My new motto........

DON'T expect RADICAL results without RADICAL changes!

A lil backstory! I had gotten down to my lowest weight right before Christmas! I ate whatever I wanted for about 10 days, I knew I'd gain a pound or two. 

I stepped on the scale on Dec 28th and I had gained 6 lbs! 

It had taken me from Dec 28th until today to lose all 6 lbs!

I was working out some and eating around 1600 calories and just couldn't figure out why I wasn't losing any of the weight!

So this week I stayed a tad longer at the gym, and have faithfully stayed under 1350 calories. Which is what I needed to drop those 6 lbs!

Last Friday was my free day. I only had 800 calories until dinner and I would guess I ate around 500, and then had a small shake from McDees and a hot chocolate at 3 am on my drive home from all night scrapbooking. So that goes to show that a free meal doesn't hurt you if you do it once a week! 

I was starting to get discouraged, but I kept tracking my calories and my exercise and it paid off. It's nice to see the scales go down!

Seeing this at Walmart tonight will keep me motivated to keep going!

Bathing suits out in Jan? I was super shocked to already see these out!

I really need a new one before our beach trip to Florida this summer!

While I was at Walmart I grabbed some things to make for lunch tomorrow!

I think this looks super yummy! The potato is small so it's a 100 calories. The mushrooms are zero. Sautéed in calorie free butter with garlic salt on them and the broccoli I steamed. I do realize the mushrooms and broccoli do have some calories, but less then 50, so I don't even count it! The sour cream is 40 calories and the cheese is 60, for a grand total of 200, or 250 if I count the veggies. 

That Tupperware plate is full. And it's yummy. I don't consider any of that diet food. I will be excited for lunch tomorrow! 

I'm going to try to set my phone alarm to get up early in the morning to workout. I really want to start working out in the mornings, rather then at night. I hate to miss family time!

I'm now back to the smallest weight I've been in ten years. The scales always seem to stop moving at this point!

My goal on Jan 1st was to be 3 lbs lighter then I am now at the end of the month! I have a full two weeks to lose 3 lbs. that's a very attainable goal!

I'm hoping to buy an elliptical sometime around March. I will then give up my gym membership. I will miss the bike and treadmill, but will be so nice on busy nights, to just jump on my own machine!

I'm heading to bed and wishing for a couple of inches of snow ;/)

Ninja Turtle Party

Tonight I started making the piñata for the party! Yes, I'm that cheap. I won't pay 20 bucks for something I can make at home with the kids! 

I started out with two circles I cut from a thick cardboard box!

This was pretty easy and I actually cut it out with a knife! Then I use a less sturdy cardboard for the sides. Like a cereal box. I cut it the width I need it and apply it to the circles with masking tape!

I then used a glue stick on the entire circle and covered it with one piece of green tissue paper!

It doesn't have to be smooth or perfect because you are going to cover it again. 

I did cover front and back with one piece of tissue paper!

I took the second sheet of tissue paper, and cut long strips, then I cut fringes on those strips. The secret to this is start at the bottom and layer each strip. I used one piece of tissue paper for this and one strip off of a third piece, so 3 pieces of tissue paper total!

Ofcourse I tied a string in the top and taped from the inside of the box. I also did the same for the bottom. Typically I fill them from the top and the kids use a bat to swing at them, this year I decided to go with the 'pull string' type. So once I filled it with all of these goodies

I punched a hole in the bottom and ran the pull string in thru the box. I had to tie about 6 knots in this string to make it sturdy enough to not pull thru the hole and big enough that when the child pulls on it, it will tear the bottom out so the candy falls!

See all of the goodies above?

I paid 4 bucks for the candy and gum, all of the cars items which was 95% off cost me 50 cents at Walmart in a sale cart! It was packaged liked this

8 boxes of 8 toys in each box. So I opened them to make more toy prizes. So the piñata is holding 64 Cars toys, candy, the girlie bracelets and such were a 7.99 party pack I got for a quarter! They were also marked down and I bought those two years ago! I always grab this kind of sale items. They r small enough to store and are too cheap to pass up!

The scooby doo bands/bracelets were also a quarter for a 4 pack! So the contents of the piñata cost me less then 6 bucks, I don't think that's bad at all!

The piñata cost me 2 bucks for the tissue paper, and I already had the glue, and card stock. 

So now the piñata with the fringe looks like this!

I didn't realize that picture was a lil blurry!

I had to add 20 strings so there are enough for each kid to pull atleast one string!

Here is a picture of the piñata and the bday invite, side by side!

I'm pleased with how it turned out! Here is another picture!

My baby boy is happy with it and that's all that matters!

Next project is to get my embroidery lady to make him a shirt that matches!!

I'm sure this is the last year he will wear a matching shirt to his themed party!!!

We had a fun night making this!

Today's fun things

We have had alot of fun today! The boys have been able to be outside alot, which is great, but dummy me swept and mopped the floors and they tracked in mud! Oh well, being a boy mom is fun even with the mud!

I started out doing some scrapbook pages! Here is a layout!

I have to add the mats and the photos but I like this layout! I typically use plain paper backgrounds so I'm trying to get a lil more creative! I also finished a preschool layout for E man!

Bre has requested a ninja turtle party, with Michael Angelo being the star turtle so, today I practiced my cake making skills! I am by no means a cake decorator but I have alot of fun making the boys cakes if they aren't too hard! 

Here is what I did today!

I was just practicing with this one so the real cake, will have a deeper green color and the icing will be more smooth, and I will fill in the eyes as well! I was practicing with the fondant which turned out great! Not to hard at all! The boys were ready to devour this before I was finished!

We also went to Brennan's bday party! Lots of fun, great food (I didn't eat any) and a pretty Mickey cake! Bre had alot of fun and didn't want to leave! Thanks for inviting us Brennan! Happy Birthday!

I'm ready for a relaxing night!

Vegetarian Chili

Doesn't this look yummy!

The whole pan has 550 calories in it!

That's two really big serving bowls full for 225 each! 

I used one can of medium chili beans

1 cup of fire roasted tomatoes

1 cup of tomato juice

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of chili powder

I topped my chili with 1/4 cup of shredded cheese and 5 saltine crackers! This is a very hearty bowl of chili! 

I typically made my chili with spaghetti noodles, but every since Sarah made it for me like this, I now use the above recipe and I don't even miss the noodles!

And since this was so low calorie and I went to the gym this morning, my 4 yr old and I shared this!

S'mores are so much better under the broiler then the campfire! Those are about 115 calories a piece! Not to bad to finish the night with!

Today was a great day for me and for staying on track. Yesterday was my free day and I really took advantage! I went to an all night scrapbook class and had a great time but had a small shake from McDees while I was there and grabbed a small non-fat hot chocolate for the ride home! Hey-no judging, it was 3am and pouring down rain!

Tomorrow I hope to share with you my goodies I got at the scrapbook store! They are running a 40% off right now, so I picked up two new albums, with my gift cards money from last Christmas!

Wish me luck tomorrow, we are attending a birthday party, I'm hoping not to eat a thing while I'm there!

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!