Stagnated

Wednesday January 14, 2009 Phase Two Day 269:
What a good routine – walking with friends and cereal in the morning. I could say walking with friend. Rinez & I were all alone today with Gaye & Jami in Utah and Shannon sleeping in. Mom called last night to say she was still sick and wanted to stay out of the pool another day. Been working on the quilt this morning but now I must get in to work. Missionaries are coming for dinner tonight and I have decided to get some steaks. I know Stephen will be pleased. He likes to fix them some kind of meat when they come rather than casseroles or soup. I will bake potatoes and carrots, serve salad. I have already made some sugar free Jello with yogurt. I am setting the Jello in small, individual size molds. I hope they turn out. For dessert I will make parfaits of alternating layers of sugar free vanilla and chocolate pudding with a dollop of cool whip on top. My kids use to call these bumble bee parfaits because of the brown and yellow stripes the puddings make.

Meanwhile I will take tuna and an apple to the office for lunch.

Sunday January 18, 2009 Phase Two Day 273:
Good morning! The last few days got away from me. Thursday I began with step class and ate healthy all day. Friday I walked with Rinez then had cereal for breakfast. I was on the run all day and only had a granola bar before picking up Stephen in the afternoon and heading to the temple. We had dinner in the temple cafeteria – chicken with broccoli, veggies, salad & custard. When we got home at midnight Blake, Sara & Jacob were here. What a surprise – we stayed up chatting and I had a few bites of sugar free pudding. Saturday began with breakfast at Marie Challendar’s with Walkie Talkies because Taunie was in town. I had a yummy Denver omelet with wheat toast but did eat the accompanying potatoes. I splurged and had a hot chocolate (defiantly not sugar free). Got home and went for a walk with Sara & Sonnet. We ate tuna sandwiches for lunch followed by totally blowing it with cookie dough that evening. Darn that Blake and his evil ways.

Now it is Sunday morning. I will be off to choir after I have cereal. Chicken will be in the crock pot for dinner tonight. Blake & Sara went home last night but are coming back this afternoon for a week. I will have to be on guard all week! Oh well – I can do it!

Arriving back home after church, the aroma of cooking chicken permeated the house. After crock potting all morning on low with only a package of Italian seasoning mix it was time to add the remaining ingredients. It is Tiffany’s recipe so I called her last night just to check. She says to just put the chicken in the pot with the seasoning, then about an hour before serving add a can of cream of chicken (or cream of mushroom) soup and a block of cream cheese. I am using cream of chicken and fat free cream cheese. Tiff also says she usually cuts the cream cheese in half and finds it creamy enough. Today I am leaving the chicken pieces whole but you can shred the meat if you like. To serve, place chicken mixture over rice or noodles. Tonight we will have it over herbed rice. I just ate a bowl of cereal because we will not be eating for a couple of hours. I did reach for two cookies left over from last night. They were good.

Dinner turned out delicious. I served chicken over rice, salad and sugar free peach jello set with a small peach yogurt mixed in. After dinner Stephen left for LA for the week on business. Blake headed over to the Rick’s to visit with Kenny. Sara, Sonnet and & met up with Karissa and put the kids in strollers. We had a nice stroll around the neighborhood. On the way back we stopped at Rick’s. I was bad and had a couple brownies. At home we ate the last of the cookie dough and then finished off the cookies. We all decided to be good this week. Tomorrow we will plan a menu to keep a semblance of eating order.

Monday January 19, 2009 Phase Two Day 274:
First thing this morning I picked up Mom and went for a swim. Good For Me!
Second thing this morning I made bacon, eggs and a piece of toast for breakfast. Kenny came over to get Blake for a project they had today but before they left I asked them to put together this hang up thing my Mom gave me. I need a temporary hang up stand for Stephen’s clothes while we are demolishing the closet. The boys were so funny – everything they say makes me laugh. After breakfast I went upstairs to begin tearing apart my closet. I got it all cleaned out, the shelves taken out and the carpet up. Next I moved to Blake’s room to clear out the cupboard and finish putting seasonal decorations away in my new storage overflow. It is so cool to have that space. With the upstairs all cleared I went downstairs. Jacob was awake so I put him in the stroller and together we went outside. I parked him on the lawn in front of the flowerbed and just talked and sang to him as I weeded. It was great fun. It was sure nice to clear out the bed and change the front door wreath and yard flags. Back inside I was hungry but hadn’t made it to the store for supplies. Sara & I snacked on a graham cracker. Blake came home and together we went upstairs again to clean up sheetrock debris. Mom called to say she wasn’t doing very well so I went over. When I came back Sonnet & Sara were just leaving for the store – yea. I went in and heated leftover stew for Blake & I. I also had a few more graham crackers and a bite of pudding.

Tonight Sonnet & Sara made a delicious dinner of roasted chicken, green beans, wild rice and mixed berries. Everything was delectable. After dinner we played Sequence.

Tuesday January 20, 2009 Phase Two Day 275:
Inauguration day. A new president will be sworn in today. He was not my candidate but he will be my president and I hope with all my heart he leads well.

Weigh in day and I am holding but that is not good enough. Sonnet & I are stagnating. We will probably have a pow-wow soon. Up and out to step class this morning. Stopped by Mom’s on the way home to check in. Ran home to get ready for work and ate some cereal. Took Mom to the doctor then went in to work. Had a granola bar around noon. Got home from work starving. I had a small bowl of cereal real quick before making tuna sandwiches for Blake, Sara & I. We all went shopping for a camera. How convenient that there was a See’s candy right by the store. I had a couple almond squares – fabulous! We met up with Sonnet at the East Hills Mall and enjoyed a show. I had a couple handfuls of popcorn – not a lot really. Came home and had mixed berries and cereal. All in all it wasn’t a terrible day but I could have done without the spontaneous See’s.