I'm here, I'm here...

I know! Busy busy busy!

I got to go to the Topeka office last week and meet people. It's like Bizarro World where everything is so well organized! That'll never be me, that's for sure. I also had lunch with Mary, our real estate agent and someone I've known forever. She took me to a house after that and I saw the first one of many I'm sure! Nice- fully remodelled and a kitchen to kill for! I am heading back up Friday to do some work in the office, and if there's time may drive by one or two more of the houses on our list.

Weight loss is creeeeeeeping. I am now down to 197.2, so have lost a total of 6.4 pounds since December 26th. I'm still better off than I was 2 years ago- I WAS 270! I have decided to try and post here daily (I DID say TRY!) what I am eating and what my exercise is starting today. So here goes-

Breakfast- ham, shrooms, swiss omelet and coffee

Lunch- Couldn't bear the thought of a salad so I had Chinese take out- beef, chicken, shrimp w/ LOADS of veggies and I got the sauce on the side (and barely used any). I did eat a tiny bit of rice...

Dinner- pork&pintos w/ usual toppings, red wine

I'm supplying a picture of this. Those of you I share my recipes with are familiar with Sam's favorite meal- Pork and Bean Burritos. This is it. It's the perfect meal to make when you have to work all day since you use the crockpot.

And just so you know, I didn't exercise today.

Pork and Pintos- this makes several meals

3-4 pound pork sirloin roast (the cheapo boneless one), remove the netting if it has it

1 pound dry pintos, cooked and drained

1 can enchilada sauce

1 chopped onion

salt and pepper

Put the beans in the crock, top with everything else. Cook on low all day. When you get home, mash everything together with a potato masher until the beans are mostly smooshed and the meat os shredded. For our family this makes about 5 meals. It freezes very well.

We eat this on whole wheat tortillas and top them with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream- whatever! This series of meals costs me about $11 to make- for the entire batch! Talk about budget-friendly!

I am off to do just a little more work. I'll do my best to post food again tomorrow!

WoW!

So much for being able to post more again, huh? Joe didn't think my working hours would change much, but here we are two weeks into the new companies and I have doubled my hours! I'm not really complaining tho, think of the nice paychecks and such. The only really hard part is when there are new employees in Topeka and I can't enter them into the system without having to call that office and have Anne fax everything to me. Eventually that will be better after we move, tho we are keeping this office here for awhile (thank goodness!).
Joe and I have still been doing our best to eat better and workout more. He has had a hard time since he is already getting up an hour earlier to get to work and getting home an hour later usually. Still doing his best tho! I have discovered that I feel much more able to finish my programmed workout if I do it right after Sam and I get home. Not that there's a real option to do it in the morning. Either way, I am getting to where I feel I can up the level I am doing, so hope that by March or so I can do maybe the 40-45 minute ones! As is I am doing the 25 minute weightloss workout most of the time- but now without stopping in the middle! Joe found out it is easier to do longer if you are watching TV instead of just listening to the iPod or something. He watches news and listens to music, I try to find a sitcom like Friends or Sienfeld. We have also started watching The Biggest Loser. There was a marathon one day and we watched while working out and found it very motivational! This made us watch the new season premiere, and we are actually learning from it! Since Christmas he has lost 6 pounds and I have lost 5. Not huge numbers, but we have also had two or three meals that were quite unacceptable... Joe's Crab Shack is EVIL!!!
Househunting is going... Joe found our dream home last weekend- it's a real true log cabin! Gorgeous inside and out, it even has a hot tub under the deck. A bit higher priced than we were thinking, but Joe wasn't really counting on my checks being any bigger than they were so there's room there. There are a few others as well- one on the top of a hill overlooking the Flint Hills! Too bad Joe is still adamant about waiting. I think we'll have our realtor here look at the house in a week or so. It really can't hurt to list it this soon.
Better finish a few last things before I pick Sam up. If ya don't 'hear' from me for a bit you know why!

I can finally tell!!!

YAY! I can finally talk about the one thing I've been wanting to post!
Our boss bought 13 more stores this past week, bringing his total to 21. The stores he bought are in Topeka and Holton KS. The best part of all- we'll be moving when school gets out! This is something we've been waiting for for ages, so it's very exciting. The one downside is Joe is busier than ever now with more stores and not as much help as we had thought. He feels bad, like he's neglecting the other 8 stores, but that will get better eventually. For now tho, there is a lot of work to be done with these new stores- remodelling, updating, CLEANING... This means more work for me too with adding 120+ employees to a new payroll set up with more companies, doing a lot of Joe's office stuff like polling stores, and I have offered to drive to the other 8 stores to drop off/pick up paperwork. More work= bigger paycheck, but I sure miss Joe when I'm in the office. He's also getting home very late in the evening, so Sam misses him too! Once we're moved and things hopefully settle down, it will be better. For now tho rough days ahead with work, house shopping and selling, packing, etc.
Sam had his 8th birthday this past Thursday. I didn't make a cake or anything this year with all the busy-ness. Sam was also very sick the week of the holiday break. He started very pale the day after Christmas, then it went downhill after that. By the next night he had a fever over 104 and was getting very lethargic. We took him to the doc on Saturday- he said Sam had strep but we disagree. He never did a test or anything, just gave him antibiotics and sent us away. Joe and I both feel that Sam really had the flu, and also that maybe the doc is more of a jerk than we first thought! His symptoms were much more consistent with the flu virus than strep... He is still recovering and falls asleep very quickly at night. Soooo, his bday went by without much fanfare this year. He got a small Snickers cake that night along with his presents and yesterday we took him to Radio Shack and bought him an RC helicopter from his Grandpa John. He also got some books at Hastings. Then we took him to Montana Mike's for dinner where we surprised him with a Mudslide dessert. He had a friend spend the night Friday night as well.
Joe and I both gained some weight back the past few months so we bought a big present for Christmas- an elliptical! Man O Man- the first few times on that thing were rough! It has 12 preset workouts with varying resistances. I am now able to do the 20 or 25 minute programs with a stop in the middle to work on the weight machine for my arms. Lost 5 pounds the first week (along with better eating habits), so it must be working! My first goal is a loss of 20 pounds by March 1st, and I'm well on my way. Keep your fingers crossed!
That's pretty much it for now. This next weekend Dad and Suzy are coming so we can go to KC to see Sweeney Todd at the Music Hall. We're very excited! This time with no football draft to race back for we can stay and have dinner. Of course, rushing back after Spamalot wasn't too bad since my fantasy team came in second place- I lost the Super Bowl at the very end of the games on a last second touchdown. Not bad!
Happy New Year all!