Life Keeps Moving....

Fitness update!!

 Last week during one of my running workouts, I was feeling a bit sluggish and discouraged considering I had stepped on the scale when I woke up that morning only to see that I had gained a pound! I expressed my discouragement to one of my running partners in Black Girls Run and my friend Mary and they both recommended an app called My Fitness Pal. I don't have any long term result based opinions of the app yet, but so fr I love it! It let me put in my weight loss goals and my height, weight, and lifestyle (which in my profession is lightly active). From that it gave me a calorie goal for each day for me to lose my desired amount of weight in my desired amount of time which is 25lbs by the end of this year. There's a million different foods and their calories plugged into it that I can just search and plug into my daiy diary as I consume them. I can also out recipes I make into it that it will figure calories per serving up for me! It also gives me calories back to eat for each calorie I burn when I exercise. On the first day I used it, I consumed over 700 calories more than I was suppose to! That's because I had no idea how many calories a lot of the foods I had eaten were. So, from then on I did much better. EXCEPT, I've had 2 days where I didn't consume enough calories thus throwing my body into starvation mode and slowing my metabolism. That's probably what has been my main problem most of the time now that I think about it. So, there you go---I have a new tool to help me with this goal! I'm gonna be so fine for the holidays :-)

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Suzie Homemaker

 My features dishes for this post are an old fave and a new try for me. First up is what we had for dinner today- hash brown casserole (yummy!!) yes, the kind with the crushed corn flakes on top. It was SOOO good! Yes, it was ok with my weight loss goals. I was allowed a full serving for lunch along with half a thin sliced boneless skinless chicken breast I grilled and 1/4 cup green beans. This casserole is such a comfort food for me! As you can see, I got so excited to serve it up and eat it that I forgot to take a picture of it before I dug into it. In an effort to promote regularity, I went searching for a flax seed recipe that I could use without putting it in my smoothie-YUCK! So, I found a banana muffin recipe. I figured it'd be a good way to get 2 things in that I wouldn't otherwise eat alone. I think they were tolerable. They are only 170 calories per muffin which I think is pretty good for a baked treat. Kelvin was not much of a fan- so I guess I'll be enjoying these on my own...lol! I had already packed them up before I took the pic but here they are:



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Gettin' Pretty Crafty

 

 So, Pinterest really as me on this kick to make gifts as opposed to simply buying something. So, I tried my hand at gift making again for a few of Brooklyn's friends for their birthdays this weekend. I had to come up with a girl and a boy gift and this is what I did: The purse is a My Bag and Me canvas bag that I dressed up with iron on jewels in the girl's first initial and I sewed a thin feather boa around the top of the purse. The shirt was a $2 buy from Hobby Lobby plain blue t-shirt. I had an iron-on transfer sheet leftover from my Father's Day shirts so I decided to search for a Superman logo with the boy's initial in it online. I simply copied the design onto a Word document and printed it on my printer onto my transfer sheet. Followed the transfer instructions to apply it to the shirt and voila! His mommy was texting me this morning telling me he already wants to wear the shirt! That made me feel good :-) we gave each child a cute pair of printed flip flops from Old Navy to pair with their personalized items which are 2 for $5. Wow! Good gifts for 2 kids and I stil had enough left out of my $20 bill to get a smoothie for me and Brook to share :-) My next project is to make a new summer deco mesh wreath for my door the details of which I will keep to myself until I get it done :-). Heeheeehee.... I will say that Hobby Lobby is definitely up there in my top 3 stores I go to now right below Walmart and...well I guess it's my #2 store.  I love the fact that everything goes on sale every other week.  I scored three rolls of the very wide width deco mesh for $5 each today...swoosh!!!! LOL!
  I guess I got a little too cocky after my craft ventures this past weekend and I thought I'd try my hand at making a little something for myself today.  It didn't turn out so hot.  First, I didn't get it centered.  I was concentrating so hard on making sure the letters were lined up straight that I forgot to make sure it was centered.  Considering the shirt ended up being a bit too tight for my taste, it wasn't a total loss though.  Because of what the shirt says, I'm still going to wear it with pride.  I'll be trying it again ASAP though :-)  I'm not too proud to show my baby steps to perfection so here it is:

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A Pinterest Idea Tried...

   I tried this idea I saw on Pinterest yesterday when I wrapped the boy's gift. I always have a girl appropriate gift bag in my closet but no boy stuff except a roll of Star Wars gift wrapping paper. So, I thought I'd try out the idea of making a pocket in the wrapping to stick the card in. It looked so nice and neat :-)

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First Time in the Big Pool

Speaking of this party I keep mentioning, Brooklyn had a blast being in the big pool for the first time! I didn't even dress her to swim since she had been such a chicken about even getting in the little pool at home. However when we got there and she saw all her friends in the pool, she wanted in too. So, she changed into her swimsuit and life jacket suit and hit the water. I was SOOOO nervous, but it turned out fine. She had such a great time with her friend and they even had a tea party after the other little kiddos left. Brook loves a good tea party! Kelvin and I have consumed enough fake tea and plastic cupcakes to prove that...lol! Here's some pics from the party: