New Years Resolutions - Blog Style

1. I resolve to begin blogging again. I took a break to get my business running but seem to have forgotten to come back. With my business, homeschooling the girls and adding my niece into our homeschool, I should have lots to talk about that I'd really like to record!

2. I resolve to read the blogs I follow again. I have a list of about 100 blogs that I used to get zillions of ideas and 2nd hand support from that I really enjoyed reading and like blogging I seem to have forgotten to go back to. I can't promise I'll remember to comment on a lot of them, but at least I'll be reading them again!

Menu Plan Monday

Sorry about suddenly disappearing. My Mozilla died and I had to figure out how to get everything working again. But I'm back!!!!

I am determined to go through the random foods in our house. I'm getting sick of over stuffed cupboards but "there's no food!". So.... unless there's a freaking awesome "stock-up" sale going on, I will be buying as little groceries as possible this month (other than dairy and produce).


Monday: Spanish Rice Casserole


Tuesday: Steak and Dijon Roasted Potatoes


Wednesday: Fish Sticks and Baked Onion Rings


Thursday: Taco Pie


Friday: YOYO (You're On Your Own)


Saturday: Crock pot Chili


Sunday: Thanksgiving!!


Linking up with Organizing Junkie.

Weigh In

*sigh* 168lbs. Down only .6lbs

Weigh In

168.6lbs this morning. Down 1lb. Not happy. I know it wasn't helped by Lee and my nephew's birthday BBQ last night. My eating wasn't too bad last week, but I need to get off my butt! I've been super busy with the start of our full school schedule (complete with last minute (literally, on Tuesday) curriculum buying), but that's no real excuse. 20 minutes doesn't take up my whole day!

10 Years

I slept through the actual event though dreamed of it. I woke up to horror in the real world. It played out like a movie, but CNN doesn't play movies. I went to my sister's house where my poor newly 4 yr old nephew thought it was his fault because it was his birthday (it took several years to have a happy birthday again). We watched in disbelief of what was unfolding in front of us.

Even here in Canada, all government buildings were evacuated just in case the next plane came here. My then-fiance worked as a janitor in one of those buildings and his boss would not let them leave. Threatened to fire them if they did. I was livid. Thankfully he made it home safely unlike so many others.

This morning I watched the "live" footage of that day with Brianna. It was like seeing a movie I've seen before with someone who's never seen it. Through her questions and comments, all I could say was "keep watching". I watched in as much awe and silence as I did 10 years ago.

In my thoughts are the people who lost their lives that day and the many since who have lost their lives fighting in the subsequent war.

Crafty Mama!

I've been bombed with craftiness the last few days! I have soooo much I want to make but so little supplies and with Lee STILL laid off, no funds to tornado-spree a craft store :( Here's a glimpse of some of the stuff I've managed to make with what's on hand...

Initial bow holders, an incomplete Halloween bow and a couple crayon/notepad rolls

A newborn tutu. The large one is Olivia's that I made for her birthday. The nb one is so teeny!

Milestone Day!

Today I had to put my wedding ring on my middle finger cause I was worried about it falling off! Wooooo! Course, now I gotta get it sized cause it's totally weird to not wear it right...

100 Random Things About Me Part 1

I've been wanting to do one of these posts for a while. However, so not to bore the crap out of people, I'll do it in groups of 10 :)

By The Numbers:

28 - How old I am

16 - How old I was when I had my first child

23 - My favorite number

209 - My top weight

150 - My goal weight

4 - How many birth children I'd like to have

10 - Years older than me that my husband is

750 - Square feet of house I squeeze all my crap into

12 - Grade until which I plan to homeschool my children

24,587 - Approx amount of projects I have on the go at any given time :P

Ass Kicking Time

I started back up yesterday in full swing, both in diet and school. I don't think I did too bad! The scale yesterday said 171.8lbs but I knew it was helped by salty BBQ food Monday night so I re-weighed in today. 169.6lbs. Much better.

So my plan.... 
Mini goal - 164lbs by month's end
Mid goal - 157lbs by end of October
Final goal - 150lbs by end of November
That's 19lbs in 12 weeks - 1.58lbs a week. It'll be hard, but I really want to be there! Also, to be my final goal weight BEFORE all the holiday baking would be awesome lol

Yesterday I did pretty well in the food dept. My usual bagel and cream cheese for breakfast (though I really do need to go get my weight watchers bagels instead of the big white ones I have now), honeydew and cantaloupe for lunch, a small wrap with about 1/8 cup chicken and the rest peppers and onions for supper and some more honeydew for a bedtime snack. Normally I wouldn't have a bedtime snack cause I tend to just mindlessly eat, but this was a planned snack with a set portion and I didn't even want to mindlessly eat afterwards!

We met up with our homeschool group at lunch and went on a 1.5km hike. I think it was further than that, but I'll have to see if the website for the place lists distances. Brianna and I enjoyed the hike so much we want to go back soon and often!

Today I skipped breakfast (BAD!) but had another small wrap like yesterday for lunch. Now to figure out something that won't kill me for supper.

Still Here

Just stuck in the same damn rut I've been in all summer.... floating somewhere between 166-170lbs. Personal ass kicking will commence after Labour Day!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - BBQ chicken thighs and veggies

Tuesday - Random Can Casserole

Wednesday - Tomato Rice and Beans (from last week)

Thursday - Tuna Pasta Salad

Friday - Crock Pot Pineapple Chicken (from last week)

Saturday - Chili

Sunday -Crock Pot Roast Beef

Linking up with Organizing Junkie!

Sprint to the Finish - Week 10

Well, I'm down to 167.6lbs but still 6.8lbs from my Sprint to the Finish goal :( I also missed my walking goal of 100 miles by Aug 1 by 4.68 miles. I don't feel *too* bad about that one though. I have a new walking challenge that I joined through Daily Mile. 50 miles by Labour Day. Hope I can get this one in!

I'll be harder training my daughter and niece in the next 3 weeks before their triathlon so I'll get some more walking in that way. But of course what they need to work on the most is running endurance and I can't run more than 50 meters, so yeah, most of their running time, I just sit and time them.

I need to get more weights and other cardio in though. Because of the humidity continuing into the evenings I've felt like barfing even before I start my walk/run program. I'll be able to do better come fall, but that's so far away!

Sprint to the Finish - Week 9

I'm just full of excuses and weight gain this week, so I won't even bother *sigh*

Olivia's 2nd Birthday!

My baby girl turned 2 today! I can't believe it! And not in the normal "where have 2 years gone" sense either. More than how can she be 2 if she's the same size Isaac and Brianna we're at only their first birthdays?!

*Again Note: There's a few years missing where we lost our entire hard drive. Also, pardon the pics of pics* *2nd note, yes, all 3 of my birth children really were born within 2 weeks of each other lol*

My favorite newborn pic of her

This is awesome! She didn't like the camera lady "tickling" her with the toy, the next photo (5 seconds later) is of a giant smile lol

Mama and Olivia

Hair cake!

Airmail!!!

Dumped in a snowbank

Classic sketti shot

Cool dude!

Happy Birthday!

Menu Plan Monday

Not linking up anywhere cause my usual lady is on holidays, but here we are anyways!

Monday - Chicken topped Salad

Tuesday - Chili (Olivia's birthday choice)

Wednesday - Tomato Rice and Beans (from last week)

Thursday - Tuna Pasta Salad

Friday - Crock Pot Pineapple Chicken

Saturday - Olivia's Birthday party BBQ

Sunday - Pita Pizzas

Sprint to the Finish - Week 8

Last week:

Nurtitional:
I will drink 80+oz of water each day. No problem in this heat!
I will eat breakfast everyday *before* 10am. I've discovered my problem here.... with my lovely hubby laid off and getting up with the kids every morning to let me sleep in, I am waking up too late to feel awake enough to eat. This then leads to me not being able to fall asleep until midnight or later, meaning I sleep in the next day. I will be working on this.
Have a fruit smoothie at least once for lunch. Forgot all about it
Have a salad for one meal at least 4 times this week. Made it to 3 again. Really working for 4 this week, starting with salad planned for supper tonight!


Physical:
I will walk at least 7 miles this week. only 5.46m :(
I will do 2 days of my walk/run program. I got one in, but then my route was taken over by the local fair lol It's down now, so provided the humidity doesn't kill me, I'll get my 2 in this week
Up doing weights to at least twice this week. I didn't do 2 different sessions, but I did do an hour of weights and stretches with Brianna and my niece this week, so feel justified in counting it (since my normal weights routine is only about 20 minutes)
Go to bed before 11pm every night. See eating breakfast.

I seem to have hit a wall of sorts. For the last 3-4 weeks I've been floating between 169 and 172. It's really peeving me off! I have a mini-goal for tomorrow (Olivia's birthday) that looked as easy as pie to hit a month ago yet now I'm more than 4lbs from it. I'm going to have to try to jump start the losing again. I've still got 12lbs before I'm even vaguely happy with my weight so I certainly can't stop here!!!

Linking up with Kris @ Eclipsed

Brianna's first lemonade stand

Brianna spent the morning planning. She made up a big sign, a grocery list, a price, ect.... She went grocery shopping with Grandma and got set up. Her cousin came over and offered to stay and keep her company

She made back the money she spent on supplies and even made a profit! We've still got more than 1/2 a bag of ice, 2 cans lemonade and a lemon left so next weekend's business will require even less start up. Brianna's beyond thrilled!!!

Isaac's 12 Birthday!

Ok, so it was yesterday, but I was gone all day and didn't have the energy to post at midnight!

12 years ago my first born and only birth son was born. After 84 hours (yes that's hours) of labour, a screaming 8lb 10oz baby made his way into the world.

*Again Note: There's a few years missing where we lost our entire harddrive. Also, pardon the pics of pics*

First day home from the hospital

Classic Sketti shot

1st Birthday

Meeting Brianna for the first time!

Decorated for Christmas!

One of our favorite pics

Go Sens Go!

First day of Kindergarten

My favorite pic of the 2 of us

First Autograph!

Indiana Jones

First time meeting Olivia!

Isaac chose Baritone for Music class

Happy 12th Birthday!

Eating For Real

I read a blog post of a new bloggy friend today that made me think that I need to re-word my "rules for every diet" (which would be eat less, get off your ass). Another thing to think of.... stop eating the way you're "supposed" to. Who says your body really NEEDS 3 meals a day plus snacks. Who says you HAVE to eat everything on your plate. Who says you MUST have more just cause it tastes so freaking good?!

Photo courtesy of Google

What ever happened to eating when you're hungry and only eating until you're full? I guess it probably started sometime back during the Great Depression or WWII when foods were rationed for which ever reasons. Those we times when you were lucky you were eating so damn right you were going to eat everything whether you wanted to or not!

However, while poverty is sometimes still an issue, for the most part, we can eat whenever and however much we want. Unfortunately it was ingrained into us from small children that we MUST eat breakfast, lunch and supper and set times, with snacks in between. We MUST eat everything we're served - "think of those starving children in Ethiopia!"

With the amount of cheap junk food//fast food out there, it's no wonder why Canada and the USA have such an obesity problem. If you notice, so often you'll see the low - middle income families eating a lot of McDonalds and Kraft Dinner. Why? It's cheap and makes kids happy. Now, what's the nutritional value of McDonalds and Kraft Dinner? Zip!

Photo courtesy of Google

While it's hard to get out of habits, and it can be expensive to eat healthier, you need to have priorities. Is it important to get healthy? Of course! So make it your priority to change your eating habits! Can you do it on McDonalds and Kraft Dinner? No! So make it your priority to skip buying the latest magazines or your fancy coffee and buy fresh fruit and veggies instead! You need to make yourself a priority or why should anyone else?

*stepping off the daily soapbox*

Sprint to the Finish - Week 7

Last week:

Nurtitional:
I will drink 80+oz of water each day. Check
I will eat breakfast everyday *before* 10am. This, I didn't do so well in
Have a fruit smoothie at least once for lunch. nope
Have a salad for one meal at least 4 times this week. Garden fresh lettuce should make this easy! Made it to 3!


Physical:
I will walk at least 7 miles this week. only made it 4.84 :(
I will do 2 days of my walk/run program. nope
Up doing weights to at least twice this week. nope
Go to bed before 11pm every night. deff didn't happen


In general, I sucked last week :(

I did however drop back to 169lbs though!

Brianna's 9th Birthday!!!

Today my oldest girl turns 9. Here are some of my favorite pictures of her *Note: There's a few years missing where we lost our entire harddrive. Also, pardon the pics of pics*

Garden Yummies

I am so happy with my garden! We're starting to be able to harvest the early stuff (radish, lettuce, ect...) and it is sooooooooo better than the store! I use store bought veggies in the winter, but I long for my garden each time. I wish I had a bigger garden so I could grow enough for the winter, but I figure I still do better than most city dwellers!

Beef Steak tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes

Lee's Jalapeno

Teeny plant, giant Green Pepper!

Baby Spinach and Lettuce going crazy!

First Cucumber

First Zucchini