Princess Power - September 2016 Weight Loss and Lifestyle Change Challenge

[courtneybeth]

Good choice @Dr Gunnie -- you'll love the Garden Wing. It's a little bit quieter since you're outside near the pool area and not in the tower. The tower has the monorail and Chef Mickey's to deal with, while the garden wing is so quiet and lovely. The walk is an additional 3 minutes to the main tower and it's a straight shot to MK or the Monorail for EPCOT.

If you request the first floor you also get a large patio. We had that with our room and it was so awesome to just sit outside and watch the sunrise over the pool and lake!

 

[kirstie101]

Yesterday:

Belle is my favorite princess. I was in high school when Beauty and the Beast came out and I fell in love with it. I can relate to Belle in that I've always felt like I don't totally fit in and I'm a huge bookworm! I used to read a lot more than I do now. Just don't have the quite time that I used to have. Kids will do that to you. My new years resolution was to read a book a month/12 books for the year and I am on track with that. I even discovered a new "favorite" book this summer (The secret Life by Donna Tartt) I too started reading the Outlander Series. I'm on the 3rd book now. The first book was the best. The second just dragged on for me, I think it took me over a year to get through it. The 3rd book I've been able to move through quicker.

My woohoo Wednesday is that I got on the scale this morning and it was't bad at all! Actually surprised me! My other woo hoo is that today I went to a tea party in my sons kindergarten class and that was adorable and quite a bit of fun!

On a personal note, I had a pretty terrible day at work yesterday. Its messed with my head quite a bit and I'm still trying to deal with it. On the bright side I did not eat my emotions yesterday which I can have a tendency to do. On the negative side, my stress level is extremely high and I don't know how long I can continue to not eat my emotions.

 

[4Mickeys]

Woohoo! Not having Open Houses AND a faculty meeting is making this week much more sane!

Glad this week is a little less busy for you

Another woohoo is I walked from my car to my office. I haven'd done this in awhile.

Well Done this is a great easy way to get in some extra steps.

My woohoo is my hamstring isn't hurting this morning. I had PT yesterday morning and then in the evening I went for a run and made sure to stretch afterwards(I am really bad at that). Normally the morning after a run my leg hurts but this morning it feels pretty good! I hope this means it is finally getting better.

I hope it continues to feel better - make sure you stretch!

It's a Whoo Hoo day for me, I got this!

Lots of good things in your post to be happy about

My woohoo is that last night I was completely within calories and wasn't hungry or snacky

That is a good feeling isn't it? Trouble is I think I snack out of habit.

I have a Vitamin D deficiency. So that's why I'm constantly tired! Still haven't figured out the heart thing yet, but now I have one piece of the puzzle filled in!

It is good when you find a reason you can do something about - you need to get outside in the Florida sunshine!!!

I also am starting to feel a little better mentally. I still have my days, hours, and moments. But I'm doing some things like journaling and writing down two things that I'm grateful for or that make me happy daily and that has really helped me to put things in perspective.

So happy to hear you are feeling a bit better in yourself - the journaling sounds like it is really helping you. for a continued good week ahead.

I've gotten back on track with eating (although I admit there was a bit of a struggle over the weekend), but having trouble being diligent with my tracking..... but it is slowly coming back on line.

Glad to hear your eating is coming back to your normal - we have missed you but understand that it is hard to get back into things after a holiday

Thank you everyone for sending along pixie dust last week - so far the things that I've been wanting to happen are slowly in the process of coming true. I don't want to jinx the process of what is going on by saying specifically what it is, but I'm sure you can put two and two together when I say that it involves "money".

I'm packing tonight for Montreal... I'm going to Canada on Friday (!), another country to be crossed off of EPCOT. So that means Canada, UK, France, USA, and Mexico are now checked off as being seen in real life. I wonder how I'll convince the hubs to take me to Italy and Germany. Hmm....

I had a feeling it was work related continued . Canada! I am envious

I was reading on the Disney Resort boards about some of the deals that travel agents were able to provide, so I ended up shooting one an email. To make a long story short, we will now be staying at the Contemporary after our cruise in March!!! We got over 45% off the rack room rate and I added park hoppers so we can walk over to MK each night (we've never done the park hoppers before)!

That is fantastic - travel agents are still good for some things now that we can do so much ourselves online

Great woohoos everyone! It is looking like a nice day here today all week it has been overcast and showery So DS12 is off to a friends place this morning and then I am determined to walk today - I will drag DS15 and DD12 out with me as they need it too - way too much screen time been happening for them!

 

[cmarsh31]

I've been super busy the last few days with work and I'll get to reading everyone's woohoo's tonight, but had to come on and share today's woohoo:

I was reading on the Disney Resort boards about some of the deals that travel agents were able to provide, so I ended up shooting one an email. To make a long story short, we will now be staying at the Contemporary after our cruise in March!!! We got over 45% off the rack room rate and I added park hoppers so we can walk over to MK each night (we've never done the park hoppers before)!

So excited!

Same here - switched from OKW (no pool) to Contemporary in Feb! Couldn't resist!

 

[courtneybeth]

On a personal note, I had a pretty terrible day at work yesterday. Its messed with my head quite a bit and I'm still trying to deal with it. On the bright side I did not eat my emotions yesterday which I can have a tendency to do. On the negative side, my stress level is extremely high and I don't know how long I can continue to not eat my emotions.

Good! So good for you to not eat your feelings because I am a feelings eater and have had to learn triggers and adjust. Keep up the awesome work!

I had a feeling it was work related continued . Canada! I am envious

Ding ding ding! Final rounds next week with hopefully a good outcome. I'm close! So very close! (Thank you!!!)

I'm not quite sure what to expect from Montreal. It's french canada, so i'm curious how different it'll be from actual France. We're heading to Vancouver next month so it'll be awesome to compare both coasts of Canada.

 

[4Mickeys]

My woohoo Wednesday is that I got on the scale this morning and it was't bad at all! Actually surprised me! My other woo hoo is that today I went to a tea party in my sons kindergarten class and that was adorable and quite a bit of fun!

On a personal note, I had a pretty terrible day at work yesterday. Its messed with my head quite a bit and I'm still trying to deal with it. On the bright side I did not eat my emotions yesterday which I can have a tendency to do. On the negative side, my stress level is extremely high and I don't know how long I can continue to not eat my emotions.

We must have been typing around the same time - because your post wasn't there when I started! I love kindergarten tea parties! That age is just so adorable - enjoy every minute of it and don't miss any of those visiting/helping days if you can - I have such wonderful memories of those now that my kiddos are in high school.

Boo to work again! But great job resisting eating those feelings - for continued strength to continue with that.

I'm not quite sure what to expect from Montreal. It's french canada, so i'm curious how different it'll be from actual France. We're heading to Vancouver next month so it'll be awesome to compare both coasts of Canada.

I want to hear all about it and post a couple of pics for us

 

[4Mickeys]

Guess what!! ..... I got off my butt and went for a 30-40 minute walk on the beach with 2 of the kids! It is a gorgeous day today the water was so blue and it was really calm. I ran into a lady I went to uni with and haven't seen for about 3 years - we walked along with her and her puppy dogs for a while so win win. Now I just have to do it again tomorrow and I may end the month moving slightly of my 0%

 

[4Mickeys]

Today we are heading to the Deep South to the land of one of my favourite Princesses!
I couldn't decide between these 2 descriptions of Tiana ...

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The Princess and the Frog is based on a fairy tale dating back to 13th century Germany, it has been known by both The Frog King and The Frog Prince, and was another tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm. Tales incorporating enchanted frogs appear in numerous cultures across the world and this version was a particularly popular story. Frogs represent new life/transformation in many cultures and have often been included as kind, helpful characters. Some cultures/religions however do not like Frogs as they have also been connected to witchcraft as witches’ familiars. So, the South with its rich history is a perfect setting for this story. Just like many of the other fairy tales we have explored there are different versions of this one as well – the original version reportedly had the Princess throwing the frog against the wall and the force/splat resulted in his transformation into a handsome Prince, who she suddenly liked after all! When it was translated for the English it is thought this is when the violent transformation was altered to the kiss. Released in 2009 this was the first Disney animation with an African-American Princess and the first African-American lead character.

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It was Tiana’s dream to be a Chef in her own restaurant. Food - don’t we all love it? That’s how we got here! Ah cooking – some love it, some hate it but there is no really getting away from it. How we cook and prepare our food can be a key aspect in managing our healthy eating. So lets’ talk about cooking ….​

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QOTD: Do you enjoy cooking? Are you a planner or a last minute throw something together person? If you have a family how does cooking work in your house? If you have them do you include your kids in cooking? Do you think this will help set them up for healthier lives earlier than we have achieved? How has your cooking style changed since pursuing a healthier life?​

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Bonus Question: What is your favourite Southern recipe? Imagine there are no calories!!​

Quote of the Day

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[HappyGrape]

I am not great cook but I love cooking healthy for my family as it makes me feel like I give them proper fuel for life! But you won't see me baking cakes.

Felt proper happygrape last night! Felt happy trying my holiday clothes and snacking on some grapes haha.

Have a healthy day All!

 

[pjlla]

Morning all! Sorry I didn't make it back here yesterday. It took me a long time to get my photos uploaded and select the ones I wanted to post in an album and do a bit of editing and then write descriptions.... and I had it nearly done when Facebook hiccuped and when I refreshed the page all of the photos and labels were gone!! GRRRRR! It literally ended up taking me HOURS just to get my Facebook album of JUST the San Diego portion of the trip up and loaded. I am NOT posting our Disneyland photos at the moment. DD feels it wouldn't look good for people to see she was in Disney during the school year (but the SD portion was a professional conference, so that was excused), so I'll wait a bit and then post the photos labeled as a "late summer" trip. But I really want to share some of the photos here! I don't even have my Photopass pictures on my computer yet! And I want to write a brief WOC dessert party review with some photos for the Disneyland board here. Maybe this weekend.

Anyhow, I'm awake and moving and have finished my early a.m. 24/7 chat shift and now it is time to get dressed for working at school! TTYL................P

 

[pjlla]

Today we are heading to the Deep South to the land of one of my favourite Princesses!
I couldn't decide between these 2 descriptions of Tiana ...

It was Tiana’s dream to be a Chef in her own restaurant. Food - don’t we all love it? That’s how we got here! Ah cooking – some love it, some hate it but there is no really getting away from it. How we cook and prepare our food can be a key aspect in managing our healthy eating. So lets’ talk about cooking ….

QOTD: Do you enjoy cooking? Are you a planner or a last minute throw something together person? If you have a family how does cooking work in your house? If you have them do you include your kids in cooking? Do you think this will help set them up for healthier lives earlier than we have achieved? How has your cooking style changed since pursuing a healthier life?
Bonus Question: What is your favourite Southern recipe? Imagine there are no calories!!​

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I wouldn't say that I "enjoy" cooking. In fact, for many, many years I would have told you that I HATE cooking!! But as I've gotten more and more used to "real" cooking and making and creating healthy recipes, I've gotten to the point where I am "okay" with cooking. I don't think I'll ever truly love it, but I don't mind it as much as I used to. I am generally a PLANNER. I have a weekly meal planning system that was CRUCIAL to my life when my kids were home and busy.... but it isn't quite as crucial now that it is just DH and I (although it is still really helpful, especially since I work 3 jobs). I never involved my kids in cooking much. But they saw my example of healthy eating throughout my life (although it definitely got turned up a few degrees when I became a lifetime Weight Watcher).

YES, my cooking changed (and continues to evolve) as I became more interested in eating for HEALTH as well as weight loss. We always ate green veggie with dinner..... but now more often than not the green veggie IS the dinner.... and the protein is a side.

Not sure I have a favorite Southern recipe. I haven't traveled south much (other than Orlando ). I tried a mint julep while we were in Disneyland but as expected, I didn't like it at all. I like cornbread.... does that count? There is a cornbread mix (not healthy, just quick and easy) that I used to make occasionally for the kids..... I swapped out the melted butter for applesauce and the egg for egg whites and it was still a tasty treat!



DD and I love meeting the Princesses.... and the Princes! Here we are in WDW in 2011 with Tiana and Naveen! We did meet Tiana at Ariel's Grotto this past trip, but I don't have the photo available at the moment................P

 

[cmarsh31]

Ahh cooking. I love cooking. I'm definitely a good cook. I hate coming up with WHAT to cook each day. We're vacationing more this year, so more eating out on vacation - to off set the $ and calories, I've been on a no-eating-out plan since early August (comes to an end a week from Saturday!!! Chocolate Emporium, here we come!), which means a LOT of cooking. Somewhere I messed up and my family has come to expect, in addition to dinners... breakfast - waffles, pancakes, banana bread, something - on the weekends!

One thing that drives our meals is fresh, local produce - once I had kids, I realized I wanted as few chemicals and processed foods in their little bodies. So, since DS was a baby, we've always had a CSA farm share of some sort or another and frequent the local farmer's markets (plus our milk & eggs are delivered weekly from a local dairy - we have an actual Milkman!). Today, I get our weekly bag - if it's in the bag, we have to eat it, so we've tried LOTS of vegetables in the past 10 years! Some are hits (eggplant, leafy greens of any sort) and others are misses (kohrabi - DH asked me to stop trying new recipes and donate that one in the food pantry box ) but everyone is expected to at least try! My DS is an awesome eater and will try anything - one of his favorite foods (he's 11) is a huge salad. My DD is a much more typical kid but will eat her weight in fruit or cucumbers.

Southern food - yummy, creamy, gooey baked mac & cheese!

 

[Dr Gunnie]

QOTD: Do you enjoy cooking? Are you a planner or a last minute throw something together person? If you have a family how does cooking work in your house? If you have them do you include your kids in cooking? Do you think this will help set them up for healthier lives earlier than we have achieved? How has your cooking style changed since pursuing a healthier life?
Bonus Question: What is your favourite Southern recipe? Imagine there are no calories!!​

I do enjoy cooking. I've become a much better cook over the last 5 months. I think doing the Blue Apron meals have taught me a lot about cooking with fresh ingredients and just different techniques overall. We plan our meals on the weekend for the following week. My wife will usually start the prep after work and then she's out taking my daughter to dance (Mon - Wed). I'll get home from practice and finish the prep and start cooking. She normally gets home when things are starting to finish up and we finish everything together. My son will sometimes help - especially if it's spaghetti - his favorite. The days of just heating frozen processed meals have come to an end.

Favorite southern recipe? I've been on a shrimp and grits kick lately. Not the worst thing in the world either, so I feel like it's a win/win. I also really enjoy having friends over and doing a Low Country Boil with shrimp, potatoes, corn, and sausage. Sometimes we will add some other seafood like clams or scallops... but it's so easy to do. When it's done, you just dump it all out on some newspaper and go to town. This summer I got a huge pot and burner that goes next to me grill outside just for these... makes me think we need to do one in the next few weeks!

 

[Oneanne]

Have you watched the show at all and how does it compare to the books? There's a lot of pretty in the show but I was wondering if there were significant differences.

Catching up here... I watched season one and it was really, really good. The casting for the lead characters is spot on. I totally disconnected cable for most of the year and just signed back up a couple weeks ago, but didn't add that channel since I never watched anything else on it. In that same vein of scrumptious historical drams, Poldark is starting up on PBS this weekend .

 

[Lady Marie]

QOTD: Do you enjoy cooking? Are you a planner or a last minute throw something together person? If you have a family how does cooking work in your house? If you have them do you include your kids in cooking? Do you think this will help set them up for healthier lives earlier than we have achieved? How has your cooking style changed since pursuing a healthier life?
Bonus Question: What is your favourite Southern recipe? Imagine there are no calories!!​

Like Dr. Gunnie, I've upped my cooking game thanks to Blue Apron. DH and I loooooove it! And almost always prepared and cook it together. Every time we look at the bill we say we probably should cancel, and then we eat one of the meals and say..... Nope, never canceling! haha! I'm a true dyed in the wool southern girl and didn't know many recipes for meat that wasn't fried or veggies that didn't involve a ham hock. Blue Apron continues to teach me so much in those regards.

I got a dry erase board for the kitchen that I plan our meals on. On non BA days, I try to have a big soup or casserole to eat on that I just prep on Sunday and will last throughout the week. The planning has really helped me get a hold on what I'm eating and leads to a lot less "I don't know what to cook so let's just go to Carrabas..."

Bonus Question: Ok, first of all, I refuse to name just one recipe. I just can't-- it's too painful! It's like asking me to pick a favorite Disney princess! So my all time favorite Southern meal is Smother fried steak (I think elsewhere this is call chicken fried? I'm not sure), with mashed potatoes, green beans, buttermilk biscuits, cornbread (the non sweet kind), AND hoecakes. (I guess you could say I have a thing for carbs ) I'm drooling right now just thinking about it! Coincidentally, these are my favorite foods to cook, but they don't come out of the arsenal much any more.

n that same vein of scrumptious historical drams, Poldark is starting up on PBS this weekend .

Oooooooh this sounds like it may be right up my alley! What is this about???

 

[Oneanne]

Been slightly off-kilter the past few days, so here's some quick catch up.

I love to read but don't very often. Last year a I had a challenge to read a book a month and I think I got to 10... this year the only books I've looked at are crafting books, with lots of yummy pictures. Somehow I didn't realize a live action version of B&B was in the works. I really enjoyed Cinderella so I'll probably go see it when it comes out. I'm also looking forward to the new Mary Poppins... love Emily Blunt.

Woohoo Wednesday... I've mentioned a couple times about the team restructure I've been working on, which included elimination of my management job. And that I was OK stepping back to an Analyst role, except that it was most likely going to mean a step back in pay. This was going to be particularly painful since I'm planning on doing a lot of crafting vacation travel next year, to different retreats and makeries... having to give some of that up was tough to think about. I had my mid-year review and my boss came up with a plan to move me into a Program Manager role, at a level 2 so I could stay in the same pay band, the only thing I lost was some stock stuff that quite frankly I didn't even know I had. It's a big change from what I've been doing and there are some significant skill gaps that I'll have to fill, but it was really nice to be treated so well.

I'm an awful cook, so I don't cook, which means I stay an awful cook because I'm not practicing. I can fix Caprese 101 different ways or do Thanksgiving dinner, but literally nothing in between. I keep meaning to take some cooking classes, but haven't done it yet. I find it interesting that frogs represent "new life/transformation": in knitting when you have to rip something out and start over its called "frogging", and now it makes perfect sense, you are giving your piece new life and transforming it.

Health wise, I've really been off for a couple weeks now, with digestive problems. I'm pretty sure I've got a problem with Candida yeast, so I've started taking probiotics to get the good flora going, then will start on a program to get the candida under control. This weekend I will also start a bland diet, low in dairy, gluten and sugar, to give my poor body a break. I'm just short of a month out from WDW and Texas and would sure love to drop some pounds, but the focus right now is on getting well again... fortunately the two fit together fairly well. I formulating a new approach to weight control, and starting to think about setting goals at 10 pounds at a time: lose 10, pause, maintain for a while, lock it in, then tackle the next ten.

Another woohooo, today is my Friday! I'm taking tomorrow off to go to the state fair - it's sheep week, which I really wanted to hit. My Sister is now having a caretaker come in on Fridays, so she can get some relief and get out a bit, so I'm planning to take one Friday off a month and put together something she'd like to do and this month it's the fair. Next month it will be to go to a fiber fair right before I head out to WDW.

Happy Thursday every one - make it a healthful one .

Edit add: totally forgot my Belle story. Several years ago I did the Princess breakfast at Asker House with the pre-meal picture with Belle. After the trip I was telling my SIL about it and she mentioned the daughter of a friend of hers worked at Disney and she thought she played Belle... I went and got the photo and sure enough, it was the daughter!

 

[cmarsh31]

Another woohooo, today is my Friday! I'm taking tomorrow off to go to the state fair - it's sheep week, which I really wanted to hit. My Sister is now having a caretaker come in on Fridays, so she can get some relief and get out a bit, so I'm planning to take one Friday off a month and put together something she'd like to do and this month it's the fair. Next month it will be to go to a fiber fair right before I head out to WDW.

Happy Thursday every one - make it a healthful one .

Oooooh Fiber Fair! Realized I'm missing the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival because I'll be down in FL for my Aunt's bday. You're speaking my favorite language!

 

[Oneanne]

Oooooh Fiber Fair! Realized I'm missing the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival because I'll be down in FL for my Aunt's bday. You're speaking my favorite language!

I planned my trip to Texas before I knew Rhinebeck even existed, else I would have tried to do a trip this year... it's definitely on my list for next year. I also want to try and do Squam next year, which just wrapped up. Most of my Instagram crafting heroes were just there and it was so fun to see everyone's posts.

 

[HappyGrape]

Morning all! Sorry I didn't make it back here yesterday. It took me a long time to get my photos uploaded and select the ones I wanted to post in an album and do a bit of editing and then write descriptions.... and I had it nearly done when Facebook hiccuped and when I refreshed the page all of the photos and labels were gone!! GRRRRR! It literally ended up taking me HOURS just to get my Facebook album of JUST the San Diego portion of the trip up and loaded. I am NOT posting our Disneyland photos at the moment. DD feels it wouldn't look good for people to see she was in Disney during the school year (but the SD portion was a professional conference, so that was excused), so I'll wait a bit and then post the photos labeled as a "late summer" trip. But I really want to share some of the photos here! I don't even have my Photopass pictures on my computer yet! And I want to write a brief WOC dessert party review with some photos for the Disneyland board here. Maybe this weekend.

Anyhow, I'm awake and moving and have finished my early a.m. 24/7 chat shift and now it is time to get dressed for working at school! TTYL................P

we would love to see some of your holiday photos!

 

[4Mickeys]

I am not great cook but I love cooking healthy for my family as it makes me feel like I give them proper fuel for life! But you won't see me baking cakes.

Felt proper happygrape last night! Felt happy trying my holiday clothes and snacking on some grapes haha.

Have a healthy day All!

That is a good feeling isn't it? What not even banana bread?

I had it nearly done when Facebook hiccuped and when I refreshed the page all of the photos and labels were gone!! GRRRRR! It literally ended up taking me HOURS just to get my Facebook album

I feel your pain - the DIS has not been my friend some nights lately when trying to get the daily posts up

YES, my cooking changed (and continues to evolve) as I became more interested in eating for HEALTH as well as weight loss. We always ate green veggie with dinner..... but now more often than not the green veggie IS the dinner.... and the protein is a side.

That is great you have made that change - I am still working on that - the meat always seems to be the focus ... especially for my DS 15 who loves nothing more than a giant steak lol - but he is a growing boy.

Ahh cooking. I love cooking. I'm definitely a good cook. I hate coming up with WHAT to cook each day. We're vacationing more this year, so more eating out on vacation - to off set the $ and calories, I've been on a no-eating-out plan since early August (comes to an end a week from Saturday!!! Chocolate Emporium, here we come!), which means a LOT of cooking. Somewhere I messed up and my family has come to expect, in addition to dinners... breakfast - waffles, pancakes, banana bread, something - on the weekends!

One thing that drives our meals is fresh, local produce - once I had kids, I realized I wanted as few chemicals and processed foods in their little bodies. So, since DS was a baby, we've always had a CSA farm share of some sort or another and frequent the local farmer's markets (plus our milk & eggs are delivered weekly from a local dairy - we have an actual Milkman!). Today, I get our weekly bag - if it's in the bag, we have to eat it, so we've tried LOTS of vegetables in the past 10 years! Some are hits (eggplant, leafy greens of any sort) and others are misses (kohrabi - DH asked me to stop trying new recipes and donate that one in the food pantry box ) but everyone is expected to at least try! My DS is an awesome eater and will try anything - one of his favorite foods (he's 11) is a huge salad. My DD is a much more typical kid but will eat her weight in fruit or cucumbers.

Southern food - yummy, creamy, gooey baked mac & cheese!

Chocolate Emporium - you are speaking my language . My parents did that to my kids for breakfasts when they would go there before school - I used to save those things for the weekend - but now the kids are with me of a morning before catching the bus and so I have had to change up their breakfasts! I don't really mind as then I feel like they are starting the school day fuelled and ready to learn. I did better with my twins the second time around I would buy bags of fresh food from the local fruit shop and cook it all myself - they are much better eaters as a result. my first child (with his grandmothers influence) is a fussy eater and I relied more on pre-made 'baby food' - lesson learned! He is slowly getting better but he is still fussy!

Mac and Cheese yum!

I do enjoy cooking. I've become a much better cook over the last 5 months. I think doing the Blue Apron meals have taught me a lot about cooking with fresh ingredients and just different techniques overall. We plan our meals on the weekend for the following week. My wife will usually start the prep after work and then she's out taking my daughter to dance (Mon - Wed). I'll get home from practice and finish the prep and start cooking. She normally gets home when things are starting to finish up and we finish everything together. My son will sometimes help - especially if it's spaghetti - his favorite. The days of just heating frozen processed meals have come to an end.

Some great teamwork going on in this family

Favorite southern recipe? I've been on a shrimp and grits kick lately. Not the worst thing in the world either, so I feel like it's a win/win. I also really enjoy having friends over and doing a Low Country Boil with shrimp, potatoes, corn, and sausage. Sometimes we will add some other seafood like clams or scallops... but it's so easy to do. When it's done, you just dump it all out on some newspaper and go to town. This summer I got a huge pot and burner that goes next to me grill outside just for these... makes me think we need to do one in the next few weeks!

I tried grits once when I was in Memphis - I wasn't a huge fan. The low country boil sounds yummy though!

Blue Apron.

Ok I have to ask - what is Blue Apron and how does it work?

I got a dry erase board for the kitchen that I plan our meals on. On non BA days, I try to have a big soup or casserole to eat on that I just prep on Sunday and will last throughout the week. The planning has really helped me get a hold on what I'm eating and leads to a lot less "I don't know what to cook so let's just go to Carrabas..."

I have one too - that I use periodically - I go through times when I am super organised but like you I have a run on eating out without the planning I don't have the food in the house and it just seems easier.

Bonus Question: Ok, first of all, I refuse to name just one recipe. I just can't-- it's too painful! It's like asking me to pick a favorite Disney princess! So my all time favorite Southern meal is Smother fried steak (I think elsewhere this is call chicken fried? I'm not sure), with mashed potatoes, green beans, buttermilk biscuits, cornbread (the non sweet kind), AND hoecakes. (I guess you could say I have a thing for carbs ) I'm drooling right now just thinking about it! Coincidentally, these are my favorite foods to cook, but they don't come out of the arsenal much any more.

Love it - it all sounds yummy.

I'm also looking forward to the new Mary Poppins... love Emily Blunt.

Well I had no idea there was a new Mary Poppins in the works.

It's a big change from what I've been doing and there are some significant skill gaps that I'll have to fill, but it was really nice to be treated so well.

That is fantastic - I think that shows they really value you

I formulating a new approach to weight control, and starting to think about setting goals at 10 pounds at a time: lose 10, pause, maintain for a while, lock it in, then tackle the next ten.

I think this is a great idea because sometime our big numbers to lose are just so overwhelming and you feel like you will never get there!

My Sister is now having a caretaker come in on Fridays, so she can get some relief and get out a bit, so I'm planning to take one Friday off a month and put together something she'd like to do and this month it's the fair.

This is fantastic - it is so important to have time together where you are just sisters not you being her carer- hope you enjoy

I went and got the photo and sure enough, it was the daughter!

I love random stories like that ... it shows that the world isn't as big as it can feel sometimes.