Be very careful who you trust, particularly on the Interwebs.

There are a lot of nasty liars out there.

New Year’s Eve pre-party at a friend’s house: $0

Money saved on cover to a club when it was decided to turn the pre-party into a party and watch goofy YouTube videos: $12

Number of visibly impaired drivers avoided on the trip home: 2

Being home safe and sound, getting ready for bed and a snuggle with Ginger the cat, looking forward to putting 2009 behind me: Priceless

Hope everyone had a great New Year’s celebration, and got wherever they were going safely!

Here in Wisconsin it’s about T-minus 6.25 hours until we usher in 2010.

Much like my weight loss efforts, I’ve not been the best at keeping up this blog. I hope that will change in the new year. Besides blogging more, my one resolution is to respect myself more. Recently I’ve been reminded of my ability to keep my mouth shut and not speak up for myself.

Last night made me realize that has to change.

So that’s my mantra for 2010. I’m done being a doormat. And while I’m not going to run roughshod over people’s feelings, I am going to speak up for myself a little more and ensure that my own needs are being met at the same — or, let’s be honest, higher — level as everyone else’s.

Since this is a public blog and I am not in the business of slander, I won’t go into any more detail than that; suffice to say that I have a lot to learn about myself in 2010.

With that said, I hope everyone has a wonderful — and safe! — New Year.

See you on the other side.

I am part of a “12 Days of Chocolate” group at my office. The premise is just how it sounds: A group of 12 of us sign up for a specific day, and on that day we bring in a chocolatey treat for the other 11. It’s a lot of fun and a great way to get in the holiday spirit.

The last couple years I’ve made the same thing and wanted to try something different this year. I came across this recipe on the Weight Watchers Web site, thought it looked relatively easy and decided to try it. So far it’s a hit, so I thought I’d share it here with all of you in case you are looking for something easy and quick to make for a holiday gathering.

Chocolate Marshmallow Bark (credit www.weightwatchers.com)
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, as premium as possible
2 tsp. butter
3 c. mini marshmallows

In a double-boiler (or in my case, a makeshift double boiler consisting of a saucepan and glass bowl), melt together chocolate and butter until smooth. Remove from heat and fold in marshmallows with a silicon spatula. Using the same spatula, spread the mixture into an aluminum foil-lined 9 x 9 pan (or — again — in my case, an 8 x 8 pan because apparently they don’t make 9 x 9 pans anymore). Refrigerate until chocolate is set and keep refrigerated until you’re ready to serve it.

According to the Weight Watchers Web site, the recipe yields 12 servings at a cost of 3 WW points per serving (if made in a 9 x 9 pan). Even with the marshmallows, it’s a very rich treat, so this could probably yield more than 12 servings.

While I’m not a professional photographer, I thought a real-life, non-staged photo of the finished product would be more in order, so here’s my final version (which has been cut into, so you can actually see that it’s been consumed).

Sorry about the quality, I took it with my Blackberry.®

If you decide to make it, comment and let me know how it turns out!

Enjoy!

My Dad is coming over tomorrow morning to help me bring my Christmas tree up from the basement, so I really need to get moving on this whole distasteful cleaning thing.

But before I do, I thought I’d recap how my Thanksgiving went from an eating standpoint. Below is a recap of my six-point-plan from yesterday’s post, with comments on how I did (or didn’t do) on each one.

1. Cut the pie. I didn’t cut the pie before I left the house, but I did cut it once I got there. I wanted to have just half a slice, but ended up having a whole slice and a small piece of carrot cake. Half-check.
2. Turkey Day workout. I went, I exercised, and today my whole body hurts. Check.
3. Limit pre-dinner snacking. I did a GREAT job at this, compared to previous years. I had a small amount of the Mexican slop dip I love (and feared my aunt would make this year) with some chips, but then stuck to a small amount of M&Ms, and carrots and cucumber from the veggie tray (no dip). Check.
4. Eat calories, don’t drink them. I did a great job with this as well, having just two glasses of wine. Before dinner I drank a TON of water, and then had two cans of diet soda the rest of the night. BIG Check.
5. No leftovers allowed. While I enjoyed a small amount of dessert at my aunt’s house, I did take two pieces of pumpkin pie home with me, and they were gone before I went to sleep. And, truth be told, I didn’t try that hard — well, at all — to get someone else to take them home. Uncheck.
6. Post-dinner walk. It was cold and windy, but I did get my cousin, three aunts and two other gals to go for a short walk around my aunt’s neighborhood. We were probably only gone ten minutes, but it was something. Also, I did the dishes which, while not burning a ton of calories, kept me moving and is something I don’t normally offer to do. Check.

You may remember my goal was to accomplish at least four of these goals and, by my complicated and top-secret check/un-check equation, I count that I completed four-and-a-half of these goals. Add to that the fact that I didn’t go back for seconds on the main meal, and I declare this Thanksgiving a rousing success.

I tried to tally up all my WW points when I got home last night. By those standards, I didn’t do so great of a job. (Let’s just say my 35 weekly allowance points are no longer available to me until they reboot six days from now.) When I put this Thanksgiving up against previous ones, however, I have to say I hit a solid triple.

If you take out the two pieces of pie I ate when I got home, it would have been a home run.

But I’ll take the triple.

Hope everyone who celebrates had a good time spent with family, friends and food. Now off to clean!

I’m too ashamed to write here how well I’ve not been following Weight Watchers these last weeks, so I won’t. Suffice to say it’s a miracle I’ve squeaked by with the few small losses I’ve enjoyed the past few weigh-ins.

Motivation has always been a challenge for me, and fortunately the holidays don’t make this problem even worse. Being single and not having in-laws to visit makes life a lot less hectic this time of year. Still, I’ve decided to at least be conscious of the pitfalls of holiday eating and take it one occasion at a time. And when there’s no holiday, one day at a time.

So here is my plan for Thanksgiving, which my Dad and I are spending at my aunt’s house:

1. Cut the pie. I’m baking a pumpkin pie Wednesday night, and am going to cut it into slices before I leave for my aunt’s house so I can control the size of piece I get. If I cut it into 16 slices, it’s four WW points per slice. (Note: I’m already planning to lower the fat content of the pie by using egg substitute and fat free evaporated milk. Can’t do much about the homemade — by request — crust.)
2. Turkey Day Workout. I’m meeting my friend/co-worker Melissa at the Wisconsin Athletic Club at 8 a.m. Thursday for a one-hour strength training class. I’m so glad she wanted to go, because it will virtually guarantee that I drag myself out of bed and get to the gym. Left to my own devices, I know I would hit the snooze (or not set the alarm at all). I suppose my back-up plan if she bails is to try my hardest to go anyway.
3. Limit pre-dinner snacking. Part of our family festivities this year is the Packer game, which starts at 11:30 a.m. We’re not eating until 3 p.m., so that’s a long time and a lot of snack foods.
4. Eat calories, don’t drink them. I will have a glass of wine or two, but then am going to switch to soda and water the rest of the day/evening.
5. No leftovers allowed. I will use the response I use every year when asked if I want to take anything home. “No, because I’ll just eat it.”
6. Post-dinner walk. The plan is to suggest a walk after dinner to settle our stomachs. I don’t think I’ll have trouble getting takers on this, as this is a semi-regular occurrence at our family get togethers. I just don’t usually participate.

Barring some kind of unnatural event, Nos. 1, 2 and 5 will happen, no question. If I can accomplish at least one more of the above goals, I will consider this a successful holiday, foodwise. I’m not planning to track what I eat on Thursday, but having these six goals in mind will go a long way in helping me to be successful, even though I’m not writing down every bite that goes in my mouth.

Happy Thanksgiving, my American friends!

My mother would have been 59 years old today. This is the third birthday since she’s been gone.

I’m planning to go to the cemetery over my lunch hour today to visit her … it gets dark here now before I leave work, and I don’t think she would approve of me hopping the fence at the graveyard just to stand by her headstone for a few minutes.

When I was 10, my aunt (and Mom’s youngest sister) Susie got married. After the wedding, my mom and I stopped back at the house to pick something up. When we came out of the house she realized she had locked her car (and house) keys inside.

It was August, so the windows were open. She walked me around to the front porch and proceeded to bust in the screen and make me crawl into the kitchen to get her keys. The window was right over the sink, so I was trying to step around dirty dishes, while not killing myself in the process, so I could get the keys.

We then drove to my Grandma’s house — where everyone was gathering to spend the bajillion hours between the wedding and reception — and she told me never to tell my father the “stupid” thing she had done.

I don’t remember, but I’m pretty sure I blabbed it to someone that day. I was 10, for cripes sake!

Miss you, Mom.

Bells will be ringing this holiday season as thousands of runners and walkers hit the nation’s pavements, pathways and parks this winter to fight arthritis, the nation’s most common cause of disability.

I will be one of those people, tying jingle bells to my shoelaces to participate in the Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis, a 5K fun run/walk to benefit the Arthritis Foundation. And YOU can help, too!

‘Tis the season for giving! Won’t you sponsor me in my effort to raise funds to fight arthritis? Arthritis affects more than 46 million Americans, including 300,000 children, costing the U.S economy over $128 billion annually. The Arthritis Foundation needs our help.

Please visit my Web page to join my team or make a secure, online contribution to help me reach my fundraising goal. The donations I raise will help fund the Arthritis Foundation’s mission to prevent, control and cure arthritis.

Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support Arthritis Foundation, Wisconsin Chapter

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No, I’m not talking about the gay and lesbian organization.

I’m talking about the Weight Watchers 10 Percent Society.

This week I regained my 10-percent-body-weight-lost status with a three pound loss.

During today’s meeting we were talking about the importance of setting goals, meaning that “if you don’t know where you’re going, you’re probably not going to get there.” I have been goal-less in my weight loss efforts for a long time now, and I think that’s why I’ve stalled at the scale. According to our meeting leader, a goal should be

• Specific
• Realistic
• Attainable
• Easily fits into my life

That being said, I’ve made a new goal for myself, now that I’ve reached my initial 10 percent. I’m now going to shoot for five percent of my current weight, which would be a total of about 12 pounds. I think if I go in 5 percent increments, the light at the end of the tunnel won’t seem so dim.

I realized that my past weight tracker charts update everytime I update my weight, kind of negating the ability to see progress. So I am now going to present my tickers in jpeg format. That way I (or anyone else) can go back and see how far I’ve come.

(Old) 10 Percent Ticker

(New) 5 Percent Ticker

(Ongoing) Overall Ticker

I really need to get back on track, both with my eating and (even moreso) with excercising. I am hoping that this new goal will help that in some small way.

Oh, and in case you didn’t know, here’s all the health benefits you could realize from losing 10 percent of your body weight.

I’ve been in Portland, Oregon since Saturday night to “man” a trade show booth on behalf of the client I work on at my agency. There have been some challenges — one of my product banner stands didn’t get shipped, and 80 percent of the product literature for the booth wasn’t shipped, either. The show started on Sunday and there really wasn’t much that could be done, so I didn’t worry myself too much about it.

What a beautiful city! The view as we landed was breathtaking, and I can see Mount St. Helens from my hotel room. Last night I had dinner at a little Italian restaurant in the Pearl District with a college friend who just so happens to live in Portland. We figured out that we hadn’t seen each other since 1994, so it was great to catch up.

Today I’m sitting at a trade show  booth from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. After I’m finished I’m going to explore a little Asian grocery store I discovered across the street from the convention center (a headache is coming on and I needed aspirin). They have some interesting collectibles, so maybe I’ll come home with a few souvenirs.

My body still thinks it’s on Central time, unfortunately, so I’m yawning by 8 p.m. I’m sure I’ll be acclimated by the time I get ready to go home on Wednesday.

Since I won’t get many daylight hours to sightsee, I also want to try and get a few pictures, even if they are only in the vicinity of the convention center. It’s just so beautiful here!