Navy bean and ham soup

I got this idea from my cousin Rebecca's blog.  It looked so good and I couldn't wait to try it!  I did a few things differently, though; I left out the carrots and I threw in the bacon.  :)  It was absolutely delicious!  Larry and I ate the whole pot.

Ingredients

• 1 pound dried navy beans
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup diced cooked ham
• 6-8 bacon strips, cooked crispy and crumbled
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Place beans in large Dutch oven and cover with cold water, with water about 2 inches above beans. Bring to a boil and lower heat to a simmer. Cook for five minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 1 hour. Drain and rinse beans, discarding liquid.

Soup

1. In large Dutch oven, melt butter over medium-high heat.
2. Add onions and celery and saute for five minutes.
3. Add garlic and saute for thirty seconds.
4. Add chicken broth, bacon, beans, parsley, rosemary, bay leaves and diced ham.
5. Add a little freshly ground black pepper.
6. Bring to a boil.
7. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 1-1½ hours. You may need to add additional stock.
8. If you want to thicken the soup, remove about 2 cups of beans and puree in a blender then add back to the soup.
9. Taste and season accordingly with salt and pepper.

Sunday Pizza!

Larry and I both are eating the South Beach way these days.  We've both lost seven pounds!  One of his friends on Facebook posted a recipe this morning for a no-carb pizza so we tried it this afternoon.  

We just used things we had on hand.  Cheese, eggs, pepperoni, onions, jalapenos, spaghetti sauce, mushrooms, olives, garlic and some cubed ham left over from breakfast.

Here's how we did it!

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  We made our crust from four cups of shredded Mexican cheese and four eggs.  Mix together and press onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Add whatever toppings you like!  Pop back in the oven for five more minutes.  That's it!  Sooooo easy and so good.  

Larry couldn't resist smelling the cheese crust when it came out of the oven!

Here's the finished product!  It was sooooo, SO good.  And we didn't feel that bloat that pizza usually gives us.  We will definitely be doing this again!

Circuits, furloughs and diets, oh my!

I finished up my Advanced Circuit Analysis class and moved right on into Advanced Modulation last week.  Advanced Modulation is all about analog-to-digital circuits and digital-to-analog circuits.  I'll admit that I've had more than a little confusion with this new class than I did with the last but I'll get it.  Having a good teacher makes it easier and we do have a good teacher.  He's probably mid-to-late seventies but I can honestly say he's the coolest teacher I've ever had in my life.  He has LIVED and has lots of stories to tell and knowledge to share.  We adore him.

Yesterday we built a pulse amplitude modulation circuit.  A PAM.  This is mine.  It basically digitizes an analog sine wave.   

This is how the signal looks on the oscilloscope.  Yeah, I did that.  Totally cool stuff, yo. 

Complex circuit building can be stressful.  It helps to have a cool teacher.  It also helps to have footage of 70's Allman Brothers concerts playing while you're doing the tedious work of building said complex circuits.  :)






They told us at work a couple of weeks ago to prepare ourselves for the furloughs that are coming as a result of the sequester.  They really won't affect me, as I have been "furloughed" since New Year's Eve.  I went part time when I went back to school so I'm good.  I've heard so much griping and fussing about these furloughs and how "I'm gonna lose my house" and "I'm gonna lose my truck".  Dude.  If you are going to lose your house because you're losing ONE DAY A WEEK'S pay, you have TOO MUCH HOUSE.  So many of my coworkers have gotten so used to working 12-hour days and racking up all that overtime that they honestly don't know how they're going to get by on 32 hours a week.  I've been working at the base for a year come the 12th of this month and I can already tell you that there is a lot of fat that can be trimmed out there.  An ungodly amount of waste goes on out there and that includes supplies as well as manpower.  Call me a traitor, I don't care.  I'm just not your typical government employee.  I don't spend hours chit-chatting, leaning on my tool box and wasting time.  I do what I know how to do (which is becoming a LOT!) and what I don't know, I work with someone who does.  I work.  

I don't have much of a weight-loss update.  I've been teetering between 18 and 20 pounds for two weeks now!  I've hit my first plateau and since I've been doing this losing weight thing since my jeans were acid-washed and had zippers on the legs, I know that I have to bump up the exercise.  I lost these twenty pounds virtually with no exercise, unless you count climbing up on top of an F-15 and back down again fifteen times a day as exercise (and I do!).  I took my fitness leave one night last week and walked on the running track.  The nice, bouncy, rubber running track that's absolute heaven on your ankles and joints.  It just got dark on me too fast.  I cannot wait for the time to change and the days to get longer and warmer.  I will walk that track for days.

Things are rocking on pretty smoothly for me these days.  I go to school, go to work, go to sleep and then do it all again the next day.  Two more months until I graduate and things can get back to normal.  Whatever that is.  :)

Free is for me!

We used to say that all the time when I worked at Citigroup.  I think Rita Garrett started it.  It's funny and SO TRUE!

I did not know that you can turn an empty bag of Starbucks coffee in at any Starbucks store and get a free cup of coffee.  I got some of the Blonde roast for Christmas and I turned the bag in today and got my free cup.

Starbucks coffee is waaaaaaay too strong for me.  I don't like strong coffee.  That's why I adore the Blonde roast!  I like my coffee as weak as Popeye without his spinach.  But today, my free cup was STRONGOMG.  I came home, divided it and added my own hazelnut creamer.  Ahhhh, much better.

Today is six weeks and three days since I got back on the South Beach diet.  And so far, I've lost 20 pounds!  Again.  Ha!  I swear, one day, I'm gonna lose those 20 pounds and they're going to stay lost. 

What does my inspiration, Ruby, say about weight loss??  It's a JOURNEY, not a DESTINATION.  It takes forever to get there, your entire life's journey.  It's not a trip to the beach, that's for sure.

Anyway, speaking of spinach, I tried one of these Spinach Feta wraps while I was at Starbucks.  A. Ma. Zing.  I had no idea I was making such a great South Beach choice, though, until I got home with it!  I did pretty good.  6 grams of fiber!  19 grams of protein!  Wooo hooo!!

Updates, ice picks, diets and such

What the what is an ice pick headache??  Until today, I'd never even heard of them.  I think that's what I have.  I left work early Wednesday night with an awful, throbbing headache.  I'd had it all day but by 10:30, I was read' to GO LAY DOWN SOMEWHERE.  So I came home and got on the sofa, after lovin' on Tabbie Hoffman and removing a very uncomfortable item of clothing first.  After about fifteen minutes, Tab comes over there and starts popping me in the face with his paw, like, "Mama, Mama, get up."  Such a sweet wittle kitty.

The headache got better yesterday after I started eating Excedrin Migraine caplets like candy and then this afternoon, the ice pick nonsense started.  Sharp, shooting, are-you-freakin'-KIDDING-me-rolling-around-on-the-floor-howling pain.  Sharp little pains that last a second (maybe) and come back every minute.  This went on for hours.  I consulted Dr. Google and I was (am?) convinced that my trigeminal neuralgia was a brain tumor the whole entire time and I have months to live.  Or it could be stress.  :)

It seems to be better now.  The stabbings fewer and farther between.  That's got to be good, right?

Last weekend, we had a birthday party for Ami and Audra and as usual, Mama prepared a spread.  Homemade chicken salad with whole wheat crackers, homemade pimento cheese on multi-grain bread rounds, hummus, salsa, celery sticks, cucumbers, carrots, green pepper strips, pigs-in-a-blanket and two gorgemous cakes.  Chocolate with fudge icing for Ami, Upside-Down-Pineapple for Audra.  And we had ice cream.  Most very South Beach friendly!  I ate carefully but I ATE.  And somehow or other, gained four pounds.  When I weighed myself Monday morning, I was pissed!  I could've had CAKE!  If I was gonna gain FOUR POUNDS, I could've had CAKE!!!  Do you people KNOW about my mama's chocolate fudge icing???!

So I spent this whole week getting those four back off and losing one more.  I've lost 16 pounds now.  I'd like to lose 30 by Easter.  We'll see.  No rush.  :)

I'm almost done with my radio.  I have one little part to finish on the FM side and then we'll tune it and test it.  I had some technical difficulties with the AM part this week and was down a day and a half while we troubleshot it.  It turned out to be a bad IC chip.  

Sunday, I get my WG-5 promotion and raise!  Nearly $2 more an hour.  It's really crazy that I've worked eleven months at the base and I'm making more than I did after working (and bitching, begging and then finally pitching hissy fits to get equal pay for equal work) SIXTEEN YEARS at Citigroup.  There are rumors flying about layoffs and furloughs, depending on what Congress does with the budget.  I'm not the least bit worried.  God is in control.  Always has been, always will be.  He brought me to this job, delivered me from a situation that made me miserable and has done nothing but pour blessings down on me ever since.  We good. 

And, hey, the ice picks have stopped.  

A day off

I don't believe I've ever had MLK Day off.  Not once in the 30 years since the bill was passed to make it a holiday.  What started as a remembrance for the man on his birthday has become more of a day of service.  A day when you can honor Dr. King's desire for peace, understanding and solidarity to do your part to make an impact in your community and help to bridge barriers together.  Today was also President Obama's inauguration to his second term, the second time that they've happened to coincide on the same day.  The first time was Bill Clinton's second term.  A very fitting coincidence, I think.

Finally, I have this day off.  :)  Another perk to being a government employee.  So, I'm watching CNN's coverage of the inauguration and washing clothes.  

In other news, I have a door darter.  Two nights last week, Tabbie Hoffman darted out the front door as I came in after work.  The first night, it was POURING down rain and he goes lickety-split straight through the bushes and right under the next door neighbor's RV!  Like he'd done it a hundred times.  I had to crawl under there in the mud to get him.  The second time, I was in my pajamas and I went out to take the trash out to the curb.  I opened the door to come back in and there he goes.  This time, he doesn't stay under the RV but ventures out to the guy's pickup truck.  And the closer I got to him, the further he got away from me.  I tried to lure him with treats because they usually work but not that time.  It's 36 degrees and I'm out there in pajama pants, a cami top, barefooted, holding a flashlight in one hand and a bag of treats in the other.  Looking like a straight fool calling this cat who believes with all of his little angsty teenaged heart that "outside" is the same as crack.  

GOTTAHAVEITGOTTAHAVEITGOTTAHAVEIT 

AHHHHHHDIRTANDGRASSANDWHATSANACORN????!!  

He's still super scared of cars, trucks and loud noises and just as soon as I'd had enough, was almost in tears and praying, "Lord, help me get this cat", here comes a car that scares the crap out of him and he runs back home.  I'd left the front door propped open just in case.  Good thing.  GODDDDDDD.

Larry and I both racked our brains to come up with a solution and I went to Lowe's and got two baby gates to stack one on top of the other.  I made an enormous amount of unnecessary noise setting them up while Tabbie Hoffman watched and bolted and came back and bolted again.  I tried to make it as scary as possible for him.  They seem to be working.  I only have one of them up but he won't go near that door.  I'm sure once he gets used to it, we'll be back to square one.  But maybe not.  I'm collar and leash training him now.  We go outside every day.  I just feel that it's cruel to keep him pinned up in the house all the time.  It's his natural instinct to be outside and smell dirt and bite acorns.  He's just doing what God told him to do.  I just have to do my part to keep him safe while he's doing it.  We use a natural, herbal spray and I have not seen the first flea.

And as of this morning, I've lost 12 1/2 pounds!  I'm eating lots of chicken, vegetables and snacking on almonds and protein bars.  It's working!

What up, Buttercup?

So.  Last week I went back to school to take my specialized communications classes (advanced circuit stuff, radar, fiber optics) that were scheduled for 8:00 am - 12:30 pm.  I didn't know HOW on earth I was going to do that after working until midnight every night but I was going to try.  Well, in His usual fashion, the Lord worked that little problem out for me, too.  The five of us co-ops ended up in a class that starts at noon and gets us out of there in time for us to be at work at the base when we're supposed to be.  So, yeah, sleeping until 9:00 every morning is totally working for me.  :)

Working at night has been quite an adjustment for me.  It's different if you stay up past midnight at home doing stuff, which I do, a LOT, and working until midnight.  Very different.  Plus work is so slow, there's not much to do, and that makes for some very long nights.  But when there is something to do, sitting on top of an F-15 underneath a blanket of stars is pretty cool.

I changed my gym time to just before our supper break so I can go to the gym for an hour.  Uncle Sam gives us three hours a week (2 1/2 if you're part-time like I am right now while I'm in school) to go and DO something.  Go to the gym, walk on the track, bowl, whatever you want to do.  However, what 99% of the people out there want to do is just go home early.  I changed my gym time to when the gym is actually open so I can take advantage of it to help with this 40-pound thingy I've got going.  So far, so good.  I've lost 9 1/2 pounds!  The guys at work are absolutely killing me, though.  I LOVE the pizza from Pizza Depot (the pizza place on base).  There is something about that cheese they use.  OMG.  Anyway, they deliver and every night, somebody gets a pizza delivered!  So I'm sitting over there lookin' all pitiful eating my broccoli and cheese while they're inhaling greasy, salty, cheesy pizza.  Ain't fair.  But that's all right.  I've had that pizza before.  :)

Pretty much my schedule right now is go to school, go to work, go to sleep. But I'll be finished with the co-op in May and I'll only have five classes left to get my degree.  (And they're all online!  Yay!!)  And THEN, there'll be the next degree to start on.  I'm thinking aviation management sounds pretty good.  :)

There is nothing you can't come back from

Tabbie Hoffman peeked out the patio door this rainy morning and said, "Good Lawd, Mama, look at all them leaves!"  He'd never seen so many in his life.  Since this is my tenth fall/winter living here, I don't think that looks like a lot at all.  :)  AND they've all fallen so that's all there's gonna be this year.  Yay.  Plus it's rained so much lately, it's gonna be a lonnnnng time before we can start raking them.  :)  I came home New Year's Eve and my sweet neighbor had raked the leaves in the front yard.  He does that for me sometimes.  

So, here we are, January 3rd.  I started a new shift at work and so far, it has been so boring that I have very nearly died from it.  I sat and read for two hours last night.  I finished my book!  (I'm telling you, if you're looking for some funny, sexy romance that you just cannot put down, you need to try Katie Lane's Deep In The Heart Of Texas series.  I have loved all four of them!  And now there's gonna be a fifth coming out in July!  I can't even contain my excitement!!)  A guy I work with who's been out there for 28 years told me last night to "get used to it" and bring a book.  Okey doke.  I can do that.

Three years ago, I started the South Beach diet and it really, really worked for me!  I lost nearly 60 pounds in six months.  Since diets don't really work unless you STAY ON THEM, I've gained 20 of those pounds back.  And they killin' me!  My goal way back then was to lose 80.  I lost 60 (or thereabout) and gained back 20.  So the way I see it, now I need to lose 40.  You like how I did that math so quick??  :)  I absolutely love and admire Ruby Gettinger and loved her show on Style Network.  At one time in her life, she weighed 716 pounds.  She lost over 400 pounds, some of it we got to share with her on her show.  Well, she started gaining again and gained 60 pounds and for some reason, Style cancelled her show.  Because she struggled and gained some weight back?  I was so mad that I cancelled Style.  It's a reality show, right??  Well, slipping back into your old habits and gaining weight back IS REALITY.  Anyway, I follow Ruby on Facebook and she lost those 60 pounds and then her brother died and some other life stresses hit her at the same time and she gained back 80.  I've done the EXACT SAME THING before.  Lost 60 and gained back 80.  I've been a chunky butt all of my life.  I came into the world weighing nearly 10 pounds at 6:00 in the evening looking for some supper!  And at my highest weight, I was 252 pounds.  I don't want to be there again.  So I'm doing something about it!  And I'm telling y'all about it so you will hold my feet to the fire!  :)

Ruby posted this on Facebook last week and I just loved it. 

There is NOTHING you can't come BACK from.

What a concept!  It's a new year full of all kinds of new possibilities and dreams!  I know my knees and my poor ankle will appreciate me taking 40 pounds off of them.  Especially when I have to climb up on top of an F-15!  (Which is waaaaay cool, by the way!)

So this is where I am.  I started eating better yesterday and I've lost three pounds.  I fully expect to lose 10 or 15 pounds pretty quick since those are the last ones I gained.  That's what I usually do.  Then it's gonna get hard.  But I'm ready!  46 is looming in June and I'd love to be around 150 pounds by then.  Like I said, FULL of new possibilities and dreams!!  :)

Eggplant tomato parmesan

Mama gave me a HUGE eggplant that she and Daddy got at the farmers market and this is what I did with it!  I just made up something.  I sliced the eggplant and blanched it in boiling salted water for about five minutes, then I minced two cloves of garlic and sauteed them in olive oil with basil, salt and pepper.  I layered the eggplant slices in the bottom of the dish, topped them with mozzarella cheese, added two cut up fresh tomatoes, more mozzarella and then parmesan cheese on top.  I baked it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

This is how it turned out!!

Yummy!!

Pizza, South Beach style!

I used my new pizza stone tonight and made a healthy, whole wheat pizza.  It was soooooo gooooooood!!

 This is what I used.  

I brushed olive oil onto a store-bought crust, added baby spinach, mozzarella (shredded and sliced), tomatoes courtesy of my sweet friend, Sabrina and her precious little Ellie who brought them to me today, fresh sliced mushrooms, feta cheese and fresh basil from my little plant on my laundry room windowsill. 

 This is it just as it went into the oven.

Fifteen minutes at 400 degrees later 

and it came out looking like this!

Slap yo' grandma.

South Beach 2.0

I couldn't get Weight Watchers to work for me.  I counted my points and still wasn't losing anything!!  And I have to see INSTANT results or I get discouraged.  AND I have a bit of a sugar problem.  If I'm allowed to eat it, I'mma eat it.  It's just that simple.  I felt like WW was letting me have too many calories so I got back on South Beach Phase 1 on June 3rd and so far, I've lost six pounds.  I had so much success with South Beach last year so I KNOW it works.  You just gotta DO RIGHT OH MY GOD AND NOT EAT SKITTLES.  

So I've gotten back to eating eggs, turkey bacon, veggies and lots and lots of low fat cheese, cottage, ricotta, shredded cheddar, string, those yummy little Laughing Cow wedges, Babybels, you name it.  I had to refresh my memory on some SB-friendly recipes that I liked so much last year like ricotta cheesecake and egg muffins (which is more like a quiche than a muffin.  Scrambled eggs, green peppers, ham or bacon, cheese, salt, pepper all mixed together and baked in a muffin pan).  It really hasn't been hard to get back on track.

I only cheated once.  At the movies with the girls from work last week.  With Skittles.  

Father's Day is this weekend and we'll celebrate my birthday, too, and I already told Mama months ago that I wanted pot roast, potatoes and carrots for dinner.  I'll be cheating that day.  I'll be off Phase 1, though, so I'll have a little wiggle room.

My goal for the summer is still to lose 20 pounds.  14 more to go!  If I lose 14 more pounds, I'll weigh that lie I told on my drivers license.  :)

Saturday Salmagundi

I'm having a very much-needed lazy Saturday. Well, as lazy as I can get away with. I've had a long week and didn't rest very well so I just camped out at home today. I slept until noon and although I did drag my butt to the shower, I'm still wearing my pajamas. Last week, I had soldering class on Monday, where I managed to completely burn the top layer off my circuit board in one little place. Them things ain't cheap, let me tell ya. Thank goodness I wasn't graded on it! I just held the heat there too long. I tend to get a little overanxious in soldering for some reason. I want to use too much solder, too much heat, just load it down and burn it up. I gotta work on that. Tuesday, we had CPR recertification at work and Wednesday, I went to the Mellow Mushroom and to the movies with some girls from work. We saw Eat Pray Love and I loved it! It was such a sweet, sweet movie about finding yourself and following your heart. I want to read the book now so I can compare. And then, Thursday, I found out that Larry was scared half to death 'cause he couldn't get me for two days. Adding to all that my trig homework being total frustration and yeah, it was a long exhausting week.

So I stayed home today and slept waaaaaay in, made rosemary chicken in the crock pot, finished my trig homework, cleaned my house, did some laundry and painted my toenails.

My weight loss has slowed down to a turtle crawl, y'all. I FINALLY got to 56 pounds yesterday and while that excited me to no end, it just took waaaaaaay too long. I don't think I've hit a plateau, I think I've hit a concrete wall. I'm trying to work more exercise into my day but with my job, school, homework, LIFE, I just cannot find the energy or the time. Any suggestions??

I registered for fall quarter this week, too. Wow, what a busy week!! I'm taking Alternating Current (AC) three nights a week at the college and a job skills class online. NO MORE MATH!!

I'm getting excited about fall, about summer coming to an end and the air feeling crisp in the mornings. The trees in my yard are already dropping crunchy leaves for me to step on. I'll be digging out my long-sleeved t-shirts in no time!

A Girl Cannot Live By Wheat Bread Alone

These things right heah are delish!!

They have just 90 calories, 2.5 g of fat

but what really impressed me was they have

a whopping NINE grams of fiber!

I got the Italian Herb but they also come in

Original, Sundried Tomato and Garden Spinach.

I like 'em with smoked turkey and avocado. Yum!!

Hey What Up?

Not very much. It's July, it's hot and I can't eat enough fudgesicles. The 80-calorie kind. Which aren't very diet-y when you eat five at one time but who cares? It's hot. I've been stuck at 53 pounds for almost two weeks. Well, teetering between 53 and 55. Closer to 53. I know it's the fudgesicles but I seriously cannot stop until the box is empty. Don't look at me like that.

School is going great. Trig is soooooooo much easier than algebra was for me. It actually makes sense to me! I'm halfway through the course already (or will be when I take two tests this weekend) and I have a 100 average right now. Wooo hooo!! I just want to get it ovah with. I'm taking it online and my instructor has already hinted that I'm going too fast but I just want it done.

I had my first soldering class Monday night and we're scheduled for class from 6:00 until 9:00. We got out of there at 6:15. He just called the roll and told us that soldering was basically electronics art class and he'd see us next Monday night. I can't wait to get started on that! I'm gonna make my circuit boards so pretty!! :)

Work's going great, too. I got a new computer at work and it's super duper fast and I love that! Maybe now it'll be able to keep up with me. Ha!! We had another birthday lunch today, this time for Norma, and we went to Ruby Tuesday's. I got the New Orleans Seafood (tilapia and shrimp with Cajun spices) and a huge salad from the bar and it was delicious. Then tonight, I met some friends at Mellow Mushroom for supper for Jennifer's birthday get-together. I got the Capri salad again and if you've never had that, you should try it. It's awesome!!

It's really amazing to me how the choices I make at restaurants now have changed. I used to get fried everything, especially fish, fries, baked potatoes, starchystarchy carbycarby and now I just eat better. Not because I have to. Because I want to.

What's that? Shhhhhhh. Listen. I think that's a fudgesicle. Let me go see what it wants.

One More Thing That Makes Me Happy...

...year-round is Poppyseed Chicken! I love it. Cooking it, eating it, sharing it. A girl I used to work with just begged me to make it every time we had some kind of meal or party at work. It's always a hit. I haven't been making it since I've been doing South Beach because it requires Ritz crackers and crackers are a no-no on SB. BUT I found some All-Bran multi-grain crackers at Kroger when I was there today and they have 5g of fiber per serving! Awesome!! So I got 'em and tried them with my usual Poppyseed Chicken recipe and they worked great!! See??

I stopped by the farmer's market on my way home and picked up some things, too. They were just overrun with yellow squash and sweet onions and this is what I did with some of those tonight. Yum yum!! I added some bacon and cooked 'em in olive oil. Slap yo' grandma.

I've got about two weeks left in this first quarter of college. I finished up my online algebra class yesterday, praisesweetbabyjesus, and I'm getting out of there with a B+, I think. I'm not sure how to figure averages. They take 40% of this and 20% of that so I'm just not sure. It's a good B, though.

In other South Beach news, I've lost 45 pounds now. These past two pounds have been SO HARD to lose. It's taken me about two weeks. Larry told me that I'm digging into pounds that have been with me since high school now and they're not too happy to be leaving me. That makes perfect sense.

Oh, but they sho'nuff are leaving me. It's been 25 years since high school. I am so over them.

Li'l Update

I've had a couple of nights off from class. My DC instructor had to go to Florida on business (yeah, right) and we didn't have class Wednesday or Thursday. I used that time to do my online algebra assignment for the week and now I'm FREE for the weekend and I am just beside myself with joy. :) I got off work today and went by the grocery store and got some stuff for our Mother's Day dinner for Mama Sunday. I'm making green beans and taking the fixin's for a big salad. I'm also going to make a grape salad and I'm thinking about getting up Sunday morning and frying some okra to take, too. I've been craving fried okra all of a sudden. That's the Southern girl in me missing some real food.

I've lost 42 pounds now and when I got dressed today, I put on my most favorite Old Navy jeans that I couldn't even get on past my hips Christmas and they were loose this morning. Those jeans hung in my closet for TWO YEARS 'cause I couldn't even get them on. On my best day, they've never been loose when I put them on. I weigh less now than I have in over 20 years. I met my husband weighing more than this. All of this is so exciting!! I wish I had time to exercise and walk more but I do what I can. School and work take up most of my time these days. We have started doing yoga at work a couple of days a week and that's so much fun and relaxing at the same time. Dr. P is an awesome instructor!

So I came home today, put my groceries up and went outside and enjoyed the sunshine and my first free afternoon in a month. I cut my grass (with scissors! I have very little grass. Ha!) and weeded my little flower beds. It was nice to get a few things done outside. I've been feeling a little overwhelmed not being able to get it all done.

We're halfway through the quarter now. June 15th is finals. The next week's my birthday and the week after that, my vacation. It'll be here before I know it. First quarter will be over and I'll be well on my way to doing whatever it is that I think I want to do when I grow up. I'll be glad when I figure it all out.

Mayday! May Day!

I feel like calling for some help today! Working full time and going to school full time is ROUGH. I don't know how people do it when they have a family to take care of. I do have a husband to take care of but I swear, I could not do this if I had children. There are girls in my class who do have children and work and go to ball games and stuff. I have SO MUCH respect for them! This course I'm taking is slap FULL OF MATH and I saw this page on Facebook the other day that cracked me up. It was "Dear Math, Grow Up And Solve Your Own Problems!" Now that's what I'm talking about. Gah!! Electronics is all math. Simple easy math but long, drawn-out equations. My brain hurts.

I don't have a lot of free time these days and I miss my blog and the ones I read. If I don't comment on your blog, it doesn't mean I'm not reading it. I still love you!!

The weight loss thing is coming along great. I've lost 40 whole pounds now!!! I think I've lost six pounds since I started going to school. No time to eat either. Ha! I've had to buy a few new clothes and retire (FOR GOOD!) some fat pants. My new goal is 50 by my birthday.

Spring quarter ends nine days before my birthday.

OHMYGOD, I am SO looking forward to turning 43!!

And Now Back To Me

Week two of school is going great. I am actually getting this!! Who knew, right?  It's a lot, I'm talkin' a LOT of math, but it's sticking to something in there.  Not like high school when I thought 4 to the second power was 8. Ha! I'm loving it so far. And we're getting out of class by 8:00 or 8:30 so that's not too bad.  We learned about resistors tonight and how to determine the amount of current they can stand before they blow up.  I have to blow one up.  I just have to.  :)

I'm so tired, though, too tired to cook healthy when I get home. I've been hitting Chick fil-A every night after class, getting the grilled chicken Cool Wrap.  Those things are SO good, 'specially when you're starving to death by 8:00!!

I've lost 34 pounds now.  I'm trying to drop six more super fast so I can hurry up and get to 40. Any suggestions??

No homework tonight.  I'm taking full advantage of that and hitting the hay early!

Bok Bok Meatballs

One of my coworkers and friends, Lisa, told me about these chicken meatballs she saw on Discovery Health. Since we're always trying new healthy recipes these days, I told her I'd make 'em this weekend and put 'em on my blog.  They turned out SO GREAT.  Y'all have to make them!!!

Look at that steam coming off 'em!!  Nom.

Here's how!

6 slices wheat sandwich bread (light and fluffy—not dense bread)

1/2 cup fat free milk

3 large egg whites

1-1/4 cups minced sweet onion

1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

1 teaspoon salt

2 pounds ground chicken breast

olive oil spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, soak the bread in the milk. Let the milk absorb into the bread, then using a fork or your fingers, tear the bread apart. Add the egg whites and beat the mixture with a fork until the bread is torn into small pieces and the eggs are lightly beaten. Add the onion, parsley and salt and stir them into the mixture until they are combined. Then add the chicken, mixing until all of the ingredients are well combined.

Spray a medium, non-stick baking sheet or baking pan with olive oil spray. Using a meatball scoop or 2 tablespoons, shape the meat mixture into 2-inch diameter meatballs and place them side by side in a single layer on the prepared sheet or pan.

Transfer the sheet or pan on a lower oven rack and allow the meatballs to cook for approximately 12 minutes or until they are no longer pink inside. Remove the meatballs from the sheet or pan with a spatula, transferring them to a large serving bowl. Pour your favorite sauce over the top and serve.

Makes approximately 32 2-inch meatballs.

Each meatball has: 51 calories, 8 g protein, 4 g carbohydrates, 1 g fat, trace saturated fat, 17 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber, 130 mg sodium

Schnoink, Schnoink

I went to Publix today after work to get a few groceries and looky what I found!  You know that bacon GOT to be good, don't you??  :)