progress!

Three and a half weeks into this Biggest Loser Challenge, I've already lost 12 lbs. and with all the excercise I'm doing, I can definitely feel the difference in the way my clothes fit. But with 60+ pounds to lose, I wouldn't expect anyone else to notice any difference yet.

This morning at breakfast, I noticed 6 yr.old Granddaughter staring intently at my stomach as I sat there sort of hunched over (not a good pose for someone with too much tummy) and I thought "Uh oh...what's coming...?"

"MIMI!! You are getting un-fatter!!"

I LOVE THAT GIRL!! She could tell I was "un-fatter" after only 12 lbs.!

WOO! HOO!.......progress and validation already, with 11 1/2 more weeks still to go!

I CAN DO THIS!!!

What does a swamp taste like?

I'm not really sure when it happened, but somehow I've become the official Birthday Cake Maker for all the Grandkids Birthdays. It's not because I have any special talent in this area, as you'll see in a minute, I just have no fear of making a cake that might end up looking ridiculous! I alway do my best to make each child EXACTLY the cake they were envisioning, and so far every 3-4-5-6 year old has been very pleased with the results. I'm pretty sure their age has something to do with it, though, since the 2 biggest girls now ask for things like Caramel Apple Cheesecake.....no possibility of a cake decorating embarassement there!

Here, I'll show you what I mean.......and before any of you mention Cake Wrecks, it's already one of my favorite blogs, and besides, the cakes on there are all professional cakes so mine don't qualify (thank goodness)

3 yr. old Grandson asked for a scary dinosaur.....

What? You don't think a light blue dino with pink candy corn teeth is scary? Well, Grandson LOVED it! It was obviously what his little 3 yr.old self had in mind.....

When he turned 4...... Monkey Cupcakes. He loved those,too, even though I decorated them while they were still in the muffin pan and they didn't look quite so "good" when we tried to take them out without destroying them.

I think these Flip-Flop cakes were for a 7 yr.old. I remember she was very impressed with my "decorating skills"! (?)

No, this is not a Kangaroo face, it's a pony.......

A flock of Butterfly Cakes

This one actually came out looking like a kitty!

And now for what prompted this post in the first place: Grandson turned 5 this past week. Together we came up with the idea of a swamp cake! And what's better than helping with the decorating of your own Birthday Cake!

I'll give you a tour of our "Swamp"....... chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting, covered with oreo crumb "dirt". The green frosting swamp is surrounded with chocolate "rocks" and has gummi frogs swimming near green fruit leather "swamp grass". There are gummi worms, snails, slugs, and caterpillars crawling in the dirt.



Our Masterpiece!

Just what a 5 yr. old boy wanted! A creepy, swampy (and delicious!) cake!

Happy Birthday!!

Ethan

Bethan

Wheat Thin
Ethie-boy

...Love, Mimi

Dear Gram.....

Dear Gram: (from Grace)

Why are you such a nice Great-Grandma? I really like that you give us all such good gift cards for presents. I forgot about the one you gave me for Christmas for the craft store, but Mimi remembered, so today she took me to Joann's.

They have such good stuff at that store! It was really hard to decide. You know how much I love crafts!

Mimi had some good coupons so I got to pick three things. I picked some princess magnets to paint and a Barbie paint-with-water book.

AND, they have really pretty colored poster board with different colors on each side. I don't know what I'm going to do with it but I know I'll think of something!

Thank you Gram for helping me be a crafty girl..............Love, Grace

Kudos to all you Fireman

I think Fireman are amazing for all the obvious reasons.

And my Dad was a Fireman, so I grew up around Fireman and their families, Fire Stations, and Fire Department activities, so I guess I'm a little biased anyway........

After our workout at the fire station last night (see previous post) I am now not only amazed, but absolutely in awe of what these guys do to stay in shape!

They had us running while dragging fire hoses, carrying heavy jugs of water, and stacking and unstacking coils of hose, among many other "activities".

Parts of my body that I thought had abandoned me long ago are screaming at me this morning! If I didn't have an important meeting at work today I would have stayed home "sick" and moaned all day.

All I have to say to all of you FIREMAN out there who do a much harder version of all this on a regular basis is: YOU ROCK!!!

am I a Big Loser?

I am not a joiner.

I often read about groups or activities that make me think "That sounds like fun! I think maybe I'd like to be part of that."....but I never do anything about it.....Partly because I am not very social with people I don't already know. I'm just not comfortable getting to know new people, especially in a group.....but mostly because I HATE having a commitment to being somewhere on a weekly basis! And it's not about what the commitment is for, either. For instance, I really enjoy Women's Bible Study, but I DO NOT enjoy the commitment of having to be somewhere every Wed. night at 6:30. I have a full time job, 4/10 hour days a week, and that is enough regular commitment for me.

Soooo....how is it, then, that I have found myself being a part of THIS?:

THE VALLEY'S BIGGEST LOSER

My new Doctor, who, by the way, has turned out to be the best decision I've made in a long time, strongly suggested that I participate, "that I was a perfect candidate".

So I now find myself, against every fiber of my being, committed to something 4 TIMES A WEEK for the next 15 weeks!! .....with 200 STRANGERS!! divided in to 4 teams. AND I'M SUPPOSED TO GET TO KNOW MY TEAMMATES REALLY, REALLY WELL so we can support each other during this huge endeavor.

Well, I'm certainly giving this all my best effort and attitude. The ultimate goal, besides weight loss, is a lifestyle change, a healthy lifestyle. I am 52 years old and overweight by 60+ pounds that are starting to cause several health problems, so I don't have time anymore to wait around for a magic solution. There is no more room in my life for procrastination on this issue!! (how's that for effort and attitude?)

Monday nights are Nutrition/Life Coaching seminars.

Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings are fitness workouts, often with team challenges. If you've ever seen the T.V. show, the coaches are taking notes from the show to use for our workouts. Last Saturday we met at the Mall and the coaches made a competition of which team could speed walk the most laps around the Mall in 30 minutes. Tonight we are meeting at a fire station where the Firemen are going to put us through their "recruit conditioning"! AAACK! (I am very afraid...)

And every Saturday morning is an official weigh-in.....oh happy day! Absolute torture for someone who avoids the scale at all costs!...But I'm happy to report that after the first week I'm already down 6 pounds! YAY! Nothing like positive reinforcement to keep the momentum going! Only 13 1/2 more weeks to go!

I can't say that I've made any new friends yet, but I've made it to 6 meetings in the last week and a half!

I don't believe in the saying, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks", so I'm going to do my darndest to get over my fear of socializing with new people and my hatred of weekly commitments..........

GO TEAM ORANGE!!!