Update

I never did my update about our weekend and now it's time for an update about last night's weight loss. Sorry for the delay. It just gets busy around here. I know you understand.


First, the weight loss. I lost 4 pounds this week for a grand total of just under 62. Everyone is saying how awesome it is -- the health educator, the doctor, the rest of the class, Marlon. So how come I was disappointed with only 4 pounds?! I guess because I was hoping for a bigger week since last week was so low. I have to keep reminding myself to think of that half-full glass! It really is a LOT in not-quite-3 months. (It will be three months next week.) It might also be because I'm getting a little bit sick of it. 3 months is a long time to go without any real food. I've been enjoying "hot vanilla" shakes w/cinamon and nutmeg for breakfast instead of my standard chocolate. But it's getting old. I'm still planning on doing the very low calorie diet until mid Feb, then I'm going to transition into maintenance. So I'm about half way there. Hopefully I will have lost most of my weight that I want to lose by then, but I can still keep losing slowly on maintenance as well, just on regular foods.



Last weekend was a very fun weekend. I didn't do an update about Halloween or post any pictures because, to be honest, we really minimized Halloween and I didn't even take any pictures. We had services at temple and Harrison and Marlon and I went. It was his good friend Matthew's Bar Mitzvah. He, Matthew and Matthew's brother were the only three kids there, though. But he enjoyed it. Jacob and Michela went trick or treating with some friends. I think jacob was a cowboy and Michela was a gangster girl, but i'm not even sure. I told them to find something to wear in their closets! They had fun trick or treating and going to a scary haunted house. (Thanks, Anice, for taking them!)



Saturday was a really, really busy day. It was also a day of being around food -- two cocktail hours with delicious looking passed appetizers and other goodies, two sit down meals, two scrumptious looking desserts, and being gone almost the whole day so I needed to take all my shakes, entrees, etc. I got up early to swim to make sure I got that hour in. Then we had the Bar Mitzvah, which was great. I did the program for them (little booklet to hand out explaining the service and all that) and it came out great and they were very appreciative and now I have a head start on Harrison's. It was a wonderful service and Matthew did awesome. I took Harrison and some of his friends from the service to the party and Marlon took Jacob and Michela in his car. Listening to their conversation about Obama and prop 8 (the gay marriage ban) and the passion and knowledge with which they spoke about both was so wonderful. They were all for Obama and all against Prop 8 (against banning gay marriage) and listening to their passion and way they were able to talk about very adult issues made me know that our country will be fine if these types of kids are our future!

The Bar Mitvah party was really fun. I noticed a benefit to my weight loss and being in better shape - I could dance the day away, unlike before when I couldn't keep up with the hora and fast dancing. Marlon couldn't keep up with ME! Matthew is very into politics so the theme was based on the election and everything was red, white and blue and there were cut outs of all the political figures, which was fun. All the kids had the big Obama cut out dancing with them and they had a great time with that. (that's where those pictures came from). Matthew's mom, Robin, has a button making business and she makes the political buttons and sells them at the national conventions, so she had special buttons made for Matthew and also had a ton of official buttons from the election and things that she had gathered at the democratic and republican conventions like floor passes, Lincoln pennies, etc. Very cool give-a-ways and different from the usual glow necklaces and sunglasses. We all had great patriotic hats and flags and there were political trivia games and all that. Out of the hundred or so people there, I think at least 95 of us were for Obama, so it was great fun. The very few McCain supporters kept quiet!

After the Bar Mitzvah, we dropped the kids off at home and Marlon and I had a wedding on the beach in Laguna Beach for one of the students he advises. It was a beautiful ceremony, then there were cocktails and appeitzers and then a sit down dinner inside this house on the beach. It was very nice and fun to get to know some of the student's aunts and uncles. there was dancing there too, of course.

The kids stayed home alone with Harrison in charge. and you're not going to believe what we did. We had brought 3 of his friends home from the party and they were getting picked up here. They all started begging for them to stay and hang out and watch a movie. Our initial thought was "no way," we're not going to be here. But they're good kids and we trust them and, after talking to them about the parameters of what they could and couldn't do and could and couldn't watch, and talking to the other parents, we said ok. So, basically, harrison was here with his brother and sister and TWO GIRLS! (the 3rd friend, the other boy, had to leave b/c he had too much homework.) They ate warmed dinner in the micro and hung out and watched a movie. As we drove off, Marlon and I almost couldn't believe we were allowing him to stay home with two girls (one of whom I think has a crush on him and he on her) but we trust them and they're all good kids and we figured Jacob and Michela would keep an eye on things. Michela, as sweet as she is, just relishes the opportunity to tattle on her brothers if they do something wrong, so we knew she'd both keep everything in line and tell us if it wasn't! I also checked in by phone every 30 min or so. It all went fine. We did tell Harrison that he should not expect to be left alone in the house with any girls or girlfriends when he's older!!

Sunday was also a great family day. We participated in this Mitzvah Launch at our synagogue. We met at the temple for a big spirit pep rally, then broke off into groups based on the activity we signed up for. There were lots of things to choose from -- writing letters to politicians lobbying for Darfur and other causes, beach clean up, visiting an animal shelter, and a bunch of other opportunities. We chose to go with about 5 other people to a transitional housing shelter in Laguna Beach to prepare and serve lunch for about 30 people. jacob and Michela make decorations for the tables and we made pasta and chocolate chip cookies to take. Others made lasagna, garlic bread and salad. We set it all up and served it. It was very rewarding. The residents were very appreciative. Although they have funding and a staff person does cooking on a regular basis, they really appreciate when others bring food in because then they can use the money for other needs. We decided that we'll bring all of the leftovers from harrison's bar mitzvah and the other parties to this shelter and will keep it in mind for other parties we have.

There was a lunch at the temple afterwards, then we came home and relaxed from a busy weekend!

I'll try to post some of the kids konnection articles and pictures this weekend!