Oh Christmas Tree

Our tree looked pretty good when we put it up about two weeks ago. You should see it now! LOL. The thing has some problems! Our one year old and two year old find it amusing to play near the tree, under the tree, around the tree, and of course put their own small toys IN the tree!

Here's what it looked like in it's prime (2 weeks ago):

And this is what it looks like now:

Did I mention also, that there are no ornaments below like 3 feet? Even the plastic balls they were taking off and playing with. Or they would pull on the balls and try to bring the whole tree with it!!! We can't turn the lights on when the Little Man is awake because then he can see the wires and pulls on them! Little Princess is a little better than her brother. At least she doesn't try to destroy the tree! lol.

We haven't even tried to put presents under there. Right now a majority of them are in our kitchen! Both of the little ones love opening presents, and I really do not want to rewrap presents. I've got enough to do, without having to do that too!

I am hoping that next Christmas we will be able to decorate better and have presents under the tree BEFORE Christmas! The Little Man will be 2 and Little Princess will be 3, so it could happen.... LOL!

Preparing for Christmas

Christmas is in a few days and things are so busy around here. We are done with Christmas shopping and trying to get cookies and fudge made up. I'm really looking forward to the holidays this year, because Little Miss is 2 and she will really be surprised with Santa and the whole mystery thing.

Little Miss helped me make cookies the other day. She loves to help me in the kitchen, though she is still limited on what she can do and still has problems following directions. Here are some cute pictures of her trying to help and what our kitchen table looks like (we have limited space because of lack of counters so the table is it for all food prepping).

Little Miss had a lot of fun learning how to use measuring spoons and missing the batter. I caught her sneaking a little taste of the dough.... hehe. The cookies we made were chocolate chip and then there is pictured in the last photo. Of course half of the fudge is now in our bellies. LOL.

If you'd like to share pictures or stories of your holiday traditions, please do so in the comments. My readers and I would be happy to come visit your blog.

HASAY Weekly Update

I jumped on the scale a little while ago and it said 175.5. Wow. I must have cut off an arm or something. LOL. heh. That was definitely NOT right! I moved the scale and got on again and it read 202. So I lost half a pound this week.

Actually that's not bad all things considered. Saturday we went to the Christmas party hosted by hubby's work. There were SOOOOO many goodies. I was very good and I ate 3 or 4 cookies and that its it. This is good for me. I have a big problem with portion control especially when it comes to cakes, cookies, brownies, or anything with chocolate in the name! LOL. Last night I did a lot of house cleaning and then my 2 year old and I made chocolate chips cookies. She LOVES helping me bake. I made a double batch, but only baked up 3 trays. The rest went in a freezer bag. I used to scoop them out and flash freeze them and then put them in baggies, but I would find myself going to the basement freezer and pulling out little round balls of cookie dough. I would eat them frozen! Soon they would all be gone and I would feel like a pig. But I think this way will work better. We shall see.

I didn't get much exercise in for the week, except for cleaning. I'm going to try to get a little bit more in this week. It's just a really busy time because my classes are wrapping up and will have finals next week. I'm also trying to get Christmas cards out and finishing up shopping.

So, here's to a better week!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

These are wonderful cookies. So tasty and so easy. My family loves these cookies so much I thought I would share it with all of you.

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter at room temperature (1 cup)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour (may need a little more)
1 cup quick oats
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt (if you use unsalted butter)
1/2 bag - 1 bag of chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla
3. Stir together flour, oats, baking powder and salt and add to wet ingredients. Mix well. If dough is too sticky add more flour until dough is slightly sticky. Add desired amount of chocolate chips.
4. Drop dough by the tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet at least 1 inch apart. Bake for approximately 10-14 minutes.
5. Take out cookies and let rest for about 10 minutes. Then transfer to cooling rack or papertowels.

Hope they taste yummy! I will be sharing more cookie recipes in the next couple weeks as I make them for Christmas.

Smells Like a Burger Joint in Here!

I am busy cooking up 10 pounds of hamburger and 6 pounds of chicken strips. Why you may ask? There are two reasons. The first is because I decided to do an experiment and only go shopping once a month. We spent almost $150, but will only need to go back to the stores once a week to pick up milk and fresh fruit. You can read more about my Monthly Shopping Challenge here: First Time Shopping for a Whole Month.

The other reason I cook up so much meat instead of just throwing it in the freezer is because it's a time saver. I may be cooking up a lot right now, but when I am trying to make dinner, it is just so handy to have the meat already cooked. All I do is unthaw and throw it in whatever I am making. It is really a great time saver.

What tricks do you use to make dinner easier and/or quicker to get on the table?

I Joined Club HASAY

I joined this wonderful group of women who are trying to lose weight. I think it will be a good thing to have people to help motivate me to lose this baby weight. You can check the group out here: Club HASAY

1. What motivates you and why do you want to do this challenge? I'm fat! Ok. I'm sure you already figured that. LOL. When I got pregnant with my daughter in November of 2005 I had about 20 or so extra pounds on my body. I should weigh around 135-140 and I was getting up there a littlee over 160. So, when I had her I weighed in around 200 pounds. After that I went down to 180. When my daughter was 6 months we got pregnant again with our son who was born in November of 2007. By the time he was born I was 214 pounds. At my 3 week checkup I was already down to 191 but I started inching back up. As of today I am 202.5 pounds and I HATE IT!!!I have 3 pairs of jeans and they are starting to rip in the seams (again because I'm fat) but I do not want to buy any more.

2. What is your long term goal? My long term goal is to be back at a healthy weight. I'd love to be able to buy any shirt I wanted to and not have to think how the shirt will hang over my hips. Ultimately my goal is to be below 150 pounds and back in a size 8-10 in pants and medium shirts (though I can wear medium shirts they don't always look right - my hips and thighs and stomach are what is gaining the weight. The top half of me doesn't look all that bad, although I could use some toning.

3. What is your short term goal? My short term goal is to lose 20 pounds and I would like to do that within the next 6 months. If I do this I could get back into some of my size 12 jeans!! YEAH!!

4. What tools are available to you? Treadmill, double stroller, Hip Hop Abs videos, another video series of which I cannot recall the name, several Denise Austin videos where she's so bright and cheery that I want to strangle her, a bowflex (though I really don't know how to use it), some free weights, one of those seats that you sit on and work your abs, and a sit-up bench. I have a lot of tools, I just lack the motivation and time.

5. How often can you exercise? There is really no reason why I should not be able to exercise every stinking day! lol. But be realistic. With my class schedule the way it is now (at least for 2 more weeks until classes end) there is no reason why I cannot exercise at least 3 days a week for 30 minutes. I will probably get on the treadmill, but really any exercise will help me.

Also, I am going to try to find ways to squeeze a little exercise in here and there. For instance, tonight while my daughter was in the tub, I cleaned the sink and toilet as usual, and then I did some squats and knee lifts.

6. What do you plan on doing? Exercise is my biggest problem. With my classes, family, daily life (oh and we're in the process of getting loan to build a house) I seem to be pretty busy. But I think this darn computer takes up a lot of my time (if you want proof, go look at the dishes that have been there for 2 days! GASP!) I plan on setting the timer on my cell phone so that I do not spend too much time one here. I do take computer classes, so that I cannot help how much time I need to spend on her for those. But I can for everything else. Here's the breakdown:

• 30 minutes reading emails and doing Entrecard
• 60 minutes writing for blogs and AC
• 30 minutes for reading blogs and commenting, and miscellaneous

In the food department, I will watch my portions. I think that is all I can really do, because I know that if I deprive myself I will only want something more (especially if that something is chocolate). I will then precede to eat the WHOLE batch of no-bake cookies that I will be seduced into making.

7. What has worked for you in the past? haha. I would not suggest doing what worked for me before. I was 170 pounds and went down to 138. I looked good. But I also cheated and took ephedrine. Dang that stuff was great. There is also significant risk in taking them and I know that now.

I will update my blog often with how I am doing with exercising and, of course, my weigh-ins on Mondays. UGGGHHH.

Been a While!

I haven't posted recently. I have been extremely busy since Thanksgiving. I had tons of work to do for my classes, home stuff to work on, plus my kids were sick. I think things will calm down here at least for a few days. I have a few things to do for my classes, but nothing too overwhelming. I have one week left of classes and then finals week. I'll be glad to have a little break, though I wish it were longer than a month. So much to get caught up and so much I want to get started or want to finish. I don't know how much I will be able to post in the next few weeks with the classes ending and then, of course, Christmas. But I will try to post at least once a week.