My near-brush with messing up my diet.

Anyone who has been reading this blog for as long as I have had it, knows that I have been dieting on and off for years.  I have had much success with different types of diets, but as soon as I lost some weight, it went right back on.  I have a problem with stress eating.  I am an emotional eater, and that leads to my gaining weight again when I go through difficult times.  There are days I feel like I will never lose the weight because of my emotional eating, especially when stress is inevitable on a daily basis;  it's a natural part of my life now.  Stress with the kids, stress with finances, stress with work, stress with being social...it is something that I just can never get used to.

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Got picky eaters? How to get them to eat.

My 5 year old claims she likes salad and vegetables...

That usually consists of maybe snacking on 2 baby carrots and a few leaves of lettuce out of her bowl.  Sometimes with French dressing, sometimes just plain...  That is her view of a salad.  She claims to her teachers and her friends that she eats healthy -- That would be her opinion of "healthy".  

Both of my kids are very picky eaters.  Their meals are very predictable.  Once they wake up my oldest usually eats toast, waffles or pancakes before she goes to school.  Usually.  There are days where she just doesn't want to eat and breakfast is a battle.  Occasionally I win the battle, but more often than not I end up just packing her more of a snack and send her off to school.  Battling with your kids is exhausting and sometimes you just have to pick your battles.  

If she's going to have a snack at 10:30 AM is breakfast that important?  Well, yes, but I justify it to myself so I feel better about packing her a heftier snack. (Which most of it usually ends up coming home anyway.)  

My youngest usually has a bowl of cereal, waffles or pancakes for breakfast.  She is a great breakfast eater and will eat quite a bit, but put eggs on her plate and she'll complain to high heavens about having some protein on her plate.  (They will eat bacon.  Yum, fatty, fried artery clogging bacon.)

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Sonic, Swimming and vacation. :)

Our short vacation is so fun and relaxing.  Last night, when we got here, we ended up going to dinner.  Of course, it was a chain restaurant; Ruby Tuesdays.  After eating the junk we ate in the car and deciding to stop at Waffle House for breakfast, we had to have something that made us feel healthy.  We went to where we had gone to Ruby Tuesdays the last time we were here, but found that to be closed down!! (How upsetting.)  Thank God for Blackberries, Google and our GPS (which we nicknamed Dug because it sounds like the dog from "Up!") we found another Ruby Tuesdays not too far away.  Definitely delicious -- one of our favorites.  

Afterwards, we needed to find a Walgreens because we forgot to get milk for the coffee we brought -- Oh delightful! LOL  Since this is a larger city, we thought it would be so simple to find one.  It was; except finding a 24 hour Walgreens wasn't so easy.  AGAIN - Thank God for Blackberries, Google and GPS.  We finally found a 24 hour Walgreens.  

Some fleeting thoughts crossed our mind about visiting a hotel bar for some drinks, but by the time we got to the bar (11:15 pm) it was closed and the thought of trying to find another was just absolutely tiring.  We were up since 4:30 am and by almost midnight we were half dead.  

This morning we got up pretty early and decided to go to the pool.  The hotel pool is so small and adorable.  It's burning hot here at 97 degrees with very stuffy humidity, but there was a small breeze and the water was refreshing and warm. :)  We stayed there for about two hours, until a couple with a kick ass body came.  Oy.  That wasn't so great with the two of us who have inadequate bodies that don't even measure up to washboard abs and a flat stomach.  We had to get out of there!! :) 

I am happy to report that I got a nice tan, on the skin that already had the self tanning lotion on it.  The skin that was still pasty white (like the very tippy tops of my legs that my shorts cover) got a burn.  Although, the burn doesn't look that bad at all! It kind of looks like a reddish tan. HA!

Since we are geeks from probably the only place that does NOT have a Sonic, we stopped at the Sonic that we saw near our hotel.   We were way too amused that they had drive ins...for real.  It was just too amusing for us.  And their sandwiches are just AMAZING and so unique. I was in love with that food.  I HAVE to find a Sonic near me now.  (Note to self: DO NOT GET ADDICTED TO JUNK FOOD. DIET WHEN YOU GET BACK!) lol

We had such a great day and have more of a great day to come.  I'm going to be sad when our little vacation is over tomorrow and we're headed home, but I miss my girls.  Here's a video that my mom took of my two lovies in the pool today.  I can't wait to go swimming with them when I get home.  I can't wait to hug and squeeze and kiss my little girls. :)  

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Organizing, cooking and errands...

What a long day!  Tomorrow is our big yard sale, so the morning started off with cleaning up the pantry and kitchen.  That was our main task this morning.  We found so many things that we needed to sell, and I was very proud that my mom was behaving and not being nostalgic over appliances that were still in the boxes never used. ha! Along the way of cleaning out the pantry, we also got the chance to actually organize it.  I am so thankful that my mom agreed to help with that!  Now, I have my low fat/low cal food on one shelf all organized, my kids have their snacks all organized and everything else is on another shelf.  This is a huge difference seeing as how yesterday we had to jump over Stop and Shop canvas bags to even get INTO the pantry.  I enjoy having a pantry that we can actually walk into without killing ourselves on something. :)

I had to run out and do some errands, grocery shopping for the weekend, I had to return a shirt at Dots, get the kids shoes at Payless and I got a dress from a discount store here. (Called Deals & Discounts)  I paid $9.99 for this beautiful halter dress that I have been eyeing for weeks.  It's just gorgeous.  I tried it on when I got home and it looked so great on me.  I was so happy that it looked good!

Most of our day after that was spent in the back yard setting up tables, carrying out boxes and setting some things up.  We put a lock on our gate tonight so no one could get into the backyard and steal anything.  It's not supposed to rain, so I think we're ok!  It's crazy.  I just hope we sell a lot of our stuff because honestly, I just want to get this stuff sold and out of here.  I could also use the extra money.

Since I woke up today being 201.6, I was very excited to keep my diet on going.  I wanted to try something completely new for dinner.  At Stop & Shop today I found Tyson Grilled Chicken Breast Strips in the freezer section and Webber Tequila Lime marinade.  I had some extra pita pockets in the freezer and wanted to use them, so I made Tequila Lime Chicken Pitas. :)  They were absolutely delicious and under 300 calories!  I will post the recipe for them coming up.  They were just the best tasting things ever.  To me, it tasted like a chicken fajita!  I had some leftover chicken and I might throw them in a salad tomorrow. 

Wish us luck for our garage sale!!

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Tylenol is not effective when splattered everywhere.

Tonight, I made a chicken, bacon and ranch wrap with a salad. :)  Everyone else was having turkey leftover from Easter, but I knew if I ate ANY turkey, I would have to have stuffing, cranberry sauce and other really bad bad foods.  I totally can't do that to myself! lol  My dinner was actually VERY filling and VERY delicious.  I used Morningstar Farms Veggie bacon, because I wanted to try it and I'm not too fond of turkey bacon, and it actually tasted JUST like regular bacon.  I was shocked!  If you're interested in the recipe, you can read it in this post on my weight loss blog. :) Yum, yum yum!!

The weather today neared the 90 degree mark.  It was just absolutely gorgeous.  I enojyed it because there was no humidity and actually a very nice breeze. :)  Unfortunately, we couldn't get the kids out because Olivia is getting over being sick and Alayna ran a high fever last night.  For myself, I'm sick too.  Mom's don't stop when they're sick! They CAN'T stop!

I'm sure all mommies have had to deal with the oh so fun fight with Tylenol liquid and their toddler/young child.  The child always wins and the Tylenol ends up everywhere BUT where it's supposed to be.  That was my last night.

The fight over the liquid Tylenol was  more than I could handle at 3 am, being sick myself.  After I cleaned up the medicine that ended up all over the wall and floor, I stuck her in a bathtub with my mom to sponge her down while I ran out to the A&P to get melt-a-ways.  Those are ALL she would take.  Hey, at least it's medicine, right?  It worked.  She was a little "blah" today, but she feels slightly better now.  I'm the one who feels like I have the flu.  I feel worse tonight than I did last night.  I just hope it doesn't last long.

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No one ever old me egg coloring wasn't washable...

off hands... I tried to tell the girls to use the holder/spoon it comes with to dip the eggs into and out of the coloring...but Olivia must have had a "selectively deaf" moment.  It must have seemed better (and more fun) for her to just stick her entire hand into the Easter egg coloring pots...

Alayna did listen, thank God...because I couldn't handle two green kids and going to church tomorrow morning.  At least Olivia is also going to have a green dress...(pastel green gingham, very pretty!)  Maybe they'll think we just dyed her to match... Or maybe they'll wonder why we didn't name our daughter Shrek...

I tried washing her hands with soap and water, a scrub brush, toothpaste and a Mr. Clean magic eraser... Does anyone know anything else that can get Easter Egg coloring off a kid's hand?  I really don't want my 2 year old looking like an Ogre this Easter...

 At least they had fun... (That was Olivia pre-Ogre hands...)

If you want to see more egg coloring pictures, click HERE.  They also painted eggs with a different egg coloring kit we had bought.  (I wouldn't purchase it again, BTW. It's called candy apple egg painting.)

We had a special "Easter" themed dinner tonight.  We had bunny and egg shaped grilled cheese! (I love my cheap $1 cookie cutters from Target!!)

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What a great day!

Welcome to our Friday Followers!!  Comments will be returned and so will follows. :)  Don't forget to enter our Barbie giveaway!!

My birthday went really well.  I was a little upset that I really had no one to go out to celebrate my birthday with, but I ended up not being able to complain about how my day went.  

Things changed for me when I got older.  My family really can't afford to buy me presents anymore, so I bought my own cake and went to the mall yesterday and got myself a shirt from the clearance section of Sears.  Of course it's a disappointment, I don't like to sound selfish and bitchy, but I know my mom could have given me a little something.  It hurts and makes me feel like they really don't care about me for all I do for them and all the money I end up spending on groceries for my mom.  -- But I digress --

When I got back from the mall, I sat down to a nice birthday lunch serving myself Panda Express.  (My most favorite type of Chinese food!)  It was absolutely delicious.  I only treat myself to Panda Express every once in a while!!

Since the weather was absolutely gorgeous, we took the kids outside for a while.  The weather was near 70 and all of the kids were outside.  As a mom, I love when my kids go outside! LOL  It usually means a reasonable bedtime from running around with friends and the air!  Taking them outside in the nice weather is definitely a natural tranquelizer, that's for damn sure!

Then we had the most delicious dinner of corned beef and cabbage.  My mom got the recipe from my late grandmother.  It has been my traditional birthday dinner ever since I was a little girl.  For as long as I can remember, we had corned beef, cabbage and a birthday cake... Which is just what we had. 

I decided to get myself a Carvel ice cream cake. :)  I figured, hell, if I'm gonna mess up my diet, I better do it GOOD!!  And I did...  It was delicious.

Even though I wished that I had some friends to go out with yesterday, I ended up having the best birthday with my two most favorite people in the world...my girls. :)

Thank you for all the birthday wishes! Everyone here and on Facebook made me feel like a princess!

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Now I know what REAL portions are supposed to be....

Check out our "Welcome" to Friday Follow readers (here) as well as entering our Giveaways! $25 BerryJane Gift Card (here) and Bath and Body Works body cream (here).

You can read more about my diet journey, at my diet blog. :) CLICK HERE!

That, little teeny Weight Watchers Smart Ones "Cheeseburger" is the "correct" portion size of a burger.  It's the size of a freaking slider. LOL  Thank God It's actually very filling and actually VERY tasty!  (Compare it to the size of the Light and Fit, which I also ate!)  No wonder when I ate McDonalds I used to gain a shit load of weight.  I'm learning what the right size portions are from Smart Ones, Lean Cuisine and Nutrisystem. :)

The cheeseburgers are pretty new, as I just saw them in the store and the label "New" is scrolled across the top of the box.  I wouldn't eat this small teeny burger for dinner, but it's great for a lunch with a salad or yogurt.  It's 200 Calories for one small burger, though the box contains 2.  In my opinion, it's definitely worth it for the price since it is delicious and great for a small quick lunch when you don't want to scarf down an entire LC or WW meal.   

I want to sing the praises of Best Buy.  They are definitely amazing and very helpful.  I had just purchased my Samsung TL220 just two short weeks ago, and misplaced the USB cord to it. (To which I really freaked out since pictures are an essential part of my blog!)  I explained this to the manager, and he went in the back and got me a brand new USB cord.  THANK YOU, BEST BUY! Now I have one less thing to worry about in my day! lol  My luck, I'll find my USB cord tonight.

Taking my kids out for a few hours!  I have to do some errands, so they're coming along with me. 

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Great new addition to my diet!

As of today, I am 3lbs down.  That makes me extremely happy because I know for a fact that those 3lbs are gone FOREVER!  Once I lose this weight, it is NEVER coming back on.  Ever.  I will never risk my health and well being again for food.  I've been very satisfied with eating the 3 full meals a day and 2 snacks (as Nutrisystem states.) and the Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice meals that I chose were just delicious.  I can't wait to try the rest of what I got! (Obviously, I'm still not over the fact that I freaking LOVE food!) I still get that midnight hunger, which sucks.  I try not to eat at midnight because I know it's not good to eat after 7-9pm, but sometimes I have to cave and pop a few grapes.  

While grocery shopping, I found this great new snack.  They're Special K Fruit Crisps and they come in strawberry and blueberry flavor.  I had seen a commercial for them, but put them to the back of my mind until I saw them in the store.  I picked both flavors up and hoped for the best. LOL.  I'm not into the granola bar ones, but these looked pretty good. I tried them tonight and they are DELICIOUS!  They taste like they're full of calories and fat. lol  They're crunchy but still slightly soft as well.  There isn't too much filling inside, but even so it's very tastful.  I haven't taested the Blueberry yet, only the Strawberry, but I expect it to be just as tasty. :)  I really think you guys should try them, even if you're not on a diet!  They're a great guilt free snack!  Another reason to purchase them, is because Special K website has a $1.00 off printable coupon for them!  CLICK HERE FOR THE COUPON!

So again, we wait for the snow.  Approximately 2 feet are expected by Saturday.  We're not sure when it is supposed to start, weather reports are so conflicting.  I guess we are to wait for a set time, or just wake up to a winter wonderland. lol So we wait....

Don't forget about our CONAIR CERAMIC FLAT IRON GIVEAWAY!! Click here!!

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Stop the snow!!

After everyone shovelled the first few inches, it came down with a fury.  We were getting about 3 inches an hour for a while...  We all estimate that we had about 17 or 18 inches.  It seemed as if when everyone actually got the sidewalk shovelled, it would just go back to getting covered with more snow again.  Meanwhile, I'm wondering how long I'm going to have to keep the kids in the house.  They're going insane.  I must have cleaned the living room about 15 times tonight.  I'm praying the weather is much more tame tomorrow so I can get them out for an hour or two.  Cabin fever is making them nuts!!! LOL  

We ordered pizza for lunch.  The guy from Dominos actually delivered!!  I had no idea how he got up our block because we must have had about 6 inches of unplowed snow.  Needless to say, I gave him a $7 tip, just because of the fact that he had to get here in that shitty weather.  The pizza, however, was the most delicious thing I have ever tasted! I actually ordered a Habanaro Chicken sandwich, which was AMAZING.  It was the best combination of sweet with the pinapple and spicy with the jalapeno peppers.  If you have the chance to taste it, definitely do!!  

The snow is starting to die down, and that makes me very happy because I may have plans for tomorrow and can't wait to actually get out of the house and get the kids out of the house!  I'll leave you with a picture of Alayna's snow creation... Don't ask me what it is! :D

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Such a great new thing, I found.

I know this has NOTHING to do with crafting, but I found this great new breakfast food that I know my kids will love, when they feel better, and that fits into my Nutrisystem perfectly! I'm always searching for new "entrees" for my Nutrisystem breakfast because the NS food gets so bland after a while, so after reading the nutrition stats on everything in the frozen Breakfast aisle, I found these:

Eggo Mini Muffin Tops
I paid $1.99 on sale for them at A&P.

You can't see them too well since they are double chocolate and I took this with my Blackberry, but they're so good! I had them with the normal NS add ins, fruit and chocolate milk, but they're so good! (Have them with whipped cream too!) They come like mini chocolate chip cookies - that size. I toasted them and they're delicious!

I suggest everyone get them for themselves and their kids! lol They're heavenly.

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