Tis the season to think of everyone else, which is a beautiful and wonderful thing.

Except when you stop thinking about yourself. *sigh* I seem to be doing that, I've put my health on the back burner by not making the time for myself. Even though I do have plenty of time where I could be making the time for myself to get back into shape and be healthier I've chosen to be lazy.

I've chosen to be lazy and have chosen to eat crappy food. Yes I could say "it is the holidays...treat yourself, it's OK" I've been saying half of that, but I know that it is not OK. I feel guilty about it because I have been overindulging, and not in a small, healthy way.

I hate to admit it but I have fallen hard off of my low sugar regime. If I ever didn't think that I was addicted to bad food, I know for sure now, I can't control myself with a little. Not recently anyways, I hope one day I can find that healthy balance, but right now I cannot.

I need to jump right back into being strict with my diet and exercise. This past week I have been trying to get back into some of my old habits, I have been drinking more water and I have had more fruits and vegetables. I also am slowly getting back into exercising.

From now on I AM going to journal all of my food and drinks.

I WILL be in control of my cravings!

I know the first week or so will be the hardest, it always seems to be, but I can get through this. I feel embarrassed writing this post and publishing it but I know that if I am not accountable to you all that this will not work.

So here I am being accountable, knowing that once I hit publish I can't turn back, that I need to do this for me. I am terrified of going back to where I was. Sadly I'm on my way there, but I am turning it around NOW!

Elf On The Shelf: Positive Reinforcement

KBeaner was very lucky this year and received an Elf from Santa!!! I think I may have been just as excited as KBeaner was. She decided to name our elf "Merry", she came up with the idea all on her own and said "Like Merry Christmas" SO CUTE!! 

Anyways...I've noticed a lot of people with the Elf like to point out to their children that "the elf is watching..." when the children are not behaving well. I did that the first day, and then I started thinking, "what if she only decides to behave while it's Christmas time? What if she thinks that's the only time when it counts?" I try to do a lot of positive reinforcement with KBeaner anyways, with her I find that that outlook helps her more than me getting "mean". Not to say I don't yell...I mean I am human haha. 

So now when KBeaner does something nice, or is listening well I say to her "I bet Merry is going to tell Santa how well you listened today!" When I say this KBeaner usually says "YEAH!.... oh but I not all the time...I did this.." and then tell me about something she did that was not too nice. I think try to reinforce the positive situation of the day, making that more important than the small part of the day when she was not behaving, because we all make mistakes. The other day KBeaner was throwing a fit, and was sent to time out, recently when she has a time out it is a big production of her screaming and crying. This time she went and took her time out and then we talked about it, there was no screaming! (I was so excited!!) We talked about how even though she did earn a time out, that I was very proud of her that she took her timeout right away and did not fight about it. That day I'm sure Merry the Elf told Santa about how even though KBeaner did make a mistake she took a break and then had a great day! ;)

I guess what I'm trying to say with all of this is that, we should make the Elf on the Shelf (or Holiday friend that comes to visit you)  an even more magical thing! There is so much stress during the Holidays for everyone even kids, let's make it a little easier for them. Enjoy your elves!!

A-Z Thankful Project week 3 Q-Z

Q is for Quiet and sQuare KBeaner originally wanted it to be square since it does have a "q" in it. She is thankful for Quiet because she likes quiet time...sometimes.

R is for Reading "I love reading books with you" -KBeaner

S is for Sunshine "I love when the sun is out!"

T is for Turkey. I asked her why she was thankful for turkey she said "just because..."

U is for Umbrella she said they "keep you dry"

V is for Valentine's Day KBeaner is thankful for that holiday because she "loves hearts"

W is for Water KBeaner said she "loves playing in water and drinking it"

X is for Xylophone because she has "fun" playing hers.

Y is for Yellow because "it is a pretty color"

Z is for Zoo KBeaner is thankful for Zoos because "I love going to them and that's where some animals live" If you're wondering that's a giraffe in that drawing.

A-Z Thankful Project Week 2... H-P

H is for Halloween KBeaner said "because its fun!!"

I is for Ice Cream because "It's so yummy!!!!!"

J is for Jungle because "lions and jaguars live there."

K is for Kindness KBeaner likes "being kind by playing with her friends and cousins"

L is for Legs because she loves "to dance and run"

M is for Mom because she "LOVES" me!!! <3 p="">
N is for Numbers... no real reason for that one.

O is for Octopus they are KBeaner's "favorite sea creature"

P is for Puzzles because KBeaner "loves to do them!"

A-Z Thankful for.... week 1 (B-G)

Here is the continuation of A-Z Thankful Project I am doing with my little one. Click here to see the letter "A".

B is for Ballet

KBeaner is thankful for ballet ...."I love it, I love dancing, and going to class with my teachers, and friends, and I learn new things"

C is for Crayons

KBeaner is thankful for them because...."I love them, I love to draw and all the colors!"


D is for Dad

 KBeaner said "I love Dad...I'm thankful for all the other dads too.. I like Papa.." and then she went on to list her Uncles and some of her friends' Dads! I thought that was so sweet and thoughtful of her to think of all the other great Dads she knows.

 KBeaner is thankful for Energy because... "Bo on the go, you run and give Bo energy!" We also talked about how she needs energy for dance and to play.

 F is for Family KBeaner is thankful for her family because she "loves them!"

She is thankful for Grandparents because ..." I LOVE THEM!!" she yelled that a few times

MIA but back again!

Sorry I have been MIA recently, I was visiting family, and have been pretty busy. Plus to be honest I haven't felt like writing that much either.

I am still at the same weight I have been for the past few months, I'm happy that I'm maintaining but I'd like to be maintaining at a lower weight. I have been trying very hard so far this week to make good food choices. I have been struggling with that a lot recently, I have an easier time saying "yes" to unhealthy foods. I need to consciously remember that the good for me food will make me feel much better than the unhealthy food. Last week I ate like crap, and guess what...I felt like crap!

I am going to try really hard to write more on here, I know I don't have a lot of readers, but the few I have I feel like I need to stay accountable to you! So thank you for reading and keeping me accountable, I hope I can help you too. Whether you're just starting out, have been at it a while and struggling or doing great, I think we all need people to keep ourselves accountable. Obviously we have to be accountable to ourselves first but I think it really does help to have other people who understand what you're going through and are there to listen and support you. I am very lucky to have a lot of those people.

I also need to remember why I started this healthy lifestyle journey...yes part of it was to look and feel good, but really, it is for KBeaner, I want to be here for her, I want to be the best role model I can be and show her how to be healthy!

 

photos by QH Photography

Meal Plan Monday

It's that time of the week again...Meal Plan Monday!

This week I want to try and eat "clean-er", meaning not as many processed foods, having most of the food I eat not come from a box.

Here are my dinners....

Stir Fry veggies with quinoa
Salmon with rice and veggies
Pizza (my homemade whole wheat dough)
Leftover Lentil Sloppy Janes
Beef Stew
Leftovers


I am also going to try and make my own hummus, I am hoping it will come out nicely, and that KBeaner will like it too.

A-Z Thankful Project

Yesterday I was playing on facebook and saw a link from Parent's Magazine about how there was 26 days left until Thanksgiving, perfect for the ABC's, ABC's of Gratitude is what they've called it.

Pretty much each day, you get a letter of the alphabet and say something that you are thankful for. On their site they give a thing for each day, starting with A for Animals which is what KBeaner and I did as well. I think we might change it up though.

I thought this would be a perfect project for her, she loves to draw and it is a great way to practice the ABCs.  So for each letter we will discuss what it is that we are thankful for that start with the letter of the day and then draw a picture of it. We are then going to hang them up on her bedroom wall.

Here is what we did for the first day...

 

A is for Animals

 

 

KBeaner is thankful for animals, she drew the 2 cats that we are cat sitting, a "silly dog", a mouse and a zebra. She is thankful for them because she "really loves and animals and they make me happy".

 

I will do a wrap up of the letters from the week each Sunday. I hope you're inspired to do your own A-Z Thankful Project with your children too!!

 

 

Click here for... Week 1 B-G

                          Week 2 H-P

                          Week 3 Q-Z



Dr.Scholl Active Series Review

I am a member of Influenster (if you'd like an invite message me @ fitandfrugalmama@gmail.com and I'll send you one!) Anyways, I was lucky enough to be selected to get a free pair of Dr. Scholl's Active Series replacement insoles.

I was super excited when I found out I was getting them because well for one I love free stuff, and I was about to buy some new sneakers, but thankfully I don't have to now for awhile! The insoles brought new life to my shoes.

 

 

They were super easy to use, just trace your old insole on top of your new ones, cut them out and slide them in. I also loved how the color matched my sneakers perfectly.

 

After just one day of wearing them I noticed that my feet felt much better, and my back that usually aches was not bothering me. I even felt that my posture was better.

 

I have never bought insoles before, I always would just deal with my slowly falling apart sneakers or just buy new ones. I honestly thought that insoles didn't really make a difference and that they were a waste of money. I'm know a believer in them, and will most likely be buying some more after these are worn out.

 

 

Again I did receive these for free from Influenster, but I am not being paid to write this review.



Meal Plan Monday (err... Tuesday) and Halloween fun!

Sorry that I flaked yesterday on my Meal Plan Monday post, so here it is a day late....

Dinners:
-Baked Penne with low fat ground beef and a big salad
-Butternut Squash Soup (we were supposed to have it last week but stuff came up)
-Stir Fry Veggies with Quinoa
-Sloppy Janes made with Lentils
-Healthy Pizza
-And of course Leftovers.

I did alright last week with eating, I didn't stick to my meal plan perfectly, and I super indulged on Sunday... I had *gasp* McDonalds!! But I did walk a lot that day and had a healthy dinner so maybe, just maybe it won't show on the scale?!

Yeah I know...probably not!

This weekend, we did some early celebrations of Halloween. KBeaner had her Halloween party at Dance Class and then we went and did a Halloween parade and party in the next town over! So much fun, it was all free and they had so many fun games and activities.

KBeaner even won "Funniest Costume" for her Mittens Fluff n' Stuff from Lalaloopsy (although barely anyone knew who she was, apparently Lalaloopsy is not as a big deal in other people's houses like it is in our house! haha)

 

This is Mittens from Lalaloopsy                                                                  KBeaner as Mittens

All the Halloween Party fun!

 

5 Fun and Frugal Halloween and Fall Crafts

 

First some business...I've been busy this week and lacking the motivation to write a weigh in day post even though I should since... I lost ONE pound!!! I'm super excited! Hopefully I'll lose another next week. Now on to the crafting fun...

 

 

 

5 Fun and Frugal Halloween and  Fall Crafts....

 

1. Spooky Halloween Ghost-
Materials you need: paper plate, toilet paper, tape and black crayon/marker. (Optional hole punch and yarn to hang them up)
This a super easy craft, just draw a spooky ghost face on your paper plate, then take long strips of toilet paper and tape to the back. Voila! A spooky ghost! I hole punched a hole on the top, and strung the ghost with white yarn, so that it would be easier to hang.

2. Stained "Glass" Leaves

3. Paper Plate Pumpkin-
Materials you need: paper plate, orange and black construction paper, glue stick.
Another super easy craft, just rip up orange construction paper, or you could cut them to make it neater. KBeaner helped me rip up the paper (lots of fun) then cut out some black eyes, nose and mouth for your pumpkin. Then let your little one go crazy with the glue stick and decorate the paper plate.

4.Fall Puzzle Tree-
Materials you need: paper, paint, old puzzle pieces, glue and crayons/markers.
First we collected all of the random puzzle pieces we have laying around the house. Then KBeaner painted them autumn colors. While they were drying KBeaner drew a picture of a tree (with no leaves) then she glued the painted puzzle pieces onto the tree to look like leaves.
It was fun and a great way to reuse those random puzzle pieces.

5. Spooky Glitter Decorations-
Materials- wax paper, glue and glitter. optional: paper and markers to make the designs.
Make a design on a piece of paper then cover with wax paper, let your little one trace the drawing with glue, and then go crazy with glitter! Once dry, trim and hang up!
Now I had seen on Pinterest someone had made window clings with glitter glue and plastic wrap, I tried  it and they didn't stick to the windows so I put them on wax paper so I could cut and then hang.

Hope you all try these crafts, and have lots of fun with them!

Post your pics of your crafts in the comments :)

Meal Plan

I kind of slacked on my meal plan from last week. I ate a lot more leftovers than I thought so I ended up not making all of my meals, which works out well since that is less that I have to buy for this week!

My breakfasts pretty much are always either oatmeal with some fruits/nuts or peanut butter toast with a fruit.

For lunches this week I am going to try to make myself have a salad before having my "main" lunch such as leftovers from the night before or a sandwich. I'll let you know how that works out, I have not been in the mood for a salad lately!


Now onto Dinners...

 
 
 



-Pizza (check out my awesome dough with spinach so you can add an extra veggie serving!)
-Stir fry with veggies and quinoa
-Turkey breast, with stuffing and veggies
-Taco Soup leftover (froze some from the last time I made it)
-Butternut Squash Soup (check back later in the week for a recipe!)
-Leftovers






What is your meal plan/ideas for this week?

weekly weigh in/check in

Hey all... it's weigh in day!

I was super excited to weigh in today, I had tracked and ate well the majority of the week, and I got a good amount of exercise.

The scale did not show that, I maintained. I'm glad it stayed the same, but it would have been nice to see the number go down just for some extra motivation. I guess I have to continue motivating myself.

I do feel healthier since I did get a lot of exercise, and I ate better than I have been in the past month or so. I am excited to keep getting healthier, and being an even better role model for my daughter.

This week I am going to try to get more water in, I think it will help a lot. I do well one week with water and then get back into not drinking enough. Not sure why I just can't be consistent with it! Check back and see how I did next Wednesday.

Anyways hope all of you are enjoying the beautiful Autumn weather!!

 

Meal Plan and Workout Plan

This week my meal plan went pretty well, I only veered off track for Saturday night dinner... I had boneless chicken wings... MMMM.  I feel okay with it though since I ate well every other day.

For working out I didn't do a typical workout, I did however, rake leaves for an hour or so 2 days and I moved a cord of wood with a couple of friends. I also went walking a lot and did a lot of cleaning, I feel like I was more active than normal.

For this coming week I again plan to workout at least 3 times.

Now for the meal plan...

Breakfast ideas...
-Oatmeal with berries and almonds
-PB and banana toast

*I know that is only 2 ideas for breakfast but I really only eat a variation of those 2 for breakfast on most days*

Lunch ideas..
-leftovers
-salad with chicken
-taco soup
-quesadillas with veggies

Dinners...

-Spaghetti Squash Tuna Casserole (I didn't make it last week)
-Roasted chicken with veggies and rice
-Pizza with veggies and probably chicken from night before
-Bethenny's Zesty, Cheesy Mac and Cheese I don't think I will do the veggie bacon (or any bacon) PS I love her new talk show!
-Stir fry with veggies and quinoa
-Leftovers

Don't forget to check out Simply Healthy Mama and Honey, I Shrunk The Mom out for their Meal and Workout Plans!

weekly weigh in and mental health awareness

Hey all its my weigh in day... and I maintained again. Hopefully making my meal plan and workout plan for the week will help, and keep me on the straight and narrow. So far so good.

It is Mental Health Awareness week.

Yesterday marked the 7 year anniversary of losing a friend to suicide. I know a few others who lost their battle with mental illness. It shouldn't be this common, it shouldn't be happening at all.

I think a lot of times people are afraid to talk about it. I used to be afraid to talk about it, I have suffered from depression and anxiety my whole adult life, its not fun, but it is important to talk about it. Nowadays I am an open book when it comes to my depression, I'm sure sometimes I make people feel uncomfortable, but hey maybe me telling the struggles I used to have, and the struggles it took to find the right combination of medicine that worked best for me, I might just help someone. I might make someone's life a little bit easier, or at least make them feel better for even a minute knowing they are not the only one.

THEY, YOU, ANYONE, you're not alone! A lot of people suffer in silence, there is no reason. I think that the stigma of mental illness is slowly going away but it is still there. There is nothing to be ashamed of, if you had cancer would you be ashamed? NO! If you met someone with cancer would you think less of them? I hope the answer is NO! Like cancer, mental illness is an illness!!

I used to be embarrassed about the fact that I will most likely be on an antidepressant for the rest of my life, but then I finally realized...who cares!? I have a chemical imbalance, and the medicine helps me. If I had another illness that I had to take medicine everyday for, would I have been embarrassed? probably not.

Long story/ramble short, don't be afraid to talk to someone if you are feeling depressed or anxious, and if you notice that someone you know seems depressed or not themselves, talk to them, ask questions and listen.

Here is a website that has a lot of information about suicide prevention.

I hope this has helped someone, even just a little.

Meal and Workout Plan

Alright to get me back in the swing of things I have decided to start meal planning. I've been incredibly lucky to become friends with two bloggers, Angela from Honey, I Shrunk the Mom and Laura from Simply Healthy Mama, we all have been struggling lately, we are all in a slump, well we were in a slump. We are getting out of that slump as we speak! :)

Anyways we decided to start meal planning each week, and sharing it on our blogs. If you haven't checked their blogs out I strongly recommend them both! Make sure to check them out each Monday to see their meal plans as well!

My Meal Plan for the week is...

-Carrot Soup with homemade bread
-Pizza (with my healthy dough and lots of veggies)
-Spaghetti Squash Tuna Casserole
- Taco Soup with homemade bread
-Sloppy Janes with Lentils instead of hamburger
-And Two nights of leftovers

I didn't put any days with each meal, I'm new to meal planning, and each time I have tried before I get discouraged and overwhelmed when I try to plan out each day, I like the idea of being able to change my mind if I want to.

Now for workouts...my goal is to workout at least 3 times this week. I plan on doing Brazil Butt Lift again, but I am starting out small, if I do workout more than 3 times great, if not I will not get frustrated with myself, but I WILL do it 3 times!!

I plan on having a nicer meal plan next week with Lunches and Breakfasts, this weekend I was crazy busy with an all weekend long garage sale! More on that later this week....

Confession time..

Yeah...so... I ate horribly this past week. I didn't gain this week, but I feel like crap, mentally and physically because of how horribly I ate.

I felt that all I did this week was eat, and not healthy foods, I had Chinese one night and had left overs for a few days, I think that really did me in and started that downward spiral of eating unhealthy.

I'm not sure why I don't make myself eat healthy, I know that I can do it, I've done it before I can do it now. I need to keep reminding myself that I do not want to go back to where I was before. I cannot and I will NOT!

I am treating this confession as the first step to holding myself accountable and getting back on track!

Who is with me?! We do it!!!


Here is a sneak peek of my family photo shoot we did this past weekend... Please be sure to check out QH Photography  and to "like" her on Facebook!
                     

Stained "Glass" Leaves

This weekend I haven't been feeling that well, so KBeaner and I did not play outside that much, we played indoors but I wanted to do something extra fun with her. I looked through pinterest and saw a few crafts that I liked but not many stood out to me until I saw this pin.

The Stained "Glass" Leaves, seemed like the perfect craft!

All you need is ...
markers
coffee filters
hot glue gun
paint brush and water


First I cut out leaf shapes out of the coffee filters, then using my hot glue gun I added the veining on the leaves.

Once dry KBeaner began to color them with markers. When she was done coloring the leaves she used her paint brush and a little bit of water to spread out the color. I think that was her favorite part.

Next let them dry. This is the boring part.

Once dry hang them up on your windows and enjoy your beautiful cheap Autumn decorations!

Weekly Weigh-in (again)

Since weighing in every other week did not work for me (at my last weigh in I gained 6lbs in two weeks) I am going to return to my Weekly Weigh-Ins again.

Well I was 164lbs last week and I am still 164lbs this week.

I feel partly annoyed, even though I know I should be grateful I did not gain.

I tracked about 70% of the time, I did not work out, unless you count cleaning as working out. I did up my water intake, I think that helped me eat less than I normally had been. All the water has helped my skin clear up too.

I plan on continuing to track, hopefully this week I can keep it up and tell you all that I tracked 99% of the time!

Here is a pic of me from last week at the lake. Yay for the fall and sweater dresses!!

weekly check in

Hey all! Hope you're having a great week so far, I know I am!

We went to a wedding this past weekend, it was a beautiful wedding of one of my closest friends from college. It was a ton of fun, and so nice to see a lot of my college friends. I think I did well enough points wise. I did have some drinks but I stayed clear of the ice cream sundae bar...oh man that bar looked sooo good, but I said "no thanks".

I also made some awesome finds at the Good Will yesterday. KBeaner wants to be Mittens from Lalaloopsy, here's a pic if you are not familiar...

source

 

Well I found a sweater that is similar to the one that Mittens wears, for only one dollar!!! I also found a shirt that I am going to use as fabric to make her hair, that was also only one dollar!! Although now that I'm looking at the picture, I'm thinking that the blue shirt is a little too bluish green. Keep checking back because I may put up some tutorials for this Lalaloopsy costume.

 

 

Unfortunately my weigh in this week did not go well, at all! I'm 164lbs, that's up 6lbs in the past 2 weeks. That is not good at all. So far I have tracked all my food the past two days, and I plan on continuing. I also am going to start up "Weigh In Wednesday" again, I think I need that accountability.

 

 

Here is a pic from the wedding, even though I gained 6lbs I still feel like I'm doing pretty well...Hopefully I'll be down some pounds next week.

Get Rid of Stains on a Porcelain Sink

At our new place we have a beautiful white porcelain sink. Beautiful until you get close to it and you realize there are stains in it. It became my mission to get those stains out!

 

The after isn't perfect but it is much, much better than the "before".

 

I first started by cleaning the sink with just some hot water and dish soap, that did nothing but at least I knew it was clean.

 

Then I sprayed it with a generic all purpose kitchen cleaner with bleach. That made it slightly cleaner but not by that much.

 

Then I tried baking soda, it worked really well and wasn't too abrasive. The middle picture above is after the baking soda.

 

Next I sprinkled on Borax (I love that stuff!!) and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Now that stuff worked wonders!! Most of the stubborn stains came out.  I think that the next time I do this I will stick with the baking soda and the Borax, it'll make it go by a lot faster and no nasty bleach fumes!

 

To keep your sink sparkly clean try to rinse it out often, especially after there are food or drinks that stain, such as coffee. I think coffee is what stained our sink the most.

Happy cleaning!!

Checking In and getting Back to Basics

Hey everyone! Hope you're having a great week, I know I am. We took a family trip to a nearby apple orchard and did some picking! So much fun, and now we have a lot of yummy apples. I did have 2 apple cider donuts, at first I was upset with myself and then I realized that I have to splurge once in a while, and I only had 2 and we didn't bring any home. A few years ago, I would have not had any at the orchard but would buy some and then pig out on them later at home. (Man writing that last sentence almost made me cry. I don't know if I ever admitted how disordered my eating used to really be. I still struggle, but I do not struggle as much as I used to.) Anyways we had a  ton of fun, the weather was perfect, not too hot and not too chilly.

 

I'm planning on making a lot of applesauce, we already made baked apples..yummy!!

 

Now that I checked in, I want to get down to business. I have decided that I am going to force myself into getting back to the basics of weight loss. Each week I am going to challenge myself with a small change. This week I am challenging myself  to drink at least 64oz of water each day. Recently I haven't been drinking enough water, I know that is not good for me, I can see the effects of it too. My skin is horrible, I get more headaches and I am eating a lot more, probably because I am actually thirsty not hungry.

Are you going to challenge yourself this week too? Are you going to join my water challenge or pick a different small change for yourself?  Let me know in the comments!

Weigh In

It's my weigh in day, I'm still at 158 which is fine by me. Well lets be honest...mostly fine by me. I didn't gain so that is a big deal for me, I would have liked if I had lost weight this week, but I ate too much and didn't exercise enough.

I have been paying more attention to my portion sizes again, man was I going overboard on them! I am trying to focus on going back to the basics of my weight loss. This week I am mostly working on what I am eating (or not eating), once I get comfortable with this again I am going to concentrate on working out again and maintaining my healthy eating habits.

All about getting healthy, and living a long happy life. I have to remember that! It's not about looking good (although that's a nice bonus) it's about being a good example for my daughter and staying healthy.

I'm going to go chug some water now...you should too!!

Weekly Check In

Hey everyone! Hope you've been having a good week. Our week has been pretty good, for the most part.

KBeaner had her first big injury this past Saturday. We were at a friend's house, KBeaner was kneeling on the couch reaching over to pet our friend's cat  when she fell off the couch and land face first on the coffee table. She instantly did her "no-breath" cry, I picked her up and then realized that she had a cut on her forehead just over her eyebrow. Thankfully my friend was there to tell me to keep it together. I wanted so bad to cry or vomit. We took KBeaner right to the Urgent Care.

There they had a long discussion with me about whether or not to do stitches or Dermabond (pretty much super glue lol) or even bring her down to the hospital (30mins away) so that "plastics" could do it. I'm sorry but I wasn't thinking about scarring right now, I was more concerned about not traumatizing my child more. We decided on Dermabond which apparently stings A LOT, KBeaner moved once the Dermabond was on and the doctor's glove was stuck to her eyebrow, which then was ripped off because of her moving so fast...so part of her eyebrow went with the doctor's glove. Ugh I almost lost it then. I used to be okay with blood, but apparently not anymore. They finished the Dermabond without anymore problems and we were sent home. I had to be paying attention for any signs of concussion and had to wake her up every 1-2 hours that night. Thankfully she didn't show any signs of concussion and the cut hasn't really bothered her that much.

Showing off her new My Little Ponies! I had to give her lots of presents after she had been so brave!

I'm proud to say I didn't stress eat that much...emphasis on "that much".

I also had a lot of exercise in disguise on Monday, I helped a friend of mine who is a housekeeper clean  for 6 hours. It was a lot of fun actually and working with my friend made the time go by.

All that cleaning gave me the cleaning bug so be on the look out for some new tutorials and posts about cleaning things. First up is how to clean a porcelain sink!

Can you tell she loves Hello Kitty?!

a new outlook?

 I've been feeling guilty a lot this summer that I haven't been blogging enough, and when I do blog I feel that I am just writing the same thing over and over again.

"I'm going to try harder"
"I'm getting back on track"

blah blah blah...

Well I have been thinking a lot about my weight loss journey and how I am not at the end of it, I'm not at a weight that I'm super happy with, I'd like to be smack in the middle of my healthy weight range so somewhere in the 140s. I've realized though that even if I get to whatever weight is my perfect weight I am still going to have to continue to maintain, I think I'll always struggle to some degree with staying a healthy weight. I just hope that it isn't a daily struggle.

I have made the realization that I need to cut myself some slack, I get all stressed out about not losing weight, which then makes me start my old bad habits, which makes me gain weight which makes me stress out more and eat more, and so on.

It's an obnoxious cycle.

I need to take a step back and enjoy life, not stress out about food, eat to fuel my body and to keep myself healthy. Not eat to fix my feelings, or get all worked up about eating the wrong type of food.

I have to also get it through my head that the weight that I am now (fluctuating between 151-160 although I'm 158 this week) is OK, its more than OK it's great!!! Even amazing compared to the 263 that I was 3 1/2 years ago.

I am going to have to work on this, its not going to be easy. I have been telling myself for a long, long time that my weight is not OK and that I need to lose weight. I just have to keep reminding myself to be positive, and relax a little.

If you've lost a good amount of weight, how have you retrained your brain to view yourself differently? Or have you not had this problem?

ABC Card Game



 I've been trying to help KBeaner learn her alphabet, she knows the alphabet song, but she can't always tell which letter is which when looking at them. I know you can buy cards that have the letters on it but come on "frugal" is in my blog's name!!

At my friend's house we did it for KBeaner and her daughter with index cards and different

colored sharpies, which worked but the girls were rough with them and the cards ended up all dented.

When I came home, I decided to make them again with card stock. I cut out 52 rectangles out, then I wrote out the alphabet, upper case and lower case. I decided to laminate them....and by laminate I mean put clear packing tape on them..it works the same and I already had that on hand.

Then I let KBeaner go at it and play all she wanted! She matched a bunch of them and then we decided to play "Go Fish" instead of asking her if she had an "A" or whatever letter I needed I would show her the card and ask her to name the letter. A lot of times she needed help with which letter was which but I think that it did help her learn some of them. Plus she had a lot of fun!

You could even get creative and draw pictures that correspond with each letter such as "A is for Apple" Let me know if you make the ABC cards!

Weekly Check In

Alright so last Wednesday I was all pumped about eating healthy and working out.. it lasted until Friday, I was sore from working out and it was one of my best friend's birthday weekend... so of course that meant yummy food and some drinks.  I like to say that I did WW about 60% of the time.

Well all that showed on Wednesday which was my weigh in day... I'm 160lbs. Ugh that's a gain of 3lbs. Not happy with that at all. I am going to force myself to be focused... I will not gain all this weight back! I am not letting it happen! I want to stay healthy and get stronger.

I went for a 2 mile walk with KBeaner on Wednesday and I tracked all my points, yesterday I did a lot of house work but no official exercise but I tracked all of my points and I stayed within the daily points.

All I can do is take it one day at a time. I know I can keep it up!! I just have to keep telling myself that!

Weigh-In Wednesday No More!

I've decided that I am not going to be weighing myself each week anymore, I'm now going to weigh myself every other week. So now "Weigh-In Wednesday" will now be "Checking In Wednesday" or something along those lines. I need to think of a creative name for it. If you have an idea feel free to comment :)

In my pursuits of becoming "focused" and not "obsessed" I decided that the first thing I need to wean myself off of is the scale, well not completely but I feel like I obsess over that number each Wednesday, it can make or break my day. I also find that the day before weigh-in I try so hard to eat perfectly, it's like cramming for a test. I don't feel like that is healthy.

I am going to try and focus on my fitness and nourishing my body. Try not to be obsessed with the number on the scale...I know this is going to be hard. I have gone back and forth on whether or not I even want to post this entry, but I know that I have to, it will keep me healthy and maybe even help someone else.

I started Brazil Butt Lift again, I had gotten great results from it the last time I did it, so I know if I just stick with it I'll have the same or better results! I'll have a post up soon with all my measurements...eeeeek!

Here are some pictures from our weekend/week so far!

We went to see the Horse Races..

KBeaner even got to pet one!

 

KBeaner and I went to a petting zoo. That baby goat we're holding we also fed him a bottle! I think I may have been more excited than KBeaner!

 

 

They had this cool "Corn Box" instead of a "Sand Box" the kids loved it.

Weigh-In Wednesday

So incredibly excited to say that I stayed on track all week, tracked every food point and it paid off!!!

I lost 2lbs! I'm 157lbs again!! wooot wooot!!!! I am so proud of myself, and I want to continue to stay on track, I know it will be hard but I know I can do it!

I feel like I need to get back to being "crazy" Jill who was so obsessed with the points and exercise. I know that is probably not the healthiest, but being "relaxed" Jill hasn't helped me maintain and definitely has NOT helped me lose. I really hope I figure out that happy medium soon.

I recently read a post from Simply Healthy Mama about the struggle to not always be the "fat girl". Honestly it felt like she had read my mind when she wrote that. You all should check out that post, and her blog.

This past Sunday there was a hot air balloon festival in my hometown, KBeaner and I were lucky enough to be visiting so we went on a "hot air balloon adventure" aka driving around town taking pictures and "oo-ing" and "aw-ing" over the balloons. Here are a couple pictures. It was so beautiful watching them float over the cemetery.

Watermelon Strawberry Popsicles

I don't know about you but it's been super hot here. So hot that we haven't been able to play outside that much, when we do its not for very long. I have been trying so hard to not have KBeaner stuck in front of the TV. So yesterday we made something to keep us cool and busy...

We made Popsicles!! Watermelon strawberry to be exact!

First we smashed up some watermelon and strawberries, we had only a few strawberries left so it was mostly watermelon.

Once you have it all smashed up, put it in the Popsicle holders, now if you don't have Popsicle holders just use Dixie cups and some Popsicle sticks.

Now its the hard part... waiting for the Popsicles to freeze! It took most of the afternoon, we had them as a nice treat after dinner.

They were delicious and they have no artificial coloring, and no added sugar!

BTW if you're wondering, I have tracked all of my WW points everyday since Wednesday, so far I've only used 1 point of my Weekly Extra points!! woo hoo!!