The Day Ran Away With Me

Today was an absolute whirlwind.  I didn't think that I went to bed terribly late last night, but apparently my body believed I did.  I overslept.  I overslept big time.  I didn't get up until 11:00 am!  I felt like I was back in college on the weekend or something (note I wrote weekend as if I never overslept on a weekday when in college).  

I recall the alarm going off at least once, and I figured I really didn't want to jump up yet.  I seriously must have fallen into a black hole because I did not wake up again until my husband started moving around.  That part isn't totally rare.  He has no problem with getting up early on a  Saturday.  This is a good thing because I usually can't oversleep too much because he is so noisy.  This time, he also was off in slumber land. 


The day was spent watching football and going through magazines.  I was pretty proud of the dent I made in my magazine pile.  I am a real clutterbug with my magazines, and I know my husband appreciates when I get through some serious piles.  I must have read and clipped my way through six.  There were some great articles, and one of them was about being thankful.  It inspired me to start to focus on things I am thankful for.


Now don't let this make you think that I haven't been thankful for what I have and what I have been blessed with.  I am.  I try to make a point to thank God for the blessings he had given me and the fortunate experiences I have had, but I just verbally do this.  So I thought I would make a point of doing that every day at the end of every post.  I think it will be a great way to end a post and also a day.

I also read about weight loss.  One of the articles I read mentioned how it is good to recognize good things about yourself and your accomplishments every day.  It is so easy for us to bash ourselves.  It is so easy for us to see our imperfections and focus on them rather than realize we have good things that we should focus on.  There is nothing wrong with being proud of yourself even over the little things.  So another thing I will spend some time doing is writing two good things about myself each and every day.  This will be what I have done or just something about me.


Three things I am thankful for today.


1- I am thankful that I finally accepted a friend request from a person on Facebook who had an alias.  It turned out to be a very old friend of mine, and I am really stoked about having the opportunity to see how she is doing.


2- I am thankful that the Hawaiian pizza I made tonight turned out well in spite of the fact that the dough I made was so sticky that I had to keep adding flour to it.


3- I am thankful for my wonderful husband and family.  

 I am patting myself on the back today for:


1- Going through my coupons today and pulling out all the old ones.


2- Making pizza from scratch today and using up more leftovers as toppings.  This means that ultimately I have saved my family money!  Yay me!


You know what?  It is nice focusing on the good.  I look forward to continuing this.  :)

OOOH!!!!!  I almost forgot!  I found the verse I am going to memorize in the upcoming week.  I wanted desperately to memorize a verse each week, but I just couldn't find one.  I finally have one, soooo I will start a little late.  I'll post it tomorrow.  I'm so stoked, and pretty proud of myself for taking another step forward in my study of the Word.  :)

Quick Check

I really wanted to spend some time posting today, but something came up.  Nothing major, but I need to put more attention to that than this posting. 


I will stop and say that I read a really good devotional today through YouVersion.com.  It involved prayer.  I am realizing more and more how important it is to bring EVERYTHING to God. 


Sometimes I feel like I am talking to a wall when I talk to my son.  I realize now that I simply have got to give him over to God.  I am not in control.  He loves me (my son), but he doesn't listen to me.  He is a great kid, but still there are things that he needs to work on.  I am not going into this personal side of my life, because it involves him.  I will say that I am going to be praying.  A LOT.

Finding Time And My Goals Thus Far

I have come to realize that I need to find more time in my day.  There are so many things I want to do, but I never seem to have the time to get to them all.  Certainly I have the same hours in the day as everyone else, and I definitely have the same hours in the day that I have always had, but I swear I don't have the time I once had.  I don't get it.


I have a friend who is a pharmacist.  She works for various pharmacies all over Arizona.  When she isn't working she knits blankets for the local Community Pregnancy Center and is always working on refinishing something in her home.  Seriously the woman tells me what she is up to, and I instantly feel like I need a nap!


I am thinking about doing a dayrunner kind of thing.  I think if I literally plan the hours of my day, I just might get a better handle on what time I have and what is reasonable to expect myself to do.  It works for what I eat and it works for the cash I spend.  It just may be what I need for my schedule.  Here's hoping anyway.


Dieting or learning to eat right seems to be going well.  I have yet to weigh myself this month, because I am trying not to depress myself.  I know that sounds lame, because really it is a good idea to know where you start, but I haven't had the courage to step on the scale.  I have been doing well with my eating though.  I have been faithful to posting my calorie intake at My Fitness Pal AND (and I am really happy about this), I have been working out at the gym every day.  I am multitasking when I work out as well.  I bring my Nook with me and get in a good hour of reading every day thanks to it.


Finances are going well too.  I am writing down every dime I spend and keeping all the receipts so I can keep track of spending and saving.  It will be nice to see how things flow in the next few months.  I am making more things from scratch in order to save more money.  So far it has been pretty fun.  I am not savvy like many people, but so far I have been pretty proud of my efforts.  I have made my own pizza dough (a big deal for me) and I have also made granola bars!  It is all baby steps.


Not being a big snarko is going well too.  I am being more purposeful when I drive.  I have been actually praying for drivers as I drive, and that pretty much keeps me on a good even keel.  I have found myself not being so annoyed when someone drives a little nutty (and here that happens a lot!).


My Bible reading is going well.  I am able to focus some time in the word.  It isn't as much as I would like yet, which makes me realize that I will definitely have to schedule this study time into my day as well.  I definitely enjoy a devotional in the morning, but that is not the only study I want to get into.  I want to really write God's word on my heart.


All in all, I am not unhappy with the way my New Year's goals are progressing so far.  I feel good about the decisions I made and the idea of making a set of goals and not resolutions. 

HAD A BAD DAY

Have you ever had one of those days where you just can't seem to get on the other side of a funk?  That was me today.  I do not have any idea why, but I kept feeling horrendous today. I cried.  I would stop.  Then I would pick back up again.  I cannot begin to tell you how hard it is to answer phones and be perky when you are crying.  The amazing thing is that I somehow managed to keep it all to myself.  Well not entirely.  I did text a dear friend and asked her to pray for me.  Other than that, I was all smiles when needed.  Those prayers helped as did this verse that I stumbled upon later in the day:


“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me."  John 14:1


I clung to that verse and rewrote it in my little "worry book" (I write my concerns in it when they hit).   Eventually, the pain and sadness, the depression and confusion...

just left.

God is so good. 

The Joy Of Watching What You Eat

I hate dieting.  I  hate dieting tips. I hate dieting books.  I hate the whole idea.  I think that most of us now really don't slap our foreheads when we hear dieting tips.  I know I have a pretty good handle on what I should be eating and what I shouldn't be eating.  The thing is...I may know it, but do I care? 


What I know:




I know that a candy bar is going to taste great and offer nothing else for me.  It smells good, tastes good, and is sticky and sweet.  When I eat a chocolate bar, I savor it, I enjoy it, and five minutes after I eat it, I will not necessarily want another one, but I will not feel satisfied.  If I am trying to lose weight I will most likely feel angry and annoyed with myself for eating what I shouldn't.  I will probably be upset with myself for not staying away from all that chocolatey goodness.  The worst thing that I could do is feel so bad that I eat more garbage.  I am soooooo good at that!  I don't know about you, but when I blow something, I really feel like blowing it all the way. 


I know that I should not drink my calories.  I hate not drinking my calories!  I love coffee!  Seriously love it.  I think coffee is the bee's stinkin' knees.  Sadly, I love coffee with cream and sugar.  Well...half & half and sugar.  Four tablespoons of half & half in my coffee adds 80 calories add two teaspoons of sugar and BOOM 32 more calories!  GRRRRRRR.  I don't care about any other high calorie drinks, but if I am going to try to lose weight, I cannot do it by enjoying coffee like I once did.  I can either learn to enjoy my coffee black (oh doesn't that sound exciting?) or give it up altogether.  The jury is still out on that.  I do enjoy Green Mountain's Wild Blueberry coffee, and I can drink it with stevia.  I may (don't bet on it yet) try to drink that and tea and see how things go. 


I know that the more colorful the foods are that I eat, the better they are for me.  Again this is one of those no brainers, but I don't really get jazzed over the color of my plate.  I don't think "Oh my goodness those red peppers sure make my salad pop.  Everything looks so bright and delicious!"  Maybe I should.  This is not to say that I don't like bright colored veggies and a pretty salad, but the fact is...I really have to make myself eat this stuff.  I loved salad, but I am not all charged over it.  I enjoy a lettuce wrap too, but that doesn't mean I will want to eat my burger wrapped in lettuce rather than a bun (I will choose do it though because that is a swap I can handle). 


I know that I need to learn to make healthy choices.  Each choice will bring me closer to my goal.  I also know that I need to have a goal.  I haven't really thought about what I want that goal to be yet.  I better hop on the scale and figure that part out.


I know that I will be tempted.  I know that even though my heart is willing, my flesh is weak.  I know that I do not have to give in to temptation.  When I give in, it is a set back.  When I give in, I get bummed out and am very likely to blow the work that I put in and blow it bad.  I just need to think and think and think before I eat. 


This week I am going to formulate a plan for when things hit.  More about that tomorrow.  :)

Menu Plan Monday - January 2, 2012 to January 8, 2012

Yay!!!!!  It is Menu Plan Monday, and I am so excited.  It has been such a long time since I have participated, and this is the first time on my new blog.  I know that this is definitely going to be a good thing for my family and our budget.  So big thanks to Laura from I'm An Organizing Junkie for keeping all of us inspired! 

Planning a menu can be a bit of a challenge for me.  Wednesdays are a must for something quick and easy or a leftover as I have to work on thrifty tips for Thursday.  Personally I'd rather not take the time to think of this all in one day, but it really does beat worrying about it last minute while on the way home from work.

This month menu planning is going to be vital.  I am not using my credit card to shop with all month, and frankly this scares me a great deal. I am going to try to use primarily what we already have on hand.  In some ways that is quite a bit, but in others...not so much.  This is because a few months ago our refrigerator died and that drastically diminished the food stock I normally would have on hand in the freezer.  Either way...I don't have a choice, because we are trying to keep most spending off of the card for the next few months as we try to tackle the cost of the replacement fridge.  

As far as leftovers go, I have a glut of ham leftover from Christmas, so I am also trying to incorporate that into as many meals as I can think of as well.  Sandwiches for lunches are a good bet, and I have also been lunching on Cobb salads as well minus the turkey, egg, and cheese...ah let's face it,I am eating a lot of ham salads.  I also made Senate bean soup which is now filling up half of my freezer.  I would do scallop potatoes with ham but I find that absolutely gross.  I grew up on rich scallop potatoes and now they just make my stomach turn.  I think a ham and cheese calzone will be just perfect for getting some more ham eaten up.


Honestly, I am just thrilled about getting this going again.  How freeing it is not having to think about dinner EVERY day when I am on the way home.  Now I just need to stick with it. 


Monday - Barbecue Pork Rolls with Spring Mix Salad
Tuesday - Ham & Cheese Calzone (light on the cheese)
Wednesday - Leftover Shredded Pork Enchiladas (Sunday's dinner)
Thursday - Panko Breaded Chicken Spring Mix & Romaine Salad
Friday - Spaghetti and Meatballs
Saturday - Pepperoni Pizza
Sunday - Baja Fish Tacos (with Tilapia)


My husband isn't one for eating leftovers until they are gone so I have been freezing more of our meal portions.  I hope to incorporate those into meals in the future weeks.  :)

Happy New Year!

Well...I am very interested in posting today, but unfortunately I am having a little bit of a focus issue.  My husband is watching Saturday Night Live (recorded from the other day), and it is just totally distracting.  I honestly have typed for over a half hour and have gotten nowhere.  Don't you hate when that happens?


For now I just wish everyone a happy and peaceful new year.  I'll catch up after this show is over.  :)

:)