I am a wife and mother of three great kids, Sarah, Austin and Annabeth. Mimi to three sweet grandsons, Noah and Hunter, and Dallas. I am a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit of a large inner city hospital. So, sit back and relax, this is the story of our family.
1. We owned horses as a child. We had lots of fun throwing dried horse poop at each other. (What a way to start the blog....I am sorry)
2. I play the flute
3. Cupcakes....cupcakes...cupcakes
4. I love to swim
5. I have a job I love. I am a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit. I LOVE babies.
6. We took my son to NYC for graduation a few years back and in the course of 5 days met Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, Nathan Lane, Cicily Tyson and Tom Wopat (Dukes of Hazzard............be still my heart)
7. I sing alto............I was always jealous that I could not sing soprano. If you sing alto and or just want to hear something funny listen to this youtube video called The Alto's Lament
8. I love watching Law & Order and Cake Boss...........my husband will hand me the remote after watching ALL of the sports and will say "you wanna watch cookin' or killin'?"
9. I can clog (similar to tap dance)....haven't in a LONG time, but maybe I will get out the old tap shoes. It was great exercise.
10. This is the first time in my entire life that I have ever had long hair. My momma loved the pixie hair cut and since Dorothy Hamil skated in the 1976 winter olympics, I had the famous Dorothy Hamil wedge haircut.
This is my glamour shot circa 1990. My wedge was shorter, longer, straighter or curlier, but I wore it until probably 2009 when I started trying to let it grow. Ha!!!
I posted this picture of me and Dallas today and Sarah said you look so small. It was so good to hear especially since I have been on a 4 week plateau. I guess the body is just adjusting. But, my clothes fit alot different. So I pulled out this picture from Thanksgiving. That is alot of junk in the trunk.
We had a substitute leader at our WW meeting today. I missed Susan and her enthusiasm, but it was great to hear from someone who has lost 103 pounds. She even had before and after pictures. Someone at the meeting got her 25 pound charm. We were so excited for her. Shirley told her to go to the dog food aisle the next time she is in the store and pick up a 25 pound of dog food and just see how far she has come.
I had to go grocery shopping today so I went up the pet aisle. I found two 20 pound bags and two 3 1/2 pound bags....They were heavy individually to pull down off the shelf and put back. It is CRAZY!!!! It was a great visual.
I decided to chunk my old scale (and I did buy a new one) because the weight fluctuate so much even weighing 3 times in a row, it had become very discouraging. This scale was only off by 0.2 lb from the scale at my meeting. Now if I could just not be so obsessed with the number. I need to just work the program, track my food, go to meetings, get in some activity and the rest will come. Someone today said we just need to "Trust Weight Watchers - it really does work"
Today is the day that Austin has dreamed of for so long. He is leaving for New York for 11 weeks. He is going to an internship at Stagedoor Manor. It is about an hour train ride from NYC, but he is going a week early so he can see the city and see some shows.
It seemed like such a good idea at the time, but now the reality is setting in that my 6 foot tall, 125 pound silly, goof ball kid is going to New York for the whole summer by himself. I am excited and scared and happy and sad all at the same time.
I am praying for traveling mercies for him as well as his safety while in New York. I am praying that he learns alot, makes lifelong friends, makes some great contacts, eats something more than Pringles and Diet Coke, manages his money wisely, remembers where he came from, and most of all that he keeps God first in his life.
Today Nathan would have been 29 years old. I still miss him and wonder how life would have turned out had he lived. I am so thankful to work in a NICU so I can see and hold tiny babies like him. It reminds me of him so that I will never forget, and I also feel like I can show compassion to those scared, young moms like I was so long ago.
I always felt like it was such an oxymoron to buy jeans or a dress size 26 petite. I sorta feel the same today.
Our Weight watchers leader has talked recently about getting rid of the old clothes in your closet as they become too big. That clothes that are too big and look frumpy don't really help motivate you to lose more weight or show off your weight loss. I just hate to do it, it seems so wasteful, I keep hearing my inner voice say "What if???" But I am finding myself every single day going to put something on....even stuff that I just bought in the fall and it is way too big. I just hate to chunk them, but I hate to ever think of going back to them. I had thought of asking at my WW meeting if anyone needed any of these sizes while they, too, are transitioning. I just hate to spend much on clothes at the weight I am right now in hopes of losing more and heading towards my goal.
I don't know...............I just need to go through them and get rid of them whatever I decide to do.
But for today, I changed up the old WW uniform. I bought some T-shirts at Walmart for $4, so this is what I wore today. I felt so skinny. How is it that a XXL shirt can make one feel skinny??? But today, for me, it did.
down 45 pounds
My leader said today (actually talking about leaving food on your plate when you are finished eating, that it is OK to NOT clean your plate)....she said "You can either WASTE it, or WAIST it!!!!"
As they say, all good things must come to an end. It is time to retire my blue summer house robe. It is stained, holey and has Sharpie Marker on it. To show how old this is, said Sharpie found its way onto my robe while packing to move to Bogalusa, LA in 2001. There was a small altercation with one of my children who shall remain nameless, words were exchanged and somehow a Sharpie took flight. I have worn this robe for the last 15 years. I think that each and every one of my kid's friends have seen me in this robe and heard the story of the flying Sharpie.....so with my losing some weight, I decided to get a new robe....its black and white polka dots....hopefully no more Sharpies will come my way, but if they do, they will be harder to see.
So to all the moms who might be reading this.....I am not a perfect mother, but I sure have tried hard and loved my kids the best I knew how.
My Weight Watchers Blog is called "I'm losing my marbles". As you know, I am a very visual person. I love my marble jars to show my weight loss ....well the name of this blog for my friends and family is called "It's the Little Things". It truly is the little things in life that make me happy.
I love spending time at the beach. It is just beautiful and soothing and relaxing. I can get lost in my thoughts. Someone shared a poem with me once called "An Ocean of Grief " by Ferna Mills after my momma passed away. Ever since then, the ocean has taken on a new meaning to me.
At the bottom of this blog, I have a little Weight Loss tracker on it. Of course, it had to have a beach theme. It is a little sail boat sailing across the ocean. When I first started this journey almost 5 months ago, I thought that little sail boat was such a Lllloooooonnnnngggg way from the shore.....just look at it now!!!!!!! But like the ocean waves, my weight loss waxes and wanes, some weeks the waves are big like the losses, some weeks, they are small waves (and losses), some weeks the water is calm and steady (where I maintain), but it is all part of me and my journey. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else....at the beach... or in my life.
8 oz. oscar mayer deli smoked turkey diced (I browned mine a bit in the skillet)
8 oz. broccoli florets chopped up (microwave as directed)
1/2 cup low fat mozerella cheese
salt and pepper
16 oz egg beaters
2 eggs
Pam spray
Preheat oven 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners and spray with Pam. Spoon in turkey, broccoli and sprinkle of cheese evenly in all 12 muffin cups. In a small bowl combine egg beaters, plus 2 eggs beaten, salt and pepper. Pour over cups. Bake 25 minutes until golden.
They will keep in the fridge for 1 week. Microwave for 30 seconds to heat.
You all know that I love sweet things for breakfast, well I found this recipe on a website called Drizzle Me Skinny. The site has lots of recipes with smart points calculated. The lady that runs it is a lifetime WW member. Anyway, I tried the recipe and plugged it into the recipe builder and they are 2 smart points per full size muffin...yummy!
150 grams 0% greek yogurt vanilla or berry
1 large banana
2/3 cup egg beaters
1 tsp vanilla
1 TBSP brown sugar
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup strawberries diced
Preheat oven 350 and spray muffin tin with Pam
In a medium size bowl mash banana, add egg beaters, brown sugar, yogurt and vanilla. Continue mixing until combined well. Stir in flour and gently fold in strawberries.
Divide into 10 muffin cups and bake approximately 20-25 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes.
