Wow!!!

Well, folks, as you can see by the Pound-O-Meter®, I'm down quite a few. At Monday night's weigh-in, I found that during last week I had somehow managed to remove 5.6 pounds!!

I'm not quite sure how I did it. I guess maybe I was REALLY good during the week, because I didn't do that great over the weekend. Well, I mean, maybe I wasn't as bad as I thought. Friday, I drove up to just north of Atlanta (Woodstock) to my cousin Coleen's house. I left work about 10-ish, stopping at Mickey D's for 2 Egg McMuffins. I had some water with me so I didn't get anything to drink. When I reached Dublin, I HAD to stop for one of my favorites - "trucker coffee"from Pilot. My recipe: Grab a 24-oz styrefoam cup from the dispenser, open six of those little individual servings of Coffee-Mate Hazelnut flavored non-dairy liquid creamer, fill the cup 1/2 way with super-extra-caffeine-charged mocha cappuccino, fill it the rest of the way with super-extra-caffeine-charged coffee. Did I mention that I'd only had about 4 hours of sleep the night before?

I sipped my "trucker's coffee" and munched on some fat-free pretzels through Macon, stopped in McDonough for gas and a Diet Coke. Spent 20 minutes in line at Chick-Fil-A before I got my grilled chicken sandwich, and ate that on the way to my Coleen's. I got there about 4:00-ish, visited with Coleen and her husband, Michael, and played with the kids. We ate dinner - Coleen made some Bertolli shrimp scampi and linguine and some edamame. (Yummy!) And then after dinner the little girls and I decorated the baby cakes I brought for them.









































And then they munched on their creations........























And then we went and played with the Barbies and stuffed animals in their room.After that, we were all tuckered out. So the kids went to bed and us big kids watched a bit of TV. I snacked on some of the fat-free pretzels and a bag of Right Bites Sandies. I started feeling the effects of the day's driving and frolicking with the munchkins, so I went to bed. I was put in the basement for the night (yes, they have a guest room down there - they weren't trying to hide me away!). I guess Friday wasn't too-too bad, foodwise. I mean I really didn't have a lot, and the worse thing I had was my "trucker's coffee". Plus, I did make a few trips up and down the stairs at Coleen's.

Saturday morning, I got up and made my way to Duluth for my meeting. They had blueberry and banana nut muffins and coffee at the registration table. I helped myself to a blueberry and some go-juice, then just before we got started I grabbed a banana-nut muffin. For lunch, we had a fajita and taco spread. I had some of the chicken fajita, skipped all the cheese sauces, rice, and refried beans, loaded up on salsa, tomatoes, and lettuce, and had a huge dollop of guacamole. Oh, and a couple of flour tortillas. We had unsweetened tea at the tables. All in all, a pretty healthy day so far. But then here's where it all went awry - for dessert we had key lime cheesecake AND coconut cake - I couldn't decide, so I had some of both. Oh, it was SO good.

For break later on, they served chocolate chip cookies, brownies, the leftover coconut cake, and an assortment of sodas and water. I had a Diet Coke. That's it. I was eyeballing the Right Bites Mini Fudge Stripe cookies I had in my purse, but decided that I wasn't really hungry.

After our meeting was over, and we all left loaded down with all our goodies (we LOVE the annual meetings because we get full-sized samples of some of the new products they came out with during the year!) and the small cakes we decorated, I headed back to Coleen's. I had passed by a Whole Foods store on the way to the meeting, and decided that I was going to stop on the way back since we don't have one of these in Savannah. But on the way back I was just ready to get there, plus I had the cake and stuff in the car. Didn't want it to melt, because it was SO HOT!!!

Once back to Coleen's, we had some pizza and I showed off the samples we'd gotten and presented Coleen with the cake I had made. Her birthday is in a couple of weeks, so I made her a small birthday cake. (sorry, don't have a picture handy - will add it later at home) After the kids were in bed, we started watching "True Lies" but I once again petered out early.

The next morning we got up and went to church. I ate a CocoaVia crunchy almond bar and more Right Bites Mini Fudge Stripe cookies after I got dressed. I rode with my cousin, Steve (Coleen's brother) and we parked way out in the parking lot and rode a trolley in. Yeah, the church is so big that they have a trolley system in place to cart the congregation to the church's door! My aunt (Coleen and Steve's mom) calls it "The Civic Center"! After the church service, Steve and I walked with Coleen and family to their mini-van. They had parked MUCH closer. Steve and I decided to hoof it back to his truck rather than catch a trolley. I almost regretted that - even Steve, who is a trainer at a local gym and in great shape, was huffing along with me as we hiked. Boy, I am glad that I wore sneakers! (yeah, I wore sneakers to church. Hey - there was a guy there in shorts and flips flops, and I saw a lady in a Harley Davidson T-shirt in the lobby!) We got in the truck, and Steve cranked up the A/C. Did I mention that it was HOT???

We met the family at Longhorn and had a good dinner. I had a tiny bit of the chili cheese fries they ordered as an appetizer and a slice of the multi-grain bread they serve. My meal was the Lafayette Chicken & Shrimp -Twin grilled chicken breasts topped with sautéed shrimp, onions, mushrooms, sweet red pepper strips, melted Pepper Jack cheese and a spicy Cajun cream sauce. And I had a side of steamed vegetables. It was delicious!

After dinner, Steve and I went over to his gym because he needed to pick something up, then we drove around and Steve showed me some of the million-dollar homes in the area. Whew, why would someone want a house so big?? I know - because they CAN!

Back at the house, the kids were getting ready for a nap, but waited up to say goodbye to me (awww). Before long, I was on the road again. I decided to go back the way I went the day before and hit Whole Foods, then get on I-85 into Atlanta. At Whole Foods, I got some cut watermelon, a small variety of yogurts that our stores don't carry, some water, and Odwalla juice. I left there, headed for Alpharetta and I-85. As I got into Alpharetta I decided I might need to top off the gas, and found a Wal-Mart with gas for $3.68. I also noticed a Carvel's Ice Cream shop across the street and was dying for a scoop (have I already mentioned that it was HOT???). After I gassed up, I got a scoop of Chocolate Explosion, and hit the Interstate. All was fine and good until I got closer to downtown HOTlanta and found that they were re-paving the three left lanes of I85-75. Let's just say that I spent the next hour and a half taking pictures of the Turner Broadcasting building and TBS, the Olympic Torch, the Ga Tech sign, the Varsity sign, and various and sundry street signs, including some that explained why were were stuck in this parking lot. By the time we were going more than 20MPH, I had polished off the juice and watermelon - oh and the green tea I had bought - and a package of the Right Bites Sandies.

Reaching Forsyth on I-75, I came across a DQ sign and decided that the Carvel's just didn't satisfy the ice cream yearnings. Plus, I was hungry for something non-sweet to go along. So DQ served me up a chili-cheese dog and a medium X-treme chocolate blizzard. Oh....MY.....GAWD. As I was licking the last of the chocolatey goodness off my lips, traffic came to another standstill as we made our way around a terrible accident between Forsyth and Macon, and then on to I-16 and home. I didn't make any more stops, and just drank my water the rest of the way. I put on the audio book I was listening to, and zoned out on what has GOT to be the most boring stretch of Interstate in the country! Although, it is nice that you can set your cruise control and get lost in the story you're listening to.

So, we went back to our house after work on Monday, and you KNOW Tal and I had to empty the ol' bladder and then hop on the scale to see what the home scale said in comparison to the WW scale. I can't remember what mine said, so I was completely bowled over when I saw the numbers on the WW scale - 5.6 pounds lost!

So, this brings me within 2.7 pounds away from my 10% goal! Fingers crossed that I make it on 8/11! Maybe I need to spend another weekend in Atlanta, LOL!

BTW, this morning my nekkid-before-my-shower weight showed me at 39.6 pounds lost - that .1 less than my 10% goal! Woo hoo! Now, if I can just improve on this over the weekend so that the WW scale will show this number!

- Seraphim "Melting Away" Gleck