Pressing the RESET button

For my sanity (and my Mama and sister's birthday) I took an extended weekend home. I stayed in my bedroom at my parents' house and enjoyed five days of being Daddy's little girl again.

For five days I had no cell reception. No emails, no texts, no Facebook. At first it was a little scary but then it was kind of liberating. I was able to focus on myself and my family even better than I had in the past. I realized that I use my phone in my daily life a little more than is actually necessary. That said, being home and having time for a little self introspection made me realize a few things, some weight loss related, some not so much.

1. I've gained two pants sizes since I was last home.

2. I want my own family a lot sooner than I originally thought.

3. I really miss being a country girl: riding horses, getting dirty working on the farm, hanging out with family, playing tag with the kids in the front yard, and just slowing down in general. 

       

Most of these things I can actually accomplish with my continued weight loss journey. (For sure #1 but in extended ways, all of them would be improved by reaching my goal weight.)

Today I went back to my new favorite store (HEB Sugar Land market) and loaded up on meal planning foods. Tonight I enjoyed a delicious Slow cooker brisket. I found the brisket on sale. The store actually had one slab of brisket that was 97 cents a pound, however that was WAY too much meat for just the two of us. I purchased a three pound package of trimmed brisket for just over $6. I already had most of the items needed for the recipe. I cooked a can of corn (72 cents) and mashed some potatoes that Mama gave me. So this meal cost about $1 per serving. We have tons of leftovers and I froze the other 1.5 pounds of brisket so we still have plenty to eat. If I'd gone out to eat, these two portions would have EASILY cost us $8 each. (That's a savings of $14!)

Today was my first day "on plan" in at least a month. I was actually surprised by how much I got to eat. (I remember thinking that over two years ago when I first started Weight watchers.) But I had some apple pie and some Blue Bell for dessert after dinner and even had chips at lunch and still didn't "spend" any more points than my daily point target. :)

The great grocery gathering

I apologize for not having a blog post last week, I've been really sick and am only now beginning to feel like joining the land of the living. Anyway....

As ya'll know from my previous posts, it's been difficult to get my behind in a grocery store. Since moving to Sugar Land, I just hadn't been able to find a grocery store that I enjoyed navigating or that carried all of my favorite foods. For that matter, I hadn't been able to find one that wouldn't leave me with only dust bunnies in my wallet. So it may not be a surprise to you that this morning my fridge looked like this:

Clearly I wasn't in the best position to make any kind of healthy or plan friendly meal. 

On Saturday there was a flier in my mailbox announcing the grand opening of a big new HEB close to my house. I *warm big puffy heart* HEB. :) Naturally, I was excited. The grand opening was yesterday and I tried swinging by there. It seemed like every Sugarlander had the same idea/ People were trying to park in the street and the loading zone in the back of the store. I was so not feeling being packed into a store full of people dying for a good sale. I decided to wait until today.

It was still pretty busy but not any more so than any other HEB I've ever been to on a regular day. Me and my reusable bags found a not too distant park and went in. I was trying to get my fliers out of my purse when who should come greet me but Hugh Sintic, the Unit Director. You may be asking yourself, "how does she know who this guy is?" Well friends, the guy's picture is on the flier they mailed out and yes, I felt slightly like I was meeting a celebrity. Hugh gave me a copy of the store's floor plan:

Every WWer's BFF

Then he welcomed me to the store and we chatted briefly about what my needs were in a grocery store. (I was amazed that he'd even care what my grocery store needs would be. HEB is truly an awesome store!) After a handshake, I was on my way. There were many helpful HEB partners littered throughout the store and I found myself really enjoying the experience in spite of still feeling under the weather. I even found a few things that intrigued me. And as Kimberly, (meeting leader extraordinaire) always says, "Don't be afraid to try something new!"

Rambutan: Doesn't even look edible, does it?

Cross sectioned

You take it out of the spindly shell and eat it, whole, seed and all. The flesh tastes like the middle of a grape and the seed is almond-like but not quite as hard. Actually pretty tasty, $7.99 per pound, this little guy was .08 pounds and 64 cents. Not the best buy, but hey I tried something new. :)

I continued on. More Almond milk was numero uno on my list, so I went to the milk aisle. Turns out, HEB has come out with their own brand of almond milk. Conveniently at eye level, it was 50 cents cheaper than the Almond Breeze that was on sale. So I got some of their brand to compare with the stuff I was almost out of at home. (Neglected to look at my Kroger flier, Almond Breeze is 1.99 there if you buy @ least 10 of their promotional items. That was a 50 cent loss. I'm not sure if I would have actually gotten 10 of their promo items though.) I don't know if they were actually supposed to but, they matched the price Kroger listed for the Skinny Cow Dreamy Clusters. $1.49 savings :) 

Here's the most amazing thing about the whole trip, EVERY SINGLE CHECKOUT WAS OPEN! I didn't have to wait at all to check out and the cashier, Laura was really helpful.

I ended up buying 40 items. My total before coupons was $99.16. (including the match price on the Clusters).

Once all my coupons were utilized, I spent $85.19. Pretty amazing if I do say so myself. 

This is what my fridge looks like now:

I also got all this:

 Overall, I think I did a really good job. I'm excited to be able to take better care of myself and a fully stocked fridge goes a long way. Plus I'm gonna love cooking for Trevor (my boyfriend) and myself.

I hope that I get rid of this stupid cold/allergies/whatever soon because with my new schedule, I'm dying to ride my bike and run more often. Who knows, I might even find a meeting I love. It's gonna be a good week. :)