10% Goal

I used to find myself just dreading stepping on the scale. I'm sure that just about every American female has had this feeling at one point or another. This past fall, my weight had gotten to the point that I either had to lose weight or buy new clothes. Slade voted against new clothes, so I joined WW.
Amazingly, the weight started coming off. Even during th holidays, I managed to lose a few more pounds. I must admit that from about December 24 - sometime in January, I kept saying, "I'll start again next week" -- too many parties, candies, chips around. Howver, I have been quite diligent again in the past few weeks. Tracking everything I eat and keeping a close eye on what I will and will not eat.
Now, I actually enjoy weighing-in just to see how much I have lost. And, the accountability is great for me because I would never do this at home! At home, there is no one there to tell me what I am thinking. When I weigh-in with someone else giving me the verdic, I feel the shame of "you didn't lose this week" or the elation of "wow, you lost another pound this week". It really does keep me motivated (sometimes it is the gains that motivate me more than the losses) .
On Wednesday, I weighed-in and reached my first goal 10%! I really wanted to lose the 10% before the end of my first WW session, and I just accomplished it. From October until now, I am about 15 lbs lighter. I have just a few more pounds to lose before I am at my ultimate weight, and I am psyched.
Now all I can say is watch out bikini -- I'm gonna be ready for you this summer!

New Tat

Forget the paperwork -- this makes it official!

Nicolas' First Birthday

Well it’s not really his 1st birthday but it is most likely his first birthday party. Nicolas turned the big 04 on Friday. Since Valentine’s Day was this weekend and a friend of his was also celebrating his birthday, it was cake, cake, cake all weekend.

On Friday, the fam went to Friendly’s for Nicolas favorite meal – hamburger and fries – and of course, ice cream! Saturday was Valentine’s Day so he got he got a present from Mom and Dad. On Sunday, a friend celebrated his birthday at a bowling alley. Nicolas just LOVES bowling. This was his second bowling party and he is such a hoot when he is bowling. Today, we had a big celebration for Nicolas. We spent the day with the Nelson’s at Port Discovery, had lunch at McDonald's because it is hamburger and fries, and ate cake and opened presents at home. No wonder I am so tired writing this! I leave you with the weekend in pictures. . .

Happy Birthday Nicolas!

Living Like No One Else

Today, I was walking though the grocery store with a calculator in my hand. This is something that I haven’t done for probably 15 years when Slade and I were first married. Back then, we were so poor that we didn’t have two nickels to rub together. The first time we sat down to create a budget, we found out very quickly that there wasn’t very much money coming in and that we would have to watch every penny. We set aside 20 dollars every two weeks for eating out which meant that we could eat at Taco Bell twice or we might be able to eat at a real restaurant if we pulled all the money for that meal.

Maybe it’s the economy, but recently, we have been having discussions about becoming dept free. Our adoption expenses and the extra time we spent in Russia left us with a pretty large credit card bill. In fact it was probably the most I have put on a credit card since we have been married. Now that I have finished the dissertation and will be graduating in May (for the last time :) ), my student loans will be coming due. We were successful at only using loans for my undergraduate education which means that those loans have been sitting for the past 10 or so years and someone out there is itching to finally get paid (there must be some loan officer somewhere wondering just how long you can stay in school ). Between credit cards and student loans, we have quite a bit to repay.

We are dedicated to paying off the credit card and the student loan as quickly as possible – within the next 18-24 months. Then, the only dept that we will have remaining is the house.
A funny side story – in the process of paying off credit card debt, I recently paid off one of our credit cards. I called the company to cancel the card. They were beside themselves and tried everything to have us keep the card. The customer service rep asked – what will you do if you have an emergency? My response – pay cash. I guess that really is a novel idea!

And, I guess that means that we really are dedicated to living like no one else so that . . . (well, if you don’t know how that sentence ends, you really need to ask me).

Tagged. . . What's on your bookshelf?

Wow, less than a week on Blogger and I’ve already been tagged by Shannon -- a blogger friend who adopted from Abakan too. A sort of chain letter for the blog world, I don’t always participate in these shenanigans. I must be in a good mood today and need a silly reason to blog, so here goes. . .

Here are the rules of the tag:
Grab the nearest book.
Open to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the text of the next 2 to 5 sentences, along with these rules.
Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual book. Pick the CLOSEST!
Tag five (or more) other people to do the same!

Well, you asked for it. . .

Although Tinto focuses on the college attrition process, his model has been successfully employed to suit other student outcomes. Indeed, the underlying dynamic of Tinto's theory of departure -- student integration into the academic and social systems of an institution -- is similar to Astin's (1985) involvement and Pace's (1988) quality of effort, although the importance of the investment of physical and psychological energy postulated by Astin and Pace is only implied in Tinto's concept of integration. Tinto's comparatively more explicit theoretical to the study the college student change process and to administrators who seek to design academic and social programs and experiences intended to promote students' educational growth.

From: Pascarella & Terenzini (2005). What Matters In College.


Remember, my last post -- I just defended my dissertation, what book did you expect to be the closest book to me?

Since I've had such a long blog hiatus, I must say that I'm not sure that I have 5 others to tag and many of those that I read have already been tagged, so I will offer up three more victims to this game. . .

Jennifer
Karey
Carey (private)

Dr Wilson

The day has finally arrived. On Wednesday, I had my oral defense of my dissertation. Thus, the reason that I have not blogged for over a month. Just too much to accomplish in a few short weeks.
The meeting went well. I was a bit worried as it snowed and the area schools were delayed until 10am. However, everyone made it to the proposal meeting and after 1 1/2 hours of questioning, my chair emerged from the room and announced me -- Dr. Wilson!

OH, HAPPY DAY!

(Sorry no pics -- Slade was in charge of the camera again -- I got to remember not to do that!)