Wednesday Weigh In-Week 2

I looked forward to week two of my weigh in with a lot of trepidation. I was fiercly hoping for those 4 pounds but feared it wasn't going to come to fruition. I did not hit my workouts as consistently last week as I had in week 1 and suspected the scale would reflect this. I have been working on eating smaller meals more frequently instead of a larger dinner which is what I am most guilty of. My cardio workouts are coming along. I don't feel as if I'm radically gasping for air after 10 minutes, I actually can make it to 30 minutes and feel pretty good about it. It sure is humbling to realize just how out of shape I had become. So I step on the scale, feeling like I weigh the same, but still feeling skinnier. Oh how well we know our bodies! Alas, the results, I gained .9 of a pound, BUT I lost 2 inches around my waist! That makes all those crunches worth it! Anybody willing to post their results with me?

Weekend News

This weeknde was pretty un-exciting but that's not always such a bad thing. Last Thursday I had my first real teenage confrontation with Drew and it put me into somewhat of a tailspin. Saturday was his baseball game and they won yet again 13-2. Thus far his team is undefeated and he is thoroughly enjoying playing. He was a little disappointed on Saturday because he didn't get a hit. He was walked 3 times, but at least he scored twice.

Sunday was a little sunnier outside so we took the kids and Josie up to the park and let them play. They played tag on the playground equipment. It was enjoyable to watch. We are trying to keep little Josie from being too terribly active. Monday I took her in for some x-rays because she is still limping from her 'adventure.' Unfortunately we discovered that she actually has a small break in her pelvis. Not really somewhere they can do a whole lot for it so she is just supposed to take it easy and refrain from jumping which has turned out to be more of a challenge than I originally thought. Every time I turn around she's springing onto the couch for cuddle time. I try to lift her up as much as possible, but as has been proven recently, she can be pretty sneaky :)

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! ~ Thosha

Pillars of the Earth - UPDATE

I've just checked the Starz website and the Pillars of the Earth miniseries is due to come out in July of 2010. No exact date yet, but I'll keep you posted :)

Wednesday = First Weigh In

Well it has officially been one solid week of working out. I only took Tuesday off to watch my favorite show, The Biggest Loser. Alas, I was pretty irritated at the fact that the Blazer game interrupted the showing. I'm sure plenty of Portland fans were happy with the game being on, but unhappy with the results of the game. That made me even more frustrated, the fact that they lost by 20+ points. I did get to catch the last few minutes of Biggest Loser so I saw that Victoria did get eliminated. Poor thing, I think she only ended up getting four weeks or so on the ranch. The girl did real well with what she had though. She fell below the yellow line with Sunny so it was no big surprise that Vicki was the one voted off, seeing as Sunny is a favorite on the show. All of the contestants are really starting to look great.

As for my weigh in.... I was decently pleased with the results. Last week I weighed in at 173+ pounds and this week I was just over 169 so I lost 4.4 pounds exactly. I have set a goal for myself of an additional 8 pounds over the next two weeks keeping with the 4 pounds per week. That would put me at 12 pounds in three weeks and my overall goal is to lose 30 pounds total by July 1st. I want to feel comfortable wearing a swim suit this season. It has been a long time since I felt confident in one. Any one willing to share their goals this week? I'd love to hear what you accomplished. Happy excercising! ~ THosha

Weekend Highlights-Drew's First Baseball Game

Saturday's weather was interesting and we weren't sure if it was going to end up nice or not, but Drew's baseball game started early at 11 am so it was clear and nice the whole time. It was a great game with the victory going to Drew's team. He is playing first base this year and did well at bat too; he hit a triple. Wow! I had a proud momma moment!

Sunday, Tom and I worked in the yard for several hours again. It is coming along quite nicely. The goal is to be done with the work and able to enjoy it by the time summer roles around. I must admit, having a small yard is making it a lot easier to achieve this! I'll post pictures soon. Hope you all had a great weekend too! Feel free to post what you did! ~ THosha

Pillars of the Earth-New TV Series...coming soon!

My favorite book of all time is an epic novel called Pillars of the Earth written by Ken Follett. Apparently I am not alone in my love of this novel; It is #2 on the NY Times survey for most popular books of all time and in Oprah's top ten list. I read it for the first time several years ago as a hand-me-down from my beloved sister Brandie and have probably read it a total of three times in all. At 1000 pages, it is an epic that is an absolute delight to read. In fact, last year, Tom got me the sequel to the book called World Without End and I enjoyed it just as much. Pillars is written in the time period of the early middle ages and tells the story of the inter-connecting lives of people surrounding the construction a cathedral and the surrounding town. World Without End is written from several hundred years later of the decendants of the first novel.

Exciting news for fans like me, I just found out this evening that Pillars of the Earth is coming out with an 8-hour mini series on Starz. It has finished filming and is in post production. I haven't seen when the actual air date will be, but I am anxiously awaiting its release. Donald Sutherland is playing an earl and there are several other big name actors in the movie. If you haven't read this book, I definately recommend you do so soon. Happy reading! ~ THosha

International Night - Sort Of :)

The kids finally talked me into doing "American Food" for International night. On Trevin's suggestion we went with Buffalo burgers and grilled up some mushrooms and onions to go on the burgers. Ironically enough, I didn't care for the buffalo. Not too disappointing since it cost $6.49 a pound! I did some research looking for cowboy type recipes and settled on Cowboy Beans. They were delicious. The recipe is as follows....

Cowboy Beans

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 sweet bell pepper, diced
3 slices bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 can baked beans
1 can Great Northern Beans
1/4 cup ketchup or catsup, whichever spelling you prefer ;0
1/4 cup Heinz 57 sauce
1 TBL packed brown sugar
1 tsp worcestershire

Brown first 4 ingredients, drain. Reduce heat to medium low and stir in remaining ingredients. Simmer for 15 minutes or until dinner is ready to serve.

That's it; super easy! Warning.... this makes quite a bit so it's good for family bbq's or gatherings. To finish the meal off we had grilled asparagus and homemade potato chips. It was fun, but I'm looking forward to exploring international cuisine again next week. Anyone want to make a suggestion as to a region or country? ~THosha