WIAW-#1 (What I Ate Wednesday)

I've finally decided to jump on the #WIAW (What I Ate Wednesday) bandwagon. WIAW is a weekly food diary (a bit voyeuristic in nature) run by my friend Jenn (great name!) over at the blog Peas and Crayons.

As Jenn puts it, 'it's a great way to reflect on my eating habits and spot out patterns, slip-ups, and successes!' No matter what type of Wednesday I'm having- be it a school day, a lazy day, or a DIY the house day- it'll be different and I'll learn something new about my eating habits every time!

So, the way it works is I'll take pictures of everything I eat each Wednesday- the good, the bad, and the ugly (yep, even the ugly) I'll even include some recipes for the eats that look the tastiest. I can't guarantee that I'll always eat the food that's the best for me- sometimes I just have to grab and go. Hopefully though, my WIAW post can be not just 'thin'spiration for myself, but for you as well!

That being said, LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!

Those of you who have read my posts know I often lament about constantly being low on food thanks to the 4 Hoover vacuums children I live with. This was the case again today, so meals were slim pickins'! Here's what I had:

BREAKFAST (11 Points+)

• Thomas' Multigrain English Muffin (3 Points+)
• 1.5 tsp butter (1 Points+)
• 1 Tbsp honey (2 Points +)
• Ham, Egg, and Cheese Souffle- 1 serving (3 Points+) {not the prettiest in the picture but DANG! was it tasty!}
• Del Monte Chunky Peaches in Raspberry Juice (2 Points+) {I know it's better to eat fresh fruit than canned, but this is one of my favorites and I did at least drain the juice, so...}

LUNCH (11 Points+)

• Chipotle Chicken Pretzel Bread Lean Pocket (7 Points+) {this sucker has been languishing in my freezer forever because I was afraid it was going to be too spicy- I'm SO GLAD I took a chance on it today- delicious!}
• Muller's Peach Passionfruit Yogurt (4 Points+) {this stuff is absolutely A-MA-ZING!! I decided to take a chance on it one day after seeing it in the case at Sam's Club- boy am I glad I did! I am a yogurt convert and am hard pressed to eat any other kind now!}
• Banana (0 Points+)

DINNER (23 Points+)

• Mediterranean Grilled Chicken Pitas- 2 servings{these were so very tasty and really very filling! Quick to make and easy to eat. Yum-o!}
• Foldit Rosemary Olive Oil Bread- 2 servings (5 Points+)
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil Mayonnaise (2 Points+)
• Mediterranean Grilled Chicken Tenders- 3 servings (6 Points+)
• Lettuce
• 'Zoe's Kitchen' Braised White Beans with Rosemary- 1/2 cup serving (5 Points+) {Oh. My. God. This is my absolute FAVE dish at Zoe's kitchen and to be able to make it at home is DA BOMB! There aren't even words in the written language that can describe how absolutely explosive these beans are. You HAVE to try them...NOW!)
• Mixed greens salad (0 Points+)
• Croutons (2 Points+)
• Shredded cheese and bacon bits (2 Points+)
• Lowfat Thousand Island dressing- 2 Tbsp (1 Points+)

SNACK (7 Points+)

• White Chocolate Covered Pretzels- 10 pretzels (7 Points+) {probably not the best snack, but I was nosh-y hungry and wanted something crunchy- not necessarily healthy} Note the computer keyboard in the background- snacking AND blogging- I'm SUCH a multitasker! :)
• Banana (0 Points+) {because I felt bad about eating the white chocolate covered pretzels, I grabbed the banana to ease my conscience. It was the least I could do...}

So there you have it. That's What I Ate this past Wednesday. Out of the 53 Points+ Weight Watchers allows me each day, I ate 52 of them. I felt like I had a pretty well rounded day, even if the cupboards were a bit bare. Guess I know where I'm headed today!

Until next time... may the fork be with you!

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Weigh-In Wednesday-#4

Allllllllllllllllllllllright, y'all! I am so totally starting to love Wednesdays! I gotta say, when I stepped on the scale this morning, I really wasn't prepared for a whole lot. Scratch that- I was actually prepared for the needle digital numbers to creep ever skyward- as this week was, once again, just as bad as the previous two. In fact, if asked to describe it in a modicum of words, 'less than stellar' is what I would probably use.

It's not that we deliberately set out to sabotage ourselves- we seriously don't! And it's not even like we did a lot of eating out (we didn't), had a lot of sweets (nope on that one too), or anything in that arena. Huh-uh, we're still trying to hurdle the mother of all stumbling blocks right now- the fact that we are stretching ourselves in a zillion directions!

Take my average day for example- between schooling the kids, working on my blog, trying to plan meals/exercise/etc, run a household, plan a neighborhood yard sale and/or block party (not at the same time, mind you), figure out 'what's for dinner?', deal with someone always hollering 'I'm hungry!' (even the dang cat!)... whew! I'm exhausted just typing it and it's obvious there's just not enough hours in the day. On top of that, my poor mama's trying to sell her home, buy a new one, and we keep getting bamboozled every time we turn around! By the time I get my morning dose of 'As NC Real Estate Turns'- it's already time for lunch and I haven't even had breakfast yet! :) Thank goodness she and I both have a great sense of humor and get along so well. That way we can laugh our way through most of it!

So, because of living such a busy life I usually just end up grabbing whatever is convenient- and that isn't always the healthiest or most diet friendly choice. I try to keep easy and healthy stuff on hand, but with 4 men in the house... Mother Hubbard's Cupboard is quite often bare! So, one of my new goals is to try and stay ahead of my shopping (and their eating) so that I'm not stuck raiding the pantry and fridge or just eating 'whatever' because I have to have something.

Enough bellyaching. Here are the stats for this week:

Week	Weight	Change
Starting	372 lbs	---
Week 1	365.4 lbs	-6.6 lbs
Week 2	364 lbs	-1.4 lbs
Week 3	364 lbs	Maintained
Week 4	361.6 lbs	-2.4 lbs

Regardless of my 'less than stellar' week, I am so stoked about my 2.4 lb loss. I am finally back to the lowest I've been since I started the journey. I know 11.8 lbs doesn't seem like that much to some people- but for those of you faithful readers who remember my fist shaking rant at those same 11 lbs- you'll understand why this weigh-in is a momentous one. And why next week's will be even moreso; next week will be the deciding weigh-in to see if I can finally beat the 11 lb curse my weight seems to hold over me. Send good vibes my way that I can actually do it, okay?

In my corner are some great people out there in blogland that I want to send a quick shoutout to. One of them is a dear friend I've made over at Back to Her Roots- Cassie Johnston. I stumbled upon Cassie's blog quite by accident and she has become one of my biggest inspirations. Right now, I am proudly participating in her #supersummer challenge. It encompasses your mind as well as your body, so that everything you do is good for all parts of you! I love that concept.

One of the even neater parts of the challenge is Cassie allowed us to sign-up to have accountability partners (I almost view them as AA sponsors-lol!) and I was lucky enough to land an awesome lady who happens to live within an hours drive from me! She specifically sought me out because we were so close geographically but also because we share similar weight loss challenges and even the same first name and last initial! It must be fate!

So, that's all for me this time. I'm gonna keep my nose to the grindstone and keep pushing forward. Here's hoping that next week brings me that all important barrier breakthrough. Pray for me peeps!

Until next time... may the fork be with you!

Framed Fabric Art (or is it?!?!)

They say that necessity is the mother of invention- I tend to disagree. I'm of the camp that believes it is laziness that is the true mother of invention. Case in point: I have this swath of wall behind my front door- just a random piece of wall that doesn't really have a purpose, isn't all that great to look at, and doesn't do much good for anybody other than holding up the roof. (On second thought, I guess that is kind of important, huh?)

The infamous "random swath"

When we first moved in, I originally put up these weekly write-n-wipe foam core boards from Staples where I could keep up with the family's activities, thinking 'Oh yeah, right by the front door- I'll use these ALL the time!' WRONG! wrongwrongwrongwrongWRONGwrongwrong! Couldn't have been more WRONG! I used them for about a week, and then the information I wrote on them stayed up for the next two years- literally! (Apparently, my husband had a birthday every Thursday for two years straight- whoohoo!! Can you imagine the presents?!?)

Damage caused from removal

Anyway, I left those puppies up and they would probably still be up today if I hadn't decided to repaint. (More on that in a different post, but suffice it to say I picked an original color that was just too dark and after two years of living in a cave I needed some light, man!) So, when it came time to do the foyer, I did what any self-respecting wife and home remodeler would do- I ripped 'em off the wall without any concern for how it might damage the drywall. (yeah... not the smartest move I've ever made) Needless to say, I caused a bit of damage. {I know my mom is totally rolling her eyes right now}

Now for those of you who know me, and those of you who took the time to read my 'about me', you'll know that I love starting projects (but rarely relish finishing them). I'm an 85% girl (get it 85% done and it's good enough for me!) That 85% mentality totally kicked in right there. My mom or husband, surveying the damage, would have immediately gone and gotten the spackle and patched the damage (as would most of you dear readers). Me? Nah! Just paint over those puppies! Nobody's gonna see that- it's behind the door!! Only... once it was painted- you could totally see it. So for the first time in...well, forever... I had to admit that I was wrong.

Logic at this point would dictate- 'go get the freakin' spackle!' But again- why would I do anything logical? {Have your eyes rolled out of your head yet, ma?} I started trying to figure out how to cover up the damage without having to pull out spackle because I just hate spackle. (And the drying. and the waiting. and the sanding. you get the picture) I also knew that I needed some kind of bulletin board near the front door because we were moving our calender (which housed our small bulletin board) and we would no longer have a place for notes, mementos, etc.

It was at this point my Muse decided to show up and I thought 'Wouldn't it be cool if... I could make some kind of really awesome bulletin board- cut to size- to fit in this space? That would be so neat'! The swath of wall is really narrow so I knew nothing store bought would work plus we recently got new couches and I wanted to tie that fabric in, so whatever it was... I was gonna have to make. It was time to get my craft on!

I stopped in at my local Michael's and bought one of those long panoramic poster frames (with a 40% off coupon I spent a lot LESS which saved me MORE money!)  I promptly brought it home and applied several coats of black spray paint (I used all different sheens- whatever was on hand- because only the top coat really mattered to me) and then finished it off with an oil rubbed bronze (but it's really black) Satin spray-paint from Krylon. GORGEOUS!

Next, I popped over to JoAnn's Fabrics and was lucky enough to find an awesome fabric with 'my colors' (which was clearanced out- again, LESS money spent = MORE money in my pocket- so yay!). I also bought myself a roll of fairly thick cork. Once that was done, it was just a matter of putting the whole thing together.

Cork- glued to frame backing

I removed the glass and gave it to the hubs (maybe he could use it for something?). Used the backing from the frame to trace a template onto the cork- cut the cork- and then glued it on with super glue (holding it down with heavy cookbooks til it dried!) I used super glue because I wanted something that would work fast- I'm not known for my patience.

Don't you love the cute orange cube thumbtacks!

After the cork was done, I took the fabric and cut out the piece I would need. I used craft glue for this one (re-employed my cookbooks) and borrowed my sons' help stretching the fabric so it would be nice and taut. Once it was good and dry, I fit all the pieces back into the frame. At that point, I ran into a problem because the cork and fabric together were thicker than the original glass, so the hooks wouldn't hold the back in. No worries! I grabbed my trusty construction stapler and went to town! 20 or so 1/4" staples in strategic spots around the perimeter and that thing isn't going anywhere!

The Finished Product!

Lastly, I had the hubby hang it for me (because measuring and leveling aren't my strong suits) and.... voila! A convenient and useful bulletin board masquerading as a gorgeous piece of framed fabric art. So simple, so cheap (!), and covers ugly walls beautifully!

I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself. It's been a loooong time since I've done anything crafty and my skills were rather rusty, so I'm glad it turned out so well. Now my appetite has been whetted to do so many other craft projects around the house- be sure to keep your eyes peeled for those posts soon! Tell me dear readers, what crafty thing have you done lately?

Linking up with these great parties:

• Between Naps on the Porch (Metamorphosis Monday) 

Go check out these blogs. Do it now. Do it!