Dropping the Ball

One of our ginerbread men. I had a few men who lost their heads, legs and/or arms.

I was joking about a holiday masacre.

Feeling like I’ve dropped the ball on this whole weight loss thing.

Am I tracking? Yes.

Am I making the best choices? I don’t think I’ve been overly bad. But I haven’t been too good either.

Am I exercising? Not at all! There’s that dropped ball, right there.

I’m still trying to get out for a walk with the kids everyday. It’s not enough. I know it’s not enough.

Life can be crazy busy. Everyone’s lives are like that, I think. My life is no different from everyone else’s. I have family; I have responsibilities; just like everyone else.

For me, exercise needs to be scheduled in. If it’s not, I get lost in the chaos I call my life and forget about it.

I haven’t forgotten about it over the past two weeks, but I haven’t made time for it either.

I normally get in my exercise (aside from my daily walks) at naptime. It works easier for me then. The kids are all napping and I can get my sweat on without tripping over a child or two. The past two weeks, instead of exercising, I’ve been making presents, baking, decorating said baking and wrapping presents.

I feel like I haven’t sat still in the last two weeks.

I’m not complaining. I love this time of year. I love going over the top and savouring every glorious moment of it.

I thought baking all the treats I had planned would make me want to cheat on my points. I’ve done better than I thought I would. Just one cookie out of each type have I taste tested. One sugar cookie. Half a gingerbread man -- the other half went to my youngest. And one gingersnap. I also baked red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing. I skipped the icing and split a cupcake with Hubby. It was my first time ever trying red velvet. It was okay, I suppose.

What’s hurting me is the gift baskets Hubby brought home. His boss gave him a huge basket of nuts. I love nuts! And have a hard time stopping at just one serving. Have you counted the points on nuts? They’re crazy high. I can easily eat my whole day’s worth of daily points in salted, dry roasted peanuts.

The owner of Hubby’s work also gave everyone a huge basket of treats. Polish sausages (two of them) , cheeses, (more) nuts, chocolates, crackers, cookies, pepperettes and more. He used to give everyone a turkey. Hubby and I loved getting our yearly turkey. Hubby always brought home two because a co-worker would always give us his. I would much rather a nice lean dinner meat than the high calorie snacks we got. Better would be a cash bonus. At least his bosses thought of their employees. It’s the thought that matters most.

I have nearly everything ready for Christmas now, but the chaos is far from over. It really is too easy to just push off exercise. I think I’m going to have to make more of an effort.

Scrappy Post

Did you know I'm a bit of a crafty person?

I'm not the craftest person around, but I do enjoy playing with paper and glue.

I used to have another blog about my scrapbooking; when I was on a few design teams. Nothing fancy, but I enjoyed myself. I've been published in Canadian Scrapbooker a few times too.

Since becoming a mommy of two and starting up my own in home daycare, I don't have as much time to scrap. The kids take up most of my time.

I do have a few layouts to share; just because.

Pumpkin Fun

Yes, I know Christmas is right around the corner, but I had this cute paper and I wanted to scrap these pictures.

 Enjoy the Moment

Inspiration for this page was from the awesome Paige Evans.Okay, it was a bit of a scraplift. She did a layout of her little one and sewed leaves all around it. I love her orginial page! I wish I would have taken the time to do some stitching too. Something I can add later on if I really want to.

Santa Baby

I busted out my Slice for this one. Love how it turned out. I used a sketch from the Saturdays sketches at WeScrap, where I used to be on the design team. They're a bunch of awesome scrappers there. Your first team is always the most special, isn't it?

Tuesday Evening

Dinner was a flop tonight.

Muffin, who decided he was too much of a big boy at (almost) 15 months to take a nap this afternoon, completely refused any dinner. He did enjoy the yogurt he ended up with though.

I decided to make a quick stir fry for dinner. The boys eat it all apart. Rice, meat and veggies can’t touch. And Monkey gets cucumbers or red peppers instead of any other vegetable because he won’t eat any other.

Getting Monkey to eat meat can be difficult most days too. Today, like a little champ, he ate up his whole plate of food. I thought for sure he would fight me over the meat (which was meatless beef tips I found on sale super cheap a few weeks ago). He didn’t. He ate it all up without a sound.

Then he dumped his whole cup of juice all over the table, his self, the chair and the floor.

Ah! Life with kids is never dull, now is it?

Now, just because we can, we’re all in our pjs early, watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Muffin is in quite the mood from his lack of a nap. With any luck, I’ll have him in bed a little early tonight. And he’ll stay there. Fingers crossed.

Change

I can do this…

I can do this…

I can do this…

What the heck am I talking about?
Weight loss?
Nope.

I know I can do that.

I’m talking about being like a single parent of two for two days a week.

Now I sound (feel) like a big baby.

There are tons of single parents who do it every day.

There are tons of people, who are in situations like mine, where they are like a single parent because one is working or something.

For the next 16 weeks, Hubby will be taking part in a course at work. Tuesdays and Thursday he won’t be home until 10-11pm. Both days happen to be non-school days for Monkey.

It’s not the being home alone with the boys all day (plus the day care kids I have) that I’m nervous about. The kids I can handle. It’s the meals.

I have it in my head that I have to cook kid friendly meals those nights. Kid friendly meals, in my head, equal what I feed them for lunches. Sandwiches, pasta, chicken nuggets, soup and quesadillas, to name a few.

For whatever reason, in my head, I can’t feed them what we’re used to having for dinner. I think it’s because Hubby won’t be here. I just automatically thing as simple as can be.

I have to get myself out of that mind set. We can’t eat that way for 16 weeks. The kids are going to get tired of having lunch two meals a day; and I’m going to get sick of soup or salads. That’s what I have for most lunches because I don’t want to waste the points on something like chicken nuggets and fries. I try to keep my points at lunch time as low as I can. 4 point soup with fruit afterwards, for example. Low on points, but still filling.

I’m going to have to sit down to figure out some kid friendly meals (things they will not fight me over eating) that is still healthy. Wouldn’t be so hard if my kids weren’t so darn picky. I’m sure whatever I come up with, there will be nights that Monkey is sitting at the table until bedtime.

*****

On another note, last night at my meeting, we learnt about the changes being made to the Points system. There isn’t many changes. Most daily points went down. I was one of a small amount of people who’s points stayed the same.

And I am down another 2lbs this week! Yay!

My new pants are already starting to get baggy. Hopefully I’ll be buying another smaller size after Christmas. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Hello Monday

The weekend is over. Hello, Monday. I’m almost glad to see the beginning of a new week. Not that last week was a bad one; my weekend was just a little busy. I’m almost glad to be back to my boring weekday. Today is a light day for me.
This weekend, it felt like we were always on the go. My parents picked up the boys Saturday morning so Hubby and I could go Christmas shopping for the kids. Monkey is just about done. His big things are taken care of. He still needs some little things that I can take out of packaging and wrap up; at his age it’s all about quantity. The more the better. I was going to get him some Pokemon stuff. He’s interested in them because of his older brother, my step son, Rugrat Boy. I think Monkey is too young for the cards, but I have no idea what to get him started with as far as the toys go. Rugrat Girl (step daughter) and Rugrat Boy are into Monshimonster too. I thought about getting some of that stuff for Monkey, but the toys are small (choking hazard for Muffin) and we have so many stuffies hanging around I don’t want to get those. I am at a loss. I’ll come across something I’m sure.
Muffin is almost done as far as Christmas goes too. There’s an Elmo plate and bowl I want to get him and that’s it.
The Rugrats need a few more things. We want to get them Skylanders. It looks so cool. I want one for at my house! I’m thinking sometime after Christmas we’ll get one for our place. Hubby needs to talk to his ex about the game. We’re not sure what gaming system they have at their house. I think they have all the systems because they tend to have all the latest toys, but we just want to make sure we get the game for the system their mother thinks is best. Rugrat Girl needs a gift card to Old Navy so she can pick out her own clothes. And we want to get a bunch of Chapters gift cards in $5 values so we can wrap them individually. The kids get a kick out of it; I wrap them in different size boxes so they never know when one is going to pop up. Some end up in the tree and they have to find them.
So, lots of walking around shopping on Saturday. Hubby took me to this little Lebanese place he goes to once a month with some co-workers. Since I had never had Lebanese food before, I let him order for me. Oh, my word! It was amazing! I only ate about half the plate, but I was stuffed. I savoured every bite. I am totally taking my mom there to share a plate with her. I know she’ll love it, and I want to go back.
Sunday was house decorating day. Our tree is up and trimmed; the advent calendar is up; the Christmas art work Monkey has done over the years are on display; my custom snow globe with Monkey’s picture in it is out. I’ll be making another snow globe with Muffin’s picture in it too.
We also pruned through the sea of toys, cleaned the house and washed all the laundry. All that’s left to do is a Sally Ann run so some of our old toys might find new homes for Christmas. My basement is almost usable again. That feels good.
Today, Monkey is in school; I have no daycare kids; Muffin and I are spending the day cuddling, reading, colouring, playing and napping. With only two hours of sleep under my belt, I can use that nap today. I don’t even want to go to my meeting tonight, I’m so tired. But I will. I’m curious about the changes to the program. I read about them on the US site, but I haven’t seen any changes to the Canadian site, as of yet. I’m curious to know where I’m going to be for daily points.

Pre-Planned December

Muffin last December, barely three months old.

Hello December! It’s been so long since we saw each other.

A lot has happened over the course of the year. My tiny, peanut of a baby has blossomed into a go-go-go toddler (I’m still coming to grips over that term). My big boy has learnt how to read. He’s reading at a level 2 and can spell over 60 words without help. Hubby has lost over 40 pounds and is currently on week 3 of the insanity program. I’ve lost over 40 pounds myself; 10 on my own and over 30 with Weight Watchers (I’m sure it would have been more if I had not thrown the program aside for over 4 months, but I can’t change what I did and can only move forward. I have no regrets). We have a new house; we took all the kids to Disney World; my mom got through her second treatment for the brain tumour; Muffin got through his surgery.

We’re all happy, healthy and welcoming you, dear December, into our home and hearts.

This is the time of year most people cringe over. I am embracing it! I love everything about this time of year and I’m not going to let food mess it up for me. Yes, there will be cookies, cakes, chocolates, high calorie drinks, treats, dips and full fat foods around every single corner. That doesn’t mean I have to eat any of it. And if I do, I make sure I made the time to work out.

My plan is to pre-plan everything. Even if I can’t pre-plan to the T, I will do my best.

I know tomorrow I will be in the city. I will be there for dinner . I have my fingers crossed for Swiss Chalet so I can bring the chocolates home to Monkey; but I wouldn’t say no to East Side Mario’s since that’s where Hubby and I had our first official non-coffee date so long ago. I can pre-plan for both of those. I know Hubby and I will be heading to the movies tomorrow night. He won free tickets months ago. They expire at the end of the month; we need to use them up. I can pre-plan for this too. I always bring my own bag of gummies to the movies. I don’t like movie theatre popcorn. Never have. I might have to pre-plan for lunch in the city too. Hmmm…a small chili and a baked potato from Wendy’s sounds good to me and I already know the point values for those.

Next week, I have to pre-plan for Hubby’s office dinner. I have no idea where we’re going or what we’re going to have there. I’ll pre-plan for the worst and make sure I have all my weekly points on hand, just in case.

The following week will need lots of pre-planning. Our first of three (maybe four) Christmases. We’re heading to Stoney Creek for Hubby’s family Christmas. There will be the best deviled eggs, Cesar salad and broccoli bake. There will be cheesy dips, lots of wine, decent desserts and more. Hubby’s step mother is the hostess with the mostess for sure. Will I worry and stress over it? Nope. Moderation and planning and making sure I have all my weekly points available will get me through. Plus there will be family members we haven’t seen since last year, so there will be lots of ignoring the food and chatting going on.

Next will be my family Christmas. Once again…moderation and planning. I’m starting to feel like a broken record here.

The new program launches on Monday here in Canada. It launched in the States today. I read all about it (don’t you just love the internet?) and I can’t wait to put the program to work for me.

Here’s to a stress-free December and, hopefully, a continuous weight loss throughout the holiday season!

Happy December First!

Headed back out in our Winter Wonderland for a walk again this morning. It wasn’t as cold, wasn’t as snowy and the wind was nothing compared to yesterday. Yesterday was more beautiful. But I had Monkey in tow today, so I was happy with the cleared sidewalks and paths today. He would have complained yesterday. Something to look forward to in the weeks to come, I’m sure.

We’re getting into full Christmas swing here at home. We went out last night and picked up lights for our tree. We also wanted to get some garland and lights for outside. We figured out it wasn’t a good idea just to go without an idea of what we wanted to do. Instead of just spending money, we came home to figure out how we want to decorate. We’re so behind on outside decorations compared to most people. But I figure the longer we have less outside (I have two 4 foot pre-lit trees in planters on either side of our door and a wreath I made a few years ago out there so far), the less hydro we use. I’m the hydro queen in our house.

I got in some activity yesterday pulling all our Christmas stuff out. Why is the Christmas stuff always the boxes in the farthest, darkest corner of the storage closet? I had to pull everything out just to get to the Christmas boxes, and then put everything back. Some of those boxes I had to lug around are really heavy!

I did my cardio workout right after that too. I figured if I got my heart rate up for a little bit, I might as well keep going.

After the boys were in bed for the night, I got to work setting out some decorations. We have a new center piece on the kitchen table. It would have looked better on a new table, but we opted to get a new tv instead and get the new table in the new year.

I hung decorations off of my kitchen light. It needs some garland too, I think. I can’t wait to do our tree this weekend.

Christmas has come to my house and I absolutely love it.

I’m keeping with my plan to focus on my family this holiday season. I’m not going to let stress get to me. I’m not going to worry about food that might come my way. It’s all about enjoying the holiday with the ones I love. After the holidays I might share my December Daily. Depends on if I finish it this year or not.