Monday, March 5, 2018

Happy Homemaker Monday (March 5, 2018)

Happy Monday everyone! Hope everyone had a great weekend. I spent all day Saturday at basketball for the kiddos-- it was their last games and each game was followed by an awards ceremony and a pizza party. Made for a very long day but fun! Yesterday, I helped teach PSR and went to church. Came home, made the kids lunch and then proceeded to take an almost 3 hour nap. I think the on-the-go times and being busy ALL THE TIME, have caught up to me.  I am also still dealing with this sinus crap. :-( Also Bill is sick and not feeling good so it was a perfect day for a lazy Sunday. Unfortunately, lazy Sundays can't stick around and I am gearing up for another super busy week.  

First up, lets join in with the lovely Sandra over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom and her "Happy Homemaker Monday" series


Breakfast time....what is on the plate this morning::::

Bob Evans sausage biscuits and a banana
 
On the to do list::::

Today: Kids to school, babysit A, Run to the bank, Battle of the Books meeting, tutor P, Ben to speech, attack the laundry monster if possible
Tuesday: Kids to school, babysit A, Battle of the Books meeting, tutor N
Wednesday: Kids to school, babysit A, tutor I
Thursday: Kids to school, babysit A, Battle of the Books meeting, tutor N and S
Friday: Kids to school, grocery store
Saturday: Signups for flag football? 


Currently reading::::

I hate to say that I haven't even opened these books this past week. I am so behind in reading for reviews it is not even funny. 



  

On the TV this week::::

Nothing important. 

The weather outside is::::

Supposed to be in the 30s and 40s this week with a chance of snow showers most days. Guess winter wants to try to make a comeback.

On the menu this week::::

Monday: Breakfast for dinner--scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, fruit

Tuesday: Chicken bacon ranch casserole
Wednesday: Chinese food (frozen dinners from Aldis) and rice
Thursday: mini meatballs, salad, and green beans
Friday: Clam strips, baked potatoes, veggies
Saturday: pizza
Sunday: ????


If I have a few minutes to myself, I will::::

Read for a few minutes and just relax

Favorite photo from the camera::::

Signs of Spring that Bill and I saw on our walk last week.



Bible Verse, Devotional::::




I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday and a great week! 

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Nature Scenes for March 4, 2018

Sunday is meant to be a day of rest and relaxation and one of the ways that I rest is to spend time in nature. I try to spend a least a little bit of time in nature each week. I have decided that I will use Sundays to share the photos of my nature adventures each week just as a way to relax and share the beauty that is God's creation with all. I hope you enjoy!
 
Photos from February 27, 2018 at Kokosing Gap Trail



Photos from February 27, 2018 at Hiawatha Community Park





Photos from February 28, 2018 at Kokosing Gap Trail at Kenyon 









Photos from March 2, 2018 at Kokosing Gap Trail





For more nature scenes you can check out my other nature posts: 

I hope everyone is having a good Sunday and if you get a chance check out the nature scenes around you! 

Friday, March 2, 2018

February Update on My 2018 Goals

Happy Thursday! Happy March! I cannot believe that two months of 2018 have already passed. Seems like just yesterday I was making a list of goals that I wanted to complete in 2018. One of the things that I have figured out about goals, is that if I make the list and then don't look at it, then I forget all of them. So I thought I would come back here at the end of each month/beginning of the next month and see how I am progressing toward achieving my goals. 



So without further ado, let's see how I did in February: 

No fast food for the year. The only exception for this will be if we are traveling on a vacation or if the kids request this as their birthday dinner. 
  • So...about that one...after doing really well in January, February become a bust. I had fast food twice. Wendy's one night when I was sick, and then McDonald's on the night I babysat and had 5 kids here. 

Give up pop. I have gotten into a very bad habit of drinking pop and I have had at least one kidney stone this year. I am pretty sure that I have been dealing with one the last week as well. I feel bloated most of the time and think that this is due to the amount of pop that I have been drinking.
  • Again...February was not kind to me. I have gotten back in the caffeine and pop habit. Not sure what it is but I know I need to do better with this. 

Lose 40 pounds. I MUST do this. My health needs to be my priority this year. I am not getting any younger and I need to make sure that as I approach 40 that I am in better shape.
  • If you follow along on my Weigh In Wednesday posts, then you know that I only lost 0.4 pounds this month. It is still a loss, but I so need to get back on track. 

Walk at least 3 days a week. This was hard in 2017 as I would get into a rhythm, then with the weather change and I started babysitting and I did not have time at all to walk. I feel so much better when I get outside so I am going to try for 3 days at the minimum.
  • I did end up with 5 walks in February so it wasn't a complete loss but no where near my goal.
Read 24 books. I really love to read and I find that I would read more however the lure of electronics is strong and I have been laying in bed playing "Blast" solitaire on my tablet instead of reading before sleeping. I will stop doing this and will start reading instead. I hope to bring back my what I read this month blog posts.

Declutter 500 items from our home. We have way too much stuff.  There is just no getting past that we need to get rid of stuff. 500 items is on average about 42 items a month. I can do that.
  • Nope
Go on a family vacation with Bill and the kids.
  • Figured out where and when and placed a reservation for it. 

Have at least one date time with Bill each week-- be that a walk together, lunch out, date night in, watching a movie, etc.
  • February 2, we had a lunch date at Fiesta Mexicana 
     
  • We ordered in dinner for Valentine's Day 
  • We took several walks together February 15, 18, 23, 27 and 28th. 

Try 24 new recipes.
Deep clean and declutter each room in our house.
  • Nope




So that is the February update. Definitely fell off the bandwagon and can do much better. Need to get my act back together in March.  If you are working on goals, how are you doing since the first month of the year is now done? 


Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Weigh In Wednesday #9 of 2018

Happy Wednesday and welcome to the 9th Wednesday of 2018. Last week I didn't do a weigh in as I was sick and asleep most of that day. I feel better now, but still am dealing with the congestion crap. I think I blow  my nose a million times a day. Oh well. It happens.



I really didn't want to step on the scale this morning since I have been eating way too much junk food, including Twizzlers, the last week or so as that is what I have been craving. I also had fast food twice which didn't even taste all that good. My hubby told me not to beat myself up because I just needed to make sure I was eating. But I knew it probably wouldn't be good for the scale. So with that being said, let's get see where the weight numbers stand this week....






Official Starting Weight (1/3/18): 241.0
My weight last week: 232.6
My weight this week: 233.8
Weight loss from last week: +1.2 OUCH!!!
Total weight loss for 2018: -7.2 pounds! 

Yikes! I suppose it could have been worse. Now I just need to get back on track and figure things out. It is so hard because I have gotten back in the habit of bad eating. I need to turn this ship around the right way and get back on track. 
  

Source

On the exercise front: I mentioned in my 2018 goals post that I wanted to walk 3 days a week. Since there are 52 weeks in a year, that means my goal is to walk 156 times over the course of the year. 

Well since I last posted a Weigh In Wednesday post, I did the following walks:


February 15-- 2.01 miles
February 18--3.04 miles
February 20-- 2.7 miles
February 23-- 3.00 miles
February 27-- 2.05 miles 

So that means I am now at 11 out of 156 workout walks completed for the year! This number may seem low, but honestly I expect it to be with winter. I am not going to let myself get discouraged.
So that was this week's Weigh In Wednesday-- diet wise, I need to get back on track; fitness wise-- I have to figure it out. If you are trying to lose weight or get healthier, how is your journey going so far?




Monday, February 26, 2018

Happy Homemaker Monday (February 26, 2018)

Happy Monday everyone! Hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was a mixture of being super busy and on the go and not feeling well. This head cold of mine is kicking my butt. Thankfully it is not the flu, but it still sucks. One day I feel better, then the next I feel like crap again. But I have to just keep going because that is the season of life that I am in right now. 

My weekend:: I was on the go ALL weekend long. Saturday, we had 3 basketball for the kids and then I agreed to babysit for a friend. I ended up getting those kids at 3 while I was at basketball. So for most of the evening I had 2 extra kids here at my house (another 11 year old and a 2 year old whom my husband nicknamed "Hurricane"). Once they left around 11, I went to bed. Then up early on Sunday to teach PSR, then church, then home for lunch, then library for a Battle of the Books scrimmage, then home so Bill could go to an Upward coaches meeting, then make dinner (hot dogs because it was easy), then trying to lesson plan for tutoring today and Battle of the books meeting... Oh and did I mention laundry is way backed up?? Oh vey. 

Right now, I am taking a moment to type this up while my babysitting baby is sitting on the floor playing for once without screaming. So with that, I am joining in with the lovely Sandra over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom and her "Happy Homemaker Monday" series


Breakfast time....what is on the plate this morning::::
I had 2 mini sausage and cheese Bob Evans sandwiches. So yummy! 

On the to do list::::
Today: Kids to school, babysit A, Run to the bank and post office, Battle of the Books meeting, tutor P, Ben to speech, All 3 kids have basketball, attack the laundry monster if possible
Tuesday: Kids to school, babysit A, Battle of the Books meeting, tutor N
Wednesday: Kids to school, babysit A, tutor I
Thursday: Kids to school, babysit A, Battle of the Books meeting, tutor N and S
Friday: Kids to school, grocery store
Saturday: Last basketball games of the season for all 3 kids
Sunday: PSR, Church, Nothing else scheduled for the moment (I know, famous last words)

Currently reading::::


  
On the TV this week::::
Not sure now that the Olympics are over. 

The weather outside is::::
Breaking news::: THE SUN IS OUT!!!! After having flooding rains this weekend, the sun is out today. It isn't that cold out either (high 40s/low 50s).  We are supposed to have sunny weather tomorrow too, then heavy rain Wednesday night through Thursday night. Uggh. We have had so much rain that many areas having flooding issues. The river near us is really high. 

On the menu this week::::
This week the theme is going to be easy as I haven't been feeling well and am so behind in lots of things. 

Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Sloppy Joes, green beans, corn
Wednesday: Cheeseburgers, French fries
Thursday: Chicken pot pies and salad
Friday: Clam strips, baked potatoes, veggies
Saturday: ??
Sunday: Ribs? 

If I have a few minutes to myself, I will::::
Read for a few minutes and just relax

Favorite photo from the camera::::
The sky last night was brilliant. My phone camera does not do it justice at all. 


Bible Verse, Devotional::::
Source

I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday and a great week!