What Happened to My Life?

I haven't blogged in over a year. In that time, much has happened, both good and bad. I'm still searching for a teaching job, but I've been subbing. I got married in December. And I gained back every last pound that I had lost. Every.Single.One. I'm not going to say "I don't know how I let myself do it" because I do. It was easy and delicious. But I can say that I'm not happy about it and I want to do something about it. Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone know anyone that it's happened to? I could use some support. My husband is on board to change our diets in whatever way I see fit, but it's not the same as having a banded buddy to talk to. Although, I can't say I'm much fun currently...with the job search not going well plus all the weight gain, I feel so defeated with life. Like I know where I want to end up in life, but I don't know how to get there. I've been so emotional. I know I want to have kids and I wish I could have them soon, but I'd like to get down to 170 and get some decent income before we start trying. I just feel stuck, I guess.

There. Whine over.

Anyhow, I just caught up on some blogs that I used to read, so if you're still out there and you remember me, I could totally use your support right now. I'll love you back.

xoxo

p.s. guess if anyone's interested I shouldn't say I got married without posting a wedding pic...that's just mean :)

Sugar, We're Going Down

Ok, so I ripped the title of this post off of a Fall Out Boy song. It's appropriate, because that's exactly where the scale is going...DOWN!

I was supposed to blog yesterday, but between feeling like utter poo and the computer keyboard malfunctioning, it just wasn't happening. Feeling better, but the keyboard is still messed up, so today's entry will be short and sweet. I'm down to 234.4, 1.1 down from last week and 3.6 down from New Year's Day, which I'm ok with.

Hope everyone's well. Will be reading your blogs today since I didn't get called to work!

xoxo

Weekly Weigh In

This week I weighed in at 235.5. Not a great loss, only .7 down from last week, but Aunt Flo was in town, so I'll take any loss I can get :)

Don't have too much to report this week. Maybe later in the week something exciting will happen. We'll see. So, on that note, I'll leave you with a super fabulous picture of me in the wedding dress that I tried on at the bridal show last week. It's not THE dress, so it's ok to post, right? Yeah, I think so.



:) I felt beautiful in it. And while Ben always tells me that I'm beautiful, I'm not sure how long it's been since I've actually felt that way. It was awesome.

Hope you're all having a wonderful week!

xoxo

Busy Busy Busy

I've been much busier than expected, which is why I haven't posted yet. Anyhow, last post I talked about how I'm pretty much on Cloud 9 and loving life. Here's why:

On Sunday, Ben and I went to our first bridal show together. No, he hasn't proposed yet, but I figured it couldn't hurt to get our feet wet with the planning process. While we were there, I tried on a wedding dress for the first time. It was beautiful and I loved it. Almost bought it, actually. As I was being helped into it, the girl who was helping me said, that it's a size twenty four and I'm absolutely swimming in it so we'll have to clamp it in the back. CLAMPS ON THE DRESS!!! EEK!!! It was so exciting! See, the dress was discontinued and that was the only size they had. It was so fantastic to be told that it was huge on me. I loved it. So, anyway, we got some great ideas for what we want our wedding to be like and we've been kind of planning every day since Sunday. It's been great. I love it. I know the proposal is coming soon. He's supported me financially while I was in school and now that I'm out, I'm finally able to start helping with bills again because I started working as a substitute teacher! That's the second reason for my "flying high" feeling. It's so great to be able to go back to the school where I student taught and see my kids and actually get paid for it, too. I'm loving life right now. And, to top it all off, I took a sneak peek at the scale this morning and I've lost some more weight. I don't think I could be any happier at the moment. Everything seems to be going my way. In addition to subbing at this school, the principal from another local school emailed me and asked me if I'd please come sub for them because she needs someone who is certified to teach secondary English, which I am. She said she got my information off of  one of my professors, so it's awesome to know that someone thinks highly enough of me to recommend me to them. So, things are really starting to shape up for us. Super excited about what this year will bring!

xoxo

The Scale Moved!

Last week's weight was 238.0. This week it's down to 236.2. It was lower earlier in the week, but, with more protein come more bathroom issues...you know how it goes. At least the scale has moved in a downward motion. I'm still doing yoga and walking and things are going well. Better than well, actually. I'm pretty high on life right now. But more about that tomorrow. It's been a long day and I need to go relax and get my yoga on.

xoxo

New Year New Jackie?

I'm back. For real this time. I'm so sorry for my absence, bloggers. This year, I'm resolving to remain active within this wonderfully supportive group of bandsters, bypassers, and anyone else who happens by my blog. That being said, if anyone is still reading this blog, then they need to be caught up on a few things since my last post. I finished my wonderful student teaching experience on December 7th and on December 15th, I became a college graduate. In my immediate family, I'm the first and only to graduate with a bachelor's degree. I'm just waiting for my Pennsylvania Teacher's Certification and then I'll be ready for the job hunt. I've been accepted as a substitute teacher at the school where I did my student teaching, but I'm waiting for my replacement social security card to come in before I can begin working. I can't wait. Hopefully within the next year or two I'll be able to find a full time teaching job and won't have to rely on the uncertainty of substitute teaching.

In some less awesome news, I rang in the New Year at a whopping 238 pounds. Over the course of student teaching and the holiday season, I gained back 30 pounds! It sucks. Bad. But, I'm doing something about it. I've been planning my meals, writing down every single thing I eat, and making sure I drink all my water. I'm really having to get back to basics with this. I've even started exercising daily (well, every day since New Year's day, but I'm going to keep it up). I've never been good at exercising regularly, always finding excuses. However, at my last trip to visit my PA, she told me that I can do yoga and count that as exercise. Not hot yoga, not fat burning yoga, just regular old yoga. I'd never done it before, so I was skeptical, but on New Year's day, Ben and I pulled up this video on Youtube and we gave it a try. For the past 6 or 7 years, I've had chronic back pain. I tried this video and while the pain isn't gone entirely, it sure has helped. It's so relaxing. We were both surprised at how much we enjoyed it. In only four days of doing it, I can definitely see an improvement in my flexibility, too. It's great. In addition, we've been doing this walking video. It's snowy here in Pittsburgh, so I didn't want to go outside and walk. This video is a great alternative. With these new habits in place, I've already lost some weight. I'm not going to say just how much yet, but since the new year started on a Tuesday, I've decided to make Tuesdays my new weigh in day. Nothing wrong with a fresh start, right?

So, here are some goals for 2013:
-Start reading and commenting on your blogs again (I feel terrible for not implementing this sooner!)
-Blog at least twice a week
-Follow bandster rules (tracking calories, protein [and fat, per my PA], getting water in, timing eating, etc.)
-Do yoga at least one time per day and the walking video at least 5 times per week (until I feel like expanding my horizons and maybe trying Jillian Michaels again)
-Onederland by my birthday (April 19)
-Fit into size 16 dress that I picked up for $17 at Fashion Bug for my cousin's wedding June 15.
-150 by 2014.


I'm anxious to read your blogs and get caught up on what you've all been doing. It'll be a slow process, so please bear with me while I get caught up. It's been quite a long time. Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and a happy and safe  New Year's Eve/Day.

xoxo

fat.

I miss you guys. I'm a little sad. I need to get back into Blogland. I haven't read or posted in a very very long time. I've been struggling, quite clearly, as my weight ticker has crept back up to 226 (18 pounds higher than my lowest--yikes!)
I thought I'd exercise more and eat better during student teaching. Not so. I'm not sure why I let myself get so bad again. My cooperating teacher is selling candy and chips and stuff in her classroom to help fundraiser for a trip she's taking the kids on to Boston and Salem (we cover the witch trials in our class) and today for lunch, I had a bag of Ritz bits sandwich crackers and a Butterfinger bar. Forgot my water bottle today so I went to the faculty lounge to get a bottle...they were out. I tried getting the only other non-carbonated beverage in the machine, which was iced tea. Also sold out. I'm sitting here drinking a delicious regular Coke that I tried (to no avail) to flatten. Sigh. Old bad habits. How do you get rid of them once you've found yourself slipping back into them?

Kids are Awesome

Today, a student was telling me about a verbal confrontation he had at last week's football game. It was with an overweight student from the rival school. It ended with my student telling the other kid to go eat a Hoho. I told my student that was rude and not all fat people like Hohos, to which he replied, "Well you're not fat." Awesome NSV for me. I had another one, but can't for the life of me remember what it was. Hoping to have some good old fashioned SVs soon, but I've been having too many carbs and sweets and that just needs to stop. Hope all you lovelies are well.

xoxo

Quick Check In

Hey lovelies! Hope you all had a fabulous time in Chicago! You're all looking spectacular. Maybe one of these years I'll get there.

Super busy with student teaching (which is amazing, by the way!) but just wanted to stop by for a quick update. Weight is going down, food choices are getting better. Met a substitute teacher today who's lost 140 pounds in 2 years with diet and exercise, no wls. Super inspirational. She lives in the next town over. Told her about my band and she offered to be my weekend workout buddy. Not sure when that'll start, but I'm so glad I got to meet her.

Off to finish this week's lesson plans.

xoxo

Lost

Due to a series of events, I've not posted my one year update. This isn't it; I don't have pictures because my camera got messed up. I also don't feel as though I'm in the right mental state to create the literary masterpiece that I wish to be my one year post.

Anyway, the title of this post is "Lost" because that's how I've been feeling. Consumed with schoolwork, I've been having a terrible time with motivating myself to continue to eat right and exercise. I haven't been blogging or keeping up with reading blogs and I hate when I let myself do that. Every so often, I disappear from my blog for a while. I think I might take a scheduled hiatus until I get myself back in order.

I started student teaching on the 27th and so far I'm really enjoying it. I found out that the teacher who had WLS is actually in the classroom right next door to me and she's been extremely kind and helpful, both academically and on the weight loss front. I had a talk with her today about lack of motivation and so I think she's going to be keeping an eye on me for accountability. I might start exercising with my cooperating teacher after school. We'll see. Anyway, the teacher next door had gastric bypass in December of 2009. Her highest was 319 and she's currently at 167. She looks great. I hope I can get myself turned around. I've been struggling for so long now. I know exactly what I need to do, I just need to actually do it. I'm rambling. I'll try catching up on blogs asap. I love and miss you all.

xoxo

My, How Time Flies

It's been almost a year since my surgery. I can't believe it. It's gone so fast. My one year bandiversary is August 4th, so I've decided I'll be doing my official weigh in on that date, rather than doing my weekly weigh in tomorrow. It's going to be a busy weekend (Ben's brother and sister-in-law are coming up for a visit, and we're finding some items to sell at Ben's parents' neighborhood yard sale), but I promise I'll find the time to do an anniversary post. It's too important to miss.

Speaking of the yard sale, I did some hardcore sweating today going through boxes in the shed, sorting items, and carrying heavy boxes from the shed to the house. It wasn't very much fun, but it was effective. Hopefully all that work will pay off and we'll get a few bucks from the yard sale.

Oh, almost forgot to mention...I ate Oreo truffles, ice cream cake, and pizza at my brother's birthday gathering. What is it about family functions that make me lose all control? Sigh. Haven't weighed, but hoping the damage isn't too severe. I guess we'll find out Saturday.

Hope everyone's having a good week.

xoxo

Finally Back in the Right Direction (week 51)

Last week's fill plus logging my food has really helped with the weight loss. I'm down to 213.4, which is the lowest I've seen on the scale since we've been back from vacation...in MAY. 3.1 pounds down from last week and only 5 more pounds to go to reach my all-time low, so I'm pretty excited about that. I really feel like I got a good fresh start with this time and I don't want to screw it up this time.
I think I'm going to go to my first Jazzercise class next week. I was waiting for my sister-in-law to be able to go with me, but she's busy, so maybe I'll just go by myself. Unless Chris would want to go with me.

In other news, I met with my cooperating teacher for student teaching yesterday. It went well. She seems really cool. She wants me to be as independent in the classroom as possible and she's even letting me have a say in the rules and procedures for the semester. I'm starting to get excited. The school is pretty nice. What I really liked about it was that each year, they have their senior art students paint their own murals on the walls. We're talking floor to ceiling student artwork. It was awesome. There was abstract art, unicorns, sports jerseys, the pink panther...anything and everything the students could imagine. It's so great. I told my teacher about my WLS because I want to make sure I'm able to have snacks and water with me in the classroom. She said that would be fine because she brings stuff all the time. She also said that another woman in the English department had WLS. Might have to make friends with her. All in all, it seems like it'll be a really good experience. I'm really starting to feel like I'm ready for this :)

I've got a busy weekend ahead: brother's birthday's the 29th and daddy's is the 31st, so I'll be doing that, plus (hopefully) spending some coupons at Fashion Bug. So sad they're going out of business. Not sure if I'll be working this weekend as the woman I work for was admitted to the hospital. Hope she's ok. She's been having some heart problems. If she's not out for my shift with her tomorrow, I'm going to call my company to see if I'm allowed to visit her. I've been working for her for about a year and a half now and we've gotten pretty close. If this is her time, I'd just like to be able to say goodbye, which I don't think is too much to ask. But, hopefully she's ok and she'll be out of the hospital soon. Anyway, hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

xoxo

Week 50

50 weeks to the day since my lap band surgery. Weird. So, I had my appointment with the P.A. this morning. She didn't get on me too bad about not having been there in a long time. She was a lot less upset with me than I expected. I told her about how my low was 208 around Easter and then with finals and vacation, I gained 8 pounds and I've been more or less maintaining that since we got back. Told her that I wanted to lose more weight before I came back to see her and that's why I wasn't in sooner, but then I wasn't losing the weight and so I decided it was probably better to come in and be honest with her rather than be stuck at this stupid weight (216.5 on my scale while naked, 219 on theirs, clothed *side note: does your scale differ from the one at your doctor's office? which do you go by?). She said that was good and if I start to gain again, she's the first person I should talk to. I took my food log to her and she seems to think one of the big reasons for my stall is that I was getting too much fat. Now, I feel really stupid about this because it seems so obvious, but no one ever told me an amount of fat that I was supposed to stay under, nor was I ever told to count it. I've just been doing calories and protein. Since she mentioned it it seems like I should have been doing it the whole time and I feel silly, but I didn't know. Oh well. I'm now to stay under 30 grams of fat per day. I'm also eating too many carbs, she said. Will work on it.

We didn't talk much about exercise. I told her about our 4 mile hike while we were camping and how it killed my feet. She told me to invest in a good pair of shoes. She recommended a pair for $190.00. Yeah. Like hell. And she said they need to be replaced every 6 months or 300 miles. HA. Absolutely no way. It just seems preposterous. Maybe when I get a big girl job, but even then, not likely. I was surprised that she actually gave me a fill today. I got .5ccs bringing me up to a total of 3.2. I'm on liquids for two days, then two days of soft then back to regular. She wants to see me back in 4 weeks with my food journal, so I have an appointment on August 17th, 10 days before I start student teaching.

And speaking of student teaching, my teacher called me last night and we talked for about a half hour. She seems pretty awesome. She's going to meet me at the high school this Wednesday so that she can show me the school and introduce me to the administration so that I don't die of fright the first day. I thought that was really nice of her. And she's going to give me a textbook, too, so I can become familiar with it. She said we'd be doing Arthur Miller's The Crucible, for sure. I'm good with that because I read it in 11th grade and they have it on Netflix and I actually just watched it about a month ago. Plus, I feel like some really cool assignments can come from the Salem Witch Trials. I've always been interested in that part of America's history. So, I guess things are falling into place. Can't believe I'm graduating in December. That's all for now. I hope you're all having a fabulous week!

xoxo

Nerves

I'm feeling really nervous today. I have my appointment tomorrow with the P.A. I haven't seen since February. I'm hoping she's not too terribly upset with me, but I'm so afraid that she'll think I'm not taking this seriously. All I can do is wait. At least the appointment is for 8:00am so I won't be making myself sick with worry all day tomorrow. I'm hoping even for just a tiny fill so that I can comfortably be on liquids for two days and get a jump start on reaching my Onederland goal set for August 27th (my first day of student teaching).

Speaking of student teaching, I got my placement and I'll be doing 11th grade English at a high school that's only about 15 minutes from my house. Pretty pumped about that. Oh and I did some Facebook stalking research on my cooperating teacher that I'll be working with and it turns out she's the head of the English department for the school. It makes me nervous, but it could be a good thing working with her if they have any positions to fill after I graduate. I sent her an email to see if  there's anything I can do to prepare for the coming semester and she asked for my phone number so she can call me. I don't really care for talking on the phone. I'm worried I'll sound like an idiot. I'm so much better in print. Wish me luck?

I'll post about my appointment tomorrow as well as post a weigh in.

xoxo

Here's the Truth

Even after posting all sorts of things about how I've wanted to get back on track and stuff, I still was treating weekends as though they were free days. Well boys and girls, going into surgery I knew that I had to make a lifestyle change and I don't think I fully accepted that. No excuses this time. I'm on day 3 of logging my food and staying under calories. However, dear Auntie Flo just came to town so I was slightly disgruntled at only seeing a .4 pound loss from yesterday. At least it's in the right direction.

I'm kind of really scared because I have an appointment on the 19th with my p.a. whom I haven't seen since February. Pretty bad considering she wanted to see me back after 8 weeks, but things came up, excuses excuses excuses, and now here we are, almost to my one year bandiversary (August 4). At my last appointment, I told the p.a. that my goal for next time was to be under 210 so that (according to their chart) I'd only be obese instead of morbidly obese. Well, my low since then was 208, this morning I was at 216.6. I know I can get down to 210 by appointment day because when I start doing things right again, the weight comes off pretty fast. I'm just nervous that she's going to be mad at me for not being in Onederland or for not coming back soon enough. I don't want her to think that I'm not willing to put in the work. Even though I haven't been doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I'm back on the band wagon now and that's what matters, right? Has anyone else had this issue?

Random Stuff:

~I want to start blogging more. I miss it. I miss you. It felt so good when I finally got caught up on all of your blogs.
~I'm trying a recipe for cauliflower pizza crust tonight. I've never  had cauliflower before. I'll let you know how it goes.
~I want to send many thanks to Trisha, Robyn, Beth, and Jen for their super sweet comments on my last  blog post when I was being a Debbie Downer.
~You should go visit Cece. She could use some love.
~Just tasted the cauliflower pizza-a bit sticky. I'd recommend cooking on parchment, but absolutely edible. I'd even go as far as to call it tasty. Think I like it better than tortilla pizzas. Thanks, Pinterest.

Hope everyone's well!

xoxo

Slowly but Surely

Hello, lovelies! Hope you're all doing well. I had a pretty good week food-wise and I did rather well with exercise, too. I even saw the lowest number on the scale since I've been back from vacation. It was a crappy 215.5 which is still higher than my all time low of 208.something, but at least I'm going in the right direction. I'd love to be in Onederland by the time I begin student teaching on August 27th. Totally doable, I think. I just need to keep myself out of trouble. And one awesome new way I've found of doing that is this:



Combining my love of Harry Potter with something as miserable as working out?! It's worth a shot. I haven't tried it yet, but you can bet your bottom dollar I'm going to. I'm actually excited about it, too. Awesome. And I know there are a few other Harry Potter fans out there, so I'm super pumped that I found this bad boy on Pinterest.

In other news, I've been doing some student teaching shopping recently and I've purchased 2 size 18 skirts. When I started this whole thing I was in a (tight) 22, probably should have been wearing a 24. I'm still only about half way to goal, but it's nice being able to at least buy smaller things and have them look nice.

If I'm perfectly honest, I'm afraid I've let myself slip with the bandster rules for too long that I'm to far removed to reach my goal. I know I shouldn't think like that, but when I look at some of you ladies, I can't help but feel like a bit of a failure. I just need to keep doing what I've been doing this week and not give in to the summer temptations-corn dogs, ice cream, funnel cakes. Sigh. I'm all stocked up on healthy foods though so there's no excuse. This time next week I want to be down at least another pound. Wish me luck!

Hope you all have a great weekend and Happy Summer to everyone!

xoxo

Obligations

I've kind of been ignoring my obligations lately; obligations to myself and to the blogosphere. I haven't been focusing on my weight loss. The eating part has been a lot better, but I'm still having trouble with exercise. However, I think I'm finally getting back on track with that. I've done two days in a row so far and I'm sure tomorrow I'll be getting some walking in. My brother is making us drive to Cleveland to go to a Pirates game. He doesn't like to pay to park in Pittsburgh, surely he's not going to pay for parking in Cleveland. So I'll probably have a sizable walk to and from the stadium. I'm looking forward to it. My brother has always been in better shape than I am so it's nice to finally be able to keep up with him when we go places. It should be a nice day out.

Even with that to look forward to, I'm feeling pretty down right now. I'm not sure why, but I'm just really in a depressed state. I'm really anxious about posting this because I feel like I've removed myself so far from blogging that I don't even have the right to get back into it. I still haven't gotten caught up on all of your blogs. It's a combination of lack of time, anxiety (it's a really daunting task trying to get caught up on sooo many posts), and the internet being ornery. I want to get caught up so much, but every time I try I let it go for a few days and get behind again. It makes me really sad because I do love reading your stories so much. I'm going to try my hardest to get caught up by the end of next week.

As for other blogging obligations, I know I owe you all some pictures from my vacation. Here they are...

Rocky in the car on the way up, sitting on top of the giant pile of everything.

My car had a canoe hat.

our site

Terribly steep hill that was rocky and dirty and scary to walk up and down. Oh, and we had to walk down it to get to our camp site. Fun times.

This is what we opened our tent to every morning.
Salmon Creek.

Salmon Creek, also where we had to bathe. SO COLD!

Ben, Rocky, and me before our 4 mile hike.

During our hike Ben took this picture. Pretty gorgeous for a place called Buzzard Swamp.

Buzzard Swamp

Post hike. I felt ok. Wasn't huffing and puffing or anything. The real pain was from the $5.00 hiking boots I bought from Walmart. Meh. That smile was so fake.

Rocky loved our 15 mile canoe trip on the Allegheny River

Ben liked it too

I would have liked it better if 1. There was more padding on my butt, 2. It didn't take 8 hours instead of the predicted 5, and 3. If I had taken more than a protein shake to eat. Ugh. I'll take a hike over a canoe trip any day.

And so, that was our vacation. Haven't been up to much since I've been back, just working, gardening, and trying to keep the house clean. I promise I'll try to be better with keeping up with your blogs and commenting. For all of you who read my blog I sincerely appreciate it and for those of you who comment, I really appreciate your support. I love you all and I hope you're doing well.

xoxo

Back to the Real World

Hey, bloggers!

I've missed you all terribly. We got back from vacation (camping with no internet access or phone reception), so now I face the scary task of catching up on all of your blogs. I felt so bad for being away for so long, but I'm excited to see what you've all been up to. I'll do a more exciting post later with pictures from vacation and whatnot.

Unfortunately, I've gained more weight. Not sure if it was due to vacation or the weeks leading up to vacation. Either way, it's bad. Up to 216.4, which is about 8 pounds higher than my lowest. I screwed up really bad and for a really long time. I know that and it sucks. However, with school being out, it's going to be so much easier to be active and to plan my meals. I haven't been logging my food and I need to get back into doing that. It's not an option, it's a must.

Anyway, I'm hoping to get caught up on all your blogs by the end of the week. Sorry in advance if I don't comment much while I play catch-up. Going to go do that now. Hope everyone had a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!

xoxo

I'm Alive

I've been a terrible blogger, a terrible bandster, and a terrible girlfriend lately, but on the plus side, I've been a fabulous student. That counts for something, right? Just finished my last day of classes and now I just have finals week to get through then I'll have time to really focus on blogging and weight loss and spending time with my wonderful fellow and puppy.

 I haven't been posting my weights for the past couple weeks because I'm embarrassed. I'm back up to about 212ish. It's annoying. Sorry for trying to hide it from you all. I've been eating all the wrong things, plus I think I need to get in to get a fill. I haven't been in since early February because of my school schedule. We leave for a week of camping on May 19 and I'm not sure if I should try to go for a fill before that or just wait until I get back. Either way, I intend to lose weight during camping. I'm sure there will be a s'more or two, but there will also be hiking and canoeing (first time for me for both of those). I'll probably wait until we get back just in case anything were to happen while we were up there. That'd suck.

Anyway, sorry for the absence and the random babbling. Just wanted to check in with everyone and mention I'm not dead. Apparently there have been a lot of absentee bloggers lately though, so I suppose I won't feel too bad. At least I've just gotten caught up on all your blogs. I'll get back into blogging and commenting regularly after vacation.

Hope everyone's well.

xoxo

Week 36 and More Easter Pictures

Week 36 brought a gain of .5 lbs, which I'm totally fine with because TOM has been in town since Sunday. The scale said 209.0 this morning, which is ok. I'm still at more than 55 pounds lost and out of the 210s. Good enough for this week. Unfortunately, my birthday is one week from today and I'm sure I'm not going to be in Onederland by then. Perhaps by the end of the semester on May 11th? I'll aim for that. It's totally doable, I just need to actually do it.

I'm happy to say that I did keep my commitment to myself and did not overeat on Easter. My family has been great and there wasn't even any chocolate around for me to be tempted with. Daddy got me one Cadbury egg per my request. It's just not Easter without a Cadbury egg. I was in charge of dessert for our dinner, like I am every year. I typically make a lamb shaped cake but I knew that if I did that I'd end up making that awesome butter cream that I used for Anna's baby shower cake and that was just entirely unhealthy. Since we have both diabetics and non-diabetics, I made a sugar free dessert and a regular one. The sugar free dessert was pretty yummy. I'm not sure the name of it but it's layers of sugar free chocolate cake cubes with SF chocolate pudding, SF toffee candy pieces, and SF Cool Whip, and then all the layers repeated a second time. It went very well.

Dessert from the top. When I was growing up we used to have some kind of egg dye that you put drops of it on top of the water and swirl it around to create a marble-type effect on the eggs. I tried to recreate that idea with this dessert.

view from the side. yummy!

Our non-sugar free dessert was based on cake pops. I didn't want to put them on sticks so I just made cake egg ball thingies.

My dad's house was full-12 people and 3 dogs, so there wasn't much room to move around and take many pictures, but I got a couple-mostly of Michael :)

Brother and Michael

Brother, sis-in-law and Michael

My Grannie

Easter nails inspired by Miss Kayla Shevonne

Even though it was a very busy weekend, it was a good one.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

xoxo