Life of a wrestler...

From this...



















To this.

A day off....

This is the window seat on the upstairs landing. I love this feature of the house, but I dont really love the flowered(?) fabric...So I have been looking for just the right fabric to replace it. I was in walmart the other day and just walked past the perfect replacement fabric...I went back and bought more than enough. I was just giddy thinking that soon I would get rid of those flowers. I could hardly sleep last night and had both of the bench tops finished before the kids got on the school bus this morning at 7 a.m. I really like the way it turned out. Just as I was thinking it would. I love it! What do you think? Should I get one of those round tube looking pillows for in frot of the window? I also have a white sheer scarf for the window, just havent put it up quite yet.

This week was report card week at our school. Both kids brought home great reports. I am so proud of Danikas report card. She made the B honor roll again. Just a couple of years ago, she was failing so many of her classes. And now shes trying harder and planning for college. College is still a few years away but shes thinking about it. I am so proud of her. I cant get over how fast time is going by. In a couple months she will begin drivers training. Funny how something can be so exciting, and terrifying and sad all at once. They are growing too fast.
Tylen is a little math whiz. In school he learned to count to 200. At home he practices adding and subtracting those 200 numbers. He added 34 and 6 the other day. I am impressed considering he is a kindergartener. Those seem like big numbers to me.
The kids are growing too fast!! How can I slow that down? Every night that Tylen asks me to read to him and cuddle with him, I am sure is going to be the last...he is near the age Danika was when she stopped letting me hold her hand or kiss her in public. Dang kids. I dont understand how they can get older when I dont. Its a mystery to me.

My quilt...

There, the top is all put together... there is a bottom there, its red. I probably cut it too small so Ill have to do some fixing later. I am learning how to quilt it now, I dont have the patience required or a job like that. I get all excited and start to screw things up...If you look at the two long side borders, youll see what I mean.LOL! I think later today I will try to do some of the quilting with my machine, see how it goes. But I am pretty excited about this quilt, even if there are a few mistakes in it. Its nothing like the quilts my mother and aunt make, but I still made it!

Hungry Anyone?

Ham and Cheese omlette with hashbrowns and whole wheat toast... Hamburger with Raw Onion and FrenchFries....

Country Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Sausage Gravey , Corn, and a dinner roll...

You can even get some to go...

MMMM chocolate malt and jalepeno poppers...

Do you see what I have to deal with all day long...every day...even when Im not hungry, Im hungry. Its smells so good....yummy....

A productive day?

Yesterday morning the temp around here was -25. My car didnt start...so I had an unexpected and unplanned day off... I thought I would clean my bedroom, organize it a bit...Look what I found mocking me from underneath the bed! Its way colder than it needs to be outside and all these scraps staring at me saying I would never have the bedroom organized as long as they were around. So I did what any body would do..... I seperated, ironed, and cut...

And this is what I ended up with at the end of the day...

Another quilt started by me... I wonder if this one will get done? Its alot further along than the 5 or 6 in those boxes... I really meant to work on one of those ones, but they were all hand stictched and I wanted to get my machine running. Excuses Excuses I know, but I am going to work on one of them just as soon as I finish this one...Really. LOL!!! So Im going to shove those boxes back under the bed for a while until I finish this quilt and Ill get back to them on another cold day...

Weighing in....

Today is my second weigh in. I am happy to announce, that even with my lack of exercise, I have lost another 3 pounds! Thats totaling 6 pounds right now. I am going to come up with an exercise plan, really I am, I am just a natural born procrastinator. I would really rather just go for a walk, but its really cold here, now. I will come up with something. I have found that I eat alot less when I stay home for the day. I could just quit my job... LOL! O.K.. Ill go to work and Ill just have to try harder not to eat what I cook. As Fredrick Douglass once said..."Without struggle there can be no progress." But as I get ready to go off to work all I can think about is what one of the waitresses told me "Sarah, you cant trust a skinny cook..."

Join a gym?!?

I am doing awesome with my food intake. I have tried to make my portions half of what they were, and I admit there are times when I take a second helping, but not every time. I have been checking out the fat content and calorie content on the packages of some of this stuff. The numbers kind of stick with me...for example did you know that one teeny tiny mozzerella stick contains 11 grams of fat!!! I remember hearing a long time ago that a person should consume like 26 grams of fat in a day...(I dont know if this is true or not, but like i said earlier some numbers just stick with me...) thats only 2 mozzerella sticks and a sniff of the third allowed, for the whole day, and people order these 6 and a time! thats 66 grams of fat in one appetizer!! Its no wonder there are so many overweight people in America. Why!?! Why do we continue to shovel that food down our throats? Butter and Margarine also have 11 grams of fat per tablespoon. Yesterday was my first breakfast containing dry toast. (It wasnt as bad as I was imagining it would be.) My wonderful sweet adorable daughter pointed out to me that my lack of excercise is laughable. And even if I lose weight my way Im still gonna look gross... she mumble something here about "disgusting flab". I know in my heart she is right...but... It takes precious time out of my already busy days so I have been putting it off. A friend of mine wants me to join her gym, and its the kind that you can go whenever you want... day or night. I could find a couple of hours in the morning to be helpful...I wake up early everyday. I dont start work until 7... I could possibly make that work... or after work for an hour or so might work too... I should do this. Ill check it out on Monday maybe...

Crunch counter....

Im going to add 30, so thats 50 this week.
90 for the whole year....
not good.

What a Beautiful Day!

On days like this I am sure I can accompolish anything I set out to do...how georgeous is this?!? This tree is right in my front yard so I can look at it almost as long as I want to...Lets take a drive and see what the rest of the world looks like...

Georgeous!!! But definately dangerous to drive a vehicle while trying to capture the beauty of the surrounding world... (But oh so worth it for a photo like this..right?)

Or this... I love days like this.. They are few and far between though. Well, now that I have my inspiration for the day...I am going to tackle the giant pile of laundry that is threatening to take over control of the entire basement. I refuse to let that happen...wish me luck.

Crunch Counter....

I'll start this week off with 20...
I am really gonna try to do better this week.

Quote of the week...

"I believe that sometimes you have to look reality in the eye and deny it." -Garrison Keillor

Oh yeah! This quote excuses all my bad behaviors. Like when I smooth out my sons hair with a little of that magic mom spit, in front of his buddies at wrestling practice...sorry TJ. I will so try to control myself way better than that next time. Its just so hard to remember that he is not my baby baby... Hes a big wrestler now. I cant really believe that kindergartners are able to wrestle, but he loves to go. Instead of letting him become the little man he swears he is, I just look at him and say "Na uh, me and Garrison Keillor say your still my baby. So there!"

Celebrate!!

I celebrated my 3 pound weight loss with a beautiful juicy cheeseburger. Dumb I know, I wont do it again... I was just starving for a big ol' pile of animal fat. I will do twice as many crunches tonight as I did last night as penance. LOL!!! On the plus side I used sugar free fat free pancake syrup this morning on my one little teeny tiny pancake. Thats gotta count as something good right? I wonder if that was a better for me breakfast than what I have been eating all week. One egg and 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with margarine? Im gonna check that out tonight. Calorie wise I bet the pancake wins... wanna bet?

Weighing in...

This is the first weigh in, hopefully of many. I tend to give up on things quite easily and rarely do I ever finish a project Ive started... When I bought that damned scale my weight loss goal was to lose 90 pounds, I sure hope Ive lost at least half that by now... Im gonna go check that scale. Hold on...Crap I did not lose 45 pounds this week. I did however lose 3. It is a good start I think, I suppose I could eat some more grilled chicken instead of cheeseburgers at work this week... But I havent had chocolate in forever...Just one bite of creamy dove chocolate...mmmm. ok forget the chocolate, eat more chicken, and maybe if I did a few more crunches... or any kind of exercise... I will think about that.

Crunch Counting....

I can only add 20. That makes 60 so far.
yuck.

Crunch Counting....

I started off with 40.

Thats alot I know, but it may take just a few more to flatten out what used to be my tummy.

Whos idea was this?!?

I bought the danged scale. You know your fat when you've got an extra 20 pounds hanging off you that you didnt know you had... Dang! I bet that means more crunches for my future! So, my weight loss goal is going to be *gulp* 90 pounds. Oh dear Lord I bet thats gonna take a while! Maybe I should consider another form of excersise as well as those crunches...Ill check into that after work today.

Its crunch time!

Ok, so far so good for my healthier choices in food... at work, during the day. But I need to work on my dinner menus if I plan to extend the healthier choices on to my family. I have stocked the house with healthy snacks, and drinks, but not doing so well when I make dinner. For example, last night I made a cream base chowder for dinner and BLT's. Failure!!! I did make the bacon turkey bacon, and that is healthier than the real deal...See how easy this healthier choice stuff is working...LOL. SO this upcoming week I will surf the net for low fat, healthier meals to feed to my family for dinner. Also this week I will work on an excercise plan as well. How many crunches will it take to find the center of my spare tire? Good question I will try to keep track of the crunches and post the number daily. I also want to buy a scale too. I am not even sure how much I weigh I think I would like to keep track of that as well. So, my goals for this week will be:

1: Menu planning-Healthy Menu planning.

2: Excercise Plan
(count crunches and post number)

3: Buy a scale

continue making healthier choices...

Inspiration for the week: "The first wealth is health."- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy New Year!!!

Its a brand new year! Time to make a hundred new resolutions, and follow through with one or none. Two years I resolved to drink only diet soda, that lasted nearly 2 years... Last year I resolved to quit smoking, So far so good. So this year I resolve to make healthier choices. (Except for the Mountain Dew I am drinking this morning... oops )
Aside from that mountain dew I have been doing well with this resolution. I will have tea instead of coffee, if I have coffee, I dont add sugar. I have snacked on bannanas, crackers, and popcorn instead of cookies, chips or chocolate anything. I also have cleared the house out of any unhealthy snacks (in case the kids want to snack) Its only day 3 so we will just have to see how far this is going to go. I would like to lose about80 pounds, but I am mostly concerned with the fact that I am making my family fat. My daughter is about 50 pounds over weight and she is only 14 years old. My husband also has put on a few pounds, so it is obviously the way I cook and the things I cook that is making us fat. So I intend to transform the whole bunch of us.

I took a week off from work over Christmas. I stayed home with the kids, my husband is laid off from his job so he was home as well. I really enjoyed our time together but if I were an honest person, I would say that I was glad to get back to work. Maybe too much togetherness is harmful in a relationship. So for a healthier choice this year I would have to say that I should probably stay working instead of staying home. I will try to enjoy my job more. I am greatful for the time I had off, and I plan to do it again. Just not real soon.

We still have one of Candy's puppies left. I admit I havent tried real hard to get rid of them. She had 8 to start with. I caught Candy and 2 of the puppies running away. They were about a mile down the road on the highway! What was she thinking!?! So I picked them up and brought them home, now Candy is gone again! Its been 4 days and I cant find her anywhere. Why would she run away while she still had puppies here? She has never wandered before. I just dont get it.

I have heard of this "one little word" challenge. You are supposed to sum up your life into one word for the new year. I spent a few days trying to find the right word. Its pretty tough to do there are so many great words. I finally have chose one little word for the new year. Transformation. That is what my family and I will be going through this year. Transformation.

"Some people live in a dream world, some live in reality and some, turn one into the other."