Two posts in one week!

We need help. As you may remember, we had given up hope on remodeling our current house and had instead been looking for a new-to-us house in a more 'family friendly' neighborhood. Recently, a few events occurred - SUMMER, for one - that have caused us to reconsider. lol Also, we had a Bl0ck Party and met a group of our neighbors and realized that there are a lot more kids in this 'hood than we ever would have guessed. SO, we've gone back to talking about popping the top. The dilemma being cost vs. satisfaction given. I am attaching a series of photos - a before and after if you will - and we want you to judge for yourself. The first shot is a view from our current deck level. The second shot will be a view from a ladder at roof level. Not quite as high it would be (since I wasn't actually standing on the roof) but fairly close.

Looking northwest, from deck:

Looking northwest, from roof:

Looking west, from deck:

Looking west, from roof:

Looking southwest, from deck:

Looking southwest, from roof:

Looking further south, from deck:

Looking further south, from roof:

My personal opinion is that there isn't enough "going on" in the water (it IS a weekday, however) to make the view more interesting. Yes, there's more view but it is just more water and mountains. I actually think our view is pretty spectacular as it is. Too bad the house is the size of a shoe box!

The end of a great visit...

I would love to show photos of our guests but as I haven't asked them about it, I couldn't upload any photos with their girls. As you can see, I had to cut someone out of the photo... this is our friend that E is going around calling "Daddy". Let's just say it's getting confusing around the house. Our friends have two daughters - K, 7 and A, 4 1/2 - and E has had the best time with them. Particularly A. They are as close to friends as I've seen E be with anyone, she adores them. Because K and A call their parents, "mommy" and "daddy", E apparently thinks that that is their names and she calls them "mommy" and "daddy" (as well as M and I, she isn't confused about it, just knows that that is their names!). It's hilarious. She loves her other parents to bits and often at the exclusion of M and I. :)) It doesn't bother me though, it's nice to have an extra set of hands. Anyhow, this photo of E and her other daddy was taken because she saw her friend A having HER photo taken and wanted to get in on it.

Yesterday we drove over to my friend's house, she was having a dinner for our guests last night. A sat next to E in the car and although I couldn't see what was going on, they were literally giggling about something for the whole 5 minute ride. Of course, the next minute A wants to hug E and E makes this screeching noise and looks at me like "Save me!". But there were plenty of hugs, E definitely has figured out the hug. It is sooooooo cute. She's really going to miss these girls.

On the plus side, they have been good company for E and she probably does more than she would because she's hanging out with older kids and trying to "keep up" as well they have been like babysitters because we can enjoy a moment of peace while the kids are on the back deck playing with bubbles or something. I don't have to be the play person. On the downside, they probably aren't the best behaved kids (although to be honest and fair to them, I don't know ANY kids their age nor have I spent the amount of time with their age kids like I have these two so they could ALL be like this) and the little one eats Nutella sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Don't get me wrong, I like the stuff but if this is all E wanted to eat, I'd struggle. I've had some issues with her wanting string cheese for the last couple days - like she goes to the fridge, opens it and points to the place the cheese is - but really, it's cheese so at least there's a protein and dairy mixed in with her saturated fat and cholesterol. :)

I don't know if you can see in the photo but E looks like she has a little eyeshadow on her right eye... she got a bug bite (maybe a spider?) while we were camping and it swelled up and looked like she got in a bar brawl or something. It's only now 9 days later starting to fade. It didn't seem to bother her at all though, but it sure bothered everyone else. I got lots of comments on it at the daycare... sigh... you try putting bug repellant (or sunscreen) on the face of a squirmy 21 month old!

So, anyhow, it's been a really, really nice 3 weeks. I actually love when people I don't know so well stay with us because I've really gotten to know them... I've gone out for a glass of wine and a pedicure with S and she and I had a nice chat. We've sat in the hot tub together, the four of us, and drank copious amounts of wine/beer (yes, my weight loss program has taken a hit this month!). I feel like I know them, that I've made friends which I haven't done in a long, long time. Yes, I'm ready for them to go, because frankly our house is too small to keep 7 people for too long. But if they wanted to live next door, I would be completely happy with that. :)

Right ON!

Weigh in last night brought me back down to 158.6. Unfortunately that, along with turning 40 took my points per day down, which is always a bit depressing. However, I've eaten crazily the past 2 weeks so I can't complain. I just need to settle down again. :)

Still working out though and I'm up to running 20 minutes without an walking breaks. Damn it's hard. The days of running 10k's are long ago... But I'll be ready for my 5k in late September!! That's all for now.

Wk 1 - 180
Wk 2 - 176.4
Wk 3 - 171.4
Wk 4 - 168.2
Wk 5 - 164.6
Wk 6 - 162.8
Wk 7 - 166.8 (I know exactly what this was)
Wk 8 - 163 (which shows here)
Wk 9 - 159.6
Wk 10 - 162
Wk 11 - 158.6

Checking in...

Hi all

It's been awhile since I've written, it's been a busy two weeks and last week I was in a fog of hangovers (hey, when you haven't been drinking at all, two glasses of wine CAN produce a hangover!) from my wonderful 40th birthday.

Let me start by saying that WW got put on the back burner last week. I mean, the minute I hit 159, I decided that I could relax a bit and I've gone back the other way! Our guests are only here for one more week so I will be able to "dry out" again after they go. In the meantime, I'm completely enjoying having friends here and chats in the evening, etc.

Let's see, where did I leave off? Did I mention that I weighed at 159 the week before my birthday? Then I proceeded to eat pizza Wednesday night (after my meeting), had a dept dinner at Trader V1cs in Palo Alto where I had a lovely prawn curry (which apparently is high in po1nts) and by two days in I was already over my extra points for the week. Oops! Our guests arrived on Friday, there was more pizza and beer, then the weekend (wine, beer, steak), then my birthday (actually not too bad, too busy talking with guests to eat and drink too much) aside from the birthday cake. Then just downhill from there until this weekend we were camping and drinking a lot of wine and eating Pringles and s'mores for breakfast and.... well, you can see where this is going. LOL

On the plus side, I worked out every day but the day after my birthday and only gained 3 pounds at my last weeks weigh in (could easily have been water weight!). I also, for some strange reason, booked a hydrostatic fat test on the day after my birthday. It was really cool. I'd been wanting to do it forever. You basically lay down on a scale that's in water and blow all the air out of your system and they measure your body fat. It's the most accurate way to measure body fat. Anyhow, it's probably good that I waited until I was 40 to do it because if I'd gone the day before, I wouldn't have been healthy for the 'guidelines' - lol - but on Wednesday I was healthy! 20% body fat, not bad. I was surprised. I guess I have a lot of lean muscle mass under all my blubber. :) I talked with the guy about WW and he said that it is a good program but rather generic - basically for people like me who burn more calories at rest since my lean mass is higher, I am probably not getting enough calories (which may be why I lost weight so quickly?) but that for most people it's really good. He gave me some things I could try to get my body fat down more but I really need to get back on plan before I start doing that! Anyway, I was pretty happy with that. I think 30% body fat would have ruined my day! lol

Let's see... what else? OH! The coolest birthday gift ever. I get one hour of instruction in this with M along for the ride (if he dares...). I cannot wait!!! The weather was crummy on my b-day, of course, and although I did go for the 90 minute massage I also got, we didn't schedule the other. Waiting for a nice day (which actually would've been any day but my birthday!). I had a lovely day with M (my boss gives her dept the day off to celebrate our birthdays which is FANTASTIC) and then we got the house ready for guests. We had an eclectic group but it was great fun. There were some balloons around the house and all the adults (about 15 total) were sitting around when one went into the air. We were batting it around the room and having a laugh. Then someone went and got two more and threw them in the mix and it was hilarious, trying to keep the 3 up in the air - something so incredibly simple and goofy and we laughed about it for 15 minutes, it was good fun. There was diving involved at the end and some close saves and just laughter. I wish I could say I got some video of E dancing (her new dance move involves jumping and slapping her knees) because she was absolutely hilarious but I didn't. She is having a great time with our friends two little girls though and it's great to see her interacting with the big kids.

I better get back to work! I'll let you know what happens next WI on Wednesday! bTW Joe, thanks for the birthday wishes... :)