Happy Birthday Kenyon

Happy 41^st Birthday to the love of my life.

 

We celebrated at 2am with a free Grand Slam breakfast meal at Denny’s.  That is how we roll when we are on night shift!

 

Here’s to many more birthdays we can enjoy together.

Weekly WI: A Christmas Miracle

Good Afternoon.

I’m on my last week and a half of night shift.  WhooooHooo!  I am very ready for shift change.  This is also team change this year too.  I’ll have a new supervisor and new teammates.  Bring on 2015!  I am excited to see what it holds.

Did you like my new car?  I’m still on Cloud 9.

I also had a good WI this week.  I’m calling it the Christmas Miracle. 

I have no idea how I lost but I sure am happy.  While I didn’t go completely overboard and my week started off great, tracking dropped off late in the week and food choices became hit or miss.  I was also not sleeping much and for the first time I really noticed I gave into “tired” eating more than once.

However, it is a new week and I am down another pound.

 

I am tracking 100% again this week.  I have already used a good amount of my WPPA.  I’m trying to balance out my week.  So far snow shoveling has provided a little activity but I do plan to get in some time/miles on the treadmill or get to the gym.  I also plan to ramp it up once I start my new shift rotation.

It was so nice being back with my Tuesday AM WW friends and leader.  I love that meeting.

I hope your Tuesday has treated you well.  Almost halfway through the week!

My First Brand New Car

Two weeks ago I was involved in a crash in the Kohl's parking lot. Thankfully nobody was injured. However, my car has seen better days.

My poor car.

I was headed to work after picking up a salad to-go at SouperSalad. I had the main right of way in the parking lot and before I could even react, a car pulled out in front of me and despite stepping on my breaks I knew we were going it hit. Talk about a terrible early Christmas present!

As I said, nobody was injured and it was left to the insurance companies get to shorted it out. Since we were on private property there was no police report and nobody was cited. The gal that hit me was nice and cooperative although not really wanting to take blame for it. I hate being that mean person to point fingers. I was pretty sure the end result would be that we just pay for our own damages.

Kenyon has us covered well with our insurance including a low deductible and rental car coverage. I dropped my car off at the shop and for a week I drove a brand new Ford Fusion. It was really high tech and there was a bit of a learning curve with this fancy car and if it wasn't for Kenyon's help I am not sure I would have made it out of the driveway.

I got a call on Christmas Eve from my insurance company that due to the cost of the damages they would be considering the car a total loss and offered me a sum of money. I always thought having your car totaled and having to get a new car would be awesome. Well, turns out it was bit of a headache!

I was about to finish paying off my car in the next few months and while new cars are nice I had convinced myself I wasn't going to get a new car so I could instead save money for future travel. That decision ended up being made for me and I found myself shopping for cars online for a few days.

I love Edmark Superstore in Nampa and I already have a great contact. Bryan Hallowell is wonderful and both Kenyon and I bought our cars from him. If you are live in the Treasure Valley and you need a new or new-to-you vehicle, go see Bryan. He is seriously awesome. I called Bryan immediately after talking to the insurance agent, which Progressive has been wonderful and Rory was a bit help. We meet up on Saturday to test drive a car. On Sunday I signed the dotted line(s) and drove a 2015 green Kia Soul off the lot.

Here I am with Bryan.  He is seriously awesome.

I love it!!! I have never had a brand new car so it is quite exciting. I was able to finance the whole amount and still get a fairly good payment. This allowed me to keep the whole amount from the insurance check. I used some of that to finish paying off my student loan and the rest went into savings towards a trip to Europe.

It all worked out in the end and while I still have a car payment, I do have a fun car to drive. I miss my HHR and I loved the orange color. I am really happy with my new Soul though.

The Star Of The Show

I had both a potluck and a cookie exchange at work a few weeks ago that I needed to make something for.  I really love Mix and Match Momma’s website and her desserts always look delicious.  I actually had a really hard time deciding on a cookie recipe.  They all sounded so good.

I decided for the potluck I would make Peppermint Cocoa Krispies Treats.  The star of the show was the Andes peppermint crunch baking chips.  These are amazing!

My coworkers seemed to like the krispie treats and there were none left when I returned to work the next day.  I’d consider this a success.

Since the baking chips were so delicious I went to the back of the package to make my cookies.

These chocolate chip cookies with peppermint crunch were amazing.  They key to the deep flavor is that you add instant coffee graduals to the butter when you melt it on the stove.  The butter smelled so good.  I will be making this again for sure.

Weekly WI & New WW Posters

It’s just about time for my Monday meeting again and I haven’t even updated you on last week.  This week has flown by!

I lost three pounds last week.  It was a HUGE relief.  I managed my PPVs well and also my many food events last week.  I also kept my sugar in check and I know that all helped my weight loss success. 

I have slowly started back into exercise.  Kenyon and I went to Axiom one day, I walked to my WW meeting, and I also walked on the treadmill with the incline.  I have been doing 20 minutes at a time as to not feel overwhelmed.  I am not sure why the switch got flipped but exercise just isn’t sounded fun lately.  But it is a necessity if I am going to drop this weight!

I also tried a new DVD workout I bought recently on Amazon.  I love Jillian Michaels and her workouts sure do get results.  This was a pretty good workout and was similar to her other workouts.  I liked that it was just 20 minutes and doing the circuits really breaks up the time.

Our WW meeting got some updated posters.  I really love the new look.

Merry Christmas One And All

Merry Christmas!!

I had a little bit of fun with my Santify app on my phone. 

Man I love that app.  I did photos of all my nieces and nephews.  My mother-in-law got a big kick out of it.  I am glad I made her day.

I hope you are all enjoying your holiday by spending time with your loved ones.  Whether it be with family, friends, or both, the holidays for me wouldn’t be complete without those I love.

I’ll be working the radio Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  If you are traveling please be safe.  We just got a tiff of snow and are expecting some freezing rain.  Give yourself extra time to get where you are headed safely.

I’ll check back in on Friday.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Santa Is Coming

Happy Christmas Week!!!

I have to keep reminding myself while others might be on vacation the next week or two, I still have to work. And in order to get across town I had better plan on extra time. Traffic has been a nightmare.

But, it is Christmas Week so at least there is much fun to be had. We celebrated our Christmas last week at my sister's house. It was so cute watching the girls open their gifts. Jenny and I went in together and bought Hailey a starter sewing machine. Then Emma, who is four years old, cried because she wanted a sewing machine. Kids! I got her some Frozen stuff including an Olaf robe, slippers, and Frozen panties. I think she still liked it.

Katie had her house decorated and her annual Silver City Tree all ready for Santa Claus to visit the girls later this week.

Last week was also our annual Team Eric Cookie Exchange at work. This is the last year for this Team Eric as we are being split up in 2015 and assigned to other teams/supervisors. We had a great assortment of cookies. I also brought in a crockpot of hot cocoa.

I hope those of you off work/school will enjoy your much needed vacation. I'll be maning the radios at work on the graveyard shift. Be safe!

When A Microwave Meal Saves The Day

We talked about frozen WW SmartOne meals in our WW meeting last Monday.  I guess somebody had tired the WW frozen pizza and dubbed it “not worth it” for the PPVs.  I gotta admit since I love pizza, it is best if it is the real thing so I’ve not yet tired the WW pizza.

The Leader commented that she doesn’t like WW meals or frozen meals.  I agree in that you can make something at home a lot healthier than a frozen meal.  But I won’t join the rest of the women in the group nodding their heads that they don’t eat frozen meals.

I eat frozen meals.

(Gap!  Shock! What?!? Oh my, the horror!)

You mean to tell me that I’m an actual human being and sometimes I get lazy and don’t want to cook?  Or that I like the convenience occasionally of a frozen meal when I am trying to plan an easy meal?

Now, like with anything out there I’ll say that a diet consisting of just frozen meals isn’t best.  Our body needs variety and frozen meals are often packed with extra sodium.  On occasion though there isn’t anything wrong with a frozen meal.

With my busy week last week I knew I would need quick and easy meals.  I have my go-to WW SmartOnes that I really like.  However, when we were at the store I reached for a meal I had not had in a while, the chicken enchiladas.

When we go out to eat I rarely order an enchiladas but I know I have had this one before and it is quite tasty.  This meal is already a complete meal and other than adding a salad or something on the side there isn’t a way to bulk it up more.  I might add some black beans, even though it will add some PPVs.  I also love the SmartOnes tuna noodle, chicken parmesan, lasagna, and turkey and stuffing meals.  I picked up some new-to-me meals to try as I wanted to get out of my usual food rut of feeling like I eat the same foods all the time.  So I selected some new entrees and some frozen veggies to bulk it up with.

Vegetable Fried Rice was just meh.  I added in some extra peas and diced carrots and dress it up with some extra soy sauce and teriyaki sauce.

Sesame Noodles with Vegetables was good.  I added in some extra frozen broccoli and dress it with some Panda Express sauce.

I am all about the easy meal with little thought to it.  That is why microwave meals are perfect for those times I need it and for those times I am not feeling very creative but don't need to eat out.

December Ladies Nite

Hello and Happy Saturday!

I am sorry I didn’t post a blog yesterday.  The whole day sort of got away from me!  I was in a car crash on Thursday on my way to work (nobody was injured and I’ll post more another day on that) so Friday was taking care of some insurance stuff and getting the repair and rental car set up.  Then I had a hair appointment before I rounded up for my December Ladie’s Meet Up.

I dressed in my festive attire and headed to Danielle’s house.  Wearing my holiday leggings makes me really happy.

 

Danielle offered up her house to host and I had decided on a taco theme.  Between Danielle and me (but mostly Danielle) we came up with a great spread.  Danielle has a brand new patio home that is super cute and she had really fun decorations. 

I had pre-planned my food and in true WW fashion also tried to envision my meal for the evening and how I wanted it to go.  I have been managing my many food events this week very well and I even checked in with the scale yesterday morning and it is down.  I didn’t want drinking and cookies to be a red-light to over indulge.  I had some successes and some set-backs.

My plan was:

1 – Only have one margarita and do a half margarita mix/half Fresca mix – Success

2 – Switch to non-alcoholic drink of Cranberry Sprite Zero and fresh squeezed lime – Success

3 – Eat a taco salad and forgot the taco shell/tortilla – Success

4 – Keep the appetizers to just a few – Part Success/Part Set-Back

5 – Enjoy one (some cookies) I was brining from our work cookie exchange or have a slice of Danielle’s rum cake – Set-Back

My evening started out great.  I ate a little bit of bean dip and some hummus with veggies.  I LOVE pita chips but kept that to a minimum.  I think we were all hungry so instead of snacking more we started in on the food.  I had my planned margarita/Fresca and switched over to non-alcoholic drinks after that.  After my salad I wanted just a little bit more so I went back for more of the chicken and beef.  This beef was what Danielle made, was a WW recipe, and was very good!  Dessert was served and since there were so many cookies to try (I brought cookies from our work cookie exchange), we each took a small bit of this and that.  Danielle’s rum cake was really good! 

When attending a party I don’t often gather around the food to socialize.  It is just too easy for me to keep reaching into the bowl in front of me and much.  That is pretty much were my set-backs occurred.  The appetizers and desserts were placed on the table we were all sitting around and my hand dipped into the pita chips many times.  I kept looking at the rum cake toying with having another slice.  Two small slivers later….another bit of a cookie….ugh!

I had recently read a really great blog post, HolidayParty, posted by Beck Diet Solution.  I am glad I had read this as it gave me much to think about.  The author, Judith Beck, talked about her struggle at a holiday and after taking with one of her clients realized that you can change your behavior in the middle of an event.  You don’t have to wait for later, tomorrow, or even Monday.  You can right your behavior in the middle of the holiday party.  Putting this practice into use I was able to stop myself from eating the chips and sweets by moving myself into the living room and away from the food sitting on the table within hands reach.  Whew.

Regardless of my few over indulgences, I had a wonderful time.  I have such a great group of friends and I enjoy our get-togethers so much.