Check In & Meal Plan

Hello!

Sorry it is late but I just got home. Well for the first time I don't have great news. :( It seems that I have gained 1.3 lbs. I am disappointed but I am not giving up! It was a crazy busy week and I had ZERO time to exercise and I went out for supper a couple of times where I could have chosen better...In my opinion. I mean I didn't eat fried food or anything but I did have potatoes at least 2 times this week and I did have some dessert. I don't feel guilty which feels GREAT! I will get back to eating healthier. I miss my exercise. Anyhow, I hope to report next Monday that I lost what I gained...Wish me luck and send a prayer up for me.

Here is my meal plan: You will see some repeats because I didn't get to use them last week.

Mon-We went to Apple Bee's I had steak tips, veggies and mashed potatoes (again with the potatoes) LOL!
Tues-Grilled Chicken Salad
Wed-Quesadilla Torte
Thurs-Sloppy Lentils (fresh buns) raw veggies
Fri-Borscht (beet & cabbage soup)
Sat-Chicken Wraps
Sun-Potluck (Haven't decided what to make yet)

Well, that is all for now! Have a good evening or day... ;)

A Day Off

Hello Friends!

It has been a few days I know...Sorry. We have been SUPER busy and by the time the evening comes, I have no energy left to spend with you. However, today I am taking the day off!!! An actual real day off!! I get teased a lot because of what I call a day off. For me a "day off" would be going into the office without my uniform on and working...often hard cleaning the building or paying bills...what ever it is, I spend the whole day there. Well, today I am not doing that. Today I am going to hang out with my family. My Mom is here visiting. PLUS the last week has been crazy! I have been going hard since last Tuesday! My hours during that time were 9am-9pm...The odd evening during the week I was able to get home in time for my little one to go to bed. Here is why it was a crazy week:

-Sick staff so I had to cover
-Prepping for our 15th Annual food drive (which fell on the same day as our 1st Thrift Store Fall Fashion Show)
-So naturally I prepped for the Fashion Show
-I prepped for our prayer service for Human Trafficking
Then throw in 4 meetings that week and I was running constantly!

It was a lot of work. Here is how it went:

-The staff is slowly getting better...Thank GOD!
-The food drive began at 10am and was great in the way of volunteers! They were quick and we were very organized. Last year we were left to bring the food to the back ourselves...This year it was all sorted and brought for us. It was brilliant!
-Our Fashion Show which was at 2pm on the same day as the food drive was a HUGE success! I am still on cloud nine about it. God is good! We had a sold out crowd and had to turn two people away :( That was sad. Anyhow the cupcakes were amazing!! I heard so much wonderful feed back from the venture. One lady said, "I'm not waiting a whole year to come to another one! You have six months for the next!" Good feeling. At first we weren't sure how it was going to go because many other events were happening that day. Even another fashion show!! We went from selling only 20 tickets to having a sold out crowd!! I didn't have my camera but I will ask around so I can show you some pictures of it. Anyhow, it went wonderfully!!
-The prayer service was also good! Many people came out and took the time to visit the prayer stations I set up. It felt good.

So after this marathon of a week/weekend, I am going to spend time with my family. They are still in bed as of now so that gave me the time to spend with you! OH and I have yet to step on the scale and report my success/not so success...I will make sure to do so today soon! So check back sometime today for that update as well as my meal plan! :) Blessings!

My Busy Day

Today was a fun day. It was super busy...I ended up going to the office by myself today for Food Bank appointments. After that I went and picked up Mike so we could go for nice lunch together and catch up on what is happening today...You know, we wanted to connect. Except that is not what happened. We found out during lunch that our appointment just after lunch was moved up so we had to rush to that meeting...To top it off, the lunch date we planned changed as well...I will leave the details about that event out for now. After the one meeting I had just enough time to make our yummy supper pictured above. Fettucini Alfredo with Garlic Shrimp, cucumber and cherry tomatoes. I literally had time to eat supper but I had to leave the dishes for my family (thank you family) to do because I was late for another board meeting tonight. Then I left that meeting and went to the prayer meeting at our church and now I am home! It was a fun and busy day!!!

I have a little more work to do tonight before I can really relax. I have another meeting first thing tomorrow morning that I need to prep a bit for...SO I need to sign off for now. Take care. :)

Challenge # 9

Tell a bit about someone you wish you could meet...

Who would I like to meet? I think I would like to meet many Biblical "characters"...A lot of us think of the people mentioned in the Bible as just that...characters. Well, once I stop and think about these characters I stop and think, "WOW! These are REAL people, people who have been through many trials and have fascinating lives! People who have rubbed shoulders with Jesus!!" It is a long thought I know! One person from Biblical days I would really like to meet is Paul. If you don't know his story you should pick up a Bible and read about him go searching, you will find it!...What a story he has! He went from a person who persecuted Christians severely by putting them to death in a brutal manner, to becoming a missionary!! What a life change he had and I would love to hear about his travels and hear all about his trials of beginning a church. He was not always a liked man but he made it through and I believe he has heard God say, "Well done! Good and faithful servant." So, that is my pick. Paul. Would you like to meet someone from the Bible?

Three Posts in ONE day!!! WOW!

This is crazy! You may think I have too much time on my hands but really it is the opposite...I am very busy that is why I have three posts on one day! LOL! If I would have planned this post out I would not have to do three separate ones. Anyhow, I said I would post my meal plan so here it is:

Mon-Pizza out at Yellow Grass (Church family Games and Pizza Night)...
Tues-Baked fish with rice and veggies
Wed-Homemade chicken veggie soup with homemade buns
Thurs-Grilled Chicken Salad and garlic cheese toast
Fri-Spagettini with homemade beef/chicken meatballs & tomato sauce
Sat-Quesadilla Torte

Hmmm, just noticed that I normally try and do two meatless dishes in a week but this one seems to have only one meatless dish (Quesadilla Torte). I may tweak this so one of the meals ends up being meatless.

What are you going to be eating this week? Anyhthing you are excited about??

Opps NEW total...

The new total of weight loss is 14.9! Almost 15 lbs. The last time was 11.4 so plus an extra 3.5 would be 14.9 lbs right?!? Lets just go with that! LOL!

Monday Check-In

Hi!

It is early but I just checked my weight and it looks like what I didn't lose last week...remember I stayed the same? Well it came off this week! I lost 3.5 pounds!!! So that brings me to 14.5 lbs total! Yippee! I needed that too boost me and encourage me to keep on track! :) I was thinking that I would like to share my meal plans for the week with you. That is another way of remaining accountable...Would that be alright with you? If so, I will post my plan for the week a little later today...

Have a good day and I will most likely be back later!!

Challenge # 8

Tell about my favorite internet friend I have never met...

Well this one is easy. I don't have one. I have not made friends with anyone on the net that I don't know already...It may happen someday!

Let us move on to the day I had...
"It is church day!!! YAYYYYY!!!" As my 4 year old says. She LOVES going to church. However, today we had to stay home due to her fever and cold. She developed a cold the day before and we can't seem to get the fever to stay away. It was so hard because I sent my hubby off to church without us. Both my daughter and I wanted to go...especially because I was excited to do Sunday school with my kids. We thought of every possible scenario...Keeping her in the office by herself (away from the other people) but we figured that it wouldn't be fair because her Daddy would be preaching and I would be having fun with the kids downstairs. :( And the people who could have sat with her at church today while we did our thing are the ones who really can't afford to get sick as they are recovering from surgeries. And the other lady needs a lung transplant and needs to remain healthy...Turns out that we made the right decision by staying home because I found out that many families were away this morning due to sickness anyways. So if I brought her hoping for some people to watch her, we would have been in a jam. Plus it isn't fair to allow people around our sick kid. Anyhow, it was a challenge to stay home...My hubby did just fine. We hope to have her back on her feet in time for our church family hang out night tomorrow evening! She has been getting lots of sleep and I hope that tonight she stays asleep...Selfishly so I can too!! Well that was my day. I think I am going to curl up with my hubby, relax and watch a movie...Take care!

Challenge # 7

Tell a bit about my job...

This is a picture of my family last Christmas...Thought I would share it with you. It was taken in our church.

Well for starters, my job is my calling. I am an officer (pastor for those who don't understand the term officer) within The Salvation Army. I adore what I do because of WHO I do it for. I minister for God.

At times it is very trying and I have learned early on NOT to ask God for patience!!! Why? You may ask...Well it has been my experience that if you ask God for something He will give it to you and the best way to give you patience is to place you in situations where you have to exercise patience. :) This has been the case for me. I am a work in progress and as I serve God it is my desire to continually grow closer to Him.

I do have the wonderful privilege of working with my best friend and the second(God being the first of course) love of my life...my husband. We work so well together. We balance each other and we absolutely LOVE spending as much time together as possible so this ministry for us is perfect! We get to go to the office together, and we get to leave together (most of the time). We are partners in life and work with God as our boss in both areas. I feel blessed and very privileged to be doing what I do.

In our particular ministry my hubby and I are responsible for the church, a thrift store and a food bank (the only one in our town). There is tons of potential in our little town of 10,000 people and we are excited to see what God does this year!

Can what I do be tough? It almost always is...Would I have chosen this life for myself? Nope...But since when do I know what is best for me? LOL! God knows best and He needed me. People are coming to understand God and His love and forgiveness and His grace. He has given me so much...How could I not give back? If I had a choice would I change my job? NO! Never. Partly because I know that if I don't obey what God as asked me to do, I would be horribly miserable. More importantly I would not change my job because I genuinely like what I do.

What about you? Do you like your job?

Challenge # 6

Tell about someone who inspires you...

Who inspires me? Wow. That is a question. People in general inspire me. Particually people who endure hardships and are positive throughout it. I can think of a couple of people right away. My Mother & Father in law inspire me for many reasons...But I am not sure I can share much more about why without their permission first. So here are two others:

My school days friend Darcy from "Snips & Snails and Puppy Dog Tails"...I read her blog and as she was raising a young family she was also losing her bestfriend and husband to cancer. I followed her story through the ups and downs of her husband finding out he had cancer to the very sad announcement that she had lost him. To make matters worse, she lost her father I believe within days of losing her husband. Double the greif. She inspires me because all through this time she clung to our Father in heaven. She continued to remain faithful to Him. She shared her raw emotion with us and always directed her face to the Lord. So a shout out to you Darcy! You inspire me to be a better person, to look to God and to always remember that He will be with me. Feel free to look on my blog list and follow her blog.

Shannnnon & Jeffy. My besties inspire me. If you have been following my blog you know that these two people have been dealing with many difficult issues regarding infertility and adoption. Yet they seem to remain as positive as possible. Yes, Shannon will share how hurt she is and she shares how she has cried until her eyes are sore. She is real and her tears teach us that it's okay to have emotions. I am believing for them that they will have a child. God will give them one. Will you believe with me? Will you commit to pray for them with me?

Many other people inspire me. Today these are the three people that I have chosen to share with you. I may do another post oneday about some others...Take care and remember to inspire others with your care and concern and with your very lives.

Challenge # 5

Tell a bit about my dreams...

Well, it is obvious that I was stalled on this question...

I am choosing to take this as what I hope and wish for. Not what I dream about while sleeping or what I day dream about during the day.

To be honest with you, here is why I stalled...I haven't really thought about my own personal dreams. I do have dreams but my dreams are for other people. So I guess my dream is to see my dreams for others fulfilled. I realize that I need to dream for myself as well and I probably should learn how to do that. Make sense? Until I learn how, here is what I dream:

For my best friends to become parents. For 7 long years I have journeyed with my best friend as she tried to conceive a child. I was with her (mostly on the phone) as we cried together as she discovered once again that she was not pregnant. And again when she found out that the likelihood of her getting pregnant was not good. She has allowed me to journey with her as they decided to adopt a child. It has been a roller coaster ride from the beginning. Just recently we were at the peak of the roller coaster as they found out that they were chosen to adopt a fantastic little boy. Well, just yesterday the roller coaster crashed. Again, we were together crying with heart break. If you want to know the story feel free to read her blog. It is on my list: "Thoughts and Feelings of a Wanna-Be-Mother". After all, it is her story to tell. But please, pray for my best friends...They need your prayers.

For my child to grow strong in the Lord and to serve Him with all her might. I want my daughter to grow up knowing who she is in God. I want her to know how precious she is to her Heavenly Father. We are doing our part as best we can as we raise her to know God but I dream of the day where she is living her life FOR God.

Hmmmm, I noticed that I am still very emotional about the journey my best friend is on and I can't really concentrate on this post. So I need to stop blogging for now so I can chat with her for a while. I hope to finish this another time. Meanwhile, please lift my best friends up in prayer. Thank you.

Monday Check-In

I didn't lose weight but I didn't gain any either! I stayed exactly the same. I think if I would have exercised more this last week it would have been better. Hopefully this week is better. :)

How are you?

Day # 32-The End...Well Not REALLY...

Hello my blogging buddies...

Well, I have reached day 32! I was wondering when I was going to stop blogging about/taking pictures of my various meals. Sadly, I have decided that tonight will be the last. This DOES NOT mean that I will be giving up this healthy lifestyle...It just means that you will be seeing less of it. I will continue to share my weight loss progress with you every Monday. From time to time I may share a wonderful meal we have had as well. Or something new we have done. :)

As you can see, I did take a picture of this meal. It was supposed to be Baked Salmon but I didn't have salmon. I used cod. It had spinach, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms and some Italian dressing mixed together and placed on top of the fish and baked. The cod tasted very strong but the flavor that was on the fish was very nice. Again with it was some rice, beans & carrots. The sauce from the fish would have been really nice on the rice but I just wasn't that hungry. Now...To conclude my time of sharing this journey I would like to share some things I have learned and will take from this.

1-Anyone can change how they eat and live. We are VERY busy people yet we still managed to make time to eat healthier and to get some family activity in. I have learned that I am worth it! I need to take the time to take care of myself and my family. YOU are worth it too! YOU should take care of yourselves!! Don't use the "I'm too busy to make prep for meals..." etc. because the truth is, you CAN do it. You may just have to adjust how you spend some of your time. I was so impressed with myself (sounds like I am bragging a bit) because not once did we eat out because "I ran out of time..." if we ate out, we chose to earlier in the day. :) So You CAN do it! You ARE worth it!!

2-I am shocked that I have eaten chips only twice during this whole time!! If you know me, you KNOW I LIKE my chips! Once was at camp and I only ate maybe 5 tops! The second time was because I was curious as to how my body would react. So I sent the hubby out to get the chips. Not just any chips...Salt & Vinegar! They blew my mind! The amount of salt was CRAZY! I drank so much water that night! Same kind of deal with the sugar. We have used pure maple syrup and honey (actually from a man who makes it here) which is the purest form. I have had one chocolate bar during this time and I have to say that I got a headache from it. I couldn't believe it!

3-Potatoes. In the old days, I would have made potatoes at least 3-4 times a week for meals. :0 I have not made potatoes once for a meal during this time. Whatever I ate for potatoes came from eating out. Now we did try eating couscous and quinoa and my family was alright with it but they sure enjoy the rice. I may add potato once a week but I know I will try different types of grains and rices.

4-I REALLY like beans.

5-I have not missed milk all that much.

6-How I eat determines how I feel. As a Mom I have felt so good knowing that I am teaching my impressionable little girl how to choose foods wisely. We have involved her with the shopping and we have discussed why some foods are not the best choices. As a wife, I feel great. I know that I am making choices for my family that will enable me and my hubby to be around longer. This means we can enjoy life together and most importantly, serve God and be good stewards of what God has given to us, this means our bodies as well.

7-Losing weight has been great, but feeling healthy is better!

Well, I thank all of those who have journeyed with my family as we did this challenge. I want to thank Alison for challenging us! We have changed our diets and we have changed our lives. We no longer eat out of cans or boxes, we have introduced beans and legumes into our diets, we have let go of sugar and salt and we have benefited for it! So, although the journey of blogging faithfully about this journey is coming to an end...Our new lifestyle will live on! I will be sure to update you when I feel the need. :) As I said I will continue to share my weight loss progress. This will also help me remain accountable...

Alright...If you are interested in learning how to begin this simple yet life enhancing change, just look at my blog roll and click on "Hospitality Haven" and ask Alison to hook you up with your personalized plan!! You won't regret it!

Again, thanks for following and continue to follow as I continue to share about our lives! God Bless!

Day # 31

Our girl was sooo hungry she almost ate the plate!!
Hello...I will apologize in advance for this quick post. I don't have so much to tell you really. Our supper was good. I have made it before it was cantonese chicken, rice, corn and broccoli and cauliflower. Of course I made enough for left overs. I am super tired now because my family and I went out for a loooooong walk. I am about to sit down and do as little as possible! :)

OH I do want to tell you more about another switch our house is making. We are investing in some non toxic cleaning supplies, shampoo, toothpaste, even our vitamins are changing for the better. These products are so safe that none of the products have saftey caps on them...I know they won't hurt my kid/pet. But like I said, I am tired but I will tell you about them in another blog. I actually don't have them yet...They were shipped today and should get here on Monday...Until then, Chat later.

Day # 30

Hello. Another busy day. I managed to get home and make supper tho! We don't have too long before we have to be out again so I wanted to get this update to you. Our lives will be pretty busy until...Well who am I kidding? We will ALWAYS be busy and I love it! Anyhow, I wanted to let you know that since we have taken up this challenge to eat only wholesome food, we have felt so good! I even managed to prep tomorrows supper.

Tonight we had Creamy Qunioa Primevera. Ummm, at first sight of it, I was not impressed. The taste was good tho! It was qunioa cooked in chicken broth and after cooked I added some cream cheese. I sauteed some garlic, onion, carrots, red & yellow peppers, mushrooms and added some spinach then after they were soft we added them to the qunioa and then topped it with a bit of cheese! It is a very filling dish. Well, I have to go and get ready for the next item on my agenda. We will chat tomorrow! =)

Day # 29

WoW! 29 days have passed by fast! Today was a super crazy busy day. We had a "day off" today. Well what we call a day off anyways. We went into the office not in uniform and I cleaned part of the basement. Well a corner of it anyways. LOL! I made an area for our kids in the basement complete with two love seats a mat, and area for playing, a book shelf, a TV for some of our lessons...I am very happy with the little area. I am SURE my kids will love it too. Now, my body is sore! I did hard labor and it was worth it!!!

After our "day off" I can home for a short rest and then went grocery shopping so I could be prepared for our suppers. I was SO tempted to go out for supper but I really wanted something from home instead. So I grabbed some herb and garlic salmon from the freezer (M&M Meats) It was just sitting in the freezer and I needed to use it up. I was running out of time before our prayer meeting at the church so I just took some left over rice and threw in some peas and then did the left over corn. It was quite good. I also managed to make some bread...I substituted 1/4c of flour for flax seeds so we will see what happens with that recipe!

Have you tried anything new?

Day # 28

Hello People.

Just thought I would tell you that today was a very busy and unpredictable day. I didn't get home today until 8:30pm. I left the house at 9:15 this morning. It seemed as if everyone needed us today! Anyhow, I didn't even get a chance to get home to make supper so we went out. I had a pork slovakia with a baked potato and some peas and a slice of garlic bread. It was good. I couldn't finish the baked potato, it was so big!

Anyhow, I am looking forward to being home tomorrow to make a yummy supper! Take care. I am tired. Going to unwind for a bit before bed. Take care!!

Day # 27

Hey!

Well today has been such a nice holiday. I have done almost nothing. I say almost because I did get a lot done around the house. I have not gone out at all today and it was nice. Even better, it is raining out so it makes it easier to be home.

For supper tonight I made a yummy spaghetti & bean sauce. It had so many veggies in it as well as some beans. For veggies in the sauce we had onions, yellow peppers, carrots, broccoli and zucchini. It was very filling. I wish I would have had a salad with it. The garlic cheese toast was filling but the greens would have been nice to have. I have my meal plan all made out for this coming week so lets hope that we have good success.

I should also report that on Mondays we weigh ourselves to see our progress...So I stepped on the scale waiting to see if the Rotary lunch or pizza suppers affected my weight loss. I am very happy to report that the Rotary lunch and the pizza suppers did NOT affect my plan (which is to lose weight & feel healthy). In fact it did the opposite. I ended up losing another 4.2 lbs bringing my total loss to 11.4 lbs! Very satisfying. However, I am thinking I may see the pizza next week. I also thought I would see some weight come back on after Officer's camp...but I still haven't seen that. So that is good news.

Ok, so that is my report. I am going to go and join my family as we watch our lil ones baby videos...Take care my friends.

Day # 26

Hi!

Well I have to say right off the bat, if there was a day to fail...Today was it. For supper we had pizza. I had two small pieces of ham, mushrooms and black olive pizza. It was made by a family from our church. It was good. I find I am drinking lots of water due to the salt intake. Other then supper I was good well sort of. We had an omelet, a waffle with fruit and a fruit smoothie for breakfast. We were too full to eat lunch (not good to skip meals I know) but we did have a snack of fruit before we set off on a nice hike through the trails around our little ones daycare. We were out exploring for about 40 mins before the nippers (mosquitoes) got to us.

Tomorrow we have a potluck at church and I am hoping that there is a lot of wholesome food. I know I am bringing some soup so I will be satisfied with that. What do you do at potlucks to make sure you eat well?

Day # 25

Hi!

I have to make this short because I have a date to watch a movie with my hubby. That will be nice.

So today was a good day. I tried to have a day off...That never works. Oh well. I enjoy what I do. Ok, for supper as a family we made chicken kabobs. We each got to make our own and then we had rice and corn with it. It was really good. That is all I have for you. Later.

Day # 24

Today we had minestrone soup (instead of canned tomatoes I used fresh). With it we had homemade garlic cheese toast. It was a tasty. I think next time I would use less pasta. But it was good. I plan to use the Wii again for my activity. I find it to be really fun and I get a good workout, depending on what I do. Well, that is all I have for you today. I am tired. Sorry for the boring post....I am sure they will get better! :)

Day # 23 & 30 Day Challenge # 4

Hi!

Just to let you know that tonight the family went out to do some visiting tonight. A family from our church just opened a pizza and coffee bar so we drove out to check it out. We also had to support them by eating there ;)! So we ordered a pizza and it was good! They get all their ingredients fresh and they make their own pizza dough so it felt good. It wasn't a greasy pizza either. Just some ham, mushrooms and black olives and of course cheese! I think the only thing that came from a can was their sauce. Anyhow, it was good. Sorry I don't have a picture. I am happy to report that I was full quick! I have also already gotten in my 30 mins of activity for the day. Feels good. What do you do for activity?

Challenge #4: Tell a bit about your siblings...

Well ok...I have two older brothers. One is 5yrs older and the other is 7yrs older...I think. Anyhow, my bros mean the world to me! We are close. Our age difference when we were younger was challenging only because my bros usually didn't want their bratty sister hanging around. Now, we would do almost anything just to get together and catch up. I love them, even now when I think of the two of them I can't help but smile. Jason and I hold so many funny memories in our hearts and we can laugh for hours on end. We can also pick ANY random object and figure out a way to kill you with it so ummm...Don't tick us off! LOL! As for my bro BJ, I would say that our relationship tends to be more serious. We can talk about all the serious stuff and encourage one another to grow and shape up. I have felt bad about the way I have treated BJ in the past but I have come to realize that I treated him poorly sometimes out of my frustrations about where he is with God. We both know he should be serving God in different ways but I have learned to to love him better. I have learned to pray for him. The three of us are tight! We got each other's backs. When the tough times come, I KNOW I can call on my brothers and it is my hope that they know they can count on me. So here is a shout out to my bros!!! LOOOVEEE YOUUUU!

Now I do have to mention the siblings that I have inherited. BJ has given me a wonderful sister in DJ. She is a wonderful Mom and a beautiful sister. She is extremely talented at anything she touches...baking, toffee making, quilt making...etc. I love her. Jason...Welllll, Jason is working on getting me a new Sis...and from what I know of her, I am going to LOVE having her in our family! :) Hurry it up Jay! *kidding*...sorta'. Mike also has two bros that I have adopted as my own. Both are wonderfully talented. Ray can sing the phonebook and I would listen. Bill is ridiculously intelligent and too wise for his age. Both have married wonderful women who I adore. Bill's wife is so tender. I can talk to her about almost anything. I like that. Ray's wife is a fire cracker! We get along well. She is funny yet serious. I am so thankful for my siblings! So a HUGGGE shout out to you all! I love you!