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Category Archives looking back

My life in points

Posted on January 22, 2009 9:36 am by TheAngelForever

As I have mentioned before, I officially started Weight Watchers online almost two weeks ago. My decision to do this online rather than the meetings was not an easy one. Since I have a great support system at home, I did not feel that I needed meetings, especially since they were at least double the price of online. What I wanted was something for ideas, the message boards (if I use them), recipes broken down in points, and something to keep me motivated. For some reason paying money makes it more real and keeps me on target.

I know that the Weight Watchers point system works for me. I unofficially did Weight Watchers when NHL was about 6 months old. By his first birthday I had lost about at least 50 pounds. When I started teaching again, I weighed less than I can ever recall. I felt wonderful and could finally shop for clothing in any store. I made a mistake part way though the year. I stopped journaling what I was consuming. JL and I were not eating as healthy and our portions slowly increased. Then when NHL was almost two and still not walking, my world fell apart. I was faced with stress at school and not knowing what was wrong with my little boy. The daily offering of goodies in the faculty room were calling me, and I the will power slowly declined.

I know I should have started back on Weight Watchers before this point, but I was afraid. I partially blamed myself for sabotaging my milk supply when I was nursing NHL. I did not want to jeopardize this for JSL. When we made our reservations for Disney World something clicked in my brain. I did not want to be uncomfortable walking there, I wanted to fit into the rides, and I did not want to be heaview than I was on my honeymoon there almost eight years ago.

Starting Weight Watchers in the winter is not easy, I have done this twice now. The fruit and vegetables available are not as good, and oh my are they expensive these days! In addition to this, many of the comfort foods of winter that keep you warm are high in calroies and fat. Being healthy is far from cheap and definitely not easy, especially in these economic times. However, I know in the long run that better health will save us a lot of money.

JL and I have found some snacks that fulfill our need for "junk" food. Kashi and Fiber One products have been amazing. We have also tried several recipes from the Weight Watchers website and have a few more that are ready to go. After my first full week, I lost two pounds. Sure, it is not a ton of weight like the Biggest Loser contestants, but losing 15 pounds or more in a week seems so unhealthy to me. I know that if it comes off gradually it is more likely to stay off.

Do you have any great healthy recipes to share?

I would love to have some more suggestions to avoid repeating the same items over and over. We keep a kosher kitchen at home, so we tend to eat mostly vegetarian style meals. This does include kosher fish like salmon and tilapia. From time to time, we make chicken or turkey. We use a lot of Morning Star burger crumbles, and other soy based "meat" products.

Categories:
food glorious food health awareness looking back me moments

A Day of Hope and Change

Posted on January 20, 2009 9:02 am by TheAngelForever

Two years of campaigning by many candidates is now over and done with. The memories of the other men and women, the mud slinging, the constant television ads, and everything else that we witnessed during that time will soon be a distant memory.

Today all eyes will be on the inauguration of Barack Obama as he becomes the 44th President of the United States.

Everyone in the world will be listening to see what President Obama has to say during his inauguration speech. All of us, no matter what our political beliefs are hoping that he will bring positive change and restore hope to our country. So many negative issues face people within the United States today. Now, we need to watch and see how the Obama administration works to fix the mess that is our reality.

Change is not easy, and it does not come quickly. Americans need to remember that it took many years to get into the current situation, and it will take time to resolve it.

Best wishes to Barack Obama as he enters the hardest job in the world. A thankless task is ahead of him and we all hope he will be the answer that our country so desperately needs for many reasons.

Categories:
looking back real world news

The sickies jinx

Posted on January 12, 2009 9:19 am by TheAngelForever

When you have kids, you learn to expect pretty much anything can happen. Of course, after certain events happen over and ove,r under the same circumstances, you start to believe they are doomed.

For some reason my boys always seem to get sick just before, on the way to, or during a visit to see Uncle I, Aunt M and Cousin S. NHL started this tradition even before the wedding. Favorites to show up are pink eye, ear infections, and unexplained fevers. Driving to Uncle I and Aunt M’s wedding we noticed NHL had pinkeye. We managed to get treatment for that. Then the night before the wedding he opted to really scare all of us with a 103 fever. We were quite the medication police that weekend.

In recent years, the sickie jinx seems to not only be when we travel to their house, but also when they come here. JSL had a horrible case of pink eye last February when Aunt M and Cousin S came to visit. Of course that was the start of an illness that ended in a four day hospital stay after a febrile seizure.

This weekend we may have stopped this in it’s tracks. Aunt M is a PA and brought her medical equipment with her. Nothing scares illness away like having a medical professional with her tools in the vacinity. NHL even allowed Aunt M to check him.

Then it was Dr. NHL’s turn

So Aunt M, I think you know what this means. We must always have your medical bag whenever we visit or see you!

Categories:
family looking back nhl photos weekend

Kids television that you love to hate

Posted on January 6, 2009 11:17 am by TheAngelForever

How many of you have at least one kids television show that bothers you so much?

Perhaps you will not allow your children to watch it, you need to leave the room when they do, or it actually makes your skin crawl. Admit it, there must be at least one or more of the childrens shows that gets on your last nerve.

When we found out that we were expecing for the first time, we let our family and friends know that there were two shows that were not acceptable in our eyes. We never wanted anything with Barney, you know the big purple dinosaur, thanks to being forced to watch too many of his videos when I worked in an educational store. His song makes me shudder to this day. The other no-no was the Teletubbies. Once again, too much of them when working retail in college. As an education major, I also had trouble with a show that did not talk properly. Just ask me what my opinion of Baby Bear on Sesame Street is, you will get quite an earful.

Back when NHL was really little I did not understand The Wiggles. Of course, he loved them. The singing and dancing kept his attention. It was wonderful when I needed to do something quickly. I could count on The Wiggles, not to babysit my child, but to keep him moving and singing. Since that time we have been to two Wiggles concerts and now JSL is becoming a huge Wiggles fan. He request their songs by demanding "Car Car" or "Quack Quack" frequently.

As NHL has grown his taste in programing change from week to week. Thank goodness we have been able to make him avoid Thomas. For some reason the slow pace of the show and voices just bother me. One that we have not been able to avoid recently is Dora the Explorer. NHL is intrigued by her teaching Spanish and even the little guy likes to dance to the music. On the rare occasision that Dora or Diego are on, I tend to tune them out.

The other night, JSL received a Diego giant pillow from Nana and Papa. He loved it and called it "Go-Go" thanks to the Diego theme song. Much to my delight, I captured the following video of JSL with Go-Go the other night. Please watch and see how much he "loves" Diego.

When I saw him doing this I kept thinking, wow I believe there are other characters that could use a nice dose of this!

Categories:
jsl kid talk laughs looking back nhl television video

Favorite vacation destinations

Posted on January 2, 2009 9:28 am by TheAngelForever

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the Mr. Linky there if you are participating. Th

Aloha #29

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My question for this week:

What is your favorite family vacation destination?

I admit it, vacation is on my brain. Can you blame me? The temperature outside a frigid 10 degrees, with a windchill of -2, so mind is fixed on May. Tuesday we officially booked our first family vacation with the kiddos to Disney World in May. Hubby and I have not gone on a major getaway since December 2002, before I knew I was pregnant with NHL. The deals to Walt Disney World right now made it pretty hard to say no. We are probably spending less going there for a week (including airfare, food, tickets, and hotel) than we would if we went to BlogHer. Pretty amazing if you ask me.

Of course the answer to my question would be Walt Disney World in Florida. Yes, I have been to Disneyland in California, but to me it will never be the same. As a child I went to Disney World so many times that when I asked my parents last night for years and where we stayed they blanked. Seriously, they could not recall all of the years and information. I can recall at least six times, plus my honeymoon. They claim I have been many more times.

I promise, I will not be obsessed with Disney on my blog. Right now I am just SO excited to have something fun to look forward to! Here we were showing our honeymoon memory book to the boys on New Year’s Eve.