05/24/10: Happy Monday!!!

Good Morning, y'all!

What a weekend!

So I briefly mentioned last week that we were hosting a party this weekend just for the sake of haivng a party.  We called it a "Kick off the Summer" party.  We didn't want to do this party on Memorial Day weekend - even though Memorial Day weekend is generally when summer gets "kicked off", because most people travel or do family things.  So we thought we'd do it this weekend and good thing cause we had a crowd!  It was awesome!

All told we had about 35-40 people wander through our doors.  And they were fed nicely.  And they all swam and had a blast.  It was neat to see my work peeps mingling with my hubbies work peeps, my friends mingling with my hubbies friends - and our mutual friends meeting people we always talk about.  It was, to me, exactly why we put the pool in and built the wide open house that we have.  Our home was designed for parties!

And I did that on purpose cause I love to have 'em!

One of my coworkers/friends came home with us Friday night to help us get everything ready.  Friday, we went out to dinner (ate the best Tex-Mex around at our fave joint, "Gringos") then headed home.  My hubby and friend went and did the grocery shopping while I did my workout.  I completed my requirements for the week by doing that workout - so with that last workout not hanging over my head (I had given myself leeway to do this workout on Sun if Fri didn't work out but I'm glad I did it Fri as I don't think it would have happened yesterday if I'd left it hanging out there), I felt particularly great!  This week my weights get kicked up a bit and I'm excited about that.

I'll come back to that...

They got home about the same time I was finishing my workout.  And we all got to work in the kitchen.  Before heading out for work on Friday we loaded our two crockpots with 20 pounds of pork shoulder.  One was a 7 pound roast, the other a 13 pound roast.  You want the best pork shoulder, i.e. pulled pork, that is super easy?  Crockpot.  Shoulder roast.  Can of beer.  Set on low and walk away.  We did one with rub and one without.  And whatever you want to use for rub is great.  The one with rub is always saltier and flavorful but the one without rub is buttery and, to me, just better.  I like to let the barbeque sauce play up the flavors - but that's also because I make my own bbq sauce.  So our buddy went to work on pulling 20 pounds of meat.

My hubby went to work on shredding carrots and cabbage for cole slaw.  No worries - he used the food processor.

And I went to work on my chili that always garners a gazillion compliments.  I honestly don't think it's anything special but it always elicits oohs and awws.

When my chili was finally simmering away (10 lbs of meat had to be browned and that took awhile) I went to work on my bbq sauce.

I have discovered over the years that part of why I can't stand most bbq sauces is because they use vinegar - although I love vinegar...apparently I don't like it in ketchup - although ketchup has vinegar in it...but if it has lemon juice, I'm ok.  And because I make my own, I can cut back on the sugar and increase other flavors.  So by making my own, I've come up with something that I love and turns out, drops the calorie count (and sugars), too!  So I got the bbq sauce simmering and then went to work on the dressing for the cole slaw.

From 7pm on Friday until midnight, I did not sit down once.  You'd think my feet would have been killing me - combo of bad foot from the Navy and being way too fat.  But no...I've dropped enough that my feet are starting to be ok with all this.  Good thing cause I love doing this and I'd love to do it more often!

So I got the dressing for the slaw made and tossed it so that it could start to marry and do it's thing overnight.

We then went to work getting everything into the refrigerator.  Our 12qt stock pot barely fits in there but it's gotta be pretty empty to make it happen.  Add in a crock of pulled pork (with the roasts shredded and off the bone, we got all 20 pounds into one crock) and a big bowl of cole slaw and that took some finagling.  My husband and buddy got that sorted while I got the kitchen cleaned back up.

Saturday was more getting ready.  We replaced our doggie door as the old one was plastic and it cracked.  We put in an aluminum one this time so it should hold up better.  We got my humming bird feeder hung and we also got two doorknobs replaced.  My hubby and I are slowly but surely replacing all knobs in the house.  My hubby and buddy also went out for a few forgotten things as well as a few things we had to get on the day of - like ice.  I went to work chopping fruits and veggies and getting dips and such made.  And then it was time to get it all out and start heating things up.

We were done and in our swim suits and in the pool before the first people arrived.  Our invite said 4 but the first guest didn't arrive until after 4:30.  My sweet hubby said at one point that would be just our luck - to get it all done and all looking so great just to have no one show.  But not a worry.  Like I said, end result was somewhere between 35-40 people.

Just before I got into my swim suit I decided I should weigh myself.  I know better than to weigh myself mid-afternoon and after I've eaten and drank anything.  But I wanted to see where I was after nearly 7 hours of being up and moving around; and all that after what I'd done on Friday.  I also wanted to see what the party would do to my endeavors.

So...drum roll please.  The scale said 227.  I've been hovering at 230-231 for weeks now!  Woohoo...I saw the 220's!

And the party was a blast.  I did farely well with eating.  I had a small portion of chili and a small portion of the pulled pork - no bun.  I also had just a few chips - I really was pleased with myself at how well I did with limiting how many I ate.  And after I hit my limit on chips, if I munched it was on fresh veggies.  Yes, dipped in Ranch but it was a party.  I wasn't trying to be perfect!  (And yes, I made the ranch, too!)

If I had left it at that I would have been super proud of myself but when the party moved inside with the swimming done - and became a poker party - some of us curled up on the couch to watch a movie and we all had another bowl of chili and some had another pulled pork sandwich.  That extra bowl of chili put me over the edge...although it was still a half serving.  And all told, my calorie count came in at 1457 - so I'm still pretty impressed with that.  Where I lose the pride is in that I didn't need it.  I just wanted it.  Oh well.  It was a party and I wasn't trying to be perfect!  And 1457 for a party day is pretty good - and after all that activity getting ready for it?  I'm not even remotely worried.

And I shouldn't have been!  The scale Gods loved me on Sunday.  229!  It's official.  Sunday's are my weigh-in days and my weigh-in for the week was into the 220's!  I haven't been here since 2007!  I'm excited.  I'm about 10 pounds from being less than I was when my hubby met me.  I can't wait for that!

Which now leads to NSV's.

Friend #1 said my swim suit was too big and I need to go shopping
Friend #1 told my husband (yes, same friend) that every time she sees me I look different.  She's just amazed.  She's seen me each of the last three weekends - this is the friend we helped move.
Friend #2 told me I look like I'm athletic.
Friend #3 told me I look like I've lost 60 pounds, not 36.
Friend #4 told me my face looks amazing.
and finally,
Friend #5 told me I am looking really good.

Some of these people know what I've done but most do not.

Of course, today, the scale is back up.  But it's not a real weigh-in day so who cares.  And yesterday all we did was sleep and vegetate.  It was a pretty amazing day, too!  We went out to lunch with my hubby's best friend, who stayed the night, and sat there talking for hours.  I had a few of the world's best onion rings while we were there but I was really proud of myself - I said I could have five and I ate 6 very small rings.  Yeah, yeah...I said 5...and I ate one more.  But I'm ok with that.

After we were done with lunch, we went back and took naps.  And then had our neighbor/friend and another couple join us for leftovers.

When all was said and done, we were left with about 3 pounds of chili and 6 pounds of pulled pork.  The chili we will eat on until it's done.  The pulled pork I will make tamales out of next weekend and will probably do a few leftover nights with that, as well.

Weekends like this are weekends that make me realize exactly how fortunate I am.  We have a ginormous pool - for a regular backyard and it was pure bliss to look out at the pool at one point and see people floating in innertubes and with tubes and just chillin drinkin a good cold beer.  Then, to look in either direction and to see some of our family members talking to friends we'd like to see more of on one side and to the other, kids playing ring toss in the yard.  I just felt so unbelievably fortunate!  Yes, we work hard to get this stuff - can't you tell?  As I sit here blogging at work?  But we also take the time to enjoy our "stuff".  And that's what stuff is to me - not an accomplishment, not something to brag about, not a "look what I have" thing...but a reason/way to call our friends and family together.  I would not care for the "stuff" if I could not share it! 

And I love that my mom gave me this hosting bug.  She loved to host parties, too, and it was pretty common place for our house or our yard to be filled with our friends and family.

I am so loving that this didn't kill my feet this weekend!  After all that we did Weds night, then Friday night, then Saturday...if you'll remember...when I did our Super Bowl party...by the time the party started I was outright crying I was in so much pain.  I had to leave it to my sweet hubby to answer the door and replenish chip bowls.  Not this weekend!  I was right there with him keeping it all going!  It's not entirely a done-deal - I woke up Sunday hobbling a bit.  But at this point, my feet couldn't tell you they worked really hard!  So not like the SB party...where my feet were barking for an entire week afterwards!

Where will my feet be next month when we do it all again?

Woohoo!  Let's see!

I also have to say...last thing...I did my weightlifting last week.  Yes, you know this.  I did low weights high reps.  I gained inches.  Woohoo!  Yes, it's fluid in the muscles that are being wakened.  I'm fine with that.  I also lost inches in a few places, but overall was a gain.  I'm fine.  I know this will disappear fairly quickly.  And even with inches (ok, it was 0.5 inches) gained, I lost weight.  But this week...I up the weights and decrease the reps.  This week should really see a change!  We shall see...whatever will be will be.  But I am eager to see what happens this week!  I love my weightlifting!!!

Have a great week y'all!  And next month when we have our next party - find yourselves a way to Texas and join us!!!