So many options!

Ok, I've kinda been on a roll finding some simple fundraising ideas. Hopefully, they will all pay off better than the whole zazzle thing was going. Right now, there are 4 things you can do to help me. Actually, there are 2 you can do RIGHT NOW, 1 that you can do from February 4-25, and 1 on March 22...but I'm going to tell you ALL about them NOW, so that you are well prepared when the time comes, and you can tell all your friends now so they can help.

Super Bowl Grid
Priority: High
Dates: Now until Feb. 7, 2010
Cost: $10/square
Details: Click here for my post all about it.
If this fills up like I hope, it's a $700 fundraiser, which would put me over the halfway point toward my $2300 ($1337.50, to be exact--leaving $962.50 to come up with)...which means less posts nagging you for money. It's really win-win. $10 to shut me up. Let's call it hush money. A wise investment if I ever saw one. 99 squares remain available as of the writing of this. Tell your friends.

Electronics Recycling
Priority: Medium
Dates: Now until July 22, 2010
Cost: Nothing. Gazelle pays shipping on items. You just get rid of stuff you aren't using.
Details: Gather up you old electronics: cell phones, laptops, digital cameras, video games and systems, movies, calculators...there's a list on the site. Pretty much anything. Clean off your info to the best of your ability (they say they will do it, but you might as well ensure your privacy!). Click here to see what they will give you for it. Once the offer is made, either accept it, or if you think it could go for more at a yard sale, send it to me...because I'm doing one of those, too! Also, if the offer is $0, while they will still accept it and recycle it for you, I have another place I'm in contact with that will give me $1/pound on broken/non-resalable items. So send that one my way, too! Or, I'll give you the info directly, because THEY pay shipping as well. Also, tell your friends, co-workers, put a box out at your favorite cafe...there is no limit, and it doesn't cost anything but a few minutes to do this. I have one phone that we looked up and it's worth $12. It's currently sitting in a drawer and I'm too lazy to ebay it. This is much easier. I'll be putting out boxes a few places around town to collect these items, and I'll try to set up a large collection box at Oz when I'm there (see below).

Write reviews of local non-chain places
Priority: High (due to the limited time window)
Dates: February 4-25, 2010
Cost: Nothing but what you spend/spent at locations
Details: Between the dates above, click here and write reviews of places you frequent...or don't because the service was so bad. Everything from non-chain restaurants (sorry, McDs, Chili's, Outback, etc aren't included) to doctors, to repair persons is included. I'm pretty sure you can "join" now, but no reviews will be counted until the 4th. If you have time to write them now, though, you could always start a word doc and get it written, then just upload it once we are live! Reviews in certain areas are worth more than others, and 1st reviews are worth more than the 2nd through 4th. I know I have a lot of people who love to eat out at great places...what better way to help a good cause than to tell people a great place to eat?

Oz Pizza
Priority: Low, for now
Dates: Monday, March 22, 2010
Cost: Whatever you decide to order. But their pizza is AMAZING.
Details: This is just like the one I did in November, but probably without the silent auction this time. Show up to Oz Pizza in Fairburn between the hours of 4pm and 10pm. Order dinner, and tell them that you are there for the fundraiser. Eat, drink, be merry. That's all you do. Oz will cut me a check for 20% of the sales from people mentioning us. So the more you eat, the more we make. Bring your friends. Make it a girl's or guy's night out. They serve beer and wine. There is a tv with sports on...I'm sure any March Madness games will be playing. Cheer it up.

Other pending ideas that will need support: 
Depending on how the Super Bowl Grid works out, I may see about doing a March Madness Bracket. I don't know as much about basketball, but I'm fairly certain I can set something up online to do it for me. If you are interested, leave a comment letting me know that.

Still planning the yard sale for sometime in May. I will need stuff to sell. DH and I had one a couple years ago and haven't accumulated TOO much more that we are willing to part with since then. Clean out your attic or garage and let me know. I'll also probably need someone to keep me company and allow for bathroom breaks without leaving everything unattended. Let me know if you would like to help and we can coordinate dates.

I'm thinking about creating a cookbook. Unfortunately, I'm no good at original recipes...most of my "special" ones are either straight from someone else, or I just change a couple things. And I don't have many. So if you have some, let's talk.

I think that's all I have rolling around in my brain at the moment. So go dig through closets and drawers and donate your stuff, and pick a square on the grid. I'd LOVE to be able to do the last of my fundraising at the yard sale in May so that I can focus on training after that!

My scientific testing wish list

I just saw an article courtesy of @terrycoleman10 with a review of the Skechers Shape-Ups from My Fox Atlanta.



So, after watching this, I did have one great idea, and I'm looking for sponsors. I already own FitFlops, and I love them. I don't know if they do anything extra, but my all black pair are great for work (I have a somewhat casual office). And of course, I have the standard, casual flip flops every girl owns. I'd love to try out both the Skechers Shape-Ups and Reebok EasyTone sneakers, and compare them to my Asics (which were fitted for me by the great people at Big Peach Running Company!) and New Balance that I currently wear. I'd also like to do this in a controlled environment: on a treadmill, from rest, at the same speed and distance for each pair of shoes...and to further gauge, I'd like to do it with a BodyBugg to measure if any extra calories are burned wearing different shoes.

So, if anyone wants to donate the BodyBugg and the the shoes, I'm a 9.5 or 10 depending on fit...and I'll get right over to the gym with the goods and you can have a REAL report!

I'm sure you will all hop right on that.

So, what exactly is a "Super Bowl Grid?"

I had a great fundraiser idea today, but some people may not understand it. A Super Bowl Grid! And best of all, you need NO FOOTBALL KNOWLEDGE to play!

So what is it, how does it work, and how do you join? All in good time, Grasshopper.

What is it? How does it work?


A Super Bowl Grid is a box with 100 available squares (some have less, but this one has 100). One team is listed across the top and one down the left side, and each row and column is randomly assigned a number from 0 to 9 after the grid is "filled" by entrants. Each entry buys you one box. At the end of each  quarter, the score of the teams playing determines the winning box. So if the score at the end of the first quarter is 7-10, the winning box would be 7 on the top, and 0 on the left side, or vice versa, depending on which team had which score. The prizes are $50 each for the 1st and 3rd quarters and $100 each for the 2nd and 4th quarters. Cash money. There is no skill to picking the boxes, because the numbers aren't assigned until AFTER all of the boxes are bought, but it makes watching the game a lot more fun!


How do you join?

Now that you know this is a NO SKILL INVOLVED game, I'm sure you are dying to buy 5 or 6 boxes on the grid, right? RIGHT?! Ok...at least one?

Go to the free grid hosting site I found. Pick which box you want by playing eeny meeny miney moe. Enter the information requested and use the password "3day" without the quotes. Send me $10 for each box you choose. for the math challenged, that's $10 for 1, $20 for 2, and so on).**CHANGE IN PLANS HERE!!** I have a 2nd team member now, so we will be splitting the proceeds from this fundraiser. We are asking that all entries come in the form of paypal to hokiegir1 (at) yahoo (dot) com, cash or check made out to me (or my team mate, if she sent you...) and we will pay prizes and then split the remainder. Please DO NOT send entry fees directly to our pages. If you have already done this, that's ok (there haven't been many). It's just easier on us to do it this way. Thanks!

The best part? If your numbers match more than one quarter, you WIN more than one quarter! You could potentially win all 4 prizes! 

If not all 100 boxes are sold by the time the coin is flipped at the start of the game, I'll assign numbers then, and Scooting Toward a Cure will be assigned all empty boxes...meaning, if an unsold box wins any quarter, that quarter's prize becomes a donation. In the (hopefully unlikely) event that less than half of the boxes get sold, I may have to reduce the prizes accordingly. So tell your friends to get as many sold as possible.

Once prizes are paid, the remaining entry fees go directly to the 3 Day. It's as simple as that!

Now, get to buying up those squares! You have some time, but the sooner it fills, the sooner you find out what numbers you have!

That's right. I'm a hot college freshman.

A perk of working for a state university is that you get to take free classes...up to and including earning a degree. I never really wanted to get a masters until they told me it would be paid for. So now, I'm taking Post-Bac classes to kill time get prerequisites out of the way until I take my GMATs...which, unfortunately, cost $250, and I just can't justify that kind of expense with Disney trips to pay for and exercise equipment that will be used for a week to buy.

I didn't mention that we bought a mini trampoline and a pseudo-elliptical? Ahh...but we did. The DH and I are both trying to lose weight, and he suggested the trampoline, because it looked like something fun to do while watching tv. I've been wanting an elliptical for YEARS. Last time, he talked me into a treadmill instead, because "If we get a treadmill, I [he] would be more likely to use it too!" Ok, fine. Treadmill. Which I hate. So we get it. And I use it about 6 times. He never does. We sold it for what we spent on it 2 years later (well, it WAS "like new!"). So now I'm getting this. And I'm hugely excited about it. Not so excited that the living room will be a gym, though. May have to rethink that. But we'll see.

Oh...back to the point. I start my second semester of classes tonight. Macroeconomics. I DETEST Econ. It's incredibly boring and generally somewhat intuitive. I'm hoping I don't have more than 3 papers and 4 tests to do all semester. I mean, I *do* have a life, unlike these little perky teeny-boppers.

Speaking of which...when did stilettos and fuck-me-boots become "wear to class" attire? What happened to rolling out of bed and going to class in sweats and a pair of flip flops in 18 degree weather because you can't remember where you took your shoes off after coming home drunk the night before? Not that I've ever done that. I always remembered where my shes were. Even if they weren't where I was.

Other college oddities: I have a BA (bet you NEVER would have guessed that based on my writing skills!), but for all intents and purposes, I'm a freshman. AND I get no credit for any classes I've taken. So not only do I hate Econ, but I've had it before...but still have to take it again. Good thing it's free...otherwise, I'd be throwing a fit about that one. But now, I'm just too lazy to bother. It's like I'm in college all over again...oh. Yeah.

Anyway...  Oh! I have good news! Oz Pizza is booked for Fundraiser Part Deux on Monday, March 22! Come out and join us! It's the same deal as before: Oz donates 20% for all dine in orders that mention that they are there for the fundraiser. I'm working on stuff to go with it. I have 1 gift card from the last fundraiser that didn't get any bids, but I'm considering using that for a Twitter giveaway fundraiser. Details? I has none. But follow @gphigirl just in case I come up with some!

And the best news? We started Biggest Loser a few weeks early...right before I left for my mom's, which was right before I went to Disney. I gained 3 pounds over the holidays. Yeah...I was going the wrong way. Though, I think the damage would have been much worse otherwise. But this past weigh in, I was....

Drumroll, please...

Back to my starting weight. I lost 3 pounds last week! Woo-freaking-hoo! Of course, this means I can slack off this week, right? Because I've been eating like I can. I made cookies last night. They are healthy as far as cookies go...high fiber oatmeal, splenda instead of sugar, etc. But I also made No-Pudge Brownies the other night. And will be making them again soon, but with cherry yogurt (at DH's suggestion--hoping they taste chocolate covered cherry-ish). And while these are good snacks in moderation, I have apparently decided that "moderation" means "whatever I can cram in my bellah". So, yeah. Moving on...I can't wait to get my elliptical. :o)

Screw the Year in Review. Here's your Year in Advance!

Well, look at that. I have a blog. You wouldn't know it from the last time I posted. Sorry. I know you miss my immense humor and wisdom during those boring holidays.

Anyway...I had 2 weeks off work. (Mostly) paid. I went to TX to visit my moms for the first week. Then I went to Disney for the second week. Again. It was the 4th trip for last year.

I need a vacation from my vacation. But I'm back at work today, and actually, I'm not unhappy about this. I get more done here. No tv, cats and bed to distract me.

With the new year comes a renewed sense of fundraising urgency. I have 10 months to raise my other $1663 for the 3 Day. It works out to about $6 per day until the walk. *sigh* Must get to work on planning. I'm emailing Oz Pizza again this week for a March date. Haven't picked out said date yet...but I'm leaning toward a Monday this time instead of Tuesday. I also got an email about Entertainment books, and when I was looking at them, I notice a "Fundraising" link...so I've written to them as well. And sometime in March or April, I'll be cleaning closets and posting requests for "stuff" donations for the May yard sale. I'm attending the Get Started Meeting on the 16th, and will hopefully come out with some more ideas.

On the positive side, I'm getting 2 new team members on Friday! One of my sorority sisters and her friend will be making the trek from VA to GA to walk with me! They are both first-timers, so I'm trying to remember what I can that will help them get started!

On the weight loss front, my friends and I started our Biggest Loser competition a couple weeks ago. I'm up 3 pounds so far. D'oh! But, and it's a big butt...er, but, it could have been MUCH worse. See, Disney is just one big restaurant for DH and I. We go there to eat. And walk around, but really, the food is more important. So I tried to make somewhat reasonable choices. I had ratatouille for the first time ever. It was AWESOME.

Since we got home, I haven't been paying the least bit of attention until, well, today, actually. I just started my new spreadsheet this morning. Yesterday, i got some healthy breakfast stuff at the grocery store (high fiber English muffins and turkey sausage). FYI: Banquet Turkey Sausage and Morningstar "Sausage" are the same number of WW points. And the Banquet ones are half the price, and taste better--and give you less gas than the soy protein. And both are tiny, so that's not a factor. So unless you are ACTUALLY a vegetarian, go for the Banquet ones. They are pre-cooked and frozen. 1 minute in the microwave and done.

So, here is the Year in Advance! A month by month of what you can expect to see here:

January: Lots of fundraising planning, but not much ACTUALLY happening. Meal plans and weight loss...shooting for 10 pounds.

February: More planning. Another Disney trip. Shooting for 12 pounds of weight loss.

March: Oz fundraiser, and something to go with it. Perhaps some kind of raffle? I don't know. Shooting for another 10 pound loss...and getting out of the 200's again.

April: Yard Sale planning and collecting. Standing outside of Walmart or Kroger with a jar. Yet another 10 pound month.

May: Yard Sale time! Standing outside of Walmart or Kroger with a jar again. Training starts officially!! And my last 10 pound month.

June: Planning a 3rd Oz night for around August begins. Training ramps up...but hopefully the heat index doesn't. I go into weight maintenance, as I will hopefully be at or darn close to my goal.

July: More planning. More walking...probably indoors or late at night. More maintaining. Really, it's a boring month.

August: Oz night again! If needed (ie--if I'm more than $500 away from my fundraising minimum), more Kroger and Walmart canning. My birthday is this month, so I will be drowning my sorrows in ice cream, then trying to lose another 5 pounds.

September: Final round of fundraising emails will be sent before the walk. The holidays are coming up soon, so I'll be losing 10 pounds in advance of their arrival, starting now.

October: Final countdown to the 3 day! Packing, preping, etc. But first...back to Disney for some great training walks in the Happiest Place on Earth (as long as you haven't been there 4 days with cranky kids, or a cranky spouse...). Continue the anticipatory 10 pound loss.

November: Still recovering and processing. Registering for 2011 as a crew member so I get to see the "other" side of it (and don't have a fundraising minimum!). Begin anticipated 10 pound holiday gain.

December: Relax and don't stress anything. I have pre-lost my holiday weight, so I can just enjoy without worrying. And finally have a guilt-free fruitcake.

You heard it here first. That's my year. Gonna be a wild ride! I hope you will continue to join me on it!

Renewed energy

It's amazing what a good colon flush will do. Oh...and in case you were worried and missed the news, colonoscopy was clear for polyps and cancer, but I have diverticulosis. When he told me this, my first thought was "Shit, that means no more Big Macs because of the seeds on the bun!" But I did some reading, and diverticulosis is just the pockets in the colon wall, and the newest treatments don't forbid nuts and seeds...just recommend a very high fiber diet. If it turns into diverticulitis (where it gets infected and inflamed), THEN I may have to give up the Big Macs, but only about 10-20% of people with diverticulosis develop diverticulitis.

Anyway. enough about my sparkly clean colon. Actually, this is about weight loss. And while I'm not going to start again until after the 1st, I *do* have renewed energy for that. Watching the Biggest Loser season finale has made me want to start a competition...so I am. Because I do what I want and no one can tell me otherwise. Hence my weight problem (actually, this is only part of the reason, but it IS part of it--more on that later).

Here's the challenge: Get a group of friends with no specific connections, but we all want to lose weight. Break into teams, and see who can lose the most! That's it. So far, there are about 6 of us, I think? I guess that means the teams are out...we skip right to individual competition. And I doubt we will do eliminations, because I'd rather all of us stick it out to the end and lose as much as possible. Unless we have an At-Home winner...which is pointless, because we are all "at-home" already. Oh...and we certainly won't have a quarter of a million dollar prize, because none of us are rich. In fact, right now, there is no prize. Anyone out there on the interwebs that cares to rectify that, let me know. Competing for bragging rights is nice. Competing for stuff is better. ;o)

And just so my competition knows what they are up against, I'm gonna lay out my plan, here and now. *insert determined face here*

-30 minutes a day of a work out DVD, EVERYDAY. Sorry, DH and furbabies, but unless you want to do it with me, this means I go in the guest room, close the door, and work out. You will just have to suffer without me.
-3 days a week, we will add a 3 mile walk to that. Again, sorry, DH, but stuff needs to change, and we can't live our life in front of the TV. Come with me if you want to spend time together.
-Follow WW points. I did 75 days straight, I can do it again. And again. And again. I already know I have a few challenging days in there (Disney trip), but I did it once, so it's possible.

Since it's a competition, and I want to be fair, I will forgo the alli. Not everyone is ABLE to take it, much less willing (though, really, I have never had any of the major "treatment effects" listed), so it wouldn't be right for me to do that. This contest is about weight loss, but it's also about doing it right...diet, exercise, and confronting demons.

Speaking of which, I mentioned that part of my problem was that I do what I want. This is something I learned about myself from reading IE. While I don't follow the principles much anymore, it was good for some self reflection. There are many times where my way of pushing back is to do the opposite of what someone tells me to do. So if someone says "You really should get some exercise," I tell myself "Fuck you. I'm not doing that because you want me to," even when in reality, I probably would have done at least SOMETHING. Same goes for food. "You should eat this apple," turns into "Screw that! I'm going to eat this whole package of cookies instead!" So yeah, I have issues. I recognize them. I just don't know how to change them. Which brings me to my last part of my plan: counseling. Actually, I'm still a little iffy about this part, but it has crossed my mind, and the time might be right to do it. Obviously, I've lost the weight before. The fact that I have regained it says that there is a problem somewhere that needs to be addressed.

I imagine there will be lots of tears over the next 5-6 months. Hopefully, at least a few are from my fellow competitors when I blow them out of the water. :o)

'Tis the season for colon cleansing and shopping.

Any medical procedure where you purposely give yourself diarrhea is stupid.Made even more so by the fact that all I can eat on Sunday will be jello, gatorade, sprite and broth. For anyone that knows me, when I don't eat, I'm a bitch. Well, I'm a bitch anyway, but take away my food, and it's worse.

I have come to that time in my life where I had to insist on a colonoscopy. Yes, I know I'm still considered young for getting one. Welcome to what I like to call my gene cess-pool. Both my grandfather and uncle were diagnosed with colon cancer at 33. One of my cousins had pre-cancerous polyps at 25-ish. So yeah, I'm not playing around. Monday, I go in for the test. I don't expect any issues or anything, but I wanted to get it done and over with. 90% of the people that I tell this to think I'm insane. I probably am. But when it comes to colon cancer, I don't play around.

That's really all that has been going on for the last week or so. We had Thanksgiving...where people don't know when it's time to leave, then I've been back at work and super busy. I have 2 more weeks before my Christmas break at work, then I'm heading to TX (I think...this *could* change based on some recent developments) for the first week of the break, and Disney for the 2nd week. Very excited, a little stressed.

All of my Oz Fundraiser donations have posted and I have 28% of my fundraising done! I was just given another donation yesterday that needs to be submitted as well. Plus, I'm about to submit all the Tastefully Simple orders (finally...no thanks to my consultant), which should give me about an extra $1 or 2. Honestly, I'm regretting that whole thing. The consultant has been less than interested, and I'm doing more work than I would have if I had just signed up as a consultant again myself. But, such is life and lesson learned. I'll close out the party this weekend and be done with it.

I did set up a "shopping club" account thing. I got the idea from another walker. It's not working quite like I thought it would, but if people are willing (and remember to go through there), it could make a few extra bucks toward my goal. And $5 here and there add up! Here are the deets:

Click here. Once you get to the site, create a free account. It should list me as the referrer (I think it assigns a number, so just leave whatever number is in there). Browse the list of stores, and when you find one, click on it. It will pop up a message, and then open a new tab/window for your store. Shop til you drop, and you will get the stated percentage back from your purchases...and my account will get half of that to be used as a donation! They have an actual "for Charities" account, but that one costs about $30, so while I'm considering setting it up, I haven't decided yet. We'll see how things go. But this is a great way to do the last of your Christmas shopping! It costs you nothing extra to set it up...and YOU will get cash back as well! It's really win-win.

With the craziness of the next few weeks, I'm not sure how much I'll be posting, but I'm sure I will a few times. In case you miss it, though...Merry Christmas and a Fantabulous New Year!