Week Eleven ended with Thanksgiving Day, one of my most favorite holidays. I love taking  time away from work and spending my hours with family and friends.  The Pea Family had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. The kids were off of school, Mr. Pea and I took several days off of work, Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Twyla and the cousins came down to visit, Cherry Ames was home from college, and the weather was grand.  We have so much to be thankful for.

Tuesday I won second place in a Chili CookOff.  With vegetarian chili.  Seriously! No meat!  Shocking, I know, especially to the hardcore chili chefs in our office.  My veggie version is made with lentils and black beans, Very Tasty Indeed.

Sunday was my parents’ 48th Wedding Anniversary! Forty Eight Years!  My sisters and I spent some time on Thursday afternoon tossing out ideas on how we can celebrate their 50th.  So far the plan involves contacting someone at their church and getting their congregation involved, contacting family members far and wide and having everyone show up as a surprise and champagne.  We still have plenty of time to plan, right?

Oh!  On my time off, I finally finished working through several years of photographs, getting everything organized and ready for making scrapbooks. I found a picture or two of myself when I was heavy.

Before:  not the most attractive angle.  This picture was snapped by The Architect during a field trip to the zoo…I think he was in fourth grade at the time. 🙂

After:  also taken by The Architect a few months ago at the parish Fall Festival.  More than 60 pounds lighter, and a bazillion percent healthier!

This week I weighed in at 156.9 pounds.  One tenth of a pound up from before Thanksgiving.  Here’s the rest of the wrap up for the week.

DO-IT:  The Dress.Done.

DO-IT: My  Weight Watchers points. I used up all of my weekly points on Thanksgiving Day for a glass (or two or three) of wine and some yummy goat cheese with pear preserves.  I skipped dessert – honestly, I didn’t miss it, but only because it didn’t involve chocolate.

DO-IT: Earn 50 activity points a week. Yes! Yes!  I’m finally feeling better.  The entire family went mountain biking twice this week, I got lots of walking in and a few rounds of weight training.

DO-IT: Consistency. Routine, other than Thanksgiving Day, which was celebratory!

DO-IT: Hydrate.  Done.

DO-IT:Read a Book.  Oops.  Didn’t even look at it.  I’m still miffed over the side swipe with the primitive eating theories.

DO-IT: One update post a week. Oh sadness.  I didn’t make it this week.

DO-IT: Link up to your weekly updates.  Done for sure, this week!

DO-IT:  Be supportive. Yes!  And I’ll visit you all this week, too!

Celebrate Life!  Keep the Faith.

Week Ten is gone, and so is my cold, finally.  Ten whole days of misery.  I went mountain biking today and did okay.  I was just riding a slow pace on the kid track, but I was riding outside, and I was NOT coughing my head off.

This week I weighed in at 156.8 pounds.

DO-IT:  The Dress.Done.

DO-IT: My  Weight Watchers points. I did track, and I was well under all week long. Not from any sort of amazing feat of willpower, but just because I was still sick most of the week and just didn’t feel like eating.

DO-IT: Earn 50 activity points a week. Not this week, either, up until today.  I hate being sick.

DO-IT: Consistency. By the pure definition of the term, I was most consistent this week. I did the same thing every day – slept, blew my nose, coughed, blew my nose some more, coughed some more, ate a little, drank a lot of tea.  This week will be better for sure.

DO-IT: Hydrate.  Done.

DO-IT:Read a few more chapters of Refuse to Regain this week. Now the author is going on and on about primitive Paleo diets which I have yet to wrap my head around.  Yes, I generally eat low carb anyway, but I’m not completely ready to give up carbs totally and only eat what can be hunted or gathered from my local national forest.  I’m working on it.

DO-IT: One update post a week. Yes, even though it was a snarky letter to my cold.

DO-IT: Link up to your weekly updates.  Done for sure, this week!

DO-IT:  Be supportive.  I got through to a few of you this week, and I apologize for not visiting everyone.  Since I am finally feeling better, I have every intention of getting back to my regular rounds this week!

Stay Healthy.  Keep the Faith.

Week Nine is packed away, THANK goodness.  I had a nasty, nasty head cold this week.  I honestly feel better today – Yeah!

This week I weighed in at 157.0 pounds, back in the right direction.

DO-IT:  The Dress.Done.  Love that dress, I really do.  I haven’t had a red dress in years and years.

DO-IT: My  Weight Watchers points. Um..sort of.  Feeling sick all week, I didn’t track religiously.  I’m pretty sure that three days of chicken soup and tea didn’t break the point bank, though.

DO-IT: Earn 50 activity points a week. Oooh, not done this week.  Did I mention I was sick from Wednesday through Saturday? Even with that, I managed a respectable 37 points, including six hours of hiking and trail building last Saturday.  What’s trail building? That’s when a group of hardcore mountain bikers hop in trucks drive back to the boonies with a load of hand tools and start cutting a path through the woods on which to ride their bikes.

I’m the one wearing the straw hat.  The Architect is kneeling in front of me.

Fabulous view from the peak of the new trail!!  That’s downtown Ft. Worth in the distance.  And yes, I have every intention of riding my bike up this hill, and back down the other side.  The trail should be complete by March.

DO-IT: Consistency. Almost.  I plead innocence against the mutated cold germ my youngest son gave me.  This week will be better for sure.

DO-IT: Hydrate.  Done.  Even with a sore throat.

DO-IT:Read a few more chapters of Refuse to Regain this week. VERY enlightening, especially the information about HOW fat causes other health problems.

DO-IT: One update post a week. Yes!

DO-IT: Link up to your weekly updates.  Done for sure, this week!

DO-IT:  Be supportive.  Yes!  Yes! Yes!  I’ll make the rounds again this week!

Stay Healthy.  Keep the Faith.