Window Treatments!!!

A HUGE big thank you goes to this guy!

We have been in our new home 9 months now. And the only windows that have curtains is my sons room and that's because the previous owners left them!

Yep, I'm that bad!

This is the DR area bay window! I love all the natural light that comes in this window while we are eating dinner!

Sorry for the dark photo! Our lil Christmas tree is showing! We put our 4 foot tree in there this year!

Look at the the new window treatments!

Don't they look awesome? Now I don't have any special talent so my cousins are going to come to fix them, fluff them or whatever they need!

Thanks babe! They sure make our home look even more beautiful! 

2014 will hold lots of remodels for us. Our home was move in ready, but we are adding things that we like and such. 

We will be painting the DR room next as well as E mans room, and the kids bathroom upstairs!

My hopes Is for a nice area rug for the LR, I have my eye on a beautiful one at Pier 1! 

We will be ordering and framing the boys pics that are in black and white for the LR too!

Holiday weight loss

Today I weighed in, and I'm down 3 lbs from the 6 I gained. So not bad. 

I was hoping it would be more. So that means to meet my Jan. goal I have the rest of the month to lose 6 more lbs!

I'm pretty sure I can make that happen!

I love a new workout shirt and thanks to my Kohl's cash I got this one!

I like it alot and these tight fitting shirts now fit!!

Before I headed to the gym tonight I ran into Krogers and I saw these lil guys on sale for a quarter each! They are holiday flavors but I don't mind! I haven't had these flavors before but I've had others. They are very filling, and good!

They are very filling and will get me thru to lunch with no problem. I still eat a few veggies on my break. I always take a mix of broccoli, carrots and cauliflower with me on most days!

I'm hoping to be down 2 more lbs by Friday-yes like in 2 days from now. I can make it happen!!!

My wonderful, wonderful hubs hung my curtain things tonight, so pics to come for tomorrow!

Pictures to share

I'm not sure what is up with my computer in our office but I can now blog from my iPhone again, which is a huge help!

I don't really like turning on the old dinosaur to blog. But I will need to proofread the blog before publishing. 

Here are some pictures I've wanted to share!

This was my first and last attempt to make fudge. My mother makes the best and mine was a huge fail

The next picture is my moms bourbon slush recipe!

Best stuff ever! We only make this at Christmas time, but that might have to change!

Recipe:

10 ozs of frozen OJ concentrate 

12 ozs of frozen lemonade concentrate

1 cup of sugar

2 tea bags steeped in 2 cups of water

In a large bowl pour hot tea over first 3 ingredients in a large bowl, stir until sugar melts or dissolve sugar in hot tea then pour over concentrates. Add 1 1/2 cups of bourbon. Put in a freezer safe bowl and freeze 24 hours before serving. Scoop it out and pour sprite or diet sprite over the top!! So yummy!

Obviously fudge and bourbon slush aren't 'diet friendly' so here are a few that are!

This is my taco salad that I blogged about in the last post! That bowl was too full, and only 290 ish calories. That's not counting the salsa or peppers, but a very filling meal!

Next up is my grilled cheese that I also referenced in the last post!

This meal comes in around 300 calories as well! I'm so full when I eat this! 

It was so good I ate it again today for lunch!

I'm home and ready to give baths and pray that we get the 4 inches that is predicted for tomorrow!

Hopefully I can show you the dinning room window treatments tomorrow!

A huge thanks to my cousin Stacey and the bestest aunt in the world Amelia for giving them to me! They are beautiful and my aunt made them so they are super special to me!

Eye on the Prize-Focusing on my goal

***I still can't upload pictures, I'm going to have the husband see what is up*** My iphone is at capacity so when he gets it working you are going to see lots and lots of pics!

I definitely have my eye on the prize! Obviously there is no "prize" to lose 20 more lbs as of right now.

Wed is our initial weigh-in at work, the goal is to lose 10% of your weight in 12 weeks, I've already started, I wanted to wait, but I didn't want those 5 holiday pounds to turn into 10 before we started, so I will just have to work super hard to accomplish my goals!

Ofcourse a "prize" would be buying all new clothes, because right now my dress pants are soooooo sloppy looking! I bought a pair of 14's the other day, and they fit perfect, I love them! I had some size 14 jeans, but I need more dress pants! I may go to the consignment store tomorrow after my lil guys game, I don't want to pay much for them because I hope in a couple of months they will be too big! :)

My goal for summer would be a 10/12, hopefully a 10, because I should hit a size 12 this Spring, just in time for shorts! 

I would love to be smaller then a 10/12, but realistically once I get there, I'm probably going to go into maintenance phase.

I just want to be at a healthy weight, and when I wore a 10, way back in the day (think 20 years ago) I was around 15-16 years old, you know when girls wore belly shirts-scary for sure! ha! And yes I wore them, they were very popular when I was in middle school! I can remember being small enough to wear sports bras to softball tournaments and taking off my game shirt, and only walking around between games in a sports bra, in public around a ton of people. 

I doubt I will ever get back into a bikini again-yep wore one of those too, ok I will get reminiscing, lol!

This week I've done great!

Here are today's eats:

Breakfast

35 bread toasted with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter-165 calories

Lunch

9 tortilla chips-140 cals

1/2 cup of refried beans-110 cals

2 tablespoons of light sour cream-40 cals

total cals 290 cals

I put all of this in a bowl with lettuce, tomatoes, onion, salsa, cayenne pepper,

jalepeno's, I know the toppings might have had 20-30 cals in them but since they are 

zero points on Weight Watchers I'm counting them zero

Snack

160 calorie bag of chips

150 calorie betty crocker single serve chocolate molten cake

Total cals 310

Dinner

grilled cheese on 35 bread w/2 pieces of cheese 190 cals-loaded with lettuce and onion!

15 great value frozen fries 120 cals

3 tollhouse mini break n bake 150 cals

Total cals 460

GRAND TOTAL CALS: 1225

Total example of being prepared! today my kids were treated to the bakery and I didn't sample one thing!

I got to eat a single serve piece of cake and 3 mini chocolate chip cookies, a diet with cookies..................say what?

I wasn't hungry one bit today, matter of fact I'm full and almost miserable right now! I do like something small that is sweet after my dinner, I think it signals my brain that I'm finished eating for the day! I don't know but it works!

I did do the elliptical for 15 mins today and burned 197 calories doing that and like 68 calories for walking 10 mins on my afternoon break! so once that is added in MFP says I consumed 1081 cals today. I can have 1220. so I have 119 to spare, yay! :) I won't feel bad if I go over by 119 tomorrow-it works its-self out in the end.

Crane is on board with me too, so that is so very helpful. we work together, take breaks together, complain together, and eat lunch together, so one of us can't be downing a 1200 calorie lunch while the other one is sticking to around 250-350 calorie lunch!

Sunday is going to be challenging, because we are having friends over for my speciality-lasagna, I will have to do extra good tomorrow, so I can splurge a lil Sunday night!

Excited to see where this goes!

Reflecting on 20*13

2013 held lots of good things for my family and myself! 2013 also held lots of sad memories for us as well!

This year we lost the greatest dad/grandfather ever in the history of the world-no joke!
Ok, apparently we are going to do this post without pictures. SIGH

In 2013 we lost my Dad, Uncle, Great Aunt, and 3 pets! My dad's dog (literally grieved herself to death), our family pet, and my inlaws family Pet! That's alot to deal with and explain to my lil tots!

Even thru all the grief, lots of great things happened in 20*13

*I got to spend a ton of time with my dad, a big/huge thanks to my husband
*We bought our dream home & my dad got to see it right before we closed on it and approved of it :-)
*We celebrated our boys birthdays (thankfully) every year their big day is soooo special to me!
*We had one of the boys start 2nd grade, which is a HUGE deal-big transition from 1st!
*We had one child start the K4 class-his last year of pre-school at the Christian Academy
*We were able to go on 2 vacations-1 to Jelly Stone Campground, and 1 to Wilderness of the Smokies
*We bought a new minivan for this momma
*We were able to purchase new things for our home!
*I got a promotion at work
*The boys got to go to Neyland Stadium for a game-huge deal for the boys
*One of the boys is playing indoor winter baseball-huge step for him, playing with other kids he had never        met before
*We celebrated Christmas and the REAL meaning of the Season-Jesus' Birthday
*I got to Scrapbook with some friends this year, and I absolutely LOVE every minute of it!
*My photography business was very successful this year, and we are very thankful!
*Our family, stayed healthy, happy, and safe!-This is mine and the boys prayers everyday!
*My hubs was able to work OT-which is always nice, and very much so appreciated!
*All my prayers were answered for daddy to have a safe shift at work, he is a fireman, and I worry                 everytime he leaves the house for work. I know most of the time his job is safe, however, he was shot at       this year while on an EMS run, luckily the bullet hit the ambulance and not him. I do know it takes one bad   run to go to crap very easily and someone is hurt or dead. VERY THANKFUL for him!
*The hubs and I celebrated 8 years of marriage! I can't wait to celebrate another 80 years with that                  wonderful man! :)
*One kiddo played soccer for the 2nd season and had a great time!
*I lost weight, I've been so up and down, I don't exactly know how many lbs I've lost total this year, I will       document better in 20*14, but I have lost 34.5 lbs total.
*This year I have gone down 2 sizes in pants-I will take that!
*This year I added 2 more 5 K's to my "Run like a girl plaque", I typically do 1-5K race a year, this year I      added 2 more.
*Nana has spent alot of time with us, and my boys fell in love with her even more this year! To have a very     involved grandparent is priceless!

I know this can't be all of the great things that happened in 20*13 but it's a great list. There is always more good then bad, and I like to focus on the good!

Today happens to be my great Aunt Eleanor's birthday! I know she and my dad are having a great time in Heaven and are awaiting our arrival!

We are ending our year, healthy, happy, and safe! For that I'm very thankful!

Updates

I was hoping to do a reflection on 2013, but it won't let me upload pictures for some reason, so I will go with plan B!

I fell off the diet band wagon one week before the final weigh-in, I did great, I lost 8 lbs, any loss to me is great, but I know had I not screwed up the week prior, I would have won 2nd place. Lots of people quit the challenge after Thanksgiving, and I did great thru Thanksgiving, then Christmas parties and such hit, and life got busy with shopping, wrapping, cooking, and planning, that I didn't even go to the gym!

So now I'm making up for that 5 lbs weight gain, I've lost 34.5 total pounds, so if I fluctuate between up 5 and down 5, I'm really ok with that.
I've lost 4 pants sizes, and plan to lose 1.5 more sizes, so I'm good with that!

The next weight loss challenge at work is to lose 10% of your body weight in 12 weeks, which is really hard to do, but a very attainable goal. So that's what I'm shooting for! The initial weigh-in is Jan 8th, but I have already started my diet and exercise plan today. I ate around 1550 calories today, that's a little more then I want to eat each day, I'd like to see each day around 1300 total calories, but being the first day back on, I will take the 1550. My fridge is stocked and I'm ready for this week, lots of veggies and fruits, and low cal things!

I'm excited to get our house back in order from Christmas, I hope to work on that tomorrow. I did go thru some of the boys clothes, and I have 3 bags of stuff to donate, which is nice to help clear out the clutter, and I know a family that could use them, so a win win situation for all of us!

Tomorrow is a special day, it's my Aunt Eleanor's Birthday, this year she will celebrate in Heaven with my dad, and lots of other special people! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELEANOR!!!
I will be thinking of my cousins tomorrow too, I'm sure it will be a hard day for them, reflecting and thinking about their mom!

Tomorrow is also Ashley's Bday, which we will celebrate on Wed, with spaghetti dinner at the in-laws!

I'm looking forward to 2014 and more so looking forward to losing an additional 20 lbs!

I hear there may be a wedding announcement on my husband's side of the family in 2014, and I want to bust out a super cute dress for the wedding, 2 sizes smaller then what I wear right now! Wish me luck!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRIENDS...................

I am super blessed with these 3 ladies in my life! Ali Ray and I have been friends for around 12 years now, Rachel and I are cousins and we have been close for years, and Crane is my newest of the three friends, who I see the most, everyday Mon-Fri!

I missed Ali Ray's bday celebration, and I'm sad about that, always a good time, but I'm sure we can make up for it soon!
Crane's bday lunch is tomorrow, so I'm excited to take her to Mexican for lunch, (hey it was her pick) we have agreed to share the nachos, no side dishes and have limited ourselves to 15-20 chips a piece, that should put us around 700 calories. So tomorrow I have a date with the elliptical until I burn 400 calories on that bad boy!
Rachel's bday is Friday, and I don't think we are going to get to meet up, but possibly on Sat. we shall see!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL 3 OF YOU!!!!!!

I'm blessed far beyond what I deserve to be for sure!

Just a lil update, our weigh-in is over Tuesday, so I may have plans to hit the gym a couple times a day this weekend, I really want to be able to drop another 4 lbs, but we shall see! The reward in my clothes is awesome and the cash reward will come in handy for Christmas!

I will post results as soon as the final weigh-in gets here! Right now I have lost 5% of my body weight, so I really can't complain!

Tonight was a hard night, my boys chose pizza night, so I ate a Mcdees salad and one piece of pizza, followed by a Miller Lite, I call that an awesome night! :-)

Now it's time for the WILDCATS to come on! I'm ready to watch some basketball with my boys, make popcorn, and watch the season finale of Chicago Fire!