I'm Weight Watching!

I've been dragging my heels for some time, knowing that I have to do something about my creeping weight gain. I love to eat and in fact it's a wonder that I don't already weigh 200 pounds despite the fact that I think I eat good stuff: whole grains, lean meat, rarely anything fried. I successfully did Weight Watchers maybe 15 years ago, but they no longer have a meeting in my neighborhood. So I was pleased to see a Weight Watchers online offer of $1 plus 3 months prepaid. I figure that will give me time to see if it's a good choice for me.

One week has passed and I'm down 2 pounds, a very motivating start. I'm a list maker anyway, so it's easy to track what I eat. Foods have a point value, and I'm allowed 26 points a day, plus a weekly allowance of 49 points to spend on whatever floats my boat. Activity gains even more points -- my usual daily walk nets me 2 points, and I've been motivated to add 15 minutes to my walk for an extra point. Most fruits and vegetables are free -- zero points! -- so it's been a pleasure to add apples, bananas, peaches, cantaloupe and/or watermelon to each meal, as well as a big heap of green beans or summer squash or broccoli. Some foods are quite surprising: the little individual cups of brown rice that we eat? 6 points! Whereas mashed potatoes are 3. I'd rather eat the potatoes anyway. Making better choices is a big part of the plan, I think.

We'll see how this progresses. It's pretty easy and I'm not hungry. I only set myself a goal of 5 pounds to start. When I reach that, I'll try another 5. I need to lose about 15 pounds total, so it's quite doable!

Wish me luck!

8/19/12 As an update, I lost 5 1/2 pounds in the month since I began, and believe me, I use every last point I'm entitled to whether basic, bonus, or earned through exercise! Off to a good start!

July Challenges

I got a chance to work on the first three challenges at Scraptastic at my crop Saturday. Challenge #1 is to use word stickers instead of journaling, and to use only one sheet of patterned paper. I've used part of this kitchen-related paper in the past, carefully cutting out the blocks I wanted and salvaging the rest and the margin. I like the idea, but I'm not crazy about the way it turned out. I think I need to move this cute photo of Cici and Maddy making scrambled eggs and a bagel. Hmmm. I'll play with that adjustment this week.

#2 was to use Heather's great sketch, and to use masculine paper on a girl page, or vice versa. I had some photos of Maddy playing in the Dreher Park fountain, and used some more masculine papers on it:

I made cards for #3, which was to use a beautiful color palette of blues and rusts, and to include a die cut.

The last challenge was to layer, layer, layer. I was able to combine layering with a great sketch at frosteddesigns.blogspot.com, where my friend Amy is giving away a beautiful Cricut cartridge to a random winner.

I love challenges -- having an "assignment" keeps me motivated!

June Challenges at Scraptastic

Well, I'm behind. For once I had a super busy month! Not only did I spend 10 days traveling to Atlanta and Chicago, but there was prep for the trip, two crops during the month, a zoo day with my granddaughter and two more days with her later, and house hunting! We made an offer on a townhouse in a wonderful community. It's a short sale and will take a while to discover whether our offer is accepted, but if not this one, we'll wait for ours in this same community.

Anyway, I didn't get a chance to work on the challenges at Scraptastic Club until my crop this past weekend, and I only got two of them done at that. I still have 2 more days 'til the deadline, so there's a chance I can get more done. Here's what I have so far:

Challenge #2 -- use the sketch provided and use two different fonts in two different colors for the title. I'm not entirely happy with my interpretation of this sketch, and if I get time, I may tweak it a little. Cloud Gate (known to Chicagoans as "The Bean") may have been my granddaughter's favorite attraction in Chicago):

7/3/12 I moved the small photo today, and my eye likes it a little better:

Challenge #3 -- scrap about something you love. Use rubons and brad(s). I remembered on my trip how much I love Chicago, the city where I grew up. Over the years it's become even cleaner and greener, and I love visiting there -- love the energy of downtown. I enjoyed journaling about my love of "my" city. Had a lot of fun using rubons, which I really like and never remember to use. Besides the scrolly things at the bottom, there's a swatch of color behind the word "Chicago" This one needs tweaking too. For some reason, I see what I've done best once I see them as a thumbnail.

7/3/12 Another tweak -- the scrolly things ended up too far below the photo block, so I added a strip of blue paper:

So that's it. I started an idea for a fourth challenge today, and have an idea for the first one, but don't know if I'll actually finish either one. What I love best is not the random prize, although that's nice, but a deadline to create something within specific parameters. Keeps me moving!