Time to Play Catch UP

I have stepped  away a few months from blogging because, well, nothing really interesting is going on that I felt was blog worthy.  I just happened to be on my desktop looking through some random photos and realized that I really need to start to keep up with writing again.  If anything to help me remember stuff since I'm notorious for forgetting the details (I blame my fall in 2007). 

So for starters Chris and I are just about to wrap up our 60 day Insanity challenge.  We had to take a brief detour while Chris recovers from yet another eye surgery.  This time to remove a cataract that was caused from his Retinal detachment surgery a couple years ago.  As of today he says he's able to see things a little clearer so that's a plus.  So like I said we are about to wrap this crazy workout up and it's been a great eye opener for us as well as a lifestyle change.  We are way more conscience about what we are eating, how much we are eating and how often.  I was worried at first that it was going to take a toll on our budget but it's not been that bad.  I have really liked cooking new recipes (some not so great!) and I'm always looking for the next best, and easy, recipe.  To date Chris has dropped about 15 and I'm down about 6.  I can tell that I have lost several inches and my clothes are fitting better.  When we finish this up we are going to start another Beach Body program - ChaLean.  It's working with weights which will be a nice change of pace from Shaun T and his crazy Max Cardio Circuit!  

A is just a few weeks out from graduating high school and moving on to college land.  I know she will do great!  She has me looking up some photos of her and I together and it's amazing how quickly time has flown by.  Amazing how a few short years ago we were still living under the same roof and I was braiding her hair for church.  I love that kid! 

Our Godson is almost 14 months and keeping his mom and dad very busy.  We kept for a few hours last weekend and had fun reading and playing.  He has learned a few signs so all of a sudden he stopped what he was doing and did the sign for "eat".  I was pretty impressed.

Mother's day is this weekend so I think we are getting the mom's together for a cook out provided it doesn't rain. We have had a ton of rain lately and I'm about over it! 

Well, I guess that's all for now.  I'll write more when I can. 

January 2013

Welcome to 2013!

I'm trying to pick up from the last time I posted.  Let's see.. We closed on the house and moved to Lenoir City in June and love being on this side of town.

I am still working at In10sity and the job is keeping me very busy.  I am our representative for EWI and have enjoyed being a part of a great organization.  I have met some great people and looking forward to getting more involved this year. 

We had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas and spent it with our good friends and family so that was a lot of fun.  I have really enjoyed being in the kitchen and it was nice to cook for everyone.
We spent NYE at Shaun and Jen's along with some other friends.  Pretty low key but that's the way I like things.

We had Abby a little birthday party a couple of weeks ago to celebrate her 5th birthday.  We had our good friend Emily at Confectionista's Kitchen make the dog friendly cake and it was a hit. 
I have some pictures somewhere so I'll try to post those up.

I don't really like making resolutions for the new years but I do have a few goals I would like to meet this year.  One of them would be to get back on the FPU bandwagon and see a real difference in 6 months.  I also want to pick up more crafty/kitchen related hobbies.  I've recently become a Pinterest fan and have started a collection of ideas.

Happy New Year! Here's to making 2013 the best one yet.

May 2012

Hi Ya'll!

Well, here we are in May and I think spring completely forgot to stop by.  It's been in the 80's but, I'm not complaining.  I'll take hot weather over cold any day.

We are still in Loudon and have a contract on a house down the road from work and about 15 minutes from his mom.  We are still working out the details of an inspection so we are hoping we have some good news tomorrow.  Keeping our fingers crossed!

Did I mention that we are godparents?  Our best friends had a sweet baby boy in January and asked us to be his godparents which I am so excited!  We have already told them that we will be the "hippy" side of the family in his life and have plans to buy him his lifetime fishing license.  Yep, you heard right. 

My niece recently got our license and *getting choked up* is driving.  She bought her first car and I have said more prayers this week than I have in a long time!  She getting ready to wrap up her junior year and is taking classes at Pellissippi and working at Food City.  She's staying super busy but I'm glad she is getting to experience a lot of opportunities. 

So on another note I think I'm this close (imagine me holding my fingers close) to closing probate on my dad.  Yes, almost 3 years in the making.  I wrote out the last attorney bills last week so I'm just waiting to get the final word from my attorney. 

I have recently become obsessed with the Long Island Medium.  While I'm not into fortune tellers or anything like that I think she has an extraordinary gift.  Let me know your thoughts on what she does.  People might think I've gone off the deep end..  that's ok..

 Here's to a great summer!

Geez, almighty

So I guess I have failed, yet again, of keeping up with my blog posts. Why is it that I can find time to read useless crap on the internet and play on FB but can't find 5 minutes to jot down my thoughts at the end of the day. Got.to.work.on.that.

To date we are in Loudon staying with Chris' mom. We lost Bill on February 24 of this year. Who would have thought that an operation would have brought us to this point. Bill was diagnosed w/ a brain tumor and the doctor was very optimistic that once removed life would be back to normal. While rehab was starting to take place he took a turn for the worse and had a severe stroke and never recovered. It was so hard being on this side of grief. Chris was there for me when I lost my dad and now I know what it must have been like for him to have felt completely and utterly helpless. Bill was a great man and so nice to everyone. It was awesome to hear all the stories from friends of what a great man he was. I see so much of Bill in Chris that I can only hope and pray that we end up like his parents - married almost 53 years and content with the little things in life.

While we are here we have come to enjoy the peace that this little town offers. Granted there's not any watering holes to go to but we have saved a few pennies along the way. We have decided to start making the transition to finding a place to live close to his mom. She has 100% become smitten with our Abby and I think Abby feels the same. She gets taken outside whether she wants to or not and pretty much has the run of the house. If I didn't know better I would think Abby is a real life grandchild. We have decided that when we move back home (until we get the condo on the market) that Abby will stay here during the week and will get her on the weekends. I think it's a win win for everyone involved.

Till the next time..

Update

So today is 2 weeks that we have been on our juice plan.. granted the last week was modified as we did eat a couple of meals.

To date, Chris is down 13 pounds and has lost about 1 1/2 inches in his mid section. I am still only down 3 pounds and lost an inch from my stomach. Although 3 pounds was way less than I wanted I am happy with the inch lost. We can both tell our clothes are fitting better and that's all I could ask for.

In other non-juicing news we are 2 weeks in counting for our Vegas Vacation!!
Can't wait to get out of town! We are planning on seeing Love Cirque du Soleil and a couple of other shows that we will have time for. We are also planning on going to the Hoover Dam. We were going to go on our trip in February but just ran out of time.

Getting Back to Somewhat Normal

So no, we have not fallen off the bandwagon but rather continuing to make modifications.

We are starting to see some of the fruits of our labor. We are both continuing to drop a pound here and there, my joints are feeling better than they have in a long time and my energy is up.

I can be truthfully honest and say that yesterday was not a good day for us. Yesterday morning I went to walk our dog while Chris made the morning brew and as I walked in the house the smell was almost more than I could take. I drank the juice but in all honesty it took all I could to get it down. So that started the tone for the day. I hate to admit that I started letting my thoughts get the best of me but after being on this for 9 days I was in need of serious motivation! Chris helped me push through but we were both contemplating what we were doing and if this was really worth it. That is when we decided that we needed to re-evaluate our plan.

The point of us doing the juice detox in the first place was to kick some of the bad habits we had grown accustomed to and surprisingly create some new addictions.
Kick the habit of drinking at night - Check
Kick the addiction to caffeine - Check
Start the addiction to water - Check
Start craving fruits and vegetables - Check
Losing a few pounds - Check

So all in all in the last 10 days I feel that we have accomplished quiet a bit.

So this leads us to how we move forward and not undo what we have worked hard to accomplish.

I am still continuing to do some research but what we do know is that we still want to continue to juice daily, even 2-3 times a day but just start incorporating better healthy foods in our diet. My idea is to juice B/L and snacks and then for dinner do something sensible. What I don't want to see happen is that we get so sick of juicing that we lose the momentum and give up completely.

Still juicing.. what day is it?

So not too much to report. Our modified diet for the weekend turned out pretty well. We ended up eating out Friday night, Saturday and Sunday night, all while juicing during the day at least 2-3 times per day. I have to admit the food was pretty darn good! I guess I would be lying saying that we didn't enjoy it. But, as I suspected my belly didn't feel too good afterwards. Further letting us know that we can't be 100% "juice heads" until after our vacation.

I have decided that I am not going to weigh in until next Saturday. I'm finding that I get frustrated where one day I'm down a couple pounds and then the next day up a pound. I can't take it!! My mom told me today that she could tell I had lost a little bit of weight. Now, I don't know if she was trying to make me feel better or if she really could see something different. I'm not to the point where my jeans are falling off me but I can tell they fit a little better. There again, could all be in my head..