Month: July 2016

Pre-menopause or not, I’ve been in a really good mood since finding out that I got the job on Wednesday! I was nervous that it wasn’t real until I got the email with the New Hire Paperwork, then I was giddy all over again. Thanks for all of your sweet and supportive comments! It’s been a good weekend with a nice mix of fun and chill time as well. This morning? Coffee and couch time while it rains. We have a neighborhood bar that is a mile down the street with a great patio. Perfect for when we want to go out, but have no desire to go to far. The weather was perfect Friday night for listening to some live music outside, so we headed out for a date night. We hadn’t heard the guy that was singing before, but we really liked him.  During the evening, he came over to us […]

Join Weight Watchers and get to goal weight.  Never quit going to Weight Watcher Meetings. Start a Blog about Weight Watchers. Become a Weight Watcher Leader. I promised myself that when I joined Weight Watchers in 2009 (for the fifth or sixth time?) that it would be the last time that I would join. I had decided that I would get to my goal weight, and that I would go to Weight Watcher meetings for the rest of my life. In 2011, I began blogging about my journey to a healthier me. I kept my blog to myself for one year to see if I was committed to blogging. It was my hope that by keeping a regular journal (my blog), that I would learn something about myself and my relationship with food. I wanted to understand why food played such an important part in my life outside of my nutritional needs. […]

So I did a lot of reading last night about hormones, women and turning 50. Maybe I’m not really crazy, I just act crazy every few days, and I need to be okay with that. Hopefully Mike will be okay with that too. So far, he hasn’t left me (or asked me to leave). Keep your fingers crossed for me. Yesterday the temperature outside was practically normal, so my friend Becky and I got in a good walk, and it had been a while. It felt good to get some fresh air and get a walk in outside. I found these recently at Whole Foods and I really like them! They have several flavors and they all seem to be Whole30 compliant. These made for an easy dinner last night on the grill. This flavor – 1 Link = 2 SmartPoints. 2 Links = 5 SmartPoints. Keeping it short today. I’m […]

Yesterday was a good day spent with family. We went out for brunch with some family early in the day, then they came over and hung out for a  bit. A little while after they had left, a few other family members stopped by for a quick visit. It was good to spend the day getting caught up with some of the fam. Mike spent the rest of the evening waxing my car! I didn’t even know people did that any more! We bought his car and my car 10 years ago. We knew that when we bought them, we would drive them until they died, and I guess that’s really what we are going to do. They are both super shiny and look brand new now! Thanks for all of your sweet comments yesterday. I’m sure that hormones may have a large part in my mood swings. I will […]

Oh my gosh, my mood is all over the place lately. I don’t know what the heck is going on, but Monday through Thursday went really well, and I was feeling like Julie. Friday? Crazy lady. Look at me and my eyes instantly filled up with tears. I went to WW on Friday morning. It was an awesome meeting! We talked about Food, Fitness and Fulfillment with putting Fulfillment first. It was such a great meeting and so many people had so many great things to say. Sometimes those meetings can be kind of deep for me and really hit on some emotions. It can be great therapy for me at times. I chatted with a few of my WW buddies after the meeting, and basically cried while speaking to whomever I was speaking to. I had a Dr. appointment scheduled for Friday afternoon because my back is still sore. No […]

This past Spring, I picked up this free magazine at one of our local grocery stores. I knew that eventually I would be making both of these recipes. I made the Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Grapes and Prosciutto shortly after picking up the magazine, and we loved them. I’ve had the magazine on my kitchen counter top opened to this page for several weeks now. Yesterday was the day. This was super easy to make and I have no idea why in the heck I waited so long to cook this up!  Bake the crust. Add cooked veggies. Add cooked meat. Add eggs. Bake. I tweaked things a bit. I removed the cream and the cheese from the original recipe. I used different veggies and I added in cooked pork sausage.  You could use a variety of veggies and a variety of meats to give this all sorts of different flavors. Mushrooms, […]

Yesterday was another HOT one here in Kansas City! It was extra hot in the food truck. I get to stand at the window and take orders, so occasionally, I get a bit of a breeze, but the girls at the grill were dying! When I came home, the last thing that I wanted to do was any kind of exercise, but I’ve had a good week getting back on track, so I didn’t want to skip a workout completely. My daughter sent me the link to a couple of workouts the other day, so I gave one of them a try. I did this video, 1 Mile Fast Walk Video, and I expected it to be fairly simple. I was surprised at how this got my heart rate up! There were a lot of arm movements, knee lifts and side steps. For a quick workout, I recommend it! We had dinner […]

It felt good to get back to work at the Food Truck yesterday. Two weeks is a long time away! It was just a tad hot outside yesterday, but that didn’t seem to keep any customers away. We were super busy, and even though it was HOT HOT HOT outside, people were ordering burgers like crazy! Yesterday…. Breakfast, Blog, Laundry, Food Truck, 3 miles on the Treadmill and then a little down time with Netflix. For dinner, I made this Shepherd’s Pie that was DELISH!! I don’t think you can really mess up a Shepherd’s Pie. Sauté lots of veggies, add a little broth and maybe some tomato paste and simmer, add some seasoned cooked meat, stir. Place in a casserole dish, top with mashed potatoes and bake. For my veggies, I used celery, carrots, onions and green beans. Broth? I used Trader Joe’s Organic Vegetable Broth. Meat? Ground Beef. […]

Yesterday life felt like it was back to normal. Yay! We ate three great meals. I drank all of my water. I knocked several things off of my “To Do List” and I walked 3 miles on the treadmill at an incline. After the treadmill, I showered and dressed as though I was leaving the house. I never do that. After a workout, I typically spend the rest of the day in my workout clothes, or if I have no plans, I shower and put on PJ’s. It felt good to get dressed. I feel like when I’m trying to pull myself out of a slump, getting dressed as though I’m going out can help. It did. I put some music on outside, made myself an Iced glass of LaCroix and sat under the umbrella while I grilled a Flank Steak.   The steak was amazing! 6 minutes on each side. […]

Between not blogging, very little cooking, no activity and not working at the food truck, I’ve had no routine whatsoever for the last two weeks. As much as I do like to change things up a bit to keep life exciting, I really do appreciate a routine. Having a routine puts structure and organization in my life, and those two things help to keep me in my happy place. Getting out of my routine for a long period of time starts to make me feel overwhelmed, then I kind of lose myself. Yesterday I got myself back into a routine, and at the end of the day, I was feeling more like Julie. I focused on my “To Do List” and avoided any TV news. I got out of the house and ran a few errands. I spent the afternoon doing food prep for the week. I walked 2 miles on the […]