It's hard not to eat stuff that is delicious and horrible for you.

OK, friends, so this past week along with having Bryce start VPK (pre-school) and Jake start first-grade I started in on a new exercise regimen and eating plan with a goal of actually losing weight. For real this time... no bullshit. No excuses. No greasy pizza or potato chips... or chocolate... or Pepsi.

So, I started on Tuesday (Monday was a dark day of Five Guys lunch with a Dr. Pepper... a farewell meal, if you will) eating healthier and with two walks completed this week with my walking buddy Lisa I have to say that this time it may stick. I really do feel good and I even slipped into two pairs of jeans that I haven't been able to squeeze my fat ass into for more than 3 months. That, my friends, is motivation. (Thank you, Christa, for clarifying that with me!!!!)

I do not believe that I am going to be 115 pounds again. I do not believe that I will turn heads on the beach in a bikini ever again, but I do believe that I can look quite a bit better than I do now. So, let's see how this goes. Like the title says... It's hard not to eat stuff that is delicious and horrible for you, but I'm doing OK so far.

Hi There, Remember Me?

Hi. My name is Alisa Bennett and I have left the blog-o-sphere for the wonderful, addictive world of Facebook. At least on Facebook I know that people read my meandering thoughts since they comment or "like" them once I share them with the FB world. With the blog, other than the few of you that know me and know about it, it's like it's not even here. To be honest, I took my blog address off of my FB page because some of my "friends" might read this and find out some of my bad habits, personal viewpoints and other unseemly things that casual observers like FB "friends" should not be privy to. Well, what the heck. If I'm in, I'm all in (just witness my last visit to Vegas in Feb. 09... not good at all). I will re-post my blog address on my FB page and just see what happens.

A lot, in fact, has happened since I last blogged. Summer happened. High school reunion happened. Still was overweight for high school reunion happened. You catch my drift.

Anyways, school starts for the kids on Monday morning and it can't come soon enough. I am amazed that my children survived the summer. They are two lucky little kids. I am going to try to uphold my committment to this blog. But if I don't it's not like it's really going to affect your life or mine, so let's just see what happens, OK?

Seriously, Folks...

OK, my high school reunion is now less than three months away, so it's time I get serious about those icky 10 pounds that have plagued me since,... oh, I don't know, about 2003, when I packed it all on for "pregnancy!" Who knew having kids would spoil my body THAT much! I mean, really???

Today I ate a Kit Kat and drank a coke at lunch. That was it. I am done. Jason got me the cool running belt with the water bottle and room for my phone so I have NO EXCUSES anymore. I am going to come up with my training program and post it here. I have bootcamp tonight and will keep at that twice a week, but I really need to start up the exercise program...

So, I'm starting off with today's weigh in 143.5. Yikes. I KNOW I've posted this before, but this time I've gotta do it!!!! Really! Really! Seriously!

In the Nooks and Crannies...

of my car's interior I discovered an entire microcosm of detritus... here's just a few of the gems I found whilst cleaning and vacuuming the car.


- 2 plastic dimes
- 1 black jelly bean
- 2 (real) pennies
- a petrified french fry
- plastic baggie with 10 quarters in it (???)
- 3 yellow straws from Capri Sun drinks
- one pair of (dirty) matching boys' socks
- three non-matching girls' socks (all dirty)
- 2 green camo backpacks
- two pairs of girls shoes
- inordinate amount of pretzel salt (like the end of a bag dumped out)
- 3 pens (miraculously all with tops on or near them)
- 1 colored pencil
- wadded up tissues
- wilted green top from a recently (?) eaten strawberry
- Christmas holiday kids' t-shirt

That is my kind of Friday night... life in the fast lane... cleaning the car interior.... does it get any better than this? I'd better not ask that question. Have a great weekend.

Wearing the big Girl Pants...

Yesterday I had to do what I consider to be the hardest thing I have ever done in my professional/working life. Jason and I had to lay off four employees, one of which had worked for us for more than five years, another for more than 3 years. It was terrible. It is extremely difficult to walk up to someone that you really like and tell them something that will change their life and basically wipe away their ability to provide for themselves and their family. I have to say that when Jason started this business nine years ago, I don't think that we ever really planned for that or saw that coming.

This economic situation does not seem to be getting better and I'm afraid that what happened yesterday may have to be done again in the next few months... I hope that isn't so, but at this point we really need to be pragmatic and conservative based on what seems to be the new normal.

I am sad. I am disappointed and I actually thought that I would be relieved after delivering the message to them yesterday, but what happened was the exact opposite. I feel worse and can't sleep.

Cut Backs

It seems like everyone is cutting back these days. Here's what I've axed from the home budget to try to keep everything bumping along as smoothly as possible. I know you probably don't care, but I wanted to put it together to see it in black and white.

- No more pedicures.
- No more YMCA membership.
- No more shopping excursions to places to browse for no apparent reason.
- Less lunches out during the week -- more brown bags.
- No more professional hair color (Michelle and I are going to do it ourselves (yikes!)) and much less frequent hair cuts.
- No clothes shopping -- (that's until I lose those 10 pounds and then all bets are off.)
- Less "date nights" and evenings out without the kids.
- No magazine subscription renewals except for the chosen few -- We really can't live without Esquire and Real Simple.

This isn't really much and I'm happy for that, but if things continue to slide then we're going to have to start cutting more deeply. Here's hoping this economic stimulus package really does affect us all in a positive way. I'm not sure I'm sold on it, but do we really have any choice?

Why do we care?

We had a good weekend... mostly spent at home -- went to the PAL fundraiser Saturday night, but other than that nothing special going on. What I am finding amazing (about myself, I guess) is how much I like cruising the Facebook profiles of friends, acquaintances, high school classmates, etc.

It really does feel like snooping in someone's medicine cabinet. (Don't tell me you haven't done that; you're a liar. You know you've done it, and I know you've done it, so there.). And what compels us to "throw down" and share some of our intimate thoughts with the world? (See 25 Random Things About Me). Is it that we all are a little bit vunerable and sometimes we need to connect with others by demonstrating our vunerability? I don't really know the answer, but I have to say that there is something compelling and strangely satisfying learning about other people's fears and feelings. Maybe we all have an inner need to know what makes other people tick, or we just want to feel that someone else feels our pain or shares our viewpoint.

Well, whatever it is, I have to say, that I have found Facebook to be an eye-opening experience (experiment?) and I will continue to "see" who is out there... on-line, looking me up.... and you.... and you.... and you....