Weight Watchers Wednesday Week 15

It is Weight Watchers Wednesday Week 15 and I had a big loss of 0 lbs this week. Yes you read that correctly, a big goose egg! That makes my running total still 28.5 lbs. The lack of progress this week is completely due to my lack of food preparation and planning. It has been one of those weeks that are jam packed every.single.day. with stuff to do. I have quite simply been eating whatever is quick and easy. You know that means I have not done a lot of cooking.

We are having a major Spring cleaning overhaul, so that has been most of my activity. I worked in the yard for 8 hours on Saturday while Nonnie and Pop watched the kids. It was extremely productive, but all the pizza I ate probably cancelled out those extra calories I had burned. I did feel bad after my weigh in this morning, so I am back on the bandwagon this week. I already went walking. My friend Mary and I walked 4.5 miles tonight and it felt so good! I just have to remember that feeling on those days when I don't feel like exercising.

For the recipe of the week, I am gonna share 2 recipes that I have not tried yet, but found and put in my WW cookbook. If you make them let me know how they are. I am hoping to do them both in the next week.

Snickers Pie, 3 points

12 ounces frozen fat-free vanilla yogurt

1 small box sugar-free instant chocolate pudding

1/4 cup chunky peanut butter

1 cup lite Cool Whip

3 ounces Grape Nuts Cereal

Mix all ingredients together. Pour into an 8-inch dish and freeze.

8 servingsServing size: 1/8th of pie

Points: 3

Shrimp Pasta Salad, 2 points

3/4 cup uncooked shell macaroni

3 cups water

3/4 pound medium-size fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 cup chopped cauliflower

1 cup sliced celery

1/2 cup low-calorie French dressing

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup chopped sweet pickle

1/4 cup reduced-calorie mayonnaise

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon grated onion

1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Cook macaroni according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and set aside.Bring 3 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add shrimp; cook 3 to 5 minutes or until shrimp turns pink. Drain well.Combine macaroni, shrimp, cauliflower, and remaining ingredients; toss gently to combine. Cover and chill at least 8 hours.

Yield: 12 servings Serving size: 3/4 cup

Carbohydrate: 11 gm Protein: 6 gm Fat: 4 gm Calories: 100 Fiber: 1 gm Sodium: 212 mg Cholesterol: 42 mg

2 WW points per serving

I hope all my WW buddies had a great week. I look forward to hearing from you!

Lowcountry Lizards...

I was just scrolling through some pictures from this month and I realized I missed posting some really good ones! For a little background, we live outside Charleston, SC. Also known as "The Lowcountry" because we sit at or below sea level, depending on the tides. I ended up here because Lonnie is from here. One of the hardest things for me to adjust to when we first moved here were the lizards. They.are. everywhere. They are little green things that don't have any teeth, but are creepy all the same. I actually called Lonnie from work a couple of times screaming that one had gotten in the house. He would come home, catch it, and go back to work.


Well now that I have grown accustomed to the little critters, I pay them no attention. On Easter Sunday the lady sitting in front of us squealed because one was on her pew. Lon, being the gentleman that he is, caught it and took it outside for her. Point being, they are everywhere here. Even church. I have learned to co-exist with the little monsters. BUT, while I tolerate them and let the boys catch them and chase them, I will NEVER, I repeat NEVER do this with them:


Yes that is Lonnie with a lizard hanging from his ear like an earring. My boys think this is the funniest thing in the whole wide world. They laugh like crazy when Daddy does this.
Just a little glimpse into a day in my life.

Best of the Week...

• Finally getting started on some of my home improvement projects that I have been putting off.
  


• Watching Lon in his "Oldtimer's" Football game. He's still got it, and I still love to watch him play. Walker cheered his little heart out.


• 
• My parents coming down for the weekend and all the treats that come with it, like french toast for breakfast.
  


• Sandy helping me start "clean out boot camp". We started in the garage, and the fact that she is still coming back to help this week proves she is both a great mother in law and a glutton for punishment. We are gonna be moving from room to room in my whole house. That is a daunting task.



• Taking Walker shopping for some animal figurines and on the way there he told me he was "the happiest boy in South Carolina".



• Nonnie and Pop taking the boys to Bee City so I could get some stuff done around the house.


Rocking on the front porch with Mom in my trash to treasure rocking chairs. I am so pleased with how they turned out. Even if they did take all day to finish.



• Spending Mother's Day with my Mom and Lon's mom and grandma. I got to relax and enjoy my boys all evening.
  


• Watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua with Walker. It is a really cute movie. And then him barking while he was taking a nap. I totally laughed at my 3 year old's expense.
  


• Lon's 70+ year old grandma asking for a blue moped for mother's day, and actually getting it!



• Giving Connor a bath with soap and everything outside with the waterhose. It sounded like a good idea at the time.

I realize I am a day late with this post, but as I mentioned "Clean Out Boot Camp" with my mother in law is kicking my behind. I am so glad to be getting it done though, and since it was my idea then I have to finish what I started. Hope you all had a wonderful week too!

A Little Paint...

A little paint makes a big difference! I have been doing some work in Connor's room and thought I would share my progress. I'll start at the beginning so you understand all the details. We moved to this house about 10 months ago. At the time Con was still in his crib, so I made his room a nursery. Since I did not know exactly what I was gonna do for his "big boy" room,which was just around the corner, I basically took down the wallpaper and painted the room the same color as the rest of the house, Sherwin Williams M0nroe Bisque. I loved the color, but in hindsight felt it needed something more fun for a little boy's room.

Here is how it looked before we started: Can I just tell you that the wallpaper in this room came off inch.by.painful.inch. I was so sick of taking down wallpaper that I had nightmares about it.

On Tuesday I decided to paint one of the walls blue and add him a blue monogram. I got my paint at Wal-Mart for $3 on the clearance aisle. I guess someone else didn't like it after it was mixed, but it was perfect for me.
Now that we have transitioned him into his big boy bed, I am still putting the room together. I think the colors in here are fantastic and I love the Pottery Barn A to Z bedding, but I have to keep the bed (a full size) all the way against the wall for safety reasons, and the shelves are not quite right for the space. They were great at our other house, but everything about this room's layout is different.

Here is his rocking chair. This was from the farm and my mother in law and I refinished it a few years ago. It was actually stuffed with straw in the seat.
This is his armoire and some pictures I got from several different places. Nonnie got him that monkey clock from Home Interiors because she calls him her little monkey.

This is where I put the monogram I did for him the other day. I think it pulls in the blue from the accent wall. That Raggedy Andy doll was my Mom's as a kid and I played with him too.

This wall is my trouble spot. I need something bigger or to move around things, but I haven't quite put my finger on it yet. Any suggestions? This whole room is layed out completely different from the original nursery in our other house, so I am not as pleased with some of his decor.

I had oodles of these paper lanterns from my mother in law's wedding, so I decided to put some of them up for another punch of color. I just hung them with fishing wire and a thumb tack.

Walker wants to hang all the pink ones in his room. I just don't know if pink paper lanterns will go with his Western room. I'll probably end up letting him hang a couple until he gets tired of them. He can be so persuasive.

I still have to make a bedskirt for the bed, and have a couple other projects I am working on, but I will keep you posted. What do you think of the progress so far?

Pink and Green Swap...

I took part in my first ever "Swap" and had so much fun that I am already looking forward to the next one. The rules went like this, you could only spend up to $15 and everything was supposed to be pink and green. Your partner was drawn at random and you got to fill out a little questionnaire and your partner did the same thing so you could get to know one another. My partner was Sarah at Sarah's Blue Castle.

The whole purpose of the swap is to get to know other bloggers. Sarah and I found out we have oodles of stuff in common, and I really have made a new bloggy friend. Here is the box I sent...

It was a pink and green basket, with some pink and green kitchen gloves, sponges, dishrags, 2 green napkins, a lime picture frame, a pink garden tool, some candy, and pink and green garden gloves.

In all honesty, I think I got the better end of this deal. I really thought I found a lot of stuff for $15, but Sarah blew me away with the box she sent me. Here it is...

Green glasses, candy, ice cube trays that look like dentures HA!, a green and white plate, a business card holder, pink sachet sacks with lavendar in them, hand knit washcloths, a little plaque, and a jewelry tray with a saying about mothers. Now that is some serious loot! Like I said, this was so much fun, and I highly recommend you jump on board if you hear of one of these.

Weight Watchers Wednesday Week 14...

It is Weight Watchers Wednesday Week 14, and I lost 1.5 lbs. for a running total of 28.5 lbs. If you have been following this LONG process, then you know I had hoped to reach 30 lbs. this week. Well that obviously did not happen. Walker and I have been baking too many goodies, so any loss this week was a pleasant surprise. I am pleased and hope to hit 30 lbs. next week.

Still no real exercise regimine. I stay busy all the time, and am constantly in motion either cleaning or gardening, or just playing with the boys. I think all this puttering around has been making a difference for me. I still hope to exercise more and make it more of a priority in the near future.

I haven't posted a pic of me in while, so here you go...

Just keepin' it real here peeps. No makeup, hair in a ponytail, AGAIN! This was taken at my Great Grandparent's a week or so ago. I can tell the differance in the way my clothes are fitting. Still a long road ahead, but the progress is very encouraging.

For this week's recipe I am gonna share my Chicken Philly Cheesesteak Recipe. I am a HUGE Philly Cheesesteak fan. As you can imagine, one Philly is a ridiculous amount of points, so this is what I make to beat those cravings. By the way, I didn't have chicken when I made this, so I used turkey which is just as good. You could probably use cardboard if you smother it in enough stuff. Wonder how many points are in cardboard anyway? Just sayin'.

Chicken Philly, 5 Points per serving

1 piece of Flatout Bread or comparable lowfat tortilla

1 serving of thin sliced deli chicken

1 cup of sliced onion and green pepper

1/4 cup mushrooms

2 slices of Fat free or low fat cheese

Sautee your veggies and mushrooms in a non-stick pan with a little bit of PAM. When they are soft enough for your preference shred your chicken and toss it in the pan. (You just want to warm it). Spread all of this in your Flatout Bread and add cheese. I roll it up and put it in my panini maker, but a George Foreman or even a microwave would be fine. I sometimes add a little A-1 sauce. I am not a fan of mayo, but you could add the fat-free version if you wanted to.

I hope all of my WW buddies had a great week, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Mother of the Year Award...

Follow this link:

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HILARIOUS!! Thanks Kristen for this prestigous award!