Losing It - Week 3

Today is the end of our third week of Losing It: Not Just Our Sanity. Each week for the next 8 weeks, Jessie from Vanderbilt Wife, Ashleigh from Heart & Home and I will be sharing a peek (or in the case of this wordy ramble, an oversized bay window) into our weight loss journeys.

If you’d like to take the challenge to Lose It (#LosingIt10 on Twitter, by the way), write about your own journey, link to this site in your post, and share a link to your blog post in our weekly carnival. The bloggers who link up at least six out of the 10 weeks will be eligible for our prize package of a six-month subscription to The Six O'Clock Scramble (a meal planning service), a Weight Watchers pedometer and a gift card to Dick's Sporting Goods.

The winner will be the person who loses the largest percentage of his or her body weight during the 10 weeks.

-----------------------------------------

This week wasn’t quite as good as last week, and I had one particularly, spectacularly terrible night. Annalyn and I went to the store after I picked her up from daycare, and she was A Bear.

According to my darling child, I went to the wrong grocery store. Yes, my 2-year-old daughter knows the difference between our various grocery stores, and yes, she has her favorites.

And I had the nerve to go to the wrong one.

It was all downhill from there. Let me just say, there was screaming and crying and throwing herself over the side of the cart in loud desperation. Not throwing herself OUT of the cart. Just over it, like she was passed out. But she wasn’t. She was just protesting the injustice of my terrible parenting skills and grocery store choices.

I cracked. I bought a frozen pizza. And a box of chocolate Pop Tarts. And a bottle of Coke.

I know. I KNOW!

Then, because I have a feeling you might understand just exactly how frustrating this was, I couldn’t get the Coke open.

I tried. And tried. AND TRIED. But I could not, for the life of me, get that 20 oz. open.

Despite that sad situation, I still ate more food than any one person should in one sitting. And I felt TERRIBLE. Oh, my stomach hurt so bad! I even felt sick the next morning. As I should. I totally deserved that stomach ache!

What I’m not sure I deserve is a weight loss when I go to my Weight Watchers meeting today. I did okay, but not great. And obviously had this crazy night of gluttony that was not exactly “on plan.”

So, we’ll see. I have still been drinking my water, and I have still not been exercising. But I did talk to my friend Brittany about walking next week, so I’m hoping that helps.

Oh, also – I tried Thomas’ Bagel Thins. They are tasty and only one point. But they are THIN. Yeah, I know, that might seem obvious from the names. Bagel THINS. I’m just saying that they’re so thin I wanted to eat two. And, maybe I did.

So, that’s me – the kind of good, the bad and the Pop Tart Ugly. How was your week?

UPDATE: I gained a pound back. The moral of this story? Don't buy the Pop Tarts!! (Or don't take your 2-year-old to the grocery store . . . as if I can avoid THAT!)

----------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

It might as well be spring.

Image by ComunicaTI

Yesterday when I walked out of my office into the parking lot at lunchtime, I smelled it. I smelled flowers.

I didn’t see them anywhere. I looked all over the grounds and didn’t see a single bloom. Maybe Mark’s right, and I do have a Super Sniffer.

But it doesn’t matter. I smelled flowers!

And while it means more rain and tornado season and allergies and months closer to shorts season, that glimpse of spring is definitely something I love on this Thursday. For more things to love, visit The Diaper Diaries.

Oh, and tomorrow, that photo up there will show you one of my favorite flowers. (I guess it’s showing you today, but I won’t link up to Friday Favorites at The Other Mama until tomorrow!)

What’s your favorite part of spring? (And bonus points to anyone who can tell me where my post title came from!)

----------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

An Interview with Hillary @ The Other Mama

From consignment sales to Girl Scout cookies to the many attributes of the state of Alabama, Hillary at The Other Mama can make just about anything laugh-your-head-off funny. She’s also sweet as can be and has the two cutest boys I’ve ever seen.

And now, she’s here to share her deepest secrets with us. Read on for a taste of her humor and heart and my interviewing skills (yes, this may explain why I only spent one semester as a journalism major).

Dogs or cats?
Dogs, but I’d love to get rid of them. Is that wrong to type out loud? I don’t care – any takers?

White bread or wheat bread?
Wheat.

Over or under (toilet paper roll)?
Um, over – the way God and gravity intended it.

Books or movies?
Both!

Pop or soda?
Coke – we call everything Coke in Alabama. (Like, “What kind of Coke would you like?”)

Seriously, though . . .

What’s your blog about?
My blog is about my imperfect quest as a mom, wife and child of God. I never quite hit my goals in any of those areas, but at least I can laugh at the situation.

Why did you start blogging?
We live five hours away from my parents, and I wanted them to see pictures of my boys. (I think that’s pretty much the reason that most people start blogging, right?) Then it morphed into me telling their stories and enjoying writing all over again. I’m a trained writer (but please don’t show any college professors my blog!), but I don’t get to do it professionally. So, this is a creative outlet for me and has turned into a wonderful part of my life.

What’s your favorite part of the day?
That glorious hour(s) in between putting the kids to bed and accidentally falling asleep on the sofa.

If you were stuck in an elevator for an hour, who would you want to be with? (And no, you can’t pick your husband, your kids or Harry. Because I’m mean, that’s why.)
Good question! Can they be alive or dead? What about my grandmother (Other Mama), Kirk Cameron and The Duggars. (If all the Duggars couldn’t fit in there, I would choose Michelle.)

Favorite quote?
“Name your child something that you really like because you are going to be yelling it a LOT.” – My mom

Oh, you want a serious one? I think Psalm 121 is my favorite quote/verses today. It just plain made my morning.

Psalm 121
A song of ascents.

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Favorite blog (other than your own and mine, of course)?
There are so many! I love (In)Courage, Stuff Christians Like, Cakewrecks, The Nester, MckMama and Pioneer Woman (of course). I love following all the Compassion bloggers on their trips, and I have dozens of personal friends who blog and I love keeping up with them that way. There are too many to name!

Salty or sweet?
Yes – I’m pregnant. So, yes. Both.

Mac or PC?
Both – we have a mixed marriage.

Zack or Slater?
Is this question even real?
Did Slater sing lead in the Zack Attack? No.
Was Zack cheesy enough to call Kelly “Mama”? NO.
Who else could call a time out? That would be Zack.
This is a no-brainer. Oh – and I prefer blondes.

See, I told you. One funny girl, right? Now head over to her blog and read her interview with me!

----------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

Some things are worth fighting for, and cookies are one.

Photo by SMercury98

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about Girl Scout cookies. And how great they supposedly are. I wouldn't know about such things, being a former Camp Fire girl and all.

My friend Hillary has even engaged in some Girl Scout vs. Camp Fire smack talk.

So today I’m here to talk about just how many MANY cookies are WAY BETTER than Girl Scout cookies.

That’s right. You heard me.

1. Chocolate chip cookies, the break and bake version.
2. Chocolate chip cookies, the 3-for-$1 at McDonald’s version.
3. Chocolate chip cookies, the café next door to my old office version.
4. Oatmeal cookies, no raisins and either warm or frozen.
5. Fudge-striped shortbread cookies, brand name or generic.
6. Chewy Archway cookies with the fruit in the middle, the kind my grandparents always ate version.
7. Crispy ginger snaps, the kind my Granny always ate version.
8. Chocolate Pop Tarts, the I-told-Annalyn-they’re-cookies-not-breakfast version.
9. Sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles, I’m-still-a-kid-at-heart-and-stomach version.
10. Oreos, the mother of all cookies. Double-stuffed version of course.

That list right there? It took me about 3.2 minutes to compose. And that means one of two things. Either I am a HUGE cookie fan (and nothing I’ve ever written would make you think this, right?) or GS cookies just aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

All right, your turn: Do you like Girl Scout cookies? Do you luuuuv them? Or are you with me on this one?

This post will be linked to Top Ten Tuesday.

----------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

Family Date Night

Around 6:00 on Friday, Smitty called me and said, "We weren't doing anything tonight, were we?"

Secretly, I'm pretty sure we were both hoping the answer was no. She was tired from another crazy week teaching, I was looking forward to a new episode of Wife Swap, and Annalyn was cranky to the max.

So, we agreed that no, we had not made plans. She stayed home, I put Miss Cranky to bed, and then I realized that the new episode of ridiculous reality TV was Super Nanny and not my not-so-secret guilty pleasure, Wife Swap.

Flash forward about 12 hours to Saturday morning. Early. As in, 6:15 a.m. early. Mark's cell phone blasts out his annoying ring tone and wakes up the whole house. (I'm telling you, it's a small house!)

For about half an hour, we thought he'd have to go into work all day. And that would have been okay. Kind of. He would have gotten to drive a big truck a long distance, which while not appealing to me at all, is kind of what he likes to do. And the overtime pay would have been helpful.

But as I mentioned earlier, he and Annalyn have been going through withdrawal this past week. So when his manager called back and said he wasn't going on a "road run" after all, we were all a bit relieved.

Well, I suppose Annalyn wasn't relieved. She didn't really know what was going on. But had she known, I'm quite sure she would have been relieved.

Mark went back to sleep, I returned a gillion e-mails, and Annalyn watched enough TV to make up for the fact that her new daycare believes TV is not educational or necessary in a toddler's life.

Eventually, Mark got up, we ate a late breakfast and then two of us enjoyed the classic weekend activity: naptime.

Right after I got up (yes, we did sleep a lot on Saturday! And it was great.), my mom called. She said my cousin had four free passes to the auto show waiting at will call - and they were all ours.

This worked out perfectly, as we had debated going to the car show earlier that day. Mark thought it would be a great way to spend the late afternoon. I thought it would be a ridiculous waste of money ($20 for an hour of looking at nothing more interesting than cars? No thanks.). But for free? I can do that.

So I called Smitty and asked her on a date.

I know, I know. She should have told me no. It's rude to ask someone out at the last minute. But it couldn't be helped this time. We got the tickets last minute!

By the time she got to our house, Annalyn and I had had time to wake up, eat a snack and brush our hair. I'm not sure what Mark did. Oh yeah - he took Miss Annalyn on a walk outside. (Since we were skipping a trip to the park for a trip to the indoor car show. On the first warm Saturday of the year. Sigh.)

We spent an hour looking at cars we can't afford and reminding Annalyn to HOLD SOMEONE's HAND! Then we headed to dinner, where we used a gift card. We tried to go for the Free Date Trifecta by using a free Redbox coupon, but Redbox didn't have any good movies. So we ended the night - all three of us - by watching a (paid for) rented movie on the couch.

It was a good date night.

What did you do this weekend?

----------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

Not-So-Silent Saturday

 

It's not quite as catchy as "Wordless Wednesday," but I think it will do. And I suppose this short post is about as silent as most of my reportedly wordless ones are.

Annalyn has finished her first week at daycare, and we all survived. Despite not napping three out of five days, she hasn't cried at school and as far as I know, she hasn't gotten a time-out either. She's done great.

There. She's been great there. At home, her over-stimulated, over-tired two-year-old self has gotten the best of her (and me). But look at that sweet face up there. How could I stay irritated at her?

Have a great weekend! I hope it's full of afternoon naps and cookie cakes with frosting!

----------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

Losing It - Week 2

So, here we are. The end of our second week of Losing It: Not Just Our Sanity. Each week for the next 9 weeks, Jessie from Vanderbilt Wife, Ashleigh from Heart & Home and I will be sharing a peek (or in the case of this wordy ramble, an oversized bay window) into our weight loss journeys.

If you’d like to take the challenge to Lose It (#LosingIt10 on Twitter, by the way), write about your own journey, link to this site in your post, and share a link to your blog post in our weekly carnival. The bloggers who link up at least six out of the 10 weeks will be eligible for our prize package of a six-month subscription to The Six O'Clock Scramble (a meal planning service), a Weight Watchers pedometer and a gift card to Dick's Sporting Goods.

The winner will be the person who loses the largest percentage of his or her body weight during the 10 weeks.

-----------------------------------------

This week I was on my weight loss game. Mostly. Kind of. Okay, let’s just compare my week to my goals (and then, yes, I want you to compare YOUR week to YOUR goals. It’s only fair.).

• Drink 10-12 cups of water a day. I’m all over this one. If I have one good habit, it’s drinking water. Of course, it means I spend half my day walking back and forth to the bathroom. But I think it’s worth it to be able to say things like, “I’m all over this one.”
• Stick to my weekly allowance of points (Weight Watchers). As my daughter has taken to saying, “Welllll . . .” I haven’t stayed within my points. But I did write down my food and count all my points almost every day. So there’s that.
• Exercise three times a week. I did a Walk Away the Pounds video on Monday after work. Annalyn alternated between marching along with me and saying, “No, Mommy! Not dance!” I know I need to exercise to complete my healthy transformation. But I can admit that I’m going to have to work up to the multiple times a week thing.
• Lose 20 pounds during our competition. I’ll let you know after my weigh-in today!

Edited to add: I lost 1.2% this week! Woo-hoo!

All right, that’s how I did. Now tell me how you did!

----------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

Things I need to say on a Thursday.

That’s not a carnival or meme or anything. I just need to say some things today, and “things” happens to sound great with “Thursday.” It’s just a coincidence. I didn’t do it on purpose.

I didn’t plan Thursday Things. It just happened.

Also, I should clarify. “Need to say” sounds real serious. And it’s not. Honest. I just can’t pull my thoughts together for a coherent story or rant or walk down memory lane. I’ve got too many THINGS running around this old brain.

**************

I say “old” because I found a gray hair yesterday. It was so beautiful, shimmering in the bathroom light. (NO, IT WAS NOT BEAUTIFUL.) It’s really a bummer, and for two reasons. One, because I’ve long prided myself on being the only person my age who hasn’t started finding gray hairs yet.

And two, because I’ve always assumed that my first gray hairs would be in the midst of my blonde streak. I may have even fancied myself having one of those classy gray streaks like Stacy London. Yesterday’s silver strand? Of course not. It was smack dab in the middle of my plain brown hair.

**************

Happy National Grammar Day! What? You didn't know today was a holiday? Didn't you get the day off work? Huh. Well, me, either. But I did get the opportunity to guest post about my sick healthy love of grammar at Mommin' It Up. I hope you'll visit me over there! (After you finish here. Come on. Priorities, people!)

**************

On another note, I would like to register a formal complaint. Against my laundry. It. Just. Won’t. Stop.

Mark wears half a load of laundry every night at work, because it’s so darned cold, so every single time I think I’ve gotten a good handle on the laundry and I just might see the bottom of my hamper, he comes home and pulls off seven articles of clothing. It’s annoying.

**************

I’m listening to iTunes right now. And I just went from a song called, literally, 1 John 4:7 to Mel McDaniel’s Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On. There’s something wrong about that and yet, so right.

**************

Speaking of a baby (I don’t know. I was trying for a segue here, okay?), Annalyn has been doing great in daycare this week. I was the only one who got teary-eyed when we dropped her off for her first day, and I don’t think she’s landed herself in time-out once all week.

At school, that is. At home, it’s a different story. Poor kiddo has only napped one out of three days so far, and that’s not normal for her. And she’s missing her daddy something fierce. Because Mark is expecting a job transfer – which will mean a night shift, instead of an evening shift – we’ve put her in all-day care. But because he’s leaving for work in the afternoon, that means Mark isn’t seeing her at all.

And since they’ve spent the bulk of their days together for the past two years, that’s a pretty drastic change. The first thing Annalyn said to me when I picked her up yesterday (after “Hi, Mommy!” and the requisite hug, of course) was, “I want to see my daddy.”

Awww! Then when we called Mark in the car, she said, “Hi, Daddy. I’m sad.” Of course, she perked up pretty quickly when she told him about throwing snowballs and taking her shoes off and eating chicken nuggets.

But still. We’ll all three be glad when he can start his new shift and spend more time with both of us!

**************

iTunes update: I’m now listening to Winter Wonderland by The Andrews Sisters. I think we've had about enough of the wonder of winter. Can I get a second?

**************

For the past several weeks, I’ve been dipping my company’s toes into the world of social media. We’ve started Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Flickr accounts, and I’ve been updating them. And last week, we officially launched a company blog. It’s a lot of fun, although I will say that doing social networking for a company is way different than social networking for myself!

**************

Losing weight would be a lot easier if I ate less and exercised more. And that’s all I have on that topic.

**************

The Compassion bloggers are in Kenya this week. Follow along at http://compassionbloggers.com/trips.

**************

My friend Hillary is starting a carnival called Friday Favorites tomorrow. I’m hoping some flash of brilliance strikes between now and then, so I can join her. With a bang. Or flying colors. Or something. You should do it, too.

I think that’s all. If you endured this brain dump, I thank you. And apologize. Feel free to dump your own brain into the comment section.

**************

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

Who wants a worm, anyway?

 

Image by chefranden

I’m trying to become an early bird.

A few weeks ago, I decided that I really need to start getting up earlier. Of course, I make this decision about once a month, so it isn’t quite a dramatic statement as it seems.

But this time I actually prayed about it. I asked God to help me get up earlier. And you know what happened the next morning? A certain two-year-old woke up a good 40 minutes earlier than normal!

And she’s been doing that for the past several days, waking up and hollering, “Get me out, Mommy!” until I pull myself out of bed and join the land of the living.

Now that Annalyn’s going to daycare, we’re going to have to make this a regular thing, this getting up before the last minute, this rising before the sun, this not hitting snooze half a dozen times.

It’ll be good for me. Right? Staying up late and sleeping in is overrated, right? (Not that 7 a.m. is sleeping in. Because it’s not.)

Yes, I think I’m convinced. Getting up early will be good. As a matter of fact, I thought of 10 benefits of getting up early, and I’m linking up to OhAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday (which is hosted at Mandi’s It’s Come 2 This today).

1. I can finally, once and for all, for real this time read my Bible every morning.
2. I could change a load of laundry. And maybe, after a bunch of early mornings in a row, my hamper might be empty for at least 10 minutes.
3. I can empty the dishwasher before breakfast. So I can actually sit down with Annalyn at dinnertime.
4. If I get up before the sun, it’s possible I might actually snap a picture of it coming up. (I said it’s possible, not probable. Quit laughing.)
5. Once I get tired of oatmeal (my Weight Watchers breakfast strategy), I’ll have time to scrambled an egg and nuke some turkey sausage.
6. If I’m really feeling good (and Annalyn’s not awake and wanting to play blocks, watch a movie or play with her clubhouse), I could work out. Water aerobics class is over for now, but that doesn’t mean I can’t pop in a Walk Away the Pounds, Shred or even Tae-Bo video.
7. I can wear my needs-to-be-ironed shirts. The ones that have been crammed in the back of my closet for months because I never have time to iron.
8. I can make coffee for Mark and wake him up nicely – as in, without shouting, “Come on! You’ve got to get up now! I’m going to be late!”
9. I can actually dry my hair and go to work looking like a grown-up.
10. I can breathe. Instead of spending the first hour of my day in a panic, I can spend that time with purpose.

Are you an early bird? If not, what could you accomplish if you got up a few minutes early?

Also, for inspiration to wake up earlier, you should check out Kat’s new blog, Inspired to Action.

----------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.

The Week of Quesadillas

Sometimes making up my own recipe is a great idea. And other times, not so much.

A couple weeks ago, Amy at The Finer Things in Life posted a recipe for a chicken and black bean quesadilla, and it looked so good. It also called for shredded chicken, and as I've recently mastered the Top Chef skill of shredding chicken, I decided it was something I needed to make.

Especially because I love quesadillas. I make them with sauteed onions and peppers and cheese. Or sometimes with refried beans and cheese. And I love Applebee's quesadilla with chicken, bacon and - you guessed it - cheese. So Amy's chicken and black bean combo sounded like a good idea.

But could I just follow the recipe? Noooo. Of course not.

So last Monday, I baked a pan of chicken. And then I shredded some of it. I looked at it for a minute and decided it needed a little something. So I shook about half a packet of taco seasoning on it. Yeah, that's better, I thought. (And it was. This isn't the part that didn't work out. Just so you know.)

Then I opened up my can of black beans, scooped out some and smashed them. Not completely, though. Beans are actually pretty slippery and kind of hard to smash. Then I added some chopped onion.

I put the beans, then the chicken, then some cheese on a tortilla. I topped it with another tortilla and baked it. Flipped it. Baked some more. And ate it.

It was . . . okay.

So on Tuesday night, I decided to add some green chilies to the mix. And I actually mixed it all together - the chicken, the beans and the chilies. Topped it with cheese, baked, flipped, baked, ate.

It was . . . not bad. But actually kind of bland.

So Wednesday night, I gave in and followed Amy's recipe. I mixed shredded chicken, black beans, salsa and shredded cheese. I put the mixture in tortillas and baked it. (I don't like making quesadillas in a skillet. Baking just works better for me.)

And you know what? It was really, really good. (Especially when I added a good-sized dollop of sour cream, but let's be honest: I did that all three nights.)

I'm writing this on Wednesday night, and I can tell you two things. One, I won't be eating a quesadilla for a while. (Except for tomorrow night, because I've got leftovers, okay?) And two, I should've just followed the recipe in the first place. Amy knew what she was talking about.

So take it from me. Follow this recipe:

Chicken and Black Bean Quesadillas

• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 cup cooked, shredded chicken
• 1 cup salsa
• 1-2 cups shredded cheese
• soft taco sized tortillas

Mash black beans with a fork. (Try it and tell me it's easy. Just tell me that.) Add chicken, salsa, and cheese. Spread 1/4 mixture on a tortilla and top with another tortilla. Bake it for 10 minutes on each side at 350, or fry it in a skillet.

Serve with sour cream. And lettuce, if you must. Makes 4 quesadillas.

Do you like quesadillas? What do you put in them?

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

----------------------------------------

Can't get enough of Giving Up on Perfect? Subscribe here, follow me on Twitter and join my Facebook page.