Progress in the Kitchen

Ok, so I didn't post my menu plan yesterday.  But, I have a good excuse!  I was hard at work on my kitchen walls.  I took all the food off my shelves and moved them...

...and this is the nastiness that was hiding underneath and behind them.  This was after I swept up all the moldy cat food that had found its way under there and was impossible to reach (the shelves went completely to the floor).

Yuck!!!!  I hadn't been able to clean back here for about six years!

 This vent, which was always covered up by the shelves and therefore never did anything anyway, was the first thing to be removed.  Followed quickly by the rubber "baseboard" that was impossible to clean.  Whatever glue they used to install them was seeping out the tops and collected dirt.  Gross!

After that was all done, I started patching all the holes in the walls.  The people who lived here before us left holes everywhere!

You can see what a big difference there is between what this corner looked like this weekend (on the left) and how it looks now (on the right)!  There is still lots of work to be done, but I'm making progress!

A New Goal

This week I worked on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings and I will work again tonight.  Wednesday wasn't much less busy with trick-or-treating.  Needless to say, I'm worn out!  Working (even part-time) while homeschooling and running a home is hard.  So often, I feel like something just has to give!

I've done a lot of wishing and hoping and praying over the last few year that I might be able to once again be a stay-at-home mom, able to concentrate on my home and my family.  I admit that, most of the time, it feels pretty hopeless.  After all, we have debt that needs be paid off and that is a three-year goal.  My kids will be 10 years old by then!

Finally, after lots of prayer, I think God may have given me a solution.  No, He didn't drop a bunch of money in our laps and, no, this isn't something that will allow me to quit my job tomorrow.  But, I think He has shown a way for me to actively work toward this goal of being a stay-at-home mom.

Independent Learning Days

I know many a homeschooling family who use a non-traditional school schedule.  One does school for three weeks and takes a week off, year-round.  Another doesn't do school on Mondays and uses that day for field trips (which really is school, just not classroom work).  And I know many who don't do school on Fridays.

The great part of these days off is that it gives you a chance to get things done that you have no time for otherwise, like grocery shopping and other errands, special projects around the house, and paying bills.

But, my state requires a specific number of school days each year and schooling year-round isn't something my Hubby and I want to do.  So, until this year, I thought the alternative schedules were out of the question for us.

That is, until I had the idea of "Independent Learning Days."

The Right Tool for the Job

I am going to publish this post after the sun comes up (whenever I wake up), but it is actually 1:45 am as I start to write this.  I am having trouble falling asleep.  Thankfully, I don't have to be awake early tomorrow since my dad took the kids camping tonight and they won't be home until tomorrow afternoon.  Since I was awake anyway, I thought I'd get a jump on tomorrow's today's post.

I've shared pictures of the disaster that is my desk in the past.  Sadly, it hasn't improved since then.  I clean it off and it stays that way for about a day.  But, slowly, items without a real home or stuff that I use so often I hate to put it away (only to get it right back out - ie. my camera and a couple school books) start to make it back to the top of my desk.  Before you know it, the desk is covered in junk.

Unfortunately, the area under my desk isn't much better.  I have a shredder and a pretty, wicker, waste basket that I keep under there to toss all the junk mail until I take it to the recycling.  But, as you can see from the picture below, it always seems to be overflowing.

The mess under the desk.

Menu Plan Monday: Keeping the Momentum

After losing more than two pounds last week, I am really feeling motivated and ready to do it again!  I have my reminders set up on my phone to track my food and I am going to be measuring all my portions.  I really hope to be able to reach my 10 lb goal this week!

To help, I also started adding up the points for some of my meals this week.  I started with dinner.  Obviously, I will add the all up throughout the week.  But, I'm getting a jump-start by figuring out dinner each day.  The points are listed next to the meal in parenthesis.  ( "pts+" means "PointsPlus")

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Desert	DH's Lunch
Mon	Waffles	Grilled Cheese	Jambalaya, Bread  (13 pts+)	Ice cream	Sub Sandwich, Chips, Apple Sauce, Fiber Bar
Tue	Scrambled eggs, Toast	Corndogs, veggies	Steak/Kabobs, Baked Potatoes, Veggies  (12 pts +)	Rice Krispie Treats	Lean Cuisine Pizza, Yogurt, Fiber Bar, Chips
Wed	Strawberry Smoothie	English muffin pizza	Chicken & Dumplings (14 pts+)	Sugar Cookies
Thu	French Toast	Quesadillas/salad, potato	Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo, Salad, Garlic Bread (20 pts+)	Rice Krispie Treats	Healthy Choice?, Yogurt, Fiber Bar, Chips
Fri	Cereal	Leftover Chicken & Dumplings	Chicken Fried Rice (9 pts+)	Sugar Cookies	Tuna Salad, Toast
Sat	Oatmeal/Strawberry Smoothie	Spaghetti O’s/Ravioli	Shake 'n Bake Chicken, Shells & Cheese, Green Beans (22 pts+)	Peanut butter pie	Sub Sandwich, Chips, Apple Sauce, Fiber Bar
Sun	Sausage Biscuits	Popcorn chicken, veggies, French fries	Hamburger Helper, Bread (12 pts+)	Cinnamon crescent rolls

I'm linking up again over at I'm an Organizing Junkie for this week's Menu Plan Monday.

Small Changes

I had my weigh-in yesterday and was thrilled to see that I had lost 2.4 lbs this week!  Woo hoo!!!  I am getting so close to my first 10 lb goal!  I really hope to hit it next week and am going to work hard to get there!  When I hit that 10 lbs mark, I will be adding more pictures.  I'm doubt you can see the progress, yet.  But, I would love to make a flip book when I reach my goal so I can watch my waistline shrink!

				MEASUREMENTS
DATE	WEIGHT	LBS. TO GOAL	BMI	WAIST	HIPS	CHEST	THIGH	CALF	ANKLE	ARMS	BRA SIZE
8/25/12	263.30	108.30	42.49	40.00	51.50	43.00	32.00	19.50	10.50	16.00	42G
9/1/12	258.40	103.40	41.70	38.50	51.00	42.00	32.00	19.50	10.50	16.00	42G
9/8/12	259.20	104.20	41.83	38.50	51.00	41.50	31.00	19.00	10.50	16.00	42G
9/15/12	258.80	103.80	41.77	38.50	51.00	41.50	31.00	19.00	10.50	16.00	42G
9/22/12	258.80	103.80	41.77	38.50	51.00	41.50	31.00	19.00	10.50	16.00	42G
9/29/12	257.00	102.00	41.48	38.00	51.00	41.50	31.00	19.00	10.50	16.00	42G
10/6/12	254.60	99.60	41.09	37.50	50.50	41.50	31.00	19.00	10.00	16.00	42G
Loss	8.70	8.70	1.40	2.50	1.00	1.50	1.00	0.50	0.50	0.00

So, far this has been done with nothing but changes in my diet.  Not really with what I am eating, but rather, with portion size.  This begins with tracking EVERY. SINGLE. BITE.  I have to admit that I haven't been very good at this.  So often I just plain forget!  Other times I'm not quiet sure what to track because I forgot to measure.  I need to make some changes!

Please, Remind Me!

First, I am going to set a reminder on my phone for around the times that I generally eat my meals reminding me to track my food.  This way, I won't forget and have to try and remember at the end of the day what I've eaten all day - or the day before!

Tracking your food is important with any diet plan.  But, with Weight Watchers, it is the backbone of the whole program.  If you are like me, you often don't realize how much you are eating throughout the day.  You may forget a snack or a desert.  Or you might not remember that you had two helpings of mac and cheese instead of one.