Day 1 of 366 – A Harry Potter New Year
January 1st, 2012
The family enjoying a relaxing holiday while watching Harry Potter.
Tags: Project365
Day 5 – #100daychipquest
March 27th, 2011
Day 5 is done. I’m ready for bed and overall I would say it went fairly well. Not too much to say today. I was well within my Weight Watchers points for today although could have done with some more veggies. Tonight I treated myself to some wine and some chocolate. I will track all the points! I have lots of weekly points left, and only 1 more day to go, so I’m pretty proud of my ability to follow the program this week. I’m off now to get a good night’s sleep, tomorrow is a new day.
Day 4 – #100daychipquest
March 26th, 2011
Day 4…what to say about Day 4? Well for the most part day 4 has gone well. It was a pretty hectic day for me since Ray, who usually takes Aidan to swimming and skateboarding lessons, had a dentist appointment. This meant that I had to fill that role with Jules in tow. I wonder how many calories I burned today trying to get Aidan out of a wet bathing suit and into dry clothes in a packed, steamy change room, while simultaneously chasing after a 2 year old.
Due to driving around all over town I didn’t have much chance to worry about food. I treated myself to a Starbucks skinny vanilla latte and a couple of bites of Jules’ low fat apple muffin, but otherwise nothing was consumed.
After Aidan’s lessons I picked up Ray and we all went out for lunch at Kelsey’s. I was really craving some comfort food so I ordered a french onion soup. That was all as it was actually pretty filling. I did sample a bit of Jules’ penne alfredo though.
After lunch we did a HUGE shopping trip. We bought a bunch of good, healthy food. I took advantage of some of the pre-packaged, pre-portioned foods. I hate the extra waste but I figure if I can get used to smaller portion sizes then maybe in the future I can handle the larger quantities more easily.
I came home hungry, cranky and kinda nauseous because I had completely forgotten to take my medicine in the morning. In an attempt to make myself feel better I munched on some BBQ Crispers. Despite the label stating that they are baked, not fried, they are certainly not healthy by any means. 6 pts! Yikes!
Dinner was so yummy. We followed a recipe out of Jamie Oliver’s America cookbook. We had a Tray Roast Chicken with sweet potatoes and yukon golds. Very very good indeed. I had a small glass of wine to go along with it.
As you might have guessed, I am over my daily points for today. I tracked EVERY bite, lick and taste that I had and I can conclude that snacking on Jules’ meals is a sure way for me to gain, or at least not lose, weight. I have learned my lesson and still that I’m in control, so moving on.
I still have a lot of weekly points left so I plan to have another glass of wine tonight and possible some healthy popcorn or hummus for snack, we’ll see. I’m planning for it, so I know it is there, but I will evaluate how I feel and drink lots of water before actually eating.
Cheers to Day 4! I’m looking forward to tomorrow as I’m planning on getting some exercise in too 
Tags: #100daychipquest, Weight Watchers
Day 3 – #100daychipquest
March 26th, 2011
I created my Day 2 draft on Thursday with the intention of adding more to it and never did, so I just posted it now. As for Day 3, this was supposed to be written yesterday. My goal was to try out the WordPress app on my iphone but for some reason I can’t connect to my blog from it yet. Yesterday evening we had company so I just didn’t get a chance to sit down at my computer. Please forgive me.
As for Day 3 of the #100daychipquest, it was awesome! I stayed within my daily Weight Watchers points and albeit tempted, I did not snack or drink all evening except for some diet root beer. This was quite a challenge for me since usually when we have company over that is what we do, eat and drink. Instead we played a game, chatted and then I went to bed. I have to admit I thought about food and the bottle of wine Ray picked up for me but I tried to refocus on what was most important, spending time with my friend and husband.
I woke up this morning (day 4) feeling proud, motivated and healthy.
Tags: #100daychipquest, Weight Watchers
Day 2 – #100daychipquest
March 26th, 2011
Well here I am on day 2. So far so good. I’ve been pretty lucky because I haven’t really been that hungry. I’m not really sure why. I’ve been feeling out of sorts the last couple of days, tired, loss of appetite, low energy, low mood. I don’t think I’m sick but I could be fighting something off.
Today I have mostly eaten carbs. I guess I’m craving the comfort foods. Tonight’s dinner should be good though, meat pie and veggies. I think I’ll drink a V8 as well in order to get a few more veg. I didn’t make it an official goal but I am definitely trying to increase the number of servings of fruits and vegetables that I eat in a day. Unfortunately I don’t have much in the house at the moment since it is time for another grocery shopping trip. I need to come up with some ideas for some healthy snacks I can eat before dinner. I am always so hungry by the time we get to sit down to eat. By the time we pick up the kids and bring them home it is sometimes 7pm. I need some prepared and proportioned fruit/veggie snacks ready for me to eat as soon as I’m done work.
Tags: #100daychipquest, Weight Watchers
#100daychipquest
March 23rd, 2011
I am proud to say that last week week I earned my very first #7daychip! If you go 7 days without bingeing, overindulging, whatever you want to call it, then you have earned a 7daychip. #7daychip is also a group of people on Twitter who support each other in eating in a controlled manner. You don’t have to follow any particular weightloss plan, you set your own goals, but it brings people together online who share similar ambitions!
Today a group, including many of my Twitter peeps, started a #100daychipquest. To me 100 days sounds like an exorbitant amount of time but I have decided to give it a shot! For the next 100 days I will be in control. It doesn’t matter what happens over the next 100 days, it doesn’t matter what stress I will be under, I will be in control!
Since December 1, 2010 I have been doing Weight Watchers online. Weight Watchers has been helping to teach me to make healthy choices, eat proper portion sizes, and introduce activity into my lifestyle. This is the plan that I am going to follow while I work towards earning my #100daychipquest.
Since today is Day 1 of the #100daychipquest I am outlining my goals. These are the conditions that I plan to meet in order to achieve my #100daychip:
- track every bite, lick and taste
- stay within my allotted Weight Watchers points every week
- Any snacks consumed after dinner will be all natural, non-processed foods, and these food will only be consumed after drinking 2 cups (16 oz) of water.
- minimum 8 cups of water consumed each day
- Exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes (an actual scheduled workout) a minimum of 2 times a week
- post everyday to my blog, even if it is just one sentence
- Encourage at least 2 people who are on their #100daychipquest
- take a picture of myself once a week, to record progress, and post it to my blog
Here I go!
Tags: #100daychipquest, Weight Watchers
Stream of Consciousness Sunday: Tax Time
March 20th, 2011
I sat down this afternoon to try to file my taxes online and found out that I’m in over my head.
I really think that filing my tax return has got to be my least favourite task to do ever. I would almost rather not work and live off the grid just to avoid having to punch in those numbers every spring. I really don’t know anyone who likes to file taxes but I’m not totally sure what it is that people dislike about it. For me it really has nothing to do with money, or the fact it is mundane, or difficult to understand. What it comes down to is this….
Preparing a tax return makes me depressed and anxious. Not because I hate that so much of my hard earned money goes to the government but because I get angry at myself for being so disorganized. I wish I filed papers in one place as soon as I received them. I wish I paid things on time. I wish I contributed better to my retirement, sheltered my money more, hadn’t forgotten my appointment with my financial analyst, kept those receipts…I could go on and on.
As an adult with ADHD who has enough trouble sitting down for an hour to input numbers, filing taxes just makes me feel all around inadequate. This year we need an accountant to help us due to some complexity in our taxes this year. Great, now this is no longer my dirty little secret.
***
This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…
- Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
- Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
- Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
- Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
- Link up your post
- Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.
Stream of Consciousness Sunday: Catch That Boat!
March 6th, 2011
Even before I was pregnant with my first, I always dreamed of having kids and wondered what they would be like. As soon as my son was born I hoped that he would like the things that I liked, but unlike me, who likes to do a lot of things but isn’t very good at anything in particular, I hoped that he would be really good at something. Now that he is 5 I feel a sort of pressure to find this calling. I know that he is so young and that he has many years ahead of him to try various arts, sports and academics, but I can’t help but think of all of the famous athletes and artists and remind myself that they all started “training” at around the age of 5. Today this has all been compounded by the fact that I saw the theatre production of “Billy Elliot”. The story of a young boy whose calling is ballet, an activity that is not naturally acceptable for young boys growing up in Northern England during the great miners strike of the ’80s. What if my son’s calling is ballet? What if it is tennis? What if it is painting or singing or bobsledding? As a parent I want to give my kids the opportunity to be who they want to be, but what if I just miss the boat?
Is being average really such a bad thing?
***
This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…
- Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
- Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
- Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
- Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
- Link up your post
- Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.