Category Archives: Health

My One Scary Thing!

What a big order to live up to. I picked up this little sign at the gift shop at work today; I had seen it before, but today it really made me think!! I realized that I really don’t do ANYTHING scary most days, and for some reason that REALLY bothered me!

So tonight when I got home I decided to do the scariest thing that I could think of – CLEAN MY ROOM!!! DUH-DUH-DUH!!! I ate a quick dinner, ran upstairs, turned on some music, and just got busy!!! Here are some before and after pictures of different areas of my room. Please note: these pics are kinda blurry – I had a feature on my camera I had forgotten to turn off – OOPS!! 😉

Bed: It really looks so nice when it is made, I don’t know why I don’t seem to remember that!! 😉

Dresser: This is the first piece of furniture that I walk past when I come into my room, so it kinda becomes a catch-all for the clutter!

Writing Desk: I just ADORE this little desk. This was an $18 find at a mansion’s garage sale!!! I function so much better here when it is nice and tidy!!!

WHEW!! I am glad that is done!! Tomorrow night, I will post pics of the walk-in closet, that I also cleaned up this evening!!

As for my Visual Nutrition Plan:

Today is day 13 of my 30-Day-Self-Created-Visual-Nutrition-Plan!! I can eat whatever I want, but I have to take a picture of ANYTHING and EVERYTHING I eat and post it on this blog – and have to be willing to take any criticism I might incur!!! The knowledge that I have to take pics and post everything that I have eaten has really curbed a couple of poor choices!! Although, an occasional treat can sometimes be DIVINE!!!

I think I did pretty well; I passed up the office brownies, and then later cookies, and then later the chocolate candy dish – and today was

S-T-R-E-S-S-F-U-L!!

So, to be able to pass up those goodies, I think was pretty

FREAKIN’ AWESOME!!!

With that said, I did splurge on dessert tonight – I had a 1/2 a piece of cake, and 1/2 cup of no sugar added ice cream – the only catch was that I told myself that I couldn’t eat it until I got my chores done!!!

Chores done? Check!

Dessert? Check! Check!

So, here are today’s eats:

Breakfast: Berry bagel with light cream cheese, and sugar-free, fat-free iced mocha

Lunch: Homemade veggie soup with added baked chicken!! (Veggie soup contains: onion, leeks, tomatoes, and potatoes.)

Snack: A cup of grapes, and a plum (my last one)

Dinner: A fried chicken breast from my neighborhood deli, and a huge serving of steamed asparagus – I figured that the asparagus must’ve counter balanced the badness of the fried chicken, at least a little!! *WINK!*

Dessert: 1/2 a piece of chocolate cake with frosting, topped with a maraschino cherries, and 1/2 a scoop of no sugar added chocolate ice cream

Even though work was REALLY, REALLY BAD today, I think overall, I had a REALLY GOOD day!!! It really is the little things in life that really make you happy!!! My bedroom, and walk-in closet are clean, my chores are done, Nette came over for a short visit, which was fun, it looks like I am going to be able to get to bed on time tonight, and I sent someone special her birthday card with a little gift tucked inside!!! It’s all GREAT!!!

In the comments tonight, I would LOVE to hear what scary thing you think you should be doing, and what you are going to do to start taking action to get it done!! I can’t wait to hear your ideas!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!

Keeping It Quick and Simple!

Tonight, I vow to go to take care of myself by…

  • turning the tele off by 9 PM
  • spending time giving myself a facial while all the candles are lit in the bathroom, and soft music is playing from the bedroom
  • putting on my favorite pair of sexy, yet comfortable pajamas
  • making my bed before I get climb into it
  • being in bed by 9:30 PM with a good book

Oh, that sounds divine, which is why I am keeping this post short and sweet tonight!

As for my visual nutrition plan:

Today is day 7 of my 30-Day-Self-Created-Visual-Nutrition-Plan!! I can eat whatever I want, but I have to take a picture of ANYTHING and EVERYTHING I eat and post it on this blog – and have to be willing to take any criticism I might incur!!! The knowledge that I have to take pics and post everything that I have eaten has really curbed a couple of poor choices!! Although, an occasional treat can sometimes be DIVINE!!!

I didn’t do so great today – I let me crazy busy work schedule mess with my eating plan for today. I had sooo many meetings that I literally didn’t get an actual mealtime, which meant I didn’t eat NEARLY enough today (that would explain the killer headache that I am now rockin’!)!! So, I just snuck what I could as quickly as I could!! WHEW!!!

Out of sheer curiosity, I did weigh again this morning and found that I had lost a total of 2.8 pounds since I started my visual nutrition plan almost a week ago!! That just blows my mind, and it also gives me hope that I really am not “destined” to be at this size!!! YEAH!!! I LOVE the idea that my weight is not pre-ordained, or something!!

With that said, here is the pic of all I ate today:

Breakfast: Chocolate soy milk with added fiber, and a banana

Breakfast 2: Yogurt with granola (quick, easy, and oh so delicious)

Lunch: I ate a whole sandwich, but had forgotten to take a pic until I had eaten the first half – oops!! The sandwich was made with whole wheat bread, honey ham, roasted bell pepper slices, and fresh spinach! It was really yummy, but I am going to have to remember to pack the bell pepper slices sperately, since it made a soggy mess out of my bread – EW!!! My husband always says, “Sometimes, if it is good for you, you just need to eat it, not like it!” – too funny!

Snack: Sliced apple with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter

Dinner: my headache had started by then, so I had a pretty big dinner; 1/2 a bell pepper and 1/4 of a large onion both sliced and sauteed, 3 eggs scrambled into the veggies, with a side of whole wheat english muffin with whipped butter, and a glass of skim milk. I heard that whipped butter has a lot of air in it so you actually get less fat in a tablespoon than if you had a tablespoon of regular butter – I really hope that is true, because I don’t know if I could get over butter! DELICIOSO!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! I am off to go to take care of myself!!! 😉

I Love Auntie Day!

My Family: From left to right: Morgan, Jason (aka Sweetie), Myself, Megan (down below) and Nette!

Wednesday night is the night when my sis-in-law brings her two kiddos over to have dinner and to go swimming. We usually always have a fun time, and tonight was no different!

My niece Megan has gotten to the point that she is swimming like a fish, and she is just dying to perfect her ability to do tricks underwater! I think at this point if she could be a water ballerina, she most definitely would!

Now for my nephew, Morgan, he is a typical 4 year old little boy who has NO FEAR!! He is also swimming like a fish, maybe he is more likened to a little Tasmanian devil who has the ability to swim!!! He is sooo cute to watch because he has almost NO BODY FAT on his little self, so he doesn’t float very well. He really just kicks and flails to keep himself above water, and even though he splashes like there is no tomorrow he manages to get himself around the pool like a little pro!!! Soooo much fun!!!

I just LOVE my Wednesday nights!!!! 😉

As for what I ate today:

Today is day 6 of my 30-Day-Self-Created-Visual-Nutrition-Plan!! I can eat whatever I want, but I have to take a picture of ANYTHING and EVERYTHING I eat and post it on this blog – and have to be willing to take any criticism I might incur!!! The knowledge that I have to take pics and post everything that I have eaten has really curbed a couple of poor choices!! Although, an occasional treat can sometimes be DIVINE!!!

I think I did pretty well today but seeing that I am sitting here typing, thinking, “Hmmmm…I am hungry!” I probably should’ve eaten a little more today, but that is alright – I will keep that in mind for tomorrow.  I did weigh myself today, and found that I have lost 2.2 pounds since I started 5 days ago (I don’t count today, because I weighed first thing this morning!) I can tell that my pants are a little looser, and I seem to have a lot more energy than I had even a week ago! That has probably been my BIGGEST SHOCK!!! I LOVE IT!!!! I think what is making the biggest difference for me is all of the cheerleading that I am receiving through this blog! I am sooooo thankful to all of you for that!!! THANK YOU, TRULY!!!

With that said, here is the pic of all I ate today:

Breakfast: Fat free, sugar free, iced mocha, with a bagel and light cream cheese (I was having a rough morning, I really NEEDED that caffeine!!!)

Snack: None

Lunch: Salad made with spinach and mixed lettuce, rotisserie chicken, diced green bell pepper, and light Dijon dressing

Snack: Yogurt

Snack 2: Grapes with string cheese

Dinner: Sandwich made with spinach, miracle whip, honey ham, and whole wheat bread, and a serving of Sun Chips. I also had 1/2 a glass of Hawaiian tea (only 1/2 of what is shown), it was good, but a little too lemony – me and lemons have never really gotten along so well! 🙂

Snack: A pear, which by the way was SUPER sweet and juicy!!!! YUM!!

Anyway, how are all of you doing? Have you been inspired to make any eating changes in your own life? I would love to hear about it in the comments above.

Have a FABULOUS evening!

Daily Update!

Today has been sch a LOOOONG day!!!

I started my day by going to work, and it was a crazy, busy extremely stressful day!! HOWEVER, I had THE BEST lunch date with my Sis, Alex!!! The thing I love about Alex, is that no matter what is going on in her life, she is the perpetual cheerleader!! She just always seems to know what to say, in a straight forward thoughtful way!! Thank you, sissy!! I really needed that!!

So, I got off of work, and headed straight to the laundromat so that I could wash some of my bedding. Most people find that the laundromat is a real bore, but not me. I find that there is something oddly soothing about watching your clothing going around and around, rhythmically tumbling over and over itself. I also love to people watch while I am waiting for the cleaning cycles to finish.

Tonight there is this woman who is about my age, she has 3 sons, who I later learn at ages 7, 8, and 9, they are running around her in circles like banshees. She is obviously frazzled and doesn’t know how to work the payment card or the machines. My heart goes out to her so, I try and help her the only way I can think of, and I show her how the card and machines work. What she really could use is a vacation, or at least a really GREAT nap!!! 😉

After the laundromat, I had every intention of going home, but I was so close to the Goodwill by my house, I decided to stop and “take a look”. Well, 2 hours and $45 later, I “looked”, and then came home with about 10 books, 2 purses, and pair of vintage shoes in FABULOUS condition – AND IN MY SIZE!!!! Ok, so I may need some kind of intervention!!!!

Ok, so I got home a little after 8 PM, and I still hadn’t eaten – so I ate leftovers from dinner last night, called my sissy Jennifer, the same one I was on the phone with yesterday!!! My sweetie called me too, from the road – that was AWESOME!!!

My sweetie left with our adopted grandfather (I sounds like Heidi whenever I say “Grandfather” LOL!). They are on a roadtrip to California. I am soooo happy that they are both doing this, Willy needs Jason, and Jason needs Willy!! I am sometimes very envious of their relationship, but even in saying that I realize just how much I really love those too!!! 😉 Jason is going to do his best to take a ton of pics, and when he gets back on Friday, I will see what I can do to put a couple up on the blog!! Have fun men, and be super safe! Someone here in Salem is sending good thoughts your way!!! 😉

SO, onto today’s eats:

Today is day 5 of my 30-Day-Self-Created-Visual-Nutrition-Plan!! Feeling great!!! I can eat whatever I want, but I have to take a picture of ANYTHING and EVERYTHING I eat and post it on this blog – and have to be willing to take any criticism I might incur!!! The key word being ACCOUNTABILITY!! In addition, I am incorporating more fruits and veggies into my day to help me eat a more BALANCED diet, and get healthy!! The knowledge that I have to take pics and post everything that I have eaten has really curbed a couple of poor choices!! Although, an occasional treat can sometimes be DIVINE!!!

Anyway, here is the pics of all my eats for today!!

Breakfast: Bagel and light cream cheese

Snack: Yogurt

Lunch: Large salad with mixed leaf lettuce, spinach, raisins, rotisserie chicken, cherry tomatoes, and light Dijon dressing

Snack: Sliced oranges

Dinner: Leftover baked beans and a hot dog

Snack: None

Whew! It is late, I am tired, so I am going to get going up to bed!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!!

Laughter is the Best Medicine!

Christina: “Jennifer, You are the wind beneath my wings!”

Jennifer: “Maybe that is why you keep flying around in circles.”

***

I just got off the phone with one of my little sisters, Jennifer!!! She is such a hoot!!!Ok, so maybe she isn’t quite a little girl anymore – matter of fact she is almost 25, but she is still the hilarious comedian of the family!!!! I think she came out of our mother’s womb with a witty remark that could’ve made the doctor laugh so hard, that she was in serious danger of being dropped!!!

Jennifer is recovering from surgery that she had his past week, and although she is still in some pain, she is just as busy as ever making the world laugh around her!!! What a blessing that woman is!!! 😉

When Jennifer was about 9, her and my youngest sister, Trina, who was 4 at the time, used to spend every Summer with my husband and I. I would pretend they were my little girls and we would take them with us everywhere to go do all sorts of fun stuff, well, at least that was our goal!!! You see, during one EXTREMELY HOT Summer, when my Sweetie and I were living in Idaho, we thought it would be fun for the girls to sleep in a little tent that we had set up in the finished basement just for them – it was the coolest part of the house, and during that heat wave, a cool place was MANDATORY!!! I mean HOW AWESOME IS THAT!?!?!?! Well, ok, apparently they HATED IT!! I didn’t realize, probably because I had never slept in the basement, that there was an extremely noisy furnace which scared the bajeezus out of them every time it turned on!! Plus, because they were so scared, they kept the tent completely zipped up and it became a swealtering sauna!!! I never could figure out why they go to bed in there pjs and they would get up in the morning in just there underclothess. OK, now I get it, it was super hot!!! But they just went along with everything because they didn’t want to cause any problems!! ISN’T THAT FUNNY???? Everytime I hear this story, I just feel soooo bad that I didn’t realize that the little tent was sooooo not fun!!! I am sure I owe them a small fortune in therapy costs!!! Thankfully, we all just laugh about it now!! I still LOVE THOSE GIRLS!!! ;- )

Ok, so down to business:

Today is day 4 of my 30-Day-Self-Created-Visual-Nutrition-Plan!! Feeling great!!! I can eat whatever I want, but I have to take a picture of ANYTHING and EVERYTHING I eat and post it on this blog – and have to be willing to take any criticism I might incur!!! The key word being ACCOUNTABILITY!! In addition, I am incorporating more fruits and veggies into my day to help me eat a more BALANCED diet, and get healthy!!

I have to admit, that the knowledge that I have to take pics and post everything that I have eaten has really curbed a couple of poor choices!! Although, I did treat myself to a real New York style hot dog tonight, which was DIVINE!!!

Anyway, here is the pics of all my eats for today!!

Breakfast: Yogurt with granola

Snack: Sliced orange with 3 mini blueberry muffins

Lunch: Salad with chopped rotisserie chicken, raisins, Dijon dressing, and cherry tomatoes

Snack: Some carrots cut like chips

Snack: Grapes and string cheese

Dinner: A whole wheat hot dog bun, a foot long hot dog, caramelized onions (I am totally addicted!!!), and super healthy baked beans!!! YUM!!

Snack: Fresh strawberries (I decided that because I splurged on a hot dog for dinner, I had better save the chocolate for my strawberries on another day!!) 🙂

How are all of you doing? Getting any ideas for yourself? I would love to hear some of them, please free to comment up above!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!

Today’s Eats!

I have invented and am trying a new nutrition plan for the next 30 days, and today is day #3!! The idea is that I can eat whatever I want, but I have to take a picture of ANYTHING and EVERYTHING I eat and post it on this blog – and have to be willing to take any criticism I might incur!!! They key word being ACCOUNTABILITY!! In addition, I am incorporating more fruits and veggies into my day to help me eat a more BALANCED diet, and get healthy!!

Here is the pics of all my eats for today!!

Breakfast: Chocolate silk with added fiber, sliced banana, and 3 mini blueberry muffins with whipped butter

Snack: None

Lunch: HUGE salad with mixed greens, black beans, 2 leftover crisped bacon slices from dinner last night sliced, cherry tomatoes, and light Dijon dressing

Snack: A cup of read grapes with a string cheese

Dinner: Rotisserie chicken wing, mashed cauliflower with leeks and chives, and steamed brocolli

Dinner 2: Rotisserie chicken breast – I know it looks like a WHOLE LOT more on the plate, but this is actually one chicken breast all broken up on the plate

Snack: 5 chocolate covered strawberries; I am convinced that this may be the dessert that the good God Himself eats!! YUM!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!!

My New Nutrition Plan!!!

Yesterday’s blog posting inspired me to invent and try a new nutrition plan for the next 30 days for myself!! The idea is that I can eat whatever I want, but I have to take a picture of ANYTHING and EVERYTHING I eat and post it on this blog – and have to be willing to take any criticism I might incur!!! You know, I think some ACCOUNTABILITY will be extremely helpful!! In addition, I am going to do my best to get more fruits and veggies into my diet, and eat a more BALANCED diet!! Wish me luck, and I would LOVE to her your thoughts in the comments section!! Thanks!!

Here is what I ate today:

Breakfast: Bagel, light cream cheese, chocolate soy milk with fiber added, fresh orange

Snack: None

Lunch: Leftover fajita chicken breast, with sauteed onions and bell peppers, over mixed leaf lettuce

Snack: 1 little Debbie’s peanut butter cookie (I ate 1/2 of what is shown), and 3 pieces of dried mango

Snack 2: 1 & 1/2 cup of popcorn – the pic looks huge but this is a childs’ size

Dinner: Sauteed onions and bell peppers, served over 3 eggs, with 3 strips of thick cut bacon – extra crispy (I actually ate 1 egg, and the egg white of another)

Snack: Pear

It is one thing to think you remember what you ate, it is a totally DIFFERENT thing to actually SEE what you ate; and because I am such a visual person this might just work for me!!!

On to other things about today:

I had posted a few days ago that I was hoping to create a haven in my backyard, and my sweet husband came over today and helped me get started!!!

I know this is hard to believe, but I actually helped with a ton of weed pulling too!!! (I even kept my hands and shoes clean – now THAT IS MORE LIKE ME!!! LOL! 😉

Here is the before:

Here is the after:

Also, I have been working on a puzzle for the past 2 weeks, and I finally finished it today. On a side note, I had picked this puzzle up from a second hand store, which should have been my first red flag. Sure enough, when I finished I realized I was missing a piece – AAAACK! Well, I guess if that is my biggest problem I have to deal with in my day – I am doing pretty DAMN WELL!!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!!

Feeling Like a Kid Again!!

Wednesday nights at my place are one of my favorite nights of the week! It is the night that my sister-in-law brings my niece and nephew over to have dinner and then go swimming.

My niece is 7, and as cute as a button! She is like the perfect little blond girl that you just know is going to be super popular because even at 7 she is just magnetic.

My nephew is 4, and is he is a near duplicate of my husband, just waaaaay smaller – think mini me to my sweetie!! 😉 He is a firecracker, and has absolutely NO FEAR!!! Swimming with these two is just sooo much fun! It makes me feel like a kid again; diving, flipping, handstands, races, stunts, tricks, somersaults, and just playing!! Let me tell you, that is THE BEST way to exercise!! To play, to be a kid, to have no cares, and for one evening a week to take on that fun and vivacious lifestyle!!

I must’ve done something good in my past to get to be part of their lives!! I am blessed!!

I love these two kiddos!!

~Auntie Chrissy 😉

Walking Milestone!!!

My Sis-in-law and I are both training to walk to the 3-Day 60 Mile Susan G Komen Walk for the Cure in September, and we have completed THE LONGEST walk of our 3 months of training. We walked a total of 8 MILES!!! Now, that may not seem like much to some people, but when you consider that the the two of us combined have a total weight of 600+ pounds – now that is SAYING A-FREAKIN-LOT!!!! Anyway, I am just so proud that we did it, not to mention that our walk encompassed almost EVERY crazy steep hill on this side of town. At one point I literally told her that if there was even one more hill to climb I was going to sit down on the curb, and we would have to call someone to come pick up my dead booty!!! IT WAS HARD, but OH SOOOOOO WORTH IT!!!!!
Thank you, sis, for believing in me more that I believed in myself!!!

With all of that said, please click on the link on the left hand side of the screen and donate to the cause – NO woman should have to suffer and die from this disease!!! You can help us make a difference.

Thank you,
~Christina