I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaack Biiiiiiiitcheeeeees!

It took me almost two hours to log into this beeyotch. I thought my blog perished into the blog abyss with the rest of those absentee bloggers in my blog roll. My nerves right now... SHOT.TO. HELL. Let's catch up manana. I just can't right now. I can't even.... HAA HAA!

Serving up some leftovers...

For the weekends I decided to serve  up "leftovers" and  recycle my favorite posts. With my new busy, busy job, the weekends serve as a great opportunity to catch up on reading the blogs of others.  AND...as most of you know, I fell sooooooo behind on reading your blogs.  But then again, some of you may not know since you decided to unfollow me due to a lack of  my visits and comments...hahaha.

Cut me some slack, my new job as a first grade teacher keeps me extremely busy. Check out my new digs:

A little blurry...I thrifted the blue bottles for around  $2 bucks. The bottles hail  from World Market

I ROCK...me at my goal weight!

My birthday bulletin board...I used denim fabric for the background. 

How bout some chair flair?

I decided to drape my desk with this cheap ultra suede fabric from Garden Ridge.

My desk chotskies...

How cute is that lamp? 1/2 off at Hobby Lobby!

More desk chotskies...

Hooks...one for my sweater. You can freeze meat in my room...it's so cold.

Ordered form VistaPrint! VistaPrint ROCKS!

The word ranch...

My teacher bulletin board...I added some cowboy lights which are not pictured.

Vista Print

Made these number "posters" with my Cricut. I have nothing; so, with limited funds I make most of my materials. 

My mom made the pillows. 

My file cabinets with a little extra pizazz! 

So, I intended for this post to start my first installment of " Serving up some leftovers," BUT I ended up writing a WHOLE new post...lol. Okay, next weekend then. I just wanted to show you why  I spent much time away from blogging and your blogs these past few months. SO CUT ME SOME SLACK :-)  On a good note, my classroom projects kept my mind and hands distracted from mindless eating snacking. 

What do you do to keep from mindlessly grazing?

Yet Another Chance to Get it Right...Motivation Makeover (Round 2)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! You know that optimistic feeling you get at the start of EVERY new year...hopeful, inspired, invincible...feeling like NOTHING or NO ONE can STOP YOU!  At the start of a EVERY new year  I decide this year I will not only MEET, but exceed my fitness and weight loss goals.  But then somewhere along the way life happens,  I  lose that pep in my step and my motivation slowly but surely wanes into oblivion. AND THEN, I  find myself in a weight loss and fitness rut.  

So, in efforts to put that PEP back in my STEP it seems only befitting to revisit  a post I wrote at the start of 2010. In short, I need to practice what I preach!

Published January 3, 2010...

So a friend of mine texted me this morning looking for some weight loss help. I gave her a little a starter advice, and she suggested that I write a post about our conversation. So here goes:

I basically told her to start small by setting a couple of realistic, manageable goals. AND, it just so happens, last Saturday's WW meeting discussed goal setting. The leader suggested that goals should be:

• Positive: Phrase your goal in positive terms (e.g. Each week I will plan my meals.).
  
• Specific: Make your goals straightforward and emphasize what you want to happen. Specifics help us to focus our efforts and clearly define what we are going to do.
  
• Within your control: You must be able to complete the goal without assistance from anyone.
  
• Good fit with your life: Whatever you plan to change must be something you can maintain for the rest of your life (e.g. eating breakfast, cooking more and eating out less).

When setting your goals, think about the benefits. For me the benefits include:

• motivation
• direction
• measure for evaluation

Just as important, make sure you reflect on the pitfalls of goal setting. 

• unrealistic expectations: be careful not to set yourself up for failure. I made the mistake of trying to workout 6 days a week. 6 days works for some but not me. I learned the hard way, by body needs time to recuperate from tough workouts. 

• overwhelming yourself: Set small 5 pound goals instead of worrying about the BIG number.

So...what's your goal? Get a picture in your mind. What do you want to accomplish? Okay, now write it down.

Well, like everyone else, I set a few goals for myself: Although I set these goals at the onset of the new year, I still need to focus on the same issues:

• Complete a 5K (Double booking myself ruined last year's attempt.) DONE! Since writing this post in January I am proud to announce I ran my first 5K last May!
• Track my food intake...If I write it, I bite it (So far so good)!
• Drink the daily required amount of water (and then some) EVERY DAY!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• PLAN, PLAN, PLAN, PLAN, PLAN and then plan some more! This week, I created a menu. With my menu in mind, I wrote my grocery list and only purchased foods on the list. To save money, I  based my menu on foods already stored in my pantry, freezer and fridge. I created this Turkey Taco Soup, pictured below with food on hand. In addition, I froze a few bowls of the soup to be used later as back-up meals during times of laziness.

Also on the menu, this black bean omelet for breakfast in the morning.

As far as my long term goals:

I picked this card up at one of the Saturday meetings, drove home, and stuck it on my fridge.

My ultimate long term goal is to be a Weight Watchers leader. I hope to one day share my weight loss trials and tribulations with others struggling to lose weight like myself.

And of course no motivational post is complete without a motivational photo:

Me at my goal weight...just kidding!

The real motivational picture...trying to hide behind my digital camera's instructions manual.

Revisiting this and other post written in that "start of the new year frame of mind" helped to put things into perspective. Sometimes I lose my way (more often than I'd like), but I refuse to go back THERE (see photo), and live my life on the sidelines while watching everybody else play! GAME ON!

*COUGH...COUGH* Pardon the dust!

The beginning of the school year looms right around the corner and next week I return to work.  For the past few weeks  I  spent a majority of my time preparing my classroom. For the first time EVER, yours truly will be teaching first grade; so, I basically started from scratch in regards to preparing for the school year. I put a lot of thought into my classroom and plan to share some photos of my work in progress. 

As well, my kids return to school soon too, so until things settle down around this camp, I suspended all blog publishing. This summer provided an abundance of blog material, so rest assured I plan to post SOON! 

THANKS to those of you who missed me and gave me a shout out on Twitter!

TJ's Test Kitchen

OK, just one more beer

Full-Fat to Low Fat Pie

In the mean time, if anyone wants to guest post, leave me a comment. Thanks for your patience.