Goal In Sight!

Hey readers!  So, I'm not even sure what week I'm on now.. is that bad?  I was hoping by this week (the week of my girl's trip) to be down 20 pounds... I am down 22 as of this morning!  Woohoo!  I'm so excited!  My goal of 25 is only 3 pounds away and we are meeting our potential new dog tomorrow night.  I'm really hoping it works out for us and that we are allowed to adopt him and he gets along with Konie and the boys.  His name is Phoebo and he's a lab/border collie mix.  He's brown and white and just adorable!  Our friends have been fostering him for a couple of weeks and I've been watching for the pictures and updates they share about him and I've been falling in love with him through those pictures.  He is so cute!  Here are a couple of pictures of him:

This is his profile pic on Facebook through the group's page.  If you're interested in this group - check them out on facebook - P.O.E.T. Animal Rescue  This is how they share their dogs and cats that need fosters or a family.  I think this is a GREAT idea.  This group is awesome though.  They have a pretty extensive application and they do check with your vet and do a home visit before they will consider you.  They want the best for all of their dogs and cats and I think that is awesome!  When our kids are grown, I would love to able to provide fostering to many dogs - especially medical fosters - the dogs that require extra help and care after having surgery or recovering from an injury.  I think that would be a perfect fit for me and my love of animals! 

Isn't Phoebo gorgeous?!?!?  I love his face!  Look at this next one - this is where I really fell hard for him:

How sweet is this face?!?!?  He rides so well in the car too which is great for us since we take the dogs with us on road trips to visit family in PA or Massachusetts.    Can you tell how excited I am about this boy?!?

Here's one more that I thought was super adorable:

If it doesn't work out, I will be super bummed but we'll find another dog if it doesn't work with him.  Something tells me it just might though.  Something has been giving me a feeling about him.  Maybe I'm creating that feeling... I don't know.  We'll see!  I hope and pray it works out!

We can't bring him home until after Kona is done and recovered from her surgery.  She's having surgery on Tuesday to remove a lump from her chest.  We don't know if it is cancerous or just fatty.  I'm praying it is just fatty.  She doesn't seem to be affected by it - she's still running around playing and loves going for walks just as much as ever so I'm hoping it's nothing.  I'm also hoping it will be  fast and easy recovery for her.  The nice thing is that it is in a location that she can't reach to lick so she shouldn't need to wear the "cone of shame" afterward.  I know that will be better for her.  I can't stand the thought of losing her.  Lately, she has really come out of her shyness shell and has been letting other people pet her more and is coming to me for pets more which really makes me happy.  I love her to pieces and I THINK she's finally succumbing to my affections! Haha!  We have been so blessed to have her in our lives for the past 9 years. Here's our beautiful girl:

I hope she and Phoebo will get along so they can have each other for company when we aren't home.  I know Konie gets lonely when we aren't home because she's so used to use being home all the time.  Now that summer is here, we'll be around even more since I don't have to cart kids to school every day!

So, 22 pounds gone and I'm loving it!  I've been hearing all kinds of awesome feedback from people.  My friends I haven't seen in months came back to Michigan after being in St. Louis for 4 years said "You're so small!" and "You look fantastic!"  (Insert giant smiley here)!  My neighbor's daughter (16 years old) said "I'm sorry, but I can't help but tell you that you look so good!  I hope that's ok!"  UH yeah!  That's ok!  Who doesn't love to hear that?!?!?  Her mom said "So, you're back to high school weight!  You look great!"   That was super sweet but no I'm not back to high school weight.  I have ways to go still.  I'd like to lose 30 to 40 more but I might not since I've been building more muscle.  I think my goal is to wear a size 4 to 6 again.  I think that is attainable for me.  I've already been able to buy medium sized tops and some larges in things instead of 1X or XL so that's awesome! Every store runs differently and I wear larger or smaller depending on the store and style of the clothes.  I am excited to get a few more smaller things this weekend when we go shopping in the outlet mall on our trip!  YAY!

I have to admit that with it being summer and holidays and celebrations it's hard to refuse sweet treats and to keep from having more than one small piece of chicken or making sure I have low-calorie cheese and whole wheat bun for my burger.  Deprivation is tough sometimes.  I know it's all about portion control and not eating too much but sometimes I just have to say NO so that I don't go over my calorie goal of 1200.  I do go over a lot but I always have that extra cushion of exercise for the day in there that I'm allowed to use.  The less I use though, the faster it seems that the weight should come off.  I'm still super motivated and determined to do it since I have been doing it and it's working and not taking FOREVER like I thought it would.  Losing 30 more pounds doesn't sound so scary or tough anymore.  My total goal was to lose around 60 - but that might not be realistic with muscle.  50 is probably a better target - not that I'm setting my sights lower for myself.  I know I can get back down to that size 4 to 6.  I'll get there no matter now long it takes! 

I'm going to be seeing a bunch of family that I haven't seen since I started losing weight tonight.  I'm excited to show them how far I've come!   It's a great feeling!  Well, I better get back to cleaning my house - we have company coming tomorrow and I want it to look great here for Phoebo (more for Melanie) LOL!   Have a great and blessed day/week all!

Oh, and Happy Belated Father's Day to all of the amazing dads out there!!!