Weight loss update...

These past 2 weeks have been fantastic, I'm in such agood mood because I reached my first weight loss goal...

Im officially in the 120s, I haven't been here since Evie was 4 months old.

I started my weight loss journey last April and since then ive lost 16lbs, it didn't seem like alot month by month but I'm so glad now that I didn't give up. There were months with literally NO loss and I would feel upset and devastated but I would re evaluate what I was doing and make adjustments.

Im so close to my next goal and hope I can post about it soon :) thanks for checking out my blog!

Liebster Award!

Hey Everyone, Im happy to infor you all that I recieved the Liebster Award :) It was awared to me by my friend and fellow blogger Danielle, she has an awesome blog named Healing the Heaviness, where she writes from weightloss to frugal finding... Its really awesome so be sure you check it out.

So heres the details of this award...

1. choose five up and coming blogs to give the award to. blogs must have less than 200 followers.
2. show your thanks to the blogger who gave the award to you by linking back to their page.
3. post the award on your blog.
4. list the bloggers you gave the award to with links to their blogs, and leave a comment on their blogs to let them they received the award.
5. share five random facts about yourself.

Ok so heres who I would like to give the award too....

1.

Michelle at Mumma and the Kiddo

2.

Soon to be 7 in the Nest 

3.

Ashley from Missionary Heart

4.

The Happily Ever After Project

5.

Simply Prudent

Ok now for the 5 random facts about myself....

1. My favorite snack is green olives, sharp cheddar cheese and a glass of sweet tea.

2. I always forget to turn off the lights when I leave the house (My Husband jokes and says his song for me is "Every Light in the House is On" by Trace Adkins).

3. Im a coffee addict, and proud to admit it :)

4. I end everyday reading (currently going through cooking books trying to find inspiration).

5.  Gone With the Wind is my favorite movie.

Thanks for taking the time to check out these awesome blogs!!

Baked Egg Rolls

These egg rolls are super easy to make, and a crowd pleaser.

Ingredients

egg roll wrappers

a bag of coleslaw mix

1 tsp garlic, minced

1/4 tsp ginger

a splash of soy sauce

salt and pepper

EVOO cooking spray

I added a little ground chicken into a few of them

Directions

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Put your coleslaw in a large microwave-safe bowl, cover, and microwave 3-6 minutes.

Once the slaw has cooked, drain (no one likes a soggy egg roll).

Mix in garlic, ginger, soy sauce salt and pepper.

• Place some filling into the middle of the egg roll wrappers fold in two opposite corners (make sure you have a small bowl of water to seal the edges with).

This is some with the Chicken

• Put a bit of water on the top edges with your finger. Fold up the bottom, and roll as tightly as you can to the edge.
•  Repeat for the rest of the wrappers, and place the egg rolls on a baking sheet sprayed with EVOO cooking spray....spray the tops of the egg rolls with the oil, too.
• Bake 15 minutes then turn and bake an additional 10 minutes
• Serve with your favorite dipping sauce (mines duck sauce)

ENJOY

After Easter Lunch Hunt

This was an Idea I found on pinterest, actually EVERYWHERE on pinterest and thought I would share my version :)

This morning I was getting ready to put away the Easter eggs and I decided why not get just 1 more use out of them this year..... So I took some of lil E's favorite snacks and put them in the eggs and hide them all around the house (I wanted to do this out side but since its only 39.8 I decided to make this an indoor activity)

E ran around and found all the eggs

After she gathered them all she sat and opened them and was surprised to find "lunch" inside.

Yummy

Just a last minute egg hunt idea :) hope you enjoy as much as we did



Week 5

Why hello there everyone.  First off I would like to apologize for such the long break in between updates.  As most of you already know last week was my first week of school and work... and needless to say it wore me out :( I'm still getting into the swing of things, this is all very new to me.  As I mentioned I am wore out, my body took a little bit of a beating this week and I have the Dr's note and NO voice to prove it.  I lost  my voice Thursday evening and was told by the family Dr, after a pretty bad steroid shot, to take it easy till Wednesday and relax (whats that?!?!?!) so this means I'm relaxing, through blogging of coarse :) This gives me a chance to get caught up.

Last week was a great weigh loss week for me. I'm sure being super busy, constantly on the go and my temporary sickness had some to do with my 2lb weight loss, but I'm determined to keep it off. Only 4 more lbs and Ill be to my first goal. Woohoo. 

Has anyone else on a weightloss or any type of Journey reach that 1ST goal??

Mozzarella Sticks

Cheese, yum! This is one of my favorite food categories... I mean common, who doesn't love it? I found in a *Cooking Light* magazine a recipe for a healthier version of one of the greatest cheese food inventions.... Mozzarella sticks. These are delicious and I love making them especially because its very fun to make, Evie loves to help me in the kitchen and we made these yesterday afternoon for out Lunch.

Ingredients

3 light string cheese sticks

3 egg roll wrappers

1 cup of lukewarm water

EVOO cooking spray

Directions

Lay out 1 egg roll wrapper and place a string cheese stick in the middle

Place a little water around the edges, you can use a small paintbrush or your fingers for this step

Take the top and bottom edges and fold them up
With the bottom and top folded then roll the remaining edges

Lightly spray EVOO cooking spray on cookie sheet. 

Place mozzarella sticks on sheet and lightly spray them with the cooking spray

bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, turning half way through.

Serve with marinara and enjoy

serving size 1 mozzarella stick *they are pretty big*

calories- 103

Working Momma Melt Down

Just thought I would share this story in case anyone else was feeling a little down on themselves, hopefully the story of Job can renew your week and give you the encouragement you need....like it did me.

I recently *last Tuesday* started working again *I'm also starting full time night classes next week*  I love the job and its something I believe I'm very good at, teaching at a daycare.  I'm currently working with the toddlers and let me tell you if you think running after one super busy toddler is hard, try 7.... then it makes your 1 or 2 seem easy :) Mostly why I took this position is, I can take Evie with me and she's actually in my group of toddlers, so I can work and still spend time with her.  Even though she had a few melt downs *mmostly because E isn't use to sharing her momma* Evie is doing great.  Lots of story, craft, puzzle, play and most importantly SOCIALIZING time.  I just love watching her grow and I'm so thankful that God allowed me a job where I can bring Evie along too. 

After the end of a very crazy work week *my part time job turned full time*  I really needed some relaxation and re cooping time before I start my next BIG week; which included working my now full time job plus taking night classes full time. But instead I was sick, no fun family time for me, no special play days with Evie. Just soup and the couch *with some good movies of course*  As I was sitting on the couch, in between the cloud my head seemed to be in and the to do list in my mind that kept growing and growing, I kept thinking about how unlucky I felt, was I actually feeling sorry for myself? for being sick 1 weekend? 

That's when I decided to open my Bible to Job, he is my favorite Biblical character and this is my favorite book of the Bible.  I went right to

Job 1 :20-22

And Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell upon the ground saying, "Naked came I out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return Hither, The LORD giveth and the LORD has taken away, blessed be the name of the LORD"

And in all this Job sinner not, nor charged God foolishly

Made me feel kinda foolish for feeling sorry for myself, Job had lost everything, his family, animals and land. he had nothing left yet he still praised God.  Every time I'm feeling sorry for myself, I always turn to these verses and they help keep me in perspective.  Yes I'm going to be extremely busy and at times overwhelmed but God will not let me take on too much to handle. 

I'm looking forward to the new "business" of our life......It will just make me enjoy the quite smaller moments even more :)

April 2012 Workout Plan



I Finally did it, I made my own workout plan :)

 It may be corny but its a way to keep me motivated and on track with my weekly workouts. I know its simple but I dont do much working out except for running, so this is perfect for me to start with. Feel free to use this for your starter too!




Week 3 and 4 Weigh Ins

I have some good and some bad news on my weigh ins to report. 1st off last week I weighed in with absolutely no weigh change, it was exactly the same even to the ounce.  I was extremely disappointed with myself and had to do something to really help me lose weight the following week.  So this past week I decided to eat "meatless" and I would like to say I am by NO means a vegetarian, I'm a meat and potatoes kinda gal (which explains my weight) however I found this extremely easy... I was not even temped once to eat meat. I don't want to give too much of this topic away since ill be guest posting about my "meatless" week on Healing the Heaviness the 13th :) But I do want to report that I lost 1.2 lbs this past week. woohoo!! I cant wait to tell everyone more about this on the 13th!!