Weightloss War Weigh-in 1

Alrighty. Starting weight for the weightloss war!!

(I'm actually really embarassed about this - I should have never taken up running in the first place! What was the POINT?!?! I NEED TO STOP EATING!!)

174.4 lbs

Since starting the blog my lowest has been 165.3.

Oy.

What happened??

Maybe my period will start tomorrow and I'll lose five pounds...making me five pounds closer to being the winner! hahaha (I hate weight....but a kick in the pants is always welcome!)

Weightloss Wars

HELLO! I know, I know - you all missed me like CRAZY, eh?? I can tell by all the comments left on my last post BEGGING me to hurry my return - what good is there on the internet to read if I'm not around??? ;)

I DO definitely have a post in me all about our little vacation BUT today have a different topic I MUST address, so the vaycay post will have to come later. SORRY if you've been sitting around for the past week twiddling your thumbs waiting for it, as I know some of you have been. (Wow, really? Go GET A LIFE and GET OFF YOUR COMPUTER!! hahaha)

RIGHT before I left for this little vacation I got an invite in Facebook from a friend of mine to join a group she started called "Weightloss Wars" - you can't look it up 'cause it's a secret group - muahaha! (Seriously, not everyone loves splashing info about their weight-not-so-loss all over the internet like I do. I've discovered I'm a bit of an anomaly that way; who knew?) BASICALLY, join the group and 'war' to see who can lose the largest amount of weight. But it's "The Biggest Loser" type rules where it's the percentage of weight loss. WHICH, as you know my thoughts on WEIGHT is just as bunk as the next thing BUT.....it's a COMPETITION!! Members of the group are competing against each other and the winner gets a manicure on everyone else!!

SO by clicking "confirm" on the group invitation I signed my little self up to either win a manicure (not likely) OR be out $10ish (depending on how many people join the group! hahaha PLEASE join!!)

The contest STARTS today - as soon as Mr. Man gets back from a small errand he's running I need him to re-hook up the Wii (we took it on vacation JUST IN CASE we were stuck inside with nothing to do on the three rainy days that were in the forecast - no one predicted sunny skies with a mix of TORNADOES! WHAT?!) so I can take my stats (they will be posted, don't you worry!) - and runs 'till September 23rd. That's right. I have to make it through Little Miss and my birthdays in this war.

Mr. Man and I are in the middle of some scheduling/planning for our last couple of weeks before school starts again, so we're looking at what/when I can fit in runs and/or yogilates, how LONG I can plan to run for, and I REALLY REALLY want to revamp what I eat. Like, REALLY.

I know I've posted about my problems with food before (here, here, and here) but I'm feeling, today, motivated to do something about it. I don't even like getting my nails done, by the way, but I DO NOT want to have to pay $10..... hahaha

While I was away ShopGirl blogged about her anniversary of being chocolate-free which....honestly I was kinda' MEH about before. Chocolate isn't all that big a deal for me. BUT some of my FAVOURITE things have chocolate in them/are chocolate i.e. chocolate chip cookies, my mom's fudge (oh it is TO DIE for!).... When ShopGirl announced she was giving up chocolate I thought - hey, I should do that!! But then thought about Christmas and how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mom's fudge. It's not like I eat it all the time or anything - Christmas is only once a year, right? I don't WANT to give up Mom's fudge!

BUT after reading her post.....huh. I'm considering it. I'm considering a lot of 'drastic' things, actually. I did mention before that with food I DO need something concrete, difficult, and insane - if it's not a challenge I just lose interest and start stuffing my face with whatever. I'm currently toying with cutting out chocolate, or ALL "sugar" (I KNOW there are natural sugars in fruits, etc. - I'm talking about gummy bears, caramel popcorn, ice cream.....oooooohhhhhh....iiiiiiiiiice creeeeeeeeeam........) JUST ice cream.....

I have to make up my mind, fast, 'cause the contest STARTS today.... in fact, this post was to announce what I'm doing! hahaha BUT Mr. Man's back now and writing about it I can't decide what to do and for how long - I think I'll go chat it out and see if we can come up with something. Then I'll weigh-in. You MIGHT get two posts tonight, you lucky lucky people.

Too bad it's a boring rambler.... hahaha ;) What else is new?

T - 1 sleep 'till vaycay

So TOMORROW we're going on vacation. We're a little excited. It's about time for another break. I'm tired of working to organize my house, then ripping it all apart again fighting fleas, and now trying to put it all back together. We're going to run away from it all for a few days - hooray!!

BEFORE we head out, though, I a) wanted to say "hello!" to the blogging world because I KNOW you'll miss me while I'm gone and b) wanted to share some really cool things I don't know if you'll discover on your own. NOT because you're at all an idiot or anything, but because they may be slightly less-known or whatever.

The FIRST is my girlfriend's new blog which is about her BEAUTIFUL handmade, one-of-a-kind jewelry. Seriously, check her out. Her website is www.ACJD.ca and I PROMISE it's worth a look. I can't believe I know the girl that makes this stuff. It looks too....NICE to be hand made! hahaha And each and every piece is different - she never ever makes the same thing twice. Beautiful and UNIQUE every time. (She ALSO has a site listed on ETSY)

This is one of my absolute favourites she has listed at the moment - my birthday's coming up, so cross your fingers for me! hahaha


The SECOND, my hairstylist(s). WHO was my friend first - I sometimes think she's as amazing with me and my hair as she is because she knows me so well but then I'll refer a friend she doesn't know and ohmiGOSH she gets it right and perfect EVERY TIME. She's AMAZING and I am convinced, the ABSOLUTE BEST out there. Check HER out at her new website www.hairmovements.com They did my hair and makeup (as well as my wedding party and mom) way back ;) for my wedding, and I think I looked DANG good! hahaha



Okay, so I KNOW that's shameless plugging, but I'm ONLY giving you the best of the best!! They are both dear friends of mine and INCREDIBLY talented. AND the whole world needs to know, soooo I'm doing my part! hahaha

I'm hoping to run while away at the cottage, but the forecast is calling for 2-3 days of rain sooooo WHO knows?? I'll update the run-tracker when we get back!!

"How's my favourite flea-bag?"

I know you've all been just DYING to hear about the invasion of the blood-suckers going on in my home since I mentioned it the other day.



I hate fleas.

I had no idea how much I hate fleas.

Mr. Man was working at home on Monday and we'd made a list of things to do including stopping by the pet store to pick up a couple of flea collars for Toad and Fox (our cats - their names are a whole different story but they are NOT named after other species of animals I SWEAR! Not on purpose...really.....) BECAUSE I'd seen a flea or two hopping around the house.

Oh the naivete that was me. siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh

We headed out for our errands. It was kind of fun to be all together during the morning running errands as a family! Mr. Man opted for the pet store first - why make poor Little Miss wait that extra time to go scare look at the animals??

Entering the store we were greeted friendly-like and off to see the pets we headed! Little Miss was in her glory and I left her with Mr. Man to go look for flea collars. Which I couldn't find. So I asked our friendly greeter, who took me AWAY from the collar area over to the fleas-are-evil-here's-how-to-kill-them area. Oy. A little overwhelming for someone who's only seen a couple of fleas, right?

THANK GOODNESS I'm a chatty person. THANK GOODNESS. I can't imagine I may have just wandered in, grabbed a couple of collars, and wandered out.

Explaining about our two darling outdoor cats and I wanted flea collars I mentioned that I HAD seen a couple of fleas in the house. And her eyes WIDENED as a look of shock and horror flashed across her face. "If you've SEEN them, then there are a lot more than just two."

WHAT?!?!?!?!

So then, the world's greatest sales person proceeded to wander me through the ins-and-outs of the fleas-are-evil-here's-how-to-kill-them section and recommend different holy-crap-your-house-has-been-completely-overrun products. And we eventually left, after spending way too much money (I HATE FLEAS) feeling a little extra itchy and a little overly disgusted.

AND I finally understood why I have all these bug bites ALL OVER MY LEGS - I thought it was WEIRD I was getting so many at soccer each week, and they were weird for mosquito bites, but seriously? I'm an IDIOT, apparently. I am COVERED, head-to-toe in flea bites and had NO CLUE.

I feel I need to interject and explain my ridiculous SMRT-behaviour with the outdoor cats and the flea bites and just the whole thing - I've had cats for ages, but I've NEVER, until last year, had outdoor cats. And I've NEVER dealt with fleas in the house. My mom told me that she did once when we were really little but I definitely have no recollection of that. ALSO the WHOLE NEIGHBOURHOOD is FULL of outdoor cats, and none of them wear flea collars! I thought it was WEIRD but then thought, gee, maybe we don't have fleas, or at least not too BAD, in this area. I've HEARD my neighbours talking about flea-collar-less-and-flea-free animals at length!! Why would these magic rules not apply to ME and MY cats, too?? COME ON!

Okay, okay. I'm an idiot. Just, accept that and move on.

SO...... I came home and got started. I vacuumed Little Miss's room to suck up what fleas I could and rattle the eggs so they open so the poison gets inside to kill the nasty little things. I stripped the bed, sprayed the carpet, the mattress, stuffed the comforter, pillow, and blankets in the dryer on high heat, washed everything, DRYed everything.... I did our bed next (I've been SLEEPING with these things for who knows HOW long?!?! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I grabbed all our pillows from the bed, couches, etc., and stuffed them into the big freezer downstairs (actually, I think there's still some down there...) to freeze them to death (muahaha!! NO mercy!) I vacuumed and cleaned and sprayed...our house is a whopping 950 square feet and I've gone through two-and-a-half cans of spray that are supposed to do 1000 square feet each....the curtains, the couches, the carpets, the baseboards.... I took the bathmat out of the bathroom to put it through the laundry (and drown/cook them to death - DIE fleas DIE!) - ohmigosh I couldn't BELIEVE how many fleas I found in my BATHROOM after I took their hiding place away!

EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW!!

I plan to do the whole flea-ridding process again in a couple of weeks to ensure we got ALL the eggs, larvae, any remaining fleas (which, if I MISSED any by that time will have spawned literally hundreds of thousands of offspring - have I mentioned how much I LOATHE FLEAS? AURGH!) because this SUCKS.

And next year? Yeah. The cats are DEFINITELY getting that magic-keep-the-fleas-off-of-me shot at the VET in the spring to save me all this money and aggravation!!

On a GOOD note - all the flea-dealings have had me so flipped out and stressing I've done well with running this week! hahaha I NEED to run to work out the angst I feel every time I see a black piece of fluff on the floor.... ;)

We DO accept kill-the-fleas-at-Red's-house prayers by ALL means, or any anti-flea tribal dancing...whatever it is you do - HELP!

That's better!

THERE! Mr. Man finally had five minutes and fixed my title so it says "Confessions" again instead of "Confession." WOOHOO!! I'm liking this whole fancy layout thing. Makes me feel like I look like I know what I'm doing. HA!!

I'll probably write more about stuff later BUT wanted to let you know where I am and/or have been lately: my sister-in-law and family came down to visit on the weekend, helped with some of the finalization of the new kitchen stuff (HOORAY!! I LOVE it!!), hung out, tidied....all in all GREAT times. Little Miss LOVED having her cousins around to run and jump all over everything in the house....

So, we're finally feeling more or less on top of the house, and then.....the battle of the FLEAS!! (Yes, oh you wonderful people who just left from visiting overnight - we DO have fleas. SORRY we didn't know sooner, but you probably shared a bed with them. YAY!!) SOOOOOOOoooooooooo.......I've spent WAY too much time today vacuuming, spraying, crushing the little suckers under my fingernails, laundering and then DRYING (the heat kills them - hooray!) EVERYTHING.... with oh-so-much more to go. [sigh]

Does it ever feel to anyone else that if it's not something it's something else??? GAH!!

I love owning cats. I love owning cats. I love owning cats. I love owning cats....

Am I converting to nerdism?

I usually REALLY do not enjoy XKCD - it's this online comic strip that Mr. Man, the super-nerd, LOVES and reads religiously. Well, more than religiously...BOOM! ;) hahaha ANYway. He reads them, howls with laughter (or his version of 'howling') and then insists that I read them....they're NEVER funny. NEVER. Okay, I think maybe ONCE I cracked a smile. MAYBE. They just don't do it for me.

The one he shared with me today is friggin' HILARIOUS:



(Check them out at www.xkcd.com)

Adoration

I absolutely ADORE Little Miss. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOOOOOOOOOVE her.



Just thought you should know.