Friday Recipe - Breakfast Piggies

My kids love these. I love them because they are easy and I can make them and as everyone gets up and about they can grab one or two or three - sometimes we are grabbing them as we are rushing out the door! Good school day breakfast.

Breakfast Piggies
INGREDIENTS:
1 (10 oz) refrigerated crescent rolls
1 (16 oz) pkg breakfast sausage links

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a large baking sheet. Separate crescent rolls. Wrap sausage link into triangle crescents. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.

My weighloss journey

I have tried SO many things to lose weight, but the truth of the matter is that I LOVE good food. And by "good food" I mean all the bad stuff - cheese, french fries, potato chips, soda, etc. I have always told myself I would NEVER go up in my pants size and when that day came I would have to figure something out.

Well folks, that day came. At the beginning of summer I pulled out all last year's summer stuff and ... well, ummmm... nothing was fitting the same. About 5 of my skirts wouldn't go up over my hips. WHAT? That dumb dryer must have shrunk these things. Ok, ok, I knew that couldn't happen. So that meant I needed to figure something else out because I would NOT be going up in my pants/skirt size. Not going to happen.

I started doing "Portion Control". I used a salad size plate and took my smaller portions of food and when it was gone I did not allow myself seconds. I also cut back on pop and sugary foods. This was the hardest for me I think. I love having a pop with my lunch. I didn't cut it out all together or I feared I would binge on it or something later. So I just tried to have more water and once in a while have a soda. I up'd my intake of whole grains and cut back on the pastas and breads (I LOVE both of those and that was extremely hard on me.)

I will not tell you my beginning weight because that isn't a number I want to share on the world wide web, but I will tell  you that so far I have lost 12 pounds in 4 weeks. I lost it slowly, but lost it nonetheless. It was hard not to get discouraged when I felt as though I was starving myself with the small portions and yet nothing was going away. {For the record I was in no way starving, but I sure did miss my cheese and pasta and bread - to the point of dreaming of cheese pizza and grilled cheese sandwiches!) But I stuck it out (thanks to supportive friends and family) and eventually it started dripping off little by little. In the 4 weeks I have been doing this I have also been exercising. I walk 3 miles every day or I do the walk three times per week and then do a video at home two times per week.

I am still sticking to the portion control and all that until I reach my goal weight.

I will keep you posted.

My baby is in Kindergarten

I dropped off little Lady Bug at school for her first day of Kindergarten. She was SO ready! She marched in with her back pack and as we stood outside she kept asking me when she could go to her classroom. As we walked closer towards the classroom after the school bell rang, she looked a little nervous, but she never cried or anything.

The teacher had all the kids sit on the carpet square. Then she talked a little bit about attendance and calling a student in absent and a few of her classroom rules. Then she asked all of us parents to go to the cafeteria for "Kleenex & Coffee". {which is funny because I started this event last year and also coordinated it again this year}.

Kleenex & Coffee is a nice event because parents can go have a cup of coffee (Thanks to Starbucks for their help with that donation!) and grab a donut (thanks to our local grocery store for help with the 6 dozen donuts!). We have some of the district "mental health" staff available to talk to parents and help them with this momentous time in their lives. I noticed lots of mommas crying (and even a couple dads too). The parents can ask general questions (so many of them don't understand where to pick up their child, or even what time school lets out, some had questions about lunch time and the before/after school program) so there are a few staff members available. It is a really nice event and I am pleased to be coordinating and hosting it each year. I plan to do it again next year as well, and the year after that and the next year too!

Because I was hosting this event I didn't really cry that much until after I was driving away from the school, then I had a melt down! I also got weepy over my lunch hour talking with some friends about it. Lady Bug just doesn't seem big enough to be heading off to kindergarten, but I guess she is!

This momma is watching the clock for when I get to go get the kids from school, and especially can't wait to hear about Lady Bug's first day!

You can't call him Your Honor

My boss heard back already today that he did not get the judgeship (he applied for 3 positions and only interviewed for one so far). This is good news for me.

Business has been a little slow however, so he cut my hours from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Monday - Friday to a somewhat wonky schedule: I will now work M-W-F 9:00 am - 3:00 pm and Tu-Th 9:00 am - 5:00 pm. This means that I will be able to pick up my kids 3 out of the 5 days per week! This is exciting for all of us! My boss did indicate that the hour change may be temporary and when business picks back up he will resume my regular schedule again.

This cut in hours doesn't affect my take home pay, necessarily, because I will be saving money from not having to pay for after-school care. It basically will be a wash in the end. IF he ends up and needs to cut more of my hours then I might need to get worried, but so far so good.

Back To School

Well, summer is over (it went by just a tad bit too fast if you ask me!) and the kids head back to school today - well, the boys do and Lady Bug starts on Wednesday.

The school hours changed this year so instead of starting at 8:00 and going until 2:30, they will start at 8:45 and go until 3:15. The boys are excited that they get to sleep in a little this year and I am excited that they get out a little later. 2:30 seems to come so quickly after 8:00! :-)

Spirit is going into FOURTH grade....eek - where did all the time go? Didn't he just start kindergarten? Wow. Lefty is starting THIRD grade - I will say it again, time moves way too quickly! Then there is Lady Bug, who is excited and a tad scared all at the same time to be starting kindergarten!

We had back to school night on Friday and got to meet the teachers and see the classrooms. It was neat to have a little one-on-one with each teacher and see where the kids will sit, etc.

In 1st grade Lefty had a best bud, but they got separated in 2nd grade and we discovered that they are in the same class again this year so Lefty is very excited about that!

Here's hoping for another GREAT school year!

P.S. - I will probably be shedding a lot of tears on Wednesday as my baby starts kindergarten - I am trying not to think of that right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Other News:
My boss has an interview today for ONE of the judge positions he applied for (he applied for 3 total). So I may or may not know more about my job in the next couple of weeks -- I will keep you posted.

Meal Plan for August 21 - 27

SATURDAY:
Breakfast - Overnight Bubble Bread / Smoky bacon wraps / fruit / eggs
Lunch - Chili dogs / fruit
Dinner - Crock pot black bean salsa chicken / rice

SUNDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Beenie Weenies / Fruit salad
Dinner - French Dip/ corn / applesauce

MONDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Orzo salad
Dinner - Cabbage Buns / green beans / cottage cheese

TUESDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Turkey Pita sandwiches / chips / fruit
Dinner - Grilled chicken / steamed veggies / twice baked potatoes

WEDNESDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Left overs
Dinner - Spaghetti / salad / garlic toast

THURSDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Grilled cheese / chips / fruit
Dinner - Waffles / Bacon / Eggs / Fruit

FRIDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Spaghetti / cucumber slices / fruit
Dinner - F.F.Y. - Fend For Yourself (This is where momma cleans out the fridge! No more left overs! Which means we may all end up with a different looking plate to empty out those left over containers!)

Friday Recipe - Mexican Pizzas

We tried these a few months ago and they were really good. Mr. Man actually came up with this, only he rolled them up. The problem with rolling them up is you can't fill them as full or they rip and fall apart so then we decided to cut them into triangles and eat them flat. We also have made two layers which works well for the adults, but it is a little too much food for my little one, she just gets one layer.

Mexican Pizzas
INGREDIENTS:
1 (16 oz) can refried beans
1 lb ground beef
1 (1.25 oz) package taco seasoning mix
1 Tbls vegetable oil
corn tortillas (figure on 1-2 per person)
TOPPINGS - such as cheese, sour cream, chopped tomatoes, chopped green onions, sliced jalapenos (the jarred kind used for nachos), avocado slices, sliced black olives, salsa

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Warm up beans in a saucepan.

In a large skillet, brown ground beef, then stir in seasoning packet following packet directions.

Place a small amount of oil in a skillet and heat the oil. Place one corn tortilla in the skillet. Cook for 15 seconds then flip and cook another 15 seconds. Repeat for all tortillas. Drain on paper towels.

Arrange cooked tortillas on a foil-lined (for easier clean up) cookie sheet. Spread a thin layer of beans, then beef and cheese. If doing a double layer one, add a second cooked tortilla on top of cheese and add beans, beef and cheese.

Bake tortillas in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Add whatever toppings you'd like and then eat up.