I did lose a pound. And, I received a 25-lbs magnet for reaching that milestone. Since officially joining Michael has lost over 5 lbs. He received a bookmark. He lost 2 lbs this week. Later, after breakfast, he told me he ate a box of mozzerella sticks Thursday evening.

I went to Recollections to sort photos. I picked out the photos through February of 2005 for Ben's baby book. I did a test layout page. Turned out okay. I know where I want to make adjustments.

We had dinner with Michael's parents. Dinner was good, we had salmon, broccoli and baked potatoes. His parents know that I'm trying to lose weight so they made a healthy dinner for me. I was doing okay until I had the brownie. I decided since I had the brownie I might as well have a full serving of Maple Nut Goodies. It's Saturday so I have six days until the next weigh-in to recover. That means no pho soup this week.

Benjamin had a good time. He crawled everywhere. He played his favorite game: chase me into the kitchen before I get into the dog's water dish. As we were having dessert, he and Woody (the dog) began to compete for pieces of Michael's brownie.

Tonight, when we "fall back" I get an extra hour of sleep.

2005-10-26 Milestone Reached
This morning, when I got on the scale, I reached a milestone. I am now, only 4 pounds away from what I weighed when Michael and I started dating in 1998. And, I'm only 2 pounds away from my official weight goal.

I'm trying to decide what to do about photo albums I want. I recently discovered, thanks to the helpful staff at Recollections, Kolo albums. I would like a couple for storing prints alone and then a few for memory albums (I hate the word "scrapbook" it sounds so mawkish). I already have a Chatterbox album for Ben's baby book and I have a Stampin' Up! album for myself. I need a wedding album and a family album, and a photobox.

I chose my albums, they are all from Kolo. I want the Newport for a family album, the Newbury for our wedding, and the Havana for photo storage. I might get another Catalina, I'll see what happens when I go through Ben's photos this weekend.

2005-10-27
Last night, in support of my efforts to lose weight, my husband brought me Maple Nut Goodies. A serving a MNG has 200 calories and 7 grams of fat. Thanks, Pooky Bear.

Aaah! The Pooky Bear strikes again. We will possibly meet his parents for Pho tonight.

2005-10-28
We had dinner with Michael's parents last night. Michael and I made a bet that going a mere 200 calories over my daily allotment wouldn't have a detrimental impact on my weight loss milestone. I said it would, he said it wouldn't and bet me a dollar for every tenth of a pound over. I made 6 dollars this morning. That covers the cost of my Friday cappucino.

Today has been a relatively quiet day. I spoke to my Dad. He's on his way to NC for a reunion. Maybe on his way home Wednesday he'll be able to stop and vist Ben at daycare.

Last night at dinner, Michael's parents mentioned getting Ben from daycare on Thursdays and watching him while Michael and I went to dinner. That would be nice.

Weigh-in is tomorrow. I'm hoping I lost a pound.

Last night we had dinner with a Michael's friend. We went to a Japanese restaurant. I ordered udon noodle soup. I know it is supposed to be hot but it was so hot I burned my tongue. Usually the udon soup I get has vegetables in it but this had shrimp and vegetable tempura. It wasn't bad but I wasn't thrilled with it. I ate about half of it. Ben started to get grumpy so I took him outside to play. He would crawl around then look back at me to see if I was going to chase him. Whenever women would pass by, he would sit down, look up at them and start to smile. He's a total chick magnet.
I weighed myself this morning. Not too bad. Hopefully at weigh-in I will remain steady instead of gaining weight. It hasn't been a good week for me. Michael and I went out to dinner a couple of times and we went out to a deli for lunch Tuesday.
I went to the gym at lunch. I forgot my heart rate monitor (again). I still had a good workout. I went for 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer. About a 6 weeks ago I could barely finish without my heart rate going above the aerobic zone. Now, not only do I stay in my zone, I have to work hard to keep it from dropping into the temperate zone. This week I increased weight and sets but decreased reps. I feel like I'm getting more of a workout. I'll continue like this for 4 weeks then increase to 4 sets per exercise.
I spoke to a cousin who wanted to see pictures of Ben.

After 14 months, I finally cleaned off the loveseat in the family room. I basically threw away everything on it that was mine. The things that belonged to Michael I took upstairs.

Michael picked Ben up from daycare and took him to Home Depot while I accomplished some cleaning. I was also able to get all of his new clothes washed. Just in time for the cooler weather. This weekend I hope to get his carseat installed. I need to get it done. One, he too big for the old seat and two, yesterday I tried to put him in it while he was wearing a jacket and he barely fit.

Today was another co-worker's last day. I hate saying, "Good-bye" to people. There is some good news, I might be able to fill the reporting position internally.

And, in other big news I decided on a color scheme for my album. And, I'm going to base it on the journal Mom: Between Me and You.

2005-OCT-11
Cindy's last day was Friday so now I'm tasked with doing the weekly reports until I can find a replacement. They aren't difficult but they are tedious. Reports are emailed and saved to four different places. I am overwhelmed.

I'm supposed to have lunch with my friend Mark today. The last time we were supposed to meet for lunch (about 4 years ago) I got lost. This place should be easier to find.

The book club looks like it's not going to make it. We can't agree on a day to meet. Between everyone's classes, families, and jobs we all seem to be busy on various days of the week. If we can't get together this month I might suggest giving it a break until next spring.

I feel bad. Instead of eating low fat popcorn I ate gummy worms.

2005-OCT-12
I paid for those gummy worms. I gained half a pound (okay it was gummy worms and mellowcreme pumpkins). I'm hoping I'm down a pound by weigh-in. I have to be very strict for the next three days.

Ben slept very well last night. Part of it may because Michael came to bed earlier than usual. He usual comes to bed around 1:00 to 1:30AM; it's possible the noise and light wakes Ben up at that time.

Today was a friend's birthday. I called Bev this morning to wish her a happy birthday and catch up on her and her family. She's a busy SAHM (stay-at-home-mom). Her youngest of three is in pre-school. Between Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, soccer, cheerleading and whatever other activities they do, she gets no rest.

I left my wallet in Ben's diaper bag this morning. I don't even have 35 cents to buy a soda. Michael grabbed it but I don't feel like going to his job after work to get it.

This weekend should be exciting. I'm going to make Christmas, Hanukkah, and holiday cards with my M.I.L. on Saturday, and on Sunday I'm going to a vineyard in the afternoon and a play in the evening.

Ben woke up at around 8 this morning. He had another rough night. He woke up at 3:30AM. He wasn't hungry, but he didn't want to sleep. He ate a little of his bottle, but when Michael brought him back to his crib he spit it up.
I think he's approaching the "living on air" stage. He ate very little today. A little bit of a waffle and sausage patty for breakfast. He barely touched his burger and applesauce for lunch. I don't recall him finishing a full bottle today.
After breakfast, we went out for my usual Sunday morning cappucino. I took him to the gym at 11. I worked out for an hour on the elliptical trainer while he played in the Kidz Club. When we got home I fixed lunch for us. After that, I put him down for a nap while I took a shower. He slept for about 2 hours. I took a nap myself. Michael woke us up around 3PM.
We left at about 3:45. We stopped at a local Pho restaurant to pick up something to eat during the game. His parents had pizza, Michael ate some but I wanted something a little lighter. Ben got to a point where he was grumpy and tired but wouldn't go to sleep. He fell asleep in the car on the way back home. Michael had to wake him up to give him a bath. I gave him a "knock-out" bottle. Then Michael tried to put him down for the night. He didn't feel like sleeping. We let him play then put him back down again. He cried for about 10 minutes then fell asleep.

San Francisco

One thing to consider before moving to San Francisco (http://www.sfgate.com/earthquakes/).

This isn't fair

I lift weights 3 times a week, try to do at least 3 hours of cardio work, try to stick as close as possible to my weight loss plan and I eke out a couple of pounds lost at weigh-in. This includes finding the lightest clothes I have and taking off my shoes. Michael practically eats whatever he wants whenever he wants (on Tuesday he ate a whole Cosi TBM sandwich for lunch and for dinner Wednesday he had a salad, entree, and part of my dessert) and still loses a pound. I love him and I'm happy for him, I'm jealous, I would like to eat like that.

I exaggerate, weigh-in was actually very good for me. I am now down 22 pounds; I still have 18 to lose but as long as I see progress I'm happy.

After weigh-in, Michael and I went to a bagel shop for breakfast. Ben, who I thought would be hungry, was in a good mood. I hollowed out a bagel for him, and fed him a jar of rice cereal with apples and bananas. When we got home. We played a little then I went to the gym. In about an hour I have to leave to get my hair done.

Wasting Time

Ben had a rough night. He woke up three times. I think it was partially hunger, he ate some of the daycare food, but he didn't have any jar food to supplement. Other than that he had bottles during the day. I usually fix him something more substantial for dinner but we went out so I broght a bottle and a jar of baby food. He finished a bottle, had some bread, and ate a 1/4 of the sweet potatoes. It probably wasn't enough for him. He woke up at around 1:30AM and Michael fed him a bottle. He woke up again around 3:30AM, I think that was because of congestion. I gave him half a dropper of Pediacare then he went back to sleep. Then he woke up again around 5:30AM. That time I fed him a bottle then put him back down. He also fussed alot last night. Of course, he looked like an angel this morning as he slept in his crib while Michael and I got ready for work. I think he has a sensor that wakes him only when Michael and I want to sleep.

I told myself I wasn't going to do it but I weighed myself anyway. It wasn't too bad. I gained about half a pound. What probably put me over was eating the bread (no I'm not a low-carb nut, I just heard that eating bread dipped in oil could add as much as 700 calories to a meal), and having key lime pie. If I stay on track for the rest of the week, and don't eat too much sushi tomorrow, I should have a good showing at the weigh-in Saturday.

For the past week I've been looking at the San Francisco Chronicle food section (http://www.sfgate.com). They were profiled last week on Splendid Table. The segment introduction mentioned that the food sections in many local papers usually just pull recipe feeds and food article off the wire. The Chronicle's section is very well written. Makes me want to visit San Francisco even more. I think our local food section is good also. Recently they started a wine tasting & food pairings column just like the Chronicle's.

The next house we move into, I really want my dream kitchen. This will include an Aga cooker, a food prep station, either Vermont Soapstone or Silestone counters, a walk-in butler's pantry, and the deepest sink I can find. Either a side-by-side or an "upside down" refrigerator would be cool. We're lucky enough to have good farmers' markets and wineries in the area. I might even decide to cook every once in a while.

Diet Busters (aargh!)

I try so hard to be good and lose weight but there is so much temptation. Michael's parents invited us to Bonefish Grill for dinner. Okay, I can have the grilled ahi tuna and steamed vegetables and avoid the scale tomorrow. So, I'm feeling good about that, might go a little over my calorie allotment but I won't go overboard. That was until I was in the middle of a meeting and someone decides to bring candy. Who doesn't like candy? So, I had a mini-pack of Rolos.
To top it off we are taking Cindy out for sushi on her last day Friday.
Weigh-in is not going to be good.

My typical day...

Ben woke up at about 5AM this morning. I think what woke him up was his cough but he decided since he was up he may as well get something to eat. I fed him a bottle and put him back in his crib. He didn't fuss at all. I got about another hour of sleep before I had to get up and get ready for work.

I woke up at about 7AM (okay, more like 7:18 after hitting snooze twice). Of course I weighed myself. The scale didn't budge. As hungry as I am, when I get on the scale I should lose at least .2 lbs a day. I better see some results tomorrow morning or I'm going to eat a pound of fudge.

So, I get a call from a headhunter wanting to fill a position that just opened under me. These people are like sharks, a little blood in the water and they start to circle. How many times do I have to say "the requisition has not been approved, I can't do phone screens yet"? They always talk like there is a sense of urgency. I didn't like them during the tech boom when they tried to get me into companies and I like them even less now that I have a position to fill.

a re-enactment of phone calls with my husband:

HB: Hi, Pooky Bear.

PB: Hi, HB... (Hey, you looking for me?) Let me call you back.

This happens several times in a day. Sometimes, I don't even get that. There are times he calls and hangs up on me when I answer the phone.

Weight Loss

The weight loss plan I've been on since the end of June is working very well. So far I have lost a little under 20 pounds. I just added weight training to my routine, so I now have 3 weight training sessions and three hours of cardio a week. I using the routines found in The Body Sculpting Bible for Women. Right now I'm in the first stage of the "break-in" routine -- it lasts about 6 weeks. I am hoping to eventually progress to the advanced routine in about 10 more weeks. I found Sally Edwards' Heart Zone Training:... to be a great book for putting together a routine for cardio fitness.