Reducing Myself Monday

Today I weigh 134.5!  3 lbs lost since last Monday.  That is a little surprising since I haven't felt hungry or deprived, but I guess that is why WW is so effective and popular.  And I have really sore legs!  Because I walk so much I trick myself into thinking that I'm fit, so on Saturday, out of the blue, I decided that I would do a whole bunch of lunges and squats.  Now I've been literally waddling around, easing up and down stairs, and wondering when my muscles will feel better so I can do some other form of exercise!

Wardrobe Renewal

These are the used pieces I purchased when I was visiting my sister in the lower mainland, and one sweater that I just bought....

I don't have an exact total but all together it probably cost about $70 before taxes!  This includes a Mexx Blouse, a brown sweater, an angora-blend cardigan, Jacob casual pants, jersey navy dress pants, a Nygard flouncy skirt, brand-new trouser jeans, and a blue bracelet.  Not bad if I do say so myself! 
  But now where to put it?  So today I spent a few hours cleaning out my underwear and pyjama drawers, and most of my closet.  I don't have any 'before' pictures, but here are my colour-coordinated sweaters 'after'....

The best pieces that I culled from my wardrobe will go to the twice annual clothing swap I help plan. 
Another 'renewal' that happened in my wardrobe this week, is that my 'too tight' dress pants are no longer too tight!  So, those 6 pairs of pants that haven't seen the light of day for five years can come out to play again.

Reducing Myself Monday

Today I weight.....137.5!

So down 1.5 lbs since 2 weeks ago, and down 6.5 lbs since I started 'Reducing Myself Monday' back in May.

Hus and I have been tracking our meals based on the 'old' weight watchers points.  It took some getting used to at first, but we're getting the hang of it.  I love that there are no totally forbidden foods, so I was able to eat some dark chocolate, a friend's home-baked chocolate chip cookies, and drink some wine last week.  And the 35 weekly points are a lifesaver.  I have this week's reserved for Thursday night.  I've organized a 30 year anniversary party for our union local and have ordered a chocolate cake with a custard centre for it! 

Hus has also seen results.  He's lost 12 lbs since New Years.  Part of it has to do with energy expended at work - shovelling the massive amount of snow we've been getting, but he is also very stringent in counting points.

English China Thrifts

The majority of things I found thrifting in Vancouver last week were clothes for work.  I got some good deals and will post about those later.  I did find some more Kathie Winkle china.  Even though this is not the Broadhurst pattern I'm collecting, I thought that an alternate pattern  of side plates thrown into the mix would be fun!

 I haven't blogged about it yet, but I also found another piece of Hornsea Saffron Pottery.  This time a vinegar cruet for .50 cents.

$200 Windfall

I'm sitting in the airport with my laptop.  I'm on my way to Vancouver, but didn't get on my scheduled flight.  It was overbooked so I volunteered to take the later flight, and got a $200 voucher in return for switching!  My meeting is not until tomorrow morning anyway, and this way Hus can pick me up to go to dinner before the flight.  I plan to do some thrifting at my favourite haunts in the lower mainland.  Hopefully, I'll have something good to post about after the weekend is over!

Reducing Myself Monday

Today the scale said I was back to my pre-Christmas weight of 139.  We've been recording our food intake as per the old weight watchers points.  Hus is already down 6 pounds! Men!


As for activity, I'm still doing my daily dog walks and I went running yesterday. I've also been a dancing queen!  Hus bought me an Xbox Kinect as a late Christmas gift, including the game Dance Central.  So I've been playing for about a half hour each day.  Unfortunately, all the beginner songs are from current artists like Lady Gaga.  The music from my generation (X), that I'd most like to dance to, is way down on the difficulty level.  So I have to work on my moves a lot more before I can bust it out on Young MC's Bust a Move and Salt n Pepa's Push It.

Reusable Shopping Bag Explosion

Do you have as many cloth shopping bags as I do?  

And how do you keep them organized?  Once folded.....

I counted 18!  And with the ones I have in the car, my purse, and office I probably have 25 of them.  It seems that nowadays they have almost replaced plastic bags.  In the last year I've probably been given half of these at stores and at conferences.  I assume I am not alone in this.  Since the point is for them to be durable enough to reuse over and over again in place of disposable bags I don't need anymore!  I wish that businesses and organizations would realize this.  Stop the insanity!

Reducing Myself Monday

On with my New Year's resolution....to continue this feature.  I saw 140 on the scale all fall, but over Christmas this rose a bit.  Today it was at 142.  Hus also wants to lose about 10 pounds and he has been tracking our food for the last few days according to the weight watchers point system.  This has been a good reminder of the value(!) of eating vegetables since they aren't worth any points.  We've also been walking the dog about 8 km a day, and today went cross country skiing again.


According to another one of my resolutions, I made a new vegan recipe for dinner last night: rice-stuffed acorn squash with a side of brussel sprouts.  Only 6 points, and very filling!


In preparation of going back to work tomorrow, I made a batch of hummus for lunches and I am going to put together a 3 grain hot cereal in the crockpot tonight to enjoy in the morning.