Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Being unemployed this holiday season has certainly posed its challenges.  In order to make the trip home to see our families we have had to come up with creative, budget-friendly gift ideas. I have decided to put my resourcefulness to the test by setting a $10 limit for everyone on our list. YIKES! Seeking inspiration for K and V, our nephews, I set out to the toy stores.  Everywhere I went Angry Birds seemed to be front and center. Clothes, games, balls, plush toys...you name it I'm sure those birds were on it! I came across this game and thought it would be perfect for V!  What four-year-old boy doesn't love destroying things?

                                          

It was within my $10 limit but it would exhaust nearly all of it.  This was not ok!  Instead, I bought some Angry Bird bean bag slammers for $3.  I came home and discussed this game with Dustin and neither of us really had a good solution...buying the wood to make the blocks would cost just as much as the game and then what would we have....wooden blocks?  Not so much! I decided to make V an assortment of homemade playdoh and kind of forgot about the Angry Birds game. While making seven-can soup I had an epiphany...why not paint the cans I was going to throw away to look like pigs and V can use the slammer to throw at them!

Family Visit in Pcola!

Dustin's Marine Corps career has the perks of taking us many places that we would not otherwise have the opportunity to live/visit.  Unfortunately, the down side to this is that we don't get to see our families and friends back in Illinois as often as we'd like.  Which is why it was so nice that Dustin's parents came to visit over Veteran's Day weekend. It was really nice to spend some time with them without the chaos of the holidays back at home!  We hung out and cooked up some fantastic food, watched the Blue Angels homecoming show, kayaked and shopped.

Marc, Dustin, and Candy

Marc petting a jellyfish

My favorite, the WWII Tomahawk

I want one!

Waiting on the show to start

Blue Angels

She isn't totaled!

Last Friday, on my way to the bank, I was in a car accident. I was hit in the driver side door by another car going 45mph.  No worries!  Lady Liberty and I are just bumped and bruised, no serious injuries. Dustin and I were on edge hoping that Lady wouldn't be totaled and thankfully, she isnt!  It was all very stressful but it makes you stop and realize what is really important in life and thankful for the days you have with the ones you love.  

You can kind of see the damages here.  It bent the tire in, bent the door in and out.  But shes OK!

Progress...baby steps!

A weeks worth of running is showing results!  I started at 214lbs a little over a month ago and lost 10lbs within the first two weeks.  I started eating smaller meals throughout the day and taking a multivitamin.  However, when my weight plateaued at 202 I knew I finally had to put my fear of re-injuring my godforsaken knee(3 Left knee surgeries) aside and run. After all, it had been over 5 years since my last surgery. And as you will see,I am glad I did! Though I am nowhere near my goal of 145lbs, I'm taking baby steps! My short term goal is to lose 20 more before I go to see the PCOS specialist on Jan 11!

 October 25, 2011

 

November 1, 2011 




This is Halloween!

I absolutely LOVE Halloween!  I don't know what it is about it that I love so much, if its the history(nah), dressing up, or the fact that it was a time for me to be selfish, hoard chocolate, and be anyone/thing I wanted to be for that night.  Either way...since we have moved to Pensacola my Halloween celebrations have come to an end.  No more going out to the bars in scantily clad outfits pretending that I'm not freezing my tatas off! Last Halloween, Dustin and I maybe had two Trick-or-Treaters, and I found that the nearest Rocky Horror Picture show was hours away... it was a real downer!  But this year...this year was AWESOME!  I stopped counting at 35 kids but I had 12 bags of candy and I gave each kid two pieces(except the incredibly adorable ones....No I'm not an equal opportunity candy giver-outer). That's not including the moment in time when I ran out of candy and started giving out popcorn and granola bars from our pantry. But, to be fair, I gave those to the boys who honestly probably don't care what goes into their adolescent guts. Either way this Halloween was great.

Inspired by Halloween, in between answering the doorbell I created a little guy to go on the bookshelf.

And so it begins...

I started this blog as a way for me to journal  my PCOS and weight loss journey.  The idea is to get healthy and better myself so that my husband and I can start thinking about having children.  What is PCOS you ask? Poly-cystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine (hormonal) disorder. The hormonal imbalance causes follicles not to mature and release their eggs,resulting in infertility. Instead, the immature follicles in the ovaries develop into small cysts.

So now that you're up to speed...THIS is what I'm dealing with.  There is no known cure for PCOS but research states that weight loss can help with ovulation and other symptoms. I have already lost 12lbs but I would like to lose 57 more...wish me luck!

PHỞ Good!

Dustin and I have what has become somewhat of a ritual for our weekends, PHỞ! A Vietnamese dish consisting of broth, rice noodles, herbs and meat.  It has offically become my food! So much so that I normally begin craving it by Thursday.  I hear it is fairly easy to make at home but its so cheap ($5/bowl) that I really don't feel the need or have the patience.  The key to a good PHỞ  is the broth.  After much research, it seems a decent broth takes at least  eight hours.  This particular resturant claims to cook theirs for 48 hours! 

If you have a recipe that doesnt require me to stink my house out and is pretty simple PLEASE send it my way!  In the mean time, I will continue to visit booth 15 in my little hole in the wall resturant!

                                                       

 Try it, you'll thank me later!