Weighing in the Day After Thanksgiving Should Be Outlawed!

It sure wasn’t fun to have to weigh in today for Nutrisystem.   I did get my weight yesterday and then again today to show you (if there was a big difference.)

I got yelled at by my family for taking a picture of my plate and I was told to fill it up more.  I had more than enough to eat and I didnt’ finish eating all my dressing. I should have taken white meat (I know) but I LOVE the dark meat. I had a taste of the yams, a very small helping of the green bean casserole and 1 crescent roll  (without butter)

Now for my weigh in.

I weighted 191.0 today.  Last week I was: 193.5   I lost 2.5 pounds this week.

Yesterday I weighted 190.5, so I only gained 1/2 pound yesterday on Thanksgiving.   I mentioned the meal, but I also ate some desserts.  I had a very tiny slice of peanut butter pie, and another tiny slice of pumpkin (with whipped cream).  We ate around 1:30 pm.  We went over to my Dad’s house around 6pm. Of course the food from their afternoon meal came out for “left over” dinner.  I only had a small piece of chocolate cake. (I know!… that isn’t what I should have eaten.)

When we got home around 9pm I was really hungry, to the point I felt nauseated.  I didn’t want a whole meal from Nutrisystem, instead I opened a can of light chicken noodle soup and had that to calm my stomach.

The week prior had been a good one.  I wasn’t good about taking pictures of the food this week from Nutrisystem, but I’ll give you a surprise “good” pick and one that wasn’t very good.

I had the pancake mix this week.  I had thought that tiny package was only going to make about 2 quarter size pancakes by the look of it.  But it actually made me two very nice size pancakes. I didn’t feel like I was being “cheated” at all. I’m sorry I didn’t order some more of that this month (but will next month).

The item that I didn’t like at all and couldn’t even eat was the package (pantry version) of chicken salad.  It was in a packet and I had to squeeze it out (which kind of grossed me out). But the consistency was pasty and I scrapped it off my plate and didn’t eat it at all.

So the week went much better than I expected with Thanksgiving.  One holiday down, now the whole month of Christmas celebration torture is about to begin.

Want to lose weight and get healthy on Nutrisystem? Join today by calling 1-888-853-4689 or visiting http://www.nutrisystem.com/nsblog

*I have been selected to participate in the Nutrisystem Nation blogger program. For four months, Nutrisystem will provide me with their meals at no charge for my review. I am not being compensated for my participation.

Thanksgiving – What are You Thankful For?

I think so often we don’t really know how thankful we are for some things, until they are gone.  Loved ones in our lives, the health of our families and ourselves etc. Don’t you think?

I don’t know that it is because we are selfish, I think it is because we don’t really know what life will be without those things, people or health.

But those people who have gone through loss, serious loss of family, health, job or more have a better idea. They have lived it.   Have I? To an extent I have, but not like some.  I had the loss of my first marriage.  I didn’t want anything to do with a divorce and I was a mess for several years.  I can look back on it now and be thankful it happened. I have found a man that I have a better relationship with than I ever did my first husband.

I have lost my mother after an almost seven year battle with cancer.  But it was gradual and I had time to grieve along the way, time to prepare for what was to happen.  But I have my father, and today is actually his 81st birthday. He told me he doesn’t want to celebrate being 81.  I said, “But Dad, you should then celebrate that you are still alive to have another birthday! lol” He laughed so hard at that one.

Thank goodness I’ve not had to go through a sudden death or tragedy with my family. My family is healthy and happy.  We don’t have oodles of money, but we blessed to have what we have.

I know that I take things for granite, and I try to appreciate what I have and how wonderful it is.

Thanksgiving is a great time to reflect on those things, be thankful for them and know how truly blessed we are.

Link up to My Linky Party

What are you thankful for? You can link up a Thanksgiving post or something you are thankful for,  but as always you can link up any organizing or cleaning or DIY post to my link party.

You can find the link for my button and also my “Proud to Be Featured Button” on my top “Buttons” Tab.

1) Link to your specific post – not your blog
2) Please Link back to my blog with my button or link (link just above underneath my button)
3) I’d love if you’d follow me on google and/or FB. The google is new and I’m trying to build it
4) Blog post related to Organizing or Cleaning or DIY or decorating
5) No sales pitches or web sites.
6) If I feature you I will use one or more of your pictures with a link back to your blog.
7) Feel free to link up more than 1 post.

Looking for other link parties? I have a whole list of them. Thumbnail via day above and keep scrolling down to find a more extensive text lists by day on my link party list. If you aren’t sure how to link up… see my link party tutorial here. It is simple. If You Are On A Reader and Want to View All the Great Link Up’s on this post please Click Here.
This party will be open until November 27, 2011

Do you really think about that?

Are you ready for Thanksgiving?  Do you think about being thankful at Thanksgiving…. or all the stresses that come with Thanksgiving.  It is coming up fast.  Are you having Thanksgiving dinner at your home… or are you going to someone else’s home?  Traveling?  With kids?  Flying or driving?

Thanksgiving can bring it’s own set of stresses.  Fixing the perfect meal for all of the family, decorating the house and the table, cleaning and planning… on top of all the other things you do.

But the one thing about Thanksgiving that is nice is that it is about being Thankful.  Sometimes we forget that because we are so lost in trying to making the “perfect Thanksgiving” for the in laws, or your parents, your kids or friends.  There may be family problems that you have to deal with…. worring that Aunt Jessy and Uncle Cleo don’t have a fight at the table.  It may be financial problems, and feeding a whole house full is expensive!

Stresses shouldn’t overtake what Thanksgiving is about.  To be Thankful.. Be Thankful for your Family (even if Aunt Jessy and Uncle Cleo have a fight) be Thankful that you have a home to have family over.. be thankful that you have your family!

Life is short… too short – and we need to be thankful for everyday we have here. Everyday that our family is here.  We never know when one of our loved ones can be taken from us…  Just be Thankful.

Are You Prepared?

How do you prepare and organize for Thanksgiving?

Of course there are different preparations for the different scenarios.  Is Thanksgiving at your house?  Are you driving near by to someone else’s home?  Are you traveling?

Here are a few of my tips if Thanksgiving is going to be at your house:

Thanksgiving Preparation:

1) Have your menu prepared this week.  (hopefully it is already done)
2) Write out your shopping list and look for coupons
3)  Make a time line for when you are preparing your meal.  Thaw the frozen bird (what day?).  Making some things a couple days in advance and freezing or making fresh that morning.

Organized Thanksgiving Bin

Some of my favorite tips for making things easier (if not this year…than next) is to have a bin like I have in the picture for your Thanksgiving supplies to be stored in.  You know where to find that Kosher salt that you may only use once a year for the brine mixture for the turkey, etc.

1) I make copies of  my Thanksgiving recipes that I know we will have every year and store them in the bin.
2) I keep my electric knife in our bin since we don’t usually use it other than Thanksgiving.
3) Thanksgiving decorations, special bowls and my turkey serving platter are in the bin.

It just makes things so easy.  I bring the bin up a couple weeks before Thanksgiving to get my recipes out and decorate.  What are some things you would put in your bin?

If there are a few little tricks that we can use to decrease stress for holidays like Thanksgiving… then its worth it isn’t it?  I’m all about making things easier instead of harder.  Here is my post from last year for Organizing for Thanksgiving.

How could this make your Thanksgiving a little more organized in the prep stage?

Thanksgiving Turkey

IS YOUR THANKSGIVING TURKEY THAWING????? Just a reminder.

Our Thanksgiving Gravy Bowl. Isn't it fun?

Thanksgiving can be a time of stress but shouldn’t be. It should be a time of family fun and everyone coming together to eat a wonderful meal. Of course it is all to help us remember and realize how thankful we need to be for everything we have.

There are many this Thanksgiving who have lost their jobs, lost family members or are fighting life threatening illnesses. Along with our thanks we need to pray for them.

Enjoy your family, make amends if things are problematic and have a fun day together. To help make your day come off without a hitch planning ahead is essential.

Here is my list of To Do’s that may help you in keeping your cooking/planning stress down so that you can enjoy what is most important on Thanksgiving: Family and Friends
1) Make a list of who is coming to your meal.
2) Plan the menu. Make note of what days you are going to prepare each item.
3) Make a grocery list from the menu.
4) Check what you have to see what you need to buy.
5) Plan your grocery shopping day, making sure you have time for thawing of your turkey or premaking dishes. (Good  idea to make room in your refrigerator by cleaning out the old left overs, so you have room for all the food).
6) Do your shopping.
7) Try to clean your house in preparation the day before you have to do your cooking so you don’t over load yourself. Have your kids and husband help if possible.
8) Start your cooking, making sure you have storage space for the food. (Plastic bags can store many things including sauces. Just seal tight and lay flat..you can add many layers of food in a small space.)
9) Plan your Thanksgiving day cooking so that everything finishes about the same time.
10) Clean as you go and you won’t have as many dishes to wash after dinner.

Personally I am one that does the basic clean up to make room to get pies out and served, but I have no problem letting dishes set until after all my family/company has left. I would much rather spend time visiting with them while they are here than being up to my elbows in suds in the kitchen.

Eat lots of turkey, take that walk after the meal and enjoy family!

(this is a revised version of post from last year.)

Thanksgiving Organizations

Thanksgiving is over and we need to think about getting out the Christmas decorations, but what is the best way to store your Thanksgiving supplies? To make it easiest for next year I suggest a clear container, preferably a fall colored one. Label what is in the container.

Meal Plan with Shopping list Saved
One thing I did last year that my husband was thrilled with was I kept the shopping list he made up last year on the computer. We got all the recipes together we were going to make (he makes the turkey, duck and a few side dishes)and he made up a shopping list. I had taken and made copies of all the recipes we had last year. I made notes on the recipes if the kids liked them or if there were any little tweaks we made to them and if they worked or not. I took those copies and the shopping list and clipped them altogether and put in the Thanksgiving bin. It made it very easy this year!

Holiday Decoration Storage

Is Your House A Mess At Holiday Time?

Storing Holiday Decorations

What do you do with all those Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations, Halloween ghost and goblins, Easter baskets, New Years Eve and 4th of July decorations? They can take up a lot of storage space (especially Christmas if you are anything like me). But stores are gearing up and selling a lot more decorations for all holidays and it is easy to jump into the decorating phase. I saw a house this Halloween that had more decorations and blow up characters and lights than you usually see at Christmas.

**You need to make sure you have the room to store them if you buy them.

Clear Colored Plastic Containers work best.
I suggest that you look for the clear colored containers they have out for that holiday. I think these are great!! I can go down and immediately find my Halloween decorations because they are the ones in the orange and black (clear orange) containers. Of course they are still labeled..but it makes it so easy. My Easter containers are pink and Christmas is red and green. Again I still go for the clear over solid non-see through bins. So if you can’t find the colored clear ones, then just get clear. Being able to see what is in the at a glance is time saving!
So before you buy any more decoration, make sure you have the room to store them, then find clear colored bins to store each separate holiday in. Still label it and getting out decorations will become a very simple thing!

If you realize that you do not have the storage space for the decorations, that you have decorations in many different areas of your home (due to lack of adequate storage)… then what you more than likely need to do is to sort out your holiday decorations into what you really need each year and what you haven’t used in several years.