Break the Cycle

I recently started a new weight loss program.  Well, not really.  It is a lifestyle change.  Small, little changes that add up.  Focus more on whole foods.  Using natural sweeteners.  Anyway - I stumbled across a post from 2012 on this website and I wanted to remember the words, so I figured I'd share it here so I always had access to it. What You Do With Now It is not your fault. But it is your responsibility. The choices you have made have brought you to where you are now. And so have other factors that are completely beyond your control. There's nothing to be gained by blaming yourself for the way your life has unfolded. There's everything to be gained by actively taking full responsibility for the way your life proceeds. The route you traveled to this point no longer matters, for nothing can be done to change it. What truly matters is what you do with now. Life is always unpredictable, yet there's something you can count on. The more sincerely and...

While I LOVE summer, I do miss having a schedule and knowing where we'll be each day and what we'll be doing, and more importantly .... what's for dinner !! I use Plan To Eat to plan my meals as well as get my grocery list together.   Then I post it so the kids don't ask a gazillion times "What's for dinner tonight?" Some of these are new recipes, others are recipes I've adapted.   If something strikes me as outstandingly good this year, I'm going to try and make sure I have it either linked here, or I post the recipe.   This week I just signed up for AMAZON Fresh .... they will be delivering my groceries Monday morning (holiday weekend or I probably could have gotten sooner).   I saved $50 off my $150 order by using FRESH50 in the Promo Box.   I've heard some great things about the delivery service - so I'll give it a shot.  Prices of meat I thought were high, so I may have to hit the grocery store for anything I don...

My family loves shrimp.  Usually I prepare it with scampi, or something equally unhealthy.  This time I tried something new, and it was a hit.  I will certainly make this over again, it was good enough to serve when we have guests. I used 4 pounds of large shrimp, peeled and cleaned.  I buy the ones that are frozen and cleaned, but still have the tail on.  They are way cheaper than the ones that are totally cleaned, and it took me about 5 minutes to squeeze the tails off all 4 pounds once they were thawed.  I served this over plain white rice, it was a hit. Take your 4 pounds of cleaned shrimp and marinate in about 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of corn starch.  I put mine in the lemon juice first and gave it a good mix so all the shrimps were in contact with lemon juice, then sprinkled the flour and cornstarch on top and mixed again.  I mixed a few more times while it sat for 15 minutes or so -- while I prepped all the r...

I've been watching a used 2015 Jeep for about a month or two now.  Finally I decided to take the drive up to test drive.  I received an e-mail early yesterday morning that it was still there.  But it wasn't.  Usually I would have gotten pissed off that I was basically "tricked" into driving an hour away, but after the deal I got on a brand new Jeep, (it had less than 1 mile on it when I first took it for a test drive) I couldn't pass it up.  This will most likely be my forever car.  They are installing running boards on it, so that when I do get old, I'll still be able to get into my Jeep.  The best part .... it's stick shift - and no one else in my house can drive stick !  Now to think of a name for her.

Anyone that knows me, knows we are a swimming family.  Maybe because I am a Pisces I love the water so much, but I love everything about water, pools, baths, the ocean, the lakes, give me a body of water and I'm jumping in. My kids all swim too.  At one time or another, they've all competed on a swim team.  Two of them still practice year round, 5-7 times a week.  For 3 hours each practice.  So yes, our life pretty much revolved around swimming.  Until now. Adam decided out of the blue he was going out for the track and field team at his middle school.  Since I threw both shot and discus in high school, I'm sure we've talked about it, but never did I think I'd have a kid follow in my footsteps.  So a month ago, he went out for the team.  It was right before Spring Break, so I figured I'd buy him a discus so he could practice, seeing as the other kids have already been doing this for 2 years.  I showed him a few pointers, and he went ...

There is really nothing I like better than working barefoot in my garden.  It's still pretty cool here at the Jersey shore, especially for May.   Right now Alexa tells me it's only 57*, with a high of 61* and a low of 48*.   Great weather to work outside, but not warm enough for things to really grow. I do have some things going - my planter that I got from Sam's --- love this, makes having lettuce and herbs right outside my door both accessible and attractive. As I pull the lettuce or kale out, I can simply replace with smaller plants or seeds.  I keep it really close to the house, so although it does get morning sun, it's in shade for the hottest parts of the day, and that helped all the herbs not to bolt last year.  The only downside is that it doesn't hold much water, so watering every 3rd day or so is necessary. Also loving the look of my step flowers this year.   They are quickly growing right up the flower trellises I purchases.  I...

Most know that my husband loves to travel.  He usually travels alone, since the kids are still in school and not old enough to be left alone for 6 weeks at a shot ! Anyway, for the past 4 weeks he's been in Columbia, exactly 2,222 miles away from me (I can still track his iPhone... how cool is that!)   He has another 2 weeks before he travels home.  I have to say that I am ready for him to be home.  We are self employed, so that means when he travels, I get to do my job, his job, and be mom and dad to the kids. He spent the first few weeks in Bogota with friends, and now is traveling through Bucaramanga.  He went to Columbia last November for 6 weeks, so he knows his way around the country pretty well.  While it might be somewhere I'd consider retiring to, he knows if it's not really close (like walking distance close) to the water, I'm not moving !   

Peggy's Quilt - Peggy is the BFF of my "sister" Gige.  Peggy has had some shit thrown at her for sure, but she still is smiling every single time I see her.  She often comes with Gige when they come take one of my kids out for their birthday.  She does that, no matter how tired she is, so that Gige never has to drive alone.  Peggy's husband committed suicide - that would be hard enough to live through, but then her son, Scott, also committed suicide.  I can't imagine.  He was only 30 years old.  His entire life ahead of him. There is so much to learn about mental health and so much more we could do to prevent the pain of loosing a loved one ..... I personally know the pain of depression, and the angst that depression can cause on loved ones. Anyway - Gige asked me if I would take Scott's clothing and make a quilt out of them.  Peggy still had them all in a tote.  They dropped off the tote during one of their birthday visits.  I...

 These were pretty good.  I'm not a big fan of cabbage, but I ate 2 of these.   I don't know if I would have went through the trouble if I had to make rice as well - but seeing as we had leftover rice from the night before - it wasn't too much work - and clean up will be a breeze.  There is plenty of sauce on the side too - so I served it with the rest of the leftover rice - easy and healthy meal Ingredients 1 cup brown or long grain white rice 1 large head cabbage 1 large egg 1 cup chopped onion 4 cloves garlic, finely minced then "pasted" 1 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 1/2 lb. lean ground beef 3/4 lb. ground pork* *You can substitute all ground beef for the pork if you prefer Sauce: 2 tablespoon butter 1 cup finely chopped onion 3 cloves garlic, minced, then "pasted" 2 (14 1/2 oz. each) cans diced tomatoes with their juice 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce 1/4 cup white vinegar 2 teaspoon low sodiu...

The day we picked to get married was also the same day that God decided it would be funny to drop over 3 feet of snow as a wedding present to a guy who had never before seen snow before.... who said God didn't have a sense of humor.  Anyway - as a surprise for our anniversary dinner this year, I had planned to make Egyptian rabbit, rice and molikia for my husband.  God again decided to throw a little snow into my plans (only 6" this time) so dinner was postponed until last night - but after all was said and done -- dinner was amazing, the kids and Sham both said it tasted just like his mom used to make ... which made me happy !  I used 2 Instant Pot to make dinner quickly ... and it was extremely easy.   For the Rabbit - I took 2 frozen rabbits, threw them in the pressure cooker with some water, onions and 3 bay leaves.  Pressure cooked for 20 minutes (next time I'll only do 15, but they were still good)  Took them out, strained the broth, used 4 cups ...

Made this last night for dinner - got thumbs up from EVERYONE, which rarely happens. 3 lbs Chicken (I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs) 1 C BBQ Sauce 1/2 can of diced Pineapple (or dump the entire can, but use juice only NOT heavy syrup!) 1 cup Coconut Milk Chili Flakes to taste Pretty simple really - I dumped the pineapple in first, mixed the other ingredients in a separate bowl, dumped the chicken in that bowl, gave it a stir, and then dumped the entire thing on top of the pineapple in the IP (HINT - take the insert out of the IP whenever you are making something ... that way no chance of making a mess!) Pushed poultry and lowered the time from the standard 15 minutes to 10 minutes.  I let mine release NP for about 5 minutes, then couldn't wait any longer so I did the fast release, and wow, did the steam coming off smell good.  I took out the chicken once I got the lid off (I had washed the bowl I had used earlier so just used that) and then put...

Bringing the Blog back to life in 2017. This will be the year I : MAKE me time every day ! Get my house in order, declutter, and clean on a schedule. Use Plan To Eat regularly Loose the Weight Get to the gym QUILT ! On the first of every month I will refer back to this post and report in on how I'm doing !