Things are looking up

I wrote my Quantitative Analysis Midterm today. Finally. It seems like I've been studying FOREVER! I'm glad to have it over with, although, nervous to get my mark back. Fingers Crossed!

I thought that my second Accounting midterm was next Wednesday, although, it's not until the Wednesday after Easter, so I'm glad for that. Don and I are going to Saskatoon this Saturday, to see some friends. I'm glad to know I can actually afford the night away from studying.

The people we are going to see are getting married this summer, and Don is in the wedding party, so he'll be going to try on a suit this weekend while we're there. Alyeska, the bride, is also in school, so her and I are looking forward to drinking our midterm blues away! Haha! I've got a 40 of Long Island I bought at Duty Free with my name on it! Cheap booze is all the better.

I'm trying to save my Flex points for the weekend, as I'll be doing some drinking, and likely eating out a couple times. I did use 6 last night, but I'm going to try my very best to save the remaining 29 for the weekend!

My mom's cousin, and her daughter are in from St. Albert this week. Last night we went to my Grandma's (where they are staying) for dinner. I thought I was very good - avoided the gravy, buns & dessert. I only had a small helping of mashed potatoes, and the smallest, leanest piece of beef roast that I could find, as well as some vegetables. I was quite proud of myself. Although, I did go home and eat 4 perogies, a DQ Sandwich and a bun. At least I knew how many points those things were!

Tonight, Don and I have our meeting with Father, at the Church, regarding our Wedding. I'm not exactly sure what is going to happen at this meeting, as we're not getting married for another year and a half. I am hoping though that we get an answer on whether or not we'll be able to use the church hall for the reception.

Everyone else (Mom, her Cousin & Daughter, My brother & Grandparents) are going to Brewsters for dinner. Don and I are going to eat before our meeting and then join them after, for a drink & to visit. That is my way of avoiding the menu that I am unable to find the NI for, as much as I love their food. On a week like this, when I know that I'll have other challenges coming, I'm willing to make that sacrifice.

I need to get to the gym, too! Ugh. Why is it so easy to avoid? I don't know. It's getting really nice outside - above zero all week so far. I'm going to focus on getting outside now, instead of getting to the gym. I really do enjoy walking, whereas the gym, I enjoy being there, just find it awfully difficult to GET there.

70 POUNDS GONE!

For... the second time! But that doesn't matter! It's gone, and I'm going to make darn sure it doesn't come back!

I was really needing to see those numbers again, and I have. I'm so glad. It was like a hurdle I needed to get past. My lowest was about 77 lbs lost, and now, I can almost see it again. It's like it's so close I can almost touch it. I love it!

How great is it that when you actually stick to the program - it works! Who knew! I'm so excited for next week. I'm also more determined than ever to make it through easter without a gain.

I still didn't make it to the gym this week. I've been studying all week for my Quantitative Analysis Midterm on Wednesday. I'm hoping to get there on Wednesday, though. I'm actually starting to understand it though, so that's good.

Anyway, going to cut this post short, because I need to study.

Mom comes home tomorrow! I'm quite excited! I've cleaned the house, minus the basement from the party my brother "attempted" to have, I told him he better clean that up. It's really in his best interest to clean it up, I'd think.

Today was another successful day.

My Lunch wasn't really that great. Wednesdays I pack my lunch for school (ie No Microwave) and I'm usually at a loss. Last week I took a salad and a can of premixed tuna to mix into it, that was good. This week the lettuce was going bad so I opted for:

2 Source Vanilla Tango Yogurts - 1 point
Chips Ahoy Pudding Cup - 2 points
100 Calorie Party Mix (from the States) - 2 points
Apple - 1 point

So my lunch was about the same amount of points I usually eat for lunch, but just a lot less boring. I'm going to have to work on that. Heidi suggested that I purchase a thermos to take with me to school. I'll have to look into that.

I pulled out some pork chops from the freezer last night, and put them to marinade in some honey garlic marinade for the day - we ended up cooking them on the George Foreman. They were quite good, and I'm not much for pork chops. I also roasted up some potatoes with the Foccacia Spices again, as well as some Cajun Seasoning. They were alright, but I'm thinking next time I'll try something different. I'm thinking something a little spicier. I served them with corn, it went over well.

Tomorrow I'll be taking the lunch I made the other day. It's a pasta dish, with tomato sauce, and is chalked full of mushrooms and zucchini. I've even mixed my two teaspoons of oil into it.

I've been taking 2 of these Source yogurts for lunch lately. They each have 35 calories, 0 fat, and 0 fibre in them. So two of the 100g yogurt cups is 1 point!

I went to the pop machine at school to try and get a Diet Sprite, which they had none of, and glanced into the candy/chip machine next to it. I noticed they had these new Old Dutch Baked Creamy Dill Chips. In the 32g bag it had 130 calories, 2.5g fat, 1g fibre, so a very low 3 points! I bought the bag and took them home to eat for my evening snack (I've discontinued eating between meals, only an evening snack). They were wonderful and creamy. I loved them, very satisfying. A friend told me you can get them almost anywhere.

After dinner I had 8 points left, so I used 3 on my bag of chips. I had to pick my brother up from work at 9, so we stopped at Tim Hortons so he could get dinner. I got a dipped yeast donut (5 points) and a Large Decaf Coffee (0 points) and did NOT win anything. Damn Tim Hortons. Better Luck Next Time!

I'm working on my 3rd liter of water right now, and am hoping to get to bed before midnight tonight. My brother has been staying up late, thus making me stay up late, to make sure he ACTUALLY goes to bed. I'm so glad mom is home tomorrow!

Weigh-In Monday: March 3 Edition

Our Feature Story: I've attended my new Monday Evening meeting, and am pleased to report that I not only thoroughly enjoyed it - the leader there is awesome, but I lost 3.2 lbs, putting me at a total of 18.8 lbs lost since January 2nd! Yahoo! That means I'm just past the 50% mark of my short term goal to lose 37.2 lbs by May 19th - which puts me at 199 lbs!

February wasn't an overly successful month, compared to January. I only lost 3.4 lbs in February, opposed to the 12.2 I lost in January. However! It's still 3.4 lbs I no longer have on my body, so it's still progress. I'm hoping that I do lose more in March. Heck! I'm already 94% there. Easter is going to be my biggest challenge this month, but I'm up for it. I think I may offer to bring dessert this year. In past years we've gone for a large brunch on easter mornings, I'm hoping that's not the case this year. I can't really justify eating all that terrible food, or not eating it and spending $20 to stare at my family. Maybe I should offer to make everyone breakfast. I'll have to see if they'll go for that. That way I'll know exactly what I'm eating.

In other news: Today was my school day. I actually didn't mind sitting through my Quantitative Analysis class today - which is strange. I need to work harder at this class though, cause I really have absolutely no idea what is going and the midterm is next week. Gah!

During my "lunch break" Don and I went to Chapters. I wanted to get Sophia Kinsella's new book and the Eat, Shrink & Be Merry cookbook. I did get the cookbook, which I can't wait to try. I hear there are many marvelous recipes in there. I'm thinking possibly Saturday, if not Sunday, I'll give it a shot! I didn't end up getting the Sophia Kinsella book, because it was cheaper at Wal-Mart, so I'll get it there later this week. I also looked at Wedding Planning books. There are so many, it was hard to choose, so I left them. I'm hoping to go back with my mom in the near future, so she can help.

Speaking of Mothers - Don's Mother and I e-mailed back and forth quite a bit today regarding the wedding. I'm excited that she's so eager to help, even from a distance - they're in Edmonton. I shared a lot of my ideas with her, and she said she may take a day off work to go to some craft and hobby stores with us to get ideas for center pieces. Sounds good to me!

Dinner tonight was an M&M Meats Cannenelli. For 1/3 of the tray, it was 6 points. Which worked out great, considering there were 3 of us, and 6 tubes of Cannenelli. I really enjoyed it. We ate it with a bun with Olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar to dip it in (Needed those Oil Servings!) and fresh veggies, with my 3 Onion Epicure Dip Mix (My new favorite!) I also had another of the fantastic Nestle Caramel Nut Drumsticks (50% less fat) that I bought on the weekend. I love those things. I think I may make them my WI night treat. It was usually a DQ Sandwich, previously. I also ate a chocolate bar later in the evening.

The greatest part? I had exactly enough points for everything, and still got in all my oils, milks & veggies! No guilt - love it!

Here's to next week!
Cheers!

Sunday Evening

I've never been so glad that a weekend was over. Although it means that I have to return to a week packed full of school and work, it also means that my brother will have school every day, thus have to go to bed at a "decent" time, and QUIT HAVING FRIENDS OVER. My mother left for the Dominican on Thursday, so it's become my job to "mother" him. He's really putting me in a difficult situation, because I don't want to say no to him, because he really doesn't like me to begin with, although, I need to be responsible. He's 6 years younger, and we've never really seen eye-to-eye. It's been one of the more difficult weekends I've had in awhile. That being said, I'm not looking forward to having my own teenagers, although, I may have more control over them. Only 4 more sleeps until Mom comes home - then I leave on my vacation (I wish, although, I think I seriously need one now.) I'm really glad that she did go on this vacation though, because she deals with this everyday, and she really needed it, that being said, I can't wait for her to come home!

Anyway, so I think today went well WW wise. I made a point of drinking as much water as I could today, as my weigh in is tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it. Don and I have decided to go to the Monday evening meetings until School is over. It's a little further drive to go to the evening meeting, than the afternoon one, but to be honest, we can't really stand the leader at the afternoon one. Come summer, we're going to go to the Tuesday night meetings, which are closer to where we live (at the same place as the Monday afternoon meeting) and we can walk. Right now I'm going to an exercise class on Tuesday evenings, so it's kind of out of the question.

For brunch we made our own Bagel B.E.L.Ts (Bacon, Egg, Lettuce, Tomato). We used WW bagels, toasted, then used one slice of turkey bacon, and some Egg Creations, a slice of tomato and a bit of lettuce. One Sandwich turned out to be 4 points, and they were very filling. I ate them with fresh vegetables. Last night I made a huge veggie try with some of my new Epicure Roasted Red Pepper dip. It was great. I used the rest of that between lunch and dinner today.

We had to eat an earlier dinner today because we were going to the Regina Pats game tonight (WHL). I made some home made oven roasted potatoes that I spiced with my Epicure Foccacia Bread spices and olive oil. I also made some fresh bruchetta, on sourdough bread. We then george formaned some chicken. It was a wonderful meal. I love all the spices I got from Epicure! That bruchetta was amazing! I kind of had to scarf the meal down though, because we were going to be late for the game.

My grandpa won an all expense paid trip to the Memorial Cup from Sobeys. Because he and my grandma are in the Dominican with my Mom, and they had to present the prize at this game, I had to accept it on his behalf. I just wish I was one of the 4 people he was taking! Grandma, Grandpa, Mom & My aunt are going - not fair! Oh well, I did get to go to the game for free. It was good. Regina won 3-1 against Calgary. I'll have to add the picture of us accepting the award on here soon.