Fallen off the wagon…but I’m back on again now

So, on the cusp of the newspaper article here about Black Girls Run with my picture and name all over it; what did I do?...I stopped running…lol! I used Kelvin having to be back at work as an excuse not to go and I also threw my good eating habits out of the window.  The result---I gained almost 10 lbs!!!  Once I finally stepped on the scale again and saw that, I wanted to cry.  I was so disappointed in myself.  I didn’t wallow in it too long though.  I took resolve to get back in the swing of things.  So, for a few weeks I got on the treadmill and did 3-4 miles a day.  I wasn’t able to do this until after I dropped Brook off at school which was making for really long days.  When I went back to my first Saturday run with the group, my pace was HORRIBLE!!!  I also saw all of the ladies that I had started running with who had continued and looked absolutely fabulous- especially my friend Katrina who I had originally encouraged to join the group when I first joined.  I took that as a personal challenge- I figured if they could do this then I could do it.  So, I made arrangements with the hubby to get back out there with my morning run weekday group of BGR, Capitol Divas.  It feels so great to be back with them!  My first few times were a little sad because their paces have improved so much and mine had declined.  However, I’ve already started improving and even surpassed my personal best that I had when I was running with them earlier this summer!  The cooler temperatures doesn’t hurt either :-)  I know, I know…exercise isn’t all of it.  I had to change what I eat too.  So, I decided to make myself eat a good breakfast everyday, lunch, dinner, and healthy snacks.  The result so far---in the past few weeks I’ve lost 7 lbs and I’m still going strong.  So be sure to keep me hype if any of you should see me slipping again :-)

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Mommy’s Night Out…again :-)

 



Seems like I’m getting a lot of nights out here lately…lol!  A few weeks ago, my wonderful hubby sensed I could use a night out.  He was right.  However, this time I just wanted to be alone with my own thoughts and my own agenda.  I decided to take me, myself, and I out to a nice dinner at the Olive Garden.  When the waitress came to my table, she asked are we waiting for someone to join you and I answered, “I certainly hope not!  It’s MY night out!”…lol!   Don’t worry, I didn’t kill my diet with it.  Actually the things I like at Olive Garden (minus the alfredo sauce) aren’t that bad on a girl’s diet.  I indulged in a salad, a nice bowl of angel hair pasta with meat sauce, and for dessert- a glass of raspberry lemonade :-)  I felt great!!!  For once, I didn’t leave Olive Garden feeling like I needed to be rolled out of there…lol!

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Papa’s Protégé

I just had to include this pic on my next post.  A few weeks ago, Papa (my Daddy) came over to spend a little QT with Brooklyn while giving me and Kelvin a chance to spend a little QT.  He was tickled so when I told him how someone had bought Brooklyn  a guitar for her birthday!  I had told him how we couldn’t get her to hold it right when she plays it, and he assured me that Papa would get her straight.  I guess he worked his magic :-)

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Iand

I love, love, love these places!  They have gotten so much of my money here lately with my crafty little self :-)  Maybe someone from one of these places will see this post and send me a gift card or something:)

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Craft Corner

Craft Corner is about to explode on the next post or so as I have been a busy little bee getting ready for 2 craft fairs that I’m participating in.  On this edition though, I thought I would speak to my sharpening of skills where making these deco mesh wreaths is concerned.  Now that I’ve gotten better at them, I’m almost shame of how the ones I’ve put on this blog have turned out---but hey, we all gotta start somewhere, huh?  Anyhoo, when I saw my friend, Christian’s, blog and how cute her Halloween door deco was I decided to take mine down and go back to the drawing board.  I watched a few youtube videos repetitively and gave it my 150% all and this is how I revived the wreath…

 

                                                      

             BEFORE                              AFTER

I think the re-do looked much neater.  It still wasn’t my best work yet, but it was the spark of a wreath explosion for me…lol!  Look for that on the next post---I promise you they are getting better and better!

I can't just let you see some of the Halloween door deco without revealing the finished product.  I use scarecrow every year (one each for me, Kelvin and Brooklyn) and usually add a pumpkin or two and a potted silk plant.  However, now that Pinterest is a part of our family; I decided to incorporate an idea I saw on Pinterest.  So, I jazzed the pumpkins up this year and decided to let them be the main attraction on the ground and not have the potted flowers.  Check it out:

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SUZY HOMEMAKER

Now this will be the section of this post that’s the most picture-heavy this time.  I’ve been a busy little cook in the kitchen too but this time for the sake of time efficiency and better healthier eating.  I’ll start by speaking to the healthy snacks and meals I’ve made to incorporate into my eating regimen.  Of course, I’ve had to lots of water and I try to spice some of it up by adding few lemon wedges and a teaspoon of sugar with lots of ice and shaking it up to make me some good old homemade lemonade by the cup J  I also switched over to turkey sausage patties and decided to fry a lot of them up all at once (on the back porce of course- I hate having my house smell like grease).  After they cooled, I packaged them and froze them for quick warm-up protein options for breakfast or even for snack as each piece is only about 55 calories.  Here’s the pics from that:

  

Up next, is my little snack mix concoction I threw together.  I paid a visit to the Fresh Market and raided their “by the pound” snack section for some healthy options.  What I came up with was some almonds, dried pineapple, dried banana, dried unsweetened coconut and some yogurt covered pretzels.  For my mix, I toss all of them together in a small snack bag except the pretzels.  I don’t eat the whole bag in one setting though because those almonds do a doozy on the calorie count.  Yet, it still makes for a good little snack.  I’ve noticed it actually gives me a little quick energy boost in the afternoon too.

Moving right along, for lunch I really have gotten into making tasty little half sandwiches for myself.  I invest time at the deli counter at the grocery store (because we all know it takes soooo long) and get my deli meat shaved so I can have what seems like more on my sandwich.  To this, I add wheat bread, half a slice of cheese, 1 tbsp light mayo, some arugula leaves, some tomato, and my fave red onions soaked in apple cider vinegar….mmm.  It makes for a tasty filling little half sandwich J

Now, it's dinner time!  This is where the majority of my time and resources in the kitchen went---making freeze ahead “freezer to crockpot” meals.  This is the concept of combining all your ingredients for your crockpot meal ahead of time and freezing them.  Once you’re ready to prepare, you simply thaw and dump it into the crockpot in the morning and come home and eat in the evening.  It took me a day and a half to get all of them together between chopping veggies and all, but it delivered almost 12 meals to my deep freezer!  We’ve  tried the healthy BBQ chicken, teriyaki chicken, veggie beef soup  and beef stroganoff so far.  They’ve all been ok with the exception of that teriyaki chicken---yuckola!!  I will have to take the 2^nd batch I made of that and put it on the grill or something.  So here they are:

 

 

 

Last but not least, I gotta have my sweet fix--- the answer to that is as easy as 1-2-3.  In fact, it’s called 1-2-3 cake.  It’s the ultimate at only 100 calories total for fresh hot cake and a few dallops of cool whip.  All you have to do for this baby is combine a box of dry angel food cake mix with a box of any dry flavor cake mix you choose and mix together in an airtight container (I chose a bag).  When the urge strikes, take 3 tablespoons of your mix and put it in a coffee cup with 2 tablespoons of water and microwave for 1 minute.  That’s it, you’ve got hot guilt-free cake waiting on you in the microwave J  I love it!  I’ve mixed yellow, chocolate, and strawberry to this point and have loved all 3!  Take a look-see:



        

      

YIPEE..YIPEE!! OUR GIRL IS THREE!!

My Sentimental Moment

Anyone that knows me knows I have a tendency to be sentimental about everything so I'll stroll down memory lane about what went on on September 24, 2009.  The week before, Kelvin and I went to my last prenatal appointment.  I had talked with my doctor a few weeks before about when it would be ok to discuss possible induction because I was swollen all over and couldn't walk a few feet without having a contraction (which I didn't realize were contractions, by the way- I just thought Brooklyn was pressing her bottom or her head really tight against me...lol!)  At our appointment on the 17th, he told me that if I was ready we could get induced the next week.  As we walked out of the office, I remember telling Kelvin how we had just heard what our baby's birthday would be :-)
The night before she was born, we had our last night out (just the two of us--without having to find a sitter that is) at 1620 which is one of our faves!  We went by Walmart to get some snacks for the hospital and made our way home for Kelvin to pack his bags and for us to get some rest.  I didn't hardly sleep all night!!  By then, I was either on the couch or in Kelvin's recliner for bedtime and had been for quite some time.  I remember feeling nervous and jittery the closer it got to time for us to go.
If I can remember two things I was absolutely hooked on from my pregnancy it would be watching the Golden Girls and eating Hot Tamales candies.  When we made it to the hospital and got all set up and settled, Kelvin clicked on the TV and there was a Golden Girls marathon on!!  I knew it would be the beginning to a perfect day at that point!!  I told myself I would try to go without the epidural and see how much of the contractions I could bare.  That lasted all of 2 contractions before I told the nurse to get the nurse anesthetist to my room...and quick!!  After that, it was smooth sailing...pain wise anyway.  A little while later, my doctor came and told me that Brooklyn's heart rate was dropping too low and we would have to do a c-section.  I remember crying and feeling so disappointed that I wouldn't be able to push her out, however it was a huge blessing.   The c-section flew by and before you know it, I heard that all too familiar cry that I've been hearing off and on for the last 3 years now.  To me, she was perfect in every way :-)  I love our little sweet girl!!  In memory of her babyhood because she is all big girl now, here's a little pictoral walk down Brooklyln memory lane:

 

 
 
 

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We Like to Partay...Hey...Hey...Hey!!

Brooklyn had an awesome party this year thanks to the help of her amazing Daddy, the incomparable Mama Pat, the talented Aunt Brandi, and my fantastic friends Cheryl, Tameka, Gabby (Tameka's daughter), Mary, and Jade!  Brooklyn's party was a carnival theme this year and we tried to pull out all the stops.  It was a time for me to incorporate some more craft projects too which I'll feature in the craft corner section of the post. Speaking of projects, check out the cake Mama Pat made for the party in the craft corner section too!  I had to pull her out of cake decorating retirement for this one...lol!  Nevertheless, she delivered an amazing job!!  Features of the party included popcorn, cotton candy, sno cones (I made the syrup myself), bubble machine, bounce house with slide, grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, and even a performance by Mommy Magic the clown.  It appeared that all the kids (and several of the adults too) really enjoyed themselves!! Most of all, our little one really had a good time! She was beside herself at all the treats she was allowed to indulge in and the fact that so many of her friends were there to play (which is a pretty big deal for an only child).  In all, I think we had a little under 70 in attendance so it was a big party with big fun!!!  The weather was beautiful as well!  The next day which was Brooklyn's actual b-day, she shared cupcakes with her class and her teachers at snack time and had a special dinner at Cheeburger Cheeburger with her Mommy, Daddy, and Granny-Gran!  Not too shabby of a birthday for a 3 year old...lol!  Enough with the words, bring on the pics:

Gift from Mommy and Daddy :-)

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Brain Freeze!!!

  
 

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Party #2- The Party at School

When I was growing up, I always wished that my birthday would fall during the school year so I could have cupcakes at my school- however the school year never seemed to quite extend to June 24...lol!  That shall never be the case with my little one though.  This year, her actual b-day was on a school day so we had cupcakes to share with her class and she even distributed party favors to them!

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Party #3- Birthday Dinner with Granny-Gran

Thanks to Groupon- we had a fabulously fattening birthday dinner at Cheeburger Cheeburger with Granny Gran.  It felt like it was my birthday too...lol!

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Suzie Homemaker- Party Edition

So, here are a few pics of my first time experience making the sno cone syrup myself.  Turned out beautifully :-)

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Craft Corner- Birthday Party Edition

One other great thing about doing the birthday party for Brooklyn was the overflowing opportunities I had to be crafty when it came to what she wore and the party favors.  I'll do a description before you look at the pics.  Since it feels like I've made a shirt for everyone else birthday, it was high time I did one for my little one.  So, I did my first shirt with a design on the front and the back...look out now...lol!  She wore it to her party on Sunday and after washing it that night; she wore it all day on her actual birthday Monday.

As far as the party favors, I decided to do the Chinese food take out boxes in multi colors since primary colors were sort of the theme for the party.  I had to personalize them some sort of way though so I bought Avery Labels (round that print to the edge) and designed a special signature sticker for them for Brooklyn's party.  Next, I had to brainstorm on what to fill them with.  The whole idea for Brooklyn's party was to overly excite the kids with more fun things to do than they could imagine and great food to eat too so I carried that theme into the favor box.  There was a whirwind rainbow sucker, frosted animal crackers, sour patch kids, a candy watch bracelet, and a small bottle of bubbles in each box!  I took it a step further and kept the extra little ones in mind with their own favor boxes.  For the babies who attended between 0-9 months of age, they got a harvest rubber ducky and a container of Gerber first food peaches.  For the babies over 9 months of age;  they received a harvest rubber ducky, Gerber arrowroot cookies, and Gerber freeze dried yogurt melts!  I was so excited about the distinction of treats for all the kiddos to enjoy!  Last but not least--shout out to Mama Pat in the craft corner for the fabulous cake she created for the party.  I'll let that be the parting pic as you exit this wondeful adventure on my blog for now :-)

 

 



Ta-da! Wow Mama Pat!!