So I was SUPER on track with this diet until Easter, then I spun out on Cadbury Mini Eggs and that turned into pizza and bar food. Somehow.

Anyway, I went up to 164 lbs and have been back on plan this week. It shows…I lost 2 lbs and am back to 162.0 – which is the lowest yet for this attempt – 18.4 lbs.

Phase 2 starts today. I don’t think I’ll get the full 40 off by the wedding, but 30-35 would be spiffy.

I did order my bridesmaid dress finally. It’ll be coming in a size 10, which is not the 12 or 14 I could be wearing, and not the 8 I wanted to order. I’ll cope. It’s this one, but in black, and with a decently sized rack under it. It’ll be very pretty!!

Anything else going on? Not much. I’m feeling human again after being sick last week. My stomach’s a bit upset from something. I used to have a cast-iron stomach. Now, not so much.

Tonight’s “Cruise Night” in Collingswood so we’ll head out to see the old cars after work. I know nothing about classic cars but I love looking at them and listening to the bands. Plus, sitting on a stoop with a great guy and a slice of pizza on a gorgeous spring night? Bliss.

Finally, if you’re the prayerful type…WM really needs a teaching job. Unemployment’s a demoralizing drag. So if you’re in NJ and need a fresh and passionate history teacher on your staff, holler! If not, please pray that a great teaching job will be offered to him.

Today I weighed in at 162.4 lbs, down 1.8 lbs. That erases the Easter gain PLUS some. This brings me to an even 18 lbs total, which is equivalent to three 6-lb tubs of Crisco. Ewwwwww!

I’m averaging 1.2 lbs lost per week which is supposed to be ideal. At this rate, I’ll be in my mid 140s by John & Kristen’s wedding. Which is what I wanted.

18 pounds!

I’m pleased if not completely happy. Why am I not happy? Because I love food. I love to eat. I love to eat out. My weekly indulgence is eating at Sonic on Saturdays. Burger. Medium Tots. Diet Soda. I hear Sonic has great slushy drinks and milkshakes, but I dare not try. Why bother?

The novelty of eating better has worn off. I will always always always pick the candy bar over the apple or the cheesesteak over the grilled chicken salad with low-fat dressing on the side. I miss junk food, but I’m not disciplined enough to stop at one serving. So I don’t eat it. I miss my Friday night wine, but at one perfectly proportioned serving, I’d be wasting money on stale wine each week. So I don’t drink wine.

And yes, the above is me being all poor-me and pissy about things, but what good is a blog if it’s all shiny-happy all the time, hm?

*Since I lost all my weight the last time. Ha. I R yo-yo.

***
Happy Tax day, by the way. I lose 34% of my weekly income to taxes. Next year it’ll be higher. And before you tell me it goes toward good things and I should suck it up and other countries have it worse, tell me you decided to forgo the house/child/travel/medical deductions & exemptions so that the country could be a better place.

This week I lost 2.4 lbs, bring me down to a lovely 166.4 and a grand total of FOURTEEN pounds lost!

Can I get a what-what?

(what-what!)

Thank you.

My work pants now feel like pajama pants and today I’m wearing a skirt that was too tight to wear a few months ago. So I’m pleased as punch.

Now…I need to seriously, SERIOUSLY find an exercise plan that works. I’m a sedentary girl by nature, never did sports, exhausted by gym classes and my knees aren’t great (which could be weight).

I want to try Couch-to-5K, but I’m afraid I’ll run too far away and be too exhausted to walk back. Then I’ll end up homeless in Camden. Or something.

Any suggestions?

I know. I know.

But I’ve still lost 9.8 lbs.!

Although I weigh myself every day, I’m looking for other signs of a change. I don’t feel any lighter. I don’t look any different.

But the other day, I finally noticed this:

Broke-ass belt

I’m down to the tightest hole in my top-of-the-line reversible (dorkalert!) L/XL size belt! Neat!

While I don’t have any formal background in banner ad design, it’s been part of my job for the last 10 years. I’d like to think I’ve improved greatly over that time.

Yesteday I got a request to build six (!) banners for a local fuel company. One of the banners is to “have a fuel truck pulling or towing a metal tank or container” across it. I couldn’t find any stock images of a fuel truck, so I decided to create one in Photoshop instead.

If this truck could be ANY cuter, Hello Kitty would be driving it. I deleted the logo because the customer hasn’t seen it yet.

Every Friday night, WM and I watch Lar deSouza (artist for “Least I Could Do” and “Looking For Group“) draw live on uStream. And I swear up and down watching him use Photoshop every week has made such a difference in how I use Photoshop in my daily work!

Something I’ve learned: Use highlights and gradients to create roundness and shadows to create depth. I can’t just tack a wheel on top of a truck, because the wheel actually resides inside a wheel well. That simple smudged “shadow” on the ground puts the truck on the ground instead of floating in mid air.

***

Dream: There is a bat in the apartment. It hides in closets and tries to pluck out my eyes. Nobody will help us get rid of the bat, as it is part of a big MTV Punked-type reality show that’s filming my abject terror.

Today’s weight: 177.8
Weight change: -2.6

So while I wait for my Proactiv mask to finish it’s work I wanted to show you the beady creations I made. (click on each pic to see it larger)

The first one (named “Concentric” for obvious reasons) arrived because I saw 2 strands of beads in Michaels last week – gray “Os” and black round flat beads. I thought “ME PUT ONE BEAD INSIDE OTHER AND MAKE PRETTY THING!” So I did.

The second one I’m pretty meh about. I wanted to see how to get three strands situated inside those cone endings. I crimped three strands around one loop and pulled them into the cone. It’s plain but functional, so I named it after the movie I was watching at the time, Helvetica. (LOVED the movie, by the way – my favorite line was by the aging hippie who blamed Helvetica for the Vietnam and Iraq wars.)

And the third one came because I saw a post on Craftster and thought “ME WRAP WIRE AROUND BEADS AND MAKE PRETTY THING!” So I did.

***
In diet news, I’m the SAME WEIGHT I was when I left work last Wednesday, which makes me so happy!

And the WeatherPixie is going away after all these years…the site’s been down for weeks and although I was patient I’m tired of the blank spot in my sidebar. RIP, WeatherPixie

And that’s all. I’m going to go and crack the cement off of my face. Enjoy your day!

I’m on the cusp of 10 lbs. lost although I don’t feel it at all. Anyway, the biggest hurdle I have to overcome when it comes to eating better is my own laziness. I settle for takeout because I’m lazy. If I do cook, I cook quick-prep high-calorie meals because I’m lazy. I eat large portions because I’m lazy and don’t want to measure.

So I decided this week to make sure I keep my portions in check. After we got back from Wegmans yesterday I spent a few hours in the kitchen getting the cabinets organized and portioning out my food. I bought a fresh pineapple and sliced it up. I cut up the romaine and radishes from the Collingswood Farmer’s Market along with tomatoes, onions and cucumbers into a big salad so I can just take portions of it as I go. Instead of the pricey and package-heavy Steamfresh vegetables I’m buying two bags of frozen veggies and portioning it out myself. I wrote the calorie info on each bag. I made 4 more servings of sugar-free jello. Cut up strawberries (also from the Farmer’s Market) for shortcake. And also bagged out single servings of grape tomatoes (not pictured.)

And I haven’t had a Mountain Dew in over a month. I miss it deeply. Here’s to another successful diet week! (tips her class of Diet Green Tea)

Love this link!: Freeze Ground Meat in Small Portions with a Chopstick

***

I’m off today because this morning I’m heading to the Hall of Justice(!!) to file the quit claim deed on the house. That’s basically a legal form saying that I’m signing away my claim to the property. Like the rest of the formalities, we didn’t use a lawyer and filled out documents ourselves. It’s made things so much nicer. Honestly, if you’re getting divorced and 1) don’t want to kill each other and 2) don’t have children I STRONGLY recommend the do-it-yourself route.

Once that’s filed I’ll be getting a little sum of money from BvP. (I asked for it to be given to me as stacks of $1 bills in a briefcase. I think it’ll end up being a check. But wouldn’t a briefcase of cash be hot?) Some of it will pay off bills. Most of it will go into my savings account and be used toward a little place of my own someday. He’ll be remaining in the house. I think this was the best choice for us, as the only offer we received was $40,000 below the asking price.

I’m leaving him just about everything in it, because I have no room and really no desire to own the communal stuff again. The few things I’ll be taking are sentimental items like boxes of books, my silver flatware set, and my Christmas dishes. Maybe a Disney print or two. Where to put it all? I have NO idea. I’ll probably have to purchase storage. Yay.

Funny enough, there is no sadness over this all. It’s the end of an almost 2-year funeral for my marriage. I’m more upset over the fact that whenever I’m off from work and NOT sick, the weather forecast says it’s going to rain. Sure, it’s sunny out NOW, but we’ll see what happens once I step off of the train after it’s all over.

If it rains I guess I’ll have to sit home and work on my beading and/or programming. If not, I’ll meander down Haddon Avenue and shop. What a hardship.

Enjoy your Monday!

Weekend in a nutshell: Mom’s Family BDay dinner friday at the Olive. No drinking, no bread. World of Warcraft Saturday/Sunday. Leota, the undead mage is now 15! Wings win 15-8! I’m up WAY too late for a Sunday night.

Upcoming Work week: End of month reports tomorrow. Training on Tuesday. New product launch on Wednesday. (bueno?) Can’t say much more due to suspected moles at work.

Upcoming Social week: Birthday party tomorrow night. (must buy gift for 5-yo girl) Flower Show on Wednesday. Aunt’s BDay dinner on Friday (must buy gift for ??-yo woman). Baby shower luncheon SOMETIME this week. (Oh, please not tomorrow! Must buy gift for unknown-gender baby)

Survivor: Lordy Lordy Lordy, am I in full-on Survivor Love with Fireman Tom. He’s a leader! He’s a workhorse! He kills snakes and tries to kill sharks! He’s the best survivor I’ve seen in seasons – meaning he has a huge target on his back and will probably be out soon. Nonetheless, this season of Survivor is one of the best in recent memory. Everyone I hated is gone and there are at least 5 who I wouldn’t mind seeing make it to the end. If you enjoyed the early seasons of Survivor and grew bored/pissed with the later seasons, try to catch Survivor:Palau.

Pet update: Max – still trying desperately to catch rabbits. Charlie – has picked up the strange habit of yowling after 11pm until I go up to bed. Misty – still scowly.

Diet update: Fridge is full of healthy (healthful?) stuff. This week, breakfast will be yogurt and two prunes. (Prunes suggested in my “French Women Don’t get Fat” book) Mid morning snack will be sugar free jello. Lunches will vary, depending on the errands I need to do at lunch. (See “Social week,” above) I have Graham crackers, Ritz Bits, and Smartfood popcorn bags, too. They’ll rotate through “Drive-home snack” duty. I’m going to try to homecook my dinners, and add lemon juice to my water to aid digestion.

Thursdays are now Size-Ten Thursdays, wherein I try on a size-10 item of clothing. So far I’m 2 for 2, both with size-10 pants. I wonder how my size 10 shorts fit? Because one never knows when one may be plunged into a warm environment and need shorts, hm?

Welcome home, Martha!

Cat yowling. Time for bed.

Today is Day One of the S0uth Be@ch** Diet . Yeah. I know. You can probably go back in my blog and find all sorts of quotes about how I love carbs, I’ll never go low carb, blah blah blah. I would go back and link to the entries, but if I do, I’ll have half a loaf of Wonder Bread down my throat by 9 am. So I won’t.

But I’m a real live human girl, and as such, I tend to be hypocritical at times. You can be too. So there!

With this plan, the first two weeks are strict, THEN you bring back the pastas and breads (yum yum) little by little. I can do 2 weeks, especially if I can lose 8-12 pounds the first two like the book says I can.

Three other members of my family are doing it as well, so I have a mini-support system built in. We’re looking to lose 20 lbs here. The last 6 that I never lost from before, PLUS the other 14 that crept on over the last 18 months.

So I spent last night cooking breakfast and lunch and snacks for the next few days. This morning’s breakfast is mini quiches-to-go (pretty good) and a glass of V8, which tastes like Satan’s piddle in a glass.

Once I’m done this, I’ll dig up the pets’ rabies vaccination forms so I can go to the Municipal Building at lunch and get their real licenses. Then off to work!

**I messed up the letters on the name because whenever I talked about Atk!ns, I got strange mail asking for me to link to people’s for-profit Atk!ns sites.