Have you noticed?

Have you noticed that my weightloss ticker hasn't moved? I know I have. I'm stuck. Part of it is that I haven't been doing as well with dieting as I could (as I should). For example, yesterday, I packed my lunch and ate what I packed, but then I saw everyone with these yummy looking garlic bread sticks from the cafeteria. So, I went out there and bought not one but two. And to make matters worse, I ate both of them even though they weren't nearly as good as they looked. Then last night I got lazy and made cheeseburger mac for dinner. Not on the diet. The good news is I had a small portion size and filled up the rest of my plate with veggies (green beans and sweet potatoes). So, today, I'm determined to eat well.

However, I'm still not getting any exercise and I have got to find a way to do this. I haven't figured out how to work it in to my daily routine now that William is here. I'd love to walk in the afternoons but here are my excuses: 1) There are loose dogs in our neighborhood that are not very nice. 2)The weather has been very cold. I have a gazelle out in the shed. I'm thinking about having Ben bring it in but the problem is I literally don't have ANYWHERE to put it. We have a great workout center here at work but the baby sitter brings William to me right after school and she doesen't get here until right before school to pick him up.

When Mom starts keeping him things get easier. I can leave early and come to work to work out or stay late, either one. So, I'll be able to figure something out after next week. It's this week and next that I'm worried about. If I don't get some exercise in I'm never going to meet my Valentine's day goal which is 10 lbs. Any suggestions??

SNOW DAY!

Wooo hooo!!! All the schools in the area are closed today and my schools aren't starting until 10:00am tomorrow. This is my kind of week. 2 days off, 2 days of work, and 1 short day. I vote for this every week.

Being a lifelong Texan snow is, of course, a big deal. So, I did my duty and went out this morning and took pictures of all the snow. So, here it is. Weatherford snow.





My dogs are loving life because they've been inside 4 of the last 5 days. We did have to let them out to make yellow snow though.

In Response to Recipe Rut

Snarfle mentioned on her blog that she'd been in a recipe rut. Well I have been cooking some new recipes to accomodate the number of calories I'm aiming for everyday. This recipe is one I made for the first time last night. It was easy and it was soooooooooo good.

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas
Serves: 8

recipe ingredients
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup bottled picante sauce
3 oz. 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1 tsp. ground cumin or chili powder
8 (6-inch) flour tortillas
1 1/2 cups bottled green taco sauce

Recipe Directions
Preheat oven to 350*F.
Place a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat until hot.
Add onion, and sauté 6 minutes or until tender.
Add chicken, 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese, picante sauce, cream cheese, and cumin.
Cook 3 minutes or until cheese melts.
Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture down center of each tortilla, and roll up.
Place enchiladas in a 13 × 9-inch baking dish; drizzle with taco sauce, and sprinkle with 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese.
Cover and bake at 350*F for 15 minutes or until cheese melts.
Serve enchiladas immediately.

Nutrition Information Per Serving
calories total fat sat fat protein fiber sodium carbs ww points
272 8 3 18 2 924 32 6

I cooked my chicken breasts in the microwave and then put them in a food processor to shred it. It took no time at all. If you wanted you could probably even use canned chicken. It was nice too because since I already had my food processor out, I went ahead and used it to chop my onions so I didn't stand in the kitchen and cry. I would suggest making the oven a little hotter or leaving it in a little longer. They weren't quite as piping hot as I would have liked.

Enjoy!!

Welcome to the Blogging World

My big sister Sharon has succumbed to peer pressure and started her own blog. You can check it out here.

ARCTIC BLAST!!

Atleast that's what they keep calling it on the news, an arctic blast. Here's what I know. I've been stuck in the house for all 3 days of a 3 day weekend because of ice. Lots and lots of ice. Here in Texas we don't get snow. No. That would be fun. We get ice. What really sucks is I don't even get a day off of work for it. We were already off for MLK day. So, what could have been a really fun 3 day weekend has turned into having the dogs inside for 3 days, and getting lots of house work, and blog posting done. Now, I'm officially bored. So, here's some pictures of the ice. Hope everyone is warm and safe!

New Year - New Diet

Yep, that's right. Hubby and I have decided it's time to do something about the battle of the bulge. We've started a low calorie diet and we intend to start an exercise program of some sort at the beginning of February. So, soon, along with William's one year birthday ticker, there will also be a weight loss ticker. My goal is to loose 65 pounds by Jan 1, 2008. I intend to post a picture at every 10lbs of loss. So far, I'm down about 5lbs. My first goal is 10lbs by Valentine's day. So, I'm halfway there. I don't know how many of you would be interested in such things but when I find good recipes or good information I'll pass it along here. Here's the first recipe I want to pass along. We like it so well that I make one for hubby and myself every morning. It's so yummy.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

1 cup 1% milk
1 TBS Unsweetened Cocoa
1 TBS Reduced Fat Peanut Butter
4 packets artificial sweetener
1 ripe banana in pieces
1/8 TSP Vanilla (optional)
2-3 Ice Cubes

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Calories 319
Fat 9
Sat Fat 3
Protein 14
Fiber 5
Sodium 218
Carbs 48
WW Points 6

I found this recipe on a great website called 3 fat chicks on a diet This site is wonderful it not only has recipes and articles it also has a forum where you can share ideas and encouragement.

So, wish me luck!!

The Christmas Update-better late than never

Well, obviously William's first Christmas has come and gone. At 2 months old he didn't get too terribly excited about anything. Hubby and I, of course, took tons and tons of pictures. This one HAS to be my favorite.

I think that probably sums up pretty much how William felt about all of the Holiday festivities. Not his most flattering picture, but honestly, I really don't think he could have cared less that it was Christmas.

We started out with Christmas Eve candlelight service at church. Just the two of us. Ben isn't much of a church goer and Mom was feeling ill from her chemo treatments so he and I went to church together.

I'm sure the service was quite lovely. I wouldn't know. I spent almost the whole time in the cry room. Oh well, I guess that's just part of being a Mom.

Christmas morning it was just the three of us. Mom and Dad came over later that morning and we all enjoyed opening gifts together.



We all rested that afternoon and then loaded up and went to Abilene that night to have Christmas with my Mom's side of the family. It was nice to see all of them. We haven't been able to do Christmas with them for the last couple of years because that's when we're usually doing Christmas with Hubby's family. I was sad we didn't get to see them on Chrismtas day but it was nice to see some of my family that I don't get to see very often.



The last of our Christmas festivities took place on the evening of the 26th at my sister's house. We got together with my folks, my brother and his family, my sister and her family, and the Travis's, our family friends. It was lots of fun and though there are tons of pictures from that get together, this one defintely tops the list. This is my sister, myself, and Wild Bill. Hubby did a great job taking this pic.


Well, that pretty much takes care of Christmas. On to Meranda's birthday. That's the next post. This one has taken me all day between working on the house and uploading pictures. So, I'm taking a blogging break. Hope that satisfies everyone's need for pictures of Wild Bill for a while.