Saturday, October 29, 2011

What's been going in the Gile's house!





It's a yucky rainy Saturday.  I don't have anything exciting to blog about, just a bunch of randoms...I am having another pumpkin carving/painting party for the kiddos and some of their friends.  I spent yesterday and this morning making some sweets for it.  I made oreo truffles, chocolate dipped oreos, chocolate covered pretzel rods, cupcakes, and one of those pumpkin cakes made out of two bundt cakes.  I just iced the cake a few minutes ago, and man do I need to practice my iceing skills. Oh well it's orange now and looks kinda like a pumpkin... For the stem I think I will put a snickers bar or something in the middle...If I felt like doing anymore crap in the kitchen I would attempt to make the stem and some leaves out of fondant.  Truth be told I have not even bought all the actual pumpkin carving/painting supplies we need, so I doubt I have time to get all crazy with fondant considering I wont know what I am freaking doing since I have never done it before...

My husband is making bbq, and I will probably make a thing of mac and cheese.  I have a feeling we will have a good turn out for the party, so hopefully I have enough of everything.  I still have to clean the house, and I am getting overwhelmed thinking about everything else I need to do.  I know it will be worth it though to let the kids have some fun.

I ran some of the treadmill at the gym today.  The husband and I are getting ready for the Thanksgiving Day 5k in our area.  This will be his first 5k, and I am excited to do it with him! This course will be tougher then the one I did last month at my daughters school as it has more hills, so I am not aiming to beat my time, I just want to try to do it without stopping again.

The kids are excited for Halloween!  I am helping with  Laura's class party Monday, and then running over to the preschool to watch my other two in their school parade, and then later they shall trick or treat their little hearts out =).

Rachel has asked to try Karate out, and there is a place near out house we found, and she has her first lesson Wednesday.  This cracks me up.  They do three one on one lessons to let kids try it out first, and then you can sign up for weekly lessons with a class.  She's really excited!

Tonight Dave and I are going with a friend of mine from work and her husband to do some haunted ghost tour on a famous haunted boat in Norfolk tonight.  I can't remember the details, but apparently it's a famous boat and there have been documentaries on it!   I will try to take some pictures and get the details and blog about it later!




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Monday, October 17, 2011

Weight Losst Adventures...


So... weight loss.  Geeze louise, what a fun topic.  I have been debating about even writing about this as it such a touchy topic with myself, and many other people, but what the hell.  I went on a weight loss journey several months ago, and was really successful.  I talked about it some on here while I was doing it,  but I figure I would do a blog post about it.  In March I had a 31 party, and the girl who did it was telling me that some people that we both knew had lost a lot of weight, they did it with a little help... I got the info and set out to do the same thing...

April 1st I began a diet.  The first  few days maybe 3 or 4, I did an atkins type diet, which I messed up on and had a few carbs.  It was to jump start the weight loss.  Like I said though I cheated by eating bread a couple of times.  Then on day 5 or so I started a 1200 calorie diet.  To help stay within my calorie range, I was prescribed an appetite suppressant (phentermine).  I also got vitamin b12 shots that studies are showing help with weight loss, by mainly giving you energy.  The suppressant made me feel jittery for a day or so, and I cut out caffeine until I could tell I was adjusted.  This suppressant really was a miracle worker.  I love food.  When the doctor said appetite suppressant I laughed, as I figured it wouldn't work.  I literally found myself forcing myself to get in my 1200 calories a day because I just wasn't interested in eating.  1200 calories doesn't sound like much, but it was hard to get in!  I cut out high fat foods, (I still have not had a french fry since March),  ate high protein meals, and made it a point to get more fruits and veggies in.  I became a huge fanatic of Zone bars, and protein shakes.  As far as working out, I started out slowly with old lady style walking videos.  Go a head laugh away.  My husband and kids did.  Within the first week I lost about 7lbs I think, the end of the month I was down 15 lbs.  By the end of the 2nd month I was down 25.  Now not every week did I lose weight, but I was losing inches, and as the weight came off I became motivated to start working out more intensely, and rejoined a local gym.  Some weeks I lost 1 1lb, sometimes 5lbs, and sometimes none, but the scale kept moving on down....

I never cheated with the eating.  Now drinking would be another ball game.  Now don't get me wrong, the first month I didn't even cheat there, but eventually I would have a few drinks on the weekends, and then I discovered Skinny Girl Margaritas... sigh.... these are deadly.  I still would save them for the weekends, and when I knew I would be drinking them, I would just have protein bars for my meals. 

The end of June I stopped the appetite suppressants, but continued the vitamin b12 shots.  I was scared at first I would go crazy eatting and the weight would come back on...But I remained focused, continued to work out at least 5 days a week.....The middle of July I stopped the shots, and the doctor told me I was good to go.  I could come back for shots once a month, if I wanted to, but I had met my ultimate goal. Before my ultimate goal I had set two other goals.  The number I would happy with getting to, a number I would love to be, and then the ultimate goal...I couldn't believe I had hit the ultimate goal.... So how much did I lose? 50 lbs... I still can't believe it... The size I am at now is pretty much highschool early years of college. 

I have been able to maintain my weight so far. I try to do 1400-1600 a day, but usually do more on the weekends.  I still eat healthy for the most part, man do I miss french fries....but I eat what I want within reason and with portion control.  I also continue to work out, but now with girls in school, and busy schedules I mainly workout 3 times a week at the gym.  So far it's working for me, and I have not gained.  I bake and cook a lot at home, so if I eat anything sweet, it something I have made.  I would never buy a candy bar anymore, if I am going to enjoy a sweet treat then it better be good and worth it.  Also, the dietician where I work preaches about how everyone needs to lower their phosphorous intake.  Seriously, the studies out there that she has shown me are very scary!  Now being the diet coke addict that I am, I am not ready to say goodbye to diet coke, but I will try to make fresh desserts and meals for my family =)

It hasn't been all rainbows and unicorns though... the weight loss brought a lot of insecurities out for me.  The feedback I was getting from others was also extremely hard.  I had a lot of people say mean things to me about it, some people thought I was too skinny and told me I looked unhealthy, and I looked better with the weight.  Really?  Let's be honest....I was considered over weight on the far side with my starting BMI, and now that my BMI was appropriate people said  I looked unhealthy.  I hate to be snarky, but all of those people who said that crap to me were obese, but I wont lie, they got under my skin.    Seeing myself thin also was like seeing a whole new person.  This really shocked me as I was thin my entire life until later, so you wouldn't think going back to how I used to look would be that big of a deal, but it was....Maybe it was because it came off so fast, but I pretty much lost my mind for little while.  My insecurities got the best of me, and that's all I have to say about that.

What I like: the energy that I have, buying new clothes and feeling confident in them.  Buying size 2's and 4's for myself, and knowing they will fit. It's still weird getting those sizes, but it still makes me happy. I also like that being at my ideal body weight will help me health wise and lower my chances of a million different ailments and diseases.  It seems like every crazy disease is linked to being overweight. 

What's still hard, hoping I don't fall off the wagon and gain all the weight back.  I mean seriously, I am scared to death that I will go to bed skinny and wake up fat, and how bad would that suck since I got rid of all the bigger clothes.  I would have to cut a hole in my sheets and go a la mumu.  It really is a life style change.  You can't stuff your face every meal , every day.  I still need a crazy amount of new clothes, but buying a wardrobe isn't cheap, but hopefully little by little my closet will look full again. I seriously own just two pairs of jeans lol, but  that's ok, maybe I will just ask for clothes for Christmas.

I guess what I learned overall about this adventure is, you still have to find a way to love yourself no matter what you weigh.  Losing 50 or 100 lbs isn't going to make your life perfect either.  If anyone has any other questions feel free to comment or email me.







Sunday, October 16, 2011

Weekly Menu recap


So it's Sunday, I did ok with sticking to the menu.  Didn't follow it exactly, but I did my best so this is how the weekly menu went
Monday- Chicken Enchiladas.  This is always a family favorite, we enjoyed this, and I had enough leftovers to enjoy it at work for lunch two days this week.

Tuesday- Sweet Apple Meat Loaf-This is a recipe from My Mama Made that- Junior League cookbook. It was awesome! The kids scarfed it down, and my husband made sandwiches out of the leftovers.  Will totally make again.

Wednesday- Spaghetti- I had to volunteer this night, so Dave made this for the kids and himself. 

Thursday- Chickfila Kids night- I had volunteer stuff going on again, so Dave and the kids went out on the town and had a yummy dinner at Chickfila.  I was sad to miss out, BUT they got me a spicy chicken sandwich and brought it to me =)  When I got home I whipped up a batch of pumpkin spice muffins with a cream cheese center for everyone to enjoy the next morning.  They were a-freaking-mazing.... oh my goodness.  I got the receipe and how to from this blog :Pumpkin Spice Muffins  I will totally make these again for us to enjoy. 

Friday- I was supposed to do a London Broil, but I didn't have time to do the marinade in the morning, so this didn't happen.... I ended up baking some boneless pork chops.  It may sound weird but I just put them in a dish, take a tablespoon or 2 of apple butter with a shake of cinnamon on each one and bake them for 30-45 minutes.  It smells and tastes really good!

Saturday and Sunday- the pork shoulder the husband was going to smoke is still sitting in our freezer lol. But hear me out.  Our weekends are just crazy, so the prep work for smoking wasn't happening.  BUT I did the london broil in the marinade that we were supposed to have friday.  The marinade  smelled really good, but I didn't taste it at all once it was cooked... Honestly I don't think it had long enough to soak in it.  It probably was just in it for 5 hours.  I like to do it for 12 or more.  We ate it though.  To make something sweet for the kids, without feeling like being all creative and making a mess, I took refrigerated crescent rolls, unrolled the triangles, put a few chocolate chips in it, and rolled them back up and topped them with sugar.  This was actually a big hit with my family.  So easy to do.

Sunday- We are heading out to see a concert tonight in Virginia Beach and we have plans to go to Plaza Azteca for some yummy Mexican and margaritas.  Looking forward to this =)  I did make a batch of pumpkin, chocolate chip bars from this blog:  pumpkin choc chip bars
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Monday, October 10, 2011

Menu planning for this week....

I still have been attempting to menu plan, and I am getting better at it.  It sure does make grocery shopping a lot easier I will say that, and ends me staring into the fridge with a dumb look on my face or dwelling about it all day while I am at work.

This week here's the game plan for dinners:

Monday- Chicken Enchiladas.  This is a recipe that I got from my sister many years ago, and I like it because its easy, and most of it is done in the crock pot. 

Tuesday- Sweet Apple Meat Loaf-This is a recipe from My Mama Made that- Junior League cookbook. To be honest I have never attempted meat loaf before. The idea of it seemed kinda gross to me, BUT, at a JL meeting someone had made this, and I braved up and tried it, and LOVED it. It was really good.  My husband also is a meatloaf fan, so I am hoping he will pleased with this one.  We have back to school night at the preschool, so I am hoping I have enough time to get this one done...

Wednesday- Spaghetti- quick, easy, and the husband can make it.  I am volunteering this night so he's on duty so I figured to put him in charge.

Thursday- Chickfila Kids night- I have volunteer stuff again this evening, so I will be missing out on a yummy Chickfila dinner (I'm obsessed with the spicy chicken on wheat sandwich).  I plan on scarfing down some leftovers.

Friday- I have a new marinade I want to try out with a london broil.

Saturday and Sunday- this depends on how the day pans out, it's going to be a busy weekend for us... I have stuff for tacos, and I also have  pork shoulder for Dave to BBQ, so it just depends on how things pan out for us how we will end up doing it...

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Another weekend in the books....





Wow, we had another busy fun filled weekend, and I can't believe the weekend is already gone. 
Friday Dave and his friend and brother took the kids camping at a local park.  It's such a small world really.  I grew up on a baseball field pretty much as a child, and Steve and Bobby played up there too.  We later went to highschool together, and I kinda sorta dated Bobby (it's complicated) at one point in the teen years.  Years later it turns out Steven was on the same police force as my husband, and they hit it off and have a sort of bro romance I guess you could call it.  His wife is awesome, and their oldest daughter and ours love to play together, and I know their new baby will be running along with them all soon.

So friday night was the big camping trip.  I joined them for dinner and to hang out until late that night, and I have to say, the idea of camping is not appealing to me, but it was fun.  The girls had a blast playing together and having some fun in the woods.  No one was scared to sleep in the tent at night ( I was betting on Dave calling me to pick them up), and they all came home tired, but wanting to do it again soon.

Saturday morning we had a tball game and then ventured out to the Surry Pumpkin Patch.  This pumpkin patch is on the simple side, but they have the prettiest pumpkins, and all types too.  They don't charge an admission fee like a lot do around here, it's just a great big pumpkin patch, with a small shop with cute crafts, and their own homemade icecream (the pumpkin flavor is the best).  We have been going since Laura was a baby, and it's a tradition I know we will always continue.

We were pretty lazy the rest of the weekend, I have been battling either a cold or some allergies which hasn't been fun.  I don't feel like doing much other then laying around coughing, but I am going to have to force myself to get productive for a couple of hours to figure out our meals for the next week... I am hoping I will find something fun to make that is also blog worthy too =) 








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Monday, October 3, 2011

How we spent our weekend





*This weekend we ate our weight in marshmellows, we made smores Saturday night, and Sunday Dave and his friend attempted to either 1. send smoke signals, or 2. make me pass out from smoke inhalation as he couldn't get the fire to keep going.

* I watched my daughter play with my childhood best friends niece, and it was like a time warp as it seriously looked like myself and her playing together.  It still cracks me up, that they found each other at school and hit it off with being in different grades, and not knowing the background that they share =)
*We had a halloween costume crisis solved, and my older two want to both be mermaids, and my Costco only had one costume.  I tried to talk Laura into being something else, and she pretty much told me where I could take my suggestions.... Thankfully, a wonderful girlfriend in Richmond found the costume at her Costco, and mailed it to me. Emily at least could care less, and is happy to either be a lady bug or butterfly that I saved from years past.
*I'm nervous as Emily is seeing an eye specialist tomorrow, she has a "lazy eye".  Hoping it goes well.....Makes me nervous though.
*Fall ball tball started finally after being rained out the previous weekend.  I was all excited to have my camera out there and my huge zoom lens, and as luck would have it I forgot my memory card lol.


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Saturday, October 1, 2011

Yummy Apple Cake....




This morning I went to the gym after getting all the girls to school, I ran a 5k on the treadmill.  I was actually able to get the stupid thing to turn on this time.... Anyways, after my workout, I came home and baked something, because it all evens out that way right???? I ended up making Apple Cake with Caramel Sauce.  This is from the cookbook Lone Star to Five Star, The Junior League of Plano Texas, which I have to say, looks like an incredible cookbook and I am eager to make many more things from here soon!  I was eager to make something with apples as I had found a great deal on apples this week.
It was a hit with everyone.  The kids loved it, the husband was excited, and my parents gave it two thumbs up too.  It was easy to make as well which makes me happy.
Apple Cake with Caramel Sauce
Cake:
3 eggs
1/2 cup veg oil
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of salt
4 cups of chopped apples

Combine the eggs, oil, and applesauce in a mixing bowl and beat lightly.  Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt and mix well.  Fold in the apples.  Spoon in a greased 9x13 inch cake pan, and bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes or until the cake is done.

To prepare the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan, add the sugars, flour, cream, and vanilla and mix well, bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes.  Serve warm over the cake.  You can also reserve the sauce and reheat it if your serving it later.


Side note: This smells amazing cooking! 
If you want to purchase this cookbook for 40% off see the ad on my sidebar and enter the code NAP40 at checkout!!!

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