Joint Ventures

I am so amazed by all the convenient joint ventures that have appeared in the last few years. We sure live in a land of convenience.

*Starbucks in Target
*Starbucks in Barnes & Noble
*Subway in Walmart
*Pizza Hut in Target
*McDonalds/Burger King/Wendy's/etc. in Gas Stations
*Banks in Grocery Stores

I've been thinking...

Wouldn't it be great if there were:
*10 Minute Oil Changes at Movie Theaters
*Barber Shops in Book Stores
*Video Stores in Gyms/Health Clubs
*Donut Shops at Libraries

...what would go well with Weight Watchers?

*Nail Salons
*Victoria Secret
*Tanning Parlors
*Gyms/Health Clubs
*Vitamins/Health Nut Shoppes

Seems they are always telling members to reward themselves with these non-food rewards. Not sure why a guy would need a new bra and panty set, but oh well!

Personally, I rather run the Krispy Kremes, Starbucks and McDonald's that are right across the street from my WW center ;)

Weight Watchers will be holding open houses at all of their centers every Saturday during February. They've invited several "vendors" to come to the open houses as well. I'll be interested to see who shows up at these as I'll be working 3 of the Saturdays, all at different centers.

Power Outage

My wife is in NY this week leaving me the chore of getting everyone up, ready and out the door. We usually get 2 kids ready each; I take the boys, she takes the girls. It was fine this morning until I got back home from dropping the kids off at school.

I went to flip on the news before starting my coffee and oatmeal. Suddenly, silence! Everything turned off. The power to 12,000 homes, schools, and businesses out. I was one of of lucky 12,000.

Two hours seems like an eternity when you're longing for coffee and some oatmeal. What was I to do? Grabbed a banana. Didn't do it for me. Grabbed a granola bar. No dice! Drank a WW smoothie and still was not happy. Maybe another banana?

Got myself and the little one bundled up as it is in the single digits temperature wise around here. We headed off to City Hall to pat the property tax bill. Headed to the bank, which still had power and then came home to find the power still out!

I'm still waiting for my oatmeal and I've allowed my day to be ruined by a silly power outage.

I will conquer the rest of the day and make the best of the situation. Maybe I'll incorporate my oatmeal into some cookies. Just kidding of course.

Who Needs Pictures?

I've been scouring through photos the last week. Our 5 yr old came home with a note from her teacher looking for baptism pictures. Of course, she is our second born and do you think I could find one? Well, that's what I found: one! We bought our first digital camera right before she was born, so actually we have tons of pictures of her, just not printed off.

As I was going through pictures, I was again reminded about how far I have come. I will have to scan a few of the "worst" to share. My 8 yr old started looking at them too. In her honest 8 yr old opinion she shared every possible adjective to describe the pictures. Fat, chubby, gianormous, pudgy, plump, etc. were just a few of the wonderful comments she made about my appearance.

It is awesome to be reminded of the accomplishments we make. I'm not sure my kids realize how to eat healthy or that we do eat healthy for the most part, but hopefully they are learning by good examples.

Off to get more pictures sorted before I become disinterested.

Happy Birthday to my wife too ;)

Healthy Snacking

This week's challenge at WW was to eat at least 10 meals focused on the filling foods. Frankly, I thought this would be an easy challenge. I know my meals are usually healthy, it's my snacks that tend to be not so healthy.

So I've been focusing on healthy snacking this week. My 8 yr old came home Monday telling me that she had nothing healthy in her lunch. She has snack mid-morning, but is only able to eat something deemed healthy by her teacher. She is a picky convenient food eater...doesn't eat fresh fruits, yogurt or puddings. I usually throw fruit snacks, some snacky bag and another assorted prepacked dessert/snack to go along with her entree which is usually mac/cheese, ravioli, or leftovers.

Yesterday, I sent string cheese, orange slices, pudding and a rice krispie treat. The only thing that didn't come back home was the rice krispie treat.

She sees me snacking and I'm sure she's learning the bad habits from me.

I'm working hard on the healthy snacks this week and so far, so ok ;)

McDonald's Promotion

Living in the cold weather has it's advantages at this time of the year. McDonald's always runs a winter special involving Big Macs. You buy one and get the second one for how ever much the temperature was the day before. Yesterday, the high was 26 degrees, so the second Big Mac is 26 cents. What a steal!

I'm not sure how my body would react to eating a McDonald's burger of any kind. I haven't gone to MickeyD's for a burger since starting on my WW journey some 3 years ago. I'm an expert in their flavor and really don't need to try anymore to tell you how they taste.

Don't get me wrong, I have my fair share of fries (kids allow give me 3), and I've stopped for the occasional parfait or cone, but their sandwiches just don't appeal to me anymore.

I love burgers!! But I'm not going to settle for a cheap one, even if they pay me to take it, which could happen if we get below 0 degrees.

I would take a free Subway cookie on Free Cookie Monday though.

Have a great Tuesday. Looking forward to the Biggest Loser. Always like it more after a few weeks since there's less people to focus on now.

The Happy Award

Hoping for a good week this week. No big plans. It should be a regular week before a difficult week next week while the wife takes off for New York for a few days and leaves me to hold down the fort. Check out The Anti-Jared where he answers my long anticipated question: What music do you listen to while you workout? Britney Spears? Really? I shouldn't talk as I like Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA"



Spunkysuzi labeled me happy. And here are the instructions that come along with this award:

1. Copy the image and display it on your blog.

2. List 10 things that make you happy.

3. Try to do at least one of them today.

4. Pass on the award to 10 bloggers who brighten your day.


Ten things that make me happy!! (In no particular order)

This could be tough as my 8 yr old is sitting here saying, "Nothing makes you happy, you are a mean, bitter man!" She's smiling ;)

1. My children telling jokes. ((Why is Six afraid of Seven...because Seven Eight (ATE) Nine))

2. My morning oatmeal with a scoop of peanut butter!

3. Being able to use music in my job.

4. Being able to wear size 34 waist jeans and needing a belt.

5. Watching my children play together without fighting.

6. Starbucks: Venti Skinny Vanilla Latte

7. The way I feel after I exercise.

8. Listening to the kids sing "I Got A Feeling!" OOOOOO... or the newest "Pants on the Ground!"

9. Beating my wife at Wii bowling.

10. Watching the Food Network and most any reality show.

Not a huge fan of passing it on, but feel free to do it if you'd like...

Tale of the Cookie Tin

I've been doing a lot of purging of "stuff" lately. I'm just sick of toys and other Christmas gifts not having a place of their own yet. Not only that, but many of our Christmas gifts were meant to replace old stuff that needs to thrown away, but I just have been too lazy or hadn't found the time.

Yesterday, I found an old cookie tin in the cabinets while getting rid of stuff, that had been there untouched since we got our kitchen remodeled close to two years ago. The contractor who remodeled the kitchen sent us homemade chocolate cookies that were some of the best I've ever eaten. I threw the tin in one of the cabinets never to look at it again until yesterday.

I was sorting through toys and came across our alphabet refrigerator magnets. They were tossed in a tote loosely and I thought of the cookie bin. What a great place for the magnets. They fit perfectly. I was so proud that I had found the perfect container for them, that I left them out on the kitchen counter.

I picked up my 4 yr old from preschool and the first thing he did was notice the tin and let out a "huh!". He always does that when something out of the ordinary happens. He went to open the tin and quickly closed it again.

Later, we picked the girls up from school. My 8 yr old as well was quickly intrigued. Running over to the tin before she had even taken her coat off. A sad "oh?" was all she could let out.

One hour later, my wife entered the kitchen. As fast as the kids if not faster, she investigated the countertop treasure. Again, disappointment!

My 1 yr old loves his new magnet holder and maybe we'll try to trick everyone today and really make cookies to put in the tin.

Free Nuts!!

I've started a weekly habit of taking the kids to McDonald's after dropping my oldest off at her choir practice at 4:30 on Tuesdays. I could make tons of excuses, but it's really just because I'm too lazy to get something ready quick and the fast food is so quick and convenient.

We usually order 2 mighty kids meals for the 3 younger kids to share, while we get our oldest something on her way home as well. This week, I picked her up and give her the ice cream option. We tell her that if she orders two things off the $1 menu she can have an ice cream sundae too. She has usually passed on this deal because she likes getting the junky toys that just add to the clutter at home. But, this week, she took the ice cream since I told her what the toys were and she wasn't much interested in another beanie baby.

She was so excited when we got the ice cream and the guy at the window asked if we wanted nuts with that. She thought that was awesome. "You mean they give you free nuts!" "Wow that's way better than a toy!!"

Simple thrills.

I've having a good week staying away from snacks. That has definitely proved to be a key to success along with the tracking. Seems if I'm "selectively tracking," I snack much more, but when I'm honest about what I eat to myself, I'm stearing clear of the extra snacks.

De-Clutter

After Christmas is a time when I feel our house looks cluttered. After receiving so many Christmas gifts and having no "home" for them yet, it just seems we have stuff in every corner. I am trying to tackle one place at a time. Our living room is clutter free, while I need to spend some quality time in the dining room. The past few weekdays, I've been spending some needed time in the basement crushing cans, boxes and sorting through stuff that's just been banished to the basement. I know I've made great progress, but how often do I go to the basement? Answer: to do laundry twice a week.

I try to keep our kitchen decluttered since we remodeled in May of 2008. It is a daunting task as the kitchen is where the kids dump their backpacks, our boots/winter apparel our housed and it just seems to naturally collect stuff. The counter is a empty flat spot, which turns into piles of stuff quickly.

This past weekend, I did clean out my dresser and pulled out a huge bag full of stuff that I'll be donating.

It does seem that when I go on these de-cluttering sprees, I do better healthwise as I am concentrating on the clutter and not on food. I know I've got lots of work to do, but what else is there to do on these cold days? It is hard to get much done while the babe is awake, but the two hours of naptime are money.

TRACK

T~Truthfully
R~Record for
A~Accountability making sure it's
C~Convenient and provides
K~Knowledge

During our Saturday meeting, our leader shared this acrostic poem with the group. It definitely it the nail on the head. I can track, but usually it's missing one of these components: truthfully!

I am a selective tracker. If I don't want anyone to know I ate something, I don't write it down. Who is that hurting? Never in the 3 years that I've been following WW has anyone looked at one of my trackers! This week, I'll be working on the honesty aspect of my tracking.

Recording and convenience are easy now that I use the WW app on my iPod. I have no excuse not to keep track conveniently as the app goes right to the tracking page. They seem to make updates frequently and each time, they have fixed something that has made it even easier to use.

Tracking really is the biggest reason I got to my goal as fast as I did. I was diligent and recorded everything. I needed to be accountable to myself and I didn't want to pay WW any longer than I had to. As time has gone by, I've seemed to forget about how this tracking thing really does have a positive effect on maintenance/weight loss.

And that's where the knowledge comes in. Learn from experience and understand that tracking is a chore that can be done in a matter of seconds, but it makes a huge difference in the final outcome.

As the saying goes: If you almost track, you'll almost have success.

And just for giggles, my boys dragged my push up bars out this weekend. I had them hidden so even I wasn't using them, but Benjamin knows all my hiding places.

One Big Coat

Friday, I snowblowed the sidewalks and alley pad. I was wearing my good Columbia jacket and afterwards, I smelt like a 2-cylinder engine. So, I threw it in the wash, but I still needed a coat while mine was being washed.

I went to the back closet and found my "old" coat, which is really in awesome shape. The only reason I bought a new coat is because this old coat is an XXL. I now wear a size L and most of my size large shirts even look somewhat baggy.

It was a great reminder of how far I have actually come. I do remember when I used to wear this "old" coat and it fit tightly.

I will be keeping my old coat out, but only for the times I need to blow the snow. Hoping I'll need a new coat again in a few years and it only be because my new one is worn out.

Great weigh in this week!

Nimbly thumbed on my iPhone.

Healthy Stress Level

Yesterday I spoke of two days, which brought about very different results.

I've been asked to lead a roundtable discussion on music therapy in May. This is really the first speaking engagement I've needed to prepare for almost two years. I'm looking forward to it as it will be out of my comfort zone speaking to peers on a subject which I am a so called expect on. It is a healthy kind of stress. A goal with a definite outcome too.

The stressors that I worried about in the previous post were silly little situations that I really had little control over. When will the repairman come? Why does it take my 5 yr old so long to get ready? I'm laidback enough to realize this to, but for some reason, the instances bothered me enough on these days.

I'll continue to work on letting little things get the best of me.


Nimbly thumbed on my iPhone.

On Time

I generally am a morning person. I don't mind waking up early with the kids and getting everything ready for the day, but if one little part of our routine is off, I get stressed. Stress equals binging on something I know better than to touch.

Monday happened to be one of those days. The kids returned to school after Christmas break. We had everything lined up and ready to go the night before. All boots, hats, mittens, shoes, school bags, etc. were set out. 7:30am arrived and the kids were not ready! My 8 yr old was the only one set to go. My 5 yr old decided to take what seemed like an eternity to go to the bathroom and brush her teeth. We ended up getting there in plenty of time, but it still added stress to the morning and that's all I need to give myself permission to eat.

Later that morning, another stressor occurred. I had made an appointment in early November to get our furnace checked. There's been condensation dripping from the bottom instead of going out the hose like it should. Our appointment was for 8-12. Of course, they came 10 minutes before I was supposed to pick up our 3 yr old from preschool. The technician didn't stay long, but it was still long enough to make me late and add another reason to eat.

Today, has been a very different sitaution. Lots of snow has been falling and I got everyone ready WAY early even with a minor meltdown of looking for a missing gym bag. Our furnace guy once again gave us the 3 hr window of 9-12 and actually came right at 9. We needed a new part and it was still under warranty, which made an even better morning.

Two seperate days, two totally different outcomes. Love it when everything goes as planned.


Thumbed when waiting patiently on my iPhone.

It's All in the Way You Slice the Pizza

My kids handed in their pizza and Kringle fund raiser sheets today. We sold $350 worth of homemade pizzas and Racine Kringles. We eat a lot of pizza!

Every Sunday, after going to church, our kids expect a frozen pizza. This has been a quick lunch every Sunday for as long as I can remember. As our family has grown, something strange has happened. We have more leftover pizza than every before! Why? My kids love pizza!

Instead of slicing the pizza in the quick and easy 8 slices, I've starting slicing the pizza into 12 slices. What a difference in our pizza consumption. For some reason, the kids all need 2 slices, but they haven't noticed that the slices have gotten smaller. They never want another slice after two.

It may be a psychological thing, gotta have two slices. It may be a physical thing, I'm full after two slices. Or it could be a combination of both. I tend not to eat any of the pizza except for my little guy's crust since I rationalize that it's "way to tough" for him to eat.

I'll continue to slice the pizza in 12ths and possibly try to even slip in some broccoli, mushrooms or even better...peas, on the slices. Wonder if they'll notice.

iPod iLove!!

I've had my iPod touch since mid-October and have used it to surf the web, Twitter, Facebook, organize my calendar, make lists, play games, etc., but only this past weekend have I used it for it's real intended use: listening to music.

I have listened to podcasts before on my iPod, before this weekend was the first time I listened to music on it. I received an iTunes gift card for Christmas and decided to use it. I love the fact that I can purchase favorite songs rather than an entire album. I have so many CD's that I have purchased just because I like one song or two, if I'm lucky. I loaded a bunch onto my iPod this weekend and plan to add more soon. I'm now done to those CD's that I want only one or two songs off so it will start taking longer.

I used the iPod and exercised Saturday and Sunday on the elliptical and instead of dreading the entire workout, I actually stayed on the darn thing extra long just to see what the next song to play was going to be.

Can't wait to hop on again this evening after work to hear what's next to play on my iPod.

If you're interested, I purchased some Beach Boys and Ella Fitzgerald Christmas tunes from iTunes to go along with the Owl City Album: Ocean Eyes, Black Eyed Peas: I Got a Feeling and Micheal Buble: Just Haven't Met You Yet.

One Bad Day Can Ruin a Week

Happy New Year's!!

I had a wonderful New Year's Week. Should have stopped celebrating at Christmas cause a lot of bad habits crept back into my routine this week. We had company over for New Year's Eve. My MIL and FIL brought fillet to grill, which was great, but they also brought more cookies. My 5 yr. old called Grandma to ask if she'd bring more. My kids know enough to stop after 1 cookie, they also know to ask before eating another one, and my 5 yr. old always asks how many she can have so as to pick only her favorites. Wish I could stop at 1, have the smarts to ask someone for another, and choose only my favorites. Our other company, who was only one petite little thing, brought two trays of taco dip, chips, salsa and two tubs of French Onion dip, along with a huge Happy New Year cookie. I justified eating more than one piece thinking that it only counted as ONE cookie.

Not a good weigh in this week. I stayed for the last meeting, but for some reason (um, is it a New Year) there was a crowd of people that came and the leader asked me to weigh as she was ready to start the meeting. I weighed more people in during that 15 minute period! My favorite response from a weigh in came from a long time member who had a bit of a struggle period last year. Her goal was to get below 200 by 2010 and she did it!!

I know what I did this week and will strive to do better. Seems that New Year's and New Year's Eve was just another excuse for me not to track. I know I can do better! My goal for the week is to track honestly even if it's not the best.

Have a great weekend!