After a fabulous weekend with my husband in which I totally surprised him for his birthday by taking him here, here, here, and here, I came home and decided there was only one sensible things for me to do. Start. Weight. Watchers. In case you were wondering where I got my weekend inspiration, the movie we watched had Jennifer Aniston in it. And so, if you’re needing a little weight loss inspiration yourself, I highly recommend going to see a movie starring a 110 pound, these-hips-have-never-seen-childbirth kind of actress. At least, staring at Jennifer on the big screen for over an hour and a half definitely did the trick for me. The real problem for me is that I've gained nearly 20 pounds IN THE PAST FOUR MONTHS. (That translates into two dress sizes or four bags of flour strapped across my abdomen--in case you weren't sure.) Four months ago I was TWENTY pounds lighter. Four months ago I weaned my fifth baby. Four months ago, things started going downhill fast. So back to Weight Watchers. I don’t think I want to “officially join” and go to the weekly psycho-therapy-pump-you-up-sessions. I think my plan is going to be to get one of their little charts and stay under my allotted points and watch the pounds fall off like magic. In case you didn't know it, you can glean a lot of Weight Watcher’s information off of Google. Things like--if you weigh a certain amount, you get to eat 20 points a day and a Big Mac from McDonald's will cost you 13 of those points. Looks like my days at McDonald's are numbered. Or maybe not. As I looked over the Weight Watchers McDonald's chart last Sunday, I noticed that the Crispy Chicken Salad was only worth 6 points. Maybe I won't have to give up my set in stone tradition of NEVER COOKING ON SUNDAYS after all. Let's see, I'll have to drop the hot-fudge Sundae which is 8 points (or maybe more since I always get extra hot-fudge.) Cokes are definitely out, but I've been doing good on the no-soda thing for a while. I THINK I CAN DO THIS. Sunday afternoon, I went up to the cash register to order my very first McDonald's Crispy Chicken Salad. The lady behind the cash register asked me if I wanted the Ranch dressing or the Vinaigrette. Ohhhh, I forgot to look up how many points the salad dressings are worth. Well, that’s not even a choice SINCE I DON’T LIKE VINAIGRETTE. It's bad enough having to eat lettuce instead of a Quarter Pounder—surely I can have the Ranch. "OK- Ranch please." I ordered for the rest of the family, got everyone’s food parceled out and sat down to enjoy my McDonald’s salad with some friends of ours from church. I was feeling so proud of myself for ordering the salad that I went ahead and ate the chocolate chip cookie that my husband so lovingly offered. When we got home, I sat down to tally everything. I had a ball-park figure in my head of how many points I had consumed that day, but not an exact figure. OK, let’s see here. I skipped my usual frosted cake donut that I always get at the coffee and donut table at church. Boy, am I lucky I did that--that would have been 7 points. Alright—I’m cruisin’! Now let’s add up the lunch points. Crispy Chicken Salad: 6 points. Ranch Dressing: 6 points. WHAT?? 6 points?!?!?! You mean to tell me that I doubled the point value of my salad by saying “Yes” to Ranch and “No” to Vinaigrette??? THAT MEANS THAT I COULD HAVE EATEN A BIG, YUMMY, CHEESEBURGER FOR APPROXIMATELY THE SAME POINT VALUE!!! That cookie that I had so proudly taken was worth another flippin’ 4 points. In one meal, I had managed to consume 16 of my 20 allotted points. Not. Good. With 4 measly points remaining, I ate one half of a bologna sandwich with mustard and no cheese for supper and headed for bed. As my husband and I were brushing our teeth, I looked over to his side of the counter and said, “Honey, thanks for a great weekend. Y’know—I think you look a lot like that guy in that movie--you and Vince Vaughn share a similar jaw-line.” “And you, my dear, look exactly like Jennifer Aniston,” he (wisely) replied. Who needs Weight Watchers when you’ve got a guy like that?