Black Friday? Hell no.

Black Friday, been there, done that. Not worth it. Instead I"ll be celebrating the season this Friday by spending no money. Instead I'll be decking our halls (or as many areas of our home as are finished construction). I'll be putting up my wreath and hauling down my Christmas decorations from the garage. If the weather holds I might even put lights up outside the house. That is definitely not a task for -30F weather.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy your friends, family and food today.

Why Gaining is Good

Weighed in tonight and gained. I'm now up 1.4 lbs and that's a good thing. No, I'm not anorexic and trying to gain, I actually need to lose. But, gaining my first week is a great thing. If I had fudged 2 social occasions and got away with it by still losing then I'd be more prone to fudging again. I'm now hyper vigilant with calculating my points, writing everything down and preparing ahead for social occasions by looking at the menu before going to the restaurant (taking the temptation to splurge away) or by bringing something that I know I can eat to a social occasion at someones house. Also, for the first time since I graduated college I have an exercise routine. I've added 3 days of gym to my haphazard Pilates class attendance. Upside is I'm sleeping better and have more energy. Who would have thought that doing something tiring makes you have more energy? I think I knew that, but now I believe it.

Also, big plug here for WW e-tools. I can sit down for 5 minutes with hubby and pick out all of our dinners for the week, then I add in my breakfasts and lunches and pre-plan our week. I then hit the shopping list button and boom, shopping list is done, sorted by department of the grocery store. No shopping hungry and bringing home junk, hubby is on board with all dinner selections and I have a plan rather than staring into the fridge at night. If we switch things up and order Chinese or something, I just delete or reschedule the pre-planned meal for that day. Makes my life simple.

Me Weight Watchers, Bring it On/Take it Off

One of the gals at work talked me into going to Weight Watchers. I think committing to something like a weekly meeting will be good for me. My husband is my best friend so I talk to him about everything, but it is nice to receive support from someone else. Poor guy, probably tired of hearing my body image complaints. I successfully lost 40 lbs prior to our wedding and got within 10 lbs of my goal. Since that time I've crept back up until today I stepped on the scale and cringed when I saw that the number was within 5 lbs of where I was at my peak 4 years ago. Ouch, back where I started. This time I'm not cutting out all carbs, but am trying for a more sustainable approach. I was diagnosed with PCOS this time last year. My Dr. prescribed a drug for it, but it makes me feel like I have permanent morning sickness so I stopped taking it. The other remedy for PCOS is weight-loss so I promised myself to go with that approach. The same day as I went to my first Weight Watcher's meeting I got my reminder that its time to make my next appointment. I really don't want to sit across from an OBGYN and have him tell me, "So you did nothing and are still having symptoms, surprising." I'll go when I've made a little progress at least. Motivation for many reasons.

I think health is a better motivator than a special occasion. My wedding was a motivation, but not an incentive for a sustainable change. We have a family wedding coming up next June so it would be tempting to lose weight for that, but really I need to do it for me, for my health, and for my way of life. I just want my energy back.

Also, I'm only 25. I had the idea that Weight Watchers is for old fat Moms. Apparently, not true, there were young ladies, not so heavy people, Grandmas and even a guy. I was pleasantly surprised. With the combination of e-tools to make me accountable for everything and meetings for motivation I am hopeful.

See Our Brain Cells Aren't Frozen

Election night was miserable for Republicans: They lost the presidency, at least five seats in the Senate, and around 20 seats in the House. They are officially out of power. But for those of us who considered Obama a shoo-in and a democratic wave inevitable, the Republican showing seems almost impressive.


I'm just glad that Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska didn't retain his seat long enough to get expelled, because we poor Alaskans are having a hard time convincing our Southern friends/fellow bloggers/anybody that our brain cells aren't frozen up here after exporting Gravel (running for Dem presidential nomination), Palin, and having Stevens and his temperamentally challenged porkmate, Don Young in the news so much.

Don't get me wrong, I love Ted Stevens. Uncle Ted has been good for Alaska. But in the same way that I'm ok with Obama winning even though I didn't vote for him, I'm ok with Steven's not winning even though I voted for him. What? How could I vote for a guy convicted on 7 counts in federal court? Well, the election was only 3,000ish votes apart so I wasn't the only one. To explain to our Southern brethren who think our brains are frozen, I voted against his competitor and for a do-over. His conviction didn't matter. I can ignore it in fact. If I don't want his competitor I should vote for Ted because either A) He is innocent and it would be stupid not to vote for a guy who could appeal and win and retain the only semblance of significance Alaska has or B) He is guilty and he'll be expelled and I'll get a do-over on my vote with better options rather than being stuck with the other guy for 6 years. Alaska law was changed after our last retiring Senator Murkowski ran for Governor, won and appointed his daughter Lisa to his seat. Claims of nepotism abounded and Alaskans said, uh uh, not again and changed our laws so that in case of a vacancy a special election would be held to fill the post. So again, didn't like Begich, so I voted for Stevens assuming I'd either keep an innocent Uncle Ted or get a do-over. Yes, you probably have to be an Alaskan to understand how much the man means to us. Well, actually you could be a West Virginian and think about it in terms of Senator Bird. Ultimately we'll have less powerful representation, but hey, maybe we got a little national cred back when we lost Stevens.