Here's My Game Plan

You may or may not have noticed my weight loss ticker hasn't moved much lately.

Sigh...

The GOOD NEWS

is that I was able to manage a .8# loss

over the 2 week break from my Weight Watchers meetings!

woot!  Yea, ME!

But I'm back in the saddle 

The DH and me at 9000' in the Rockies.  August 2008

with meal planning.

My Dear Husband loves a hot, home-cooked meal 

when he comes home from supporting our lifestyle.

So here's my game plan for dinner for the next 7 nights:

All of these recipes are from a pre-Points Plus Plan

Weight Watchers cookbook called

Meals In Minutes.

Shepherd's Pie 

Warm Cassoulet

Beef Stew Italiano

Roast Pork with Herb Crust

Moroccan Turkey Ham Tagine-I have to buy pitted prunes, coriander, and curry to make this one.

Fish Chowder Pie with Bacon

Herb Cheese-Stuffed Shells

Gettin' hungry just typing it all out!

Since we're expecting snow

-not a big deal to some of you-

I better get my rear in gear and go to the grocery store

to get stocked up.

Nobody knows how to drive in snow around these parts.

You haven't forgotten that you're WONDERFUL

have you?

But I trust in you, O, LORD;

I say, "You are my God."

My times are in your hands...

Praise be to the LORD,

for he showed his wonderful love to me.

Psalm 31:14-15, 21

God bless you with grace and mercy today!

Love,

Linking up with
Annett for

Ashley & Vic at For The Love of Blogs 

for 

Taking A Breath

Good morning, dear friends. 

 I've been perusing some of your blog posts and 

enjoying the eye candy of your  lovely tablescapes 

both for Thanksgiving and your amazing Christmas decorations.

But me?

I'm with Jane at Blondie's Journals, 

I need to take a breath and let "normal" reign in my home

for a few days 

before I start the Christmas decorating blitz.

But that's just me.

Except Marty's idea for a front door decoration

is now ensconced in my brain

and I can't wait to copy it!

The fact that she got some of the pieces from 

Dollar Tree is encouraging to me

because that's what my budget calls for this year.

I'll post my take on it later.

These are some items on my agenda for today:

1. Help Mom in California get a replacement for her stolen Social Security card.  She left her purse in a cart at Target yesterday.  Bless my little Bro, who lives close to her, for canceling her credit cards checking accounts, and is taking her to the DMV for a new driver's license!
2. Return several pairs of shoes to Zappo's.  Oh, how I wanted those RED satin flats and animal print flats to fit my bunion-infested footies!  Not a chance, fancy pants.
3. Meet the DH at the bank to settle some business there at 12:30.
4. Get the porkchops out for supper.  Even though I'd planned to make this last Wednesday night, it didn't happen.  I'd spent the entire day prepping for Thanksgiving and was too tired to cook.  Hurray for the teriyaki place near our home!
5. I get to have my hair cut by the talented woman who's been my hairdresser for five years.  It's the one luxury I just haven't been able to give up in our season of season of financial concerns.
6. Wash, fold, and put away several loads of laundry.

Rain-washed Zen garden on my front porch

What are you up to today?  

Diving into decorating your home?

Puttin' up the tree?

Running errands?

Taking a breath?

For me, part of taking a breath from holiday prep is 

calling to mind the precious moments that happened in our family over Thanksgiving.  

Storing them in my heart like the treasures they are.   

I'm asking God to guide me through my list with a 

thoughtful, thankful, gentle, and quiet attitude.

But Mary treasured up all these things 

and pondered them in her heart.

Luke 2:19

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment...

Instead, it should be that of your inner self,

 the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, 

which is of great worth in God's sight.

1 Peter 3:3-4

Welcome To Making Friends Monday Blog Hop 11/29 hosted by Living on Love and Cents,  The Thrifty Things,  Reviewed By Mom , and  Coupons are Great.
The rules are super simple but VERY important! 

1. Follow the Making Friends Monday  Hosts (Listed as # 1-4) They WILL follow you Back! You MUST LEAVE A COMMENT so we can follow you back!

2. Grab our Making Friends Monday button and include it in a post on your blog.

3. Link up to THAT post.

4. Start hopping and remember following back is appreciated!

Help spread the word and get more followers:
-Put the same linky list code on your blog and you'll have the exact same list!
- Your blog visitors can add their blog to your list and it will show up on all lists!
**Don't forget to follow the rules so you have a chance to be the "Spotlight Blog of the Week"!

If you have any giveaways ending THIS WEEK go link up HERE. Take a minute to enter some too!

  It will be fun getting acquainted with this crowd!
Don't forget that you are wonderful!

Love, Karen

God Rejoices Over Me!-Day #13 of Thanksgiving

The Lord your God is with you,

He is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you, 

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

Wow!  Thanks, Lord,

for all the ways

You actively love me!

I need to be grounded in that

because this week I'm facing a big challenge to my weight loss goals.

My scale has only changed 1/2# since my weigh-in last week,

but Julie says to think in terms of

NON-SCALE VICTORIES.

So the verse above is my NSV, my anchor, for this week.

Let me back up just a smidge.

On Saturday, it was meal planning time again,

times 3!

1. My DH and I needed nutritious meals between Saturday and Wednesday night.
2. We are hosting our daughter & SIL and our son and DIL for Thanksgiving.
3. So that means 6 of us will also need meals on Friday and Saturday.

I gathered the usual suspects:

my Weight Watchers' cookbook, my grocery list, pen,

and a pile of recipes.

Panic and confusion hit me.  I couldn't settle down to the task at hand. 

Does that ever happen to you when faced with lots of choices and/or a mountain of work to do? 

Then I asked God for His help, asked Him to quiet me with His love,

to guide my choices.

Guess what?

He  did.

Within an hour, I'd planned 14 meals,

including our Thanksgiving feast,

and all our meals from last Saturday to next Saturday.

Here's what I came up with:

*recipes from Weight Watchers cookbooks

Saturday-Dinner:  Ham Calzones*-the DH loved these so much, we had the leftovers on Sunday night

Sunday-Lunch:  Fried eggs, toast, thick cut ham

             Dinner:  Stuffed Cabbage* [I will make this next Monday]

Monday-Vietnamese Chicken Thighs* and Rice; Green Salad

Tuesday-Shrimp & Pineapple Saute*, Rice, Green Salad

Wednesday-Herb-stuffed Pork Chops*, Green Salad

Thursday-Brined Roast Turkey and all the fixins-I'll try to post our whole menu later gator.

Friday-Breakfast:  scrambled/fried eggs, bacon, toast, cantelope, orange juice

           Lunch:  Deli Ham Sandwiches, Green Salad, fruit

           Dinner:  Turkey Tortellini Soup, Green Salad, French bread

Saturday-Breakfast:  Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Baked French Toast, sausage patties, fruit, orange juice

               Lunch:  Fajita Beef Tacos (slow-cooker recipe), Green Salad, Refried Beans

                Dinner:  Leftover Beef Tacos and Salad

Sunday-Anyone who is hungry on Sunday will have to cook or take the cook out to eat!

Monday-Dinner:  Stuffed Cabbage*.

I know that our Thursday through Saturday meals are higher in calories/points than usual.

But I can work my point system and I'll be alright.

It's good to have a my Weight Watchers points plan already in place.

How will you navigate this week?

What is your game/meal plan?

I weigh in tomorrow at my Weight Watchers' meeting. 

I'll let you know how I did.

However that goes,

I've got my NSV verse above.

Linking with Annett @  FitMomsFitKids for

and

Blessings on your week!

Love, Karen



Fit Meals Monday-Day #11 of Thanksgiving





 Today I'm thankful for the food in our home
and the means to buy the food that we need,

and often, what we want.

And the joy of making supper for my Dear Husband.

And having plenty of food leftover to take to work for lunch every day.

And for planning delicious meals.

PRETEND YOU'RE HEARING

A REALLY OBNOXIOUS BUZZER NOISE

the kind you hear on a game show when your answer is:

WRONG!!

Until 2 weeks ago, 

I was NOT THANKFUL 

for the opportunity to plan meals.

You see, my DH is not a real adventurous eater.

He doesn't even like butter, for goodness' sake!

He's not big on leftovers either.

Makes meal planning a nightmare.

What happened 2 weeks ago?

I joined Weight Watchers again

so I'm back to planning healthy meals and snacks for each week.

I asked him to look through 1 of my 2 Weight Watchers cookbooks

and write down the page numbers of a few recipes

he was willing to, at least,

TRY.

Well, God love his precious heart,

he did!

Typical of him,

he went

gangbusters,

through BOTH of them,

noting nearly 40 recipes on post-its

which he stuck to the inside of the front covers.

I love that man.

Folks, I have a Game Plan now when it's time to

plan meals and shop for groceries!

If you've been the meal planner and family cook

for any length of time,

you know

this is a really big deal!

All I have to do is

crack open the WW cookbooks,

mark off the ingredients I need on my grocery list

and

go forth and conquer the grocery store!

So here's my healthy food Game Plan for this week:

All of the recipes are from my Weight Watchers Pure Comfort cookbook.

Meatball & Barley Soup/ Green Salad

Rigatoni Bolognese/Green Salad for DH 

Purple & Gold Beets from my garden-DH won't touch 'em with a 10' pole

Ham Bell Pepper Calzones

Italian-Style Clam Chowder/Green Salad-DH

A few brussels sprouts for me

Small slices of whole grain bread, no butter for either of us

Spaghetti alla Carbonara/Green Salad

Today, please join me in checking out this new blog hop

hosted by Annett at FitMomsFitKids.



I really am thankful for planning meals.

'Cuz when I plan our meals and shop for our food, 

that means I get to cook for my DH!

And he just loves comin' home to the smell

of dinner cookin' for him.

I love that man!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all His benefits...

Psalm 103:2

Grace and peace to you, friend.

Love, Karen

Linkin' up with Laurie @ Women Taking A Stand

for Thankful Thursday