Busy, Busy, Busy and Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello to all of my blogger friends. :)

Thursday was Rachel's first dance and she had a great time. I'm so glad. I was a little worried about her since she was so nervous but she danced and said she can't wait for the next one! They sure do grow up fast. I'm proud of the young lady she is becoming.

Friday Chuck and I took the kids to my parents' house along with two dogs and a bearded dragon. They're going to watch the critters while we're away camping. The kids spent the weekend and Chuck and I got to have a much needed date and time to ourselves.

Friday night we went to Carabba's where I blew my remaining 35 points for the week. It was so good. It was also nice just to spend some time together and talk and laugh. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids with all my heart. I just need some time with Mr Happy Texan too. We get bogged down in the day to day stuff of life and it's good to reconnect with each other.

On the way home we stopped at Bass Pro Shops. They had a bunch of tanks set up in the parking lot for a kids' fish fest that was going on. The fest was closed and the fish were "sleeping" except for a couple of catfish that had jumped out of their tank. One looked like it was dead but the other was flopping around. Catfish are tricky fish to handle. They can stab you with their fins and it can cause a nasty sore. Chuck found some gloves out there and was able to put the fish back in the tank and save them. Even the one that looked dead went back to swimming after a few seconds. But Chuck did suffer a small injury when an ungrateful catfish poked him. He's ok though. It felt good to save some fish.

Saturday morning I made an AWESOME breakfast of scrambled eggs, veggie sausage patties, fat free hash browns and cheese wrapped in a low carb tortilla. Yum!

After breakfast Chuck had some work to do so I went to get a makeover at Ulta and spent way too much money on makeup. But it was fun. :) They do lash extensions now and I'm hoping to get some of those soon. It would be nice not to have to wear mascara yet have beautiful long lashes.

Saturday night Chuck and I went out for some of the best Indian food. The chicken curry was so good I could have sipped the sauce through a straw. I love that place! Then it was off to Moody Gardens for the opening of the Festival of Lights, walk through the aquarium pyramid and watch Christmas Carol in IMAX 3D.

Sunday Chuck and I went out for breakfast together then to get the kids. It was a fantastic weekend.

Monday was mega field trip day from hell. It was so busy! I left the house a little after 9am and got home from everything at almost 10pm.

First stop was Sims Bayou Urban Nature Center. The kids learned about different animals including this sugar glider....

...went on a nature hike to learn about different plants and birds......

.....looked at maps at how the bayou has changed over the years and what the changes have meant for area flooding and ecology.......

...got to pet our favorite rooster Scooter (we also brought him mac and cheese as a treat).....

......and painted birds like Audubon using watercolors.

Charlie's toucan:
Rachel's parrot: (I think it's a conure)
After the field trip I had to drive to Angleton to find the 4H office for Rachel's Vet Science handbook. It's a 5 year program through 4H where kids learn about vet science and earn a lot of volunteer hours. Unfortunately, I got completely lost in Angleton. Eventually I found the office and got the right supplies.

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I rushed home and prepared a quick dinner and then we were out the door to Richmond for a small animal restraint class for 4H.

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Here is a vet tech showing one method of restraining an unruly kitteh. The cat is inside the blue collapsed thing.

Also got to see a not-so-feisty bearded dragon being handled.

This chicken was just the cutest. I want a chicken. I did some searching online and they make chicken diapers so you can keep a chicken indoors!! Wheels are turning in my head right now. Should I? Anyway, here is the cute hen being restrained.

We got home at almost 10pm. I was so exhausted!

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Tuesday Rachel has a teen planning meeting and then I have to go grocery shopping and wash all of the clothes. We're going camping at Lost Maples State Park from Wednesday to Saturday. Sunday the kids are going flying for their aviation class. Monday Chuck has to work and Monday night we are going to Conroe to spend the week in a condo. Saturday we finally come home.

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All of this means I won't be posting much for the next week. But I'm staying on plan. It feels so good to be back on the wagon! I can't wait for my next weigh in. I checked but there really aren't any meeting locations close enough to go to while we are camping. I'll just weigh in after the holidays.

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Hope every one has a fantastic Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for?

I'm thankful for my family and my wonderful husband who loves me so much.

Weigh In Results: week 1 of being back on WW

Thursday is my weigh in day for Weight Watchers. I knew it was going to be a decent number because the last time I weighted in I had on jeans and heavy sandals so the number was even higher on the scale than it should have been. And all week I stuck to the plan.

But Thursday was also Rachel's first dance. I was going to try to get to my weigh in at 6:30 and rush to have her at the dance across town at 7pm. When it came down to it, there was just no way I was going to be able to make it to the meeting. With running around getting last minute things done (buy nail polish, I forgot) and getting her hair done (thanks so much, Connie!) I just ran out of time.

It was worth it. She looked gorgeous and had so much fun. I can't believe my little girl is already 14.

I just weighed in at home on the Wii scale. It said I'm at 212.5.

I lost 6.9 pounds! Woohoo! Doing the happy dance.

I won't be in town for the next weigh in either. We're going camping and I can't wait. I guess I'll just weigh in when I get back? Or maybe see if there is a WW meeting near where we're camping. I'll work it out somehow.

And now, for a taste of irony. Enjoy. :-)

Tuna Croquettes (3 pts) and Upside Down Pizza Bake (5 pts)

I'm behind a couple of days in blogging. It has been a little on the crazy side at the Happy Texan fort. We did some emergency cleaning before an appraiser came over so we can refinance the fort at a better rate. We'll see how that goes.
OK. Let's get on to the food journal and some drool worthy pictures. Ya hungry? You will be. :-)

Monday--
Breakfast: Sugar Free Rock Star, Carb Check Bagel (2 pts)

Then it was off to a field trip at a recycle center called Biosphere. Very cool! We learned about all of the things that can be recycled and got to see some cool equipment that squishes stuff and shreds stuff.After the field trip we went and had lunch with Mr. Happy Texan. He works right down the road from the recycle center. Perfect. We went to Subway and I tried the buffalo chicken sandwich. When I got home I looked up the points: 7 points! That's without cheese or condiments. It was good but I'm not sure I want to spend the points for it. I could have my favorite steak and cheese instead. Oh, and I also had some apples (0 pts).

NOTE: I've seen different web sites that say that the sandwich is 9 points and one said 8 points. I just wrote down 8 points in my little food journal. There is no nutritional info for it on the Subway web site for some reason.

Snack: Fiber One yogurt (0 pts)

Dinner: 4 tuna croquettes (3 pts), mac n cheese made with Ronzoni pasta and 2% Velveeta (4 pts), salad (0 pts) **Click the link and scroll down for the recipe

I heart these croquettes. So good and you get a lot for the points. Dessert: Raspberry Fudge Holey Donut (4 pts) and a small York peppermint patty (1 pt)

This donut was super good. One more snack: banana (2 pts)

Tuesday--

Breakfast: Carb Check bagel with WW cream cheese (3 pts)

Lunch: pizza made with Carb Check bagel, pizza sauce, turkey pepperoni and low fat mozzarella (5 pts) It was good but the bagel was too sweet to use as a crust. I need to find something else to use. Any ideas for a good, filling pizza crust? Low cal/points of course.

And also had an apple (1 pt) Snack: 2 small York peppermint patties (2 pts)

Dinner: Upside Down Pizza Bake (5 pts), spinach with Laughing Cow wedge (1 pt). Also had some POM juice (3 pts) **Click link for pizza recipe.

The pizza bake was a new recipe I tried. It consists of ground turkey, tomato sauce, herbs, bell pepper, mozzarella and a crust made out of a batter of egg, flour and milk. I liked it a lot! Dessert: 1 Hershey kiss (1 pt), some low fat ice cream (3 pts) and a couple of bites of candy (2 pts) I had a bad craving for sweets. Still stayed within points!

Now that I'm getting the eating back on track I really need to get back to exercising. I was doing so good with a 30 day challenge with Rachel but we stopped when we both got sick. So we need to get back at it.

I want to get that Biggest Loser game for Wii. Has any one tried it?

What's your favorite way to exercise? A class? A game? A sport? A video?

Sunday--Day 3

Sunday was an all out house maintenance day. I'm sure I earned some activity points. For some reason I was starving all day.

Breakfast: Carb Check bagel and WW cream cheese (3 pts) and a Sugar Free Rock Star (0 pts)

Snack: apple and cup of coffee with hazelnut creamer ( 2 pts)

More cleaning and maintenance and errands.

Lunch: turkey cheese wrap w/ ff Ranch, baked kettle chips (5 pts)

After lunch I grabbed a sugar pumpkin from Halloween. They're so tiny I figured it wouldn't have any points. Wrong! Lesson learned: find out the points BEFORE eating something, not after.
Snack: 1 pumpkin (1 pt) and a Fiber One Yogurt (1 pt)

I learned that the Fiber One yogurts are 0 points for 1 and 1 pt for 2! But I already calculated it at 1 pt so I'm saying it's 1 pt here too.

Dinner: Boca patty hamburgers on sugar free hamburger buns and some baked fries (6 pts)
That was a great burger. I added pickles, lettuce, FF cheese and a little Bob's Country Sauce. I love that stuff.
After dinner it was time to kick back. I had 2 low cal/low carb Cosmopolitans (4 pts) and some popcorn (1 pt). Later I had a vitamuffin (1 pt) and then an apple (1 pt). I was a hungry girl today!

Last time I started WW I had trouble reaching my points in the beginning. Not this time! I've been ready to munch. LOL I can't wait to see what the scale says Thursday.

My exercise today consisted of cleaning. My back said that was enough.

Saturday; 2 pt Cosmopolitan Martini

Saturday was a busy time from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed.

Got up and had breakfast that Chuck made. Thanks Chuck!
Breakfast: scrambled egg whites, cheese, 2 slices bacon, thin round (4 pts)

After breakfast I had to go to Target to look for some goodies and found this cute shirt for Charlie: Have you heard the annoying Peanut Butter Jelly song? It's stupid but it gets stuck in your head and you can't get it out.


Then off to the grocery store. My favorite. And it was packed! Why are people so inconsiderate at the store? Why do they think it's ok to block an entire aisle with their baskets while looking for stuff or chatting on the phone? Why do some people treat the grocery store as a buffet and just go around visiting all of the free sample tables? Twice?!

Got home and had to get something to eat immediately. I started to get the shakes. Have you ever done that? I'm guessing it's not healthy to go that far.

Lunch: turkey sandwich, apple, Fiber One yogurt (6 pts) and a dumdum sucker

After a while it was time to cook.

Dinner: spaghetti, salad, garlic bread made on sugar free hot dog buns with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray (approx 8 pts with a little parmesan); 2 Hershey kisses (2 pts ?)
After dinner we had to go to Target AGAIN because I forgot detergent today and then to the pet store to get dog food and crickets for Charlie's toads and bearded dragon. Have I mentioned that we got a beardie? He's so cute. :-) I'll have to post a picture.

While feeding the critters I noticed that our little walking sticks have reached monstrous proportions. They're HUGE! They eat rose leaves. Very strange looking creatures. After feeding the animals I made myself a 2 pt Cosmopolitan martini. So good. Baja Bob's has some great mixes. Check out their web site. You can order directly from them or find a retailer near you.
After a while I got the munchies and got a WW latte bar (1 pt). Those things are huge! Totally worth the point.

When it was finally time to crawl into bed, I popped some popcorn (1 pt) to have while watching TV.

Sunday will be even more busy. We'll be cleaning house all day and working in the yard. Should earn some activity points. :-)

Back to Weight Watchers Day 1

Friday:
Very busy day and my first official day back on WW. And I'm not exactly prepared. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. LOL

Breakfast: pour 1/4 cup egg beaters in mug and a laughing cow swiss wedge. Microwave for 45 seconds; stir; microwave for 35 seconds. Season and put on a sandwich thin. So good and filling for 3 points.
Today was park day for our homeschool group. So after rushing around to get ready we go to the park and have a great time. It's always nice for the kids to get to play and always nice for the moms and dads to have a chance to chat.

Lunch: Subway turkey sandwich and apples and Dt Coke 6 pts

Then it was off to Rachel's Comic Club where they learn to draw comics and make their own. While she had her class, I finished reading The Girl Who Played with Fire. Good book! Rachel finishes up after a couple of hours and then it's off to our first 4-H meeting.

Before the meeting I had a Fiber One bar (2 pts) for a snack.

I was surprised at the meeting. 4H is a lot more than livestock. There are so many projects available like photography, food & nutrition, natural resources, field & stream, housing, family life, shooting, automotive, vet science, dog care & handling, gardening, small animals and more.

The meeting last for 2 hours and by the end we were all in starvation mode. We went out to Texas Roadhouse (a favorite). Here's where things didn't go quite as well as I would have liked. But I had my weekly 35 points allowance. :-)

Dinner: Texas Roadhouse 2 rolls w/1 tsp butter on one (est. 9 pts), 2 potato skins (est 9 pts), house salad w/1 egg & a little light Ranch (est 3 pts), 4 oz sirloin steak (5 pts) and some steamed veggies (est 2 pts because I think there was a little butter on them).

I had to use 14 of my 35 weekly allowance.

There was no exercising today. I was all over the place and by the time we got home it was 8pm and I was exhausted.

Writing down everything you eat is such a smart idea. There were several times when I was about to just grab something and toss it in my mouth but would remember that I had to account for every single thing I ate so I stopped. It's tough to break bad habits but it seems easy to get in to them.

Overall, I'm please with being back on WW. Now I just need to restock the pantry and fridge.

Weight Watcher First Meeting V. 2.0

So you've been hearing about me going back to the Weight Watcher meetings. Being online just wasn't cutting it for me even though I knew how to work the program. I just got lazy. It's so darn easy to do.

Thursday night was my first WW meeting do-over. I found a meeting location that was closer to my home (like 5 minutes away) than the place I used to attend. The meeting was to be held in an HEB grocery store. I had no clue where to look and the line for customer service was back up to yo momma's house so I just started snooping around the store. I finally went to a greeter and he told me he thought it was in a room in the back....like where the employees go but the public isn't allowed. I walk down the halls and find a room with a few ladies. Found the right place!

I get a brand new book for all of my weigh ins. It's like starting completely over. I think this meeting location was mostly for the benefit of employees there but it's open to the public too. There seemed to be a few HEB employees.

I weighed in. Now, I'm not a stupid girl. I know I've gained some weight. My jeans are fitting snugger. You just know. I had also adopted the terrible attitude of "well, I'm starting WW next week so I better enjoy eating whatever I want before I have to count points again." Not good, Kelly. Reese's cups are not healthy. So don't buy 4 bags when they are on clearance. Understand what I'm saying? LOL

Knowing that I gained weight (and a pretty decent amount) I did something that most would consider rather stupid: I wore my heaviest jeans and a pair of heavy sandals. I knew was retaining fluid from salty meals, hormones, and a sore and swollen back. I can hear ya saying, "Now, girl, you know that's crazy. If you've gone and porked out you should try to dress as lightly as possible. That scale already hates ya!" Here's my reasoning: let the scale show a HUGE gain. Wear heavy jewelry...the works. Yeah, it'll be a nasty number (219 if you must know) but NEXT time you go weigh in you will show an impressive loss! LOL So I like mind games. Can't help it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I tried reality on for size but it didn't fit so I made my own reality. :-)

I think my leader was a cheerleader in high school. There's nothing wrong with her. She's very perky and happy and probably very crafty as well. I just miss my other leader, Jennifer. :( I'm sure Amber will grow on me. I didn't feel comfortable enough to start sharing my cocktail recipes just yet. Maybe in time. The important thing is that this girl is not only back on the wagon, she's driving the wagon!

Glad to be back aboard the Good Ship Lose-A-Lot.