Off To A Good Start

Greetings:

I'm taking some "me time" and decided to crank out another entry during my lunch time.   Today is a busy day thanks to my evening class at DMACC starting tonight.   Yippy-skippy.   I have a meeting to lead later today and I hope to be back down in Ankeny by 4pm.   I need to attend an earlier weigh-in at Weight Watchers since I'll be in the classroom teaching at 6pm.  I'm interested to see what my weight did with my choices over the weekend.   Who knew that 2 Amaretto Sours were 14 points?!?!  They were wonderful regardless.

Life has been on a pretty even keel.  I've been very surprised by my ability to wake up early in the mornings.   I've even been waking up earlier than my alarm.   It's amazing how much you can get done between 6-7am.   The earlier rising in the morning has also helped me eat breakfast regularly.    (Gavin too)
I love the Smart Ones breakfast sandwiches.   I've been eating the plain cheese/egg sandwiches this week.   Sometimes I eat the variety with Canadian Bacon. Jon bought the kind with turkey sausage but that does not trip my trigger in the least.

I've also started attending the gym with Jon too.  It's been enjoyable lifting weights again and I'm excited to expand that part of my workout.   The cardio has been OK but I tend to compare myself a lot to the other people around me on the treadmills or ellipticals.   I only used a treadmill on Monday.   The machine's need to keep fiddling with the incline setting was fun.   I didn't notice the change for a bit and my calves started killing me in the middle of my run.   Yea, the incline was up to like 5.  Whoops.

Keeping my workload sane has been OK too.  I'm really trying to not work at home very much.   Luckily my early arrival to ISU in the morning allows me to get a lot done.   I'm trying to work ahead the best I can for both ISU and DMACC.   I'm teaching an online class at DMACC (in addition to the Wednesday night class) so I have extra prep work for that class.   Luckily it's really interesting (Sports Diversity).

One of my next big goals is to create more home-made foods that will keep nicely for leftovers.   Smart One meals aren't cheap and I'd like to bring leftovers to work each week.   It's tough making something that appeals to both Jon and myself.  I'm hoping that I can find some good food/produce at the Farmer's Market on Saturday that positively influences our meals next week.  I'm especially pleased that I have Monday off.   Woohoo. 

I guess that's all for now!

10 LBS Down

Greetings!

I'm allowing myself to procrastinate a little more before I crank out some more work this afternoon.   I finished teaching at 12:10pm but sadly need to stay in Ames as I'm teaching a CPR class at 6pm.   I may go to Panera later and get some soup and do work in a different setting.   After this blog entry, I'm hoping to create more PowerPoint presentations for my health class.   I plan to avoid work this weekend so it would be nice to fully prepared when I get to work on Monday morning.   I need to start work for my DMACC online class too.  I have to "lecture" for the online course which means creating guiding worksheets and/or PowerPoints for the students to review in addition to reading the textbook. 

Jon and I have lost a combination of 20 lbs now with Weight Watchers.   I'm at a loss of 10.6 lbs total.  Eating well has gone pretty well lately.   I was slightly worried as I ate A LOT of cotton candy at Czech Days.    It's been nice having treats in the house that fit with our diet changes.   Baked Cheetos are my savior.   I've also been eating Schwan's Peach Frozen Yogurt in the correct portions.  I do need to start making some more foods to bring as leftovers to work.   I'm going to try and create a Mexican lasagna soon.   A coworker brought some to work one day and it smelled amazing.   Apparently you layer beans, meat, and salsa between layers of tortillas.  She used Sweet Mesquite beans and her version smelled wonderful.   I plan to use whole grain tortillas.   I'm not sure if I want to add meat to it or not.  I may put meat on one side and keep the other side vegetarian. 

I've not been super active.   I've gone to the gym once since I joined.   Treadmill is still untouched.   I can say that I'm making a solid effort at walking around more and standing more.   I am going to need to make more changes though because the weight loss will slow down at some point.   I'm not seeing huge changes appearance-wise but I have felt better lately.  Energy is definitely up.   Not sure if I'm sleeping better but I do feel more tired in the evenings.   

I'm excited to take a quick trip to NE Iowa this weekend.   Definitely will see the family but not sure if I'll see many friends.   Our gathering Saturday night may be up in the air.   I'm not sure when I'll be back to Waukon again.   The weekends in September are quite full.  Gavin has weekend football that goes into October.  

Until later.....bye!

Bingo!

Greetings!

I thought it would be wise to blog one more time before the semester kicks off tomorrow.  I have a few work-related tasks to do today so I'm 100% ready for tomorrow.   I really need to kick it in gear so I'm ready for DMACC too.  It doesn't help that the various DMACC campuses don't all start on the same date.  My Wednesday evening course begins on August 29.   My online course for DMACC begins on August 23.  

I was happy to visit Protivin yesterday and partake in Czech Days.   I made up from last year and won three times in Bingo.   Had some good food, saw family, rode on "The Sizzler", and invested in a Czech Day t-shirt.   The ride home was a little rough since I was tired but we made it back to Ankeny safe and sound. 

I kept my Weight Watchers in mind as I bopped around Protivin.  I was not going to miss out on Creamed Chicken.   Other than being a little salty, it was delicious.   I also indulged in cotton candy.   I wish I had walked around more but oh well.   I had one Czech roll (I can't spell it) and did not have any kolaches.   Fortunately I'm not a huge fan of kolaches so the temptation wasn't severe.   I did want a milkshake but I can have those anytime and anywhere so it really wasn't much of a treat. 

I just finished eating a scrumptious lunch.   I bought a package of gourmet pasta (made in Minnesota) when we last visited the Des Moines Farmers' Market.   I've done a good job of measuring out 2 ounces of the pasta so my portion size is accurate.  To make it more hearty, I usually saute' vegetables to add to the pasta and sauce.   It usually doubles the size of the meal.   Today I sauteed a small zucchini and mushrooms to add to the meal.   The zucchini and mushrooms are zero points for Weight Watchers.   I had hoped to post a picture of said pasta but it's taking mighty long for my phone to send it to my email account for download. 

Weight Watchers was successful last week as I lost another pound.  I had increaed my physical activity so I had expected to lose more.   The leader helped me realize that the soreness I was experiencing may had caused me to retain water (which made me think "Duh!" because I should know that fact).  My physical activity is low this week but I may go for a walk later and I should probably pinpoint a day to start using the treadmill.   It's collecting items like it did in Ames.   I think we have blankets sitting on it rather than having it cleared off for exercise purposes. 

I thought I had other topics to blog about but nothing's coming to mind at the moment.   I should probably dive into my work for tomorrow so I can relax later this evening and go to bed at a decent time.   Gavin and I have to be up at 7:15am so I can drop him off at school around 8am.   It's my plan to always leave for Ames after he's dropped off at school.   The earlier I get to ISU, the sooner I can leave in the afternoon (hopefully at 3:30pm) so I get back into Ankeny at a decent time.  

Here's my official "good-bye" to the summer.  

History Repeats Itself

Just a random update with some random topics:

• The first week on Weight Watchers with Jon was a success.   I dropped 6.6 lbs and he dropped a little over 4 lbs.  My title comes from this occurence as I always do well the first week and the first month and then I become complacent. 
• It's State Fair time and we are not going.  I'm very much OK with that.   None of the concerts trip my trigger and I don't need to be near all the fried foods.   This year's main focus for fried food is the Bacon Wrapped Corndog.   No thank you.   I've had fried Oreos and a fried Milky Way in the past.   Suprisingly they were delicious but corndogs and fried sticks of butter don't sound appealing. 
• Gavin and I got a nice workout today with some functional fitness.  We mowed the church lawn.  We mowed the church lawn with the push mower only.  I hate the new rider lawn mower they got...it's impossible to steer.   Zero-Turn mowers = zero control.  I was happy to push the mower though since it gave me Activity Points for Weight Watchers.
• I tried another new recipe and it was below par.  It was a hamburger-noodle casserole.  We added a little marinara to our servings and that helped.   The whole wheat noodles made it rather blah and I didn't put a ton of cheese in it (followed the recipe). 
• I lead the graduate student orientation that starts on Monday.  It went well last year so it should be fine this time around.   Like usual, I have some students that haven't checked their mail diligently or have communicated with me poorly.   It will frustrate me if people aren't attending mandatory meetings or putting in the effort for class prep.   The usual professor that tries to override my decisions for the orientation is working his magic again too. 
• The upcoming weekends will be busy going into September.   I'm excited to partake in Czech Days on Aug 18.  I'll be going to Waukon the following weekend.   I think (hope) we are staying around home for Labor Day weekend.   We have a wedding to attend September 8.  We're going to Chicago for a baseball game the following weekend.   Gavin will also have flag football on Sundays starting in September.  
• I really should be putting more time and energy into my class prep for the semester.   I still need to finish all of my syllabi for both ISU and DMACC.   I was told that my two DMACC classes may be canceled but I may have enough students enrolled now.   I was really bummed when my boss called and told me they may be canceled but I now have more than ten students in both classes (whew).   I'm teaching an online class for the first time this fall in addition to the usual evening health class. 
• I finally got my way at ISU and have a grad assistant for Swim & Gym too.   I thought it was ridiculous the department assumed I could ALWAYS be present for the program.  Luckily I've never been sick or unable to supervise the program.  It makes me feel better that another employee of the department will be present.  I was concerned that I'd need to leave to attend Gavin's football games but that won't be an issue until next year.
• That being said...7th grade students in Ankeny don't have athletics!!  I was a little pissed to find that out.   Gavin's doing flag football again with a program called I9 Sports.  He'll have football games on Sunday afternoons.   I'm hoping they fulfill my request that he have practice on Monday nights so I can actually get him to practice.   If practice is on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays...I can't transport the lad. 
• Gavin starts school on the 15th.   All school supplies are bought or found in our stash at home.   He has a sufficient amount of nice clothes so school clothes shopping wasn't necessary.   We'll need to buy some jeans in late September or October.   He'll be walking home quite a bit. 
• I've been grateful for the consistent supply of healthy foods in our house lately.   Here have been my appetite fulfillers:
• Smart Ones Chicken Rancheros
• Cheddar cheese sticks
• Cucumbers with ranch and croutons
• Weight Watcher Chocolate Caramel bars
• A & E Lite Yogurt in various flavors
• Smart Ones Breakfast Sandwiches (Canadian Bacon)
• Chicken breasts on the George Foreman grill 

Guess that's enough for now.   Trying to stay in the habit of blogging regularly.

Stuffed Pasta Shells

I put on my thinking cap while shopping at Hy-Vee and came up with an Italian dish.   I'm trying to incorporate more turkey in our lives since it's healthy and less points for Weight Watchers.  

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground turkey browned and drained
1 bell pepper, diced
1 yellow or vidala onion, diced
1-2 cups of diced tomatoes
1-3 tsps minced garlic
1 cup of marinara sauce
1 box of jumbo pasta shells
1-2 cups of low-fat mozzarella cheese

I started off with cooking the onion and garlic in a skillet.   I added the bell pepper to the mix. 

I put the browned turkey in a large bowl with 1/4 cup marinara and let that sit. 

I cooked the shells so they were partially done as I needed them to be a little rigid for stuffing and they finished cooking through in the oven. 

When the veggie mixture was done, I added that to the browned turkey in the large bowl.  Combine everything well.   I also added some freshly diced tomatoes at this point.  

I put a little bit of marinara down in the glass baking dish so the shells wouldn't stick to the bottom as they baked.   I stuffed each shell with turkey/veggie mixture and set it in the bowl.   The filling tended to fall out of the shells easily but it still worked out to have them all crammed in the 9 x 13 baking dish.  I spread the extra filling all over the shells and sprinkled more diced tomatoes on top too.   I also poured the remaining marinara over the dish to help keep things moist. 

I sprinkled mozzarella cheese over one half of the dish for Jon and kept the other side plain for myself.   I baked it uncovered for about 20-30 minutes. 

I plan to add mushrooms the next time I make it.   Meant to include mushrooms this time but somehow forgot.   The dish heats up well too and made a good lunch this week.  

I'm going to make a similiar dish with manicotti at some point but will probably use very lean ground beef in that recipe. 

Enjoy!

A Day of Rest!

I am so happy that today/tomorrow is Sunday.  We only have church and a potluck meal at church on our agenda.   It's been a busy few days so I'm craving some down time at home.  

Gavin particpated in his final camp for the summer and traveled to eastern Iowa to explore some caves.  He was gone Wednesday-Friday and seemed to enjoy it.  Now that I've typed this, I've realized that I neglected to start his laundry from that adventure.  Shoot.  He has a week and a half off before he starts 7th grade on August 15.

I had to work Friday night for DMACC.   It wasn't great.   I had an argumentative class that wouldn't stay on track with our topics and discussions.   I was so happy to get out of there at 10pm.  We got up very early today to particpate in a disaster exercise held at the Des Moines airport.  Jon was the Exercise Director and has been stressing about the exercise for awhile now.   Gavin and I were two of the many victims in the set-up plane crash.   We had to be there by 7am and it was actually delayed in the middle of it due to severe weather.   We even got a trip to an emergency room as the hospitals used the fake emergency for practice too.   Our hospital didn't do very well.   Gavin's fake injury was a femur fracture.  I had a tib-fib fracture.   It was fun watching all the firefighters/paramedics respond.    Some issues did arise during the exercise and provide more stress for Jon so I feel pretty bad about that.   He spent months planning the exercise and I don't think many people think about that. 

Both Jon and I are participating in Weight Watchers now.  It's been a good first week in our endeavor.  We were both able to have hot dogs at the lunch today at the airport (free food) and still have a really nice meal for supper.   We made our black bean quesadillas and a stir fry with green pepper, red pepper, yellow squash, zucchini, and mushrooms.   I love that most vegetables and fruits are zero points for Weight Watchers.   We could eat as much of the stir fry that we wanted.   Both Jon and I have plenty of points right now in the process.   I ate all my points today but there were days last week that I struggled to eat them all. 

I think that's enough for now.   Hoping to blog more next week since I hopefully have some free time at home.