New Kitchen Decorations

               The pictures here are of my current, every day, decorations. I wanted to show them off because they look so pretty to me. OMG I can barely move LOL I came home from working all weekend at the hospital, and before I even went inside, I started taking down my outside Christmas decorations LOL it snowballed on me. I only meant to grab a couple of things, but once I started, I just kept going. I got everything put away and then went inside. I was definitely messy after that. I fell asleep on the couch for a couple of hours then woke up and mowed my front yard, edged it, then proceeded to do the backyard as well.

I am fairly sure my body did not know what I was up too, or it would have protested much sooner LOL the aches had just begun when I finished. I was not done inside though LOL I have a bit of OCD so when I start something, I have to finish it. I put away all the Christmas decorations inside as well. I was so excited to see my new veggie and farm decorations out, that I foolishly began that task LOL I so overdid it, but my home looks so cute now in my opinion. This morning though, I can barely move LOL I did not realize my mowing muscles had dementia LOL they forgot how to work. Currently I am sitting, waiting for my pain medication to kick in, and enjoying my regular decorations LOL

                The shelves were my Christmas surprise from my kids. They put them together while I was at work. Now I have places for all my little knick knacks. I left the two bottom cubbies empty because my cats think the cubbies are for them. I am hoping that giving them two of their own that they will leave the other stuff alone. My tree is my favorite. I love this décor more that my Christmas stuff. Everything is so colorful. I am not sure if you can see, but it is full of birds. My daughter loves birds and is always finding new bird ornaments at the Hallmark store.

                Today back at my diet. As per above, I burned lots of calories yesterday. My iPhone says I took 14,583 steps yesterday. This morning I have had my coffee while I boiled eggs for breakfast. Is back to my simple meal plan because that seemed to work best for me. Two boiled eggs with everything seasoning and two pieces of Sara Lee Light bread toast for breakfast, then I will make a simple salad with tuna for lunch, and dinner tonight will be sensible. I am thinking Fresh Market little big meal of chicken sandwiches. My kids will eat them as sandwiches, while I just have a small piece of chicken with some baked zucchini. I really need to get back into logging my meals with the Noom app. If I keep things simple, it is easy to do. It is when recipes come into play that things get wonky LOL hopefully by tonight, I can do my nightly walk with my daughter. I might move slow, but I will move LOL.

Merry Christmas 2021

                Merry Christmas from Florida. Is a balmy 75 degrees here right now and the sun is shining, so it does not look like Christmas LOL my kids and I celebrated the holiday a couple of days ago because I worked last night and am working tonight. It is a benefit of having them old enough to not mind when we celebrate, just that we do celebrate. They surprised me this morning when I came home. They had put me together some shelves for all my knick knacks which I adore. I was running out of places to put stuff.

                I am very ready for the holidays to be over. Do not get me wrong, I love celebrating holidays, we start in September with Halloween and go all the way to Christmas. My home is decorated for almost four months. I am ready to undecorate it now LOL. I am looking forward to going back to my general décor. I have a veggie farm motif in my kitchen/great room area that I am looking forward to seeing again. I even purchased a few more items to decorate with. I got me a rooster cookie jar and a cow creamer set. I also bought some fake veggies to try and created a tiered tray for the counter. My Christmas tree stays up year-round. It is usually decorated with birds (my daughter loves birds) and sunflowers. With all my new plans I am looking forward to going back to my basics.

                The new year is just around the corner and of course I have all sorts of aspirations to make it fun and healthy. With the new to me van I want to take more day trips around Florida. I want to also start going for a morning walk before kids get up. I want to rededicate myself to eating healthier and fewer calories so that I can get my Noom working again. I lost thirty lbs. this year, let us see what I can accomplish next year. I am also hoping to get a condominium type property with my son to turn into an Airbnb which will generate some passive income for us. Plus, we have college courses LOL in the Spring we are taking Spanish 2 and a health and wellness course. So, lots of plans for 2022.

                Okay time to relax and mentally prepare for work tonight. I am extra tired because my daughter and I got the Covid vaccine three days ago, my second and her first. I wish I could have taken extra time off, but I wanted the holiday pay LOL. Anyway, one more night then it is time to prep for the new year. First order of business tomorrow is taking down all the Christmas stuff and mowing the grass out front LOL the yard is looking pretty ragged. It grows slow this time of year, so I have not mowed since Halloween LOL it needs it now. Also need to trim my crepe myrtle trees in the back and tend to my citrus trees. I am already getting a touch of Spring fever LOL I get a major case of it every year around this time. Thankfully, Florida Springs comes early.

                Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to any who have read this far 😊

Cabbage Soup Diet for Seven Days

                

              Okay we need to get a bit serious here. I am tired of the scale not moving. I work the next three days, but then after that I have five days off, six probably since mandated to get second Covid vaccine. I will take off a night for that one LOL. My ex-husband is doing a juice diet. All he does is drink green juice daily. He says he is losing lots of weight. That is awesome for him, but I doubt I could sustain it LOL. However, it kicked in my competitive instinct. If he can lose the weight that fast, then so can I. So, I have been thinking how to best do that which is feasible for me. I remembered this soup diet that doctors use to put patients on before surgery, so I looked it up. It is called the seven-day cabbage soup diet. I also found it listed as the military diet. It is EXCEPTIONALLY low calorie. Only about 1000 calories a day. It claims that following it can help a person lose up to 10 lbs. That would be amazing. If I can pull that off, it will mean a weight loss this year of 40 lbs.!!! That is mind blowing.

                My son is not happy that his dad is doing the juice thing, he thinks it is unhealthy. For the most part it is, it is only meant for the short term. His dad has been doing it for about a month or so now. So, my son really did not want me doing it. I am hoping that once I show him the soup diet, he will be okay with it. It is not just soup, it also has fruits, veggies, and protein thrown in on certain days. It says no exercise, but I will still do my nightly walk with my kids. I need them healthy as well.

                The diet seems simple enough. I love cabbage, so I am hoping that this makes it tolerable. Plus, I just have to tell myself it is just for a week. The soup looks to be a broth with cabbage, onions, celery, and peppers in it. That is easy enough to make. I figure I will get a coleslaw cabbage bag, plus a frozen seasoning bag (it has onions and peppers in it) some spicy chicken soup broth, and some trinity mix (celery, onions, and peppers) from the grocery store. All the prep is basically done, I just have to throw them on the stove to simmer together.

                I found this one website, Divas Can Cook, that lists her recipe and little helpful hints at making it work. Specifically, a day-by-day breakdown. I like when it is detailed out for me. So, everyday drink eight glasses of water (I will drink my diet tea) and I can have unlimited soup, plus:

Day 1: fruits, no bananas (she suggested apples and melon).

Day 2: A baked potato (she suggested grilling it with peppers and onions) plus any other veggies, just no corn or starchy veggies. I love zucchini in the oven with butter spray and seasoned salt, so this works.

Day 3: fruits AND veggies. Again, no bananas, corn, or starchy veggies.

Day 4: Only bananas, milk, and unsweet yogurt. I guess that will be banana smoothie day LOL I have some sugar free, no calorie syrups I can use to make those interesting.

Day 5: Tomatoes on everything plus lean protein like fish, chicken, or turkey. I am thinking I can get some turkey sausage and spice up my soup that day.

Day 6: Protein and veggies again.

Day 7: FINAL DAY is fruits, veggies, and juice. No bananas or starchy veggies.

                I will make the soup on Friday, so that I can have it at work to start the diet. That is the day when my neighborhood is having a barbeque of course LOL at least I won’t have to cook, my kids can grab a burger or hot dog there. I will try and find other things to distract me from eating during that week. I see lots of cleaning and crafting that week, plus relaxing with Bones (latest binge show). Wish me luck :)

Happy Birthday to Me

          I am so thankful that I am still alive and healthy. I hate the idea of getting old, but I am glad I am still getting old. I need to take better care of me this coming year. I did accomplish something this year that I did not think I could do, and that was lose 30 lbs. Next year I need to lose another 30 lbs. That would be amazing. So, I need to focus. It is ridiculously hard to do with the holidays. So many fun things to do and treats to eat. Plus, it is a bit chilly to walk at times. I still go out walking every night I am not working. Either with my daughter or both my kids. Depends, if son is working or not. I need to get my steps back up. I guess until the first of the year I will just try and maintain the loss, and then come 2022 I will get totally committed again LOL.

                That means 10,000 or better steps a day. Taking my vitamins daily. Getting at least 30 minutes of those steps in a row. Watching what I eat, more veggies less meat, seriously less sugar. I also need to add in stretching, and old school “up” exercises (sit ups, push-ups, leg lifts, arm curls) that type of exercise. I also need to wear more sunscreen. I do not want the wrinkles to start showing up. So far, I have been very blessed with very minimal wrinkles. I need to take better care of me.

                My house is decked out for Christmas LOL I have been very relaxed about it this year. Is easy to do when neither of my kids believe in Santa anymore. We still celebrate, but not overboard. I will be working all the eves and day of Christmas and New Year. So, we are adjusting when we celebrate. It will not be a big production at all.

                I am looking forward to taking down all the holiday decorations and putting up my general stuff. I have bought a few more items to go with my veggie theme kitchen. We have not decided what we are doing in the back yard yet. I know we will get rid of the furniture since the Florida sun has ruined it. I want to put up a big sunshade and get a proper grill. My son wants to grill outside more. I am okay with that if it is not burning hot.

                I always have big plans for the New Year, hopefully this coming year I will follow through with my ideas. With the new van I wish to travel more and explore Florida. I want to be more of an outside person who is active. I would like to get back to Disney this year with my kids. I want to focus more of doing things rather than eating things. I just want the next year to be a healthier, happier trip around the sun.