First Day of Classes

So today was my first day back at class. It really was pretty uneventful. No big delays or anything. I did have to wait in line for my parking decal and my student ID. Both took less than a 1/2 hour. My first class today was Humanities. I thought this class was going to be kind of hard, but I think now it will be fine. My teacher is completely crazy. I mean he's prolly about 5'6", 350 lbs, about 60 something, and blind as a bat (honestly I don't know how he drives). He started class this morning by eating a huge chunk of chocolate along with his vat of coffee and telling us that he is taking in every calorie he can until he dies so he can give back to the earth what he has taken in. He then proceeds to explain that the class is about the arts and appreciation of them along with some history. I mean seriously this guy looks like a janitor with 300 keys on his belt and all. He definitely does not look the PhD that he is. He also explains that he has terrible astigmatisms in both eyes and though he may be looking at you, he probably really isn't meaning to and that he has no control over which ways his eyes go (see what I mean about the driving???). He was the funniest, most laid back teacher I've ever met. The whole course is essays. He does nothing by the way of multiple choice anything. He believes you have to think to get an "A", go figure.... My hopes are that I will learn all this art stuff and hopefully write a decent essay compared to my 18 yr old counterparts. My second class for today was Sociology. It was canceled due to a family emergency. I now will not start this class for 2 weeks. We shall see how that turns out. So for now all is well. I also have started my online course for Medical Terminology. It's very easy and a complete repeat of med. term. that I took at Ridley Lowell. So hopefully that will be and easy A. I'm still doing well on the WW. I am going to have to find a new meeting time now that school has started. So far all I've found that fits into my schedule is a 7am on Sat. meeting. Don't know 'bout ya'll, but that might be a tough one... we'll see.
I just wanted to give a brief "THANK YOU" shoutout to Kellie and Geoff for letting us crash their yard sale on Sat. The space in the driveway was much appreciated and we were able to make enough to pay for my remaining books, get me and the man some new sneaks, and get the Girl a DVD player for her room. And we still had some to spare. So thanks SOOOO MUCH!!! Despite the heat, it was a great day and we were so glad to be a part of it with you guys!

Vacay and WW update

For those of you that don't know, I have been on vacation for the last 6 days. Me and my fam. went to Camp Henlopen State Park in Delaware. We camped and hung out at the beach for 6 days. It was soooo much fun. We went with my sis in law, her 4 kids, her fiancee, their friends and their 4 kids. So it was a pretty big group. When we got into Delaware the weather was HOT and very sticky. Not exactly perfect weather to set up a tent in and unpack a car. Once we got settled in and I lost about 3 lbs just sweating, we sat down to figure out what the plans were for the week. The plans were beach, beach, bay, beach, beach and possibly some outlet shopping if time allowed. I just loved it. Unfortunately, Bitterman and I brought typical Binghamton weather down with us and by day 2 of out trip it was considerably cooler and rainy. No worries. We went to the beach and it was about 75 and sunny. The waves were incredible. Our poor Girl wanted so badly to run in and swim with her cousins, but I was soo afraid that the waves would pummel her to death that I made her stand with me holding her hand the whole time. She actually got a big kick out of this because everytime a wave crashed into her, she just picked up her feet and knew that I had her. There were a couple times that I got pummeled by the waves and we both went down, but other than that she loved it. We built sandcastles and dug for shells, it was really a great time. I don't think there is anything more fun than seeing your child experience something for the first time. Every single thing was amazing to her. On our 3rd day in it was very overcast and misting in the morning. We decided to go to the Bay because the water is calmer and The Girl could just go in and swim and float and I wouldn't have to be right there. This was much better from a mommy point of view. There were close bathrooms (not port-a-pottys like at the beach), a food stand and a DQ if the need for ice cream came up. The Girl loved this. She swam and swam until it started to really rain and even then there was a slight meltdown because she didn't want to get out of the water. So we bribed her with DQ. We packed up our whole crew and headed over to Dairy Queen and got some lunch and a large blizzard to share. I forgot how much I miss DQ living back here in NY. I mean it's no Cold Stone, but the blizzards are soooooo good. After getting rained out at the beach we went back to camp and decided to get some drinks and food going and just chill at camp for the rest of the day. It was a very wet night. Still had tons of fun though. I got to know my niece and nephews and talk to them and The Girl made some new friends and they all played and listened to music and rode bikes. That night we took all the kids to the pier to fish and try crabbing. We didn't have any luck with any fish, but we did get one blue crab and 2 huge hermit crabs. This was the coolest thing to the kids. I just can't tell you what a GREAT time we had. The last day was so rainy. We spent one whole day at camp basically in our tents because the rain was really bad. We decided to hit the outlets. I found some fantastic deals! I went into OshKosh and was able to get the Girl jeans and 4 shirts for 27 bucks! The jeans themselves were originally 35! I also found her an adorable Nike running suit for about 20 bucks, originally 45. The outlets down there are just fabulous and for the most part the prices are very good. There were a few stores that didn't discount their prices at all, but overall there really were some great stores and deals. We got home late Wed. night and unpacked everything. You can not believe the amount of sand we brought home with us! What a mess! Yesterday was spent putting up the tent again and getting all the sand out, doing all of our sandy laundry, and mowing our very high grass. We also unloaded our whole garage for a yard sale this weekend. So I got a workout yesterday.
Yesterday was also my weekly WW meeting. I had to weigh in and was so scared because of just eating whatever I wanted on vacay. I only gained a pound and a half. Not to shabby. I can lose that no problem and hopefully a couple more with it. So by next week I may be back on track. I really like the meetings. They're kind of goofy and it's just a bunch of women giggling and talking about food, but they really do help. Our leader Heidi, is really motivating, funny, and not afraid to share her stories of weight loss and gain. She has almost brought me to tears a few times. I am going to miss her once school starts next week. I am going to have to find another meeting time to go to cuz I have class on Thurs. nights. I really should be looking into that. On school news. I went to get my books yesterday. What a crock. Last semester my books didn't evern cost $200. This semester they cost $500. The school only sent me a check for $250 for books. I don't get my refund until next week. So I won't be able to get my math book until Tues. hopefully. This may not sound like a big deal to ya'll, but I am a geek. I pride myself on being ready and raring to go on the first day of class. I have my pens, pencils, calculator, notebooks, highliters, sticky pads, and whatever else all ready in my bag. See how this whole missing book thing causes a problem?? I know I am a geek. I can't help it. I watch so many of these kids that don't get a book all semester and wonder how the hell do they think they are going to learn anything. Then they are struggling to look on with someone else. I just don't want that to happen to me. I know it won't, but it is my fear. I just like being prepared. I'm paying to much money to screw it up this time. Ok, well, I have rambled enough for one day.....

Progress

Well tonight was my second weigh in for WW. I lost 2 more lbs. Yeah!! I really am excited about this. This makes a total of 4 lbs gone so far and I'm well on my way to my 10% goal of 21 lbs. I've been walking a few times a week and I've really been trying to be good about the points system that WW uses. It really isn't hard. It's just hard having to be accountable for every single thing you put in your mouth. Me and the fam head out for vacation tomorrow. We are heading to Delaware to the beach. I hope that I can continue to do well while on vacay. I've packed lots of fruits and veggies all cut up and some cereal and lean meat to grill. I think I will be able to stay on track for the most part. I'm hoping that swimming in the ocean and chasing my girl on her bike will help burn off any excess I may tack on. I'm also committing myself to walk at least 2 times while we are gone. I know my sis in law will walk with me. :) Well just wanted to give a quick update before we head out. I'll check back in next week!

One Week Down...

Hello all! Well today was my first weigh in after starting the Weight Watchers program. I have lost 2 lbs. in a week. I thought maybe 3,but alas it was only 2. It's ok though I am very happy with those 2 lbs. I found I really liked the way the system worked over this last week. It didn't limit me at all and having to weigh in tonight made me try extra hard the last couple of days. I walked 2 times this week on our "rail trail". It's 4.2 miles long and a very nice walk. I've gone with my friend, Amy,and it's really been a good time. She is also my WW buddy, so we talk about what we ate, or shouldn't have eaten and compare tips about what curbs cravings not to mention we just talk. Usually we just hang out over beers at the bar and the conversations are easily forgotten. So this has been really nice. I'm hoping to get another walk or 2 in next week and maybe I'll start doing my yoga again. I have the time, I should be doing this stuff anyways.

On other news, The Girl got the all clear from her doctor. This was cause for celebration so we bought her a new bike. We had told her when she first got hurt that if she took it easy and did what the DR said that we would buy her a "big girl bike". So yesterday we went out and looked at bikes. She b-lined for this purple, princess covered bike. It has sparkles, flowers, a handlebar pack, and a waterbottle. I told her look carefully and weigh all her options to make sure this was the one she really wanted. She didn't even blink. This was THE bike. So The Girl is now the proud owner of one Princess Big Girl Bike. She rides so well. I'll have to take a pic and put it up for you guys. She's so stinkin cute! Well that's about all for now. Hope your all having a good week. It's almost FRIDAY!

School update

I finally got my schedule the way I want it for school. I swear I think my advisor is a frickin idiot. She just rushes and puts in whatever she thinks is good without really explaining anything to me. So because of my lack of daycare and whatnot I had this crappy schedule of 2 night classes, and online course and I still needed a class to continue being full time. I went to the school yesterday and got to talk to one of the advisors that was covering for the summer. She was AWESOME! She smiled, talked, asked me questions, and explained that the courses I was signed up for weren't even really necessary to get into the nursing program. I was like well thank you for clearing that up. So now I still have 2 night classes, an online course, and a morning course in the time frame I needed for The Girl's daycare. I feel much better about this schedule. The online course is Medical Terminology, which I have previously taken, so I think that will be much easier than English to do online. I got my Math class that I desperately needed and got to take an interesting course called Western Humanities. Plus my sociology class sounds pretty interesting too. I am very relieved and excited about this fall. I hope these prove to be a good fit for me.

On other news I have been fighting a cold for the last couple of days. How does one get a cold in the summer anyway? I've never really been sick in the summer, until now. And let me tell you... it totally sucks. I think I feel worse just because it's hot and humid and yucky... Despite the fact that I feel like crap I did go on Thurs. to my first Weight Watchers meeting. I went with my BFF and it wasn't at all like I imagined it would be. I was very welcoming and comforting and I actually knew about 5 people there from previous jobs or school. I'm excited about doing this and seeing results. Day one went well and I stuck to my food and points guidelines all day, I even had points left so I went and had a couple of beers with my friends, but then after having the few beers, I then got the overwhelming urge to eat a cheeseburger. So I did and used some of my flex points. I'll get back on track today. I really hope that this proves to be good for me. They told me my lowest weight I should get to because of my height is 113lb. HA! I haven't been 113 since I was like 10 yrs old! At this point I would be thrilled to just get to around 180! So the journey begins and hopefully I will be able to give reports of my shrinking body as time goes on!

Excitement

It is now officially August and my summer seems to be dwindling quickly. I feel like I didn't get anything done or do anything fun. I did go t0 a wonderful wedding, Key Largo, and we are going camping in Delaware in a couple weeks. So I guess I did have some fun. At the end of this month the fun is over and I start back to school. It may be weird, but I am getting really excited about it. Last semester I just loved my classes. They were challenging, fun, interesting, and gave me something more to talk about than just my hubby and the Girl. This fall I am taking 2 night classes, an online class, and hopefully I can get into a morning class while the Girl is in preschool. I'm going to be working on that tomorrow. If I can make that happen then I will still be full time and still get all of my aid/loans. I just hope the Girl doesn't get booted out of this daycare like she did that last one. I think this summer she has really grown and changed. Her vocabulary and sense of right and wrong have increased dramatically. I don't know how, but they have. She is very quick these days to tell us when she's done something wrong and immediately apologize. Of course, this is mainly because if we find out about it after the fact then usually the punishment is much worse for her. Her language skills have grown too. I think the kids next door that she has been playing with are not such a good influence. She says "Oh shit, man", holy crap, what the hell, and she is obsessed with kissing on the mouth. So needless to say she hasn't been over there much and as far as tv watching goes she has been limited to noggin and disney and that's about it. She used to watch shows at night with us, but even the kissing on those shows inspires her to try and open mouth kiss me and her daddy. YUCK!! I am sure once she gets into this new preschool class which is at a church, she will kick those bad habits. Hopefully.... I guess that's all the news for now. I can't wait for classes to start and to get out of my house without my child and hubby!