Living free from fat!

:o)

2008-05-18T18:05:00.002-05:00

Hi guys.

I don't know what it is but I am in a SLUMP right now. A slump where I feel like doing....nothing.

I am currently re-evaluating a lot of things in my life and I just honestly don't feel like blogging about my food right now.

Honest truth. That's my reality. I do this EVERY summer. I go through a phase of low self worth and a feeling of failure. I think it's too much sunshine really. haha. All this sunshine and HEAT makes me FEEL like I should be cheery and happy...gosh it just makes me feel horrible. It's such a time of rebirth for my surroundings, however I always put a giant shell on and bury my soul deep with in myself....so that's where I am.
D will also have the camera this week in DC so I won't have pictures anyway. (not that I have been posting! haha)

I'll give you a "life" update though!

Let's see... You know we did all those house stuff. I have FINALLY picked out curtain fabric for the ENTIRE house!! (PRAISE GOD!!) It's been HARD since I'm picky.

I begin teaching a bible study in 2 weeks at my house which I am very excited about.

I have 8 million baby blankets to make since the entire world is having babies. Seriously.. honest to GOD I would have a baby right now if it would pop out a toddler. I just do NOT want an infant!! D and I have opened up the foster discussion once again. We really just need to go to a meeting and get it out of our systems!

My Papa gave us a lawn mower but it died upon one use. We don't buy anything on credit unless it's interest free so we have 12 months to pay for our new TORO mower! I might actually get on that thing! So that's exciting I guess.

We have a YARD SALE coming up in June, which is very exciting. I love my Yard Sales.. I go most Saturdays.

I need to find a time to have my in-laws over for a big Birthday Celebration but D is never off... so it's hard.

I have applied for an Adult Education job at the Community College.. fingers crossed and little prayers sent up would be appreciated!

Hmmm.. I go to the Dr. tomorrow to have my knees checked out. They're hurting like MAD lately making FIRMing very difficult. I suspect something new is torn. :(

Okay.. I think that about sums it up. I am still in a funky-funk.

Maybe I should change my blog to LIVING FREE FROM FAT FUNKY FUNK. Hmm. :o)

My Life= Crazy!

2008-05-07T19:08:00.002-05:00

Hi Guys!! I should have known this would happen. Every Year when Spring Break hits.. it's as if the kids morph into gnarling monster's and time well... time is non existent in the "free" sense that is. Anyhow I am SO busy! With work, D having 2 jobs, my Papa and everything else, TRYING to keep up on working out my "free" "me" time is VERY low. My PLAN is to update my blog ONCE a week on SATURDAY'S through the month of May. I was telling D that with the stress that May brings in general (Lot's of B-day's, Mother's Day, END OF THE SCHOOL YEAR---that's number one, etc.) I simply CANNOT believe I negotiated buying a house this time last year. It's a TRUE miracle I made it through that one! haha!! So that's the plan STAN! :o) You're not really missing much right now. I am as always eating oats for breakfast like clock work.. except on the weekends when I eat a turkey bacon, egg, cheese sammie muffin OR cereal. My lunch is just as interesting as ever and since I am too busy to cook We eat a lot of subbies and I eat salads and potatoes! MMM! :o) Tomorrow night I AM finally cooking for D so I might throw up a little picture.. but it's his b-day celebration. And by celebration I mean I am baking a cake, cooking dinner, renting a movie and giving him a card.. lol. I haven't planned his "real" party yet. He's going to DC at the end of the month... that should be his party! lol. A week away from me!! I HAVE however stumbled across MANY fine funny things here in Hopkinsville...hehe.. you just wait!! Thanks for being troopers and understanding!! I have lost 2 more lbs.. Please.. do a happy dance for me. :o)

Longest Week Ever.

2008-05-03T18:39:00.001-05:00

You heard that!!!

I'll be back after dinner with updates.

Can you say long day?

2008-04-30T21:13:00.003-05:00

I can...times 2!! This has been the LONGEST week of my LIFE and it's not even over yet!!! Yesterday felt like 5 days in itself. I don't even want to talk about yesterday it was so bad.
Let's cut to the food.

Breakfast---BOTH DAYS chocolate banana oaties.

Lunch- Tuesday---I have no picture because as I was going to lunch I was told I had to give a student a test... I had to stop what I was doing, get the student and take him to lunch. Then take him BACK to a room where he could eat (he couldn't be around other kids since he hadn't taken the state test for the day) THEN march myself to the lounge and eat. When I sat down I realized I'd left my camera in the room. Do you REALLY think I cared at that point? Well no. OF ALL DAYS to forget the camera in the room too!! I didn't have the USUAL lunch! haha. I ate a salad with parm and honey mustard, 1/2 a can of tuna and yogurt with fiber one. I probably eat way more fiber one than I should with my yogurts. Darn that free sample! hehe! TODAY for lunch I had subway left over from last night. (sorry for the spoiler) I have a picture. check it out!! :o) Well... I just realized I left my camera at school!!! Pics will have to wait until tomorrow. :o(
Snack--- Luna Bars-- BOTH DAYS. I didn't have an extra afternoon snack either day because I didn't have time to grab one.

Dinner: TUESDAY: Subway. There was NO way I was cooking after the horrible day I had. Not to mention I got home after 7. D had McDonald's and I had subbie way. Turkey on Wheat loaded with lettuce and baked lays. I also had one of my bunny bars.
WEDNESDAY-- I cheated... big time. We had Mexican sooo I ordered what's called the Jalisco special. I thought it was just rice, cheese, chicken, with onions and peppers... but it also had steak and shrimp. I did a poor job reading that description. It came with 3 tortillas... yeah I pretty much ate it all. To top it off I had a JR. Frosty Dairy Dessert. EEEP! I'll walk extra tomorrow.

Today hasn't been that great either and I know with May just around the corner (literally) that the rest of my days and weeks will ONLY get harder. Please keep your fingers crossed that I find a DECENT summer job. :o) So far.. not so good.

the simple life.

2008-04-28T20:34:00.004-05:00

This is what I want. A life of sewing and simplicity. I can dream right?

To start this not so simple Monday off, I had chocolate banana oaties that I ate at work so they were cold. To my surprise they were good cold! I mean I don't want to eat cold oats PURPOSEFULLY.. but if I had to again, it would be okay.

Lunch-- SAME OLE BORING LUNCH I ALWAYS HAVE. There were some rainbow goldfish in my mailbox today so I had those as well :o)

Snack-- Well my TEN cent Luna bar of course!!

Once I got home from school and the DR I had oh about 7 of those almond crisps, cheese and a scoop of peanut butter. I then did some laundry Watched Top Chef that I taped, talked to my Papa, STARTED my blog and oh! I fell asleep. As soon as I hit the chair I must have gotten cozy because I woke up later with the laptop in my lap! haha. Needless to say at 7:15 when I woke up I wasn't cooking dinner. D brought home McDonald's which was just smelly gross. I threw together a quick salad and had a burgie. I am addicted to these Blue bunny light creamy black raspberry bars!! Mmm! They're WONDERFUL!! Now off to find fabric to make these curtains!! Wish me luck!

And the weekend is over :(

2008-04-27T19:49:00.008-05:00

Like everyone else in the world I LOVE the weekends and am always sad to see them go. Gosh.. where do I even begin to recap the last FOUR days?! I saw we skip Thursday and Friday, since they were work days and you know my routine by now and shoot to Saturday and today. Wait.. for lunch Friday I added an EGG ROLL from the cafeteria and Mmm!! It was well worth it! That would be the only change to my normal regime.

SATURDAY.

LOVE Saturdays. We did something Friday night that meant we didn't get to bed until late. Obviously it wasn't that fun because I can't remember what it was. I only mention this because I was planning to to yard sales Saturday but didn't think I would because I got to bed so late. The early bird came to visit me though!! I was up and ready to go buy stuff I didn't need! I did just that. Yard Sale monies spent: 4.75! Woo! I bought 12 dessert plates, a vase, a darling antique white bowl and an end table that needs some TLC. Snazzy.

Once I returned from the sales, I had banana rama chocolate oaties. Of course they were good. I have NOT kicked blue berries to the curb! oh no.. I can just never FIND them at the store. The rest of Hopkinsville must be on the South Beach diet (they use blueberries a lot) and so I can never find them. Frankly I became annoyed that I could never get them and stopped putting them on my shopping list all together. As for strawberries... Wal-Mart's are always gross looking and Kroger never has them when I go shopping. EVERYONE always has bananas!!

Lunch was SO GOOD. For Spring Break week, I bought Morning Star Veggie Corn dogs but never ate them since we ate out practically all week. Let me tell you... these are WONDERFUL. They taste JUST like regular corn doggies. I plan to try more things from the morning star line!! For dessert: a black raspberry blue bunny light bar or something like that.

I had a Mint Chocolate ZONE for a snack. OH YES!! I GOT CHOCOLATE PEPERMINY STICK LUNA BARS FOR TEN CENTS A BAR! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! You have to know me to appreciate this. I am a BARGAIN shopper, a coupon clipper, super saver of a gal. However.. ANYONE would be excited about this find!!

Dinner was Cracker Barrel. What do I ALWAYS get at CB? Let the pictures do the talking.

I always find the weirdest things at Cracker Barrel. I swear these are the result of an LSD trip GONE bad!!

SUNDAY

I didn't feel like chocolate banana or banana cinnalove soooooo I made Brown Sugar/Cinnamon, banana love oaties. SO GOOD. my NEW FAVORITE!!! Very filling and DELISH!

For a quick snack before going to C-ville.. I grabbed a Land O Lakes Co/jack square and about five of my new almond crisp crackers. I will have to find out what these are REALLY called later! haha.

Lunch & Dinner: We went to Rafferty's since my entire family likes it. I ordered the club sammie with a baked potato and a house salad.
Here's my lunch portion (I only ate 1/2 of the potato) ----PICTURES WILL BE ADDED ONCE I RECIEVE THEM FROM MY CAMERA PHONE--------

and my dinner (minus the honey mustard and with I can't Belive it's Not Butter Spray)

and my dinner dessert!!

Feels good to be back on track AND have the house looking nice. Here's what I've been working on this weekend AND pictures of the bedroom. Enjoy!! Thanks by the way for the sweet comments about my personal pictures!! Amanda.. I WISH we could fly to Portland TOMORROW!!! I know we'll never want to leave!! eeep! Do you have room for us and two more cats?!

Much love.

:o)

2008-04-27T09:14:00.003-05:00

I will have updates later this evening!!! (which means after dinner since I have a loaded day)

I've had loaded days this weekend!! That STILL hasn't stopped me from playing with bags on kroger.com. lol. Sorry I've been neglectful. See you this evening!!

I have GOT to get...

2008-04-23T22:18:00.005-05:00

...BACK on TRACK!!!

Spring break got me SO out of whack. My eating, blogging, remembering to take pictures has all been jumbled! I think I have lost readers too.. which is really bad seeing as I didn't have many to start with. Oh well.. LIFE happens. sorry.

The post is late because I am doing 9,000 things for work right now. I have T-shirts for the kids, and 8 million little flyer things to make for teacher appreciation week. Well.. I guess that's really only two things but they're time consuming. I also had that church meeting tonight. I think I just FEEL overwhelmed because of all the things I NEED to do. Finnish the house (paint the brick on the living room and MAKE CURTAINS!) I also managed to donate our old door knob to the church (don't ask) so now I HAVE to paint the front door and change out the knob by Sunday. Hrm.

Okay let's talk about food.

BREAKFAST: Banana oaties! The bag method worked like a charm! No, it wasn't as ripe as I like however it was better than it would have been had I NOT used the bag-- so happy I was!

Lunch was not as good as yesterdays!! But who can really compete with a subway subbie?! I had My new VERY delicious bread with deli chicken, green peppers, yogurt with fiber one and about half of the chips you see pictured. I did NOT have to eat with little kiddie monsters today which was the REAL treat! :o)

Snack-- I ate the rest of my baked lays from lunch and a mini ZONE bar. I love these little Zone bars. I knew I had a lot to do when I got home so I grabbed a Happy Hour Diet Dr. Pepper from Sonic on the way home. I have phases where I crave soda... I am in one now DARN it. I am back sliding people. I crave all these sweet good foods and it needs to STOP. Gotta keep reminding myself of that. :o)

Dinner-- Oooh yes I indulged in my yummy food. I was PLANNING to have a grilled chicken salad. Using LEFTOVER grilled chicken from Tuesday night. Seeing as I had subway, I had no leftover chicken and I didn't have time to grill some before the thing at church. SO i ate what I took! It was SO good. I made Chicken Casserole, Hashbrown Casserole and my mom added Corn and Green Beans. Now, my mom also makes these casseroles but it's been decided by my family than when I make them they taste better. It's the extra love really. ha-ha. I forgot my camera at home :( Oh yes.. I also had a tiny piece of redvelvet cake D made and about a T of strawberry ice cream.

I have also attached pictures of the cuties I made for my work friends. Enjoy!! :o)

PS.
I know I still need to show you more pictures of the house! Hang tight, I will have those oh by at least Sunday.

FOUND!

2008-04-22T21:35:00.003-05:00

My Camera! haha. Too little too late however. It WAS indeed at my parents house but neither of us had time to go get it until after dinner. Let's RECAP!

Breakfast---- BANANA OATIES!! I love my sweet oaties! We're fresh out of ripe 'nanas soo tomorrow I will have PLAIN cinnamon oaties?! I dunno how those will be. I think I am going to try putting a banana in a brown paper sack tonight. I hear that ripens them faster? We'll see.

Lunch--- LEFTOVER subway! This was my IDEAL lunch! With a sammie this wonderful UNDER 250 calories.. who can REALLY complain. Well.. I can! haha. I was SO full after lunch. I don't like feeling this way during my work day. After lunch I sat around like a lump for an hour. With my sammie I had baked lays and strawberry yogurt with fiber one. MmMm good!

Snacks-- Ugh. Another horrible bar. Zone Fruit Bar---Orange Cranberry. I REALLY hate to throw these things away because they're not cheap. $1.25 for a bar is high. However this tasted like ROTTEN O.J. I ate half of it and decided I had tortured myself enough. Out it went. When I got home I had a small snack size Zone Chocolate Bar. Much better.

Dinner-- SUBWAY AGAIN! lol. I didn't have time to cook tonight. Well let me take that back! We have a monthly women's meeting at our chuch and I have to cook for it tomorrow.. soo I made two casseroles for THAT however, didn't have time to cook anything for me and D. Tomorrow is also Secretary's Day and I just love all of those ladies at school so I made them all a little something. Anyhow.. I wanted a meatball sub this time. The calories weren't really that bad and I don't feel guilty. I ate my sub on wheat with cheese and a serving of baked lays.

That's all I have kids! Tomorrow I will have FUN FILLED PICTURES. I'll see what picture I can dig up for you. I am sure I have something interesting hidden on my computer!

A Kid took this picture of me in December '07. Obviously I was quite confused as to 1- why he had MY phone and 2- why a photo was being snapped of me!

And now.. after losing 30 + lbs----

Weight loss total: 35lbs! Just imagine if I had been working out this whole time. I need a good SHOVE out of bed in the AM.

MISSING!

2008-04-21T22:23:00.004-05:00

My Camera! I seriously cannot find it! I guess I left it at my parents house last night. I have talked to both of them today and neither said anything about it. Hrm...

For dinner I had subway! Mmm! I REALLY wanted a meatball sub... but I resisted and had turkey on wheat instead. To be more specific---turkey, american cheese, loaded with lettuce only on wheat. I also had a serving of baked lays. Sorry this post is so late! My dad came to pick me up around 6:30 to go to Lowe's to pick up a door. I wanted a door to put up to the living room so the cats don't get in there when we're not home. I don't want them infesting my new furniture with kitty hair!! It IS spring after all and that means my cats "malt". Ugh. The WORST thing about cats... their dumb hair. I seriously want to shave them both and if I had my way--- they would be. I might just do it anyway. D can get on over it. :o) Okay so that's what it is until I find my camera!! Camera phone pictures are just plain crummy so why bother you know?!

See ya tomorrow!!

Monday Monday!

2008-04-21T16:16:00.002-05:00

Let me just say it again... It's SO good to feel better again!!

I am still not back in the habit of taking pictures of my food again.. sorry. Now things are CRAZY at work. If you're from KY you know all about CATS testing... so you feel my pain. It's the standaridized tests the kids must take at the end of the year... CRAZY! haha.

DINNER SUNDAY

For dinner last night I went over to my parents house since D was working. My dad grilled out chicken and steak! I had half a piece of steak and a half piece of chicken along with sauteed broccoli and brown rice. Sooo good. I like to have steak whenever it's available... and I don't have to pay for it! haha. I love it. I also used A-1 for dipping and made my own honey mustard using Dijon mustard and honey. Yummy!! Of course the leftovers doubled as my lunch today!!

MONDAY

Breakfast---- Banana oaties!! sooo good! I have missed my sweet oaties!

Lunch, like I said was a repeat of last nights breakfast. I don't have a picture of my lunch because I left the camera at home and because I was eating with 19 loud, rude 8th graders. I completely forgot to use my cell phone. Oh well.. You saw (or will see) what I had last night... so that should do!

I also forgot to pack a snack this morning so I had to wait until 4 to have a snack! I was starvin' marvin! haha!! I had 2 blueberry Eggo's with sugar free syrup. :o)

Delish!
This afternoon... well right now I am going for a walk. I love spring (minus the sunshine.) The temperature is GREAT. Just throw me some clouds.. that's all.
See ya later!!

(i'll add pictures when I get back.. well probably after dinner)

Ahhh!

2008-04-20T16:49:00.002-05:00

Have strep throat was absolutely horrible. horrible. I think it was so bad because it was unknown territory for me. I am used to getting sinus infections and I know what to expect with those. I know how to self medicate and exactly what I need to feel better. With this I had no idea what to expect. Anyhoo.. three days in bed (or in recliner really) did the trick! Along with an antibiotic and gargling with peroxide as well! I am just glad to be feeling better. I am making these little monsters use germX like crazy from now on. I am already a germX Nazi...so I guess I will move up into dictator status?! I don't know. All I know is that I hope it's 2030 before I ever get strep throat again!!! :o)

I have also eaten enough Campbell's noodle soup to last me the rest of the year. Today I was glad to eat real food again! For breakfast I had TWO blueberry Eggo's with sugar free syrup and a little powdered sugar. These will be a SATURDAY breakfast ONLY!! I ate them around 9:00 and by 11:30 I was ready to eat D's arm. No. Really. Lunch was a mess... no comment... so I ended up having peanut butter and simply fruit Black Raspberry jelly on LIGHT honey wheat bread. I. Love. This. Bread!!!! They were out of my Double fiber Bread, so I settled for this. It's wonderful!!! It's soft and delicious! I love Nature's Own Breads. Anyhow... I also had a land o lakes colby jack wedge and a banana. Yum. A typical grade school lunch! haha. :o) Hopefully dinner will be more sophisticated. We'll see!!

I am GLAD to be up and running again and hope to get back to some sort of schedule! With Spring Break and being sick I am a mess!!

Hope all is well everyone!

:(

2008-04-17T22:22:00.003-05:00

I have strep throat?!
What's going on here!! I have been sick more in 2008 than I have been in YEARS! I think Dr. Bressler is going to put me on allergy shots. I have a check up in 9 days and he'll make that decision then. Anyhow.. I feel like poo. I haven't had strep throat since MIDDLE school sooo I plan to just sleep a lot. Sweet dreams and stick with me! I promise I will be up and running soon!

Stephanie is sick :(

2008-04-16T21:18:00.002-05:00

Well unfortunately Stephanie won't be able to post her day for you this evening, she has been in bed sick. She asked for me to come on here and to let you know that she will post again when she gets better. She goes to the Dr tomorrow and will hopefully get better soon! Talk to you later. - Dustin

Hello Again!

2008-04-15T17:19:00.003-05:00

I AM alive and my house Is complete!! Well, mostly. We only lack small things like trim and changing out doorknobs and outlets! WoooHoo!!! We KILLED ourselves and I am so proud of the work we completed! I seriously cannot believe we got so much done. We.... Repainted our Bedroom Painted the Half Bath Sanded and Painted the cabinets in the half bath Painted the hallway Installed light fixtures in computer room and half bath New fixtures for half and full bath NEW counter tops, sink and faucet!!!!!!!! (that I LOVE) Listen to this.. I literally had a FIVE inch sink before.. my new SEVEN inches feels like a 10 inch difference! I love it. Sanded and painted all kitchen cabinets Bought new furniture & a new bedspread (and lots of fun kitchen gadgets!!) Changed what outlets we could.. the store was all out of outlets! lol. My father in law helped the with changing of faucets and kitchen work... THANK GOD! I am so grateful for everything he's done to help us get our house complete. I really wanted to paint faux bricks on one wall in our living room... so I did. However, I HATED it so I had to paint over them :( I painted red bricks and it really needs khaki bricks. Some weekend I will paint them up there. I also need to make curtains for every room. I do apologize for the week long hiatus it seems I took, however, as you can tell we were VERY busy. Yesterday at school I swear I fell asleep a few times. lol. Actually, I almost did. In the afternoon I work one on one with a few kids and I was so tired my speech was slurred and the poor kid just kept looking at me like I was a crazy lady. I need to rest last night. I was asleep by 8PM! :o)

Lets talk about food! I didn't keep track of anything I ate last week since eating was so hurried. Also, we were eating at our kitchen table with all sorts of junk on it, so the pictures would have looked horrible. I think I only ate breakfast maybe twice all week since I was eager to get work. Mind you, don't think we slept in either. I think the LATEST we slept was 8:30. ugh. Anyhow We ate fast food all week and I ate sensibly... grilled chicken salads, a burger and a salad, Pizza and a salad.. a sub with baked chips. Of course some days I just didn't want a salad so I'd have a hot dog and fries, pizza and bread sticks. Because I remained cautious-- I managed to lose a pound! WOW! haha. However eating that way made me start to CRAVE those foods again. So I am having a hard time eating my broccoli and such for lunch again.

TODAY For breakfast I had a whole wheat Eggo and peanut butter sammie. I have no photo because I was running late to work and had to pull over and let my car defrost, I was a mess this AM. Lunch: Back to normal I suppose! A deli chicken sammie on Whole Wheat Bread, broccoli, grapes, and yogurt with fiber one. You see pictured a mug with tea. I didn't drink this because our microwave at work is gross and I didn't want to heat up water in it. I was scared that the water might take on the smell of the microwave and that just grossed me out pretty bad. For a snack, I had a mini Zone Chocolate Peanut Butter bar, and while getting groceries I had a Zone Banana Nut Fruit bar. The fruit bar wasn't so bad.

You might be wondering about my bite plate from the dentist. I was scheduled to go back last Friday and pick it up. However the dentist HIMSELF called to let me know the company who was making it was running behind. They called today to let me know it was in. I can tell it's REALLY going to help a lot. I've noticed at night I clench my jaw and bite down VERY hard. No wonder my jaw hurts so bad. I am excited to wear it tonight. Okay kids, I need to unpack groceries and get dinner going for tonight! I will add pictures after dinner :o) I am glad to be back on track!! So sweet to read messages and know I was missed. Oh no, I didn't let what I was eating stop me from posting, I was literally SO busy all day long.. I just didn't have time to stop and post since it takes 3o minutes to an hour to do a full post complete with pictures. Haha.. I aM SURE if I wouldn't type so much that it would only take 15 minutes! haha.

Here I am looking LOVELY painting the hallway! haha. I wore these clothes ALL week. I had to wash them EVERY night, that was a chore in it self. Speaking of laundry I think I did something like 9 loads last week!

Half Bath Before:

Half Bath Now--- Notice the litter kwitter on the floor!! Wooo!! The litter kwitter is now on the toilet so they are learning to use it!

Living Room Before--This is the day we moved in so nothing was set up.

Living Room Now--- it still needs art and faux bricks. I'll keep you updated.

Kitchen BEFORE:

Actually, it looked worse than this! IF you can believe it! We put all new appliances in the day we moved in. Before that they were horrible white appliances. In this photo, I had already painted the walls

The kitchen NOW! I love everything about this kitchen from my little spice cabinet to the antique table!! I loove it!

I will add more pictures later! I forgot to take the bedroom and bathroom pictures. Oh yes, we've changed the front around as well. We have more work to do on it. I'll keep ya posted for sure! :o)

Dinner:

Lean meat patties with brown rice and sauteed broccoli. I made D a cheeseburger and easy fries. He was happy since he hates broccoli. For dessert I had 2 Dove Rich Dark Chocolates with Almond candies. Yummy!! :o)

Notice my new cutie melamine salt and pepper shakers. I love melamine !

It is what it is...

2008-04-08T21:31:00.003-05:00

and the truth IS that I just do not have time to keep this updated this week. D and I are working our fingers to the bone! My mom had pretty much fed us this week, so I am at her mercy for food! I AM eating as healthy as possible and "cheating" only when there is no other option. Like tonight my mom made chicken casserole, mac and cheese, lima beans, and biscuits. These things, mind you, are not cooked very healthy! haha. What I have now decided to do is give highlights FROM this week probably on Sunday. I will also have pictures of the house ready for you!! !!! I am SOOOO E X C I T E D about our HOUSE I could PEE!! Okay, maybe not THAT excited. You just wait. We've done a lot. Sadly I don't have a lot of before and after pictures. I kind of forgot all about that. I mean I have BEFORE we bought the house pictures and now which will do :o) Thanks in advance for understanding guys. !!! (that was more excitement.)

Be Patient Friends!

2008-04-07T12:15:00.001-05:00

Hi all! We're VERY busy getting our house done so down time is pretty much non-existent. I will have full updates tonight :o) Hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday! ;o)

:o)

2008-04-05T21:10:00.004-05:00

Our bedroom is going to be beautiful! We LOVE the color. When we bought the house last May, we painted it this horrible bright blue D picked out. I instantly HATED it but he wanted to give it a try. A woman always knows better. lol. Oh well, it's fixed now with new trim paint and everything. We still need to put the furniture back in and hang pictures. Therefore I'll show YOU pics tomorrow! :o)

Lunch was decent today. I made a grilled sammie using NODF Wheat Bread, Fat FREE cheese, and my Deli Chicken. The sammie was very soggy. so gross. I decided the cheese played a factor there as my sammies are never soggy. D thought it was the bread. Well, the cheese tasted HORRIBLE, so I grilled the bread FIRST, added regular cheese, the meat from the soggy sammie (no need to waste that!) and grilled it again. Much, much better. I also had green peppers, grapes, and one of D's fig cookies. Pretty decent little lunch. ( I just remembered these pics were taken with D's camera phone sooo I will post them tomorrow!)

Even though lunch turned out good.. I was starving a few hours later so I had a ZONE bar. Peanut butter Chocolate something. I purposefully took the picture with all the paint supplies in the background so you could feel the mood of our house this week! haha. Anyhow, around 5:00 we were both hungry so I made little Kashi TLC, pb, and cheese open cracker sammies. Mmm. These are my NEW favorite snack!!
After painting the room and doing other things around the house, the LAST thing I felt like doing was messing up a lot of dishes for dinner. D has never had the pita pizzas, so we made some. I really wanted a green pepper and mushroom one, but the mushrooms were bad so I settled for a pepperoni one using 8 peperoni's. D's pepperoni pizza used oh about 20?! I don't know. He LOVES pepperoni. It was great! This time I broiled it on LOW for a bit and then popped it to high for about a minute. Perfectly crispy and gooey. I could hardly taste the pepperoni which was upsetting because it's just wasted calories and fat. At least I know for next time! I had a bit of green peppers with my pizza and water with lime. I found a lime in hidden away in the fridge! A sweet surprise! My FAVORITE soda is diet coke with lime... so water with lime is my newest treat. Sometimes I order lime with my water in restaurants as well. Okay, okay... for dessert I had sugar free white chocolate pudding with 1/4 T of mini sweets. I also snuck one bite of D's friend ice cream! Ahhh! I love this stuff. It was SUPER sweet after eating my pudding though. OKAY guys.. I need to finish this room so I have somewhere to sleep! See ya in the AM! :o)

A Busy Saturday

2008-04-05T10:57:00.002-05:00

Last night I bought Whole Grain Cinnamon Raisin Muffins! I was SOOO excited to have these this morning! I paired it with pineapples from a fruit bowl I bought. Shopping late on a Friday night means the berries will be GONE. As they were. I bought a little fruit bowl with pineapples, strawberries, and blue berries to get a little sample of everything. Okay, really I bought it because everything else was gone. Anywoo... I toasted the muffin, added a little butter spread and added a dollop of cool whip to cut the sweetness of the pineapple. All in all-- very satisfying breakfast that I enjoyed sitting on my couch watching TV with the hubby.

Plans for today? Operation CLEAN HOUSE! We're gonna clean this joint up and RE PAINT the bed room!! woo!! Pictures will follow. Really.. wish us luck! :o)

It's been a LONG day!!

2008-04-04T22:01:00.003-05:00

We've had a doozy of a day!! Before we left the house, I knew to have a snack so I grabbed a big spoonful of peanut butter. We left around 11:30 dropped the Yaris off for routine maintenance and spent 1.5 hours in Lowes! We bought paint, paint, paint and NEW DOOR KNOBS!!!!! AHH!! I am so excited about these mostly because I love a great deal. I wanted new knobs, but didn't expect to buy them right now. However, when you find great knobs that WERE $25 bucks and are now $6.50... you buy them. I outfitted my whole house for $70 dollars. We also bought a new deadbolt and knob for the outside door. On sale of course. That was the big bargain for the day HANDS down. Anywhoo....then it was off to Wal-Mart for paint supplies. It was 3:30 before we ate lunch and I must say I was starving. Since there are NO healthy places to eat here and we had more errands to run, I decided Taco Bell would maybe have something for me. I got some Fresco Bowl. It had refried beans, rice, lettuce, grilled chicken, shredded cheese, tomatoes (that I picked off because I HATE raw tomatoes), and shredded cheese. Water was my beverage of choice.I mean it was just okay. I definitely won't go there and get it again. I also had two bites of D's crunch wrap. Taco Bell food just isn't good without that cheese sauce! I didn't eat all of my bowl. I left most of the rice in it because it was just gross. In true Stephanie fashion, I needed dessert. Yes. needed. A meal isn't complete without some sweet treat. We decided on cinnamon twist. I had 4 of them and D ate the rest. This was by no means a horrible choice! It turns out the fresco bowl was just under 400 calories. I could have done A LOT worse.

After we ate we looked a furniture and FELL in LOVE! Ahh!! We're undecided if we're going to get it or what exactly we're going to get. Wish us happy deciding.

So then we ran home to get the coupons I forgot, so we could go get groceries. I thought my friend Alan would be joining us for dinner but those plans fell through. It's better for us all really, because I want him to see my house when it's complete. Anyhow, we spent like 2.5 hours at Wal-Mart and Kroger combined. The time was now 8:40.. bleh. I was NOT going home and putting all this mess up and then COOKING.. You're crazy. I settled for McDonald's, once again making a semi-decent choice. A double hamburger only mustard and ketchup and a side salad. I used my own dressing once I got home--Light Ken's HM for dipping. I also sprinkled the salad with a little parm cheese to give it a little more flavor. (sorry for the mess in the background. I bought new kitchen gadgets and still need to clear out the old ones!) I know not the best of choices, but it is what it is. D bought Breyers Fried Ice Cream at Kroger and OMG it's DELICIOUS. So bad for me... I ate a little over 1/4c. I am ashamed to tell the nutrition facts on this one. This stuff will be my temptation until he eats it all! ugh!! :( I can do it. I saw a lady at Wal-Mart tonight who I've only seen a handful of times and she said "My goodness you've lost weight!" This is true, I really have. I need to remember how I felt at moments like this and how frustrated I am that all my pants are too big and I look like a clown whenever I want ice cream. I want to keep compliments, and I want my pants too big! lol. These are good signs. Might I also add that even eating fast food today across the board my numbers for today were LOW. I needed roughly 250 more calories and about 50 more carbs. Realistically-- I did pretty good.

Okay kids, D and I are gonna watch a movie.
ALSO.. let me just say thanks to all of you who cook out of Eat, Drink, and be a VEGAN. The food AND recipes all look and sound AMAZING. They do not have this book anywhere in Hopkinsville so I am either going to have to order it or go to Clarksville and get it! either way I need it NOW!! haha. Maybe someone out there will slip the recipe for the Cocoa-Coconut Chili to me for now?? :o)

Much Love.

WooHoo!!!

2008-04-04T09:23:00.004-05:00

SPRING BREAK! is HERE!! I am off, D is off (!!!) and it's going to be a GREAT week of HARD work! The end result will be SO satisfying! The things we're doing to the house are mostly cosmetic and they would have been done by now but last summer I drove D nuts trying to do everything at once that he fizzled out and I just got mad. When we were ready to pick things back up, we found out that my Nana had cancer and our lives were put on hold. However spring brings new beginnings! I am ready to get these minor adjustments set in stone baby!!

Since we have no milk, I had a breakfast sammie this morning. Whole Wheat Muffin, Egg, Turkey Bacon, and Cheese. MMmm Good. Oh yes, and a glass of ice water. I really wanted a banana sammie but we didn't have any bananas! Today we're running mucho errands and spending mucho money! Wish me luck! see ya for lunch!!

TGIT!

2008-04-03T16:53:00.005-05:00

Thank Goodness It's THURSDAY!!! It sure FEELS like Friday around here! This week has been FOREVER long, and I know next week will be SO SHORT! I just hope we're able to get everything on my long list complete! I know we won't though, so I might as well accept defeat.

Okay to kick start the last day of work before break I had the last banana of the bunch in some oaties! I didn't eat the whole bowl because I think I am getting tired of banana oaties. I need to mix it up with different fruits.

Lunch was really good. I was super hungry today since I didn't eat my whole breakfast. I had half a chicken sammie on Whole Wheat bread, broccoli, and my old faithful strawberry yogurt with fiber one. Someone didn't shut the work fridge all the way because none of my food was cold! It was kind of gross but I tried not to think about it.

I wasn't able to have a snack at lunch today because we had a pep rally! Well, it wasn't really a pep rally.. it was a staff/student ball game. The kids had to pay to go and the money went to the Rotary Fund. You can't have a ball game without a a half time show!! Me and some of my co-workers worked it out and did the cupid shuffle... you better believe this was FUNNY!! Anyway, once I got home I had 1 T of peanut butter, 15 Kashi TLC's and a colby jack cheese piece. I made little sammies out of these. I love peanut butter and cheese!! Mmmm!

I don't know what I will have for dinner. For now I am thinking an omelet. D is off with me for the next TEN days, so I am excited to slow down a little and cook again. I am tired of not being at home!! We'll be super busy this week bu it will be our own schedule.

DINNER
Well, I started out making an omelet, but once again ended up with a scrambled mess! The only good thing about it this time is that my picture LOOKS like I intended to scramble eggs! So yeah.. I had scrambled eggs and ham for dinner. hehe. I used 1 egg and 1/3 c egg whites. I also used about 3 oz of Black Forest Ham, and 1/2 slice american cheese that I cup up of course!! A slice of toast with honey butter. The toast tasted weird.. or maybe it was the honey butter. Either way, I didn't enjoy it. To drink I had a small glass of soy milk and a big glass of ice water. I love water! Later, I had a Vanilla Skinny Dipper.. but I have no photo :( I AM SO READY FOR D TO BE OFF FOR A WEEK!! I have been LONELY. Well, I've been busy too. I have this horrible NERVOUS feeling? Does anyone ever feel like that? I mean I guess it's the stress and anticipation from getting this house done, I don't know but it makes me just sick. bleh. Have a good night everyone!!

I'm so glad...

2008-04-02T16:36:00.006-05:00

Tomorrow is FRIDAY!! Well, it's my Friday since we don't have school Thursday. I had a REALLY good day today! I think it's the lack of sleep though. I just remembered I left something VERY important at school.... dang.

TUESDAY---->

Breakfast: Banana Oaties! Banana & oats... that's all besides you know the drill kids! I took a picture of this.. but it's missing?!

Lunch: My lunch was cute today.. eating out of these little containers! When my Mom and I were in Clarksville she bought a Butterball Turkey and we split it! I had 4 oz of the turkey, broccoli, and jell-o with cool whip! Sooo yum! Alan also gave me a Dove Dark Chocolate with almonds. You know how Dove chocolates have little sayings on the inside. Here's what they said:

This was mine---
This was His and he said, "aww that's sweet." My comeback was "Yeah, you're not married are you?" ha!

Snacks: While at work I had a strawberry yogurt with Fiber One Cereal! Great combo, you know!! We left for Russellville AS SOON as I got home. I had just enough time to grab 1.5 T of peanut butter and hit the road!! I also had a gala apple. The apple you see pictured was for my lunch. However, I saved it for my snack this afternoon. I saw no need to take another picture of the same apple!

Dinner: When in Russellville with my MOM--- we eat at SolAzteca, or as I like to call it Sol-az-Mexican. Ether way, it's good eats! I had 12 chips and salsa. Now this is the salsa we shared of course. I ordered Fajita Nachos-no chips- on lettuce. They kind of got it confused by putting the lettuce on top, but that's fine. The cheese was VERY watery and kind of gross. I also forgot to order it without tomatoes which could have accounted for some of the wateriness. Maybe? I don't know. Anyway since it was just not so great, I ordered some tortillas to go along with it! This really made it! I had two little tacos. I wish that we had healthier restaurants around here, but in small Kentucky Towns you make what you have work. I have no whole foods, no nothing around here. :( It's sad really.

FRIDAY ---->
Blah banana oatie breakfast. haha. Sorry I am so boring in the mornings.
Lunch: 1/2 slice Black Forrest Ham on Whole Wheat bread (not Double Fiber because D is SO sick of it. I decided we will switch out breads every other time I'm at Sam's), broccoli, and a new yogurt with fiber one! ( I did NOT eat all of that fiber one! That's enough for three yogurts!) Ohh if only this was a good yogurt. It was runny and TOO sweet!! I am SO mad because I bought TWELVE of these!! I got a pack of twelve for 4.48 whereas 4 of my usual yogurts are 2.28. Ugh. The new yogurts have less calories & carbs but more carb and sugar. I decided the trade off would be fine for a bit. I was wrong. I hope hope hope D likes them! You also see 2 oz of turkey pictured, but I didn't eat it afterall. Oh yes! I had another chocolate! eep! here's what mine said today:
Snack: At school I had one of my GOOD yogurts with Fiber One Cereal. When I got home I had 2 T of peanut butter. Sorry there are no pictures. I've had a BUSY crazy day and just plum forgot!!

This evening I had felt HORRIBLE all of a sudden! I have been stressing myself out getting ready to work on our house next week. I think everything finally caught up to me. I was exhausted and physically sick! I took a nap and around 9:30 D made me a bacon, egg, cheese sammie on a whole wheat muffin. I am SO ready for the week to be over so we can complete our house!!!!

Living the crazy life

2008-04-01T22:37:00.001-05:00

Hey guys! It's 10:40 PM and I am just now getting home for the day. I have to do stuff for work and don't have time to post anything today. Tomorrow I will play catch up if I make it through the day!! The week before spring break is always LOTS of fun, as you can imagine! :o) See ya tomorrow!

Storm's a comin'!

2008-03-31T21:15:00.003-05:00

Hey guys! I need to be quick because bad storms are coming my way!!

My mom and I had such a wonderful time in Clarksville!! Okay Steff.. cut to the chase.

Dinner: Rafferty's of course. I ordered a Grilled Chicken Cesar Salad- No croutons- Cheese and Honey Mustard Dressing on the side. I added 1 T of cheese and using the dip method of eating dressing, I'd say about 1/8 c of dressing. The salad comes with these wonderful little croissants, which I did steal a bite of.My mom ordered a sirloin and a baked potato! I had 1/2 the potato and about 4 bites of steak. This was the first read meat I have had in a long while... SO delicious!! On the way home we had to stop and get my dad some dinner. Dairy Queen was the quickest stop. Mamaseta wanted a dipped cone...I know in Murray you can get SMALL 25 cent kiddie cones and have those dipped. So when I ordered two small KIDDIE dipped cones... I was shocked that this is what they gave me:

Oh well, you live, you learn, you splurge! It was SO sweet I could barely eat it. Then again I hate to waste..so I ate it and got the hiccups like I do whenever I eat ice cream. Okay guys!! I gotta go check the weather, pack lunches, grab the mag light, and read a little EPL!! :o) See ya in the AM! (or afternoon! haha)

Spring is in the air!

2008-03-31T16:01:00.005-05:00

You can really tell the seasons (and full moons) by observing the kids at school. They have cabin fever and they stink! Spring is here!! They stink because 1. they have gym 2. the heat is still on in the buildings because it was cold yesterday! It's hard to regulate the heating an cooling of a building when the controls are in another building across town. Anyhow, Spring is here and it makes me a little happier I have to say. The sunshine just needs to be dim is all.

FOR BREAKFAST I wanted a sammie but we both got up late so I had oats instead. D put the last of my macerated berries in with 1/4 t of choco chips. However, the berries were bad :( I kept them too long. I kind of ate around them.

Lunch was boring, even I have to say. I haven't been cooking meals since I've been busy and he's been working so I had to settle for the remainder of the green peppers and a chicken sammie. Everything was good, just boring. As you see I had sugar free jell-o with cool whip as well.

At work I snacked on 10 almonds very slowly for a few hours. I made a protein shake with 3/4 c horizon and 1/4 c soy. Yuck-o. I tried to make myself drink it but the smell was so horrible I just couldn't stomach it any longer. Now I HATE to waste food...but this had to go!!! Once I was home this afternoon I had 1 T of peanut butter, a land o lakes colby/jack cheese square and about 7 kashi TLC's. I LOVE peanut butter and cheese!! I used to make little crackers with ritz, pb and that easy squirt cheese! haha.. they were good.

Tonight I am going to Clarksville with my mom to get our Salad Spinners!!! Ahhh! I don't know why I didn't buy this spinner a month ago! Well, I do know why, D thought it was dumb since we already have one (a crappy one) from Wal-Mart. Since luck was on my side a few days ago, I doubt I will have it today. I am sure they'll be sold out. I'm SO optimistic! I just love it.

Okay kids... Gotta fold some laundry before I leave. Hope you're Monday was Magnificent!

Sadly, the weekend is over

2008-03-30T20:52:00.007-05:00

Oh Sunday nights. I hate Sunday nights because they mean Monday is just over the horizon. Ugh. Positive thoughts. Positive thoughts.

1. it's a FOUR day work week!!

2. I am getting a new salad spinner tomorrow.

3. I love myself.

Ahh... I feel better already. I am trying to stay positive in my life instead of adding un called for stress.

We had a meeting after church, and since D had to be at work at 2:00 we grabbed him fast food and I came home and made a mini pizza. I am sure you guys are sick of seeing these. Sorry. I needed to use up the green onions AND the pitas... so here's what you get! I am also a creature of habit. For desert I had strawberry yogurt with fiber one! Yum, Yum, Yum!!

I decided to go to my mom's house today because she's been sick and I wanted to check on her. Before I left I had a banana! I didn't plan on staying there all afternoon, but she was looking up kitchen gadgets online. I LOVE KITCHEN GADGETS!!!!! I can't get enough of them. While I was there I got hungry. The best thing in her house was a Ritz Peanut Butter Cracker Pack. I HATE these... and I only ate it because I really was hungry. They're way to buttery-- I've never liked them.

For dinner I didn't really feel like cooking anything grand for myself nor did I want an omelet so I settled for oaties on the stove top. Soooo rich and creamy. The horizon milk is a tad sweeter than regular milk. I enjoy it. However, I think cup for cup the regular skim has fewer calories. That being said, I will drink whatever has the fewest calories and carb content. My oaties were made with horizon, 1 banana, 1/4 t choco chippies, and I also had 1 T of peanut butter to eat along with them! Nice choice really. The drink of the evening was Prince of Wales tea. Very filling dinner. I am getting a little sad eating alone. My Papa said I am "batch-en'" it. He's right. :( Oh well come summer I will have two jobs as well so I won't be home alone anymore I suppose.

Okay kids, I need to get lunches ready for tomorrow! See ya then!

Like Water For Milk

2008-03-30T09:45:00.005-05:00

For breakfast, I asked D to make me a sammie! I am fully capable of making these, but mine are never as good as his. It's a man thing-- they ALL know how to cook an egg...and all of them better than me. I had an english muffin, egg, cheese, and turkey bacon sammie with Tazo Organic Apple Red Tea! soooo good. Still not as filling as oatmeal because I don't feel satisfied. Oatmeal is a complex carb making it slow to digest. Eggs and Cheese are not!
Speaking of Organic... I had a coupon for Horizon Organic Milk so of course I got it. Listen to this dialogue:

D: Have you tried that new milk you bought?
Steff: No, why?
D: Well, are you sure it's milk?
Steff: Yes, It's just organic.
D: Are you sure it's not colored water?

I tasted it and it's sweet and delicious! Sorry for poor D, but I liked it a lot better than regular skim milk. The true test will be it's oatmeal making abilities!

:o)

2008-03-29T20:58:00.007-05:00

I had a wonderful day with my Papa! It really was nice to go to Bowling Green with him. :o) I am excited of this picture I took this morning because you can really see my weight loss. I took the picture because I thought my make-up looked good today haha.. and It would be a nice picture for D to put on his desk at work. However, I feel that I am really starting to show my weight loss and this picture is a prime example :o)
Lunch: I knew he liked Chick-fil-A and that I could find something to eat there. For lunch I ordered a Chargrilled Chicken Salad. It looked DELICIOUS!! It tasted okay. :( The salad was wet therefore very watery. What was cool is that it came with broccoli on the side which I could have had 10 more little trees of! Check out all the mix-ins it came with! Fat Free Honey Mustard (that was gross and peppery, I didn't eat it) Croutons (which I had 2 of) and Honey Roasted Sunflower Seeds. Since the dressing was a bust, I decided to put the sunflower seeds on my salad. BIG mistake!! This decision was made before I knew how watery it was. Thankfully I only put half the bag on my salad and was able to enjoy the rest for my "desert"!
Snacks: I didn't eat my whole salad because it was sitting in a pool of water so I had an early snack today. It consisted of the remainder of my banana from this morning and Kashi Original TLC's. I love these little crackers. Later on I had a new protein bar....Slim Fast High Protein Chocolate Chip Granola. Thumbs DOWN. Okay, it ranked higher than the balance bar and some of those Luna's but it still tasted gross. I THINK I am going to go back to Zone Perfect Bars even though they have more sugar than I'd like.

Dinner: When in Russellville with my Papa where do I eat?! Well ROY'S of course, home of the lemon packets! (which in case you don't know crack me up EVERY time.) Tonight I was smarter... There is no way I will ever eat a salad from this place because I know I will hate it and only eat half of it.. sooo I ordered pulled BBQ Pork with NO bread and sauce on the side. Also, baked beans and a baked potato. IT WAS SO GOOD. I literally ate everything on my plate (except the sauce, I had maybe 2 dips of it because they gave me hot instead of mild) and would have probably eaten the plate too. Everything was fresh and hot. This meal was a little high on calories but since lunch was skimpy, I am still right on target with my daily intake. My Aunt Carol joined us and that was nice to have a little family outing. Hoo-rha.

Okay kids.. I am home now and cleaned a little and enjoyed a cup of Bedtime Tea. That's exactly what I plan to do.. go to bed!! See ya in the morning! :o)

The Weekend Arrives

2008-03-29T09:04:00.003-05:00

Today is a breakfast sammie kind of day. I have found that on the weekends, I would rather have something other than oatmeal because I actually have the time to fix it! I bought new whole wheat english muffins last night and I wanted to try them. Turkey Bacon, Egg and Cheese all sounded too heavy so I opted for a lighter choice! On another blog I read, she often has jam, peanut butter, and banana on some sort of bread. I've always eaten peanut butter and banana sammies, and since I LOVE my black raspberry jam I decided to give it a whirl! Though DELICIOUS I do have one problem. I put the jam on one side and ther peanut butter on the other. With my bananas in the middle....the jam side just wants to make everything fall apart. If you chose to make this (and when I make it again) the proper assembly should be: Muffin, Jam, Peanut Butter, Bananas, a dab of Peanut Butter, Muffin. :o) I am also sipping on what is quite possibly my favorite tea: Salada Strawberry Orange Green Tea.

I am going to Russellville today to take my Papa to Bowling Green! I am sure we will have fun. With that said, I don't know when I'll be home! Enjoy your Saturday! I know I will enjoy mine.

Luck is in the air.

2008-03-28T19:10:00.015-05:00

I love Friday! Today felt like Thursday though. I am pretty sure it felt so odd because I left work early yesterday to go to the dentist. The post is late because I had to go to the grocery after school. As PACKED as the parking lot was, it wasn't very crowded inside-- which I was glad for.
Breakfast: Last night I diced some strawberries and added splenda so they could macerate. They were delicious in this mornings oaties!! I told D to add 1 T of swemi-sweets. That was dumb---It was LOADED with chocolate. I really only need 1 tsp. of chocolate! Oh well, I ate it and I do have to say it was good. I love oats. I hope my love affair with them never grows old.

Lunch: Blah. You see pictured a salad with kens and shredded parm, tuna, and jell-o with cool whip. However the tuna had FISH BONES all in it! YUCK! Luckily I had a dollar (I NEVER have cash) So I chose what I know was the best choice from the vending machine. Lance Toastchee Crackers (that is not my hand in the picture. It's a male co-workers.). I ate half of my salad, all of the jell-o and the crackers. :( It was a sad little lunch.

Snacks: Because I used the last of the milk for my oaties, I had no Luna Bars, or anything else to eat for that matter--- my snack today was a yogurt with Uncle Sam's cereal. This was not as filling as I would have liked for it to be. Luck was on my side again today. Around 2:55 for some reason adults just started popping in our classroom, one of which was selling popcorn. I jumped at the chance for that! The popcorn was VERY filling and I was glad for it because grocery shopping when you're hungry as we all know is a nightmare.

WHILE at the store, YOGI TEA was on SALE!!!!! I was very excited! Even though Aimee just sent me 3 boxes, I couldn't resist buying just one more box. I probably will not try this tonight because I have a lot of chores to do and I want to go to bed early. I look forward to enjoying it this weekend.

Let me just talk about fat people for a minute. I am a fatty so I can speak freely. For me, and I imagine many more over weight people, food is EVERYTHING. I think about food ALL THE TIME. No sooner than I'd eat breakfast, I want to think and talk about lunch. Food is my drug. Everyday it takes every bit of will power I have not to gorge myself like a little stuffed pig. No joke. Just like an alcoholic buys just one more beer, I'd want just one more cookie. To those who read this that struggle with weight-- just know that YOU are STRONGER than the temptation to eat. Losing weight is all a mental game with me. I know my body and I know when it is full. I drink a lot of tea because I can sip it and it takes a while to drink. It's soothing for the mind and soul as well. This is also why I drink so much water daily. It fills me up. I also use a calorie counter online that keeps me right on track. I wish you all the best of success!! Losing 30 lbs has REALLY kicked me in to overdrive again. I feel like I felt when I first started to "diet". I have not been working out since I've been so busy and D has a second job. I am EXCITED to jump start that Monday (and use my poor little fitness watch!) Just know I am here struggling along with you. Sure I talk about what I eat, but I never talk about the struggles that go with it. It's hard, very hard to restrain from eating a lot of things-- which is why I am so strict with myself. I have to be, or I'd be taking "one more bite" for an hour. :o)

On to dinner!! While at the store I picked up green peppers and mushrooms!! Green Peppers and Mushrooms are my all time favorite pizza toppings. I used a Kangaroo Whole Wheat Pita, 1 T of Ragu Pizza Sauce, 1/2 c cheese, green peppers and mushrooms. I sauteed the veggies in cooking spray before making the pizza. Oh yes, I also toasted the pita in the toaster first as well. Easy as 1,2...3! Just broil until you nearly burn it and it's good to go!! Listen to these facts...

my WHOLE pizza was 374 calories, 37 carbs, 24 protein and 9g fiber. Compared to 2 slices (because I can't just eat one) of Pizza Hut's Pan Mushroom and Green Pepper Pizza: 500 calories, 56 carbs, 10 protein, and 2g fiber. Wow. I am VERY full without all the greasiness of their pizza. I will be making these pizza's time and time again! They are great for kids and families too. Everyone can make their own little pizza! How fun! I also had a skinny dipper for desert! (that I didn't want but I ate for the sake of eating desert. I SHOULD have used will power, see!)

Okay kids.. I have chores to do. I also rented a movie at the Red Box. The sweet lady in front of me handed a free movie coupie. I really appreciated this because I always leave coupies in the store and hand them out if I don't need them. Luck, Karma, and baby Jesus are on my side today. Wow.. and all at once! I better stop while the gettin's good.

See ya in the AM! (no really.. I will.)

Burnt is better!

2008-03-27T20:27:00.006-05:00

As much as I don't care for Rachael Ray, I am like her when it comes to using the broiler (and baking!) For dinner I piddled around until my stomach would let me piddle no more! The fridge and cabinets are bare, so my choices were slim. I didn't want a salad and didn't have any sides other than salad to go with a sammie therefore a pita pizza it was! I toasted the pita in the toaster first so that it wouldn't get soggy from the sauce. A dab of sauce was all I needed and a pile of cheese did the trick! I really wish we had some mushrooms or green pepper, but I made do just fine with a gooey cheese pizza, slightly burnt. I was on the phone with D and by the time I remembered my pizza it had gotten a little brown around the edges! Turns out it was delicious! It didn't taste very burnt and the crispiness was delightful. Once I was done eating, I realized how nice a salad would have been. Oh well, I thought. I then began to ponder desert options. Jello, Yogurt, or Skinny Dipper. Chocolate cool whip is horrible on mixed fruit jell-o, so that was out. I only had a sample of the fiber one cereal, so I didn't really want to eat yogurt without it. Hands down a mint skinny dipper it was!! It was ALL I HAD not to run back to the fridge and grab a second and third one of these, however I managed! I am now sipping on Tazo Organic Apple Red hot tea. So yummy. Man, these teas are so much better than the Lipton crap I have! The depth of flavor is just unmatched. Now, Salada Strawberry Orange is probably still my favorite.

Speaking of Lipton, this afternoon while talking to my Papa (who you know calls me daily.) I sipped on Lipton Orange something Green Tea. It's horrible after having these nice teas!!

Well... I actually don't have anything else to say other than I bid you good night and happy dreams! (tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!)

It is confirmed!

2008-03-27T15:58:00.005-05:00

I have TMJ. I don't have just NORMAL teeth grinding TMJ, oooh no. I have some jaw moving, cartilage cracking, muscle spasin', EXPENSIVE TMJ. Which causes me to need the MUCH more expensive night guard. Now, if I was only a teeth grinder and my muscles didn't spasm and my jaw didn't almost explode every time I opened my mouth, I would be a candidate for the $175 soft, cushy night guard. Oh no folks. I need the $420 diamond laced hard night guard. Okay, well it really doesn't come with diamonds, but it should for that price. There were a few good things that came out of this visit: Dr. Bottoms (the dentist) thought I was funny, I thought he was cute, everyone there was very nice, AND he gives a 10% discount if you pay upon service. Today I had to pay $128 for a panoramic X-Ray (that I really wish I had taken a picture of so I could show you guys) and for him to poke, prod, and measure every angle of my mouth. I also found out that my teeth are salvageable and I will not need dentures by the ripe age of 3o, which was a SERIOUS concern of mine! He did want me to stick to a soft diet, and I told him I wouldn't, but would continue to eat "softer" foods. We both agreed that was doable! Okay kids, lets talk about what all I ate with these teeth today!!

Breakfast: BANANA RAMA OATIES! Oats, Skim,Cinnamon & Splenda (other wise known as cinnalove ♥) and a whole banana. 1/2 of the banana was used during cooking and the other half was added to the top. So yummy and delicious. I would eat oats now if I had more bananas!

Lunch: Lunch was blah. I was a nervous wreck because I knew my dental appt. was coming up. I loathe the dentist if you don't remember. Anyhow. I ate 4 oz of Black Forest Ham (that I prefer in omelets), green peppers, broccoli, and strawberry yogurt topped with fiber one cereal. I LOVE THIS CEREAL!!!! Okay, well that's all I have to say about that.

Snacks: I did not have a 2PM snack because I had to leave to go to the DR. Once I got home I had a scoop of peanut butter. I finally used my brain and put the spoon on a PLATE to take a picture. I had been just holding the spoon up to photograph and was coming out with these unappealing pictures.

I need to go to the store, but I really don't feel like it. I will scrounge something up for dinner. Maybe even have another omelet! Who knows!

Omelet Disaster

2008-03-26T21:35:00.003-05:00

I didn't have time to pack a dinner before I left because the cable guy came before D got home. I knew I didn't need to eat a Shoney's so I waited until I got home at 8:45 to fix myself dinner. An omelet sounded soooo yummy. Scrambled eggs were nice too! My omelet broke so I made a little egg (1 egg and 2 egg whites), ham, green onion and cheese scramble. I also had a slice of toast with buttery spread and black raspberry jam! Yum! Right now I am sipping on Yogi Bedtime Tea. I have NEVER had tea with such depth of flavor. I feel like I am tasting wine instead of sipping tea. At first you get the soft aroma and flavor of chamomile, as the beverage hits the back of your tongue, you taste the sweetness of the spearmint. Very yummy AND soothing.
I think I will finish it in my bed :o)
Tomorrow= Dentist!! ahh!! Fingers crossed!!!

Do a little dance...

2008-03-26T16:46:00.005-05:00

That's what I did this morning when I discovered I've lost 30 pounds! That's THREE ZERO!! Woo! I am on my way. I have also decided that I do indeed what children. This is something I have been torn about for the past several years for reasons that shall not be discussed here. The light bulb came on yesterday at school. There are some kids that I absolutely ADORE (who don't have the greatest home life)and I think how much greater that love can be when the child is MY OWN. D and I both feel strongly about the possibility of adoption. It's something we've looked in to and will probably pursue later in our lives. It's a huge step and such a life changing one at that.

Anyhow.. For my celebratory breakfast I had Strawberry Banana Oaties with Chocolate. D put TONS of chocolate on those oats! A little too much for me. I ate them anyway of course!

You know the spoiler.. lunch was a repeat of last nights dinner! It was so delicious that I wouldn't mind having it again tonight! I get on kicks and stay on them for a while, in case you haven't realized. *wink, wink* For those of you who don't know what I had last night and those that need a refresher: Grilled Chicken Salad with Ken's and Shredded Parm-o. I also had Sugar Free Mixed Fruit Jell-o with chocolate cool-whip. Gross. I needed just regular cool whip for this one! Oh! I forgot that I ate Kashi crackers. They were just great with the salad.

I stayed very very full today and I attribute that to my large water intake. However at 2:30 I very SLOWLY drank my homemade protein shake, only to STILL get a tummy ache :( I am thinking of making my shake with soy milk. This afternoon when I got home around 4:30 I topped a pita with peanut butter and my left over banana half from this morning. I could have done without the pita. It was a poor choice.

Tonight I have tons of stuff to do. My little church group is going to Shoney's for dinner...there is nothing I CAN and WANT to eat there so I will be packing my own dinner along. That is IF I get going! It's 5:00 now and I still need to post pictures, pack a dinner AND get to my mom's by 5:30! eep! See ya later!

I wanna know...

2008-03-25T21:11:00.003-05:00

Who you are!! You guys rarely leave comments and this little blog gets a decent amt. of clicks daily. I only know a handful of daily readers so I am giving you an assignment! Introduce yourself, if you like of course. I understand if you want to keep your identity a secret. I try to stay incognito most of the time too. Ms. Gilbert expects you to get an A + on this assignment. Please don't be like our kids and ignore the fact that you've been given homework! haha. Speaking of homework...the school board had a meeting tonight and brought their brains along with them. They overturned their original decision and gave us our spring break back and tacked the remaining days on to the end of the year like we VOTED on. :o) What's YOUR good news for the day?

Thanks for reading guys.
Much Love,
Steff (who is off to have bed time tea & read!)

A nice clean day!

2008-03-25T20:17:00.006-05:00

D was off at the Credit Union today and and the house was beginning to show just how busy we've both been! He cleaned the house today, which I love of course. Tonight I am completing laundry and doing the second load of dishes. Sorry the post is so late. I have a lot of T-shirts to make for this kids at school so that took precedence, then I needed to cook dinner so D could go to work.
Breakfast: Straight up banana oaties! You know how it goes folks.. 3/4 c skim, oats, cinnamon, 1/2 packet splenda, & 1/2 of a banana! Yum, Yum, Yum. Seriously, if you don't begin your day with oats, give it a try just for ONE week.

Lunch: Leftovers! I mean did you really think I'd have ANYTHING different?! Rewind last night: 2 muffins, sauteed broccoli, and brown rice. I also drank 24 oz of water AT lunch, which I rarely do because it makes me feel bloated. Well, I felt sick afterwards of course. I also ate a TON of rice! Big mistake. It was all delicious though!! I was VERY full for the rest of the day. I ate my Chocolate Peppermint Stick luna bar around 2:00 and ate it over 30 minutes. That was my last Luna and I believe it will be my last for a while. I also had 2 T of peanut butter around 4:30.
Dinner: I have NOT been eating enough salads. I used to eat them a few times a week for lunch. Something I am going to change because I love salad. Tonight D and I had grilled chicken salads. We used romaine and spinach. Mine was topped with shredded parm and I dipped it in Ken's Honey Mustard as I ate it. I guesstimate I used roughly 1 T of dressing and 1/2 T of cheese. Spoiler: I am having this for lunch tomorrow! ;o) You probably already guessed that. I might have a yogurt or a skinny dipper in a bit-- It just depends if I am hungry or not. I have been very satisfied today. I need to count all my calories up. If I need more calories I will have a snack for sure.

I check http://www.postsecret.com/ weekly and have even sent in a few secrets. I reccomend doing it actually. Anyhow check this out:

I'm glad I'm not the only one! ha! I litterally laughed out loud.

Another Week Kicks off

2008-03-24T17:18:00.008-05:00

I count Sunday's as both the end and the beginning of the week. Monday officially begins my week because I have to follow I schedule I suppose.
I of course had oaties for breakfast made with 3/4 c skim, 1/2 a banana and cinnamon. NO SPLENDA.. D forgot the splenda. They were really horrible, but I choked them down because I KNEW I would regret it later if I didn't have breakfast. I never knew the difference that 1/2 packet made! I also completely forgot to take a picture of these! Sorry.

Lunch was a bit different today. I had a slice of ham, broccoli and yogurt with fiber one cereal. I LOVE this cereal!! I sent off for a free sample and definitely plan to buy it at the store later this week! lunch was filling, but I was hungry again by 1:30 so I went ahead and ate my Luna Bar- Nuts over Chocolate. I am OFFICIALLY done with these. Well, I have one more left in the cabinet. I am over them.
Around 4:30 I was ready for a snack so I had 2 T of peanut butter. I guess I could post a picture of the peanut butter, as ugly as I think they are, and let you judge for yourself.

For dinner I am making meatloafs!! D is SO excited. See ya then! Hope everyone has had a great Monday thus far!
Sorry dinner is a day late! I took meatloaf to eat over at my Parent's house and didn't get home until 9:00. I REALLY want to be in bed by 9:30 so I could finally get 8 hours in!! It was WELL WORTH IT! I badly needed the sleep. For dinner I ate 2 "muffins", brown rice, and sauteed broccoli. I also sipped on diet A&W Root Beer. SWEET, sweet, sweet! I liked it though. I would have rather had the soda as a
snack and had water with dinner. For dessert I had a delicious Vanilla SKINNY DIPPER. You all know I LOVE these! :o) Mamaseta made mashed potatoes and cornbread for everyone else. They also ate leftover corn and green beans. I had a couple bites of D's potatoes and MAN were they good!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T13:26:00.012-05:00

This morning D and I were up before the rooster crowed only to shuffle around and be at church by 7:00. A very early day for us indeed. I don't mind getting up early so much. It's BEING somewhere early that's the tough part. We had a nice sunrise service, that I have to admit I don't remember because I was so tired, and breakfast afterwards. I took oatmeal for breakfast! The outlet the microwave was plugged into decided to die so I cooked my oaties on the stove top. Man. What. a. difference! I will forever cook oaties on the stove. When I use the whole banana like I did today, I mix half of it in while cooking. YUM-O! I topped my creamier than creamy oaties with a 1/2 packet of splenda, the remaining banana and a few little semi-sweets. We had a HUGE spread at my little church and I wanted just a bite of breakfast casserole. So I had one. You see pictures two casseroles. I ate the one on the left and had a bite of the other one. It wasn't as good. Also with my oaties I sipped on one of my new teas!! I tried the Green Pomegranate... It was all I had hoped it would be! Thank you Aimee!

Check out this bite!! We all thought it was a really nice bite, so of course it had to be documented!

We were going to Russellville today, however, my Papa feels like making the trip up here. If I am able to pry my Dad's hands away from Western Wear on eBay and solitaire, I will make a lunch post. Though he maybe obsessed with eBay and solitaire, he did give a very good sermon during big church, I was full and awake by then!!

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I am still here at my parent's which has become my home away from home this weekend! For lunch I actually made a chicken casserole and a hashbrown casserole. However I ate sauteed broccoli, sliced ham, a whole wheat pita, and a little sampling of chicken casserole. I LOVE that chicken casserole so I showed GREAT restraint!! The rest of my family also had green beans, corn, and rolls. I DID have a roll later today for a snack. I'll figure the calories in so it ain't no thang but a chicken wannng. Sorry, I guess you have to hear me say that for it to be funny. Oh yes.. while everyone else was having homemade strawberry cake for dessert, I had pistachio pudding. As soon and I am finished typing, I am going to go have a cup of a new tea! Tazo Organic Apple Red. I have high expectations because I love most Tazo tea. (***UPDATE: The Tazo was FABULOUS! It needed NO splenda. I will be getting this again!!! Aimee 007 is the best :o)****)Okay guys-- hope you're all having a great Easter!! See ya for dinner! (which I THINK might be Pizza and a Salad.
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Well, no one wanted pizza but me. I didn't need pizza so it really was a good thing. My dad REALLY wanted Chicken Casserole for dinner, but we gave that to my Papa and Aunt to eat on because they love it. The casserole's were REALLY good today, so everyone said. It's because I made them this time. Ha! No really, I think it had to do with the way my mom baked them off. Anyway..... For dinner My Dad and I made omelets. He made his, I made mine. I didn't plan on taking pictures of his omelet, but he was SO proud of how it turned out (and the fact that he will now be featured on my blog) that I knew it was my only choice :o) Mamaseta (my mom) wanted me to tell you all that he is "Bald and Beautiful". Random I know. Bald and Grumpy is more like it. You know his middle name IS Oscar. You know, Oscar the grouch... yeah. He's equally sweet as well though. Really.

Back to dinner! My omelet consisted of 1 egg and 2 egg whites, green peppers, delicious thick cut ham, Italian cheese blend, and onions. We should have cooked the peppers, ham, and onions prior to making the omelet to get the excess water out of them. Next time! I DO see an omelet in my dinner plans this week! I also had 1/2 of a pita with my black raspberry jam and 1/2 c OJ! It tasted SO sweet! I enjoyed it though. I also had a bit of the Orange Pineapple Cake my mom got at Sam's. It's not pictured because it was all mushed. Ugh. Tomorrow is MONDAY. I hate Monday's. The good thing about Monday is -- it's one day closer to FRIDAY!!! :o) See ya then!

Lunch (& Dinner) on a Saturday!

2008-03-22T16:13:00.010-05:00

Today for lunch I was at my parent's house, so I ate Black Forrest Ham for lunch! MmMm Good! I love that ham. I am sure I will be sick of it by the end of the week though. Ham is not my favorite meat. I rarely eat ham actually. So you KNOW this ham is good!! I also had broccoli and pistachio pudding. I put a slice of cheese on my plate but after one bite I decided I didn't want it.

For a snack I had a little peanut butter go cup. I ate on it while watching a few TV shows. Sometimes I hate watching FOOD TV because it makes me HUNGRY!!! Oh well.

I came home from my parent's around 8ish. I was PLANNING to cook meatloaf for us all but after cooking all day I really didn't feel like doing all those meatloaf dishes! D will be excited to have fresh meatloaf for dinner Monday night. Since I didn't feel like cooking, I thought of having a grilled or toasted sammie, but I didn't want all the bread. Finally, I cooked up some pasta and sauteed broccoli for a little pasta dish. When it came to toppings--- I didn't have any! I dressed the pasta in olive oil. Dang!! Just as a I type I realize I had grated fresh parm in the fridge!!! Oh well.. maybe next time. My pasta was oily-- I only ate half of it. No Fear!! Skinny Dippers are here. My desert was a chocolate MINT skinny dipper. Y-U-M. I love these things. They also make ice cream sammies. However... I want to try the Soy Sammies. Maybe next time as well.

I forgot to tell you guys two very important things in yesterday's post! These are things I had in the original post that didn't save, you know. I tried on a DRESS yesterday that fit PERFECTLY that was a size DOWN from what I have been wearing!! There is nothing like shopping to make a girl keep eating good! My Sister-in-law, Jennifer, found out that she's having a GIRL! I looked all day for cute girly clothes, but found nothing that suited my fancy. I like really unique clothes.. but then again I am not buying for me. I love baby clothes. If my cats would wear clothes you better bet I'd dress them! haha! I am happy to have a baby to buy clothes for!! I know Jenn will be happy as well! :o)

Don't kill me guys but I have a long day again tomorrow. I have to be at my destination at 7AM then we're off to Russellville right after church. I will have no internet access until I get home. Who knows when I will get home. Stephanie is ready for these long days to die. Just die.

Let's try this again.

2008-03-22T09:13:00.020-05:00

I think I have deja vu.... haha. I am not sure WHAT happened with the auto save. My blog periodically saves it self. I know it was saving last night because I always check, however rarely save it myself. See.. it JUST saved right then. So weird. I had everything typed and just needed to add pictures!! Oh well..I won't cheat ya.. I'll still you all everything I had last night.

Now... WHERE WERE WE?! :o)

WEDNESDAY NIGHT

D and I went to his parents house for dinner and to see a church thing. For dinner I ate macaroni and cheese and little smokey sausages cooked in grape jelly. They were SO good, I am still talking about them. I love the balance of savory and sweet in meals. D's Mamo made an apple cobbler.. of course I had a small bite of that! It was delish. His mom made 2 Chess pies.. one for D to take home and one for his sister. They both had a piece from their own pie. I took the first bite of Dustin's pie. Very good. I got my sweet fill in I'd say! Once dinner was over, we went to the "Forgiveness House" which is a walk thru of the last days before the crucifixion. Now.. in the first room we see Jesus-- who was VERY attractive. I'd like to say enough said.. however that's not the whole story! Like the story goes -- Jesus had to die on the cross. Well he didn't wear a lot of clothes..neither did this Jesus. Is it bad to think inappropriate things while watching Jesus die on the cross? I think so. To make matters worse, come to find out-- he's the PASTOR of the church at a ripe age of 26. He also comes with 2 kids and one on the way. I think I will stick to my very handsome, sweet, funny Gilbey who comes with no children! At least my sister-in-law was thinking the SAME thing I was. Now don't think I was not touched by this depiction-- I was. I am not totally heartless.

THURSDAY

Well.. after that if you're still reading, thanks. If not.. well trust me YOU should've seen this guy! Anyway....

Breakfast: I had strawberry chocolate oaties! They were great. I have no picture of these actual oaties because it was raining, I was driving AND eating. I thought it stupid to try and snap a photo of something you've seen a few times. :o) You pretty much know what they look like.

Lunch: I had the same thing I've been eating all week long. I think this meal deserves a special name. We will call it Chicken Pudding. I had my deli chicken sammie on my NODF wheat, broccoli, a cheese stick and pistachio pudding. This meal is a my "staple" lunch. Generally the only thing that changes is the pudding flavor, yogurt, and jell-o. We'll come up with fun names for the lunches. Maybe I'll even color code them... Kidding.

Snacks: I ate my 15 almonds and Luna bar early today. I was starving. For some reason lunch was NOT enough today. I ate these blasted almonds even though I know they hurt my jaw. I loved the luna!! Chocolate Peppermint Stick. One of the TWO Luna's I will eat! I didn't have a snack when I got home from school this day. I had enough time to fluff my pants and back out the door again! This time to my church for choir practice and a short Eater Service.

Dinner: I had put some lean meat in the fridge to defrost planning to cook Meatloaf tonight. However, my mom invited D and I to Cracker Barrel with them. So of course we went! Cracker Barrel is a place that does not offer nutrition facts. Rightfully so, it's Country Cooking.. so no one REALLY needs to know those numbers! Now, I was still using my camera phone for all pictures. The lighting in CB was HORRID! Well... I ate at CB AGAIN Friday night, and had the SAME thing. You'll just have to scroll down and see what I ate! I know the anticipation is killing you. I just know it is.
Just as we walked in Cracker Barrel, I received a phone call from my co-worker Alan asking me if I'd gotten a phone call yet. He was referring to the phone system we have at work. It's an automated system that calls whenever their is news to tell such as school closings and the like. Seconds after we hung up, I received my call (on D's phone because I used to always get our phone numbers mixed up and I'd ALWAYS give out his instead of mine.) This call sates that since we've had so many snow days, they will be making those days up OVER OUR SPRING BREAK. Now this is upsetting for multiple reasons. NUMBER ONE: The prior week the staff was asked to vote on the day's we'd like to make up. A: Good Friday, B: The Friday BEFORE Spring Break, and C: Tack 3 days on to the end of the year. The results showed we all wanted to make up days at the end. That was that.. we were going to school 3 extra days. This would push High School Graduation back a few days. No big deal. Well.. it's no big deal unless you have a daughter graduation High School and a son who graduates from West Point that very same day. Do you see where I am going. This ONE parent (well others were with him, but only he spoke) went to the board meeting Thursday night to protest this. Saying that in our bylaws we state that if we've missed a large number of days that Spring Break CAN be used. He also stated that it would push graduation back to far and he had conflicting PERSONAL PLANS. Now... before you think I am just being over dramacic.. listen to these numbers: This ONE MAN's "personal conflict" affected SIXTEEN SCHOOLS (11 elementary, 3 middle, and 2 high) Well over 2,500 employees AND all of the said family members attached to the children and staff. Where is this fair? These are PUBLIC Schools and the FACULTIES VOTED to tack days on at the end of the year. NONE of us even THOUGHT to attend that meeting, since we'd voted and the results were IN. You might like to know that the above mentioned man is a wealthy man in town. Hrm. Interesting. I do in NO way blame this man for doing what he did, I might have done the same. However the board should have shown more respect for what the Faculty had already voted on. So going to school over these 3 days is a waste because if parents have plans they WILL take their kids out of school to go on a vay-cay. Not to mention the amount of Teachers who have plans. I have my own PERSONAL plans. Oh well. so goes the story.

I can happily say T.G.I.F!

My mom and I headed to Paducah originally so I could buy the fabric for the living room. Though very expensive, it's the ONLY thing I like. However, I want new counter tops in my kitchen more than I do curtains. I no longer needed to go, but my mom wanted to go and have a fun day. A fun day it was!

Breakfast: With D off to work I made my own oaties today. I can say that we make oaties the exact same way and I cannot tell mine from his. I had Banana oaties with cinna love. The banana wasn't quite ripe enough so I let it sit chopped on the counter while I got dressed. This did the trick. However, the oats tasted kind of irony. I am not sure if it was the cinna love or the banana. I still ate them, and they were still good. My MOM even commented on them.

Lunch: While shopping someone mentioned salmon at Logan's Roadhouse. Instantly my mom wanted to go there. That was fine with me. I mean really-- every place has a decent salad. Logan's is a place where you eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor, and had killer grilled food. While waiting to order I had about 8 peanuts.I thought about ordering a grilled chicken salad.. however I was confident that they would screw it up some how because their salads have ALL KINDS of crap on them that I didn't need not want. I also didn't trust them to make my chicken without any sauce. I ordered a safe meal of the house salad and a sweet potato. This is a MEAL on the menu, not just a combo I ordered up so when my salad came with my mom's I was a little perturbed. I mean WHY would anyone want to eat their salad and then 10 minutes later be brought a potato to eat? You order the meal as one thing, it should arrive as one thing. Now on to my salad. I ordered it without cheese and tomato, which leaves only bacon and lettuce. ONLY bacon does not mean EXTRA bacon. I guess I need to start ordering it differently. Anyway.. this puppy was loaded with enough bacon to give me a heart attack right then and their. I just threw the EXTRA bacon on the floor.. I mean that's where the peanut shells were. ha! you might ask why I didn't just send the salad back... well the waitress was never THERE of course. She became decidedly sweet as she brought the check, which always makes me mad after they've been really rude. Needless to say, I paid for lunch that day. Anyway.. I am being very negative today!! Sorry. I am really a sweet girl. Honest. :o)
My salad really WAS delish -- the dressing was sooooo yummy. I want gallons of it. I use not even a tablespoon of dressing when I dip my salads into the dressing so I am sure that little pot would have lasted me a week! The potato was good too. My mom thought I needed more protein so she shared her chicken with me. I ate chicken after all that worry about sauces! It was VERY good. Teriyaki Chicken. Perfectly seasoned. Great Meal.. bad service. At least the food was good, yeah?

Snacks: I left in such a rush I was good to get my oaties made! I completely forgot to pack a snack. Luckily we were off to Sam's Club. What do you do at Sam's Club during the weekend? You SAMPLE of course!! I sampled: Orange Pineapple Cake (which my mom bought for Easter Breakfast) Black Forrest Ham (that I talked my mom into buying for Easter Dinner soley so I could have some of the leftovers!), A teeny tiny slice of cheese pizza that I ate VERY slowly. It was good. Lastly, I took a sip of this horrible icy strawberry smoothie and half of a strawberry Priolene stick. Very satisfying.

Dinner: Last night at CB my mom noticed the Friday Fish Fry... so we decided to stop there on the way home. I LOVE LOVE LOVE their baked potatoes!!!!! I wanted a larger salad so I ordered one with no tomatoes and a baked potato. Last night I had a small tossed salad-- lettuce only with honey mustard. I also asked for an egg. Well, she brought me two. I ate half an egg and gave the rest to my Dad. Of course I had my delicious baker with Promise Spread leving only two bites!. Okay okay.. back to Friday Night.. This lady is SMART! Without me telling her she knew I wanted my salad with my meal (I actually told the lady Thursday night.. she was a real sweet waitress.) Well well.. when the salad came it had SHREDDED cheese all over it! I about fell over and died. There is something about shredded cheese on salads that makes my stomach turn. The other larger salads come with a cheese WEDGE on the side, I thought this one did as well. I was wrong. She was a doll and re-made it, but I could tell she was tired. I think every old couple in Calvert City was out eating fish that night!! My salad was lettuce, bacon and croutons, which I ate, and dipped the salad in honey mustard. When my potato came and I;d forgot to order promise Spread, I just kept it to myself and used regular butter and ate the ENTIRE potato! I looove the crispy crust on these. Both nights I also ordered a biscuit and 'lasses for desert. This was probably not the smartest choice. The best choice would have been to have one of my sweet treats at home. However, I always remember eating this with my Nana and Papa growing up and I miss them both terribly right now. As I ate it my mom and I talked about how they used to eat theirs and so on. I am certain if my mom and I didn't have will power that we'd have eaten that whole bowl of pure sorghum molasses right then and there! We love it!

When I got home last night I had a package from Aimee 007!! I thought that MAYBE it was the book that got lost in the mail before Christmas. When I noticed that she shipped it UPS instead of USPS I knew that was wrong. Then I thought maybe she decided to send the other book I am wanting to read--- opened the package to find THREE NEW TEAS!!! I was so excited! I looked at the teas last night at Kroger and had FINALLY decided to buy one.. however after my online research of Yogi Teas, I decided on Yogi Pomegranate Green Tea. Kroger didn't have it :( Little did I know I had it in a box sitting on my kitchen table! Thanks so much! She also sent Yogi Bed time Tea (a chamomile blend) and Tazo Organic Apple Tea. Along with the teas was one of those singing cards. I thought it was cute until D came home and I swear he listened to that thing for 10 minutes! Thanks. ha! :o) Thanks Aimee.. this really was a sweet pick me up!!

I have also added pictures of some things I bought yesterday because I LOVE them!!

I LOVE Portmerion items. LOVE THEM. So when I saw this tart/oil burner, I KNEW it had to go home with me!!

I have been looking for a set of small mixing bowls. I never have anything for smaller items. I fell in love with these! This is the smallest bowl. The largest one holds 2 cups. I got a set of 6 bowls for 5.99! Bargain price! :o) D even likes them.

SATURDAY!!!

Breakfast: Well guys I THINK we've made it!! I got up very groggy today and made myself a bowl of strawberry banana oaties. Have you noticed the absence of chocolate chips? I am trying to use them less. I used a small banana, half of which I added while microwaving, and 4 strawberries. So good!
Wow.. it's been a CRAZY couple of days. I am glad to just be home today. I need to clean the house, help my mom cook Easter Dinner, and wait for the cable guy because we're getting a DVR today!! :o) I WILL be here for lunch... see ya then! :o)

Uhm...

2008-03-21T22:54:00.002-05:00

...I just spent 1.5 hours updating this blog when my internet shut down. My changes were not auto saved.. I am tired and mad. It is 11:51 PM, and I don't think anyone would blame me if I just went to sleep :o) Trust me.. this is God getting back at me for thinking Jesus was REALLY hot.

I'll play mega rewind AGAIN tomorrow.

I'm Alive, I Promise!

2008-03-20T22:01:00.005-05:00

Hi Guys! Sorry for the late/no posts! I have been in my house the past week litterally long enough to sleep, and repeat. Okay.. I've been here a little more than that. However, in the past 48 hours I have been home long enough to sleep and that's it! got home last night around 11ish and I am just getting home now at 10 and my phone is dead so I can't send the pictures to my e-mail. It takes me a good hour to post a full day.. so I am going to wait. Tomorrow I will play MEGA rewind! I have some funny stories so it's worth the wait! :o)

Here's my sweet Izzy to keep you company.

Night all!

Blah.

2008-03-19T16:05:00.004-05:00

I have no real title...and I never really do.
Okay hello! Once again this has to be quick, quick, quick! We're off to D's house (about an hour away) to visit his family for Easter.

Breakfast: Strawberry Chocolate oaties. Yum, Yum, Yum! That's all their is to say about that! D mixed the berries in this morning and I liked it much better.

Lunch: Again-- more of the same! I didn't have a cheese stick today because I think we're out of them. I also thought I bought baby spinach but I bought regular spinach! They are GIANT leaves! I almost took a picture of one. Maybe I will tomorrow. I had my NODF Bread with Oscar Mayer Deli Chicken and giant spinach, broccoli and.... Wooo! Another new treat!! Last night I made Sugar Free Pistachio Pudding with skim milk.... YUM! I looove pistachio pudding. I guess my lunch was a little different today! :o)

Here's my water.. that went missing today from a sneaky student. Of course she gave it back. She likes to play tricks on me... well on my water bottle I guess.. She takes it once a week I think.

Snack: 15 almonds-- that I NEED to stop eating because they hurt my jaw, but I am stubborn. I also like a dummy tried one more luna bar. blah. I only ate half of it. I seriously thought Chocolate Cookies-n-Cream would be good. That's a negative! When I got home I had a scoop of peanut butter. I am still hungry I think-- I might have another snack before we leave.

I'll see ya for dinner later on tonight

You're My Medicine...

2008-03-18T19:17:00.015-05:00

Just another song lyric. Lisa Loeb "Snow Day" I heard it on the way to work this morning. Again, has nothing to do with my day other than I just love my husband and I guess he is kind of like my medicine because he always makes me feel better! :o)

Breakfast: Today's pictures are all courtesy of my camera phone! (except dinner.. it's taken with the digital.)I wanted to see how it would work for all day because I hate lugging my camera around. For breakfast I had one whole wheat english muffin left that needed to be eaten so D made me a Turkey Bacon, Egg and Cheese sammie! It was VERY good!

Lunch: Sorry to be SUCH a bore- but it was again the SAME thing I had yesterday, and I will have it again tomorrow. Let's just let the pictures speak for themselves today! Snacks: 15 almonds you know of course and my protein shake. I completely forgot to take a picture of my shake! I mean it's the same Chocolate Shake I usually have. I use Optimum Way Gold Standard Protein Powder and Skim Milk. It's really delicious. Today I guzzled it down! It gave me a tummy ache. Whenever I used to eat really rich ice cream or drink to much milk, my belly would ache. I think I am slightly lactose intolerant. Maybe like lactose irritable! lol. I am silly. I didn't have a snack before dinner today because we went grocery shopping. Let me TELL you how enjoyable it was to shop! NO ONE was shopping! I LOVED IT! You know I dislike the general public.

Dinner: I tried a new recipe tonight, that will not be repeated. It was good, don't get me wrong... just not something we want again. I made Mango/Apricot/Cranberry Couscous with Lime, Almonds and Cilantro. I also sauteed little shrimp. I seasoned them with Caribbean Jerk Seasoning. However I LOADED the seasoning on them, which is why they look so dark and gross. Those little suckers were HOT!! I don't LIKE hot. Luckily the couscous was sweet so it balanced the spiciness. Since I just bought 3 lbs of broccoli that only I will be eating, I had broccoli. Just for you I added a picture of my water glass with a touch of lime. I love lemon/lime water.

Later tonight I will have my new treat!! I bought Skinny Cow Double Dipper Popsicles! (I had a coupie.) They look DELISH! I will come back and post a picture later. They are Vanilla and Mint half dipped in chocolate!! I plan to have the mint. I bought 2 boxes because I got them cheaper that way! I SURE hope I like them!

Again guys sorry for the oober late post, but my days are long. Of course thanks SO much for reading. :o) You'll never know what it does for me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMIE!! :o)

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Happy GREEN Day! UPDATED

2008-03-17T15:52:00.012-05:00

I don't even know the meaning behind St. Patty's Day.. something I should look up really. I mean I DID wear green today. I even had little green tigers for the kids to wear if they needed some green. Oh yes.. green tigers because that's our mascot. They were HIGHLY popular, but then again anything I do is! ha!! :o)
Breakfast: Strawberry/Banana oaties with mini chocolate chips. It was CREAMY and DELICIOUS!! D did a SUPER job today! I had a banana on it's last leg and strawberries on their last leg-- so I had D make a combo. He threw the chocolate in himself. I don't care for the mini chips as much.. I mean if I am going to eat chocolate.. I want to TASTE it!
Lunch: (taken with my cell phone.. the picture is really much better than the ones taken with my regular camera!)Deli Chicken Sammie on my NQDF bread. I had the BEST broccoli ever! It was so tender, peppery and just plain satisfying. I also had a low-fat cheese stick and strawberry yogurt.

Snacks Snacks... 15 almonds and a Chocolate Peppermint Stick Luna Bar. I mean this bar truly is delicious. The SMELL alone makes me full! ha. Not really but you know what I mean. My co-worker smelled it and knows I eat these and asked for a bite! She liked it as well! On the way to Russellville, I ate 2 T of peanut butter. However, while we were cooking tonight my mom wanted to try these Toll House Crackers my Aunt had. They are the ones that are pretzel on one side and cracker on the other side. I had WAY to many of them. Maybe 17 crackers. The serving size is only 5! This is what I get for talking while eating. I always TRY to put my food on a plate before I eat so that I have counted out the serving size and that's all I eat. Oh well.. so much for that tonight. Dinner: Let's first talk about how much I LOVE these plates I ate off of. I've always liked these plates. I guess because the remind me of my childhood. Everyone else ate off the horrible cream Corelle that matches the glass I was drinking out of. I hate eating off those plates, they are the UGLIEST plates ever. I found a picture on goolge for you. I HATE them. Anyhow.. a bit a very random information for you... sorry. (also you know you can click on any picture to get a full size of the image) My Papa bought turnips a few weeks ago do I would cook them for him next time I was down. Well, I have NEVER made turnips before. I called D and had him google it for me. Come to find out you slice them, boil them in water like potatoes, then add bacon grease. Well, I heard was "like potatoes, bacon grease" so I diced them like you would potatoes. So my mom and Papa hounded me for dicing them because I should have known to slice them. I didn't see the big deal you're going to cut them before you eat them. I just saved my Papa a step really. So I boiled the things and added bacon grease when they were done. Yum, I know. My Papa liked them. Anyhow, My mom brought with her pinto beans she made last night and while we were there she made limas (she reserved some for me before she added the butter and sugar) corn and cornbread. I grilled, no lie, 2 lbs of chicken for them to eat on this week. They LOVE my grilled chicken which could not be easier. It's just chicken, seasoned with seasoning and put on the George for 5-6 minutes. EASY. So for dinner I ate a piece of chicken with Ms. Dash salt free Garlic and Herb seasoning, Lima Beans seasoned with pepper and a smidge of Smart Balance, and a cut up green pepper. I shared the pepper with my Papa... or rather he kept eating it off my plate! I only had about 4 slices because it wasn't cold like I like it and I ate all those crackers so I didn't really want it! I LOVED spending time with my family though. My Papa thrives on that time together. I mean he's lonely you know? He eats every meal alone. It's sad. Tonight I've also added a picture of my water because I drink A LOT of water a day-- over 80 oz and I don't give my water enough credit on this blog.

Sunday Bloody Sunday...

2008-03-16T22:00:00.006-05:00

...is just the title of a U2 song that I happen to like. It has nothing to do with my day.

After church I was fully prepared to come home and make D muffin pizzas and something to go with broccoli for myself. However, my mom called and invited us for Mexican, so we went. I know at Mexican places I get fajitas on a bed of lettuce. I am a very cost effective gal and it was a few dollars cheaper to get a fajita taco salad. Of course, I ordered this intending not to eat the shell. I ate the shell! ha! It was SO good. I ate about 1/2 of the shell. I was disappointed at the amount of cheese the put on it. Usually there is only a drizzle of cheese, so I didn't bother to ask for light cheese sauce... much to my surprise, it was FLOATING in cheese! It was good, as you can imagine. Once the food settled in my system, I felt tired and bloated. I would have MUCH rather had broccoli then! haha!

After we ate, D went to work and we went to the nursing home to take cookies and to sing. This is an activity that though I didn't look forward to, I thought would be fine. It ended up being a nightmare. My Nana passed away in November due to cancer (well a blot clot actually.. but that was due to cancer). She was in a nursing home for 2 months for rehab before she passed. She didn't live a full day home from the nursing home actually. It was a rough road for my family because she needed someone with her at the nursing home practically round the clock. It was bitter sweet for us all. Being in this nursing home, memories of her flooded back into my mind. The way her hands trembled when she pick up a glass. Her telling me "oh these cookies are DELICIOUS Stephanie! MMmMm" Needless to say, they had those same cookies there today. (you know the cookies.. the one's covered in frosting Wal-Mart has for EVERY occasion) You know how it goes. I only mention this here because it's the reason the post is ungodly late. So I've had a sad day, however full of beautifully fond memories of my sweet Nana.

When I got home, I was over whelmed by the condition of the house. Every room has some major mess in it. I could NOT go get groceries with the house looking a mess... so I didn't! ha! I cleaned a little and watched TV a lot. :o) Around 4:45 I made myself a little peanut butter and banana muffin. Oh. So. Good. It was great and held me over until.. well I didn't eat dinner because I wasn't hungry. I ate a vanilla snow cream yogurt around 7 and was fully satisfied. I contribute this to my yummy mexican lunch.

An old favorite

2008-03-16T09:45:00.003-05:00

Reborn of course! I LOVE LOVE Muffins with bacon, egg, & cheese. D's dad made me one years ago and I was hooked ever since! When I worked at McDonald's (and gained 800 lbs mind you) I ate them every day! Today D made me one using a whole wheat muffin, 1 egg cooked in cooking spray (that as you can see dominated the sammie!), 2 slices of turkey bacon (that I LOVED) and a slice of regular cheese. It was great! I need it to keep me satisfied until about 1:30, so we'll see if it can do the trick! This could be even more healthy if I had used low fat cheese and just an egg white. Even now it was 339 calories, but 16 grams of fat. Which isn't bad because everyday I come in well under my fat for the day! So I'll be fine. This week I have just maintained my weight loss. Tomorrow I begin my workouts in the AM and walks hopefully in the PM. Weather permitting. We've had a cold weekend come through. Okay guys! See ya for lunch!

Weight Watchers @ Applebees

2008-03-15T22:30:00.004-05:00

So I hung out with my parents tonight. It's always a fun time. They finally got their ducks in a row around 7:30 so we left to run some errands and go to Applebees. I did my research before we left and chose entrees from several different restaurants so I was ready! Applebee's has a Weight Watchers Menu. I ordered Steak & Portobello's with steamed broccoli and substituted fresh fruit in place of roasted potatoes. The steak and mushrooms were FABULOUS! They came with brown gravy that I ordered on the side and it was pretty good as well. I do not really care for steamed veggies because I like mine to have a bite to them still. Which is why I saute. I mean the broccoli was fine I guess. Okay.. so when I ordered fresh fruit, I thought I'd be getting melons and strawberries. WRONG. I got 3 slices of apple and 2 slices of pineapple--- which was fine. Those fruits just have more sugar and carbs, but at least I like them. The pineapple was horrible. I have never had pineapple that tasted so awful. It was HARD. Ugh.. anyway.. there is no picture! We waited FOREVER for our food to come out and by the time it came, I was completely just ready to eat! I never eat dinner as late as 8:30 and without a snack today really, I was starving! Sorry guys. Of course to compensate, I have a funny picture for you!

I love you D! :o)

We shopped till we dropped

2008-03-15T16:40:00.012-05:00

I did have strawberry oaties by the way. D made them and he topped them with mini chocolate chips! YUM! Shopping for me and D always proves stressful. I want something for nothing and he eventually just wants to settle on something. At last our search for a new comforter set came to and end (this was NEVER high on my priority list but it was on D's). We found a BEAUTIFUL set that we BOTH agreed on (shock). It came with 2 sheet sets, bed skirt, quilt (which I what I wanted) Shams, Euro Shams, and 2 throw pillows (one of which is pictured so you get a feel for the set.)! AND we BOTH like it! Exciting. I am still no closer to finding curtains OR fabric for my living room. I am now thinking of just draping beautiful fabric on rods just to be done.

Lunch Lunch Lunch! We ate at one of our favorite places, Raffert'ys. I ordered The Ultimate Club Sammie with a baked potato and a salad. The sandwich is made with 3 slices of bread, which is just too much so I took a slice off. I also took all that bacon off. In my salad pic you see a little roll too.. D had that for dinner. I split this meal up ya see, I ate 1/2 of the sammie and the salad for lunch and brought the other half and the potato home for dinner. However, D just ate that since I am going out with my parents tonight.

Here's D enjoying his dinner while I type:
Well, I just took a picture of this Luna Bar. Chocolate Pecan Pie. I took one bite and threw it away. It was THAT bad. I no longer praise the Luna Bar. Back to my homemade shakes I go.

Here are some new pictures of my hair cut:
D said my smile looked "fake" in this one, so I took these:

We're not going to RVK tonight.. D has to work so I am going to do something with my parents. We'll see!! Hope you had a great day! See ya after dinner!

Good Morning!

2008-03-15T08:28:00.003-05:00

Hello. It's a beautiful stormy day in HPT but that's okay because we're gonna go shop shop shop to buy stuff for this house! I have also decided to stop eating soft foods, not that I did a great job at it anyhow, because it's getting on my nerves. I am going to the dentist in 2 weeks and if HE wants me on soft foods, I'll do it then. Stubborn? Oh yes. For breakfast I think I am going to have strawberry oaties. What's funny is that to keep our time frame, I will be eating in the car today!! This cracks me up. I will see was early this evening for my lunch report. Enjoy your Saturday!

My Internet has been down!

2008-03-14T20:29:00.007-05:00

Sorry guys! My Internet has been down today. Thankfully it's back up because I didn't want to play catch up because I have a VERY busy day tomorrow! Today's been pretty cool, I suppose. It's been a FRIDAY! Thankfully! I love Friday's, but then again WHO DOESN'T?!
For breakfast today I had my regular banana oaties. Tomorrow I will have blueberry or strawberry.
I remembered my camera for lunch! Today I had Progresso Chicken Noodle Soup--- it was SO Good! I ate every bite. I really do love noodle soup. I also had my watered down jell-o and a dollop of cool whip. Vanilla Snow cream was also added to the mix so I got enough food. It definitely did the trick! They're not pictured, but I had 5 multi grain crackers for that much needed crunch. This afternoon I had the rest of my protein shake. I mean I bought it so I needed to finish it.

When I got home from school I had 2 T peanut butter. It's not pictured either because it looks GROSS pictured! Ha! I took a little nap with the Gilbey this afternoon and just didn't feel like cooking. He had popcorn chicken and I made a BIG bowl of oaties.. they were SO good. I just really like oatmeal.

Tomorrow I have a lot on the agenda. D and I are getting up early to go shop for the house. Later in the day he goes to work and I am going back to Russellville with my mom. Hope you all have a GREAT weekend!

This too shall pass....

2008-03-13T06:37:00.006-05:00

That's a little phrase I have always told myself for many many years now. It applies to today as well. I just need to keep telling myself alll day today that "this too shall pass" I am a nervous wreck and could not sleep. Lucky you! A bit of an early posting. However I have no pictures, nor have I even eaten breakfast. I know I will have oaties in some form.

Today after work I head to Russellville to do shopping/cooking for my Papa. I will be home late late tonight. I am not sure if I will post another "mega" day tonight or if I will wait until tomorrow. I DO know that my meals will consist of soup, soup, and more soup! ha! :o) See ya!

Hi All! It's 10:02 PM and I am just walking in the door! So I am going to make this short and sweet! :o) Let me start out by saying it's been a horrible "diet" day, but oh well. "This too shall pass.." that was my motto today right?! I like "it is what it is" better for today.

Okay Breakfast: Oaties made with 2/3 c skim, a banana mushed all in because of the need to eat "soft foods" and 12 chocolate chips. The mashed banana was weird and I didn't care for it. I like the whole bananas better but that involves chewing.. however you should see what else I ate today.

Lunch: Well this is funny. On my way to lunch I just had this feeling that I was forgetting something but just couldn't quite put my finger on it. I ate my entire lunch and was making hot tea when I realized I left my camera in the classroom! ha! So I am sorry. It was a VERY small lunch today. Progresso Healthy Something Veggie Beef (blah.) Mixed Fruit Sugar Free Jell-o with cool-whip (made with 3 cups of water instead of 2 because I was talking to the hubby! However it still tasted fine.) and a cup of hot tea. I only ate 2/3 of the soup-- you know enough to eat the veggies out. Now by the end of lunch I hadn't even consumed 400 calories.. shameful. So I was dying around 1:00. (my lunch is at 10:30 don't forget) I decided to have my new Blueberry Vanilla Mix 1 shake. (Blah) It smelled like rotten toes! I had to hold my nose to drink it. The kids thought it was funny though. I only drank half of it because I had no break time today and It coated my stomach enough.

Snack: I am stupid and forgot to pack or buy any portable "soft food". I KNEW I desperately needed calories and EVERYTHING so I decided to run by McDonald's for a hamburger because they're "soft". I am so stupid. See, the doctor needed to tell me a "no chew diet" instead of a "soft foods diet". I mean of course I had to CHEW the burger, that was gross by the way, but it did the trick. Even WITH the sammie I was well under cals, carb AND fat. So I didn't beat my self up about it. I just think it's ironic how I was JUST talking about how I don't want to put fast food in my body then I go get some. Well, I needed to get to R-ville and I was reminded of how gross McDonald's truly is.

My plans for the evening were to go to the store for my Papa, grab some soup there and cook dinner. That was a HUGE deciding factor in getting the hamburger! He However, had other plans. He wanted to go to Roy's. Roy's is a country BBQ place with NOTHING healthly. Oh well. :) Their salads are horrible because it's bag lettuce and no one orders them because.. well their BBQ is great. I decided to just go ahead and blow it and eat BBQ. My Papa LOVES to eat at Roy's so I just enjoyed my day with him. I do have to say that my favorite thing about this place is their ice water with lemon. It cracks me up everytime.

I had a BBQ Pork sammie on cornbread, baked beans and a baked potato. I also ordered cole slaw for my Papa that he literally MADE me share with him. All in all, I ate all of my BBQ 3/4 of 3/4 of cornbread, 1/4 of the beans, and about 3/4 of my potato. Oh yes, I had gosh.. however many bites of coleslaw he pushed toward me. We both wanted desert so we shared a banana pudding. IT WAS HEAVEN.... I enjoyed every last bite of it.. and it was even better because I got to share it with my Pap. I have no picture of this because by the time I had my camera ready to go-- he had his fork already in it and was going to town! He's so cute! He told me at least 5 times how much "better" I looked with my hair short. Man, I didn't know I looked so bad before! ha! :o)

I mean what do you do? Life happens. Sorry to disapiont anyone with my foods today. My ear feels a little better, I must say. It's all relative. So I am just going to eat SOFTER foods.. forget all this soup it's for people who have their jaws wired shut. (which hopefully isn't going to be me.)

Okay. Crappy day, but tomorrow will be better! ;o) I leave you with a truly adorable picture of my Papa. This will make you smile.

I'M ALIVE!!

2008-03-12T20:26:00.016-05:00

I bet ya'll thought I died didn't you! I did too! Ha! It's been an extremely long day, thus the post starting at 8:30 PM. My wonderful Wednesday started off at the ENT's office at 7:40 in the AM. So obviously I take an audiology test and expected to fail it and find out that I have hearing loss in my left ear. Ooooh the contrary my friends. I have "above average, excellent hearing". Uhm pardon me but WTF?! So I begged to differ and questioned why I couldn't hear anything out my left ear. Yes, I don't hear AS WELL in my left ear as I do my right, but still it's excellent hearing. (of course I was weighed and it was a little hallelujah at the 26 lb loss!) While waiting in the room for the Doctor I was reminded why I used to HATE the ENT as a child. THOSE GIANT POSTERS!! The posters freak me out and make me nervous.. they're even worse at the dentists office. After the doc checks out my sinuses he pressed on my inner jaw and the pain was so unbearable I began to cry. He then pressed on my outter jaw as I creaked open my mouth. He immediately said "Well, I do think you have TMJ, a nice case of TMJ. Which is typically found in young women" Uhm.. What's a "nice case of TMJ?"! ha! Anyway, so now I get to go to the dentist (which I LOATH) in two weeks for an exam and medication and a bite plate. After my sweetie did some research we've found that TMJ is caused my multiple reasons...one of which being stress. I have been under A LOT of stress recently.. My Sweet Nana passed away, I worry and care for my Papa weekly, D's job, I hate my job, just drama. Anyhow this afternoon I had another "hypo attack" Well.. my sugar was PERFECT... thus I think these are stress induced as well. Not to mention my "sickness" that I've been having.. he says my sinuses are in perfect condition and I didn't need an antibiotic. Kids, I suffer from a bad case of the blues, plain and simple! I need some SUNSHINE! (not literally though because too much sunshine gives me a headache.)

Okay let's talk about food.

BREAKFAST: KASHI CAT FOOD and half of a banana. Now, this wouldn't have been so bad if D hadn't been saying "Gosh, that does look like cat food... yeah you're right it really DOES smell like cat food!" So it was all I had to keep spooning it in my mouth while silently reassuring myself that it indeed was NOT cat food!
LUNCH: REWIND... dinner from last night of course! It was so delish! You remember what it was... the noodles, lemon oil (I am SURE there is a more technical term but if you haven't learned, I kind of have my own language) broccoli, zucchini, and I think only 3 small bites of chicken. I also had a bit more cheese today. I also had my snow cream yogurt and some Uncle Sam's.
SNACKS: My friend Pammie was eating a soft pretzel with cheese so I HAD to have a bite! So good! She joked that I didn't take a picture of it first.. sorry it was just a bite. I also had a Chocolate Raspberry Luna Bar... Okay.. I am now officially not crazy about Luna Bars anymore.. this wasn't very good. Oh well, I can't eat them for a week anyhow! ha! :o)

The Doctor also put me on a soft foods diet so I had to go to the store this afternoon and get soft foods! I found lots of soup and yum yums. Look, if it makes me jaw and ear feel better I AM GAME! I also got my hair cut from my friend Aimee. (not the Aimee I've been talking about-- a different Aimee.)

Sorry I look like poo in the picture, like I said it's been a LONG day and I've been crying. (however, my Aimee 007 made me feel SO much better.. I ♥ Aimee 007!)The important part is the hair cut. THANK YOU AIMEE! Dinner.. I bought this soup that I've been wanting for WEEKS. Campbell's butternut squash soup. Horrible. Horrible.. it was too seasoned. So I had noodle soup (in my cutie bowl that made me feel better!) and about 10 multi grain crackers! I also had 1/2 c natural unsweet apple sauce with a little cinnamon. YUM!

Okay guys, Top Chef is on and I am missing it!! Not to mention the fact that my sweet husband who constantly saves my life and keeps me afloat is home. I love you all. Even the ones of you I don't know. :o)

A long day means a late dinner...

2008-03-11T20:35:00.007-05:00

... but it was a DELICIOUS dinner! At least I thought it was... D only just "liked" it. HE deserves a prize though, he ate broccoli!!! He HATES broccoli. I do not know how ANYONE could hate it! It's so peppery delicious raw, then it gets almost fruity sweet when cooked. I am VERY proud of my big boy for eating his veggies!

I made pasta with chicken and veggies! SO DELISH! Okay.. so here goes. Heartland Angel Hair Pasta, Grilled Chicken, Sauteed Zucchini and Broccoli (SO GOOD! I didn't even need the chicken except for protein value) all dressed with a lemon oil. I used 2 tsp of fresh lemon juice and a little under 1/4 c olive oil. My Pasta is topped with 1 tsp fresh parmesan. This made 4 big servings! I have a feeling that it's going to be MY lunch that's envied tomorrow! Now.. I ate more pasta than I should have given the carb load. Next time I eat this I will have a lower carb breakfast and lunch. I didn't plan very well for this meal today. I had planned on having shrimp for dinner but D was off and this is what he wanted, so I was happy to oblige. Now as I type I am drinking hot tea. You need to know this for accountability of course. Again... I really want new tea!! Hopefully I can find some in Clarksvegas this weekend.

Maybe I should have long days more often because tonight I even made the neighbors cookies! There is no way I can goof up slice and bake cookies! They really appreciated it a lot. I like those neighbors, I'd REALLY like to be friends with them. Okay guys.. I like to be in bed by now.. so I am going to wash and brush and hit the hay. After a breeze through Italy of course....Eat, Pray, Love style!

Woo!! I go to the ENT in the AM! See ya!!

Very Late Post.

2008-03-11T17:42:00.009-05:00

Hi All!

Let's just start off saying that I am SO VERY excited to go to the ENT tomorrow I could just pee! I really want to know what is wrong with my left ear or my jaw or whatever. So many people I work with still have this "funk", you know this sickness. It's really hard to kick when you have 100's of grimy little germ infested hands touching you all day. Bless their little hearts. Praise little baby Jesus for GERM-X! ha! Okay.. so here's a re-cap of today's foods:

BREAKFAST: The berries yesterday really upset me, so I had banana oaties this morning. Now my bananas are in NO WAY ripe enough for me, but I thought it better than having to eat Kashi Cat Food again. So I made oaties, well D made them today, with 1/2 c skim (I use 3/4 c and they're much better!) a few splashes of soy (which I have decided THICKEN the oats.)cinnamon, 1/2 pkt of splenda, and 1/2 of a banana. I knew the oats weren't going to be that great due to the ill ripeness of my banana, I added 12 chocolate chips. I mean really.. do you ever NEED an excuse to eat chocolate?! I do need to eat it in more moderation than I am though. See, here lies my problem... if I let myself have something "just once" I will have it "just once" everyday. Which is why I need to be more strict on myself.

Lunch: I asked D to get me noodle soup last night when he got off work. He remembered the cat food but forgot my soup. I see where I rank! So I settled for peanut butter and jelly. Oh. My. Gosh. SO GOOD. I mean it really was. I used to eat pb & j daily before I changed my eating habits. As you know, I LOVE, liz-ove, me some peanut butter. My new Simply Fruit Jam is KILLER as well!! I loved my sammie. However, what I REALLY wanted to eat was Chuck... I mean Alan's spaghetti. He sits right beside me and was already eating when I came in..Mmm.. it looked and smelled wonderful. I have added a picture of it too! Anyway, back to what I ate. 2 slices of NVWW bread, 2 T peanut butter, 1/2 T Simply Fruit, Green Peppers (which are really gross with pb & j as you can imagine) sugar-free apple sauce with WAY Too much cinnamon, and a low fat cheese stick. All-in-all I was full and satisfied.

Around 2:30ish? I had a New Luna Bar.. Peanut Butter Cookie. Yet another flavor I will not be getting again. It had NO flavor. I need to remember what bars I don't like.. Let's see.. Peanut Butter Cookie and what else was it? The Brownie one!! Oh yes.. Sometimes I still think I taste that nasty aftertaste. Moving on.. at my meeting- we had snacks! Luckily there's usually something healthy to choose from. I had some broccoli, carrots and a piece of turkey. I went back for more broccoli and carrots later and added 5 sociable crackers. These are GREAT and the calorie/carb count is very low so I think I will buy some at the store. Although, crackers are another thing I limit from my diet because I know myself and I have a VERY hard time not just having "one more". One more turns into 50 more! No. Really.

Yesterday a lady that works at our school was there and she's lost a lot of weight! I am always interested in talking to people who are big fatties like me and seeing how they lost their weight. She's doing a terrific job! She just eats most anything in moderation.. even McDonald's. However, I don't want to put that type of greasy food in my system. At any rate, people with extreme weight loss give me so much hope and encouragement! Mandy, you're one of them by the way, who encourage me. Thanks for that. Thanks everyone for reading my blog! I have my little counter at the top and it's so great to see everyone reading :o) Love you guys.

Okay kids. I just got home and now it's time to clean the kitchen and prep for dinner!

An Old Recipe Reborn!

2008-03-10T19:43:00.009-05:00

Tonight for dinner I strongly considered Noodle Soup. However, I didn't feel like fooling with washing the pot, which was just stupid. Given my breakfast situation, I needed the soup really! Anyhow, I had what was on the menu for tonight. D and I used to make mini pepperoni muffin pizzas loaded with cheese and pepperoni.....soooooo good! I decided to redesign them to be more healthy. I looked for turkey roni's at the store, but they were just too expensive, so I just cut those out all together. I used whole wheat english muffins (with NO HFCS mind you!), 1/8 cup Ragu Pizza sauce (for ALL three!) 3/4 c shredded motz cheese, a bit of green pepper and fresh Basil! ooooh so fragrant! I really want to plant my own herb garden this spring. Herbs are so expensive. On the menu with this meal was a filling salad, however I just wasn't in the mood for that so I had sliced green peppers. This was such a delicious meal. Seriously, make it. All you need to do is TOAST the muffins in the toaster. Add your toppings and BROIL! It's that simple! After 30 minutes I was still quite hungry, so I had 2 T of peanut butter. I took a picture of my peanut butter, but that's just not a very appealing picture. Right now I am sipping on some green tea! Yum Yum! My favorite Salada brand. I don't like a lot of tea brands, and I should just buy an expensive box one day. We'll see.

Aimee asked how I made my oaties. They're so simple.

-1/2 c Quick Cook Oats

-1/2 - 3/4 c liquid (this I vary between different amounts of skim and soy)

-Microwave (in my microwave) for 1 minute. (Your microwave might be different)

-Stir. MAYBE add more milk, it just depends.

-micro 15 seconds, stir, 15 seconds stir.

-I add a splash of milk/soy if needed. You will need to add a little more milk here because the oats drink it up.

-I add 1/2 pkg of splenda and whatever toppings I put in.

--I have made rolled oats on the stove top before, but they're more chewy and I didn't like them. I also don't like instant oats because they're mush. I also have steel cut oats and they're VERY good, but I think they aggravate my stomach. I need to try them again and see.

My oats keep me VERY satisfied for 3+ hours. Whenever I am hungry, like really hungry, I crave oats because of the satiety they provide.

Okay, I leave you tonight with silly pictures of my cats. Since Pooka went to the vet today, I left the carrier out for them to play in. They're so silly.
See ya sometime tomorrow! Have a GREAT night!

Monday, Monday (la la...)

2008-03-10T16:42:00.008-05:00

I am sick. Still sick. I seriously need an antibiotic! Luckily I am going to the ENT Wednesday! I am not sick, sick... you know. Sill, I am sick feeling. My nose has been running, eyes have been watering and my darn LEFT ear has been hurting ALL DAY. I mean it's all completely my fault... if I would just GO to the doctor when I really was feeling ill... I'd be much better. Sorry.. just needed to vent. :o) Thanks.

Another rant.. I took my sweet Pooka to the vet today because he's been sneezing like Izzy. Only, Pooka was sneezing and coughing, yes coughing, much worse than little Izzy. The Vet says they didn't have colds and they're not allergic to anything. It boils down to this: My cats were FINE. F.I.N.E. BEFORE they both went to the vet. Izzy went to be declawed and spayed and came home sick. THEY BOTH went a week later 1. to get Izzys stitches out and and for her to get a shot (since she was sick and all) and 2. Pooka needed boosters.. Well, well... Izzy gets a shot of cortisone and is hunky dorey and now POOKA is sick. Hmm.. co-inky-dink? I think not. They got sick from being at the vet and it costs me over $100! Well, at least that's what I think happened. I mean it's the only logical thing you know. I love my cats though.. sorry I shouldn't be complaining about all this here. It is my blog after all though, and it really is relevent seeing as it's the reason my post is so late today :o)

I am just having a crummy day I guess. Breakfast started out sucky. Maybe that's my problem. Okay so I got all these berries at the store the other day. A little fresh berry assortment of strawberries, blueberries, and the golden child...........BLACK BERRIES! I was SO EXCITED to have blackberry oaties today. blah. blah. blah. gross. They were HORRIBLE! Needless to say I didn't eat them. Do you remember that shirt I have been working on this weekend for this kid at school? Well anyway, I left the stupid thing at home...(luckily) so D brought it to me (only to find out that this particularr kid is out of school ALL week! ha!)along with some Kashi Go Lean Heart Oatie Honey something for breakfast. Let me tell you what.. it looks like cat food, smells like cat food and for one second it tastes like cat food. I have a VERY strong nose and it really stinks, this stuff it does. It's not bad though once you get over the fact that it indeed is not cat food. Anyhow.. for breakfast I had a few bites of my oaties and 1/2 c Kashi Go Lean Honey Oatie Something.

Lunch was much better! Since I was sick Thursday and off Friday for the snow (that didn't come until late Friday night) I still had some food in the work fridge. You see pictured a salad, however it tasted old so I threw it out. (sorry the picture is crummy.)I had my deli chicken on Nature's Own Whole Wheat Bread with a smidge of Ken's and a little spinach. Also, delicious crunchy COLD green peppers, a cheese stick and sugar free strawberry jell-o with a dollop of cool-whip. Yum! For a snack later on--I ate the rest of the Kashi Cat Food.

This afternoon on my way to pick up Pooka at the house, I had my homemade Chocolate Protein Shake. Notice the container! The MIX 1 Containers are PERFECT for my own shakes. I even bought another shake the other day because it serves double duty! My calorie count is LOW LOW LOW today so I am snacking on a crisp gala and another cheese stick.

I did not workout today because I am not sleeping. I went to sleep finally around 2 AM. Getting up at 5 AM is NOT in my plans when I get that little sleep. I could have worked out this afternoon but I just didn't feel like it with my ear and all. I am not being a cop out either. I simply don't feel like working out. Honest truth. When I finally get back in my routine I will be top notch. I bought a pedometer the other day, well yesterday actually, on sale for $2!! I am excited to use that as well. It's a shame, I have this beautiful new watch and I can't kick this head cold. I am going to go read a bit. See ya if you're still reading for dinner!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA!!!!!!!!

What's Worse?

2008-03-09T19:15:00.012-05:00

I can't decide if it's worse to go shopping on Sunday evenings when nothing is left OR go Sunday afternoon when I feel the need to scream and take a Xanax because I am surrounded by the utter morons in this town. As you can tell, I went shopping this afternoon. Either way I LOVE grocery shopping because I always come home with some new goodies I just cannot wait to try!! For example, Kashi Heart to Heart, New Jam, Protein Shake, 2 new Luna Bars, and of course ingredients for new recipes this week! In beteeen grocery stores, I snacked on a new Luna Bar: Nuts Over Chocolate. Y.U.M. Yum. Loved it! Like I mentioned I bought 2 new flavors, Chocolate Pecan Pie and some Chocolate Peanut Butter something.

When I got home from the store I put all the cold foods up and settled in my bed to read a little "Eat, Pray, Love" only to be accompanied by my sweet Izzy. Wherever I am, she is. See the cute pic I added for you? I'm in my bed typing a blog (yesterday) wearing these god awful ugly pants and she plops herself in my lap! ha! I love her though.

You all know what I had for dinner...LEFTOVERS of course! Sorry the leftover pics aren't as nice as the "first night" pics. I am eating alone, so I guess I don't care as much. ☺I had 2 pork chops and my little fruit compote and a whole CUP of lima beans! Sooo good. I really think I could eat these guys (lima beans that is) in a pita! However, I have no pitas. The pitas must come to Kroger on Monday or Tuesday because they're NEVER fresh on Sunday. Anyhoo.. for "dessert" I had a piece of Nature's Own 100% Whole Wheat Bread (because during the snow craze, they were all out of my double fiber bread) with a smidge of country crock light butter spread (I use country crock because D refuses to eat smart balance and I refuse to buy two butters!) and 1/2 a T of my new jam!!! Smucker's Simply Fruit Black Raspberry! ooooh YUM! Oh yes, and a cup of Prince of Wales. I love tea. I need new tea. I see peanut butter and black raspberry sammies in my future! Do you know what I miss though? I miss that jelly that came in those glass containers that had dinosaurs all over it. You know, the ones that when you'd eaten all the jelly you had a drinking glass. I miss things like that at the store.

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Tonight around 8:30 I will also have some sort of protein snack. It's a new thing I'm trying. My mom suggested that MAYBE I am waiting too long between dinner and breakfast to eat, thus making me sick around 9:30. I am going to see if eating something tonight still makes me sick in the morning. However I haven't been sick feeling since well.. I WAS sick last week. Quite possibly when I had those "hypoglycemic attacks" I was just getting sick? Oh well better safe than sorry. Which reminds me I need to go to my moms house right NOW (which is just a street over for those who care) to get that glucose monitor.

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Well.. that's all I have for tonight. I will see you in the morning for MY WORKOUT! Where I FINALLY try my NEW WATCH! ha! Seriously. See ya in the AM! :o)

I love hot sammies!

2008-03-09T13:06:00.004-05:00

I wish I could have a hot or toasted sammie everyday but that's just not feasible during the week. Toasted pitas ARE the BEST. I guess I COULD take a toaster to work, but I won't. Anyhow.. Today I had a deli chicken and cheese grilled sammie on whole wheat bread! D. Lish. For a side I had a crunchy green pepper along with my vanilla yogurt and Uncle Sam's Cereal. My grocery list if FINALLY complete so I am going to go shop now!! See ya for dinner leftovers!

Bad Blueberries

2008-03-09T10:54:00.003-05:00

So I've been wanting to put a few semi-sweets in my blueberry oatmeal... so I did just that today! However, my blueberries were weirdly tart and just plain bad. I knew they needed to be eaten a few days ago, but my bananas were getting ripe too fast! I should never had neglected my berries. Oh well.. the chocolate was just OK in them and I didn't need it anyway. However, this morning I just ate around the berries. Anyhoo.. Good News! I have lost another pound THIS WEEK! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition! The loooooosing fat ammunition that is.
Okay, I've got to get this grocery list complete now since church was cancelled due to the weather. See ya!

A fun Saturday comes to an end

2008-03-08T19:58:00.005-06:00

We had such a fun day today!! Dinner was fun as well. I cooked thin pork chops on the George Foreman (which is how I cook ALL of my meat and I would be lost, lizost, with out it.), baby limas and a sweet potato. I also made my little fruit compote for the pork. I chopped up a few more apples and apricots and threw them in some boiling water, then I remembered the left over compote I had from the Turkey Burger day, so I threw that in too. I did not eat my sweet potato because, well, I just didn't like it. I had more limas instead. I LOVE LIMA BEANS. I have ALWAYS loved lima beans. My Sweet Nana used to make limas and butter beans for me ALL the time. Her limas were more creamy and delicious than mine, but mine were more healthful. Plans for the rest of the evening include making a grocery list and watching a movie. I mean I know you all envy our FABULOUS life! ha! Sorry we're so boring! :o) Enjoy the remainder of your Saturday! Hope you're dinner was just as delicious!

I love the snow!

2008-03-08T18:18:00.008-06:00

Lunch was a repeat of last nights dinner. (I somehow managed now to copy that picture from my camera... sorry.)I had more meat this time because I just was not full last night. Lunch consisted of lean meat patties and A-1,sauteed broccoli, and brown rice. I could have had a lot more broccoli but I always forget how much it even cooks down when sauteed! As many times as I have made broccoli, you'd like I'd remember that!! I wanted a little something sweet so I had sugar free strawberry jell-o. (I only have the outside of the mug of jell-o because you could only see the cool whip inside.) However, I only took two bites.
What do you do when it snows? Well, you make a snow man of course! After lunch today we made an adorable snow man!! Okay.. he looked more ghetto than adorable but we liked him! His eyes were Nutter Butter Cookies D had and of course a Carrot Nose!

This afternoon I had my typical gala apple. I also had a very small scoop of peanut butter (not photographed.) I really need to get a new plate or something for my apple because it's the same every day!! :o)

Now that's what I call SNOW!

2008-03-08T09:59:00.005-06:00

This is the kind of snow in Kentucky where you do not leave the house! We've missed 5 + days of school this winder for "snow" and this is the FIRST legitimate snow day we've had all year. That being said we COULD have gone to school Friday. The diagonal line you see here is not a shadow... it's the snow piled right up to the front of our house! Woah baby! :o) The street is in the white vastness somewhere in there! I love it. It's so nice though I still haven't decided if it's nice to have D here yet!! Ha.ha.ha. No, we're going to get a head start on our HOME RENOVATION today.. which really isn't a renovation at all it's just getting all the loose ends complete around here.
Okay Breakfast! I had the most delicious bowl of oaties today! I wonder how many times a week I say that?? My bowl looks like he is going to over flow! Anywoo.. it was 1 LARGE banana, LOTS of skim + soy because the oats were just drinking up the milk today, cinnalove, and semi sweets. I made the oats added cinnamon, yes.. then I put in half of the banana cut in to rounds then cut in half moons..right.. warmed it up for about 30 seconds, stir, stir, stir stir, and added more soy milk. Then I put in the rest of the banana just cut in rounds and added the semi sweets. YUM! I also had a warm mug of Price of Wales.

Well... I'm gonna motivate the hubster and we're gonna get our bed room complete today! (and clean the house) I really wish we would have rented movies last night :o( Oh well we have plenty on hand. I keep forgetting to let you guys know that I enabled the comments so any joe smoe can comment :o) You no longer have to be a google user.

Winter Storm Moves In!

2008-03-07T19:28:00.004-06:00

So we got snow... a little bit of snow. I suppose it's gonna be a winter storm tonight because D just got a call from his Boss Lady saying THE CREDIT UNION IS CLOSED! Lordy be A BANK closed! You know the weather has to be doing something for that to happen. D's Credit Union Branch is different, it's not like he only works 3-4 hours on a Saturday.. he works 7. So, I will get to spend 7 fun filled hours with D tomorrow... I haven't decided if this is good or not! haha! Just Kidding... Just Kidding. ☻
For a snack this afternoon I made my own trail mix of almonds, dried cranberries and a few semi sweets... it was great! I'm sure I'll throw that together again. Since lunch was early and dinner was late around 5:15, I had an apple with a little peanut butter.

I ♥ broccoli! When it's sauteed it tastes so sweet! Tonight's dinner line up: Lean Beef Patty with a drizzle of A-1, yummy sauteed broccoli with a sprinkling of Mrs. Dash, and brown rice. It was SO good. So good that I will be having it again for lunch tomorrow. I also ♥ leftovers. The dinner left me wanting more so I went ahead and had sugar free strawberry jell-o with a dollop of cool whip.

I don't know what we're going to do now. I know that D will talk my head off for the rest of the night.. because he's hyper. Maybe we'll pop in a movie.. I just don't know! :o) Hope you all have an enjoyable evening!!

Winter Storm Warning?!

2008-03-07T11:02:00.010-06:00

in March? Anyway, it's snowing here.. just a little snow + ice mixer. My car completely frozen and I don't feel like "defrosting" it so I will not be getting any groceries today. Sunday is my shopping day and I guess I will stick to it. Plus my throat feels all icky and the last place I need to be is outside.

Okay kids... Breakfast! I had banana oaties! I bought my bananas at a different store this week and they ripened much quicker and are more tasty than the other bananas. Yum! I used 3/4 c milk, 1/2 c oaties, a splash of soy milk, a TON of cinnamon.. if I had to guesstimate the amount.. maybe 2 1/2 tsp. that's a lot of cinnamon.. and half of a large banana. Yum! I should have made hot tea, but it was an afterthought so I just had water to drink with my oats. As far as plans for the day, I need to clean the house some, but I just really think I should rest. Maybe'll make some hot tea and read my book!! It's a lazy snow day/feel better day afterall.... :o)

Where's this Winter Storm?

So far this are no signs of a winter storm, just flurries with minimal ice. Either way, I like the gloomy light peering through the windows. My throat hurts today. I should go to the doctor-- but I won't. I will self medicate until I feel better then hope I don't get sick again. I mean I just SAW a doctor this week and I will see one next week so that will do. This morning I worked on a T-shirt for this kid at school. Long story made short, I owe him a "puff painted" t-shirt. He drew on it and now I am painting it all up for him. Let's see.... I feel like I've been going all day but I haven't really done anything. I cleaned the kitchen...and uhm.. that's all.

Of course I ate lunch too. Same as yesterday-- some soup! Campbell's Noodle Soup with 7 multigrain crackers and half of a peanut butter sammie with only 1 T of pbutter. I also had the rest of my banana from breakfast with 1/2 t peanut butter. I didn't need the pbutter... it would have been great without it. I like chunky pbutter with my bananas, but we didn't have any. Mental Note. I am feeling beat... but I don't feel like a nap either... I will take my advise from this morning, make some tea and read my book....if I doze off.. great.

I almost forgot! The UPS man has visited my house what feels like every day this week bringing Dustin various things. TODAY he brought the crown jewel!!! The LITTER KWITTER! (isn't the box HILARIOUS! lol.. I cannot believe we bought this.. but I truly believe it will work.. cat's are smart.) That's right kids, we're training these cats to use the toilet! Luckily we have 2 bathrooms, so they can use the spare. I am SO excited about this I cannot tell you!! Believe it or not, the genius behind this product came when a cat owner watched Meet the Fockers! She decided to train her cat to do the same. It came at the PERFECT time too.. as Izzy just got her stitches out and she is able to use litter again. Cats REALLY are the perfect pets (if you know me AT ALL... you're laughing now, I am sure..because you know I used to DESPISE cats.) especially if they can be trained to use a human toilet! I'll keep you updated on their progress.

Let's Play CATCH UP!!

2008-03-06T20:49:00.011-06:00

Hello... I am feeling much better but not tip top.. I am sure sleeping ALL day has helped me. D gave my Ny Quil instead of Day Quil because he thought I needed to rest. ha! Either way, I feel better.

WEDNESDAY

Snack: 6 Premium Multigrain Crackers with 1 T peanut butter.

Dinner: Sick meal! What I ALWAYS eat when I am sick. Campbell's Noodle Soup, 6 multigrain crackers (you see many more crackers pictured because that's how many crackers I used to eat with my soup. I KNOW I don't need that many crackers, so I only ate six.) and a peanut butter sammie on my Nature's Own Bread. I also wanted some ice cream...but D was in charge of getting it. I told him to find the "best" for me or to get DIBS.. well of course being a man, and with me having said to get DIBS... he didn't even look for anything else, he just bought the DIBS! Oh well.. I had about 10 Mint Chocolate DIBS, which was less than half of the serving size.

THURSDAY

I did get up this morning after I called into work and made some oaties. I had banana oaties chocked full of cinnamon and love. They sure were good! Sorry the picture looks gross.. sometimes I like to stir the bananas in so I wanted you to see that. Shortly after breakfast, back to bed I went. I woke up around 11 dazed, confused, and hungry! My sweet Gilbey had everything laid out on the counter for me so I could quickly make my soup!! I of course had Campbell's Noodle Soup with 6 multigrain crackers and a peanut butter sammie. Making this soup made me so dizzy I just wanted to sleep again... so yeah.. another nap.

Later I had a sweet gala and 1 T of peanut butter. Around 5:30 I was starving.. and for no good reason..but I decided to eat dinner anyway. I was not in the mood for soup nor did I feel like cooking seeing as watching TV made me dizzy... so I made some oaties. I used the rest of the banana from breakfast, and made my oats with 1/2 soy, 1/2 skim, but I really couldn't tell a difference. I also added 1 T of semisweet chips. I love my oaties. Seriously.. eat and love your oaties. I will admit that D was eating cereal this morning and it made me want cereal. This week at the store I think I will buy some for myself.

I have had the munchies today.. BIG TIME..Holly, who I work with, also had this virus last week and she told me she was very hungry. I decided to have some hot tea since it takes a while to drink you know... Good choice. I love Salada tea.. the flavors are SO vibrant and rich.

I have also failed to mention my weight loss for the week! As of Monday I managed to loose the 2 lbs I gained along with an additional pound. This brings my weight loss down to 26 lbs in 2 months. Thank you Baby Jesus! I am on my way. Now for even bigger news.... No School Tomorrow! Christian County Public Schools met with the National Weather Service today and they advised us to cancel. We have the potential to have up to 10 inches within the next 36 hours. D called me from Wal-Mart and he says there is no milk, bread, chips, water... the list goes on. This stinks because we need milk! Hopefully they will restock over night. If not.. D will have to drink soy milk..which I think is funny. Now I know my Aimee (who is in Chicago) is laughing at our meeting with the National Weather System... don't forget your roots Aimee! ha! I love you.

Okay... after being upset about the buns D bought having HFCS in them... I took a CLOSER look at my sammie bread only to find that it too has HFCS in it. Now.. I live in a small ghetto KY town and the closet Whole Foods or ANY health foods store is in Nashvegas. It is not feasible for me to travel to Nashville just to buy better quality foods. I do not have the pocket book to pay 4$ a loaf of bread at Kroger. All this being said.. I am doing the best I can.. the best I can and I think is pretty good. :o) Love ya'll... thanks for all the well wishes!

Alas... the sleep monster awakens

2008-03-06T11:17:00.005-06:00

(the photo was taken 2 months ago when I made the new sleep mask)
As you might have guessed, I am home sick today. It's a weird illness. I am so dizzy I wouldn't be surprised if my own head started to orbit my body. Needless to say typing is not very fun. I have been taking pictures of my meals and will post them alll here hopefully tonight or tomorrow :o) Much love.

Sick and stuff

2008-03-05T16:09:00.004-06:00

I am sick. 100% sick. So this will be quick because I just want to lay down.

Breakfast: Blueberry Oaties. (oats, 3/4 c skim, splash of soy, 1/4 c blueberries) I missed my banana! Am I EVER satisfied? ha!

Lunch: No Photo! I was feeling very sick by now and I was half way through my meal before I even realized I didn't snap one single photo. A guy I work with said "Woah.. you really are sick!" He hit the nail right on the head. I had 1 piece of NODF bread, My Deli Chicken with Ken's and a a little bit of spinach. A low fat cheese stick, a few green peppers, 3 triscuts from a co-worker, and Black Cherry Jell-0 (sugar free of course) with a dollop of cool-whip. I also ate my 15 almonds at lunch.

Snack: I tried a new Protein Shake. It was good and I might get it again. The only problem was all the sugar!! 22 g of sugar. It was VERY sweet. It's all natural + organic. I liked it. It made me feel better.. seriously. MIX 1 Protein shake, mix berry flavor. I am going to do some research on them and see if I want to get them again.

I am off to nap now. I have that wanna be flu virus that I've been told is going around.

Houston... We have a PROBLEM!

2008-03-04T19:11:00.005-06:00

I decided to give turkey burgers another try. I've made them before and D and I BOTH went to McDonald's that night we hated them so bad. Turkey was on sale at Kroger last week for CHEAP CHEAP, and everything deserves a second chance! I LOVED them!! LOVED. D... only ate half of his sammie. I will admit that they were a little dry because I did over cook them, but I didn't think it was trash worthy. See.. since I've changed my way of eating-- they were delicious to me. D however... just couldn't cram it down. I thought this was interesting seeing as I used to be like that. I am very proud that I have changed my eating habits as much as I have. Although, there is room for improvement.

Dinner... Turkey Burgers, Fruit Compote, Sweet Fries and a Salad with Ken's. Now for the breakdown. I seasoned the turkey burgers with Ms. Dash Table Blend Seasoning....YUM! I just cannot see putting mustard and ketchup on turkey.. so there was no way I was going to put it on a turkey burger. Thus. I decided to make a little fruit compote...or at least that's what I am calling it. I put 1/8 c dried cranberries, 2 dried apricots, and a few apple slices in a pot with 2 tablespoons of natural unsweetened apple sauce.... YUM-O (sorry to borrow from Rachel Ray) Delish.. so deslish. D was in charge of getting the buns last night and I wasn't happy with his findings. He brought home Whole Wheat Buns made with High Fructose Corn Syrup!! Something I would never have bought, since I am trying hard to look for things like this. Oh well...better luck next time. We also had sweet fries, which are just sweet potato fries cooked at 400 until they're done. No science to that! They were Great!!

I forgot.. today around 4:30, I was happy to snack on peanut butter and a sweet gala with a nice cup of green tea after the snack.

I feel sicky so I am going to take some meds, ear drops, and call it a night. Of course I plan to read!

Oatie goodness

2008-03-04T15:19:00.003-06:00

I think my bowl of oats was the BEST bowl of oats I've EVER had!! They were so simple! I made them this morning with 3/4 c skim and just a splash of soy milk. I added a VERY ripe banana to the mix with tons of cinnamon. SO DELICIOUS!! I am out of ripe bananas so it will be a few days before I can have these oaties again.

Today I had another Hypoglycemic attack!! This time it was AFTER lunch.. I don't know what it is. I am anxious to start taking my blood sugar tomorrow. There is also a viral infection going around that has these same symptoms.. so we'll just have to see what my evidence shows.
I know I need MORE food, for one thing-- and I am working hard to get that in.
For lunch I had the same as yesterday. You know I like to eat the same foods over and over again. It's easy and satisfying for me. I had 1 piece of Nature's Own Double Fiber Bread, My Oscar Mayer Deli Chicken, a smidge of Ken's. I also had a cut up green pepper and broccoli-- but I only had one piece. My "snow cream" yogurt topped with a full table spoon of Uncle Sam's Cereal was dessert! I also shared my cereal with one of my lunch buddies who eats yogurt daily. It's SUCH a yummy mix in!

Like always I snacked on my almonds throughout the day. I thought they'd help me feel better. With this virus they say all you need is fluids and rest... However, tonight D is home until 8 so I really want to cook something he wants to eat. I would much rather just eat noodle soup and go to bed. Anyway, at about 2:00 I had a Caramel Nut Brownie Luna Bar! It was GREAT while I was eating it.. however I still have a weird aftertaste in my mouth from it. Well, it was good while I was eating it at least.

By the way.. I LOVE "eat, pray, love" GO BUY IT NOW (even if you have to pay $3 more for it :o) )

2008-03-03T19:27:00.003-06:00

It's been a LONG day... when I got home at 6:00, I expected to have to clean the kitchen before I cooked dinner... much to my surprise, D cleaned it before he went to work today!! It was SPOTLESS! It made my heart smile.

Before I get to dinner... I had a check up at the Dr. today you know only to be referred to the ENT! I've had problems with my left ear for a while now and he's never found anything wrong with it. I described my symptoms once again and he felt of my jaw only to tell me he thinks I have TMJ. Great. I see the ENT in a few weeks so we'll see. He also told me to just use a glucose monitor-- chart my numbers and then see an MD if there seems to be a problem.

Okay, on to dinner. I didn't have an afternoon snack today and was pleasantly surprised that my 2:00 Luna Bar lasted me until 6:00! I'm sure the fact that I had those crackers helped. I had left over brown rice from yesterday, so I sauteed more broccoli and grilled another chicken breast and had my yummy Chicken Stir Fry Ala Steff! D bought Diet Dr. Pepper yesterday so I decided to have one of those... BIG mistake! I haven't had a soda in weeks. It was so SUGARY! I drank it anyway since he wasn't here and I hated to waste it. After I cleaned up the kitchen I had a banana with crunchy peanut butter. yum!

Okay.. off to get things ready for tomorrow and read a little!

You know you have great oatmeal....

2008-03-03T15:31:00.004-06:00

...when you can eat it in a hallway filled with middle school kids and still enjoy it's goodness! My oatmeal with blueberries was so creamy delicious this morning!! I don't know how D made them.. what % of skim and soy milk he used. However, with all of the oatie goodness.. my blood sugar still manged to plummet around 9:45. I felt horrible sick and I thought I was going to pass out. I had some kids scrounge up some peppermints for me and LUCKILY we had been given peanut butter crackers in our mailboxes today-- so I ate the peppermints and a few crackers to boost the ole blood sugar. I've had problems like this occasionally for YEARS.. I've taken the horrible Hypoglycemic test 3 times and according to the test I am not hypoglycemic. My whole family is diabetic so my mom has an extra glucose monitor. I am going to start using it to track my sugar and NOT change my diet until I find how what is making my sugar go down. IT happened AGAIN this afternoon, so I ate the rest of those crackers. Through out the day I snacked on 15 almonds.. I just eat one here and there. hankfully I didn't work out this morning. That's what bothers me though.. at least if I had worked out then I would have a better reason for it dropping. when I work out tomorrow-- we'll see how it makes me feel.

On to lunch! I have no pictures because this was 30 mins after my sugar dropped and I forgot.. (plus I am VERY picky about how I fix my food... I have to make all of my sammies fresh and they all make fun of me! lol I also left my camera at home, so it was just my camera phone today..needless to say, I was not in the picture taking mood.) I had... my favorite deli chicken breast on Nature's Own Double Fiber bread, with a smidge of Ken's. I also had green pepper slices, a low fat cheese stick and sugar free black cherry Jell-o... with REAL cool whip! It was yummy.

This afternoon I had a new Luna bar! I loooove the consistency of a Luna bar...however this flavor was not my favorite. I bought 3 new Luna bars at Kroger and today I tried Toasted Nut 'n Cranberry.... def. will not be having that one again!!

Okay.. time to leave the 'ole job and go run errands! I have to go to the allergist for a check up ( and HOPEFULLY he can give me some answers to this blood sugar mess) run to all the 50 grocery stores we shop at and pick up what they were out of last night! I am solo most of the week for dinner so I am sure my menu will change! See ya for dinner!

Nothing Fancy Today

2008-03-02T21:16:00.006-06:00

Hello! Well I had a really fun day despite just wanting to take a nap! Feeding the High School Basketball team was a lot of fun! They were so sweet! My parent's had gotten a couple of ice cream cakes, from Dairy Queen of course, and some of the kids had never had one! It blew my mind. Anyway.. D ate dinner there. He had Tasty burgers and mini corn dogs and who knows what else. I have to say, I nabbed a couple of mini corn dogs for myself... and I also had two Thin Mint Cookies today!Oh well. D LOVES Thin Mints, so I bought him some yesterday while shopping. After cleaning up at the school, me and D went to the store. On the way there I ate a Luna Chocolate Peppermint Stick. SO good. Tonight I bought 3 other flavors and a new protein drink. Let's see... we washed my car on the way home-- this is like 7:45--- and I am sooo very hungry. It's times like these that make me just want to go "grab" something out, you know? However, we came home and I had a pita stuffed with my deli chicken, spinach and a drizzle of Ken's. I also cut up a carrot and had a sweet gala. I am ALWAYS glad I didn't grab some crap to eat because what I fix, even if it's a cold sammie, is way better than some greasy dive.

Tomorrow I begin my workouts again!!! Yay! I am really excited to be back on my schedule. I am one of those people where I can't just start working out if I skipped Monday.. It blows my mind, really. Mental- I know. I just feel off balance, you know? Oh!!!!!! I have a NEW WATCH to use tomorrow as well!!! I have been wanting a Polar Fitness watch ever since I've been working out.. well the darn thing is $100.00!! D refused to buy it for me because he thought it was stupid. However, after seeing me ask every member of my family if they wanted to buy it, while I was batting my eyes so hard they almost fell off---he decided that he'd get me one. He surprised me with it earlier this week. SO sweet! I love that boy. I'll let you know how I like it!

2008-03-02T13:29:00.005-06:00

Even though I love it it when it rains, and too much sun gives me a headache and hurts my eyes.... I do love it as spring begins to peek in on us. Today is a BEAUTIFUL day! I am ready for spring because I want to go walking. If it could be 70 degrees, and slighty sunny everyday, I really would be a happy girl. Every year as spring begins to come, I do feel more alive. It's beautiful in the fall as the leaves turn and fall.. even more the beauty it is as they come back to life! All I ask for is a little rain now and then! :o)

I LOVE my lunch combo for today. It had three of my favorite components: Chicken, Sauteed Broccoli, and Brown Rice. YUM! I just layered them to make a mock stir fry. I will be having this again and again! I call it Chicken Stir Fry Ala Stephanie. Ha! So dorky. Anyway it was good. As I was taking the picture, I managed to drop my fork along with a ton of rice in the floor...nice. Please notice the care bear cup, circa 1982 compliments of Pizza Hut! I have the whole set (and a duplicate of this one).

For a little something sweet I had half of a banana with 1 T of crunchy peanut butter! I really only needed 1/4 of a banana and peanut butter, as I was full! Notice how the Gilbert Family likes their bananas. I have to buy them a week in advance just for them to get ripe enough for us!

I have a busy day today. I have to finish my grocery list, go to my parents house and help them get ready for tonight, as well as help them feed the kids, find something for myself to eat, and then go to the store. I really LOVE to shop on Sunday afternoons, but not so much on Sunday nights, as everything is gone. HOWEVER this time I am wise to Hopkinsville shoppers and know that they suprisinglydo have good taste... or maybe that I just fit in here?! What?! haha. If what I want is not at the store.. well then I shall get it another day rather than getting something else. Dinner post will be after all of the activities for the day.

Happy Sunday!

2008-03-02T08:28:00.004-06:00

It's going to be a long Sunday for me! I am up late already! See my little oatie bowl this morning. It was by no accident I am eating out of that bowl today! I have a small head cold or something. Inside my stuffy bowl are my oaties and half of a banana. Of course with any good bowl of banana oaties, I have an ample amount of cinnamon. I am also having a cup of Prince of Wales with a little skim, I tend to let it steep too long sometimes, so the skim tones it down a bit for me. Okay, I have a long day of cooking for high school kids ahead of me! My parents both work at a high school in town. I guess since my mom only had one child (and since I am grown) she feels the need to spoil every other child in town. Which is really nice. They boys basketball team is going to Regionals so she's cooking "Tasty" burgers for them. I get to help. (again look at the face on my bowl.) Have a great day guys!

It's been a long day!

2008-03-01T22:16:00.008-06:00

I am so very tired. It's 10:19 and I am just now getting home! I should feel even more sorry for my poor hubby who left the house before me today and still is not home from work! Well... shopping for house goodies was unsuccessful. I finally found the fabric I want for my living room curtains but the price was toooo high. I went to a shop I KNEW would have the perfect print (thus the extra drive to get there) but I didn't expect the prices to be SO high. I can easily find what I need at the fabric shop in C-ville. I DID however manage to pick up fabric for my kitchen curtains, and a super cute window treatment for the kitchen as well. I also picked up a copy of "eat, pray, love"(I was torn between this and "like water for elephants" -- a book I've been wanting to read for a while.... however-- the first page of "eat, pray, love" was more interesting). My friend Aimee told me about this book back in the fall and actually sent me a copy of it for Christmas, however I never received it. Mail mix up or something. Anyway, those of you who know me well know I am a BARGAIN shopper... they had the book at Sam's Club for 9.17, which I thought was a good price but I thought it'd be cheaper at BAM with my discount card.... WRONG... I bought the book at BAM (since I was already there) for THREE dollars more than Sam's price. I was so mad at myself. Now I don't even want to read the book. It's not that I am hard up for the three bucks by any means.. It's just that it was the SAME thing for THREE dollars cheaper. On the way home I thought of at least 10 things I could do with that money. Oh well... the book better be good Aimee! lol.. no really... then I remembered SHE'S out at LEAST 9 bucks for the book she sent me that I never got! :o) love ya.

Okay yes I ate today as well. I snacked on a few almonds while shopping. During lunch, I realized that I had forgotten my camera in the car at lunch so I took pictures with my camera phone! let's see how they look. My whole family loves Rafferty's so it was no surprise my mom and I went there for lunch. I had a grilled chicken ceasar salad with honey mustard dressing (which I used about 1/2 of) which REALLY means I had grilled chicken over romaine lettuce and a sprinkle of parm. We ate lunch at 2 PM! ( I actually had to take a glucose tab because my sugar had dropped since I waited so long to eat) My point-- I added a baked potato since lunch was late and I had no clue when dinner would be. The potato looks really gross in this picture-- but it really was yummy! I used about 1/4 of the butter.

Once we got back into town, around 8 PM, my mom and I were both hungry... she wanted SONIC! I knew I was not eating a fast food salad because they are the PITS. So I had already made up my mind that I would go home and cook a hot meal (even thought I absolutely just felt like sleeping!) However, I hadn't seen American Idol this week and my mom wanted to watch it, so I raided her VERY not diet friendly house and decided that a grilled cheese sammie with grapes and an orange would do me just fine! (sorry.. this camera phone pic is REALLY bad!!)She only had whole wheat white bread, but that was A OKAY with me! It was really very good.

Okay y'all.... I am about to drop. Thanks for reading! It's so neat to talk to you guys on the phone ( the ones of you I know well that is) and tell me that you check this daily... it REALLY keeps me going.

Much love :o)

You cooked what?!

2008-03-01T08:16:00.006-06:00

This morning I decided to make french toast for my husband. I also know he LOVES fried potatoes, so I made him some of those too. Yes, I cooked fried food. D is not ready to eat super healthy and he still enjoys the comforts of southern cooking. So, when ever I get the whim, I make him up something we used to eat. D, like me, does not have an oober large amount of weight to loose, however, I do want him to start eating a lot more healthy for his sake, and so our future children will grow up eating right. Thankfully Dustin remembered to buy milk last night! I had oats with skim and soy milk, half of a banana and 15 semi sweet chocolate chips (which I REALLY need to stop eating.) Really.. nothing compares to my blueberry oaties. I also had a cup of Prince of Wales tea.

Today my mother and I are going out of town to shop for things I need to make my home renovation complete!!! I cannot wait! I am making curtains for every room in the house and have so far been unsuccessful on my quest for finding beautiful fabric. Maybe I should rephrase that! I've been unsuccessful on finding fabric both me AND D can agree on. Since he is not coming today, I am SURE I'll be able to find just the right fabric! Wish me luck!

Fiesta!

2008-02-29T19:50:00.006-06:00

I have made fajitas a few times before and I mean they were good-- but these were GREAT! I used to cook the chicken and the veggies on the stove top... this time I decided to grill the chicken on the George Foreman then add them to the veggies... huge difference as you can imagine! Now for the tortillas.... I have had whole wheat low carb-o tortillas in the past and they are for the birds! Literally.. they're grainy and birds would love them. I was just not eating those again. While looking for a better tortilla choice, I saw only TWO packages of La Tortilla factory Whole Wheat Tortillas left... they were expensive (over 3 dollars for 10 tortillas!) but I decided if everyone was buying them over everything else, they were worth a try! (after all.. the shoppers all left me with the crummy cool whip!) Hopkinsville knows best this time! The tortillas were WONDERFUL! I planned poorly because we had no lettuce and I LOVE a little fajita with my lettuce, but we managed. I had 2 tortillas and spread a little bit of cream cheese on them (because I prefer it to sour cream) and a bit of fajita chicken. I also had a cheese stick although I could have done without it. I also got to eat dinner with my husband!! He had a few hours off between jobs so he came home to eat dinner with me.. what a sweet kid. I sure do love him. After I cleaned the kitchen, I brewed my favorite cup of Prince of Wales Tea to sip on as I wrote my blog.

Okay.. off to do some laundry and light cleaning before bed.

See yas for my oats in the AM! (If Gilbey remembers to bring home the milk!)

As promised....

2008-02-29T08:43:00.008-06:00

... a morning blog! I have no pictures because I didn't have time to upload before school. I suppose I could have photographed my breakfast with my camera, but at before 8 AM my brain is not thinking logically. Next week I will finally begin my workout routine again so I will be able to post before I leave for work, pictures and all! I can't WAIT for you to see my breakfast! It was so yummy and delicious! I made my oats this morning because D had to be in Clarksville (30 minutes away) to work today. I made my oats with 1/2 skim and a few splashes of vanilla soy milk, added some cinnamon, cut up a banana and a dash of Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips! The chocolate was still a little too over powering (and I think they gave me a little tummy ache) I really only need about 10 chips for the whole bowl. Okay, well I do have work to do-- so I will see you around 4:00! Hope you have a GREAT F R I D A Y!!

T G I F!!!

That's for sure! The kids were on crack today I swear! I am SO glad it's friday! I have lots of fun things planned for the weekend... well not really-- but I am SUPER excited to go shopping tomorrow for things we need to complete the house! Anyway-- back to my food.

Lunch was a repeat of dinner last night and I cannot stress enough how delicious the Heartland Perfect Balance pasta is! I had spaghetti with a romaine and spinach salad drizzled with a little Ken's. You see pictured my jell-o that I again didn't eat. I don't like the black cherry flavor either and I now understand why Cool Whip Free was the ONLY Cool Whip at the store last week. It's gross stuff people. Stick to the original or the light. So needless to say I didn't want my jell-o. I started snacking on my 15 almonds around noon and ate on them for a few hours.
It's so nice to be home now! The sun is shining (which I usually don't like) but the weather is BEAUTIFUL today! I think I might charge the iPod and go for a walk. For now I am snacking on a banana filled with crunchy peanut butter and green tea.. I REALLY was in the mood for a small cup of oaties but I left both the skim and the soy milk out of the fridge all day...... MEGA OOPS. I am enjoying my Elvis combo I have to say!

Fajitas for dinner tonight!! The hubby will be home to eat with me! (yay!) then back of to job number 2.. and house cleaning for me. :( (boo)

Heartland Pasta=Whole Wheat Goodness!

2008-02-28T20:17:00.006-06:00

Dinner was sooo yummy! I have tried whole wheat pasta in the past and it was just so gritty and gross. However, I am the queen of second chances so I gave it another whirl. Heartland brand makes a fabulous whole wheat pasta! It was so nutty and delicious. I topped my pasta with 1/2 cup tomato sauce with lean beef that I made Monday night. I also had a romaine & spinach salad with a tsp. of Ken's Light Honey Mustard.

After cleaning up and doing the dishes, I had my "snow cream" yogurt with about tsp. of Uncle Sam's Cereal. I've never actually had Uncle Sam's before as actual "cereal" but I think it would be great with some soy milk.

I hate eating alone, I feel like an old cat lady! haha. I am very thankful I have my two sweet babies to keep me company!

Okay all-- off to finish laundry, have some relaxing hot tea, and snuggle into bed! I SERIOUSLY plan to post BEFORE work tomorrow! ha! Wish me luck!

Is it Friday yet?!

2008-02-28T15:56:00.006-06:00

I hate work after a snow day!! The kids are crazy and it feels like it should be Friday--- yet the day always runs as if it were Monday! Oh well.

On the way to work, I had my usual blueberry oaties. Tomorrow I think the bananas will be ripe enough and I'll have banana oaties!!

Lunch was d e l i c i o u s ! Last night around 10:30 PM I grilled some chicken for me and D to have today.. I had mine stuffed in half of a pita with spinach and a drizzle of honey mustard. YUM! I also had half of a bell pepper and you can see cottage cheese with pineapples pictured however, I just wasn't able to get that down. I don't like cottage cheese, but I keep making myself give it "one more try". Well, it is OFFICIAL... I don't like cottage cheese. Lunch was very skimpy so it left me wanting for more. I drank 32 oz of water along with it to try and satisfy, but by 2:00-- I was starving, so I ate 15 almonds. I wish I had a protein bar or something because that didn't do the trick either. I had only had just shy of 600 calories for the day-- so there was no wonder! I cannot have another lunch like that again!

I am home now (yay!!) and for my snack I am munching on 14 apple slices and 1 T ( or maybe a little more) of peanut butter. I also bought some new green tea last night! It's sooooo yummy! I bought Salada brand Green Tea with Orange and Strawberry. The flavors are SO rich.

Lately I have been feeling very hungry.. D did some research and found out the 3 cups of green tea I drink a day alone account for burning approx. 80 calories each day! So I need to eat a little more to compensate.

Since I am once again solo for dinner-- I might have spaghetti. I also don't know what's on the agenda today. I had a horrible day... horrible.. so I'd like to relax-- but chores have to be done :(

See ya later!

Oops....

2008-02-27T21:01:00.008-06:00

Just as the snow came this morning (photo taken early this AM, more snow fell there after) it was gone! I just got home from my very long day, sat down with my new strawberry/orange green tea to transfer my pictures from my camera. I then unhooked the camera from loading (because I think it's done of course) deleted all the pictures from my camera---only to realize that oops... one of the files that I was uploading needed to be renamed! Sadly, all the pictures I took today won't be making the blog! They were SO cute!

Anyway.... I did go to Russellville today to see my Papa, go to the store for him, and cook enough food for him to eat on this week. I got him a cell phone for is birthday earlier this month, but he didn't like the case so we had to go to cingular and exchange that. He accompanied me to Wal-Mart this time, which was interesting to say the least. With driving and shopping time it pushed my lunch back to 4:15!! I was STARVING. My oaties stayed with me until about 3:00. For lunch I had my favorite deli chicken breast and spinach stuffed in a whole wheat pita. I had a low-fat cheese stick, half of a green pepper and a gala apple that I shared with my Papa. I also cooked for my Papa while I was there! I made him Turnip greens, cabbage, green beans with new potatoes, mashed potatoes, grilled chicken, and cornbread. He likes the same same same-- so next week I am sure the menu will be the same. He's a sweet thing.

By 6:30 I was finally on my way home -- and a little hungry so I had a Zone Perfect bar or something like that. I will NOT be having it again because it had WAY to much fat in it and I am a little upset that I didn't notice that before. I like to have a protien shake in the afternoon, but because I've been on the go so much I've been having these bars that just don't cut it. Back to my shake tomorrow.

Once I got back to Hopkinsville, I needed to run to Kroger to get some cookies for D and some new green tea for myself! He had already had dinner, so I asked him to saute me some broccoli and I grabbed a potato on my way home. I ate half of the potato and mixed it with the broccoli and it was very yummy. I liked it a lot.

As I am now watching my FAVORITE show Project Runway while drinking my new strawberry/orange green tea.

I do hope you enjoyed the pictures I added soley for your viewing pleasure!

Stick with me kids.. it'll be better tomorrow.