What I accomplished last night...and a not-so-good recipe

To sum it up, I basically accomplished nothing last night!! When we got home DH sat in the living room for a while and talked to me, which is unusual because normally he heads up to our bedroom to watch the news, and I get started on dinner, or whatever else I have to do. But it was nice, so I wasn't in a rush. So anyway, I got a late start on dinner, which was my own concoction, and it wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be. Here is my "recipe" -

Burrito Casserole

1 lb ground beef (I think my package was a little more than that)
taco seasoning (I have a giant container, so I'm not sure how much I used, but it is easy to eyeball and taste the right amount)
1 can refried beans
flour tortillas
white cheese sauce (I used Gordo's jalapeno cheese sauce from walmart)

Brown ground beef, then drain grease. Add taco seasoning, and simmer. While there is still quite a bit of liquid left, add refried beans and stir until it is mixed well. Turn heat down and let mixture heat through.

Spray baking dish with cooking spray to avoid sticking, and start filling flour tortillas with the beef mixture. Roll up burrito style and line the dish. Pour cheese sauce over burritos, and bake in the oven on 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or so. Top with tomatoes, lettuce, green onions and sour cream.

This was ok, but it wasn't what I was looking for, I guess. I am a mexican food fanatic, and it just didn't feed my craving. Oh well, better luck next time.

As for the other things on my list, I just simply didn't feel like doing them last night! It was one of those days, and I just wanted to be lazy. I went to bed at 9:00!! So tonight, we are having leftovers, and I am doing the things on my list from last night, as well as cleaning out my fridge and cabinets and planning my menu/shopping list. Hopefully I wil be more successful tonight!

Tuesday night Goals

Well, I haven't been doing a lot lately as a result of recovering from the storm. But I NEED structure in my life, so I want to get back on track tonight. I watch more tv tonight than any other night of the week, so I'm not going to do too much, but I'll post my list anyway:

- cook dinner (either baked spaghetti or burrito casserole)

- Dust living room

- Vaccum living room, including stairs

- Start planning menu for next week


Hopefully I can get those few things done. My house doesn't look too bad right now, but I like the structure!

Whoa!

Ok, so the last 7 days have been C.R.A.Z.Y. around here!! Last Monday night, we had some sleet/freezing rain. It covered the roads, but it wasn't too bad. I woke up Tuesday morning, and came to work (well, my husband drove me to work!), and I carried on like normal for the most part. My parents power went out around 6:30 that morning, but I still didn't give it much thought. The news kept talking about the "winter storm 2009" that was heading our way, but they are seldomly on target with their forecast, so I didn't think much of it. I left work about 3:30 Tuesday afternoon, and when we got home, our power was out. It made several attempts to come back on over the next few hours, and around 8:30, it came back on. Yay!! But not for long! It stayed on til about 10:30, and then went off again, and this time it wasn't playing around!! It was so quiet in our house, and all you could hear were the ice covered branches cracking and hitting the ground. They would hit our roof with so much force that I was sure they were coming through. We got up the next morning and not much had changed, except for the number of trees in our yard. We went the whole day without power, which sucked, and then, around 10 pm, our power came back on!!! It turns out that, because we are so close to Walmart and the mall area, we are on what is considered an "emergency circuit". We are in the first group that they try to fix, because people need to get to emergency supplies, etc. I have never been so happy to live so close to walmart in all my life!! Well, here we are a week later, and there is so much devastation in our town. People are still without power (including my parents), and some without water. I have never seen anything like it. Our town literally looks like a war zone. Trees are down EVERYWHERE. People were fighting at gas stations, and waiting in lines for up to 3 hours just to get gas at one of the few stations open for several days. It was madness. I am so impressed with our emergency service workers. They have been on top of the situation from day 1, and although there is often not much they can do, they try there best to keep people updated on the things. I found out yesterday that between the fire department, police department and national guard, they will be knocking on EVERY door in our town to make sure everyone inside is ok. They are passing out meals and water to people. I can't imagine being in there position, but I think they are all awesome.

Well, on a different note, I have officially lost 10 lbs since January 5th. Woo-hoo!! (the "power -outage diet" helped a little!!) I'm pretty proud of myself that I have stuck with it. I'm not exactly known for my will power or follow-through!! I'm glad to be getting back to normal. I'm going grocery shopping tonight, so hopefully tomorrow I will be posting my menu.

Please keep our town in your prayers...there is still so many people that are in pretty bad shape. Tonight is supposed to be the coldest night so far, with windchills below 0. Some of the people who have been ok so far are going to be finding it harder to stay warm tonight.

Monday night goals/WW update

I just have to start by saying that I am pretty stinkin' proud of myself for all of the things that I have been accomplishing lately. As long as I am able to keep it up, I'll be great!! So, I've made a list of all the projects that I want to accomplish around my house, such as cleaning out closets, cleaning and organizing kitchen cabinets, replacing all blinds, etc. This weekend, I wasn't feeling so great, but I still got started by cleaning out our upstairs bedroom closet. We use it for storage only (our clothes are all downstairs), and I managed to downsize by 2 large boxes!! Woo-hoo. I'm just tired of all the worthless crap we have around our house. I was hoping to tackle the downstairs bedroom closet this weekend, too, but that didn't happen. As for my weekly cleaning schedule, my house is in fairly good shape, so I should be able to stay on track this week. For tonight, here are my goals:

- Cook dinner (open faced onion & mushroom topped burgers, a potato for me, and
pasta salad for dh)

- Clean dinner mess in kitchen

- Thoroughly clean bathroom, including sweeping and mopping

- Wash towels (1-2 loads)

- Read a chapter in The Love Dare (we started this before the holidays, but it got put
aside, but we want to get back on track.

- Put together tomorrow nights dinner in crockpot so I can just start it in the -
morning.

- Fix lunch for tomorrow.

It shouldn't be too hard for me to do all of this tonight, and still have some downtime. As for Weight Watchers, I have now lost 7 lbs!! Not as much as I would like, but I've been able to maintain that and still cheat a couple of times. I am really hoping to lose 3 lbs this week, so that I will have lost a total of 10 lbs for the month. Wish me luck!

Update from last night.

Well, I didn't accomplish everything that I set out to do, but I still did a lot. Here is how my night went-

- I cooked dinner. Meatballs & peppers with brown rice was NOT a big hit at my house!
In fact, it was kind of gross!! Oh well, we live and learn!!

- I cleaned the kitchen, and got things put away. I need to sweep and mop the floor
again, but I will probably wait til tomorrow to do that.

- I didn't clean the bathroom, but it is still pretty clean from last week, so I really just
need to spot clean it.

- I didn't get ALL of the laundry done, because I washed our sheets on our bed, which I
hadn't planned to do, but I still did 3 loads of laundry.

- I didn't get to Dave Ramsey.

Tonight is my tv night, so I try to have a lighter cleaning night. Here is what I have planned for tonight:

- Cook dinner (Chicken & Rice casserole)

- clean up kitchen after cooking dinner

- do the last of the laundry (2 loads, i think)

- dust living room/dining room, and vaccum

Hopefully I can get all of this done before my shows start, or during commercials. We'll see how it goes!

My Goals for tonight

I found last week that I do much better when I post my goals. Not that many people read my blog, but it still helps me to feel accountable. So here is what I have planned for tonight:

- Cook dinner (meatballs & peppers with brown rice)

- clean the kitchen after dinner, and put away all dishes. Also, find places for some of
my groceries that have been on the counter since i brought them home Friday night!

- tonight is my weekly "bathroom cleaning night", so I need to deep clean my
bathroom and make it "guest friendly" since I am hosting bunco this month.

- do the rest of the laundry that I didn't get to yesterday (2-3 loads)

- Read Chapter 2 in our Dave Ramsey book/workbook

That should be enough for tonight. I am having 12 people over to my house on Thursday night, so I HAVE to stick to my goals this week. Wish me luck!!

So Proud!!

I have to brag on myself for a minute, so please bear with me. To give you a little background on me, as a general rule, I do not do well on diets. I have tried all the popular ones, and usually, after a few days, I have fallen off the wagon. I have no will power. And don't even get me started on excercise. But then I realized that I have gained 40 POUNDS in 4 years, and it was time to do something. So on January 5th, I started doing Weight Watchers. I'm doing it on my own for now, because none of the meetings work into my schedule, but if I get to a point that i feel like I need the meetings, I will make them fit in. Anyway, I've noticed that something about this time is different. I'm excited about eating healthier, and I'm excited about excercising. I am actually enjoying it all. And it is paying off. As of today, I have lost 5 lbs. I am so proud of myself!! Lets just hope that I keep this enthusiasm!!

As for my list of things to do last night, I didn't do what I had planned, but I still got a lot done. I didn't finish the laundry, but my husband and I cleaned our bedroom, which was no small task. So I am pleased. Now this weekend I won't have quite as much to do. Yay!