Bye Pacey!

Hello everyone.  I have Tweeted, Facebooked, created photo albums and texted but here, on my blog, I will give one final tribute to my dog, Pacey Carter Wyatt.  He had a tumor removed a couple months ago which seemed to reveal a whole slew of issues he was having.  In the end, we think he did have hidden cancer and this weekend, he passed away.  Pacey was 9 years old. The death of a dog seems so trivial when people are going through so much this holiday season, specifically the victims of the shooting in Connecticut but Pacey was a true friend and dogs can provide comfort in the worst times.  I will miss him greatly and though I’m sad, I’m so happy I had him in my life.  Thanks again to my family and friends…especially my parents…they were his mommy and daddy too.  He lived with them and their home was his home.  I love you Pace! It’s weird because we also lost Dixie not that long ago so my parents now have no dogs.  I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have a dog.  They sure to make a difference.  Also, here’s a link to a youtube video of him trying to bite bubbles…he liked to do that.  The quality isn’t great but oh well.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4T5uGnCNNg&feature=youtu.be

Now, onto only a slightly less depressing topic: my weight.  I actually did drop a couple from the heinous weight I saw last week but I surely gained them back and then some after this weekend.  I grieved with chocolate and I ate an abundance of cookies and basically anything I could get my hands on.  I’m going to try and stabilize myself this week but I won’t get on the scale again until January the 5^th.  I’m going to try not to go crazy but I don’t see a point in punishing myself.  The number is not great but I’m excited about the prospect of another fresh start at Weight Watchers on January the fifth.  The pictures above are of an egg wrap I made while on my food pyramid diet.  It’s not pretty but it tasted good.  I just scrambled one egg, spinach, onions and fat free cheese and put it in a wrap.  I was going to try to make an omelet but it’s hard to flip an omelet when it’s made with only one egg so I stuck it in a wrap.  It was tasty.  I am kind of excited about counting points again.  I think it’s the best system for me. I hope to have stories of success soon and that it doesn’t take me long to get back to that lowest weight so I can go even further and march towards a final goal weight.

I was able to go with my family last weekend for my grandmother’s birthday and I got to take a picture with my precious baby cousin, Alex.  I got to see my whole family so that was nice.  We also decorated the tree at my parent’s house so other than the lack of Pacey and the fact that we’re all broke, I think we are ready for Christmas.  I won’t be blogging again until December 31^st, the last day of 2012 (presuming the Mayans were wrong) to say goodbye to 2012 and hello to 2013. 

I will post in a couple weeks.

Happy football bowl season!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Bye!

 “Keep your head up, nothing lasts forever…” People Like Us-Kelly Clarkson

2013 Will Be The Year

Hi y’all! Whenever I skip a week it feels like I haven’t posted in years.  A lot has happened since my last post.  For one, I went to Las Vegas to see Shania Twain with Jordan and secondly, Alabama won the SEC championship game against Georgia in an epic battle and now they will face Notre Dame in the National Championship game!!! So, I think a ROLL TIDE is in order.  I weighed this weekend and the results were not good.  Between the Vegas trip and the holiday parties I had at work last week, I was up more than ever.  I was discouraged because it seems no matter how much exercise I do, if I’m not perfect, I put on at least 2 pounds a week.  While I was discouraged, I was not defeated.  I have been trying this food pyramid based diet and I think when I’m 100 percent dedicated, I do well but since that hasn’t been the case lately, I have seen the results of that on the scale.  I also feel like I am still eating too much on that diet.  I have decided to begin the new version of Weight Watchers again in the new year.  I know for a fact that Weight Watchers works.  Because I’m such a slippery slope, I need the accountability of a weekly weigh in and because the system has changed a bit, my metabolism will hopefully get the jumpstart it needs to get me to my ultimate goal weight.  It won’t be easy because I’ll have to put out the money and recalculate all the foods I’ve created cheat sheets for in the past but I’m hoping it’ll be worth it.  If nothing else, the food pyramid diet (which I will continue off and on until the end of the year) has shed some serious light on the lack of fruits and vegetables that I was getting.  I do know that when I start Weight Watchers this time, I will make sure to incorporate more veggies and less processed foods into my diet.  I’m excited at the prospect.  I am still dedicated to weight loss but this is by far the biggest bump in the road I’ve faced thus far.

Since I’ve been tackling the food pyramid, I’ve started eating way more Greek Yogurt.  I’m not the biggest yogurt fan but Greek yogurt is essentially a super food.  It’s got either low or no fat and it’s generally loaded with protein.  I have taken a liking to the sweeter ones but in the above pictures, I used it in a more savory way.  In the first picture, I mixed the plain yogurt with French Onion Soup Mix.  Normally, you’d mix this with sour cream and dip chips in but I mixed it with the yogurt and dipped veggies in it.  This is something that is a good substitute but not for long.  It starts developing an after taste so I’d recommend just having a couple tablespoons.  It’s got good flavor but the veggies are so filling that having a whole thing of yogurt and 3 cups of vegetables is a bit much at one time.  The second picture is of a chicken salad I made with Greek yogurt.  In this case, I used the yogurt instead of mayo.  I also added spinach in the mix.  I think I put too much.   Again, one or two tablespoons here will do the trick.  Other than that, it made a pretty good wrap. 

Well it’s Christmastime and I’m trying to get into the spirit.  I painted my toes green and red and I made a wreath that I saw on Pinterest.  The wreath turned out well though it’s got some blemishes I need to fix.  Time flies.  I can’t believe it’s this close to Christmas.

The pictures above are scenery, food, people met (including Shania's sister and designer) and other images from the Vegas trip Jordan and I took.  We had a great time.  The show was awesome and so were the sights.  I have been so blessed to get to go to Vegas 3 times in the past couple of years.  It’s a  neat city with a ton of things to do and  see.

I’d like to give a quick birthday shout out to my Grandma!  Today is her birthday.  Hope you have a great one!

I hope you all have a great week!

I don’t have any more parties until next week so hopefully the inflated number on the scale will go down a bit.  Wish me luck!

Bye! 

Ho! Ho! Ho! - Santa