I stopped by the Y yesterday to clean out my locker and remove my name from Dad’s account - and couldn’t resist jumping on the scale one last time. It’s the same scale I was using to keep track of my weight loss. Sure I found one at Target and at the dr’s office, but I know it’s best to stick with one scale since every one can read slightly different.

I took this picture about a month ago - after friends saw it, they commented on how they could tell I lost weight - always a great thing!

And I’ve kept my 20 pounds off! I am wearing a very loose size 16! I am so excited because I have a closet full of size 16 stuff, 16 and 14. I tried on 14s just last night at Target and though they zip up and button fine, they are tight enough I didn’t buy any. But how awesome! I don’t remember being able to fit a size 14 since college which was 8 years ago.

I plan on keeping up watching what I’m eating and buying some kind of exercise machine once we get settled. Chris gave our elliptical away during the packing up of our house so I want to get a treadmill but we aren’t sure how big our house will be. Maybe a treadmill won’t fit with the rest of our stuff. I’m excited about losing a little more weight - I feel great and hey, who doesn’t love shopping!

We are leaving tomorrow to begin the trip to Texas, our next home. We’ll be there by the fourth of July and look forward to cooking out and blowing up fireworks with Chris.

Mommyfest has started! I’m excited about this event being put on by Marie Ynami. This is the fifth year for her event and she is running several contests. First up we have a five things about this mom meme!

* I will be 30 in a month (from today!).
* In the next two years I will move at least twice, maybe three times.
* I’ve lost almost 20 pounds in the past four months.
* I hate birth control pills because of the hormones.
* I love shopping - even though most of the time it is window shopping.

I like how the cleanser and toner feel on my skin - but the lotion that is included has made my skin really oily. I rinsed my face off a couple of times today because it was bothering me so much. I do not like that at all and am surprised - it is made for oily skin! You would think it wouldn’t make it oily because of that. I don’t have oily skin but since I have been breaking out the girl suggested I try it. My skin doesn’t feel dry like it has before when I tried products for oily skin, so at least that.

I am going to try either the mask or scrub tomorrow - the directions to say both can be used two to three times a week. I’ll keep using the cleanser and toner but I admit I’m not sure I want to keep up with the lotion. Maybe I should and see if my skin gets used to it?

I got a haircut today and picked up a travel set of a skin care line I’ve been wanting to try. I am always scared of trying something new for fear of *whatever* going wrong and then I’m out of my cash. I decided to go ahead and buy this because if it doesn’t work out I can take it back and get some other product or store credit for use later.

I think CVS does this? Or … Walgreens? Some store like that.

So I’m going to tonight and follow what it says to do - I got a cleanser, a tonic, a vitamin lotiony thing, a night gel, a scrub and a mask. (I love buying kits!) I figured I would start out with a travel kit just in case it doesn’t work, or I don’t care for it, then it’s less to return and less money out by me.

I have been so frustrated for the past week! Early last week I was so happy because my skin seemed to be clearing up - I’ve never had perfectly clear skin though. So I’m happy and then a few days later - boom, breakout city. Ugh! This is so annoying!

I’ve tried ProActiv which did not work for me because I am allergic to it. I’ve tried ever other over the counter thing and nothing worked - though I did find out what I am allergic to! I even had a script when I was a teenager but I don’t think that really worked either.

My friend Andrea posted about various beauty treatments not too long ago - and I swear I had never heard of any of them! I was so excited about the aspirin one - basically you let uncoated aspirin (3-5, starting off with 3 then working your way up I suppose) in hot water until they soften up. Then you add them to a face mask and use it as usual. I finally got aspirin about a week and a half ago and I used this treatment I know two times, but maybe three, and that’s why I thought my skin was clearing up.

Then I breakout and I have to admit I wonder if I’m allergic to doing using aspirin in my face mask! Or if I just had a reaction to it. I’m scared to try it again but I am just so over my skin thinking it is 16 (ha, I’ll be wanting 16 year old skin when I’m 60 I’m sure!). I want to see a dermatologist but we are leaving in a week so there is no time.

Maybe I need a new face mask too. I know I do, I’ve been using the same brand for ages. I love trying new face stuff and in the past I’ve had to slow down as sometimes that is the case for breakouts as well.

Do you have any tips or tricks for getting clear skin? Mine has never been completely clear though I’ve tried various things like drinking lots of water, exercise, eating better, etc.

Here is to clear skin!

After four phone calls this morning I am now waiting for a call back. It seems that LA Weight Loss corporate has changed to Pure Weight Loss - but the franchises were given the option to stay with the LA name or to change. I didn’t do much searching on that though.

So I call the number on the LA website which somehow gets me a corporate center in Virginia. Okay then. She tells me to call the franchise customer service number - which I did and had to leave a message. I found another number on the LA site and called them - after talking to that person she says she can email the customer service rep for the franchises and that person will get back to me.

If I don’t hear back from someone by Wednesday, I’m calling again. I know there is controversy surrounding the company but I didn’t have any. I paid for the services and expect to be either reimbursed or given the product in whole.

I think it is odd that there is NO more centers in my area. Did none of them want to carry on with corporate changing the name? Has the website just not been updated in ages?

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here but we are moving. The countdown is on and we’ve started getting rid of stuff and throwing stuff away.

We got rid of the crib we had. Finally. We got it when Alice was about six months old so we’ve had it for almost six years. She used it and then Jake used it, it converted into a toddler bed and Jake used that until he got too big for it. He isn’t too tall or anything but just outgrew it. So we stuck it in the garage just last month.

I had a twinge of sadness because the sides have the kids teeth marks in it. When they were old enough, they would stand up and chew on the edge waiting for us to get them. We sanded it down before giving it to Goodwill so noone else will see that.

We also got rid of the pack and play that Jake slept in for a little while. He started out in a bassinet but he was a big baby and quickly outgrew that!

We went through our clothes yesterday too and I found a couple of pairs of shorts that I have had since college! I haven’t gained a lot of weight over the past seven years, I’m two sizes bigger now, but dang those shorts looked small. And I thought I was chubby! I did put them in the giveaway pile and said I’d buy new clothes when I lose weight.

So the countdown! Three and a half weeks to go! Woo hoo!!

I was doing so great posting every day for a month - then on our out of town trip yesterday, the car broke down on the way home. I think it ended up taking us almost six hours to finally get home. So of course I didn’t eat well.

It’s a bad habit but if I’m getting even a tiny bit tired when I drive, I pull over and buy sunflower seeds. Talk about a massive salt attack! And in the stress of it all, I ate the whole little bag I bought.

We got the car fixed today (another bad eating day!) and as I like to remind myself, it is a new day. My goal is to stick to my LA Weight Loss plan for breakfast, lunch and snacks, and not overeat or eat junk for dinner or if I snack after that. Thanksgiving is not a freebie, but I will just not overeat that day. I love turkey sandwich leftovers and potato patties, oh so yummy!

Do your eating habits change on the weekends? Or when you drive? We all typically eat in restaurants when we travel out of town so that’s a given. Oh and we had Denny’s for dinner last night - I did have a salad but it was a huge salad.

It maybe an hour to hour and a half before bedtime - and I really want popcorn.

Bad.

It is taking a lot of willpower to not go stick a bag in the microwave.

I know we’ve all had days where we just were not in the mood to watch what we ate. I did good for breakfast and had a couple of eggs and a toast - then I got to work on a new project and focused so much we didn’t have lunch until 1:30! The kids are good snackers though so they are never hungry. For dinner we had mac and cheese. I was so tired by that point I just wanted to sit on the couch. I haven’t even had eight glasses of water today, though I know I’m close.
Tomorrow I’m going to a workshop and hopefully will be able to stay away from fast food for lunch. I don’t consider Zaxby’s fast food - I know fried chicken and french fries are probably the original fast food - and oh it is SO good, we may give in.

It feels odd that Thanksgiving is next week! This year is very weird because we don’t have anyone coming over. Last year we had I think 19 people, including all the kids. I loved it. I couldn’t even say a prayer at the beginning because it was so overwhelming. It will be odd to just have us be here.

We have a full weekend ahead! My college roommate is going to be here Friday night, then the family is headed to Atlanta for the day while she goes to visit a friend, then Sunday she will probably stop back by on her way home. We are just a couple of hours away from each other but in two years have only visited twice! And they were both super short visits.