To all our family and friends, we wish you all the very best for 2010. Have a safe and happy new year's eve.

xxxx

Plans for New Year

The new year is fast approaching, only 2 more days to go. Wow, 2010! It sounds so 'futuristic' doesn't it? What are your plans for New Years Eve? We will be going next door to celebrate with our great neighbors and her family. Cheryl's boys Connor and Justin left on Dec 20th to spend this Christmas with their Dad in Atlanta GA, they also (unbeknown to them at the time) were going to drive to Disney World the next day and drive back to GA on Christmas Eve). We've all missed them so much, especially Kristen who plays with Connor every day, and we can't wait til they arrive home on Thursday afternoon - just in time for the New Year celebrations.

I always call my family back home in England on New Years Eve. What's funny about it is I call at 6pm, or just a few minutes after, and it's already midnight there :-) It's strange hearing everyone laughing and shouting 'happy new year' to me when it's only 6 o'clock and I'm usually just starting to get ready for the evening, but it's fun too. This year Cheryl has decided to have a 'Martini Party' so we girls are going to dress up in our fancy gear and mix up yummy 'tinis'. I think the idea started with my 'Snowtinis' that I made at my bookclub Christmas party, and the fact that Cheryl bought me a cocktail shaker with some martini glasses for Christmas (a long with lots of other goodies too) because I didn't have one and had to use my plastic smoothie shaker! Should be fun, but I will be sure not to have too many - they're way too potent for me!

So, what are your plans for New Year? Will you even stay up til midnight to 'see the New Year in'? I know some friends can't even stay awake that long ;-)

Here's a few more pics to share today... I took these using my new Nikon Coolpix camera I got for Christmas. It's nice and small and can fit in my purse so I can take it with me much easier than my other 'chunky' one I have!

I cut in to my yummy 'Christmas Cake', it is delicioius :-)

Here's Kristen on her new bike from Santa....

A New Year Approaching....

Throughout the year I'm always conscious of my weight and I try to make healthy eating choices most of the time, I'm always trying to feed Kristen healthy things too, but a lot of the time I feel like I could do much better. We seem to get totally off track during the months of November and December, what with Kristen's birthday and Thanksgiving and then of course Christmas with all the yummy baking, and candy. But with the New Year approaching my resolve to get back to healthy eating kicks in full force. That's why I was happy to hear this week that General Mills announced a commitment to further reduce the sugar in their cereals. Jason and I want to cut way back on the sugar we have, and that means Kristen should too. One of the ways I like to start off my healthy living is to start with a healthy breakfast.

This week General Mills announced a commitment to further reduce sugar in cereals advertised to kids under 12 to single digit grams of sugar per serving. The company has already been reducing sugar in cereals while increasing key nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin D, and providing whole grain.





Did you know that ready-to-eat cereal eaters consume less fat, less cholesterol and more fiber than non-cereal eaters? Cereals also deliver important vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients, making cereal a top source of key nutrients in children´s diets.

Other cereal benefits:

• Ready-to-eat cereals, including presweetened cereals, account for only 5% of sugar in children´s diets.
  
• Ready-to-eat cereal is the No. 1 source of whole grains in a child´s diet today.
  
• More frequent cereal eaters tend to have healthier body weights and lower Body Mass Index measures.

Studies also demonstrate the benefits of eating breakfast. A 1998 study showed that children who eat breakfast tend to perform better at school. Compared to children who skip breakfast, children who eat breakfast score higher on tests, are less likely to miss class or be tardy, have fewer reported discipline problems, and make fewer trips to the office.

For more information about kids and cereals, please visit Cereal Health and Wellness.

Right now if you visit here you will find a $1 off coupon for one of four General Mills cereals.

I'd like to thank General Mills and MyBlogSpark for sending me complimentary coupons and allowing me to provide this information to you.

Another Christmas Over...

Farewell Christmas 09, you were wonderful and we had lots of fun, I'm rather sorry to see you go, but we look forward to a great New Year. I hope you all had a great Christmas too. Here's a few photos from the past couple of days.... we actually got snow on Christmas eve afternoon here in Central Texas! It was just little flakes for about 10 minutes or so, never stayed on the ground, but it was lovely to see.

Kristen used some of her birthday money this year to buy gifts for me, Daddy, Grandma and Papa. She wrapped mine without my help... in a plastic box with tissue inside! It was a Winnie The Pooh tree ornament which I just loved. Her nursery was all Winnie the Pooh stuff, she knows how much I love him ;-)

Here's Kristen throwing reindeer food out on Christmas Eve, just before bedtime...


and setting out milk and cookies (with carrots for the reindeer) before heading to bed.


She woke us up at 7am on Christmas morning, which wasn't too bad....

Santa brought a new bike :-) and a new Nintendo DSi, Webkinz Timber Wolf, Zhu Zhu Pets, and lots of other goodies....

later in the afternoon we all opened 'stockings'. This is a new tradition I've just started this year. Jason and I have never filled stockings for each other, but I thought it would be fun if we did, so I also did one each for Grandma and Papa and Kristen waited to open her stocking from Santa with us all. It was a ton of fun... Jason spoiled me and bought more presents (and candy) than would fit in my stocking, including a new Flip Camcorder which was a huge surprise to me :-)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too. We'll be celebrating New Year next door with our neighbors..... what will you be doing?

Busy... but fun!

Still finishing up a few things around the house this week for Christmas.... ran up to Target this morning, then called in to the library to get the book I'd ordered for our first Book Club read of 2010 (Same Kind of Different As Me). I actually read this book last year but wanted to browse through it again before our meeting. I really enjoyed it the first time I picked it up, but not sure I can read it all the way through again, it's not often I can do that with a book, but I do want to read some of it.

Thought I'd share a few photos of what we've been up to this week.... after school finished on Friday, Kristen couldn't wait to decorate her gingerbread house -

We packaged up the Doggy Treats that we baked last week for our furry friends.... Boo gave these 4 paws up so I'm sure his friends will love them.

I took part in an ornament exchange with some of my online buddies and was sent this beautiful Jim Shore angel. I've never had any of his figures before but love seeing the Christmas ones, I think I might have to start me a collection :-) Thank you my 'secret sister'... you know who you are ;-)


and just this afternoon I put the icing on my cake. I can't wait to cut in to it. I know a lot of people over here don't like fruit cake, but 'Christmas cake' as we call it in England is a very traditional thing, and I for one just love the smell and taste of it. Baking it a few weeks ago made me feel like I was back in my Mam's kitchen, and when I take that first bite (I'll probably cut it on Christmas Eve) I'll be transported back in time once again. Oh how I wish I could really be there sharing the cake together.

The decorating is nothing fancy, but Christmas cake isn't Christmas cake without almond paste and icing :-)

Good news

I just want to thank everyone for your prayers for Mam, she finally came home at the weekend after 3 weeks in hospital! She's tired and weak but sounds really good when I talk to her on the phone. I can't tell you how relieved I am just to know she's home with the family this week.

I can't believe how quickly the time is passing. How exciting that this week is Christmas. I'm happy because I've finished all of my shopping and just have to clean the house a little this week. On Wednesday morning I think I will get up bright and early and get to the grocery store for 'fresh' stuff that I will need for Christmas dinner etc. On Christmas Eve my inlaws come over for dinner and we open family gifts that night, then of course on Christmas day Santa will have been and my favorite part is seeing the surprise on Kristen's face as she comes down the stairs :-)

I'm sure I'll pop on here again before the 'big' day but just incase I don't I'd like to wish all of our family and friends a wonderful Christmas. Let us not forget the TRUE meaning of this holiday season.

Update on Mam.... and some pics

Mam is feeling a little better after the blood transfusion she got the other night. The Drs still haven't gotten her blood right but my sister is hoping they release her at the weekend, which I think means they are getting close to sorting it out - hopefully Mam will be home soon, especially before Christmas. Thank you for your continued prayers.

There's a lot of 'Christmasy Home Tours' going on around blogland this week. Unfortunately I just don't have the time to join in.... I did try and take some pictures the other night around the house so you can see a little decor, but a lot of them turned out blurry. I was trying not to use the flash and just used the camera on 'night' setting.... anyway, here's a few.

The table is already set for Christmas dinner... you can see my Christmas Crackers at each setting:

I finally moved the black buffet in to the dining room, and remember the 'Ballard Inspired' shelf I was going to make from Traci's blog? Well that was done some weeks ago (I didn't take pics) and Jason hung it a couple of weeks ago for me. Right now I have all my hand painted Santas on it....

In the hallway I replaced the 'buffet' with this small table from Ikea... and it has my hand painted (by me) nativity set on it. The table is too small to hold all of it so I had to put the wise men and camels underneath...

Here's a close up with the flash on so you can see the figures...


The stockings were hung....

This year I put up a stocking for Jason and I too, this is a first, usually it's just Kristen hanging her stocking, and a small one for Boo, but I told Jason he needs to buy a little something to put in mine as I've got him a few little goodies to go in his. My new 'tradition' is that we'll wait til Christmas morning to open our stockings with Kristen. Jason's family tradition is to open ALL gifts on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas moring the kids get to open their gifts from Santa! I haven't opened a Christmas gift on Christmas day in over 13 years!!! This year I will ;-)

Here's a view from my front door looking in to the living/family room....

and the family room tree....


Hope you enjoyed the little tour :-)

Baking Fun... and news about Mam

Well here it is, the last week of school before Christmas break! Kristen and I had fun in the kitchen this weekend. I was going to bake with her on Saturday but I had my inlaws over for dinner so I thought Sunday would be a better day for us. Jason left yesterday at 12 to fly to Denver for the week for work so it was the perfect time for Kiki and I to play in the kitchen. First we baked some 'doggy biscuits' for our furry friends, including our sweet Boo. We plan on gift wrapping the biscuits and handing them out to our neighbors dogs on Christmas Eve :-) I didn't take pictures of them (hands too messy!) but the recipe is from my friend Darylynn's blog.... you can find it HERE.

After those had baked in the oven (you leave them in for an hour after baking them for 20 minutes) we made cookies for us.... I've always wanted to make those cookies with the 'Kisses' pushed in to the top, so we did.

Kiki loved rolling the dough in the sugar best ;-)

I still have a bit of Christmas shopping to do... I don't know how, I feel like I've been planning Christmas since July and yet I still have a ton of stuff to get!

I'm not sure how often I will post between now and New Year. One thing I haven't posted about on here because I kept thinking it was just a short term thing, was that my sweet Mam is in the hospital. She went in a few weeks ago with a chest infection but after a week was finally released. That was back in November. A couple of weeks ago she had to go in for surgery to get her pacemaker replaced (this we knew about and she'd been waiting for the appointment). She went in two weeks ago today, but before they could do the procedure they had to make sure her blood was right. She takes a blood thinner since having heart bypass quite a few years ago. They couldn't get her blood right so the op was canceled from that Wednesday until the Friday. She did get the procedure done finally on the Friday and everything went well. She thought she might be out by that weekend but once again the Dr's could not get her blood count right. She's still in there today, and I just got word from my sisters that Mam might have to have a blood transfusion :-( She is weak and isn't eating much (she hates the hospital food, so my sister is trying to take sandwiches and such in for her, which I don't think the hospital approves of!). We so hoped she would come home today.... now I don't know when it will be. I'm just praying she will get home before Christmas. If you can would you say a prayer too, I would surely appreciate it.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite photos, taken in July 08.... my sweet Mam and baby girl

I'm only human :-(

I caved last night and had a glass of wine in the evening while I was watching the movie 'Julie & Julia'! I caved again this morning when I had a cup of coffee :-( I'm not going to beat myself up about it, I think I did good to make it to 3 days (almost) and I'm a couple of pounds lighter for the effort, and not feeling so bloated and stuffed either.

I know the bloating and that full feeling comes from my snacking habits. This morning I had Cheerios for breakfast with skim milk, and for lunch I'm having a 'Smart Ones' lasagna. OK, so it's not the detox plan, but seriously that thing is 'HARD CORE'. Sue asked if I couldn't snack on fruit in the evening. The plan says nothing about any snacks after the dinner menu, in fact it only allows one snack a day (which is a smoothie) which is after lunch and before dinner.

If I've learned anything, it's this... don't deprive yourself of the things you like, even if you are on a diet. When it comes to food I've always said "you can have anything you like to eat, IN MODERATION", and I stick by that (for me anyway!). What I haven't been doing lately is watching the portion control of my meals, and still snacking in between them and at night. Come January I will get back on track with a smaller meal plan and healthy snacks. Perhaps I'll start a blog then to track my progress. I really would like to get rid of these extra 12 pounds!

So, I didn't quite make the 4 day detox, but I'm not ashamed to admit it! It's all OK. I'll still be watching what I eat between now and January, so I don't put on a few more unwanted pounds.

I'll be back tomorrow hopefully with some pictures of something? anything! This blog has been seriously lacking in pics this week ;-)

Detox - Day 3

Is it Friday yet? I won't kid you that this is easy. I'm on day 3 of the Flat Belly 4-day detox and I could kill for some chocolate, or some bread... or just about anything else that you would normally eat!

Yesterday was a little harder than the first day although I did good yet again. Eating breakfast is fine, lunch is rather bland (seriously, who eats just canned tuna and steamed carrots for lunch?!) dinner was just ok, and after dinner.... well that's the killer. No snacking! I just kept sipping my sassy water but I must admit I did feel a little hungry after 7pm. My snack yesterday was a pineapple smoothie (just 4oz pineapple and 1 cup of skim milk) plus the flax oil you add to it. It did help to curb my appetite between 3 and 6 until I made dinner.

Today is day 3, and I'm half way through it. I can stick this out, I KNOW I can. I actually went to Starbucks today to have coffee with a friend and I had.... a bottle of water! I was so tempted by the eggnog latte, but was determined not to cave. I told myself I can have one next week when we meet up again. Today's menu is similar to Monday's but I will have the tilapia tonight instead of the turkey cutlet. The smoothie this afternoon is a peach one ;-)

So, one more day left of my detox then I promise I'll talk about something else, like Christmas :-)

Detox - Day 2

I did it! I survived day one of the detox and I did really well. I didn't cheat, I'm happy to say, but I did make a substitution for dinner last night. The first day I was supposed to have tilapia for dinner and on day 3 I have turkey cutlet. Well I bought the turkey cutlets yesterday fresh, and the tilapia was frozen! So I had the turkey instead, and I'll have the tilapia tomorrow. Other than that I did really well.

I quite liked the 'sassy water', I couldn't really taste the mint in it, just a hint of cucumber, mostly lemon and I didn't put ginger in yesterday's water because I didn't have any. I always have lemon in my water so this was very similar, quite refreshing with the addition of cucumber and I managed to get through the whole 2 liters. Today I have ginger in the water but again I can hardly taste it?

So, on the menu today is :

Rice krispies for breakfast, 4 oz pineapple in juice, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
Lunch is 3oz canned tuna in water, 1 cup steamed baby carrots, 1 low fat string cheese
Dinner will be 30z grilled chicken, 1 cup fresh cremini mushrooms sauted with1 tsp olive oil, 1/2 cup brown rice.

I thought the evening would be the hardest because I really do snack a lot at night, but I had a few tomatoes left over from lunch (there was just too many to eat in one sitting!) so I hate them around 8pm and had an early night, going to bed at 9.30. If I had stayed up any later I know I would have felt hungry.

One day down, 3 more to go - I CAN DO THIS!

It's wet and cold out today, on the agenda for me is laundry, making lists of things for Christmas and knitting my neighbor's Christmas gift. What are you up to?

4 Day Detox..... and other stuff!

Yes, you read that right, 4 day detox, but I'll tell you about that in a minute. First I should catch up with what's been going on the rest of last week, that kept me so busy I couldn't post after Wednesday.

First I hosted our book club Christmas Social at my house on Friday night. Thursday kept me busy getting ready for that. Instead of everyone bringing over a dish this year I offered to buy everything in and the girls would just contribute $5 each towards the food. I kept things as simple as I could so I didn't have a lot to do in the kitchen when they arrived, things like sandwich platters, cheese tray, fruit and dip, deviled eggs, stuffed tomatoes (all these things could be done ahead of time and just brought out as my guests arrived). I also had 'Lil Smokies' sausages in the crockpot in a bbq and cranberry jelly sauce. The last thing I had to do was pop 'bacon wrapped shrimp' in the oven. I planned for these to come out about 10 minutes after everyone arrived.

On arrival the girls were offered a 'Snowtini' (which I found on FoodNetwork, made by Sandra Lee), it's equal parts vanilla vodka, Bailey's Irish Cream and Godiva chocolate liquer! Shake in a cocktail shaker then pour in to martini glasses and sprinkle shaved chocolate on top. These were a big hit :-) I didn't get any pictures of the 'snowtinis' but I did get a great group picture, which believe it or not I think is the first one we've ever taken! The ladies left around 10pm with 'favors' of homemade biscotti and chocolate spoons :-)

So that was Friday night. Then on Saturday I thought I would just have a relaxing day knitting (I'm trying to finish off a Christmas gift for my neighbors), but Jason was out in the yard and after the frost we had that morning he was pulling up vegetables that were still in the garden! By vegetables I mean carrots! We still had a ton of them in the ground. Well he came inside and said we should get these things peeled and frozen or do something with them "like a carrot cake" he said. YES! why didn't I think of that, so off I went to get a recipe online. Meanwhile Jason thought it a great idea to surprise me with an early Christmas present.... I realized why after he gave it to me....

I've been wanting one of these for years. Kristen helped peel the carrots, I put a pan of them on to blanch and some others we shredded for the cake. Oh my gosh I loved using this thing to cream the butter and sugar, and well do everything really. The only thing I had to do was fold in the grated carrot! It is amazing. I love it. Forgot to take pics of the cake which was in a 13x9 pan so they were carrot cake squares with cream cheese frosting. Jason has taken the rest in to the office today, he thought they were delicious. I don't want to eat any more.... which brings me to the title of this blog (if you're still reading!).

A few months ago I bought the book 'The Flat Belly Diet'. After reading it through some I realized this diet wasn't really for me, it's based on 1600 calories a day for one thing, which is way too much for me to eat if I want to lose the extra 12 pounds that I've gained since the beginning of Summer! The other night though I picked it up again because I remember seeing a 4 day plan in it that will help 'jump start' your diet. I know December is a strange time to start a diet, but this 4 day detox actually helps eliminate bloat and has only 1200 calories a day. I have to be honest, it was the mention of 'bloat' that got me. Since I've gained those extra pounds I feel like I am constantly feeling bloated, not just after every meal, but even when I don't have a meal and just snack! I know I'm not eating healthy right now, so for the next 4 days I just want to try to see if I can. I'm blogging about it here in the hopes you will all hold me accountable, and it will motivate me to stick it out. I mean, it's only 4 days, surely I can do that? After the 4 days hopefully I will feel better and less inclined to 'binge' over the Christmas holidays. Anyone want to try it with me?

Here's what I can eat today....
You start off the night before by making 2 liters of 'Sassy Water' (that's what they call it.) It's simply 2 liters of water, slice up one cucumber and one lemon and put in the water, some fresh ginger root, and about 10 mint leaves. Leave over night then you'll drink this throughout the next day at every meal.

Breakfast:
1 cup unsweetened cornflakes
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds
Glass of Sassy Water

Lunch:
4oz organic deli turkey, rolled up (unfortunately I couldn't get organic!)
1 low-fat string cheese
1 pint fresh grape tomatoes
Glass of Sassy Water

Snack:
Blueberry Smoothie - blend 1 cup skim milk with 1 cup frozen unsweetened blueberries, add 1Tblsp of cold-pressed organic flaxseed oil, or serve with 1 Tblsp of sunflower or pumpkin seeds (I bought the flax oil so I'll be trying that).

Dinner:
1 cup cooked green beans
4 oz grilled Tilapia
1/2 cup roasted red potatoes drizzled with 1 tsp olive oil
Glass of Sassy Water

And that's it! I'll let you know how I got on tomorrow. My concern is what do I do after dinner, I'm so used to snacking and having a glass of wine! Wish me luck, I'm determined to do this for just the 4 days. After that I'll enjoy December and get back to healthy living in January (don't you just love January for fresh starts) ;-)

My first tassel!

Do you like tassels? Do you hang tassels around your house? I don't have any tassels in my home, or at least I didn't have, until I saw this tutorial from the Nester last week! I've seen other free tutorials online on how to make a tassel, and I've seen some lovely ones in bloggers homes, but I still wasn't sure how exactly to put one together. You can buy them on Etsy too, but you know how I like to 'craft', so I purchased the tutorial and within days I was heading out to buy some supplies to make my own..... here's my very first attempt:

What do you think? I'm very critical of my own work and think I should have made the bottom tassel just a bit fuller? While I was making it I thought it was too full but looking at it now I'd like to have added a few more inches of trim.

Here's the supplies I started with, just a simple ornament I got at Hobby Lobby and two pieces of trim from there too.

This is the basic tassel (no ribbons) so I started with that first. I was going to make a Christmas one but I didn't want to pack it away so soon after the holidays so I made one I could keep in my dining room all year.

This is where I've decided to hang it (for now), on my black buffet.

Here's another close up. I think I need to change the ribbon it's hanging from, it's too skinny but I didn't have anything else at the time. I think I'll watch for Christmas ornaments going on sale and will buy some to make some holiday tassels for next year ;-) I don't know why but I'm rather 'smitten' with tassels right now!

It was so simple....

When was the last time you bought a fresh chicken to roast? I asked myself that question the other day after watching an episode of 'Cook Yourself Thin', a new cooking show I'd just discovered on Lifetime TV! My answer was "I can't remember", in fact if I'm honest I don't think I've roasted a chicken in the past 10 years!!! I cook with chicken all the time, but buying a fresh chicken and putting it in the oven to roast is.... well, it's just 'foreign' to me. I often buy a rotisserie chicken because I think they're cheap, or at least they used to be. Now a rotisserie chicken costs me $6.99 at my local grocery store.

Yesterday I decided I would try to roast my own if a fresh chicken was cheaper than that (yes, I had no clue the price of a fresh whole chicken). I bought one at Walmart, 4lb in weight, for $3.79!

And here it is.... doesn't that look delicious - and it was SO easy. I followed the recipe from the tv show and they simply mixed 2 tblsp of olive oil with some fresh rosemary (which I have in my herb garden) 2 cloves of garlic, some thyme and sage, salt and a squeeze of lemon juice (I used dried thyme and sage because I didn't have fresh). The cavity was stuffed with more rosemary and a lemon cut in to quaters. I roasted it for 1 hr 20 minutes and voila.... dinner was ready! Served with fresh green beans and a little mash potatoe.

Here's the FULL recipe from the website

You can bet for sure I'll be making 2 other meals from this guy, chicken salad for lunch, and I'll boil the chicken to make soup ;-)

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