Sugar Dadda, Very Sweet

If you don't know it yet... I'm poor. Haha! My impoverished state, as a human being is my fault and lousy choice. But I'm a work in progress, ok?

Anyways, I don't have personal savings. The Hubby and I have a serious commitment to the family's yet-to-be-established riches. Doubla haha! Our salaries are spent on bills and savings. We get payday allowances for food and transportation (for work). That's it. Everything else goes to our joint savings.

Despite my poverty, I have worldly wants. I get obsessed, once in a while, with things/activities. These "wants" of course, require financing. And I'm writing this post today to express my deepest gratitude to The Hubby for being supportive and for allowing my obsessions to be financed by the conjugal savings --- family riches. Haha again!

These are some of the many things - episodes in my life - he supported:

• Nail Polish Episode - used to have 20 colors in my cabinet... approx. PhP40-50 per bottle. Episode ended because I could not, for the life of me, learn how to paint my right hand fingernails using my left hand. He'd help sometimes, but my nails end up looking like a Van Gogh painting. Go figure.
• Gardening Episode - soil, plants, flower pots, plant box, daily watering... this is still ongoing. He's just not giving in to more plants acquisition because of serious space issues.
• Hair Coloring (Salon) Episode - how many hubbies take their wives to the salon for hair color? Awwww... Oh but this has ended. I'm back to coloring my own hair. He still supports the hair color though.
• Need New Shoes Episode - happens, if I'm not mistaken, at least twice a year. He's been encouraging me to start investing in "branded" shoes - for long shoe life. But I still like the "made in Korea" ones. Those that you can purchase for less than PhP400 per pair. 
• Walking/Jogging Episode - still ongoing but the big purchase was made sometime in May. If I didn't have a financial conscience, he would have gotten me to say yes to a really "expensive" pair. He got me my first sports bra (and was pushing for more!) and running skirt.
• South Beach Diet Episode - started pretty recently. He said yes to all the additional expenses for vegies and spam.

And yesterday... he enrolled me in Yoga classes. Ahiiiiiiiihiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii....

I am very blessed. I just hope I could return the favor/s someday...  Ang mahal naman kasi ng gusto niyang bike at telescope. Hayaan mo Dadda,  yayaman din ako!

Not (Don't want to be) a morning person

I started working the morning shift yesterday. 8AM to 5PM. The daily grind for employees in the non-call center/BPO world. I don't have any problems with it except for the fact that when I work these hours, I don't get to spend time with The Little One (TLO). I don't get to take her to school nor engage in some "chill out" activities before she takes her afternoon nap. When I got home yesterday, I started cooking. By the time chores were zeroed out, she was already sleeping.

I'm going to be in this schedule until the end of the week. And God forbid, until next week.

I can't wait for the classes I'm running to end. I want to be back in GY. I miss running around, chasing TLO.

Time for some minor reorganization

Losing weight is a current obsession. I need more time, more focus, more writing space and I'm getting a little "claustrophobic" in this blogger account. So while I'm still loyal to the anti-cellulite cause, all my weight loss entries will be posted in this blog:

http://journeyto100pounds.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

Only in pre-school...

... are stones these pretty.

All photos taken in CLC.
Using a Nokia C5 phone camera
No edits :)

SBD - Day 1 Fail

Everything from breakfast until afternoon snack went well... until I started cooking Pancit Canton for the hubby's birthday. I had to "sample the merchandise" given that it's my first time to cook this dish. Sin was further complicated by ice cream and munggo.

Hopefully, today will be better.

SBD - Week 1

 Menu from Monday-Friday

• 2 Srambled Eggs (Breakfast)
• Stir Fried Broccoli and Cauliflower with Turkey Spam (Lunch)
• Stir Fried Broccoli and Cauliflower with Chicken Luncheon Meat (Dinner)
• In case of hunger emergency: Cucumber and Nuts (Snacks)
• Stir Fried veggies were prepared with 1 tbsp of Canola oil, 1/4 cup of water, salt and pepper
• Turkey and Chicken spam are ready to serve without cooking

Dinner

Lunch

For 5 days!

Ready to go to the fridge (with labels)

"Eat, drink and be merry. For tomorrow you stop eating rice."

 I've been fat since 2003. The last time I felt good about my body was in year 2001. I weighed 108 lbs. After college graduation, these things happened:

• sedentary lifestyle
• GY shift
• stress eating

These, along with genetics, helped me achieved a whooping body weight of 180 lbs (November 2011).

I recently lost 20 lbs from good old-fashioned exercise and control of rice intake (1 cup per meal). I was happy but the timeline's kinda too slow... I have issues that I need to address. I want to be at a perfect 100 (lbs).

Then Orlando posted this in his blog. I was inspired. I've been wanting to go on SBD (South Beach Diet) for the longest time but I got discouraged by some factors:

• Preparation - Who will make the food for me?
• Cost - Regular menu for the family plus my food
• Unhappiness - I love rice

When I reviewed Orly/Hazel's Pinoy SBD guide, I had a Eureka moment. I can improvise! I was also able to address the three factors that have kept me from doing SBD:

Preparation - Who will make the food for me?
I have an addictive personality. I am able to eat the same thing for a period of two months (ex. Bagoong Rice, Henlin's Goto, leftovers, etc.). Phase 1 is just two weeks of restraint... not a problem. My first week prep is in this post.

Cost - Regular menu for the family plus my food
All my fitness counselors and online references agree - 80% of weight loss results come from diet. Only 20% comes from exercise. I've been doing some research for fitness classes within the area: Yoga lessons cost PhP4,500 per month (unlimited sessions). Zumba costs PhP6,000 for two months (16 sessions).

Unhappiness - I love rice
Beggars can't be choosers. And it's not forever...

So wish me well. SBD starts today!

Father's Day in School

Loved the activity in school last Friday, 06/15/12. Dads were invited for a little activity - cap decoration! Kids, me included, loved the arts and crafts supplies! Scrapbooking stickers, glue gun, textile paint! I was in heaven!

I love it that the school supports "family activities." They were also "sensitive" to realities of life... the instructions said that if dads are "not available," any male figure in the child's life can attend.  The activity would not have alienated any kid with separated parents or missing dads or dead dads. :(

It was great seeing dads doing "girly" stuff. I could have sworn I've seen them check out each other's decorations. One dad wouldn't stop adding "stuff" on their caps... until they looked like arts and craft store racks. Competition. Beasts with glue guns. Love!

I just wish they'd schedule these things over the weekend next time... Some parents need to work, you know...

TLO and Dadda working on their project.

Finished products

At the photo booth. Proud of their ouput!

Happy Dad's Day!

To our favorite dad in the world today and for eternities.

TLO and I are the luckiest girls on earth!