A-HA Moment...

My niece plays basketball, and yesterday, my sister asked if I wanted to go to her end of the season banquet.  Of course, I support the kids when I can.  She tells me that it's going to be at Pizza Hut, and I immediately start looking forward to it.  That's when I realized a big flaw (for me) in my effort to get healthier.  I would always give myself one day to cheat.  I would focus on that day, ALL WEEK long.  Junk food was CONSTANTLY on my mind because I was always thinking about what I was going to eat on my cheat day.  It's not that hard to eat healthy, when I cook, the food is there, when I prepare, I try to think of healthier meals to cook.  It only becomes hard, if I'm thinking about how good pizza, fried chicken, with a side of nacho dip would be in its place. 

So, instead of focusing on what I'm going to eat when I can eat healthy, I'm going to focus on what I can buy when I'm a smaller size!!  I'm going to focus on being able to buy pants in Express and Banana Republic. 

I will still have times where I give in to the things that I crave.  Somehow, I think I will be more consistent when I'm not constantly thinking about what I can't have.  Instead, I will be thinking about what I can have, when my consistency pays off :-).

New Mom

So, as I mentioned, I had a baby in October, that's my punkin above, yes, I call him my punkin :-D.  Anywho, I've been around babies before, but man did I underestimate what it took to be the mom of a newborn.  I am tired, just about all of the time. I no longer have the luxury of doing anything later, if I have a moment to do something, I have to do it right then, or it will not get done.  I am always second guessing the decisions that I make, I'm sure when he's 5, it will seem like no big deal, but right now, deciding whether he should be breastfed, on normal formula, or organic formula has ruled my life for weeks.  I feel like I don't do anything yet I don't have time to get anything done, lol.  That doesn't even seem possible, but that is surely how it is.  It's exhausting, but I already feel like it's the best most rewarding thing I've ever done.  Seeing him laugh and coo and get exciting makes me forget that I haven't slept in two days.  Thinking about seeing him experience new things warms my heart.  Wanting him to grow up to the best person he can be makes me want to be the best person that I can be. 

Random Ish...

• My baby is sick, hopefully it's a baby cold and nothing too serious.  It still breaks my heart that he's sick though...
• Watching people who are somewhat uncoordinated play Hip Hop Dance Experience is funny as heck...
• I was a cooking machine on Sunday: Egg Muffins, Chicken Noodle Soup, Baked Chicken, Roasted Potatoes, Roasted Broccoli...
• Tubby (my honey) eats a lot, so we will see how long it lasts :-)
• I took my braids out and called my beautician to get a hair appt, she didn't call me back.  I feel some kinda way about having to stalk her to get my hair done.  But I don't really want to put the time and energy into finding someone else.  I guess I'll do my own hair for the time being...
• Post-partum shedding is real...
• Bud-Light Lime-A-Ritas are growing on me...
• Soooo glad we are implementing the baby steps learned from attending Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University...
• My baby is 3 months, how the time is flying by...
• I'm stuck on level 33 in Candy Crush...
• I'll be starting a new project at work this week, kind of looking forward to the change.  I've been on the same program for like 3 - 4 years...
• I cut my hair while I was pregnant, now I want it to grow again, mainly, so I can wear it in a bun when I don't feel like doing anything to it...
•  
• I could go on and on, but that's enough for now...

Get It Together

After I had Jaylen, I lost quite a bit a weight from nursing.  Like, way smaller than before I got pregnant.  Well, he has reflux pretty bad, and gas, and the list goes on.  So I stopped breastfeeding and gained all that weight back.  The time has come for me to get back on track.  My plan is to simply take it one day at a time, drink more water, eat more fruits and veggies, and get active.  I've always been fairly active, so I'm pretty confident in that aspect.  Eating well has always been a struggle for me, but I know I can do it.  I'm not going to follow any strict diets or workout regimens, just going to try to make better decisions, one decision at a time. 

Catch-Up

A catch-up of sorts, since it's been sooooo long.  I may do a post about each item, maybe not, we'll see :-).  As I was thinking about what to write, I can only remember 1 thing of note about last year, I had a baby.  On October 25th, 2012 I gave birth to a handsome little boy, Jaylen!!  All of the cliche's that I rolled my eyes about in the past, I am feeling now.  There is no love, like the love of a child.  The time is going by sooooo fast.  I can watch him sleep, for hours on end.  I can go on and on :-). 

The only other thing I can think of last year is that I attended a Financial Peace University class at a church.  I am currently on baby step #2 for those that are familiar, which is the debt snowball.  The steps are to create a $1,000 emergency fund, get out of debt using the debt snowball method, save 3 - 6 months of living expenses, and I can't recall the next steps off the top of my head.  I have the books at home though, so once I get to the next steps, I'll know what to do, lol.  My financial situation needs to mature, and this class is definitely getting me on track!

That's all for now...

Ca.tfish...

I'm sure most have heard of the show on MTV, and I feel like it's fairly predictable, but Monday nights episode threw me for a loop.  A guy, has had an online relationship with who he though was a transgender woman for 4 years.  He 'comes out' to one of his friends that he's considering having a relationship with this person even though he is supposedly heterosexual.  Their relationship was initiated on it site for gay mean and lesbian women, and his profile pictures were not him.  For 4 years, he's been talking to her using a different name claiming that he didn't want to use his real pictures or name because she might be crazy.  So, he meets her, and tells her that he's been using his cousins pictures, and his name is Rod, not KJ.  She gets upset, then comes back, and tells him that she has an 11 year old daughter, and is not transgender, she is all woman.  He pretends to be cool with it.  The next day, he tells Nev (the producer of the show) that he's only been keeping up this relationship with the woman because she was sending him money.  He tells her this, she's obviously upset, blah blah blah.

This episode had me like WHHAATTTT????!?!?!??!  So, here's my spin on it, he went on a gay/lesbian dating site, because he was curious.  He used a different name and someone elses pictures because he was worried about being recognized by someone that he knows.  He thought being with a transgender would be easier for him to test his curiosity.  When he found out that his transgender love was all woman, he was devastated.  He thought he was FINALLY going to be with a man.

Anywho, I know I haven't blogged in forever, and who knows how often I will blog, I won't be making any promises, lol.

Small Changes...

My bestie and I had a dinner date last weekend, we decided to go to Outback Steakhouse.  So, I get on dwlz.com to see what a healthy choice would be.  Now, I'm one of those people that tend to get the same thing when I go to a restaurant.  If I find something that I really enjoy, every time I go there, I get it.  My meal of choice at Outback, is the Alice Springs Chicken.  Grilled chicken, honey mustard, mushrooms, bacon, cheese, it can't be too bad right??? WRONG.  I looked up the Points Pl.us value of this entree, it is 31.  For those that have no idea what this means, on We.ight Wat.chers, I get 35 points each day.  31 points, for some chicken (that's not including a side), is just unreal.  So, I go back to dwlz.com and browse through to see what my other options are.  I am shocked at the values of the things I thought were healthy.  I had settled on the Tilapia with some type of crab toppings, can't remember the name.  So, we head out around 7:45 pm (supposed to be 7, but that's another story).  We get there, there is an hour wait.  I expected a wait, so whatever, we sit down, chat, play with our phones, side eye people with fur/velvet coats on, and wait.  As we are waiting, someone comes around with a sample of pork tenderloin.  I can't recall ever having it, so I give it a try.  It is flavorful, moist, and delicious.  I recall it having a low points plus value as well, so I look it up on phone, and change my mind.  Pork Tenderloin it will be. 

Doesn't it look delicious???? It was, and for 10 points, it was even better.  10 points for the meat!!  I was happy with my choice.  And, with just a little investigation, I was able to make a much healthier choice!!!  It's the little things.