Month: December 2016

I’ve been eating an abundance of sugar since before Thanksgiving, when all of the sugary treats started challenging me.  I’ve now lead some Weight Watcher meetings and admitted to the group, that along with some of them, I fight the sugar demon and likely always will. I un-decorated yesterday and cleaned out the fridge and pantry. I decided that I was ready for the New Year a couple of days early. I hated to wait two more days and give myself an excuse to over indulge. I spent the day at home yesterday organizing and never did make it to the grocery store. I made a big thing of Tuna Salad, and that was my meal prep. We still had a few fresh veggies to add to our meals. We started the Netflix series The Crown, and I have a feeling we are both going to be stuck to the couch […]

I seem to begin each “Year in Review” stating that everyone should journal. It really is so great to be able to look back through the year (or years) and see what has happened in life. If you journal regularly, it’s a great way to see all of the wonderful things that happened throughout the year, but also to remind yourself of challenges that you may have faced and how you worked through them. Before the blog, I journaled in notebooks. When I would go back and read through them, I realized that most of my journal entries were about a challenge, a struggle or a down time. I wasn’t journaling about the good days, unless it was about a vacation or an event. The great thing about making the commitment to blog regularly (or journal, since that really is what it is) is that I’m blogging about day to day […]

Monday was one of those days where everything seemed to go just right! I woke up early and had a productive morning at home and I had a WW meeting to Lead as a sub for a co-worker (that last part of that sentence makes me really happy). The meeting went really well. We talked about what is different now than it was at this time last year. I did a lot of Bravo celebrations for behavior changes of the members over the last year. I was really happy with how the meeting went and I hope that the members were too. They had a lot of great things to share and I was impressed with how many members came to a meeting the day after Christmas. After work, a long overdue walk outside with my friend Becky. I think we walked 3.5 miles? Later, dinner out with some family. […]

Christmas had a different feel to it this year knowing that none of our kids would be going to bed in our house on Christmas Eve and waking up with us on Christmas morning, but Mike and I managed just fine and it looks like I’m going to live. (Such a drama queen sometimes….ugh) Christmas Eve day we slept in a bit, then I whipped up a Breakfast Casserole.   We relaxed by the fire and I had lots of coffee!   I was trying to eat as smart as possible before our Christmas Eve plans, so we had Leftover Sloppy Joe fixin’s for lunch.   Christmas Eve night, we met several family members for Mass. After Mass, Mike and I went to a friends house for a Christmas Eve Open House. Growing up, my parents hosted a Christmas Eve Open House each year and invited pretty much everyone that they knew from family […]

I’m having a heck of a time blocking out some time to sit down and write this inspirational and meaningful Christmas post, and it just isn’t going to happen, so this will have to do! No time for editing today. It’s Christmas Eve! Tess and Manuel were here until Monday afternoon. We had lots of coffee…. Enjoyed some traditions…. Played games…. and spent a lot of time in the kitchen cooking up some yummy food. We celebrated Christmas last weekend with our traditional Family Open House. We invite lots of extended family over for goodies and fun, then our kids and grandkids stay late and we open gifts. We’ve done this for several years, and it allows our kids to not feel like they are running all over on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day trying to get a visit in with everyone. On Saturday, the snow started falling and the […]

Tess and Manuel are here from Dallas for a few days to celebrate Christmas. When Tess comes home, she likes to crawl in my bed in the morning and we have some great chats. Yesterday, that happened and we got all caught up while snuggling with the dogs. After breakfast we decided to chill on the couch, enjoy a fire and watch a movie. It was a pretty good morning! Later, a few errands, a relaxed afternoon, then Tess and I went to a Hot Yoga class at 6:30. That’s three days in a row of Yoga for me!  For dinner, I roasted up two big trays of Veggies. Butternut Squash and Brussels Sprouts, Carrots and New Potatoes.. I also sautéed a bunch of veggies in the skillet. Onions, Zucchini, Mushrooms and Bell Peppers. I added to the skillet a few Chicken Apple Sausages and some Rotisserie Chicken. (I also tossed in some […]

Yesterday started off with coffee at a friends house with a few girlfriends. I walked in the house to the smell of coffee and this….. I LOVE Pumpkin Pie. Are you kidding me right now? I just had coffee. After some good girl chat, I was home to prepare for a Weight Watcher meeting. We have to lead two meetings after training that we are critiqued on, then we’re good to go Lead meetings! For some reason, I was a nervous wreck about leading yesterdays meeting. I just didn’t feel as prepared as I did last week when I did my first meeting. I was overthinking everything. I went to the meeting. It was an At Work meeting. Here is the funny part. The meeting was at an office park where we take the food truck once a month throughout the year. I knew the people! “Hello, I’m Julie. I’ll be […]

When I first met Antonia and found out a few things about her, I was like Holy Sh*t! This woman is a real bad ass! Have I told you about her? I think that I have, but perhaps not by name. Antonia and I were hired on the same day by Weight Watchers and we have done most of our training together. We came home from Dallas just a few short days ago as trained Weight Watcher Leaders. Antonia is pretty awesome. She is a retired air traffic controller and also retired as a Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) after serving 33 years in the Army National Guard. For 18 of those 33 years, she was a helicopter pilot. Pretty cool stuff, huh? I also know that she volunteers in the community and at her church. She’s also a HUGE Nebraska fan (and alumni) and likes to talk football. I just nod. When […]

These last four days have been filled with Christmas shopping, Christmas shopping and then some more Christmas shopping. With our family Christmas this weekend, I’ve made a list, I’ve checked it twice, nobody’s naughty, I think they’re all nice. Each Christmas season, I tell myself that I will simplify things for myself the following year when preparing for Christmas. Although I have discovered a few things that make the holidays less stressful, I always end up doing more than I know that I need to do. Looking for ways to feel less stressed this year? Here is what I’m doing so I can enjoy more time spent with family and friends and less time yelling at Mike. That guy takes the brunt of my stress. If you need to say “no”, or you want to say “no”, then by all means say “no”. Your health and well being likely depend on it! If sending out […]

Yesterday was the first day that I’ve done any Christmas shopping (except for a few things that I recently bought online). We are celebrating Christmas here on December 17th!! I’m scroooged. (cracking myself up) I gotta get busy! I’ve got a menu to plan, stockings to stuff, presents to buy and wrap! I have a feeling that no Christmas Cards will go out this year. How is it that the time goes by so dang fast??? I left the house at 7:30 am and came home around 6:00 pm. I got a lot done, loved my day of shopping and sipping on hot tea while I drove around, and to make it all just a bit more festive, we had our first snow flake. They were small, but I liked the feel of the snow flakes falling and I was feeling the Christmas spirit.   While shopping, would you believe that I found […]