I am so blessed to have this amazing man as my husband and wonderful father to my children. Happy Father's Day, Brandon! I surely do love you! =)
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Where does the time go?
It has been almost a month since my last blog post. I've thought about posting for a while, and then I get very busy. I can't believe how time flies. Who else thinks it's strange that it's already JUNE?
Some days I feel very discouraged in my weight loss since I'm stuck fluctuating between 156-159 lbs and I can't seem to get it lower. I must admit that I've not been as strict with my diet as I was at first, but all in all we are eating so much healthier than ever in our lives. On the other hand, I have lost quite a bit so far. At my heaviest, I was about 183 lbs a few years ago, just before I had my gallbladder surgery. I'm still thick in the waistline, and I really need to become more motivated to actually exercise when I have some "free" time to myself... (I still laugh when I say that). In the past few weeks, my husband has MADE me go purchase a few pairs of pants for myself, because my pants were literally falling off of me. I dropped two sizes. Yesterday he took my wedding ring to have it resized as well. I've been very hesitant about that since I really want to wait until I reach my goal weight to resize it. For a while now, I've been wearing it with a spacer. I need to go through ALL of my clothes and donate everything that is too big for me, which will be most of my wardrobe. I do have a lot of things that are too small for me that I've hung onto for a while in hopes that I will some day be able to fit in them again. So right now, I'm in between sizes.
Looking back at my last post and seeing pictures of my garden from almost a month ago, I'm in awe of how much the garden has grown since then. We haven't had too much of a bug problem in the garden, but something (I think a bunny maybe) has been eating our tomatoes, including that one HUGE one. I've started picking them as soon as they start turning orange and bringing them in to ripen indoors. We have a very small blueberry bush that had quite a bit of berries on it considering its size, however I've noticed less and less berries each time I go out there. I think birds are getting to some of our produce as well. We should probably get some netting or something to put over the plants at this point.
Brandon and I started doing the bulk of our grocery shopping at Whole Foods Market and buying mostly organic produce. We've cut back to eating meat only a few days a week, usually on his days off so he can grill. Since we hadn't eaten red meat in nearly a year, I decided it wouldn't kill me to eat it every once in a while. This made him very happy to try out some new recipes on the grill. I've found the best day to shop at Whole Foods Market is on Wednesdays. The previous ad ends on Wednesday and the new ad begins, allowing us to shop sales from both weeks. I try to stock up on things we would want from both ads and arrange our meals accordingly. Whole Foods also takes coupons and has their own coupon flier. So we shop from sales and coupons and actually don't spend as much as we did shopping for prepackaged, loaded with junk, foods from Walmart. My kids love trying new, healthier foods and are really LOVING our new healthy diet. I'm very blessed that they aren't picky eaters any more and prefer fresh veggies and fruit to prepackaged junk. It's amazing how eating healthier can really change your taste buds. Candy and sweets are still a weakness for all of us, but we don't eat them quite as often as we did before.
I have taken on several new students for our Summer Session this year, and it's been so much fun getting to know this great group of kids. We have been enjoying some fun activities together, like going to the library and swimming. We also made tie dye t-shirts to wear when we have our lemonade stand. Since my daughter is a year ahead in her academics and didn't have any work to do this summer, she has been a huge help to me with the younger students. I've given my students a challenge this summer to turn in a total of 100 book reports as a group effort by the end of this summer and we will have a party. About half of the class enjoys reading, while the other half need some encouragement. I really hope this will help them all enjoy reading more. Because our school has grown to its capacity, we will be rearranging some of the furniture in the living room and building new desks to accommodate more students. We ordered one computer armoire from Walmart and are anxiously waiting its arrival so we can put it together to see if it will work out before we purchase the rest. I figured since the school is in my living room, with the armoires when school is out, we can close the cabinets and reclaim a little space. We also plan to purchase some adjustable height, swivel tractor stools that will fit inside of the cabinets when not in use. I think everything will be neat and tidy that way. And finally, all of our class room furniture will match!
We recently had a scare with our beloved 9 yr old Beagle puppy, Daisy. For a few days last week she was very lethargic. We also noticed that she had fat pockets on her neck and chest that were very large. The kids and I all prayed for Daisy, that she would be okay and that her fat pockets would go away. Brandon and Bailey took her to the vet on his day off. The vet wasn't concerned about the fat pockets and said that was normal for dogs. He was concerned about her significant heart murmur. We knew she had a murmur in the past, but the vet said it wasn't a big deal before. This time, he gave her a chest x-ray and determined that she has a heart condition. So now we must give her medications every day. It's not easy giving a dog little pills. We may have to go get some soft treats to stick them in. In the past few days, she has improved a LOT. She's much more energetic and playful. And her fat pockets on her neck and chest are completely gone. I'm not sure if they had anything to do with her heart condition at all, but I'm sure it's much more comfortable for her to not have them on her neck where her collar is. I'm just happy that my sweet Daisy is feeling better. =)
Here's some photos of some yummy foods we have made lately. Let me know what recipes you would like to try and I'll post them....
Some days I feel very discouraged in my weight loss since I'm stuck fluctuating between 156-159 lbs and I can't seem to get it lower. I must admit that I've not been as strict with my diet as I was at first, but all in all we are eating so much healthier than ever in our lives. On the other hand, I have lost quite a bit so far. At my heaviest, I was about 183 lbs a few years ago, just before I had my gallbladder surgery. I'm still thick in the waistline, and I really need to become more motivated to actually exercise when I have some "free" time to myself... (I still laugh when I say that). In the past few weeks, my husband has MADE me go purchase a few pairs of pants for myself, because my pants were literally falling off of me. I dropped two sizes. Yesterday he took my wedding ring to have it resized as well. I've been very hesitant about that since I really want to wait until I reach my goal weight to resize it. For a while now, I've been wearing it with a spacer. I need to go through ALL of my clothes and donate everything that is too big for me, which will be most of my wardrobe. I do have a lot of things that are too small for me that I've hung onto for a while in hopes that I will some day be able to fit in them again. So right now, I'm in between sizes.
Looking back at my last post and seeing pictures of my garden from almost a month ago, I'm in awe of how much the garden has grown since then. We haven't had too much of a bug problem in the garden, but something (I think a bunny maybe) has been eating our tomatoes, including that one HUGE one. I've started picking them as soon as they start turning orange and bringing them in to ripen indoors. We have a very small blueberry bush that had quite a bit of berries on it considering its size, however I've noticed less and less berries each time I go out there. I think birds are getting to some of our produce as well. We should probably get some netting or something to put over the plants at this point.
Brandon and I started doing the bulk of our grocery shopping at Whole Foods Market and buying mostly organic produce. We've cut back to eating meat only a few days a week, usually on his days off so he can grill. Since we hadn't eaten red meat in nearly a year, I decided it wouldn't kill me to eat it every once in a while. This made him very happy to try out some new recipes on the grill. I've found the best day to shop at Whole Foods Market is on Wednesdays. The previous ad ends on Wednesday and the new ad begins, allowing us to shop sales from both weeks. I try to stock up on things we would want from both ads and arrange our meals accordingly. Whole Foods also takes coupons and has their own coupon flier. So we shop from sales and coupons and actually don't spend as much as we did shopping for prepackaged, loaded with junk, foods from Walmart. My kids love trying new, healthier foods and are really LOVING our new healthy diet. I'm very blessed that they aren't picky eaters any more and prefer fresh veggies and fruit to prepackaged junk. It's amazing how eating healthier can really change your taste buds. Candy and sweets are still a weakness for all of us, but we don't eat them quite as often as we did before.
I have taken on several new students for our Summer Session this year, and it's been so much fun getting to know this great group of kids. We have been enjoying some fun activities together, like going to the library and swimming. We also made tie dye t-shirts to wear when we have our lemonade stand. Since my daughter is a year ahead in her academics and didn't have any work to do this summer, she has been a huge help to me with the younger students. I've given my students a challenge this summer to turn in a total of 100 book reports as a group effort by the end of this summer and we will have a party. About half of the class enjoys reading, while the other half need some encouragement. I really hope this will help them all enjoy reading more. Because our school has grown to its capacity, we will be rearranging some of the furniture in the living room and building new desks to accommodate more students. We ordered one computer armoire from Walmart and are anxiously waiting its arrival so we can put it together to see if it will work out before we purchase the rest. I figured since the school is in my living room, with the armoires when school is out, we can close the cabinets and reclaim a little space. We also plan to purchase some adjustable height, swivel tractor stools that will fit inside of the cabinets when not in use. I think everything will be neat and tidy that way. And finally, all of our class room furniture will match!
We recently had a scare with our beloved 9 yr old Beagle puppy, Daisy. For a few days last week she was very lethargic. We also noticed that she had fat pockets on her neck and chest that were very large. The kids and I all prayed for Daisy, that she would be okay and that her fat pockets would go away. Brandon and Bailey took her to the vet on his day off. The vet wasn't concerned about the fat pockets and said that was normal for dogs. He was concerned about her significant heart murmur. We knew she had a murmur in the past, but the vet said it wasn't a big deal before. This time, he gave her a chest x-ray and determined that she has a heart condition. So now we must give her medications every day. It's not easy giving a dog little pills. We may have to go get some soft treats to stick them in. In the past few days, she has improved a LOT. She's much more energetic and playful. And her fat pockets on her neck and chest are completely gone. I'm not sure if they had anything to do with her heart condition at all, but I'm sure it's much more comfortable for her to not have them on her neck where her collar is. I'm just happy that my sweet Daisy is feeling better. =)
Here's some photos of some yummy foods we have made lately. Let me know what recipes you would like to try and I'll post them....
Mandarin Orange stuffed Chicken Breast with Grilled Pineapple, Salsa, and Mango Avacado Guacomole
Turkey Burgers with Onion Apple Relish and Sweet Potato Fries
Quinoa Vegetable Risotto
Spicy Tomato Soup (Yes, another tomato soup recipe)
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