Updates on the Diet

A week ago I announced that I was on a diet. For almost that whole week, I was on a diet. I was constantly hungry, irritable, and rather depressed that the weight wasn't coming off faster. No matter how perfectly I followed the diet food plan, I was left feeling hungry after each meal, and famished before the next meal came.

Levi and I are reading the Book of Mormon, and in 1 Nephi, chapter 16, Nephi breaks his bow. Everyone is upset because this is one of the major sources of food for them. Everyone but Nephi starts murmuring. Do you know why? I do. It's because they were HUNGRY! You can take a normal, rational person and turn them into monsters, simply by taking away their food!

Because of this most valuable lesson, both from my starving body, and the lesson taught in 1 Nephi, I have decided to make a change to my originial diet plan. I no longer starve myself. That is no way to live. Levi recommend that I start the day off with a nice, satisfying breakfast, then eat a much smaller lunch and dinner. I tried this today, and wow, it worked. I ate an omelette (certainly not an approved food item for my diet), and I filled it with all sorts of veggies. The meal was so satisfying that I actually wasn't hungry after, or even at lunch time. I had to force myself to eat something small for lunch. Now that it's dinner time, I'm starting to get hungy, but so thrilled that the famished feeling is no longer an hourly plague.

So it may take me a bit longer to loose all this old pregnancy weight, but big deal. If any of you make fun of me during swimming suit season, I may have to respond with a few rude comments back.

Another BAD Haircut

I didn't think it was possible to get so many bad haircuts in a row, but I'm living proof that it can, and sometimes does happen. Here are two pictures where the true awfulness of the "do" show through.

My most recent cut is sadly even shorter and uglier then what you see here. As the lady finished cutting my hair, she said, "Well, it's a bit shorter than what you want, but it will be the perfect length in about a month." Are you kidding me? This sad truth has left me in a position where I despise walking past mirrors and I cringe everytime I head out in public. As a result, I am saying goodbye to short hair. If you see me walking around with a wig, please don't make fun, or I may just punch you in the jaw.

Levi's Delicious Baked Potato Recipe

Due to popular demand (from MissGlimpse), I've decided to give the world a great recipe. Levi introduced me to a delicious way of making the perfect baked potato. By coating the outside with oil and seasons, then cooking directly on the rack, it creates a delicious crispy outside and moist, fluffy inside.

Here is the recipe:

Levi’s Perfect Baked Potato

2 large potatoes
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning

Wash potatoes and perforate skins with a fork. Dry. Rub with olive oil then cover with salt and herbs. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place potatoes directly on the rack. Place foil on the rack directly below to catch any debris. Cook for 90 minutes or until done.

Twilight

In my book club group we read Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. It's a book for teens, although I assure you that as an adult, it'll still be very enjoyable to read. It's about a teenage girl who encounters a unique and strange family. The family is gorgeous and one of the teen boys really makes her knees tremble with excitement. He sounds like he's quite handsome, has perfect hair, and dresses extremely well. What teen girl wouldn't love that? The girl in the novel is a typical teen, and I was rather frustrated that she was such a stubborn gal. As an adult, it's easy to forget how stubborn I might have been at one time. As I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone, I will stop here on discussing the story.

I really enjoyed this book and had the it finished in about 2 days (something that's hard to do when I get very little reading time). As you can guess, I didn't sleep for 2 nights while I was reading this book, as I couldn't put it down.

If you're looking for a fun read, give this one a try.

Christmas Presents

I feel I need to mention that I am a new owner of a Yamaha Music Keyboard. It's the YPT 300 model and has so many features, I'm still trying to figure them out. Levi has been teaching himself to play and someday I can picture him composing his own stuff. It's been fun to pull out my old music and try to perform something pleasant with my rusty talent.

Also for Christmas I received lots of cute clothes, fun DVD's and a new computer game, Sims 2! For anyone who doesn't already know, I've spent the last year completely addicted to the Sims Deluxe game Levi's dad gave me last year. Now with this new Sims 2 game, I'm staying up super late each night trying to make my Sims 2 people happy and successful. So fun!

With a few cheat codes I found online, I also have rich sims!

Christmas 2006

My dear friend Missy has dared me to post on our Christmas adventure. Being a gal that can't seem to pass up a dare, here I go.

The weeks leading up to Christmas were hectic. Anna and I both got sick with colds, and Levi was finishing up his finals. There was also all the goodie baking to do, and I couldn't pass it up. This year I made every one's favorite Blueberry Pound Cake, English Toffee and the oh so delicious Cranberry-Pecan Rugalach. I ate so much Rugalach, I actually gained 5 pounds over the holidays. I only know this because I weighed myself last night and discovered that I'm at an all time high. Consequently, I joined SparkPeople, a weight loss, lifestyle change program that's FREE (music to my ears). My goal is to loose 25 pounds by June 1st 2007. That means I'll have to loose 2.5 pounds per week. Wish me luck everyone!

Back to the adventures of Christmas: We enjoyed a family party at my parent's home and ate delicious food. We even managed to bring a little of it home with us. There we had the family talent show and were fortunate Levi and I were the least talented performers of the day. My niece played a little jingle on the piano, then Levi and I had the kids join in on a Wiggles Pirate School song. We sang badly, but everyone seemed to have fun.

On the 22nd, Anna was able to ride in an airplane for the first time as we went to Washington to celebrate with Levi's parents. She was the quietest baby on the plane and was also the favorite of at least one flight attendants. She had so much fun playing with Grandma and Grampa. They played with her and tried so hard to teach her to crawl. They were so good at it that Anna took her first crawling steps on Christmas Eve. She also met her uncle Nathan and had fun looking at him (as he and Levi have many similar facial qualities). Once again, we were all spoiled silly in Washington and it was hard to say goodbye and come home.

The festivities were fun, but everyone felt a bit sad this year. My sister in law had recently discovered that her cancer was back and growing fast. We all tried hard to smile even though we all felt the ache in our hearts for her. We know that her treatment will be rough and we wish we could help her fight this cancer better. Our prayers are with you each day Liz!

Artemis Fowl

I just finished the book Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. It's a book about a kid genius and his exploits. Although I have read this book before, it was fun to start again from the beginning. I have read 3 of the novels, but I just discovered that there are now 5 books. If you are looking for a great adventure novel, and enjoyed the Harry Potter books, I highly recommend reading Artemis Fowl.