Butter Spray (because Oleomargarine has WAY too many Points!)

Whew, what a week it's been. I can finally catch up on some blogging.

So, this week classes started at the good ol' university and we've been busy as all get-out selling books to the students so they can get learned good. Compliments of our employer, we got to wear the coolest T-shirts:
It says,"got receipt? (good. keep it. you'll need it!)" I'm not complaining about wearing the T-shirt - I think they're pretty cool, plus I've never been one to refuse a free T-shirt. It's just the principle of the thing that bugs me. We have the return policy printed on the back of the receipts when a student buys a book - and you have to have a receipt if you need to return the book within 2 weeks of buying it. This way we know that the person returning the book is actually the one who bought it, and not some person in the habit making a profitable business of returning books that don't belong to him/her. It's just the fact that we have to wear T-shirts with this printed across the front to put the return policy right in their faces. Another fine example of the dumbing down of America.

During this busy time, we are usually too busy to leave for lunch so we bring in potluck. Mostly sandwich stuff and other goodies. Since chocolate is the perfect energy food, I brought brownies. I also brought in some light white bread and Potluck Pasta Salad from the Weight Watchers website. It's very good - 3 points for one cup of the salad. The recipe calls for a couple of shapes of whole-wheat pasta, but in honor of "Rush Week" and our school mascot, the Pirates, I made Pirate Pasta Salad:
















I came across some Pirates of the Caribbean shaped pasta the week before in Kroger and thought I HAD to get it and make something. Although the picture is a little fuzzy, you might be able to see what some of the shapes are. There is a skull and crossbones (top left), a pirate (top right) - I suspect could be Captain Jack Sparrow but a co-worker said it could be Captain Barbosa. It's hard to tell. Oh, and bottom left is a ship - we'll call it The Black Pearl. :-)

The pasta salad was a good choice to do, and I managed to skip all the sandwich fixings and stuff. However, once I took a bite of brownie it was all over for me. And so Rush Week for me became a feeding frenzy - I was a total P.I.G. - PIG!!! Bagels with cream cheese, brownies, cookies, coconut cake, an assortment of pizza, and the huge red velvet cake I made for the boss's birthday. OK, so I took a short vacation from Weight Watchers. And today I made myself get back on track. I didn't post that I had gained .8 at my last weigh-in (8/11) and I haven't had a WI yet (missed Monday because of working late), so I don't know what the damage has been. Guess we'll find out next Wednesday - I've got a little less than a week to get in gear!

Last Thursday, I decided I wanted something different for lunch. Most days, I usually take my lunch and eat at my desk. But on Thursdays I have to go out and get my allergy shot at lunchtime so I'll usually just grab something on the way back to work. So this day I thought I'd give the Indian restaurant up the street a try. And discovered I'm not that fond of Indian food. I got a mixed vegetable curry with basmati rice. First few bites were pretty good, but after a while I just wasn't crazy about it. Maybe because it just looked funky to me:
Plus, it was really spicy. So I ended up filling up on water trying to put out the fire. So now I know....... :-) I'm glad I went with a vegetarian dish - especially after I saw the braised goat on the buffet bar. LOL.

I spotted this cute car in the parking lot at school the other day. We'd seen it on the road before - a bright orange Cooper Mini. Now, the car itself is memorable enough, but you just can't forget the tag:
Which is kind of how I felt after eating the Indian food. A co-worker suggested that perhaps the driver was bulimic. However, we just know it was a little Southern girl trying to be all cute but failing abysmally.

Well, I think I've just about caught up. I know I'll probably think of something later, and will post it as I can. So on that note I bid you good night!

But it's my birfday!

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

What Kind of Cake Are You?

There are so many of these personality quizzes out there, but you KNOW I had to do THIS one......if I were a cake, what kind of cake would I be?

You Are a Chocolate Cake

Fun, comforting, and friendly. You are a true classic, and while you're not super cutting edge, you're high quality. People love your company - and have even been known to get addicted to you.

What Kind of Cake Are You?

No gripes, either.

While Tal logged a loss this week, I wasn't quite so lucky. 1.2 pounds found me again. But I know it's my own durn fault. Too much "it's my birthday and therefore I'm entitled". OK, so I did enjoy my birthday - the free 1/2 rack of ribs and sides (potato salad and baked beans) from Sticky Fingers for lunch - of course since they were so generous with the free ribs and such (a $13.99 value) I felt almost obligated to purchase something - like, dessert. And the apple almond crumble with vanilla ice cream was delectable. HEY....it was fruit (apple) and whole grains (oats), so it couldn't have been TOO bad, right???

Then Friday night we went to Bennigan's. I was pretty good there. I had their Guinness-glazed grilled chicken and shrimp with mashed potatoes and green beans with unsweet tea. I had not eaten a lot that day for breakfast or lunch, either. But the bad part was when I got home and started decorating that cake. It was too easy to grab a bit of the chocolate cake bits that I'd cut off and dip them in a bit of the chocolate ganache frosting - especially when it was approaching 3-4 o'clock and I need a bit of a sugar rush to continue on. But I justified that with - "Hey, I walked a WHOLE HOUR Friday!!"

And Saturday - Logan's yeast rolls, steak, baked potato, and grilled veggie skewer. Still not so bad, I didn't think, so I got one of the little dessert things - nutter butter delight served in a teeny little pail that looks like the pails the peanuts come in. It wasn't that big, so it couldn't have been too bad, right? Oh, and the peanuts - I didn't have but maybe 4-5.

Couldn't have been the pint of Jack Daniels and Diet Coke I put away this weekend, could it? I mean, I drank it with Diet Coke for goodness sake! (Have I mentioned that I love Jack Daniels and Diet Coke?)

Then we had Chinese food Saturday night - steamed shrimp and veggies, little (1/2 cup?) container of white rice. And.....crab rangoon. With sweet and sour sauce.

OK....birthday is over. I let myself go a little nuts this weekend, but it's time to get it together again. I really do need to start planning ahead more. That's been my trouble. Just not planning ahead, planning things out, and I've been especially bad about tracking my points. I really do need to get it together.

So, we now know why I gained 1.2 instead of losing this week. And we know what to do this week to remove that 1.2 for next week. And I'm SO close to my 10% goal. I didn't reach my "39 by 39". My second goal was "Laboring for 50" - 50 pounds removed by Labor Day. That's in 5 weeks. 18.8 pounds in 5 weeks - 3 3/4 pounds per week. Not an impossible goal, but maybe a little unreachable at the rate I've been going. I may have to re-configure all my future goals!

But, you know, even though I did gain this week I'm really not letting it get me down. I mean, right now I weigh 31.2 pounds less than I did 3 months ago. I've lost an average of 7.8 pounds per month in the 4 months I've been on WW. That shows me that I HAVE done it, and I CAN continue to do it. As Annette put it so well, "Don't let a lapse become a collapse." And I won't. It's a minor setback, but setbacks only serve to steel my resolve. I WILL succeed at this. I'm too stubborn not to. No more excuses.

Watch out doughnuts.........

......there's a new pastry in town!

I think that the police department in Richmond Hill, GA and surrounding areas may give up their Krispy Kremes when they get a load of my latest creation:

















This was a groom's cake for a RHPD officer getting married today. I work at the college with his mother, and just so happened to walk into her office at school when she and another co-worker were discussing trying to find someone who could do a replica of his police cruiser. Here is a picture of what his car looks like:

I think I got it pretty close, eh? :-) There are some details on the actual car that I left off the cake, simply because by 4 a.m. Saturday morning I was just wanting to get this cake DONE and go to bed. I started on the decorating about 7-8-ish Friday evening. By 8:45 a.m. Saturday, I finally had the cake boxed and fell into bed, covered in chocolate icing, shortening, and icing coloring. Two hours later, I had to wake up to get ready to go deliver the cake to the church reception hall.

But I tell you....the lack of sleep, that's just part of my suffering for my art. It's amazing how quickly the fatigue melts away when you deliver that cake and how thrilled your customers are with it. I only wish I could have been there for the moment when the bride and groom saw the cake! Although, I was there when my co-worker called the bride in the cell phone and said, "The groom's cake is here and it looks GREAT!!" and could hear the bride squeal over the phone. I was promised lots of pictures of the big moment. Can't wait to see them!

After Tal and I delivered the cake, we went out to Logan's for a belated birthday dinner and then did a little shopping before I finally needed to go home and get some sleep (with a short stop at the little package shop at the county line). I promise you all that, when I finally get sober.....I mean, awake.........(have I ever mentioned that I LOVE Jack Daniels and Diet Coke?)......I'll catch up on my posting comments to you other folks "Memory MeMe's" since many of you posted such lovely memories to mine! (Just in case you were wondering why I had not done so yet. It's not that I don't love you, I just been otherwise preoccupied, ya know!) :-)

Man, I do love Jack Daniels and Diet Coke.

Hasta luego!

Seraphim "I Heart Cake......and Jack Daniels and Diet Coke........yeah, Talmadge, too." Gleck

A memory MeMe stolen from Susan, who stole from Manda.....

This is something a little different. Almost reminds me of the SLAM books we used to have in junior high.....only I hope you leave nice memories about me. :-)

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It’s actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I’ll assume you’re playing the game and I’ll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don’t want to play on your blog, or if you don’t have a blog, I’ll leave my memory of you in my comments.

The irony was not lost on me.

In this day and age of $4/gallon gasoline, I am making an effort to slow down. I've developed a new motto - "Lower MPH = Higher MPG! Yeah, Baby!" I feel a little sanctimonious as I'm putting down the Interstate at the posted speed limit - 65 - as others whiz past me. "Nanny, nanny, boo, boo. I'm the one saving gas and $$$, not YOU!!" I even heard a report on the news yesterday that fatal traffic accident rates have been down, too, possibly due to the fact that people are either not out driving as much or slowing down. If there's at least ONE benefit to the higher gas prices, it's THAT!!!

So, anyway, this morning I was heading to work on the Interstate at my now-usual 65 MPH clip when I happen upon a Corona truck going just slightly slower than I was. I thought, "Good for you, just cruising on at a casual (and gas/life-saving pace)." There was a "How Am I Driving?" telephone number on the back of the truck and I thought for a moment of calling the number to commend the driver. That was the same moment I realized I had left my cell phone sitting on the counter at home - @*&$%#!!!!!

Since the Corona truck was going slower than the 65 MPH I had set my cruise control at and didn't want to mess with, I changed lanes to go around. I just so happened to glance in the rearview mirror after I changed lanes and noticed a brightly decorated van approaching at a breakneck speed in the left lane (I was in the middle lane). As it passed, I saw the letters and graphics on the side of the van......RED BULL. Apparently the driver had been sampling his product and got his wings.

So, for a very brief moment there I was, nestled between the RED BULL and the Corona vehicles with my styrofoam cup of coffee. I couldn't help but chuckle.

Fishing with Father

My mom, dad, and grandmother came for a visit this past weekend. Mom, Sis, and the nephews were here the weekend before over the holiday, but Daddy couldn't come because he had to work.

It's been at least 2 years since Daddy and I had been out fishing and crabbing, so I had planned for the two of us to do so on Saturday. And so we did. It was a lovely morning, overcast and not too hot. We left the house around 7, I think, stopped by the Gate station for some coffee for us and ice for the coolers. We caught Tal coming in for a Diet Mountain Dew before departing for the wilds of Tuckfroy and I got to say a proper goodbye to him! (He was just stirring as Daddy and I were getting ready and leaving.)

I had decided to try a new fishing spot this time. My old favorite had been the Moon River pier on the way out to Skidaway Island. It's a nice, peaceful place - if you can tune out the cars whizzing by behind you on the bridge crossing the river (the piers run alongside the bridge as you can see in the picture below). I didn't have much luck the last time I was out there with my friend/co-worker Rosie, as you can see:

Yeah, that's a striped bass I believe. Too small to keep, but it got stuck in my crab net and died so I decided to keep it and use it for bait to hopefully catch a bigger fish. No such luck.

Anyway, since I had such rotten luck there I thought maybe we'd try a different location. I decided on the Lazaretto Creek fishing pier because it was right across from where they launch shrimp boats and dolphin tours, so I figured if the fish and crab weren't biting at least we'd have some entertainment. Little did I know WE would be providing some entertainment as well!

Here's the pier:
It's a bit of a hike from the parking area to the end of the pier, but the view is awesome. There are several big advantages this place has over the Moon River:

1) As you can see, the bridge is far enough away that the traffic passing over isn't as loud.

2) It has porta-potties!!! (they did install a porta-potty at the Moon River once upon a time. One fishing trip it was there and new and beautiful. Yes, I did use it. The next trip, I found nothing but a big puddle of melted green plastic where it once stood. Some butthead came along and burned it down. And stole the Moon River sign.) The Lazaretto potties are back near the parking area, so you DO have to hike a bit and hope you make it after 4 hours and a liter strawberry-flavored fizzy water. I almost didn't. And then when you get inside, it's like a big stinky sauna. By the time I got the pants to the ankles I was sweating so bad that I nearly slid off the potty seat (didn't help that the porta-potty was leaning forward slightly). TMI, I know, but I was sitting there giggling the whole time trying to do my business without sliding out the front door!

3) Dolphins are shrimp boat groupies. Pelicans, seagulls, and sea turtles are, too. I only saw one dolphin when we were out on the Moon River. And a few seagulls. At Lazaretto, we saw pods of dolphins following the boats passing by. A lady on a passing party barge was standing on the edge of the boat feeding them some bait fish, they were jumping up out of the water to get them. It was like being at Sea World! And the pelicans and seagulls....let's just say we could have filmed a sequel to "The Birds".

4) It's closer to the ocean, and I was hoping the bigger crabs would be, too.

So Daddy and I get there about 8:15-ish, after making a stop at a convenience store to go potty (not knowing whether or not there would be facilities, ya know). We drag all our equipment down to the end of the pier and get all set up, and get the nets and lines in the water, and wait for the first bite. Daddy spent the majority of the time trying to untangle fishing reels and replacing my hook/sinker setups a couple of times when they got hung up and lost to the briny deep.

It was fun even though we didn't catch much. I got 2 blue crabs and a stone crab, caught a small sting ray and a couple of those ugly dang dogfish. Daddy got a couple of croakers, an eel, and more of those ugly dogfish.

When I caught the sting ray, the guys around me were telling me to hold the line away from me so the tail wouldn't get me. I got it up on the pier, and one of guys grabbed a knife and cut its tail off then looks at me and says, "You want to keep it." I take a look at the now-tailless ray bleeding all over the pier at my feet and said, "I don't think so." So he kicks it and it's tail off the pier. I felt sorry for the little fella, swimming around out there with no tail - if it didn't bleed to death.

When he caught that eel, I was squealing like a tweeny girl at a Jonas Brothers concert! "Kill it, kill it! Hit it in the head with something.......but don't lose it, I want to use it as crab bait!" And he's going, "Hit it with what? I don't have anything to hit it with!" So he starts flinging it around like a whip, beating it on the deck while I'm running around squealing again and ducking. Finally, one of the guys out there fishing (after he picked himself up off the dock after falling out laughing at us...) came over with a towel and held the eel while Daddy took the hook out of its mouth. Then the guy took off with my eel saying something about it tasting like chicken. I was miffed because he took my crab bait, but Daddy said just let him have it if he wants to eat it. (GROSS!)

We finally had to pack it in, as it was getting late and Mama and Grandmother were waiting for us to get back so we could go out for supper. Good times, but now I'm peeling like a snake and have a monster fever blister from all that fun in the sun. Note to self: never buy that Target brand Sport Sunscreen again!

Frozen in time?

I know you've probably been wondering why the numbers on my Pound-O-Meter have not budged. I just decided that I would not change it until I'm actually BACK to that number again. Yeah, I went nutso again and gained 3.8 pounds after losing a total of 12.8 pounds the 2 previous 2 weigh-ins. Although, after the July 4th weekend, I was sure that I had gained but I actually managed to lose .2 pounds when I was SURE I had gained. And then last night's weigh showed I had lost 2.2. One more pound to go until I'm "Back In Black" - or am actually truthful on my Pound-O-Meter. :-)

I've been enjoying the fruits (and vegetables) of my labor lately. I've got green peppers and tomatoes out the wazoo, and just this weekend picked the large eggplants that were ready and waiting. Sunday, I made eggplant parmigiana using the recipe on the WW website - to the sauce I added peppers, tomatoes, and ground turkey breast for a bit of substance and protein. OMG, it was YUMMY!! And I still have a lot of it left over in the freezer for lunches! Oh, and I've got a good couple of meals' worth of okra put up in the fridge.

For my cakes classes, when I start out a new Course 1 series, I usually bring in cake layers and show the students how to prepare the cake, level the layers, ice the cake, and a few decorating techniques. For last Tuesday night's class, I used an easy recipe that our WW leader had told us about - just one box of cake mix and a 12 oz. can of any flavor diet soda. I used yellow cake and one can of Fresca, and then I added 2 snack-packs of applesauce and some nutmeg and cinnamon. It smelled SOOOOO good. It made me think of the cinnamon pecans they sell as you walk into the Christmas Made In The South that we have here annually in early November.

I had to use the class buttercream recipe for the cake I used in class, and I did take a couple of small slices with me afterwards because it just smelled so good! But I left the rest of the cake for the store's staff to eat.

I'm going to make another cake like that for my birthday next week, but instead of using class buttercream icing I am going to mix together some fat-free cream cheese and Cool-Whip Free to make a cream cheese-like frosting for this cake. Yum! Will have to work on the Points Value to see what that turns out to be. Heck, I'm sure it would be a LOT better to have a big slice of that cake rather than just a sliver of a regular birthday cake, right?

I'm also going to try that brownie recipe I sent some of you. If I didn't send it to you - all you do is get a package of brownie mix and a can of black beans, drain and rinse the black beans and put them back into the can then refill the can with water until the beans are covered. You then pour the beans and water into a blender and puree them. Mix the bean puree and brownie mix together (do not add oil or eggs) , pour in a 9x9 brownie pan and bake according to the brownie mix package directions. Makes 20 servings (that seems like pretty small brownies - hmph) at 2 points apiece. Beans and chocolate seems like an odd (and gross) combination, but the people commenting on this particular message board raved about them! I guess I'll have to judge for myself! :-)

OK.....back to the grind. I'm still rooting for 39 by 39! I think I'll be pretty close, but I don't think I'll lose 9.1 pounds in the next 9 days. But, who knows? I mean, I DID lose 9.8 in one week last month and that was after yet another significant gain. :-)

Go 39 by 39!!! (Eccch....am I really going to be 39???)

Next.....we'll be "Laboring for 50". Going for 50 pounds removed by Labor Day!

Awe-some!

So this week brings me another good loss - 3 pounds! I don't know what's going on. Last week's loss after 3 weeks of yo-yo'ing was a shock but I'm glad it got me back on track. I was really good with tracking points and keeping within them last week, until Saturday.

Saturday morning, I got up to head over to Albany. I was picking up my younger nephew to spend a couple of weeks with us and go to day camp at the Arts, Music, and Theater department on campus. I didn't have any time to make breakfast, but figured I'd pick up something on the way. As I left the house, I was looking for my cell phone in my purse and couldn't find it. Went back to the house and looked around, even used Tal's phone to call mine. Nope, wasn't anywhere in the house. SO, I had to drive all the way into Savannah to the college to see if I left it in my office. I was thinking that the bookstore would be open at 10 (we usually aren't open on Sat. but the were having New Freshman Orientation and would be open for that) and it was 11 by the time I got there. I was thinking wrong - the store didn't open until 1:00. SO, I would have to wait until hopefully 12:30 when someone would arrive to get the store ready for opening, and decided I'd just go ahead and get some lunch.

SO, I figured I had not had any breakfast and still had my weekly flex points, and I wanted to try some of that new KFC chipotle chicken. And so I did. A leg and thigh with mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob, a biscuit, and sweet tea. The horrible thing about all this was not the fact that I had fried chicken, but the fact that KFC is right next to The Devil's Living Room. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about - it comes complete with a "HOT NOW" sign. My car, completely on its own with no help from me, crossed over the drive and straight to the Krispy Kreme Drive-Thru. Then a voice that didn't belong to me ordered three chocolate-covered, cream-filled beauties. Then the car drove up to the window and forced my hands to pull out a 5-spot to give to the evil woman in the window. It then drove away from KK with me clutching the change and a wax-coated bag with green polka dots printed on it.

When I regained conciousness, the car was parked in a shady spot in the college parking lot, I was covered in fried chicken crumbs and the waxy, polka-dotted bag was empty. Yet, I didn't feel bad at all. Yeah, I didn't exactly make the best food choices there but I had no regrets - just knowing that while I did just have a lapse in willpower I have the power to get myself back on track again.

I love that watermelon is low in points, but I hate that's so darned expensive! I bought two little seedless "personal" watermelons for $5 today. They'll be gone in no time. It's so good. My nephew ate 1/4 of one just now, slurped it up good.

Well, that's it for now. I just wanted to post this that I've been working on for a couple of days now! Been pretty busy at work lately. End of fiscal year stuff - fun! And it's HOT - outside, in my office. I sure would love it if they could get the air/heat in my office regulated. It's always freezing in winter and boiling in summer in my office. I'll be glad when they get our new building built and we move in. Don't know when that will be - they haven't even broken ground yet.

Good night!

ZZZZZZZ.........

I've got a lot of blogging to catch up on, but I'm too tired tonight. Will do more tomorrow, BUT.......

Last time I posted my weight loss, I had gained 4.4 - well, the next week I lost a couple pounds, then the next weigh-in I gained again. More yo-yo'ing than a Duncan. I was lapsing again, but didn't think I'd done THAT badly. Well, it must have been my body refusing to give up the water because I LOST 9.8 POUNDS THIS WEEK!! Well, I nearly fell off the scale again when I saw the receptionist write down my weight, especially since I'd weighed at home and was expecting their scale to be a BIT different. All I really wanted was to break 25 pounds, and I DID! WOO HOO!

28.6 pounds down.......10.4 pounds to reach my first big goal - 39 by 39!!! Yeah!!

OK, I've hit zombie mode. See you tomorrow!

- Seraphim "I'm too sexy for my blog...." Gleck

In the words of Diana Ross.........

.......It's My Turn (or would that be, It's MeMe Turn??)

The rules: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What was I doing ten years ago?
I was beginning my wonderful life with Talmadge. June 1998 found me living in Columbus, GA, sharing an apartment with my cousin and his girlfriend. I was working at Columbus State University in the Testing Center. Tal and I were together every other weekend either at my place or his and several humid, mosquito-laden Wednesday evenings watching the sun set over "Ittemdeeow Bluff" at the state park in Eufaula, AL then a romantic dinner over chicken fingers and hamburger steak at Golden Corral.

What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:
1. Finish this me-me
2. Turn off the computer
3. Turn off the TV
4. Kiss Tal goodnight
5. Go to bed

5 Snacks I enjoy:
(pre-Weight Watchers)
1. Cake
2. Cookies
3. Jelly Bellys
4. Gummy bears
5. Cake

To paraphrase Bolivar: I have always said that everyone needs something to believe in... so I believe that I will have another piece of cake!!

(post Weight-Watchers)
1. WW Peanut Butter Bliss mini-bars
2. WW BBQ pretzel thins
3. WW Cookie Dough Sundae
4. yogurt w/ banana and granola
5. popcorn


Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
*Build a nice house, not too big but just the right size, with a huge gourmet kitchen and a big studio/music room for Tal, and a pool w/ jacuzzi.

*Build my parents and sister a nice house of their dreams.

*Buy a big freakin' boat

*Find out exactly how much it would take for a certain person (no, not Tal!) to disappear off the face of the earth. (No...not any of YOU either, but for those who have read my previous posts you probably know exactly WHO I am talking about.)

*Hire every person in the top of their field to come to MY kitchen to teach me every cake decorating, candymaking, and baking technique known to man.

*Open a bakery/cake shop that would put anyone else's to shame.

*OK....I'll also build my closest friends a dream home of their own, too. I'll even let them ride on my boat. Might even make them a cake or two........ :-)


Places I have lived:
Leesburg, GA (July 1969 - to ??? 1972)
Albany, GA (1972 - 1978)
Bainbridge, GA (1978 - 1984)
Albany, GA (1984 - 1996)
Phenix City, AL (1996-1997) - the only time I have EVER lived outside of Georgia, but ONLY 1 mile outside! My apartment was at an exit approximately 1 mile past the state line. I kept my Ga car tag AND drivers' license and worked in GA, so technically I was still a GA resident. :-) I just slept in Alabama.
Columbus, GA (1997 - 2000)
Savannah, GA (2000-2004)
Rincon, GA (2004 - present)

Jobs I have had:
babysitter
camp counselor
telemarketer
medical transcriptionist
waitress in a BBQ restaurant
daycare worker
video store clerk
grocery store cashier
short order clerk/head bottle and dish washer
secretary to vocational rehab counselors
mail order operator
phone sex operator (just kidding - making sure you were paying attention.....)
staff assistant at a college testing office
registrar at a Girl Scout Council (yep - the flagship council of Savannah)
financial aid assistant
accounting assistant at a college bookstore

Well, since pretty much everyone I know who has a blog has been tagged I'll just say if you are reading my blog and don't think you've been tagged then by all means (me-means?) do this me-me!

Hear that sloshing sound?

That apparently is what we call "water retention". But 4 pounds of water???

Yeah, the scales were cruel to me this week - up 4.2 pounds. I didn't think I did TOO badly last week. I didn't go over my daily points until the weekend, and even then I still had some of my flex points left. The only thing I can think it may have been was that I hit the diet sodas pretty hard toward the end of the week - Kroger has a version of an extreme Diet Mountain Dew. The name escapes me right now - Big K Diet Drop Dead Extreme? Something like that. Plus I had a lot more coffee than usual. I dunno.

Well, hopefully I will be able to drain the water and have an improvement in the scales next meeting.

A dilemma I have now is the next meeting. Since we usually meet on Mondays, and the next Monday is Memorial Day, we won't be having a meeting. They were going to have one on that Tuesday instead but the church where we meet is having a blood drive that day. SO, do we skip a week and go the next or try to make one of the meetings in Savannah? Can't do it on Tuesdays or Thursdays because of teaching cake classes in the evenings. (meetings start at the same time my classes do....). There's a meeting at 6 on Wed., we could go to that one but that's just going to get us home later than usual. Tal may just have to go to one on his own if he wants to. My schedule is just too screwed up to work one in next week.

Anyhoo....that would at least give me two weeks to get back on track! :-)

Well, got to get back to work! I've got to walk to another building to do an errand, so maybe I'll take a long-cut on the way back and work in some activity points!

Mid-morning in the garden of good and Seraphim

While Tal snoozed away in the bedroom, Puddy and I had a lovely and peaceful breakfast picnic this morning.

It was soooooo yummy - an omelet, lite multigrain English muffins, sliced apples, and herbal tea. The omelet is Southwestern Egg Beaters to which I added a couple of diced, fresh mushrooms (from the store), fat-free sharp cheddar cheese, and some fresh basil, oregano, and chives from my garden. The basil plant (left) is looking a little thin now, because I had the same breakfast yesterday too, without oregano (right). Good thing they are growing so quickly!

As you can see, Puddy was eagerly awaiting a bite or two. How can you ignore such a cute little beggar?

During breakfast, we had a little visitor. I called him Sebastian. Not quite sure why - it just seemed to fit. He sat by quietly watching while we ate.

We didn't have a picnic yesterday, even thought it was just as beautiful in the morning as today was. The reason was because we had not gotten the new patio bistro set until later that day. Isn't it cute? I saw it at Lowe's and just fell in love with it. Wouldn't you know it, as we were looking for the box the set was in, we came across a stockperson loading up the last two on a cart for two ladies! He said we could buy the display, but we asked them to check the stock of another Lowe's nearby and they just so happened to have 5 in stock. We were hesitant about getting the display because 1) there was no assurance that it was put together properly, 2) who knows who has sat and does God knows what to it while sitting on it, and, 3) we weren't sure it would all fit into Rupert (the SUV) fully assembled. As it turns out, with the other stuff we had in there, the box with the unassembled set barely fit!

We were heading over to that area of the other store anyway, so we went over and picked it up after lunch. We were pleasantly suprised that not only did they still have plenty in stock, but it was on sale! We got it at almost half the price that was on the tag at the other Lowe's! Woo HOO!! :-) Of course, since we didn't buy the display which was already assembled, I had to put the entire thing together. It wasn't TOO difficult, instructions were pretty clear and there weren't a whole lot of parts to piece together.


So, after Puddy and I finished eating the wonderful breakfast (what is it about dining al fresco that makes everything taste SO much better?!?!) we checked out how things were growing in this year's garden. Last year's plot didn't pan out so well, so we decided to just limit our growing to pots on the patio this year.

So this year we have - as you have already seen - basil, oregano, and chives, as well as mint (bottom) and snow peas:


We also have tomatoes and peppers:


Green onions (still growing and have a little more to go....) and buttercrunch lettuce (yeah, I've already hit the lettuce, too!):



We have 2 strawberry plants, too. I've gotten a few berries so far, but right now it's not producing. Actually, there are about 3-4 blossoms, but they are all hiding under the leaves right now. Maybe as the summer progresses we'll start seeing some more production:


Here is one of the strawberries (out of about 3) that I got earlier. It was really sweet and very good. Much better than the bland, watery, almost tasteless strawberries that they offer us at the local grocery stores.


In another corner, we have eggplant (both black and white in the same pot), yellow squash (both straight and crookneck varieties together in one pot), and zucchini. The squash and zucchini have developed powdery fungus spots and the leaves started turning yellow and brown. After doing a bit of internet research I found that the best remedy for this is a milk bath. Yeah, at 1 part milk to 6-7 parts water solution sprayed on the leaves is a natural anti-fungal. Believe it or not! I made up and sprayed this mixture on the leaves last night and I swear they are looking 110% better this morning! Here's hoping. Anyhoo, here's how they all look now:

There are no eggplants growing just yet, because it's a newer plant. I have a few yellow squash developing, and a couple of minute zucchini, too:



And last but not least, presenting - Okra Winfrey!! OK, sorry, lame joke I know. The okra plant is also a new plant and has not started producing any offspring yet but I am hoping it will. I think I might need to put it in a bigger pot, as I currently have it in a smaller pot I was just wanting to fill with something.


With all this picture-snapping going on, Puddy was getting a little jealous of all the attention that was NOT getting paid to her. So, we had to get a few shots of her-highness.




Well, I guess it's time to end this post for now. The sun is taking over the patio and it won't be quite as cool and pleasant without the shadows.

Besides, I've got dishes to wash.......



.......and Puddy's allergies are acting up.........


......so I bid you a fond adieu. I hope the remainder of your weekend is a pleasant one and the week treats you well! Hey, next weekend is Memorial Weekend! We're looking forward to it because Tiger is coming for a week-long visit and we've got lots of fun things planned. We'll try to get lots of pictures!

Ta-ta for now! Will report on this week's weigh-in either tomorrow night or Tuesday morning.

Love to all,
Sera

Evens for the odd couple.

Well, I did quite well at weigh-in tonight. Better than I thought but and I am very pleased! 4 more pounds down for a total of 24 lost! Which leaves me with only 15 more pounds to make it to my first goal - 39 by 39! So I now have until July 24 to lose the next 15 pounds. Can I do it? I hope so - if I keep up this momentum I will. Lessee....that's about 9 weeks. If I can lose about 1.6-1.7 pounds per week I will reach that goal easily.

I said I wasn't sure about a loss this week. I was hoping for at least a couple of pounds. I went over to Albany this weekend for Mother's Day. We went to Ryan's for lunch on Saturday and had all kinds of goodies at the mother/daughter tea we went to at my grandmother's church that evening. Although, I have to give myself credit - I did just nibble at a few things and did not go back for seconds. That was a pretty good accomplishment for ME! :-)

Unfortunately, my grandmother was unable to make it even though she planned to be there. The 90 year-old woman decided that she wanted to climb up into her attic to retrieve a hat to wear to the tea, and on the way down she missed the last step and fell, cutting up both her arms and twisting her back. Good news is that she did not have any broken bones, but she did need to have 21 stitches. My aunts had to take her to the ER to get her patched up (luckily, they were there at the time!) and Mom, Sis, and I went on to the tea. We stopped by Grandmother's house afterwards to check on her (they had just gotten back from the hospital) and she was in pretty good spirits, so we all put our hats on and ate some of the tea sandwiches she had made to take to the party, and drank tea (or wine, or rootbeer - I had water :-)).

Well, time to hit the hay.....it's been a long day! Oh, and in case you did not see Talmadge's blog - he lost 6 pounds - for a total collective loss this week of 10 pounds even!

I've lost a toddler.......

....well, not literally!

So, the great news is that I lost 8.6 pounds this week! Yeah, I nearly fell off the scales Monday night at weigh-in. I was hoping to have at least lost the 2.4 I gained the week before plus a bit more to at least have a total loss of 15 pounds. But I well-exceeded that and made it to 20 pounds even! So, I not only got ONE 5-pound sticker to add to my bookmark, but TWO! Woo-hoo!

20 pounds down, but still so much more to go. I try not to let myself think that is just a drop in the bucket compared to how much more I still have left to lose - 20 pounds is nothing to sneeze at, I know! One of my co-workers had a good comparison for me, though, to put it into perspective. She said I lost about the equivalent of a one year-old child. That made me feel pretty good, because I have carried my nephews around when they were babies and they get heavy after a while! :-) Goal is to lose an entire preschool class! LOL!

I really stuck to my Points last week, some days I still had one or 2 points left and there were a couple of days that I went over and dipped into the 35 extra points. (Saturday and Sunday I went over by 4 and 5.5, respectively - WEEKENDS are killer!).

The weekdays are OK, because I'm not around the house most of the day. My usual thing is to bring breakfast and lunch to work - breakfast is usually either a banana, yogurt, and granola or an Egg McMuffin with fruit and walnut salad; an apple or other small snack mid-morning; a frozen Healthy Choice or WW meal with carrots or other raw veggies and maybe a yogurt or pudding; and a mid-afternoon snack (like 98% FF popcorn). Tuesday and Thursdays are crazy these days because of teaching cake classes in the evening. Sometimes I will save some of my lunch or mid-afternoon snack to eat before class and pick something up after class (last night, I had TWO Chick-Fil-A grilled chicken deluxe sandwiches - only 5 points each!) or I will walk around the corner from the store and get a footlong Subway (Subway Club on Honey Wheat loaded with veggies - no cheese - sweet onion vinaigrette - fabulous! - and 13 points!) and eat 1/2 before class and then the other 1/2 when I get home. I feel like I am eating all the time! I've discovered another love - the WW barbecue-flavored pretzel thins! Mmm-MM!



Mmmmm....it's lunchtime now. Time for WW lasagna florentine! Off to get rid of some more toddlers! (I have this visual image now - like those Promise Activ commercials where the word CHOLESTEROL falls off of people - I imagine little kids falling off of me! LOL!)

Onward and downward! :-)

"Pop" goes the vein.....

As many of you may have read in Talmadge's recent blog entry, we went in to give blood today. A local business was sponsoring a fundraiser/blood drive to benefit the victims of February's Sugar Refinery Explosion. They had a little carnival set up, complete with all the little inflatables that my fat butt isn't allowed into for fear of deflating the inflatable. And in the midst of it all was the Red Cross Mobile Blood Donation Rent-Me RV.

Unlike Tal, I had a pretty good breakfast - sliced banana with lite raspberry yogurt and 1/2 cup of Kashi Mountain Medly granola (for a free sample, go to Kashi.com - and once you receive your sample, email Consumer Relations and let them know how much you liked it, and they'll send you some coupons!) - because I have experienced just what the guy who had the fainting/seizure spell at the blood drive did.

This was back in 1988, and I had only had a banana for breakfast. I gave blood, then was sitting on a cot eating my cookies and drinking my juice when all of a sudden the edges of my vision started getting dark and fuzzy. I looked toward one of my classmates and she says, "Amy, are you OK?" Only she sounded like she was tallllllllllkiiiiiiiiiiing in sloooooooooowwwww mooooooooootion. I thought I was going to be sick, so I jumped up and ran to the bathroom, locking the door behind me because I didn't want everybody see me do that! I was sitting on the toilet leaning against the sink. Of course, I didn't get sick because I didn't have anything in my stomach. The nurse and my classmate are outside banging on the door, "Unlock the door, Amy!" I was feeling better, so I opened the door and walked out. Boy, the nurse reamed me good for doing that! "What if something bad had happened to you? We wouldn't have been able to get the door open to help!" And she took me back to the room and had me finish my juice and cookies and rest a while.

So, anyway, to avoid the same thing happening to Tal, we drove up to Bluffton's Golden Corral for some lunch (a big-ass salad for me!! - more on that later). We also made a short stop at the Salvation Army up there because I wanted to look for maybe some gloves, wacky hat, costume jewelry, or other things for our annual mother/daughter banquet at my grandmother's church. This year's theme is "Tea Party". Well, I found not only a pair of long gloves, but also a Pyrex pie plate, a nice and heavy tea kettle, and a pair of Kenkoh Japanese Massaging Sandals.....ooohh, heaven for the feet!! All for a grand total of $9.00 (such a spend-thrift I am!). The lady at the counter is all like, "$5.00 is a good deal for those gloves, because they're antiques." Yeah....whatever.........

Between I-95 and Rincon, we did some videotaping of Hwy. 21 along that route. There's so much developing going on the the scenery is changing every day. Talmadge videotaped the same area a few months ago. We'll probably do it a few more times, just to be able to compare the growth and development of the area. One day, we'll be telling our grandchildren, "I remember when Hwy. 21 was nothing but woods the whole way into Effingham County!"

And so back to the Red Cross Mobile Blood Donation Rent-Me RV. It was pretty neat to walk in after lunch and see Congressman Barrow sitting there. He's a nice guy. Tal was in the "interview room" and didn't hear the Congressman say to me and a couple of others who were waiting, "Well, here's a unique opportunity for you. Congress is always sucking the blood out of the people - here's your chance to witness the blood getting sucked out of a Congressman!" LOL!

Then it was my turn in the "interview room", or I like to call it "The Room of 100 Pointless Questions". No, I haven't had sex with anyone who has visited Africa between 1977 and 2007. No, I have not visited a foreign country in the past six months (and NO, going to Alabama does not count - and apparently the lady interviewing me didn't think that was very funny). No, I am not currently pregnant, nor have I been pregnant in the past three months (no uterus - remember?). No, I do not know the way to San Jose. And, yes, I do really want to hurt you.

So, once I'm finished with my inquisition, I go back out and get sent to one of the beds. I WANT one of these things!! It's like a contoured recliner, really comfy. I'm sure Tal was wondering if they were about to perform surgery on me as he watched from his recliner. First, they blood pressure cuff wasn't long enough to fit around my bulging bicep, so they had to tape the darn thing on. Then they were having trouble finding a big enough vein to tap. Then finally, when the nurse poked me, blood spurted out on my arm (which answered my earlier curiosity about the "Caution: Blood Spray Zone" signs they had posted here and there). I got a little woozy when that happened, but then recovered. Man, that was a BIG FREAKIN' NEEDLE!! Tal had already filled his bag, got his juice and cookies, and was standing in front of me (with ice water from the juice dripping on the floor), "Are you doing OK?" he asks. "Yeah, I'm good." was my replay. So he goes to eat his juice and cookies while I fill my bag.

And so, with bag filled I am sent on my way with apple juice, Lorna Doons, and Fig Newtons in hand. Now, to decide which movie I want to watch first - Juno, Nanny Diaries, Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story, or The Sasquatch Gang. Decisions, decisions! Well, at least I know what I am going to have to eat later.

Oh.....yeah, I promised I would talk about my salad at Golden Corral! So I loaded up my plate with mixed greens (love the spring mix!), shredded carrots, broccoli, green pepper, black olives, cherry tomatoes, a sprinkling of shredded cheese, and a sprinkling of real bacon bits (probably about 2T. each of cheese and bacon), and a spritz of red wine vinegar over the whole lot. In a soup bowl, I mixed a cup of cottage cheese and 2T. of the regular ranch dressing, and would get a tiny bit of that on my fork then spear some of the salad. I think that was probably the best salad I've had there! After that, I got a bit of the Bourbon St. Chicken, 3 meatballs, a little BBQ meat with sauce (the sauce is good with the chicken, too) about the equivalent of 3 small red potatoes (I wanted a baked potato but they just had baked sweet potato which I didn't want - I love red potatoes anyway) and some steamed sliced squash. My splurge was a slice of chocolate chess pie with some sugar-free whipped topping! Not too bad!

With all that, I don't have a whole lot of Points left for the day. I've figured out that tonight I can have 1 cup of Egg Beaters, which I am going to make omelet-style with some fat-free cheese and some chives (from my patio garden - woo hoo!), a multi-grain light English Muffin, and some Spring Mix salad with tomato, and red wine vinaigrette spritzed on. YUM!!

Dunno what Tal is going to have............ ;-)

Sneaky, sneaky me!

This is an addendum to my previous "tripped" post. Confession time, if you will. :-)

Monday night, after my WW meeting, I stopped by the convenience store looking for something to eat. I was still feeling bad and I guess just needed some comforting. I ended up buying a pint of 2% milk - which I guess is much better than a soda! - and one of those Little Debbie fried cherry pie thingys (hey - it's got fruit in it!). Took it to the counter and paid for it. As I was leaving, I caught my reflection in the glass door - and realized that I was still wearing my Weight Watchers' name tag! That was a really profound moment for me. I mean, I still ended up eating the pie and drinking the milk before I got home, but that moment weighed heavily on my mind (and stomach). I couldn't help but wonder what the cashier thought. Here I am buying junk, and wearing a WW name tag! That REALLY made me feel bad - but in a different way. In a way that made me even more determined that I was going to do better and turn this "lapse" around.

Usually after the meeting, we will remove our name tags, fold them, and put them in a box. The leader then does a drawing for whomever to get one of the mini-bars she has. Well, she had 6 to give away that night, and there were 6 of us in attendance so she just gave them to us. And that is why I was still wearing the name tag and forgot I had it on!

Well, I have been doing MUCH better this week! I've only dipped into my 35 points a tiny bit (0.5 used, 34.5 remaining). The online Points Tracker is great. I pretty much plan my day first thing in the morning when I get to work because I already have my breakfast, lunch, and snacks with me and then pre-plan supper and maybe an evening snack. Today, I've even planned in a piece of cake for one of our work study student's graduation party we're having this afternoon. And supper at Carey Hilliard's tonight! Woo Hoo!

I have a feeling that next Monday night is going to be MUCH better! Not only because I know I will have done better - but my dear husband has decided to let the government pay for his WW fees (the restitution checks!!) and will be joining me at the meeting Monday! Yay!

If only I can get through the weekend.................. :-)

OOPS........I tripped........

Or, as I told my Weight Watchers leader last night, "I not only fell off the wagon - it dragged me behind it a couple of miles."

First, let's play catch-up. When I last left off in this weight loss/lifestyle change journey, I was a week into it and was down 7.8 pounds. Here's how the past month has gone:

Week 2: -1.0 (-8.8 total)
Week 3: -3.8 (-12.6)
Week 4: -1.2 (-13.8) This was after Grandmother's 90th birthday party weekend.
Week 5: +2.4 (-11.4)

Poor self-control and giving in to temptation is where I hit my downfall this week. Heck, it's the reason why I am where I am today. Ever since 1988-1989 when I had lost 85 pounds and then started gaining it back every day has been my "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we diet." Only, tomorrow never came and I gained back those 85 pounds and much more!

I felt bad last night before our meeting. I knew I wouldn't have a loss, but I was still going to go and face the music. And I'm glad I did. They are right, the meetings DO help. SO, back on the wagon I go! I'm going to do this, so help me, or die trying! :-)