What Wednesday!

So what if.......

• I spend my evenings thinking about chips and salsa, candy bars and cheese.  This first week of weight watchers has not been easy, but I am determined to stick with the program!
• I carry on super random and awesome conversations with my friends on Facebook messages rather than talking on the phone or texting, we are all busy and it's entertaining.
• That I am still bummed the holidays are over, I mean its only been a few weeks and I need time to grieve.
• That I am so obsessed with American Horror Story on FX but I don't know anyone else who watches the show.  Its on tonight and that's all I can think about!
• I read blogs about Teen Mom Gossip and follow all of the Teen Mom's on Twitter....I'm so obsessed!
• I am so excited to go to Amish Country with the hubby and his parents on Saturday.  Its our little winter tradition and I look forward to it every time that we go.  Plus I need to stock up on all my health foods at the bulk food/organic bulk store.

What are YOU saying so what to this week?  Link up!!!!!

I said we would start saving, then Gander Mountain went out of business

I felt the need to have this random title after realizing I had blabbed about money saving in my 2013 post.  Well, I did have good intentions, I really did, until my wonderful husband read online that our local Gander Mountain (a small version of Cabelas/outdoor store) was going out of business and Sunday was the last day they would be open.  So we hurried over there around 2pm to see what deals were left.

I've never seen the parking lot so full in the 5 years that store has been open, upon going inside the crowds were NUTS and there didn't appear to be much left.  I took off for the womens clothes and shoes and Andrew trucked it back to the fishing department.  I scored Under-armor workout tops for $11 and some nice Columbia workout capris for $8 along with some Nalgene water bottles for $3!!!!  I felt pretty good about the stuff I found and went in search of my husband.

For those of you who are not into fishing, your talking to the queen of it right here :) well self-professed but whatever.  We got a "new to us" boat about two years ago and have been on the hunt for some boat accessories, namely a fish finder with a GPS (getting lost on a lake is not fun), a batter charger and a marine radio.  All of the electronics in the fishing department were 40% off and some of them had an additional 25% off tacked on.  We managed to score a fish finder and the battery charger, plus my workout clothes and a few dog toys for less than what the fish finder would cost alone had it not been on sale.  If you know me well, you know that bargains are like a drug to me so I could not have been more excited!!!!

As for the rest of our weekend - Friday night we stayed home and vegged.  Andrew thought he was getting sick and didn't want to go out and do anything.

Saturday I hardcore cleaned our bathroom and hall closet.  I purged so much old hair dye, shampoo, lotion and gross towels and it felt amazing!  I did all of the laundry, ironed and hung up all of my work clothes and we went out for our last "bad" dinner because on Sunday I joined weight watchers!

Sunday I cleaned our bedroom and finished up all of Andrew's laundry and then vegged out for most of the afternoon till we decided to hit up that awesome sale.  We went to my mom and dad's house afterwards and ended up staying for dinner, though I had ham and bean soup going in the crockpot. 

This week I'm hoping to:

• Work on my work/life balance
• Workout at least twice, I fell down the stairs last weekend and my back is still sore so I'm trying to take it easy
• Blast through all my work
• Keep my house in order
• Stick to my 30 points per day and start off the New Year right being healthy!

Hope that everyone had a great weekend!

What's to come in 2013

2012 was something else, as I recapped in my last post and even in 2011 there were so many big events.  Now that the wedding is over and life seems to be calming down, I'm hoping for a sense of peace in 2013 and the ability to stick to the things I want to do for myself.

First and foremost, I really need to focus on getting healthy this year.  I have been lying to myself for the last three years about my weight gain, lack of activity and just general poor health.  I can't keep doing this to myself I am far too young to be feeling like such an old woman.  I'm going to look at a new piece of workout equipment on Thursday and hopefully it's just the right addition to my home gym.

I want to work on my work/life balance.  I need to keep my house in better order in order to keep myself sane.  I have been doing a lot better with my cooking, but cleaning, well that's another story.

I want to keep accomplishing things in our home.  We just recently finished the flooring and trim in our mud room and come spring we can start working on the bathroom since the yard needs dug up to fix some drainage issues.  I have some plans for decorating and maybe this will be the year my mom finishes my curtains for the kitchen.

I also want us to focus on saving and getting out of debt.  I know it's not realistic to believe that we will pay off our house this year or my mountain of student debt, but getting out of our "short term debt" would feel great.  I'm anxious to see what my tax return is this year and figure out how to best spend that money.  I've also been actively saving (with no real goal in mind) and hoping that account will come in handy in 2013.

Last but certainly not least, I'm hoping that we will be able to make some decisions about our future: do we want to have kids and when; when would we like to think about moving to a home with more land/space; what things would we like to accomplish in the next five years and what is our goal for completing the house.  All of these are things we have talked about a million times but I want to see all of our goals on paper.

So how am I going to accomplish these things?

Fitness: we are starting a weight loss challenge at work tomorrow so that will be a good start for my motivation.  I want to be more active at least three days a week starting out, watch my carbs and desserts and see how things go for a month.  

Work/Life balance: We've instituted 7-8pm chore time in our house but fell off the wagon around Christmas.  We will be starting this up again next week so we can get this place in order again.

House/Debt/Five Year Plan: I know all of those things will come with time.

I'm looking forward to 2013 and hoping it will be amazing and counting down the days to our mini-vacation in Hocking Hills in February!