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.

It's good to be negative.

And finally....drum roll please....I weighed this morning, and I was NEGATIVE!!  That's right -2 pounds for me!!  Woot!!  So really that's only a net of 1.5 lbs over the 2 weeks, but hey, I'll take it.  My reward is to go to the mall today (I have today off) and buy some jeans!!  Yes!  So, current weight:  135.5

cupcake.

Ever since having the baby, I've watched a lot of Food Network.  Not a little now and then.  A lot.

And I've decided that I really enjoy baking.  Whether it be some poppyseed bread, banana bread, cupcakes, cookies, candy...  For Christmas I gave candy as gifts, although I'm not sure that people consider homemade candy a gift - but I consider it a delicacy.  

Anyways for Christmas I asked for cake decorating tips.  And not only did I get a wide variety of those, but I also got a fantastic book, colors, and all the stuff I'd need for piping little creations. (Thanks Mom!) 

My 1st attempt was on waxed paper, and was BOORRRINNG.  So Matt "suggested" that I make him some cupcakes (I'm on the diet, remember?), and decorate those.  So, I did.  I tried out some various patterns,  The white ones are the result of me getting tired, running out of colored icing and calling it a day.

OH, and on a side note,  Matt has given me a 'pass' for tonight, and I'm going to a cake decorating class at Michaels!!  I'm excited, although have some guilt about being gone from Miss Muffit and missing her bedtime. 

chime.

I love this wine.  I wouldn't call myself a critic by any means, and I don't know squat about wine, but this wine is a good find.  Matt brought it home a couple weeks ago - it was in the $12-$15 dollar range per bottle, and it is PHENOMENAL!  He said it had a good rating like 92 or something (that's how we pick wine, by sticker/card in front of the wines boasting how great they are). 

I rate wine on "the wine bite".  You know what I'm talking about - sometimes wine bites you back.  This wine is SMOOTH.  No bite.  It's becoming a staple at our household.

Brown out.

I watched Biggest Loser last night.  It was fantastic.  I loved that they brought back the yellow and blue teams for a 'weigh-off' to see who got to stay on campus.  I immediately liked both teams, and was thrilled to see that both teams had done SO well at home getting ready for their weigh in.  I would have been happy with either team getting to stay.

With that said, I couldn't BELIEVE that the O'Neil (the dad on the yellow team) was already talking about throwing someone under the bus for this weeks vote!!  I'm a little surprised that it actually made the show - that little strategy session - since no one's "game play" has made an episode thus far.  I thought it was shocking, and it made it seem like he was there solely for the game...  "Nothing will get in the way of my goals....I mean our goals".  WTH?

During the challenge, I was THRILLED that White team won - I think his name is Michael...although I wasn't so thrilled to see that he was so chummy with green team Miggy.  I still don't like her.  I do commend her for walking 13 miles the day after having an appendectomy.  Impressive.  And during the weigh in I nearly peed my pants thinking that one of the Red team would be OUTTA THERE!  But unfortunately, it was Brown.   I was really disappointed that he had to go, when he needs so badly to be there.  It seemed like he was loved by a lot of the contestants.

Oh, and I know that they have to do some of the touchy feely stuff and let people get their 'issues' out...but I dunno, for some reason I didn't completely 'buy' Pink-daughter's story...  She mentioned that her dad had passed away from cancer, and that he always bugged her about her weight...and of course that hurt her feelings, but it made me feel like she was already heavy before that - and it isn't truly the root of her problems...  I do like the Pink team though...they are going into my top 3.

My favorites:  Michael (Go White!), Orange Team, Pink Team

Ba-bum-bu-daaa....Waaahhhh.

You know the sound that they make on the Price is Right - when they lose a game?  That's the tune of this week's post.  My diet took a big ol digger this week, and I GAINED weight.  Somebody call the wahmbulance cause I'm SAD!  I weighed in this morning at 137.5, gaining a 1/2 pound for the week.  I'm sure I will be accused of cheating, but I honestly don't think I did. I did a couple of substitutions this week for snacks.  Instead of having the Jenny Craig snack at night, for 2 nights I substituted a very small piece of flour-less chocolate cake, (they would have been smaller than the cheese cake slices that come with JC) and on Saturday afternoon I had an apple, fennel, celery root salad that had a vinegarette on it...but something that I thought was well within the rules of fruit and vegetables...  UGH! So sad.

Well, there's nothing I can do about it now.  Just suck it up.