We can finally do this...

It only took 22 years of marriage and now Brent can pick me up like this.

It's so funny because he grabs me now when I least expect it and picks me up and we just laugh.  I love all the new found attention I get from my hubs.  I don't care if we look like immature dorks... I mean, that's what we are so why fight it?  At least we amuse our kids.

It really is a CRAZY week.  Our front room is torn up, and we're leaving for a quick trip to Utah and flying home on Sunday.  Then it's one more week until my hubs is flying out there for work.  We've never been apart for that long.  I feel a little heartache for him already and he's not even gone yet.  And the list of "to do" is so astronomically long.

We had a quick date night last Saturday and went to Panda Express and then a movie.  Here is what we ate:  We both had the steamed veggies, and I had mushroom chicken (on right) and Brent had two other entree's that I can't remember the name of... beef something and spicy chicken.  It was so good.  Higher in calories, I'm sure than our regular lean and greens.

  

A couple other lean and greens this week was:

Costco salmon and salad with Bolthouse Farms yogurt dressing (left).  And 1 Costco chicken patty cut up on salad w/ 2 ounces low fast shredded cheese and Walden Farms dressing (right).

(The lean was split between the cheese and chicken - my hubs loves that)

I LOVE my lean and greens!

We got new Android phones on our T-mobile account and I was up until 4am adding contacts and getting it all set up.  Sheesh... that doesn't help my weight loss!  It's all going to be good and work out.  It'll be fun having all the options and apps on our phones, tho.  I can even post from my phone!   I'm trying not to sweat the small stuff but right now, nothing looks small.  Life is good.  Sending my love and prayers to all my blogger friends!!  XOXO ~Margene

First Week of 2011

It’s the first week of this new year.  Yes, I have a flair for the obvious!  So we are on plan this week.  The hubs has been struggling with hunger but he has been stickin’ to plan... such a good guy!  

Our first lean and green of 2011 was at Panda Express!  We had the steamed veggies and some of the lower calorie entrees.  Mine was the mushroom chicken.  It was very delish.  A real treat.

Here are a couple other lean and greens from this week.

I tried these new chicken meat balls I found at Costco.  They are low in carbs and high in protein and I figured we could have 8-10 each for our “Lean”.  Then I sauteed some red peppers and mushrooms to go with them.  The chicken meat balls have a tiny kick to them and left my mouth a little hot, but not too much for me to handle.  The hubs loved it and added hot sauce to his.  He loves that burn.

Tonight I had an old standard that I love:  Chicken salad with Walden Farms bacon ranch dressing.  Very satisfying!

This week has been a bit like being in limbo again, but it’s not too bad.  I’ve been stranded at home w/o a vehicle and had to find creative ways to get places.  The other day my daughter and I decided to just leave and we walked to the bus and rode to the theater and watched a matinee movie.  Then walked to the store and rode the bus back and walked home.  It was So Super COLD... but it was fun.  Not that I want to do that in the freezing cold again!  


Some of our same trials are creeping back in, like my husbands stress, and some of the things I struggle with, but that is to be expected and I can see blessings come through it all.  In fact, a huge blessing is coming this weekend.  I will have to post about that later.  Something SUPER cool!

I am excited at the thought of actually going into transition in a couple months and then to maintenance.  I am excited for our goals this year.  It feels like limbo right now but there are a lot of cool things ahead and I’m trying to keep it all in focus.

And I am enjoying SO many NSV.  I sometimes hate to share them with friends or family as it surely must get OLD to them, but it’s all so HUGE to me.  Here are a couple:  my watch is loose now and slipping farther up my arm all the time.  When I started in Feb. it was a bit too tight on me.  None of my rings fit anymore!  They all are either way too big or uncomfortably lose (mind you, these are just the cheap rings from Freddy’s and Claire’s... I am not into jewelry).  My favorite NSV is how the hubs responded to me several time during our Utah trip.  When he’d see me from a far and we’d  be walking to meet (like I’m coming out of the gas station and he’s going in), he would grab me and whisper in my ear “I love seeing you from afar, you look so amazing and then I realize you’re my wife!  You are so hot!” It seriously gave me chills when he tells me that.

So it’s about STAYING ON PLAN and KEEPING FOCUS and COUNTING BLESSINGS!  How is your first week going?