Lunch…and…

So with no Allan’s menu and a time for a change today I have had fruits and veggies, a 1/2 peanut butter sandwich and a tiny bit of salad dressing. Because I’ve been terrible at logging my food (really because we had the menu’s I didn’t watch things as closely). It has been great having different things and here’s what my lunch looked like (and breakfast was just 1/2 banana and a cup of grapes).

So far today my calories have been 526 and my fats 85, fiber 14 and protein 17. I have supper figured out too and it’s going to be cheesy potato ham broccoli soup and a slice of homemade bread. Including my snack of 5 M&M’s I will have a total of 1045 calories, 158 carbs, 34 grams of fat and 21 grams of protein. So I’m back to figuring it all out and other then my salt today will be a bit higher then it should be all will be good.

Joss and I went over to grandma’s today and gave her a Christmas swag I had made her out of spruce boughs and pinecones and glitter and a bow. Joss helped me so guess who’s wearing a fair amount of glitter? Well really the floor, table, her and me. I wish in the picture you could see the glitter but you’ll just have to pretend.

My mama made me a wreath also. I just love it and it’s hanging right up by the door.

Joss has a great time over at grandma and grandpa’s and my dad loves to play with all my wee ones. She loves the attention and I was able to work on my mama’s computer and get that back up and running again.

So now it’s nap time and I need to make my soup. The bread is rising and then I’ll have to figure out some kind of dessert. When I made meals here I don’t just make one, I make at least 3 sometimes more. We’ll have something for supper, the store will have it for lunch and then I’ll send a meal over to my parents for their dinner. Even though we don’t eat a dessert here I need to round out the meal for the other two meals.

So onwards and upwards today. It’s sunny and warmish and just the perfect day!! Yesterday we went and got a load of coal. We wanted to try something different. Coal burns hotter, last longer and costs less (until you factor in the driving 250 miles to go and get it) and we want to see how it heats the house, garage, shed, shop and all the water we use. So far other then coal does not smell nice like wood smoke does it’s working out really good. Wood burns at about 8-9000 btu’s and coal at 12-26,000 btu’s so if we can find a supplier closer to us or one that has the delivery charge that’s not out of line I think we’ll give coal heat a try. We have our wood for the in-betweens and if coal doesn’t pan out right now but we’ll just see.

I hope you’re all have a great day today. New things to learn, new things to do, new challenges to conquer. We can do this, yes we can!!

Take care my friends and have a blessed afternoon.

P.S. It was awesome, TOTALLY AWESOME!!! To have you guys read and comment yesterday. You made my day, thank you!!!

Challenge update…

I gained 2 lbs this week, back up to 179.4 but it’s also that time of the month and my sweet tooth has kicked in so I’ve indulged a bit not terrible but some. I made some toffee this week with a new recipe and ate a few pieces plus Mike bought some red licorice for our hike yesterday so stole a few piece of them also. Now today was hard, no sugar other than what’s in the foods I eat and today was minimal because of the indulges but I know better and I know just a couple days of indulging in sugar takes almost a week to get it back out of my system. I’ll do it.

My book is awesome, I’m learning quite abit about turning 50, mentalpause (like my new word) because though my body is changing my mind has a lot to do with it also. I’m still learning about Thyroid Disease and what I can do.

I am heading to my doctor on Tuesday, my regular doctor. Just for a second opinion. I want to know what he thinks and just have him know what’s going on too. My mama and aunt have had issues with varicose veins and blood clots and hospital stays and …. well lots of stuff so just to be sure all is okay I’m going to go get checked out. It is not something I can afford to do but I also can’t afford to have to have time off or being down or worse dead so I’ll go and see what’s what.

Earlier this week I asked for help and a few of you offered some sweet and great comments and suggestions, I really appreciated them all. It helped me to see and figure out so there is no more woe is me. I do have to say I asked for help on the CDCC post this week and not to many of you stopped by to offer any advice and I did think that this challenge was about support and advice and more. I know we’re all busy so that’s fine but do check in and see how others are doing because some really do need help, love, advice, support and more.

I have no intentions of ever giving up. I really want to get into that dress but it may or may not happen but the point of any life style change or diet or whatever it is that’s helping you become the healthiest you can be is what’s important and that’s what I’m doing, not giving up.

So there’s my Christmas Dress Count Down Challenge update.

I will stop by each and everyone of you, like I do each week at least once and wish you the best of luck, kick your butt, offer any advice I might of learned along the way or just be there for you. Take care my friends and have a great and blessed week.

Happy Saturday…

Brenda and I got up early today to go to a church bazaar and boy was it a great bunch of crafts and goodies. It is so much fun seeing what people are making and doing. Usually craft shows I’m selling but this time we got to be customers. I just picked up a couple small things because most of the stuff I could make if I wanted too but also because really I didn’t need anything and I didn’t find that perfect something for someone for Christmas. But it is so much fun looking. Then we went to a church garage sale and of course I found a couple things I just had to have there. I found this …

 

Isn’t it the coolest looking bowl? It’s huge, about 9x18” and I love it. It doesn’t have any markings on it at all so can’t tell who or where it was made but it’s just perfect for a catch all bowl on my new cabinet in the kitchen.

Then I also got this…

I have seen so many cute ideas made from these and the one I’m interested is a lamp. It’s fly fishing tackle box but a small one so think It'll make the neatest lamp or ???

And these…and I haven’t a clue what I’m going to do with them. I am going to try and cut one in half and see what they are made out of and also I think they’d make cute lady bugs but first will see. I think it’s a plaster of some kind but not sure. I love the marble detail in them too.

 

Brenda and I finished our morning out with a hike on our walking trails. I could only handle about 15 minutes and went .85miles but still got out there and enjoyed.

Yesterday Mike helped me with the wood. It’s just about all put up. Joss wanted to help a bit too so we let her carry some bark.

And Mike and I took a ride around the pits and he gets so proud that his truck is filthy dirty.

 

So there’s my Saturday plus. I hope that you’re having a great weekend. Jim is on his way home from work and going to take me out for a quick lunch and then this afternoon I’m taking a nap. I want to rest, relax and enjoy some this weekend, and I’m off to a good start so far. Take care my friends and have a blessed day!!

Daddy and I…and…

Daddy’s test results are back and he will be fine as long as he follows the doctors orders. He has some new meds, a new diet plan and some orders he must follow and as long as he does that he’ll gain some weight back and start to heal and feel better. God willing all this will give him many more years of being a son, brother, husband, daddy and grandpa.

I went to the doctor and had my leg check and the tear is healing nicely and if that was all that was going on I could be back on the treadmill next week doing what I want to but since I’m not ever that easy it’ll be a bit longer and then differently also. Because I was complaining, or really just telling, about the pain in my thigh and also behind my knee and my calf still swells and my foot is always cold he did some checking and without some expensive testing he says I have a deep varicose vein behind my knee that is bad and a surface one on my lower thigh that is also swollen and a pain. Most of this has been there for a while but it hasn’t bother me until this tear happened and now of course it’s all together  but really that’s not bad either because this way the tear can heal, I can learn to wear a compression knee brace and still do two more weeks in the pool. There are rules too for me when I get back to exercising but I’ll learn.

So there you have that my friends, all is good in north central Minnesota in the Riley household. Learning new things and learning to adapt because it’s just what we have to do to get healthy, stay healthy and keep going.

I am guessing that our challenge with Allan is over. That’s sad because I’ve been working with him since last years October but I have to say I’ve learned a lot and will just keep working on that and learn some new things along the way. I’m still part of Mir’s Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge and am still working on getting into that red dress. I won’t make any promises that it’ll ever fit like it did when I was 18 but I do know I’ll get it on and model for Jim (and I’ll have a picture for you all too).

So this week I’ve been in the pool for 3 1/2 hours so far and tomorrow will make another 2 and since I have the okay to walk I think this weekend I’ll do just that. Brenda and I are going to a huge Christmas craft bazaar and then I think I’ll have her and I take a walk on the hiking trails. I know I can’t push it yet but it will feel good to go for a long walk.

I’m working on our next load of this. And I got the septic covered but told the guys never again alone, it’s was so hard to handle that hay and tarps (they are 30’x50’ tarps and almost impossible to get down alone). Just left to do is the camper to cover and boat and then the snow can come which by the way is here today but just flurries and cold.

I made this for lunch for Joss and I today. And yesterday after school the kids and I made these. So lunch is taken care of as well as left over for supper.

 

  

Time to head outside for a bit. The chickens are still in and need out to roam and I have some wood to carry and Joss and I of course have to go check out the little bit of snow and also swing while we still can get to it. So off I go. I hope you all are having a great Thursday. Blessings my friends.

No more woe is me…

This is stupid and I feel stupid and it’s something I can do something about. I am doing this life style change for me and when I’m on pause it’s only hurting me or at least not helping me and I decided last year that it was me time, time to take care of me, become the me I wanted so it is now time to stop being stupid and get moving. Today I stopped by Jillian's blog and she had the coolest list of “why do I do this” and after reading that and the comments you guys gave me yesterday I have came to the conclusion I need a list too. I need a list of why I do this for me. So I’m going to work on that list. I don’t know if I can come up with 50 reasons like Jillian did but I know I can come up with 25 strong reasons. So if you’ll be patient with me, like you always are, I will give you a list of why. No more woe is me, no more funk, no more slacking, it’s time to kick butt. I don’t have that far to go, this taking 6 months to finish what I started 18 months ago is what’s dragging me down. I want to be at my goal weight, I want to be at my size 12, I want to be the new me on December 31st and see the new year in feelings like I’m the most awesomest person I can be.

So my list of why I am doing this, why I’m losing this ugly unhealthy fat!!

1. Because I’m worth it.
2. Because I want to live to be 101 and still be able to run circles around my children and keep up with my grandchildren (someday Mike, no hurry).
3. To never have to take BP meds, diabetes meds, heart meds, cholesterol meds or anything else that would have to do with being overweight.
4. To never be ashamed that I could go and do with the scouts because I didn’t meet the guidelines.
5. To wear a bathing suit and not feel like a beached whale.
6. To wear a t-shirt that fits the front and back without all the rolls showing.
7. To become the mother of the groom one day and wear a gown not made by Omar the tent maker.
8. To be able to always wipe what needs to be wiped from all angles.
9. To look in the mirror naked and not feel discussed.
10. To have sex with Jim with the lights on, the drapes opened and enjoy my body as much as he enjoys me.
11. To be able to walk as fast as Jim and Mike and not pant to keep up.
12. To sit up in bed without having rolling out of bed.
13. To sit on the side of the bed and see boobs, not tummy fat.
14. To tie my shoes bending over, not off to the side because I can’t breath.
15. To go cross country skiing in my ugly red snowsuit and not feel like frosty the snowman.
16. To wear those running clothes that are a bit tighter so that I am not always grabbing the neck line and pulling it down or rearranging the sleeves of my oversize t-shirts.
17. To run….I love this and want to keep it up and to do it for not only exercise but for fun.
18. To be able to wear my wedding ring, broken and all, without it pinching my finger.
19. To just feel pretty even when it’s that time of the month, or at least not feel like I was hit with the ugly stick or drug through a knot hole backwards.
20. To dance and not feel like someone is swinging a hot air balloon around.
21. To just not feel so self conscious out in public.
22. To join in at church projects, library projects and other things without being afraid I’ll not “fit”.
23. Just plain have more confidence.
24. Just plain love myself because I’m worth it.
25. Because I deserve it!!!

Do you feel like me? Maybe a list will help you see what’s going on and why it going on. I needed this, thanks Jillian. Thanks everyone for seeing what I didn’t, I couldn’t, I wasn’t. Now to print out my list and posted it by the peanut butter, by the candy dish, by the bathroom mirror, by my bed so I can remember just why I’m getting up at 4:15 to go exercise, why I’m not using the DQ coupons, why the chicken skin goes to the dogs, not into my mouth, why I’m spending a few extra dollars on healthy foods instead of a few extra groceries for other meals and why I’m just doing this for me. Now to just remember, to not get so down about something that really is so very important.

It’s onward and downwards (for the scale that is), upwards for me. I hope you’re all have a blessed and awesome day. I have a wee one that has been patient while I wrote this and now it’s time to head outside and play a bit. During nap time I have some work outside to do, like that wood pile and also tarping a few things and spreading the hay on the septic. No wind so a great afternoon to get that stuff at least started. Take care my friends,

Help….

I don’t want to do this any more. I want to be where I need to be and not diet any more. I am tired of this. I’m tired of the special groceries, the special meals, the questions of how much longer are you doing this, the …. well I don’t know what else right now. Oh how about that scale and it hating me.

I want to exercise my brains out (I am loving exercise) and eat normal thought out meals and not worry about it all. I want to say yes I’d love to go out to dinner and know that I won’t over eat. I want to eat a piece of candy if I want it and not feel like I’m depriving myself because ones not enough. I want to feel good in a t-shrit, swim suit (though I will always be lumpy but don’t need frumpy) and my jeans.

I’m in a funk and I know a lot of it is what’s going on and some things I can’t do anything about but deal with them as they happen but I’m also feeling dumpy, grumpy and just down right ugly. It is amazing how one week you can feel awesome and not even loss a pound and then next week feel so yucky.

I need someone to pump sunshine up my butt and make me smile. Something funny, something meaningful, anything?

I hope your all doing great. I hope sunshine is shining around you and that life is good. By the way, life is good here…stressful but that’s almost everywhere for everyone, it’s just me.

You can ignore me too because I know that this funk isn’t going to last and I know that I will kick this diet in the butt and lose the last of this weight I’m carrying. Just not today…tomorrow maybe.

Sleep well my friends, blessings!!!

FYI….Info about thyroid disease…

In my readings I have been doing a lot of research on thyroid disease and since I have big problems with mine I am really interested. I want to share with you a few things I learned and one that is super important.

• One in eight people will develop thyroid problems as they get older.
• Your thyroid gland plays a crucial role in regulating just about everything. Heart rate, metabolism, muscle and moods to just list a few.
• If your thyroid is is high you will have symptoms like weight gain, fatigue, chills and dry skin.
• If you thyroid is low you may have symptoms like weight loss, insomnia and anxiety.
• There are two tests that doctors can use but they mostly use just a TSH level test to see if you have this disease. They really need to do both because sometimes the TSH test isn’t accurate or some doctors use different guide lines.
• While getting these test it’s also good to be checked for diabetes, anemia and depression because sometimes these are what’s the problem instead of thyroids.

And the most important one for me because I take all my meds at one time in the morning. You can not take your thyroid meds with any other meds. Take them with-in one hour of getting up and then wait another hour after taking them before you take the rest of your meds. And another thing I didn’t know, if you take calcium or iron or aluminum you need to wait 4 hours because these block the absorption of the thyroid medicine, I take calcium so guess I’ll really be changing the way I take my meds.

My grandma, sister and I all have issues with our thyroid and my dad is being checked also. We are all not the same, some have hypo and some have hyperthyroidism but still not a fun thing to have to figure out and regulate and as you get older your body changes and you need to get a blood test at least yearly to get the numbers so you know what doses to take.

Mine is giving me fits. We can’t seem to find the right numbers right now. It’s making weight loss so much harder, I am more tired, my hair thins and my fingernails are brittle. I’m emotional (more so then I use to be). But I know that once the numbers are right with the dosage life gets better. Right now I am taking a fairly high dose of Levothyroxine but I still don’t feel 100%. Now I know it can be right so we’ve just working on it.

I just wanted to share a bit with you on what I’ve been reading. If you suspect any of these issues sound like you, go and see you doctor or if you’re lucky enough go see a endocrinologist ( a doctor that a specialist in hormone disorders) and tell them what’s going on. It’ll make you feel better once things are figured out.

Okay, off to work I go. No school today and we just finished breakfast and making pinwheels. Since I live in the sticks and it’s hunting season we are staying in for the better part of the day, just safer I feel. Take care and have a blessed day.

P.S. Missing Allan yet? I did at 7ish this morning. Reason…people are mean!! WHY??

Craft show and …

Here we are at our craft show. We had a great turn out and sales were pretty good. A good third of our jewelry sold and 3/4 of my scarves and totes went too. We don’t price things high, nothing we sold was over $10.00 which for our area is still enough but affordable. The craft show had so many talented people. I love taking the time to walk around. I saw the coolest beaded silverware, snowmen, appliquéd clothing and so much more. This was our last Craft show for the year, for selling that is. Now I can become a customer and enjoy everyone handiwork.
So what’s next?

It’s that time of year. To plan, create and enjoy. However we have a huge holiday coming first. THANKSGIVING!!! And we have so much to be thankful for. Yes we all have issues, challenges and lots more but when you think about it, when you sit down and write them down or even pray before bed you have many more blessings then challenges. Life isn’t easy, no one promised it would be but with the love of God, the love of family and the love of friends anything is possible and manageable. I am learning this more and more lately.

Countdown to Christmas - 48 days until Christmas!  Just had to share this.
Take care and have a blessed week. Oh can you tell my computer is back? Thank you Jim, you’re the best!!!!

No computer. Using itouch, interesting. :o)
Not sure when computer will like me again but will keep trying.
Updates later if possible but if not scale didn't change, mood is better, book is good, exercise is terrific! 177.4, no loss, no gain this week, I am okay with this.
Consultation on Tuesday, will know what's next after that. Thank you for your prayers.
Take care and have a great weekend. Craft show tomorrow I hope everyone is successful.
Blessing my friends.

Finally…

I got this part of my computer back. It’s such a slow process getting everything back and finding out what you lost along the way, like my address book (which only two of you e-mailed me your address so it’ll be awhile before I get them all back). Oh well, I didn’t lose any important information like taxes, daycare paperwork, tax id numbers and so forth. And I have most of my pictures, yeah!!!

I am feeling down this week. I can’t put my finger on it exactly and it could just be everything that’s going on and what not but it’s not fun. Talking to my friend, she says it sounds like depression and that is not something I want to deal with so it’s time to put on my big girl panties and just smile and get on with it.

Exercise has been going wonderfully. 90 minutes or more in the pool 3 times a week and 2 times a week fish flopping exercises at home. I do really truly miss my running and even fast walking but next week I’m going to give that a try and see how my leg handles it. I won’t push it, maybe just one day next week and two days swimming and then following week switching them around. We’ll see. Food wise, well even with menus I’m not perfect however not terrible either, last night at about 8:00 I was starving so instead of grabbing for the crackers or chips I ate a bag of baby carrots. So at least I’m learning to think a bit ahead and have the better for me snacks. Oh I also had another WW ice-cream sandwich in the afternoon but neither are something to hurt me.

This is “that” week, you know the one before TTOTM, so the scale hasn’t moved an ounce but I’m still feel awesome in my clothes instead of a water balloon. YEAH!!!

So Halloween came and went. I had no trick or treater out here which is a bit strange because at least my daycare wee ones come but I am out in the middle of no where's and why add on an extra 15 miles to just show and tell so I understand. Plus Mike didn’t mind, there was a bowl of goodies for him to eat. I did take my wee one in to her mama’s job for their Halloween kids parade and I had a picture but it’s not here now.

Last Saturday mama and I went to the thrift shop in town. I so wanted to find a sweatshirt or two and mama’s looking for blouses. Well we didn’t find either but we found this..

It is the perfect size for at the end of my kitchen counter. It’s darker then what the picture looked like, almost a reddish walnut color and I love it. I am thinking I might put a top on it so it doesn’t get scratched but not sure yet.

This weekend is Brenda and my craft show so we’ve been making jewelry this week. Just to restock our stuff and to have some fresh new pieces. You already know I don’t take grand pictures of anything but the kids and outdoors but here’s what we did so far.

Some bracelets, necklaces, earrings, a pin, window hanger and keychain.

Hey, I just remembered something too, for the Christmas Dress Challenge, whoever wins the drawing will get me to make them a piece of custom jewelry to match their Christmas outfit. Well now you can see what some of our jewelry looks like. I think if you click the picture it’ll come up bigger just to inspect if you want.

So it’s a new day full of new challenges. We don’t know anything about my father yet, appointment for all the tests on the 8th. Cindy is still a big issue as well as her family and I did get my bus driving training done but the state can get me in until December 13th so I won’t have any kind of route or activity until after the new year so that means we will be “picking fly specks out of the pepper” for another 2 months (hopefully we can hang on that long). But life is good, there are blessings on top of blessings so we will look towards them and make the best of what we have possible.

Take care my friends, it’s hump day today…YEAH!!! As much as I love my daycare I do love my weekends too. With the craft show this weekend it’ll be an amazing weekend. I so love the shows and the people and it’s a Christmas show and what better time of year to be blessed. Have an awesome and blessed day!!