40 bags in 40 days challenge...

OK, 45 bags in my case.  If any of you are on Pinterest (WARNING:  It is TOTALLY ADDICTIVE if you aren't already on it!), you may have seen this challenge... to clean out your house in bite-sized pieces and do one bag of "stuff" a day for 40 days.  And since there are 44 days until Christmas, I am feeling motivated to get moving!  In fact, last week I took 8 garbage bags full of various clothes to Goodwill.... some OLD plus size (26, 28 and even a 30) clothes that I found in the attic, maternity clothes and a bunch of Lucia's things.  Another 2 bags of shoes were brought to church for Soles for Souls... and yet another 2 bags of maternity clothes to a friend at work.  It feels good! 

So I am going for the gold, and have made my list of bite-sized pieces to tackle...  My list is below...  I am giving myself until 12/31 to do it, since I have a lot more time off around the holidays... Plus, we meet Uncle Sam's tax deadline for donations!  Although really not band-related, I think that this will continue to help me with "shedding" that stuff that for some reason I keep holding on to. I guess we'll see!!!

BTW - if you click HERE, it will take you to my Pinterest page if you want to follow... I love finding new people to follow on my end too!!!

Halloween & Baptism = Busy, busy, busy!!!

Liam, aka Mickey

What a crazy few weeks it's been around our house....  I have fallen off the blogging wagon because honestly I am just SWAMPED and haven't had a lot of time, nor a lot to blog about in regard to my band... I feel like I am at a pretty good restriction.  The first few weeks post-fill I had a good amount of acid reflux, but that seems to have gone away and I am comfortable with eating what I am SUPPOSED to eat (in terms of amount) and all seems okay... the weight is coming off, clothes are fitting better, and now I just really need to get back on the exercise bandwagon.

Lucia, aka Ginny Weasley

So, last few weeks on the non-band front have been crazy.  Lucia broke her thumb two weeks ago, we had Halloween, and then today was Liam's baptism... what a great day - and so very thankful for all the friends and family who were able to help us celebrate!  So all that being said, here are a few pix and I'll check back in soon!

Liam's Banner

My cousin Angie, Dennis, Lu, Liam & Me

My Family

Den & Liam - pre baptism

Lucia, carrying in Liam's Banner

Dennis's parents 

The cake... SO YUMMY!!!!  Total slider though!

Bad things happen in sixes... (or two sets of threes)

What a week it's been!  Last Sunday I started feeling crummy (#1) and I ended up having a terrible headache and  fever...  then my brand-new washing machine (6 months old)  broke that afternoon (#2).  Nothing like smelling electrical burning with an awful noise...  so I hand wrung out the clothes that were in the dead machine which still (yes, still) has about 4 inches of water in it and carted them over to my neighbor's to spin.  Washing machine guy couldn't get here for 9 days which is tomorrow, so fingers crossed he can fix it.  I stayed home Monday hoping for a better turnout... not to happen!

Then, Lucia got the virus (#3) and was home from Wednesday on.  Of course, Murphy's Luck being what it is, Dennis was out of town.  So Wednesday night, poor Liam got it with projectile vomiting and a fever of almost 102 (#4)... needless to say we ended up in the pediatric ER.  Dennis, God bless him, drove home from Philly (thanks again Mom and Dad for letting us borrow your car!) and got in at 4AM... then helped take care of both kids on Thursday, and ended up getting sick himself (#5).... AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!

FINALLY on Saturday afternoon / evening, Lucia shook the virus.  But, that apparently wasn't good enough.  Because she went and broke her thumb Saturday night (#6) so we spent Sunday BACK in the pediatric ER (where they recognized us from Wednesday) and then today she was casted.  She'll be in it for 3 weeks - not too bad, and a very clean break.  But a break none-the-less....  Liam had his 4 month check up today is did great, so maybe we are on an upswing now?

The good news is I weighed in at 220.4 this morning... After last week, I'll take it!

Movin' on down...

Just a quick Friday update... The title is not quite the Jefferson's ("We're Movin' on Up!")... but the scale is thankfully moving down, they way it is supposed to be.  221.4 as of this morning, which is 14 pounds lighter than my physical in early August, so I am quite happy with that!  The adjustment has been a good thing, although I've had a virus for a week and fighting a bit of acid reflux so I am keeping a CLOSE eye on that to make sure I'm not too tight.  Clothes are starting to fit better, and I put some in-between pants on the other day and they are getting too big.  YAY!  That is always a good feeling.

Personally, my whole family has the crud... a virus that has been mainly fever/headache for the big kids, but unfortunately projectile vomiting for poor Liam... he's doing much better and Lucia is fine except for the fever which we can't shake - very frustrating!

Looking forward to keeping the scale moving in this direction and keeping ya'll posted.  Need a new weight ticker, so will look for one soon.  Happy Fall Weekend!

Adjusted and it is a good thing!

Wednesday afternoon I got my adjustment... they added in about 1/2 a cc, bringing me to 6, and I am down to 224 this morning.  I'll gladly take it!  Boy - it is amazing what a difference 1/2 a cc makes... Wednesday afternoon was full liquid, and yesterday and today were mushies.  Yesterday I had a 4 oz. container of cottage cheese for breakfast and then a Chobani greek yogurt for lunch.  For dinner I had about 1/2 a cup (maybe) of casserole that I mushed up.  COMPLETLEY STUFFED between the meals... YAY!  This morning (and it is lunch time now), I've had coffee and more coffee... never was hungry for breakfast.  I drank a small (4 oz) chocolate milk, and now am working on Wendy's chili.  I got a potato too, why, I am not sure because after 4 bites of chili, I am about done...  I am SO GLAD to have restriction again!  Hooray!  Here's hoping it is the right level and I don't go to the other side of being too tight....

Oh - and on the family front, Dennis comes home tonight from a week away - can't wait to see him!  Lucia is reading like it is going out of style, and Liam is sleeping through the night...  all week he's gone at least 7 hours.  WHOO HOOO!  Last night was 9 hours.  I could get used to this quite quickly!