Filed under: How was my day today?
It’s a little late, but I did reflect on what I’m thankful for this year, we just discussed it instead of writing it:
- A wonderful and loving family with HUGE hearts.
- Parents that never stop loving me even though I’m all grown up.
- Brothers who are wonderful fathers and even though we didn’t always get along as kids, I cherish the relationships we have now.
- My children as they make me laugh everyday and amaze me.
- That I’m able to learn new things and see things in a new light through my children’s eyes.
- For my loving husband, that even though years have been tough at times, we have always been able to get through it together and are stronger because of it.
- To my friends near and far, I’m grateful to have such loyal people in my life that even though years go by without seeing each other, I still can call them my friends.
- To be able to stay at home and see Winks grow up and be home when Scoober gets out of school to hear about his day.
- To have such nice extended family and how they have embraced me.
- Financial stability, as we are finally getting through the red and into the black.
I NEVER go shopping the day after Thanksgiving, EVER!!! This year though, I am not able to say that, and I’m happy about it.
Our local HD advertised Christmas Trees with LED lights, cool burning, 7 1/2 feet, for $49.99, regularly $199.99. After discussing with Husband, he said to use the CC and go get it and we would pay it off next billing cycle. We really needed a new tree because the one we have has been used almost 10 years and it getting pretty flimsy. So, off we went; me, Scoober, and Winks around 10am to HD, which was pretty busy. Salespeople were waiting at the door, and as soon as I found the trees Scoober got a salesman and we put it aside while we walked around and looked at all the decorations. There were only 4 left, and only 1 mult-colored one left. They were going fast!
I walked away with a beautiful tree, a glue gun and some new ornaments for all under $70.00. So, I saved close to $130.00!
Today, it’s not black Friday, but I am going out. There is snow on the ground here, so it will be a nice “shopping for Christmas” day. Next week, I hope to be finished and I am pleased to report that we have not charged anything that we cannot pay off the next billing cycle! Hooray!
At the beginning of this month, I received a HUGE package from my Dad; my childhood rocking chair. When I pulled it out of the box, my memories came flooding back. I had totally forgotten about that chair.
My parents are the greatest! That chair, and the note in it, reminds me of how much my parents love me, and how much my Dad is a huge teddy bear sometimes. Thank you Dad!
Here is Winks and Mommy enjoying my chair!
Winks and Mommy with Mommy
Filed under: Weight Loss Journal
So, I was a little worried this year about the annual feast of so much food and how it might wreck havoc on my successful weight loss. Well, I’m pleased to report that it didn’t cause any havoc at all.
I put very small portions, between 1/4 – 1/2 cup of each food (5 different items) on my plate and then ate very slowly. I added only about 2 tbsp of gravy, and NO BUTTER or extra salt. I walked away feeling satisfied, but not bloated and full. I did have a small piece of pumpkin cheese cake with fruit and then a small slice of pecan pie about 1 1/2 hours later. Oh, and only 1/2 glass of wine, the rest was water.
All in all, I feel very good about my choices and even though I probably didn’t lose any weight this week, I’m fairly confident that I didn’t gain any either.
I am NOT cooking an entire dinner this year! This will be the 2nd year in a row that I’ve not cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner. Last year, I had just given birth to Winks, so we bought a meal from one of the local grocery stores.
This year, we are sharing the cooking responsibilities with The Grizzly’s and I will make; green bean casserole, Bourbon Pecan Pie, and Husband’s favorite cawliflower dish.
Here is the recipe for the Bourbon Pecan Pie:
- 1 cup Dark corn syrup
- 4 tbsp melted butter
- 2 tbsp bourbon (will use Jim Beam)
- 9 ” unbaked pie shell (bought Pillsbury on sale with coupon)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 lightly beaten eggs
- 2 cups pecan halves
Preheat oven to 400 F. Mix corn syrup, sugar and melted butter. Stir in eggs, bourbon, and pecans. Pour into pie shell. Bake 15 minutes; reduce oven to 350 F and bake an additional 30 minutes or until done. NOTE: We usually soak our pecans overnight in the bourbon. Don’t worry, the alcohol will be cooked out, but the taste will remain. Yum!
Recipe for the Cauliflower Casserole dish:
- 1 head of cauliflower or 1 lb bag of cauliflower (bought head on sale for $1.00)
- 1/2 cup mayonaise
- 1 1/2 tsp mustard
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Cook cauliflower until soft. Place cooked cauliflower in a casserole dish. Mix mayonaise, mustard and salt/pepper together and then spoon over cauliflower. Top with cheese and microwave until cheese is melted; about 1 minute. NOTE: This recipe is from my Mom’s cookbook. Her blog is at AKentuckyCreation.wordpress.com.
I hope everyone has a nice and safe Thanksgiving Holiday!
Filed under: Living the Step Life
When Husband and the EX exchange financial information to see if there is enough change to facilitate a review of child support. There is a significant change, in that, we had Winks last year, so we could ask for a review. Based on the numbers we came up with and sent out to her, support would go down at least $150/mo. Of course, I’m positive that EX will not seek to go before the judge to ask for a modification that it increase, because it won’t happen. She stands to lose 2 of her credits that she currently gets under the old order for day care and counseling, which neither of the kids need or are in.
I’ve got mixed feelings about this. Although it would benefit us to not have to pay out an extra $150/mo, I don’t know that we want to bring that chaos and stress of a court hearing into our lives right now. However, if we don’t do it, she still gets all that money extra that she’s not really entitled to anymore.
The next review period is when oldest SD will be a senior in HS and WE will need to go back to have the order changed for only one of them begining May 2010. Support can be paid up to age 19, which the judge could order, but until college choices have been decided, we dont’ have any idea on how that wil play out. The state Husband’s order is in does not require the non-custodial parent to pay for college, or the custodial for that matter. So, it’s hard for me to see the judge awarding college expenses to EX since she’s NEVER made Husband pay for private schooling all these years, and extracurricular activities. After all, that’s kind of what child support is to be for, to pay for any extras, as well.
If judge were to order support till age 19 for both of Husband’s other children, then we can deal with that. At that time, we will be in a more financially sound place and DH has paid his support every month in full since the first order was entered in 1997. He has always provided for them, as he could. The only thing he wishes he had more of, was time with his children. With EX having all the control, and Husband attempting several times over the years to either talk to, see, or chat with the children, EX has always made it near impossible and impossible for him to do so. When you have someone reading every letter that comes into the house, listening to every phone message, reading every e-mail and deciding whether or not she wants them to see it or hear it, that is just totally wrong.
I believe that one day EX will get what is coming to her, which will be resentment from the children for keeping them from knowing and seeing their father.
Filed under: How was my day today?
We are doing fine. Things got a little hectic last month for some reason, but things are better now. We are preparing for the holidays. I’ve got almost all Scoober’s Christmas presents bought and will concentrate on Winks next month. I’m just so happy that we’ll actually be able to afford to buy presents and not charge them this year. It’s a great feeling.
Winks is crawling like there is no tomorrow. She’s still a little hesitant on taking those first steps, but you can see determination when she wants something. She’s got these cute expressions, like what did you say? We turned her around and she’s now in her front facing car seat. Just another reminder that she’s growing up and she’s not going to be a baby much longer. 
Scoober is doing much better, socially, in school. He was having some trouble, even being sent to the Principal’s office for a major referral, but he has turned it around and is in a special “lunch bunch” social group once a week with the school counselor. He really looks forward to that, and it’s very structured lessons. He is doing better using words instead of his fists to solve problems. The other day a boy pushed him down and said, you’re dead. Logan got a bump on his head, but he said to the boy, “keep your hands to yourself and quit being a bully”. I think he’s figuring it out, so we’ll just stay in touch with him and he’ll be okay i’m sure.
Husband finally got his pay increase last pay period. This helps us a lot because we are finally in the black every month! Hooray! Husband is finding that he surrounded by drama at work, but he knows he’s supposed to learn something from this. I told him, I think the lesson is how to not let the drama effect him and to just do the job and track everything, saving e-mails, etc. to make sure he is covered and then the drama will not come his way. I think his lesson is to learn patience, tolerance of things he has no control over, and acceptance that every environment is different. No complaints, he just hates the estrogen drama, as he calls it.
I’m not working part-time anymore for the Grizzly’s. The majority of the work is caught up, we finished the USAF contract and now I will just fill in when they need me. That is fine because I was starting to miss being home and spending time with Winks and doing the normal household things I was use to doing during the week. Amazing how things pile up when you aren’t home. I babysat for one week for a young couple that were moving to VA. The little girl was just 3 months older than Winks. They got along well, but the little girl started to get territorial with me and would get upset if Winks crawled over to be held by me, too. They are gone now and hopefully her parents can figure out everything and give her some stability.
We are also Tiger Cub den leaders now! We just finished up our meetings for November and the popcorn sales. Scoober sold enough popcorn to go to camp and also do some other activities if he wants. He chose a telescope and microscope for his prizes. We pulled it out last night and he really had a fun time looking at the different things under the microscope. Scouts is fun! I am learning as I go along, but doing it as a family is even more fun! Winks is very cooperative, too. Probably because it’s close to her bedtime when we have our meetings. Husband and I switch off tending to her during the meetings. He opens the meetings, then I do the craft, he closes the meeting. It’s a team effort and it is working so far.
Well, I’m off to start today’s cleaning and catching up on laundry. With Scoober off next week for 3 days and then 2 days for the weekend, I want to get everything done this week so we can just hang out.
Filed under: Weight Loss Journal
You know, I am doing good. I hit a plateau, but now I’m past it. It lasted for almost 3 weeks and I was worried that I would start gaining again, but I’m over the hump and lost another 1.4 lbs last week. Now, I’m only 4.4 lbs away from my end of year goal of 170 lbs! I haven’t weighed that since I was pregnant with Scoober!
With the holidays coming, I’ve got to be extra careful not to overindulge on especially the sweets. We are spending Thanksgiving with Husband’s cousins, The Grizzly’s. It will be nice not to have to cook an entire dinner, but I’ll be helping out by bringing a few dishes to share. The Grizzly’s will be cooking the turkey, but I still plan to buy one while they are on sale for $6 under 16 lbs to put in the freezer for Christmas.
Exercising hasn’t been a staple during my weight loss, but I did start working a little where I was on my feet and lifting a lot. Plus, with Winks all over the place now, I think that’s a LOT of exercise.
My secret, there isn’t one. I began working with Weight Watcher points system and have just evolved from there. The first couple weeks was the hardest trying to get used to the portion sizes, etc. WW points doesn’t deprive you of anything, it just limits how much of something you can have. I journaled and followed the points for the first few months. Now I’ve not jounaled in a long time, but I am watching my portions sizes. It’s amazing how much gets imbedded in your brain with that stuff.
Will update next week on how I did! Wish me luck!
