Just 40 Days

Goodbye 2017 I honestly cannot remember the last time I made a snow angel.  I hope it wasn't that long ago because they are so much fun to make.  Today, I made this angel with my granddaughter Skylar.  It is the first snow angel I ever made on a lake!

So as I was driving home from my eye exam tonight, I couldn't help but notice the street and traffic lights were all stars!  I wanted to get home and have someone else drive me around to look at the Christmas lights!  I've never experienced lights like that before as I usually have vision tests during the daylight hours.

It's really cold outside.  I hear the snow crunching under my neighbors car as they leave the driveway.  It always seems that the brighter the sun, the crunchier the snow! It looks so pretty with the deep blue winter sky and the sun glistening off the white of the snow.  It's almost peaceful...until you here the crunch!  The sound stirs up winter just as the smell of the leaves in autumn fill the air. I can always tell if it's really cold just by the crunch of the snow.

My weigh in day is Monday and even though it's Christmas, I diligently stepped on the scale.  The number is up from last week, but I'm still more than ten pounds less than when I started.  I'm also still under 200 pounds. So now that I can still find the good in the money I've spent on the nutrisystem plan, I have decided not to continue on the autopay plan.  I have a month of food and I need to rededicate myself to the plan.  So here's to a new year and new beginning.  See you on January 1st.

During the month of December, I try to watch as many Christmas movies I can.  Right now I'm enjoying one of the best in the signing and dancing category: White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye.  It's an old favorite, right up there with 'It's a Wonderful Life'.

Santa Veggies This is what I made for my 'large' family gathering today.

This morning my scale weighed me in two pounds heavier than last Monday.  I appear to be in a loop.  Up two, down two, up two, down two... I'm trying not to fret.  I'm glad I'm not doing this around between the numbers 198 and 200 as that would really drive me crazy.  I do not ever want to weight 200 pounds again. So I'll keep fighting the good fight and try to stay on plan!  I do best without the flex!  This week I have four events.  That leaves only three days on plan. That is better than zero days on plan. The only thing I need to flex is my muscles!

I can't believe it's nearing six o'clock in the evening and I'm still in my pajamas.  I've managed to watch all three 'Santa Clause' movies and look through all of my old photo albums. That's sums up my Sunday!

As a rule, I do not like to shop. I don't like to go to the grocery store nor to the mall.  I do LOVE a sale though.  So if I am able to get what I want or need on sale, I will shop.  That being said, on-line shopping is wonderful! Whether it's Amazon, Wayfair, or Chicos.com, I'm always able to find something I want or need on sale!

I've been struggling so much with taking care of myself these days.  The daily happenings of life whether at work or home are distracting me from my health focus.  The added financial stress of the holidays, providing for my family are adding to my distractions.  Believe me, I've been 'poorer' but I never thought I would be stretched so thin at my age. Stretched so thin - ha! If only stress would stretch me thin, but it doesn't because i mindlessly put things in my mouth when I'm distracted. 

Today is our first snow delay of the school year!  Yippee!  I can't believe I didn't go out and shovel last night.  I love to shovel.

Cookie Day 2017 I love this time of year, with all the baked goods and candy. I like cookies so much that there have been years where I chose not to have any adult beverages during the holidays because I was using all my 'extra' calories on the wide variety of candy, breads, and cookies! So here it is, halfway through December and I'm finding it hard to resist the extras opportunities for food and fellowship.  This is not a good thing while on the Nutrisystem plan. I promised myself I wouldn't waste my money by NOT following the plan. So what am I to do? So far, I haven't lost any more weight since Thanksgiving.  (I keep gaining and losing the same few pounds.)  So, I'm maintaining my weight.  I need to decide to just 'flex' (go off plan) until after the holidays OR stick to the plan. I don't want to gain back the 14 pounds I've lost since the end of September.  The struggle is real!

My kids are my heart. I love my kids. I will do most anything for them.  I want them to be happy.  I want them to be independent. All of my life, I've been a matter of fact kind of person.  I'm quick to judge. I don't sugar coat things and I have a hard time giving emotional support.  I hug people alot because it helps to keep me from talking. I don't listen as well as I could. I've been working on these personal flaws. Personal growth is hard work.  I know this.  I can't make it easier for myself nor can I make it easier for my kids.  The struggle of growth is real.  It's tough to keep going through the tough times but it's worth it.  I know, I've been through many a tough time.  When I get through it, I'm stronger for my struggles. Letting my children go through their struggles will help them grow.  I just need to be supportive to their choices.  I need to listen more, talk and judge them less. This is hard for me....

I've been using Nutrisystem for 11 weeks now.  I'm down fourteen pounds which is so much better than being up fourteen pounds or staying the same!  I stick to the plan 5 of 7 days a week.  I plan on continuing this way until 2018.  I think that's the best way for me to make it through the holidays!

I had a really busy but relaxing day today.  It' started off in the usual way, with getting up with my dog Aiden, making coffee and breakfast while piddling around the house as everyone else sleeps. Then I headed out for church, the choir sang and we went out for brunch afterwards. The afternoon was spent in a pub with good friends.  Life is good!

Last night, I spent time in the kitchen baking.  I haven't baked for the holidays in a while.  I let others do the baking. Today, my niece is hosting the family cookie baking tradition at her house and everyone shares so that we all go home with a variety. Usually there are buckeyes, fudge, wedding cakes (I hope), and of course, frosted cut out sugar cookies.  The littlest bakers like to frost! Something inside me wanted to bake this year so I looked up two new recipes.  I decided on soft gingerbread and lemon drop with white chocolate.  I baked mine ahead of time so that her kitchen can make way for others.   Gingerbread and Lemon Drop 

Friend or Foe? I've been frustrated, no, disappointed with the progress I've not made in my weight loss journey in the past couple of weeks.  I can't believe the numbers went up.  So I rationalized  and weighed myself the next morning.  Guess what, the scale was two pounds less!  Today I got on the scale again and it read 192.0!  I feel so much better! Now I know, I should NOT be a slave to the scale.  I know that I should stick to the weigh once a week plan.  I also know that I need to look at a four week progress, certainly not a daily progress.  But, I get sucked into the numbers game and it seems like the little scale in the bathroom beckons me to use it!  It's mental. Our brains are a powerful tool that we use to help or hinder ourselves with.  I have to get mine to get on board to HELP me!   I can do this!

Noel - I have a happiness! During the month of December, I like to watch all of the holiday shows, movies, cartoons, that I can.  I usually start with 'It's a Wonderful Life' while I'm decorating the living room.  After that, it doesn't really matter the order in which I watch. I try to catch the shows as they air on the local television stations. Nowadays, it seems that they take turns sharing the classics:  Rudolph, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Frosty the Snowman.  I have some DVDs but again, nowadays, with technology things are different.  I can watch movies on my apple TV, Netflix, Hulu, and HBO.  I even stream videos from Youtube on my Chromecast, which is the only place I can see my favorite animation: Noel. Gone are the days of shows only airing once a season.  I can watch pretty much anything on demand even though I don't subscribe to any television plans.  What I miss the most because of that is the 25 days of Christmas wher...

My children have grown and so the tradition of St. Nicholas Day in the Brandt house has not continued...which makes me a little sad. When my kids were little, they would place their shoes (and sometimes their boots!) on the stairs before they went to bed on the 5th of December.  In the morning, they find them filled with a Christmas decoration/toy and candy. When I get out my decorations, I am reminded by those that St. Nicholas brought: snow globes, nutcrackers, santas, bears, snowmen.  I do like the memories!

I just don't feel like doing anything today after work.  No big reason, just tired of going, going, going. It's so nice to already have my home decorated.  It's an even better feeling to have already hosted my annual Christmas party.  I'm not fretting too much over shopping.  I've got some of it done.  I'd better start wrapping soon, just to make sure, but for today, I'll relax!

I weighed myself three times this morning!  Yes, I thought it would change!  No, it did not change at all.  Not even for my birthday!  I'm 57 years old today. For the second week in a row, my scale moved in the wrong direction AGAIN.  This means, thanksgiving week of vacation did not go as well as I thought.  Add in calories from my party last Friday and the total is a five pound gain. UGH! I'm thinking of many things that would explain this as I really do not think that I ate and drank my way to a five pound gain in two weeks.  (It takes 3,000 extra calories to gain a pound!) I do know that my ankle and feet have ached since walking in the mountains. I've been sore for over a week.  Muscles and tissues retain fluid when they are injured causing them to swell.  I truly believe that is part of it.  The other part is due to my eating and drinking patterns...or flexing when I shouldn't. On the good side, I've been receiving lots of...

7.5" Fontanini (1990's) I started my Fontanini Nativity collection in the early 1990's.  I bought the creche which included Mary, Jesus, Joseph, an angel, donkey and a shepherd with bagpipes at the end of the season sale at 75% off. Every year after, my parents would give me another piece.  One year, I even got a repeat so I have twin 'Daniels' with a horn (clarinet).  I have more than twenty figures, five of which are musicians. I also have several animals including the cow, donkey, some sheep, a goat, and a dog! I love to rearrange them and I'm not afraid of them getting broken.  That's the reason I went with the Fontanini - they are made of resin and have earthly tones.  Nativities should be played with!

A snowball throwing octopus! I've been hosting a 'Ladies Night Out' Christmas ornament exchange for a long time.  I invite around 30 or so of my family and friends and anywhere between 20 and 40 of them show up for night of food, fun, and fellowship.  This year did not disappoint. There were twenty-two of us this year. We gather around 7 and visit for a while.  Around 8 we start the exchange.  This year it lasted until 10!  We had loads of fun.  My ornament is seen in the picture above.

Tonight is my Christmas party.  I need to see this to help me stay on track!