Our Deepest Fear Project

I am so excited for this project I will be ding with my students. It's called "Our Deepest Fear". The quote is by Marrianne Willamson. One of my favorite quotes of all time. I really want my students to understand why it is important for them to reach their full potential and start early. They need to get an understanding of their life and their part in the world.some of them don't understand that they are already leaders, powerful, great beyond measure. This project, I hope, will touch them in so many ways and define their life.

BACK TO SCHOOL I GO!

I just started my first week of school and it has already been a heck of a ride. I will say I have a great bunch of students this year. I also have over 200 of them. I have many names to remember. "Lawd help me". Either way I am in the middle of really creating new and exciting curriculum. I got inspired this summer after losing 20 pounds. My quote that I follow now is "Hard work pays off". I think that my students can really learn so much form me this year and I can't wait to get started.

You already know I have been on Pinterest and got so many wonderful ideas. This makes my class run smoother. I only wish I went to school for computers and it would be a big help today...for sure. I will be learning what I don't know along with my students.

Key things to learn this year:

Media Design
Proofreading Skills
Writing across the curriculum
Common Core Standards

I think I will be fine. Being a teacher allows for me to be creative. I can think of so many fun assignments that will still teach my kids the skills I want them to know. I hope they are ready for me because Mrs. Clay ain't playing this school year.

What have I been up to?

So Cellulitis...let's talk about it. I have it and it's not fun. It' a bacteria infection in my leg that I caught it from a wound I have had since November of last year. This is why people say take care of your bodies and the bible says to treat it as if it's a temple. I will be the first to admit that I have not.

I have been to the ER, regular Doctor, Wound Doctor and now I have to see a Vein Doctor. Quite frankly I am burnt out. I can't wait to get rid of it and whatever other problems that I am dealing with. My right leg has been through it all. I had a blood clot about 12 years ago and since then I have been dealing with major swelling in the same leg. Last year I cut it it and it never healed and then recently I caught Cellulitis. Now I have found out that the reason I did not heal quickly was not because of Diabetes (Which I do not have), but because of my veins being damaged.

The first step to solving many of my problems is to lose weight. Which I have lost 20 pounds so far in this summer journey of "GETTING MY LIFE", thanks Tamar Braxton.

I am so excited about it, but I have a long way to go. There is still 182 pounds to go. However, I love cooking while losing weight. It pushes my creativity as far as coming up with meals that are light and absent of salt and sugar. I will tell you the truth it is very hard missing the taste of salt, sugar, and fat. We have gotten away from our strict diet because we found that we were not eating enough. I am trying ta add what I can here and there, but keep it SAFE.

I also coupon and it was hard trying to find coupons that were consistent with our diet. However, I think I have figured out a method that I will not share because I plan on starting a business that will show other people who are in my same position how to coupon and still lose weight.

I love showing pictures so here is what I got:

I got $246.61 worth of grocery for only $37.72.

Water

Salad kits, mussels, cereal, 8 packs of meat

Some of the meat I got

Veggies

Fruit 

Foil pans

Wheat Pasta

One of my larger receipts.

I did three transactions in all, but I got a ton of goodies. My husband and I got a high five on that. I have not made a meal yet, but last night my husband and I wanted something different. I made two appetizers and were very satisfied.

Caprese Salad no salt.

Salmon fillets with homemade pesto sauce and Alouette cheese spread on toasted french bread with lemon zest. So Yummy!

Still Working Hard

I know lately I have been focused on my journey to lose weight, but I feel like I owe myself something this time around. my focus is definitely different. It's hard staying on plan and staying motivated, but I am definitely focused. I have not weighed my self yet, but I have a doctor's appointment in the morning and they usually weigh so I will be able to have an idea of how I am doing.

Well along with losing some pounds I told you I was going to be organizing my life. I am still working on #2 from my post "Changing My Life so I can Finally be in Control of My Will". It stated:

2. Make a plan to clean house...check Living room done,but it took 3 days. I even made a work-space)
    a. 2 hours of cleaning per day until each room has been done.
    b. MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE MY HUSBAND IN THIS PART next is reorganizing the kitchen.

Well let's see how I have been doing...

1. Living room...check
2. Work Space...check
3. Filing...check
4. Kitchen reorganized...check

BEFORE AND AFTERS

Pantry

Spice cabinet

I bought this at the Vintage Fair in Lakeland, Fl and now I am putting it to good use.

My lazy Susan cabinet

AND OTHER THINGS I ORGANIZED

This cabinet stays full of clutter, but now its CLEEAANNN!

I have more drawers, but you get the picture.

So it took me about 4 hours to clean the kitchen. I was so inspired that my husband and I made a wonderful dinner to top it off with

BEEF KABOBS with CURRY KIDNEY BEANS...YUMMY!

Next, I will be tackling my bathroom sink and hallway closet. I will have to get a few things before then, but I am still hard at work.

Days seem longer on a diet!

So yesterday seemed like a very long day. It started off great.

We ate breakfast...our usual. 

We took our vitamins

We did our morning work out and I even made my Motivation board and Workout Schedule.

After our workout that's when things got tough. We were definitely tired!

This time it was about 3 pm and we were riding by our neighborhood chicken establishment (literally about 4 blocks from where we live). We caught a whiff of that chicken and we went to CRAVING. 

We tried to forget about it, but I got to be honest it was on my mind all day long and even today. You can read more about here http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal.asp?id=LCLAY0.

Well we had to go and pick up our copy of Insanity from my husbands friend at about 5:00 pm. So I rushed to prepare some things and try to waist time. Here is what I made in 90 minutes. 

Homemade Raspberry Vinaigrette. I found the recipe from online at Allrecipes. Only thing was I used raspberries I already had frozen and white wine vinegar boiled and then reduced and added the other ingredients except for the salt and sugar. It taste's okay, but I know it have been the bomb if I cold add just a hint of salt and the sugar to balance the acidity.

Here we have homemade peanut butter. I bought Fishers peanuts for two bucks. I roasted them in the oven and added Flax-seed oil in the food processor till I got the consistency of peanut butter. It was very bitter so I added some Stevia for sweetener. I like it, but the Stevia leaves an awful after taste in your mouth that makes you miss plain sugar really bad. Next time I will use honey.

I found a recipe for Creamy Avacodo Pasta Sauce on Pinterest. It was really easy. I used it with my dinner last night because we don't eat any pasta at all. It taste's great because it has basil and lemon that took my seared chicken to another level. 

I made a Strawberry Salad with slivered almonds and green leaf salad. You can see my raspberry sauce on top. That was lunch that we ate very late.

At this point I was ready to start on re-organizing my kitchen, but it was time to get the video. I love my husbands friend, but one thing we already know is that when we visit him it may not take a minute or two, but instead and hour or two. We stayed almost four hours and it threw us off our time schedule. I was still thinking about that CHICKEN. It was even a topic of conversation at the friend's house. What made it bad was the friend wanted us to to stay and have dinner...Damn...Damn...Damn! They were having Bourbon Chicken and Orange chicken from the Chinese restaurant in the mall. He was also going to get some Blue Moon (Don't know what it is...look it up). WHY LORD WHY. In all we denied the offer and came home. by this time I am super hungry because dinner in out house is at 6 pm. We were 3 hours off and CRAVING. By this time the day had been TOO LONG. 

I was able to cook dinner in about less than 20 minutes. 

See my avocado sauce? I ate that chicken like it was the last piece on Earth. We enjoyed and went settled down for bed catching up on TV shows. 

I could not go to sleep....know why?

BECAUSE MY MIND WAS ON FRIED CHICKEN UUUUGGGGHHH!

About 11:30 pm my husband turned off the TV and wanted me to read with him. The last thing I felt like doing was reading so I turned my ass over and read me to sleep.

New Eating Habits

Boy....it is hard changing the way you eat. I have to try new recipes.  I am usually craving fried chicken by now, but no no no got to do right this time. So how do I make it work?

No salt
No sugar
No starchy foods
No soda

In the morning I eat one cup of oatmeal with 1/2 cup berries and a whey protein shake with no soy or high fructose corn syrup. I ALSO TAKE VITAMINS AND ALOT OF THEM.

A snack mid-morning like a piece of fruit.

Lunch is a lean meat about 4oz and a cup of salad.

I made four lettuce wraps with one chicken breast. My husband and I  both had two.

I have another snack about 3pm

Dinner is usually fun because I try to experiment. 

Yesterday I made turkey meatballs seasoned with thyme, sage, black pepper and red pepper. I also made a lima bean mash with caramelized onions for texture. It was so good!

I am going to try something new again today. I have gotten use to no salt, but its hard seeing all the food commercials and not thinking about tasting it.

I suffered from a headache for the first few days now I am fine.

I end the day with another shake before bed. 

I have been noticing that after I eat I start getting heated and sometimes I sweat. I had to research it and found out that it is my METABOLISM....YAY!

I plan on improving even the more because hey nobody's perfect. 

QUOTE OF THE DAY!

"Sometimes we must get hurt in order to grow. We must fail in order to know. Sometimes our vision is clear only after our eyes washed away with tears." (UNKNOWN)

I loved this. I found it on a blog from Sparkpeople and I had to re-post it. Simply put what it mean to me "That's what life is and if you are not growing from what you learn you might as well be dead." Harsh, but truth in my eyes.