148.0 Fitness and Confidence

 I love several things about this photo, but mostly I love how confidently I am standing: shoulders back, chin up, feet moving forward. Looking at this, I see that it is so true that confidence draws people to you, like moths to a flame. I feel drawn to myself, here.

Confidence came to me through setting a goal for myself and accomplishing that goal. I wanted to be healthy; that was my ultimate goal. Clothing sizes and weight numbers were benchmarks along the way.

I remember being a teen and having no goals for myself beyond surviving through high school and getting a boyfriend. Yes, I went to city college and eventually made it to Berkeley, but that came later. I was sort of dead inside when I was a teen. I didn't have any goals. I was drifting. I had very little confidence in myself. Realizing this, next year whenever I substitute teach I am going to encourage high-school students to set goals for themselves in life.

Part of what makes video games so fun for me is the frequency with which I set and meet goals in them. "Oh! I've got to clear this level! Oh! This sim needs to meet that sim! Oh! I have to GM tailoring tonight!" Video games are all about setting goals and meeting them. They give you an addicting sense of confidence, which is awful, because then your confidence is all about your ability to play a stupid game. This keeps you on the couch, getting fat.

Fitness is so great for building confidence that is real and not limited to a game. Even if you get in shape by playing basketball, your fitness carries over into everything physical that you do. It doesn't only make you good at playing basketball.

Anyone can become more fit than they are now, so anyone can build confidence through taking on a more active lifestyle and learning what foods are healthy. Just set realistic goals, and your confidence will grow as you meet them.

The aggravating part is that too many people are out there lying to folks, telling them they can't lose weight because their hormones are out of balance, or they are big boned, or they are too old. BS. Join with me and fight all that BS whenever you hear it.

I gained .2 pounds yesterday, but that is OK as I am inside my goal of weighing 145 to 149.9. I walked our dogs a mile in the park, and then Scott and I took them to the dog park. We ran around with them there. We also shopped at Wal-mart for their flea and tic treatment, and applied that to their skin. Here is everything I ate yesterday:

Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
Beef and bean burrito with salsa
Half a can of Cattle Drive chili and three slices of American cheese eaten with a cup of corn tortilla chips
Child-size chocolate shake from the McDonald's inside our Wal-mart

147.8 Lost a Pound Without Trying

I lost a pound yesterday, without even trying. My new lifestyle is working. It is maintaining my weight for me, with really little effort on my part. And no drugs. I barely even take Tylenol any more.

So, what is this new lifestyle? An active one. I go outside and walk as fast as I can for at least 20 minutes every day, come rain, shine, snow or hail. I actually like walking on the cool overcast days the best. I don't mind the rain. I have a raincoat and waterproof boots.

In addition to walking, I do all my own housework. Yes, housework is exercise. We used to belong to a country club, but I actually get more exercise now. They published my 'housecleaning as exercise' story on Yahoo! Finance. I get a little kickback if you read it there.


Yesterday, I walked each dog for 15 minutes, for a total of 30 minutes of brisk walking. I cut weeds by hand, out in this yard you see me pictured in. I also shopped at Wal-mart, which is some walking, too, especially because I always park as far away from the front of the store as I need to in order to avoid all those fender benders that try to happen near the entrance. In addition, I did laundry, which means going up and down the basement stairs, and generally scrubbed, picked up, and straightened. I often forget to mention here the exercise I get from housework and yardwork.

Exercise is most of the secret to my weight loss. New eating habits are part of it, too.

Cookies are only for Christmas. Cake and ice cream are only for birthdays. I think I'm going to dub the 4th of July for pie. :) The point is, I don't keep cookies, cake, or ice cream in the house for everyday consumption. Instead, I eat fruit when I want a treat (OK, and a little candy). Lately, I have been on an apple kick. Before that, it was blueberries. Strawberries had their turn, as well. I have a little chocolate or peanut butter or Special K with my fruit, to dress it up. But the fruit is the main treat. The other things just jazz it up a bit. Here is what I ate yesterday:

Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
4 mini York peppermint patties
2 slices of Costco combo pizza
Half a can of Amy's organic lentil soup over steamed broccoli (yum!)
Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips

148.8 First Book Editor Credit

My first credit as book editor shows up just inside Craig Halloran's novella, Zombie Day Care, available at Amazon.com. You can see my editor credit by just clicking to look inside and sampling the book. The Kindle version of the book is only $1.99, if you want to read the whole story. He is a good storyteller! You can download a free Kindle app for your computer, your smart phone, or pretty much anything that has a screen.

If you do read the whole story and like it, then please post a favorable review at Amazon.com. Favorable reviews help my client sell more books. The more books he sells, the more projects he can afford to hire me to do! Actually, I am currently editing his novel, The Darkslayer. The Darkslayer 2 had already been edited when we met, but I will also be editing The Darkslayer 3 and all the rest of the Darkslayer novels he plans to write, as well as two sequels to Zombie Day Care. Woo hoo!

I lost .4 pounds yesterday. We walked the dogs a mile in the park. I did lots of housework, which counts as exercise, too, especially climbing up and down the basement stairs to do the laundry! Here is what I ate:

Small bowl of Special K and organic soy milk
El Monterey beef and bean burrito with salsa
Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
6 mini York peppermint patties
2 slices of Costco combo pizza (Yes, Mom, that has veggies on it!)
Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
2 mini York peppermint patties

149.2 Odd Garden

This is an odd garden we found next to a garage sale we attended in Spokane Valley last weekend. I can't really talk, because I have a black thumb. Giving me a plant is like giving the plant a death sentence. Plants don't bark or meow to tell me they need water. They just quietly die. I can't have pet fish, either. Same problem.

So, far be it from me to judge how other people do their gardening. At least these plants are green and alive. You can tell they get enough water.

I just found the garden odd. That's a bowl of water, on top of the large rock. The yard is sanitized so nothing grows in it, and there are stones all over, to further discourage things from growing. But, someone dug little holes and placed potted plants there.

We walked the dogs a mile in the pouring rain yesterday. I gained .4 pounds, but am still within my goal weight of 145 to 149.9. Here is what I ate:

Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
Bean and cheese burrito with salsa
6 mini York peppermint patties
Leftover baked chicken and carrots with half a can of Amy's organic lentil soup
Leftover slice of Costco combo pizza
Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
Handful of corn tortilla chips

148.8 Barefoot in the Grass

Let me just say I thought I looked stylish yesterday! Here I am in my Easy Street sandals, holding the new Cappelli purse my mom gave me for my birthday, and wearing the Eddie Bauer shorts and brand-new Great Northwest knit top that I got at Good Will for next to nothing.

The Easy Street sandals I got for the credit from trading in the St. Patrick's Day dress this blog is named after. It was a size 12, and I slimmed down to size 8.

I walked barefoot in the grass at the park, it was so nice out here in Spokane yesterday. Summer doesn't get any better than barefoot in the grass! That is one of the best things in life, if you ask me: the tickling, scratching feeling of all the little blades of grass on the bottom of your feet!

It was in the 80s and sunny all day yesterday. Now, only 12 hours later, it is pouring down rain once again. I am not complaining, just marveling at how active the weather is here!


I gained 2.4 pounds yesterday. I think the salty steak quesadilla with guacamole and sour cream caught up with me. It's OK, though. I am still within my weight-loss goal of 145 to 149.9. Here is what I ate yesterday:


Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
The other half of yesterday's Qdoba steak quesadilla with pico de gallo, sour cream and guacamole

Bean and cheese burrito with salsa
6 mini York peppermint patties
Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips

146.4 Sweaters in June, and Coats

Yes, I am wearing sweaters in June. It's overcast and chilly here in Spokane -- not all the time, but often, especially in the mornings. It's not going to be like this for much longer, though. The summer is coming. It is. It had better come!

Yesterday at church a guy told me a story about his trip to San Diego. He went in March, when there is still snow on the ground here in Spokane. It was 70 F in San Diego and sunny. That is our summer, here in Spokane. He ran around in shorts and sandals. He felt a little weird, though, because all the locals were in their coats. That was meant to make me and Scott feel OK for wearing coats to church when no one else did, and it worked. :)

Here I am in late June in a sweater, showing off my birthday cards. Funny, they are all purple and green! Kris, even on yours, the cake dish is purple. Do card companies get together and color-coordinate? Or, do all of you who love me know I like purple and green together? It's a mystery. Thank you all again, for your cards! I mailed thank-you cards for the gifts, but I mailed them from the local school and I am starting to think you won't get them until September!

We walked the dogs more than 2 miles to a few garage sales around our neighborhood yesterday. Yes, we are going to have our own garage sale soon, and get rid of some of this stuff. Yes.

I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday, and I really don't understand how. It must have been all that walking. That is the secret: the more you exercise, the more you can eat. Here is what I ate:

Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 chocolate chips
Half a sugar twist and a quarter of a nutty frosted donut at church
One El Monterey bean-and-cheese burrito from the Costco frozen-foods section, with salsa
Half of a Qdoba steak quesadilla made with pico de gallo and dipped in sour cream and guacamole
6 mini York peppermint patties

147.8 Cart of Geese

I photographed this cart of geese at the man store the other day. They are just dummies for a store display, but a cart of geese is not something you see every day. It's not officially called the man store, either, but that is what I call the place. They have everything a man could ever want in this life, well, except women.

We had thunder this morning for about an hour, from 3 to 4 am. The dogs would not quit barking at it. We would just get them settled down, and then the thunder would start in again. Then, at 4 the sun came up. So, I am up really early on a Sunday morning. At least it isn't icy out.

I walked the dogs a mile in the park yesterday. I maintained my weight exactly. Here is what I ate:

Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
Bean and cheese burrito with salsa
5 mini York peppermint patties
Chili dip:
Half a can of Cattle Drive chili with beans, half a red bell pepper sauteed in a pat of butter, 3 slices of American cheese
I ate the chili dip with a cup of corn tortilla chips.

147.8 Who let the sun out?

Can you believe I was wearing sunglasses in Washington? Heh! When I first moved here, I heard a rumor that they sell more sunglasses in WA than in any other state. This is because Washingtonians only need sunglasses once in awhile. By the next time we need them, we can't find them, so we buy more.

It has been pouring rain since yesterday afternoon, but Someone let the sun out a few days ago so I could take this picture. Whenever the sun gets out through the clouds, I ask Scott,

"Who let the sun out?"

It's a joke that I think he is tired of, but I never will be! In the picture you can see one of the big puffy clouds that always loom in the sky, ready to block the sun. Most people here only see that the clouds block the sun, but I see Joni Mitchell's "angel hair and ice cream castles in the air."

I walked the dogs a mile in the park yesterday while Scott was at work. I did lots of housework, too, including scrubbing the tub. I lost .8 pounds. Here is what I ate:

Small bowl of Special K and organic soy milk
Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
Chili dip:
Half a can of Cattle Drive chili and beans, three slices of American cheese, half a red bell pepper sauteed in a pat of butter
I ate the chili dip with a cup of corn tortilla chips.
5 mini York peppermint patties

148.6 Verdant Pine-Tree Shadow Scene

It's rarely sunny here in Spokane, Washington, but when it is I look at these lovely pine-tree shadows. I also love to look at how the sun illuminates the grass that is so green with all the rain. Verdant was the word that sprung to mind, when I took this picture: green in color or covered with lush vegetation. Yes, this is a study in all the different green colors.


We walked the dogs twice in this lovely park yesterday. The longest day of the year was Wednesday, June 20. Up here, the sun doesn't set right now until quarter to nine in the evening, and it isn't fully dark until ten. Our second walk was from eight thirty till nine.

I stayed up too late last night, and only just now at 12:40 pm am almost rid of the resultant migraine. You would think I would stop staying up too late. I don't do it very often, and every time I do, I pay the next morning. I just endured seven hours of headache and nausea.

I lost .4 pounds yesterday, walking twice in the park. Here is what I ate:

1/4 dinner plate of Papa John's pizza, "The Works"
Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
1/4 dinner plate of Papa John's pizza, "The Works"
5 mini York peppermint patties
Beef and bean burrito with salsa
Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips

149.0 Bright Cloud Pineapple Spokane

 I know. I know. I am obsessed with clouds. More like with photographing clouds. I just had to pull over and snap this yesterday on my way home from buying Washington Fuji apples at Wal-mart. This is the sun shining through a cloud and suffusing it with rainbows. It cast rainbow bits around it, too. You can see a rainbow bit on the right edge, where I have cropped the photo. See it? See the rainbow in the stem of what looks like a bright cloud pineapple?

Of course, this was even more magnificent in real life. The naked eye sees rainbows better than the camera, I think. And it was constantly changing. At first, the rainbows showed up in the bottom of the pineapple. The locals here in Spokane make fun of me for paying so much attention to the clouds, but man, I can't help it. This place has the most beautiful cloud phenomena I have ever seen, almost every day.

I lost .4 pounds yesterday, eating Papa John's pizza -- just not very much of it. We walked the dogs a mile in the park. Here is everything I ate yesterday and lost .4 pounds:

Small bowl of Special K and organic soy milk
Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
Bean and cheese burrito with salsa
Leftover baked chicken and carrots with half a can of Amy's organic lentil soup
1/4 dinner plate of Papa John's pizza, "The Works"

149.4 Ice cream must creep up on you

This is the new outfit I wore to church last Sunday. It's new to me, I should say. I got it at Good Will, where I do most of my clothes shopping. They employ a lot of people, which is good for our community. Also, I happen to like older styles better than the new stuff that is out now. Finally, all these used clothes would be in land fills if we didn't re-purpose them. I think buying used clothes is more responsible.

My mom gave me a beautiful new purse that I carried, too, and I'm sorry it's not in the picture.

Ice cream must creep up on you. I didn't eat any yesterday, but I gained a pound. Maybe all the ice cream cake I ate Sunday and Monday finally hit the scale this morning! I'm still at my weight-loss goal of 145 to 149.9, so it's OK.

I walked my dog a mile and a third yesterday. I also jumped on the stair-step exercise machine a few times. I stayed on it for at least a minute, each time.

Here is what I ate yesterday:

Small bowl of Special K and organic soy milk
Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons of chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
Beef and bean burrito with salsa
4 mini York peppermint patties
2 slices of Costco combo pizza
Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons of chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips

148.4 I like little surprises, not big

OK, as requested, here is a picture of my birthday cake. There wasn't any cake in it, but it was scrumptious! I somehow managed to lose half a pound yesterday -- even after eating three pieces of this Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream cake! I think it is because there is no flour in it. I didn't eat all the chocolate icing. Believe it or not, that was just too rich to eat. The peanut butter cups inside the ice cream sure tasted good, though!

Scott surprised me with this cake Sunday morning before church. I don't usually like surprises. I usually want to be able to look forward to it. I loved this surprise, though. I guess I like little surprises, not big ones. I want to help pick where we go on vacation, but I don't mind if you surprise me with an outfit to wear there.

He says he got this at Winco. It came in a box that looked like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup candy wrapper.

I walked my dog a mile yesterday. Here is what I ate and lost .6 pounds:

Small bowl of Special K and organic soy milk
2 sliced Fuji apples, each candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
Baked chicken and carrots
1/4 of a Costco combo pizza
1/4 of a 60 ounce Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream cake

149.0 Pitted Sidewalk and Tree

God bless my husband Scott for patiently waiting while I took photos of the sidewalk the other day! 

"What are you taking pictures of?"
"The curb."
"Oh, OK."
"I hope I capture it the way I see it. Too often, I look at the pictures on the computer the next day, and I can't find whatever I saw when I took it."
"Hm."

But look! The sidewalk was put together in such an orderly fashion, but it has been pitted by the frost over the years so that it resembles the natural mottled texture of the tree. To me, this is beautiful. 

It's downtown in Spokane, Washington, if you want to have a look. Spokane isn't very big, but this is just to the south off Main street, a few blocks east of River Park Square.

I walked the dogs more than a mile yesterday. I gained .6 pounds. Here is what I ate:

Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
1/4 of a 60 ounce Reeses Peanut Butter Cup ice cream cake (spread throughout the day)
2 beef and bean burritos with salsa
Handful of corn tortilla chips and 2 tablespoons queso

148.4 Spokane June Rain Puddles

I still can't get over having rain puddles in June. This is the alley we walk down every day, to get to our neighborhood park. I took this about a week ago. Summer has kicked in since then. It has been sunny and over 80, for the most part. This is Washington, though. It could rain at any moment, always.

I'm not complaining. The rain makes things so green, it's heavenly. I am convinced that green is God's favorite color, and that heaven is green. I did live in the desert most of my life, and this could have something to do with it.

One of the locals told me there was snow once on the 4th of July. I'm not sure if I believe her or not.We did get snow on April 26 in 2011. That was pretty wild. It stuck for a few days, too.

I walked both dogs a mile yesterday. I lost .4 pounds. Here is what I ate:

Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
8 York peppermint patties
Bean and cheese burrito with salsa
Steamed broccoli with half a can of Amy's Organic Lentil Soup
2 Sliced Fuji apples, each candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips

I did get a chance to video some of our hard-pouring Washington rain the other day. It doesn't always rain so hard, but quite often. This was real Washington rain, not that drizzle we used to get in Los Angeles.

148.8 Rocky Rococo Pizza and Pasta

We celebrated my birthday last night by going downtown to walk around and have dinner. We wound up at Rocky Rococo Pizza and Pasta. It was good, and only cost $14 for the two of us! We each got a slice of Sal's Combo. I got a one-trip salad bar, and Scott got these yummy breadsticks that he agreed to share. The food tasted exceptionally good, I must say. It is not a table service place, though. You order at the counter and then they bring the food to you when it is done.

We were trying to go to Cyrus O'Leary's, next door, but it is gone. The employees at Rocky Rococo said the Cyrus owners sold everything and closed about six months ago.

I guess Scott and I aren't the only ones who only go out to dinner on birthdays, anniversaries and holidays, anymore. Others must be doing the same, because Cyrus O'Leary's was really good. It was hopping with business the one time we went there. Of course, that was last 4th of July. Restaurants probably can't survive on customers only coming on holidays and birthdays. It is sad.

Oh! yesterday was also the last day of school! School's out for summer! Woo hoo!

I weigh exactly 148.8 for the fifth day in a row. Yesterday was my forth zero gain day in a row! I walked three times: a mile in the morning with both dogs, a mile in the afternoon with Scott and the dogs, and about a mile in the evening, around downtown Spokane. Here is what I ate yesterday:

Small bowl of Special K and organic soy milk
Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons of chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
Bean and cheese burrito with salsa
Handful of corn tortilla chips with queso
Slice of Sal's combo pizza at Rocky Rococo with small salad, half an order of breadsticks, and three servings of marinara sauce
Kid-sized mint brownie shake at Red Robin

148.8 Third Zero Gain Day in a Row!

OK, I know my objective now is to maintain my weight, but today is the third day in a row that I have weighed exactly 148.8. Is the zombie story I just finished editing creeping me out, or is weighing exactly the same three days in a row a bit weird?

This is a shot I took of our fridge yesterday, after Scott got home from Costco. Do the contents look at all disproportionate? Can you tell we like peppermint patties and cheese? My apples are in the crisper on the right that you can't see in the picture, honest. That's BBQ sauce sticking out of the door. At least you can see my carrots.You can't see all the bacon because it is hidden behind cheese sticks in the meat drawer, under the strawberries.

We walked our mile yesterday. Here is everything I ate:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk
Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
Bean and cheese burrito with salsa
8 mini York peppermint patties
Small hamburger patty, BBQ sauce, carrots
Sliced Fuji apple candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips

148.8 "At Work" Sign for Working at Home

Scott made me this sign a few months ago, when my work at home was just writing Facebook posts and Web content for clients. He said, "Just put this sign up whenever you are at work, so I know not to bother you." He can be so romantic! No really.

I network with hundreds of freelance writers who work at home full time, churning out 500-word articles for content farms. Many of them have spouses, neighbors and other people in their lives who don't leave them alone and let them work when they are at home. Neighbors bring their kids over to be babysat. In-laws stop by to visit. Spouses puff around the house complaining about how there are dirty dishes in the sink.

So, yes, I really do think my Scott is romantic for understanding I need to be left alone while I am writing or editing, even if I am at home. Yesterday, this sign was up from 5 in the morning till 7 in the evening. I took breaks to spend time with him, though.

We walked the dogs an hour in the park. I had another zero gain day yesterday. Here is what I ate:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk
Fuji apple sliced and candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
Beef and bean burrito with salsa
8 Oreo cookies
Handful of corn tortilla chips and two tablespoons of queso (salsa and cheese dip)
Leftover baked chicken, onions, and carrots
Fuji apple sliced and candied with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips

148.8 Zero Gain Day

Here I am with Scott, walking our dogs in the park yesterday. We walked enough laps to claim three miles! I am sure that longer walk is most of the reason I had a zero gain day yesterday. Here is what I ate:

Fuji apple with 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips

Half a can of Cattle Drive chili with two slices of American cheese melted in it and a sauteed red bell pepper diced up for topping -- all eaten as dip with two cups of corn tortilla chips

Bean and cheese burrito with salsa

Seven Oreo cookies

But I have big news! I have been commissioned to edit two novels for publication! I have been paid for the first one already, so now I am officially a book editor! And gosh, it is the perfect job for me. Who would ever have guessed I could be paid to read books? These are self-published books whose author is smart enough to know they will sell better if he gets them professionally edited. Self publishing is huge right now, so I am quite hopeful that this will lead to more clients and perhaps even a full-time freelance book editing business for me! Woo Hoo! I have posted more details here, if you are curious.

148.8 Katy Perry Movie "Part of Me" Out July 5

The most exciting thing that we did yesterday was to go see Kristen Stewart's new movie, "Snow White and the Huntsman." It was pretty good, but not epic. Somehow, it fell short of what it could have been. Kristen was great in it. The effects are amazing. The musical score inspires.The costumes are wonderful. There is action, action, action. I think there just weren't enough people in each scene. This movie felt like a stage play rather than a movie in that I didn't get the sense of a whole world around the scene in focus. It's true that each person's medieval world was smaller, but it seems like a castle would have more people in it, even so. I guess we are back to the movie not being epic.

I went in hoping to see previews of "Breaking Dawn Part 2." I guess we arrived after those had already shown. We did see a preview of Katy Perry's movie that comes out July 5: "Part of Me." Wow, does that look good! It's a biography of her career, from singing at her church to super-stardom. I love the title song, too, "This is the part of me that you'll never ever ever take away from me." In the preview, they showed her saying when people come to her concerts, she just wants to make them smile. This picture is of a cardboard advertisement that was outside the door to our auditorium.

We walked the dogs a mile in the park before we went to the movies. I indulged at the movies and got nachos and a diet soda. We hardly ever buy food at the movie theater (too expensive!), but we called it an early birthday treat for me.

Here is everything I ate yesterday and only gained .2 pounds, along with walking a mile and window shopping for half an hour before the movie:

Fuji apple with peanut butter and dark chocolate chips
Slice of Costco combo pizza
Order of movie theater nachos
Leftover baked chicken, onion and carrots

148.6 More Lovely Washington Clouds

Here are more lovely Washington clouds. The sun shining behind them makes these clouds look so dramatic! The gray shading at the bottom left means that rain is falling in the distance. I love how blue sky teases us just beyond these dark clouds. To see more cloud photos, click on my label "clouds are beautiful," at the bottom of this post.

I wonder if there will come a time when clouds don't look beautiful to me anymore? The locals are amused by my fascination with the clouds. They all just want the sun to come out, already (and I do, too, at this point).

I snapped this photo in the parking lot at Costco a few days ago, using my tripod trick of resting the camera on the hood of the truck. My camera is a 14 mega pixel Fujifilm Finepix JX. I usually have to re-size my pictures to 25% to make the whole picture appear on one computer screen. I got the camera at Costco almost two years ago, for about $150. It also has a 5x zoom lens.

I gained 1.8 pounds yesterday, mostly because of all the goodies they had at church between donut fellowship, potluck, and evening service with our sister church. We walked the dogs a mile. Here is everything I ate:

Fuji apple with peanut butter and dark chocolate chips
Custard-filled maple bar

One plate of potluck lunch:
Green salad with pasta salad on top of it
Creamy chicken casserole
Slice of bread with garlic chunks in it
Bean, cheese, and sour cream dip with a handful of corn tortilla chips

One plate of potluck dessert:
Slice of cherry pie
Piece of carrot cake

Leftover baked chicken, carrots, onions and broccoli
Evening fellowship: I brought a sliced Fuji apple with peanut butter and dark chocolate chips, instead of cookies
I ate: two slices of apple, a slice of cherry pie, two oatmeal cookies, five slices of stollen

146.8 How Exercise Looks in Washington

I lost 2.8 pounds yesterday. I don't think any of it was fat. I must have eaten too much salt a few days ago and retained almost three pounds of water. Salt makes your body need more water, in case you didn't know.

It's June. It's supposed to be summer, isn't it? Well, tell that to Washington. It has been pouring down rain all week. I should not complain. I love how green it is here, and the rain is what does that. Still, I am anxious to wear all the cool new summer clothes I bought with the generous gift cards my mom and my sister gave me in honor of my weight loss.

These are the boots I wore on my walk yesterday. I guess if I hadn't walked in the park I could have worn regular shoes. I only need the boots so that my socks don't get soaked by the wet grass. I walked a mile yesterday. Here is what I ate and lost 2.8 pounds (water retention weight, I think):

Fuji apple with 2 tablespoons peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
Hamburger patty, 1 tablespoon BBQ sauce, steamed broccoli
2 slices of Costco combo pizza
Handful of dark chocolate chips

149.6 Security is Pizza in the Freezer

OK, Charles Schulz said it better with his cartoons about Linus needing his blanket and liking his drawer full of warm socks, but having fresh baked pizza from Costco in the freezer to get out and eat whenever I want feels like security to me!

I gained a pound and .2 yesterday eating pizza and nachos, though, so I am going to watch it today. Hopefully, Scott won't eat all the pizza and I can still have some tomorrow -- or Monday if I succumb to the maple bars at church tomorrow.

I am still inside my weight loss goal of 145 to 149.9. I just had an apple, peanut butter and dark chocolate chips for breakfast with coffee (and oh! did that taste good!). But, I am going to make the rest of today a diet day so that the maple bars at church tomorrow won't bring me up over 150 again.

I was on my feet much of yesterday, subbing in geometry. I walked the dogs a mile and I shopped at Costco. Here is what I ate:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and soy milk
Leftover baked chicken, onions, carrots and broccoli
Two homemade chocolate chip cookies in the foreign language teachers' lounge during preparation period
Two slices of Costco combo pizza
About a cup of corn tortilla chips and two tablespoons of cheese and salsa dip (sort of like nachos)

148.4 Whew! Back at Goal

Yay! I just had to do one diet day, yesterday, and I am safely back within my weight loss goal of 145 to 149.9! I took this picture of myself in my hippie jeans yesterday at Firestone. I rested the camera on the hood of the car. Most of my pictures here are taken inside my home or at the park. I just wanted to give you a different background to look at. :)

I walked briskly twice yesterday, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, both at least half a mile. I also shopped at Costco, which counts as exercise because that place is so big and you walk a quarter mile just going across the parking lot!

Here is what I ate yesterday and lost 2.6 pounds, along with the walking:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk
Small hamburger patty, 1 tablespoon BBQ sauce, steamed broccoli
Baked chicken, onions, carrots and broccoli

I did all my eating before 6 pm. I drank lots of water and caffeine-free tea in the evening, when I felt like snacking. I truly did not feel hungry. I did crave my apple and peanut butter and dark chocolate chip snack. But nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.

151.0 Diet Day 1

I have to admit, every time I go into the teacher's lounge I am hoping to find treats on the table. Yesterday I overindulged in treats and gained almost four pounds. Today is a diet day. I am right back on my "lose a pound a day diet" until I am comfortably within my weight loss goal once again. My goal is 145 to 149.9.

Who knew it was even possible to gain 3.8 pounds in one day? I would have been OK with just one treat. It is hard for me to stop at just one, though. I tell you, eating flour causes flour cravings. I eat one flour-based treat, and half an hour later I am hungry again and craving another flour-based treat. They don't stay with me long at all.

Here is what I ate yesterday:

Fuji apple with peanut butter and dark chocolate chips
Two of these chocolate cupcakes in the forefront, with the white icing and the mini chocolate chips
Leftover gringo tamales
Three of the sugar cookies
Three of the lemon cookies
Three of the white cupcakes at the top of the picture
Beef and bean burrito with salsa
Fuji apple with peanut butter and dark chocolate chips
Two cups of corn tortilla chips
The other half of the bag of Pearson's Mint Patties

I walked briskly for 25 minutes of the regular teacher's preparation period. I also walked my dog 2/3 of a mile when I got home.

147.2 Gringo Tamales

Scott made gringo tamales Monday night. I had them for breakfast yesterday, and for lunch today. They taste so good! I love tamales, but I am never up to all the work that goes into slow cooking the beef or pork and then painstakingly wrapping the individual tamales in corn husks and then steaming them. Nah. I am never going to be Susie Homemaker. Nor Susana Casada.

These gringo tamales will probably make me the laughing stock of every Mexican family who ever hears of this, but I don't care. Part of my lifestyle change is making my own food instead of buying frozen and canned meals, but I still take some short cuts. Scott actually made this. Here is how:

He browned hamburger, drained it, and then added half a chopped onion, half a chopped red bell pepper, half a can of corn, a handful of sliced black olives, a clove of pressed garlic, and an 8 ounce bottle of taco sauce. He brought that to a boil and let it simmer a few minutes until the veggies were all cooked, and then poured it into this oblong glass baking pan.

He sprinkled some grated cheese over that, and then spooned over the cheese some corn  bread batter. The corn bread batter is just an egg, half a cup of milk, half a cup of corn meal, half a cup of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, and pinch each of sugar and salt.

He baked all that at 400 for 30 minutes, and then it tasted just like tamales without all the fuss!

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I walked my dog a mile in the park yesterday, and I lost .4 pounds. Here is everything I ate:

1 cup of Gringo Tamales
Leftover baked chicken, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower
Half a 12 ounce bag of Pearson's Mint Patties
Beef and bean burrito with salsa

147.6 Size 20 to Size 8

When I look at old pictures like this, I am flabbergasted. I can still  remember being the old me in the photo on the left, not even a year ago. She didn't know she was fat! These pictures bring home just how fat she was, but inside she was living in denial of all this extra bulk she walked around in every day. She still pictured herself in her mind as that lithe woman she had been in her teens and twenties.

She avoided having her picture taken, probably subconsciously knowing that seeing herself in a picture would make her have to see all the fat she carried around. The only reason so many pictures got taken of me last summer was because we were on a drive all the way from Spokane to Niagara Falls, and I wanted proof that we had accomplished such a feat.

Little did I know that seeing myself in these photos would solidify my resolve to shed the layer of fat that was keeping me from exercising and living the healthy lifestyle I deserve. Seriously. I used to have to find a chair to sit down in after ten minutes of shopping, my ankles hurt so much. Ten minutes was just about all the walking I could do, at first. Today, I can walk briskly for an hour and not even get out of breath. While wrangling two dogs.

I walked briskly for 25 minutes yesterday during the regular teacher's preparation period. I lost .2 pounds. I am within my goal weight of 145 to 149.9 pounds. Here is what I ate yesterday:

Fuji apple with 2 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
Leftover baked chicken, carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli
Beef and bean burrito with salsa
Fuji apple with 2 tablespoons chunky peanut butter and 36 dark chocolate chips
Cup of corn tortilla chips
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147.8 Rain Puddles in June

Here we are, walking in the park last Saturday. I'm wearing boots because it had rained in the morning. The grass was wet and there were puddles. Where else but in WA do you get rain puddles in June? :) These are size 8 stretchy skinny jeans, or stovepipe jeans, as Mom says they used to be called.

My weight crept up another .4 pounds yesterday, but I am still within my goal weight of 145 to 149.9. I walked the dogs 1.3 miles. Here is what I ate:

Small bowl of Special K, strawberries and organic soy milk
2 maple bars at church
Baked chicken and veggies
Fuji apple with peanut butter and chocolate chips

Yes, I know, I probably should only be having one "candied" apple per day, and cut back on the maple bars to only one, when I have them.

My birthday is coming up soon, and already I am thinking on what kind of cake to get, and when to get it so that I can share it with the folks at church. Next weekend, on the 10th, is a good candidate for the time to do this, as our sister church St Matthews of Spokane will be coming in the evening for a joint service at Valley View Baptist Church Spokane. I have been asked to lead one of the songs we will all sing together.

Anyway, I do not want a repeat of Scott's birthday, when we had too much leftover cake and I ate 6 pieces and had a sugar hangover the next day.

147.4 Summer Top and Petunias

Here I am in one of my new summer tops from TJ Maxx, showing off the petunias that someone at church was giving away this morning. I thought it was cool how the petunias matched my top! It's a size 8, as are all my clothes nowadays.

I don't think we will plant the petunias. We'll probably just leave them in the pots, by our front door. They sure are pretty, but I had thought they were pansies at first. Pansies are my favorite flower, for looks. Jasmine is my favorite flower to smell.

I gained 1.8 pounds yesterday, but I am still inside my goal weight of 145 to 149.9. I walked the dogs 1.3 miles and did some housework. Mostly yesterday I wrote all day and gabbed on Facebook with some of you. Here is what I ate:

Fuji apple with peanut butter and chocolate chips
Bean and cheese burrito with salsa
Half of the cheese quesadilla that Scott couldn't finish before he left for work
Fuji apple with peanut butter and chocolate chips -- much later at night than I usually eat

145.6 Quaking Aspen Spokane Valley

I noticed the largest Quaking Aspen trees I have ever seen yesterday, while waiting at the bus stop to come home from substitute teaching. You know how normally it feels awkward, standing at a bus stop and watching all the drivers go by in their cars while you have to take the bus? Well, waiting at a bus stop is not bad at all if you have beautiful Quaking Aspen trees like these to gaze at. I just watched them quake in the wind and listened to the rustling of their leaves for most of the 20 minutes I was waiting for the bus.

The first few minutes I noticed the caps and gowns some of the students had with them. I asked them how it felt to be graduating from high school next week and what they would be doing after graduation. That was fun, too.

I took a short video of these Aspen trees, as well. Yes, that is my voice you hear in the video. It is very short, just a few seconds. If you know what to listen for, you can hear the Aspen leaves rustling as they quake in the wind.

 In other news, today makes three months that I have kept the weight off! It was March 2, 2012 when I first posted that I was at my goal weight of under 150.

Keeping the weight off is the hardest part for most of us. It is easier this time because I have viewed this as a lifetime lifestyle change, and not just a diet that I was on for a while. I know I can never go back to eating cookies and ice cream whenever I feel like it. I don't even keep that stuff in the house, so that I don't think about it most of the time. I have trained myself to think of an apple with peanut butter as a treat.

I lost 1.4 pounds yesterday. It was probably mostly water retention weight from the salty chili dip I ate Thursday for dinner. I walked the dogs a mile. I walked half a mile associated with taking the bus home from work. I substitute taught, which entails being on my feet most of the day, walking around the room to see what students are up to. Here is what I ate yesterday:

Fuji apple with peanut butter and chocolate chips
Two peanut butter cookies from the vending machine
Raw baby carrots with Parmesan spinach dip
Three snicker doodles that the students made
Bean and cheese burrito with salsa
Fuji apple with peanut butter and chocolate chips
Cup of corn tortilla chips

147.0 Thank God It's Friday!

I know I sound like a wimp to those of you who go in to work 5 days a week, every week, all the time, but it's Friday and I am tired! This was even a short week. I prefer substitute teaching over any other part time job, and I loved every minute of my time with the students, but I am ready for two days off. 

This picture is from yesterday. I hadn't changed the date on the board yet. I natter on and on about my job as a substitute teacher, so I thought it would only be fair to give you a picture of what I look like on the job.

I thought this week in particular would make a cool photo for my weight loss blog because I am substitute teaching in nutrition classes! See the poster to my right? It is for the US government's nutrition website. Their portion proportions differ from mine, but are much better than what most of us tend to eat when we forget to be concerned about our health, that's for sure.

I maintained my weight perfectly yesterday and had a zero gain day. It was a zero loss day, too, but that is OK. I am at my goal weight of 145 to 149.9 and just keeping the weight off. I walked the dogs a mile. Here is what I ate:

Fuji apple with 2 tablespoons peanut butter and 24 chocolate chips
Chocolate caramel bar that a student sold to me for a dollar to help raise money for a field trip
Raw baby carrots and Parmesan spinach dip
Half a can of Cattle Drive chili with four slices of American cheese, half a sauteed red bell pepper and two cups of corn tortilla chips to eat it with, as dip
Fuji apple with 2 tablespoons peanut butter and 24 chocolate chips