Still On Track

Lost 2.5 pounds this week. That's a total of 5.5 lbs in 3 weeks. Yay! Will start week 3 of couch to 5k this week. I stayed behind a week because I wasn't feeling well after last week. We're planning a royal wedding watch party for Friday and then Jed's sister gets here on Monday. I'm just a little bit worried about how my weight will be after a trip to London. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

This week's menu

I tried online grocery shopping this week for the first time and even though I took me hours to put together my menu I'm sure I will get faster at it as I get more familiar with my weight watchers recipes. If you'd like more information about anything just let me know and we can share.

Friday- Spicy tomato tortilla soup with quesadillas- 9propoints
Saturday- Jacket potatoes with salad -variable
Sunday- Mediterranean Bean Salad with bacon -5propoints
Monday- Goat's cheese, vegetable and pesto pizza- 11propoints
Tuesday- Creamy Chicken Curry- 12propoints
Wednesday- Sweet and Sour Chicken with Belgian Chocolate Cake Slices - 13propoints and 5propoints
Thursday- Jacket potatoes-variable
Friday- Chili with the fixin's

Week 2 is over

Well week two of running is now finished. Three sessions this week: Monday was ok, Wednesday was great and it was my first time to run while on vacation. Friday was another story, the run wasn't too bad, actually the first section of running was great (it could be because I was going down hill). The trouble was really getting the motivation to do it when I had a little bit of a head cold and then when I finished I was really achy. The good news is that I did it. Yay!
On the weight watchers front, on Monday I was excited to see a 3.5 pound loss. I was so proud :) and I really didn't feel like I'd struggled getting there. This week has been harder mainly because we we in Edinburgh with another couple from church from Tuesday to Thursday and although I was able to make some good choices we did wind up at a chinese buffet that was hard to find anything not fried in. We also stopped at a mexican restaurant where I shared a pretty cheesy enchilada with Jed. All in all it was pretty hard to tract those points. I've noticed that I tend to overestimate how much things like that "cost" then later I try to talk myself into why it really couldn't be that much. We're going to a wedding today and I will be having a bite or two of wedding cake but I'll be having baked potato and lots of fruit through the rest of the day. I'm really hoping for a .5 pound loss or a stay the same.
Oh, something I've found that I LOVE: Boot's sushi packs - not the best sushi I've ever had but for a quick lunch from a supermarket look for "sushi packs" the one from Boot's was only 4 points and I felt completely satisfied with that and a piece of fruit.

New Goals

This week I started a new fitness and weight loss plan. I've been going to the gym for a few months now but I've found that the reason I joined in the first place, to go to classes, isn't a very realistic thing. The local gym doesn't have any classes before 10am and most of the good classes are after 5pm which wasn't covered in my membership. I also felt a little bit silly walking for 20 minutes to get there and then hopping on a treadmill for 30 minutes before walking home again. Something had to change so...
I joined weight watchers to give myself the group dynamic I was getting from going to Aerobics classes and started a "couch to 5k" program to try to overcome my fear of running. I'm now on day 3 of weight watchers and will be going for my 3rd run tomorrow morning.
It's not that I think I'm fat. Really one of my biggest problems is that I am quite happy to be lazy and stay where I am now. The problem is that things won't always be this easy and there's no point in not being the best that I can be. So, I've set a goal and will be doing my best to reach it. The plan is to be able to run 5k or 30 minutes continuously in 9 to 10 weeks. The national health service has put out a series of podcasts that have a decent soundtrack and a very friendly lady's voice telling you when to run and when to walk. Right now I'm on week one which is a 5 minute warm up followed by 8 repetitions of 60 seconds running and 90 seconds walking with a five minute cool down at the end. You do each week's run three times and then move on to the next week. I'm doing mine Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Runs 1 and 2 went ok but I'm sure I look pretty ridiculous trying to "jog" up hill in my neighborhood. It does help to have headphones in because it allows me to tune everything else out and just think about what it will be like in 9 weeks. Tomorrow I'm looking for a more level route though.
On the subject of weight watchers I would recommend their new "points plus" program to anyone. Memaw (Jed's grandma) works for weight watchers in the states so she helped me try the old system last year and I lost about 10 pounds. The old system was great but I did feel hungry and grouchy for the first couple weeks. So far on the new system I haven't been near as hungry and now that fruit and vegetables are free I just reach for a banana when I get hungry. Somehow it almost seems too easy so we'll see how it's gone when I weigh in on Monday. I've been told not to expect a big loss because I really don't have a lot to loose still, it would be nice to see some change.

Early Spring.

These are some of the places Jed and I have been able go visit on our days off now that the weather has gotten a little bit better.

Brimham Rocks- North Yorkshire



The National Rail Museum. - York








Castle Howard: North Yorkshire
This is one of Englands 10 Treasured houses. It's about 45 minutes from our house and it makes for a great day out.

What is our potential?

This weekend Jed and I got to attend a Young Adults weekend sponsored by the Brandon Church of Christ. The theme was "potential". We spent the weekend with about 20 young adults talking about how we can really use our talents for God's glory. Most of us already do work with the churches we attend but I think it is really easy to sometimes underestimate both our own capability and God's power to work through us.
We studied the parable of the talents and there were a few things that struck me. The first was that the servants don't get to tell the master how much they can handle. There is no bargaining about maybe taking on less responsibility than he would give them. Sometimes I think I would like to be able to choose my own talents and say this one is something I can handle and that one's a little more scary so I think I'll leave it.
Second, when we were asked to think of our talents many of us listed things like: teaching, singing, or speaking. Then one of the women suggested that there are other talents like our ability to have patience, or to practice self control, etc. Too many times the talents we recognize as things we can use for the kingdom are very obvious visual things. Or things that the world would call a "talent" and some times even the word "talent" might throw us off the trail of some of our most valuable tools in working for the Lord.
Third, just because we have the ability to do something does not always mean we will recognize that ability. The "one talent" servant obviously did not think that he would be able use it. For me that means that I may need to try things that I am sure I will fail at. Otherwise I could be missing a whole realm of things that God may be able to do through me.
Finally, talents will not always present themselves in fully mature state. It takes work on our part to help them reach their full potential. So it's not good enough to sit at home and think of course I'm doing all that I can. It's not good enough to say well, I've tried to develop patience but it's just not my thing. Or substitute any other spiritual discipline we have trouble with. We may be like the "one talent" servant and be overcome by fear of what might happen if we fail but the truth of the matter is that we were given our opportunities by God and he wants us to use them even if we are afraid.
Often we think about how our efforts have been in vain or how we have failed before but how exciting is it when we think that God has great plans for us if we will only use what He's given. So lets spend more time imagining what could be and less time worrying. It's time to reach our potential.

Knitting projects

Now that these have been given as Christmas presents I feel safe to show them off here.

A blanket for my Grandparents

Mittens for my brother Travis

A Scarf for my Grandma.

A Scarf for Jed's Mom


A Scarf for my mom.

A Scarf for Memaw