Last week, we were dealing with JSL running a mysterious fever that we couldn’t keep down. Due to that, my normal routine of planning dinners ahead of time went out the window. Plus, we’re gearing up for Passover and that means buying less non-kosher-for-Passover food and trying to reduce the pantry stockpiles that we have. (What to do with assorted cans of beans, diced tomatoes and soup?) Even with all of that, though, I managed to drop 3.5 pounds. I’m now only four pounds away from my goal (total lost: 16 pounds) with just over half of my “Project New Me” time ahead of me. I’d say I’m doing quite well.
Computers are very important to me. After all, I work as a webmaster so I’m around computers all day. When I heard that NHL’s school wasn’t *really* teaching him about computers, but only letting them go online to visit some kid-oriented websites, I decided that *someone* had to teach him about computers. After all, computers are important in today’s society. A computer-literate child has more opportunities than a computer-illiterate one. I quickly decided that I should have semi-regular computer lessons with NHL. Read more…
I’ve been going through a bit of a blogging drought lately and it’s all JSL’s fault. You see, he’s been sick recently. 101 fevers and screaming that his hair/head/ears hurt. It makes it hard to blog when you’re worried about your little one. And if he’s bunking in your bed, waking you up every so many hours, well the exhaustion that sets in doesn’t help.
Luckily, though, JSL has had some happy moments in between sickly complaining. For example, last night I was sitting in bed trying to get him to sleep. JSL saw my Twitter Feed and saw a tweet from ThinkGeek. Since ThinkGeek’s mascot (and Twitter icon) is Timmy the Monkey, JSL shouted "Da Da, look! Ooh ooh ahh ahh on Da Da’s computer!" I told him that was ThinkGeek and we got him to say it. I neglected to get it on video, but I just rectified this mistake.
Yes, he’s my little Geek-In-Training! And hopefully, JSL-Geek-In-Training will get better soon. Meanwhile, I’ll work on posts bit by bit. They’ll just come out slower than I’d hoped.
I did very well this week until our little trip. You see, my nephew was born last Sunday which meant that this Sunday would be his bris. This meant driving to Buffalo, NY and the temptation of lots of good food. I would like to report that I sucessfully fended off all such temptation and stuck rigerously to my diet. I would like to report this, but I’d be lying. The truth is, I’m not so good when it comes to food-based temptations. I’ve gotten better over the years, but show me some bagels, cream cheese and good quality lox and my points-notebook gets tossed aside. Oh, and if there’s tasty rugelach and hamantashen to boot…. well, you get the point.
That said, I didn’t do too bad. I only gained a pound and a half. I’ve learned in the past that, when attempting to lose weight, you don’t confine yourself so strictly that you’re not allowed an indulgence or two. And, if your indulgences go beyond what you planned for, you don’t bury yourself in guilt. That will just lead to more eating and less weight loss. Instead, you accept what happened and try to learn from it. This might means taking steps to increase your willpower or putting yourself in willpower-comprimising situations less or simply planning in advance when you know such a situation is coming up. It is ok to fall off the wagon here and there so long as you immediately get back up, dust yourself off and jump right back on the wagon, gripping it tighter than before.
Over the past few months, we’ve been struggling with NHL on a little matter. He keeps putting his fingers in his mouth. Sometimes he’s biting his nails, sometimes he’s sucking on his fingers. A few times, he’ll even put toys (or other objects) in his mouth. Considering that he’s 6 years old, he’s way too old to be doing this. We keep telling him to stop, that he’ll get sick by doing this, but he persists. I’ve even wondered if putting hot sauce on his fingers might stop him. I wouldn’t seriously do this, but when I’m really frustrated it sounds like a good option.
My Aloha Friday question to you is: How would stop your child from doing this or some other annoying habit?
Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.
We woke up on Sunday ready to go to have a "super day." Yes, today was Super Bowl Sunday, but we had other plans.
We weren’t going to down wings while watching the big game. Instead, we were going to see some animals and have some fun in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We hopped on the bus and made our way there, arriving before the park opened. Read more…
When we went to Disney World last year, we travelled with B’s parents. This meant we had backup. It was four adults, two children. That’s enough coverage to pull suitcases, wrangle little ones and still have an adult hand or two free. This year, there was no such luxury. It was B and me toting suitcases and two kids.
From the start, it was “fun.” B’d father dropped us off at the airport and we tried to figure out how two adults with four hands total would carry five carry-on bags and four suitcases while looking after two children. We opted for the “crossing the river slowly” approach. That is to say, B stood with the bags while I brought some inside some glass doors. Then I left NHL with the bags, positioned myself so I could see both him and B and signaled B to proceed. She brought more bags to NHL until they were all by him.
On my first week back from Disney World, I didn’t expect much weight loss. I found myself hungry and snacking all too often as my body adjusted from “Eating Lots Of Wonderful Disney Food” back to “Eating My Normal Lighter Fare.” Still, I must have done a good job because my weigh-in showed a loss of 4.5 pounds. I’m now a mere 6 pounds to my goal!
Still, roadblocks still are in my way. The first roadblock will be this weekend. My new nephew was born last weekend and we’ll be attending the bris this coming weekend. (Weather and child health permitting.) At the bris, there will be a lot of good foods to eat. In addition, that whole weekend, we’ll likely be eating out which means higher calories.
The next roadblock comes in five weeks. At that point, we’ll have the eight day long matzoh-fest known as Passover. During Passover, foods that are normally allowed aren’t permitted. These include not just breads, rice and other grains, but corn, beans/legumes (including soy and peanuts), and a few others. You wind up subsisting on a lot of Matzoh which isn’t conducive to weight loss at all. I plan on treating Passover weight-loss like I treated Disney weight-loss. I will try to make healthy choices, but won’t sweat it at all. I’m definitely not going to try counting points at all. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few pounds packed on during Passover.
To mitigate Passover’s effect, I’m going to set a mini-goal of reaching 189 by the Sunday before Passover. This means losing 4 pounds in 5 weeks which is completely doable (especially considering that I’ve averaged 2 1/3 pounds per week so far). I also won’t count my goal as being achieved until Passover is over. (As I could hit 187 before Passover and then gain 5 pounds during Passover.)
Here’s hoping your #NewMe goals are going as well as mine are.
Yesterday, I talked about re-evaluating my religious beliefs. Today, I was wondering how common this is for everyone else. Do people take a good long look at their beliefs and practices every year, every five years, or pretty much never?
My Aloha Friday question to you is: How often do you re-evaluate what your religious beliefs are?
Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.
