Sorta Good

I got up this morning and Audrey and I headed out after breakfast to yardsales. We didnt really get much of anything, but we walked alot!
This morning breakfast: Blackberries, Mangoes, Oatmeal with slivered almonds and 1 tbsp chobani yogurt...YUM! Score for me.
I did however, sneak half of the cookie that I bought from a little girl selling bake goods at her yardsale... Well, I walked it off, I guess.
Lunch-time was fun and vegetarian and southwestern, and fresh!
Black Beans with corn, avocado, tomatoes on a jalepeno cheddar tortilla and the extra mixed with spinach for a salad. Was yummy and filling.

Forward 3 hrs later, Audrey was upstairs napping, I had just come in from about 45 minutes of weeding our flower beds, sweaty and needing something sweet. I went for something my friend Val suggested, a smoothie, with added spinach. I used mango, blackberries( again) the rest of my yogurt, almond milk and spinach, in fact! YUM! And I had some left over, so I froze it!

Dinner was great, until I realized that I ate nearly 200 calories more than I calculated, by eating the whole boboli pizz crust and not just 1/2 LOL! Oh Well!

I am getting my sneakers on and walking it off. 200 cals is just 40 minutes pushing a stroller, and Audrey and I can always use the extra outside time.
So, todays meals came to 1665 calories and I didnt DIET at all, just made smart choices.
Just like the extra walk and the yard work.
Still FAT, but definately FRESHER than Mcdonalds! LOL!
Oh PS: I drank 2 coffees. I will never give them up! LOL!

Fat Girl Fresh

I'm Fat! Yep, I know...it's clearly obvious. You are all just too nice to sit me down and have a fat intervention.
I've been fat my whole life, except for 4 years of skinnyness, and for some of that time I bordered on unhealthy.
The simple reason I weigh more than I should is the same equation and reason 90% of the people who are fat, ARE fat...I LOVE FOOD! All of it. Food is my social outlet. When people ask you to do something 99.9% of the time it is centered around food. When you want to celebrate a holiday or a special happening, you do it with food. When you reach a milestone, what do you do...yep, that's right celebrate at the Olive Garden.
Here is where I may not be like everyone else, once I get started with good food and I in turn feel that i have failed at staying within a normal daily intake...I KEEP EATING! My everyday mantra: "Well, I screwed up today so far, so I might as well eat everything I can" and start again tomorrow....AND THEN TOMORROW I SAY THE SAME THING.

I am 35, almost 36 years old, and I am fed up. Although, most days, I am as fed up as today.
This morning, I decided to go to our neighborhood Farmers Market and shop for fresh produce that will be enough for at least the next 3 days worth of meals...THAT IS SATURDAY, SUNDAY, MONDAY...and then go to the store and supplement what I have left of the fresh stuff with new stuff.
I am not starting tomorrow. I am not starting after the weekend. I am starting right now!
In front of this computer screen is a little girl that is counting on me. When i was walking out of the grocery store with her in the cart today I thought, "am I wrong to make her an only child? When I am gone, who will she have?" and then I said, almost out loud to myself, You have at least 35 good years on you, Stace!" But do I? If I keep eating like this and not exercising. 1: Am I really living? and 2. Am I adding or subtracting life from my years? And what about the life in my years with Audrey?
So, here I am friends. Here I am Lord. I AM READY for a change in myself, for happiness in something other than food to overtake me. To be changed by it all. I AM READY.
I waste to much damn time on this computer..LOL....and here I am wasting more, right?
But, it's not a waste. Maybe I can help somebody else along the way? Maybe just getting it out and being honest is the best way for me to finally do this!
So, from here on out, I am going to HONESTLY tell you EVERYDAY what I eat, what exercise I get, How I really feel. I'll take pics, add my own made-up recipes.
AND, when ( not if) I hit my goal, I will tell you how much I weighed when I started out and all those juicy specifics that everyone really wishes they knew. BUT, not until then.
I CAN DO THIS! I CAN DO ANYTHING!
With LOve,
The Fat Girl!

Fever is a 5 letter word!

Monday morning, Audrey woke up with a fever. Which escalated to 103.4 degrees. My poor lil sickie visited the dr twice in 2 hrs to find out that she probably has Hand Foot and Mouth virus. Now, after 12 hrs of Tylenol suppositories( who really wants something shoved up their hiney?)the fever is gone and she is sleeping, her way of getting better.

I managed to get some Sick Pics, lol, of my girl, bad hair and a diaper...and she still looks fabulous! So glad the fevers are gone, now lets hope that she doesnt get the hand and feet blisters that often come with HFM virus, or the mouth sores. UGH! I have done everything possible, besides a plastic bubble, to keep my kiddo healthy, and I guess I should be ok that it has been quite some time since she has been sick!

Leaving daycare was the best decision ever, and although I worry about having a now 1 1/2 family income, Jim has stepped up to me being a stay at home mom, who freelances around motherhood! I am so grateful for him, and more grateful for my lil girl, the healing sickie!

Camping with Friends

This weekend we went camping at Dogwood Campground in nearby Newville, Pa.
Just 35 minutes from home, this campground was beautiful with a capital B! Great pool, clean, pond to fish in, great playground, friendly permanent campers.
We met up with my friend Jeanne and her family who were out for their annual fathers Day weekend family get-together, and took along our friends the Natales.
What a fun time!
If you camp, I would highly recommend Dogwood!
My only thing I would change is the pull in the shower to get the water to come down. It hurt my fingers.
Thanks Lupfers for inviting us!

Can You Tell me how to get.....

How to get to Sesame Place?
Yes, yes I can. And I highly recommend the trip!
On Tuesday, I woke up,saw that there was $20 off admission to Sesame Place in Langhorne PA. So, I packed the kiddo up and we headed to Sesame!
Great rides, AMAzing shows, a super great parade, some pricey parking ( $15) and food ($10 hot dog combo) but every bit worth it!
Audrey said "all done" everytime we got on a ride and it started. We tried the carousel...and again she disliked it greatly. She wasnt so sure of the up close characters, but LOVED the characters during the fabulous shows! We didnt even get to enjoy the water rides, there was just so much to do!
What a fun mommy daughter day!

Big Girl Haircut

My mom said that Audreys hair was Stringy.
So I decided to trim up the curls and give Audrey her first Big Girl Haircut!
A cute lil Bob!

So if you read my blog, you know this is one of my favorite places! What a great way to spend the day, and so afforable!
My mom, Aunt Robin and Audrey and I headed to Lake Tobias last Friday to see our favorite animals and hit the safari. We have learned to sit in the front because the animals often get on the bus and you can get up close and personal with them, sometimes TOO up close. We really enjoyed the safari ride this year. Lots of new baby animals to enjoy. We also got to go to the reptile show for the first time. That was fun.
It was a hot day and we ended it with a slush puppie! Great fun as always at Lake Tobias!

A visit to Harrisburg's City Island

This morning, I decided with the nice weather, I would check a place to visit this summer off my list.
So I packed up Audrey and headed just 10 minutes down the road to City Island.
It costs $5 to park, which is kinda yuck, but whatever!
I put our necessities in my camera backpack, put Aud in her stroller and we made a trek around the island.
It was nice and shady for the most part, so I just covered up my little darlin with a hat.
she spotted one of our famous City Cows, so I sat her on top and she posed for a picture with a MOO Cow!

We passed Harrisburg Senators baseball field, so she posed for a photo opp:

One of the greatest little places on the island is the John Harris Trading Post. I made sure to get her out and take a few pics there.

Then we got in line for Train tickets and had a little juice.

We then boarded the train. On our ride, Audrey managed to wave to each set of walkers that the train passed by, she even gave some of them her best dance moves:

For those following the blog to learn of fun places to take your kids. The train goes all around City Island, about a 7 minute ride. Adult are $3, kids are $2.
Our last stop of the day was the Childrens Carousel, $1.50 for each rider.
She started out pretty good on "Rocket" her horse, strapped on a ready to ride with mommy at her side, but then, her feelings went south. Needless to say. I have checked off 2 other "places to visit this summer" from our list: Hershey Park and Dutch Wonderland...my girl just ain't ready for it...Big girls dont cry, but little girls often do!

Hi Ho Hi Ho...a Campin' we will go

A few months ago, Jim and I decided, after much thought and evaluation, to buy a camper. We purchases our new luxury home at Martin's here in Mechanicsburg, PA. We felt good about our purchase from such a family friendly and owned business and would highly recommend them.

So, since then, we have been camping 3 times, 2 of which resulted in torrential downpours.
Our firs outing was with Jim's sister and her family to a campground about 25 minutes away from our home, Mountain Creek Campground in Gardners, PA.
Our second outing was to Kent, NY to camp within my Dad's campground for Memorial Day weekend.

Jim got to go out on the "Big Boat" with my dad and a few family friends to catch some fish. He managed to reel in a few nice keepers, and we have fish in our fridge to last us a few weeks.
Our third camping adventure was to Gettysburg Campground with the Shumberger Family this past weekend.
What a beautiful campground. We really enjoyed our time there.
It was Civil War encampment weekend, so we managed to take in a Civil War Dance and Candle Light Camp Walk. We had great food over the campfire and managed to relax a bit.
But the 2 night stays are over way too soon!
I would like to just park the camper for 1 full week and do just about nothing but read and play outside with my kiddo.
The nice thing about camping as a family vacation is that it is affordable, despite the cost of gas right now, although that seems to be going down a bit. AND, Audrey can play in a pool, at a playground, walk throughout the campground, and do some new things without much pre-planning and worry. So for the next few years, that will be the bulk of our family vacations.
Here are some pictures of our jouneys thus far, more to follow.