Happy May the 4th!

 

Weigh in Wednesday: I'm back

Happy Wednesday everyone! I have had a couple of people reach out to me in regard to whether or not I was going to start doing my weigh in Wednesday posts again. I am sorry that I took a break from them, but life happens, and I just couldn't keep up. Well, I *think* that I am back for now. 

I will have to say that I started the year off with really good intentions and then I kept backsliding, snacking too much, not really wanting to exercise, etc. Then I hurt my knee and I haven't really been able to do anything strenuous for risk of injuring it further. 

Around the same time that I hurt my knee, I kept seeing advertisements for the paid subscription app called Noom. 

I did some research and found that this app could be used to log food, exercise, how much water you are drinking, etc. There are a few features that I liked. It uses small daily lessons to keep you on track and to change your thinking about food. The lessons are based on psychology of weight loss. I also like how it is individualized for your own weight and needs after you fill out their questionnaire. I really liked the look of it and signed up for the 2-week trial. After the 2 weeks, I decided to continue with a 6-month subscription since I will be focusing on the food aspect of my life while I am waiting for and after my surgery. So far, I have been keeping up with the daily lessons, food journaling, weighing in daily, and my water intake daily. It is very simple to do on the app. For now, this will be what I focus on for my weight loss journey. 

So let's see where I am at right now: 

My Starting Weight on 1/1/2023: 265.8lbs.

My weight from the last time I did a WIW: 259.0lbs.

My weight this week: 255.0lbs.

Weight loss/gain from last weigh in: -4.0lbs

Total weight loss Year to Date: -10.8lbs

Slow and steady wins the race. I am committed to following the Noom lessons and eating better. Nothing is off limits; however, the app does help you to see what foods are better for you and that you can have treats in moderation. I figure maybe since I am paying for the app, then I will be more likely to follow through. 

If you are on a weight loss journey, how is it going? 

I chaperoned a Disney Trip: Day 4-- Choir Performance and Universal Islands of Adventure

Happy Tuesday! 

I am back with more recap of my Spring Break trip chaperoning Rebecca's high school choir, band and orchestra trip to Florida. For my recap of our day at Hollywood Studios and our first day of Universal Studios click here and here.

Sunday dawned bright and early for everyone as it was performance day! The main reason we were down at Universal Studios was because our choir, band and orchestra were invited to perform at City Walk as part of their Stars Performance Program. 

We arrived at Universal and were taken to the practice rooms. It was HOT and sunny. Perfect weather for a performance. I walked with the choir. They warmed up and then headed out to the performance area to watch the band and orchestra perform. Band and orchestra performed, then it was time for the choir! 

She did put on her black dress shoes for the performance! LOL 

They sounded great! I am so proud of Rebecca and all of them for how well they did. 

After they performed, the kids changed clothes and then headed back to the park for the rest of the day to have fun! I hung out with a couple of the other chaperones who wanted to ride Hogwarts Express from the Universal side to the Island of Adventure side. Hogwarts Express was really cool. 

I had a late lunch with one of the other chaperones at the Three Broomsticks restaurant in part of the Harry Potter world. We split an order of fish and chips. It was super yummy! 

Then I headed off to the Jurassic Park area and the other areas of Island of Adventure to check it out by myself. I was really interested in just taking in the different features and enjoying the rest of the day. 

I ended my day by riding Hogwarts Express back to the Universal side before meeting up with the kids and others for the bus ride back to the hotel.

That night, we got back to the hotel and packed up what we could as we would be loading the bus the next morning, spending the day at Disney's Magic Kingdom, and then heading home. I was really looking forward to the final day at the Magic Kingdom. 

Menu Plan for this first week of May

Happy Monday everyone! Happy May as well! April seemed to me like it took forever to get over. Maybe because we had so much going on? May looks to be busy as well with lots of end of the school year activities, plus I now have a surgery date for my knee surgery-- Tuesday May 30. So, I have about a month to get things in order for recovery. 

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was good. Saturday morning, Rebecca and I headed out to my mom's house. We were going to pick her up and go to Costco. I am in charge of the food for a Spaghetti dinner fundraiser that the high school choir is putting on. It is a spaghetti dinner and a show (their end of the year show). I wanted to price check some things at Costco. Well, we ended up going to pick up my sister and her partner as well. We did go to Costco and my sister's partner let me use her card to pick up some produce and a couple other things. I also got prices for what I needed. We then all went out to lunch at El Vaquero Mexican restaurant, which had fabulous food. The service was very slow considering it was 2 in the afternoon and it wasn't busy, but the food made up for it. It was just fun to spend time with Rebecca, my mom and sister and her partner. 

Yesterday, the kids and I went to church and then they had choir practice (as the youth choir is singing for Confirmation mass in June.) We came home and everyone made their lunches. I did some laundry and cleaned out the refrigerator and menu planned. Other than that, we just puttered around the house and did this and that. 

This week, we don't have a ton going on, as track season is over for Jacob. Rebecca has a couple of things after school but nothing like she has been having. It is also supposed to be rainy and chilly for this time of year, for the beginning part of the week. They are even calling for snow showers on Tuesday night. So, I am making some more wintery meals. 

So, what are we eating this week: 

SUNDAY: Pork and Peppers, roasted potatoes, French style green beans, and cantaloupe. 

MONDAY: Chicken alfredo pasta with broccoli

TUESDAY: Chicken enchiladas and salad

WEDNESDAY: Air fried clam strips, baked potatoes, applesauce, salad

THURSDAY: Hamburger helper and peas for Bill and the kids. I am going out to dinner with a friend. 

FRIDAY: Pizza and fruit

SATURDAY: Not sure yet, as Jacob has an all-day music camp, Rebecca has a cast party for Cinderella, so I am not sure. 

What are you eating this week? How was your weekend? 

Kids are keeping my busy

Happy Thursday everyone! Hope all is going well. I didn't mean to go MIA, but life has a way of doing that. I still need to do the last posts about my Disney chaperoning trip, but first I thought I'd hop on here and just do a general life update. 

The kids have been keeping me hopping!

The last month has been consumed with track for Jacob. He joined the middle school track team this year and that means daily practices and several meets. He has participated in the throwing events of shot put and discus. He also runs the 100-meter dash. He has improved his shot-put throws from 15 feet 11 inches in his first meet to 23 feet and 1/4 inches in his last meet yesterday. He also improved his discus throw from 43 feet 8 inches in his first meet to his personal record of 52 feet at the meet before last night. I am so proud of him for trying out a new sport and having a blast. He is planning on keeping up with practice over the summer and then participating in track and field again next year. The only bad part of his participating in track is that several of his meets are almost an hour away. He had 2 meets this past week and both were between 50 minutes and an hour away. I will go to everyone that I can, to support him! 

This last month has been consumed with CINDERELLA play practice and performance for Rebecca! She was in her high school musical production of Roger and Hammerstein's Cinderella. She was in the ensemble and was also the understudy to Cinderella and the stepsisters. That involved a lot of daily practices, usually in the evening, and lots of late nights. The performances were last weekend, and the musical was so good. I ended up going to all 3 performances and am so proud of Rebecca and the rest of the cast for a great play! 

Ben has also been keeping me busy. He has had state testing at school and that has caused his anxiety to skyrocket. That means he is clingier and whinier and so I have needed to be available for more cuddles and hugs. We are also entering the last month of school for him, and he is anxious about moving to the Middle School next year. He has had some fun though, as his dad took him and Jacob to WWE Smackdown event in Columbus last week. Once he got over the pyrotechnics and the noise, he had fun.

 

As for me... well, I in between driving kids all over and supporting them, I have also had a few doctor's appointments. I finally had an MRI done on my knee and found out that I have a small tear in my meniscus, cartilage that is pulling away in 2 different places and the start of a stress fracture where my knee meets my tibia. Ugh. My orthopedic wants to do arthroscopic surgery with a recovery of 4-6 weeks. Thankfully, he said that I could wait until the end of May so that I wouldn't miss too much pay for work. I only have 2 sick days and 1 personal day left for this school year. I had a pre-surgery screening last week and am just waiting for them to call and give me a date. They said that they might need to get cardiology clearance due to my myocardial bridge. I am hoping to hear tomorrow or early next week with a date. Hopefully. 

Well, I should wrap this up and go flip laundry or do something else productive. I'm not going to promise that I will be posting every day, but I am going to try to post more often than I have been. Rebecca has been yelling at me to post more! LOL 

I hope everyone has a great rest of today and a good weekend coming up! 

I chaperoned a Disney trip--- Day 3: Universal Studios

 Happy Friday everyone! This has been the longest week ever. I don't know what it is, but this week has just dragged on. The weather has been drop-dead gorgeous, work hasn't been horrible, so I don't know what it is. Maybe I am still getting over my Disney trip. LOL Speaking of... let's get to day 3. Our 1st day at Universal Studios. 

Day 3 dawned really early. It was Saturday and we were heading to Universal Studios for the day. If you have never been to Universal, then you should know that there are 2 parks...the original Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. They are connected by a large dining/shopping/outdoor area called City Walk. We had tickets for both parks so that was fun. 

I decided to spend my time Saturday at the original Universal side, as we would again be at Universal the next day for the band, choir and orchestra performances and then the rest of the day at the parks. I am so glad that I did this, because I could really take in the different areas that Universal had. 

I met some favorite characters, including Squidward and Patrick from "Spongebob Squarepants" and Scooby-Doo and Shaggy from the Scooby-Doo franchise. 

I enjoyed walking around the Diagon Alley from the "Harry Potter" series. It was totally immersive. I even had a Butter Beer, which was a goal of mine. It was yummy... cream soda with like a butterscotch whipped topping. 

I enjoyed walking through "The Simpsons" area, as this is a favorite tv show of Bill's. I had a yummy taco lunch at "Bumblebee Man's Taco."

It was fun just walking around taking in all the different sights and sounds. 

We had to meet up with our kids at 5 for a check-in and most of the kids were ready to be done for the day. It was hot, they were still tired. But we carried on until our departure time of 10pm. 

After checking in with my girls, I decided to treat myself to a nice sit-down dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe. It was a lovely treat just for me. 

After dinner, I headed over to the main street area for their Mardi Gras parade. They were doing a Mardi Gras of Flavors festival while we were there (including having food trucks featuring cuisine from around the world.) Each evening they had a Mardi Gras themed parade. Honestly, I think that was my favorite part of the day. It was so much fun seeing the spectacle that was the parade, and getting beads thrown at us (without having to lift our shirts!) 

After the parade, I headed back over to our meeting up point for the evening and enjoyed the lights and sounds of City Walk at night.

 

It was another exhausting day, but a good day, nonetheless. We got back to the hotel for showers and bed, ready to go back for the performances the next morning! 

Have you ever been to Universal Studios? Have you ever had Butterbeer? Have you ever been to a Mardi Gras parade?