Christmas is On the Way

'Tis the season when I invite you to join me in my Christmas ornament obsession. Seriously, it so bad this year there are two trees. And all those boxes are FULL of ornaments. You know how they have dividers for individual ornaments?  Well, each of my compartment have to hold multiple ornaments. I know it is ridiculous and yet I can't (won't) stop myself.

It takes days...I started while watching Sunday night football. Hello, JJ Watt - welcome to my tree trimming party :)

Monday night my niece came over to help me for awhile. I am super excited to have a revolving tree stand this year. I bought one that did not work out and I was super disappointed. Then a certain elf surprised me with another one that is working perfectly. I could sit on the couch (I mean, march in place) all day watching the tree and ornaments go 'round.

A nod to my love of Canada Geese.

I couldn't stop myself from buying this cutie last week. Because who doesn't need a balloon dog on their tree? 

Our family is of Dutch decent and we celebrate St. Nicholas Day. On the morning of December 6 you might find your shoes full of goodies (if you were good). I have a pair of wooden shoes that we put out the night before. Look what we found in our shoes?  I know he looks like a silly soccer ball, but I am currently enamored with BB-8. I sure hope he doesn't turn out to be a dud.

I can't quite decide if I regret not getting this ornament. The face was just a little bit too wacky for me. But how did I not know after all this time that Chewie carries a purse.???

Just a warning...there will be more ornament pictures between now and Christmas. Perhaps even a post dedicated them. It will like my own version of Ode to Joy...I'll call it Ode to Ornaments.

Sunday, Millie found a tennis ball in the yard and became obsessed with it. We had friends over and they played fetch with her for quite awhile. Looks like they wore her out - she took the ball to bed with her :)

I just don't know what is going on here. My husband called me into the bedroom to this. Millie even rewarded me with a yawn for the picture. For some reason that pup is becoming more and more obsessed with the pillows.

I saw this book in Target the other day. I didn't "get" the title until I was thumbing through the book. Read "all of the other reindeer."  Olive (the dog) is sitting at home when she hears this and decides she is the the "other reindeer." And the adventure begins.

If you take a moment glance down to my December Goal accountability section (bottom of post) you will see it is not exactly going as planned. I have noticed that on days I am home that I am all over the place on tracking. I do so much better with the structure of a work day. I think the lesson in that is that I have to make sure I am on point for those work days to help counter the challenges of non-work days.

In related news....CUTIE SEASON!!!!

In addition, to a bag of Cuties (for $2.69) I bought a bunch of veggies to help me with my veggie goal. The lettuce is already almost gone thanks to last night's taco salad. Beans or asparagus tonight??   

We are finally in the single digits of the Jedi Challenge (and Episode 7 release date). When I started the challenge it seemed like it would take forever and chances were I would not finish it. Unfortunately, I have a history of not finishing. However, it looks like this just might change :) 

   

I found these window clings at the dollar store and decided to do a fun countdown for my husband. Every morning I will add a cling with the number of days until movie day. He is SO excited about the movie!  We have tickets for the 17th, so my two countdowns don't quite match up.

I've been focused on this Episode 7 countdown silliness. And suddenly Christmas is 2 weeks away!  I have bought a couple of presents, but I need to get serious about some shopping. Time to make that list and check it twice. Are you finished your shopping?

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DECEMBER GOAL ACCOUNTABILITY

December 6

5 Fruits/Veggies -  banana, grapes
100 oz. water - I drank a few glasses, but didn't track.
Next best choice - About the only thing I could say is that I stuck with having cereal and a banana for breakfast instead of going out for breakfast.

December 7 

5 Fruits/Veggies - 1 c. spinach, 2 c. grapes, 1 c. butternut/broccoli, 2 c. lettuce
100 oz. water - 80
Next best choice - I made cookies for our friends who came over to watch football Sunday. There were some leftover, but I did not take any with me to work :)

December 8

5 Fruits/Veggies - 3 cups lettuce

100 oz. water - I drank several glasses, but didn't track
Next best choice - Loaded up with new fruits and veggies from Aldi

Goosebusters!

I absolutely love the days I get out and take a walk at lunch time. Friday, I had a quick errand to do and ended up by the little park I've walked at before. I was happy to see a flock of Canada Geese hanging out. I know they are somewhat controversial, but I love them. This guy was standing in my path. I thought maybe he was trying to intimidate me or at the least was not intimidated by me.  As I approached I was singing (in my head) "I ain't afraid of no goose" "who ya gonna call?...Goosebusters!!" 

As I got closer, I did feel a bit guilty as the poor thing hobbled away. It appeared he might have a broken foot. Then to make me feel just a bit worse on the next lap he was lying by himself away from the other geese. Broken foot and no friends - no bueno. 

This sign reminded me of the teeter-totters in elementary school. All metal with a small wooden seat. Recess was all about giving "bumps" - meaning making the person fly off their seat by hitting the ground hard with your end or letting your feet touch lifting yourself off the seat and then dropping down again. There was plenty of squealing and laughing....and I guess we might be the reason I don't see very many teeter-totters around any more. Are you Team Teeter-Totter or Team SeeSaw?   

This fun sundial seemed to be pretty accurate, if I am reading it right. I walked about 1-1:30 pm.

I have a confession as I was walking at lunch on Friday, all I could think about was ice cream (and the sad goose, of course). I spent the better part of the walk trying to talk myself out of stopping at DQ on my way back to the office or maybe I was trying to justify stopping...we will never know.  I had spotted this library box and planned that I would check it out right before I left.   

On my final lap, I decided maybe I should look for a sign in the box - yes, I should get ice cream or no, I should not. Maybe there would be a book about ice cream. The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street or An Ice Cream War would be a definite green light, right? And for the record, I don't even know why I thought up this crazy plan. I don't take stock in signs and certainly when I've asked for one I didn't get one (at least a discernible one). When I got to the box I immediately saw a book....and didn't think about my silly sign again until much later in the day, when I remembered I forgot all about the ice cream. The book is A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. That doesn't seem to have anything to do with ice cream - for or against.

 Turns out the book was from the public library system. I worked in a public library for a couple of years and you can't take the circulation clerk out of the girl.. I checked it for indications that it has been withdrawn. No, in fact it is a new release. It clearly should not have been left in this "library". I decided to take the book with me and drop it off at one of the public libraries so it could be returned to its home library. I made a call to a friend who works for the library system to alert them of the potential issue.  I became completely engrossed it righting the path of this wayward book that I was back at work before I knew it and without the ice cream.  Now the question is should I read the book before I return it??

Oh and I took this free book for myself. Oddly enough I didn't see it as a sign.  And now, on further reflection, it does seem to have a relation to my picture trauma of yesterday.  Apparently, I need a "squirrel" to chase instead of a "sign" because I can't read signs.

Oh, SQUIRREL!!  I saw this one at the park...nice and chubby for winter. Did I say chubby?  I meant fluffy.

My Saturday was not stellar in the 5-a-day and water department, but I did make an effort so all was not lost. I was out of the house without a proper breakfast so I grabbed these for the road.

The cucumbers were so good - nice and crunchy.

I spent a good portion of the day with my oldest niece, who is 3 weeks from delivery - where does the time go? She and I went to watch her sister compete at a cheerleading competition. Aren't they pretty :)

In case you ever wondered what a gym floor full of nervous cheerleaders waiting for the results to be announced looks like...

I was very thankful for my niece's cool driving head today. We were almost run off the road by a semi. It was changing lanes and we must have been in his blind spot. It pulled over right in front of us. I thought for sure we were going in the median ditch. She did a great job avoiding a VERY ugly situation. I am not sure I would have done nearly as well. 

When we got home I decided to run out and do some quick Christmas shopping. I am not a huge fan of shopping, but it actually worked out pretty well. A special message to someone reading this....yes, I bought a present for you.

I am planning for tomorrow to be better with my goals. I should be home most of the day and can keep the water glass topped off throughout the day and munch on more cucumbers and grapes. 

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DECEMBER GOAL ACCOUNTABILITY

December 3

5 Fruits/Veggies -  1 c spinach, banana, 1/2 cup Brussels sprouts, 1/4 c carrots. apple, 1 c. cucumber
100 oz. water - 100 ish - I lost count at the end so I drank a 12 oz before bed
Next best choice - We have candy in our office that we put out for workshops and meetings. There was a meeting in the office on Friday that I was not attending. I knew my boss would take the candy into the meeting room. I almost stashed a couple pieces in my desk "in case" I wanted a piece while the candy was in the meeting. I stopped myself...and I did survive the two hours of candy not being available :)

December 4  

5 Fruits/Veggies - 1 c. cucumbers, banana, 3 cups lettuce (if I get hungry before bed I might have some grapes)
100 oz. water - 75ish - Honestly, I lost track. I was out of the house all day. I did take the two coffee cups with water and drank those. But forgot and had soda with lunch. I drank some more water in the evening, but I don't think I hit 100.
Next best choice - We stopped at Steak n Shake on the way home. By that time, I had pretty much given up on getting all my veggies for the day. Then I saw taco salad on the menu and got it instead The salad wasn't the greatest calorie-wise, but it was less than the burger and cheese fries I thought I would get...and it had a built in veggie

One Step Forward and Two Steps Back

I am so glad I decided to set December goals and not let it become a total free for all. For breakfast, I scrambled two eggs with a cup of frozen spinach and some turkey sausage. I was surprised how simple and delicious it turned out to be. That will definitely be happening again.

A couple of months ago my husband and I went to my college homecoming. We were given these coffee cups. My husband is not a hot beverage drinker at all. I occasionally will have tea or hot chocolate. So the cups have been sitting on the top shelf in the cupboard ever since. Yesterday, I had a sudden epiphany - I bet I could use the coffee cup for water in the car. Who knew coffee cups were so versatile?? So 12 oz. of water can easily go with me to work. I have about a 15-20 minute commute each way and I can easily add 24 oz. of water to my day.

Now it is time to play with the broth I made the other day from my rotisserie chicken leftovers.  For this soup I simply a bunch of sliced Brussels sprouts and carrots. I had a little left over dry pasta in the cabinet, so I decided to throw in too.

I made the soup in the morning before work. This is the beauty shot that I took right after I made it.

And this is how my "soup" looked by lunch time. The pasta had sucked up all the broth. It was still tasty but not soupy. Next time I would use less pasta and maybe cook it before putting it in the soup.

I saw a great tip recently for chicken soup. Chef Alex Guarnaschelli recommended adding the cooked chicken right before serving. I can't tell you the number of times I have added the chicken early and it became pretty flavorless with a unappealing texture. I used some of the rotisserie chicken I had removed from the bones before making the broth. Adding that chicken right at the end allowed it to retain its deliciousness and texture. A vast improvement!

I have about a quart and a half of broth left. I put one quart in the freezer. The partial quart will be the base for my next soup experiment.

After lunch I headed out for a walk. I almost didn't go because I forgot my Garmin watch. Seriously? I can't walk without it? I overcame that minor lapse and used my cell phone to check the time. I will never know how far I walked, but I am okay with that. I was just happy to be outside walking again after several gray days and marching in place at home.


It was trash day and I had to do some dodging of empty cans.

 I also indulged by love of fire hydrants. I love the subtle style variations and the weathered paint.

Apparently this is the season to trim trees (not only in a decorative way). I saw a couple different companies working in the neighborhood. I found this one's slogan amusing. "Our business is pretty shady."

 Attention purple lovers - how pretty are these little berries?

I wish this picture had turned out a little better, but you get the idea. This yard was filled with metal butterflies.

 I am a little worried about this retaining wall. I wonder how much longer it can last.

 I have always thought this is a funny shaped tree, but appreciate their decoration :)

 One of my favorite parts of a walk is when I finish. No, not for that reason. I like the way I feel - thinner, stronger, healthier.  Some days I wish the feeling would last longer. Yesterday it bottomed out when I was scrolling through the pictures I had taken for the blog. I was horrified at one picture I had taken. I am not really a fan of having my picture taken, but have been much better about it for the sake of a realistic blog portrayal of my life. I much prefer to be behind the camera.

In this picture, the camera had actually been taking my picture instead of what I had wanted (another hydrant I believe). It was the most unattractive picture of my squinting into the camera screen with about a million chins. When the sun is bright there is a glare on the phone screen and am never quite sure how the picture will turn out. I can't tell you how bad that stupid picture made me feel for the rest of the day. I could feel my fat everywhere. Although, I like to think I am open on this blog, I will not be sharing that picture. I deleted it immediately. Hopefully only the FBI could find it (if my phone were involved in some terrible crime) and even then, I hope they are distracted by all the ridiculous Google searches I have done.  Anyway, it is inexplicable to me that when I am looking out on the world through my eyes I feel like a normal sized person, who at times is even cute. But then a picture or noticing how much space my hiney takes up on the couch can instantly crush that more positive self view. It that really what I look like when I am not trying to strike a flattering pose for a picture??

Unfortunately, that feeling doesn't fuel my motivation very well. Last night it had quite the opposite effect. I made several poor choices, which only lead me to be sad and angry. I had had such a great day start to the day (see above food and walk.) I know I am not alone in these feelings. I would love to hear how some of you get yourself through some of these feelings without adding to the "problem."

Reading back, I hate to have even written the above paragraphs and considered deleting them. It embarrasses me. I am not looking for sympathy or people to reassure me that I am cute. I just want to be real about my struggles. And hopefully, when I come out on the other side my sharing will help the next one to overcome.

And today is a new day....I am already at 30 oz.of water,  I have had one fruit and one veggie with breakfast and I have my shoes for a lunch walk (oops I forgot my watch again, but now I have proof I can walk without it, so no excuses!) 

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DECEMBER GOAL ACCOUNTABILITY

 

December 3

5 Fruits/Veggies -  1 c spinach, orange, 1/2 cup Brussels sprouts, 1/4 c carrots. 1 c. Brussels sprouts/butternut, 1 1/2 c. broccoli/peppers/onions
100 oz. water - 100 oz. (on the nose)
Next best choice - I was pulling out of driveway and remembered I meant to take my walking shoes to work. There have been other days when I just said forget it. This time, not only did I go back in for the shoes, I didn't grab the cookie I wanted on my way back out.

November Turns to December

A final wrap up of our holiday weekend. I did my Black Friday shopping on Wednesday. I saw that flannel was 75% at Joann's. The sale ran from Tuesday through Saturday. My sister and I spent a couple of hours combing the racks. She makes cute flannel PJ pants for Christmas and I am always looking to increase my stash for baby blankets. At one point we had two cart loads of bolts. Thankfully, I was able to narrow mine down. I buy two fabrics for each blanket to make it reversible. I try to stick to the rule of not buying unless I find two I want to put together. I might have bought a couple this time that I didn't match because well, I just couldn't stop myself.

We ran into Sam's Club. I am looking for food storage containers to use to store a few things for my niece (and myself). I love the pint/quart containers our local Chinese restaurant uses for soup. I couldn't help but notice something odd on this sign. Check out the difference between the soda prices if you buy the pizza combo or if you buy the hotdog combo. Why?

I didn't join the early morning Black Friday shoppers. I did finally venture out around 6 p.m. on Friday. I didn't buy anything interesting. However, I did happen to be in Walmart when they marked down their chickens for the day. I ended up buying this cheap chicken. We had a nice chicken dinner.

The bones went into the stock pot this morning with carrots, onions and celery to make some delicious chicken broth for my soup adventures. I am thinking of the Brussels sprouts and how good they might be in a soup, maybe with some rice...

This was a first for me. I have never bought veggies you steam in the package. I love snap peas but my husband is not a fan so I took this package to work. They were delicious.

Saturday we had a grand adventure with my niece. We kinda failed in the aunt/uncle department for her birthday this year. We could never decide what to get her. Well, six months later we finally celebrated. She wanted a day with us just having an adventure...so sweet.

We decided to take a short road trip and just poke around the little towns we came across. Our final destination was my husband's hometown (until he was three). Our first stop was lunch at a little family owned restaurant. I brought this candle with us so we could celebrate and sing happy birthday to her any time we ate. Despite pictorial evidence to the contrary, my niece is not a sour cream freak. We actually ordered her sour cream on the side, but then they inadvertently put it on top as well as brought it on the side. They ended up making her a new batch without sour cream and my husband and I ate the sour cream batch. So much for a small lunch.

We weren't planning dessert at this place, but after the owner saw our little celebration (and the sour cream incident) he sent over this brownie sundae. It was so nice and made the day a little extra special.

We weren't planning dessert at the first stop because I had seen this soda fountain online that I wanted to try. I was so excited to be sitting at the counter watching the girl make the sodas. I was taking this picture when she says...ummm this one is just an ice water. Ooops!  That was a little embarrassing. 

I made sure she was actually making my husband's root beer float before I took the next picture!  I love how it worked out getting my husband and niece's reflections watching as she made the float.

And this is my float in the making....a Green River. It is a lime soda with vanilla ice cream. It was good, but we all agreed we should have all just shared one float.

They shop had tons of Coca-Cola memorabilia.  We found these signs in the restrooms. Apparently Coke relieves fatigue....

But our favorite was the "ideal brain tonic".  I am not even sure what that means!

One of our favorite road trip activities is the Photo Safari. I have a basic list and then try to tailor it for the area we are driving through. #49 a used candle...of course, I knew we would have one by the end of the trip :)

We walked around the town square of my husband's hometown. His parents both grew up and went to school together in this tiny town. They built their first house here then moved when my husband was three and his brother nine. It was my first time visiting the town.

When his maternal grandfather (the town blacksmith) passed away they planted this tree in the square as a memorial. It has had quite a growth spurt since 1981.

I had to check out this shop. It was perfect. We ended up chatting with the owner who had gone to school with my husband's parents.

I could have parked myself for hours looking through all the books.

I should have bought this one about the Stalker Skunk.

We also visited the cemetery where his paternal grandfather is buried. This is not his gravestone, but I was intrigued by all the details included - I see a tree stump and an anchor. Makes me curious. Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy, but if we go back again I want to examine it a little more closely.

I love when people make fun things out of scrap.

We walked around another town square on our way home. There is so much character in those old courthouses.

I think this train is going to run out of track soon :)

Love, love, love these paintings on some of the old buildings.

I was a little disappointed that most of the shops were already closed by 3 p.m. I thought for sure places would be open until 5 p.m. at least since it was Small Business Saturday. I was stunned by the hours at this shop!  As we walked up the the owner was locking up the shop :(

Okay, so that wraps up November and now it is time to move into December. I have been thinking about how to handle the holidays. I am not doing well by any stretch on my eating. I think I would be setting myself up for abject failure if I try to go hardcore during December. However, I seriously can NOT afford to gain any more than I have.  I have decided on three goals for this month. These are in addition to my ongoing Jedi exercise streak....15 days until The Force Awakens.

1) 100 ox. of water per day
2) 5 fruits/veggies per day
3) Make the next best choice

That's it nice and simple. I am going with an "adding" approach instead of a "subtracting" approach. I will let those goals help me define my food choices. Last summer when my ladies group had these goals it made a difference in my overall eating since I was filling up with good choices making less room for poor choices. The "next best choice" will keep my mindful that every choice is an opportunity to make a good one. I am getting a late start on this goal (December snuck up on me), but starting with December 3rd I will posting my results for each day.  For accountability, I will post how much water I drank, which fruits/veggies I ate and an example of my "next best choice" for that day.

What are you plans for health/fitness through the holidays?