Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

Super excited about this paint!!





Before discussing paint, let me say that yesterday's blog was tough to post. At this point, being so close to goal and having a timeline, a gain is NOT at all what I want to see, and it is much harder to deal with than it was six months ago because I now feel like I am working so hard. When I got out of bed Saturday morning, I went directly to the scale, still cranky from Friday mornings weigh in. When I stepped on the scale, I saw the results I had HOPED to see on FRIDAY! So, feeling frustrated and ecstatic all at the same time, I was eager to work hard the rest of the week, and Friday should be awesome!

I spent the ENTIRE day painting out in the garage with the tunes cranked up and the dogs hanging out watching me. It was so completely gorgeous outside, and my painting project was going so well, I didn't come inside until I absolutely had to! We had early dinner plans with Mikes parents and his siblings, so at some point, I HAD to wash all the paint off of me!

Several months ago, I decided to paint my Grandma's old sewing machine so I could put it in my entry and enjoy it. I was really nervous about not knowing what the heck I was doing. Sometimes I get a project going, and it's taking longer than I anticipated, so I get in a hurry to just get it done, instead of getting it done right. So with this project, I was trying VERY hard to be patient. I was going for that whole Vintage Shabby Chic thing.

Have you heard of "Annie Sloan Chalk Paint"? Well, if you like to paint random things around the house when you're wanting a project, this is the paint to buy! No sanding, no prep work, no worries! There was a lot of sanding that I could have done, and I did do some, but I kind of wanted to keep it a little beat up, but just give it some color.

Grandma's Sewing Machine Before....



After........













The top is in really bad shape, but I love how all the cracks soaked up the dark wax!







Then I just started grabbing random garage sale finds that I had around the house and started painting!!!!

I bought these three tables for $9 dollars about four years ago. They all looked like the one in the middle. I painted the zebra one awhile back, then yesterday I used my two Annie Sloan colors to play with the other two!




Who KNOWS what I'll find to paint today!!




Breakfast



Snack





Lunch




Snack




Dinner




When you take it off the skewer, it's a big plateful of food!




After dinner, Mike and I took a long drive looking at other people's house colors. It's time to paint. Urg. Then we stopped at Orange Leaf for some frozen yogurt! Then I believe I said some thing like......

"So this is what people do that don't hang out at the bar on a Saturday Night, huh?"

He seems to be enjoying the fact that I'm now a cheap date!! I haven't told him yet how much I plan to spend on a whole new wardrobe!!


Refresh...I can eat 26 points a day.
I can earn Activity Points by doing exercise, and eat them if I choose.
I have an allowance of 49 points that I can dip into if I chose.
I should drink a minimum of 6 (8 oz) glasses of water each day.

The food I ate and it's PPV

Breakfast = Coffee with Skim Milk, Egg Whites, Cheese,
Banana, 1 T. Chocolate Better n' Peanut Butter (4)
Snack = Pear, Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge (1)
Lunch = Luna Bar (5)
Snack = Cantaloupe (0)
Snack = Small Slice Cold Pizza (5)
Dinner = 6 Chips, Artichoke Dip, Sunset Grill's Hawaiian Skewers (9)
Snack = Frozen Yogurt (7)

Total = 31

Today's Exercise = I started painting early in the morning with plans to walk later, and it never happened!

How many glasses of water I drank today = 12
Activity Points Earned Today = 0
Activity Points Earned This Week = 0
Remaining points from my 49 Points Allowance = 39
ALCOHOL consumption = NONE






"love the life you live, live the life you love"

Friday Reflection.....Urg.

First. I keep changing my Cover Photo on here and on Facebook because I'm in a "change" mood. Then, I decided if I am going to make my main picture a picture with other people in it, I should probably ask them for their permission first? Sorry to my friends that I didn't think that through on previous photos I've used.
I decided to go with a recent picture of Mike and I at the lake over Memorial Weekend, but I didn't ask him either.

Okay......Friday Reflection.........



Well.

I weighed.

I gained.

162.4

I gained 0.6 pounds.

I really wanted to cry.

I guess my scale at home isn't broken after all.

Damn it.

I really feel like I ALWAYS know how my weigh in is going to go, and this one truly has me baffled, and I will over think this to DEATH this entire week!

The Weight Watcher leader Friday morning (Joan was off today. I was sad, but her sub did a really good job.) asked members what worked for them this week. Members were sharing their successes. Me, the quiet one in the back row (you know the quiet part is a lie, right?) raised my hand, then I spilled my guts about how hard I worked, how I was excited to have the Traveling Tracker.......THEN HOW I GAINED!!!! I was embarrassed about the fact that I was almost ready to brag about my great loss, and then it all backfired on me!!! Guess I shouldn't have been thinking about bragging!!! Anyhow, I got some great feedback from members reminding me that if I keep it up, next week should really show this weeks hard work! One member, (actually two I think?) suggested that I eat my activity points since I am exercising so much. I am always scared to eat those. I'm at a loss. Well, actually, I guess I'm at a gain, but I've never heard that expression before. (People, I am trying to use humor to cover up my sadness. Work with me.)

This weeks plan? Continue to do all of the things that I know work. Power Foods, Exercise, Drink Water, Plan, Track everything that goes into my mouth, and watch my sodium intake.

I wanted to be able to title this Blog Post.....

"9 Weeks, 10 Pounds To Go!"

Instead I have the word "Urg" in my title, and I have 12.4 pounds to lose in 9 weeks! That's 1.4 a Week!!!!

I am NOT in a good mood.

After weighing in and trying hard not to feel SO discouraged, I went to Panera to blog.
I ordered a plain coffee.
Then I said, "and throw in a Blueberry Bagel and some Hazelnut Cream Cheese"...........it's like those words just fell out of my mouth!





I entered the info into my Weight Watcher Etools to see how many points this would be before digging in.

The bagel was 9 PPV, but if I changed it to only 1/2 of a serving, that was 4 PPV............





........and 1/2 of the container of Reduced Fat Hazelnut Cream Cheese was 2 PPV, so I ate the 1/2 of a bagel and the 1/2 of the cream cheese, and threw away the rest.





Now lets hope I don't have carb cravings the rest of the day!!

Breakfast

Not Pictured

Snack






What I threw away......(I show this picture twice because it was a big deal.)





Lunch





Dinner

I was chatting away with Tess on the phone while chatting with Mike in the kitchen and forgot to take pictures of my leftover spaghetti and my Papa Murphy's DeLite ONE slice of pizza. Oh....and some carrots.

But here's my tally for the day......


Refresh...I can eat 26 points a day.
I can earn Activity Points by doing exercise, and eat them if I choose.
I have an allowance of 49 points that I can dip into if I chose.
I should drink a minimum of 6 (8 oz) glasses of water each day.

The food I ate and it's PPV

Breakfast = Banana, Nonfat Latte (3)
Snack = 1/2 Bagel & Cream Cheese, Coffee with Half & Half (8)
Lunch = Tuna Salad, Carrots, Celery, Cherries (5)
Snack = WW Giant Fudge Bar (3)
Snack = Grapes (0)
Dinner = Leftover Spaghetti, 1 Turkey Meatball, 1 Small Slice Pizza,
Carrot Sticks (12)
(I need to grocery shop!)

Total = 31

Today's Exercise = Day off of exercise, but I did Mow and Weed the lawn.

How many glasses of water I drank today = 6
Activity Points Earned Today = 4
Activity Points Earned This Week = 4
Remaining points from my 49 Points Allowance = 44
ALCOHOL consumption = None





"love the life you live, live the life you love"

Dream Analysis, Sore Legs and That Damn Scale!

Dream Analysis.....

Do you try to analyze your dreams?

I do. All the time. Thursday, while I was on my walk (with my new, comfy shoes), I couldn't stop thinking about this one dream I seem to have OVER and OVER again. In my dream, I am trying to run. I WANT to run. It's mostly happening in slow motion, but at times, my pace picks up and it is perfect and it feels great, but then everything slows down again, like BEYOND slow motion and I can't get a pace, and I feel clumsy and my legs aren't doing what I want them to do and I just keep trying, but its all awkward and my feet are just dragging, but all I can think about is "I just want to RUN!" Let me kindly remind you. I DO NOT LIKE TO RUN! I have no idea what this dream means, but today I decided to run just a bit while I was on my walk. I do this occasionally, thinking one day I'll say...."Hey, I might kinda like this running thing." And some days I have actually been able to go longer than I thought, but at the end, I never really like it, as much as I have tried. I wonder if I will continue to have that dream. I feel like it's my subconscious telling me if I really gave it a chance, I would experience that perfect pace I feel in my dream, and actually enjoy it.
But I doubt it.

Which leads me to share another reoccurring dream that I have. You know how some people have the "falling dream", or the "flying dream"? Well, I asked Mike if he has this dream that I have, a LOT! I dream that I am driving in a big city, downtown, with lots of tall buildings all close together, and one way streets, and I am aware that there is someone is in the passenger seat. All of a sudden the street is at this ridiculous slope!!!! Like maybe 80 degrees!!! And you HAVE to drive up it! There is no turning back! AND there is no warning! It's just there! So I am driving up it, and the road seems to slope MORE! Damn near at 90 degrees now! I keep thinking my car is going to roll back down or just flip over! I am almost to the top now, thinking I will slide back down an any moment!! How does my car have the power to climb this road?? I'm going to FALL!!!

In my dream, I never fall, and I never reach the top.

While explaining it to Mike one day (and listening to him tell me..."No. I have never had that dream.") I said.......

"Oh My God!!! The car is ME! The unknown passenger is my support from everyone! The street is my weight loss journey!! Its really scary, and I haven't reached the top, but I haven't fallen back to the bottom either!!"

Then I was really happy I talked it through. Now I have clarity. Well, maybe.

Anyhow, thats my unprofessional dream analysis.



Sore Legs......

Also while on my walk today, I was thinking about what part of my house would be best to do the leg workout that Jamie, the trainer, gave me on Wednesday. Its mostly walking lunges. Then I decided to just incorporate it into my walk while on the path around the neighborhood lake. So I did. I would imagine that I looked a little silly, but that's not uncommon. :)
He gave me four different exercises to do. I am to do them each 12 times, 3 reps. It feels so good to have instruction!! I wasn't sure how well I would be able to do them on day two, but I got them done! By Thursday night, I could not sit or stand without a grunt AND a moan! :)



That Damn Scale!

I worked really hard at my weight loss this week. Last Friday, I weighed 161.8, and I was super determined that today was the day that I would weigh in at 160.0.

I haven't had alcohol since June 4th. I ate a LOT of Power Foods, I exercised a lot and earned myself 41 Activity Points, which I did not eat. I drank a lot of water, as I usually do, and I volunteered to take the Traveling Tracker from my Weight Watchers meeting.





The Traveling Tracker is this great little tool that my WW Leader, Joan, ask for volunteers to take each week. She likes you to journal food and activity in it, then bring it back the following week, and discuss if it helped you to keep on track. We also discuss if members were able to learn anything from reading what others had journaled the weeks before them. I always think this is a great idea and I love reading what other people eat. I volunteered to take it because I knew I was going to have a Kick Ass week!

All week long, I have weighed each morning, with pleasant results. This could be a monumental moment for me at the scale this week! Each morning, I would step on the scale, and it would go down. Wednesday, I ate more than I had any other day this week, but I did make good choices on the foods I was eating, or so I thought. When I stepped on the scale yesterday morning, it showed a gain! A significant gain from the day before!! I waited an hour, and weighed again. Yip, a gain? I really don't understand, and usually when there is a gain, I know exactly what I did to deserve it. So now? Confused. I did eat pretzels, and my body doesn't do well with salt, and I ate a LOT of cherries. So now, I am freaking out a bit today, because I really was working towards seeing 160.0 on the scale! The only thing I can think of, is that the salt is really working against me, and if I am NOT pleased with my weigh in results, I will watch my salt like a hawk, and NEXT Friday should show a larger than usual loss? That tends to happen from time to time. I will think I am doing great, then it doesn't show at the scale until the following week, which is SUPER frustrating!

I'm crossing my fingers!!! But I'm gonna be SUPER cranky for a week if this is really bad news!!

And I HAVE to have good results, because I have the traveling TRACKER!! Weight Watcher members expect to look to this for good ideas and good results!!!! Who wants to read......Here's what I ate and hard I exercised, and here's how much I gained!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Okay........moving on.

My feet felt great after my 5.5 mile walk! Everything from my waist down to my thighs, ACHED from my squats and lunges.......





Breakfast




Lunch






Snack (realizing the salt potential here.....a little late)





Snack (and NOW realizing the sodium potential here) Urg!




Um, another snack....it's a much smaller bowl than it appears in this picture.

:)




Dinner





Have you tried Spaghetti Squash?




I really like it, but it took me a few times eating it to decide for sure.




Refresh...I can eat 26 points a day.
I can earn Activity Points by doing exercise, and eat them if I choose.
I have an allowance of 49 points that I can dip into if I chose.
I should drink a minimum of 6 (8 oz) glasses of water each day.

The food I ate and it's PPV

Breakfast = Banana, Coffee with Skim Milk (1)
Lunch = Lettuce Wraps with Tuna Salad, Strawberries, Carrots (4)
Snack = Popcorn (3)
Snack = Coffee with Skim Milk (1)
Snack= Green Giant Steamers (3)
Dinner = Spaghetti Squash, Marinara, Turkey Meatballs, Caesar Salad (14)

Total = 26

Today's Exercise.....

Walked 5.5 Miles, Lower Body Workout with Squat and Lunge Combo's

How many glasses of water I drank today = 12
Activity Points Earned Today = 7
Activity Points Earned This Week = 41
Remaining points from my 49 Points Allowance = 22
ALCOHOL consumption = NONE, I KNOW! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT EITHER!





"love the life you live, live the life you love"

New Shoes!!

I have been pondering purchasing a new pair of walking shoes. I can never remember when I bought the last pair, but I was pretty sure it was about time for new shoes. After blisters on the back of my heals last week, and sore hips this week, I decided it might be time?





I'm looking forward to my comfy walk this morning, although I did spend an hour with the trainer yesterday, and ALL we did was lower body, and I could hardly get out of bed this morning! I am hoping once I get to moving, my legs and butt will feel better as the day goes, right?????






These socks were ridiculously expensive, as far as I'm concerned, (and I do NOT like to spend money, but I wore them while trying on shoes, and they were also ridiculously comfortable!!) so I bought three pairs!






Breakfast




Snack





Rehydrate after being out in this heat!!





More Snack's

These cherries are extra juicy!! I ate more than this bowl full.






Pretzel and Better n' Peanut Butter Sandwiches!






Lunch (I could eat Breakfast food for any meal)



Dinner
(Um, too hot to cook!)






Refresh...I can eat 26 points a day.
I can earn Activity Points by doing exercise, and eat them if I choose.
I have an allowance of 49 points that I can dip into if I chose.
I should drink a minimum of 6 (8 oz) glasses of water each day.

The food I ate and it's PPV

Breakfast = Pancake made with 1 Egg, 1 Banana and Blueberries....
topped with 1 T. Better n Peanut Butter, Cherries, Coffee W/ Milk (4)
Snack = WW Smoothie with frozen Mixed Berries (2)
More Snack's = Cherries, 16 Pretzels with 1 T. Chocolate Flavored Better n Peanut Butter, WW Mini Fudge Bar (4)
Lunch = Scrambled Egg Whites, Turkey Sausage Crumbles, Cheese, Salsa
Strawberries, Vanilla Yogurt (5)
Dinner = Tuna Salad Sandwich on 80 Calorie Wheat Bun, Carrots, Cherries, (Not Pictured Baked Chips, Side Salad) (15)
Taste testing turned into snacking on Tuna Salad and Egg Salad as I made it, so I am over guessing (8)?

I also ate a lot of cherries in the afternoon, like maybe tooooo many?

Total = 38

Today's Exercise.....

Walked 6.5 Miles
Lower Body workout with Trainer

How many glasses of water I drank today = 10
Activity Points Earned Today = 9
Activity Points Earned This Week = 34
Remaining points from my 49 Points Allowance = 22
ALCOHOL consumption = NONE! :)





"love the life you live, live the life you love"

I Drank Too Much........

........water.......(wait, you didn't think I? You DID?? No you didn't. Well, I didn't)........and I spent 2/3 of my walk trying to figure out where I was going to "go", and fretting over whether I would make it or not! I sent the neighbor I was closest to a text, and she wasn't home, but luckily she said the door was open and to help myself!! Thank goodness!

Earlier in the day, I met with the Trainer for about an hour and we spent that time figuring out what I "could" and "couldn't" do with my right arm, but mostly what I "couldn't" do, so that sucked. He was super patient though, and offered to see me again today to give me a lower body workout to do for a week. Then the plan is to meet once a week for the next 8 weeks and work on my shoulder mobility while also doing some strength training on my lower body.

But the first thing I did Tuesday was take Tucker to the groomer!

He loves a car ride!





But what he loves most, is the trip HOME!!! Geeezzzzz I love this little guy.




Breakfast

Pinterest find!!
3 Blueberry Pancakes (Made with 1 Egg, 1 Ripe Banana, Blueberries and I added a packet of sweetener)

Click HERE for the recipe.......




The secret to cooking these just right, is patience and a LOW temperature.




It makes THREE pancakes! I topped them with my new Banana Flavored
Better n' Peanut Butter! I realize a Blueberry/Banana/Peanut Butter combo may NOT sound great, but it wuzzzzzzzz so good!






Lunch





Dinner

I invited my mom over. She loves Salmon just as much as I do, so I made one of my favorite meals.





Dessert

I grabbed two pieces of dessert at Hen House and cut them up in small pieces. We all got a good taste without a major sugar overload!






Refresh...I can eat 26 points a day.
I can earn Activity Points by doing exercise, and eat them if I choose.
I have an allowance of 49 points that I can dip into if I chose.
I should drink a minimum of 6 (8 oz) glasses of water each day.

The food I ate and it's PPV

Breakfast = Egg Whites, Cheese, Coffee with Steamed Skim Milk,
Blueberry Pancakes, 1 T. Banana Flavored Better n' Peanut Butter (6)
Lunch = Salad Bar (7)
Snack = Almonds (1)
Snack = WW Mini Fudge Bar (1)
Dinner = Salmon, Asparagus, Mashed Potatoes, Carrot Cake, Tiramisu (19)

Total = 34

Today's Exercise = Walked 4 Miles, Stretched with Trainer?

How many glasses of water I drank today = 8
Activity Points Earned Today = 4
Activity Points Earned This Week = 34
Remaining points from my 49 Points Allowance = 34
ALCOHOL consumption = NONE





"love the life you live, live the life you love"