MEASURE ME MONDAY!

So I finally did it, I finally gained weight.

Not this week but about two weeks ago. I was actually excited to weigh myself because I had been walking my son home from school everyday and I was sure the extra exercise would have paid off, but I didn't factor in the fact that I was drinking a gallon of soda every day. Not really but occasionally I do get cravings for soda and I can't help myself it's all I want and I tend to feed my cravings.

Then depression got the best of me that next week and I'm pretty sure all I did was sit around drinking soda and eating hand fulls of anything I could find such as popcorn, chips, Candy and of course chocolate.

So last Monday I weighed in again and I was at 170.4, so while I wanted to go out and get a tub of ice cream and eat it, I decided to start working out, sticking to my weigh watchers, walking my son to and from school everyday, and drinking a ton of water and I'm doing my best to make these habits stick. I do live on the surface of the sun and I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to walk with him but for now I will continue to do that.

I lost around 24 pounds almost a year ago and I keep it all off, until last week when I weighed in at 170 but I could never get over that 25th pound and I have a feeling I'm finally going to get over it this week (that 25th pound is at 164 by the way).

I weighed in today and I was at 166.6 so all my hard work is paying off I lost 3.8 pounds last week. : )

So.....

Starting weight (last week)-170.4
current weight-166.6
Total weight loss-3.8

I hope every ones weight loss journey is going well, every walk counts, every work out counts, every time you drink water, stop yourself from eating when you know your full, eat smaller portions, or pass up a dessert or in my case a soda it counts. YOU CAN DO IT!

Organizing, fly lady, and some other great stuff

Okay so everybody remember this post about my 2009 Goals. I mentioned something about getting my house and my daily routines and everything else organized, I didn't exactly know where or how to start this.

And then

I found this blog and she has listed some great way's to start decluttering and to start organizing and she also has a linky up that a whole list of people are linking up to and showing how they organize. It's amazing, what great help it has been to me. I haven't linked up to it but I don't have any great ideas like these peeps do. Oh how I do love seeing peoples tips and watching there rooms and houses transform. Which by the was she has a post up right now that cracks me up. I should mention that while we have been "cleaning house" we have found close to around 10 pairs of scissors.

While spying on peoples blogs one day I came across The Twins Mama. I just love her blog by the way. Any who she had posted one day about a Control Journal and she had pictures up of hers and I just knew that was how I was going to get some control in our lifes, I had never heard of a control journal before. And with the whole trying to organize your house and life this little tip came in handy cause for me some day's even the thought of figuring out how to get our house clean and organized made me a cranky momma but after reading her blog I went to google and typed in control journal and found Flylady.com. And it is amazing she has everything you need on her site for starting your own control journal and for help with organizing and decluttering. And the best part is...................IT'S FREE!

I have to give a huge thanks to The Twins Mama for her blog that day, I wonder if she had any idea she was going to help a family who was truly out of control feel in control again. And props for flylady too!

My 500 & something weigh in but only my second post about it

Okay so I was checking out my weight blogs to make myself sad and to make sure I totally over eat at dinner tonight, which won't be anything new for me cause I'm pretty sure I over eat every night. I'm sad to say I haven't stuck to my goals at all, what's up with that Bahama mama! I'm also sad to say that I started this weight loss journey (for the second time) in November and gave myself 8 months to lose 38 pounds which should be a simple simple thing. But I haven't stayed on track with my weight watcher points or working out at all. I'm all over the place, some weeks I work out, some weeks I eat right, some weeks I do NOTHING.
I'm almost 199 % sure I want to lose this extra weight, but yet I sit and do nothing.

I sat on my bed yesterday (had a few min of alone time) and I looked at my wedding pictures and I just cried. So sad that they would make me cry sad tears but I look so skinny, that's right skinny, me skinny. My oldest was a year and a half and my youngest just a month old and in a months time I got myself down to a beautiful size 7, which yes that's skinny for me (I've always carried extra weight). I know I can lose the weight I did it twice before, three times if you count my freshmen year of high school when I was tired of being a size 13 so I joined the cross country team, soccer, and track team to get a cute little body. What is really keeping me from losing now?? Maybe I will have the answer within the next few weeks, I'm hoping it doesn't take longer then that to figure it out and get myself into better shape.

Here's my November goals and I'm sticking to them (maybe, I'm not changing them just yet, anyway)


weigh in every Monday (and only Monday's)
write down everything I eat and drink (for the first month at least)
drink 64 oz of water everyday
drink an 8 oz glass of water before every meal
don't eat after 7 pm
no soda (only diet)
use less salt (I'm a salt addict)
try not to use my weekly 35 (extra) points
work out 4 days a week for 45 minutes or 180 minutes a week
do 100 sit ups everyday
Lose 38 pounds in 8 months

4 months later and still at 165 pounds, 4 more months to go. I'm sure I can try to lose some of the weight in four months 4-5 pounds a month would be awesome, I am happy that I haven't gained any weight, I will (try) to post every Monday to keep you up dated on my progress.

So we will call Monday's MEASURE ME MONDAY'S I don't actually measure myself but we will be "measuring" my progress, so I thought that would be a cute name for it. If you want to do it with me you can comment your progress or comment and let me know your measuring your progress on your own blog. GOOD LUCK TO YOU AND ME! Eat healthy and smaller meals, and get out and get some exercise.

Tuna-Egg Salad Sandwiches

I had a craving for egg salad sandwiches, and I had never made it before, I know it's sad. Well I looked up a recipe for it and found this one

Ingredients
4 eggs, hard-boiled and chopped
1 (6 ounce) can chunk tuna in water, drained
2 tablespoons minced red onions
3 tablespoons mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
2 tablespoons honey mustard
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
10 slices bread
5 leaves lettuce
5 slices tomatoes
1 1/4 cups alfalfa sprouts


The only thing I changed was that I used yellow mustered, and added paprika.

Directions

1In a bowl, mix together the first 7 ingredients.
2Spread mixture evenly over 5 bread slices.
3Top each tuna mixture with one lettuce leaf, one tomato slice, and 1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts.
4Top sandwiches with remaining bread slices; slice diagonally and serve.

I made this on Tuesday and I loved it, HWAG loved, the kids however did not love it in fact they didn't even like it. Oh well more for me!

Taco Soup

Here's another new try for me and my family. I made this last week as well just didn't have time to post it.

I got this recipe from G-Ma K at my mommies group.

This soup was a HUGE hit at my house!

1 lb cooked ground hamburger, I used ground Turkey

2 cans of kidney beans
2 cans of pinto beans
2 cans of white corn, I used white but I like yellow corn, so I'm going to try it next time.
1 large can of diced tomatoes (My family doesn't like tomatoes) I used a smaller can

1 can tomatoes and Chile's, like ro-tel
1 packet taco seasoning

1 packet ranch dressing mix

After you cook the hamburger, drain the fat and add the meat to the crock pot, then add the taco seasoning and ranch dressing packet.

Add the entire contents of the tomatoes and corn, then drain and rinse the beans and add them

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5.

And you can add your favorite toppings of course, we added cheese.

This is a huge pot of food so for smaller families just cut all the ingredients in half.

I wanted a big pot, I wanted to have the leftovers, after the first day it's not as soupy and you can use it as a side dish. I loved making white rice and adding it to that.

If you try it, let me know how you like it.

Tortilla Soup recipe

My special treat to myself on my birthday and the first time I have ever made tortilla soup. And only my second time using the crock pot.

Here's what you need


3 cups of chicken broth
1 1/2 cups cooked Shredded or thinly sliced Chicken
1 cup frozen corn, I did add a 1/2 cup more to mine
6 Scallions thinly sliced
4-6 plum tomatoes, I used 4 but I'm the only 1 in my that likes tomatoes
3-4 cloves of fresh garlic minced
2 small minced jalapeno Chile
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
Season with salt and pepper


Dump it all in the crock pot

-it's okay if it's frozen, my Corn was everything else was fresh

Cook on low for 8-10 hours or
on high for 6 hours

Optional Toppings
I add lime juice and tortilla chips



Here's what it looked like before cooking

And here's the after, YUMMY!!!!

I didn't get to eat it on my b-day but I did eat it for lunch the next day and HWAG had eaten it and he really liked it (and so did I of course)

The kids however thought it was to spicy, which just meant more for me.

Goals for 2009

Here are my New Years resolutions (but seeing how I have NO FAITH in New Years Resolutions), we are going to call this my Goals/Checklist for 2009.

• Lose weight- I'm working on and still want to lose that 38 extra pounds I've been carrying around. My goal was to lose it in 8 months, that goal was set 2 months ago (and seeing as I still weigh 165 I'm not doing all that great (well I didn't gain, that's always a BIG PLUS in my book). I'm sticking to the 8 months goal I'm just set back a little (so I guess I'm starting over), so 8 months from now I will be 38 pounds lighter. I can't wait to get my butt into a size 7-8, 7-6, 6-5 or a beautifully small 5-4. I wonder what lucky number it will be!?!
  
• Run a half marathon, maybe (big maybe) even a full before 2010?!? I love to run and I have trained two years in a row to run a half marathon and I chickened out. I don't have a clue why I chicken out I just do. I started running last Tuesday I have about a week worth of more training at two miles just to make my miles faster, I like to run about a 10 min mile and I want to run it without stopping. Then from there I add miles and adjust my time. Wish me luck
  
• Find 3 (more) full time kiddos, I want to watch 4 kids all together, I want to be making at least $400 or more a week.
  
• I always say I want a Saturday job so I guess I need to decide if I really want one (I think for me it also depends on what kind of job I'm doing and how much I'm making. I really need to decide do I really want to work outside the house?? Do I really want to work Saturdays?? If so I need to find myself a kicking job that keeps me from spending my Saturdays shopping (spending money we just don't have) or at home depressed because I'm not out shopping.
  
• Get HWAG on the same work schedule as me, we want him to work an 8:30 to 5:30 shift. We don't care if we don't have the same day's off just that we can all be home, together, every night as a family. For now it's not a really a possibility because it does mean taking a pay cut and ABB would have to go to an after school program everyday and I don't know that we can afford that yet but I'm hoping by the end of this year, like once we get some or most of our debt paid off, it will be. I would love having him home for dinner, homework and bedtime routines. And if he gets on day's with me it will be our first time ever on the same schedule, how wonderful would that be!
  
• Get the house (and garage) organized. Sell what can be sold, trash the trash, Goodwill the goodwillable. Organize paperwork, clothes, and everything else. I can't wait to get this place completely organized, I'm already working on it. I'm hoping to be able to go room by room and to do some serious cleaning out about 5-10 hours a week.
  
• Pay off all debt (we will do this, this year). Credit cards, school loans and family will be paid off (or back).
  
• At the end of this year like I'm thinking maybe around August or September I'm going to apply and take the test to work at the post office I really want to be a mail carrier and I think it would be a really good career move for me, I hear they make good money so until then I'm going to be studying to take the test and hopefully not chicken out ( I really don't want to be turned down when I apply).
  
• Buy a second car. Maybe!?! I know I want one and have wanted one for a few years now but how badly do we actually need one?? If we get our debt paid off do I really want the expense of a second car? All questions I really need to consider and think about, this is something that won't happen until the end of the year either. If I land that mail carrier job, we will HAVE to buy a second vehicle
  
• I want to find a church that's close to us and that we can call home, I know the kids will love going to church and me and HWAG might even learn a thing or two. Really, I know we need God. WE CAN'T DO IT ON OUR OWN ANYMORE. And I'm done trying.
  
• Go to counseling, me him, us, us and the kids, we need it all of it.
  
• Get our lives on a schedule, I want to be on a schedule from the time we wake up to the time we go to bed at night. I want to find a good schedule that works perfectly for us and can be easily flexed around doctors appointments, van maintenance and so on. I want to have a schedule for cleaning house/organizing, planning meals, clipping coupons, to paying bills, and for shopping. I want time for things I enjoy and time for things I don't really enjoy but that need to be done. I'm tired of feeling like I have no control over anything everything has been such a mess. I'm ready to clean up our lives!!!
  
• Cook a new meal (or dessert) at least once every two weeks for my family,I would love to try at least 1-2 recipes a week but I'm not sure how well that will work out so I think once every two weeks is a good start and if it ends up being more....great!
  
• I'm going to remember to enjoy my family everyday, I'm going to spend time with my kids and my husband daily. I feel like I haven't always put them first in my life, sometimes I think they have been on the bottom of my list and that's changing. We are going to be a big, and strong family. Me and HWAG have started thinking of ways we can spend time together, there will be a few things scheduled every week.
  
• Blog 2 or more times a week because I really do enjoy it, I would love to do it daily but as of now that's not a possibility but maybe in the up coming months it can be.
  
• We need to take better care of the van, it's our baby our only vehicle and it's always a mess and we never have the money to take care of it and it needs to become more of a priority rather then something we keep putting off. I will add maintenance into our budget and make it a priority, I should think about this when considering buying a new car. Right now our van needs about $700 worth of work done plus it's up for the 60,000 maintenance which will cost us around $600, but if we had it budgeted maybe $1,300 worth of work wouldn't need to done on it or $1,300 worth of work wouldn't freak me out so much.
  
• Get my oldest two kids in some kind of sport, club or activity that's outside my home and involves other kids. I think they both need to interact with other kids there own age more and they get so bored being at home all the time. I guess this is another thing we need to consider more but I've thought it a good idea for a while, the only thing that's keeping us from doing it is our finances, I'm hoping once our financial situation changes we can figure out what they would like to do and sign them up. We will take it slow, I don't want them to feel like they are to busy once we start going to Church and counseling on a regular bases we will have to see if adding sports is a good move for us
  
• Get ready for C2MM, she's in her last year of school, yey. And she turns 18 in December if she decides that she wants to come live with us (which we will offer her) we want it to be a good idea for us and for her. We need to be ready financially, emotionally, and physically (such as having the room ready for her) and so on. I also need to be okay emotionally if she chooses not to stay with us, I want her to know whatever she chooses to do we will love her and help her the best way we know how.
  

I hope I got them all I know it's a lot but they are all important goals and doable, pray for my family that we can find a good church home and a good consular and that we can remember what's important in life and that we do all that we can to make that better this year, that's what I'm praying for.

Please share some of your 2009 goals with me, I would love to hear them.

Organized my closet

Yey!! I did something productive today!
I took some time while the kids where taking a nap to clean out the closet (a little anyway). I was able to bag up some stuff that doesn't fit for goodwill and organize the rest of the clothes, that's all I got done but it's something anyway and I thought it blog worthy. I have organize my house on my new years resolution list but you wouldn't know that cause I haven't had time to post it yet, but now you know and I ORGANIZED!!!

Before

After

My life is sooo exciting I know

Okay the pictures doesn't do justice to what I actually did. : (

Oh well I know I worked hard.