Week 45 and the 4th-6th days of Christmas

On the 4th day of Christmas my new friend gave to me: 4 packs of gum

On the 5th day of Christmas my new friend gave to me: 5 yummy lotions

On the 6th day of Christmas my new friend gave to me: Personalized country music cd

It’s like Melissa (aka the Fabulous Mom) knows me perfectly!  I am so into gum and love having my new 4 packs!  These new "Dessert Delights" are so good.  My fav is the Chocolate Mint.  I also LOVE stuff from bath and body works (my girl and I love to go there and splurge when we can) and she got me these 5 lotions.  LOVE IT!  And I am way excited about having a personalized country CD!  I told her I am beginning to like country now so she put this fabulous collection together for me.  How thoughtful was that?  I already recognize some of the songs and I look forward to listening to the rest. Thanks Melissa!!  You are awesome, girl!

So right now we are in UTAH!  It’s fun to be here and our kids are having fun with their cousins and their cute mini-doxie, Ellie.  I SO want to get pets for my kids and myself.  That gives me even more motivation to get our own house!!

Isn't she the CUTEST DOG?  Dachshunds are my favorite - my family used to breed and raise them when I was a wee lassie and I've always been fond of them.  Plus we had them as our pets growing up.  I could totally steal little Ellie and bring her home with us.  She is so mild mannered and fun!

So it's the end of WEEK 45!!!  We weighed in this morning (Sunday) since we were on the road all day yesterday.  I lost 3 pounds!  That is 3 weeks in a row that I've lost 3 pounds each week.  However, my gorgeous hubby has a 3 pound gain.... :(  He said some of that is due to lack of drinking his water.  He’s been drinking a lot of soda lately, especially while driving to Utah.  I KNOW he will get his gains turned around here... he has already come so far.  We are not going to let this get us down and we are focussing on the positive.  He has quite a few obstacles to tackle but I am right here with him cheering him on!  I so love this guy!  

I have so many blogs to catch up on and so much to share as well... It is so nice to be here with my family, to see my sister again, and my brother.  We also get to see my hubby’s brother and his Dad while we’re here too, and I hope to be able to see some friends as well.  I am trying to squeeze everything in and make it a most memorable time for my kids and us while at the same time, staying ON PLAN.  I brought a lot of our own food with me, just in case the choices available are not on plan.  Life is good!  What are your plans for this week?  

On the 3rd Day of Christmas...

My new friend gave to me:

3 fluffy socks
2 scented candles
And a cookbook with delicious recipes

And I LOVE my new pink and black fluffy socks.  I will enjoy wearing these around the house and to keep my feet warm.  Thank you Fabulous Mom!

And for some food pics.  This was my dinner (lean and green) last night:

Salad (romaine lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, peppers & tomatos) with Bacon Ranch Walden Farms dressing (fat free/sugar free/calorie free) and some baked "marinated wild Alaskan salmon" from Costco.  Salmon took 30 minutes to cook - no preparing other than that.  Salad was already made.  This is like "fast food" to me, yet look how much more delcious and healthy it is?  Loved it!

Today for my lunch, I had the Medifast Beef Stew.  I have soup at least once a day and my favorites are the chicken noodle, Chicken and rice, and beef stew.

So my meals each day go something like:

8am -   Pudding (fav is coconut banana & chocolate cake pudding)
11am - Soup (often with crackers & light laughing cow cheese)
1:30pm - Chocolate Mint Bar (my favorite!)
4pm -   Honey Mustard Pretzels
6:30pm -  (lean and green) - lean meat (or protein) & 3 veggie servings
                     (favs are  chicken or salmon with salad or roasted veggies)
9:30pm - Hot Chocolate.

I drink about 24 oz. water with each meal and chew gum often in between meals as well as nibble on my yummy knox blox.  I love to have my knox blox at the end of the day with my hot chocolate too.  Hubby loves the Medifast muffins I make as well as the Medifast brownies and the shakes.  On Sunday mornings, the hubs makes us both waffles from the Medifast pancake mix.  That is our special Sunday Morning Breakfast drizzled with Walden Farms sugar free/fat free/calorie free syrup! 

I also slipped on something new today.

Who is wearing size 12 jeans?  Yup, that would be ME!  (okay, they are stretchy somewhat but they fit and they are size 12).  Can you believe just 10 months ago I wore size 28/30?  I tell ya, no cookies or fudge can possibly taste as good as size 12 feels!! My final goal will be size 8.  I think that's where I'll be my most healthy, fit self.  And I will be there sometime next year... stay tuned.  Life is good!

12 Days of Christmas...

I got my box of 12 gifts from my new friend and swap buddy over at The Fat Mom blog.  (BTW, I think it should be "The Beautiful Mom" blog or "The Marvelous Mom" blog because those are more fitting word, imho).  I was so excited to take them all out of the box and here they are:

 How cute and fun is that???  When my kiddo's got home from school, they were like "Awe.... I want to do that too!"  (I know, right?  How fun for me, right?  Now stay away from my gifty's... Okay, I didn't really say that but I thought it!)

So I had to sing the 12 days of Christmas and open the first gift today and here it is - this cool recipe book:

I'm already eyeing some recipes in here to try like the chicken nuggets and spaghetti pie.  Sounds fun to make things that are healthy and trick my kids.  I am all for subterfuge and trickery!  he he he...

And I have some more fabulous news... The hubs got next week off and we are going to Utah for Christmas!!  I am so thrilled.  For those of you who follow my blog, you may recall that we were going to Utah a few months ago for a reunion but BOTH our vehicles died and forced us to cancel our trip.  I really miss my sister and brother that live there and we are way excited to go.  I've got so much to do until we leave but it's all happy, fun stuff.  And now, I need to put a plan in motion to stay ON PLAN for this trip and be prepared.  I think I'll be making a ton of my knox blox to get me through the tempting sweets... that's been working really good for me.

I would also like to express my gratitude for those who read and have commented on our blog.  I am always touched by the kind words of encouragement and how you so often share my joy as well.  I have not always felt open to give hugs because I felt that no one would want to hug a heavy person... but I love to hug and would give you each a big hug if I could.  Stay Strong!  Stay focussed.  Be Prepared! (gotta stick that Boy Scout motto in).  Life is Good!   XOXO ~Margene