Charlie & Steve were here to visit 3/16-3/26. We saw them off Monday afternoon, and a tear came to my eye as the limo drove off. I absolutely loved having them here & really wish that we could see each other more often! They're so much fun!

And, over the last 10 days, I realized how much Charlie & I have in common... it's kind of creepy. One of the main things -- niether of us ever take the first item off the shelf. Who does that!? It's comforting to know that there's someone just as wierd as I am! I truly do think that we were "meant" to be friends... and sisters!

Let's try this again...

Wine, beer, cheese, pasta, chips & salsa, corned beef hash, eggs, hashbrowns, pizza, more beer, more wine, some more corned beef hash, oh and some salad. That's pretty much what I ate last week. Yeah, so much for Weight Watchers!
I'm sorry, but I was on "holiday" and Charlie & Steve were visiting from England. There was NO way I was going to watch them all eat and drink. So, not only did I take a vacation from work... I took a vacation from WW!
I'm back at it tomorrow... so I told Toby we're having lots and lots of pasta for dinner! Then tomorrow I starve. No, it's not that bad. I can eat whatever I want -- it's just all about portion control. It's not hard at all... I actually found myself with points left over after lunch, and since you're required to use all your daily points, I could have a snack or a glass of wine after dinner/before bed.
I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but my mom last 6 pounds in her first week on WW! That's amazing... way to go, mommy! I'm really hoping the pounds just fall off me too. I only want to lose 20 or so... but I'm sure it'll take a little while. A few months or so... and then summer will help, because I'll just sweat the weight off! :)

Those 35 extra points...

Every week, I get 35 extra Weight Watchers points I can use if I want (if I go out for a special meal or something). Well, I had deemed them my "chips and salsa" points, but hadn't needed to "tap into" them yet (remember, I've only been on WW for 5 days!).
Well, I learned last night they're also very good for going out drinking! (12 oz of Miller Lite is only 2 points!) So... Toby and I met for a drink after work last night, and we went to the Cactus Club. I'm friends with a lot of people there, and the GM kept bringing Toby different foods to try, so before I knew it, I'd used 16 points! Between chips & salsa (complimentary!!!), beer and nibbles on chicken wings, shrimp, etc... those points really add up! So, I was hoping I could go all week w/o touching the 35 points -- so much for that!
And I HIGHGLY doubt I'll be able to do it next week either, seeing as Charlie & Steve will be here -- those 35 points will be my "wine & beer" points, I'm sure!

Erin... knitting? Nooooo!

In my attempt to better myself, not only have I taken on cooking... I taught myself to knit last night! Yes, that's right... I said knit! Granted, I've only got the "casting on" bit down, I'm farther along than I ever thought possible! I'm hoping that when Tricia visits with KT in April, she'll help me out! My goal is to make a small blanket for the cats... I know, it's somewhat pathetic, but I thought a full size blanket, or even a throw, was too ambitious for me! Heck, I'll probably end up making a 4"x4" hot pad!
So I'm cooking, I'm knitting... I do laundry, I clean... I'm really turning into the wife Toby hoped for! He does always say he got me young because I was still "trainable" -- well, looks like he was right! I guess we'll see if I'm still so "domestic" in a month!

I did it!

I cooked dinner last night... and Toby actually liked it! He really liked it! It took a little longer than I expected, but it was a lot of fun! I promised Toby that I would keep at cooking, and that 10 years from now I hope to be cooking for him and our children! We've decided to "share" the kitchen from now on... I'm excited. I'm becoming a real house wife! :)
And I'm really liking the Weight Watchers thing... yeah, I've only been on it one whole day, but I did good yesterday! I thought I'd hit my daily points target of 23 alot faster! I actually only had 18 points yesterday (which is bad.. I'm supposded to eat 23, no more no less) Oops! I guess I could've eaten chips & salsa after all!
Another one of my vices is the Starbucks Frappuccino... I drink one every morning! Sometimes, I have one in the afternoon. Well, I always knew they weren't really good for me... but they're worth 4 points! Whew! (However, today's was only worth 2 points, because I spilled half of it all over my desk, including some of my WW stuff!) You think that's some sort of sign???

New Challenge

Okay, so mom and I signed up for Weight Watchers last night and attended our first meeting. I'm only looking to lose about 10 pounds or so, but I think it's going to be harder than I thought. As you all know, I'm addicted to chips & salsa. Thankfully, salsa's not a problem -- I could drink the stuff and be okay. However, chips are another story. As you may or may not know, WW is based on a points system. I have to eat 23 points/day. No more, no less. That's the number based on my age, height, weight, etc. 12 tortilla chips = 3 points! Aaahhhhh! When I eat chips & salsa, I can eat half a bag of chips! And not a little bag... one of those family size bags! I think I'm in for a challenge here, what do you think????

The good side to all of this is not only that I'll be healthier and thinner, but I'm going to start cooking more. (I say "more" like I cooked in the first place...) So, I printed out loads of WW recipes... now Toby will have to suffer too! j/k The food is the same as we always eat... it's just healthier/smaller portions. So if I make something with 4 servings, I'll just eat one and he can have the rest! hahahah

Tonight I'm making chicken breast wtih sauteed tomatoes and green beens. yummy! Tomorrow I'm going to tackle "chicken dinner in a crock-pot." We got a crock pot for our wedding, but I've never used it! So I'm learning something new! I'm excited. I just hope it tastes okay! And I hope Toby "lets" me use "his" kitchen! :)

Uh... no!

This is what I was talking about in my last post...

Get us out!

Ahhh yes... the cats love to lounge on the back deck. As a matter of fact, I think they're going stir crazy, locked up in the house all winter. I'll find them sitting at the patio door, meowing, talking to the birds and squirrels in the trees. Toby or I will open the door, but they don't dare step out onto the cold deck... or even worse, snow!!! It would freeze their dainty little feet. So, until the seasons change, TuckeDeuce will continue to long for their days of basking in the sun, in the comforts of their lounge chairs.

No kids, just cats

As of yet, we don't have any children... well, human children that is. We have our cats, the twins, Tucker & Deuce. They're brother and sister, about 4 years old. Tucker's on the left, Deuce on the right. They lay like this alot! One will be sleeping comfortably, and the other one (most commonly Tucker), will come and plop down on top! Not next to, on top! Yet, it doesn't seem to bother... they can lay like that for hours, and they do!

They're almost always together, and they look EXACTLY alike, so we call them TuckerDeuce.

They have totally different personalities. Tucker's the alpha, and a big bruiser (yet mommy's favorite) and comes when he's called (he's really part dog)... and Deuce is our little princess and she can't hold her licker!

Two of the greatest cats in the world, I tell ya! We're very proud parents.

Trying this out...

So, I've never really done the blog thing... but I've been inspired by Cousin Marie's baby-blog. I've no babies to blog about, but my cats are entertaining!
This is probably just going to be a total random blog... but it's a good way to keep people updated on Simpson Life... especially those of you across the pond!
I love to write, so I hope you love to read!