DAY 173- Healthier Eating Journal

Well when you're sweating to death all day and it's so humid.... it's pretty easy to go light on the food. Plus, we didn't go anywhere so it's easier when you don't eat out too. This is our last night without A/C. God bless the pioneers and anyone without A/C. I just have to have it when it's so hot. I wilt like a wimpy flower.

Some friends from church and Jason (son) showed up to help us take loads to a storage unit. We're now going to put all the daughter's stuff in a storage unit and look to buy a house that we can turn into a rental after one of our houses sells. So we'll be putting our stuff in the new house until then instead of her stuff. It will most likely be half the size of our home and that will be fine since it will be transitional and that will be less to clean. Our realtor is taking us to look at houses on Thursday or Friday. We got a lot done today but we still have loads to haul into Jason and Anne's tomorrow. This is our last night here. I usually feel sad but I feel no attachment to the rental.... only to the town and to the memories of little Rello waking me up almost every morning. That I will miss so much.

He is staying overnight with his cousins so we can get up and finish up the final loads then start cleaning. He was just too busy today when we tried to work around him~! He also got upset when his mom started packing up his toys. Poor kid. He even cried when he couldn't find his timeout chair! He does get to stay with Jason and Anne (with his mommy and baby Kayson) while I'm gone to Shelley in July so I'm sure he will get a new timeout chair at Uncle Jason's. :D He got to ride in Papa's pickup three times today. It's funny what amuses him. He will miss papa too.

Well I have my round 2 interview tomorrow. I refuse to get overly excited, but I'm just feeling very blessed to even be considered for the administrative position at this point. I really am. So I get to finish packing the last few things in the morning. Load up and haul stuff in. Take a shower and head into my interview. Then come back and clean everything before we turn in the key. I'm thinking I'll burn plenty of calories tomorrow. I just hope it's not so hot. Last day without A/C-- I keep telling myself that.

So I had the Fiber One Raisin Bran Crunch again for breakfast with a little Fiber One Granola sprinkled on it and some fresh strawberries. Good stuff. For a snack I had a granola bar. This was all in between packing and checking on Rello. Then the baby got sick. Mandy had to run him to the doctor in the middle of all of it today. Poor little guy. We had to put him on Pedialite (sp) and took him to my mom's where it was quieter and cooler. He'll stay there tonight. For lunch I had 1/2 sandwich and 7 Lays Stacks chips and an apple. By the time dinner rolled around, I just had to make some real food. We all needed it. We drank a ton of water today too. The husband lifted so much I'm sure he burned off anything he ate today. In fact, I think he's competing with me on low calories now. Yesterday I had more calories than he did! Not good.

Today's Food Intake:

BREAKFAST: Fiber One Raisin Bran Crunch w/granola and strawberries (270)
Snack: granola bar (110)
LUNCH: 1/2 Sandwich (200) and 7 chips (90) and an apple (90)
Snack: 1/2 Hershey candybar (105)
DINNER: Chicken breast (crockpot) 200, and spinach salad (my usual kind) 200

Total Calories=1300

Grandma Shorty and Great-Great Grandkids

DAY 172- Healthier Eating Journal

I'm a little more rested today. The grandkids had a great time a Gma Shorty's yesterday after church. She made enough food to feed an army as usual, but it's the little moments that make family gatherings so memorable. Like when little Bryton climbs up in Gma Shorty's recliner with her and plays beauty shop fixing, blowdrying, and smoothing her gray hairs as she smiles. Or when she holds a new grandchild for the first time (baby Kayson). Or when she mentions a specific food she cooks for a specific grandchild because she remembers what they like. And she had an above ground pool set up for them and had the neighbor help her get it ready yesterday. She's 88 now and that she went through all this trouble is just normal for her. She loves her grandkids.

We didn't bring swimsuits because it's Sunday but keeping the kids out of it and keeping her from letting them in it..... wasn't working. So... we had some streakers, some Spiderman underwears, and some oversize t-shirts. Mostly, we had grandkids shrieking and splashing and Gma watching with a smile. And of course as a mom I love seeing my kids making sure their cousins are spending time together as a family.

So today was less laid back than yesterday. It was so stuffy the baby was having a hard time sleeping. We all were. Then I got a call in the morning saying that my interview time had to be changed to the afternoon... which was good because I could go back and sleep a little more. However, when I woke up, I forgot what time she had told me it was changed to. The husband thought she said 2:00. I finished packing the living room then took a shower and got ready to leave.

We were headed to Jason's house to drop of Rello so his mom could get more packing done and I was on the phone to verify my new interview time when the husband turned in front of another vehicle..... as I was leaving a voice mail to verify my time.... it went something like this: "Hello, this is Laurie and I was just calling to verify that my appointment time was changed to 2:00 today. If it..... Honey! You're going to hit that car! What are you doing?! Oh..... my apologies.... if 2:00 is not the right time, please call me back." So.... yeah..... I'm sure the office had a good laugh over me today.

Despite my near-death experience recorded on voice mail..... the interview went very well and I am very optimistic. I feel very good about my chances of being in the same district with my husband. This is both good and bad news. See... we're supposed to be moving into a new rental in two days. It would make more sense to live closer to our work. We have so many decisions to make tonight and tomorrow, but we know that worse case scenario we will live in our other home next month and get a new rental in August. Life is always changing. And most of the time... that's a good thing. Those who resist change that leads to growth.... miss the blessings and opportunities offered by the promises and adventures of change.

So our eating today kind of went along with the pace of the day-- unexpected and full of surprises. We at least ate the breakfast we planned. We ate the Fiber One Raisin Bran Clusters. It's 220 calories (instead of 230) and 11 whopping grams of fiber. That's huge. We didn't have time for a snack or to sit down somewhere for lunch. We went to his new office first and got his boxes unpacked and some things up before we left for my interview. After the interview he wanted to go to KFC/Artic Circle. I knew he was craving his rootbeer floats and he's been doing so good at counting his calories that I didn't say anything. I was craving a hamburger but it was not so good. Definitely not like a grilled one at Burger King or something. Waste of calories and money. The fries were nasty too. We didn't eat many of them. It was almost 100 degrees today so I'm sure that's why a rootbeer float was calling his name. I didn't have one, but I did have a pop with my hamburger.

We picked up Rello (thank you Jason and Anne) and headed home to make some more decisions and get some more packing details taken care of. It's just too hot to cook anything so I had a bite of the husband's leftover chicken strip and a bowl of sliced strawberries and fresh pineapple. I also had a Fiber One bar to finish off my fiber requirements for the day. Tomorrow..... we have to finish all the packing and start making trips. JOy!

Today's Food Intake:

BREAKFAST: Fiber One Raisin Bran Clusters w/fresh blackberries and I sprinkled in a little Fiber One granola cereal too (250)
Snack: Dove Chocolate (200)
LUNCH: Papa Burger at A&W (720), a few fries (150), and a pop (150)
Snack: Fiber One Bar (90)
SUPPER: Bowl of fresh strawberries and pineapple (100) and two bites of a chicken strip (100)

Like I said, the Papa Burger at A&W tasted cheap and when I found out the calories.... never eat it again.... 720 calories. Ridiculous. It is nice that A&W has a nutrition calculator http://www.yum.com/nutrition/menu.asp but they should lose the word "nutrition" on it!

Total Calories Today= 1800 (thank you A&W)

DAY 171- SUNDAY, JUNE 27, 2010

Blog, blog, blog, blog, blog.

Now can I say I blogged?

If stress burns calories.... I should be a toothpick. That's all I got. Went to church. Went to Gma Shorty's. Ate too much there. Mom and I beat dad and the husband at Pinochle. Family council. Ate no-bakes.

Will write more tomorrow. Big interview tomorrow and long family day today. Talked out. Love my family.

BREAKFAST- Yogurt Parfait (160)
Snack: Fiber One Bar (90)
LUNCH/DINNER: Pork Roast (200) 2 cups of potatoes w/gravy (300), green beans, 2deviled egg s (120), homemade strawberry shortcake (250)
Snack: 2 no-bake cookies (300)

Total Calories= 1420-1500

cystic fibrosis video

cystic fibrosis

The Terrifying Elephant (look at the two little ones)

DAY 170- Healthier Eating Journal

I will sleep hard tonight because we were on our feet so much today. There was a lot more to do in the new rental than we thought. A lot of cleaning. And you know me.... we run to Home Depot to get a few fixer items and I decide... let's plant a garden in the new rental. So guess what I did today between scrubbing the stove and cupboards and floors..... planted another garden. The soil was very powdery. Reminded me of Marsing soil.... not good. Oh well... we'll see if anything grows. The lawn there is huge and just great for the grandkids though.

Mandy worked on the fridge and counters until the baby was ready to go home. It took the husband over two hours to get the shower clean because of hard water. I suggested getting a water softener because of my experience with this water in my first rental. We could take it with us when we buy our next house. Of course my husband.... being a man.... must have the idea himself. After spending almost three hours cleaning the hardwater build-up today he suggested maybe we should get a water softener. Hmmmmm.... I wish I would've thought of that!

We ate normal for breakfast. I had my yogurt parfait w/fresh berries. We also ate lunch before heading over to clean. I had 1/2 sandwich and some chips (didn't like them so didn't eat many.... too salty) and some peach/blueberry cobbler I made using the Special K Granola. Highly recommend it. When we ran to Home Depot later in the afternoon we split a chorizo and shaved ice. It was hot and that sounded good. We also drank a lot of water today.

When we got home we were starving for real food and had burned plenty of calories between the cleaning and the gardening. I had put chicken in the crockpot with cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, and a little of the onion soup mix seasoning. I also dumped in a can of mushrooms. We were out of brown rice so we had a baked potato with it. I also cut up cantaloupe for dessert. Now papa and Rello are watching Ninja Turtles. Papa already took his shower and now it's my turn. Long day. Going to Grandma Shorty's for dinner after church tomorrow. Haven't seen her for a while.

Today's Food Intake:

BREAKFAST: Yogurt Parfait (160)
LUNCH: ½ Sandwich (200) and 8 chips (80) and homemade peach/blueberry cobbler (150)
Snack: ½ chorizo (150) and ½ shaved ice (130)
DINNER: Crockpot Chicken in Sauce (300), ½ cup of baked potato (60), cantaloupe (50) , drink (150)

Total Calories= 1500

DAY 169- Healthier Eating Journal

Only 5 more days until I meet my New Years goal of blogging every day for 6 months about my journey through trying to change the way I eat and losing 20 pounds. Then all 3 of you who follow my blog will have to fill another 5 minutes of your life doing something besides reading my blog. I think I'll get it printed... unless they want a ridiculous amount to print it.... so I can read back through it and hopefully remember what I've learned and not just backslide because other people encourage me to eat the wrong things by being around them. July 1st will be my last blog.


It was another hot day, but not as hot as yesterday thanks to cloud coverage. It's supposed to be near 100 on Monday, so the plan is to be inside where there's A/C on that day. Today was bill day. Get my check. Pay the bills. Call and get the address changes made for everything. Call and get utilities, internet, etc. lined up for the new location. I feel like a nomad.

I had Frosted Mini-wheats for breakfast w/fresh raspberries in them because I definitely didn't get enough fiber yesterday. I also had a Fiber One bar for the morning snack. For lunch I had a ham sandwich with the left-over ham (no cheese) and some fo the quaker mini rice cakes. Spent most of the afternoon on the phone then went and made and paid bills.

After that we went into town to babysit the grandkids so their parents could go on a date and get a little break. I made the kids spaghetti because they all love it. Rello came too. We had green beans to make sure we got in our greens today and I made a banana cream pie out of the pudding mix and threw in real bananas because the kids (and the husband) all like those pies. After dinner we let our tummies rest then took all the kids to see How To Tame a Dragon at the cheap theater. Of course they all got their little kids movie packs and I had some of their popcorn. We didn't get any of our own popcorn or pop though so I suppose that's progress. The movie was okay but I'm glad we waited to see it until it went to the cheap theater.

Of course the kids always think if papa's with them we have to go get ice cream.... so we got cones at A&W. On the way there we saw a big elephant outside the car wash and since we'd just seen the dragon movie, I thought it'd be cute to stop and take their picture with it. We even put daisha inside the bucket by its nose. Well Rello was beside himself. It seems the elephant resembled a dragon a little too much for his liking. Bryton was in the same boat so papa had to hold them both for the picture and neither one could get back to the car quick enough.

So that was my day and why I ate what I did.

Total calories today=1500

DAY 168- Healthier Eating Journal

Hot, hot, hot. Change of eating to accommodate the heat and the fact that we still can't figure out how to turn the A/C on. We did not want to boil any water or turn on the oven for anything! I did cook a big breakfast this morning because we didn't eat breakfast till 9am and my daughter and I had a trip to town planned and I knew it would mean a late lunch.

For breakfast I used a 2 very small potatoes (the kind you get in bags at the store this time of year) and baked them in the microwave 5 minutes. I washed them real well first. Then I cut them up, skin and all, and cubed them into a fry pan that I had sprayed with Pam spray. I diced up a couple of pieces of left-over ham from last night and threw in with the potatoes, then I added a scrambled egg and egg white. I seasoned it all with the McKormicks Montreal Steak seasoning and as soon as I got it out of the pan, shredded a little cheese on top. It made enough for all three adults and I added salsa to mine (200). Rello just likes plain scrambled eggs. He's not a fan of mixing his food... yet. I also had a whole wheat English muffin (150) with butter spray and honey (60) and a cup of skim milk (90). BIG breakfast= 500 calorie

Then the daughter and I got dressed and spent the afternoon together. We left Rello with his cousins (thank you Jeremy and Stacy) so Papa just had the baby to tend. Thought it might be safer for all involved. :D Enjoyed mother/daughter time. When we got back to Jeremy's to pick up Rello Daisha told me her swimsuit I bought her didn't fit, so she jumped in the car with us and we went to trade it in. After trying on 7 different swimsuits she finally decided on the neon pink one with sparkelies (that's how she says it). Mandy and I were starving, but it was so hot I just got a small icee, plus it was 4:00 and I knew we'd be ready for supper when we got home. I shared a blue bunny ice cream bar with my sweetie while we fixed dinner (so we split the 120 calories but it was more like 50/70).

I was going to cook spaghetti, but everyone said it'd make it too hot in the kitchen. The husband made grilled cheese sandwiches for him and the daughter and I made a parfait (160) for my main food and his side dish. I also had another whole wheat English muffin with honey (210). After dinner as we were looking through today's puzzle on the couch we also shared a Hershey's candy bar (105). We blame the daughter for buying them. True story. She also tried to get us to eat Reeses pieces! We told her she was a bad influence. We stood strong on the Reeses Pieces, but failed the Hersheys test. I also failed eating enough fiber today and getting in my veggies. I'll need to make sure I eat a lot of veggies tomorrow.

I'm blogging early tonight so I can get to bed at a decent hour. We have to get everything else packed tomorrow because we're cleaning at the other rental Saturday, going to church and Gma Shorty's Sunday, and moving in to the new rental Monday. I just saw where it's supposed to be 96 on Monday. I'm thinking we'll wait till evening to start moving or maybe even Tuesday. Monday's supposed to be the hottest day of the week. We'll see. But tomorrow, we need to finish packing and the husband will be gone to meetings all day again.

Food Intake for Today:

BREAKFAST: Potato dish (see above) 200, WW English Muffin w/butter spray and hone (210), and 1 cup of skim milk (90)
Snack: none
LUNCH: Small Icee (150 calories) http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/2003795
Snack: Shared a Blue Bunny Ice Cream Bar (50) husband at the other 70
DINNER: Yogurt Parfait (homemade--usual split an 80 calorie Danon Fit=40 cal. add fresh raspberries and blueberries and use Special K granola) total=160 Plus a WW English muffin w/butter spray and honey (210)
Snack: 1/2 Hershey's Chocolate Bar (105)

Total Calories Today= 1200 (need to eat my greens)

DAY 167- Healthier Eating Journal

Got a little more accomplished today, but not enough. Got a few things packed. Cleaned some house. Cooked dinner. Couldn't figure out how to get the central air to work so bout roasted when I had the oven going.

Tried to get the daughter to eat fresh berries in her parfait I made her this morning but she'd only eat the granola in it. I had both raspberries and blueberries in mine. We split an 80 calorie Danon Fit to make them. For more morning snack I split a small banana with Rello. He got a play sword at the dollar store yesterday so he keeps walking around holding it up in the air saying "I have the power" like he's He-man. Thanks Jas. Baby Kayson is starting to coo and smile now. They just change so fast when they're little like that.

For lunch I split a can of tuna fish with Mandy (60). I ate 6 of these organic crackers I got (60) with it and had a slice of whole grain bread (110). The ham baking in the oven smelled good all afternoon, but it sure heated up the house. I was going to make the peach/blueberry cobbler for dessert but it was so hot I decided I need to cook something like that in the morning hours... or figure out how to get the central air to work. I boiled my potatoes for mashed potatoes and made the ham gravy using skim milk and cornstarch. I also threw together my spinach salad with 2tblsp. of Lighthouse Cole Slaw dressing in an entire bowl (after you've put all the ingredients on top of your spinach). I used my usual one apple diced up, mandarin oranges, sunflower seeds, a and tomato. I didn't add any bacon bits or shrimp tonight because we were having ham.

When I called my brother he was trying to figure out what was wrong with the battery in his car and I could tell he'd had a long day. We packed up the dinner and drove to their house to have it. It was nice to visit with them and it was nice that the girls (Jackie and I) could whip the boys (Bob and Greg) in Pinochle. :D My brother leaves for Iraq in a few months and I am sad he has to go again. I enjoy living closer to my family. My mom watched Kayson so Mandy and Rello could go to the carnival at the Fiddlers Festival tonight. I appreciate that too.

Food Intake for the Day:

BREAKFAST: Yogurt parfait (see above for details) (170)
Snack: 1/2 small banana (40)
LUNCH: 1/2 can of tuna fish (60) , 6 crackers (60), one slice of wg bread (100)
Snack: 1 piece of ham (130) had to eat some as soon as it came out of the oven
DINNER: 2 small pieces of ham (260) 1 cup of mashed potatoes (made w/skim milk and low-fat spreadable butter) 200 w/ham gravy (40), salad (100)

Total Calories Today=1200

DAY 166- Healthier Eating Journal

The baby slept all through the night last night! Rello slept in till 8am and so did I. We were all so tired from yesterday that I guess we all slept hard! We kept it simple for breakfast. I had Special K Low-fat Granola (230). Good thing because other than a banana I didn't get much fiber today. We were going to take the kids to the Fiddler's Festival but found out the carnival/kid part doesn't start till tomorrow and we already have plans for tomorrow. Greg has admin. meetings/training all day and Mandy I have to get things packed up here tomorrow.

We did take the kids to McDonalds though since we had to cancel the other plans. And we took them to the park. This guy was pushing his kid in the swing and it was one of those America's Funniest Home Video moments when he pushes and the kid just shoots right out of the swing. In other words.... funny to see but the little kid who went flying didn't see it that way. The mom was not happy with the day either. Then the husband started getting sick from pushing the kids on that thing that everyone sits on and you push it so it spins in circles. Thought he was going to hurl. Then we went to the dollar store and and Daisha bought her first ever whoopie cushion (which caused tremendous giggling in the car all the way home). And papa kept blowing it back up. Great.

The conversation of our 4 backseat passengers all under the age of 6 was hysterical. Daisha, the oldest says to her brothers (as she is buckling in the 4 and 3 year old). "You can buckle yourselves in our car... it redicalus (spelled the way she said it) that you can't buckle yourself in now." And both boys smilled at each other. Then the two year old (Rello) says "Daisha's crazy!". Then they all burst into giggles followed by "your mom's crazy!" Rello loves his cousins (especially Daisha who mothers him) and he had a melt down when we had to return them to their home.

We also found a place to rent today. It's out in the country and has a great yard for the grandkids. Even comes with a couple of cows but we don't have to feed them. The owners do that. It's smaller than the house we're in now, but the yard makes up for that. It also has a storage room that we can put our extra furniture in and a garage so that makes a big difference too. Plus the couple we're renting from are nice people. I know her from church.

It was one of those days where you feel like you never sat down much, but you really didn't accomplish much either. I will be staying home and cleaning and packing tomorrow... hmmmmm... there's something new. At least we had fun with the grandkids though. That's the important stuff anyway.

My eating today was not healthy. But... on a big positive note... the husband bought a new pair of pants today to celebrate losing weight. He's actually lost 10 pounds since I started this. He went down a pant size already. It's a little tight but he says 5 more pounds and it'll be perfect. And I can tell he's serious. I think now that he sees that when you eat out, you just have to sacrafice calories elsewhere and/or just make better choices about your menu items... you can still lose weight.

So here's my crazy food intake for the day with apologies for being a bad example. I'll do a better job tomorrow. Promise.

BREAKFAST: Special K Granola (230)
Snack: soft serveice cream in a cup w/chocolate syrup (papa's treat for the kids was ice cream of course) I don't usually have it but it was hot today so.... yea (300)
LUNCH: Chicken Strips and fries (630)
DINNER: 2 bites of chicken w/honey bbq sauce (100) and a banana (80) 1 Reeses cup (100)
Snack: 100 calorie mini pouch popcorn

Total Calories Today= 1540 Bad Day! ]:

I'm going to go do my exercises now. For real.

DAY 165- Healthier Etaing Journal

I've got to post this in 3 minutes before it turns midnight and it shows the wrong date. Talk about a long day...... We got up at 6am so we could run around with our heads cut off getting the house ready to show. Normally it's not such a big deal, but I had all those tubs and boxes out because I was sorting every closet and organizing it and we were trying to get things done that we normally do to show the house. Plus... I'm a bit OCD so instead of just washing down the cabinets in the bathroom I looked at them and said, "Hmmmm.... these need restained again."

So instead of just making beds, cleaning off the counters, and dusting, I was also staining cabinets, sorting and organizing boxes, and tubs, and I'd have random brain farts like the staining of cabinets and I think I should clean out the fridge right now and I think I should take out all the family pictures that are in outdated (ugly) frames (I didn't used to think they were ugly frames) and put them in a box and give the frames to the Lion's yard sale along with the other boxes and huge bags of stuff and stuff from our garage. It was great to give it to a good cause AND we didn't have to do anything but take it over there. Yeah!

So the alarm went off at 6am and we were eating breakfast (Frosted Mini-Wheats scarfed down w/blueberries) at 6:30am. From then to 10am it was mayhem and the last hour we were literally speed-walking to get the last of it done. See we were also loading up to head home and our plan was to be all packed and out the door right before the realtor arrived and we could just hit the road. Well my diversion projects made me forget about.... me. Like... brush your hair, teeth, wash you face. I did put my clothes on and we did have the car loaded, but my personal items bag was still in the drawer in the bathroom and at 10:15 when we headed out the door with 15 minutes to spare... we knew we'd have to come back so I could restart my morning by washing my face, brushing my hair and teeth, etc.

When we got in the car it occurred to me that I was starving. I usually eat every two hours. And... we had gone like trains for 3 hours without stopping or sitting down. Lifting, cleaning, loading, packing. We headed to Subway and the husband ran in and got those breakfast sandwiches we had the other day. I was not exactly presentable so I waited in the car. I had the same one- English muffin w/egg white and bacon, etc. and he had the same one he had last time too. I also had a pop because I was a little shaky. I have a little low blood sugar. I know. O.J. would have done the trick. I have not scarfed my food down that fast in a very long time.

Then I waited in the car again as he dropped some papers off at his office and I was wondering what was taking him so long (no one was there today-- school's out) and he came out and said he had weighed himself. He lost 4 pounds this week! He was quite proud.... and so was I. Of course I told him I was pretty sure I gained the four he lost. So we went back to the house and I beautified myself and we hit the road. I kept thinking, "Man we ran around like that all morning so someone could spend 15-20 minutes in our house and maybe not even buy it." Well.... true. But such is the way of real estate and selling houses. The good news is.... the house is wonderfully clean and organized and that's a very good feeling when you're leaving for the week. Plus we got a lot done and a lot packed.

It was the normal long trip but it was easier since we were together. I did visit with an old friend on the phone. I called her to tell her my hubby got the VP job with a mutual acquaintance of ours. I asked her if she was driving and she said yes, so I said, "Oh, I'll make this short then." You see, she's a little crazy on the driving and she'll be the first to admit it. I won't go into how many times she got us lost taking our teams to camps. She's about 5'3 maybe 4 tops. She was my coach in high school then she later recruited me to coach with her and I absolutely love her. Good woman. Bad driver though. White knuckles and quick feet on the brake. :D

It was good to see the kids and all the grandkids today. They had made papa a special Father's Day tie. It was a tie that they had each decorated and signed with fabric paint. They want him to wear it the first day of work. :D :D :D I do too. :D I think little Maddi came back from Missouri a few inches taller and sitting up on her own. She no longer bursts into tears when Mandy looks at her either so that's progress. From there we went and picked up Mandy and her boys. Rello was very excited to see us and I was excited to see him. We loaded up and went to my mom's for a family dinner. Derek, who just returned from Iraq, was there along with his brother, Adam, and my brother (his dad) and Jackie. I had some roast and potatoes and declined the pie because we had snacked on the drive down.

I did pack and plan snacks ahead so they were decent. Had pretzels and cheetos, pickled carrots, roast beef (which I rolled up inside of 1/2 slice of Swiss cheese) and an apple. Greg had an orange. We didn't stop anywhere to eat and gas was 20 cents a gallon cheaper over there so we were not happy when we got here today and saw it was still $3.00 a gallon. When we got home from mom's we unloaded the car and I started reading a book Jeremy got me. Then I realized it was midnight and I still hadn't finished my blog. So.... Good morning and Good night.

Today's Food Intake:
BREAKFAST: Frosted Mini-Wheats (230)
3 hours of calories burned cleaning and packing
LUNCH: English Muffin egg white w/bacon, low-fat cheese, spinach and tomato (250) and pop (200)
Snacks: Cheetos, pretzels (300), Apple (80), Carrots (30), roast beef thin slices w/1/2 pc. of cheese (90)
DINNER: Small piece of roast (130), 1/4 cup of potatoes (boiled)50, carrots, (10)

Total Calories= 1370 (but pretty sure I worked off atleast 200-- probably more)

Day 164- Healthier Eating Journal

Happy Father's Day to my dad, my sweetie, and my sons.... all great fathers. I am sorry to say that I had to whip the husband at Pinochle even on Father's Day. I did bake him brownies though (and ate some). Don't worry... I counted calories ahead of time so I'd be fine. Got to see one of my favorite x-bball players today. Looks like she'll be getting married before long. It was so good to see her. I love that girl. We talked about getting together a team reunion next summer for our state championship team. That would be awesome. I told her the barn dream. Don't think I'll have the barn ready for the reunion though. I'll share the barn dream some day... not today though. It's always amazing to watch my players grow into their lives and dreams and become the people you always knew they could.

So I woke up with a major sinus headache this morning and I was seriously thinking about not going to church because if anyone even coughed the noise hurt my head. I took my tylenol and my steroid nose spray and within an hour, I was feeling much better. Besides.... think about it... Oh God... I have a headache today. I've had worse, but it is annoying so forgive me if I don't go. But..... could you please bless my children, help us sell a house, watch over us each day.... etc. You get the picture. Now I have had real sicknesses that I felt fine not going but what is faith without works.... dead. (I believe that's a scripture.... wait.... I know it is!).

So for breakfast I made us the yogurt parfaits w/fresh blueberries and organic granola and I also had a piece of cinnamon raisin toast w/butterspray. Our morning snack was a banana. We had a very light lunch because church doesn't start till 1:00. I made some more homemade salsa and I had 9 chips with it. Sorry, I count everything these days. It's crazy how fast calories can add up if you just go hog wild. Believe me I know!! Been down that piggy road. Recently in fact. I dread going back home and finding out what I weigh after a week with the husband. The pants are not as loose as they were at the beginning of the week so that's never a good sign. The husband mocks me too. He got out a pair of jeans to put on and said... "I wonder if I can fit back into these again. If I can... I've lost weight." He was all dramatic about it and I believed him and I said, "What size are they?" He laughed and said, "36... the only size I own." He was mocking me. I pouted.

He may make fun of me... but I've noticed he's counting calories as much as I am now. And... he isn't eating nearly as much as he used to. He could do more crunches though to get rid of that Santa belly. My bike is at the other end of the state too because we like to go biking together. Of course it's been Wizard of Oz weather around here so don't know how much riding we'd have been able to do anyway.

So we were going to head back home today, but got a call from our realtor last night and they're showing our house in the morning. That means I have to get up at 6am and finish filling all those tubs I bought and get them put back away because it's never good to have boxes and tubs all over your house when you're trying to sell it. So... didn't get to spend Father's Day with our children.... sorry Anne and Stacy. We know they had stuff planned. But we will see them tomorrow. Your dad says thanks for the card banana.

Here's my eating for the day:

BREAKFAST: Parfait and 1 slice of cin. raisin toast w/butter spray (250)
Snack: small banana (80)
LUNCH: Chips and salsa (200)
DINNER: 1/2 cup of yam (baked) 80 and a small hamburger patty (no bun or cheese) 200
Dessert: 2 brownies (340) 1/4 cup of low fat ice cream (60)

Total Calories Today= 1210-1300

DAY 164-Healthier Eating Journal

Well I didn't do too bad today and we even went to town. I love going yard-saling and to the Farmer's Market in I.F. I know... why are you yard-saling when you're packing your house up. The husband kept saying... "now remember, we have to pack whatever you buy". Well one of the things we were going to town for today was to buy some tubs to pack things in. Some things are just easier to pack and store in tubs instead of boxes. Especially since we're probably going to have to put everything in a storage unit. So.... we found a garage sale and they had all these tubs emptied out from stuff for the yard sale and we asked if they were for sale and yep... they were. The really big ones were $2.00 and the medium ones were only $1.00 and they all had lids. Score! They also had some crazy looking boots that I know my basketball players are going to covet. Kali... what size do you wear?

The Farmer's Market is so much fun and they have such cool things there. Mainly healthy stuff. We picked up a bag of fresh little red potatoes to make new peas and potatoes and he had also grown the fresh onion bunches. Another place had granola w/dried blueberries and ground flax seed in it. Cheap too. And the corn nuts are really big and very puffy-- not heavy. And I always get a jar of the pickled carrots. I didn't get the cookies or fresh bread I usually get though. Normally we get some plants there too, but we're not sure if we'll be around enough this summer to harvest everything in our garden as it is. Our strawberries should be on before long.

I got a little more closet cleaning and organizing done today and beat the hubby in Pinochle (okay... he won yesterday and will pout if I don't put that). I am going to put in a late night and make sure all the closets are packed and organized before we head home to the other side of the state tomorrow (for Father's Day). Didn't do too bad with eating today but it was a very munchy kinda day. I tried to get more fiber in and did okay.

Today's Food Intake:

BREAKFAST: Frosted Mini-Wheats (for fiber) 230
Snack: Sliced strawberries and bananas (100)
LUNCH; New peas and potatoes (made w/skim milk), 3oz. salmon, asparagus (300)
Snack: grapes throughout the day (100) and corn nuts (100)
DINNER: 1/2 can tuna fish (50), wheat crackers (130)1/4 cup of cottage cheese (70) and 4 pickled carrots (40)

Total Calories Today= 1200

DAY 163- Healthier Eating Journal

So my husband calls the Autozone to get a price on a POWER STEERING pump and the guy asks him the model, year, etc. for his pickup.... normal questions... and then he says "and does it have power steering?" My husband says, "Yeah, until the power steering pump went out." Okay.... the men can make fun of the women all they want but that right there just proves there are blonde men and women. :D

So the food..... had the bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast. Still didn't get nearly enough done today. Found a lot of things I have been wondering about. For example, if anyone's doing a wedding, I found the box of tablecloths etc. Had a banana for my morning snack. Went to town a little later in the afternoon so that our eating out at Bajios would be for both dinner and supper. I had the plan to cut out things like cheese and sour cream and to only eat half of the rice and beans. I ordered the enchilada (not the big one, just the normal sized one) and had the fresh salsa and cilantro put on it and a little guacamole. Got the Mexican rice instead of the sweet rice because I read how many calories was in a serving of the sweet rice (t600). I ate half the pinto beans (not refried) and 1/2 cup of Mexican rice. Still that's aobut 600 calories. That's not bad EXCEPT... after we had ordered and I was sitting down... here comes the husband with... CHURROS. I love those things. He is so bad for me. Those things are 200-230 calories each. Don't eat the ones at Costco... they're like 450 calories each. So yea.... another 1000 calorie meal with the husband!

So..... Fresca for dinner. I did get in my green (spinach in my eggs and cilantro in my salsa) and my veggies (tomatoes, onions, spinach), and my fruit (banana), and my protein, and my fiber (beans and bananas). But not near enough fiber so tomorrow I will eat more berries an apple, and have Frosted Mini-Wheats for breakfast.

Girl Tip: If you ate too much for lunch... especially if it was THEIR fault... make sure you point out that you now must walk for two hours without sitting down in order to work off a couple hundred calories (100 calories per hour). Emphasize that you cannot sit down. Then.... suggest the mall. :D That's what I did. Got a cute skirt from Vanity for 9.99 and he got a nice dress shirt with his new school colors, so it's all good. Okay... except that just reminded me. We stopped and got a smoothie at Pretzel Time because they had on their board that they have those 96 calorie smoothies now and we split one. Of course this was after we consumed the churros. Still, we did walk for two hours and I did get a new skirt. :D :D

Here's my odd food intake for the day:

BREAKFAST: Bacon, 1 egg+1 egg white and spinach, scrambled, 1 piece of whole grain toast w/butter spray (360)
Snack: Small Banana (80)
LUNCH; (see above) 1000 calories at Bajios
Snack: 1/2 Low Calorie Smoothie (50)
DINNER: Fresca (0)

Total Calories Today= 1500

Looks like I need a skinny day tomorrow!

DAY 162- Healthier Eating Journal

Well the weather was better today so it was easier to get up and get going on things today. The husband worked on sorting things in the garage and I started on the closets. Sorting everything into three main categories: keep, donate, throw away. The paperwork and pictures are the worst to sort through. I was able to condense all my basket ball stuff (that isn't already on the other side of the state) into one box. I decided it was time to throw away stat sheets from 10 years ago and stuff like that. I can't throw out the newspaper articles or all the little cards and notes you get. Found a lot of memories digging through things today.

I also stayed home when the husband went to town today. Saved a lot of calories. In fact, I HAVE to have an after dinner snack here in a while just to hit my 1000 calorie mark. Now that's good. I did take time to run to the store today so stock back up on the fresh fruits mainly. If we have them around to snack on, we tend to do a lot better. I think I'm going to go make some fresh salsa to have with some tortilla chips for our movie watching snack tonight. I take a couple tomatoes and cut them up after coring them. Then I cube some avacodo, chop up some fresh cilantro and onion, then sqeeze a little lime juice in it and that's it.

I am enjoying the quiet time here, but I am also missing my kids and grandkids and new friends. Called Patty today and we're going to take Sarah out to a belated birthday lunch next week when we're home. My mom is staying and helping out my daughter with the two little ones so that has helped me enjoy my time here a lot more. Today the husband and I got side-by-side haircuts. Kind of a weird experience. Each hair dresser is doing their normal line of questioning and it was pretty much the same. Just weird. Good haircuts though.

It doesn't feel like we made much of a dent today, so we'll have to work harder tomorrow. We'd at least like to have the garage and all closets and dressers boxed when we leave this weekend. Saturday I'm going to lunch with some x-bball players of mine, so I really do need to get a lot more done tomorrow. Get er done.

Kind of a boring day today.... sorry. Here's my food intake for the day:

BREAKFAST: Frosted Mini-Wheats (230)
Snack: 1 cup of sliced strawberries (50)
LUNCH: 1/2 Sandwich w/whole grain bread, 2 thin slices of roast beef, 1/2 slice of cheese, spinach, mustard (200) and 1/4 cup of cottage cheese (70) and 7 BBQ chips (70). Total Lunch Calories= 340
SNACK: Grapes (50)
DINNER: Veggie stir fry using red wine vinegar as a base. Fried the onions and mushrooms in it first (20). I sliced up yellow squash, zucchini, and broccoli and nuked them (50) for 10 min in 2 tbsp. of water then drained the water and added them to the stir fry with just a little worchestshire sauce. After the cooked a little, I added precooked shrimp (30) and sprinkled it all with the Montreal steak seasoning and some sesame seeds. I also baked a yam and scooped out 1/2 cup (80) and boiled corn on the cob (60). Lots of veggies! (250)

Total calories= 920 (I'll have some snack tonight to meet the other 200 calories)

DAY 161- Healthier Eating Journal

Okay... I have to think about calories. Just going.... okay, I made my weight goals so I'm just going to eat healthy food is not enough. You HAVE to pay attention to your calories. I got up and ate my cereal-- Special K Low-fat granola (I added cinnamon) and some fresh blackberries. My morning snack I had two slices of my raisin cinnamon toast (are you sensing that I like raisins and cinnamon). Then.... the rain and the wind.

Killing the plans. We decide to drive to Rexburg and check out the DI there. Found lots of books we like. Bought them. Decided to hit Applebees by one of the exits. You'd think those salads they have on there are low calorie because they're salads.... NOT SO. That grilled shrimp and spinach salad w/bacon vinagerette is like 900 calories according to calorieking.com. I had a chicken basket instead and only ate 1/2 of everything, but I also had some of the spinach dip w/chips in the appetizer. When all was said and done, I safely polished off 1000 calories. I won't tell you what the husband ate (it has the word pasta in it), but suffice it to say that he beat me in calories by quite a bit.

Then.... if that wasn't enough... we stop at wally world on the way back because we have a coupon that makes the baby wipes free and the middle son needs us to pick them up for him (they're his coupons) and I wait in the car because between the rain, hail, and wind... I'm not feeling the need to walk anywhere. I get a call and I'm on the phone when he gets back in the car. As I'm talking he's putting a piece of candybar by my mouth and out of total habit, I just eat it and keep on talking. After I hang up I ask what kind it was (obviously chocolate) and he tries to offer me another piece! No bob. 130 calories just like that. I mean obviously we were still starving from lunch... right.

So..... I decided we pretty much get next to nothing for dinner. We did split an orange for a snack in between but that was it untill supper. I was going to try the wheat flatbread and just have an open face sandwich, but even that seemed like a lot so I made a breadless sandwich using the thin slice of cheese as the bread. I used two pieces of the thin roast beef (30), 2 tomato slices, some spinach leaves and a little mustard smeared on top. That was it. I sliced up strawberries in a cup (50) and added 1/4 of fat free milk (20). I had 220 calories for dinner but obviously I still had plent of calories left over from lunch!

I'm doing my exercises (at home) tonight and I'm going back to the gym tomorrow but there's suppose to be one more day of poopy weather. I think we're giving up on the garage and moving inside for packing tomorrow. I also think we'll be eating a little lighter (not hard to do after today!).

I think I'll see if the husand would like to learn Tai Chai tonight. :D

Today's Food Intake:

BREAKFAST: Special K Granola Cereal (230)
Snack: 2 slices of cinnamon raisin toast (160) w/butter spray
LUNCH: Applebees (1000)
Snack: 1/2 orange (40)
DINNER: Sandwich w/cheese as the bread (see above) and 1 cup of sliced strawberries w/1/4 cup of fat free milk (220)

Total Calories Today= 1650

I've got to get rid of 150 calories (exercising) before I go to bed tonight. Hmmm... that's about the amount of the chocolate my husband gave me.... thanks sweetie!

DAY 160- Healthier Eating Journal

WELCOME BACK ANNE AND BABY MADDI-- WE ALL MISSED YOU!

So I got up all ready to get things done today and fizzled shortly after the shower and drive into town. I cannot get myself to kick from vacation gear into "we have to get this house packed gear". Both of us are just enjoying #1- no work to go to and #2- an entire house to ourselves. I did get to town and accomplish my errands and get some paperwork faxed etc. And the husband did get the rest of the bark put down before the rain hit. We also picked up the boxes to start packing up the garage. I know... why the garage first. We have a lot of stuff out there that we're not using and we're trying to pack the stuff we're not using first. Plus.... it's kinda messy. Sorry honey. You know it's true. I'm sure we'll lose some calories just sorting and packing. Plus you never know when another neighbor is going to pop in and want to see your house or show it to a friend of relative! So tomorrow..... the garage! Joy! (not)

My pants are getting baggy again so I need to step on a scale. I may have hit my 140 mark. Now I'm thinking 135 but I don't want everyone freaking out! Oh my gosh.... you're too skinny. I think people say that to make themself feel better. I really do. I mean I weighed 135 the majority of my life up to 5 years ago people. Calm down people. Plus... if you've been reading this.... I eat PLENTY. I mean I just received a lecture yesterday about the way I'm eating... hello! So I think instead of having any more goals about weight loss since I've hit my mark... I'm just going to focus on doing what I've been doing since January.... keep on eating healthier (notice the i-e-r at the end Kali). :D It really has changed the way I eat and the way I think about food. And exercise.

I thought I'd do a trial membership to the Anytime Fitness Gym here in town so I went down tonight and I have to say.... it's just still so hard to do that when you're A.D.D. I mean I was SO bored sitting on the stationary bike. I kept thinking... what's the point if it's not a real bike? Then I'd think..... because you're not getting out and riding your real bike. Okay... so ride a real bike. Then I was on the treadmill and it's actually the only piece of equipment that I like because I like that I don't get bugs up my nose like I do on the walking path. I did some lifting too, but it just is not what I see myself doing to sustain my health. I'd rather lay in bed and do 50 crunches or work out on the wii or go for a real bike ride and I do like walking with the stroller and the grandkids.

I still believe strongly that if I just keep focusing on my core (love the Tai Chi) that I will be plenty strong and fit. My stomach is looking the best it has in years and my legs are getting there as well. The fitness center thing is.... just not me. I'm going to give it two more tries before I make my final decision because the husband said he'd go. I did like the math part of it-- seeing my heart rate and how many miles I'd gone and RPMs and calories burned. That part did make me think when I got home.

I was going to eat my 100 calorie pack popcorn and went to the cupboard and all he had in there was the regular popcorn. It said snack size bags so I thought that'd work... wrong! Make sure they say 100 calories on the front and not just snack size. These snack size ones have 250 calories per bag. Back to the fitness center. So I thought. That hour I just spent at the fitness center.... I could blow off all the calories I just burned by eating this one bag of popcorn. So.... I had a Danon Light and Fit yogurt and 1/2 an apple instead.

See, that's another reason I don't like the fitness center. I'm pretty much saying that I can't do it on my own (naturally) so I need to go to some spot for weakminded people or people who just like to look at their muscles in mirrors. Okay... I'll stop. That was my experience. Here is what I ate today:

BREAKFAST: Frosted Mini Wheats (230)
Snack: 2 sips of Greg’s Icee- he said I had to report it (20)
LUNCH: Potato Hash w/baked potatoes (use one baked potato per person if it’s your meal) diced and grilled in spray w/Montreal steak seasoning– no oil—w/mushrooms, onions, and bits of pulled pork (or whatever leftover meat you have) stirred in (200)
DESSERT: 1/4 cup of low-fat ice cream w/fresh raspberries and blackberries and a drizzle of chocolate syrup (100)
Snack: 10 chips and homemade dip (200)
DINNER: Spinach Salad w/fresh shrimp, sunflower seeds, mandarin oranges, apple bits, cucumber, onion, and tomato. I used 2 tblsp of Lighthouse Cole Slaw dressing on the entire bowl of salad. (200)
LAST SNACK: 60 Calorie (small) Dannon Light and Fit w/a few fresh berries in it and ½ an apple (left over from making the salad)

Total Calories Today= 1100

DAY 159- Healthier Eating Journal

I've had fireflies on the brain. I have been weaving them into the next book I'm writing. Another one that will sit in a box unfinished. I know... I need to finish at least one. Fireflies are just so interesting and easy to throw into a quick poem. I remember the first time I saw them in Texas. Everything really is bigger in Texas. We lived in Fort Hood (Army days) and we'd catch them in jars. I hated the spiders there though-- also very big.

So fireflies aside.... Kali gave me a lecture about how I'm not eating so healthy right now. Well.... okay... I just needed someone to get on me. I did better. It's just hard when the husband is here. I tend to think .... vacation... fun... fun food and.... I eat things I don't normally eat when I'm not around him. Like today he made me cookies because he didn't make any yesterday. But... He also did not have any popcorn or Icees at the movie today. All because of you Kali so... see... we are listening. Okay, but on MOndays you get the sour patch kid theater candy for $1.00 and we're talking Edwards so it's probably normally $10.00 so we did get that though. It's still a lot less calories than an icee and bag of popcorn. And we shared the little bag and didn't eat all of them. So we are trying.

I'm glad someone is getting on me. Too many softies around here! So for breakfast I had the 60 calorie Danon Fit yogurt with some Special K Low-fat granola sprinkled in it and blackberries and raspberries (170). For a morning snack I had my raisin bread toast w/butter spray (80). For lunch I warmed up the last of the steak (4oz.- 230) and just had an apple (90) with it because I knew he was making cookies and I'd eat some (160). After that we went to the movies (Karate Kid-- pretty good but wouldn't buy it or anything). Shared some sour patch kids (200) then came home and had surprise company as in... "oh you're selling your house, can we look at it". Yikes! The one morning I roll out of bed and decide let's just take it easy today. It was one of our neighbors and his sister is looking to move close to him. Across the street is pretty close, so we hope she sells her house in Arizona and likes ours. We have learned not to hold our breath though because the housing market is just so unpredictable right now.

After that we made fish (90) and baked squash (60) for dinner and I had one more cookie (80) before we headed out for our cookie drive. We found some families to give them to and made their evening happier too. It was a nice day. It actually didn't rain today so things might dry out enough that we can work in our yard tomorrow and finish the bark and get started on the garage. Let's hope. Wish Jas was here to help with that garage.

So I did better on my calories today thanks to Kali's little lecture. The husband did too. In fact he had a weight loss day instead of a maintain weight day so he's pretty proud of himself and I'm proud of him too. Here's my food for today:

BREAKFAST: Yogurt parfait (see above for ingredients) 170
Snack: Cinnamon Raisin toast w/butter spray (80)
LUNCH: 4 oz. steak (230) an apple (90) and a cookie (80)
Snack at the movies: Sour Patch Kids (200)
DINNER: Salmon Fillet (90) I buy the 97 cent frozen ones + baked squash (60)
Dessert: cookie (80)

Total Calories Today=1100

Fireflies

Fireflies...
nature's bic lighter
sunset's encore

delicate winged
darkness fighter
shining evermore

a child's heart
delighter
they soar

or flit with
ease-- an ignitor
to explore

tiny candlights
dancing brighter
by my door

Christmas lights
in July

DAY 158- Healthier Eating Journal

Well we have church services so late on this side of the state due to the building remodel that it's kind of crazy. Don't go to church until 1pm. So... we had a big breakfast: bacon, eggs, toast, and simply hashbrowns. I made the scrambled eggs for two using two eggs and added to more egg whites. I scrambled fresh spinach and mushrooms in them and sprinkled a little thin shred cheese on top. I used butter spray on the toast and spray in the pan for the hasbrowns-- no oil. Most importantly, we ate breakfast together and visited before he headed off to church meetings.

I put a pork roast in the crockpot to cook so I could make pulled pork later and I didn't eat anything else but a banana before I went to church. I read some scriptures and I read an article on John Wooden before I went to church. I enjoyed both. :D I also enjoyed the speakers at church today and the Sunday School lessons. My spiritual cup was definitely filled back up. It was nice to be home with the people who have taken me in for the last five years. They are good people.

When I got home I had to add the honey bbq sauce to my pork roast after I drained all the broth off and pulled it apart. Then I put it back in the crockpot to warm through while I baked the funeral potatoes with leftover potatoes and brown rice. I know... sounds gross. I hated to see leftovers go to waste. I just added a small can of cream of mushroom, a couple tblsp. of sour cream and some seasoning and mixed it all. Then I sprinkled a little cheese on top and some cornflakes which I sprayed with butter spray and a little more cheese. I also mixed up some low fat cream cheese and crab for dip with the wheat crackers to snack on while dinner cooked because I knew we'd be starvin' Marvins when we got home since we didn't eat lunch.

After dinner we had some company and we served some low-fat Creamery Select ice cream with the fresh raspberries, blueberries and a few blackberries and just a drizzle of chocolate syrup. I only had 1/4 cup of the ice cream. The husband had 1/2 cup. By the time you add the other stuff, it's plenty and it's SO GOOD! Later in the evening I did get a little hungry again and had some bits of jerky and friend at church gave me Rolos (which I love) and I did eat.....

So another 1500 calorie day. I already did my exercises so I'm fine with that. Weekends tend to be days I eat more for maintaing than losing weight. Of course that means I have to work harder tomorrow and eat less. :D

DAY 157- Healthier Eating Journal

I'm glad tomorrow's Sunday. I'm ready for a day of rest. My sweetie cooked me breakfast and made my French toast out of my cinnamon raisin bread like I like and he used egg white instead of an egg. It tasted like..... French toast. I made our parfaits by splitting a Dannon lite and fit yogurt cup between us (the bigger 80 calorie ones), so that made it 40 calories each in the bottom of a coffee cup. Then I sprinkle in some Special K granola (good stuff and nice and crunchy with good fiber), then I add about 10 raspberries and a dozen blueberries. Your berries are only about 20 calories, so the granola is the majority of your calories. It makes the parfait between 100-150 calories and it's VERY good. Try it. Oh, and I looked at the difference between corn syrup and the bottled maple pancake syrup. Corn syrup was 80 calories less than the regular pancake syrup. Of course I like my lite pancake syrup the best, but it was at home. Just thought I'd share the tidbit about corn syrup because it gets trash-talked these days. :D

So after breakfast I did a few house chores while the husband mowed the lawn (trying to beat the rain) then we headed into I.F. to look for books at the D.I. Found a few good books, but not too many. My hubby decided he NEEDED a milkshake and insisted that he'd work it off reffing today, so I agreed, but said it'd have to be our lunch then because of how many calories it was. He agreed and about that time we were going by Sonic and lo and behold... "milkshake special-- buy one, get one free". It was a sign. We got both small milkshakes for $2.11. Happy Day. Then we headed to Poci to bball tournaments and I also went to the D.I. there. Found a lot of good books for Jeremy and some for myself. When I was driving around (I got a little lost looking for the D.I. and ended up by the FBI building. I didn't even know they had one over there) I got hungry and ate a banana for an afternoon snack. Greg was starving by the time he got done reffing so we ate some chips in the car. You'd think I'd learn not to leave that kind of stuff in the car. Oh well, 10 chips didn't kill me and he definitely burned off enough calories. We wanted to go eat and go to a movie so I said he could pick. He picked a little drive-in called Rupe's that he likes.... great. I ordered a corndog just because I tried to find something with low calories. Their food is really good, but I knew a corndog would only be about 200 calories. He ordered onion rings (lower in calories than ff) and a mushroom burger. He couldn't believe it was 620 calories for the hamburger but he had more than enough calories left for the day so he was fine since he'd just reffed three games!

I thought the corndog would hold me over until I got home and could eat something healthier and it did. I ate a little bit of the left-over steak (about 3 oz.) and some salad. Then I ran to the store and got some groceries (the cupboards and fridge looked like a bachelor had been living here-- same leftovers from when I was here two weekends ago were still in the fridge and I was afraid to drink the milk because someone might have drank out of the carton). I got apples and had an apple for dessert. Then we looked at houses to buy in case we ever sell one of ours over here and we also looked at the movies that were playing.

We decided on Prince of Persia. And yes, I paid cash this time. I'll never use my debit card there again. (see yesterday's post if you missed that drama!) My husband always gets popcorn and an icee when we go there. He ordered the medium popcorn (to share) instead of the large and we only ate half that bag. On the Daily Plate web site it says 5 cups (small bag) of Edwards buttered popcorn is 470 calories. We split those calories so abotu 250 each. He also didn't put any butter on mine. He did, however, drink that big icee. A 32 oz. Icee is 204 calories according to livestrong. com. Oh well... at least he's trying and he did also mow the lawn and we have a big lawn. Okay... it was on the riding lawn mower, but he gets 2000-2200 calories a day and he stayed right there at 2170 so that's pretty good.

Me, on the other hand, could have skipped the milkshake because I hit 1500 today. No weight loss today, but we were on the go enough today I'm pretty sure I didn't gain any either and we had fun today. It doesn't take much to entertain us I guess. The movie was pretty good. It felt like a midieval Indiana Jones. It didn't swear at all, but heads do roll. If you like action movies, you'll probably like this. The Karate Kid looks like it'll be good too. Thanks boys (and Stacy) for taking care of your sister and helping her out with the kids while I'm gone. :D

DAY 156- Healthier Eating Journal

Well.... still recovering from all of our driving yesterday and the trip up to Ashton for girls camp. Never did take that nap. Spent the day on the phone and the computer for the most part. Tuesday when I took the boys (husband included) to the movies for their Father's Day treat I went to pay for one of the tickets (had the others already) and the kid behind the glass said loudly "Sorry, it's declined." After turning red I was like, "that can't be right.... try it again". I had checked my balance that morning and though I'm a poor teacher, I knew I had enough in there for a movie ticket for crying out loud. He swiped it again and said, "Nope. Still declined." Then he entered it in manually. Still declined. Totally humiliated I got out my husband's debit card so he could pay for his own ticket I guess and he swiped that. By now I could tell he was thinking I was some wild lady with no money. "It's declined too he said." I was flabbergasted. My husband pulled out his debit card from THE SAME EXACT ACCOUNT and the kid swiped it. The kid looks at me and says "that one worked sir." I said, "It's the same account." He looked at me like "sure lady" and shrugged his shoulder.

As soon as I got in the car to head to the airport I had called my bank totally humiliated that it had been declined... not once, but three times. She looked up my account and said, "Nope, you're fine. Must be their machine." I asked her if it went through then since there really was money in there. She assured me that if I hadn't signed anything, it hadn't gone through. Phew. After I left the airport I had to pay for parking on my way out and I used my card. Sure enough.... it worked fine. Then I was ticked. Humiliated for nothing.

The next day I checked my account just to make sure and nothing was there. So we headed out for our trip. Well yesterday when we stopped home long enough to change, we happen to log on and check our accounts (gut feeling) and sure enough... I HAD BEEN CHARGED THREE TIMES and my husband's account had been charged twice. All for one lousy ticket. Unfortunately, it was too late yesterday to do anything about it except call Edwards. No human ever answered. Another number that our bank gave us for Edwards just rang and rang.

so..... this morning I spent my time calling between banks and Edwards to get it all straightened out. Here is why I share this-- take note:

IF ANYONE EVER TELLS YOU YOUR CARD WAS DECLINED----- GET A RECEIPT FROM THEM THAT SAYS IT WAS DECLINED. Otherwise, they could be wrong and you could be charged every time they swipe it. I literally wasted hours today all because of the purchase of one ticket. Lesson learned. It's all straightened out now and supposedly my account will be credited back, but I was not a happy camper. Good news though... I did not stress eat! That's more than good news.... that's a miracle.

I also made up a new salad using the spinach leaves of course. I'm sure someone else has made this before but I had to use whatever ingredients my husband had in the kitchen because he took my car and we left his pickup back on the other side of the state. Plus.... I was afraid to use my card. I'm going back to checks. Anyway.... the recipe is below in my food info and it was really good. We both liked it.

So here is my food intake for today:

BREAKFAST: 2 Slices of Cinnamon Toast w/butter spray and a banana (250)
Snack: Grapes (50)
LUNCH: Baked Sweet Potato w/butter spray and ½ can of tuna w/8 wheat crackers (220)
Snack: Dannon Light and Fit Yogurt (80)
DINNER: 4 oz. of grilled Steak (230 w/A-1), ½ cup brown rice (150), and spinach salad (100)- (Recipe for entire salad: 1/8 c of sunflower seeds, ½ can of mandarin oranges, ½ bag of fresh spinach leaves, 2 tblsp. of LiteHouse Cole Slaw dressing and you put it on and mix it in the salad after everything’s in the bowl, ¼ purple onion sliced into slivers, 1 small tomato cut up) I would have added craisins and apples if I had them. Total dinner calories= 480
AFTER DINNER DESSERT: ½ cup Creamery Select Low-Fat Cookie Dough Ice Cream (130) w/10 fresh raspberries (10), 10 blueberries (8), and a drizzle (1 tsp.) of chocolate syrup (22). Total Calories for a very yummy dessert= 170

Total Calories Today= 1250

Thursday, June 10- DAY 155- Healthier Eating Journal

Kalli-- call me. Kelsey K has my number or Timmons. I will come see you before you leave for the summer. I ran out of time before I left and you were my last bag of cookies that didn't make it. Sorry. :[

Sorry for not getting this posted yesterday but we spent the majority of the day on the road. We came back to the eastern side of the state and I watched the temperature drop as we drove. It's still very beautiful here though surrounded by all the mountains and greenery. After a four hour drive we had just enough time to grab some warmer clothes from our house and get back on the road again to head up to Rock Creek Camp by Ashton for a girls church camp. That was another hour on the road.

We did so-so on the eating while traveling. We got a later start than we had hoped for but I still ate my Raisin Bran Extra in the morning when I got up because I knew we'd be on the road and I'd need to get some fiber down me before I was tempted to eat other things when I was bored while driving. It was almost noon when we dropped my husband's office stuff off at his new office and met the other principal. Nice guy. Nice school. I know my husband will enjoy it there.

There was a Subway in town and I was craving breakfast food more than sandwiches and my husband told me they have new breakfast options now so we stopped there. It was great! I advise you to try it if you're on the road. I had an English muffin with egg white (no yolk)-- they offer it that way on the menu and I've never had just egg white on a sandwich before-- bacon (one thin slice that they break in half), cheese (ask for their lowest calorie)and a tomato. Then they toast it and I asked them to add fresh spinach to it after they toasted it. It was SO good. If you don't add the bacon it's 150 calories but it 195-200 with the bacon and well worth it. Plus I got my green in for the day (spinach). My husband had the flat bread southwest breakfast and said it was really good (pretty big too) and that he'd get it again.

After that we decided we'd better stop and get some healthy snacks for the rest of the drive or we'd be eating the box of donuts we got for Jason. Okay, so we split one (125 calories each) then repented and went to the store to get healthier food. After that we were pretty good about eating our grapes, bananas, and apples. We did get some of the Kettle Cooked (Lays makes them now too) chips that he likes to give him his crunch he needs. Overall though, we did pretty well. Even with chips our snacks for the whole day were about 300 calories + 125 on the split donut.

About dinner time we weren't sure if they'd have dinner at camp (it was almost 6:30pm) so we stopped at my very predictable Wendy's and I had the baked potato (no butter or sour cream) with 1/2 of my cup of chili on it (200). By the time we got up to camp I had already eaten 1100 calories and sure enough.... they were just getting ready to eat dinner. The husband dished up a plate as though we hadn't just eaten an hour earlier and I had a few bites of the dutch oven chicken (which was excellent), but that was it.

They had asked us to be the speakers and sitting around the campfire engulfed by looming mountains and acres of lush green forest was inspiring. Top that off with the smiling faces of the young ladies and it was a great reminder of what's really important in our lives. I have really missed these young ladies and our friends here. It was good to visit and I'll enjoy visiting more these next couple of weeks. There are good people everywhere in this world. It was especially gratifying to see the spiritual growth in some of the young ladies who have had severe struggles in the past. I enjoyed their updates and hugs and just knowing that they are on a better path and that they feel the love and support of their families, the girls there at camp, and their Savior. Life is hard when you feel alone and so many of our youth today need reassurance and support. Camp is a great idea and I know many churches offer it for their youth.

A downpour happened toward the end of our campfire meeting and it was so bad we had to run for shelter. We finished up and they served a flat brownie with cookie dough on top of it. I have never had that before but they assured me they didn't put eggs inthe cookie dough so it was safe. I'm guessing it was about 160 calories though. All total I had about 1300 calories today which is good considering traveling usually means bad eating choices for me. We had to head home after the meeting and it was after midnight because we visited a little afterwards so we got home about 1:30 this morning (thus the late post). The husband had to ref this morning so we had to come back. I am thankful for safe travels and now I'm going to go take a nap while he's off reffing. The house is empty and quiet.... very strange. :D

DAY 154-Healthier Eating Journal

Volunteered to let the baby sleep in my room last night so the daughter could actually get a full night's sleep. I think all the chocolate yesterday altered my brain. The baby decided it was "happy time" instead of sleepy time the majority of the night. I don't think he ever slept more than 1 hour at any given time. And just like olden times the husband announced that he hardly woke up at all last night! So I went back to bed a while this morning after everyone got up!

I had Raisin Bran Extra for breakfast. I remembered to eat an apple for lunch. My husband made banana bread so I had two very thin slices. Later he also made the cookies for our cookie drive and he even used the new no-fat butter. Is that an oxymoron? The texture was a little different, but they still tasted good. There have been so many good people here in Parma and I had to get around to at least some of them before I take off for the summer and tell them thank you. I enjoyed my visits tonight but some visits took longer than expected and I didn't make it out to a couple of people I would have liked to say good-bye to. I'll make sure I catch them when I get back later this month for a week. I only ate one cookie which is a record for me.

Rello was feeling a little under the weather today. Laid around a lot more than usual. Probably all that fast food! I had a baked potato with a little sour cream and some Wendy's chili on it. Very filling and a lot less calories than yesterday's dinner. Since I had a late breakfast, my lunch and dinner were the same thing. I drank a lot more water today too. It's still very humid and muggy. Trying to get everything ready to go. Not looking forward to the long drive again. I will be glad when we can just stay home.

Total Food Intake Today:

LATE BREAKFAST: Raisin Bran Extra (230)
Snack: Apple (90)
Lunch/Dinner: Baked Potato w/Wendy's Chili and sour cream - no butter(300)
Snack: Banana Bread and one chocolate chip cookie (250)

Total Calories Today= 900 (That's what happens when you wake up late and miss a meal)

DAY 153- Healthier Eating Journal

First of all.... Happy late birthday Jackie. I'm such a bad friend not to say it on your birthday. I totally blame my brother for not telling me. :D Forgive me. Secondly.... welcome home from Iraq Derek! I went to the airport today and it was a bit humorous because I got there 20 minutes before his flight was to arrive and Luke, his brother was there, but everyone else was running on standard family time (show up 5 minutes EARLY):D. As we were chatting a guy came walking up from the directions of the waiting seats and it was Derek! His flight had gotten in quite early and he had just been waiting for us! So, he greeted everyone instead of the other way around. It was kind of good because each time someone showed up they got Derek one-on-one time including his little girl. My brother... his dad... was last because he dropped everyone off at the door and went to park, so Derek took the "Welcome Home Dad" sign his daughter made for him and stood at the top of the stairs hiding behind it as my brother came up the stairs. It was pretty funny. My brother leaves for Iraq (also 2nd tour) in a couple of months. I try not to think about it, but they tell me it's nothing like the first time they were over there. Derek said he had 23 mortars blow in the first week he was there last time and this time there were only 2 the whole time. Of course, being a woman and a mom.... I just think "it only takes one..." Okay.... just feeling very glad that he's home safe.

The husband scrambled some eggs for Rello and I this morning and made us some toast (250). For lunch I had wheatables with tuna (200). The no-bakes are gone.... thank goodness, so my daughter gave me a mini candy bar- nestles (50). Isn't that sweet of her? Then my oldest son stopped by with his family and they brought me some fancy chocolate with raspberry liquid filling (40 calories per sectionX3=120). For a snack I had a new wheat thin cracker that's thinner and has great fiber. You get 15 for 120 calories and 5 grams of fiber. I shared with the grandkids.

Grandpa took the grandkids to the park and then to get ice cream. I didn't go. After they got back from ice cream the husband and sons went to the "guy movie" Iron Man or something. Not my kind of movie. I went to the airport to see Derek instead. After the movie I met them back at McDonalds for the Tuesday 1/2 price kids meals again. I know.... real healthy. Share your meal when you go out... skip the cheese... get as much baked or grilled instead of fried, and did I mention if you share meals, you share calories and save money as well as calories. My meal even sharing was 600 because I shared a drink too. I know.... I'm not being a very good example right now.

My daughter went out running today and didn't go to McDonalds. Maybe I should let her take my schedule over for a while... except we're heading to the other side of the state tomorrow. So maybe not. I just watched the Jillian show. I really should be a better example to my grandkids. Less ice cream and fast food. More fruit and veggies. I did feed them wheat thins...... okay.... something to work on. I love my family very much and feel blessed to be with them so much.

today's food:

BREAKFAST: scrambled eggs (he made me 2) and WW toast w/butter spray (250)
Snack: MINI nestle candy bar (50)
Lunch: Wheatables and tuna (200)
Snack: chocolate from my son (120)
Dinner: child size hamburger w/shared fries and drink (600)
Snack: sipped some of my husband's icee (80)

Total Calories: 1300 (the calories weren't the issue today..... the KIND of food I ate today... not so healthy)

I'm going to do my squats and crunches right now with my head hanging low. My water bottle needs to be my best friend tomorrow.

DAY 152- Healthier Eating Journal

The husband spent the day meeting the new staff he'll be working with so he left bright and early and my daughter had to be in town early as well so it was just the baby and the two year old and grandma..... I survived! :D They survived! It's one thing to have them over or to go visit. It's quite another to have them all day AND try to get the house clean, the laundry done, your phone calls made, everyone bathed and dressed and dressed again after the poopy diapers. It's like.... mom's gone and grandma's in charge so let's see how many poopy diapers we can crank out during that time. Hello! Killin' me here!

It's like riding a horse... after a while you have one tucked under the arm, a load of laundry under the other arm and you're cleverly having the two year old constantly assigned to a "helping" task. I even remembered to throw some dinner in the crockpot since Jas was coming over for famiy council and dinner tonight. Baby Kayson was actually really good today (other than the diaper thing). And Rello was fine except no nap. My bad. I even took them to the park since Rello was such a good helper all morning. Mom was horrified at this news when she got home. Seems that baby Kayson is too young to be in a stroller yet. Hmmmmmm. He slept the whole time at the park just chillin in my arms on the bench beneath the shady tree whilst Rello played on the slides and swings.

I guess children were just a lot tougher in the 80's when we raised ours. Seatbelts were optional then too. I'm not saying seatbelts are bad, so save the emails, but I'm just saying that sometimes I think today's kids are a little TOO pampered (thus the obesity rate in teenagers in America). Okay, don't get me started. They're 1 month and 2 years old. Calm down grandma. :D Like I said... we all survived.

Breakfast? Who can remember. Pretty sure it was a bowl of cereal. There were no-bakes left on the counter so I vaguely remember eating two more of those today. For lunch I had 1/2 a tuna sandwich and used Miracle Whip lite which tastes exactly the same to me but less calories. I also had 1/2 cup of my potato salad with it. I split an apple with Rello for our snack. For dinner I made crock pot chicken, brown rice, and steamed veggies. Later my husband gave me a little bit of jerky but it was too spicy.

Family council was long and tedious because we had so much to plan and decide for the summer. It was so much easier when the kids were all young. Now that they all have families it's hard to find a time we can all get away together with everyone's schedules. Plus we have to start packing to move out of the rental for this sumer and packing our house on the other side of the state to get moved down here permanently. Sounds like a real summer break!! We're going to head to the mountains for family camping is what we finally decided for the 4th. The husband and I will also squeeze in our 30 year class reunion that weekend since it's nearby where we'll be camping. Then we're going to head up to Wolf Creek Resort for a couple nights then back through Utah to take the grandkids to Lagoon.

We may have to camp at Jason and Anne's a little in July depending on how the house hunting goes, but hopefully we'll sell one of our houses and can get moved in to our own place. We'll see. Thank you Jason and Anne for offering and thank you everyone for enduring the two hour family council to get the summer planned out. Jeremy.... you're fired. :D No, we just planned stuff for you. :D That's how we roll.

Food Intake Today (Pretty sure I burned most of it off being mommy sub):

BREAKFAST: Raisin Bran (230)
Snack: No-bake cookie (50)
LUNCH: 1/2 Tuna Sandwich and potato salad (400)
Snack: 1/2 apple (45)
DINNER: Brown Rice, chicken, cream of chic. sauce, steamed veggies, no-bake cookie for dessert (640)
Small Piece of Jerky (35)

Total Calories Today= 1400

John Wooden Pyramid and Web Site

click on the pyramid to enlarge. Found this great web site as well if you're a Wooden fan:
http://www.coachwooden.com/index2.html

Sunday-DAY 151- Healthier Eating Journal

Late getting this posted. But I did get it done. Had cereal for breakfast (Raisin Bran Extra again) and had a Fiber One bar for my morning snack. After church I made goulash with the left-over spaghetti sauce. Just boiled pasta shells and added a can of corn, a can of green beans, and a can of olives (cut in half). Pretty simple. We were out of eggs (forgot to get some yesterday) so had to go with the no-bake cookies instead. Found a recipe on line that included using crushed graham crackers in them. Said they were only 40 calories each (probably because of size too) and I ate 4 of them throughout the day. Good fiber thanks to the oats I might add. I had another small helping of goulash for dinner and ate my 100 calorie mini-pouch popcorn for a night snack while playing cards (hand and foot and yes I won). I also finished off my Squirt from yesterday (100)

Total calories today= 1100

Enjoyed church. Rello's face is still like a lobster but much better than it was yesterday. Mandy's kept the aloe on it. Pretty quiet day and other than getting to bed late.... (it's 1am) that's a good thing. Will write more tomorrow (which is technically today). Sorry for slacking.

Crockpot Stuffed Peppers

(241 calories per serving) Ingredients- 4 bell peppers, 1 1/2 lbs 93% lean ground beef, 1 large egg, 1 1/2 cups brown minute rice (uncooked),1 cup onion, chopped, 2 cups tomato sauce or V8 Juice, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp garlic powder (I’m going to sprinkle a little taco seasoning packet in there too). Directions: Cut bell pepper in half and clean out seeds. Mix all ingredients except 1 cup tomato sauce (or V8) and bell peppers. Split the mixture into the 8 bell pepper halves. Pour 1/2 cup tomato sauce in bottom of crock pot. Add stuffed bell peppers and pour the remaining tomato sauce over the peppers. Cook 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low.

DAY 150- Healthier Eating Journal

When it rains.... it pours. Literally and in life. This week has been a rain storm in many ways. The beauty of rain storms is that afterwards, everything is cleansed and starts fresh. I hope that happens.

Thank you Jas for coming over and having breakfast with us this morning. You didn't even gag on the wheat pancakes. I can tell your wife has been training you to eat healthier too! Good job Anne! :D Poor Rello went to the Air Show today with his dad but came back with such a sunburned face that we eventually took him in to have it looked at because it was so terrible. The doctor said it will most likely blister and peel poor little guy. A little common sense goes a long way! Okay... grandma radar hit the red peg on that one.

Although I fed Mandy and Jas pancakes and twice baked hashbrowns w/bacon bits and cheese, I ate breakfast earlier with Rello and ate Raisin Bran extra (230). For lunch I had Activa Yogurt (110) and a fiber one bar. I know.... a bit of overkill on the fiber. After that we headed to Jason's to help with the yard. I pulled all the weeds in his little garden spot. It's rained so much this past week that it felt like the Amazon instead of a garden. He got the front yard looking great and I worked up such an appetite we decided to call the other son and his family and invite them over for a BBQ and break in Jason's new Father's Day BBQ grill. I made my potato salad and Jas ran to pick up Rello and get some propane for his new grill.

Jeremy helped him out a little since they have the same grill now but he didn't help him enough because he put the hotdogs on the bottom level of the grill and burned them all. Rookie! :D I heard this later as we had a family drama I had to go deal with and had to leave the BBQ. I came back later to pick up leftover potato salad and a cold hamburger but just ate some p. salad for dinner. My sweetie made it home safely and Rello was glad to see papa. We all were. It's been a very long day.

Today's Food Intake:

BREAKFAST: Raisin Bran Extra (230)
Snack: Fiber One Bar (90)
LUNCH: Activa Yogurt (110)
Snack: Wheatables (140)
DINNER: Potato Salad (350) and two homemade choc. chip cookies (160) and Squirt (100)
I know.... healthy dinner.... it was survival food in between go, go , go

TOTAL CALORIES TODAY= 1200

DAY 149- Healthier Eating Journal

Be sure to read the article below about not eating before a sporting event or a workout. It's definitely food for thought. Today was a very rainy, melancholy day for many reasons. Rain was appropriate. Some sadness and weariness today. May I just say that some people.... me.... stress eat for other people too and not just themselves. Dumb huh! But sadly true. And... if we think we're having some little trials, we can always look around and see that other people are having much larger trials. Today was one of those days where I went.... really???? is it that big of a deal? Who does it hurt? Not you. What goes around.... comes around. You reap what you sow and I know that people who sow dishonesty and contention.... well... it'll bite them in the butt. People who lack integrity... spend a lot of time justifying and lyin'. Rhymes for a reason. My last thought.... this too shall pass.

Okay.... so to my daughter.... I love you. You're a great mommy and I do not want your job at my age. However, I will ALWAYS be here for you. And... I will eat for you when needed!! (bad). The middle son is missing his wife and baby Maddy as they make their visit to Missouri to see her family (his Mother's Day gift to her) and I'm glad he lives near his brother so they can spend time together. I know his brother is loving it. And thank you Stacy for being so good about everyone popping in. Jeremy (the oldest son) informed me John Wooden died tonight. A poopy end to a poopy day. That said, I know there are a lot of people who had much worse days than we did. Like Wooden's family.

What a giant. I got to see him in person when they inducted him into the Hall of Fame here. He is just my idol. I have stolen so much from him as a coach. His methods work-- my trophies and state championship are small evidence. His own record is the large, undeniable evidence. I will never forget his sock talk, first 30 min. of practice the same, his pyramid, and his dedication to God. What a giant.

So food seemed pretty minor today. Rello and I had scrambled eggs and toast w/butter spray for breakfast. I also had some cantaloupe. I gave him a bath and we headed to town with his mommy and baby Kayson. He was elated that we included stopping at his cousins in our travels again today. I know we are very boring company when he gets home because we are not his cousins. We went to Wal-mart to get purified water for the baby bottles and the evil McDonalds is inside. Rellie spotted it immediately and knew that Shrek toys were in the happy meal. He's 2...... I caved and got him the happy meal w/chicken nuggest, juice, evil fries, and a Shrek toy I didn't even recognize with flaming red hair. Must be from the new Shrek. I ordered a chicken sandwich and ate it with only one side of the bun (the side without the mayo) and some fries. It was a stress day. My daugther had a parfait and some chicken nuggets.

When we got home later in the day I made spaghettie with whole wheat noodles. I also made a green spinach salad with apples, carrots, craisins, and cucumbers. Rello ate some spaghetti and had his tapioca pudding. Him and grandpa are tapioca fanatics. I also had 4 oz. of pop thanks to Sam I am. Thanks Sam! :) I still appreciate you though and it's always fun to have you over to visit Mandy. You two still seem like you're in high school when you're together (they're eating movie snacks and watching a movie as I type this). It's good to maintain positive relationships that don't detract from your grown-up responsibilities. Sam is great with the kids and she will be a great mommy some day.

The husband will be here tomorrow night. Hooray! Rello can sleep on his head and I get homemade chocolate chip cookies on Sunday! His daughter misses him too. She always was a daddy's girl. I will have to hide Rello's tapioca from him though. :D

Today's Food Intake: (stress eating included at no extra charge--except calories)

BREAKFAST: 1 scrambled egg w/spinach (90), 1 piece of WW toast w/butter spray (100), 1cup of cubed cantaloupe (50)
SNACK: Wheatables (140)
LUNCH: McDonald's McChicken sandwich minus 1/2 bun and no mayo and a small fry (500)
SNACK: Banana (90)
DINNER: WW Spagehtti w/hamburger and Ragu sauce (325-350) and spinach salad w/apples, craisins, carrots, cucumbers and low-fat ranch (100), 4 oz of pop (75)

Total Calories Today=1500

And on that note.... I'm going to count my blessings that I didn't hit 2000 calories on such a stress day and I'm going to go do my squats and crunches.

DON'T EAT BEFORE EXERCISING

Read a great article today. Recent studies suggest taht exercising on an empty stomach (assuming you're healthy of course) has a lot of benefits. Your body actually burns more fat during the workout. Muscles get their energy from carbs so in the past some athletes (myself included) were encouraged to down some carbs before a game/event. However the new research shows that if you don't eat before the event or workout, your body is forced to burn fat instead because the carbs aren't there to burn. Furthermore, it could help with blood sugar.

"If you exercise after fasting your adrenalin is high and your insulin is low," said Peter Hespel, professor of exercise physiology at the University of Leuven in Belgium. "That ratio is favorable for your muscles to oxidize (break down) more fatty acids." Hespel recommends people do this kind of training beofre breakfsat, since eating carbs interrupts the process of metabolizing fat for abotu 6 hours afterward. He also thinks this could help people with problems like diabetes because exercising without eating produces muscles that are better at absorbing glucose which is important for preventing diabetes. He theorized that it would also help diabetics control their insulin levels.

I have to mention though that while it's a major breakthrough in understanding gluclose and insulin control through exercise, that the study also said the athletes who didn't eat before their event or workout burned more fat, but they also performed worse. So..... if you're looking to help your diabetes or you're not competing, I think it's very noteworthy. The article was put out by the AP (Associated Press) with Maria Cheng as the author.

DAY 148- Healthier Eating Journal

My day began at 4am with a two-year-old crawling in bed with me and planting his chubby cheeks right next to mine. He must have had a bad dream because I was not allowed to turn my head or eyes until he fell asleep. Then I escaped back to my side of the bed. At 6am he woke back up and went to see if mommy was awake with baby Kayson. That lasted about an hour then he was back patting me on the hand and telling me to "get up grandma". He even pulled back the covers for me..... so much for sleeping in on my first day of summer break. I scrambled him some eggs and made him some toast, but I had Frosted Mini-Wheats because I wanted to start off my day with some fiber.

After breakfast he wanted to go see his cousins at Jeremy's house. So.... I loaded him up and we went to get the other boys. They played while I ran a few errands then I made my daughter come with me and we took them to ice cream at a little ice cream shop in a town the same size as ours.... but we don't have an ice cream shop in our town. Rello loves any type of berry ice cream. Tucker is plain vanilla no matter how many choices and Bryton wanted oreo cookie ice cream-- which he wore everywhere including up his nose by the time he finished it. Speaking of "up his nose"..... Tucker informed us that his sister had stuck popcorn kernels up his nose a couple nights ago and he was scared cuz they wouldn't come out. Hmmmmmmm. Luckily mommy got the tweezers and got them out.

After ice cream we took the boys back home, picked up some groceries, then came home to fix dinner. I made grilled zucchini, squash and shrimp along with corn on the cob and 1/4 cup of brown rice. I knew there'd be cake or something fattening at the baby shower so I tried to eat light for dinner. Sure enough.... cheesecake. I had a very thin slice but I'm sure it was still 300 calories. The baby shower was fun. I have never seen so many people at a baby shower quite honestly. They just kept coming. People here have just gone out of their way to make us feel welcome. They really are amazing, caring people. They certainly have given me a lot to think about as we decide about where we will buy or build a house if we ever sell our other two on the other side of the state. Great time to buy..... bad time to sell. At least the husband and I will be in the same town again.... that's what's important.

I feel like taking care of any grandkids under the age of 6 should count as an exercise program of it's own. I'm confident I burned some calories today. Now I know why I was so dang skinny when my kids were little.


TOTAL FOOD INTAKE TODAY:

BREAKFAST: Frosted Mini-Wheats (230)
Snack: Banana (90)
LUNCH: 1/2 Tuna Sandwich and Cheetohs (300)
Snack: Baby Ice cream cone (150-200)
DINNER: 8 small shrimp (25) , grilled zucchini and squash (25), corn on the cob (60) 1/4 cup of brown rice (75)
Baby Shower Food: Thin slice of Cheesecake (300)

Total Calories Today: 1300

DAY 147- Healthier Eating Journal

I am now officially less than 30 days from reaching my New Year's goal. I wanted to lose 20 pounds and I've done that, but I revamped that to getting down to 140, so I still have a few pounds to go by July 1st. I also wanted to blog daily about my journey to eating differently and losing weight and I've done that too. I am proud of myself because it hasn't been easy. I will say though, that I may have quit several times along the way if I didn't have to sit down and face this blog every night. The accountability factor has been all the difference in me sticking to it.

Speaking of that.... I did much better today. I knew we would be having an end-of-year fiesta lunch today so I only had a 90 calorie fiber one bar for breakfast and a small banana (80) for a morning snack. I made my taco with chicken, 1 tblsp of rice, 1 tblsp of beans, lettuce, tomato, 1 tblsp of avacado, 1 tblsp of sour cream and I didn't eat the shell (220-250). I also had 1/2 cup of fresh sliced strawberries (20) and a sour lemonade slushy (120). Oh, and probably 6 chips w/salsa (80).

It was a nice last day with friends/faculty. I work with some exceptional teachers and staff members who are the kind of people I want to hang out with outside of work. I'm reminded of the Donny Osmond song about a few bad apples don't spoil the whole bunch. Something like that. My sister was the Donny Osmond fan.... not me. Anyway, I felt a little like the kids today saying goodbye on the last day. Sad.

After school it was still pouring rain and I started feeling like I was in Oregon because everything's turning so green. Don't have to worry about when to water the lawn, but you have to have that umbrella with you everywhere you go. I'm hoping the sun comes out tomorrow so we can enjoy our first day off. The ladies from our church are throwing the daughter a baby shower tomorrow so I'm worried there will be homemade breads and cookies there (they're elderly ladies). I think I'll ride my bike tomorrow before the shower just in case. That way.... I can eat it without guilt. See.... that's planning ahead. Do not mock me Kali.

So for dinner we had some grilled chicken cut up (140) and I had a small baked potato with butter spray and sour cream (100). Later I checked my fiber and decided I needed a little more so I had another fiber one bar (90). Thank you Mandy for stocking me up on those. Rello is ready to go fishing. He likes to go "catfishin" in the river, but it's been raining too much. Maybe we'll go tomorrow if the sun ever comes out. Anne (daughter-in-law) flew to Missouri today to visit her family while Jas works in summer school. We will miss her sweet spirit and baby Maddy will get to see her other grandparents. Glad they got there safely.

Total Food Intake Today:

BREAKFAST: Fiber One Bar (90)
SNACK: Sm. Banana (80)
LUNCH: Taco without shell, lemonade smoothie, 1/2 cup of sliced strawberries, 6 chips w/salsa (450)
SNACK: Fiber One Bar (90)
DINNER: Grilled chicken (140) and a small baked potato w/butter spray and sour cream (100)

Total Calories Today- 1000-1100