St. Augustine with Grammy

My Mom (Grammy) came to visit for a couple weeks in November.  After a couple days hanging out at home we whisked her a away for a long weekend in St. Augustine, Florida.  She'd never been and it is one of my favorite cities.

St. Augustine or Bust.

 We could not have asked for better weather on our first full day there.

We spent a lot of time at the beach enjoying the 80 degree weather!

Me and my Momma

The water was cold at first but we quickly got used to it.

We changed into swimsuits and went back.

Why can't I live here?!!

The resort we stayed at had a couple of pools so we spent some time in the heated one.

Look at Grammy's toes.

(She may have gotten a little too warm sitting in the sun.)

It was pretty warm clear into the evening so we went back out to the beach after dark.

Lot's of flashlight fun ensued.

We stayed at the St. Augustine Ocean & Raquet Resort.

It was an older condo but it had everything we needed and the price was right.  ($80 a night!)

I'm kind of obsessed with condos so I take lots of pictures to be sure I can remember them and the trip.  But...I'll spare you my camera roll and just choose a few of them.

We had a two bedroom, two bath unit on the ground level.  Our sliding glass door off the living room was only 150 feet to the beach.

A view from the back of the condo looking through the living room, with a peek of a bedroom and on to the front door.

the little pocket of a kitchen

(I'm making tacos for the fam.)

the dining area and living room with a peek into the master bedroom

  living room 

the back patio opens to the parking lot but just steps to the beach access bridge

 I am so glad we thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful weather because the next day was FREEZING!!

It went from 80 degrees to 50 something.

Being the rockstars we are we ignored mother nature and took a trolley tour to explore and learn all about the history of St. Augustine.

Such a fascinating city!  Please visit if you can. 

Around lunch time we hopped off the trolley to do some window shopping and some eating.

Lunch at Columbia Restaurant

(yes, those are glasses of sangria for Matt and myself!)

After two full days in St. Augustine it was time to head back home.

Before we left we had to make one last trip to the beach.

Till we meet again, St. Augustine.

Weekly Menu 12-2-2013

Some anonymous commenter posted on my last post from two long weeks ago requesting a "new blog please please."  I'm guessing this is from one of my three readers.  Either my Mom (Grammy,) my other Mom (Grandma Jan,) or most likely, my brother Brian.  So to appease Mr. Anonymous, while I'm working on a bigger and better post about our wonderful visit with Grammy mixed up with a trip to St. Augustine, FL and topped with a super yummy Thanksgiving dinner shared with my cousin Kelly, I will give you a teaser post with the Weekly Menu.

Weekly Menu  12-2-2013
Most of my meals this week are from the Weight Watchers 360 Cookbook: Turn Up the Flavor
This is a newer cookbook so a lot of the recipes won't be on-line yet and I won't be able to link to them.  Also, if you want to buy this cookbook don't buy it from Amazon but go to a Weight Watchers location...it will be much cheaper.

Monday:  Impossibly Easy Mini Cheeseburger Pies (recipe found on the box of Bisquick I just bought)
Tuesday:  Peachy Pork Roast with Dijon Mustard & green beans & Texas Toast
(This was delish!!! so I included my adapted recipe below.)
Wednesday:  Crispy Quesadillas with Black Beans and Cheese
Thursday:  Spice-Rubbed and Vinegar-Glazed Chicken Breasts & veggies & fruit & bread
Friday:  Shrimp and Penne Arrabbiata & Texas Toast
Saturday:  BUNCO - Matt and kids on their own
Sunday:  Slow-Cooker White Bean and Spinach Burritos

Peachy Pork Roast with Dijon Mustard
(based on the Simply Peachy Pork Roast with Lavender and Mustard recipe from the Weight Watchers Turn Up the Flavor Cookbook)

3 t. minced garlic
1 T. dried thyme
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 lb. pork tenderloin
1/4 c. peach preserves
2 T. dijon mustard

1.  Preheat oven to 400F.  Spray roasting pan with nonstick spray or cover with non-stick foil.
2.  Mix garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper in small bowl.  Spray pork with olive oil non-stick spray; rub thyme mixture all over pork.  Place pork in prepared pan and roast 20-25 minutes.
3.  Meanwhile, stir together preserves and mustard in a small bowl; brush all over pork.  Roast until the center of the pork is 140F (medium) About 10 minutes longer.  Transfer to a cutting board and let stand 10 minutes.  Cut into slices.
(serves 4)


Happy Eats and I promise to post again soon.

Ugly Worthless Thieves

My purse was stolen for the first time in my life last week.

I've been too mad and sad and angry and MAD! to blog about it until today.

A week ago, I was at the gym just like every other weekday morning.

Before I left my house I hid my purse under a Seattle Seahawks blanket in the very back of my SUV. 

When I got back to my car after my workout I opened the back to get my purse and discovered it G-O-N-E!!

Even though I specifically remembered putting it under the blanket, I decided to drive home to check if I'd gone crazy and perhaps left it on my kitchen counter.
No such luck.

So....

#1 I called Matt at work. (He started calling the bank and credit card companies to report the theft.)

#2  I called the police to file a report.

An officer came by the house and jotted down some information.  He said parking lot thefts at day-cares, schools & gyms were very common in the area as of late.  He said there wasn't much (zip, zero) chance of getting my stuff back.

What he didn't say was that I was stupid for leaving my purse in my car.

I thanked him for that.

After he left, Matt and I finished calling the credit card companies to report the theft.

In total:  I was at the gym for TWO hours.  It took ONE hour for me to file the report with the police AND get all of my credit cards reported stolen and ultimately cancelled.

In that THREE HOUR time span, the Ugly Worthless Thieves were able to wrack up about $600 worth of charges on my three credit cards and all at GAS STATIONS!!

How can they do that?  A car only holds a certain amount of gas...even if they fill up a couple of their friends' cars.

My question was answered while Matt was talking to one of our neighbors today.

Our neighbor was at a gas station the other day (near the airport, in a shady part of town) when a young man approached him and said for $20 cash he'd fill his gas tank with a credit card. Our neighbor said NO but I'm sure quite a few others said YES.  Hence the $600 charged to my stolen credit cards at gas stations in the span of three hours.

Ugly Worthless Thieves

STOLEN was this purse that my momma got me for my birthday three years ago.

I loved that purse!

Can you see how they gained entry into my car?

They jammed some sort of tool under and through my lock.

Ugly Worthless Thieves

As Ugly and Worthless and Thievy as they are...

I am done with them.

I am back to my normal routine which includes going to the gym five days a week.  I no longer leave ANYTHING in my vehicle but I now have an eye out for anything suspicious in the parking lot.

My Momma happens to be in town and bought me a brand new hand bag!

I love it!!

And my kiddos had their winter pictures taken/made today.

Looking good L and T.

You got nothing on us you
Ugly Worthless Thieves

Tuesday Totals

pounds lost this week  = 3.0

total pounds lost =  23.8

(I didn't post last Tuesday but I was up 1.6 pounds.  I knew I'd be up because I splurged a little but was okay with that.  I knew I'd do better the next week and I did!)

3.4 pounds to go to reach my Christmas goal.

Time to gear up for a quick beach vacation and then Thanksgiving.

Grammy's Here!! and a Weekly Menu

We are all excited to have Grammy here for a two week visit.  She got in on Saturday and we'll keep her as long as we can.

The kiddos are especially excited to have a companion to play Life on the iPAD.

We brought Grammy to church with us this morning and it was a great service all the way around.  Us grown ups enjoyed ourselves as did Lauren.  She learned about choosing friends wisely and back at home decided to highlight some verses in her bible.

(Proverbs 13:20, Proverbs 12:20, 1 Corinthians 15:33 & Proverbs 14:6-7)

I'm pretty sure she'll choose her friends wisely.

Grammy has had some issues with acid reflux so before she got here I bought a cookbook titled "Dropping Acid: The Reflux Diet Cookbook & Cure"

The Weekly Menu this week focuses on recipes from this cookbook.

Weekly Menu 11-17-2013

Sunday:  Chicken & Black Bean Stuffed Burritos & Black Bean Soup & frozen veggies & apples slices

Monday:  Spaghetti Squash and Sausage Bake

Tuesday:  Sauteed Shrimp with Angel Hair Pasta & Whole Grain Bread w/ garlic salt

Wednesday:  Marinated Grilled Chicken Breasts (can't find the recipe online)

Thursday:  Oatmeal-Crusted Rosemary Salmon (scroll down until you find the recipe) & asparagus

Friday:  Dinner Out or left-overs

Saturday:  Dinner Out or Chicken South of the Border Style (can't find the recipe online)

Happy Eats to All...I'm off to enjoy my Momma aka Grammy.

Operation Christmas Child

We were excited to participate in Operation Christmas Child with our church this year.

L and T had fun filling the shoe boxes with age appropriate gifts.

They were so careful at the store to pick out the best gifts they could find.

 Lauren chose a 2-5 year old girl. 

Tyler chose a 5-9 year old boy.

They learned a lot from this experience.  They were shocked and saddened to learn that this shoe box will most likely be the only Christmas gift their new friend will receive.

If you want to get a shoe-box together there is still time.

Operation Christmas Child

Blood Pressure Update

(warning:  nothing cute or kid related in this post...it's all about ME.)

Remember what jump-started my whole Tuesday Total weight loss thing?  It was a trip to the Doctor back in August where I had high enough blood pressure that they automatically asked me scary questions like if I was currently experiencing chest pains.  Here's an excerpt from my 8/21 post Who's Got the Doldrums:

"Not only has the weather made me grumpy and lazy (hence the lack of blogging)

it also makes my blood pressure high.

Well maybe that isn't due to the weather but it's high.

I went to the Doctor and it was 150/90.

I think that's pretty high because she immediately asked if I had chest pains.

(No)

It's high at the Doctor because while they take my pressure I freak out inside my head.

I have total Doctor office anxiety. 

(I've fainted at the Eye Dr. and Dentist before.)

I took it again at home and it was 120/80.

(perfect)

They won't take my word for it and want to do some blood work in two months to see if they can find out what's causing it.

So I decided to take these two months to get to a healthy weight and see if that makes a difference.  I'm about 12 pounds over the max healthy weight for my height so I'd like to lose at least that in the next two months.

Last week I went back to Weight Watchers (instead of just paying for it) and lost 2.8 pounds when I weighed in yesterday. 

(go me!)"

Well my two (closer to three) months are up and I went back to the Doctor today for blood work. My goal was to lose 12 pounds to be at a healthy weight but I have lost 22 pounds to be at an even healthier weight.  (I still have more weight-loss goals but we'll address those in future Tuesday Totals.)

At the Doctor I did just fine while they drew my blood and did the other yucky annual exam stuff but my mind was focused on the Blood Pressure Cuff.  I warned the nurse when she wrapped it around my arm that I have White Coat Syndrome.  She assured me that since she was wearing a purple jacket that it wouldn't affect me.  (love her!) I took a deep breath and then totally freaked out inside my head.  

Either her purple jacket did magic or it was my weight-loss but I passed the freakin' blood pressure test with flying colors.  118/69  I'm so old and lame but hearing her say that made my day/week/the last two months!

Imagine how low my blood pressure actually is if I got a 118/69 result in a clinical setting?!  

I've been getting light-headed when I get out of bed at night to use the bathroom or when I stand up too fast so I asked the Dr. about this and if I could cut back on my blood pressure medicine.  She said to start with taking half a pill every day and to keep monitoring my blood pressure.  If I'm still getting good readings in another 10 days or so we can cut down even further on the medicine or perhaps do away with it altogether.  BEST NEWS EVER!