Weight Watchers Drop-out

I just can't get it. The new points system is just too much for me to try to learn. I figured that if I'm going to have to look at fiber, calories, fat, etc, then I'm going to really learn about the food I'm eating. I'm journaling everything I eat and then adding it up at the end of the day using www.fitday.com. It's been eye-opening. On a day last week that I thought for sure I had done very well on, I actually ate 2500 calories! .

Holy calories, Batman! and other randomness

I drink a lot of calories each day. I know I shouldn't, but I do. I've come to realize that all of the juice, soda and sweet tea that creeps into my diet is killing all of the cake, cookies and donuts that I'm not eating. And trust me, I'd love a donut right now. I could make it up to Dunkin' and back before any of the kids are awake.

In other news, I haven't been keeping up very well with my half-marathon training. Yup, that's right, I can barely make it around the block, and I've committed to running 13.1 miles on Disney property the last weekend of February. I have dusted off the treadmill, since the weather outside is frightful.

I've fallen in love with Greek Yogurt. It's expensive, but so yummy!

My kids have had WAY too much food coloring this past week and because of that have been very weepy. *sigh* Of course the colors of this holiday would be red and green (hiding blue in there!).

Must run, I have a child with Pink Eye, which is pretty much like being on house arrest with Mr. Magoo.

$500 Budget and the Shopping is Done!

Whew! I think my Christmas shopping is done. I never did find a Lego Advent calendar. It seems as though all the Santa-lovers wanted to catch a sneak peek of him in the shower, and so the calendars flew off the shelves. My secret confession is that I strongly dislike shopping - the whole commercialization of needing something because everyone else is buying it for their kids...nope, I'm not buying into it!

So when I told my mom that I really wasn't getting into Christmas with a ton of gifts this year, she balked at me and said she wanted to take me shopping. With $500 cash and a minivan (and mother) full of gas, off we went!

First we hit up Dunkin' Donuts - because, well, my mother runs on Dunkin'. As we sat there planning our attack, I said the only thing that is a MUST is to get Megan a doll house big enough for her Barbies. She's in that weird 6 year old stage, where she's too big for the play kitchen (which will make some sweet little 2 year old girl's face light up thanks to the magic powers of Craigslist), but too small, in my eyes, for the make-up kits and Hannah Montana fad.

First stop was Toys R Us. SCORE! The $1 bins had some great fun stuff for stocking stuffers. We also hit up a sale going on in the science aisle and purchased a Mythbusters kit for my 8 year old boy. Because, really, who doesn't want to learn how to make their own marshmallow launcher? I'll have to look in Whole Foods for some safe marshmallows, many of them contain blue food coloring, a no-no at our house. I also came across a Disney camera for about $40 for Megan, and so I will take back the kiddie camera I originally bought her once I find it and unwrap it later today. The lego prices were pretty high and so we moved on out of that area. Then we came across it...the doll house. I didn't want to spend over $150 (it was on sale for $99), and I didn't want a big hunk of plastic (this one is wood) and I didn't want a gazillion pieces.

After TRU, we moved onto Old Navy, where I took advantage of their B1G1 sale and purchased two sweaters for me, and a fleece zip up, since it was all of 30 degrees in Daytona Beach yesterday morning!

Then we walked over to Michaels' craft store and I purchased an electronic kit for the 8 year old, kindof a generic version of the popular Snap Circuits, because I wanted to check his interest before jumping on that bandwagon. I also picked up more stocking stuffers there.

Over to the mall, we met up with my little sister and her live-in boyfriend. After some Chick-fil-A and lots of good laughs, mom and I were off to walk the mall. I fell in love with everything in Gymboree because I love the blue and brown line for girls right now, but I miraculously managed to walk out empty handed - a cash budget will do that to you! Into The Children's Place, I felt like their clothes style has gone down hill fast and I didn't see anything in there that I liked for any of the kids. Mom has never shopped at Macy's, so we zoomed around in there, where I bought Megan a black skirt for the Christmas program this week. And over to Dillards, we found the perfect pink pea coat for Megan. And their jeans were on sale, so I picked up a pair of adorable jeans for $11.

Mom decided we needed to try another mall, but it was a bust for kid's stuff. However, I could stay in places like Home Goods, Marshalls and Kirklands shopping for home decor all day, so it wasn't a trip wasted! I did pick up a beautiful glass sun tea brewing container with a spigot attached for half-off at Kirklands, my husband has been wanting to brew his own tea now that we live in the sunshine state again.

After spending $2 on a vending machine Coke, Mom and I were back in the car and heading to my old stand-by: Target. There was a sweet deal on legos going on and I purchased 4 different lego sets for the boys - a good mix of Star Wars and Toy Story 3. I also purchased a remote controlled boat for Daniel, he will be thrilled! We have a pool that stays uncovered all year round, and so this will be fun for everyone. This boat is about a foot and a half long.

There are other little things under the tree - some green basket ball sweatshirts, lots of books and other fun thins. I don't stress about spending X amount of money on each kid, or that Megan's house will be huge and the boys don't have something huge, too, or any of that foolishness. I just roll with it. The day these kids start counting presents to make sure it's even, is the day we go back to the original 4.

Something you Want.

Something you Need.

Something to Wear.

Something to Read.

That has worked for us in years past. However, this year, the kids have all had their rooms recently cleaned out (I'll post on that later this week), and so it seems as though all of a sudden, all their favorite things have been outgrown and it's time to bring in some bigger kid things.

Also, be on the look out for a potential canceling of Cable TV - this is still in the negotiation phase, but will necessitate spending more time doing non-electronic sources of entertainment. So, yeah, maybe I am bribing them with new toys in the meantime.