Slow, but steady?

Well, sort of, I guess. This week could have been (and probably should have been) worse. My band's been feeling much looser for the last couple of weeks, and I've been pushing my portions. AND making less-than-great food choices (hellllllooooo cookies?!?!). As of yesterday morning, I was 4 pounds up from last week. ACK!!!

Fortunately, this morning was 'official' weigh-day, and I'm only a pound up. I'm going to chalk that up to the fact that I called Dr. G's office on Monday and made a last-minute appointment to get a fill -- which I did yesterday. So, I was on liquids/mushies yesterday and didn't consume much at all. He put back in the .5cc that he took out back in September when I was over-filled. It feels no where near as tight this time as it did last time. He had me make an appointment for 4 weeks from now, so I may well get another tiny fill then.

I don't like my band being super-tight, but I've been able to eat like I'm not banded for a couple of weeks now. Hopefully this little fill will put the brakes on things some, even if it's not bringing me back to what I feel is ideal restriction for me. I didn't want to overdo it, especially as I'm going to be out of town for a week (Sun-Sun).

I think we're ready for the holidays. We're on a tight budget, so I've been picking up things a little bit at a time for the kids. We were going to build them a computer from all the parts we have and that my dad has, but my spouse has been working crazy overtime to get enough put together so we can just buy one instead. Nothing fancy, just something that they can play kid games on and that my oldest can use to visit websites for school. The rest of the gift thing I kept simple, just picking up some books, doll clothes, and a couple of board games. And a zhu-zhu pet for each of them. :)

Back in October, a friend of mine who will never be having children passed along her American Girl dolls and ALL clothing and accessories she had collected. (a whole little wardrobe full!). My oldest daughter fell in LOVE with her doll and is obsessed with the story of her doll's character, dressing her up, etc. So I ordered a couple of non-AG matching outfits (actual AG stuff is EXPENSIVE!!) that I hope she'll enjoy, and the box set of the stories from Hastings secondhand. Yay!

Speaking of great deals -- I had the BEST thrift store haul ever yesterday. I found out through an Austin blog that the St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop was closing its doors, and had discounted everything to dirt-cheap prices. And when I say dirt-cheap, I mean it. Almost all clothing was $.25 each. I pretty much got my older girl's entire wardrobe for the next size up -- 25+ pieces. Plus some items she can wear now, a few things for the little one, a shirt and a couple of dresses for me, some kid books and videos, and assorted odds and ends. All for $23. Crazy!

My spouse has to work on Christmas Day and through the weekend, so we're just doing stockings here on Christmas morning, then the kids and I will be meeting up with some of our dear ones (non-blood-family) for Dim Sum. Then on Sunday I'll be taking the kids to my folks' place for the week, and we'll do the 'big' Christmas to-do on Tuesday. Having grown up in a house where my mom was a nurse and worked many holidays, we have never been sticklers for holidays actually being celebrated ON the calendar day. Early? Late? Sure, whatever. As long as we're together, it's all good. Spouse and I aren't religious at all, so the date really doesn't matter to us. ;)

Hopefully I can make it through the visit with my aunt. We had a falling out back in May (huge stupid story), and this will be the first time I've seen her since. She has more body-image issues than most, and is going to probably be a complete freak about my weight loss. I don't want to make a big deal of it, I've been trying to keep focus on the health benefits rather than the aesthetics of it around my daughters, but she is going to be ALL about how it looks, and very vocal (the woman is LOUD) too. *sigh*

Ah well, hopefully we can make it through the visit without any major trauma. I'm only holding out the olive branch for my mom's sake, so I'll have to keep my sass in check. ;)

Happy holidays to everyone! Whatever you celebrate (if you do), may it be filled with love and loved ones! :)

Not going to make it...

... to my Christmas Challenge goal.

So close, but unless something goes totally crazy in the next week, I'm not dropping another 5.5 pounds between today and the 25th. Ah well. I can't complain too much, 80-something pounds down for the year is nothing to sneeze at!

Well, maybe it is... I do notice that I'm FREEZING without so much of my squishy insulating layer of fat to protect me on cold days. ;)
*aaaaah-chooo!* hehehehe

(edited to add) Oh, I almost forgot -- yesterday was my 6-month-anniversary of getting my band. 39.5 pounds down since being banded. 83.5 pounds down since starting my band journey in January!

The semester is over, and I managed to somehow kick ass on all my classes. I have a 4.0 GPA right now, let's see if I can keep that up for another 3-4 years! *laugh*

Now to catch up on all the things that got put on the back burner for the past couple of weeks. Exercise and housekeeping most of all.

It's VERY hard for me to keep up with exercise when we are not on a schedule, but hopefully I can get back on track more than I did this week.

The house is a complete wreck, from top to bottom, and is becoming a real hazard to walk through due to kids' stuff everywhere. Our place is not very big, so chaos takes over in a hurry. I hope to get it all put together before the girls and I leave on the 26th to visit my parents.

The budget was VERY tight for the holidays this year, but I'd been buying in little bits for the past several months, so I think I'm all good for presents. My spouse doesn't plan in advance, so if I left it up to him, the kids would get what I typically get for gifts.... that is to say, nothing. I do plan and scrimp, so the kids (and the spouse, in fact) should have fun opening presents, even though we don't do high-dollar items as a general rule for Christmas. I am salvaging parts from my defunct desktop computer, and my dad has parts from his upgrades, so he and I will be building the girls a computer to bring back after New Year's Day. We'll be at home through Christmas Day, but we're keeping it simple here -- just stockings -- and celebrating bigger with my folks and sister a few days after.

I made decadent cranberry-orange-walnut oatmeal cookies yesterday for a potluck we were supposed to be going to tonight. However, the potluck was cancelled, and I have been grazing my way through the bag of cookies. ACK!! Why can't cookies get stuck by my band like chicken and turkey breast?!?!? I put the darn things in the garage fridge in hopes that I would leave them alone, but they're just so GOOD with hot tea. *sigh*

Hopefully everyone is avoiding holiday temptation better than I have been the past couple of days! I'm going to go play a little catchup on your blogs too. Hey, it's WAY better than the thought of tackling this house! ;D