Day One

Today marks the first day of my diet. I weighed in this morning. Then I put my scale in my closet so I'll only weigh myself once a week. That will take some self-control in and of itself, but I think I'll stay more motivated if I don't stress about the number on the scale every day.

I was surprised when I weighed myself that I weigh only 1.4 lbs more than at my first doctors appointment when I was pregnant. That was when I was only 5 weeks along, so I use that as my pre-pregnancy weight. However, that was a different scale, and every scale I've ever stepped on has said something different, so that could be way off. And although 1.4 lbs is a negligable difference, I wear it so very differently now. I feel a lot bigger than before. More saggy and flabby. I guess being all stretched out will do that to a person.

I think I'm off to a pretty good start. I discovered that the cereal I like is only 3 points (including the milk), and I was surprised at the serving size. It's about the same amount of cereal that I usually pour into the bowl, so I was happy with that.

I decided that my daily water goal will be one gallon. I may not make it every day, but if that's how much I shoot for, then I'm sure I'll be drinking more water than I do now! I have a two-quart container that I can fill up and keep in the fridge, so my goal is to drink two of them every day. A few years back, I was drinking a gallon of water per day. I had to pee a lot, but it was very doable. When I think about it, I just head to the fridge, pour a glass, and chug it right then and there. That way, I hardly even notice I'm drinking so much water.

I think my main challange will be trying to figure out what to cook for supper, since I have to cook for James and Isaac too.

That's all folks! Tune in evey Monday for my weekly weigh in.

CVS - 8/8

I hate Extra Care Bucks. Hate hate hate. I had $10 ECB a while ago from a diaper deal that I did. Then CVS had less than thrilling ads for a couple of weeks, so I didn't shop there for a while. Then I stumbled across this $10 ECB that I forgot I had. I checked the expiration date and guess what? It had expired the day before. Just my luck. So the 6-year-old in me threw a tantrum and I swore to myself that I'd never shop there again because they're nothing but a bunch of big, fat, stupid heads.

Then yesterday, I broke my promise. Oh well, so much for being dramatic.

When I got there and ran my card through the scanner, I got four worthless coupons that I didn't need and one free $1 ECB! Pretty sweet!

Here's what I bought. This lot cost me $5.82 when all was said and done. And I used a gift card that I got when I transferred a prescription to pay, so I paid $0 out of pocket.

And here's the breakdown.

Xtra laundry detergent- $0.99

This stuff is dirt cheap. Even when it's not on sale. I've never used it before but I figured you can't lose for a buck!

Reg. $2.99

Sale $1.99 - $1/1 MQ (6/6 SS) = $0.99

All laundry detergent - $2.75 each

You can never have enough laundry detergent - especially when you have a toddler. So I though I'd stock up. I got the free & clear kind because that's what I use for Isaac's clothes. I bought the x2 detergent. The x3 super concentrated kind was also on sale, but I'll let you in on a little secret - the measurements for one load of the x2 kind, and the measurements for one load of the x3 kind are exactly the same. Sneaky, huh? Good thing we, the consumer, are smarter than the mucky mucks at All. Ha!

Reg. $7.49 each

Sale B1G1 free

$7.49 for two - two $1/1 MQs (here) = $5.49, or $2.75 each.

BIC Soleil razors - $0.17 each

That's right, I said seventeen cents each. This is my favorite deal of the day. I usually use the bottom-of-the-barrel cheapo disposable razors, so I'm excited about these fancy ones! How lame is that?

Reg. $6.69 each

Sale B1G1 50% off

$13.38 (for two) - $3.35 (B1G1 deal) - $6.69 B1G1 free MQ (8/1 SS) - $3/1 MQ (7/11 SS) = $0.34, or $0.17 each.

The bottom of my receipt tells me that I saved $25.53 off of their rediculously overinflated prices! That's 81%!

And not one of these deals required any ECB. I guess CVS has redeemed itself.

Wal-Mart Coupon Policy

Last week, my mom tried to use some internet coupons at Wal-Mart. She was told by the cashier that they don't accept coupons that have been printed from the internet. The cashier then asked her "supervisor" and she said the same thing.

Well, my friends, I am here to tell you that that's a load of bull. This is yet another reason why I avoid Wam-Mart at all costs. They're stupid. Here is their coupon policy - directly from the horses mouth, and by that I mean their corporate website. It clearly states that they accept internet coupons. It might be a good idea to print it and bring it with you if you plan to use internet coupons at Wal-Mart, just in case you get a cashier with their head up their ass, which is very likely.

Can you tell that I'm not a huge Wal-Mart fan?

Big Plans

I'm going to start Weight Watchers on Monday. There, I said it and now I can't turn back. I figure now that my baby is over a year old, I really should lose the baby weight. Although, I really don't feel motivated. At all. So I'm going to just force myself to eat bland food and exercise. Can't wait.

I'm not actually going to go to the meetings, but I'm going to follow the program. I have all the books from when I lost a bunch of weight before my wedding. I plan to use my blog for my weekly weigh-ins. Of course, I'm not going to tell you how much I weigh, I'm just going to tell you how much I lost/gained. I need some sort of accountability if I'm not going to the meetings, so this is it. We'll see how long it lasts.

Also, I'm thinking I need to cut WAY down on my soda intake. I drink like, three pops per day. I am going to try cut it down to one and start drinking lots of water. I will have a daily water goal, I just don't know how much that's going to be yet.

So, I'm starting all this on Monday. And today I'm going to Paradiso (amazing Mexican restaurant) with Kristi, my sole co-worker, since we haven't seen each other in months. I better enjoy it, might be the last time I go out for a while... :(

The Afternoon In Pictures

I took Isaac outside today to play with his nifty little water table that he got from his aunt for his birthday.

I went to get it from the garage, which is where we store it while it's not in use. This is what greeted me.

There were two of them in the web, but I couldn't get a picture. And this picture doesn't do it justice. Their bodies were about the size of my thumb nail. I almost turned back around and said "To hell with it!" But it was such a nice day outside, I really wanted to sit outside while Isaac played. So I very carefully maneuvered around the spiders and managed to get the table out without any permanent emotional scarring.

I do not have a green thumb.  I have two pots of flowers that hang from shepherd's hooks in our yard. I water them daily. This is the extent of my gardening skillz. So, I decided to water them while Isaac played.

So I'm watering my flowers, minding my own business...

And the entire time, I have Gizmo at my feet begging and pleading for me to spray him.

So I did.

Most dogs don't like being sprayed with water. My dog is a freak. He loves it. He could chase the hose all. day. long.

And when he's done, he looks like a drowned rat.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Isaac thought it was hilarious though!
 

 

Target Escapades - 8/2

Guess what? I went shopping today! Are you surprised? :oP

Seriously though, I really haven't been doing much shopping lately. A few deals here and there, but there hasn't been much to spike my interest lately. Today I got a few good deals, and I thought I'd share.

Ok, I really like these things. Each one dispenses six globs of gel that stick to the side of your toilet and keeps it spic and span. Each glob lasts about a week. We have two toilets, so we go through these fairly quickly. And they're regularly about $4 ($3.94 to be exact), so I don't usually buy them unless I can get a good deal. Well, they were on price cut for $3.49 at Target, and I had a manufacturer coupon for B1G1 (from the 8-1 RP insert), so I got each one for $1.75. I can live with that.

Herbal Essences is my favorite shampoo/conditioner. But, these small bottles are regularly $2.99, yikes! This week they're on sale for $2.50 each, and I pulled a B1G1 manufacturer coupon from Sunday's (8-1) RP insert, so I paid $1.25 each. Yippee!

Only three more weeks until school starts, so I'm going to need some stuff for breakfast/mid-morning snacks. Target has a deal running where if you buy four select Kellogg's products, you get one free. I got two packages of Nutri-Grain bars and three 12-count packages of Pop Tarts. Here's the breakdown:

2 x Nutri-Grain Bars & 3 x Pop Tarts @ $2.39 each = $11.95
-$2.39 (one is free with Target deal)
-$1/2 Target Q for Kelloggs Snack Items (Pop-Tarts or Nutri-Grain Bars 8ct.) from the 8-1 RP
-$1/2 MQ for Pop Tarts HERE
-$1/2 Nutri-Grain Bars HERE
=$6.56 for 2 boxes of Nutri-Grain Bars and 3 big boxes of Pop Tarts, or $1.31 each.

Not bad, but this could be an even better deal if you have two of the Target Q's from Sunday's Red Plum insert. I only had one though. :( Still too good to pass up, since they were all less than half price!

I also bought some Charmin toilet paper (reg. $11.79, on sale for $9.99 - $1/1 Target Q (8-1 RP) and .25/1 MQ (can't remember which insert it's from, but I got it yesterday) = $8.74. I really hate buying toilet paper. It's so dang expensive! Even with coupons!

Also, if you bring in reusable bags to use, you get $.05 off your total per bag. I brought one in today, but for some reason, he took off $.10. For me, this is not really an incentive to bring a reusable bag. I do it more for the environment. Although we use the plastic bags to wrap poopy diapers in, so maybe I should get plastic bags...

So I spent a total of $21.19 and saved $17.71. I saved about 45%. I generally like to aim for a 40-50% savings, so I'm happy with this.

Happy shopping!

Breaking Dawn & Farenheit 451

I finally finished the Twilight Saga! FINALLY.

If you remember my post in April about my New Year's resolution to read one book a month (you can find it here), which I failed by the way, you may be thinking, "I thought you were going to read Breaking Dawn in May?" And you'd be right. I was going to read it in May, but I was pretty bored with the last few Twilight books, and I sort of petered out. Then I saw all the Eclipse movie previews and felt like finishing.

I am SO glad I did! Breaking Dawn was by far the best out of the series. Seriously. I couldn't put this book down! Now I'm left craving more and there is no more! How cruel! (I apologize for my overuse of exclamation points.)

My good friend, Erica, just finished reading Eclipse, so we're going to see the movie tomorrow. I'm really excited! I heard it's a pretty good movie.

Another reason I'm looking forward to tomorrow is because I could use a girls night out! Especially after a weekend with the in-laws. James' parents came to visit this weekend. The plan was for James and his dad to install a new exterior door and a storm door. Unfortunately, his dad wasn't feeling well for the majority of Saturday (migraine, chills, upset stomach), and they didn't want to start the project if they couldn't finish it, so instead our new doors are leaning against the wall in the garage. Oh well, at least they got to see Isaac - that's really the important thing.

Don't get me wrong, I do like my in-laws. But sometimes, when other people (anyone, not just my in-laws) come into my house and do things their way, it can get on my nerves. It's nothing against them, it's just that sometimes I don't play well with others.

So, I'm excited to have dinner and a movie with a good friend! Woohoo!

And although I have failed my New Year's resolution, I still plan to continue reading. I only missed out on May and June. If I can read 10 books in a year, that's still probably a record for me!

Next up - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I've been reading it, off and on, for about two weeks now. I thought it would be a quick read, but things keep coming up and I'm not able to read as much as I'd like. I'm about half way through, and it's pretty good. The reason I chose Fahrenheit 451 (which by the way, is "the temperature at which book paper catches fire and burns..." That gives you a small clue as to what the book is about) is because last year I had to help a girl read it for school. I figured, if it's now required reading in high school, I should probably be familiar with it so I can help students with it. I read a little of it with that student last year, but I wanted to read it all rather than just bits and pieces. Plus, James owns it, so I figured I'd just read it really quick. A few good nights of solid reading and I should be able to finish it. It's definitely different than the stuff I usually read. A change is nice sometimes!