Selfish...Selfish... Selfish!!

For many years I whined and complained through life.  I had problems with my back, my joints and basically my whole body.  I felt tired all the time and I could hardly breathe.  My dear sweet husband, rubbed my back, fetched my medicine and provided as much comfort to me as possible.  Its a year later and I feel Good. Actually I feel DAMN GOOD.  I can move, I can breath and I have hardly any aches and pains at all.  My poor sweet husband woke up this morning feeling dreadful.  Tummy bug of some kind. I have tried to be sympathetic but honestly I am selfishly annoyed. Its Christmas Eve and I should be ashamed of myself.  The poor guy feels like crap, and all I can think is... "We're going to be late!! There is so much to do!!"  He keeps worrying that he is ruining my Christmas.  I really need to slow down and remember all the times he put up with my complaining and my aches and pains.  He doesn't mean to be annoying.  So I am going to breathe... Relax and count my blessings... After all I don't have the tummy bug!!!!!

Me... after 1 year!!

So this is Christmas...

Well its Dec 17th, and I believe we have finished shopping except for a few odds and ends, Today I plan on wrapping presents.  I started a vegetable soup in the crock pot for the pot luck tomorrow. I hope it tastes great!!
Christmas feels strange this year. I have had moments of the Christmas spirit and then other times where I have had to listen to music or watch a movie to find it.  I keep running across people who seem to be experiencing despair over Christmas this year.  I guess so many feel that don't have enough money to buy what they want that they feel Christmas is not happening this year.  I beg to differ. I have had very meager Christmas's that were filled with the Joy of Christ's Birth and the love of my family.  I think so many times we forget that it is His birth. That the one who many times was alone, or persecuted. the one who depended on the kindness of strangers. The one who healed the sick, raised the dead, and loved the sinner is the one we are celebrating.  He understands our frustrations and our sorrows, so we need to turn to him and find the true meaning of Christmas.
We can feel His love and His Peace, especially at Christmas.  My prayer is that all may find this peace.

Festival of tree's

When I began this weight loss journey I made a list of over 100 things I wanted to be able to do again, or even do for the first time.  One of those things was go to Festival of Tree's and walk the whole route.  Well we did it yesterday!! We had to stop and rest our feet a few times, Berrett's shoes were giving him trouble.  He also wears out quicker then I do. It was such a gesture of love for me too, for him to go.  He really didn't want to, but He knew I did so he got discount tickets through work and off we went.  I think he enjoyed some of it. It was cool to see Amy and Katherine's  Gingerbread houses.  Also The Taylor family had a Christmas tree.  It was really fun!!
 We came home and both pretty much sat around the rest of the evening resting our legs and feet.  It was an incredible feeling for me to be able to move and not feel out of breath!!!
I love my new body!!  Oh yes, Berrett told me yesterday he loves my new Bottom,  He says its Tighter!! LOL!!
how's that for a compliment!! 

Girl in the mirror???

Over the last year as I have watched my body change, and my health improve I have had several moments of catching a glimpse of my self in a mirror and not recognising "me".  The last couple of weeks I have been slightly frustrated cause the scale just won't move.   I was starting to despair that this was "it". That this was who i was always going to be.   Tonight I went to the community college with Berrett as he had to work and I wanted to be with him.  I was in the ladies room, washing my hands and looked up into the mirror and for a moment saw the old me and the new me.  I didn't recognise the new me.  I suddenly realised that I have curves, that my body IS Slimmer.  And that I have made some incredible advances in the last year. Instead of despairing over how much more I should lose, I intend to focus on what I have already lost!! In Fact I should say "gained" I have gained back my health, my life and my marriage.  For all these things I am incredibly Thankful.  I like the new me!!

Sunday, sunday

Well, we had snow yesterday and this morning, sun!!  I woke up about 8 am and need to read through my lesson one more time.  My lesson today is about the saints going to winter quarters and about serving one another. I hope I do the lesson justice!!  I made my own sugar free pumpkin pie pudding last night.  I have been craving pumpkin pie, and since the real thing would not be a good idea, I am trying to figure out a sugar free version that I can eat on occasion.  Heres my recipe..
Pumpkin pie parfait
1 box of french vanilla sugar free instant pudding
1 box of butterscotch sugar free instant pudding
3 1/2 cups of soy milk
1 1/2 cups of canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
sugar free cool whip
sugar free cookies- ginger snaps- or vanilla wafers- {optional}

combine all ingredients except cookies and cool whip.  beat with electric mixer until well combined.
chill and serve topped with crushed cookies and cool whip

When you use soy milk with pudding mix, it will not be as thick as pudding made with milk.  Because of my gastric bypass surgery I am now Lactose intolerant, so soy milk is my only option.  Cool whip is lactose free so I have no problems there.  If you chill the pudding and use slightly less soy milk, it seems to work.  That is why I use 3 1/2 cups instead of 4 cups as usual in making the pudding.

Soups on!!

Well here I am beginning my journey into the world of Blog. My Inpiration?? My Friend Dee.
She has some cute blogs about cooking, her family, etc and I thought "I could do that"!! So here I am.
My passion this week is Crock pot soup!! I made a home made vegetable Meatball soup at the beginning of the week, and tonight a Golden Creamy chicken and Vegetable soup. My sweet hubby seems to be a fan of my soups, although he thought the meatballs I chose at the beginning of the week were too "Italian".
Well if any of you are interested, here are my own recipes for Crock pot Soup!!

Vegaball soup [vegetable meatball soup]
Ingredients
46 fl oz of V8 juice
1 large carton of beef stock
1 large onion- diced
3 cloves of garlic- minced
6 stalks of celery -chopped
4 to 6 carrots- chopped [I used baby carrots, about 1/2 a bag]
6 to 8 red potatoes-quartered [ I leave the skins on]
1 can of green beans
1 bag of Italian style meatballs
salt and pepper to taste
Greek Seasoning to taste

I combined all the ingredients and cooked on low 8 to 10 hours.
Servings- about 10 -1 1/2 cups
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"California Dreaming Chicken soup'

2 large cartons of chicken broth
2 cans of golden mushroom soup
1 envelope of Lipton onion cup of soup mix
1 large onion diced
6 cloves of garlic chopped [we love garlic]
4 stalks of celery chopped
4 to 6 carrots chopped
6 to 8 red potatoes- quartered
4 to 6 chicken breasts -cut into bite size pieces
Greek seasoning to taste [ I crushed about 2 1/4 tablespoons in my palm]
1 cup of frozen peas

I combined all the ingredients except the peas, and cooked for 2 hours on high, and then 8 hours on low.
Add frozen peas about 30 minutes before serving