Life As I know It - Part 2

Okay, so too long went between Part 1 and Part 2. I know, I know already. Sheesh. :) I am so excited! I think that just in the last 3 weeks, I gained like 11 followers! Awesome! Not sure who you are, but Welcome! I am flattered.

So....you ready? Take a deep breath...I am!

Life has been good. I promised birthday pics of my big 4-0, so here we go...
                                                                                 This is me and Girly Girl. She is growing up so fast. Almost 12 1/2 !!!

 It was cheaper to get two cakes, and Andy and I are all about being thrifty. :) Sooo, two cakes it was.

He had Happy 20th written on each cake!!! That sure was awesome to see....until he put the candles in. :)

 And there he is, party-planner guru. hehe. He did good, for having no idea what he was doing. :)

The boys were playing somewhere, when this picture was taken. And we were all too busy visiting and partying it up to take any pics of the guests!! It was a fun day!!

So that's the party stuff. I love my birthday. Andy always does a pretty great job of making me feel special, and that is the reason I love my birthday so much. :)

For about 26 days now, I have been working on my diet. I'm not ON a diet, just changing the one that already exists. It needed work. And bad. So I am simply working on adding more fiber to my diet. I aim for 40 grams a day. The trick is, to eat fiber first, in each meal. Fiber feels you up, so chances are, that after you eat the veggies, fruit, and whole grains, you won't be hungry for the fats, sweets, and dairy. I eat 1-2 apples a day, at least 1 banana a day, and I really try to get in blueberries and/or blackberries. Blackberries have 8 grams of fiber in 1 cup! I put that on a cup of Fiber One cereal in the morning, and there's 21 grams of fiber alone. Avocados are high in fiber, and a are a great natural "good" fat. Sweet potatoes replace white, brown rice replaces white. I eat only WHOLE wheat bread, mostly pita pockets. I make oatmeal from scratch, adding applesauce, peanut butter, and almonds for a HUGE bowl of fiber. No more instant packets of oatmeal. I haven't eaten too much for sweets, although I have to be really careful, because if it's in the house, Lisa.will.eat. No question. Girly Girl made cupcakes on her own yesterday, and when it was time to make the frosting, I had to step in. I LOVE making frosting with my Kitchen Aid. And I love frosting. So, yesterday and today I a cupcake, and I wish I hadn't. As of last Thursday, I was down 7.8 pounds!!! I have a ways to go, and am so thankful for my sisters and mom. We are doing this together, meeting every 9-10 days to discuss where we are at, what do we eat, and if we want, what do we weigh. My weigh day is Thursday mornings. I hope I am down another 1 1/2 pounds to 2 pounds this week. But I need to stop eating cupcakes!! I sent 5 of them to Mr. Smarty Pants girlfriends' house with him. :) THEY can eat them. The "plan" I am following is from the FULL PLATE DIET if you are interested. It is very easy, and no restrictions. Eat what you want, just focus focus focus on the FIBER first!! And portion control. I am going to try and use flaxseed in recipes this week.

Mr. Smarty Pants, Girly Girl and Little Man are doing well. Mr. SP is taking his SAT's in a few weeks. I must admit, I do hate all the talk about college. Not yet!! Slow down, please!! It is exciting though. He is doing so well. He is on the lookout for a summer job. GG is just living the life, having fun as a 6th grader, being a great help at home, and just being so easy to raise. She is a daddy's girl, through and through. They bicker, tease, fool around all the time, and then the next minute they are snuggling, watching Sponge Bob together. There's something awesome about watching Daddy and Daughter hang out. :) LM is growing too fast too. He's all potty-trained, YAY. I may have written about that already in a earlier post. Don't remember. He says the funniest things. He doesn't like to go Number 2 by himself, likes me to sit on the tub beside him. He says "it's dangerous by myself!!" He doesn't like the toilet drain. :) He also tells me when he accidentally does something, ie, spilled his juice this morning, "Mama!! I'm sorry! I did it on purpose!!" Um, okay?! Got things mixed up a little there, Buddy. :)

This week will be busy, but I can't wait for the weekend. Andy and I are taking off for one night to a nice little romantic bed and breakfast in Camden, ME. Google the town. It's so pretty. Kids are going to Andy's brother's. I thought that 20 years deserved something special, so we booked a room that has a two-person jacuzzi tub. :) It comes with a huge gourmet breakfast the next day, so to get the most of  the room, we have already decided to just get take-out for supper, so we don't have to leave the room. :) Maybe I'll even eat my take-out IN the hot tub!! Soooo crazy!!!! hehe!

Andy is still unemployed, but has been able to pick up, here and there, odd jobs for people, building this, fixing that. It's not a full-time job though. We have some good friends that are moving to Arizona, because they just can't do it here anymore. Thoughts of moving are always on our minds. But God just hasn't shown us that open door just yet. We are still waiting. I have about 4 more weeks or so, of school for this semester, then a few off before my summer class. This time next year, I will be a college graduate. :) Wow. Can't wait.

Well, the kitchen won't clean itself, now will it? And I have lots of Blogs to catch up on!!! Keep reading, I will post pics of the bed and breakfast next week!!