Our Fifth Grandchild has arrived :) ... & other thoughts

So he kept us waiting but it was well worth it!  Anthony arrived on Jan. 20th at 10:04 am and all 8lbs 4ozs of him is simply adorable :)
His big sister is crazy about him & I have been told she often refers to him as "little man" it's so cute!!!

I've been working hard & have finally gotten under 200 lbs ~ this past Monday I hit my 3rd weight loss goal.  (I have set them at 10% increments) and now I am working to meet the next one.  Some days are harder than others but I push through to the best of my ability.  Some days I fail horribly while others I seem to sail through without any mishap in my choices.  So I want to share with all of you that there will be days like that & we have to pick ourselves up & move on without wallowing in the poor choices of the day before otherwise we go on a downward spiral that gets increasingly harder to break free from.

I will be alternating between the walk away the pounds & the Wii Fit exercises since I have found that I am getting too comfortable with my "routine" and I know it is important to try & keep the body moving & not in the same "rut" to stay successful.    So yeah the hula hoop exercise was fun but I still feel it two days later!!  And the boxing (Wii Sports) I am so funny trying to do it right but it gets the heart pumping!  And tennis yeah could never play it all that well in person so to see YOU LOSE come across the screen makes YOU WIN all the sweeter!!!
Yes I am enjoying this form of activity very much & often find I can play for an hour or more & not even realize the time has passed.

Okay need to move away from my computer ... get up move, run some errands etc.  But I will ck back in soon.
Maybe get a chance to go hold Anthony again ;)
Now that's one "activity" I could do forever :)
Wishing you all a "frog free" day & may your crochet hooks be busy busy busy !!!

Hello 2010!!!!

Okay so if you are wondering where in the world did Anne go?  Let me tell you I've had an incredible time finishing up 2009 and entering into 2010.
I am happy to say my darling grandson arrived October 25, 2009 ~ just 3 weeks before his "due date" so he was waiting for my arrival instead of the other way around :)  and I was able to spend all of November with him and his parents.  Made a quick, short return to his side in December so that grandpa could meet him too.  And now we pine for him.  Thankfully Skype (even though we don't have a web camera here) so we can see him and hear him over the video conference call from our computer does make us pine for him more :)
Excitement in Dec. of 2009 as we thought our other grandson was going to make an early appearance on Dec. 19th he was putting up quite a fuss but not enough of one to show up just yet... and here it is Jan.11th, 2010 & he still has us waiting on him :)

As for the whole weight loss journey I am thrilled to report that I am officially half way to my goal!  YAY ~ hard work and even with slacking for the family Christmas party & for the rest of the "holidays" which of course resulted with a weight gain (come on this is the reality of over indulging) I was glad to get back to the seriousness of watching what I eat counting those calories & carbs and seeing the number on the scale going back in the right direction.   So since Mondays are my "official" weigh in day this morning was no different ~ I am 203 ... yes 77 pounds and counting since July 6th. (that is the day I officially began counting calories & carbs)   and I do exercise daily.  At least half an hour of "activity" or more.  Something to get the heart pumping.

And let's not forget the whole crocheting aspect of my life.  I finally took the time to work on a basic diagonal box stitch in order to "learn" it for the first time!  And I love it!!!  (It goes by several names, corner to corner etc) ~ my project to learn this stitch was a simple little doll blanket so when the girls come over they can play with the dolls & put them in a little cradle that we pulled out of storage (my dad, God rest his soul) made it for our daughter and now our granddaughters can all enjoy it every time they come over.

So I'm excited to see what this year holds in store not only for my weight loss journey but for my crocheting journey as well.   I still haven't sat down long enough to attempt Broomstick Lace (which you might recall was one of my "resolutions" in the past to learn it before the yr. was done oops missed out on that one) ...
Okay so my challenge to you is to make an honest review of where you stand crochet wise ... do you need more time to organize your stash? do you need to settle into a regular routine to finish up outstanding projects?  do you need to just face the challenge of learning that new stitch or moving from scarves & afghans to sweaters or hats or slippers?  Whether it is learning something new or just finishing up projects to make room for new ones my challenge is for each one of us to face it this year.  Grade them if you must hard, easy really difficult ... then chose one of the hard to difficult ones & one of the easy ones ~ once you finish with them then chose another and before you know it you will have accomplished it all and new challenges will come along :)

Happy New Year ~ happy crocheting :)   Happy journey to being the healthiest YOU that YOU can be :)