Merry Christmas Eve ... Eve

Alati's stolen sign :)

Christmas Eve is our family's gathering tradition. That way hubby and I get to hang out all day in our p.j.'s  and do whatever we want to do or not do, and it frees up the girls to go spend Christmas Day with the husband's family with no guilt or juggling. 

We also sneak in a very early Christmas Breakfast with just our kids. Every year they come to the house before the sun is up, still in their p.j.'s for breakfast and Santa   It's the very best part of Christmas! My Son in Law does all the cooking while we play with the grandsons. Don't know what it will be like when my daughter decides she wants to start doing the early mornings at her house.  I'm sure that day is coming the boys are getting older.  I guess I will know how my mom felt.  

Since about thanksgiving I have been struggling with the holiday fears of binge eating. It and gift giving has consumed most of my time, energy and holiday spirit.  Last year, we agreed (after I badgered) that if you were gifting to an adult it had to be home-made.  Well, that would have have been awesome if I would have started at the beginning of the year ... instead of sometime in November.  

I have had quite a few emotional ups and downs worrying about what do I do if I eat... What if mom makes ... What if there's this or that ? What if I eat dessert, will I gain everything back? What do I do if they bring See's candy? Fudge?  Instead of enjoying the season, which is my absolute favorite time of year, I have been obsessing about my weight and food! Not normal planning ... but obsessing!  

I love my embroidery machine!!!

Well as of this moment I'm done ...DONE!  

For the last 11 months I have had plenty of chances to eat off plan, sometimes I even planned to "cheat" but when the time came, it was pretty easy to choose the REAL food ... instead of the garbage!  I LIKE the REAL food better than the processed garbage food ... So as of this moment ... I'm going to stop fretting and enjoy!  I'm going to trust that I can and will make the right choices and if I don't ... Oh well, I am not going to let 1 meal de-rail me ... besides I threw all my big clothes away!!! LMAO

I'm going to enjoy the next 48 hours of this wonderful season with out worries about food! As of this moment ... its about spending quality time with my family! 

Now that my food issues have been put to rest ... Can I get a volunteer to come iron & wrap all these napkins? ... I'm tired!

Merry Christmas !

I think I see toes

21 days until my one year mark.

January 10th ... you know I couldn't tell you what I was doing 2 weeks ago ... but I can tell you in detail about that day, January 10th, 2014 and the following 3 weeks.  It took me 3 weeks before I believed I would be able to actually live without eating bread, pasta or pizza! 

Every morning hubby and I would sit on the back porch with our morning coffee & smoke (yea yea I know.. anyway- stop judging ... one issue at a time lol) we had lots and lots of conversations about what we should do next ... expecting to fail ... like every other diet attempt.  But at about day 20 our conversations changed to what we were looking forward to the most.  How much we wanted to loose.  What did we think it would be like.  What would we do?

In the beginning we talked a lot about when we can eat such-n-such again ... and how we know we will have to be careful not to gain it all back.  Now our conversations are more like:

"Oh my god I didn't have to get a seat belt extender"

"Honey, have you noticed that the car feels bigger?"

"Go ahead and park there ... I don't mind walking"

"Ya want to go pick up the grandkids and go ... " 

"Damn it you bought another shirt?"  <-- me to hubby

"I need another bag for the donation clothes"

21 more days ...  I have a long way to go ... but who would have thought I would still be at it ... 21 more days!

Begin weight    278.8
Today's weight 214.4

I have a list

You would think I would know better! 

Friday night I skipped dinner ... completely lost track of time.  Hubby was enjoying a boys night out.  I got wrapped up with the embroidery machine ... BTW ... I love my machine!  Any way about 11:30  hubby got home ... with a couple of bags of Late July Corn Chips. 

I was just going upstairs to turn in when I spotted the chips ... With out thinking it through I opened the pretty blue bag and next thing you know I  did a nose dive ... seconds later ... seconds I tell you ... that bag was completely empty!   Not a crumb ... Nada!

Hubby walked back in the room ... did a double take ... and kinda smirked ... "I guess those go on the not allowed in the house list!" 

Now three days later ... I am unhappy to report I am still up 2.5 pounds.  I know better ... I know there are foods that I can not touch ... foods that I can not control... foods that control me.  There is no such thing as moderation... no such thing as just a bite. Someday maybe but I have not learned how to take a bite and be satisfied ... at this point I don't know if I ever will ... so Late July ... you are out of here! 

Survived the Storm

Well if you have had the TV on all all this week I'm sure that you heard that we were expecting the Storm of the Year ... I watched on the news were people in our area were actually boarding up windows, piling sandbags, cutting trees ... nerves have been on edge ...  Schools closed ... for us,we had jobs cancel ... But I'm happy to announce that we survived! 

Saw this and had to share!

While it is a cute picture, I don't want to minimize the extent of damage that some people are having to deal with ... However in my immediate area we did have a few trees re-decorate a few homes and lots of street flooding ... prayers and positive thoughts for those that are having to deal with the aftermath ...  For me ... nothing but a few leaks here and there (rentals)... and fortunately have the roofer on speed dial. 


On the plus side ... I weighed this morning for the Holiday Scale Accountability Club and I'm thrilled to announce that yesterday's handling of that box of See's Candy did not have a lasting effect... I kinda expected a slight to moderate gain from just handling the box... Figured if I had actually opened it ... I would have had a 20 pound gain!  So today's weight is exactly the same as last week ... 216.2.  I'm content with that.  I'm in this for the long haul.  This is for life ... so for now I'm happy!

Re-Gift that puppy

Okay so this morning I walk in to work  ... what do I find on my desk?  

Surprise

Christmas has Arrived!

No card ... No Note ... 

Thank you !!!  But um-mm no thank you???

 

Well everyone on the west coast pretty much knows what is in the box right?  

50 billion carbs! Oh ... did you know there is one piece in that box that is better than SEX?

 Yes I said that! Oh it is just so true! 

But... there is also a one way ticket to putting those 63 pounds back on!

 

Eleven Months!!!!  Yes, Eleven Months!!!  Nothing is going to make me open that box!  

NOPE ... NOT GONNA HAPPEN ... NO WAY ... NO HOW ... NOT TODAY

Time to learn & apply the act of Re-Gifting!  HA!  Re-Gifting with conditions! I will give you this box full of deliriously delicious box of Carbs... on the condition that it does not get opened within 50 yards of me or left where I can see it!

Accountable 2

On October 17, 2014 I said I would post my weight here in this blog every Friday ... I have posted my weight every week at The Sunny Coconut but I have not faithfully posted here.  I challenged myself to not only not gain any weight over the holiday season but a personal goal to loose 10 pounds ...

Beginning  challenge weight: 225.2 pounds

7th Week weigh in: 216.2 pounds

That's 9 pounds!

So today I'm ....

Now here's the confession ... I have not done any exercise ... no cardio ... no walking ... no weight resistance ... no squats, no pull ups, no planks and I haven't even rode the stationary bike ... nothing ... I have been a real couch potato for the last 3 weeks ... this is not acceptable ... I was so proud of myself for getting up and moving ... for the first time in my life I was excited to move but lately I have reverted back ... every excuse in the book has been used.

I know that exercise is just as important as the food I put in my body ... So ... additional goal

So here is my mileage today .... 

My goal is to post at least a 150 mile increase by January 2.  


(Do you know how many times in the last 10 minutes that number has changed?)  So I'm hitting publish before I can change it again!

9lbs.

9 pounds

NINE POUNDS

Dinner

Chopped up steak and leftover roasted vegetables from thanksgiving 

Cauliflower broccoli asparagus onions bell pepper carrots zucchini yellow squash and mushrooms... Did I leave anything out?

Dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. 

Spaghetti Squash Boats

Okay decided I would share a recipe ... this is a recipe that I have had to give to every member of my family at least once.  It has always been a hit at family gatherings ... even with my Son-in-Law! 

 Baked Spaghetti Squash Boats

 Super Easy … Super Delish!

First … find someone that is really really strong, hand them a very sharp knife and then enjoy watching them struggle to cut that sucker in half… length wise. 

Scoop out the seeds and discard. 

lightly oil the squash… I use coconut spray … salt and pepper… then lay it face down on a cookie sheet and bake @ 350 degrees for about an hour …  until soft not squishy

In the meantime … prepare your very favorite spaghetti meat sauce.  

I use the homemade spaghetti sauce that I made with dad’s homegrown tomatoes.  It is a blend of zucchini, carrots, onions, peppers and mushrooms all blended so no one sees that it’s packed with veggies. So use any sauce that you personally like … preferably one that is low in added sugar - good luck finding one that doesn't have it.

Meat Sauce

In large skillet

½  pound of Italian breakfast sausage – jimmy deans crumbled & browned

½  pound of ground hamburger – crumbled & browned

1 lg. onion -diced

1 lg. bell peppers - diced

1qt  Spaghetti sauce

·         Simmer over low heat

 

When Spaghetti Squash is soft … remove from oven … flip over… Now the fun … take a fork and drag through the Squash to make the spaghetti … go all the way to the rind … without piercing.  Occasionally I remove some of the squash so I have a deep enough well to start the layering on of the good stuff

Simply smother with the meat sauce and top with shredded cheese!  Put back in oven and bake until cheese is all melted … and starting to brown. 

You can bake the squash the day before … however you will need to increase your cooking time once assembled.   These keep in the fridge for days and microwave wonderfully!  

The craft day that wasn't

So last Saturday was Kids Craft Day ...

80,000 Perler Beads

10 pounds Citric Acid, Baking Soda, Dead Sea Salt, Essential Oils, Food Coloring

Cherrios & Fruit Loops & Yarn

Felt Ginger Bread Men with lots of little teeny weeny bits and pieces

2 dozen pillow cases

2 NO-Shows ... 1 8year old with a bad case of the whines ... 18month old and a 3 year old ... What do you get?

The biggest mess possible ... and no crafts!  We did however get to pull a purple bead out of the 3 year old's nose! 

But hey they loved the Octopus Hot Dogs . And it only took 2 hours to vacuum all the cheerios up.

Projects completed:  -0-

On the brighter side I was right on target with my eating ... Breakfast was a green coffee smoothie, Lunch (for me) was 5 almonds and a string cheese (all I had time for) and dinner was a scoop of  roasted veggies and a slice of turkey breast ... just before falling into bed!

25 days Really?

The tree isn't unpacked ... The house isn't decorated ...  I have 0 gifts made.

Talk about Stress!        

Last year, once the gifts were distributed and the mess was cleaned up,  my daughters and I were talking and I came up with the brilliant idea that Christmas 2014 needed to be different.  So we agreed with the novel idea that all gifts to an adult must be hand-home made.  Hey we had 12 months! So I made the call to the family and convinced everyone that this would be fun and badgered until everyone agreed.

So last January I set the sewing machine and the embroidery machine out on the dining room table ...

And that is where they have sat ... and sat!

You know the first 10 months it was easy to ignore them ... but lately I have been avoiding that room which is pretty hard to do.

You know every single time I look at the dining table and see those 2 machines ...  I find myself in the pantry looking for something sweet ...  Luckily the only thing sweet in there is a very old jar of maraschino cherries that I just have not thrown away ... I hate maraschino cherries ... BUT I keep picking up that jar.  If I can just make it past the next 25 days with out opening that jar ... 

Note to me:   Keep your big mouth shut!