It's been such a busy week getting ready for our schedule to change... Matt started his job at my org. Tuesday morning! So odd to have him around. I had all of our food planned for the week on Saturday and even did a bunch of prep over the weekend. Plus the Olympics and 2 EARLY mornings at the office getting some year-end reports done that were due yesterday, and I just could not bring myself to sit down and get the laptop in gear! So here goes as I try to catch up a little:
If you could meet anybody in history, who would it be? What would you ask/tell them?
I'd want to meet my grandparents when they were my age, for sure. And if that doesn't count, I think I'd want to have dinner with Julia Child.
Sorry I haven't been around much. A lot of things are just frustrating me right now and I haven't wanted to talk about it or had the energy to talk about it. Work is busy which is both good and bad. People are tipping horribly with their Groupons and we are all disgusted at their rudeness. We have a sign stating what's on the certificates and they ignore it. It's an insult! The other massage therapist quit today. She will cover my shift Tuesday night but is done after that. We can't seem go get another one to come to work. I've contacted schools and posted messages and one of the other girls has done the same. We will have to be rescheduling a whole lot of massages over the next two months plus I need to change my hours with the school year starting. I sent my boss a long email this morning. She gets back from vacation this weekend and had better get on the phone and find someone. It's a good thing I took certain weekends off in the fall. I have to go through the schedule and see what ones we need to reschedule.
I'm so sorry that you're going through this at work. I've heard that is a really common complaint for businesses that choose to use Groupon. I honestly don't buy them much anymore because I often feel really awkward using them... I don't have the income that I'd need to turn into a repeat customer at most of those places, and I know it's such a loss for the owner of a place and a pain for the staff if there's no real possibility of you turning into a full-paying customer. I really hope that your week went OK and that you feel a little bit better about work and all the other things hanging over your head... hopefully that women's gymnastics last night cheered you up, if nothing else! How cool was that??
What is the healthiest snack you get at Disney? What is your guilty indulgence?
Healthiest snack: I really like the Lighthouse Sandwich (hummus/broccoli slaw) or the Vegetarian Chili at Columbia Harbor House... I like to share regular food as a snack, so I think I'll go with that.
Guilty Indulgence: It's ALWAYS gotta be Dole Whip. Although I haven't gotten a chance to try any of those cupcakes at Starring Rolls... so my answer might change next time I get to go!
(Oh... and yes, obviously I've never been to Disney as a vegan and am not sure that I'll be strict on any further hypothetical vacations I go on for a variety of reasons.)
I'm trying the new dis app on my iPhone & have no clue how to multi-quote
I had about 20 ppl to reply to since I haven't been on for 4 days! Oh well, just know that even though I haven't been on, I've been thinking of everyone.
I like the DIS app! But yes, I never write back on it, only read. Really cumbersome to do something like a multi-quote, I bet, and a little glitchy to boot.
Last week we went to the zoo after I got home but the enjoyable afternoon ended with the truck blowing a tire on a major highway. Luckily we were in the right hand lane and not too far from the shoulder.
I also have to get ready for my trip
I can't believe it is only a couple weeks away. Dh seemed upset that I only bought PH passes and didn't get the water park option but we can always add it on when we get there.
I'm so glad you were OK... that is SO SCARY.
I hope you enjoy packing!! I am so jealous even of the POSSIBILITY of going to a Disney water park, they're actually some of my favorite things at WDW and I'm sitting in a very warm and muggy kitchen at the moment.
Aside fom walking, how else do you get exercise at Disney? Or do you have a special disney related exercise you do? For instance I have Toy Story on Wii. When I am needing exercise and a shot of Disney, I pop that in and play off the pounds.
Ohh man. No I don't exercise (beyond walking) at Disney. So much to do, so little time!
Our little family of 3 has been discussing how to reduce our food bill. We are going to have a "contest" the month of August to see if we can limit our spending on all food and drink to $600. Yes, I do realize this is a pretty generous amount but it breaks down to less than $20 per day to feed 3 people 3 meals and snacks. I have a lot of ideas though. We promised DS any leftover $. He just wants everyone to order from the Mc $ menu
DS will be out of town about 10 days so that should make things easier too. We also plan to use only cash since we are using our cc way too much to eat out. Will be interesting to see how we do and I hope it gets the guys more into meal planning and prep.
This is great! I hope it goes well!! I always find it really hard to budget our food. Smart move with giving the extra to your DS--very motivating!
Please keep us posted on this!
Three years ago I lost my mind and decided I wanted to become a mom all over again. Today is my lil princesses 3rd birthday. So in honor of her birthday, everybody gets to make a wish. No wishing for weightloss, that is a given. So close your eyes, blow out an imaginary candle, and share your wishes.
There is also a party game involved. The ABC's of Disney. See if we can get thru all 26 letters of the alphabet using disney characters. For example A might be Alice, B might be Belle or Beast, C for Cinderella, and so on. I hope you all participate, it makes it more fun.
I'll start 
A for Alice
Aww I missed the party game!!! I wish that our work pool would win the lottery for once on a day when the jackpot is REALLY high. It's crazy--we practice and practice and practice and never get ANY better at winning the lottery!!! You'd think that practice had nothing to do with it...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY little one!!! Oh 3, I loved DD at 3, it is such a great age!!!
My Wish would be.......... That my kids stay healthy and lead active lives into their adulthood. We were actually talking about this yesterday, how they all have aspirations is health and wellness. DS16 wants to be a chef, DS11 wants to be a massage therapist/acupuncturist/chiropractor, DS10 is really into martial arts so he might have a job doing that, and DD6 has become my dietitian. They were talking about starting their own fitness resort, it was funny.
B is for Bernard and Bianca
Congratulations on your big loss last week!
And your kids are just too cool-- esp. your DD6 being your dietician!! I'd love to hear some of her wisdom one of these days...
Happy Tuesday all! Something went terribly wrong with the crockpot French toast and I woke up at 2:30 am to the smell of something burning. In just 4 hours on low the crockpot burned its contents to the point of smoking! If it wasn't MY crockpot I would say it was defective... But I love this crockpot and have never had trouble with it.
Your time at camp just sounds SO lovely--and I was SO impressed to read about your daughter's ombre turquoise layer cake!!! Your daughter really bakes a lot, doesn't she!? Did the cake turn out?
Regarding the crockpot, could it have something to do with the wiring at the cabin/house you're staying at? Our family's lakehouse has some pretty weak/odd electricity and I would imagine that this could theoretically could make something like a crock pot kind of unpredictable in how it heats and behaves. Thank goodness the smell of smoke woke you up though-- how scary.
OK todays question of the day is going to tickle your memories. What is the first ride at a Disney park that you remember going on?
It's tradition in my family to ride It's a Small World first! It was the first ride I rode on the first trip I can remember having gone on when I was in 3rd grade. I'm not sure what ride I went on first when I was 18 mos old though...
Well the good news is, after a few months, my bridesmaid's dress for my best friends wedding fits like a dream. The bad news...when i bought it, it was a little loose. So on the one hand, yay, I don't have to get it fitted, but on the other hand BOOOO I gained weight. I already knew that from the scale, but still, I don't like to SEE it.
The only thing I don't like, is that it's a strapless, so I get that awkward arm flab that hangs over my ****s at the top of the dress. I have 4 weeks till the wedding, so I'm going to look into workouts I can do to target that area.
I've challenged myself to do a little workout routine every night for a month. I do:
40 squats
24 lunges each leg
12 leg lifts each side
24 "mid air" crunches ( I dont know what they are really called)
36 bicycle crunches
36 reverse crunches
It is quite tiring, but not overly so, and im not sore the next day which is important. I figure it's just a small step but if I can do it EVERY night for a month that means something. Anyone have any advice of something I can add?? I'm thinking pushups, but at the moment I can only manage about 5 pushups.
I'm so glad that your bridesmaid dress at least FITS though... when I bought a little too small for me in February, I spent MONTHS agonizing on whether or not the zip would zip, or if the fabric would rip while I was dancing or giving the speech. I felt so uncomfortable the WHOLE wedding. So just enjoy your time and enjoy the comfort of a dress that fits!
To target that tricep area, try
dips down from a chair... Although "targeting" an area might actually increase the area (because it builds muscle, doesn't reduce mass), at least in the short term until the surrounding weight is gone... so just enjoy being healthy with your workout routine and good eating but don't worry too much about doing specific areas for specific body parts if the idea is to minimize the bulge in a specific area (which I've got a bit of on another bridesmaid dress myself.
so fun.)
Also, found an article in today's New York Times...
"Dieting vs. Exercise for Weight Loss" I'm curious to hear what you all have to say. I personally cut exercise out of my weight loss plan because I was experiencing that it wasn't working for me (this was after training for a half marathon from zero, so I DID really give it a fair shot), and I've had a lot of success through diet only using some exercise to get over plateaus. I'm SURE that everyone is different, but this seemed really validating to me because a lot of people were really critical of my decision to stop running for weight loss reasons, but it really was the right choice for me. Eventually when a bit more of the weight is gone (in about 10 pounds or so) I'm going to ease back into a fitness routine for cardiovascular health, and just overall fitness. But I think the example that the researcher gives in the article is just CRAZY--she suggests that she's seen a woman BURN 500 calories in a work out in one day and then BURN FEWER CALORIES OVERALL THAT DAY than if you hadn't worked out AT ALL.
I feel like this must be an extreme example, but it's still really scary to think about, I'd NEVER have thought the metabolic rate shift was that dramatic.
Of COURSE I know all the benefits of exercise and I COMPLETELY BELIEVE that it can be a healthy and integral part of people's weight loss plan because hey--EVERYONE'S metabolism works differently and it's tough to generalize. But I think it's really interesting that the common wisdom just doesn't necessarily always prevail.
Alright. Off to bed. I hope everyone is doing SO GREAT, I was SO HAPPY to see all of those losses, and a special big congratulations to BUFFY! I hope this super on-plan week of mine turns into some real loss when I weigh in on Friday!!
will have to watch it tonight. We have another birthday celebration tonight (early celebration for my Mom), so cake and ice cream again....not sure I will indulge tonight. But I can't wait to see the cake. DD made a 4 layer ombré colored cake in shades of turquoise with white frosting. Should be beautiful!
