Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween

I’ve never thought much one way or another about Halloween until right now. As I'm sitting in my living room listening to the doorbell ring more times than it probably has ever rung since Jared and I moved to Germany, I'm realizing how stupid this holiday really is. It has become a day for children to supposedly "dress-up" and go knocking on strangers' doors begging for candy. When I was a child, I remember only going around the neighborhood to the neighbors that we knew before dashing off to grandma and grandpas and aunts and uncles homes to tell us how cute we looked! Of the trick or treaters that came to my home tonight, I only knew one of them. Also, way back when, there also seemed to be a “universal” age limit of when you started or stopped trick or treating. However, tonight I had more babies in strollers that never spoke a word and teenagers coming to my door than the typical children you would expect to see out enjoying this festive evening. One other gripe—why do we have to be doing this on a Sunday night? You are not allowed to trick or treat off post on Sunday because it is a Holy day for the Germans. Thus, why can’t this same rule apply to those of us who live on post? Oh well, at least I saw some cute outfits while giving out some sweet treats to all the “children” young or old. I almost didn’t buy any candy because no one came to our house last year. So I didn’t know what to expect tonight.

If we are going to celebrate this holiday, I would like to see it be more of a carnival where you get all dressed up and go somewhere to play games such as musical chairs, bob for apples, cake walk, hit at a piƱata, throw the bean bag into the clown’s mouth, go fishing, etc.

Does anyone else feel the same way about this holiday or do I just need an attitude adjustment?


Enjoy your day!

Tammy

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Weighing In - Week 5

This was an interesting week weight wise. The day after I weighed in last week, I gained 3 pounds...for no reason. I also found myself to be extra hungry every day. However, I continued to stay within my points (I think) and allowed myself to go out to eat three times during the week. It is very difficult to determine how many points I use when going out to eat in Germany because I have yet to find any nutritional fact information guides for restaurants in the area. Several of the restaurants in the area are ma and pa owned; therefore, it wouldn't surprise me if there really isn't any information posted.

Now that the weather is getting even colder, I find myself losing motivation to excerise. I used to walked around the ARMY base every day after work. This week I had many errands to run after work. Thus, by the time I got home, it was almost dark. However, I did make it to the gym 3 times. I'm finding that if I go straight to the gym from work, I am fine. But once I come home, I find myself hungry and unmotivated to get myself back out of the house and to the gym. All in all, I still lost some weight and am pushing forward. This week, I lost 1.2 pounds! Not much, but better than nothing.

Week 1 - lost 3.2 pounds
Week 2 - lost 0.6 pounds
Week 3 - lost 1.6 pounds
Week 4 - lost 1.0 pounds

Week 5 - lost 1.2 pounds

TOTAL LOST - 7.6 pounds

Only 77.4 more pounds to go!


Tammy

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The Coke Jar--4 Months Down

Do you ever have a whole post written and ready to publish just to push a wrong button and have all the text deleted??? GRRRR...this is happening to me too often lately.

Anyhow, when Jared and I were getting ready to move to Germany, my dad gave Jared a Coke bottle that he had previously used to hold his loose change in. It is huge--it stands about 2 1/2 feet tall. In December, Jared decided that he wanted to see how much money the bottle would hold by only using quarters. He was very faithful about putting his change in the jar. When deployment time rolled around the corner, the job assignment was past off to me. I was instructed to withdraw $20 in quarters every week to put into the jar. The first month I was very faithful in my task. I stopped by the change machine in the arcade room to get my change. However, during the second month, the arcade room where the change machine was located was removed and was being replaced by a German bakery. So I decided to stop accumulating quarters as I wasn't going to stop by the PX Customer Service every week and ask for $20 in quarters nor was I going to open up a savings account at the Community Bank to ask for $20 in quarters that I would be giving back to them in the next year. When Jared inquired as to how the jar was filling up, he was disappointed and began telling me about a few places on the Vilseck or Grafenwoehr post that I could search for change machines. Needless to say, I recovered $150 in one day and am now up-to-date. Every week, I faithfully withdraw $20 from the Laundromat coin machine and hope that I don't take the last coins so some soldier cannot do their laundry! lol
Month 1 Month 2
Month 3 Month 4
The idea behind this jar is that by the time the jar is almost full, Jared's deployment will b3 almost over. I have taken pictures each month of the progress of this bottle, but it is hard to see any change and we are not even at the widest part of the bottle!! Some weeks I feel like that is how quickly deployment is going. So I have threatened to start using pennies, nickels, and dimes, to speed up the process. But Jared quickly cabooses the idea!

Tammy

Weighing In - Week 4

Another week has come and gone. This week I've been craving everything pumpkin--maybe because of the season that is upon us. So I've tried some new recipes...pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin butter, and pumpkin smoothies that taste just like the milkshakes from Arctic Circle! Two other new recipes that I tried include oatmeal breakfast bars, which taste just like banana bread and chicken enchiladas made with chicken and navy beans...nice and filling.

In addition to trying to switch up my food diary this week, I've also tried to work out every day either on the eliptical machine at the gym or walking around base. By the end of the weekend I was confident that this was going to be a great weight loss week as I was already down 2 pounds on Sunday. However, by the time that I jumped on the scale this morning, I was only down 1 pound! Yes, I am glad that I at least lost weight and didn'tgain or plateu; however, I was hoping for a bigger number as the time before I see Jared for R&R is getting shorter and 1 pound a week isn't going to make me look much different.

Week 1 - lost 3.2 pounds
Week 2 - lost 0.6 pounds
Week 3 - lost 1.6 pounds
Week 4 - lost 1.0 pounds


TOTAL LOST - 6.4 pounds

Only 78.6 more pounds to go!


Tammy

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Weighing in--Week 3

Update on Deployment Goal #2
Since my weight loss was great the first week and poor the second week, I had no idea what to expect this week. I was a little worried to be honest with you because two of my weekend days were spent out touring Germany; thus, I wasn't home to cook for myself. The weather was perfect, and the fall colors were amazing (I'll write more about it later). However, I still tried very hard to make healthy choices and exercise every day. This morning I hopped on the scale and found I was down 1.6 pounds! This is not a huge number, but definitely better than last week's 0.4 pound. I'm a little disappointed at how slow I am losing the weight this time around. Normally, I can lose 10 pounds in the first month (especially since I have so much to lose). This time I am three weeks into the diet, and only down 5.4 pounds. I'm really hoping that my body gets on track because I'd like to look a lot different when I see Jared for R&R in a few months. I must remember "SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE!"

Week 1 - lost 3.2 pounds
Week 2 - lost 0.6 pounds
Week 3 - lost 1.6 pounds

TOTAL LOST - 5.4 pounds

Only 79.6 more pounds to go!

Tammy

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Rothenberg, Germany

Last weekend, one of the FRG groups hosted a bus trip to Rothenberg, Germany. Although Jared and I had been there once before, I decided to get out of the house and enjoy the day sightseeing and spending time with friends.

Once we got there, it was raining (no big surprise). So our first stop was going for a walk along the wall that is built up along the entire city.

One thing that I will always remember about Germany is the very colorful homes and roofs. I'm not saying that I want my own home bright yellow or red, but I do like the color that it adds to a very green countryside.

Soon after the rain subsided, I met up with Irma Delong, one of my new friends from Jared's unit. I convinced her to and her girls to tour the Criminal Museum. This is a museum that shows all the different ways that they used to torture people. Her youngest girl, Elizabeth, was very inquisitive and thought everything was "AWESOME!" Towards the end of the tour, the two girls started fighting with each other and at that moment I happen to come across a device that was used for women when they quarreled. So we told the girls that the employee was going to get it out so we could use it on them. They didn't think that was as funny when they found out their heads would be put in a hole and their hands would be inserted into the small holes and kept there until they could get along.
Then we ended the day with a YUMMY treat that only Rothenberg is known for--Schneeballen. They are pastry balls, which are each about the size of a softball, made of strips of pastry wound into a ball, deep fried, and coated with various icings or toppings. It's a must have before leaving town. Yes, even I saved enough points in my diet for the day to have one.

Tammy

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

No Motivation/New Goals

Lately, I have found myself in a slump and can't get out. I have lots of things to do but no drive to do any of it, including blogging. I get up each day and go to work and then come home each night and think of all the things that I need to do, but quickly lose the momentum to do any of them. I'm also finding myself having less patience with people, processes, and everything in general. Currently, I'm impatient with my own life as I feel like it has been put on hold for the next year. It's not that I can't go and do anything, because I do get out, but my way of life as I liked it is gone. After almost 4 long months, I’m officially lonely and I really miss having a significant other to sit next to, to cuddle up against and watch a movie, to hold my hand, or to gently kiss my lips! So I must patiently wait (or not patiently wait) for my life to resume again.

So I've been thinking that maybe to get out of this rut, I need to find some good things to occupy my time. If I post them, then I have friends and family who can check up on me to make sure that I'm staying on track. So here they are:

1. Make a quilt from beginning to end (completed August 24, 2010)
2. Lose weight--85 pounds (started September 22, 2010.So far, I've lost 3.8 pounds. Slow and steady wins the race)
3. Read my scriptures everyday
4. Read 12 books
5. Exercise regularly
6. Send Jared a package once a week
7. Complete a career certification class
8. Pay off Toyota Corolla (completed September 3, 2010)
9. Pay off Honda Accord
10. Practice the piano regularly
11. Finish making my curtains and get them hung (completed August 27, 2010)
12. Visit a new place at least once a month (Crystal Factory in Neustadt, Germany; Polish pottery in Boleslawiec, Poland,LDS temple in Freihung, Germany; Eidelweis retreat in Garmisch, Germany; Rothenberg, Germany; Bamberg, Germany; Ansbach, Germany; visiting caves in Pottenstein, Germany; playing at Eschenbach Lake, Germany; Berlin, Germany, Salzburg, Austria; etc.)

Some of these goals have already been accomplished while others of them I need to get working on!!

Tammy