Biggest Loser

So I’ve been in a biggest loser contest since February and was actually in the lead for a few weeks…but not the last few. Ever since vacation I can’t seem to budge much on the scale. My clothes are fitting better but my weight isn’t going down. Maybe I’m building too much leg muscle? Oh well, I plan to work out again on the elliptical during Survivor- at least 45 minutes and 600 calories to burn.

Last night we had David, Lydia, Bryan and Kendra over for dinner. Josh grilled out BBQ chicken, cut up a pineapple and I made broccoli, baked beans, cheese bread and key lime pie. Most was actually store bought but that is ok, I thought it was good for the most part. We didn’t do anything but talk, which was fine as that’s how you get to know people better. The night before that was the Pregnancy Care Banquet- much better than last year and I won a Macy’s basket at the Silent Auction! Mom went with me which was nice, I think she had a good time too.

Not much else to report on- need more motivation for work!

Spring Time!

The nice weather has finally settled in here in Cincy, or so I think. Josh and I had an ok week- Rod came over for dinner on Wed since Amy was in PA, Thurs was small group with D&B and D&L and Friday I got see friends from High School. Holly, Jenny and I met at TGI Fridays and caught up on life. We all three are in different places yet it was pretty easy to pick up conversation which is always nice with people you haven’t seen in awhile. I met Kyler- cutest little boy I have ever seen! He didn’t like his high chair but if I was him I don’t think I would either;-)

Saturday I rode another 20 miles with Dr Wanat and a group of 11 people total I think. It was windy but a little easier than last week so I hope it keeps getting easier and easier. For lunch Josh and I ate Chipotle and then rescued Mom whose car must have over/heated. We got the car going and took her home. Shortly after I left for Kings Isalnd where I met David and Lydia and two of her other friends. I rode the new Diamondback coaster- very fun! I decided I like the steel much better than wood for coasters. Josh was gone at a work Wii party so dinner was on my own. When he got home we went over to David’s and watched Chaingling with Dan and Beth, and a few other of David’s friends. We didn’t leave until almost 2! oh what a long day Saturday was.

Sunday was nice too- we didn’t get up for church unfortunately. But Josh went to Best Buy and got a good deal on some PS3 games. I went to WM and bought protein bars and a few other things I needed for my workouts. We did lot of yard work today- I used weed be gone on the whole yard and Josh and I tilled a few patches of dirt to plant new grass seed. We are having smoothies for dinner…nothing else sounds good.

Oh what a weekend (so far!)

Today was a great day- exhausting yet rewarding. I got up very early for a Saturday because I needed to be at the Wanat’s by 8. I went bike riding with several people today as a training ride for the MS150 bike race I am doing at the end of August. In brief, it is a weekend ride where you bike 75 miles one day and then 75 miles the next. Before today the most I had ridden a bike was about 3 miles…today’s ride was 20! I went all over Lakota/Morrow area, even up near Trader’s World but not all the way. The highlight of the ride was seeing baby cows and horses in a pasture. It was a great experience and I look forward to more rides this summer.

Yesterday was also fun, the aftenoon was slow at work but once 4:30 hit I left for Megan’s house. We met up with Sara and a few other people to play Frisbee golf. After 9 holes we went to Heidi’s for dinner because Twix was in town. We went for a walk around Fairview before I headed out early due to my early Saturday morning I was expecting. All it all it was fun.

For Saturday night, Beth and I went to TGI Fridays and 17 Again- it was a good movie and I would recommend it.

Clumsy!

I was working from home yesterday and while moving from the upstairs to downstairs I slipped and fell on the stairs. I was a little shaken yesterday but it didn’t hurt too bad. Unfortunately today was a different story. I went to work and almost immediately had a lot of pain in my back, hip and rear. I made it through work but came home and took some pain meds so now I feel fine. Oi, I need to be more careful! I can’t handle any more injuries.

Not much else to report on- Dan and Beth came over for dinner last night and then Beth and I went to Starbucks. That was enjoyable:-) I am hoping to go for a bike ride with Beth tomorrow and an even bigger ride on Saturday! Please body heal quickly.

Happy Easter!

What a beautiful morning! This weekend has a been a bit rough but all in all enjoyable. On Saturday night I went to a Bunco fundraiser with Megan for Relay for Life. It was a fun game, very “west side” atmosphere but fun. The Easter Bunny came early last night as Josh and I were talking and I noticed a Reese’s egg in my magazine bin. He had a funny look on his face and then told me there were others. I went on an Easter Egg hunt around the house and found 9 total Reese’s Eggs- my favorite! I happened to get a glimpse of my Easter basket too but retreated upstairs instead of opening it. I quickly set-up Josh’s basket without him knowing and we let the Easter bunny come at 1 AM since it was now officially Easter. He got me hair bands, 12 pairs of socks!, lots of bath salts, m&ms, only a little bit of candy, and bubble bath. It was perfect, all of my favorite little things. I got him slim jims, monster energy drinks, a book he wanted, snickers eggs, some jelly beans, and peeps. It was a fun exchange.

We got ready for church for the 10:00 service but didn’t make it out the door on-time. We are now getting ready to go to the 11:30 service which hopefully is less crowded. We’ll see.

We were going to head to Lima today but between my finger and his head cold, 4 hours driving wouldn’t be pleasant. We will spend Easter at home together instead.

Happy Easter everyone!

It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to…

So this past Wed was my 25th birthday. I was hoping to make this one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had and it was shaping up to be a pretty good one. I took the day off work so I’d have plenty of time to prepare food for some 30 people that were coming over that evening for a cookout. I spent lots of time planning a menu, looking at recipes and wanted to make sure everyone had a good time. Well as I was preparing vegetables for shish kabobs, my finger slipped down a squash and mandolined itself in my mandolin slicer. The ironic part of this (and Josh agrees with this definition of irony for once) is that I was using the slicer to be more careful. I have cut myself in art class, carving pumpkins, cutting veggies, using an apple slicer, etc etc and have needed stitches in several fingers. Well, my birthday proved no different.

Around 2:30 in the afternoon I called Josh, Mom, and Dad to find someone to take me to the hospital or at least come over and give an opinion. Dad left the grocery store to come to my aid and about the same time Casey called and also came to rescue me. I am very proud of myself for not passing out in this whole ordeal! We got to the hospital around 3:25 and saw a doctor within an hour in the ER waiting area. I thought, “Great! I will be home soon.” The front nurse even said I should be home by 6 for my party. Well 5 o’clock, came around and I was still in the main waiting room. Argh! A little after 6 a bed finally opened and I went to the back ER room – “Yay, treatment should be soon!” A nurse came to see me pretty quickly but she couldn’t do anything, I needed a PA. Well luckily there was a shift change at 7 and I was going to be his first patient- my party started at 6 so at least now I thought I might get out of there by 8. The PA came in to see me, and told me I didn’t need stitches. What the heck? Why couldn’t the doctor have told me that 3 hours ago?!?! Oh because the doctor wanted a second opinion from a PA? I see now. (What a retarded hospital) Anyway, he numbs my finger and they come to clean it in a span of 15 minutes or so. But after I sit there numb they don’t come back to stitch it up for another hour. By this time it is 8:30 and all day light for my party is over. I went through a few periods of hysterics because I was so mad to be missing my birthday. Everyone in that hospital knew it was my birthday and probably not in a good way. My chart probably said “whiny, cries a lot and it’s her birthday”. In hindsight I feel a little bit bad for acting this way and even told the PA that he probably thought I was 5 instead of 25 but I didn’t care at that moment, I was just so upset with myself and the hospital for telling me ‘I am next” for 4 hours. Time just kept ticking away…

When I finally got home around 9ish with four new stitches in my finger, most of my friends were still there. Unfortunately I missed a few people and my parents which made me sad as some people had a 30 minute+ drive which is no fun on a week night. But, when I got there i had assistance removing my hospital bracelet as I was not allowed to use the scissors…probably a wise move. I had some food that was still there, Megan made a few amazing dips and my mom’s fruit salad was delicious. We hung out for a bit, lit up the cupcake tree with candles and I enjoyed my party for about an hour until people needed to leave. Megan stayed behind to help me clean up and put up leftovers.

I realized in all of this that I should probably be a little more patient with things and that the best b-day present I got was a lot of helpful friends. Dad told me people showed up early to finish getting everything set-up and ready for the party. You can’t go through life without good friends and I am so very thankful for all of the friends I have and my wonderful family. Without my dad, there would have been little food at the party and my kitchen would not have been cleaned up so well 2 days later!! So Thanks to Mom and Dad for their help with the party and the clean-up.

Back to Blogging

Flowers in our front garden

Flowers in our front garden

What a busy weekend. Josh and I have spent a lot of time working on our yard this weekend. We haven’t done anything for the yard since we bought the house with the exception of the flower bulbs I planted last fall. Therefore our yard needed a little TLC and still does. On Saturday I spent a good portion of the afternoon removing weeds and cleaning debris out of the landscaped corner of our yard. Josh spent time removing branches and mowing the lawn. I learned that leaves that aren’t raked in the fall do not disappear on their own. Rather, they wait for Spring and are even harder to be removed :-(.

Flower garden from the sidewalk

Flower garden from the sidewalk

On Sunday, we went to Natorp, Home Depot and Lowes to pick out Mulch. We settled on Scotts Dark Brown with Color Protection as the color lasts a whole year and should be fade resistant. After mulching a good part of Sunday afternoon we discovered the colors of the different bags did not match 100%…very disappointing. We noticed a little as we went but thought it was a moisture variation so we went on, after all some of the mulch was even frozen. Josh ended up calling Scott’s to complain and they are giving us a full refund! So we will re-mulch to make it all match.As far as the outdoors goes, we also purchased a grill this past week and we’ve been looking at patio sets. The problem is, every set we see we like only seats 4 and we want something for at least 8 people. Guess we’ll have to keep on looking.

My birthday is this week! I went to Hofrahaus to celebrate Jordan’s bithray (he shares my birthday) but we didn’t do an official dual celebration as I am having a birthday party at our house on Wednesday. We will be grilling kabobs and gourmet burgers. Even though it’s going to be frigid, I can’t wait!