A completed pinterest project!

The beginning...













The our week one...I will occasionally update the upper left with a new verse for our family to focus on. The days are to note princesses activities or any special event we need to remember.















And this one is for our weekly menu. Maybe we'll start cooking more if we plan it out ahead of time?

YAY I completed a pinterest project:) Now to convince hubby to hang them:)

The tutu project begins

Going to look great! I'm very excited...can't wait for the tulle I ordered to arrive...4 to 7 business days is all I have to wait.

















My tulle all cut and pretty:)















I'm only a little excited that the project is under way...lol

I've measured out the length I want and doubled it...then I found something that I could cut into that length...now I've wrapped my entire spool around this 36" board to get my 72" length of tulle...I bought the 6" tulle versus the bolt b/c I figure the less cutting I make the less mistakes I can make:)

A new year a new blog...

now hopefully I will update before another year passes:)

I've become a serious pinterest addict...and in that vein I am attempting to be more crafty. Preparations began a week ago and tonight I made the first of many cuts and ties...I'm attempting to make princess a tutu empire waist dress...I will post pics here of my progress thus far...I had 51yds of tulle and that proved to be far less than it will require. So placed a nice fat online order tonight for approximately 600yds of tulle...I'm hoping that will finish this one and make a Valentine's one. We shall see:)

Well I attempted to upload pics, but it's not really working. Any advice? I'd like to pin my photos to my pinterest account...

A change in focus

So I'm really putting effort into WW. There are various reasons for it...a lady not much older than I am dying of a heart attack, finding out I can't skydive at my current weight at many places:(, and a wager my mom made with me.

The lady was sweet and funny! She was outgoing and a mom. She called and told her hubby she wasn't feeling quite right. He urged her to go to the ER. She didn't. She called him later and he called 911. She was dead before they arrived. Now her kids don't have a mom. She wasn't to much older than me...She wasn't heavier than me either...

My mom had a heartattack at 47...I'm not there yet. I don't have the same stress in my life that she was going through. I do however have her genes and am very over weight.

One of the items on my 101 in 1001 is to go skydiving with my husband. We have a place just down the road...Hubby is just within their weight limit at 220. Me I'm not eligible for skydiving. This started me rethinking the weight loss goal I'd but on my 101 in 1001 from 10% to being below 220.

I'm worried about pharmacy school admission interviews b/c of my weight. Because of this and a comment from my ob/gyn about having more babies, I've looked into weight loss surgery. I've talked with my doctor. I've made an appt to attend an information class. I have friends and family who've had various surgeries and seen great success with them.

While waiting for the info class I mentioned to my mom and sister that I'm considering it. My mom is not thrilled with the idea. Honestly, I'm not thrilled with the idea. BUT I've attempted to lose weight in the past and haven't been successful besides about 10%...of course then it comes back on and a little more.

I've been challenged by many different things while waiting on this info class...finding out there's pretty much no way no how my insurance will cover the surgery, time and again being reminded of my past bulimia, being reminded while I don't binge/purge that I never dealt with all the emotions that led me to bulimia in the first place, realizing I need to deal with those issues and my emotional eating before even considering surgery...it would just come back on after the initial loss.

My mom called and offered me a wager...if I lose 100lbs in 14 months she'll treat me and dd to WDW. We'll still need to cover DH's part but hey that's a pretty good deal. And if she does it and I don't then we'll buy her two round trip airline tickets to us or just give her $500. We're currently debating what the punishment will be if neither of use does it.

I had signed up for WW online back in March...I'd been using it to track my weekly weigh ins:) LOL great use of $18 a month right? So this past Thursday I starting logging what I ate...thinking I'll just see how I'm doing. I don't know if it was the seeing it all written out or what but I have stayed OP the last 3 days. Honestly I've struggled to eat all the points my large self needs to eat. I'm working on that. I don't want to get to points by having a candy bar, kwim? But I'm working on it. I thought my weigh in was Saturdays...and weighed...down 0.8. I was happy:) Then couldn't log my weight...realized at some point it had gotten changed to Sundays. So I weighed this morning and I got to log 2.2lbs lost...thrilled I am!

So for now I want to lose at least 100lbs...but am said to say I can probably lose half of myself and not be too skinny...though I haven't weighed that little since elementary school.

Oh and I'm changing my 101 in 1001 from losing 10% to losing 100+lbs...figure even if I don't get the WDW trip there's no reason I can't do it in approx 2 1/2 years(time left on my 101) :)

And for now I'm cancelling my attendance at the information class for the surgery.

101 and other stuff

So I've finally gotten around to creating a 101 in 1001 and am tracking it here http://dayzeroproject.com/user/sthiessen08

Hmmm, getting that webaddress entered was more difficult than I imagined. I really should learn how to use this blog more effectively.

I'm exhausted but felt like updating so this will be random and stream of consciousness I'm sure.

Our dog passed away this past Sunday. She was an amazing dog...9 years old. Her name was Molly. She was my hubby's first roommate and he'd had her since she was a pup. She developed diabetes and went blind this past winter. We will miss her! But we are glad she's no longer sick. We're going to make her a pretty stepping stone for her marker and we put her in her favorite part of the yard near a pretty wild flower bush.

My mom, sister and sister's boyfriend were up visiting this past weekend as well. It was great to see them! And nice to get to know pip'em's boyfriend better. I miss them!

My princess turned 6 a week ago today! I'm still not use to the idea of being the mom to a six year old.

She was in her second stage performance the day of her birthday! She loves Drama Camp! She was the 6th goat, Bashful, and had to faint! She was adorable!

She had a wonderful birthday celebration Saturday night. We rented the pool for two hours for her and her friends.

She's getting to the age where I'm starting to be concerned about her friendships...some I'd like to foster, others could fall by the way side and that would be good as well.

Summer classes are kicking my tush...I'm so tired and we are covering so much material so quickly...but they will be over soon.

Then I get an entire week off! A week of NO school! And a week of no work as I took it off...I plan to read and swim, sleep, rinse, recycle, repeat.

As for the 101 I've gotten many of my tasks underway. But they days are clicking by fairly quickly already. I already have ideas for things to put on my next 101 list...

I started researching one of my tasks tonight. Skydiving...and realized I need to lose some weight first. The limit is 220 for the locations here in Iowa is 220. There's a place in Chattanooga that does 300...might be skydiving in Chattanooga instead.

And there, that's my current update...:)

Drs visit

So I finally had my appt with my Dr today to discuss surgery. We're still definitely sitting on the fence. She's not opposed to my pursuing it and will help me prove to the insurance company that it's a medical necessity IF I decide that's the course I want to pursue. So basically she agrees with me and my ob that I need to lose weight. However she agrees with me that maybe I haven't pursued all avenues on my own. It's been about three months since I joined WW and I'm not really working it. I have lost 0.8 pounds...so at least I haven't gained weight. I am using the food tracker about 3 days a week. So I definitely need to increase that to daily tracking. As a family we're working on moving more...we've bought a basketball and walk the couple blocks to the local elementary school and are working on teaching princess to dribble and shoot. We're also teaching her to ride her bike...so we're either walking with her or watching her ride up and down the block. If we stay in the yard to watch her we've started getting the ladder ball out and playing that while she practices pedaling. I need to find my pedometer and get back to wearing it and keep steadily increasing my steps. She also agrees with me that some counseling wouldn't hurt. I never was treated for my bulimia when I opted for binging/purging as a method to control my weight. And while I don't binge or purge anymore I still have the same thought processes that lead to that...So I will be looking into that. And I know if I can get my emotional eating under control it will have a drastic impact on my weight as well as my life... I don't want my eating habits to create problems for my daughter. She's healthy and happy now. I don't want to teach her to eat when she's sad, mad, happy, frustrated, ecstatic, etc. I want to be able to teach her proper coping mechanisms for life...so I must get this under control before it impacts her. My A1C was high, 7.9, but that doesn't surprise me. My kidney and liver function tests will be back on Monday. And I return in 6 months for a full blood work up...which will hopefully show improvement in the A1C. She said there are diet pills I can take if I want...but I can't risk getting pregnant if I take them so no thanks. Then she asked if I'd heard of Alli which is a class B for pregnancy, so relatively safe. And I'd quit taking it as soon as I found out I was pregnant so shouldn't be harmful. So I'll be looking into that as well...she warned me that if I have a high fat meal though it could be embarassing...it prevents the small intestine from absorbing as much fat so the grease will literally pass straight through. She also lectured me to be consistent with my metformin. This will help my A1C. It will also help control my PCOS. And could help me lose weight. She also recommended a program called Light for Life they have in the town to the west. It's $900 so cheaper than surgery but more expensive than WW. But it hooks you up with a counselor for one on one sessions and a tailored diet. They cut out all sugars though...and I don't want to give up chocolate or fruit...so it's an option and definitely something I would pursue before surgery. However I want to really give WW, where I can eat fruit and have small portions of chocolate when I want them, an honest try. I have to make more honest choices...I need to prep on the weekends for the upcoming week so we aren't taking whatever we can get our hands on but eating healthy as a family.

Life moves on

So I signed up for Weight Watchers and I tracked my points came really close to meeting them and didn't surpass them and even earned activity points a couple of days...had one day where I had ice cream at stone cold and what do I have to show for my first week...a gain of 1/5th a pound...that's right folks I get healthier and get fatter? I know I'm sure it's water weight but ARGH! This this is the exact reason I am finally researching weight loss surgery...this is the story of my life! All the way back into high school. I fnally get the bulimia under control rather than it controlling me and start hitting the gym with some guy friends and start living off of salad...and I gain 40lbs in about 3 months...I visit the Dr and they attempt to explain again about my PCOS and how it can mess up my metabolism, um gee ya think?! But they have no answers as to what to do to control it at that time... Oh and of course I was diagnosed with influenza A w/h1n1 symptoms yesterday so I'm stuck at home until Thursday...so I'm missing class and feeling horrible and it's just a horrible, terrible no good day so far. I'm super grumpy as well. But I am still tracking my points...