Weigh In..

Okay, so I weighed in this morning to make sure that I was making SOME kind of progress.. and I was shocked!!

Last Weeks Weight: 257.0 lbs

This Weeks Weight: 245.6 lbs

Difference: -11.4 lbs

WHAT?!  WOW!!  I seriously was expecting 5 to 7 lbs.. Not 11.4.. This is great though!  Means that I am doing the right thing.. I will give up ALL the cupcakes now to be able to enjoy ONE in the future..  I'm so excited.. My size 18 jeans that I bought less than a week ago are now unflatteringly baggy, so since I've only worn them twice, I'm going to see if I can exchange them for size 16.. If not, then I'll buy the size 16 and sell the size 18's in our yard sale next weekend..

YEAH, there's another point.. we are having our yard sale (FINALLY) next weekend.. WOOHOO!  I'll get to get rid of my junk in my bedroom finally!  and possibly make a little money.. enough to cover my car insurance due in a couple weeks.. :)  Well, I'm off to go see my little niece.. She cut her first tooth a couple days ago, and I can't wait to see her smile now.. Oh, and btw, Kris over at KrisGetsHealthy.com is doing a giveaway because she's lost an amazing 180 lbs.. check it out and enter.. :)

Savings, Savings, Savings..

Well, as I've said before, I am trying to save money for a lot of reasons.. Mostly for the NKOTB Cruise in June, but for other reasons too.. I plan to start saving hard core after the 2nd of September.. As in, anything I make over $300 I plan to put directly into a savings account from ING Direct..  I've already opened the account, and I've made sure that I can't get to it unless I transfer money from it.. No Debit Cards, no checks, NOTHING!  I don't plan to touch this money unless it's for an emergency or a bill I was saving for..

I've been reading Dave Ramsey's "The Total Money Makeover" ever since I got the book to give away.. and I've gotten to the point where I understand it's gonna take some serious spending starvation to do this.. but I'm young, and I CAN do it.. BUT, it says that I need to make my debts current, and that isn't where I'm at right now.. so my plan?!  To call my creditors and work with them on getting current.. There aren't that many that aren't current, but with fees and crap, it's hard to get current, so I'm hoping they'll work with me on it all.. :)

Well, seeing as I'm at work, and this post has been "saved" for 3 days, I think this is done for now.. Have a good day!!

My Green Thumb..

So I could have SWORN I have blogged about my garden before today.. Honestly, I guess I posted about it on FB and not on here.. Oops!  Well, here's the recap..

** After months of thinking about it, I decided to plant a garden in my back yard.. After waiting for my dad to fix up my "plot", he and my brother finally got it up and running, so to speak, on Memorial Day weeekend.. :)

** After getting only enough soil to start half of my garden (I'm broke and a newbie), I had to skip putting in the flowers.. :(  I've learned that lesson, and planted the following plants in my garden:

~ cantaloupe (2 different kinds)

~ heirloom tomatoes

~ cherry tomatoes

~green peppers

~ everbearing strawberries

~ cucumbers

** I did a little bit of research before planting stuff, like on what to plant at the time I was planting, how to get them to grow big and healthy, stuff like that.. So I got some paper shreddings from my client for my tomatoes, and egg casings for them too.. I DIDN'T, however, see that cantaloupes were a climbing fruit.. so they kind of took over my garden (see above picture)..

** Thankfully since starting most of these from plants bought from Walmart or Home Depot, the only plant that didn't flourish were my cucumber plants.. :(  oh, and my strawberries didn't produce more than 3 edible strawberries this year.. BUT the good thing about them is that they are supposedly perrenials so they should stick around for a long time, as long as I don't kill them.. lol

** I recently had to transplant my green pepper plants into a container, because the tomato plants were taking all their sunlight.. and they are doing well now.. I was worried because their roots were so buried in the soil that I didn't know if I'd taken a big enough amount of them to get them to continue to grow and eventually produce more fruit.. Well, looks like I worried for nothing..

** I FINALLY got the rest of my bed filled with soil and compost a couple of weeks ago.. then I tried my hand at planting cucumbers again.. They have flowered, so we'll see if it was too late or not.. :)

** Now that Fall is around the corner, I'm looking into compost heaps, turning a part of my shed into a green house (because I can't put my seedlings in my house, too many nosy cats.. lol), and what seeds to start/what to plant for fall.. I'm excited to get my hands dirty, literally, and produce a lot more fruits and veggies.. :)

Finding Who I Am.. Week 2..

Well, this was supposed to be done on Friday, but thanks to picking up an extra shift, and working too much over the weekend, I kinda forgot.. BUT I remembered today while I was looking at a baking magazine.. :)

** I downloaded an app a few months ago to help me learn how to sign (back when I was babysitting little kids and taught them some basics).. It has videos (which is how I learn best) and has 500+ words that I can learn.  I love it!  I try to learn at least 2 words a day, and put them together as much as I can during my day.. So far, I've learned "why" "what" "milk" "mother" "father" "baby".. among other words..

** I am currently on a waiting list for the NKOTB Cruise.. I don't care who makes fun of me (because some will), but I am going to do what it takes to go on this cruise.. and I also am planning to go to more concerts.. all sorts of concerts, to find out what else I like to listen to..

** I realized last Tuesday that I listen to the same two radio stations when I'm in my car.. both Pop radio stations.. and while there is nothing wrong with Pop music, but it's kinda all the same anymore.. I realized this on Tuesday because I was at work driving my client to an appointment and he turned the station to a rock station.. and I actually found songs that I loved on there!  I downloaded them onto my iPod as soon as I got home.. I also listen to Lite 106.9 (soft rock/pop music) too, since I love late 80's/early 90's music.. :)

Not too much last week that went into finding who I am.. I attribute that to working too much, and the stress of realizing I've gained so much weight over the past year.. I will be back on Friday for week 3.. It's been a productive week.. :)

Well, I'm Excited..

I have recently decided that I am going to go on the NKOTB Cruise in June of 2012.. I blogged about it in my FMM post earlier today, but only that I'd recently downloaded an app to help keep track of the days left til it disembarks.. :)  I'm so excited!!  But I plan to keep one of them on a special page to keep up with any information I post regarding it.. Such as my savings for the trip, the countdown and other things I've found..

But to keep up with other cruisers (as I'm technically on a waitlist, but all of the waitlisters got called last year, so it's basically a waiting game right now), I am part of several groups and following several twitter BH's (Block Head's).. :)

I'm using this cruise as the motivation to keep me going this time.. I plan to take a picture later tonight in the bikini I have that will prolly go with me (among others.. lol) on this cruise.. And then plan to take updated pics every Friday night.. This way I can "flip" through them and see my progress..

Some of you are prolly asking, what if you don't get that call???  Well, since I'm not planning to get a call for a couple of months (some people didn't get the call til the month before the cruise), I am not sweating it.. I still need to come up with the $300 deposit that, if they call before Nov. 29th, I will be required to pay.. Then the next $800 if the call after that date.. So the more time I have, the better..

But if I don't get that call and don't get to go on this cruise, I will take a beach vacation.. I figure it will be the perfect "ultimate" goal, either way.. So here's to the next 290 days.. I figure I can lose almost all of the 80 lbs I got to lose by then..

OH!  Gotta show you the picture I found on one of the groups I belong to for the cruise..

It's Monday, Which Means..

It's Friend Makin' Monday..  :)

If you've never seen this, check out Kenlie's blog for the rules (it's seriously simple) and play along.. 

FMM: The Last Thing

1) What is the title of the last book you read?  I'm currently reading The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.. Gotta get my finances in order..
 
2) What is the last movie you saw in a theater? I saw The Change Up on Saturday with one of my besties.. :)

3) Briefly describe the last person you saw today.  Um, I guess it's a tie between my mom and dad.. lol.. I just saw both of them.. My dad is a dorky almost 50 year old dad, and my mom is a wonderful 47 year old mom.. :)

4) Which store did you most recently shop in?  Well, I did go shopping on Friday.. It was at the Disney Store.. I love that store..

5) Who’s the last person you spoke to over the phone? My grandma.. She was giving me instructions to pass onto my dad..


6) Where’s the last place you vacationed? What's a vay-cay-tion?!  Haha.. my last vacation was when I was 20.. :(

7) When was the last time you kissed someone of the opposite sex?  good gravy.. now I'm depressed.. lol

8) What’s the last thing that made you laugh?  This survey..

9) What’s the latest app that you downloaded on your phone?  Countdown Widget.. I'm counting down the days til the New Kids on the Block Cruise 2012.. 290 days!!  YAY!!

10) What’s the last kind thing you did for someone?  I did my breakfast dishes instead of leaving them for my mom to do.. 

Denial..

It ain't just a river in egypt.. haha.. okay, that's the joke of the day, now on to the serious stuff..

Erin @ Erin's 6 Month Transformation left me a comment that hit the nail on the head, so to speak.. I have been in denial for a long time.. I didn't know until now how much though.. She pointed out that about 1 year ago I weighed in at 233 lbs.. I've gained 24 lbs in the past year!!  WHAT THE HELL?!  Seriously?!  How did I not realize this??

I seriously was reading her comment and after seeing that I wanted to go cry.. not because of anything she wrote, but because she is right.. if I had a printer here, I'd print off the comment right now and post it to my wall.. guess it'll have to wait til I get home..

Honestly, the only difference between me now and me then (besides the 24 extra lbs) is my meds.. I was taking my ADHD and anxiety meds.. and that's not a financial option right now.. So I'm going to have to overcompensate for these being gone.. 

But as I'm learning from Dave Ramsey (that's another blog totally) the time/energy put into my present will make my future that much better.. I need to give up the "fun" foods/stuff now to be able to enjoy them later when i'm skinnier.. does that make sense??

Btw, THANK YOU ERIN!! I appreciate you giving me a wake up call.. :)