Volunteering and temp

So last week before my interview, I had to take a skills test - you know, the ones that test your Word skills, Excel skills, and typing speed. Well, I did great in Word and typing, but Excel... I couldn't even remember a simple formula! I felt so embarrassed! Luckily I took the test at home - no one was able to see me cower under my covers at the horror of the mistakes I made.
What they say is true - use it or lose it. It's been less than a year, and I lost most of it.
So as soon as I left, I went to my old job at Habitat and signed up to volunteer. I need to do something.
Then of course, I find out that the Excel test must not have mattered - I got the temp position. I start on Monday.

When I first moved here to Charlotte, I wasn't working, so I started a temp position. Unfortunately, that was around the same time I found out that I had an autoimmune disease (I have Psoriatic Arthritis - yes, the Phil Mickelson disease), and they wouldn't allow me to take a day off to get my eye - that was in serious pain- checked by the doctor. So after three weeks, I had to leave. I wasn't happy.

Anyway, this position is only 3-6 months... hopefully I find something permanent while I'm there. I have a few irons in the fire, so we'll see.

As far as my eating today, I finally had some "sweets". I got Paleo approved chocolate chips, and made some Paleo inspired chocolate chip cookies. I got the recipe from Livin' Paleo Cuisine. They taste like a healthy cookie, but in a good way, The batter would be good as a muffin - I wonder if I add baking powder and egg...
Maybe another day...

Breakfast around here is usually just egg, meat, and a piece of fruit. I had pineapples today as my fruit. 

Lunch was simple as well. I had sauteed zucchini and squash with shrimp over the last of the caulirice from yesterday. 

Dinner was a recipe from Smile Sandwich - Amish One-Pan ground beef and cabbage. It's pretty much a deconstructed cabbage roll without rice - and I used ground turkey. Everyone loved it. 

Someone commented on how much money we may have with the food we're eating. I don't spend much. I can't buy all organic yet, so I have to make do with what I can get. Take dinner - I shop at Aldi's, get their ground turkey. The cans of tomato sauce are 25 cents, and the diced tomatoes are 59 cents. You can always find cheap cabbage, That's it. A meal for 5 for under $3! You just have to make it work.

DON'T think you can't do this diet because you have a limited budget. One of the things my doctor said was because you don't have to buy so many sides and sauces, you can spend that money on the things you need. It's doable on every budget. Try it for two weeks... see how you like it.
Oh, and Trader Joe's is your friend as well.

Thanks all!

Lawrence's weight

You know that SlimQuick commercial where the lady is talking about how both she and her husband stopped drinking soda and he lost more weight than she did?
Well, that's what's happening here. Lawrence is shedding pounds much faster than I am.

Lawrence's weight loss since his last weigh in on 1/12...... (cue drumroll).........

NINE pounds!!!

Congratulations, baby! I'm so proud of him!

I told the doctor that he wouldn't change his eating habits - we've tried dieting several times, but it never worked. We were always missing something, so we slowly started eating bad foods until we were back to where we started. This time, we've been happy with the food choices, so it's rather easy. Hopefully it stays this way.

Today's breakfast was nothing spectacular.
Lunch was caulirice and a fried egg. Don't laugh at my eggs - I can't make a pretty egg. I usually burn the butter.

I was still a little hungry afterward, so I made myself a sweet potato. 

Have you ever had a sweet potato with salt and butter? I went to a jazz club in Philly where they served mashed sweets with salt and butter. They were AMAZING! Since then, I love eating my sweet potato like a regular baked potato. Salt and butter - and before the diet, I even ate them with cheese, sour cream, and bacon. Yummy! You should try it.

Dinner was just simple salmon patties and caulirice. 

Dessert was strawberry banana ice cream.
I need to find another word for this. It's not ice cream, and it's not really sorbet. It's more like frozen baby food.
But I love it. 

Tomorrow I have to go to the doctor to see why my right shoulder is hurting. I already had to have rotator cuff surgery on my left side - I really don't want to have to have ANOTHER surgery on my right... kinda tired of surgery.

Well, I'm going to bed. I'm sleepy... 

Have a good night!

There's a good reason I'm late.

I had to make a serious transformation to a little girl's head. To this:               

  

 From this:

Her hair is something to tame FOR SURE! Neither of us like the process. She gets tired before I do, so there's fidgeting, sighing, she doesn't keep her head still like I need it. So if she gets too bad, I stop. I leave her head like it is, and if it's a school day, she has to wear her hair however it's left. To be fair, that doesn't happen. It's rarely not presentable when she goes out the door - only if we are in a hurry to get somewhere, then she wears a poofy ponytail.
She was a trooper tonight. She did very well, and I was able to do her hair exactly how she wanted it.
That was half of my day.

The other half, I cooked. I made Lawrence breakfast - twice baked breakfast sweet potatoes from Plaid and Paleo. I had one without the egg in it. It was delicious, and I definitely will go back to this.

  

For my lunch, I made pan fried fish and sauteed mustard greens for myself. We have lots of veggie choices in the house, so that's good. Most of the time, we only have green beans, broccoli. spinach, and maybe carrots and/or zucchini. It's good to have some greens here and there.

My dinner actually started before my breakfast. I started my pot roast at about 9am. 

There's none left. There's veggies left - yes. There's always veggies left with these kids... 

I might see about making myself some type of mash with it... do something interesting tomorrow. 

I didn't do much snacking today, and I didn't have dessert... and I started drinking my tea with nothing in it. No honey at all.
Who am I turning into?
This is not the sweet tooth lady that had 6 boxes of Thin Mints in a fort on her desk last year... this is someone different.

I think I may like her.
She just needs to get some clothes that fit.

SO many temptations today...

There was cake. SO MUCH CAKE!

            

Even cake you could sample. 

There was even more than this. 

But I was good.
The bridal show at the Cabarrus Arena was very nice. They had lots of samples.
Cookies. Cotton candy. Popcorn. Shrimp and grits. Mashed potatoes. Pot Roast. Lemonade. Wine. Tea (I mean, it IS the south). They were also selling fried chicken, fries, and sodas. The smells wafting around the room...  

And I touched none.
Well, I DID taste the pot roast. Meat. That's all I tasted.

I feel good about that.
I have a sweet tooth. A serious sweet tooth. So to be able to NOT eat all of those sweets today... it was a great accomplishment for me.
Lawrence made sure I had a good breakfast before I left. And although I didn't pack snacks, I was able to hold off until we left and I was able to stop at the market. I purchased a container of pre-cut pineapples and strawberries.
And devoured it.
I was hungry!
 

When I got home, I had a great lemon chicken stir-fry made by Lawrence. I was still so hungry, I finished mine before I took a picture, but I was able to get a picture of Lawrence's before he finished.

Lawrence has also been missing chips and dip, so he made some naan and homemade guacamole...

And I just unfortunately helped Janiyah make some snickerdoodle cookies. They smell AMAZING!
I'm going to make myself some mug cake - and ignore her cookies. I didn't want any, anyway. Hmph!

Tomorrow, I'm going to braid Janiyah's hair (if you look on my Facebook page...), and finish crocheting several pieces that I'm working on. 

Now, I'm going to make my cake, finish watching the Colts lose, and get away from the snickerdoodle smell.

Thanks, all! 

Hanging at the yarn shop today.

If you don't already know, I (for just a few more months) own a yarn shop. Because of my issues with my gallbladder, I couldn't even sit up for a long period of time. I haven't been in the shop for a few months - except one day they were having a special event in the area. Deven has been a trooper, going to the yarn shop as much as he could (almost every day), and holding it down for me - until it closes... which will be soon... Anyway...

Today was the first day I was there all day. Usually when I go, I don't eat much while there - maybe a honey bun, soda, and chips from the barber shop next door. Today, Lawrence got up, made sure I had my protein and fruit, and made me a delicious lunch.

While there, I started making a new scarf - I saw a pattern for a cowl that now I can't find anywhere. I decided to make something similar, but not a cowl...
It's multiples of 10, dc 9 blo, then fpdc. Next row is dc 9 and bpdc. Makes an interesting pattern. Hopefully I'm done by tomorrow when I go to the bridal show with Iyana (oldest child). I want to wear it there.

Speaking of bridal show... I really hope they don't have cake. I was in Walgreens today, and I wanted to eat all the candy at the register. That's what it's there for, right? That candy was doing it's job today. And the gum. And the Fiber One cookies that were RIGHT ON the counter. Like I was buying them...

I didn't. I was a good girl and came home to eat my dinner.

So... pictures. Lunch was a delicious salad that I almost devoured before taking a picture... but I was able to stop myself. It's curried chicken, spinach, carrots, zucchini, red seedless grapes, with a coconut milk, lime juice, and honey dressing. MAN OH MAN!!

Dinner - Brussels Sprouts. I LOVE Brussels sprouts! This is a very new love - a few years ago, you wouldn't have been able to get me near a sprout. AT ALL. But one day, I saw some in a magazine, roasted with bacon. I had to try again. And I'm happy I did. 

                                               

We had steak and Brussels sprouts (I always think I'm spelling that wrong). 

Lawrence even made dessert - caramelized bananas, almonds, and dates. It was yummy!!

                                               

Great way to end a day of good eating. 

Hopefully there are no temptations tomorrow. I really need to take a huge bag of food with me to keep me focused. We're going early - the first 800 people get something free. I hope it's something good.

And not cake.
Cake would suck.

Thanks, all! 

Week in review... why are my pants up there?

It's been one week since Lawrence and I changed our eating styles, and neither of us have wavered (yay)! It's actually been pretty easy - other than the smell of bread and coffee... but we've survived.
Some things I realized this week -

1. Caulirice is our friend. 
2. We eat lots of eggs. And cauliflower. And bananas.... 
3. Frozen blueberries turn your fingers blue for a little while... like a couple of days.
4. Paleo Newbie and The Paleo Mom have been my favorite sites to get recipes. 
5. I know people who don't know how to use links in the blog. I wish I could teach a class... 
6. You don't have to starve on this diet - or go broke. 
7. I don't miss the carbs as much as I thought I would. 
8. I feel fuller eating less food. 
9. Frozen grapes are amazing! 
10. The kids have not killed me for changing!

And... I lost 5 more pounds!! I'm somewhat excited!!!
Huh?

Well, I don't have any money... so while losing weight is great, I'm eventually going to need

new clothes... and I can't afford that right now.
So, I'm going to have some baggy pants for a while.

Today, I had an interview, and I swear my slacks were touching my bra...
I need some belts. 

What I'm hoping for in the weeks to come:

1. A job so I can afford clothes. 
2. More food choices. 
3. More recipes. 
4. More readers so I can get some comments and advice. Tell me how you feel!
5. To be able to start thinking about different recipes, like Lawrence. 

Speaking of recipes... Lawrence made dinner tonight, and he made a delicious apple relish to go on the pork! 

Made by my husband, the chef

I told Lawrence if he creates something else, he has to give me a recipe, soo here is Taragon Apple Relish!

Tarragon Apple Relish

1 apple, diced

1/4 medium vidalia onion, diced

1/4 medium red bell pepper, diced

1 c ACV

2 tbs of honey

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp tarragon

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1/4 tsp salt

Mix ingredients in bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes. Serve!

Great on pork, tortilla chips (if you eat them - we don't anymore), and as a side - if you really like it.

Simple and easy!

Well, I'm going to eat the rest of my blueberries and watch tv with my hubby.

Let me know if you make the relish!

Thanks, all!

Yes, I miss my coffee.

When I went to the doctor told me "if it doesn't rhyme with water, you can't drink it", I think my heart cried a little.
No coffee?
Really?
So you WANT me to fall asleep while driving... or rip someone's head off for saying hello to me at 8am...

I'm not that bad anymore... I was able to stop drinking coffee when I was trying to find out where my stomach issues were coming from, and I didn't go nutty. But today, I was driving with the windows up and nothing in the car - and I smelled coffee. I have a rather sensitive nose, but to smell coffee and not be near a coffee shop... the only explanation I had for it was maybe the 7-11 I was driving by actually decided their coffee was old and was pouring all the pots out at one time behind the building as to not corrode the pipes with it...
But it is 7-11, so I doubt they threw out coffee...

Anyway, I have read that people on the Paleo diet drink coffee, but since I'm not doing sugar... I have had coffee without sugar, but I prefer at least one sugar... so to not have any... I could experiment with honey... naaah.

Other info - I'm looking for a job. A sit down (mostly) job. I had an offer for something I had to stand up all day for, but my body's not ready for that yet, so I had to turn it down. I'm back on the hunt. I have an interview tomorrow for something that starts on 1/26... we'll see how that goes.

Remember just yesterday I said dinner was the star meal around here? Well, Lawrence wanted to prove me wrong this morning... he made a great salmon patty and incorporated the last of the caulirice. They were yummy! We ate them with sauteed spinach and an egg - mine wasn't the prettiest egg - I like them fried hard...

For lunch, I had the leftover chili, sans caulirice.

Dinner was from a bbq chicken recipe I found on The Paleo Mom. It was rather delicious. I added honey and tumeric, and made them on the George Foreman grill. Everyone loved them.

                                               

I didn't make a dessert tonight, mostly because I wasn't feeling well. Feeling a little better now...

Tomorrow will be a week since we started our diet... and I'll give a week in review.

Gotta go to bed and get ready for my interview.

Thanks, all!