My Weight Loss Blog

I know I have a hard enough time keeping up with this blog.  But right now, my life is centering around me trying to lose weight.  So I made a blog dedicated to just that.

http://therealhope.wordpress.com/

Check it out if you want

Menu Plan Monday {1.31–2.6}

Monday

YoYo (Your On Your Own)

Tuesday

Pizza or eat out
{Winter weather advisory}

Wednesday

Meat Loaf
Mashed Potatoes
Carrots

Thursday

Chicken Riddle Soup
{Daughter’s night to cook}

Friday

Italian Meatball Sub

Saturday

Potato Soup
Grilled Cheese

Sunday

Steak
Baked Potatoes
Cucumber Salad

Fail or just my ADD ??

It’s no secret I have ADD { I like to refer to it as OST – Oh Shiny Ting}.  I have been on medication for a few years and am amazed at the difference it makes.  However, I find myself … oh look at that car that just drove by! … still getting distracted at times.  This blog is a perfect example of my distractions!!  I really wanted to succeed at the Project 365 {taking a picture every day}, but I just can’t do it! { there I said it .. I can’t do it!}.  Soo, I am totally blaming this on my ADD   It was a great plan, but I can’t stay focused to remember to take a pic everyday.  I do take a lot of pictures, but not everyday.

To “save” myself… I am going to attempt to do a weekly photo.  I had seen on a blog I read a Project 52 {there are weekly “assignment” photos to take}, I think I am going to give that a try … if I can’t find that blog again….

Wish me luck.

And… if you are reading this… thanks for putting up with my ADDness.

Book Review: Safe Harbor by Nicholas Sparks {3 of 25}

This book is really good.  I don’t read a lot of Nicholas Sparks, but this one was great!

In this book you meet Katie, a young wife who was abused by her husband.  She escapes finally and settles in a small town.  Katie falls in love with a young man who’s wife has passed away and he has 2 small children.  You grow to love Katie and Alex and the children.  Katie makes a friend, Joe, who moves into the cottage next door.  … { I want to say soo much more, but I am afraid I am going to give away the story!}

Needless to say, I was in tears at the end of the book… and they were happy tears !!

My Men

EReader..

I realized tonight I have:

• 55 books on my Sony eReader :)
• 12 on my Kindle app
• 24 audiobooks in my Audible.com account
• Unknown amount of "regular" books on my bookshelf

Yikes ! I think I have a problem ... and I need to get reading !!!

Week End in Review 1.24.11

My daughter and I made Blueberry Breakfast cookies !  YUM !!!!!

We painted our formal dining room !  Yes, it’s UT {University of Texas} orange!  But my kitchen is A&M {Texas A&M} maroon !

We decided to swap the tables in the kitchen and dining.  The darker table looked much better in the dining room !

Menu Plan Monday {1.24–1.30}

Monday

Stew (in the crockpot)
Popovers

Tuesday

Chicken Pot Pie
Salad

Wednesday

YoYo {Your On Your Own}

Thursday

Tacos
Spanish Rice

Friday

Frozen Pizza

Saturday

Fajitas

Sunday

Spaghetti & Meatballs
French Bread
Salad

Resolution #8

 

READ 25 BOOKS

This one shouldn’t be too hard.  I love to read and have a huge list of books I want to read.  I have a Sony eReader that is full of books so I always have something to read!!  I want to try and write reviews on the books I read, of course I am not very good at writing, so we will see how it goes!

21/365

Beautiful sky this morning !

20/365

Chips and Queso !!!  YUM

Wordpress vs Blogger ?

I am thinking about changing to Wordpress.  I want to blog about a variety of topics and not have to have a separate blog for each to keep it organized. 


Anyone have experience with the big differences between the 2?

I am …

I saw this on another blog {of course I can’t remember which one} and thought it was a cool idea.

{I am at work today}

Outside my window... it looks cold and breezy.

I am thinking... it is Friday and my boss will be at market next week, so it may get slow.

I am thankful for... my warm jacket because it was 17 when I left for work this morning.

I am wearing... boots, jeans, and a long sleeve shirt {the boss is not in today}

I am creating... a huge pile of papers on my desk

I am going... to sleep in tomorrow

I am reading... Safe Harbor by Nicholas Sparks

I am hoping... to go to lunch soon

I am hearing... AOL radio playing from my computer

One of my favorite things... {only one ?} drinking wine with friends : it is Friday:

Resolution # 7

 

MENU PLAN

hahaha!  I have already messed this one up.  I wanted to post my menu for the week on Monday’s. 

I will start again Monday. {famous last words, right?}

Resolution #6

 

SIMPLIFY

This one is going to be tough.  I want to organize and get rid of duplicate things. {ie. measuring cups in the kitchen, notebooks in the office}  I plan on making a timeline of when I am going to do each room.  Soo far this is what I have:

1.17 – 1.24 – Office {file papers, clean up books, go through desk drawers}

1.24 – 1.31 – Master Bedroom {clean up built in, organize keepsakes, DUST}

1.31 – 2.7 – Game Closet {make sure games have all pcs, if not throw away!}

19/365

Beautiful morning sky

18/365

Comfy in my office chair

Carnival Cruise ??

 

Soo, my oldest son will be graduating from High School in June!!  UGGGHHH !  He wants to go on a cruise for his graduation gift.  Back in 2007 we went on a 7 Day Carnival Cruise and LOVED it !!!  We have wanted to go on another one since then, but with a family of 5, it is a bit pricey!

This morning I was looking at cruises trying to decide which one we want to go on, and when.  Ideally, July would be best.  We really want to leave out of Galveston   I have been looking and it is such a hard decision !!!  Of course, the cheaper ones are in September .. lol  I am thinking I am going to have to contact a travel agent to help me.

I wish I would win the lottery and could just choose one and not have to worry about the cost!

Resolution # 5

 

PROJECT 365

I am trying to get this one “under control”.  I keep waiting and doing a few days at a time, I want to do 1 each day.  Hopefully, I can get on a type of schedule and get the 365 posts done daily.

I am trying to figure out the best way to do it from my iPhone.  I have been trying the BlogPress app, but don’t like the way the pictures look.

{Recipe} German Pancakes

 

This is a great breakfast!  I like to put sliced strawberries on top of mine with some whipped cream !!

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Directions

1. Place the eggs, milk, flour and salt in a blender; cover and process until smooth. Pour the butter into an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish ( I use a round pie pan) ;add the batter. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes.
2. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Add syrup or fresh fruit with whipped cream.

Book Review: Entice by Carrie Jones {2 of 25}

I finished this book rather quickly.  I loved it.  It reminds me alot of the Twilight series, but with Pixies instead of vampires.  

I will start off and say that I am TEAM ASTLEY !  I can't wait for the 4th book to come out in this series.

16/365

15/365

I am starting to get behind !  I really must get better at this !

Aren't these the cutest corks !!

14/365

1 month till V Day.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

13/365

Warmth





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

12/365

We still have snow on the ground.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Resolution # 4

BLOG BETTER

I started out the year really good last year with my blog, but then it just got "old".

My reason for doing this blog is mostly for me, so I can kinda "journal" and share.  My hope is that someone will read something that may help them with something, anything.

I am trying to come up with a schedule, I see to have more time to blog at work than I do at home { that seems a little backwards! }

Hopefully, if you are a reader, you can bare with me while I get my blogging groove back.

11/365

Yes. It really is that cold in Texas!! We didn't get above freezing all day!!

10/365

Lighthouse from our anniversary trip

Book Review: Captivate by Carrie Jones {1 of 25}

My first book for 2011 was Captivate by Carrie Jones. This book reminds me a little of the Twilight series, except it’s Pixie’s and Were’s instead of Vampires and Were’s. I would classify it as a young adult book.

I read the first book in the series the end of last month and really enjoyed so had to jump right in and read the next book, which I also really enjoyed. These books are based in Maine {which I lived in for a few years} so I can relate to the location. Zara {who is half pixie at the beginning of the book} is the main character and she falls in love with Nick {who is a werewolf}. Nick is taken away to Vallhala and Zara gets pixie kissed.  Now Zara is trying to find a way to Vallhala to rescue Nick, but she is now Astley’s pixie queen.

I am starting the next book; Entice, today.  I think Zara is going to start having strong feelings for Astley in this book.

I am not a very good reviewer, but I hope to improve as I read and review my 25 books this year.

Bike Ride 1/8/11

*I used the iMapmyfitness App for my iphone… still not sure if I like the app.

Me and my daughter decided to take a bike ride on Saturday before the snow storm hit.  It was a great ride, not too far, but it was nice to get out and ride my new bike {I got my beach cruiser for Christmas}.

Resolution #3

Run Run Run

Well, I haven’t really ran in months and months.  Mainly because I am not sure why.. laziness I am sure!

I will start running about and run more 5ks.  I would like to run a half at least, but I think that may be unrealistic.

I am going to start looking for 5K’s to run this year and get signed up, that usually gets me motivated!!

MPM 1/10–1/16

Monday
Shredded Beef Tacos {crockpot}
Tuesday
Pizza Rolls {homemade}
Wednesday
Pork Tenderloin w/ apples & onions
Thursday
Spaghetti
Friday
Out to Eat
Saturday
Stuffed Bagel Pizzas
Sunday
Tangy Asian Meatballs

9/365

Snow Angel !  First Snow of the year {1/9/2011}

8/365

My fortune. {girls lunch out with my daughter ~Pei Wei~}

7/365

My hubby’s birthday Chicken Dance at Babe’s Chicken !

6/365

Angry Birds on my MacBook Pro!!

Resolution #2

 

EMBRACE MY INNER PHOTOGRAPHER

I have always had a passion for photography.  In fact when I was in 5th grade we had to write a little thing saying what we wanted to be when we grow up.  I wrote “I will be a professional photographer and get married at 25 and have 2 kids, a boy and a girl.”

My plan to make this successful is to save up for a new camera.  Right now I have a pretty nice Sony, but you can’t change the lens. {It was given to me by a good friend}  I also want to get Photoshop because right now I just use www.picnik.com .

Last month I found about about SOAR! Scholarship and it brought tears to my eyes because it would be a dream come true for me, but I didn’t apply!!!  Why? you ask… I ask myself the same question.  I am still searching myself for the answer.  I WILL apply next year!!!

 

I hope to make 2011 the year that I peruse my dream of being a photographer !

Hope

5/365

Resolution #1

FOLLOW WEIGHT WATCHERS ALL YEAR!
** Last year I did pretty good until Spring Break. Spring Break was the end of the rope for me, that's when I stopped running, eating healthy, etc. I am not sure what "happened" then, but it made things harder for me. This year I am going to do much better, I really don't have a choice, I have to get healthy. I breaks my heart when I see that my daughter is over weight and I think it is a lot of my fault because she sees me eat.

Soo, here's to being healthy this year!

Hope

Books I Read in 2010

Here are the books I read in 2010. WOW, I read alot of James Patterson !!


5th Horseman by James Patterson

6th Target by James Patterson

7th Heaven by James Patterson

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson

You’ve Been Warned by James Patterson

Distance Shores by Kristin Hannah

Heat Wave by Richard Castle

8th Confession by James Patterson

Quickie by James Patterson

Witch & Wizard by James Patterson

Black Jack by Lora Leigh

The 9th Judgment by James Patterson

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon

There's Something About St Tropez by Elizabeth Adler

Lost Souls by Dean Koontz

One Season of Sunshine by Julia London

The Passage by Justin Cronin

Naked Heat by Richard Castle

Need by Carrie Jones

4/365

My daughter and I played Wii bowling, she beat me :)

3/365

From our anniversary trip. {19 years!}

2/365

German pancake!! Yummy.

1/365

New Years dinner. Thanks goes to my hubby's for doing ALL the work because I was in bed sick all day.

Hope

Pardon the dust

I am working on setting up a new design and layout, so pardon the mess. Hopefully by the end of the week it will be looking {good} !

Menu Plan Monday 1/3 - 1/9

{pretty lame menu for this week as it was thrown together quickly and trying to use up what's in the fridge}

Monday
Sausage
Mac n Cheese

Tuesday
Grilled Ham & Cheese sandwiches
Chips

Wednesday
YoYo {your on your own}

Thursday
Grilled pork chops
Steamed Broccoli
Rice

Friday
Out To Eat {hubby's b-day}

Saturday
Baked Potato soup
Fresh raw veggies

SundayChili

11 for 2011

11 for 2011

Here is my list of things I would like to accomplish this year. I am going to go into dept on each of them in individual posts.

1. FOLLOW WEIGHT WATCHERS ALL YEAR!

2. EMBRACE MY INNER PHOTOGRAPHER

3. RUN RUN RUN

4. BLOG BETTER

5. PROJECT 365

6. SIMPLIFY

7. MENU PLAN

8. READ 25 BOOKS

9. FURTHER MY EDUCATION

10. LEARN TO KNIT

11. PAINT THE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE

Update on my 10 for 2010

These were my 10 for 2010 that I created in January 2010.

Here is my update to what I actually did. 

10 for 2010

Read at least 25 books.  I read 20.

      Run 3 5-k races Yippee, met this one !

       Cruise for Thanksgiving Yea… nope!

      Do the Breast Cancer 3-day Nope., maybe this year

 Workout at least 4 days a week I did for awhile, but not all year

      

 Better budgeting money  Tricky one.

7.      

 Re-enroll in college Nope, not yet

8.       

Work on improving house Yea!  Did a few things

9.       

Make more friends  Yep!  Did this one !

10.  

 Run at least 5 miles a week (260 miles for the year)  Nope! But I started out the year pretty good !