Bosc pear = wood chips

Change from beginning of program: -5.8 LBs
Goal: 38 LBs to go
Activity: 1 hour pulling weeds
Temptation: cheesy burrito and baked potato (different meals - thank gawd)
Fruit and veg: 3

With decluttering, the State Fair, and prepping for Rome, I have fallen out of the habit of writing. Time to get back into it!

Breakfast: Pumpernickel with hummus. Bosc pear - my first one ever. I love pears. I like them best when they are crunchy. But this pear took "crunchy" to a new level. Eating it was like eating slivers of wood. I gave up when my jaws wore out.

Then I had some brownie.

Lunch: Chips and salsa. Seafood burrito that was very very cheesy. In other words, delicious!

Afternoon snack: Three Reeses minis.

Dinner: Giant loaded baked potato. Raspberries. Two homemade chocolate chip macadamia cookies.

Evening snack: Lime sherbet and Fresca float.

In between all this, I spent an hour sweating and pulling about a million weeds. And then watching the first episode of "Flash Forward" at www.abc.com. And then watching "Glee" on TV. "Glee" is wickedly funny...and KristenChenowith was a great guest star as a drunken slut. She asked a student for some Nyquil, because "I need a pickup." In other words, my role model.

Clutter, cheese, and chocolate

Change from beginning of program: -7.0 LBs
Goal: 38 LBs to go
Activity: decluttering
Temptation: cheese with every meal
Fruit and veg: 2

Breakfast: Leftover capellini pomodoro from the Olive Garden last night. With fresh parmesan - lots of it - and a breadstick.

Worked at home today because I could get to a stopping point on the clutter clean-up while on calls. I made it to that point, but I still have a long way to go. I could not face it tonight. Next week, back to the grind.

Lunch: Pimento cheese sandwich on pumpernickel and a pear.

Snack: Skittles

Dinner: Pizza Hut delivery. Thin and crispy veggie lover's. Six (that's right, six) slices.

I had some batter from the brownies I made for the Ghirardelli contest at the State Fair on Saturday. They taste like winners to me!

Memory Lane

Change from beginning of program: -6.6 LBs
Goal: 38 LBs to go
Activity: decluttering
Temptation: cheese and wine
Fruit and veg: 1?

Breakfast: half a pimento cheese sandwich on pumpernickel

Morning snack: brownies that I made last night

Lunch: Mexican food, including many chips with salsa, 1 1/2 cheese enchiladas, and about half of the rice and black beans that came with the enchiladas. And some guac.

Dinner: pinot grigio and Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp on Triscuits (at about 10:00). I had spent the evening cleaning closets and strolling down memory lane. I must have kept EVERY letter or card I ever got since I graduated from high school. I'm now culling through them and finding some real gems.

This is gonna take a while...

Get outta here

Drugs? Being used for medical treatments?

What is the world coming to?

Oh yeah...that's why drugs were invented - to make people feel better.

Bronzer on my roots

Yep.

You read that right.

My roots are out of control. I have not had time to cover them in dye this week. So tonight, before going to eat the best food ever, I put bronzer on to cover them.

It actually worked.

I'll be doing the same thing tomorrow (and every day until I can get 90 minutes to dedicate to dye).

The best food ever - part 4

Change from beginning of program: -6.4 LBs
Goal: 38 LBs to go
Activity: eating
Temptation: the best food in the world - and wine
Fruit and veg: 4

Sometimes I wonder why I'm not losing weight.

Then I remember that I have eaten at the best restaurant ever 4 times in about as many weeks.

Tonight, it was to celebrate a friend's 40th birthday. While I brought home most of the dessert and about half of my entree, I ate the entire appetizer (crab claws drowned in a butter sauce) and had half a bottle of wine. Plus another glass of wine with dessert. Plus another glass of wine when I got home.

But - damn - that food was good.

I've still got it

Change from beginning of program: -6.2 LBs
Goal: 38 LBs to go
Activity: wrapping Christmas presents
Temptation: nothing
Fruit and veg: 5

I'm still in shock. A waiter gave me his phone number and told me that he wasn't married.

I have been going to this restaurant about once a week for a few months. My book and I went to lunch today, and a waiter that I have had a few times greeted me by name and told me that he would be taking care of me.

He told me that he would not be working at this restaurant for much longer and that he would tell me later where he was going. Then before I left, he wrote his phone number on a business card and handed it to me. And told me that he wasn't married.

This has not happened to me in so long that I did not know how to react. I just smiled and nodded. Then got into my car and wondered what brought that on.

It's good to know that someone still finds me attractive.

Or maybe he's a serial killer, and I'm his typical target.

Oh well...

Obviously, I had Mexican food for lunch. I had a pear dipped in fat free caramel dip for dinner. Normal breakfast and only 2 Reeses minis and a banana at work.

The allergies are not as bad today. I had enough energy to start wrapping Christmas presents. Now I need to take out a loan to ship them.

These are a few of my favorite things - cosmetics and beer

Change from beginning of program: -4.8 LBs
Goal: 39 LBs to go

Activity: 1 hour in the yard

Temptation: brownies, beer
Fruit and veg: 4

Breakfast: pumpernickel with hummus, brownie

Lunch: Mexican - chips and salsa and green sauce, cheese enchilada, bean tostada, guacamole, some rice and beans

Dinner: whole wheat spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce, parmesan cheese

Evening snack: brownie, 5 beers, handful of Skittles

Bigfoot gave the baseball tickets back, so I was able to skip the game. My beer was much cheaper at home.

Instead of going to a sporting event, I went to Neimans to get an Estee Lauder gift with purchase.

The yard work was therapeutic. I fertilized, watered, hoed up weeds, and turned a lot of dirt in the compost pile. I must have lost 5 pounds of sweat. Which I sucked back in with the beer.

Watched the latest episode of my new favorite show - Glee. You must watch it.

No sleep + meetings = grumpy Pink

Change from beginning of program: -3.4 LBs
Goal: 40 LBs to go

Activity: 1.5 miles/31 minutes on the treadmill

Temptation: brownies
Fruit and veg: 3

Days after drinking are a challenge because I seem to be much hungrier.

It didn't help that we were awoken at 3:00 a.m. by a persistent chirping sound. It was coming from the ceiling fan, but Bigfoot insists (still) that it was a bug in the attic making the noise. Something chirped every time the fan made a rotation, and the chirping stopped when we turned the fan off. But there's no way that the fan was making the noise.

I gave up and slept in the other room.

Then I overslept - on a day where I was doing a presentation at 8:00. What a way to start the day.

My PC took a full 25 minutes to boot up and be fully functional. The presentation went fine, but I had another seven (seven!!) meetings, including one at 4:30 - and I did not even need to be there. I don't know why the VP invited me to that meeting because it had NOTHING to do with my job.

I love my job.

Breakfast: pumpernickel and hummus, peanut M&Ms

Morning snack: Three Reeses minis. I got these at Target along with some of the newly remastered Beatles CDs. Sadly, I was unable to listen to those CDs because I was on the freakin' phone ALL DAY.

Lunch: cheese sandwich on rye and a few chips

Dinner: Leftover veggies from the best restaurant in the world

Evening snack: brownies. A visiting manager asked me if I was planning on baking anything while he was in town. Sounds like a big hint to me...

Tomorrow: another Astros game. So I can have something salty and beer, ice cream and beer, Skittles and beer, and beer and beer. Woo-hoo!

Good start, crap finish

Change from beginning of program: -4.6 LBs
Goal: 38 LBs to go

Activity: walking around baseball stadium, looking for someone to give an extra ticket to

Temptation: Skittlebrau
Fruit and veg: 4

Breakfast: One slice pumpernickel with hummus, strawberries

Morning snack: Two 3 Musketeers minis

Lunch: The best food in the world (at Churrasco's - the best restaurant in Houston). Fried plantain chips with churrasco sauce and papaya sauce. Salad with the house dressing - a creamy cilantro wonder. Entree of the most tender beef, covered in a creamy jalapeno sauce. Sides - grilled carrots, grilled zucchini, and a bit of rice.

At 4:45, I got in the car and literally had some Astros tickets thrown into my lap. So I went to a baseball game tonight (and didn't get to any of the 900 things on my to-do list). Baseball games are NOT good for my diet. I had nachos and beer, then Skittles and beer, then a helmet sundae and beer, then just beer. When I got home, I had more beer, and strawberries.

One positive note - when I ordered the helmet sundae, I asked for one scoop of vanilla and one scoop of chocolate. The server told me that I was entitled to three scoops of ice cream, but I stuck to my guns and had just two.

Big freakin' woo...

Tomorrow is another day...and another chance to overeat...

Nacho average weekend

Change from beginning of program: -4.6 LBs
Goal: 38 LBs to go

Activity: 1 mile on the treadmill, plus ironing

Temptation: peanut M&Ms
Fruit and veg: 5

The long weekend was pretty uneventful. I did manage to get to two movies and to read most of a good book. And I was able to sleep. Aahhh, wonderful sleep.

Ate at Chuy's twice (by myself - with a book) both times. All other meals and snacks were consumed within the confines of the Mobud Manor.

I've been in a weird place with meals for a while now. I don't know what I want for dinner, so I graze. And I crave chocolate something fierce. Rather than breaking down and buying some of the good stuff, I eat just about everything else in the house. But if I buy the good stuff, it will call me and I'll eat it all. If I don't have it in the house, I end up eating a lot of things that don't satisfy me. I had the peanut M&Ms in the house because I had some coupons for free packages. I cannot say "no" to something that is both chocolate and free.

Observation: I have been drinking more than usual for the past several weeks, including Friday night. Since then, I haven't had the urge to drink. I also have not been to work since then. I can only conclude that work is driving me to drink.

I have gotten lazy about tracking my food, so here is today's log:

Breakfast: 1 slice pumpernickel with hummus

Lunch: Chuy's - chips and salsa, bean and cheese nachos with guacamole, lettuce, and tomatoes

Afternoon snack: Fiber One pop tart

Dinner: squash and pear

Evening snack: peanut M&Ms

Tomorrow will challenging because I'll be cramming 5 day's worth of work into 4 days in the office. Ugh.

It Might Get Loud

The most appropriately titled movie I have seen in a while is It Might Get Loud. I am a big fan of The Edge, and who can deny that Jimmy Page is one of the greatest guitarists ever? Jack White - not so much, but he was entertaining.

I was disappointed to learn that The Edge gets his distinctive sound from pedals, amps, and other technology. I thought he was just that talented that he could make all of those sounds on his own. But I loved seeing him explain it all.

The review in the local newspaper gave this movie 1.5 stars (out of 4). I'm glad I didn't believe them. It was a very fun movie.

This is why I don't work from home full time

Change from beginning of program: -4.4 LBs
Goal: 39 LBs to go

Activity: supervising workmen

Temptation: pizza, beer (not at the same time)
Fruit and veg: 0 - nada - zip - zero - nothing - goose egg - embarrassing!

When I work from home, I'm often "working" from home.

Today, I actually worked and I got a lot done.

But the main reason I don't want to "work" from home full time is that I would soon weigh 300 pounds. Easy access to the kitchen is not a good thing.

When I get frustrated, I eat. When I'm working, I get frustrated a lot.

I managed to eat a whole lot of crap today.

Breakfast: I started the morning with 2 Fiber One pop tarts.

Morning snack: Handful of chocolate chips.

Lunch: Pizza delivery. 3 slices of thin crust veggie lovers pizza. 3 breadsticks with creamy Italian dressing.

Dinner: 2 slices of pizza. 6 beers.

And I wonder why my intestines are unhappy with me.

On the bright side, I have a nice new bathroom sink. And I have replaced every window in the house. It took more than a year, but they are done. Now I just need to replace the carpet, paint the interior, completely redo the master bath, etc. etc.

It never ends.

I'm gonna live forever

My strategy of keeping my body well padded is going to pay off!

I am weak.

Change from beginning of program: -4.4 LBs
Goal: 39 LBs to go

Activity: drinking

Temptation: wine
Fruit and veg: 4

I know I'm weak.

Breakfast: Multi-grain bread with hummus. Blueberries. Reeses peanut butter cup and two 3 Musketeers minis at work.

Morning snack: Two cups of green tea. Anything that tastes that bad has to be good for me.

Lunch: Salad with pecan-crusted tilapia. Balsamic vinaigrette on the side. Delicious!

Dinner: I called a meeting at a wine bar. Had two glasses of wine there and some cheese and crackers. At home, more wine (prosecco) and hummus on multi-grain bread. And string cheese. And a pear dipped in fat-free caramel sauce.

Why can't I let the chocolate go?
Why do I love wine so much?

Not normally a fan of tattoos, but

Dave Navarro is the exception to my no-tattoo rule.

Dang - he is hot!

And he can play the guitar quite well. For me. Anytime.

I (heart) Brett Far-va-ra

Change from beginning of program: -3.2 LBs
Goal: 41 LBs to go

Activity: 1 mile on the treadmill - hey, it's a start

Temptation: candy
Fruit and veg: 5

I went to the Texans game last night to see my would-be boyfriend, Brett Favre (who kicked the Texans' ass, by the way).

Football game = way too much beer

Way too much beer = overeating the following day

Still puffy, but not as much.

Breakfast: Multi-grain bread with hummus. Watermelon.

Morning snack: 1 Reeses peanut butter cup and 1 Almond Joy log. In other words, a total of an entire candy bar.

Lunch: I needed cheese. Lots of cheese. So I headed to a Mexican restaurant and ordered a combo dinner with a cheese enchilada, bean tostada, rice, beans, and guacamole. I had a boatload of chips before the meal arrived. And I nearly choked myself laughing while reading The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Dinner: Tomato. Then whole wheat angel hair pasta with light butter and lots of parmesan cheese. And watermelon.

Craving chocolate, but nothing suitable in the house.

Have sworn off alcohol until the weekend. But I will have a beer tomorrow at a work happy hour. So I guess I haven't really sworn off alcohol. Oh well.