What's on your Photo Friday Menu RNYers?

Good morning RNYers- so happy it's Friday. I work half a day from home today and then I am off until Wednesday. It will be so nice to have some downtime. Well it will be a bit busy as we have some plans but I love visiting and being social.

Tonight we are invited to a skating party and potluck. New Year's Eve will be at my sister's with my whole family and New Year's Day will be at my in-laws. We haven't had Christmas with them yet so we will be doing our gift exchange with them on Monday as well. Tuesday is just a quiet day at home.

QOTD: Do you make any New Year's Resolutions? I always do and this year is no different. Usually weightloss is the big hairy one that I hope to do okay with. So I feel good that I don't have so much to do on that one and this year it's more about being healthy, losing the last 30 lbs and maintaining it. I also want to get going with my Pampered Chef business and start keeping a budget so that we manage our finances better. I started something called a Push Journal and it really breaks your goals down in to a plan.

Accountability was better yesterday.

Menu:

B: Protein Shake

L: Leftover chicken from dinner last night

D: We will be at the potluck but I will make protein forward choices

My Photos are my new haircut- I'm pretty happy with it, and me enjoying Christmas Day snuggles with my nephew, a selfie with my son, and the tag he put on my Christmas gift- because my boss is also named Owen.

Have a great weekend everyone. Wishing all my Menu fam a very happy and healthy 2018!

Good Friday morning menu folks! Teena, I love your pictures and your hair looks great! Glad that you get some time off.

I was able to sleep in this morning. I didn't sleep that late, but I enjoyed snuggling under my blankets with the cats and just being a bum. Even on my days off and when I work from home, I usually have to be up by 4:30, so it was wonderful. Now I am drinking my coffee and trying to decide what to get into first.

I got alot done yesterday. I started with an hours swim and then had a wonderful massage. I also had to run a few errands like getting more leaf/lawn bags because the lawn guys are coming to gather the leaves finally. Then I started on boxing up some of the Christmas stuff and starting on a deep clean of the house. I wound up the afternoon by finishing decorating more sugar cookies and packaging them to get them out of sight.

Today we are going to the Accokeek National Farm before it closes for the season. We love the organization and they are having one more event today, so we have to go. When we get home, I will do more cleaning and work on reorganizing the Christmas stuff in the attic. Every year it seems like we just stick things in a corner without organizing and labeling it, so this year I bought Sterlite storage boxes and I plan to get things in order.

QOTD: That leads me into one of my goals for the year. I want to be more organized and keep the house a bit cleaner. This past year has been so absorbed in focusing on my weight loss and regaining my health and this year I want to try to spend more time keeping the house in better shape. Now that I am in maintenance, I want to keep up with logging my food and exercising 5-6 days a week. I am still struggling with doing strength training and I am determined to make it a habit this year. I hate to spend the money, but it may well take hiring a trainer to make it happen.

Accountability: while I was finishing decorating the sugar cookies, I decorated one just for me with lots of icing and sprinkles. I enjoyed eating it very much and then packaged all of the rest of the cookies to take to work next week. I am determined to get back on plan and to get the sugar and non-starchy carbs out of my diet again. I really want to get back to a plan of meat first, then veggies, 2 portions of fruit a day and some nuts for treats. I will also keep in my morning oatmeal for more fiber to keep things working smoothly. Everything else has to go. I am maintaining my weight and in fact the scale is down again this morning, but I want to stay healthy and the carbs don't help with that.

Menu:

Breakfast: 1/2 cup plain oatmeal, hard boiled egg, turkey bacon

Snack: protein shake

Lunch: TJ's chicken sausage, baby carrots

Snack: 2 oz turkey breast, apple

Dinner: pork chops, cauliflower, blueberries

Exercise: I'd like to get a swim in but this may be my day off

You seem to have an incredible level of energy!

Thanks Liz. One of my favorite NSVs is that I feel so much stronger and able to get things accomplished. I credit the exercise for helping my body to be stronger and also for helping to clear my head so that I can focus more clearly,

Good Morning Teena and Menu Family!

QOTD: No, I don't make any New Year's resolutions. If I were to make any, I think I'd resolve to try and get my children's book drawn and finished and to continue working on Saralisa's childhood photo album.

Accountability: Protein - 59, Calories - 924, Carbs - 72.

B: prosciutto & mozzarella sticks, light & fit Greek yogurt

L: homemade chili

D: cauliflower crust pizza

S: prosciutto & mozzarella sticks, light & fit Greek yogurt, no sugar pumpkin pie & cool whip

E: Walking at Walmart because it's still bitter cold here.

Photos: The first photo is of the saran wrap ball game that we did for the kids at our family Christmas. They really enjoyed it. It took them a whole lot less time to unwrap the saran wrap balls than it took us to wrap them up! LOL! The second photo is of a beautiful blanket my brother and sister-in-law sent us with pictures of Saralisa, me and our dogs on it, including our two dogs that are no longer with us, but still very much in our hearts.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

~ Karen

That blanket is a beautiful and heartfelt gift.

They also donated $25 in each of our names to the local Humane Society, too! My brother and sister-in-law know how to touch Saralisa's and my hearts!

That's beautiful Karen.

What a wonderful gift!

What a beautiful gift!