Hi everyone,
My home is so peaceful and quiet right now. It always quiet in the morning when the kids are in school but never in the evening. My husband took the kids to go see Stars Wars finally. They've been wanting to go since it came out but we had everyone sick in the house. I miss them. I'm sure once they've been home for 5 minutes they'll be on my nerves and i'll be sending them to bed.

I didn't get much done today because i've been hooked on the "TLC" channel watching all the home decorating and organization shows. I went to Home Depot looking for things to organize my closets and laundry room. I bought a simple shelf to hang in my laundry room and I couldn't get the damn screws in the wall. I kept hitting sheetrock so now my wall has 6 holes that i'm going to have to fill and then paint. I was trying to do it on my own but looks like i'm going to leave it to my husband.

Today was a hard day sticking to plan. The good thing was that I needed to grocery shop so I didn't have much to choose from. I did go to Costco this evening and ended up having toast for dinner. Now i'm wanting a cup of coffee which i'll probally make when I get off here. Andrea, I know the feeling with your Werthers Original's. Mine is fire Jolly Ranchers. I have one almost every night before bed and sometimes two. I can't help it! The hot flavor helps me get my last glass of water down too.

Well I gotta go do some laundry. I'll be back in tomorrow.
I'm going to the gym! I'm going to the gym! I'm going to the gym!

Have a good day everyone.

Well, I am not sure if I belong here anymore. I am NOT a mom taking care of mom! Things have been crazy........Dad is out of the hospital and in a rehabilitation hospital now.........but.... This has been the most difficult time I have ever been through! My dad takes one step forward and 2 back. He fell the other night at the rehab hospital, busted his face up (liquid stitches), bruised his elbow, but is otherwise ok....then they tell me yesterday while I am watching him do his physical therapy that his hemoglobin is down again, so apparently there is internal bleeding somewhere. He has lost 50 pounds, and looks awful. I have maybe gained a pound with all this going on, I am not sure. Don't really care at this point. Anyway, to all of you moms, I wanted to update you all. My dad is not through this yet and It was a month on the 8th. I missed my kids like crazy (didn't see them for most of that time), but I can't spend the night at the rehab hospital, so at least I am home part of the time now. They are not being shuffled around so much.
I can't wait to get back to normal and start posting again on a regular basis.

Thanks Val for asking where I was!!! I was afraid I was forgotten!

Isn't It amazing how life changes so quick? Overnight! One day you go about your normal routine and the next, everything changes. UNREAL! I wouldn't do anything different though....I love my dad and am so glad I am there for him. I just want him to get well and feel good again!

Don't give up on me ladies! I will be back!!!!!
Kim

Oh Kim, I was so happy to hear from you. Everytime I came to catch up I was hoping you had checked in with an update. I'm sorry to hear about your dads fall the other night. I will keep you in my thoughts and wish you well.

Kim it is so great to hear from you! Of course you were not forgotten. Hang in there girl, we will certainly be here when you can get back to us

Breakfast:
Bowl of cruncy nuggets w/skim milk
Lunch:
One chicken and bean burrito in wheat tortilla
Snack:
Dannon light & fit carb control Strawberries & Cream Smoothie

Yummy!

I almost forgot...I also walked 4 miles again today at lunch.

Breakfast--

~1/2 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt with about 2 tablespoons of Nutty Nuggets in it.
~2 slices of cantaloupe
~piece of whole wheat toast with about half a pat of butter.

Lunch--
~1 1/2 cups of pasta salad using whole wheat rotini pasta, tuna, peas, black olives, diced tomatoes and baby spinach. Dressed with mayo and an olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing with a little thyme in it. (The whole salad only had less than 1/4 cup of mayo and 1 tablespoon of olive oil, so my portion was pretty small. )

Snack--

2 delicious cups of coffee at a restaurant where I took the kids to get ice cream.

Dinner--

~1 cups worth of the pasta salad I had at lunch, but then I was still hungry a bit later, so I also had a chicken hot dog on a white bun. It was easy, quick and sounded good! And, I'm still under 1,500 calories for the day! (My current goal is to be between 1,200 and 1,600, but I prefer to stay under 1,500, if I can.)

Today was a good day, by the way. Trying to come up with something to do today, I thought of taking the bus which passes right in front of my house and runs the length of the peninsula. The kids like riding the bus, since we don't do it that often, and it was a cheap treat at 35 cents for all of us to ride each time. So, I put Evan in the backpack, and grabbed a bag for diapers, jackets, wallets, and my camera, and we took off.

First we got off in the little bitty town closest to us, Ocean Park, and walked around, stopping to see a couple of shops we hadn't been in before, and we got a book for Ron for Father's Day at the used book store there. We also got some inexpensive treats for the kids at the drugstore: a little car for Evan, and some coloring pages and markers for the girls. I wanted them to have something to do when we stopped somewhere and I wanted to relax with my coffee. I was thinking ahead!

Then we got back on the bus and rode to the other end of the peninsula where I could get coffee and the kids could get ice cream at a fun little restaurant that looks out over the Port of Ilwaco. It's a very inviting place with casual decor and a big shelf full of books and puzzles and other stuff that says, "stay awhile!" So we did. Stella and I worked a 250 piece puzzle together, while Evan and Annie colored and looked at books. I couldn't believe how well it worked out! Recently, my new friend, Theresa, offered to watch my two little ones, so I could have some one on one time with Stella, who has been craving that. I think I will taker her up on that offer and take Stella to this restaurant again--she really liked it and wanted to work another puzzle with me, but the little ones were starting to get antsy.

After the puzzle and ice cream, we walked on the sidewalk in front of all the shops that sit there at the port. It was fun! There is a strip of green grass the kids could run on. It's where they have the Saturday Market that we like to go to, but today, of course, there were no vendors out on the green--just ducks and crows and an occasional friendly dog hanging out with it's person, enjoying the sunshine and the view. When we came to the end of the sidewalk, a charter boat had just come in with it's temporary tourist crew and their catch that day, so we got to see several sturgeon hanging there. One was still flopping a bit. The kids touched the rough, scaly skin and marvled at the bizarre mouths these bottom-feeders have! I've attached a photo I took of them with these weird fish, as well as one of the girls waiting for the bus.

We also stopped at an art gallery, but couldn't stay long, because Annie didn't follow the rules for such a place. And before we finally caught the bus home, we went inside another bookstore. This one had a really nice kids' section with toys to play with and comfy kid-sized overstuffed chairs to sit in. They all behaved perfectly! I was able peruse the shelves, and I actually found a perfect birthday present for my best friend's soon-to-be 6-year-old daughter: a book with stories about dragons, which she loves. And it has some gorgeous pictures in it, too. Best of all (as far as I'm concerned), it was under $10.00 brand new!

By the time we took the bus home, Annie, my 4-year-old, was definitely ready! She was getting really obstinate and whiny. When we got home, the kids were really hungry from all the walking around and such, so I happily let them have cereal for dinner, which they loved. It was Nutty Nuggets, which is just like Grape-Nuts, so it was at least healthy cereal! I was happy that there was still some leftovers available for me. NO COOKING TODAY!

Well, I still want to go to the library tonight, so our day isn't over yet! Hope you are all having good days, too!

Wow Val! Four miles two days in a row--that's fantastic! Good for you. Sounds really fun, too. I love walking! I walked a bunch yesterday, but not at a good clip like it sounds like you are doing. I miss that. Can't wait to be able to do that again when Ron is living with us again.

Well, it's quiet here again. Oh well. I'll check in again later.

Andrea, I loved the pictures of your kids! They are too cute! Stella looks alot like you. It sounds like you had a nice fun and relaxing day.

I think I am going to go on a little getaway next week. Camping and canoeing with my two youngest kids and my sister is going to come along this time with her two youngest kids. It should be a ton of fun, I really can't wait.

I only got to walk about 2 miles today which was kind of disappointing, but I will try to work some sort of exercise in this evening to make up for it.

Foods so far todayand I realize that I need to post what I'm eating in the evening too)
Breakfast: coffee and smoothie
Snack: apple
Lunch: chicken and bean burrito
Snack: cheese stick

Thanks Val! Of course, I'm partial, but I think they are pretty cute kids, myself!

By the way, why do you have a sad face next to your list of foods for today? It doesn't look so bad to me.

Here's what I've eaten so far today:

Breakfast-

~1 slice of whole wheat toast with about a third of a tablespoon of butter
~one poached egg

Snack-

~Mango/Passionfruit Tea with a teaspoon of suger (UGH! I totally forgot my sugar rule , PLUS I hate that much sugar in that particular tea--makes it way too sweet. I shouldn't have drunk it, but I was too lazy to start over.)

Lunch-

~Whole Wheat wrap filled with 1/3 cup hummus, 1 cup spinach, half a medium tomato cut into wedges, half a carrot grated, half an avocado sliced, and some salt and pepper. YUMMY!!

~large spinach salad with mandarin oranges and a homemade dressing made with a Tablespoon of olive oil, a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and a dash of dried basil. I gave a third of this to Stella, actually, but I still ate about a cups worth of baby spinach. I just used the rest of a bag I had.

I plan on having coffee while I'm out and about taking Stella to ballet class and such. Tonight I'm making a favorite of mine: Garlicky Black-eyed Peas with Collard Greens on Brown Rice! This is SO good, and fairly easy...and extremely good for you. I'll post the recipe in a different post.

Taa taa!!

Holy Smokes! I posted 2nd on this HUGE thread, then fell off the wagon. I totally missed all the fun and great support here.

I'm back into it, and have found it much more helpul to set mini monthly goals. Although I've done weight watchers in the past, I just couldn't stick with it this time around. So now I'm doing calorie counting on Fitday.com. I love seeing what kinds of foods you all are eating.

Here's mine:

Breakfast-
1 cup Life cereal with 1/2 cup skim milk

mid morning-
4 mini blueberry pankakes (dry)

Lunch-
low cal bread (80/2 slices), with cheese, cucumber, sprouts, pickles, tomato, sweet onion
1 cup split pea with ham soup

I havn't had dinner yet, but total calories so far is 750. Not bad! That means I can have a decent dinner.

Thanks for the ideas here!

Well, after Stella's ballet class and a couple of errands, I was too tired to cook my black-eyed peas and collard greens, so I am making them for lunch tomorrow (and of course will end up eating them again for dinner, since there will be plenty left.) Instead, tonight I had a bowl of cereal with soy milk and some Dubliner Irish Cheddar Cheese with Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits. I stayed under my max as far as calories go, but I was a bit high on fats today. Oh well, I've been doing pretty well with that otherwise.

Hi everyone, I wanted to leave a quick note to check in. My nephews came over to visit today and will stay with me for a couple days. Unfortunatly my sister and I aren't on speaking terms right now so I havn't seen them since March. I have missed them so much.
I'll check back in tomorrow.

I just wanted to tell you all that I've changed my ultimate goal to 135 lbs, instead of 140. I've been reading other success stories and have checked out some information about BMI and other ways of determining ideal weight, and I think I should try to go for the best possible weight for me. At 5'4" and a medium to small frame, I think I can get there! So, now I'm not halfway to goal anymore! OH well...I've been keeping 135 in the back of mind all this time anyway, no matter what the ticker said! hahahaha...now I'm just being more honest.

Oh, and I forgot to say that I've done my yoga 3 out of the past 4 days! I took a break after the first two days, because I was SORE after that long time off. Feeling great, and am already looking more toned and waking up less sore in the back! Yay Yoga!

Marina, I'm sorry you and your sister are not talking. I've gone a whole year not talking to my dad once, and that was awful. He came to visit me in November, though, because he had been doing some soul-searching, and we had a great, healing visit, and are SO much happier now. I hope you find peace with your sister, too. Glad you checked in! Good to hear from you!