Change

"Only I can change my life, no one can do it for me"
~Carol Burnett

Some quotes I think need an explanation, other quotes I think speak for themselves, and this one just happens to be one that speaks for itself. Enjoy it.

My day has been good. I've been freezing my butt off all day though. Here in Michigan it has been freezing rain/raining for the past couple days, and everything is a mess. Yesterday morning I pulled out of the garage and went to brake and wait for the garage door to go down, and my truck actually slid down the driveway, it was kinda funny. So needless to say, it's been a skating rink. I just wish we'd get some snow for Christmas. I love white Christmases.

I'm anxious to get home from work today to see how Chase handled himself for his first day all by himself. I'm lucky I have a laundry room that is rather large and I can shut off from the rest of the house, so I locked him in there with his litterbox and food for today, and I'm hoping all went well...fingers are crossed, ha ha.

Eating has been good. I'm kinda lucky because there hasn't been too much temptation at work lately, usually that's one of the places that is hardest for me. I was worried about the holiday season, and with the exception of a few vendors who have dropped off the devil (also known as mixed nuts), I haven't had too many options to be bad, and I haven't strayed from plan at all...go me.

I have some more holiday baking this weekend (I know, I said I was done!), but I forgot I have the annual cookie bake with mom (and now my brother fiance), and then next weekend my mom and I are making Hungarian Coffee Cakes, which are a Christmas morning tradition in my house for as long as I can remember. So still not done, the good thing is, after all this baking, I think I will be baked out for awhile.

I'm trying to get my mom to join weight watchers after the first of the year. She's always been overweight, except for one time, which I truly believe she became anorexic awhile back, and of course she became sickly skinny. She tells me she would love too, but she thinks she can do it "without counting the points". So I know thats an excuse, but I'm not going to let her blow me off, I would love to see her lose a bit of weight come the new year, but she has to want to do it.

Tonight I'm going to get the gym for #6 or 18 workouts for the month, and believe it or not, I am kinda looking forward to it. My workouts are short and to the point, and I think that is why I like them so much, I can be in and out of the gym in like 25 minutes. That's great for me, as time is always crunched anyways.

Nothing else new and exciting. menu will be updated below later.

Morning
144 oz water	0
1 medium pear(s)	1
Oatmeal w/Protien Powder	2
Subtotal	3
Midday
8 oz carrot(s)	1
Taco Soup	4
Kashi Crunch w/Yogurt	2
Subtotal	7
Evening
10 oz cauliflower	0.5
Tuna Salad - Quick-added food	3
Bread - Quick-added food	1
LaTortilla Wrap - Quick-added food	0
2 3/4 oz potato(es), baked	1
1 Tbsp Fat-Free Sour Cream	0.5
1/2 cup Large Curd Cottage Cheese, Low-Fat 2% Milkfat	2
1 medium apple(s)	1
Subtotal	9
Snacks
Candy Cane - Quick-added food	1
WW Ice Cream - Quick-added food	2
Subtotal	3
Food POINTS values total used	22

What you can do...

"Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it. Plan more than you can do, and do it"

~Anonymous

It all starts here. That's what you want to do, plan what you want to do, and do it. Heck if it looks like more than you can handle, you have to push yourself outside of your comfort zone to really grow as a person anyways, right? I know my "for instance" in this situation isn't even weight loss based, although I can give an example in a bit. But when I graduated High School in 1999 at the ripe young age of 17, I was determined that I would graduate college in three years, while working full time. Everyone...and I do mean everyone told me there was no way that I could do it...hell, there were days when I was pretty darn convinced I couldn't, but I wanted to prove them wrong, and sure enough I did. I worked 35-40 hours a week and graduated college in 2 years and 9 months....with a bachelors degree and honors. And then by the time most said I would just be graduating college, I had my masters.

But on the weight loss front, I didn't really think I would be able to stick with any plan for that long, I never had been able to before. But I proved I could. I set my sights high, a goal weight that is thinner than I was in High School, and you know what? I'm still working towards it, but I'll get there, I've planned to do, so I know I can with hard work, what are you guys planning to do?

My weekend was a success. I had another On Plan weekend...my second in a row. They were my downfalls for a couple weeks, but now I'm feeling in control. I baked Sugar Cookies and Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I got a new kitty this weekend. I know, I know, I said I wasn't going to get one, but I caved. It came down to have one kitty left, and he was the runt, and I have this thing for the longshots. Duke (my 4.5 year old golden retriever) was the runt of the litter, and the last one left, and turned out to be such a great dog, so I got this guy the same way...and I'm sure he will be a great cat. He is all black, and I named him Chase (because Duke loves to Chase him, ha ha). I will post some pictures soon. Anyone have any advice for someone who has never had a cat in the house before?

Got the Christmas Tree set up yesterday (and so far the dog nor the cat have knocked it down Kathy! I'm doing good!) and all my holiday baking done....but none of the shopping done. I really should get on that.

Anyways, I hope everyone is having a healthy and happy day! Menu Below:

Morning
144 oz water	0
1 medium pear(s)	1
Oatmeal w/Protien Powder	2
Subtotal	3
Midday
8 oz carrot(s)	1
Taco Soup	4
Kashi Crunch w/Yogurt	2
Subtotal	7
Evening
10 oz cauliflower	0.5
Tuna Salad - Quick-added food	3
Bread - Quick-added food	1
LaTortilla Wrap - Quick-added food	0
2 3/4 oz potato(es), baked	1
1 Tbsp Fat-Free Sour Cream	0.5
1/2 cup Large Curd Cottage Cheese, Low-Fat 2% Milkfat	2
1 medium apple(s)	1
Subtotal	9
Snacks
Candy Cane - Quick-added food	1
WW Ice Cream - Quick-added food	2
Subtotal	3
Food POINTS values total used	22

Tired Tuesday

The last couple days for me Weight Watchers wise have been great. I did run into some incidents with my baking on Saturday, but I felt a renewed sense of motivation on Sunday and I've been OP since. So today is going to me third day OP. Sunday's are usually pretty hard for me too, because my mom has dinner at her house, I'm always tempted by seconds (which I of course indulged in a week ago sunday, but managed this week to just have ONE bowl of chili), plus she always has junk food around...I mean always. And she has open bowls of mixed nuts laying around...anyone who has followed my blog for sometime knows that I have some issues with nuts. No problem avoiding them, but once I start, it's like a non-stop cliff dive. So on Sunday, she had dinner at home, and I went over, had one bowl of chili, and one whole wheat roll, and that was it! Didn't touch the nuts or any other of the junk food...go me!

Seems as though lately, on sunday when I mess up, I'm less likely to stick so close to plan the rest of the week. So with sunday starting off good, I think that helps.

Tonight I have a haircut over at my mom's right after work, which I admit will be tough because once again, I will be tempted by all that good stuff. But I'm tell you guys so I prevail. I'm always better when I let someone in on my intentions.

I have a ton of holiday baking to do yet, I have chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies and peppermint flavored sugar cookies left to make. Plus Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls, Peanut Butter Fudge and Cookie Dough Truffles. All sounds good doesn't it? Imagine trying to keep your fingers out of it while your baking it! But I've been doing good since saturday's "incident".

So for the cookie trays for work I decided to go with Snickerdoodles (a family fav), Peanut Butter Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, No Bake Cookies and Sugar Cookies. Plus I'm putting some of the candies on everyones plates; Cookies and Cream Fudge, Peanut Butter Fudge, Choco PB balls and Cookie Dough Truffles. How does that sound?

Other than that, I'm just feeling really energized about WW's in general, I have a renewed sense of motivation, and I'm excited. It's been awhile since I've been excited and felt in control. Plus I've gotten to the gym the last couple days. go me!

Anyways, thats it for now, I'll update with a menu later. *UPDATED*

Morning
114 oz water	0
1 medium apple(s)	1
Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal	2
Subtotal	3
Midday
Tangy Pork Chops - Quick-added food	4
1 medium pear(s)	1
Subtotal	5
Evening
1/2 cup Large Curd Cottage Cheese, Low-Fat 2% Milkfat	2
10 oz cooked cauliflower	0.5
3/4 cup Crunch Cereal	2
6 oz White Chocolate Raspberry Yogurt	1
1/2 cup Fiber One	0
3 items Chocolate mini cakes	1
White Chili	4
1 item Light Multi-Grain English Muffin	1
3 Tbsp Sugar Free Strawberry Preserves	0.5
Subtotal	12
Snacks
WW Ice Cream Cup - Quick-added food	2
Subtotal	2
Food POINTS values total used	22
Food POINTS values remaining	0

Noelle, I'll email you the turkey enchilada recipe!

Have a healthy and happy day everyone!

Rain, Whats that?

Well it's finally been raining here. For the last couple days, we've had a few good showers, which was much much needed...the hayfield I call my grass is finally beginning to look a little more like grass again, and I believe my lawn company actually had to cut it this week....amazing. Currently it's raining. It's only 70 outside, but due to the humidity it feels all sticky a stuff...yuck.

Food wise this week, I've done pretty well. I've been a tad munchy, but with TOM coming, thats really not a surprise. My weight is up, but still well within my range, but I know this is because of water weight and not a true gain, so I'm cool. Tomorrow I do expect the scale to be up 1 to 2 lbs, which is totally normal.

Tonight I am going to do some baking again. I think my mom uses company coming up north as a way to make me bake for her, haha. She requested that I make Snickerdoodles to bring up north for her to put out, which is fine with me. So I have a batch of those to bake tonight. After baking them, I will be avoiding them like the plague, as they are a favorite of mine, none of them will make it up north if I get started on them....and I will be weighing in like 8lbs heavier next week. I'm also going to make my mom a coconut cream pie. They are her favorite and I've never tried to make one for her, but I'm gonna give it a whirl tonight. Luckily Coconut Cream Pie doesn't appeal to me, so I can bake as many as I want!

But after all that baking, I'm heading up north in the morning again. Its suppose to be a gorgeous weekend and I'm totally looking forward to it. I'm making my family dinner on Friday night up there to avoid them wanting to take me to a buffet again. I'm making them Stuffed Pepper Soup...yum!

Any of the cooks around here, have you ever subscribed to Cooks Illustrated? Used their website? Did you like it? I'm a subscriber to Taste of Home's Simple and Delicious, and I love it, and I'm always looking for new cooking magazines to subscribe to, so I was wondering if anyone used CI, or had any other favorites they used!

Anyways, that is it for today, Weigh In will be posted tomorrow. I hope everyone is having a healthy and happy day!

The weekend wrap up..

The weekend went well, but as always it was too short!

I was happy, both Friday and Saturday morning I weighed in at 149.4, which is the lowest I've been in quite some time. I was pleased. This morning was a bit higher, but TOM is approaching, and I did eat a a buffet (sodium, sodium!) on Sunday and I didn't drink my water, so I'm sure that had something to do with it.

I love to bake. I always have, and I don't even really like to bake for myself, I would rather make things for other people that they like. Since I'd been on weight watchers, I've been avoiding baking, just because. Well now on maintenance, I decided to give it a whirl again this weekend. Well I went a little overboard, spending all day Saturday in the kitchen. I have some very low calorie snacks I made that I will have to post the recipes too. These included bell pepper/garlic muffins and apple bran muffins. I also made some sweet corn muffins, peanut butter cupcakes (for a guy at works b-day) and some banana bread. Most of it is frozen away in the freezer for safe keeping a portion control.

Also tried making the french toast casserole on sunday morning, and it didn't turn out that well. I need to modify the recipe and get it right before I post it, but I will once I get it to my level of yuminess.

It's still been hot here, but we did finally get some rain yesterday, which was much need, but it lead to a humid day today....yuck!

Other than that, nothing crazy or new going on over here. Heading up north again this coming weekend, and I'm looking forward to that.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and a Happy Monday!