It's 3:17 a.m. and I'm seriously tempted to do a bit of cat hunting.

 Miss Smokey, the cat elected to jump on my bed at about midnight and jiggle the whole thing.  I know, how could she jiggle the bed enough to wake me up?   She has paws of cement!!  I swear, she bounced me awake.  So.. of course, now I can't get back to sleep and I'm seriously pissed off at that cat.

On the up side, I received my Valentine's Day gift from my sweetie today and with his prior permission, I opened it early.  I swear to goodness this is the most romantic thing he could have thought of for this year.  It is a CD in which he's taken the time to hand select the songs and give them meaning in our life.

Rather than put the titles on the song list, he gave them phrases so I would know what he was thinking with each song.  So the first time I listened to the CD, each song was a wonderful surprise. Here is the song list the way he wrote it and in parenthesis I wrote out the title of the song and the artist that sang it.  And where explanation is needed, I've added that.

1) January 1, 1978 ( This kiss by Faith Hill )  Our first date and first kiss was a New Year's Party Dec. 31, 1977.. We kissed at midnight and I knew.. I was totally blown away by his kiss

 2) The You I fell in love with ( Emotional Girl by Terry Clark)

3) Together in love (Shiver by Jaime O'Neal)

 4) May 29, 1982 (When I said I do by Clint Black and Lisa Hartman Black) This is the day we got married.

5) You and Me (I just wanna be mad by Terry Clark) 

6) A Perfect Life... (Just another Day in Paradise by Phil Vassar

7) ... That doesn't have to be perfect (Perfect by Sara Evans)

8) The Me You fell in love with (An American Soldier by Toby Keith)

9) Times Apart (To Be With You by Jaime O'Neal)

10) No Regrets (The Dance -artist unknown)

11 )  Need I say More?  (Always and Forever by Heatwave) This was "our song" from high school.  

 Now to go hunt down that cat .....

PANIC MODE!

How sad is this?  I get an e-mail from the love of my life telling me he is most likely going to be home by March 4 and all I can think is ACK!!! THAT'S TOO SOON!!

LMAO... I know he loves me just as I am.. and believe me, there is a part of me that is thrilled he's getting home earlier than planned (He was part of the first group that left).  But I was really looking forward to having 6 + weeks to work my program. 

New Week, New Day, New Plan

Timmy, Me, Sara, Bridgette, Laurie, and Michelle Halloween night 2005.

 

Well.. it's a new week (for me).  The kids were home from school yesterday (end of the quarter), so not a lot got done in the house.  Guess I'll be remedying that today.  I have a dinner party planned for my girls, the wives of the stairwell, for Friday night.  Here are my gal pals.

 

My whole menu is coming from recipes in Cooking Light magazine. That should be fun.

As far as my "new" plan goes, I've decided to see if lightening can repeat itself.  Back in the 80's I used a diet plan called the Rotation Diet.  For 21 days, you rotate between 600, 900 and 1200 calories.  Then you take 7 days off to adjust and start the rotation again.  You can lose up to 7 lbs a week. I'm adjusting the calories just a bit for the new nutrition standards.  I'm going to be keeping the 600 cal day (easily done with Slim Fast) and changing the other two to 1200 and 1600 respectively because of the increased exercise I do daily. 

I'm starting this plan tomorrow, so I can be on my high day on Friday.

Our unit is having a Formal Ball on May 20 to celebrate the return of the unit.  I plan to be at least 40 lbs lighter by then. 

Loss of a Friend

I do not often share the words of my husband here in the journal, but this letter that he wrote to all of us so moved me, I felt this tribute to his friend and colleague deserved wider readership.  Please say a prayer for the surviving family members of this brave aviator.

 

Dear Family;  

 I have delayed writing this letter for a few days because I wasn't sure I could do justice to the loss I feel over the death of a friend and colleague, CW3 Rex Kenyon.   Rex was one of the Troop Instructor Pilots at 1-6 Cavalry (Korea) when I was the Squadron Standardization IP.  He was part of a group of truly exceptional instructor pilots that I had the distinct pleasure of supervising. 

Rex was a quiet professional on the job and a practical joker off the job.  He was particularly fond of making MRE "bombs" which he would place outside the door of new arrivals on their first night in country.  Many "newbies" were startled in the night by the loud (although relatively weak) explosion against their door.  

 Rex often reminded me of actor/director Ron Howard (prior to Mr Howard loosing his hair), because he too had red hair and pale skin that made him appear much younger.  

While in Korea Rex went through a very heartbreaking divorce made all the more difficult by the remoteness of our assignment in Korea.  But like the true professional he was, he never let it affect his duties.  

 Rex was the pilot-in-command of the Apache that was recently shot down in Iraq.  

Rex had just remarried before deploying to Iraq.  

Whenever an Army aircraft goes down, every pilot in every other Army Aviation unit holds their collective breath to hear the names of the pilots we have lost; hoping that we will not recognize any of them.  Somehow it makes it less real.  Although I was stunned and shocked to hear Rex's name, it was far worse to see it in print in the Stars and Stripes newspaper.  I guess when it was still just word-of-mouth information, it could still be wrong.  But it wasn't.  

I, and many others, will deeply miss Rex.

WHY?

Why do you want to lose weight?

This is the big question you must ask yourself.
And if you don't have an answer, you're dead meat.

Point is, dieting means change.

In particular, it means changing your EATING HABITS.
And this isn't easy.
Because we don't like change.

So, in order to SUCCEED, you need something to help you OVERCOME your resistance to change.

You need an INCENTIVE.

With a good incentive, you can move mountains.
Without an incentive, you can do very little.

So before you go any further, find an incentive.
Find a GOOD REASON or a BIG PERSONAL BENEFIT for losing weight.

I can't find one for you, because only YOU know what turns you on.

Make it as personal and selfish as possible.

Because in my experience, losing weight for vague reasons like 'better health' or even a 'better figure' isn't very effective. We need a specific incentive.

Bar Mitzvahs are good. Weddings are good. So are beach holidays.
Whatever you choose it's gotta be POWERFUL enough to motivate you.

Think about it.

This is tip one from Anne Collins Weight Loss Program.. Find your incentive, the reason (and apparently it has to be specific and inspiring) you want to lose weight.

I want to lose weight because I am done having children. Sincehaving kids I carry my excess weight up in my belly, causing me to more than one time be asked if I was pregnant.  I hate that... I hate that more than anything else in the world.  I want to be rid of the quasi-pregnant physique.  I want men to turn and stare because I'm so ravishing.  I want to be at a weight where I can feel like I am attractive and I know that I could get any guy I want if I so desired.  LOL.. this is very selfishly motivated.  It's all about how I feel about what I look like.  the comments I'd prefer to never get again and the comments that I love to get.   I want my kids to be grossed out at the thought that their mom is a "hottie".... LMAO

Another day

I've decided to forego the daily weigh in.  I think that weekly is enough right now to keep me on track.  Especially after a fasting weekend.  I am sure that there is some gain initially after coming off a fast, but I've been keeping to my calories and doing my exercises, so I know I'm headed in the right direction... no reason to lose my momentum by unwanted news.. LOL!

So yesterday was a good day.  I had time for four separate workout intervals, each one about 30-40 minutes.  My total intake calories were 1508.  Water intake was 64 ounces at least!  All the diet soda is out of the house, so I'm either drinking water or milk with my meals.

My food percentages were pretty good yesterday.  Carbs 55%, Protein 21 % and Fat 23%.  So I'm getting closer to that Ideal 50,25, 25.

Well, I'm behind the power curve at the moment,so I'll sign off now and be back later.  

 

Thank God the fast is over!

  Weigh in this morning was 214.9, so I lost a total of 4.3 lbs.  Not bad, and I'm lower than I was on my last good week of exercise and diet (the combination is really what works best for me.) So all in all, I 'm chalking this one up into the "win" column. 

 Not sure that I'd care to do a liquid fast again anytime soon, but it was an interesting experience and I'm very proud of myself for sticking it through.   There were a couple of times yesterday that I really really really wanted to cave.  Oh.. and I discovered that my stomach can growl REALLY REALLY loud when it doesn't have any food to digest! LOL.

So.. the pluses of doing this fast.  1. I didn't have to think about food for 48 hours (at least in terms of "what to fix")  2. the lost pounds.   3. There was a certain feeling of control over the whole thing. 4. successfully completing the weekend. 5. I feel that this has given me a bit more control over my cravings, but I think the proof will be in this next week of eating.

I did seem to have an abundance of energy on Saturday (could have been the left over glycogen in my muscles) so I did a lot of exercising.  But Sunday I felt tired, not fatigued, but it was nice to be able to rest through out the day and just take it easy.  I didn't make it to the grocery store yesterday, but it's on my list for either today or tomorrow.

So, this morning I got up at 520 and once I'd done my usual morning routine, I did a half hour walk and kick program.  After my workout I drank 16 ounces of water and ate two clementines, plus took my iron supplement.  I'm trying to slowly ease back into eating.  I will sit down for breakfast at 8:30, but between now and then, I hope to get another workout in.  All in All.. a successful weekend and a good beginning for this week.  Let the happy dance begin!