"My game, my castle, my rules!"

So, I think my family is starting to get used to our new lifestyle changes!!  Every week I'm trying something new on a culinary level and trying to spend more quality time with my loved ones.  My kids are becoming more accepting of the food put in front of them - granted there is still some grimacing and squirming, but in the end they eat it and realize things aren't all that bad after all!  Case in point - brussel sprouts!  Yes, brussel sprouts, my "mini cabbages" made a return appearance on Wednesday night accompanying a lovely salmon!  Every last morsel of brussel sprouts was ingested!  (I didn't even need to insert an evil laugh here!!).

John called me from work the next day to tell me that he went out for lunch, and I can't remember what he ordered for his main dish, but the vegetable that was served with it was.....none other than our new family friend, the brussel sprout!!!  (I may actually insert more of a cackle here instead of an evil laugh!!!)  How funny is that - and he ate them all willingly!!!  That's karma baby!!!

Thursday night, we had homemade pizzas again (dough and all!!!).  Afterwards I went to Leigh's house to stamp some cards with my friends.  Leigh's daughter made us a chocolate cake that was wheat free and delicious!  Instead of wheat, it was made with chick peas of all things!  I have never bought a chick pea before, but I'm thinking I may in the future!  Both Leigh and Kelly have recently cut wheat out of their diet with great results.  Kelly recommended a book called "Wheat Belly".  I thought it might be worth a read since a few years ago I had some blood allergy testing done with a Naturopath and wheat was one of my many dietary intolerances.  The truth of the matter is that people can find something negative to say about nearly any food item.  But, I'm on a mission for health and taking no prisoners!

Friday night I made another new concoction - Chicken Parmesan Burgers!  Yummy!!!  Instead of buying frozen, processed and likely precooked chicken burgers, I used ground chicken and added some finely chopped mushrooms and chives, then added a dash each of cilantro and oregano.  I also added a splosh of Worcestershire sauce and barely a pinch of salt.  I then formed the mixture into patties and added them to the frying pan in a bit of sesame oil.

 
Once they were browned on each side and cooked through, I topped them with mozzarella cheese.  Once the cheese melted, I added the burger to a roll and added some heated organic Pomodoro sauce.  They were super delicious!! 

My kids were skeptical at first since it didn't look like the chicken burgers they've been accustomed to.  None of them added the sauce to theirs which is part of what makes them taste so good!  But, as Lionel tells King George (Bertie) at the beginning of their session in "The King's Speech", "My  game, my castle, my rules!" - I'm buying the food, cooking the food, and they will eat the food!!   The rest of the night I spent working on a cake order for a baby shower and chauffeuring my son and his friend to Youth Group at our church.

It was an early start on Saturday morning to take Jake to his 8 am soccer game.  Afterwards, I went to Curves and I am proud to say that I'm holding strong at 149 lbs!  I even tried some Zumba while I was there - but I feel I am too uncoordinated to do it effectively!  Jake is my middle child and he tends to suffer from what has been labelled as "Middle Child Syndrome" from time to time, where he doesn't feel like he fits in.  He's been really good lately and we thought it was time for some of what we call "special time" with him!  He wanted John and I to take him to see the movie "Frankenweenie" and go to McDonald's for dinner.    I literally deflated upon hearing his preference for McDonald's!  I behaved though and ordered a spicy Thai salad and a water to drink.  I'm not going to lie to you, I did have some of John's french fries - but I refrained from ordering my own.  Especially since I was planning on having a treat at the movie theatre.   When we got to the theatre, I ordered just a small Coke and agreed that I would just have some popcorn out of John's bag which worked out fine.  I waited for him to eat all the popcorn at the top that had most of the butter on it.  I normally don't care for 3D movies but "Frankenweenie" was a great family flick and we all had a great time.  After the movie, we went to Indigo to look at books and that's when I picked up my copy of "Wheat Belly".

This morning, we went to church and can I just say, that I am really loving life right now.  When you take care of yourself physically, mentally and spiritually - it just makes you feel full and happy!  Following church, we braved the cold rain and headed to the country to pick pumpkins for Hallowe'en!  We bought a couple of fruit pies as well.  And to top it off, I finally got a chance to sit down today and watch my new movie, "The King's Speech".  It was even better than I remembered it!  I had to pause it to go to my soccer game this afternoon and John wanted me to turn the TV off so that the image didn't burn onto the screen in my absence....um, John - I really don't have a problem with an image of Colin Firth permanently burned onto the TV screen!!!  I mean, what if there was a power outage?  I could still be motivated just by looking at the inanimate screen!  By the way, we won our soccer game 3-1!  When I got back home and showered, I started on tonight's dinner.  We had pork chops and a broccoli/rice dish I made for the first time.  This veggie dish called for broccoli, rice, mayo, olive oil, yogurt, chives and ranch dressing (which I have never had before) and I made a homemade version.  Not bad! 



After dinner, we all played a game of Skip Bo and then put the kids to bed - well 2/3 anyways!  My oldest, Matthew is a baseball fanatic and stayed up late to watch the World Series game.  Once the two little ones were in bed, I came down to recommence my viewing of Colin!!!  He truly is a phenomenal actor!

Hallowe'en is on Wednesday and the loot the kids bring home will be gravely tempting I'm sure so I'll need to unearth some will power this week!  On the plus side, I'm looking forward to some Shepherd's pie for dinner tomorrow night (Kristen's fave!) and brewing some of Jackie's delectable Cinderella soup!!!

Goodnight Colin!! "However this turns out, I don't know how to thank you for what you've done!"

I d-d-did it!!

Well, it's been over a week, and I have so much to share with you!  My solace from a weekend at the ranch came to an end and things got pretty busy and stressful with preparations for Scrap Cancer which took place on Sunday.

Last Monday I made a delicious dish for dinner - Coconut Chicken on a bed of baby greens with grated carrot, cucumber and a honey mustard vinaigrette!  Yumm-my!!  I've always loved coconut shrimp and when I came across this recipe for Coconut Chicken - I just had to try it!!  It's wonderful when you try a new recipe and it works for you!!!  (And it took my mind temporarily off the fact that I had gained a couple pounds back from my weekend away!)



Here's the link to the recipe http://skinnytaste.ziplist.com/recipes/264890-Coconut_Chicken_Salad_with_Warm_Honey_Mustard_Vinaigrette.  I know you are going to want to try this yourselves!!!  This will certainly be a main feature on the McKenzie Menu from here on in!

The first time I went to Curves last week I was back up to almost 152 lbs, the second time I was almost down to 151 lbs.  I was just getting my yoga pants on on Thursday afternoon to go back to Curves again when I got a call from the school to pick Jake up as he appeared to have pink eye! Ughhh!  So I had to get him to the doctor for an assessment, then pick up the eye drops (which were on backorder so I ended up having to use my husband's eye drops from the summer), then pick up the other two kids from school.  A kid suffering from pink eye is not allowed back to school until they have been on medication for a full 24 hrs - so...long weekend for Jakey, and again, no Curves for me on Friday!  I also didn't have enough time to prepare my homemade pizza dough for dinner, and with Scrap Cancer just days away and a Committee Meeting looming in my living/dining rooms with no time to spare, John brought home Pizza Hut for dinner.  I know, it's bad, but...fast food is quickly becoming a 'treat' in our house and not something that is to be expected on a weekly or twice weekly basis - and that is a good thing, right!  When I was young, a trip to MacDonald's was rare, and a real treat!  We maybe went a couple of times per year.  Kids, and parents alike, seem to take these fast food options for granted nowadays.  It's really rather sad.  I mean, since when did society as a whole become so busy, that we throw caution to the wind and ignore our health and the beauty that surrounds us???  For far too long, I fell privy to just that, making excuses for why I couldn't go to the gym today, why I didn't have time to cook a healthy meal for my family, etc, etc, etc.  I am going to reiterate that I know that after this journey of mine, I may indeed need to take medication for the high blood pressure and cholesterol, but I also realize that even when I have completed the whole Colin Firth Diet Club program, the journey will not end there.  I am making lifestyle changes now that I hope to stick to and relay onto my children.  Henceforth, I have stopped making excuses!  Since the CFDC started, I have been to Curves 3 times every week, something I was never consistent with before since joining in February.

On Saturday morning I took Jake to his indoor soccer game and then I dropped both my boys off at the library while I went into Curves for my 3rd workout of the week.  Tra-la-la.......

I d-d-did it!!!!  Yup! That scale with me on it reads 149 lbs!!  (Joy who works at Curves took some photos for me!)  I have successfully completed my first CFDC mission!  I called John from my cell phone right away and told him.  I urged him to come in and see for himself, but he decided to wait in the library for me instead.  Wow, did I feel liberated from those 5 lbs!!!  My pants were starting to fit a little better!  Last winter I remembered putting on a pair of my 'fat' pants - you know, that pair you keep when you want to be comfortable and not have to suck in your gut all day in order to keep the button from snapping off?  Well, nothing sucks more than when you are too fat for your 'fat' pants!  Fat Pants - Be Gone!!!!!  Furthermore, I thought I'd take my chances and test my blood pressure again at the drugstore.  The first reading was 149/101, the second was 150/96 and the last one I took was 131/96 - so I am pleased that those numbers are improving as well!!!!!

Later on that day....

I got my new movie!!!!  Unfortunately I've been too busy to watch it as of yet - but at long last it is here!!!
My friends arrived after dinner to help load up all the donations for Scrap Cancer to take over to the hotel.  Luckily we were able to have access to the room the night before this year so we were able to have almost everything done around 11pm.  Michelle and I always stay overnight at the hotel and enjoy a quick swim before going to bed, but the pool closed right at 11 and I couldn't convince the hotel staff to open it back up specially for us!  So, I asked for a 6:30 am wake-up call and headed down for a swim.  I had the whole pool all to myself!!!!  It was so relaxing - swimming laps in total quiet!  As I was swimming back to the shallow end, I was sure I saw my the back of my dad walking through the game room - turns out it was him, he had stayed overnight as well but kept it a secret!  My dad has helped out with the event since the beginning, 6 years ago!  At 7 am I got out and headed upstairs to shower and get ready. 

We had fewer people attending this year but we still did extremely well.  The final numbers are still coming in but John figures we likely raised $15,000 for Breast Cancer Support Services.  Special thanks to my crew for yet another successful year!!!!  And a big thank you to my friends and family for supporting me through Scrap Cancer AND my first goal of the Colin Firth Diet Club!

I pretty much slept through all of Monday, and today feel like I'm still recovering.  Tonight, I met my soccer team at Chaps for dinner.  I ordered a Coke with lime but they only had Pepsi so I had a water with lemon instead.  For dinner I had a burger, and as much as I craved some onion rings, I did the right thing and ordered a salad!!!...And I'm all the better for it!!

Goodnight King George for I must bid you adieu before "I bloody well stammer!"

"Just Incases"

Well, I finally did finish making those mushroom-shaped cookies for The Event, and successfully avoided sampling any of them!  I even gave mine to my friend Michelle who came with me.  "The Event" is the 2nd annual signature event for Breast Cancer Support Services (BCSS).  The theme was Alice In Wonderland's "Topsy-Turvy".  Everything about the event was fantastic and the theme was very well played out - starting with the student actors who portrayed their roles to perfection!  I recognized "Alice" as the daughter of someone we know and queried "Brooke?" to which she replied in character, "I'm not Brooke, I'm Alice" - I'm thinking Brooke may have a very promising future with Disney!  Anyways, I digress...the meal consisted of beef, veggies smothered in butter and what promisingly looked to be some sort of roasted pear, but turned out to be a potato dish shaped, coated, and with a little stick stem disguised as a pear.  I ordered my first Coca-Cola (with lime) since this journey of mine began.  Dessert was ice cream, followed by coffee.  In retrospect I shouldn't have two caffeinated drinks in the evening as I had a hell of time trying to get to sleep later!

Following dinner, there was a live auction, a raffle for a dinner made by local Firemen, such as these...

fine men that Michelle snapped a photo of me with!  There was a phenomenal musician by the name of Grenville Pinto playing violin for entertainment, and Jill Davies as Guest Speaker.  The silent auction then closed and I came home 1 red dress and gift certificate later and headed to bed (which due to my influx of caffeine earlier on proved distracting!)

You know how sometimes when you can't sleep, you start stressing out that you can't sleep and you start a vicious cycle that just makes it worse?  Well, that's how I'm starting to feel with the blood pressure - I start thinking about lowering my blood pressure, which makes me more aware of my heart rate, which makes me think about my heart, which makes my heart beat faster, which makes me think of getting my BP checked soon, which makes me nervous about the results, which makes my blood pressure increase even more....damn!  I really shouldn't have had that caffeine!!!!!

Thursday I spent driving out of town to pick up donations and organize things for my Scrap Cancer event that takes place next Sunday.  I managed to finish a little earlier than I thought so I was able to get a workout in at Curves...and drum roll please...I weighed in at 150 lbs!!!  John was still in Kansas so I had to wait to tell him the good news.  When I arrived home, as it was "pizza night" I started making the homemade dough in the bread maker.  I thought I'd try to make it even healthier and instead of adding 3 cups of  all purpose flour, I substituted I cup of whole wheat for one of them.  Unfortunately, the kids weren't impressed so next time I'll stick to the original recipe - you have to learn to walk before you can run!  I remembered there was some cupcakes left over in the fridge downstairs from my birthday so I sampled some of them (they were all different flavours).  Would you like some cupcake with your butter laden frosting?  Really, it's a heart attack in a pretty paper wrapper!  I never pile the buttercream on that high on my cupcakes! - the rest of the evening was spent on sorting things for Scrap Cancer with Donna and Johanne.  John surprised us by coming home from his business trip early and after everyone left I was able to tell him about my success! ...and this is where the "Just in Cases" comes into play.  Apparently he wants to see the needle below the 150 mark for 2 readings to allow for fluctuations before I can redeem my prize.  In "Love Actually" Jamie (Colin) is hunting for Aurelia at the restaurant after having learned Portuguese for her,  he proposes to her and she responds in English.  She tells him she learned English "just in cases"!  So I have to have 2 weigh-ins under 150 lbs to be sure - just incases it goes up again.

And aptly so, because it just incases did!  Must  have been the cupcakes, since the next day I weighed myself at Curves again and it was back to 151 lbs!  Oops!!  We'll learn from that I hope!  Friday afternoon I left to go to the ranch for a scrapbooking retreat with my friend Michelle.  The staff cook for us and the food is always delicious!  Weekends like this are going to have to be 'free' for me since a) I'm not doing the cooking and b) snacks go hand in hand with scrapbooking & friends  c)  Jackie makes the best snack mix - a perfect combo of sweet & salty, and the retreat would not be complete without it!  That being said, I did make healthier choices, loading up on the fruits and veggies!  I did splurge and have a Coke yesterday, but I am not buying them at home anymore.

Yesterday, we went horseback riding.  I LOVE horseback riding!  This was my horse.  Her name is Gracie.

The weather was a little on the chilly side and there was a soft "Irish" rain - but the whole atmosphere was stunning and breathtaking.  I'm telling you, I was at total peace just taking in my surroundings and marvelling at nature and the beautifully coloured leaves.  A spiritual serenity.  Too bad I didn't have a BP cuff to test my blood pressure then!!  I'm sure it was as low as ever at that point!  When I got back inside I texted John pleading my case for next years birthday present - a horse, instead of a trip to Ireland!  Well, it was worth a try anyways!

Today was our last day at the ranch.  The cook made my favourite pumpkin muffins for breakfast and Jackie made a 'soup'erb Cinderella pumpkin soup for lunch!! - Don't forget to give me the recipe for that Jackie!!  Short Stack Foodie to the rescue!!! I left the retreat happy to have completed as much as I did, and calmer that I've been in a long time!  I guess I forgot how doing something creative keeps my mind occupied and focused.  Janette & Jackie really go all out to make these retreats fun for everyone - and I just want you to know it's much appreciated!!!  As I slowly drove away this afternoon, I paused to stop and gaze at the horses - allowing that spiritual serenity to course through my veins once again.  It really must be true that animals aid in reducing hypertension.

And now, here I am, back at home, back to reality.  It's going to be a busy week prepping for Scrap Cancer so it will take greater effort to make health wise choices - but I'm game for it.  Tomorrow I will head off to Curves and weigh-in "just incases!"

Goodnight Colin - as I smile to myself thinking of you in your reindeer jumper (Bridget Jones)!

"I always seem to age here!"

Happy Birthday to me - yes, today is my birthday and as my dear friend Melissa tells me I'm turning 39 for the first time!!

Friday night for dinner I made cabbage soup, which normally everyone but my two boys love - but I decided to mess with tradition and used tomatoes with no salt added instead of stewed tomatoes, I omitted the salt and cut back on the seasoning salt and also used only about half of the ground beef I should have.  I'll admit it's not as good as I hoped and will be reverting back to the original recipe in future.

We had a very busy weekend with Thanksgiving celebrations.  On Saturday we took the kids to a winery in Niagara-On-The-Lake to get some wine and pick up a donation for Scrap Cancer.  Then we took the kids to a book fair and we all got a new book.  Then came home and it was John's turn to make dinner.  He barbecued pork chops (not much seasoning on mine!), made canned corn niblets (only had a small spoonful as there is a high sodium content), rice, and raw baby carrots for me!  John and I went to the movies that night and saw "Pitch Perfect" - looooved it!!  Hilarious!!!  I was trying to be good and ordered a berry smoothie instead of popcorn dripping with butter.  However, John had the popcorn and once he ate through the butter infused layer, I did help myself to some tasty morsels underneath.  Afterall, people keep telling me not to go cold turkey on everything or I'm apt to fail at this.

Sunday morning, after church,  John got suckered into Pizza Hut for lunch by the kids and since they've been doing pretty good with our lifestyle changes, I agreed - I mean, they did eat Brussel sprouts a few days before - so they deserved something!!!  When we got home I made two pumpkin pies to take to my  sister-in-laws' house for Thanksgiving.  We then changed into our running gear and headed to the track - BUT the sky opened up on us and the rain was coming down something fierce.  I was determined to finish 3 laps though which I did do, John and Jakey did 4 laps each and the other two wimped out and stayed dry in the car!  After showering and changing we headed to Julie & Jays for a Thanksgiving feast!

What a spread!!  Jay goes all out every year for this event.  He donned his black chef's coat and hat, and with his beard he kind of looked like a Rabbi or something!!!  Jay made some great appetizers too which I couldn't eat, but wish I could have sampled one of his asparagus/prosciutto concoctions.  Anyways, he made two types of turkey, oven roasted and deep fried Cajun.  I only ate the one cooked in the oven as I'm avoiding things that are fried altogether now.  The turkey along with my mother-in-laws' homemade cranberry sauce was so delicious!!!  I was disappointed that there wasn't any squash but there were so many veggie dishes (carrots, yams, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, potatoes, peppers) to choose from!!  Lots of desserts too!! 

Yesterday I woke up in a panic because my left arm felt numb.  I started freaking out thinking it had something to do with my heart and became totally irrational about it.  Most likely I slept on it funny but with the BP and cholesterol scare, I seem to be magnifying things.  My aunt also mentioned to me that I should see my doctor about my headaches as with my high BP it could lead to cerebral bleeding, so I was getting kind of freaked out about things that might happen.  So, I'm lying in bed worrying about my arm, then worrying about my heart, heart begins to race uncontrollably, panic increases...oh, pets reduce hypertension!  Rocket ( my dog), where are you?  I grabbed Rocket who was on the bed and snuggled him until I calmed down and all was right again.  Oh, and by the way, my headaches are gone now!!

I made another pumpkin pie to take to my mom's house for dinner and then started to make the 300 mushroom-shaped sugar cookies I was asked to do for a Breast Cancer Support Services event on Wednesday night.  These cookies have lots of shortening, eggs and sugar in them.  Usually, I sample broken cookies along the way - but I'm proud to say I did not lay tongue to cookie at all!  My other little vultures in the house took care of all the broken ones for me  ...so did their dad!!!

We had another great turkey dinner at Mom & Bill's - and I got my squash after all!!!!  Yeah!!!  My mom made lemon tarts as well for dessert and I had two of them - really wanted to eat another one or two, but am gradually learning some self control!!!  I also had a very small piece of pumpkin pie.  We got home around 8 pm and I was up till 11 pm baking the rest of the cookies.

"I always seem to age here!" - quote from Colin Firth during the question period following the viewing of his new movie "Arthur Newman" at the Toronto International Film Festival.  It coincidentally was Colin's birthday that day, and I was only too pleased to be sharing it with him, if only in that small way - being that we were in the same room!  We all sang happy birthday to him!  I later left this post-it note on John's white board in his office when he left the room:

So, today I am 39 years old!  Hoping to make it to at least 40 before I have to start taking meds for blood pressure and/or cholesterol.  I went to a meeting at our church this morning and was greeted with a Happy Birthday from my Mother-in-Law which was nice.  Afterwards, she wanted to hear more about my cholesterol etc and she was very supportive and tried to talk me into getting my own blood pressure machine so I can take the measurement in the comfort of my own home where I'm likely to be more relaxed - makes perfect sense, so when Scrap Cancer is over in the next couple of weeks, I think I'll look into that.

After that I went to workout at Curves.  Checked my weight - and down again!!!!  Yeah!!! Not quite enough to earn my next Colin perk ("The Kings' Speech") but almost!  I was 150.25 lbs, so I missed it by a smidgen!!  But progress is progress, and  I will progress progressively!!

My friend Melissa took me out for a "healthy" lunch today at a place called Stoney's in Oakville.  It was 'soup'erb!!!  I had the butternut squash and pear soup and a spinach salad with fresh berries and candied pecans.  Let me tell you, that soup was THE BEST squash soup I have ever tasted!!!  Thanks Mel for taking me - what a treat!!!  Who knew healthy food could taste so darned good?

The rest of my day has been spent working on decorating these 300 damned cookies!!  Ughh!  I've got the whole family working an assembly line, well, they were but they dropped off to bed at 10 pm and left me to my own devices.  So now, I must conclude and head back up to the kitchen where the last 100 mushrooms await packaging so that I can eventually go to bed for some much needed rest.

Colin, you can age here anytime!!!  Do you like mushrooms perchance?  Bon nuit!

"The Kings Speech" Coming Soon on DVD!!!

Well, folks, it's the end of my first week of the Colin Firth Diet Club!  I'm still giggling about how I got John and the kids to eat Brussel Sprouts the other night!  Ah ha ha!!

Yesterday I went to watch Jake at his cross country race and he did pretty good for his first time!  Very proud of the little guy!!  Afterwards I went to my favourite store in Burlington - Joelle's (www.joelles.com) to pick up a donation for Scrap Cancer (www.breastcancersupport.org/scrapcancer.html), a fundraiser I run for Breast Cancer Support Services every October.  (Did a little shopping too, of course!!!!)  Then I came home for a quick lunch and headed off to a much needed massage with Val!  Val had been reading my blog and knew about my headaches, so she was well prepared to deal with me when I arrived!  I felt so good afterwards that I thought it would be a good time to go to the drug store and have my blood pressure checked - gulp!!!  While stopped at an intersection waiting for the lights to change, I sat marvelling at a squirrel running along a telephone wire and imagined it walking on it's hind legs with horizontal pole in hand tight-roping!  It was a gorgeous day outside, leaves were changing colour and falling - I was calm and at peace.  Surely my BP would reflect my thoughts!

Nope!  In fact, the numbers were higher than they were when taken at the Dr.'s office.  So much for my White Coat Syndrome I professed to the nurse last week (a term my friend Lisa who is a dietitian told me about)!  I took the test 3 times to make sure and the numbers were as follows -  167/97, 150/101, and 152/98.  Perplexing, and I have to say, discouraging.  I was hoping for improvement and I didn't even get status quo!  I decided to try again after dropping my daughter off at her Irish dance class.  I needed to buy some orange juice so I went to the machine in the grocery store and took the test another 3 times and the numbers were as follows  - 151/100, 142/87, 144/93.  At least these ones were better than the first set!  John tried to give me some perspective, it's only been a week and maybe after a month I'll see changes.

Last night for dinner I decided to make a stir-fry.  Last week I was so distraught with all the changes I had to make that I would stare in my freezer, knowing I had food to cook with, but at a total loss as to what to do with it.  I cooked the chicken in a bit of sesame oil  and then added a bit of teriyaki sauce, snow peas, carrots, bean sprouts and water chestnuts.  I never thought about how beautiful fresh vegetables are before.  It made for a very colourful meal.  The kids didn't care for the bean sprouts but they ate everything else along with rice.  It didn't even take that long to make!

This morning I volunteered in Kristen's class and then headed off to Curves for my workout.  I'm committed to going the three times a week that I am supposed to now, and not allowing myself to come up with lame excuses for not going!  I was excited to weigh myself, hoping even a little decrease would cheer me up.  It worked!!!  Current weight - 151 lbs!  (that just sounded like an entry in Bridget Jones' diary - didn't it??)  One more pound to go and my first Colin perk is mine, all mine!!!!  "The Kings Speech" will be arriving to my house on DVD, very, very soon!!! Mark (Darcy) my words, it will!!!

This is my favourite time of year - the fall.  I love the changing colours of the leaves and the still warm air like we've been experiencing this week.  I find I'm taking the time to enjoy, savour and ponder the small things in my surroundings.  My wake up call has allowed me to see the light so to speak and become more appreciative of things in general.

This afternoon, I made a recipe I found on Pinterest for raspberry dark chocolate banana bread - super yummy!!  I cut down on the salt and next time I'll add applesauce in place of the butter.  Also, I can't believe I'm about to say this, but - I think it had too many chocolate chips in it??  Matthew loved it!  Here's a pic..

Thursday night is traditionally "pizza night" in our house, so tonight, in lieu of a fatty, greasy pizza - I made homemade pizzas.  I made pizza dough in my bread maker for the first time ever!  The kids got involved too, Matthew shredded the mozzarella and cut up the pepperoni.  Kristen spread some of the sauce, and they all took part in putting the ingredients on their own pizza.  The aroma of fresh dough baking was divine!!  Finally, a healthier version of a staple meal that everyone liked!!  Yeah!!!  I didn't realize it would take 2 hours in the bread machine and after the kids got home from school I tried to rest since my headache came back - so unfortunately we didn't end up having dinner until about 8:30.  Next week, I'll make the dough in advance while they are still at school.

So...this weekend is Thanksgiving, and it will be with trials and tribulations as I need to watch what I eat and watch the portions.  I'm warning you now that I will NOT give up my pumpkin pie - nope, that is out of the question!  However, I'll try to limit myself to one or two pieces per sitting!!!  Immediately after Thanksgiving, I'll be put to the test again while celebrating my birthday, then I'll have a short reprieve until the bigger test - Hallowe'en!!!  Think the neighbourhood kids would like bananas or carrots so I don't have lots of extra chocolate bars left over?  I think not!

But, I wouldn't be opposed to Mr. Darcy (Colin) telling me "Well now that's a bit pointless, isn't it? As I happen to have a very high regard for your wobbly bits. In all circumstances"

"I'm very lucky, I've got one of those constitutions where I never put on weight"

A quote from Colin's character Jamie in one of my all time favourite movies "Love Actually" - and as Jamie wishes that to be true of himself, so do I...if only!

I had a pretty good weekend, went out to see comedy with some friends on Saturday night and nursed my new signature drink - water with a slice of lemon!  When life gives you lemons...add water is my new motto!

On Sunday after church the 5 of us went to the track to run some laps.  We are doing this as a family now and last weekend I thought I'd be doing well if I could finish one lap without stopping, and surprised myself by completing 3 laps!  So this weekend I endeavoured to do more and I ran 4 laps without stopping and then pleaded (I mean walked!) the 5th!  I probably could have done some more but didn't want to overdue it when I had a soccer game later that night.  Our team, the Ravens, were playing for 3rd place in the league and the game ended in a draw - since 3rd and 4th place teams got the same prize, we decided not to go into penalty shots - so end result - everyone was a winner!!!!

So, now my outdoor soccer is done for the season and I'm about to begin my 2nd indoor season after nearly a 20 year hiatus as I hadn't played since highschool.

And, now the update on the Colin Firth Diet Plan - the reason we are all here, right!  Well, this morning I went to Curves and had my measurements taken.  It's been a week now since I got the disturbing news from the nurse regarding cholesterol and blood pressure.  Do you want the good news or the bad news first?  Well, the good news is that I now weigh 152 lbs and I have lost an inch of rubber tire, muffin top or whatever other name you have for it!  The bad news is that my body fat has gone from 35.1% to 36.1%.  That's one whole percentage of my body which frankly sounds bad, bad, BAD.  Now, I'm trying to be positive about this and realize that the 35.1 was taken a few months ago and my body fat probably increased over the summer as I was developing new cake flavours and had to taste test them.  For those of you who don't know, I decorate cakes as a side business out of my house.  OK, I admit it, I may have tested more than was absolutely necessary -these numbers don't lie!  Hey, Mama Mia was playing again while I was working out - I think it's a sign that Colin is helping me get into the groove and step it up!

Last night I took the three kids with me to get groceries.  I wanted them to take an active part in our new healthy lifestyle and have them make healthier choices in the snacks they choose etc.  Since they have been somewhat deprived of some of their favourite snacks I bought us all an ice cream cone first.  We then proceeded through the isles investigating food items, comparing nutritional values, sodium levels and more.  We were there for over 2 hours!  But by the time we were ready to check out, all three of my kids were learning how to read the nutrition values and picking items that were better for them.  I also spent more than I usually do on groceries, and where in the past the buggy would be filled with more processed prepackaged items, it was shocking to see all the fresh produce I was unloading onto the counter - there seemed to be no end to it all!

You want to know what one of the healthy things I bought was?  - Brussel Sprouts!!!!  My husband John once told me that there would be NO WAY that I could ever, ever get him to eat Brussel Sprouts!  Well, the jokes on him, because tonight for dinner, he did just that.  He he he (insert evil laugh here!)
Now, I may have led him astray as to what he was eating in the beginning.  You see, my boys love bacon - I mean love it!  Two years ago for Mother's Day, my middle child Jacob gave me a card that said he loved me more than bacon - which if you know Jacob, that says alot!!!  So I kind of tricked everyone.  I cut off the bottoms and separated all the leaves.  I then steamed them for a bit.  Then I cut up some green onion, took a couple pieces of bacon I had cooked last night and added it to the frying pan along with some sesame oil, and then added the steamed Brussel sprouts.  John came home from work as I was finishing it up and asked what I was making and I told him it was cabbage.  He said it looked interesting!  Well, Brussel sprouts do happen to look like little baby cabbages!  So, we had this lovely green Brussel Sprout dish to go along with some organic salmon and boiled potatoes.  Luckily for me, Jacob didn't spill the beans about what we were really eating until John had finished his Brussel Sprouts!  It was too funny - guess you had to be there!!!

I said, "See, that wasn't so bad - I think we could have this on a weekly basis!" and John said maybe every other week - so that, to me, sounds like a small victory!

I do realize that at the end of this journey of mine, I may not reach the numbers I want to regardless of how hard I try, and I may have to succumb to the idea of taking medication to control the blood pressure and cholesterol.  However, this has become more than just decreasing some unpleasant numbers - it's become a whole lifestyle change, not just for me, but for my whole family.  After all, I want them all to be healthy and happy and life a long, meaningful life.  To think back on how we all ate even a week ago, kind of makes me feel like a neglectful parent at times, and this I vow to change!

My headaches are easing up a little bit, I have ups and downs - but I am still determined to work through this with a smile if I can!

...Goodnight Jamie, "It's the saddest part of my day, leaving you."