Week 30!! Wow, has it been that long already?

Good Morning! I am eating my Butterscotch Pudding for breakfast right now and happy to report that I had a 3 pound loss last week! My hubs has stayed the same (probably due to stress and lack of sleep - because he has stayed on plan).

Here are some of the things that have gone on just the last 10 days - starting from the MOST recent:

1. Celebrated my daughters 14th birthday at local amusement park. The hubs and I went roller skating again and snogged a bit on the spider ride. Had a blast. (Much need break).
2. Switched our kid’s rooms around. We moved beds, dressers, desks, cleaned, & organized. I disassembled and reassembled a big heavy bunk bed mostly by myself!
3. We cleaned & organized our garage - put up a bunch of our items for sale - took boxes of stuff to charity.
4. We looked at a possible home to rent. (It was trash... UG). We’ve been majorly considering a quick move into a smaller place (less rent) as a temporary solution to our financial pressure. But we’re having a hard time finding a decent place that is within the area that we feel is best for our family (school boundaries, etc.). Looks like we may just try to stay put for now - or who knows... ?
5. My 16 year old daughter played her first Water Polo game.
6. My 10 year old earned his Webelos Badge at Pack Meeting.
7. We did a run around getting signatures for my 17 year old’s Eagle Project to be approved so he can begin. Still trying to get it approved at Council and get all the merit badges he has earned, and counselors for the ones he still needs to earn. My son would easily give up on this, if we as parent didn’t encourage and help... and I feel it’s SO important for him that he earn his Eagle Rank, he only has 2 months left so the crunch is on!
8. We sold our only vehicle (which didn’t even fit all of us) and the next day bought a van that now fits us all... for the exact amount we sold our car for even (blessing). Interestingly, we sold our car while our daughter was at water polo practice, so we had no way of picking her up. My daughter has a disability and is prone to panic in new or uncertain situations, and a neighbor I asked for a quick ride from turned me down. I was so thankful that a mother of my daughters team mate brought her home for us. That meant a lot to me! You know, I hope I never turn someone down who needs a simple favor like that! The next day, My friend and coach, LaTrease drove me into the city to look at the van and help me test drive and negotiate to buy it. I am SO thankful for good friends!
9. One of my children started school, on-line, called “Connections Academy”. The rest don’t start school until next week. I have not gotten a single school supply yet!
10. We had a big yard sale and made more than we’ve ever made at a yard sale before, which was so helpful. We were selling prime stuff that we never considered selling before because we are trying to simplify our lives and become less dependent on “stuff”.

Overall, I think the theme we’re feeling that we need to learn is: Patience. I notice sometimes I slip into focussing on the glass being half-empty - but I try to catch myself and focus on the half-full part because we are so extremely blessed! I tell ya, I am not a fan of stress!! :) Even though we’re making a lot of changes in our lives - our healthier lifestyle change is HIGH PRIORITY and we will NOT go back. So, other things do get sacrificed, but we are sticking to our plan and we WILL get the rest of our weight off. I am so excited as I approach that 100 pound off mark. I only have 7 more pounds to go to reach that goal. My coach did it in 6 months, so it’s taking me a little longer but I will get there and even reach my end goal weight. (and I will be so tiny then!)

I stood in front of the mirror last night and pulled up my fat tummy from a side view and got a glimpse of what I’d look like with all that tummy fat gone. It was looking good. And I will get there... it’s already shrunk a ton.

Food wise... here are some lean and greens I've had recently.

Teriyaki grilled Mahi Mahi with Mushroom salad & honey mustard dressing. Also Beef strip salad w/ ranch dressing and 1/2 cup of cottage cheese. Yummo!

Egg White scramble with Beef & mushrooms & some low fat cheese (doesn't look great but tasted delish!). I also made my peanut butter balls different by mixing the Medifast Hot Cocoa packets with 1/2 water and 1/2 sugar free Peanut Butter syrup until fudge like consistency and formed balls out of them; then I mixed the PB2 (powdered peanut butter) separate and put it on top of the balls. I froze them and then put 4 balls in a bag. 1 bag of 4 = 1 medifast meal. WE LOVE THEM!! Such a great treat. We often have this as our last Medifast meal of the day.

I'm Baaaaaack!!

HOWDY!!

It may seem like no time has passed since my last post but for me, it’s been been like months ago (see description of “Margene Time” in previous post). I have been gone the last 5 days with my daughters to Girls Camp with the young women in our church.

The camp songs, skits, prizes, flag ceremonies, cheers, new friends made, and watching my girls grow... priceless! It’s been like being in another world ~ fun, hot, exhilarating, uplifting, and exhausting!

This is the path I walked UPHILL 70 yards to my cabin - several times a day! This would have been torture a year ago. This week, it was merely tiring. I had to make that trek down the hill and back up in the middle of the night, EVERY night, to make my middle-of-the-night trip to the commode! That’s because I was drinking close to my 100 oz. of water!! Yea baby!! [This was not fun].

And not only that... I stayed ON PLAN the WHOLE TIME! I think I need a trophy! The SUPER COOL part of the whole meal time was that I was up there with my Wonderful Coach and friend, LaTrease, helping her with the crafts every day and we swapped making meals for each other. So I had a “buddy” on plan with me which made it so nice!

One of the nights, I made this Ginger Glazed mahi mahi with some sauteed zucchini, peppers and cabbage. Loved it.

Another night, LaTrease made these lettuce chicken wraps! Oh my, this is a new favorite!! She mixed up some chopped chicken & chopped celery with some fat free mayo, little mustard, and garlic & herb Mrs. dash. Then scooped a couple larger spoonfuls in an iceberg lettuce “bowl” and then wrapped them up. Cool, crisp, and great for summer and it was deliciously filling!

I wanted to offer a sincere THANK YOU for each of you who have posted comments! I cherish every one and appreciate the kind words and support so much!! It was a treat to come home and read the comments from my last post... brought me to tears. Thank you!

I will be weighing in tomorrow and posting our loss for last week. Weigh in is usually saturday mornings but I wasn’t here this morning so it’s bumped up a day this week. And one last note: “I said a BOOM CHICK A BOOM!”... “I said a BOOM CHICKA ROCKA -CHICKA ROCKA CHICKA BOOM!”... “uh hu - Oh yea - One more time!”