WW Weigh-In #9

I lost 4.4 lbs. this week! So excited. I felt a whole lot better, too. I'm telling you my body has decided to rebel about things that are unhealthy. Saturday night my step-son and his fiance were here and he wanted some good country cooking. Thankfully I had eaten a very low pt. breakfast and lunch and really not snacked that day, so I did pretty well with country fried steak, a biscuit, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and low fat banana pudding. The problem came on Sunday when I had a steak biscuit for breakfast, a hamburger, brat and cookie for lunch (we were eating at my Mom's, another menu beyond my control event) and another cookie at supper. I felt AWFUL! Just gross. I did not get my fruits and veggies in so all that was on my stomach was meat, bread and sugar and my body did not like it. The great thing is that it is more incentive for me to stay on the right path. I've now lost 13 lbs. I need to lose .8 more to be where I was before vacation prep and vacation. I sure am ready for that 15 lb. mark and then the 20!

Decorating Inspiration

If you don't already know. About 6 years ago we bought a real fixer-upper. Our house was built in 1898. It has had some updating over the years, which is actually kind of sad because there are very few things that are still original to the home. When we moved in it needed A LOT of work. We got busy and did a TON of painting, changing out light fixtures, cleaning up a way overgrown yard and eventually adding a privacy fence (which is still not finished). We really kind of lost steam, but the 3rd year we were here we had a kitchen fire, so we had to find some new steam and put in a brand new kitchen. There have been small projects here and there ever since, but it seems that the hubby and I are starters, but sadly not finishers. Well, lately that has been driving me batty. I'm ready to get the ball rolling again, to get what we've gotten started finished and to begin some much needed repairs. I want to start with the rooms that are closest to being finished. Those are the living room, kitchen and bathroom. The living room needs almost nothing. I definitely need to declutter in there, clean the carpet and possibly add some new decor to the walls, etc. No biggie. The kitchen isn't too bad either. We need to add a couple of floor supports, hang the crown over the cabinets, finish putting the hardware on the cabinets, hang the vent hood, wire some under cabinet lighting, paint and refinish the table and chairs and put the quarter round down around the baseboard. Really it could be finished in a day with the exception of the table and chairs. It has a bit of a fruit theme, but I do not like to go overboard with themes. I've been wanting to put something on the wall over the table. I have a picture there, but it just seems really dated to me. I've been nosing around on http://www.thriftydecorchick.com/ and she has been giving me a TON of inspiration. So, I've finally figured it out. This is what is going on that wall:

I found this one on Etsy for $55. I'm not sure if I'll buy it or paint it myself. A few years ago our church had a large rummage sale and I acquired a pretty nice overhead projector for $5! We've mostly used it for things at the church, but I could use it here. With that verse being so long it would be pretty time consuming, but would be almost free. We shall see.........

I'll try to post pics as we get things done.

Back on the WW wagon

The week before last was CRAZY busy. We were getting ready for vacation and we had several events to attend. Most of the events included food that was not WW friendly. I was certain I would not be losing any weight that week. I did pretty well during the day, but my suppers were not good at all. Then last week we were on vacation. Had it been just us I could have stayed on plan and probably lost weight, but we were with my entire family and let me just tell you how eye-opening it was for me. I completely understand why we all have weight problems. Only one healthy meal came out of that kitchen all week. There were no healthy snacks to be found and there were baked goods and sodas available at all times. I would have had to buy and fix separate food to stay on plan and I made the decision not to do that. I understood that I would gain weight, but I felt this was the best choice to avoid the week being stressful for me. So, I did indeed gain weight and I'm gladly jumping back on the wagon today. I must tell you eating that junk made me feel awful! I didn't realize how much better I was feeling from eating well, but I understood immediately after beginning to eat the old way again. I won't go into details because some of them are gross, but I'm ready to feel better and get that weight back of, so here I go again!

Candied Grapes

Want an idea for a super healthy snack that tastes downright indulgent and is ridiculously easy to make? The only problem with these bad boys is making yourself stop eating them.

All you need is 1 1/2 to 2 lbs of grapes and the corresponding flavor of fat-free, sugar-free jello. (i.e. red grapes, use regular grape flavor; white grapes, use white grape flavor).

Take your grapes off of the stem, rinse them, place them in a freezer size bag and pour the dry mix of jello in the bag. Close the bag and shake them up. Then you can just eat them or put them in the freezer for a hot day! YUMMO!!!!!

WW Weigh-in #6

I somehow got confused about how many weeks I'd been on WW and I named last weeks post #6. I realized that today was my 6th weigh-in, so I corrected my errors and renamed my posts. I have just completed my 6th week. I'm still going strong. I'm enjoying the way that I'm eating and really not feeling at all deprived. I even had a few days this week that I was REALLY hungry, but was able to manage all my munchies well. Yesterday I gave myself the day off, but still made pretty good choices {minus the desserts ;) } . This week I lost 2 lbs. I am 1.2 lbs. away from my 2nd goal. I've been updating my ticker weekly, so it has the correct amount of weight lost on it.

I feel great. I've been buying some new clothes, most of which have been dresses. I have worn very few dresses over the last few years because I felt they were very unflattering. Thankfully today's styles are much better cuts for my body and I'm enjoying the "dressing-up". Most of the dresses I have gotten have been REALLY good deals and are on the casual side, so I can wear them often. My hubby is super happy with all of them! I am beginning to be able to tell that I am losing. My waist is a bit smaller and my pants are a bit loose. I have some clothes that I love, so I'm gonna have to learn how to do alterations.

One of the reasons that I wanted to lose weight was to get some pressure off of my knees. I've had surgery on both of them due to a hereditary issue that was complicated by my bed-rests with my pregnancy. My first surgery was 6 1-2 years ago. That knee healed well. I still have occasional pain in it, but not too much and that is usually only while climbing. My 2nd surgery was 2 years ago and the surgery helped, but the damage was more extensive. I still have pain fairly often, my muscles have not regained their strength and there is still some noise in the joint (popping and grinding). If losing weight and exercising does not help this knee I may be in for another surgery. I am 33 years old and would love to be able to stand for long periods of time, climb stairs, exercise, etc. without pain or risk of further damage to the joint. Please pray with me for healing.

Have a blessed week!

Say CHEESE!

We were on a quest for a new camera. Our old one is 5 years old and was really wearing out. It seemed to be having trouble telling when the flash was needed, the lcd had become a bit grainy, sometimes the pics weren't focused well and the batter door was broken (we were using tape and a rubber band, LOL). We REALLY wanted a Digital SLR and found a great deal on one, but we just were not having a peace about spending almost $500 on something that was not a necessity. I talked to my hubby and we decided to meet at Sam's after he got off work. I looked at the cameras when I first got there. We were still considering the SLR, but I another camera also caught my eye. The kids and I wandered the store for a bit while we waited on him. When he got there we headed back to the cameras. He was looking at the SLR when I got there. We talked for a minute and then I mentioned the camera that had peaked my interest. He laughed and said that he had walked straight to that one when he got there. After looking for a few more minutes we decided to go with the less expensive, but very good camera. He did have to sacrifice a viewfinder, but he liked the camera enough that he was game. Here's the new camera :

It's a Nikon Coolpix L110. Our old one was a 3.2 megapixle with a 10x optical zoom. This one is a 12.1 megapixle with a 15x optical zoom. It also has a much bigger LCD screen. We picked up some new photo editing software at Sam's as well. I can't wait to get started with them both! This is a combo gift for hubby and I for Mother's and Father's day.

We always celebrate Mother's Day early. It helps us not have to fight the crowds at restaurants and we can celebrate my Mom on Mother's day. So, tonight we went shopping. I got 2 maxi dresses. I've wanted one for a while and just couldn't find what I wanted at a price I was willing to pay. I bought myself one (as a reward for working a LOT of hours the last few weeks) and the kids went in together and bought me one. I also got a few accessories at another store. I spent a whopping $5.50 on 4 items. Then we went to supper and the food was fabulous. Overall a very good Mother's day celebration!

Frustration

I had a great day, but in the midst of this great day were some serious frustrations. One of them will require some prayer and thought and ultimately a big decision. The other just bugs me. Did you ever really feel like you weren't good enough for someone? I work to not feel this way, but sometimes situations just seem to be front and center and make you have to notice. I do have feelings. I am human and I feel rejection just like anyone else would. Just frustrated. Wish I could just accept what isn't to be. Wish I no longer desired the thing that I desire. Just frustrated.........

WW Weigh-in #5

I lost 1.4 lbs this week. It may have been a little less. My scale was super wonky this morning. I had a really busy, really stressful week last week and we all know stress makes it hard to lose weight. The busyness didn't help either. I had a hard time getting all of my fruits and veggies in each day and my biggest downfall is that if I'm busy, I don't drink enough, so I didn't get all my waters in several days. I'm forcing myself not to be discouraged. I really figured I would settle in to losing 1 to 2 lbs. per week, so while these numbers aren't as stellar as the first couple of weeks, they are good numbers. I've always heard that it's easier to keep off if you lose it slowly. Most of my goals account for about a 5 lb. weight loss per month. I seem to be on track to do that. I want to lose 3.2 lbs. over the next 2 weeks. I think I'm on track to do that. I was excited because the tens digit on my weigh dropped another digit today. So that's the second one of those. For instance and of course these are not my actual weights. If I started at 271, then went down to the 260s and now am down in the 250s. See what I mean, that's exciting! Anyway, my small weeks may get boring to ya'll but they are adding up. I've lost 11.8 lb.s so far and people are beginning to notice a little. I have a long way to go, but I'll take my baby steps and hopefully soon I'll be adding in excercise.

Back to Basics

Well, I took the last two weeks off from school in order to get caught up on work. I got a lot done, but am not quite finished. My house is in dire need of attention. My kids have chores and our day to day cleaning is keeping us from drowning, but there is so much here that needs to be done. I talked to my hubby the other night and we decided that I needed several more weeks to catch up work, clean and clean out or home and begin working on some unfinished home projects. We decided that the kids needed to get back to school but we needed to come up with a better plan for them that was fun, was working on specific needs that they have and required a little less of me. We explained the plan to our kids tonight and they are excited. Here's the plan:

I will be doing devotion, a Bible lesson and scripture memory with the 3 of them each morning. I may have them copy the verse, draw a picture from the lesson, do character vocabulary, etc.

Mason will be working on his handwriting and reading. He'll be doing copy work of word families and his full name (so maybe other people will be able to read it). He will also be working on reading some Bob Books and doing lessons on Starfall.

The girls will each be reading at least one chapter in an approved book each day. Then they will copy one paragraph from that chapter.

All 3 children will be completing States notebooks. They will gather information together then do worksheets. Mason will write the state name and capital, then draw the state, their bird, flag and flower. The girls will draw the bird, flag, and flower and will be filling out a page of info (capital, population, date of statehood, area, motto, climate, temperature, natural resources, industries, agriculture, exports and imports).

We have a great science book that briefly covers many areas of science. They will read one section each day and will have a couple of vocabulary words daily. They will also have occasional experiments.

For math they will all be working on memorization by using worksheets, songs, computer games and flash cards.

They will also be expected to do a better job on their chores (there Daddy has committed to checking them each day) and we will all work on household projects together in the evening. They should still have a few hours of free time every day and we should be well on our way to where we want to be within the next couple of weeks. We may stick with some form of this school schedule for at least parts of the summer. We always school in the summer, but not necessarily all week. Just depends on what else is going on. We will definitely take days off for fun stuff, but if it's too hot to be out or the weather is stormy or we're just not going anywhere we will do schoolwork. Doing it this way gives us plenty of extra days so we can take breaks whenever we need them instead of having to pre-schedule them. It works for us.....