Weight loss challenge (low fat/no fat)

Did I ever tell you that I'm certified in fitness and nutrition...you wouldn't know it from looking at me.  But I am.
I studied fitness and nutrition for about a year, thinking it would help me along in my own goals.  I may or may not be still certified, I believe that it is a once a year thing, but I still have the knowledge.  I know that calories in have to be less than calories out for you to lose weight.  I know that you should exercise, and eat well, and eat whole foods, not processed.  I know the things that I need to be doing.  Lately, I just haven't been putting them into effect.

I did well last week, I'm eating breakfast consistently with my coffee every morning.  I find that I'm actually hungry in the mornings, when I wasn't before.  I can tell that I'm beginning to have a little more energy throughout the day.  Maybe it was all that was needed was some breakfast.  My breakfasts are mainly just cereal, even when I don't feel like having cereal.  Its the easiest to get, sometimes making eggs in the morning is just a little too much for me, lol.  Overall, it seems to be working.  I did FINALLY weigh myself on Sunday.  So I have my weight amount, probably due to retaining water, I was up a lot more than I was today.  I'm going to keep a little chart for my Monday weight loss challenge days.

So this week, I am challenging myself to make more low fat/no fat meals.  When I go grocery shopping to get the low or no fat depending on what it is.  I still have some normal items in my cupboards and fridge, but this is a slow process.  I cannot just throw away the food in the house.  Hopefully it will get easier and easier, and we will all ease into this new way of life, slowly but surely.

Monday 2/21: -3.6 lbs

Pictures of encouragement!  This was in 2009, soon after my husband came home from Iraq.  We were at a ball with friends!  It was a lot of fun.  Please excuse the goofy looks, and the bathing suit tan, HA!

Book Lover Friends...

I love my books.
I have a special place in my heart for all books.  Good or bad, old or new, from Childrens books to Encyclopedias.  They all have a place.

A long time ago, I came across this website that you can swap out your older books with ones you maybe haven't read.  I didn't actually try it until we moved back to the states though.  I have been consistently using this site for a few months now, and I LOVE it.  So I wanted to share it with my readers.

Sometimes you don't get the newest books out there, sometimes you don't get the books in the best of brand new shape.  But you can still choose from thousands of books, some that maybe you've wanted to read for a while, some that maybe are newer and you don't mind waiting for.  Overall though, its a great website.

Books should be read, and passed onto others to read, they shouldn't collect dust on your bookcase...just my opinion.

In comes this website:Paper Back Swap

The basic gist of the site, is you input books that you no longer read, but someone may be interested in...I've listed everything from board books, to comic books on the site, and a lot of them are wanted.  Once someone requests your book, you ship it off, that person will tell the site when it has been received, and you get a credit for sending it.  You can then use that credit to get a book that you want.

If you sign up, you can input 10 books onto your bookshelf (doesn't matter what books they are, just books) and you get 2 free credits, so you can try it out for yourself and see if you like it as well.

I thought it was a great site though, and I've been meaning to say something, I just kept forgetting, so go check out the site for yourself.  I have so many books they are coming out of my ears now, and I LOVE it!  Ohhhh...and you can do this from an APO as well!  =)

Now go forth and read, my bookworm friends!

Friday Fill in 2/18

Its been a crazy week, first off, Paul is in this "field" thing right now.  He works from about 9am until almost 8pm every night for about a month and a half now.  This week, since they had worked out that everyone was supposed to get a four day (just in random order), he has been "off" since Wednesday.  I put off in quotations because he's been working.  Wednesday, he had to go into work twice.  Thursday he had to go into work twice.  Both times interrupting our plans for the day.  Yesterday, he had to leave me at Walmart so that he could rush into work.  Only to find out that he wasn't really needed.  So yeah, I've been a little annoyed at the whole thing.  It is the army though, so its just one of those things, sigh....

Okay, so I'm going to take my mind off of all this, and do the Friday fill in this week!




1.What is your favorite MilSpouse blog (not including Wife of a Sailor who we all love, or your own)? submitted by Our Crazy Life

There are many great blogs out there...it would be really hard to choose just one.  However, I can tell ya one that I've recently come across that I really enjoy reading.  But I follow probably about 100 blogs that I read consistently.  This is just a newer one that I've added to my blogroll!  The Annoyed Army Wife.  She's funny, she's witty, and she's very entertaining to read.  If you haven't checked her out yet, go!  =)

2.What are your favorite perks about your s/o being deployed (we all know there are perks)? submitted by Ramblings of a Marine Wife

Perks, what are you talking about..there are no perks, this is madness....okay,okay... I'll admit there are a FEW perks, but they NEVER outweigh the downsides to my husband being gone!  I would definitely say that its cheaper around here, we don't have an extra person eating, I get a discount on insurance, I don't have a cell phone of his to pay, we also don't have to pay for his gas.  Then there is the cleaning aspect...my bathroom doesn't get as dirty, my laundry pile isn't so big, I don't have to wait for him to get to something, I have to rely on myself (that's a good and a bad thing, lol.)  I am also more independent when he's gone, I get out of the house more, and do more things because of it being a little cheaper around here, and the fact that he can't tell me he doesn't want to go, lol.  Yeah there are perks, but they don't ever come close to outweighing the perks when he IS here!

3.How long did you date your before getting engaged? Married? submitted by Utterly Chaotic

Our situation is different.  We met online, talked for a good two months before we even met...started dating when we met, September 2001, I found out I was pregnant, we got married December 2001.

Basically just three months between dating and marrying.  No engagement here.

4.What do you think your would do if s/he wasn’t in the military? submitted by Adventures of M-Squared

Paul would be in computers, just like he is now.  It may not have started out that way, but it would have ended up like that.  He loves his job, his networking and all, and he would do it on the outside as well.

5.If you could talk to the Secretary of Army what is one suggestion you would like to bring to their attention in order to improve the lives of military families? submitted by My Life as His (Air Force) Wife

I have no idea?!  Probably I would ask for more time with my soldier.  2 weeks during a 12-15 month deployment is NOT enough...make it three please!  Oh and these mini vacations that they can take through the year that they are home...they just don't give them enough time to be home, to spend with their families.  Its disappointing, but it is what it is.  I would love more time, but I chose this life with him, and I'm willing to deal with it for him.

The end!  =)

Weight loss challenge (breakfast)....

I haven't had much in the way of motivation lately.  I've gotten HUGE...at least by my standards....and most dr.'s standards.  I have all of the tools to lose this weight, but motivation has been waning.  So I'm going to take this week by week, and do ONE challenge a week to incorporate.  This week I'm working on BREAKFAST.

I've noticed that since I started drinking coffee, I tend to skip breakfast, even if I am hungry.  So I am going to try to remember to eat breakfast, even if its just a small bowl of cereal, or oatmeal.  Just something, yogurt, fruit.  Whatever works.  This morning I had some honey nut cheerios with ff milk.  Measured, and actually ate less than the portion size.  I feel satisfied enough, and I feel a little more awake surprisingly now that I ate some breakfast.  Weird.

I am going to weigh myself tomorrow.  Which means its probably going to be a very BAD day for me tomorrow, lol.  I tend to be very depressed when I weigh myself.....SIGH. =(

Instead of being all mopey today, I decided to just incorporate my challenge instead.  I need some sort of motivation, and maybe eating breakfast will give me the energy I need to go on with my day.  

Did you know that most successful weight losers...eat breakfast on a daily basis.  Its good for you.

Eat Breakfast to Lose Weight  (check out the article).

AND please, wish me luck!!  =)

I want to look like HER again!!!!! 

Under water, and nose bubble and all!

 

Feb. 14

Happy
Valentine's 
Day
My
Loves!

I wish you LOVE, HUGS, KISSES, and COMFORT.  This Vday.  OH and of course, chocolate, flowers, and jewelry!!  =)  I hope you all have a great day.

Steph 

PW newest picture challenge...

This week PW (aka Pioneer Woman) is doing another photo challenge.  Her latest request is "love."  One of my favorite pictures I decided to crop, add things to, and mess with the color.  I am going to show you the original, and the new version.  Please tell me what you think.

 I really don't like to use photo shop too much on my pictures.  I'm not comfortable with it, and I think that sometimes pictures are beautiful without it.  BUT- I love how this one turned out.  It just adds a bit MORE to the photo.  Please tell me your thoughts, positive or negative, really I want to hear your opinions, I take criticism well, and would love to hear it!!

Friday Fill in!

Hey everyone!  So Wife of a Sailor wasn't able to get to the fill in this week!  Everyone has things that come up, so its understandable.  So I decided to back track and do one from a few weeks ago that I didn't do.  Here we go:

1. What do you usually want to know about someone when meeting them for the first time?
That depends.  I am actually a bit shy when I first meet people, so all I want to know is a name.  Once I warm up to people, I ask questions.  One of the first is if they have kids, or are married.  Those are two things that I would look for in commonalities.  Not to say that if you don't, that I won't be your friend, I have many friends who are single and childless, or one or the other, but if you do, and are, then I can start from there.  I find that I do hang out a lot more with people in the latter, especially the married ones.  I've found that sometimes singles are a little too wild for my tastes.  I need friends who are calmer and will encourage good things and positivity in my life.



2. Would you rather know everything about your spouse, or be regularly surprised?
I think I would rather be surprised.  Knowing everything about your spouse can get old.  But I surely know who my spouse is as a person, but I don't think I'll ever know EVERYTHING.  Will anyone ever truly know everything.  I mean unless you grew up in the house with your spouse, and you were with your spouse every waking second of every day, you might know everything, but still you are not in his/her head, and will never truly know EVERYTHING.

3. If you could live in one city for the rest of your life, where would you live?
This is a tough one.  I would have to choose Colorado Springs.  I haven't lived in many places in my lifetime.  The bulk of my life has been in Texas, with 4 years in CO, and 3 years in Germany.  Now I'm back in TX.  While TX is where I grew up, I have a love for CO, and would love to go back someday.  Its where we would like to make our way back to eventually.


4. When you go out of town, what one material thing do you ALWAYS take?
My laptop.  I cannot live without it, and don't know how I survived this long without it.  Or at least some sort of internet connection.  LOL.  TG for Smart Phones!  =)



5. Using no more than 10 nouns, and ONLY nouns, describe yourself.
Hmmm...this is a hard one.  
Wife, Mother, Sister, Daughter, Texas, Army Spouse, Fun (counts as a thing right?), Colorado, Germany, Internet, Blogger, Addict (only to the good things, no bad things addict, lol)

Well, look at that, I actually came up with more than 10, well just in case some of those aren't really classified as nouns...I'll leave it up, lol. 

Never thought...

that I would admit to this.  Germany wasn't sunny all of the time.  As a matter of fact it rained a LOT.  A lot more than I wanted to deal with.  It was depressing.  I am solar powered, and needed that sun.  But MAN- when it was sunny, it was GORGEOUS.  You cannot get that everywhere.  In Texas, its sunny most of the time, but its not soooo pretty.  =(  Colorado was just about perfect for me (weather wise), but still....I miss the beauty that was in Germany, on good days, you could look at your surroundings and feel at peace.  Sigh...

Numbering comments on my blog...

It took me a while, but I finally figured out how to number my comments on my blog!  Yay!  =)

If you would like to know how to number your comments here is the link that finally allowed me to do this: How-To

Please bear with me, as I'm trying to get my blog updated a bit, I just added new font to it as well.  I am still learning my way around the blog hemisphere, so I promised that I would try to update something every day!  I updated 2 today, so I guess I'm good for two days, HA!  Thanks for reading!

Stephanie

Short n sweet.

Found this, and thought some of you may be interested:
DixieRocks.com is giving away the choice of an Amazon Kindle, Ipod Nano, or a $150 Gift Certificate from GameRoomsUSA.com! Entering is Easy! Contest details can be found on thier facebook fanpage at http://on.fb.me/dixierockscom or on their website at http://DixieRocks.com/contest.

Quiche anyone?

Ever since I was in high school, and had a foreign exchange student (from France) live with me for a week (I also got to live with her for week in France), and she made my father and I some quiche lorraine, I have loved quiche.  I'm not a huge fan of eggs in general, I'll eat them, but they really aren't my first choice.  Pancakes are my first choice, of course.  Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy eggs every now and then, but they can get dull after a while.
So since, I've getting creative in my cupboard...(sounds like a new challenge), I've been having to figure out things to make with what I have.  And I have a TON of eggs.  Eggs are good for baking, eating, and throwing into meat, so why not?  Well, I have a few too many eggs, so I needed something that would end up using a lot of eggs.  I have personally never made a quiche before.  And its actually extremely easy!!  And absolutely delectable.  =)

What I made isn't a quiche lorraine.  Its just a quiche.  I looked around the www for measurement recommendations and just went with it.  Seasoned the quiche and everything else on my own.  Here is the yummy recipe:

Steph's Quiche

1 pie crust (I just used one of the easy ones that you can roll out into your pie pan)

6 eggs

1 cup milk

garlic salt

minced onion

garlic

thyme

2 cups shredded cheese (I used cheddar)

ham steak (diced)

  First, I cooked the pie shell so that it ensures crispiness when baking the liquidy eggs.  Just follow the directions on the package, or just cook until lightly browned in the oven.

Stir up the eggs, milk and seasonings together, be careful of the thyme, I put a little too much in the recipe, it still tasted great, but I would definitely use less thyme next thyme TIME.  =P

Then add the cheese, and diced up ham into your pie shell.  Pour the egg mixture over them, and bake in the oven.  I baked at 375 for 30 minutes, but all ovens are different so you want to make sure that the eggs are set, and no longer liquidy.  If you shake the pan and its still really jiggly, it is NOT done...and would probably be pretty gross to eat...not to mention try to cut.  So make sure its not jiggly anymore.

Let cool for a few minutes, and serve warm.  Some people like quiche cold, but I am not one of those people...I'd rather have it warmed.  Oh and its even great for leftovers, so you can save it, and reheat in the microwave for 30 seconds and have breakfast later!

I hope you enjoy!

Avoir un bon repas

For the love of books!

I am a lover of books.  I walk into a book store, and I'm like a kid in a candy store.  I could literally spend HOURS upon hours at the book store.  My husband gets a little annoyed with me sometimes because of this fact.  I usually only read right before bed as I have many other things to do (giveaways, blogging to my followers, twiddling my thumbs...oh wait, cooking, cleaning, taking care of kiddos, etc).  One of my most favorite blogs is having a blog hop (yes, another one), this one is a little different though, its all about books, and book related things.  Some people are giving away gift cards to places that you can buy books, others are giving away e-books, and others are giving away some wonderful, beautiful actual books.  Mmmm..love the smell of the freshly printed book paper, I love cracking the spine (I really try not to, but it happens on newbies), I love the act of reading, knowing that no matter what, I am learning.  I take something from each book, whether it be educational, taking me to another world, or instructional.  I am always learning new things.  I read all kinds of books too, cookbooks, how to books, fantasy books, romance, even kid books. (TANGENT TIME- I like to read a book before I give it to my girls, to ensure it doesn't go against anything we teach them.  I don't like the books that call other kids fat, or have other kids say that they "hate" something.  I don't want my children to grow up with the word hate, but I realize that sooner or later, they will choose their own books. Sigh)  Anyway, if you would like to check this out, I encourage you to check out the blogs giving away books galore, if you are interested, and try to win some for yourself!  I am going to try...lately I haven't had much success with my giveaways, but it will happen again I'm sure...if you enter enough giveaways, you are bound to win something, right?  Okay enough of my giveaway addiction, here is the link:

You are going to want to start with: I am a Reader not a Writer, and you'll work your way through the hop.  You'll have to become a follower of most of the blogs in order to win, but its worth it.  =)

Wow...

Another Kelly Moore camera bag on a fantastic giveaway site!  Check out my sidebar for other blogs that you should check out!  Here is the link for the other giveaway: Snack Bar Reviews.

I would absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE to win this bag for my camera, and you can try too!  Make sure you tell her that I sent you, and I could get some more entries to the giveaway...I would be FOREVER grateful!  =)

Last day to enter...

Super giveaway alert!

I really hope I win, this bag is so cute, look here, or follow Real Mom Reviews on my sidebar.

Real Mom Reviews

Winner, winner, pork for dinner??

My husband is barbecuing a pulled pork shoulder for the Super Bowl tomorrow!  Yum!

So, I bet you are excited to see if you won huh??

Thank you to all of my new followers, and thank you so much for the wonderful comments you have left me, I absolutely LOVE having comments, and followers!

So prize number 1, the Pampered Chef kids pack is going to.....

sitwme
Prize number 2, the Pampered Chef Bakers Roller and Citrus Peeler goes to....

Mrs. JPT
Prize number 3, the Pampered Chef All the best cookbook is going to....

WinKeySolutions 

Prize number 4, the Partylite choice of warmer goes to....

Katie

Finally, the prize number 5, the gorgeous Hair Flair goes to....

Jennifer W

Thanks to everyone who entered in my very first giveaway, I really appreciate it!  I wish I had something for everyone who entered!  I used random.org to choose the winners, now email me, and I will get the addresses to the appropriate people to send off your goodies!

  

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

1. Since most of the country has nasty weather, what has your weather been like?

At the beginning of the week it was really nice, so nice that I almost had to wear capri's on Monday!  But this morning it snowed...ahhh Texas weather!  =P

2. What is/are your best money saving tip(s)?

I like to match my coupons, and stack coupons with sales to make things really cheap or free.  I like to stock up when there is something great going on too!

3. What was your favorite vehicle you've ever owned?

My favorite is the one I own now, its a Toyota Sienna, I love it.  Its roomy, leather interior, and sooo comfy, plus it can fit a lot of my friends in it!

4. What is a question you'd like to see asked in a future fill-in?

nope, I like all of these!

5. Fill in the blank. You might be a MilSpouse if...

you feel like the "other" woman!!  =)  Darn Army!

If your are a MilSpouse and want to participate, head on over to Wife of a Sailor.

The Roast...

So whatever came of my roast...well, here is my plate of food for this evening...

It was...


A......



SUCCESS!!!

I'm really happy that it turned out well, everyone loved it, I completed the meal with some betty crocker potatoes (they are easy, fast, and actually taste good), frozen green beans, and some Italian bread with a little butter.  Yum yum yum!!  Now for some pie!

BTW-had to show you my pretty pink socks in the background, I got them at Bath and Body works on 75% off clearance for a total of 1.83!  Awesome!

 

Then, I decided to make...this...

 

Some yummy quiche for breakfast tomorrow....mmmm!!  =)

Hey Goodlookin, whatcha got cookin?

I told you not too long ago that I've been having to get a bit creative in my kitchen...funds, and now the cold have been limiting our foods in the house.  Luckily, we have a lot of food in the house, we just don't have a lot in the way of food that goes bad easily.  We have a lot of meats in the freezer, chicken, beef, roasts, sandwich meat, and tuna steaks.  We took out the roast a few days ago, and I haven't gotten to the store to get the veggies to go with the roast that I wanted to throw in there.  Yes, I have like no veggies (save the frozen side veggies) in the house.  FOR SHAME!!  So I got creative....
I grabbed a few spices

Rubbed them all over my roast, and threw it in the pot to sear the juices in...

Then I got two big spoons, and turned the meat, so both sides could get nicely browned and seared...

Now, you have to put SOMETHING in the crock pot with the meat.  I didn't have any beef broth, but I had beef granules, so I made up some beef broth, added 4 tsp of beef granules, and 4 cups of water to the crock pot...

Added the water...

Then stirred it all up!

I love the color of the broth...then I flopped the roast in...

See how nicely burnt browned it is?  Mmmm..looks yummy already!  I added some more of the above spices, and a little bit of dried minced onion....

Put it on low for some odd hours...I'm going to say probably around 8, and off I go to share this with you!

It smells sooo yummy right now in my house.  Its making me drool, and feel as if I'm starving, even if I just ate some pie...er um, breakfast.
I can't wait to see how it turns out, I'll be sure to take some pictures and show you too!  Wish there was a scratch n sniff on the crock-pot...wouldn't that be neat?  Then you could smell the wonderful smells wafting through my house.

Oh, and I can't forget, the cat that never leaves my side.  This is my chair, and this is where he lies 90% of the time...unless of course I'm sleeping, then he's in bed with me, usually snuggled up right next to me, or down by my feet.   Hope you have a purr-fect day!!  (And yes, I am aware of how incredibly corny I am)

Love for ice cream and pie....

My husband loves ice cream, my kids love pie.  I like them both, but I wouldn't say I LOVE them.  Yesterday, I got a package brought to my door...

 

Hmmm...what could it be???

 

 Schwans...have you heard of them?  I had...

 SaWEET!  Ice cream!  I have to say that this cooler was really thick, the ice is still frozen in it right now, after sitting in my cozy warm 70* house for about 24 hours.  I saved the cooler for my husband in case he wants to use it for his beer stuffs. 

 AND PIE!!!  Wow, I am one lucky girl!  =)  Thanks to this fabulous gal, I won ice cream and pie from her awesome blog!  It was delivered yesterday.  I was able to choose what I wanted for ice cream and pie, and since I had never had Schwans before, it was quite the feat.  They have some amazing looking ice cream and pie.  My mouth was watering as I finally decided what I wanted.  I finally settled on the Toffee Caramel Crunch ice cream, and Key Lime Pie.  First off, that ice cream just sounds deli-sh!  And the pie, well I make my own pecan pie, and my own pumpkin pie, and a lot of pies I've tried in the past haven't measured up, the apple pie, and the cherry pie looked so yummy too, but I'm just not a huge fan of pie, so I went for something a little different...plus it was really warm that day, and a Key Lime Pie sounded really good at the time, lol.

 Oh WOW, look at that.  You can see the pretty texture, and the whipped cream, not only does it look so great for my tummy, its very appealing for my eyes!  =)

So after our dinner of tuna helper, mixed veggies, and garlic crescent rolls (I don't homemake EVERYTHING!).  I sliced myself a little bit of this delectable looking pie.

Ahhhh-mazing!  It wasn't too sour, it wasn't too sweet.  It was perfect.  The whipped cream adds just enough cream to taste, but not take away from the key lime flavor.  The graham cracker crust tasted like I had JUST chopped it up myself and made it.  I don't like the graham cracker crusts that come in those pie shells, they don't taste right.  This one, tasted completely homemade, the quality was simply fantastic, and the texture was just perfect.

So I guess I may be a pie fan after all.  Now I have to try to make my own Key Lime and see how it compares.  Although, this one will be very hard to beat!

Thanks again to My South Central Texas Mommy, and thank you to Schwans as well!

I wish I could share some of this pie and ice cream with all of you, but I'm afraid that I am going to have to hide in the corner and eat it all..ha ha!  Have a good one!

OH-EMMM-GEEE!!

My love for giveaways, has gotten the best of me once AGAIN!  Have you heard about this HUGE-mongous Handmade with Love giveaway bloghop??  Wow, some absolutely AMAZING things that just make my heart go all aflutter!
So if you have the time (it takes a LONG time, but you have until the 6th of February to get through all 147 blogs that are giving away handmade goodies), and feel like checking it out, start with Simply Stacie, enter her giveaways (and she has some amazing stuff she's giving away), then you can scroll down and enter any of the other 147 giveaways she's hosting!

While you are in the giveaway mood, don't forget to enter my giveaways!!  =)

Have fun!

Awesome!

I, Stephanie, am a proud new owner of the coolest cookbook for frugal military wives!

Have you heard of Erin Chase?  She is this amazing gal who came up with the idea of $5 dinners, she IS the $5 dinner mom.  YES...for only $5...go check her out: here


Her BRAND spankin' new book $5 dinner mom Breakfast and Lunch cookbook, just came out , and I just received a copy.  See, you know my little giveaway addiction...well its paying off!  I won this book, and I couldn't be more excited.  I glanced through it, and there are some amazing recipes in there!  I'm so happy that I was given a chance to win in her 12 days of Christmas giveaways, not only was it fun, but I won, and couldn't be happier!

Go check out her blog, like her on facebook, she also tells you about other giveaways, and she is still having giveaways on her site.  If you aren't a book person and like the internet better, go check out her blog, they are always posting MORE $5 dinner/breakfast/lunch recipes.  Its fantastic...ok, now I am going to go look at my book!!  Yayyyy!!