Happy New Year.

I can't believe it, 2010 is rapidly coming to a close, and I'm at home, alone, suffering from a cold that I caught from the littlest one.  Thanks sweetie.  We weren't going to do much for the night, but then our neighbors popped over mid-week and invited us to a party at their house!  Fun!  Now hubby and littlest one are over having fun and I'm stuck home with a cold!  Matt did ask if I could muster some energy up and take one for the team, but I just feel rotten enough that I have no game tonight...so instead I called my momma and we reminisced a little about New Years Eve celebrations of the past.

I grew up in a very small town...very small - so small that if you happened to blink as you were were approaching it, you'd miss the turn to main street!  I guess one year, one of the neighbors decided it would be fun to host a New Year Eve celebration out in his shop.  I don't remember much of it - since I think the first time we went I was about 4 or 5, but I do remember sitting on hay bales, eating a delicious meal, and doing some dancing.  From what my mom tells me, it was NEGATIVE 40 degrees out, the neighbor provided the meat for the evening, and everything else was provided pot luck.  I remember it being VERY fun, despite it being frigid; mom told me that people would show up to the dance, and leave their 'outfits' running the whole evening just to be sure that they'd have something to drive home when midnight hit.   I don't have many memories of the parties, (I believe he hosted it for 4-5 years) but I do remember the smell of the hay bales that were provided as chairs, and the smell of the greasy shop that it was being hosted in.  I remember the hay bales being hard, but oh so cozy to fall asleep on when there was a pile of coats to lay on.  I remember one of the 'older' girls out kissing! one of the boys, and I'm sure she was mad that all the little girls were spying on them!  He he!  I remember someone sprinkling corn meal on the cement floor so peoples shoes would slide easier to dance.  I also remember getting to go spend the night with Gramma and Gramps after one party, who were staying out MUCH later than mom and dad, and seeing the town drunk passed out on the floor under the hay.  At the time I asked my Gramma if he was dead, and why he was under all that hay, and she assured me he wasn't dead, that he was just tired and was taking a nap...

After a few years of that the party was moved into town and was never quite the same...still fun, and still fun to have something to go to, but that smell was gone, and was never the same.  They still do it to this day, and every New Years Eve that I'm away from home makes me think of the celebration that will be happening there, and what a good time it is.  Tonight it is -20 degrees there but the party will go on.  Oh how I miss it.

Happy New Year to my itooshort readers!  May 2011 be a blessing to you and yours!

I coulda swore.

I don't know if it's just me, the time of year or what, but do you ever go to a store, have stuff picked out to buy and then not have the item in your bags when you get home?!!  I HAVE.  And it seems like it's happening more and more frequently.  I don't quite understand what it is, but when I bring my items to the checkout stand/lane, I am entrusting the checker to get everything I have purchased into a bag and hand it to me!  Is that too much to ask?  I realize - I can't watch out for every single thing that I buy - most the time I have baby girl with me, and I'm trying my darnedest to hold her, pay, and keep her from melting down...so I don't have TIME to monitor whether every single item that I'm PAYING for makes it into my bag/cart!  I know for a fact that I've paid for and not received by the time I've gotten home:  bananas, avocados, baking chocolate, and just recently TAPE!  Of course these are all separate trips, but it makes me swear. What kills me even more is that I can't go back and say I didn't receive my item...there would be no chance that would ever fly.

On a side note - my cousin was ringing herself up at the self checkout, and accidentally put the item number in the quantity when she was buying an avocado, so the item number being 1022, ended up registering as she buying 1,022 avocados!  So, the checker of the lane assured her that she got the transaction stopped, however, a few days later, the charge ended up on her card.  She went in to the store to explain what happened, and the store manager didn't BELIEVE HER!  Ummm....I think you'd know if someone really bought a thousand avocados from your store in one purchase...let's be real here.  Luckily the checker who was working that day remembered my cousin and was able to get it cleared up, but ONLY because she happened to be working at that moment did the issue get resolved...

The other thing that I'm noticing lately is when I have my arms full of kid and a basket full items to purchase, the checker looks at me and says "do you want a bag?".  Umm...well, seeing as though I don't have a reusable bag with me, YES, I would like a bag.  Thanks.

Ok, I'm done being a curmudgeon and scrooge this week.  Moving on.

It's Christmas this week!  Yay!  I'm nearly ready, I've nearly finished shopping, just a few things to pick up.  We are hosting Christmas Eve at our house this year, so need to prepare for our meal, which hopefully we can finish up on Thursday along with my last minute shopping.  I still need to decorate the rest of my sugar cookies,  and of course clean my house!  Here's wishing you a blessed Christmas - I hope you and yours have a wonderful and happy holiday!

Biggest Loser Season Wrap Up.

Admittedly, I've been bad about making my Biggest Loser episode recaps...I wasn't doing very well getting the episodes watched, and I was also was fed up with some of the players and their game play.  Especially, when my favorite Jesse went home.

The "fearsome" three had a scene back in one of their rooms where Brendan announced that they had this game won, and that one of the 3 of them would be the winner.  I'm glad that he said it, cause it came back to bite him and he got sent home!  YES!  The episodes waned on, and finally they were down to 4 contestants left, Frado, Ada, Elisabeth, and Patrick.  Ada and Elisabeth were up for the America's vote to be in the top 3, and thankfully Ada beat out that other chick, who was clearly more interested in moving into an apartment with her boyfriend, than concentrating on winning biggest loser.  BTW, I thought it was also interesting/sad to see that she immediately fell back into her pattern of being taken care of someone as soon as she moved home.  Apparently it didn't take her 2 weeks to move in with a boyfriend.

I guess it's no surprise to anyone that Patrick won.  He was skinny - although I didn't see his exact percentage of weight loss, I believe it was in the 45% range...which is pronominal, although he would have lost to Red Man, who lost 50%!  Amazing.  I thought the at-home-winner challenge was more interesting than the 3 finalists.  It started out with Blue man, then Jesse came and lost to him by a single POUND.  The green man beat blue man and then Red man beat Green man!!!  Exciting stuff, especially when these people were losing like 44%, 45%, 46%.

Looks like there's going to be 2 new trainers next season...but luckily Bob and Jillian will still be one the show as well...looks like there might be 2x the people playing...could be interesting.

New Baby!

We often say "seems like everybody we know are having babies", but I suppose that just has a lot to do with our age.  When we were in our early 20s, so were all of our friends.  Now, in our 30s, our siblings and friends are having babies.    On Tuesday, my sister had her baby!  A little one at that; her baby girl weighed in at 6lbs 0.5oz...  She's a couple weeks early, but since my sister was walking around 6 cm dilated, her doctor decided that they should break her water and get that baby born.  2 hours later, she had a baby to hold in her arms!  So, even though she wasn't supposed to be born until the 19th, she's a nice size! It's killing me not to fly to Montana and see the new bundle of joy...if only plane tickets weren't up 60% in price from last year!  I digress.

Welcome to the world sweet baby niece.  I can't wait to meet you!

Baby Sparrow.

Since this has been on my mind all week, I think it's worth making a post for.  A friend of mine, Mrs. Sparrow, who was expecting her first baby Jan 25th, gave birth to her baby boy this past weekend, on Nov 13th, at 29 weeks gestation. I know that they have a long road ahead of him, but from all sounds of it Baby Sparrow is doing great, just very small.   Yesterday, she reported that he was 2lbs 14oz!  So teeny!  So, good friend, if you're checking in on me, I hope you know that you're in my thoughts constantly, and I'm scared, worried, and happy for you.  I hope your baby boy gains weight fast and you get to go home sooner than later!

Biggest Loser Indeed.

I've been slow with my Biggest Loser updates...partly cause I think this season is sucking, and also because 2 weeks ago my #1 was voted off the show.  Part of my reason for watching this show is the weight loss - I love seeing how people's lives are transformed, by the sheer amount of weight they lose, and the mental transformations that they go through.  Some of these contestants come in beat down, feeling horrible and useless - at least that's how they are portrayed.  They go away with confidence and have learned to love themselves again.  That's what I like about the show.  I DO NOT like the game play.  I realize that it's a game show, that they are trying to win 1/4 million dollars, but I wish there wasn't votes and 'strategy' involved.  At this point I wish there was a red line every week - not a yellow line - so that it isn't about popularity or strategy that keeps the contestants around, but sheer weight loss.

With that, my #1 Jesse was voted out...which sucked, because once again it seems like Frado and the other guy (Frado's dad?  hehe.) were calling the shots.  And it happened to be a 'team' week, so their two teams sealed Jesse and Aaron's fate.  I can understand Bob's frustration with these players.  They aren't putting up huge numbers, yet they are controlling the game.

I guess that means I have to shift my #1, if I'm going to stay committed to the show, so my new #1 is Ada.  This last week, her family didn't even send her 'videos from home', so she didn't sit with the group and watch home videos...which was sad.  I did think that the group was nice and made her a video - it was really touching.  Ada has been a strong competitor throughout the show, putting up great numbers every week...although I'm sure this will be considered a threat and she'll be voted off next.  GRRR!!

Bring on the Time Change.

The sun rose at 7:32 am this morning.  The drive into work at 7:40 was beautiful.  The sun was hitting the Flat Irons magically...I on the other hand felt and feel like I've been hit by a truck and wish I could crawl back in bed.  I'm not sick...just tired.

It's weird...I don't think I've ever looked forward to a time change...as this weekend we adjust from Daylight Savings back to "Regular" time...I can't wait!  I don't know what it is, but apparently this year my body is very attuned to waking up with light.  The past few weeks of getting up in the dark has been MISERABLE.  This week I've even gotten to cheat...I had to get up Tuesday, but Wednesday we slept in, cause we thought little-one was going to be too sick to go to school, then Thursday since we had found out that little one WAS too sick to go to school, I got to sleep in again...granted, my sleeping in is only until 7:45...but it feels GLORIOUS.

I never really understood the mantra of "I NEED COFFEE"...and today I finally get it.  I went down to make my morning latte and felt like I was bumbling around and couldn't do ANYTHING without making noise.  1st the coffee machine was out of beans, then it was out of water, then I got my double shot of coffee roasted, and knocked over my coffee cup...so I had to start over!   Finally, I was ready to steam my milk, and I was out of milk and had to go get the new milk out of the cooler outside.  I do love my glass bottles!  I do believe it took me 20 minutes to get my coffee made and get out the door.  Then in my tired caffine-lacking faze, I closed the garage door, waking up little-one, so she and Matt had to get up too.  

So bring it on - getting to sleep until "7:35" (with the time change adjustment - i.e. 6:35) will be a dream.  I think I'll adjust my clocks tonight.

Waaayyy behind.

My biggest loser re-cap has been falling behind!  It's not my fault...well...it is...but I have good excuses.  3 weeks ago, something happened and I missed my recording of Biggest Loser...whoops...but Orange woman was voted out.   2 weeks ago, Halloween was sneaking up on me, and work was sorta busy, so I wasn't finding time to write.  And I can't remember who was voted out that week...maybe the old green man....I think.

I'm a little disappointed in this season to be honest.  I prefer it when the contestants play an honest game and are there for their health.  I do NOT like the drama and the game play and 'throwing' weigh ins - like Stupid Red Team from last year.  Anyways, that dislike has been transferred to Black team this year.  Those two fools are driving me crazy with all their drama and game play...ugh.  And it SHOCKS me that the other team members are pushed around by those two.  They lose/throw a weigh-in, and THEY get to choose who goes home...w/e.  And the one guy is a complete baby about EVERYTHING.  Goodness...I might have to start fast-forwarding through stuff that involves him!  Ha!

With that, the game is now blue vs black...and my favorite, Jesse, is on the Blue team, so for now, it's GO BLUE!  The elimination this week was selecting a member from the opposite team to represent the team for a weigh in...whoever lost the weigh-in, had to send someone home.  And like IDIOTS, the blue team picks the girl that Jillian has spent all week pounding on!!!  Unbelievable.  I can't believe that that they didn't pick the new chick, who is really on week 2 at the ranch.  EVERYONE knows that week 2 at the ranch equals a bad weigh-in...  And of course the black team picked the Red-shirt girl...and even with the opportunity to block the pick, Blue team went with it...and of course LOST.

So that's not the worst...the worst is that blue team had a split vote, between the girl and the nice dark haired man, so the vote went to Black team...  Black team could have voted for ANYONE...but they decided to respect the blue team's vote and choose between the girl and the guy, and of course they picked the man...more competition....at least it wasn't Jesse...  Sorry if that was very confusing - I need to start remembering their names.

Fight it out.

A few years ago my great-uncle Jack and great-aunt Carla celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.  At the time, someone asked them if it was 50 years of bliss...to which my aunt Carla remarked..."It has been 50 years of fighting it out!"  I love that response; it brings true perspective to a marriage that can last 50+ years!

I've been married a 'measly' 5 years - in comparison to the older generation of relatives in my family..but this post isn't really going to be about my marriage...it's supposed to be about my hubby, Matt.  Matt, among other things, is a fanatic about sports...he can eat, breath, and sleep sports.  When I first met him, it seemed like ESPN  was on his TV 24-7...and if you haven't ever seen ESPN, it's just re-caps (or as Matt says 'highlights'), all day...all the time (ok maybe not all the time but A LOT).  Ugh...I've gotten to where I HATE ESPN...it disgusts me if I walk in the room and see it on.  Anyhoo...my fanatic of a husband loves all sports - minus car-racing - which surprisingly enough is the one sport that my family did watch when we were younger.  I tease him that after a Broncos game it's going to be 'a sports talk radio day'...and he says "yep!".  When Matt moved into a new office last year, his office-mate only listened to country music on the radio...so I asked him how he was getting his sports talk radio fix in...and said he was just having to go without!  Gasp! It didn't last long and now he turns it on really low so he can hear it...I can imagine him leaning really close to his clock radio during the day to hear some sports talk.

All teasing and kidding aside, Matt really does have a passion for his Colorado sports teams - Broncos, Rockies, Avalanche, and CSU Rams...and 5 years of venting to a blank clueless face (me), has forced him to take his sports talk to a new medium.  So, check him out everyone:  http://firstand20.blogspot.com, and enjoy!

Gewürztraminer

It certainly is a mouth full.  Just in case you're wondering, it's pronounced  guh-VOORTS-truh-MEE-nur.

My husband and I just returned from a wonderful trip to San Francisco.  We decided about 6 months ago, that we'd like to do a weekend away, and with the in-laws so close, it'd be a great opportunity to leave baby girl with them and go for it.  It was also our 5 year anniversary this year, so we thought it'd be fun to 'celebrate', so the weekend to San Fran worked as a great excuse.

One of the things that we did while we were there was to try out some wine country.  Hubby has some friends that live in SF and they agreed to take us around.  We had a little bit of a rough start, but made it to some beautiful winery's...of which one of them served us a Gewurztraminer.  Normally I'm a red drinker.  I don't mind whites, but it seems like a lot of them taste like perfume and give me a headache.  I had never ever HEARD of that type of wine before (but that's not saying much) and I have to admit that it was delicious!  Smooth, fruity, and delicious, and may have quite possibly turned me towards whites for the time being!

In case you're wondering, one of the wineries that we went to was called Arista Winery, and I would highly recommend going there if you're ever out in the Healdsburg area doing wine tasting.

Whoa, when did that happen?

All of a sudden, we grew up a little...and that's because our dining room table was delivered!!! My (ok our) beautiful table, by Canadel, 42" boat shaped with 8 chairs came this morning, and I love it!! Check it out!

Awww C'moonnn!

I watched the Biggest Loser episode last night, and might have a few favorites!  I don't have a really good read on everyone yet, but I'm getting close.  1st of all I wanted to say that I'm a little disappointed that the drama is back...I loved the 1st episode, cause they spent a lot of time actually going into what the contestants were going through...like, "get comfortable guys, you're gonna be here for the next 4 hours".   4 hours!  I had no idea that they would have 4 hour workouts...who has time for that in the real world.  Anyways, so the drama is back, and stupid purple grandma wants to go home...FOR A VACATION.  Boo hoo!  I don't think she realized all the thousands of overweight people that would KILL to be on the show and she wants to go on a VACATION?!  Mama, please...quit...and I won't have to look at your stupid purple glasses and the lenses that magnify your eyeballs...w/e.  And then pink girl decides she wants to go home, and we find out that she's also dying to suck on a cancer stick too....yikes...I don't think she's gonna last long.

I DO like the 'surprise' weigh in's...I'd really like to know how many days have passed since their last weigh in...cause everyone was referring to 'last week' so I wonder if it was really a surprise.  And I like that there's a competition for the bottom two...that makes it fun.  The pop challenge was stupid - with the tennis balls...and was just a popularity contest, and that kind of crap drives me nuts.  And I can't believe that there's already "game play" going on...that drives me crazy too.  I've said it before, I realize that this is a game show with a $250K prize, but these people are dying of a disease...they should be thinking of their health before THROWING A WEIGH IN....Mr. Old Black T-Shirt.  You're an idiot too.

So have some folks that I would like to see go.  The two black t-shirt guys can go...I'm not impressed.  And I'm not that impressed with Mrs. "I'm a sprinter" young purple tee.  And I was happy to see old purple tee voted out.

My current favorites at the moment are Orange man (I think his name is Jesse, and he makes me laugh), and Red girl (Jessica?), and I like Blue man...I think...

Biggeeesssttt Llllooosssseerrr!

The series premier of Biggest Loser was on last week.  I thought they had an interesting twist this year, in that they announced 3 contestants, and those 3 had to compete for the spot on the show, and the two winners of the challenge get to go to the ranch and are teammates in future episodes.  It seems like every single one of those people needed to be on the show, all of their stories pulled on my heart strings, BUT the previews look like they will have a chance at redemption, and get another shot at getting on the show.  One thing that I DIDN'T like is that one of the women who collapsed cried "My life is over" cause she didn't make the show.  Seriously?  C'mon.  I KNOW dieting and exercise is hard, but really, if you had the motivation to try and get on a TV weight loss show, I'm sure there's some motivation there to get you started on a diet and exercise program!  Don't cry about how your life is over and now you're gonna die.  (insert eye roll here).  And then Jillian walks up to you and says you have another shot - oh! I guess you won't die after all.

I don't have any favorites at the moment, since there wasn't much of a chance to know who is on there...but in the preview I sensed some a.t.t.i.t.u.d.e. from a woman in orange...and from that brief eye-roll I wanted to punch her in the face...or rather I wish Jillian would have....so we'll see how that one pans out...and whether she makes my naughty or nice list...

Until next week!

Summer Music.

I love music. My mom, who has a beautiful voice, has always sang to us, and played the piano for us.  My favorite thing about going to church is listening to the voices sing the beautiful old hymns.  I generally like all genre's of music, and don't preference one genre over another, although when it comes to popular music, I love hearing something new and fresh.

I don't know about you, but my music selection has seriously been lacking as of late.  Seriously.  I mostly listen to the radio, and it seems like they've been playing the same music since February.  What gives?  Earlier this summer I went so far as to download a copy of California Gurls by Katy Perry, with IMMEDIATE buyers remorse because as soon as I paid my 99 cents for the song it was completely overplayed by the radio and now I hate it.  I switch the channel when I hear it come on.  Puke.  Don't get me started on her latest single...something about "going all the way tonight".  Are you kidding me?  And to think her target audience is teenage girls.  Nice role model.

I have recently, as of yesterday, gotten a excited about Maroon 5's new song, "Misery", that was released in June.  It has a really catchy tune...and I have yet to really listen to what the song is about but I like guy's voice.  I am also sorta excited about One Republic's latest album, although I see it was actually released way back in November of 2009 - where the H have I been?  And one of their songs, I realize has been played a lot, but just recently I heard "Secrets", and I love it.  How long will I love it?  Pff...good question.

Another song that I'm currently groovin is Keane's "Stop for a Minute"...shockingly enough they actually play this one on KBCO here in Boulder.  It doesn't really seem like KBCO's genre...beings that they can't get ENOUGH of Cake and Sting...ugh.  C'mon guys, Short Skirt/Long Jacket needs to be retired already.

Riddle me this.

Last night we decided to go into the office about a 1/2 hour before bedtime for the littlest one.  I needed to print some family pictures to be sent to school the next day.  Miss Muffet was interested in looking at the pictures, so we looked at some and then decided to watch some of the short movies that we have of her.  She watched them, but then started crying!  Big sad tears!  I'm not sure if she was jealous of the little girl in the movies, with her daddy and her toys, but she did NOT like it!  I couldn't believe how sad she was, so we stopped watching and went and played with her toys...so sensitive!!  :(

Go Pete Go!

We were out of town for the weekend, spending some time up in Grand Lake with hubby's family.  A good time was had - we rented a pontoon boat on Saturday and cruised around the lake for 2 hours...it was fun, other than baby girl DID NOT like her life jacket and had multiple meltdowns about it.  I guess it was a good thing it was only a 2 hour rental.

We got home Sunday and caught up on our latest reality TV.  As promised, Aartie won the Next Food Network Star, which I'm actually excited about, and looking forward to seeing her show, which airs next Sunday.  We also watched the finally of Top Shot, and unfortunately our favorite, Pete, got 4th...and once he was out of the running, we had a hard time picking the winner!  It was a fun show to watch though, although they use their high speed camera excessively, but it was still good.  We'd probably watch a 2nd season if it were on again...it made for good summer TV.

Lazy Days of Summer.

My blog has gone through a little bit of neglect this summer - not that summer is even over, but with school starting up for everyone around here...it seems like it's definitely winding down.

Our summer has been full of adventures.  It seems like we've had something planned every weekend, and we've barely been home long enough to catch our breath and do laundry.  The summer has been full of great weather, with a few weeks here and there of super hot, but luckily we've been sticking close to the high 80s for the most part...which if fine by me...I think my heat tolerance tops out at 90...after that I don't like to be outside anymore.  Our yard is looking great, although some really hot weather has dried out a few spots of grass.  We got some new neighbors to the north...so we actually have to shut the shades at night...

We have been tuned into some great TV this summer.  One of our favorites is "the Next Food Network Star", which is about some armature cooks trying to get their own show on Food Network.  It's down to the final 3, and our favorite is Aartie!  We've also been watching Top Shot on the History Channel...where it's basically a shooting competition, and the winner gets $100,000.  Our favorite is Pete...he's hilarious.  We've also been watching Californication on DVD from Netflix.  Here's a little disclaimer:  The show is rude, obnoxious, and filthy in every sense of the word...so DO NOT take this as a recommendation to watch it...but I guess we kinda like the obnoxiousness of it and find it hilarious...of course it's something we can only watch well AFTER baby girl has gone to bed....I say to hubby "I'm ready to watch some filth now" and we pop in the dvd!  There's a reason it's shown on Showtime.  Yow!

Baby girl is growing up so quickly, and is so eager to learn!  When we get home from school we read books - one of which is a book that has buttons for apple, dog, shoes, cat...and she makes every attempt to say each of them when I point to the pictures...so cute.  She says "eeeeooooowww" when we ask her what the cat says.  Just the other night we were counting the oranges that the hungry caterpillar had eaten and I swear she said "ree" when we got to 3!!  She is saying lots of words and has started walking a ton over the weekend!  Luckily she still loves to be packed around and held by mama.

Our other exciting news is that a cousin of mine who is very near and dear to me is moving back to Colorado with her husband and newborn baby!  They will be here in 2 weeks!  I'm thrilled!

So that's that for a little update...I will try to put a little update about the winner of the shows that we are watching...I think they end next week.  Hope your summer has been a great one too!

Glass Bottles.

Ever since moving to Colorado, I've been very interested in buying milk from a local dairy, and doing the whole milk delivery thing...but in the past it was never very economical for me, since many of the places that did milk delivery always had a minimum order, and when it was just me, I couldn't see myself getting through that much milk per week.  Fast forward to 2005, I have a husband, we both drink milk - opportunity to get delivered milk right?  We still don't see it as something we'd be able to consume in a week, especially when the minimum order is 3 bottles of milk.  *Sigh*

So, just the other day, we were out having lunch at the Cheeky Monk (which btw, is awesome),  and had just enjoyed a fabulous meal and a decadent Belgium beer, and we decided to go walk through this little Farmer's Market that was near where we parked our car.  We walked by one of the booths and there Longmont Dairy.  YES!  We had just talked a few days before about how doing milk delivery might be an option for us now, since the baby girl is now drinking whole milk, and that we're pretty heavy milk drinkers right now too.  So we wandered over to check out their deal, and it turned out that not only did they have milk, but they had tons of other stuff, and that we could swap out our order each week if we wanted to, and that we could do it all online!!  Sign me up!  Just this morning, we got our first delivery of milk, which came in glass bottles...2 half-gallon bottles of 1% and a Quart of whole milk for the munch.  And as our sign up bonus, a free quart of chocolate milk...yum!!   I'm thrilled!!

Birthday.

Happy Birthday Dad!  Wish we were home to help you celebrate today.  Hope you have a great day!

Speaking of  birthday's, my hubby took me out for my Birthday supper last night...usually for each other's birthday's, we go out to dinner to celebrate.  With our birthday's 2 weeks apart, and having to find a baby-sitter this year, my got pushed a little later, but made up for bigtime!  We went to Colterra in Niwot last night for dinner.  I think they tote themselves as a French restaurant, but their big seller is that they try to use all Colorado grown produce, and have a garden every summer to use their own grown ingredients.  I love that!  I have to say that once again, it is one of the best meals I've ever had in my entire life.  We went there a year ago when I was very pregnant, with my cousins, and it was an amazing meal then, but I also didn't get to partake in the fancy unpasteurized cheeses, and the wine, so this year I did!  You can order a cheese plate there as an appetizer or pair it with a dessert, and they are amazing.  We then split a 'small plate' that was a crab salad, which had a layer of avocado under it and a creamy red balsamic sauce.  Then we got our entrée.  Matt got a wagyu steak that had a truffle sauce and some delicious gnocchi to go with. I got a tuna steak that had garlic mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, topped with some crispy straws, and an amazing sauce too...it was PHENOMENAL. For dessert, Matt got a peach sorbet with fresh berries, and I white chocolate and apricot Crème brûlée. Incredible...can I say amazing any more times?

The other thing that impressed me is this:  when we go out for a nice dinner like that, we plan on being there for a while.  We don't like to be rushed.  So we're often reluctant to give the server our whole order for fear that we'll get everything at once and feel like we're rushing to eat everything and beat it out of the door.  Not at this place.  They take the order, bring you the individual courses (although we did get our cheese at the same time as the salad last night, which I would have liked separate), and once you look like you're ready for the main course, they bring it out.  The timing is great, the atmosphere is very relaxed, and the wait staff make you feel very welcome and not rushed.  I believe Colterra is rounding out as one of my favorite all time restaurants.  Thanks sweetie for the awesome birthday dinner!

Tantrum.

I know, right?!  2 posts in 1 day?  I just had too much stuff to write to  make it all work in 1 post.  This one is just a little diddy about the baby girl.  Most of you know that my sweetie pie had her first birthday recently.  I can't believe she's 1, but not walking, so still wants to be held - I hear that I need to enjoy this stage, cause as soon as she walks then they don't want to be held anymore.

So anyways, although with being 1, we had our 1st tantrum the other day.  We had been to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Father's Day and played with cousins for the afternoon, and it was getting time to go home.  On our way to get in the car, miss muffit decided that she also wasn't ready to go home, and proceeded to have our very first tantrum as I was putting her in the car seat.  Yay.

So I'm wrestling her into the car seat, she's bawling, and starts coughing and gagging.  I'm thinking, great, she's going to barf.  So, I'm running around trying to find a tissue or something that I can wipe her face and snotty nose with all the while yelling "Don't you DARE throw up!", to which, she throws up.  Awesome.  AND all of this yelling and chaos in front of the in-laws.  Double awesome.  So, on Father's Day I think I got the award for yelling at the baby.  Ugh.  Apparently this is motherhood?    

The Skinny.

Hello there i too short readers!  I know it's been a long time, since my last post.  I just haven't had much to write about since Biggest Loser got over and I quit JC.  I've been maintaining my 'lifestyle' change, although have gained a couple of pounds...it seems like my weight fluctuates around my 'number' a lot these days.  A friend of mine from Montana recently visited me, and with all the eating out we did, I came out a little heavier at the end of the weekend.  But not to worry, back on salads last week and this week, so hopefully will get back down to where I'm happier.

So, speaking of lifestyle change, my body changes this past 5 months have led me to saggy bottom jeans, and the quest to find some new ones!  When my friend was here for the weekend, I got ample opportunity to some major jeans shopping down at Cherry Creek mall.  What I didn't know was, that skinny jeans have taken over the world.  Seriously.  It was difficult for us to find any jeans that WEREN'T skinny jeans.  Another issue that I have with jeans is that the legs are usually so freaking skinny, that when I finally get a size big enough to get over my apparently massive thighs, I have MAJOR gap-age in the back.  Yuck. So after shopping all day, neither of us left buying any jeans.  Although, I did find a fabulous pair of AG jeans, but the were still a little skinny for my liking.

That's when my friend told me of an awesome website that she's used in the.  It's called www.MyTrueFit.com and it's AMAZING.  You create a profile and it shows you how to take your measurements, and then it finds jeans that will fit you.  So I found some !iT jeans that were supposedly going to fit me, so I decided to go out on a whim and order a pair.  I got them last night and they are AWESOME!  I love them!  And they came in petite so they are the perfect length with no hemming!  So here's some free advertising for them, but I'm thrilled to finally find a pair of jeans that look great.

GO WHITE!!

Yay!  I just finished watching the season finally of Biggest Loser and my FAVORITE, Michael (GO WHITE!) WON!!!!  Yay for confetti!  Make it rain!!  ;)

The previous episode was the marathon, with the final contestants of Darius, Koli, Ashley, and Michael.  There was a LOT of filler but ultimately Darius won, and won $10000 for a charity of his choice.  BUT at the weigh in, Darius GAINED weight, landing him in the bottom two, with shockingly enough, Koli!  Koli, who had moved to Las Vegas to ensure that he would continue to lose weight, only managed to lose 13 pounds that month...shocking to say the least.

So it was up to America's vote - Koli or Darius, and it's a good thing for Michael that America felt bad for Darius - cause Koli KILLED it.  Koli officially won the at home prize of $100,000 by losing 53.35% of his body weight!  That's INCREDIBLE!!  Pink mom was winning most of the show, then black dad took over, and then Koli smashed them.  He looked awesome, confident, and had so much energy.  I had the impression though that he must have been continuing his intense workouts somewhere other than where his family was, cause all he said was that he was ready to go home and be with his family.

So the final 3 weighed in, and they all did incredible, but Michael pulled out ahead by losing 50% of his body weight!  AMAZING!!!  He looked awesome too.  They all did...so exciting.

Anyways, I'm pumped that my #1 made it to #1!!!!  YES!  It'd also be awesome of Michael and Ashley dated one another, they genuinely seem to adore one another...ahh, if only!

I can't wait for next season!  I wonder when it starts?!

Proud Crawler

It has finally happened.

First, a little back story.  A couple Thanksgivings ago, we were celebrating the holiday with my family in Montana.  My niece, who at the time was just a year old, was crawling and getting close to walking.  My mom's bedroom is just off the living room and has these French doors as the entrance to her room.  So my niece could go in to the room, and pull the doors shut with her little fingers, peek at us through the glass, and then come bursting out with the proudest crawl you've ever seen.  Head up, big smile and FAST.  It was adorable and hilarious.  Of course, if any of you know my family, there was lots of cheering and clapping too!

Our living room is set up with the love seat along one wall, and the couch along the wall perpendicular to that; in the corner is a rod-iron end table.  There's just enough space between the arm of the couch and the arm of the love seat for Miss Muffet to craw through and play under the table.  Just last night Miss Muffet discovered that she could crawl in there, so we put a few of her teddy bears in with her, and she managed to find an envelope that had fallen back there to play with.  When she is in her 'fort', we can't reach her very easily, so we have to bribe her to come out with her other fun toys (that we are having a ball playing with).  So last night after she had been back there playing for a while, she got to the 'entrance', waited for us to notice her and then came roaring out with the proudest crawl I've ever seen her do.  She was a spitting image of her cousin and reminded me of her so much.  I wish we could see you more often, my sweet niece, I miss you!

Hello final 4!

It was officially final 4 week on Biggest Loser, and the GAME WAS ON.  It was intense.  Michael (go white!) had multiple melt downs, Koli and Darius were definitely turning on the game play...it just seemed TENSE.

The challenge this week stunk - of course it was a race, and I felt like it was geared toward Darius to win - because obviously he's the fastest at this point.  The challenge was the 'put it back on' challenge, where the contestants had to race with the weight that they had lost all season - and at each stop point they got to dump the weight that they had lost at that week.  Of course Ashley and Michael were dead last, but they still managed to finish.  Darius did go back out to help everyone else when he finished, but I dunno...he's lost his charm.  It seemed like he was a funny fun guy when he started this, and now that he's lost a bunch of weight, he does not seem funny and fun...it's like he lost his sense of humor with all those pounds that he shed...who knows...but on camera he doesn't seem like the same fun-loving guy that he used to be.

Anyways, they had to watch some video of themselves from all season - snore...we've seen it all...MANY TIMES...  Finally they got to the weigh in...Michael went first, -12...not bad... He has lost over 200 pounds this season!!  Koli - a whopping -13 or some crazy number like that...amazing.  Darius -10...another huge number for so late in the game.  Ashley needed -8 to beat Michael's percentage, but got -7...then it came down to Sunshine.  -2.  I felt like the producers had built up to this the whole episode though, they kept showing her say "I'm going to be ok, I know I can do this at home", and crap like that all episode...so I guess her -2 wasn't really that shocking.  Anyways, my final 4 actually made it to the final 4!!!  How do I pick a winner now?!

How about this...I'll pick the top two:  Michael (go White!), Koli (his numbers have just been so huge, that I think his overall percentage lost is going to be massive...)

Bye bye yellow, so long Sam.

So it's been 2 weeks since my last biggest loser update...eek!  I'll just hit the high points, and not try to make this too painful.

Last week, if I remember correctly, the contestants went to Texas, had a 5K with a bunch of locals...I though one lady was going to mount O'neil...it was a little uncomfortable.  Most of their contestants ran with their groups - those who had their shirts...but not Darius.  In what I thought was a slight d-bag move, he raced ahead, to try to get his best time and left the rest of his group in his dust.  The only redeeming factor was that as soon as he crossed his finish line, he turned back around and ran back for his group...so I guess it made up for it.

The weigh in was a bit of a nail biter - but ended up with both yellows under the yellow line...and I was hoping that they'd send Sunshine home, but they of course respected O'neil's wishes, and sent O'neil packing.

This week was MAKEOVER WEEEKKKK!!  I've been waiting FOREVER for makeover week!  It seemed like it took even LONGER to come this season than it has in the past.  The contestants each got 1000 bones to shop with - awesome! I felt a little bad for Ashley and Michael...they both feel like they have a lot of weight still to lose, so shopping for them wasn't very fun...and Michael was still having to shop in a big and tall store.  The makeover part was fun - they all got haircuts, and were looking awesome.  They did a 360 mirror thing to look at themselves and then were surprised with a family visit...I thought Sunshine's reaction was the most genuine.  Like she really wasn't expecting her brothers back behind the mirrors...the rest of them had fake reactions, like they knew it was happening.

So what else...oh they had a challenge - the loser got a 1 lb disadvantage, and the winner got a 1 pound advantage...and of COURSE Ashley lost - after 3.5 minutes on a Jacob's Ladder exercise machine...and Michael wasn't far behind.  Darius and Koli were the final 2, and the went for 2.5 HOURS.  Incredible.  Eventually Darius fell off - although he said he chose to lose...which I think is lame.  In fact, Darius' whole M-O this week sucked, he was being sort of wimpy and whiny, which I thought was pretty annoying the whole time.

Anyways, the weigh in for Koli was awesome - he lost 15 pounds!!  So he was safe even BEFORE he got his 1 pound advantage.  Ashley had an awesome weigh in too - 10 pounds.  Michael's was ok...just 9, but that put him under the yellow, with Sam. The vote ended up being 2-2...and I guess I don't really understand the rules, but for some reason that meant Sam going home...which was fine...at least it kept Michael around 1 more week.  On Sam's return home, the producers admitted FINALLY to the relationship between purple girl and Sam, and that they were in love and now shacking up.

Top 4:  Michael (go white!), Koli, Ashley, Darius (sorry you've dropped D - but you sucked this week)

The push present.

I love this.

Now, just to clarify, I didn't coin the phrase nor did I come up with the idea...but I think both are fabulous.

So here's the deal.  When I was pregnant with the munch, Matt and I went to dinner with his cousins one night.  We got on the subject of baby gifts, and a gift to the mother...it was a tradition in his cousins family that her mom got a gift (like jewelery) for each of her babies.  And when Matt's cousin got married, her mom gave her said gift, as something to wear on her wedding.  I thought it was a very amazing story, and very sweet, as did Matt.

So later, when my cousins were out visiting for my birthday weekend, we were out walking around Pearl Street mall, and we decided to drop in at our jewelers store; we saw they were having a going out of business sale, so we figured we ought to get our rings buffed up before we had to find a new jeweler.  While we were waiting, Matt mentioned that he'd like to get me something, that we'd later give to Miss Muffet when she gets married!  Of course I was thrilled, and my cousins helped us pick out a beautiful set of earrings, which would have been enough, but Matt, being so very sweet and generous, splurged and got me a matching necklace.

Fast forward to last night.  My cousin's husband was here to spend the night for some business in Denver, and we were talking about the bun that is currently residing in my cousin's oven.  And the subject of Mothers day came up, and then I asked if he was going to get my cousin a present for having a baby.

He looked at me.

Squinted and glared.

And then said "YOU".

Of course I laughed.

And then he said "The Push Present"

Insert eye roll.

"That isn't even REAL - so I'm choosing to ignore it.  If there's not a hallmark card for it, then I'm not doing it!"

Birthday Cake!

As I mentioned previously, it was Matt's 32nd Birthday on the 15th.  For his day, I decided to make a cake for him - a golf themed cake!  I know that we're not supposed to chronicle our 'woe's' when making something, but this cake certainly had some flaws!!  Of course I didn't start even BAKING the cake until 7:30 pm the night before...after we put the baby to bed...not exactly last minute or anything.  The 1st thing that happened was when I was trying to get the cakes out of the pans..they stuck and they ripped!  Ugh!!  So I was immediately having to try and patch the cake with butter cream, because of course I didn't have any more than one cake mix!  (And yes, I've been using boxed cake for my cakes!  Maybe that's the flaw in itself!)

The next problem that I ran into was that my fondant did NOT want to lay smooth on my cake...thus all the wrinkles...and I had it out PLENTY big...so I don't understand why on earth I couldn't get it to lay smooth.  And then of course the weight of the fondant really weighed down my miserable butter-cream'd cakes underneath...making it this sort of round dome instead of looking like a cake!

The last problem was that I thought I had a tip for grass, but I didn't.  I was SORELY disappointed about that one.  I did some make-shift starish grass...although it was not what I wanted.  

Oh, and to top them all off, I didn't get any good pictures of the final product!  We took pictures, but didn't have the memory card in the camera!!!  UGH!  

Matt was very excited about the golf bag...which turned out good.  Here it is:

Here it is with the candles lit:

Close...too close

Dear Michael (go white!) and Ashley,

I just wanted you to know that you put me through some major anxiety this week with the weigh in.  I'm a fan of both of you, a big fan...and your mediocre performance at the challenge and the weigh in scared me.  I realize that much of the episode this week centered once again around the Yellow team, with Sunshine acting like her usual baby/bratty self, and I can see the distraction, however, you need to put the nose to the grindstone and get the numbers!!

I admire the fact that neither one of you fell to the temptation of the eating challenge.  I understand that taquito, Ashley, they always look so good and then are so disappointing.  No worries though, your one little bite was probably only 40 calories.  If only you could have SEEN Koli in that room.  He was hysterical...talking about all the food he was eating...and yes, he ate a LOT...and definitely earned the only vote that this weeks elimination.  But I commend the both of you to sticking to your diets.  Well done.

Your performance at the challenge was dismal...I would love for either one of you to get a 1 pound advantage!  But I was happy to see Darius get it - since he's also one of my favorites.  I felt bad for O'neil falling off his tower - that guy had a rough week.  But you guys got lucky - he had to come in last...consider that a gift.

The weigh in...ugh...that weigh in...what happened guys?!!  5 pounds for Michael and 4 for Ashley?!!  Oh my lanta...you guys got SOOO lucky that Sunshine and Victoria had 1 pound losses.  I know, I know...all of Sunshine's 'drama' was unnecessary...I think we all knew EXACTLY who Koli would vote off...even though I didn't think it was fair.  I would have much rather seen Victoria stay than Sunshine.  I was just MOSTLY happy that it didn't come down to either of you.  Phew!

So buck up guys!  Good luck next week - I'm rooting for you!!

Yours truly,
Angie

P.S.  Were you as thrilled as I was with Koli's 10 pound loss - after eating 4000 calories that one day?!!  Amazing!!
P.S.S.   Don't worry, you're still in my top 4:  Michael, Koli, Darius & Ashley!!

Black out

1st things 1st, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweetie pie hubby.  We are in the twilight 2 weeks of where you are officially 2 years older than me!  But for today, you can be 29 again...just for today. :)

The Biggest Loser was a bit of a roller coaster for me this week.  I wonder if I can remember it all...seems like it started out with a reward challenge - something to do with quarters, and holding them on a tray.  Whoever held their tray up the longest won. I loved that Sam's whole objective was not being the 1st one to drop, and he was immediately the 2nd!  Ha ha!  I didn't realize this at the time, but the whole point of this challenge was that someone would trade all the quarters for $10 or something, so if you put on 100 quarters you'd win $1000 - I think that adds up.  Anyways, I don't mean to throw her under the bus or anything (she's Matt's #1), but I didn't see why Sunshine was getting so EMOTIONAL about keeping up the tray.  I mean c'mon...she was crying and moaning and SWEATING...I was over it.  BTW, Michael (Go White!) won!!  Hooray!

Actually, it seemed like a lot of the episode was centered around Sunshine, now that I think of it.  The next challenge was out in the rain and it was for 2 cars.  The contestants had to run up a hill to get to pull a key from a balloon, run back to both of the cars and try it out.  Black girl won the 1st car, and O'neil won the 2nd car, which he said was for Sunshine, and she was very excited....good for her.

But then came the last chance work out...and I think that Sunshine has gotten a little smug and full of herself...she was saying things in the interview like "c'mon Jillian...work me out"...I dunno...something about her is rubbing me the wrong way...and then it was as though all of that smugness caught up with her at the weigh in, cause she only lost like 3 pounds and was at the bottom of the list for a very long time, and was looking PATHETIC the whole entire time.  IN FACT, she had to roll her eyes and mutter under her breath when Sam got up to weigh in and was saying 'please' to letting him lose more than 3 lbs...with such a huge weigh-in last week...I thought the 'please' was appropriate.  To everyone's "shock" he lost a big ol goose egg - yep 0...and we all know that he works out HARD.  Anyways, Black girl and Sam ended up being in the bottom two - even though Sunshine practically laid down on the ground and had a tantrum...ugh.  Not impressed.

On a side note, I found myself really hoping that Victoria (Blue girl) was going to do well.  I felt really bad for her that noone clapped for her 5 pound loss this week.  That was great!  And for her "week 3" really of being on the ranch, that was huge!  I don't understand why she wasn't more excited about her number!  And I am also thrilled that Michael had a great weigh-in - 9 lbs!  That's awesome.  AND that he ran 5 miles - wow - I can't run 5 miles...and he still weighs 370 lbs!  Amazing.

The end result was Black girl getting voted off - which I didn't mind...I was happy to see Sam stick around for another week over the Black girl.  I hope that Sunshine can stop being such a big baby and I'll start liking her better...sorry Matt...

My top 4:  Michael (Go white!), Darius, Koli, Ashley!

Oh, and a status report on myself...I was down a 1/2 lb this week, putting me in at 131.5.  I need to try a little harder and get rid of that last pound and a half...that would be a great birthday present to myself in a couple of weeks!!

Boo-yah Red!!

Well, the episode of biggest loser was WAY better this week.  This week the constants that got the free ride last week were no longer safe...which meant that Red girl wasn't safe!  YES.  The episode started with a challenge - the 1st person to lose 2% of their weight the fastest would get immunity for the week, but they could only weight in once, and if they didn't make it they were out of the challenge.  With that, there was a lot of game play on when one would weigh in...especially from stupid Red girl.

They also had a 'reward challenge' in the pool, with a consequence, that whoever came in last got a 1 pound disadvantage on the next weigh in.  It was nice to see Sunshine win the challenge (which was some sort of vacation), but even MORE exciting to see as the other contestants finished that they were helping out O'neil and Michael (go white!).  Which negatively effected Red girl, and she came in LAST!  WOO HOO!

She certainly didn't go down without a fight.  They showed the house cameras of her getting up at 3am to go work out - that's some commitment.  Can't say I could go to bed and actually get up at 3 am to go exercise...Ugh!  Sam and Koli were crazy too - the clock said their workout was at 11:30 or midnight or something...insane.  Victoria (new girl Blue team) did push the button, but fell short, and by the 3rd morning, Sam pressed the button and lost 10 POUNDS....how shocking that he pulled that off...insane.  Needless to say, he definitely beat his 2% and won immunity for the week.

The weigh-in was a little bit of a nail-biter though.  I was sad to see that Darius (Orange) was lingering near the bottom for nearly all of the weigh-in.  Luckily he was bailed out by Black girl and Red girl...woot!  I don't really like Black girl either, but once Red fell under the yellow, it was OBVIOUS who was going home...YES!!!!!!  Boo-yah!

Top 4:  Michael (Go white!), Darius, Koli, Ashley

Should I keep doing this?

I feel as though I've stalled on my weight-loss, and am wondering if I should even keep this up anymore.  My weigh in this morning was right at 132...same as last week, although I really didn't try too hard to lose any weight this past week, but it's nice too that I didn't gain anything.  For one, it was Easter, and dieting on holidays is hard when there are such yummy things to eat.  For 2, my right knee was VERY sore this week, I'm not sure what the problem was but it hurt just walking up and down the stairs, so I got NO exercise in.  And for 3, I'm tired of salad.  Which, seems like is a necessity for me to eat since I can fill up most of my plate with salad and not think that I'm going to starve to death with my puny little dinner.  AND I'm getting a little tired of balsamic dressing.

I know...somebody call a waaammuullanncee...

And to just feel sorry for myself even more, the weather has been nasty, so no fun to go outside and walk, and it's been so blasted windy that we don't feel like we can even grill something wonderful like my sister's delicious sounding Rosemary chicken breast on a green salad....

The thing is, I don't even want to go back on JC...I'm tired of their food too.  And I tried finding some good options at the grocery store the other day, but everything I picked up was 350+ calories per meal, and that jsut seemed like too much for me to lose weight...and I'm tired of frozen box foods too.  

I need to do better.  I WANT those 2 pounds gone...I'm want to see 130!  I need an attitude adjustment!

Here's to a better week.  My knee is feeling better, hopefully the weather will improve, but even if it doesn't I can still get my bunzies down on that treadmill in the basement.  And I think it's time to cruise the Lean Cusine website for some good dinner ideas!

I'm not foolin...

So I'm a day late for the April Fool's reference...but I couldn't resist...

The diet update is this:  I've been off of JC for 2 weeks now, the last time I posted, I believe I had gained a pound - 132.5.  Last week I weighed, and was sitting pretty at 131.5, but with my parents visit I did loads of cheating - aka no portion control - so that put me at 132 this week. With everything that I ate and drank (and boy, do I mean drink!) I am happy with the 132.  I'm really hoping that I can get back to a negative by next Wednesday, and stay on track.  I'm obsessed with getting to 130, but also a little tired of dieting...

You know...it's not supposed to be that way.  Every single diet talks about making a "lifestyle" change and changing your lifestyle for the better.  Learning to eat more healthy.  Doing your body good.  But, isn't that why we call them DIETS?  And how come we get tired of 'dieting'?  I know why, cause there's so many good things to eat.  Hello KFC!  Yummy MSG...I love it.  There's a reason we call it all comfort food, cause it's yummy and comforting!  And I like to eat LOTS of it.  My mom has always said, "I like to chew, and I like how it tastes".  Meee tooo.

Anyways...I'm not going to fall off the wagon.  I believe I understand appropriate portions - it's just making the decision to follow them, which I know I need to if I want to shed lbs.  I wish I was one of those people who can eat a ton of food and never gain a pound.  I like quality AND QUANTITY!

BTW,  I watched about 30 minutes of the Biggest Loser and I'm throughly DISGUSTED that stupid Red girl got back on the show!!  I HATE THAT!!   It's not fair!!  I suppose that the stupid producers see that she's such a 'villain' that it makes for good TV, but I can't BELIEVE that they manufactured a challenge to let her back on.  ROAR!  AND she has immunity this week...hello throwing the weigh-in!  Wanna bet??  I haven't finished the episode yet, but I think it sucks that someone ELSE is going to have to go home, and not her.

Wilton Fondant and Gum Paste Class 3 & 4

I have officially completed the Wilton Fondant and Gumpaste course.  I didn't take any pictures at the 3rd Fondant and Gum Paste class, but it was a very fun class.  We learned how to make Carnations and Fantasy flowers...and I believe something else, but I don't remember what.

Last night was the last class of the course.  We were going to make our grand finally cake - and I chose a Fantasy flower cake.  We also learned how to make a fondant box, which was cute, some borders, and learned to do inlays...all very cute and fun.  

Along with this class I decided to make my own fondant - a marshmallow fondant, which in the end was fine, but it was MISERABLE to make...it kept tearing and was super hard to work...my hands were very tired.  I used it to cover my cake this week:

So obviously it isn't perfect.  The problem with the marshmallow fondant is that it stretched a LOT when i went to cover the cake...so got VERY thin.  When we went to cut into it last night it was so thin that it was hard to separate the fondant from the buttercream.  

Anyways, here's my cake decorated:

I LOVE the pearl border and I love how the scarf looks...I think it turned out really well.  And by the time I was ready to decorate at the class, it took me about 20 minutes to finish up.  Granted, I had already rolled all of my pearls for the border, built my flowers...all I really had to do was the scarf, which took me a couple of tries, but I was patting myself on the back...I thought it turned out great.

HOWEVER Lindsay, the teacher, showed us some of her cakes and let me tell you, hers were AMAZING.  SOOOO cute.  She made herself an Elephant cake for her own birthday, which was ADORABLE.  I just wish I could post her pictures on here!

I've decided to take a break, and not take Course 2 - it's buttercream flowers, of which I think I can figure out by myself.  Although I am considering taking the next fondant course in May!

Take that Red!!

I'm so excited I don't even have time to detail the entire episode of Biggest Loser.  I'm thrilled to report that Lance, the leftovers of the Red team, is GOONNEEE!!!  Hooray!!  Hoorray!  Along with his red tee-shirt and horrible goatee!!  Woo hoo!! 

I admit, I was starting to warm up to the guy, and then they went home for a week.  The contestants were immediately presented with a cupcake challenge, eat a cupcake, and add 5 minutes to a timed 26.2 mile bikeride that all the contestants were going to compete in.  The winner with the best time takes home $10,000.  I can see eating 1 or 2 cupcakes to add to Sam's time - he's by far the best competitor - but no.  Lance with the egging on of his arrogant competitive wife ate SEVENTEEN cupcakes.  And he didn't just dole them out to the black team, he added minutes TO HIS OWN TEAM!   Yep, he added minutes to Darius who is on the same team as him!!  Ugh!!!  I couldn't believe it.  AND, for someone who has been struggling with his numbers, I thought it was REAL stupid that he would eat 17-100 calorie cupcakes for a stupid challenge.  But no, he and his wife are so greedy and are OBVIOUS that they were really all about the money and not their health, that she encouraged him to eat 1700 calories of cupcakes...  So, Sam won the race, but had to add like 50 minutes to his time, but Koli came in 2nd, had no cupcake-time to add, and won $10,000!

What shocks me is that at the weigh in, Lance actually pulled a 10.  I admit, I'm having to eat my words, I couldn't believe that he managed to pull that, when I'm not sure that he's pulled a 10 the whole season...good for him, I guess.  Obviously the blue team lost the weigh in, with some GREAT numbers from the black team...I was excited to see that my girl Ashley had a great weigh in...and Sam pulled a huge number too.  During the 'deliberation' or whatever it is, I was appalled that Lance had the nerve to ask Michael why they should keep him - c'mon!  Michael?  Hello!?  He still weighs 396 pounds!  THAT'S why he needs to stay there!!  Anyways, the rest is history...I hope Lance felt like a real d-bag when Darius was so upset about voting him off...he didn't deserve that much heart...  Darius obviously has tons more class than Lance.

Side note, I'm really warming up to Koli...I really like that guy and he chokes me up nearly every episode...  I think he's made it into my top 4...beating out Ashley for my #3 spot. 

Top 4:  Michael (go white!), Darius, Koli, Ashley

POSITIVE?!!

So my weigh in was not the best this week.  I gained a pound.  BOOOOOO!!!!!  Back to 132.5.  Ugh!  I guess I splurged a little too much this week...I had a few days of chips and salsa with matt along with some beers...  My consultant was very nice and it was possibly water weight from the added salt...let's hope she's right.

It's going to be a hard week though...my parents are coming for a visit (yay!) but we LOVE to eat and drink when they are here.  Hopefully mom and I can get out for some walks and curb the weight gain...

Wilton Fondant and Gum Paste Class 1 & 2

I enrolled in the next cake decorating course, and went to the 1st class last Wednesday.  It was very fun, we covered a cake board (which I think is a silly practice, but whatev), and made a few daisies and leaves.  They were just for practice, and I had forgotten all of my food coloring so I ended up with white and blue leaves and flowers.

The next class was more of the same, we were supposed to make leaves and flowers at home along with a cake to decorate.  During the class we also learned how to make a carnation base, a drape, and a little handkerchief for decorating...all very cute and very fun.  Check out my semi-finished cake below...I didn't have time to finish the bottom ribbon border, and Matt was ready to eat it by the time I got home...so I didn't finish it at home either! 

You got lucky Gray...

I finished up the Biggest Loser episode last night.  The theme of the week was work-week.  Meaning, the contestants had to go to an 8am-5pm job and get their workouts in some other time.  And there were rules on that too, the gym would only be open from 6 am until 7:30 pm.  Interesting.  Lots of people got up at 5:30 am to get a work out in, then after they got home they went and worked out until the gym closed.

What I would have liked to see, is when they ate.  One of the hardest things to overcome with exercise, for me,  is that I'm exhausted after work, and I am also STARVING, so I want to eat, but then I don't want to exercise on a full stomach...so I often skip the workout because I've already eaten...  Anyways, I would have liked to see how their day really went - did they have breakfast at 5:30 am then hit the gym at 6?  Did they come home after they got done with work and have supper first?  Or wait until 7:30 when they were finished working out?  I'm also curious as to how many snacks they give themselves a day.

Anyways, they worked all week; at one point Michael (go white!) called it jail.  Ha ha!  Welcome to the real world sucka!  The challenge that week was for reward, and the blue team won a year of free groceries!  Could you imagine?!!!  HEAVEN!!

At the weigh in, they weighed blue team first.  Michael didn't have that huge of a number, "just" -9, but the rest of his team rallied with huge numbers.  Nearly everyone was over 5 and as much as 10.  Then they weighed in the black team. It was a nail biter...they got to the last 2 people, and only needed 14 lbs to win...just 7 each...but they didn't get it.  I loved when Darius gave a "yes!" in the interview (after purple girl weighed in), and then said "I really feel bad for her...wait no I don't...I'm really happy she only lost 4 lbs."  Ha ha!  I like him.  So the black team lost, and after deliberating with what seemed like it could be between Orange and Gray, they sent home Orange mom (Darius's mom).  It seemed like she was expecting it though and wasn't really that upset.

Top 4:  Michael, Darius, Pink Mom, Ashley (Pink Girl)

JC Week 9?!

Has it really been 9 weeks?  Ugh!!  It's shocking for me to think that...but also shocking that I can't lose weight a little more quickly!!  So the weigh in this week wasn't great - just down .5 - putting me at 131.5.  I was really hoping it'd be more than that, but apparently not.  I'm also starting on my last week of food...which means convenient lunch and dessert are coming quickly to an end.

I think one of the hardest things about dieting and weightloss is the planning.  You just HAVE to have some sort of plan for what you're going to eat, especially if you work and have to figure out meals away from your house.  Actually, I take that back, you also have to have some sort of plan at home too, if it just means that you need to run to the grocery store to make sure that you have good choices at home.

I've never been much of a menu planner.  For years, Matt and I have figured out what we're going to have for dinner by talking about it at 3:30 that afternoon and he stops by the store on his way home from work.  Plan a menu for an entire week?  I've never done it.  I get burnt out at "Burritos on Monday...umm....I dunno...steak on Tuesday?  Ummm let's decide what we're having Wednesday later..."  One of the questions I always ask people is "What are you having for dinner", I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable, I'm trying to find some inspiration for my next meal.  Now that I'm on my last week of JC lunches, I'm struck with a slight panic of "what am I going to eat?!"

I need a live-in cook/grocery shopper.  Any volunteers?

Creeper Crawler.

In other news, I'm proud to say that my little baby girl has started crawling!  It's kind of a scoot, lunge, army craw, with lots of grunting, but she moves forward!  For those of you who know where to look for the photos of her, there are some new movies!  Check it out!

Biggest Loser Update

I watched the episode last week, and am just getting around to writing about it.  The episode was pretty good, although I could do without all the drama that revolves blue vs black...wait...I'm getting ahead of myself.

The episode started off with the cliffhanger of black vs orange in an elimination challenge.  The orange lady won, and sent the black team dad home...I did like that guy, but I've decided that I don't like Black team girl...so I didn't really care that he went home.

Later in the episode came the blue vs black 'eat off'.  They had a memory game, and the contestants had to 'eat' to keep playing the game until they found golden tickets that would make them the winner of the game.  Surprisingly there were only 2 that played, black-team girl (I really need to learn their names), and White team Michael (go white!).  There was a lot of eating, and finally Michael found both of the golden tickets, putting him in charge of making the teams.  I don't understand why everyone gets all freaked out about blue vs black....I mean, c'mon...you go on a team, you still room with the person that you came on the show with, and you still train with a great trainer!!  I think they're all a bunch of whiny babies ("I didn't get Bob" boo hoo!)  Anyways, Michael stacked the teams up, where most of the men and Sunshine are on the blue team, and the women, and 1 member of the gray team makes up the Black team.  O'neil was odd man out, and would be joining the team who loses the weigh in.  Jillian was PO'd about the splits - I guess she decided it was unfair, but I felt like Michael hit the nail on the head when he said "I thought you said I needed to start looking out for myself, BOB", and that made everyone stop complaining in their tracks, and the show moved on.  The challenge was a knockout for Blue team, where they won letters from home, and finally came the weigh in.

I have to say, I thought Blue team was going to KILL, but shockingly enough, they lost!!  They actually lost the weigh in by 1 pound to the Black team...thanks to killer weigh ins by Pink team, the purple girl, and the grey guy.

The bottom two on the Blue team were Lance (Red (boo hiss)), and Miggy (double boo hiss).  The deliberations were pretty much focused around those two, beings that they had the lowest percentage weight loss.  It honestly didn't matter to me which one of those went home, and surprisingly (well not really) it was Miggy! HA HA!

So my top 4 are:  Michael (go white!), Darius (Orange), the Mom on the pink team, and the girl on the pink team.  Can't wait for the next episode!

Wilton Course 1 Class 4

Damn roses.

I didn't get a picture of my cake this week, but I can say that it was nothing special to look at.  AT ALL.  Our task this week was to build roses and put them on your cake.  We also learned how to make a sweet pea, and some leaves.

Well my roses STUNK.  It was so weird.  The book says 'use stiff icing for roses', but those of us who had stiff icing were having the WORST time making roses that looked pretty.  Only the 7th grader who had soupy icing had beautiful roses - and the teacher admitted it!  She said she didn't understand what the problem was, that the consistency of our icing was correct, but our roses were NOT turning out pretty.  She also tried making roses with our icing and couldn't do it either.

Damn roses.

AND to top it off, I managed to make 4 roses that looked below average and sub par, but I put them on my cake anyways.  Then I put the tupperware thingy back on to go home and smooshed all my damn roses.

Next week, Wilton Fondant and Gum Paste Class 1.  Hopefully we won't have to make any roses.

10.

It's WEDNESDAY!!  And it's weigh in day!!  (I'm picturing everyone saying this in their Oprah voice - You get a car, and you get a car, and you get a car - everyone gets a car!! (Ok, so I stole that from an Ace of Cakes episode, but it was hilarious)).

Anyways.

I weighed in this morning and if you haven't guessed it already, it was a record low of 132!!!!!!!!!!!  I lost another pound this weekend bringing me to a grand total of -10!  I'm a little surprised that I lost anything at all - beings that I was having a hard time following the diet this weekend - I got sick on Saturday and haven't been doing a very good job of dieting since then, meaning that I haven't been getting my fruits and veggies in.  But maybe the lack of appetite helped and that's what  made a loss. I won't be too surprised if I gain next week though.  Just 2 more lbs to go!

Wilton Course 1 Lesson 3

I mentioned last week that course 3 would be figurines - specifically they were supposed to be clowns.  Well, I decided that I didn't want to fork out the money to buy the clown heads, cause I didn't see myself ever using them again.  So I intended on making headless clowns with my butter-cream frosting, but after I had one on my cake, I thought it looked creepy and dumb, so I scraped them off.

Anyhoo, in this weeks class we learned how to do the shell border, which does take some finesse, of which I don't have much of.  We also learned how to make hearts, and round balls, and some flowers.  Oh, and the clowns...which sucked.  We also worked more on the Rose, which is suprisingly hard.  And to add to the pressure, we have to make a cake next week that will contain 6-7 roses on top!!!!!!  EEK!!! I'm in trouble.  Hopefully someone will take pity on me and give me some of their beautiful roses.

Here is this weeks cake.  Like I said, I didn't like my clowns, so I decided to go with flowers and the shell border instead.

Before:

And After:

..I wanna scream at the top of my lungs...

A little John Mayer this morning to help commemorate this weeks weigh in.  Drum roll please....133! 133!  133!  YES!  I'm thrilled.  This means I'm just 3 lbs away from my goal of 130, and a total weight loss of 9 lbs! Wee!!  I'm starting week 8 of Jenny Craig, and I'm on my last week of food.  I'm tempted to buy another couple weeks of food, for the convenience and the variety (and snacks!), but I honestly believe at this point that I get it.  I think I can probably do this on my own.  I think one of the big parts to this weight-loss business is, of course, portion control, which in our day to day lives is very hard, but with a little guidance, it gets a little easier.

One of the things this diet teaches, is how to visualize a plate of food.  They say to visualize servings by cutting the plate in half, filling that half with vegetables - like a huge mound of salad - and filling a 1/4 with a protein, and the other 1/4 with a starch, but making sure you can still see the plate between everything.  That alone has been a huge helper in cooking dinner.  There are some other visual hints that I've been paying attention to, like the appropriate size of meat - the size of your palm.  My eyes are always bigger than my stomach, but adhering to a few simple ideas of how to portion food does seem to help.  And shockingly enough, by the time I finish my plate of food that I've been a little more careful about filling, I'm satisfied.  Do I WANT to go back for 2nds?...well, yes, because I'm not stuffed and miserable yet, but after a few more minutes I'm happy that I stopped and feel good.

The other thing I wanted to mention about this journey-to-smaller-clothes are the little 'splurges'...JC encourages a 250 calorie splurge a week, and I have to say that is probably what kept me sane, not to mention their desserts...yum!  But they say to take that 250 calories and do whatever you want with them, and for me, it was 1 glass of wine on Friday and Saturday night with dinner or even with my chocolate cheesecake dessert.  I don't think I would have survived this long without that!  ha!  So I say, if you are trying to diet, go ahead and give yourself a little splurge to keep yourself sane.

And don't forget to have a glass of milk and a cookie before bed.

Gotta love dessert.


UPDATE:
I decided to wean myself off of JC a little more slowly, and I ordered 2 more weeks of food - just lunches and dessert.  I figure by next week I should be able to make good decisions about breakfast...plus I think that's the easiest meal!  Muffins, cereal, pancakes, french toast.  I can do that!

Wilton Course 1 Lesson 2

I went to the 2nd lesson of the cake decorating course that I signed up for, with all my icing in tow - seemed like there was SOOO much to make...but I got there and got the cake decorated!

Before:

And after:

Next week - figurines and more frosting!

Mo please.

I'm not feeling too clever this morning...seemed like baby was waking up a lot last night.  Anyhoo, here I am, starting week 7! of JC.  I can't believe that it's been 7! weeks.  My weigh-in this morning was still negative, just down 1 lb.  BUT, down 1 lb puts me at 134.5, and I have officially lost 7.5 lbs.  I got my new shipment of food last night, and have gone off of JC dinners...although I have a few left over from doing a few meals on my own this past 2 weeks.  I'm a little nervous about starting this part of the diet - actually cooking something healthy, good and something that will still help me lose weight.  The nice thing will be eating dinner with Matt again.  And he needs it!  Matt has lost 10 lbs on my diet.  AND HE STILL GETS DONUTS FOR BREAKFAST!!  Grr...

Wilton Course 1 Lesson 1

First of all, Happy Birthday Little Brother.  I can't believe you're 25.

The milestones of turning 25; lower car insurance!  Ha!  And you can get rental cars for a little cheaper.   Brother asked me if there was anything else to look forward to now (after 25), I thought about it...and nope, it's pretty much all downhill from there.  heh heh heh

Ok on to my real post.

I signed up for a Wilton cake decorating class at the local Michaels, and went to my 1st class on Wednesday night.  It was kind of a 'watch and learn' class, but suprisingly it went really fast - it's a 2 hour class.  I did learn how to roll a parchment piping container, and a few other tips and tricks that should be helpful in my cake decorating career.  Hehe.  What I think is awesome and amazing is that the teacher said that she took the clas 1.5 years ago, then took the rest of the courses, and now is selling cakes as a side business!  Awesome!  I'm looking forward to next week's class - we have to take a baked cake and decorate it.  I'll try to remember to post some pictures!

You're gone Red.

I finished the Biggest Loser episode last night.  For the most part I thought it was a little boring...I mean, cool enough that they got to go to the Olympic training center in Colorado, but I got tired of watching all the nutrition stuff.  And you could almost see the contestants salivating at that huge pasta dinner for the guy that was trying to gain weight.  I felt bad for them...what was the point of that?!

The biggest news was that Melissa on the red team was eliminated.

WOOT.

But...she got that way because she gained a pound.

A POUND.

She lived at the biggest loser ranch and GAINS a pound?  I don't understand it, but here's what I really think happened.  I can't quite remember last weeks episode, but I think I remember that her husband had a bad weigh in - he lost like four lbs or something.  So, I think that she threw her weigh in.  I don't think she was willing to risk Lance going home when he needs to be there - I mean, his job depends on it right?

Anyways, here's how I see it playing out...there's a red line, someone has to go home without a vote.  Melissa knows that Lance had a bad weigh in and she NEEDS him to come home a healthy weight so he can pass the physical at his job.  She also misses her kids...so she intends to only lose 1-2 pounds, but blows it and gains a pound...enough to be PO'd about...I'd cuss too.  And she goes home...but her final plea is that Lance stay and not come home before 250.  I have to hand it to her...she's not thinking of herself, she truly wants/needs her husband to come home lighter and fit for his job.  So, in that case, bravo Melissa, well played.

Oh and the elimination challenge?  Ugh!  Torture!  In one way it's great - it's an elimination challenge to do the eliminating, I don't know HOW the contestants would pick when they both appear to be genuine nice people.   The only reason it sucks is that we have to wait until next week to see the results!  Looks like next week is blue vs black...so I suppose I'll actually have to pick individuals for my top 3 next week.

My top 3:  Michael - white team, Orange team, Pink team.