Progress

So far this week I have had my menu planned out, groceries bought, and I'm loving getting home early and getting dinner done earlier! Monday I pre-made my chicken before work so when I got home I just threw all the stuff in a pot for Tortilla Soup and got on my treadmill while it cooked. I only made it .57 miles before I was wore out but hey it was better than nothing.... I sorta feel bad now after seeing last nights biggest loser where they were walking and jogging 5 or 6 miles. Oh well.

Yesterday I took off early because I had some things to do at my bank across town and the lobby closes at 4:30. Since I got home so early we decided to go out to eat... Not a good choice... especially since we went to IHOP. :( Today will be better though! Lots of water!

This morning I emptied my dishwasher, washed a couple of pans that have been sitting on my stove, and cleaned off the bar. I think I've figured out a routine that works for me. I'm doing all my "chores" before work so that when I come home it's dinner & work out time. This will only work if my meals are pre-planned. So far so good!!! Gold Star for me this week!

Yesterday Lady Antebellum's CD came out! I went to wal-mart before work to get it because I'm just not patient enough to wait until after work. I'm so glad I did though because it showed $11.88 but it rang up $7.97! Awesome! I'm so glad that I didn't pre-order at $9.99! Anyways this CD is GREAT! I love every single song!

Have a great Wednesday!

Weekend Recap

Adam did end up working 12 hours Saturday but I was able to get some stuff done around the house.

I got up fairly early for a Saturday (6:30), ate some breakfast of scrambled eggs & toast, and watched last weeks Grey's Anatomy & Private Practice. Then about 8 I headed out for a walk. I'm not sure how far I walked because my pedometer is messed up. It said I walked .18 miles and I know that my drive way alone is that long! I did walk for about 20 minutes so I'm thinking less than a mile but it was up hill, down hills, rocky, sandy, and paved so I think I got a good work out.

After getting home and stretching I made out my grocery list for the week and headed to the grocery store. ..... Yes in my work out clothes. I threw on a cap and off I went. :) I just knew I was going to run into someone I knew but thankfully did not.

When I got home I made some YUMMY homemade bread. This was my first attempt and it was awesome! The only thing I need to adjust is the amount of time I kneeded it in my stand mixer. I think I over did that as it's a little more dense and chewy than normal bread. Or maybe it was the recipe ... I'm not sure... it was from the '69 Betty Crocker cook book. I said some prayers before I began and just went with the flow. Some of my best meals have been results of prayers :-D.

Yesterday Adam worked on his truck some and figured out there is more wrong with it so we may end up getting a loan like I said before to get it fixed. I really hope our money situation stays good and we can afford it. Staying positive and prayerful on that.

The remainder of our weekend was pretty uneventful and just normal which is good. Adam was too thrilled about only 1 day off but hopefully this week will go by quick and he'll be off next weekend.

Happy Monday!!!

Happy Friday!

I'm SO glad that today is Friday!!!!! It's has been a really really long week and we were off on Monday (mostly). We had planned to head over to Dallas tomorrow and go to Joe's Crab Shack! Adam loves that place, but I eat chicken strips from the kids menu so I'm not that excited about that part... lol. I'm excited about going shopping! I love Malls and I love to window shope. I want to go to the mall in Arlington but they have a Cheesecake Factory! Must stay away from that place! Anyways, I believe Adam will be working tomorrow so we probably will not be going until next weekend.

Today is weigh in day! I've lost 4lbs since the first. I would like for that to be a lot more but I've lost, gained, and lost again since then so I'm happy with anything. Last night while Adam was at band practice I walked a mile on my treadmill! I did it in 24 minutes. Not sure if that is good but it wasn't easy so I felt I pushed myself as I should have. Since Adam is working (probably) I plan on walking outside if it's nice. I don't rember how far down our road is a mile but I'll take my pedometer/radio and hopefully just zone out and walk!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Happy Friday!

Scary Weather!

Last night we had some major weather scares. There were 10 reported tornados in our area. At one point I was at my in-laws because our immediate area was under a warning and Adam was on his way home from Lindale. Very scary! Tornados scare me more than any other weather related thing. I guess because they are so unpredictable and random. I just have to remember that God is controling them so they really aren't so unpredictable after all.... hard to remember sometimes though.

There was 2 or 3 possible funnel clouds near where I work and the majority of our customers are so I was really worried that they had touched down. So far only 1 was a touchdown and it was more West of us. So far no claims have been called in. I'm really thankful that nobody was seriously injured in any of the tornados. In one town a couple of houses were leveled but I don't believe there were injuries. In another town a tornado hit a gas station, hotel, and a couple of businesses but again no injuries. Thank you Lord for watching out for us!

Prayers Needed Please

Today has been a very hectic hair pulling kind of day. Our internet was down until about Noon and so we are playing catch up. Mainly the reason I wanted to post though was to ask for your prayers.

We have had 6 churches in East Texas set on fire since Friday. Somebody has been breaking into churches and setting them on fire. This is so sad and upsetting. Please pray that these people are caught and that nobody gets hurt. So far 2 or 3 churches have been a total loss. One was set this morning but it was put out very quickly. It's sad that churches have had to hire armed security guards and the churches that can't afford that have been taking shifts watching their churches.

Why would someone do this? I just don't understand.

Please keep these congregations in your prayers.

Also I heard that Haiti was hit with another aftershock this morning. Please continue to keep them in your prayers as well!

A Great Story!

Well yesterday turned out to be way more exciting than I first planned. What's better than coming in to work on a Monday morning and your boss saying... Why don't we just take the day off?! Awesome! We are usually off on Presidents Day in February but this year we have to work because that's the roll out date for our new policies. So we traded holidays :-D!

I got so much done at home! Cleaned, organized, and did a bunch of laundry! I sort of feel ahead of the game at this moment. I have groceries for the week, chicken & potatos pre-cooked for dinner tonight (pot pie), and my laundry is ALL folded! Now if I can just keep it that way!

~*~
This morning I was reading my book I got recently: I Dare You by Joyce Meyer and wanted to share this.

This is a story by Larry Harp (www.inspirationalstories.com):

Leaving The City Of Regret

"I had not really planned on taking this time of year, and yet I found myself packing rather hurriedly. This trip was going to be unpleasant and I knew in advance that no real good would come of it. I'm talking about my annual "Guilt Trip."

I got tickets to fly there on WISH I HAD airlines. It was an extremely short flight. I got my baggage, which I could not check. I chose to carry it myself all the way. It was weighted down with a thousand memories of what might have been. No one greeted me as I entere the terminal to the Regret City International Airport. I say international because people from all over the world come to this dismal town.

As I checked into the Last Resort Hotel, I noticed that they would be hosting the year's most important event, the Annual Pity Party. I wasn't going to miss that great social occasion. Many of the town's leading citizens would be there.

First, there would be the Done family - you know, Should Have Done, Would Have Done, and Could Have Done. Then came the I Had family. You probably know ole Wish I Had and his clan. Of course, the Opportunities would be present, Missed and Lost.

The biggest family would be the Yesterdays. There are far too many of them to count, but each one would have a very sad story to share.

Then Shattered Dreams would surely make an appearance. And It's Their Fault would regale us with stories (excuses) about how things had failed in his life. Each story would be loudly applauded by Don't Blame Me and I Couldn't Help It.

Well, to make a long story short, I went to this depressing party knowing that there would be no real benefit in doing so. And, as usual, I became very depressed. But as I thought about all of the stories of failures brought back from the past, it occured to me that the remainder of this trip and subsequent "pity parties" could be cancelled by ME! I started to truly realize that I did not have to be there. I didn't have to be depressed. One thing kept going through my mind, I CAN'T CHANGE YESTERDAY, BUT I DO HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE TODAY A WONDERFUL DAY. I can be happy, joyous, fulfilled, encouraged, as well as encouraging. Knowing this, I left the City of Regret immediately and left no forwarding address. Am I sorry for mistakes I've made in the past? Yes! But there is no physical way to undo them.

So, if you're planning a trip back to the City of Regret, please cancel all your reservations now. Instead, take a trip to Starting Again. I liked it so much that I have now taken up permanent residence there. My neighbors, the I Forgive Myselfs and the New Starts, are very helpful. By the way, you don't have to carry around heavy baggage, because the load is lifted from your shoulders upon arrival. God bless you in finding this great town. If you can find it - it's in your own heart - please look me up. I live on I CAN DO IT street!"

~*~
Awesome isn't it! Have a fabulous Tuesday!

Totally Random

I've been a little absent from my blog because I really have nothing to talk about. Everything is pretty much back to normal.

Work is busy crazy as usual after the first of the year. This year is even busier than normal because of the new policies rolling out next month.

Home is pretty much normal. We had a really low key weekend and didn't do much productive. I did get my bookshelf in my dining room reorganized. I have been stacking random books I read in front of books on the shelf until I can put them in the box in the back room. Well I finally did that and went through all my magazines. I love All You magazine and keep every issue. I didn't realize I've kept all the other random magazines I've read as well. I went through a bunch of the others and pulled our recipes or workouts (or whatever else reason I kept those particular ones) and put them in a file folder. I still have a few to go through but it's way more organized!

Yesterday at Wal-Mart I found some great sounding nail stuff called Maximum Growth by Sally Hansen. My nails are extremely thin and layers peel off of them until they hurt. I've been taking prenatal vitamins and they've helped the peeling but not the strength or growing. Anyways this stuff is supposed to strengthen and fix your nails in one week so I'll let you know how that goes!

Ok so I'm gonna get back to work before I start talking about shampoo, dust bunnies, or some other random nonsense.

Have a great Monday!!!!!

I Love Change!

Yesterday was a pretty busy / long day! The morning was crazy because I had to cram a day's worth of work into a few hours and then we had a training class in the afternoon. The class went really good I think. We are getting new Auto & Home policies in February so we are learning about those. Yesterday we learned about the Home policy. I really love change so this excites me. Not only is the policy better and totally awesome it's so much easier to process for us!

We have another class on the 29th for the Auto and I can't wait for it! On Feb 15th our agency needs to process 50 auto quotes and 10 home quotes on the 16th so if you live in this area please contact me :) I may be hitting up my Facebook friends and family for quotes so watch out!

~*~
The Biggest Loser was really good last night. Some parts I thought were great:

• When the simulated 303 lbs added to Bob. I'm sure that really put it into perspective for him as well as Mike
• The truck with $3 mill in it showing the red team how much they waste on obesity!
• I felt so bad for Maria when she fell. At first I was thinking she just needed to get over her fear but then I thought who am I to judge? I've never had a dilbitating fear like that so I don't understand!
• Mike's fat scan! I can't believe how it showed his bones and muscles so little and then nothing but fat around them!
• What really bugged me the most - When Red girl (don't remember her name yet) gained a pound! I know it was "smart" and she's playing the game but that aspect bugs me.

~*~

I don't think I wrote on Twitter or edited my last post but Adam's truck is fixed! So far it has only cost $30 and he thinks it's totally fixed. Thank you Lord!!!!!! :-D

Have a GREAT Wednesday!!!!

Weekend Recap

We had a really great normal weekend! I know in a month or so I'm going to be wishing for plans and excitement but it was great to just go with the flow this weekend.

Saturday we had a few things to do in town. He had a shirt to return to the mall and I wanted to go to Hastings to look at their used books. I finished reading Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer and was looking for something else by her to read. My only criteria was that it had to be used and under $15. I found a great book called I Dare You by her ($13.99). It's exactly what I wanted and needed right now. Isn't God great! I found a couple of other books - one for $7 and one for $3... but I forgot to write down their names to share :). One things that I love about the used section is that I usually pick up books I normally wouldn't have and they turn out to be really great. I've found several christian romance novels this way that didn't sound really that interesting but they were $2 or $3 so got them. I also love our local used bookstore. I could spend hours in there because they have a whole room that is floor to ceiling of romance novels! I mean you need a ladder!

Ok I better get of my book subject... we could be here a while. :)

Saturday night some friends came over and we watched Year One.... don't waste your time on this one. I'm really not a Jack Black fan anyways so it was just really dumb. Thank goodness for Redbox and it was only $1.

Yesterday we just hung out around the house. We got some cleaning done and things picked up. I went through all my coupons and organized them. I'm really going to be more into coupons and watching our money when it comes to food. When I got out my coupon organizer I had to trash handfuls of coupons I never used... Definately wasted my $1.75/wk on the paper! (That's $91 - assuming I bought one each week!). Today I have a few online places to print coupons from then I'm going to plan my menu for the week. This must also be a priority for me!

This morning on Adam's way to work his truck started smoking and died. His radiator hose blew off and he's thinking that something has gone wrong in the engine. He did get it to work but it's not running now. He has a friend that he works with bringing him a part later so that he can fix what HE KNOWS is wrong with it. He won't know the extent until then. Please pray it's not the whole engine... that's like $4000. If for some reason it is the whole engine then I'm thinking we can put his truck up for a loan. Thank God it's paid off. I panicked at first but now I'm not worried about it. God will find a way and whatever we have to do we have to do.

Have a great Monday!

It's A Little Chilly!

This morning it was 18 degrees at my house with a wind chill of 6 or something and I locked myself out of my house!!! Yes I'm a goober.

I went out to start my car and I guess when I twisted my door knob for the house it locked. Well of course when I try to go back in I realized what I did. Thankfully I used my normal set of keys that have my house key on them rather than grabbing Adam's keys to my car which just has the key and keyless entry thing on it. So I had to run back out to my car (no coat on of course), grab my keys, run back to the house, unlock the door, run back to the car to restart it, and then back in the house! My ears still hurt! Brrrr

I'll be so glad when this cold moves on! Luckily we didn't get any of the snow, sleet, or rain last night so most of the roads are clear except the ones where business left their sprinklers on and it froze part of the roads (crazy people)! You can tell we aren't used to this! I'll be so glad when we get back to the 50s next week!

~*~
Check out this really cool video I saw today on a DVRed Oprah. She was doing her favorite things and this was one of them from a show last year:


Happy Friday!!! (WE HAVE NOOOO PLANS THIS WEEKEND --- WOOO HOOO!)

Love Stories Are The Best

Today I finished reading the book that my co-worker gave me for Christmas (Southern Rapture by Jennifer Blake). As I said in a previous post I've read this book before (it was the first romance novel I had ever read) and had been looking for it forever. I started on it last week and finished it this morning. Still as good as I remembered!

I wanted to share my favorite quote. This is what Ransom says to Lettie when she's leaving because she doesn't believe he loves her:

".........I want to sleep beside you for the rest of my life, to hold you when you have my child inside you, to worry with you over the little hellions we will create, to sit with you on the veranda in the dusk of our lives, and to lie beside you in some churchyard through eternity. I want everything I own to smell and to taste of you. I want, damn you, to breathe the air you breathe, to rest where you rest, to eat what you eat. I want to drink from your glass."

Maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic but isn't that beautiful? That is the reason I love this book!

I do have to admit though, as much as I love this book, after reading the Twilight Saga nothing compares to Bella & Edwards love story! It will forever remain my favorite.

~*~
Today we are in for some VERY cold weather. The high is like 30 something today and the low is going to be around 15 this afternoon. Wind chills at 0 - 5. I'm sure to anyone in the NE this is nothing but for E TX this is shut down the city weather! It's supposed to start snowing/sleeting sometime today and then freeze on the roads until Sunday or Monday. Definitely not gonna be fun driving home today or back to work tomorrow! Please say a prayer for the elderly and homeless who are totally unprepared for this kind of weather here.

My Blog is .....

Today my little piece of the blog world turns 1! I honestly cannot believe that I have been blogging for 1 year and I can't believe that I actually stuck with it! I took a look back at my first post and didn't accomplish my main goals but this year is different. This year is MY year. I can't wait to see where my life is in a year!

~*~

I watched the Biggest Loser this morning and it was great as usual! I was a little upset that they made the contestants weigh-in in their hometowns in front of the whole dang town. My husband made a comment that it was silly to be upset about it because everyone knows their big so why should it matter if they know what they way. I tried to explain to him that it's totally different. I mean sure if you are very large people know you weigh a lot but to actually get on a scale and show them that number would be so horrible. I don't mind saying that I weigh 200lbs but I would be so ashamed to actual get on a scale in front of my friends and family and have that number glaring at me. I don't think he will ever understand as he's never been overweight. After discussing this with him I thought about it some more and even though it's horrible I could not imagine having to do that and then failing. How could you come back home and just sit on your butt? You would be working your butt off (literally) to make sure you redeemed yourself... in my opinion anyways.

This was the first season that not one of the contestants got on my nerves. I pretty much like them all, although I'm thinking that the girl on the red team is going to be VERY competitive and may turn into a Vicky (hopefully not). My favs at the moment are the green team (I think green is the lucky color for this show) and Cheryl from the orange team. I loved it when Jillian said "Cheryl's a bad ass!". It was really sad to see one of the twins go home but it's amazing that he has already lost 100lbs at home!


~*~

I'm still trying to figure out how to share my Food Log that I made yesterday so if anyone has any ideas please let me know. :)

Happy Wednesday!

The Bachelor ... Ugh

First of all.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little sister. She turns 14 today! Oh to be that young and innocent again ... sigh. She doesn't read this (as far as I know) but still wanted to acknowledge her day!

This morning I watched the Bachelor from last night that I had recorded on my DVR. Even though I swore I would never watch it again (after Jason dumped Melissa) I thought, well he's from Texas and he's incredibly cute why not. Nope, no thank you! First of all he picked that crazy girl who is exactly like the other psycho girl a few seasons ago.... can't remember her name but anybody who has seen it knows what I'm talking about. Then all the drama that goes on this season! Too much for me! So The Bachelor is coming off of my DVR and hopefully Find My Family comes back soon on Monday nights... I love that show!

Tonight is The Biggest Loser premier! I wish they weren't doing couples again because I liked it better when it was individuals but I'm sure this season will be great anyways.

I'm doing pretty good with watching what I eat and drink. Right now I'm not changing up my diet really but I'm making better choices. I'm limiting my portions, no snacking after dinner (starting tonight lol), no cokes (not even diet), I'm drinking water - which I normally don't do, and I'm eating a good breakfast instead of something sweet or a hot pocket. This morning I had scrambled eggs and a piece of cinnamon swirl bread. The bread isn't too bad on calories/carbs... 80 calories & 15 carbs. It helps me stay full until lunch. I don't usually need a snack in the morning so if I eat more calories in the AM it doesn't hurt me on my overall totals.

Goal for this week: Make a food log in excel that I can print out and keep in my purse!

Have a great Tuesday!!! :-D

Edit** Did a food log on excel... anybody know how to share it on here?

Goals for the year

Happy New Year!!!

We had a great 4 day weekend! Thursday night we had a party at Adam's parents house and Adam had a firework show as usual. I have an awesome video but it's too big for my phone to send so I'm still working on how to get it on to my computer.

The rest of the weekend was spent being lazy and not doing much of anything. I did go to a baby shower Saturday and we went bowling Saturday night. I did accomplish my main goal for the weekend and that was to put away the big tubs that have been sitting in my hall. They have all of our Christmas decorations in them and I just finished packing the last of the stuff away yesterday.

I have resolutions for the new year but I haven't nailed them all down yet. Overall this is going to be my year. I want to be a better wife, friend, daughter, sister, etc. I also want this to be my healthiest year. These are my main goals:

1. Lose 50lbs by the end of the year
2. Get my two back rooms completed
3. Get my paper filing under control
4. Better food control (menu planning, freezing, coupons)
5. Set goals each month and review them at the end of the month (I got this idea from Lucy @ Lucy's Life)

That's it right now. Those are my biggest and most important at the moment. There is a lot that will go into each one and need to be maintained (especially number 1)

I want to be healthy and at a normal weight so that maybe in 2011 we can start thinking about having a baby.

Today is a busy crazy day at the office! January is usually our craziest month so hopefully it will also be profitable :)

Have an excellent Monday!