Weigh-in Update!
faith4jesus247
I've been slacking on my weight progress report lately! Let's get right to it:

Week 5: -0.2 lbs

Week 6: +1.0 lb

To be honest, I was surprised I didn't gain more than a pound last week! I knew week 5 would be a small loss (as week 4 was relatively large), and I ran out of groceries halfway through last week and didn't have time to go get any! So I ended up eating out more than usual. Of course, it didn't help in the slightest that I licked the remaining batter and icing after making the burgers and fries. And THEN I had to try one to make sure they tasted okay...

All that being said - I still feel good about my overall progress. I'm still 9lbs down total, and am back on track with my schedule and refrigerator full of health-conscious foods. Everytime I go to the grocery store, I look for new items to help me get my fruits and veggies in. I'm the worst about those! This week, I got 2 individual packs of Buddy Fruits - one blended, and one "fruit snack" version. Both were NASTTTYYYY! Might be appealing to kids (which I'm sure is who they are intended for!). I found the fruit snack-type pomegranite and acai berry flavor was ridiculously tart and overly sweet. The blended fruit had the consistency of applesauce, but no real distinct fruit flavor. I guess I should just learn to eat the real things, huh?
0 comments | | edit post
Fast Food Fun!
faith4jesus247
I spent a ridiculous amount of time last week creating a fun dessert, just because. I saw the idea, and couldn't wait to try it out myself! We had a church camera scavenger hunt for adults planned for Saturday, and it was the only good excuse I had to make 2 dozen of these awesome burgers for other people.

Baking the "burgers" (made out of cupcakes, brownies, frosting, and sesame seeds) and "fries" (made out of sugar cookies) was nothing compared to the time it took for me to make the boxes and McD's fry holder! Ugh! Hours and hours of cutting, folding, and gluing....I felt like quitting way before I even got to the baking process! I started on Wednesday and working on it in-between work projects and tutoring. I did most of the baking in 2 hours (uses all mixes, of course!). The hardest part was getting the brownie circles to come out cleanly (oops - forgot to spray the pan!)

Overall, it was totally worth the effort. I thought they turned out great, and everybody seemed to loved them. I've even been asked to do these for a church event in May! I'm going to stash this idea away for my kid's kindergarten birthday party someday... :)


2 comments | | edit post
Eric & Jordan
faith4jesus247
I had the pleasure of hosting (what I think to be) Eric's first sleepover! Jordan, an amazing catch even at the age of 3, stayed with Chris and me Saturday night, so that her parents could attend a Christian concert that night.
Eric was smitten. The afternoon began with a trip to the movies to see Tangled in 3D. Both kids did great sitting through the movie, only insisting on a single potty trip throughout the time we were there. Neither child got a nap during the day, as is usual in their routine, so I expected some whiny moments throughout the evening. But they never came! These two new friends played very well together...no fighting or arguing all night! Jordan's mom wanted us to take her out to see the moon (as it was supposed to be the "biggest" moon in 18 years!), so Chris grabbed a rug out of the house, and set them up outside to enjoy the view.

Jordan is telling Eric about the "big bright light" in the sky...


I love Jordan's pose!

Thankfully, the two of them fell asleep pretty quickly after being put to bed on Saturday night. They look well-rested! (Notice their matching blankies - Eric's green and Jordan's pink)

Ready for church!


After church, we all went to Texas Roadhouse for lunch. This is the conversation that ensued in the backseat on the way there. (He calls her "Jornan" instead of Jordan.)

Eric: Jornan. Jornan. Jornan. Jornan.

Jordan: I'm playing a game.

Eric: Jornan. Jornan. Jornan. Jornan.

Jordan: I said I'm PLAYING a game!

Eric: Jornan. Jornan. Jornan.....I just want to talk...

Despite this small conflict in the car, Eric (as every gentleman should) held Jordan's hand through the parking lot, to keep her safe from getting hit by a car. He convinced both me and her parents to let her come back to our house for the afternoon, where they both played away the day as I took a nap.

2 comments | | edit post
Time with Eric
faith4jesus247
I was excited to get to have my nephew, Eric, spend his first weekend with Chris and me! I've had a blast, and have attempted to document our activities thus far. Anything that his mom would not normally let him due usually makes my list of events.

We started off the day doing our hair. He was "warming his hair".


Chris's antique cars were a hit, and Eric enjoyed playing with them throughout the day.


At one point, Eric saw this hat on our shelf and put it on, telling me throughout the day that it was his birthday.



Although, I didn't help by bringing home cake from a baby shower and singing "Happy Birthday" to him. The cake brought him both amusement and concern for his cleanliness.



We finished off the day with a haircut ("It didn't hurt, momma"!) and a healthy snack of rice cakes! :)

1 comments | | edit post
First Wedding Pictures!
faith4jesus247
(It's Spring Break this week - so I have a lot of extra time to blog!)

Sad, but true...Chris and I have not been able to afford getting any of our wedding pictures printed for display in our house. I have canvases and albums designed online to order when we get the money, but unfortunately, there's no proof that we're married hanging at the house. So I decided to go the cheapest route possible to get some wedding pictures - a travel coffee mug! I take coffee to work almost every day, and to church on Sunday if I think about it - what better way to make use of pictures we spent a fortune having a photographer take of us?! I got it in the mail yesterday, and love how it turned out!

0 comments | | edit post
Week 4 Weigh-In
faith4jesus247


I know you all are as eager as I am (or so I'll pretend!) to hear about my weekly weigh-ins!
Week 4's weight loss is: -3.4lbs.
1st month total loss: -9.8lbs.
If I were reading this information on someone else's blog, I'd think "Wow...that's awesome! She's doing great." But when I'm stressing out over every meal, snack, drink, and hour of the day - it's exhausting! Last night I was frustrated with myself for splurging on 3 rice cakes instead of only eating the serving size of 2, and drinking only 6 glasses of water instead of 8. Ridiculous? Yes. I'll be honest and admit when I know I sound totally stupid about sweating the small stuff. But needing to lose 80lbs - it's going to take me at least 7 more months! Whew, that's a long time to think about.
What encourages me most, though, is thinking at the end of the week how many places I ate out during the week - and was still able to lose weight. Let me list last week's restaurants:
  • Subway - twice
  • Luigi's
  • Panera bread
  • Jason's Deli - twice?
  • Chili's
  • Ruby Tuesdays

And let's not forget the trip to the ice cream truck with my nephew on Saturday! :)

3 comments | | edit post
Acting Like an Adult
faith4jesus247
“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector." (Matthew 18:15-17)


I want to scream. Growing up, you constantly hear "We're having an adult conversation", or "Act like an adult!" There was this assumption that when I became "an adult", those my age and older would be "acting like adults". Well it isn't true! I'm so tired of adults acting like children. The game of avoidance and pretend politeness gets old. At this point in my life, I'm convinced "acting like an adult" simply means perfecting the art of acting like a child.

I struggle with the verses up above. I'm really good at the first part. (ha!) I usually don't hesitate to pull someone aside and try to talk to them about the problems that exist. But the rest of the verses - I don't know. If I were to take one or two others along with me to talk to this person (as pulling them aside didn't seem to resolve anything), I can see them feeling ganged up on and pulling even further away from me. Yet I don't know what I did wrong in the first place! And then to take it to the church - it makes my stomach hurt. Part of me just wishes I could let it go and let them live with their inexplicable anger towards me. Mostly because approaching that person results in fake reactions. "What? There's nothing wrong. I don't know what you're talking about!" Right.


I hope I remember to teach my children that acting like an adult means actually dealing with your problems, and not hiding or running away from them.

0 comments | | edit post
Ups and Downs
faith4jesus247

Tuesday night I was sitting in the K-mart parking lot, wasting time talking to my mom on the phone until I had to go babysit, when billows of smoke began ejecting out of my engine. I quickly turned the car off and watched as smoke continued to float into the air. I had two thoughts while watching the smoke: "Wow...that's a lot of smoke. I wonder if I should get out of the car."

I didn't, in case you were wondering (it was chilly outside!).

But I knew one thing for sure - now I definitely needed to get to my babysitting job - as I was pretty sure we would need that money to fix this new unexpected problem! I called Chris, and he came and switched cars with me, so I could get to my babysitting job. My car is now sitting in the driveway while we figure out what we're going to do with it. The only other vehicle we have is Chris's motorcycle - the other one we're borrowing from some friends. But we're not going to be able to borrow it forever - so I'm not quite sure how this is all going to work out. Chris wants to just look into a new vehicle....I don't want a new car payment. Sooooo...we'll see! He thinks I blew the head gasket - which apparently costs approximately $1000.00. And my car is only worth $1500.00.

Last night, I finally talked to the parents of the boy I tutor for, for an hour. I explained my frustrations and hurt with the lack of communication and follow-through on their end. They then explained their frustrations and where they were coming from. Somehow I ended up getting a raise in the midst of it all. I didn't ask for more money (as I was trying to actually quit altogether), but the dad felt with the rising gas prices, I should get paid more. Who am I to complain?!! So I'll stick it out till the end of the school year, and hopefully will have better communication with the parents for the remainder of the semester.

Chris's new job...wow. I feel really bad for him. He gets up at 3:30am, gets to work by 5:00am, and didn't get off until 8:30pm last night. He had just enough time to shove some dinner down his throat before he passed out on the sofa. Getting to bed at 10:00pm only allowed him 5 1/2 hours of sleep before doing it all again. Although...just having my engine blow up in smoke does make me grateful for the extra money he'll be bringing in with these long hours. I just feel really bad for him. I know he's in desperate need of some sleep and relaxation time.

As far as my eating goes - I'm still on track! I'm not weighing myself every day this week, so I'm very anxious to get on the scale on Monday. But I've gotten my water in everyday (except yesterday), and haven't had any crazy cravings or temptations I've wanted to give into. Except sweet tea. I think that will always be an issue...

0 comments | | edit post