Weight Loss Monday

Last Monday I weighed 135.2 and was relieved to step on the scale this morning to find 133.4 which means I lost 1.8 pounds for the week. Do you know on Saturday I reached a milestone and weighed 132.8? I was soo happy! I hadn't seen those numbers since KK was 1 years old and I was a breast feeding machine. Oh how I loved the calories I burned breast feeding. I didn't have to do anything to maintain my weight. Times are different now but I don't mind. I like the treadmill and feel like I am improving my cardiovascular health as well as building some muscle.

So my total calories burned for the week were 4529. So I am burning a pound of fat by treadmill workouts and a little bit by diet change. I am averaging on the whole a pound a week which I think is just fine. I am right where I wanted to be. I was 132 when I got married. I was also 132 when I got pregnant with both of the girls. When I met hubby though I was a slender 124 so I think since I am still having fun at this treadmill weight loss I will see if I can get down to that number. If not I don't mind the size I am now.

Freeze your sweats!

I love baking, it is probably one of my favorite things to do. Unfortunately as you get older, your bodies metabolism can't handle it much anymore. So I have learned whenever I make a batch of cookies or brownies I let them cool, eat a couple, and then freeze them.



I usually either forget they are in the freezer or don't want to take the time to take one out and defrost it. So the best part is I am not eating them on a daily basis. You know what is even better? Whenever I have company over I can take a few out for us. Also, when I go to bunco I am usually in charge of bringing a dessert. Many times I can just go to my freezer and pick out an assortment. Here is what I brought to my last bunco game from the freezer:



Brownies and peanut butter cookies with milk chocolate chips!

Wow, I can't believe I got such a good deal!

Today was one of those days where I was really pleased with my thrifty abilities. I was in shock at how I was able to take a stove that was $899 from Sears and get in from Home Depot for $613. I am still grinning from ear to ear. I actually thought that I would be getting it for around $688 if Home Depot honored there policy of beating competitors prices by 10% because the stove was going to be on sale tomorrow at sears for $764. However, in the fine print it said on in stock purchases and I knew it was possible this could be classified as special order as I knew the store did not have one of these stoves on their floor.

So I went in hopeful and left absolutely pleased and ecstatic. I brought in all of my paper work from sears showing the sale they were running tomorrow and what the price would be. I also brought a printed copy of Home Depot's policy on beating competitors prices by 10%. (Bringing in this policy really saved me because the sales associate told the manager I brought it and read it to him) The manager o.k.'d meeting the price at $764 and then they were running a promotion to get a $75 gift card back for appliance purchases in that price range. They used that promotion to beat competitors price by 10%. Just as we were checking out she told me if I opened a Home Depot card they would give me an additional 10% off my stove which of course I said yes. We don't carry credit card debt and I will cancel this credit card anyway within a few months. No need to keep a card that won't continue to give me rewards. So once that 10% was taken off it was down to $688 and I will be receiving the $75 Home depot gift card in the mail for making the appliance purchase. So if you subtract the home depot gift card that makes my stove come out to $613. I am so happy that I saved almost $300 by shopping around and being patient! BTW I also got free delivery and haul away!!!!

I am extremely confindent that hubby will have the entire $75 giftcard spent on plants. So, everyone is happy!

Look what we won!

Last night was the Family Pizza Night Fundraiser Raffle at Aly's preschool. Last year we bought 20 tickets to the event and went and had pizza. We didn't win anything and the place was so crowded it was hard for our personality type to stay. So this year I decided to buy thirty dollars worth of raffle tickets--what I would of spent on the pizza--and we skipped going to the event.

After the event was over my friend Cathy called me to give me the wonderful news. I won:

A $25 gift card to Safeway. This just seems so fitting for me since I have been so obsessed with bargain/coupon shopping lately and all of my great deals on groceries have been through Safeway.

We also won a $25 gift card to Bed Bath & Beyond. Don't quite have anything in mind to purchase there but I am sure I will find something eventually. Woo hoo, luck was on our side last night!

JoJo's Circus costumes

Lately one of KK's favorite shows has been JoJo's Circus. So when I saw that the Disney store had a JoJo's Circus costume on clearance for $4.99 I just had to buy it! When it arrived I was so happy and had her try it on right away. Unfortunately I bought a size too large. The size I bought ended up fitting Aly. So instead of returning the costume---it would have cost me more in shipping charges alone, I decided to buy another one in a smaller size. That way they each can have one. Whether they want to wear them for Halloween or not doesn't really matter. They can at least have fun with them in the mean time.

Isn't the costume cute? Hard to believe it only cost $4.99 right? It is good quality too.

KK holds baby Travis

Today was the first time in KK's life that she ever got to hold a real baby. She was thrilled when Kristi asked her if she wanted to hold baby Travis. Immediately she perked up and followed the directions to sit up with her back next to the couch. She put her arms out and couldn't stop smiling. She was truly in heaven.

Yes, the baby is only 8 weeks old. He is a good size baby huh? Of course KK is little for her age but they sure look cute together!

I took four pictures of KK holding the baby and she just couldn't stop smiling. KK is usually very difficult to photograph so you know she was very happy to have this opportunity. No KK, mommy is not interested in having any more babies. You will have to get your baby thrill from other families. Maybe you can start babysitting in your teens. ;-)

Aly already has her gender role figured out!

Today we were lucky enough to have our friend Kristi and her two sons Nick and Travis over. Nick is 3 and Travis is 8 weeks old. Aly and Nick love to play together but as they get older it is becoming quite clear they are filling their gender roles and preferring gender based play.

I will say they did happen to play house today and it was quite interesting to see what they thought each person should do. Aly was the Mommy sheep and Nick was the Daddy sheep. Apparently, Aly decided that the Mommy sheep stays home to take care of the baby lamb and the Daddy sheep goes out hunting. Nick left to go hunting and brought his family back cherries. How cute are they deciding who has what role. I guess they really do model after us don't they?

So now that I am ready to go back to work, how will that change Aly's view of what the woman's responsibility is? It will be interesting to see!

Weight Loss Monday

I have been tracking my daily weight and workout routine for a week now. I have decided to go ahead and start posting the results from the week each Monday morning. Remember my previous post where I talked about my theory on women, weight loss and water retention? Well I think I am already showing it!

Last Monday I weighed 135.2. By Saturday morning I was down to 133.6. Guess what happened when I woke up this morning? I was back up to 135.2. Yeah, that's right! I also was crampy and should be starting my period anytime. So I personally feel like that was water retention due to my upcoming period.

For the week my total calories burned on my treadmill workouts was 4081.3. Now remember, it takes 3500 calories to burn a pound of fat. So in theory my workouts alone would have burnt 1.1 pounds of fat. By Saturday I was at 1.6 which means .5 pounds of weight loss came from diet/calorie restriction. So what happened from Saturday to Monday morning had to of been water retention. I continued working out both days burning an average of 550 calories each day. So it will be interesting to see when this week is over how many pounds I may be at next Monday.

Happy Easter!

Aly was so excited for Easter! She woke up just after 7 excited to go downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny left for her. I told her she had to wait to go downstairs until everyone was awake. So she went in to wake up Daddy. In seconds she had that accomplished. Just as she was getting ready to go in and wake up KK, KK woke up. The girls rushed downstairs to see their Easter surprises!

Aly got her favorite toy--Littlest Pet Shops. KK got a carousal and was quite excited to play with it. She spent a large part of the morning twirling the carousal around and around.

They each got a chocolate egg in their basket and were allowed to eat them after we had breakfast. They both had a hard time in the beginning biting them but they were persistent and had them finished in no time!

Check back to this post in a day or two and I will have a video uploaded of their Easter egg hunt in our living room.

Sticker Grandma comes for a visit

The girls were thrilled when they learned Sticker Grandma would be coming to stay with us over Easter weekend. They named her Sticker Grandma because she loves to send them stickers in the mail. She also buys sticker books for them to do when she comes and she helps them place the stickers where they go.

Since we won't be able to be with Sticker Grandma for her birthday next month we decided to surprise her and celebrate her birthday today! Aly loved helping to make her birthday cake.

We made Grandma's favorite cake, chocolate cake with homemade frosting. I have to admit I hadn't made homemade frosting since before the girls were born. It always seems easier to just buy a can!

It was so cute to watch the girls help Grandma blow out her candles. They sure couldn't get enough of Grandma. They followed her everywhere and played with her every moment that was possible.