Fun Day!

Today was a fun day!

I didn't go to the gym because I decided to meet my stitching friend Karen for lunch because she needed the extra floor stand I have for my Dazor lamp.  We met at Cheddar's and had so much fun talking and catching up.  I just love her to pieces.  She is so much fun!  I hate to say it was a two hour girl chatty lunch!  We need to do it more often, but we need to go each other's house and stitch and yap!

I rushed home because the maids were suppose to be here between 2 and 2:30.  They did get here till 3:30.  There were 4 ladies who cleaned and they got this house cleaned in just over 30 minutes.  Why does it take hours and days when we do it ourselves?  I know...because we think we have to do a spring cleaning every time we do it!  LOL!

I did text with Michael this evening and I got a food added back!  He told me I deserved it.  I can have 3 slices of centered cut pork bacon once a month!  Woo Hoo!  That will be a awesome treat!

We had dinner and I cross-stitched while Mark watched a movie.  I sort of watched too.  I just love Denzel Washington!  Incredible actor!

Well tomorrow is another fun day!  Gym, Penzey's with my friend Rae then dinner and movies with Rae tomorrow night.  We had so much fun last weekend, we decided to do it again!

Now, what to cook?

Blown Away! (Wednesday and Thursday)

On Wednesday I blew myself away!  I got all my wife duties out of the way, showered and dressed and headed to the gym.  Patty was there and I was a happy girl.  I can't stand training with Justin.  I found out that Patty is working more and someday will be doing all the classes and possibly running this gym when they open their 2nd location!

I was limping because my knees were hurting pretty bad.  Patty told me about a product called "Hot Hemp Muscle Rub"  It has a nice cinnamon smell and does not smell like Ben-Gay.  The company that makes it is The Merry Hempsters and the product is sold here at Whole Foods and Amazon carries it.  Anyway, I put some on my knee and this stuff heated up and the pain went away!

Ready for this....

I did 2 classes back to back!  That is a hour and a half of exercise!!!  Yay me!!!!!

I was tired when I got through but I still pushed myself through the day and are you ready for this?  I took 3410 steps and burned 2998 calories for the day!  I was pumped!  Sore but excited.  Since Janet set that goal of 2000 steps a day it has lit my fire once I accomplished it!  I want more!  She has now challenged me to get to 4000 steps by Sunday.  That might be hard to do because a cold front is coming in along with rain.  I'm still going to try!

I did stitch some on Wednesday, washed clothes, dishes and general house chores.  We watched TV and I went to bed tired!

Today, I woke up tired and sore.  I moved my gym class to tomorrow because I felt the need to soak my feet.  So here is the funny...I fell asleep soaking my feet, watching TV and woke up 4 hours later!  No breakfast and so much to do and my feet were in cold water.  I just laughed out loud at myself.  I got my shower and got dressed and I ran to Post Net to mail a package to a fellow stitcher in South Africa.  She bought a kit out of my stash and I had promised to get it mailed to her.  Once I got home I had breakfast for lunch and finished getting the house ready for the maid.

Here is a update picture of my Angel of Mercy:

Isn't she getting pretty?  I have a long way to go but it feels good to be doing something that I love to do!

Tonight was the Biggest Loser Finale and you all know how much I love that.  I was shocked at who won but was happy for them.  The "At Home" winner was a surprise too!  So happy for changed lives!  I can't wait till my weight loss shows like that!

Well tomorrow is going to be a very busy day.  I must hit the hay!  I'm truly sorry I missed a day.  I'll try really hard to not let that happen very often.  Are you shocked as to how much I've written this month.  I was really trying for everyday.  Wednesday messed me up but we will go for every single day in February!

Be good and stay strong!

On And Off!

The scale!  Why do we do this?  It drives me crazy but after this little gain over the last 2 weeks I'm on and off the scales.  It isn't moving and it is driving me nuts!  I don't like going the wrong way even though I know it's going to move and I will be surprised when it does.  I asked Michael today if I could take a break from the scale and his response was "We'll talk about it."  Doesn't sound like he is going to let me do it.  I just want to put it up in the attic for the month of February and concentrate more on my training and meal planning.

Speaking of meal planning.  I had the Chicken Lettuce wraps for lunch today.  Oh my stars they were awesome!  Better than P. F. Chang and Pei Wei!  I'll have to get the picture off my phone, but here is the recipe!  They are easy to make as well!

Sesame-Ginger Chicken and Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. Chicken Breast, skinless, boneless, small diced
• 1 tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Shitake Mushrooms, chopped
• 1 can 8oz. Water Chestnuts, drained and chopped
• 1/4 cup Carrot, shredded
• 1 tbsp. Green Onions, sliced
• 1 tsp. Ginger Root, chopped
• 1/4 tsp. Garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp. Rice Vinegar
• 1 tbsp. Tamari Soy Sauce without (Gluten) (You can use Soy Sauce)
• 1 pkg. Stevia Powder
• 1/8 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes, crushed
• 1/4 tsp. Sesame Seeds, white or black
• 1 tbsp. Cilantro, chopped
• 6 Lettuce Leaves of your choice. (I love using slightly steamed Kale! - Janet's choice)

Preparation:

• In a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook chicken in 1 tablespoon oil for 3 minutes; remove from skillet. Add the mushrooms, water chestnuts, garlic and ginger; cook 4-6 minutes.  Add chicken back to skillet.
• In a small bowl, whisk the vinegar, soy sauce, stevia and red pepper flakes together. Stir in the
carrots, onions, and cilantro and add to the chicken mixture. Cook for 2 minutes.
• Spoon onto lettuce leaves; sprinkle with sesame seeds and fold sides of lettuce over filling and roll up.

Try them!  You will love them!  I like the filling so much I bet it would be good over fresh spinach as a salad!  Must try that!  Today I worked around the house and I'm getting into this house cleaning.  We'll see how it goes.  I may start thinking about letting the maids go and doing it myself.  Just a little nervous about my knees and feet being able to handle it but I am ready to tackle cleaning out closets and drawers.  Spring cleaning here I come!

Today I took 2,173 steps and burned 2663 calories.  Not bad.  I'd like to get those steps up to 3000!  I was hurting today really bad so I'm proud I broke 2,000.  Maybe tomorrow will be a better day and I can get close to it.

Tomorrow I may make my Quinoa with stir-fry veggies.  I made this recipe up but I think I can make it into a recipe as it is really good as a side dish.  I use red and orange bell peppers, onion, garlic, asparagus and mushrooms.  Garlic and ginger too!  YUM!

We'll it's late and I'm ready to hit the hay!  Tomorrow is gym day!

Busy! I think It Felt Good!

Today was a busy day!  I got Mark off to work with breakfast and lunch, washed dishes I don't know how many times, 4 loads of laundry done and almost put up, thawed meet for dinner, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and made the filling for Chicken Lettuce Wraps!  I also met Doreen for lunch and it was absolutely wonder to be able to catch up with her!  She looked great and I'm so blessed that she has come to be part of my life!  A real sweetheart!  Today I took 2504 steps and I burned 2734 calories.

I know to a lot of you that is a normal day but for me to have accomplished that much was huge.  It felt good but it killed my feet and knees!  What is going on?  The last time I was at this weight I had no pain.  Now it feels like I'm dying!  Oh what have I done through years of being obese.  What good has the binges done?  Has it been worth it?  NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!  Oh how I wish I could take it all back.  For the first time in my life I'm truly learning that food is fuel.  While it can be enjoyable that is no way to look at it.  Our culture is really sick!  We are too centered around food!!!  We put way too much emphasis on eating!  Food kills and it wrecks lives!  It has wrecked mine and I am the only one to blame.  Just me!  Not my Mom, Dad, other family members, friends.  Just me!  I lift that fork to my mouth and I have made the decisions!!!

Well, I can't go back for a 2nd chance but I can undo what I have done and that is exactly what I am doing.  I'm going to close with 2 You Tube videos that hit my Facebook page yesterday.  The first was posted by my Michael Banks, my dear coach and friend.  I'm telling you this is not him speaking but this is how he thinks.  Listen carefully and tell me if this doesn't impact you to change!

The second one is a huge wake-up call as to what is happening in this country with not only our children but ourselves.  Tell me if this doesn't make you want to think about what you put in your mouth!

http://www.realfarmacy.com/5-year-old-girl-consumed-1460-sodas-in-her-short-lifetime/

May the decisions I make each day bring me back to life and health!  I want it!!!!

Do you?

Oops!

I gained 1.8 lbs this week.  I'm ok.  It will be gone next week.  It feels so good to be able to handle a gain and not feel depressed over it, to dread being yelled at or asked why?, to be called a liar and the list goes on.  Remember Mike?  Have I told you lately how glad I am to no longer have him in my life?  I'm such a happier peaceful person.  He was a huge mistake!  Oh well, water under the bridge. So I texted Michael to give him my stats.  I actually went over my 2000 steps by 598! I burned 2681. Want to know Michael's response?  He texted me back and said "Wow Laura that is Simply Amazing!"  I then told him about our friends at Hubb Mitsubishi and he texted me and said "Wow Laura I have a huge smile on my face as you're telling me this."  What a difference.  Nothing said about the gain. NOTHING!  It's time to move on and rock it this week!

I did do some cooking today.  I made the Minestrone soup!  It is a crock-pot recipe and I'm telling you the smell will run you out of the house!  It made the house smell divine!  Can't wait to have it for lunch this week.  I won't have it tomorrow because I'm having lunch with my good friend Doreen.  I haven't seen her for months and I can't wait to see her and catch up.  Tomorrow I will get the Chicken Lettuce Wraps made.


Here is the recipe for Crockpot Minestrone Soup:

Crockpot Minestrone Soup   Print Prep time 20 mins Cook time 8 hours Total time 8 hours 20 mins 

A simple crockpot minestrone soup with no beans or pasta. You can leave out the pork for a vegan meal.

Author: Kendra Recipe type: Main Cuisine: Italian Serves: 6-8 

Ingredients

2 Tbsp Olive Oil 

1 Yellow Sweet Potato, I USED REGULAR SWEET POTATO

diced 1 cup Carrots, 

diced 2 Celery Stalks, 

diced 2 Zucchini Squash, 

diced 2 Shallots, 

diced 2 cloves Garlic, minced 

28 oz Chicken or Vegetable Broth  I USED CHICKEN

28 oz can Diced Tomatoes w/ Juice 

½ cup Frozen Spinach -or- 1 cup packed Fresh Spinach, chopped I USED FRESH SPINACH

2 Bay Leaves 

2 tsp Oregano 

1 tsp Basil 

1 tsp Parsley 

¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper 

¼ tsp Sea Salt 

1-1/2 lb Ground Pork Sausage (optional)  I USED ITALIAN TURKEY SAUSAGE HOT, YOU CAN USE THE SWEET TOO!

 Instructions Place the olive oil in the bottom of the crock pot. Add the prepared sweet potatoes, carrots, celery, zucchini, shallots, and garlic to the crock pot. Pour in the chicken (or vegetable) broth. Add the entire can (including juice) of diced tomatoes. Add the frozen spinach (no need to thaw and drain, just add it frozen). Add in the oregano, basil, parsley, cayenne, and salt. Stir everything together, add the bay leaved, cover, and cook on low for 6-8 hours (I prefer 8 hours). About 2 hours before the soup is done, brown the ground pork sausage, breaking it up into small pieces with the back of a wooden spoon. Once the pork is cooked through (no pink), add it to the crock pot and mix it all together. Remove bay leaves before serving. Notes Recipe adapted from the "Paleo Slow Cooking" book by Chrissy Gower  

Read more at:  

http://www.ourpaleolife.com/2013/02/crockpot-paleo-minestrone-soup

I hope you will try it! 

I also made some sweet potato hash browns to go with our eggs and sausage this week. I haven't made them in a long time.  They are yummy too!  I just cube up some peeled sweet potatoes (4) and dice an onion and season them with salt, pepper, garlic powder and some red pepper and cook them in a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  

I did cross-stitch some today and we watched a movie this evening. It was so-so.  Finding Forrester, with Sean Connery. I stitched during it so I really only listened to it and looked up every once in a while. LOL!  

I did not hit my goal of 2000 steps because my feet and ankles really did ache.  I did get in 1422 and I burned 2522 calories.  Not bad but I'm hitting the gym every day this week and I will be striving to meet or exceed my 2000 steps!

Do you have any goals this week?

Till tomorrow!         

Busy Day!

I'm tired!  Slept in a little bit this morning, caught up on Facebook, grabbed a shower and headed to go and see our salesmen at Hubb Mitsubishi.  When we got there our salesman George was outside.  When he saw me get out of the car he just started hooting.  Such a great feeling!  I needed that.  He could hardly believe it was me.  He has never seen me at this size.  We walked into the dealership and went to his office and he started clapping when I sat in a chair with arms on it with no problems.  He proceeded to tell me that when Ed the sales manager got back he would be so excited for me.  We all just chatted until Ed got back and he was really happy for my weight loss.  It all was such a good feeling!  We visited for a while longer till they both had to take care of customers and we left.

We were starving because it was nearly 4 in the afternoon so we stopped for a BBQ sandwich.  No, I did not eat the bread just the meat inside and then we headed to Sprouts for a little grocery shopping.  You know that is a neat store.  I loved their meat counter.  It reminded me of a large Trader Joes.   They make their own chicken sausage several ways.  I bought some hot chicken sausage for the Minestrone that I plan on making tomorrow.  We hurried home because I needed to get dinner started since Rae was coming over for dinner and movies.

Mark ran to another store while I put up groceries, packaged meat through the Food Saver and started the Cabbage soup.  When he got back he helped me finish getting the house ready.  Yesterday Janet had told me that today she wanted to hit 10,000 steps on her Fitbit.  She challenged me to get up to 2000.  Just before Rae got there I was about 400 steps away from goal.  I texted Janet to find out she met her goal and I told her I was shy and was running out of time.  She told me to push it and get it done, so I started walking all around my house going room to room trying to get them in.  When Rae got here I went to answer the door and I stepped outside and told her to take a quick walk with me.  She too was going on and on as to how good I looked and we walked to the corner and back.  Bad thing, I was barefoot!  We called Janet and had her on speakerphone and we stopped to check my stats on my Fitbit and I met and exceeded my goal!  It pumped me up!  A little later I was deflated because I couldn't walk because the pain in my ankle and foot!!!!  GREAT!

We had our soup and we watched a couple of movies and between them we had some fresh strawberries and I showed Rae how to whip coconut milk.  It is amazing!  Here is a link to it:

 http://ohsheglows.com/2012/08/30/coconut-whipped-cream-a-step-by-step-photo-tutorial/

The only thing that I do is put the can upside down the the refrigerator so that when I turn it right-side up the cream is on the bottom and the liquid substance is at the top and you can pour it off.  Try it.  You will love it.  I have used Coconut milk will Guar Gum and it still worked.  I hear you can buy cans of the coconut cream at Trader Joes but their warehouse has been out since Thanksgiving.

Well we watched movie #2 and Rae has gone home.  It is really Sun. morning.  I couldn't write at 2:00 a.m. so I back dated this post.

Comeback to see what today brings.  OK?

Finally!!!

My fever broke!!!  I'm a happy girl!

I didn't do much today scared it would come back!  When it broke I thought I was never going to stop sweating or get cool!  It took awhile.

It was another cold day and drizzled all day till around 5 and the sun broke through.  We are suppose to have a beautiful weekend!

I did ask my neighbor Rae to come over for dinner tomorrow night and we are going to watch some movies.  So I do have things that need to get done!  I plan on making my cabbage soup since it is cold outside.  A new minestrone soup is also calling my name but I may make it for lunch this week.  I'll post that recipe when I make it and try it.

I played on the computer most of the day and learned some good cross-stitching tips on You Tube.  There are so many good things on You Tube!  Don't you think?

I also started reading a magazine that Newsweek came out with this past summer on The Body.  This book is full of great information and tips.  I will share things with you as I read.

I have cut back on my Stevia intake and you know what my wild cravings have subsided.  There must be truth about artificial sweeteners/natural sweeteners making you want more.  My challenge to you is to get off sugar and artificial sweeteners.  You will feel better and I guarantee you will lose some weight!!!!

Lots going on tomorrow, including surprising some friends who haven't seen me since I started working with Michael Banks.  Hope they are surprised!

I've got to hit the hay!  Can't wait till tomorrow!  I'll have lots to write about!