Weight Watchers and the stay at home Mom

Anyone who has been to Weight Watchers knows that once you get to your goal weight, and maintain it, then you become a Lifetime Member.  I like to joke and say that although I have been attending Weight Watchers for my entire lifetime, I have never gotten to my goal weight.  I first joined Weight Watchers in high school.  Then again in college (lost 36 pounds),  then again after my 3rd child was born (lost 52 pounds). All of those with varying stops and starts in between.  I have joined several times and lost 10 pounds, 5 pounds, or even lost nothing at all. 

About 5 weeks ago I joined Weight Watchers again.  As of yesterday, I was down 9.6 pounds.  Hooray!  I know that Weight Watchers is a very slow process.  When I lost those 52 pounds last time it took me 2 years.  During that time I was also a working Mom.  I packed my breakfast, lunch and snacks to eat at my desk.  However I could get easily derailed by a birthday cake for a co worker, or by an offer to go out for lunch.  Now that I am a stay at home Mom, I have different ways to get derailed, like ice cream in the freezer or skipping my workout to watch Kathie Lee and Hoda. 

Me and my Mom.  I'll use this as my "before" picture.  My Mom is also a WW person --- she made Lifetime!

If you are interested in finding a meeting near you, click here  You can also join online, but I've found going to a meeting with other people more helpful.  You don't have to say anything if you don't want to.  And you might pick up some good tips from someone else. I have done every diet known to man.  Weight Watchers is a plan you can live on.

I think that the key to success is persistence.  It is easy to quit.  It is much harder to crawl along and feel like you aren't going anywhere.  When I quit WW last time after 2 years and 52 pounds, I still had 35 pounds left to get to my goal.  Looking back, I was so close! But I was having major setbacks at work, the meeting leader that I really loved moved away, and after 2 years I just couldn't do it anymore. 

I would like to think that THIS time is different.  I would like to think that THIS time I will finally lose those last 40 pounds and get to my goal.  I will just take it one day at a time, one workout at a time, and one meal at a time.  I know I will have setbacks, but I will keep going.

School lunches are gross

Yesterday I went to the elementary school to have lunch with my daughters.  This is something that I never made time for / had time for as a working mom.  The girls had been asking if I could come for lunch for awhile, so I decided to go.  I had packed my younger daughter's lunch: crackers, laughing cow cheese, and popcorn.  My older daughter wanted to buy her lunch, which was chicken nuggets. 

I met up with my older daughter, Olivia, as she was going through the lunch line.  There was a huge basket of a dozen different kinds of chips.  There was also a freezer full of ice cream sandwiches and assorted ice cream bars.  Right at the cash register was a basket of cookies.  Impulse items for the 12 and under set, I guess.  Now what child is going to pass these up?  Heck, I could barely pass these up.

We sat down and I looked at her tray: 5 chicken nuggets, a cup of grapes, a bag of baked chips, and a chocolate milk.  It was a sad looking lunch.  Where was the vegetable?  Olivia said that there was broccoli and a baked potato on the line, but those looked "gross" so she didn't get them.  The chips didn't come with the lunch, and cost extra.  A school lunch is $2.25 here.  The chips were $1.00 extra, for a total lunch cost of $3.25.  In Omaha the school lunch costs $1.65, with no extras for sale.  I can look up her extra purchases online, and have told her this.  I see her buying an extra cookie or cupcake just about every day, even though I ask her to limit it to once a week.  I guess my alternative is to take the money out of her account and send her a packed lunch every day. 

Whatever happened to the school lunch tray that you were just handed?  When I was a kid the only choice you could make was whether you wanted white milk or chocolate milk.  There was no option to skip the vegetable.  There was no freezer full of ice cream. 

Today's school lunch is Salisbury steak.  Both daughters agree that sounds gross.  So I packed lunches for both of them.  After I took them to school, I came home and noticed that Olivia's lunchbox was sitting on the counter.  Sigh.  So like a good stay at home mom, I took her lunch to school on my way to the gym. 

Bike to school day / Help a Mom Out Day

Today was national Bike to School Day.  My girls' school participated by having all the kids gather near the neighborhood pool, and then some police officers led the pack of elementary school kids the half mile to school.  My older daughter, Olivia, loved it.  She loves to ride her bike and zips all over the neighborhood.  My younger daughter, Sarah, wanted no part of this event.  She has told me in no uncertain terms that she "will never ride a bike."  She has had bikes all of her life, but has always been afraid to ride without training wheels.  So Sarah and I walked and watched the other kids ride.  I mentioned to Sarah that maybe she could practice riding her bike, and that next year she could ride too.  She then reminded me that she was "never going to ride a bike".  Sigh. 

Olivia on her bike

I dropped the girls off at school and then set off to walk home.  I passed a few stragglers that had missed the main pack of kids.  One Mom in particular was pushing a baby in a stroller, while her school age kid was riding his bike down the sidewalk up ahead.  Her 3 year old son was walking way behind her.  He was wearing a bike helmet (no bike), and crying.  The Mom was yelling at him to catch up with her.  I could see that she was worried about the older son on the bike crossing the street by himself.  I knew exactly how this Mom felt, as I have been there myself! I went over to the 3 year old and said, "Is that your Mom up there?"  He nodded yes.  I said, "Take my hand and let's catch up to her, ok?"  We walked up to the Mom, who looked a little frazzled, but glad for my help.  We introduced ourselves and I peeked at the baby in the stroller.  It was another boy.  "Wow, 3 boys!  God Bless!"  I said.  She thanked me and I walked home. Sometimes it takes a village, you know?  Now I just have to remember to go back to the school at 3p to escort my girls home!

Animals are smelly

Yesterday I went on a field trip with my daughter, Sarah and the rest of the second grade from Grand Oak Elementary.  We went to Zootastic, which is a wild animal park in Troutman, NC.  I was happy to be able to go on a field trip with my daughter, but not excited about going to a zoo.  I really do not like zoos.  I have even been known to say that I hate the zoo.  My kids and my husband know that I hate the zoo.  When we moved to Omaha, everyone would tell me, oh, there's a great zoo, here, you have to take your kids to the Omaha Zoo.  Um, no, I don't. 

I'm not exactly sure why I hate the zoo.  I suppose I just was never that interested in animals.  Maybe it has something to do with being dragged to the zoo as a child.  My grandparents lived in San Diego, CA while I was growing up.  When we would go visit them, we would always go to the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park.  I remember endless walking around and looking at smelly animals in cages.

Don't feed the Zebra

please feed us!

And that's exactly what we did yesterday.  We walked around and looked at smelly animals in cages and in pens.  I saw tigers that looked really mad (and hungry?) as they paced back and forth, checking out the second graders.  There was one lone giraffe in a pen by himself.  Was he lonely? I saw a huge blind horse that had been used in cancer research.  Sad. The children we given cups of feed and were allowed to feed the goats, rams, smaller animals.  The goats knew what was coming and had been following us around.  However our guide warned, DO NOT FEED THE ZEBRA. I'm not sure why we couldn't feed the zebra.  Maybe he liked to eat childrens' fingers.

I guess zoos are educational and all, but I am not a fan.  I'd rather let the animals stay in the wild where they are supposed to live and read about them in a book.  It would certainly be less smelly.

Blind horse with his pal the rooster

 



Cell phone trauma and repair

How many times a day do you check your phone? Could you be without it for a week? a day? how about an hour? How did we ever get along before our smart phones?

Yesterday was not my day.  After meeting with a new accountant for two hours, I went to Office Depot to buy Quicken.  I picked that up, along with printer ink and some folders.  For some reason I was holding this all in my hands, along with my iPhone.  Why I felt the need to carry my phone in my hand instead of my handbag, I am not sure.  I had my phone on silent while meeting with the accountant, and the first thing I did after our meeting was finished was check my phone.  While carrying all this stuff through Office Depot, I inadvertently dropped my cell phone, face down.  No big deal, I thought.  I have done that a million times.  I reached down and picked it up.  The entire front glass was shattered with shards of glass sticking out. 

I then freaked out. I just knew that I was going to have to buy a new iPhone.  I went to the counter and showed my phone to the salesgirls there.  I didn't really expect them to do anything; I just needed to cry to somebody.  One of the girls said that she thought there was a phone repair place a few miles down the street.  At the cash register, I asked the guy ringing me up for an extra bag for my smashed phone.  He suggested I buy an Otterbox.  Gee thanks for the tip, I thought. 

My current non useful phone case.  If you know me, you know I change my case quite often!

I got in the car and wondered where there was an AT&T store.  I went to Google it on my phone and just about cut my finger on the glass.  I took the salesgirl's suggestion and drove off in search of the repair place.  I walked in to CPR - Cell Phone Repair - and showed them my phone.  They could fix it for $129, and it would take an hour. 

That was a long hour, let me tell you.  No email, Facebook, Pinterest, blogs, nothing.  I went to Panera Bread and just sat there, ate a sandwich, and looked around.  Lots of people there were on their computers, which I always find odd.  If you have work to do, wouldn't you rather be in a quiet place? I wondered about the weather, but couldn't check my weather app because I didn't have my phone! I thought about texting my friend Diahann to join me for lunch, but I didn't have my phone! Luckily I happened to wear a watch that day.  Sometimes I don't, and I just check the time on my phone. 

Eventually the hour was up and I got my phone back.  Hooray!  But no way I am buying an Otterbox.  Those things are just ugly!