Weekly Update: Part III

What happened to Part II?? Um...I was being lazy about updating. Sorry!!

Here are the stats.

Weight loss after week one: 2.6 pounds.
Weight loss after week two: 1 pound.
Weight loss after week three: 1.6 pounds.

Yes, I have lost my first 5 pounds (5.2, total)!! As a result, my daily points have been adjusted, from 20 to 19. Somehow, I'll live.

Some of my recent favorite Weight Watchers recipes include Rosemary Roast Beef Tenderloin with Vegetables, Lemon Corn Muffins with Raspberries, Baked French Toast, and Fast French Dip. Yum, yum, yum!! Let me know if any of you want these recipes.

I've been lazy on the workout front. I got lazy about it half-way through week two, and I was only tracking walking activity points because of how far I've been parking my car from my building. But yesterday I got back in gear with a one-hour walk on the treadmill, with speeds ranging from 3.6 to 4 miles and hour. It was pretty rough. I knocked out about 3.8 miles, and burned 380 calories. My legs were jell-o for the rest of the day.

Today I'm having some friends over for a buffet-style dinner. One of them, KJ, is a friend from my deployment. I haven't seen him in three years, and I'm pretty excited about having him over. My two favorite girls will be in attendance as well (speaking of which, I got to feel Dee's baby kick the other night, yaaaay!!!!), along with a friend of KJ's that I met after he moved here with his wife, Chuck and Alyssa. Alyssa is also pregnant, but hopefully poor Fiance won't be overwhelmed by the amount of estrogen in the house.

I'm making more Weight Watchers recipes for dinner. I'll be one later to discuss them, and maybe share my favorites. 'Bye!!

Weekly update: Part I.

I weighed in yesterday at 131.8 pounds. I lost 2.6 pounds during my first week. I exercised daily, getting in at least thirty minutes; I did an hour on the treadmill on Saturday and Sunday after drill. I'm already noticing one or two pairs of pants that are not quite so suffocating. I've been drinking plenty of water, eating lots of veggies, and enjoying the food that goes in my mouth. Cheese-stuffed chicken burgers, asparagus, carrots, broccoli, steak, corn, bacon-egg-cheese sandwiches, oatmeal, blueberry muffins, oranges, yogurt, Parmesan-crusted chicken breast...all delicious!! (Except for the carrots...I just can't dig 'em, raw or cooked, unless they're part of a roast.)


That's one week down. Woot!!

Feeling good so far.

Day Two of Change.

I feel good about today. I had another grab-n-go egg sandwich for breakfast, and brought a big bottle of water to work to sip on all day. For lunch, I had leftovers from last night's dinner: chicken breast (4 pts), broccoli (0 pts), and asparagus (0 pts) with a can of Coke Zero (0 pts). I did a total of twenty minutes of walking today, earning me 1 activity point, and did 30 minutes on a stationary bike at the gym, earning me 3 activity points. I finished up my workout with 15 minutes in the sauna, and headed home.

Now I'm working on dinner, making some Parmesan-crusted chicken breast (6 pts), fried redskin potatoes (2 pts), and canned corn (2 pts) for myself and Fiance. That leaves me 2 pts for dessert, and I'm probably gonna have one of the Weight Watchers ice cream treats sitting in the freezer.

I feel so motivated!!

Off to a good start.

Day One of Change.

Started the day off right with a breakfast sandwich totaling four points. I won't know until I go to the meeting this afternoon how many points I'm allotted each day, but I still feel that's a good start.

Grab 'N Go Breakfast (from a Weight Watchers recipe book)
1 egg
1 tsp of bacon bits
salt and pepper to taste
1 slice of Weight Watchers cheese
2 slices of Weight Watchers whole wheat bread

Spray a 2-cup plate with nonstick cooking spray. Mix the egg, bacon bits, and salt and pepper in a small mixing bowl. Pour the mixture onto the plate and microwave on high for one minute. Place the cheese on top of the egg. Using a fork or spatula, lift the egg off the plate and place it on the bread. Wrap it up in plastic and go.

It was pretty tasty. If I get hungry between now and lunch, I'll eat some baby carrots; ten of them are zero points.

Back on the wagon.

Today I renew my Weight Watchers membership. I gave it a shot back in October, weighing in at 122 at my first meeting. At five-foot-two, the minimum weight for me is 109. I was shooting for 110. Then I went to Alaska, fell off the wagon, and never went back to the meetings after returning.

This morning I weighed in at 134.2. The max weight for my height is 137. I still remember the first time I realized that I had broken the 130 mark. I have never in my life weighed this much, and while I am by no means obese, or even really fat by medical standards, I have had to go up a pants size, and jeans that fit me three months will not go past my thighs now. I have BACK FAT now, and love handles...and MUFFIN TOP, ugh! My military uniform is feeling tight, too. I can't button the top two buttons of the pants; I only have one set, and my unit will not purchase more uniform items for me until I've been with them for six months. So I have to wait until at least April's drill weekend to get them.

At last month's drill, I failed my PT test. This is a first for me. I knew I was gonna fail it; I haven't done PT in a year. It was the first time I didn't max out my waist measurement, too. Thirty-one-inch waist; it used to be twenty-seven inches. I have up to six months to retake the test; the earliest I can is April. I'd like to get in shape in time to do it in April; May at the latest.

I want to be in shape; I want to fit my clothes. I was asked by a lady selling purses if I was pregnant. An asshole at work had made fun of me not once, but TWICE for looking pregnant. My stomach is almost the same size at Dee's, and she's five months pregnant. I hate how I look in the mirror. Change starts today.

Setting the record straight...again.

A re-post from last year. I know Laggin enjoyed it.

St Valentine's Day is a holiday in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions (celebrated on February 14th and sometime in July, respectfully) named after not one, but several men who were all martyrs when the Roman Empire was still the big cheese in the known world. Stabbed, maimed, fed to lions, crucified, beheaded, what have you, for worshiping a guy who pissed off the Pharisees and ended up dead on a cross two thousand years ago.

Oh, swoon.

I don't know what Geoffrey Chaucer was smoking, but he is the one to blame for this day being all romantical. (It's a word in the dictionary. Don't ask which dictionary, just take my word for it.) He lived and died in the Middle Ages when courtly love was popular. I define "courtly love" as "pretending to be in love with unattainable members of the opposite sex". As opposed to real love.

You still with me?? A holiday named after brutally murdered martyrs in honor of horny teenagers lusting after much-older married women.

And then Hallmark was born, heralding the Apocalypse and the End of Times. Head for the hills!!...

 It's friggin' snowing. Which irritates me, but it's not snowing in St Louis according to weather.com, so that doesn't really ruin my plans. I want to go with Fiance today to the Science Center to check out the dinosaur exhibit they have going on. Something about a feathered dinosaur...google it. We were gonna go yesterday, but he got almost no sleep the night before, so I spared him and went to a wine tasting with Becks and hung out at her house all day.

Tomorrow I plan on taking Becks and Sayrah out for lunch, because their significant others are on the other side of the world right now and can't be here to celebrate this commercial holiday with them.

And now I leave you all to place my freshly-washed jeans into the dryer.

Happy Sunday.

About my hangovers...

...they're totally not as awesome as I thought they were. I was OBLITERATED Saturday night. I puked when I got home, and puked again in the morning, had to take Pepto several times throughout the day to calm my churning belly, and had a pounding headache by 5 PM when we headed over to Becky's for the Super Bowl. Fiance was a sweetie and took care of me. It'll be a while before I drink like that again...

In other news, Dee has confirmed that the fetus she is carrying in her abdominal region bears a penis. Because of said penis, Dee's husband now insists that he is more entitled to choose the name. She happily informed me that she has an ultrasound photo of the penis. Good for you, Dee. Now let's plan a friggin' shower!!

Tomorrow, I set out to buy a Valentine's Day present for Fiance. I meant to get it today during my lunch break, but instead went to play with my friend Branc's six-month-old kitty named Trudy who likes to sit on his shoulder while he walks around his apartment. I wish my kitty would do that...SoCo, that is, not Simi. Simi is too large. Branc related to me how once in the middle of the night, around 3 AM, Trudy decided she wanted to play, so she sat on his chest and proceeded to smack him across the face for a while.

I promised some recipes a while back. I will be posting those, I'm just too lazy right now. The end.

Fun-filled day of action planned with the ladies.

I made a new friend the other night. Her name is Carrie, and her boyfriend the Sprint Salesman (ha ha...I'll tell that story one day) is a drinking buddy of the Fiance's. I'm gonna pick her up this  morning, then pick up Becks, then finally Dee. I volunteered to be the driver today because we plan on going to a Corgi rescue place in the city across the river, and while in the area I plan on making a stop somewhere to surprise a certain lady who is going through a rough time.

First things first, though...breakfast at IHOP to celebrate Dee's new job!! It's a lot of money, a lot of travel, and we're all stoked for her. I like to think I had a hand in talking her into it, ha ha. After breakfast is when we'll head across the great river to see some Corgis and surprise some peoples. Then we'll head back this way so I can get my hair did (red streaks, red streaks, red streaks...) and hopefully get my awful-looking nails done.

So the east coast is being slammed with snow right now, which I'm only aware of way out here in the midwest because I have too many east coast "pals" on the Facebook and it's all they're talking about in their status updates. This morning I woke up to see about two dinky inches of snow, but that wind is not playing around. It whistled alllllll niiiiiiight and is now whistling allllll moooooorning, and it's making me want to punch a baby.

Dear Wind,

Please stop fucking whistling right the fuck now before I go on a baby-punching rampage. kthxbi

Love,
Dread Pirate Davi

Fun fact about the Dread Pirate Davi: Her hangovers do not consist of headaches, nausea, and a burning desire for death. They instead consist of a very intense thirst and a very, very, very intense hunger. On Thursday, I ate mozzarella sticks and curly fries from Arby's before cleaning off a plate at Houlihan's consisting of an 8 oz filet mignon, asparagus, and mashed taters. And I was still somewhat hungry after. Moral of the story: Hangovers are bad for my waistline and my bladder.

The end.

Language barriers.

(I <3 Laggin, Monica, and Terin.)

Today I saw the following status update on a friend's Facebook profile: "WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Press 1 for English. Press 2 to disconnect, until you learn to speak English. And remember only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, JESUS CHRIST and the AMERICAN SOLIDER. One died for your soul, the other for your freedom. If you agree... copy and paste in your status"

Nothing against this friend, whom I've known for almost six years and like a lot, but I strongly disagree with this, and I am personally offended. My maternal grandmother lives on US soil. She was born a US citizen. And she does not speak a lick of English. And no one can make her, unless they wanna fly to Puerto Rico and drive up the mountainside she lives on and teach an 80-something-year-old lady a second language. By all mean, then, be my guest.

This continent was discovered in the very early years of the second millennium by the Vikings, who did not speak English. The indigenous population that was here before the arrival of the white man did not speak English. Cristobal Colon (known to Americans as Christopher Columbus) did not speak English, that I'm aware of. More than two-thirds of the continental US was once owned by Spain. The first settlers in America, period, were the Spaniards.

And the United States of America does NOT have an official language. In 1917, when the Jones Act granted US citizenship to all Puerto Ricans, no one ran to each and every Puerto Rican to check whether or not they spoke English.

Until further notice, my Facebook status updates will be in Spanish.

How did I miss that??

On January 5th, Davi's Devious Domain turned three years old.

I originally started it to chronicle my Middle East adventures, but I ended up keeping those mostly to myself. Also, I'm not fond of the earlier posts, as they come off sounding...I can't find a word, but since then I find myself being more natural, being myself on here. I like that.

I dropped off for almost a year, and finally got back on to blog about nothing; meaning, anything.

Here's to many more years of this personal pleasure.

Web-shy.

That is what I have become over the past few months. I think it's a good thing, no longer being so obsessive over web-happenings. But I'm gonna try to blog more, 'cause I still love blogging.

I have a lot to share with you guys!! And it won't be in order, ha ha... Christmas was a quiet and lazy affair. Just Fiance and I, exchanging gifts.

Fiance recieved:

• 80 GB Playstation 3
• Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3 game)
  
• Ninja Gaiden (PS3 game)
  
• Terminator: Salvation (movie)
  
• A beer-making kit
• a mold for making shotglasses out of ice
• a mini keyboard for his XBox controller
• four shirts
• a DVD-playing boombox with a small screen from his mom
  

I recieved:

• eight books off of my Amazon wishlist
• Up (movie)
• The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Season 1
• The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Season 2
• The New Super Mario Bros for Wii
  
• a necklace with a diamond-studded charm that looks like a Celtic knot
• a black onyx ring carved in the shape of a rose
• a crockpot from his mom
• a purple plaid jacket with 3/4 sleeves from parents
• a shirt from parents
• toe socks from parents
• Asus Eee PC from parents (woot!!)
• bath set from Victoria's Secret from Becky
• The New Super Mario Bros for Wii from Dee (ha ha, she's gonna take it back)

The Sister has promised to send me my presents from Europe. She's backpacking right now with her ex-boyfriend (they made plans to do so before the break-up, but it looks like they're having fun so far). They started out in Prague, Czech Republic (he's in the country doing a semester there). From there they went to Vienna, Austria; then Budapest, Hungary; and now they're in Istanbul, Turkey. I'm so fucking jealous.

For New Year's, we went to the Hyatt in STL for some drinks and live music courtesy of the local rock station. It was SO FUCKING COLD. But we looked hawt. I wore what I refer to as my Marilyn Monroe dress, and I wasn't the only one who saw it as such; I noticed people pointing at me and commenting as I walked by. Quite the ego boost, thank you. Check us out!!

All I needed was a well-placed vent to stand over...

If I look miserable in the last one, it's 'cause the gin-and-tonic was not sitting well in my stomach.

We recently took in a temporary room mate. Jon was Fiance's boss in Afghanistan, and he got himself a job in the area. He's crashing with us till he finds a place for himself and his family.

A week-and-a-half before Christmas, we lost Fiance's grandmother to terminal ovarian and colon cancer. It was a shock, since she'd only been diagnosed the previous month and had been told that, even without chemo, she had a year. We got the call the 15th of December that she probably wouldn't make it till Christmas, so we quickly made plans to make the 12-hour drive out there. The following morning, his sister woke to find that she had died in her sleep. I wish with all my heart that we could have made it there in time for Fiance to say good-bye. He was a favorite of hers, and they were very close when he was growing up. Rest in peace, Georgianna Cline.

I've been cooking like a madwoman since we got home from New York. Fiance's uncle came running over to me during one of the viewings to share that Fiance was telling his family what a bad cook I was. I snapped and said to him, "If you don't like it, you can cook for yourself from now on!!" He sits around playing video games all day when I'm at work, and the first thing I hear when I get home is, "WHATSFORDINNERWHATFORDINNERWHATSFORDINNER." Then he has the nerve to complain about what I make!! I grilled up some porterhouse steaks on Christmas Eve (Simi the Spazmatic Kitty helped himself to Fiance's leftovers), and make a whole chicken for Christmas Day. Since then I've also been on a mild Puerto Rican kick. I made beef stew for that butthead in my new crockpot one night, but I've also made pollo guisado with white rice and pinto beans; white rice, pinto beans, churrasco (grilled skirt steak), and tostones (twice-fried plantains). In the non-Puerto Rican arena, I had my girlfriends over for lunch on Saturday and made out of one of my Weight Watchers cook books some cheese-stuffed chicken burgers and spicy chicken tortilla soup. They were AWESOME. Last night I cheated and made some quick spaghetti with meat sauce 'cause I had a massage appointment (DIVINE), and tonight I'm completely taking the night off because there are a stack of frozen pizzas in the fridge that need to be eaten. But I will continue to impress in the kitchen, as I've been doing since Christmas, and continue to allow Jon's and Fiance's compliments to boost my ego. I will post the fabulous recipes a little later.

Happy New Year to you all.

I love FactCheck.org.

A dear friend of mine works at the VA call center in St Louis. They receive many calls each day from veterans who are upset that, for the first time since 1975, there will be no increase in the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). They rant, they rave, they blame the current administration. My dear friend, along with another girlfriend, agrees with this.

I do not.

As I've stated previously, I hate chatting about politics. The first time my friend brought this up, I sat in silence, as I usually do when she and my other girlfriend start talking about politics, and just absorbed it all. They both voted for John McCain. I voted for our current president, but having a weak grasp of these things, I just sit there uncomfortably and try to fade into the background.

But when I read this article from FactCheck.org, I couldn't help myself. I e-mailed the link to my call center friend. She brought up the whole COLA thing again the other day when the three of us were having lunch (which I have to say was DELICIOUS...cheese-stuffed chicken burgers with a side of spicy chicken tortilla soup, both healthy recipes that I'll post later), and I mentioned the article link. She seemed to vaguely recall getting, and said she would look for it later. I tried to remember what the article said about COLA being linked to oil prices, but I knew was fudging, and they both just ignored me and blamed the current administration.

So I decided to share the article with anyone who might be concerned about this year's COLA and may be inclined to blame Congress. For once, it's not really their fault.

BUT...if you are just itching for a scapegoat, look to former President Richard Nixon, a Republican, who signed into effect the law that make COLA possible. Baaaa-zing!!

Disclaimer: I do tend to have slight Democratic leanings whenever I am struck by the desire to educate myself on a political issue, but on the whole I try to keep an open and unbiased attitude towards these things. It's why I love FactCheck.org.

To hell with all that.

On occasion I'll go off on here about politics and religion. But not often. The truth is, I hate discussing these two topics. I hate when they're brought up. It makes me uncomfortable, and I feel out of my element. These are not discussions I can really contribute to. I've made attempts, but I really prefer not to, as I do not feel qualified to comment on either about ninety-five percent of the time. I don't follow politics. I'm not clever enough to understand any of it. It's confusing as hell, and I prefer to ignore it. I did my research on Obama during election season, I liked what I was reading about him, and my gut told me he was the candidate for me. Beyond that, I just sat back and watched the fireworks. I put in my two cents on health care reform, since I'm no longer covered by the government-run health insurance that I enjoyed for six years, Tricare. Yes, that's right, I said ENJOYED. Bite me. Again, though, I prefer to sit back and await the results of the...well, whatever the hell you wanna call it. Debate?? Fight?? War?? Meh. As for religion...I ranted on that recently, but I really truly honestly HATE it when someone brings it up. Even more than politics. Do not try to drag me into a discussion/debate/argument, because I want none of it. Religion has always been a very personal thing for me, not something I care to emblazon on a banner and hang from the rooftops. It's unnecessary. Let me worry about my soul or fate in the afterlife or what have you, and you worry about yours. I was beyond offended when a Christian, upon hearing that I was a pseudo-Wiccan, tried to LECTURE ME. It was my fault for mentioning it in the first place, because it was none of his business, but HOLY SHIT. You know nothing about me, how dare you lecture to me?? Basically what I'm saying is...don't bring that shit up around me. As I said, I'm just not clever enough to understand politics. Yes, I voted for Barack Obama, and yes, I find it incredibly offensive when Obama supporters are compared to socialists, communists, or worse...NAZIS. Fuck you. As for religion, I could care less about "In God We Trust" being on the dollar bill, I could care less about the Ten Commandments being posted outside of a courthouse. I still sorta believe in some kind of higher being, but I'm not stupid enough to think the earth was created in six days or that the earth is only six thousand years old. And don't ask me to expand on any of that, because I'm not going to. I've been burned in the past for trying to, and I won't make that mistake again.

And for the record, I do believe Scientology is a crock of shit. I will not expand on that, either. The end.

From the mouths of babes.

Yesterday my friend Ben and his wife Carrie brought over their daughters Hannah and Emma for a few hours. I put on some movies for them, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, which they admitted to never seeing previously. (Srsly, what's wrong with this new batch of children?? These are classics, for chrissakes!!) Emma has a loose tooth, and kept wiggling it back and forth. I encouraged her efforts, and provided many a napkin to sop up the blood. She expressed distaste for the blood, saying, "It tastes like an old lady dying in my mouth."

Emma is six years old.

I swear to gawd this happened.

Keep religion out of it.

Currently religious leaders are throwing a shit fit over abortion coverage as part of the healthcare reform. I have a middle-ground view on abortion, but I won't go into it. Instead, let me remind you about a little girl with Type I Diabetes whose parents refused to seek treatment for her, choosing instead to pray and "leave it in God's hands," allowing their little girl to die.

Remember that. The lesson I gathered from this tragic incident?? Keep religion out of healthcare.

And we know what happens when religion and affairs of state mix. Remember Mary I of England, Bloody Mary, who sent hundreds of Protestants to the stake for daring to worship God in a different manner. Not even children were spared during her bloody reign. During that same time period, an innocent girl named Jane Grey lost her head because the Protestant faction did not want a Catholic monarch and disregarded Henry VIII's will, known as the Act of Succession, which turned out to be illegal because it had been passed by an Act of Parliament. The lesson to be learned? Keep religion out of affairs of state and politics. Those are just two among the thousands of examples provided by history.

Have you heard that the Catholic Church in DC is threatening to withdraw their social services (ie, assistance to the homeless, etc) if the local government doesn't drop a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage?? I think Ghandi had it right when he said, "I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. They are nothing like your Christ." So true, Ghandi.

I can't keep defending religion when it's used in the worst way possible. When it's used to defend actions such as suicide bombings and honor killing. When it's used to  keep a woman from seeking an abortion when she's raped, or as an excuse from getting medical treatment for your children. When it's used as an excuse to commit  treason or persecute people who see things a little differently than you do.

I am losing faith in mankind, and as a result am less able to believe that there's a higher being that created us and cares about us. Where was God when over a million people lost their lives in the American Civil War?? Where was God when Hitler persecuted and murdered over six million Jews?? Where was God when the World Trade Center towers fell?? WHERE WAS HE????