Almost Christmas!

OK people, it's the day before Christmas Eve!

Challenge #1: This is the LAST day that you WANT to do any shopping, so triple-check your fridge against your list (if you don't have a list, you want a basic plan/idea of what you will eat from now until at least breakfast on the 27th). And check your presents if they're not done and get going! You want to enjoy Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day with family. Besides, many places will be closed, have weird hours, or be packed because they're the only ones open.

Challenge #2: Take something OFF your list! Make one less side for Christmas dinner, do one less activity, clean one less area (just close that door). YOU need enjoy Christmas also :)

Challenge #3: Pre-prep! What can you do today so you don't have to do tomorrow? What can you do tomorrow that you don't have to do Christmas Day? What can you do in the morning so you don't have to do right as Christmas Dinner is being served?

I have most of my wrapping done, just the gifts for my nieces and nephews left, but they're for the 2nd, and I HAVE the gifts. I'm hosting Christmas Dinner with my in-laws Christmas Eve. I'm making Saving Dinner's white bean dip today and one of my sides today. I'm going to make the mashed potatoes in the MORNING and put them in the crock cooker with a little butter over the top on 'keep warm' (this is a FABULOUS tip, but you really should TEST your crock before you try this for a meal, different crocks have different temperatures and as Leanne Ely says: 'Your mileage may vary' you don't want them to scorch). I'm also going to arrange my 'goodie tray' while the potatoes are boiling (and stick it covered in the garage).

So that means I'll only have one SIMPLE side to make while the turkey is 'resting' and I'm making the gravy :)

Saving Dinner's Christmas Morning Strata has become a tradition for us. (I usually half the recipe because we're only 2 people and then we eat it for a few days - love the toaster oven for re-heats!) It's super-good, decadent but easy AND you prep it the night before, and just pull it out of the fridge and bake in the morning! LOVE that!

Here's to a less stressful time! Merry Christmas!

So anyway, thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :D

I am NORMAL!!

I am NORMAL!!!! Yesterday, when I went on the wii my weight was in the normal BMI range!! 24.91! YAY!!

To give you perspecitive. Christmas 2009 when we got the wii, my BMI was at the very bottom of obese (30.15, the line is at 30) then I was in the top part of overweight for a while. (Came down a bit playing the games).

In January, when I started the Losing It With Leanne Challenge... Say you divide the overweight range into thirds, I was on the line for the top third (one third down from obese, two thirds up from normal). I attribute a lot of that to what I've learned about healthy foods from Saving Dinner. Losing It with Leanne brought me WAY down, to near the bottom of the overweight range and I hit Normal yesterday! :) I went up a bit today (0.2kg) but I'm still normal.

And the best part is, knowing what I've learned (about healthy food from Saving Dinner in general and about portion sizes and that I won't be hungry eating normal portions that I learned while doing Losing It With Leanne), I know I'm not going to go back up.

I'm not really trying to lose much more. Now I've bought a subscription to Missus Smarty Pants and am gonna dress this body nice! :)

So anyway, thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :D

Losing It With Leanne Challenge Day 4

On nights I'm having lunch-supper-breakfast because we go to bed right after we eat at the end of our 'day' and I think that's working out well, although it's a little weird having the soup and my coffee at the same time, but that's just being silly. I should set the coffeemaker up the day before and have the coffee with my pre-breakfast.... Hey! I like that idea! I should do that.

Supper tonight was leftover Pork Diane mmm mmmm! DH likes it also, even with the Cilantro-Parsley mix up ;)

I've been OK with my water, drinking about 3 FLYlady (16 ounce) bottles a day but I really should be drinking 4 or more. Shouldn't take to much to pull that off, I just need to make the effort to drink it up! I have my bottle with me most of the time, that's a good start. Plus, me telling you is good motivation for trying harder!

You know what I realized today? The biggest part of my weight problem is portion sizes. Before I started this plan last week, most dinners I'd make close to 4 servings worth for 2 people and we didn't always have leftovers. What I'm discovering now while making myself follow the Losing It With Leanne plan I'm eating less, but I'm not hungry. I work for Leanne, so I know that a meat portion size is about the size of a deck of cards, I've heard her say it and read her writing it many times. But I never followed it. I think I was kind of afraid that if I ate 'normal' portion sizes all the time, it wouldn't be enough for me. But you know what? It is. I'm following the recipes and directions quite closely, and I'm splitting each meal into the correct number of serving sizes and just having one serving and I'm not hungry! Go me!

So anyway, thank you for joining me, and I hope I can help you! It really is fun to be a Homemaking Diva!!

Please comment or send your questions to me at homemakingdiva@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :D