Trials of a Long Haired Girl

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve!  How's your week going so far?  I want to take a moment and talk about something posted on Facebook where people have made rude comments.  Here's the thing, purely my opinion, but I think that many people are getting more rude and not thinking about how it may cause others to feel because they are hiding behind their screens.  Here's my two cents or what it's worth, just be kind.  You don't know what others may be going through.  One smile from you may change the way their day is going.  One "good morning, how are you?" even if you don't really want to know.  Even if you do not agree with someone, there is no point in being rude to them.  We are all human and we all need a little grace sometimes.  We are not perfect and we each fall short from time to time.  I guess my Mom telling me for so long to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" just stuck and I try hard to be courteous to...

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve!  I hope everyone has had a great week so far!  Something was mentioned awhile back on one of my FB groups about not knowing what weight loss route to take.  To be honest, I can completely understand that.  You can go to any bookstore and pull any book off the shelf in that section and will likely read something slightly different in each one.  There's a slightly different spin, even if there are some similarities.   I know there are some people that wonder why I stick with WW and part of the reason is that I know it works.  It may not be perfect, but it has worked for me in the past and I can always find ways to tweak it to make it work for me.  Here's my two cents, not that anyone really asked.  There isn't one diet that seems to work across the board for each person.  The fact is that no matter what weight loss route you take, you will have to figure out what works for you.  Sometimes, you h...

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve! My thoughts today are on the fact that I just celebrated 10 years of marriage with my sweet husband. I am not sure I could be more blessed than I am with this man who supports me and loves me. We have been through so much during our time together, including moving my Mom in with us and then losing her. Being with me after my son’s multiple hospitalizations for various things. Let me tell you that I honestly don’t think I  could have done or handled all of that without him. He has been my rock. There is no one that I  would rather do life with than my sweet husband. Even though he really doesn’t need to lose weight, he has been so sweet as to support me when I  buckle down to get control of my health/weight loss. He eats what I cook, without complaint.   No fat, low fat, full fat, vegetarian, Southern cooking, he eats it all. He gets up early to go walk  with me. I know not every man would do that, but he does.  ...

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve friends!   I apologize for not posting much this week.   I had planned to make time to post, but I haven’t been feeling 100% this week.   The CPAP machine seems to be keeping me up nights.   I’m sure at some point I’ll adjust, but at this point, it just makes me tired.   I received an email from my provider/maker of my machine that said 81% of people who use a CPAP for more than 7 hours a night have less daytime sleepiness after 3 months.   I’ve just got to make it to that point.   The next few weeks are going to be a little harder for me to meal plan, but I’m going to try for sure to stay on plan.   It’ll be a challenge, but hopefully one I’m up for!     

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve friends!   Wow!   Is it just me or does this week seem to be flying by?   After watching some vloggers that I follow on YouTube move more toward low carb and remembering that my cardiologist told me that I should focus on eating lower carb to help with my weight loss.   For the most part, I don't eat a ton of carbs, but looking back, after my cardiologist said that, I noticed I started incorporating more carbs into my meal plan.   Not that it isn't allowed with WW but I have realized that I'm not doing as well as I would like.   For the time being, I'm going to focus on lowering my carbs daily.   My hope is that it will kick my weight loss into a higher gear until I can get my workouts back fully under control.   I know I want to start strength training again as well, but it's going to take me a minute to get everything to line back up. Tuesday night, I prepared a low carb breakfast casserole.   There i...

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve, friends!   Hope everyone has had a great week so far!   I was reminded earlier this week just how important it was for me that I roasted those veggies over the weekend.   We had a very rough night dealing with insomnia.   If you have never dealt with insomnia, be grateful!   Quite honestly, if I hadn’t prepared some roasted veggies and had some chicken that I had purchased pre-cooked, I likely would have ordered out on Tuesday.   If I’d ordered out, it most likely wouldn’t have been on plan.   I have really been trying to stay on plan so the fact I did some prep saved me time on the back-end, not to mention calories!   I think we can all agree that there are times, like when we are tired, that we would be more likely to go with whatever is convenient.   For the coming week, I will be trying to focus on using the items in my freezer.   Do you do that periodically?   If you do, how often do you...

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve friends!  How's the week going for you?  Mine is going pretty well thus far.  I feel like pre-tracking and making my lunches the evening before has definitely been helpful.  While I didn't get as much done as I wanted over the weekend, I was determined especially with the July challenge helping me stay motivated.  I saw another YouTuber that I watch from time to time talking about something that I know I need to focus on, which is not just splurging on the weekends.  In the past, that has really been my weak point.  My hope is that after really trying to focus on the July challenge this month that I will break that habit and it will be a little easier to continue with my focus.   I have been looking back at how different things were when I originally started this weight loss journey.  Back then, I was really focused.  I wanted to lose weight and used that momentum to help me do just that....

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve, friends!  Have you ever read or listened to something and it seemed like that person wrote that or was speaking directly to you?  My childhood pastor used to refer to it as "reading someone's mail" and I have also heard it referred to as having someone's number.  Well, I tell you, in all honestly, I was seriously feeling like I was being spoken to this week.  Earlier this week I was listening to an audiobook called "Made To Crave" by Lysa TerKeurst and promptly decided that I needed to get the ebook and have not made up my mind for sure yet, but I think I may have to go check out a hard copy from the library and there is also a participant's guide as well.  When she started speaking about needing to see herself through God's eyes instead of through her past situations and her baggage, it was a reality check.  I mean, hello??!!  I have struggled with my self esteem for so many years.  Then a YouTuber that I follow...

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve friends! I hope everyone has had a good week!  Overall, so far, it's been a pretty good week.  I had unexpected downtime on Tuesday night so DH and I headed to the movies, which hasn't happened in ages.  It was nice to have a night time date since we normally do breakfast dates on Saturday mornings.  I love having that time with him, but we did not do that this past Saturday.  I am feeling much better than I did last week and my 5 perfect days seem to be going pretty well.  If I can continue to string them together, I'll feel pretty good about my birthday month.  I have been thinking about some things recently that I thought I would share.  I have been doing WW for more years than I'd care to remember.  When I started WW, I was very dedicated and I ate all the fat free or low fat stuff and all the sugar substitutes and the like.  My primary focus was how many Points is this or that?  Looking up the ...

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve friends!  I hope everyone enjoyed the recipe yesterday.  It was really tasty and my family enjoyed it.  While I feel this week has been a little "off", I do feel like I'm making some progress.  Yes, tracking is happening which is a good thing.  However, I think my little lapses and letting myself have sugar over the weekend.  Also, because I was watching Jess, Jess and Brianna's live on YouTube when it was not live, I was reminded about what happens when I don't get enough water.  So, I've been really pushing that this week.  True Lime Black Cherry Limeade is a huge help in that regard.  It gives me a little flavor and helps me drink more.  I was finished with both bottles that I keep on my desk by 6:30 tonight.  I did splurge tonight and had a Starbucks coffee.  It is a treat for me and I rarely do it.  One big thing I noticed this week is the sugar cravings.  Oh my word!  It's ...

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve friends! Happy Valentine's Day!  This one is a bit of a two-for.  My Mom always made Valentine's Day special for me, even when I was single.  I still have a red teddy bear with a rose that Mom got me years ago.  I have so many great memories of hanging out with her having a special dinner and she was always my Valentine, even after I got married.  For our Valentine's day dinner, I am making a meal that I know everyone likes.  I was reminded again recently just how blessed I am with my husband.  I know now is a time to get a little sappy, but I have been thinking about this for a bit.  My husband and I were everything that we thought we didn't want.  God clearly had other plans.  Mom told him at our reception that there was no exchanges and no returns.  Seriously, I firmly believe that if I had gotten married when "all my friends" were getting married that I would not have been truly prepared for m...

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve friends!  Hope your week is going well!  I don't know about you but there are definitely times that our budget for going out for a date night is a little tight.  Aside from that, this year, we have some budget goals that are important to us.  Honestly, I was reminded of this when I was catching up on my blogs around the middle of January.  I was reading Merissa's post on Little House Living entitled Frugal Date Night Ideas .  She really offers some great suggestions.  Something else that my husband and I do is to hold on to gift cards that we are given and then we use them for a date.  Recently, we took an afternoon off and headed to a movie using gift cards from a birthday or Christmas.  It makes it a lot less expensive for us when we go on a date using gift cards we've received.  Sometimes our dates are as simple as taking a long walk up through the park or around a nature preserve in the area.  ...

Happy Friday eve a/k/a Thursday!  One of the things that I love about my Planner is setting goals and writing down things that inspire me to move towards those goals.  As my "word" of the year is "transform", I was lead to this scripture in Romans 12:2:   And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. I will focus on this going into February as January has definitely not gone according to plan for me. I will go through my goals tomorrow.  Hope everyone has a great day! 

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve friends!  How's your week going?  So far so good for mine.  I've had several blue dot days this week and I'm proud of that.  I know meal planning and meal prepping can be a bit daunting, but I am really figuring out how beneficial it can be.  At the present time, I only meal plan for a week at a time.  Usually I have ideas in my head for a second week, but I don't usually write those down.  I keep seeing folks posting that they plan for a month at a time.  I am not sure I am quite ready for that yet, but I think I may try to go for 2 weeks, at least.  With everyone's schedule being so crazy, I think it's really going to be even more important that I plan for our meals.  My great hope is to take President's Day to prepare some freezer meals so that we are even more prepared for February and March.  I am compiling recipes now to do just that.  My primary focus is to choose meals that I know my fa...

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve!  I was scrolling through my FB Memories the other day and this popped up from 4 years ago: "Okay, so they say in my WW meetings that if you just try to do 1 thing this week and write it down so that you are accountable, it's better. So here's my one thing: Planning dinners this week." It was a reminder to me that I have been on this weight loss journey and focusing on making changes for some time.  Many things have changed during my years on this journey.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I have been on this journey for years.  In the beginning, I focused on all of the things to try to get the weight off.  I ate fat free cheese, drank fat free milk, consumed no calorie sweetener without regard to what it might do to my body.  After my Mom had a bad reaction from Splenda, things started to change for me.  There were things that I discovered that I would not compromise on like butter and sugar.  I decided th...

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve friends! I hope everyone is doing well.  While 2018 was not the best year for me due to some personal goings on that I don't really want to get into, I'm feeling pretty good going into 2019.  On Saturday, I weighed in and I'm just going to use it as my "official start weight" for 2019.  I weighed in and determined that I have less than 50 pounds left to hit my goal.  I haven't been this close and realized it in some time.  I really feel like if I focus, it's very doable for me to hit my goal in 2019.  On another note, I'm really going to have to purge my closet!  It's time to pull out those dresses, shirts and skirts that are too big on me, including some sweaters that probably should have been gone for quite awhile.  I am sure that someone else will appreciate them just as much as I did.  I have some gift cards that I've held on to that I can use to shop for those smaller items of clothing.  I hit ...

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve friends!  Thanks for stopping by!  With January 1st right around the corner, I wanted to take a moment and talk about my goals for the month of January.  As I mentioned, one of the Wellness Coaches for a local meeting offered up a challenge to walk/run 2019 miles in 2019.  I am going to strive to hit that mark.  I realize that there will be off days, but it is definitely something to focus on.  I am planning to go back to basics in January.  Yes, I will be reviewing my WW information and focusing on those meal plans.  I think I am a little different than some because I choose not to do the fat free cheese, milk, etc. In going back to basics, I will be getting back to tracking all my licks, bites and tastes!  It's important to know what I'm putting in my body because I can't expect it to run well if I put junk in it continuously.  Movement is key.  I will be using that little keyboard holder more in ...

Happy Thursday a/k/a Friday eve, friends!  Hope everyone's week is going well.  I have already been thinking about my goals for the coming year.  It's never too soon, right?  I got a great new calendar that I am hoping will help me plot out how to get to my goals. I need to start working through it, but I thought I would share this quote from Carol Burnett.  It's so true!  

Hello wonderful friends! Happy Hump day!  I hope everyone is having a great week thus far.   Is it just me or is it difficult to get back into your routine after a few days off?  It's been a little crazy for me, but I am determined that I will have my 5 perfect days to get back into my routine at the end of the week.  However, what I can say is getting back into my routine doesn't have to be all salads or veggie soup.  Last night, I decided to finally have the Pizza Bubble Up that has been on my meal plan for a couple of weeks.  Instead of making one casserole, I decided to make two 8x8 casseroles because not all my family likes the same pizza toppings.  I've got one part that prefers just pepperoni and I, personally, am not a fan.  I decided to use the Canadian bacon that I had in the freezer for one of the casseroles.  I added a Pearls Olives on the Go sliced olive container and some bell pepper, along with the Canadian bacon....