Happy...

... Birthday to my Daddy today! It's unfortunate that we didn't take many pictures on Easter because I really would have loved to post a picture of him with his grandchildren but alas, we were slackers and I don't have any. I think we're all getting together on Sunday to celebrate so I will bring my camera and we WILL, I repeat WILL, take pictures.

Happy Birthday Daddy/Pop-Pop! We love you very much!

Speaking of cameras... I got an early Mother's Day present yesterday, a new camera! It's really nice but now I am in the process of learning how to use it and that kind of well... sucks. I hate that electronic equipment no longer comes with a manual, everything is computerized, in this case, it was stored in the camera and we had to upload it to the computer. That's nice in theory but it makes it difficult for those dorks of us who actually like to read the manual and take it with us as we learn how to use our electronic equipment. Yes, I can print the manual and probably will but carrying around a bunch of 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper while trying to learn a camera is kind of irritating.

Anyway, I am also having some challenges learning how to use the software that stores the photos but I suppose it will all come to me in time. At the moment, I cannot seem to locate the photos in the program to upload them to my blog, I had to do a lot of stuff to find them on the computer but I'm hoping The Husband will know what to do later this evening. Anyway, I managed to find them in a roundabout way. Here's a couple pictures I took so far, mind you, I haven't actually gone anywhere great to take pictures to try to learn the camera so there aren't too many.

The Son at Daddy's office... we drove in to see him and to pick up the camera.


Ziggy, looking regal and handsome... as usual.

Two "brothers"

A rare appearance of DaVinci on The Blog. Doesn't he look handsome on that couch?


I got my nails done yesterday and the new camera takes really nice close-ups so I thought I'd show you, I know, not too exciting. ;)

So, there you have it for now, I anticipate a big learning curve ahead of me...

Today is a busy day, volunteering in The Son's classroom, working out, teaching swim lessons tonight... same old Wednesday. Have a great day everyone and again, a special, "Happy Birthday" to my Daddy! Stay healthy everyone!

Easter Recap!

We had a lovely Easter with family yesterday. I wanted to report back on our recipes that I posted about in my Easter post. (The links are available there) They were delicious. I know that I've talked about my beloved Broccoli Rabe recipe before, and how I use wild rice and low fat feta in place of the orzo and regular feta, well, my Dad even liked it and that's saying a lot! I'd like to say how proud I am of my dad who has lost 17 pounds in the past three months just by making small, healthy changes to his diet. I'd like to think I can take some credit for it as he is one of the few followers of my blog and I know he reads regularly! (Hi Daddy!)

The Roast Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary was a HUGE hit! It. Was. Delish! I have no leftovers which, I guess is good considering we also served ham and had lots of other things but I must admit, I was hoping to have it for dinner tonight too. Oh well, we'll probably go ahead and make another one this weekend. It was that good.

As for the French Silk Pie can I just say, WOW! It was also delicious. I ended up with 8 servings instead of the 10 they say you get out of it so my calories per slice ended up being 225 but I must say, for the richness in that pie, 225 is not bad at all. I know I mentioned that I had issues finding the cookies to make the crust because I didn't want to use a product with trans fat in it. Unfortunately the Nabisco Chocolate Wafers contained hydrogenated oils so I refuse to buy them. What I decided to do instead was to buy Paul Newman's Chocolate sandwich cookies, and use the equivalent (in grams) to what the Chocolate Wafer cookies would be, after scraping off all the cream.
It worked and no trans fats for my family! The main thing I remembered to do before leaving the store was to look at the weight of the wafers for the 30 cookies that the recipe called for. Does that make sense? For example, the recipe called for 30 chocolate wafer cookies and 5 cookies = 32 grams so I multiplied 32 grams by 6 which would equal the amount in weight of cookies, since I had to scrape off the cream and that left me with two halves, I was then able to get an accurate weight measurement on my food scale. If this is confusing, and you're really interested in what I mean, feel free to ask me to clarify, I get the feeling I'm not explaining it properly.

Anyway, the pie was fantastic we all loved it and I will be making it again, probably on a regular basis.

Lastly, we were so busy cooking and helping The Cousins find things to do that I did not take too many pictures. I have a few that I posted but didn't get any of The Baby Niece. Duh! She's so beautiful and sweet, I don't know how I forgot! Fortunately, I am doing a 5K with The Sister next weekend so I will make sure to take some photos that day... I might just have a new camera by that time too... I'll keep you posted on that one!



Have a great day everyone, it's back to school for The Son and I am heading to the Y (as usual) for a good workout. I hope you all had a fantastic Easter/weekend. Stay Healthy!

It's Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I am hosting Easter dinner at my house this evening and I'm really looking forward to it. I am serving some yummy dishes, some our traditional items such as ham, cole slaw and deviled eggs and others some recipes from my favorite websites/magazines. We're having Lemon-Rosemary Roast Chicken with Potatoes, Broccoli Rabe and Wild Rice (instead of orzo) salad and for dessert... French Silk Pie! I got some fresh rolls from Trader Joe's yesterday and they look delicious! I decided to make the roast chicken in addition to a small ham because I have been trying to stay away from ham and other salty meats. I am excited to try a fresh, roast chicken since I usually just buy the pre-roasted ones at the grocery store. I'll let you know how everything turns out!

The Easter bunny was very generous to The Son, he brought him two baskets with a few yummy treats, a couple books and a couple toys, he was very happy. He has a cute Easter outfit, complete with tie and hat that HE picked out. Momma's little metrosexual! LOL!

Yesterday was a busy day, honestly, I cannot believe how much I got done... want a list?

I got up at 6:30, left the house at 7:45 to teach my nutrition classes at the Y, one class at 8:30 and one at 10:00. I finished up at the Y at about 11:30 and headed out to Sport's Authority to return a running skirt I bought online, unfortunately, they didn't have the skirt in their computer so it looks like I have to return it via mail. After Sport's Authority, I went to The Christmas Tree Shoppe to find a few more things for The Son's Easter basket and a few little odds and ends to decorate for me, after that, I went to TJ Maxx to look for some work out clothes, I ended up getting a couple clearance items. Next, I went to my favorite grocery store, Trader Joe's. Finally, I headed home where The Husband helped me unpack and I ate some much needed "lunch" it was 4:00 PM after all... oops, I hate to wait that long.

I finished "lunch" and then headed out to the Y to work out, I did my triceps, back and legs and then ran 3.5 miles on the treadmill. Following the Y, I had to head to the regular grocery store to buy the rest of my groceries for today's dinner. It took a while since I had a run in with hydrogenated fat in the cookies I needed to make the crust for my French Silk Pie. I think I won the battle though, I'll let you know for sure after I make my pie. I finally made it home around 8:30 and again, The Husband helped me unpack everything. I got a shower and showered up The Son and got him ready for bed. The Husband made me a delicious dinner of Bison Burgers, baked chips and broccoli while I got my cookies ready for the pie crust. At that point, I felt as if my limit had been reached and as I looked back over all that had been done, I didn't wonder why! Phew... what a day!

Today there is lots more to do so I must sign off for the time being. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter and enjoy spending time with family and friends.... I know I will! Stay healthy!

Traveling to Washington, DC

Did you realize we were gone? Probably not. I haven't been getting much in the way of comments recently although that I will say I am definitely more of a "quality vs. quantity" type gal and the comments I HAVE received have been just lovely, thank you all so much for your kind thoughts.

It's Spring Break for The Son so we decided to take a couple days away and head to Washington, DC. I didn't post about it before because I'm now paranoid to be specific about when we're going to be away because of recent robberies to people's homes that have been linked to Facebook. Of course, I still posted that I was a way on Facebook but I just tried not to be totally specific. I'd also like to think that my FB friends wouldn't rob me but I'm sure that's what the people who were robbed thought too.

I started the planning for this little trip on Priceline.com. I'd never used Priceline before but decided to do a "name your own price" deal and ended up with a room in DuPont Circle for $69 a night! SWEET! It was at the Marriott and it I was thrilled with what we got for the price, the room was small and The Son kept commenting on that but the child is used to full, two-bedroom suites at Disney with full kitchens because we're Disney Vacation Club Members so he has no concept. It was a nice, clean comfortable room with great Marriott service, I'd stay there again for sure, especially for $69 a night! I also recently used Priceline to get a great room in Philly for the night before the Broad St. Run, also at a Marriott (Residence Inn) also, for $69 a night which I'll be splitting with friends so, another great deal!

We had a really nice time, lots of tips and things I can tell you about but I am going to sign off for now and try to get a few things done around the house before we head out to the Y for working out/teaching swimming this evening. I indulged a bit too much while in DC and need to get myself on that treadmill ASAP!

Have a great day everyone!

Spring really HAS sprung!

Hi Friends! If anyone out there still reads (or comments) on my blog that is...

I know I've been on hiatus again, I have to admit I am having difficulty managing to find time to blog and work out and work and take care of my men and all the things that busy moms have to do. I know for a fact that many of you out there will understand!

I am really feeling great about this weather lately. I hope that the title of this post doesn't jinx us and make it turn into Winter again because Pennsylvania has had some big snow storms in March and even in April. Scary... it's been pretty nice around these parts lately and I'd like to keep it that way.

So, let me tell you what's going on with us. I am still working on losing weight but my body doesn't seem aware of that fact! ha ha! I have had quite a few weeks of NO LOSS! Ugh! and it's not for lack of trying and doing all the "right" things. I am so close to my goal of losing 100 pounds that I think at this point, it's just difficult. I am not getting discouraged or giving up because honestly, on the plan I do, there is no "finished" this is just the way I will live and eat for the rest of my life. If I have another week of no loss, I will have to really examine my foods and tweak a few more things to make those last ten pounds LEAVE. It will all come off eventually, it might just take a bit longer than I want it to.

I am still training for the Broad Street Run which is a 10 mile race on May 2nd. I am feeling a bit nervous because I can't seem to get past 5 miles comfortably and 7 miles with a lot of effort. I'll keep trying though and know that I could walk 10 miles right now so if that's what I have to do, at least I know I'll get through the race. I downloaded some music to run to and I have to say that BPMs have changed my running life... don't know what that means? I'll tell you in another post, it will give me something to blog about!

The Son is doing BEAUTIFULLY in Kindergarten. The Husband and I had his conference this week and his teacher couldn't say enough good things. He's mastered all the Kindergarten skills and is now working on first grade skills. She told us not to expect him to master the first grade skills this year because they are much more complex than the Kindergarten ones. I am not worried. I have no plans to rush him, he's still just a little guy. He needs to work on his printing because it's very sloppy and he also needs to work on putting spaces between his words, other than that he's doing really great. His standardized test scores were in the 99th percentile for math and the 97th for reading... PROUD! I will add that as a former teacher, I know that standardized tests are only one indicator of a child's intelligence and abilities but as his mom, I am still very proud of him indeed. His teacher also said that he is a very "nice boy" and that he treats the other students with respect and is friendly with everyone. I hope this is an indication on how he will be as he progresses through school because I couldn't be happier.


We're going on a little spring break vaycay this weekend... it's not THAT exciting but I'll tell you about it soon. It should be fun.

I still keep wanting to do a post on healthy cooking/eating as well as a post on BPMs that have changed my life... I'll try, try, try to be a little more proactive with the blogging because it really is something I like to do, it's just hard to find the time.

Lastly, I got a haircut and I am really happy with it! My hairdresser didn't take off too much but she did just enough to make it a little more manageable and now I have some shape. Here's a picture. Funny enough, The Son took this picture, he's pretty good for a six year old, as long as I help him know how to frame it and place him the right distance away, he's getting the hang of it.

Final addition... I wrote the above post earlier today and forgot to post it. Duh. I got weighed at 1:00 today and was down 1.6! Yahoo! That makes my official total 90.2 pounds. only 9.8 to go for my goal... that could take another year but I'll get there. (I'm only half kidding!)

Have a great day everyone! Stay healthy!

Is it really here?

Spring that is! We've endured quite a few days of rainy, yucky weather and today when I woke up I saw the sun! The warm, beautiful, welcoming sun. However, it's March 16th and I hate to get too excited about Spring because Mother Nature can be a big tease, taunting us with these lovely, pleasant days only to rip them away and dump another ten inches of snow all over us. I will just try to enjoy these days while they're here and not get too excited lest they be cruelly ripped away from me as I am plunged into the depths of Winter Hell once again. (Who are you calling overly dramatic?)

So anyway... as you can see, I'm still here. I've been feeling a little "non-bloggy" these days. As usual, I've been busy and when I'm busy, there are things that have to be put aside. Blogging is probably one of the first things to go because it certainly isn't going to be The Son or my work outs or my healthy eating, those are always things I make time for because those are the things that keep me healthy and feeling good.

The Son is doing well, growing like crazy, I cannot believe that he's more than half way through kindergarten. His Nannie recently sent him a down vest from L.L. Bean and then found this cute hat to go with it.


The Son loves it so much that one night he even wore it to bed! He got dressed this morning at 9:30 and put it on so that he "would be ready to leave when it was time to go to school." People, the child goes to school at noon! LOL! He's playing in the sunroom now wearing his vest waiting to go to school. He's a funny kid, my boy.

Thanks Nannie! We really love the vest (and you!)

I'm still training for my ten-mile race, I feel like I hit a wall with my training but I'm going to overcome it. Ziggy (my German Shorthair Pointer) and I are going to go for an outdoor run today. I think getting outdoors will help me get back into the swing of things. I've been running plenty, don't get me wrong, it's just been difficult to get past the max of seven miles that I've achieved. I'll get there... I'm determined.

I have a few posts that I'd like to do about excuses (not making them) and about ways to incorporate "real healthy eating" into our diets, not "faux healthy eating" with bars and frozen meals. They'll get written... one of these days.

Well, I'm off to say hello to Mother Nature now and beg her to keep that sun shining and those temperatures warming up. If you see her, do the same, perhaps she'll decide to let Spring stick around for a while! Happy Tuesday! Stay healthy!

Randomness...

Hi Everyone! I need to post because it's been quite a few days, I'm still mulling over the Breast Cancer 3-Day Dilemma. I think today is the day I have to sign up for it if I'm going to get that discount and I think I'm going to. Thanks for all who helped with your advice, I appreciate the input so much.

So, some random thoughts for this sunny Monday...

• I lost another 1.6 pounds. My total is now 89.2. I've been journaling all my foods and exercise in a good old-fashioned notebook. It seems to be the best thing for me. 10.8 pounds left to reach that goal of 100! I might go lower, I might not... we'll see when I get to 100.

• I love the Wendy Williams Show. There. I said it. Don't judge me. Wendy Williams is hilarious, gregarious and super-duper cute. I love her and I'm not ashamed to shout it from the bloggy rooftops. I LOVE YOU WENDY!

• The Broad Street Run is in a little less than two months. I am excited but feel as if I've hit a "wall" with my training, I am having trouble getting past the 5-mile run. I will keep working on it. So far, I've done 7 miles in 1 hour 26 minutes which is slow but I think it at least shows that I can do the 10 even if I have to walk some. I also think that two more months is a good amount of time to improve that time. I will do it! I will do it! I will do it!
  

• Speaking of goals... my friend Andrea from Run, Eat, Date Sleep, completed the Disney Princess Half Marathon on Sunday. I am so proud of her! I don't think she blogged about it yet but I guarantee she will. Check her out, she has a cute blog and is very inspirational with her goals and achievements.

• According to Hungry Girl, Laughing Cow cheese is coming out with three new flavors... in June. Ugh! I hate to wait for June, The flavors are 1. blue cheese (The Husband will LOVE this) 2. queso fresco and chipoltle (meh.) and 3. mozzarella and sun-dried tomato (YES!) Is it normal to say that I can't wait for June because of this? I simply love me some Laughing Cow.
  

• I have to get The Son ready for school and me ready for the gym now. I've been eating well over my calorie limit this weekend because I have been truly, truly hungry! I've been writing it all down so if I don't have a loss, there will be proof as to the reason why. I go a couple hundred calories over each day so I'm at like 2300+ but remember, I have a very high calorie range AND I work out a lot. Most people cannot lose weight at that many calories per day, I just happen to be lucky. Anyway, this is all in one random thought because it means I must have a really, GOOD and HARD work out this afternoon to burn off many of those extra calories. The scale might not be so kind to me this Thursday...
  

Have a great Monday everyone! Keep it healthy!