Christmas 2019

Christmas was a whirl!!

I had returned from my "end of the year" vacation with my Mother on December 21st and began Christmas prep.

We all drive to Ohio to stay at my parents house to be together for the holidays and luckily everyone was able to come this year with the exception of my oldest niece Jordan.  She has just taken a new nursing job so she is at the bottom of the pack when it comes to holidays off because, as we all know, nurses work EVERYDAY. But she is happy in her life and we all definitely missed her so very much!

So here are a few pictures to share with you. We exchange gifts and chill out together a lot. We also play a lot of fun games and eat a lot! I did not get that many pictures this year as I concentrated on enjoying the time with my family. 

So here we go...

My parents have a hot tub in their basement so the kids all enjoyed hanging out in there every night...here is their silly face picture...

And normal face...LOVE those faces!!!

Here are all my nieces and nephews together at the tree...minus Jordan though.

And then we added my parents to the shot. I wish we had gotten one with everyone but next year I will be sure to bring my tripod!

Here is the ring toss game we played off and on the whole holiday! HA HA!

My sister showed us this game...you compete to use a balloon to shoot cups off the table to winner played the other winners until one person got their choice of a gift card. Needless to say, it got REALLY competitive and more than a few tears we shed...I think it was the gift cards - everyone saw money! HA! This is Poppy (my Dad) and Matthew (my nephew)

Competition continued...Kyleigh (my niece) and Dan (My brother in law)

Susan and Kerry (both my sisters)

And Memaw (My Mom) and Poppy (my Dad)...

It was a fantastic Christmas holiday and it was so wonderful to spend time together as a family! I love them all more than I can ever say! 

PS - AGAIN - we missed you JoJo! 

How was your Christmas?? Do you play games? Do you spend multiple days together or just drop by houses and head home? Hugs to you all - thanks for stopping by and caring!

October 2017 - My time in Toronto/Mississauga

I was blessed to travel for work for the past two years.

I spent time in Michigan/Indiana, then Toronto (Mississauga)  and then Kansas City, Missouri.

I was way too busy with work to be able to blog then but I experienced so much!!! Now that the travel is over; I have decided I need to go back and document all of the cool things that I was able to see and do while traveling.

So this is post #1 - This is from October 2017 - It took about a month of being in Mississauga, Ontario to find these really interesting things!

A real phone booth!!!

A float! This is a real thing there...you float in water with earplugs and in complete darkness...naked!!! I tried it once but all I could think about is the fact that they don't change the salt water with each person - ick, right?!?!

My very very favorite restaurant in Mississauga called Pho Tai Loi!!! The most amazing food you will ever eat!!! It was hidden in a little strip mall that was full of authentic Thai - truly amazing!

The one time I drove home instead of flying, I stopped by Niagara Falls on the way home (Canadian side)! It was awesome however I was surprised by how truly commercial it all is now! I was there really early and there were already tons of tour buses and lines of people!! I just parked and ran to the falls for a few pictures and back to my car within an hour-too many people for my taste!!  Here are a few pictures of that!

This is one of THOSE people that fall over the falls...even though there are a million signs that say don't stand on wall or railing...there is always one or two - LOL!!!

 A view over the side....amazing!

Loved it there!!! (Excuse my thumb)

Zoomed in over the falls...

I promise I will recap all the exciting places I went and give some kind of time frame around them if possible!!!

Anyone else even been to the Falls? American or Canadian side? Anyone get photos on rail? LOL!!! What was the most commercialized place you have ever visited?

Tweaked the Plan...

Happy Friday Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!

So...Anyone who knows me has heard of my struggle over the past few years to finally lose A LOT of extra weight!!

All together I am down a lot (over one hundred pounds) and until the past year or so doing really well.

Over the past year I have struggled a lot- maintained a lot - and gained just a little ....but it has been a yo yo between 10 lbs up and 10 lbds down. I just was not serious about it anymore - got comfortable with less than my best effort!

I have to write this post to solidify it to me - my issue has SOLEY been eating at night!

This past week I started a weight watching "contest" with two close friends (Donna and Colleen)...we are weighing in on Mondays and at the end of each month whichever one of us loses the most that month gets a paid lunch out from the other two. I fingured this would finally get me serious again about losing!!!!!!
I ALWAYS exercise every day and this week since it is the start of this new "contest" and since work has been crazy I have not gone to the gym even one day and I am losing on average a little under a pound a day!!!!!!!! So, here is what I learned...

1. apparently I eat alot at night after 6PM. I am not eating anything after 6PM now and every night this week I am constantly getting up and heading to the kitchen for a little snack - then I catch myself and go sit down. I never realized how one handfuls of almonds, an apple, a skinny cow, a bite of cheese, a bite of Walt's icecream, a gummy worm, a little of this or that, etc. all adds up - each one is little and meaningless calorie wise but after ten trips of that - IT ADDS UP!!! I just never couted those points or paid attention to those calories lately until now - so my issue all along has been the night snacking - WOW!!!!!!! LIGHT BULB GETS BRIGHT!!!!!!

So that is the answer to my Plateau and I must say that every evening is a struggle!!! I keep telling myself I am not hungry and drinking tea and water all night but it is HARD!!!!!!! It is such a habit for me at night to pick in food that I am halfway to the kitchen when I realiaze that I am not allowed to eat anything - LOL!!!!

I just want to lose this weight for good and then maintain!!

I will keep you posted on my progress....I am just sooooo happy to have made this realization and now finally can lose the rest of this weight-if I can keep my mouth shut after 6PM

:-)

!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for listening~~~~~~~~

EASIEST and yummiest dinner EVER-Pork and Rice!

Ok ... promise...this is good!!!!

And sooooooooooooooo easy - I love love love crockpot cooking now!!!!!!!!!!

Turned my crockpot on low...

Add...

1 can cream celery soup

1 can cream mushroom soup

1 1/2 cup water

1 1/2 cups brown rice

1 packet onion soup mix

Stir it all together...

Add the 4 to 6 boneless pork chops

(I stirred a little)

Cover and that's it!!!!!!!!!

Cook low for 8 - 10 hours.

Soooooooooooooooooo yummy and soooo easy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my kind of cookin'!

Picture Day 3

Howdy!!!
Today I think I will post another pic of food! Seems like a trend, hugh?

I worked from home in the AM and attended a memorial service for a good friends mother at 10:30 and then drove into work for the afternoon.

Nancy Ziegler Ballard went home to Jesus last week and her memorial was today at St. Louise DeMarillac.

I love that church! It is the church we attended my whole life and the church I was married in (loooooooonnnnnnnnnggggg story) and it was nice to go back today to see Kimmy, her family and her girls even though not under the best of circumstances!

Anyway, I was going to get a picture of that church for my post today and thought maybe that would not be a good idea....little scarrrrryyyy - some crazy lady in the parking lot taking pics!! LOL

So - my post will be my lunch! I stopped at our work cafeteria and got a speciality slice of pizza on my way into the office!!!!! 6 points and sooooooo worth it!! It is whole wheat crust and tomato and basil and mozzerella cheese!!! YUM!!!!!!!!

And the other pic, WOW two today - is my precious kitten Angelica (Angel) - she was hanging on my knee as I was putting my shoes on to leave this AM for the funeral so I grabbed a pic of her cute little angelic face on my way out the door!!!!!!! Soooooooo cute!

Love ya all - have a great Wednesday!!!!!!!!

Ramen a Fav???

This is a picture of Waliacha's favorite dinnner. I have HATED these things since college!!!!! (Cooking in my dorm room in that mini crock pot with hardened noodles from the night before) icky icky icky - not good memories!!! :-p
I swear he would eat this every night if he had a choice. And he always eats them from this huge white plastic mixing bowl (not sure what that is about?!?!?!?).
Some days he adds meat (any kind of cooked meat will do) and other days he swirls a few eggs into the soup after it is heated up....
I say YUCK!!!!! But, I also say "WOW! Cheat dinner!!!" These are like 20 cents a piece at WallyWorld!!!
Anyway, he was all excited that I was having a salad for dinner and he could happily eat his soup (he specifically requested one beef packet and one shrimp) - not sure if this is an aquired taste but whatever!!! Easy and quick dinner!!!!!!!!!! LOL