One month down

4

pounds

G*O*N*E!!

Sing it if you know it

'Sweet Thing'

Will I see him in 2009?

Oh yes. YES I WILL.
Sweet Thing

Because it's me - why else?

Tuesday I let one of my co-workers borrow my van. She wanted to give a client a ride home but her car was in the shop. I said "Here! Just take the van!" and never thought another thing of it. She got back to the salon about 2:30ish. The blizzard that hit started around, oh, 2:30ish.

I went out to start the van about 4:30ish. To my horror, I noticed the passenger side door all the way open. All The Way Open. At first I thought I was walking up on a crime scene. When I got to the van and looked inside, I realized that wasn't it.

There was a good inch of snow in anything that could catch it - ie: portable DVD player, car seats, front seats - fun stuff like that. EVERY SINGLE THING had snow on it. EVERYTHING. I just about started crying.

I grabbed the portable DVD player and rushed back in the salon. I grabbed my hair dryer and blew it off and let the heat sit on it for a minute. Then I put it in my cupboard to dry overnight.

I pulled my co-worker to the side and asked if she'd locked the van with the remote. She had. "Did you do it with gloves on?" I asked. She had. In doing so, she opened up the sliding door.

I can't imagine how nobody saw the door open to my van. I parked half a block away from the Police Department. I'm shocked that NOBODY either reported it or shut the damn door. Seriously? In a town where I answered 911 calls for 8 years. 911 calls where the person on the other line wanted to report a dog barking - you know - a REAL emergency. Nobody drove by my van and thought it was odd that there was an inch of snow in there and the door was wide open? Nobody? Holy shit!

Thinking that that was bad enough, I took the little kids to Tracy's Wednesday for daycare. The snow plow had pushed a very nice windrow of snow up to her driveway - blocking it. Looking back, I'm not really sure why I thought this was smart, but I plowed right through it. It was hard - like ice. I busted up the under part of my van.

Why, you say? Why did this happen?

Why else?

Because it's me - that's why.

New color = YAY!!!!!

Yesterday I got my hair colored. After being at my in-laws at Christmas, I decided I didn't want all the red that had accumulated in my hair. I'd done my hair in the bedroom at their house where there is a ton of natural light. I couldn't believe the color of my hair. There was so much red in it.

Last time I colored my hair, I wanted really thick, strong red streaks. In order to get them that way we had to bleach out parts of my hair and then put color on them. Well, it didn't work out exactly the way I wanted. The person that was doing my hair kinda freaked and didn't leave the bleach on my hair as long as she should have. In the end, I had to put a semi-permanent color over it that had a ton of red in it to match those streaks. It just didn't look good. Actually, last time I thought my hair turned out rather purple. So very nice (in a NOT REALLY kind of way). Here, see for yourself.
Finally I decided it was time to color my hair again. I didn't really want to go back blond - that was Justin's suggestion. I just don't feel like a blond person anymore. I just wanted to be brown. A rich, chocolate brown. Like you open up your Hersey's candy bar - brown.

I realize if you don't do hair then you probably don't understand what an undertaking this is. I wanted to do a bleach wash on my hair, but I didn't know how. One of my friends from high school does hair in the City's and I figured she must have had to have done one by now. I e-mailed her and told her what I wanted to do and she gave me her opinion of how to achieve the color I wanted.

First, I had to do the bleach wash. The poor woman that was doing my hair JUST about died. She likes hair to be low key - and easy. Poor thing was just freaking out about it all. Anyway, we did the bleach wash - twice. Then I put a product called Pre-Art in my hair to even out the porosity - so that my hair wouldn't turn jet black the second the color hit it. Here is what the bleach wash made me look like.

It left me a really ugly orange color. I knew that it was going to do that - and I needed it to. Hair color is tricky. In order to be a warm chocolate brown, I needed my hair to be an ugly yellow/orange color. I sent this picture to Tracy yesterday. "OH wow!" was her response. Ha!

After lifting my hair, LaVoy put 5AV in my hair with 20 volume peroxide. Oh! After I did the two bleach washes - you should have seen my hair. It looked harsh....frizzy. It doesn't feel too bad today, but yesterday = wowza.

Ok, so she put the 5AV on my hair and left it for 20 minutes. We washed it out and the top of my head looked - not right. I couldn't figure out why that didn't work. Well, I should have mixed a batch of 5AV with 10 volume for my new growth. So - one of the other girls put that on the top of my head for about 10 minutes or so. It's PERFECT and I LOVE IT!!

Here is a picture I took of it yesterday. It's not a good picture because I took it with my phone. What you can see is that there is no red in my hair - just brown. What you can also see is my face - with no make up. Not a speck. I worked all day with no make up on. Nice.

BUT my hair is EXACTLY the way I wanted it. GO TEAM - and Paula rocks...all the way from Minnesota!

I'm a monster!

I'm not surprised. I've done this before.

Now that I'm counting calories - I'm the calorie Nazi. I knew it would happen. I start to watch food others put in their mouth and wonder if they know what they're doing.

Last night I met Tracy at McDonald's. (I'm not going to tell you why, but I hope she posts about it today.) Before going there, I'd only consumed 464 calories. I'm allowed 1250 a day. I had a feeling that my remaining 786 calories wouldn't go far at a fast food restaurant.

I was talking to one of my clients about it and wondered what on earth I'd eat there? Not a salad. I'm not sure what it is about their salads, but they are yuck. They give me a horrible stomach ache too. Ick. My client suggested a snack wrap. Good call! I like those things.

I didn't get to eat breakfast yesterday due to my poor time management. That's something I should be just as psycho about fixing. One thing at a time I guess.

Anyway, we've hit another slow time in the salon, so I was able to come home for lunch yesterday. I didn't want tuna - AGAIN - so I made myself an egg sandwich. That's where I used 464 calories. The good thing about it was that it I ate around 1pm and I knew I'd be hungry by 5:30, but not starving.

So this is what I had: 1 Ranch snack rap, 1 small fry, 1 small sprite. I was full - and didn't need any more food. But then - everyone else got ice cream. I know I didn't have to, but if all my friend jumped off a bridge...duh. Bloop! So add a hot caramel sundae to that and you get.... 1000 calories - even. For ONE meal, people.

HO-LY CAT SMOKES!

Anyway, today I started my day better. I had two farm fresh eggs that came from these chickens. That's 180 calories. Tracy and I have plans to take Nathan and Dawson to the game tonight in Lennox, so I'll need to save all the calories I can. I think I'll take an apple with me to work, so at least I'll have that.

For today is a better calorie counting day. :0)

Happy weekend! GO DOGS!!!

I didn't expect That!

Last night when I got home, I was beyond hungry. I forgot to take an apple to work and I was starving. Before I put anything in my mouth, I looked at the calorie counter (I love you - but hate you) to see what number I was at. I was doing well so I ate as I was cooking. Normally I would eat while cooking and then eat with the family too. No more of that.

I was cooking and Nathan came to me and said that he wanted to be on a diet too. DAMN IT! I knew that when I talked about being on a 'diet' that I didn't want Claire to hear me. I don't want her to udder those words until she's in college. I've had food issues since I was in 8th grade - along with a warped self image - and I don't ever want my kids to go through that.

I told Nathan when we were in Pierre that after the New Year we were going to start eating healthy. I didn't want to tell him I was going to 'diet'. Somehow he heard me. Maybe I even said it right to him - I don't remember.

He told me that he didn't think Daddy and I needed to go on a diet because we were just the right size. Such a sweet boy. Love him.

Last night he came to the kitchen and told me that he wanted to be on a diet because he was a little too fat. I just about died. I knew I had to play my cards right - but how?

I asked him if someone was making fun of him at school. He said no. "How about at the center?" I asked. "No" he said.

He wanted to be on a diet and insisted he was too fat. It broke my heart. I told him that I thought he was perfect.

He started crying.

I asked him if he wanted me to measure his food like I did mine the night before. He thought about it and then said yes. About two minutes later he changed his mind.

He also asked me to not tell his daddy that he wanted to be on a diet.

I have no idea what it was about. Thankfully it's all passed and he was better today.

I totally didn't see it coming though.

I'm responsible

Today - I'm taking responsibility for the food that I put in my mouth. I'm tracking my daily calorie intake on this website.

In 1999 I lost 30 pounds before I got married. I took the same approach. I counted calories and exercised 6 days a week. That won't happen this time. I, more than likely, won't exercise 6 days a week. I just don't have the time. Ok, so that's an excuse. I could wake up an hour earlier to exercise, but I'm not sure that I will. I could exercise after the kids go to bed, but I'm too tired by then. Bottom line - I will exercise when I can.

I like the website because you put in your current height and weight. They come up with what your goal weight should be. They gave mine as 119 pounds. I don't really have a huge desire to get down to 119. I don't really have a magical number in mind. I just know that my current number isn't it.

The website asks you to put in a date as a goal to accomplish your weight loss. I don't have one of those either. They put my goal date as Oct. 30th. We'll see.

You may see me eating something that you might not think I should be eating. It's ok. My diet isn't for you, it's for me. I know that there will be days when I eat more calories than I should. I'm ok with that - because I know that I'll do better tomorrow.

I guess the good thing is that I've maintained this weight for a few years now. If I eat less, eat better, and exercise I should make progress.

I'm ready. I'm really ready.

The Holiday Round Up - photo overload

I worked for a while on Christmas Eve and then we headed over to The Ferber's house. Check out Tracy's post about it. We had a lot of fun over there. Thanks again for having us over!

We had quite a feast. Caymen was quite the helper. If Claire wanted something, she'd just give it to her. Claire wanted a rice crispy bar in the middle of supper. No problem! Caymen to the rescue. HA!!

I brought some soup for supper and Dawson thought it was the best thing served. He loved him some soup.Here are some random pictures from the night. Oh! I have to tell you this. We were getting ready to go there and all I kept saying was that we were going to Ferber's for a party. I put on my Santa hat and Nathan about died. He said "Mom! Are you going to wear that? I mean, won't you be embarrassed?" HA! I assured him that the party was going to be the Ferber's with Auntie Chell, Grandma Sandy and Papa Ken. He felt much better. They could care less about me wearing a Santa hat. Actually, they probably expect it.Natey was so excited when he found out that Auntie Chell got him the Wii game that he really wanted.I got Caymen and Claire the same thing this year - Fairy outfits with shoes to match. They are so cute. Caymen got hers Christmas Eve and put it on quickly. Now, let me remind you that the Fairy's outfits are very short (think of Tinkerbell). It goes just below their butts. Same goes for the girls. Caymen spent most of the night pulling her new Fairy dress down as it creeped back up to just below her butt. Claire opened hers the next morning and it was the same story. Cute - but a little hoochie. :)

Christmas was wonderful this year. OH WAIT! The DRAMA. I must tell you about the drama. What would my life be without it? (Someone elses - that's for sure.) Ok, so at Tracy's, Auntie Chell was tracking Santa on the computer. When we got home, we started tracking him as well. We finally got the kids to bed, but I was tired and wanted to sleep before setting out the Santa stuff. So I went to bed about 10:30 and set my alarm for 4am. About 3 o'clock, I woke up and thought that I really should just get up and get things set out. At 3:30 I was still laying in bed when I hear Nathan coming down the stairs. (OH HOLY CRAP!!!) He comes into our bedroom bawling not as much because Santa hadn't been there but more because he had to go to the bathroom and didn't want Santa to come in the house, freak out that Nathan was up, turn around and never come back. OH THE DRAMA! I got him back into bed and waited until about 4:30 to set the stuff out. Talk about anxiety! I was sure that Nathan was going to wake up at any moment and catch me in the act. Holy Moly!

So, moving on. Christmas was great. Nathan woke up while I was still up (about 5:30) and saw that Santa had finally come. I let him see a Webkin that was in his stocking, but wouldn't let him look any farther. I told him I'd come lay in his bed with him until it was time to wake up. I think I finally got up about 8:30. We woke up Claire and tore into the gifts. Nathan said over and over that this was his best Christmas ever. I loved it and absorbed it like a sponge.

Justin had to work at noon, so we just lounged around all day. The kids stayed in their PJ's all day long. Well, Claire didn't. She put on that hoochie outfit I got her. :)

I made Brisket for supper (made possible by phone coaching from my Mom) and it was YUMMY! It was a great day. You could feel the love.

Yes - that's a butter knife in his mouth. I'm a good - normal - mother. I took the picture then took the knife away.

This is the position Natey was in most of the day. That was the smile that couldn't be removed from his face. He got a PSP people. A PSP!!!The weekend of Christmas we went to Pierre to have our Christmas with Justin's family. How could you forget after seeing that riveting sledding video, right? Here are some pictures from Pierre.

Doesn't Claire look so grown up in that picture? Crazy! This next one is of my nephew, Zachary, and his dad.Here is Zach helping Claire open up her gift. I'm pretty sure she told him to knock it off. She was ALL ABOUT opening her gifts. She could hardly stand herself.Jack isn't quite to the 'open it up and toss it aside' stage yet. He opens one and wants to play with it - and gets pissed, quite frankly, if you try to rush him. Here he is enjoying a new Little Einstein piano.Here are the rest of the sledding pictures. Check out how big that hill is. I took this picture of Nathan while I was on the top of the hill - with no zoom.Here are Spencer (nephew) and Nathan coming back up. I'm telling you - it was a trek.

Yes, Natey had his hat off. It was 40 degrees and freakin' warm going up and down those hills. I would take my hat and gloves off going up and put them back on to go down. I was shedding clothes like you couldn't believe. Holy cow I was hot. Poor Natey was sweating to death out there. It was sure fun though.

Claire had a fun time playing in the snow between slides. Oh - get this. Drama on the hill (how shocking!). So Bob and I were the ones that took the kids sledding. On about the 4th time down, we decided to race. I was riding with Nathan and Bob had Claire. We were going down - FAST, and Bob and Claire start to weave - and then roll. Yeah - roll. Bob was trying to hang on to Claire and after rolling a good 2 or 3 times - came to a stop. As you can imagine - Claire stood up screaming her head off. Bob stands up and has blood streaming from his face. Oh lordy. Claire wasn't as excited to sled after that, but she did have a good time making snow angels and digging holes by the fence.

So - that was Christmas 2008 - Kerrie Meyer Style.