I've lost over 6 pounds in 6 days!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe how easy this first week on WW has been! In the past I have struggled daily on WW with eating too many points or craving too many "bad" foods. This week I've been focused and determined and I'm a woman on a mission. I just went to the store at the beginning of the week and stocked up on all the right foods so there was no room for failure.

I even started this journey on day one of my period. Now that is a challenge!

Last night I went to the Olive Garden with my best friend/sister-in-law (she's been my best friend for 13 years and my sister-in-law for just 1 year...she married my husband's brother) Ok back to the good part... We ordered soup, salad and breadsticks for dinner. I looked up the point values and planned my meal before we even left the house. I had 2 bowls of minestrone soup, 2 bowls of salad with their low-fat Italian dressing on the side and I had 2 bread sticks. I went to bed last night a point under my daily goal.

We went to the mall and walked around for nearly 2 hours. It was fabulous! No whiney husband constantly looking at his watch or uttering "are you done yet?"...no children crying in their strollers... just 2 girlfriends out browsing the mall. It was truly glorious!

I rewarded myself last night for doing so well this week fixing my health. I bought a gorgeous black leather purse from Macy's. It's a Liz Claiborne. I don't normally spend more than 15-20 bucks on a purse but this one called to me. It was marked 48.00 and I got it on sale for 36.00! I was so excited!

So every 10 pounds I get to buy something just for me...something small. And every 25 pounds I get something bigger...like my hair done or a massage :)

I have 100 pounds to lose and when I reach goal and God willing I will...I'm going on a cruise with my dear husband. If we can afford the extra cost I'll take the whole family :)

Today I feel like singing "I'm walking on sunshine...oh yeah...and it's time to feel good!"

Bliss comes in all forms!

"For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
-Jeremiah 29:11, NIV

I really love that passage from the Bible. It brings me peace just thinking about it.

This week has truly been a blessing from God. My husband is back. He's the man I fell in love with and the one I married. This past week he came to 2 of our daughter's soccer games, he didn't bring work home at all last week, he spent quality time with the family and he took the entire weekend off so he could surprise us with a camping trip! It was absolutely glorious!

We went to Nathrop, Colorado which is about 5 miles West of Buena Vista. It's absolutely breathtakingly beautiful out in that part of the state.

Something amazing happened. Read this...it's really quite amazing:

We were driving along a pretty desolate stretch of road about 30 miles south of Natrop. There were mountains all around us and an occasional farm house in the distance. The night was clear and the stars were out. It was about 10:30pm. All the kids were asleep and I was just staring off into space when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I had never seen anything like it in my entire life. I saw a glowing green and blue and purple ball of flame shooting across the sky right in front of our truck. At first I thought it was part of an airplane on fire. It was huge! I realized it was a meteorite! When I saw it it scared the living daylights out of me so I screamed "OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT?!?!?!?!" and it woke up our 2 girls immediately. They both bolted forward to see out the front windshield of the truck and my step daughter started to hyperventilate she was so scared. It really was that creepy looking. Yet it was beautiful all the same.

To me it was a sign directly from God. I'll tell you why. I had been praying over quite a few areas in my life about 30 minutes before I saw this meteorite. I asked God for a sign about one particular issue that had been bothering me. After we saw the meteorite I even told my husband that it was a gift for all of us and a sign for me specifically. What are the odds that one would land in a field not even 300 yards from our truck in the middle of nowhere at that very instant we were driving by there and not 30 minutes from the time I asked God for a sign. I don't believe in coincidences at all. I believe everything happens for a reason.

I am content today. My husband told me that he was relaxed last night. I haven't heard those words come from his mouth in over a year.

Another miracle... We've been praying for my father to find another part time job. Right now he has one but it's not enough to support my parents. He's been trying to find another job for quite some time. Well not only did he get a job but it's the job he could only dream about and the hours that he could only dream about. It is a perfect fit for his life and his situation. Only God could have answered our prayers so perfectly.

It's amazing how when I tune into God and follow his path, amazing things happen.

Yesterday I had an unbelievable urge to join Weight Watchers. I hadn't even considered the idea. I have been trying other things to lose weight this year but nothing was working. I got an email yesterday morning and it had an inspirational story attached to it that could have been written by me. I could see myself in place of this woman in her story. The similarities were just uncanny. I couldn't ignore that sign either so I signed up immediately. No hesitation on my part.

It feels so right. I did program all day yesterday and I feel so comfortable with it today. It just makes total sense to me and it works. I should know...I've done this 5 times already. It's the only program that ever helped me lose weight. Ever.

So I'm on WW #6. I know that this time is different. Everything feels different about it. Everything feels lined up this time. I'm ready and willing.

I am finally finding my bliss. My husband is slowly finding his too and life is good.

My husband is pretty much a work-a-holic. He doesn't work because he loves it, he works because he has to. He's taking over the family business and there is a LOT to do so he is always working. It has been taking a toll on our family for quite some time.

This week has been a great turn around for him. He came to not one but TWO of our daughter's soccer games. He hasn't brought any work home all week so we've been able to have family dinner's and movie nights together. And the best part...

WE'RE GOING CAMPING TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING! I'm so happy! He took the whole weekend off just for us.

A whole weekend of fishing, relaxing, roasting marshmallows, nature walks, picture taking and knitting.

BLISS! I'll be back on Monday for an update. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

It's been 6 days since I've posted anything here. Let's see...

We've been enjoying the fresh produce all week long. Dinners have never been so colorful or delicious! I am enjoying spending quality time in my kitchen again. I've missed my stove and my cookbooks.

Our 2 little ones got into our teen's bathroom yesterday and raided her large nail polish collection. They decided to take a lovely shade of purple and decorate their skin and hair with it. They did this in 5 minutes. I was upstairs paying 2 bills on the computer and could smell the nail polish wafting up the stairs. Sure enough...they had it scattered all around them. Thankfully only a couple small drops got on the rug and only a tiny bit got on our son's shirt (and it was an older shirt at that).

I had to use non-acetone nail polish remover to get it off their skin though. I ran a bubble bath and wiped their skin next to the tub and immediately plunged them in and washed that off too. It worked and there is no irritation or redness at all. Phew.

These kids! They are such troublemakers when they get together. I just love having two toddlers at the same time. Sheesh! LOL

Our 2 year old went potty yesterday again. She is ready to full time potty train. Every day we keep putting her on the potty and she is peeing quite a lot of the time. I can't wait until she does number two in there LOL Oh the simple joys of parenting!

I have been trying to gear my body up for a 24 hour fast but I'm craving such bad foods this week. I think I'm PMSing. I am not going to try and detox while PMSing. That would be a lethal combo for my family. They would kick me out of the home with the attitude I would surely get! ha! I think I'll wait until later in the week to attempt it.

My mother is helping me develop something new for my little business. I can't say yet what it is because it's a surprise. It's very exciting though! She is a talented lady. She drives me crazy most of the time but she is talented. Can't deny that!

Well that's about all I have to say today. I am going to get off the computer and go bake some low fat biscotti. That will be my little bit of bliss for the day.

Take care!

I have said many a prayer for the victims and their families since I read about the horrible incident on CNN.com Monday afternoon. There are no words. I have been devouring news about this every waking moment of my days. I do some work around the house and an hour will go by and I am compelled to come read the developing story on my computer. I dream about it too. I can't get it out of my head. Why? That's what I keep asking. Why do we live in a world full of such cold heartless people? Such evil? I am trying to focus on the positives. There is so much good in this world too. The media doesn't focus on good though. They chase the bad news. It's depressing to watch. I am sorry to everyone who now has to live closely and personally with this nightmare. I pray for peace in their world. It may never come but I pray for it.

I signed up for a company that delivers fresh organic fruits and veggies to my door. It just came this very minute. Here take a look and prepare to drool!



I can hardly wait to dive into this fresh produce tonight for dinner. My family is going to be so healthy from now on! We always ate healthy before just had too much of our meals and usually had dessert. That's going to change starting now! I feel happy today. I'm finally putting into action things I've been talking about for quite a while now.

Ok so the non-blissful part. I got a jury summons. That sucks. Plain and simple. *sigh*

I've been researching the subject of fasting this past few days. I feel like God is leading me towards something pretty big. I feel a revelation is about to take place. I want to really open my eyes and my ears so I don't miss the message He has for me.

I have never fasted before voluntarily. Sure I've fasted when I was very ill in the past or when I just couldn't find time to eat on a particular day. I want to fast for a purpose now. I want to gear up for a lifetime of fasting rituals. I want to do this for spiritual and physical reasons. All throughout the Bible fasting is talked about. I never realized just how many times it was mentioned in there before. I love the thought of fasting to honor God and to really draw myself closer to Him. I also want to start really taking care of my body...ie His temple...by fasting and eating raw and organic foods.

For years I have been overweight and have let food control me. I have disgraced this temple of mine and I wish I had found the strength to change this weakness of mine...this hold food has over me.

I want to change that now. I believe if I fast once a month I can free some of the toxin build up in my system and really focus my energy on praying during those fasting times. That sounds wonderful! Heal my body and draw closer to the Lord. How exciting!

I just got back from the store. I stocked up on all natural and organic foods and tomorrow I will have a pretty large shipment of organic fruits and veggies delivered to my door. I feel blessed to live in a place where all this stuff is so readily available and affordable! What a gift!

My plan is to eat nothing but raw veggies and fruits and beans and tofu for the next few days to get my body ready for a 24 hour fast. Once I do the 24 hour fast I will resume eating healthy regular meals. After that my plan is to try a 2 or 3 day fast by drinking just waters and freshly squeezed fruit juices. I don't plan on doing fasts past 3 days max. I would love to work up to 7 day stretches but I know that will take a LOT of dedication and commitment on my part. Not to mention I really need to exercise to lose a lot of this excess weight before I do more than 24 hour fasts.

So fellow readers...do not be alarmed. I am planning on doing this VERY healthfully and intelligently. No harsh crazy fasting diets for me.

"...the most amazing thing was spoken in my soul yesterday morning,
Easter......I was watching a couple of the preachers I watch on TV on Sunday
mornings....and one, Joel Osteen .....touched upon this subject that just
brought me to tears. He said......You are not from your mother, you were just
birthed through her.....You are from Christ. You are His child and
have His DNA. I used to panic thinking about how genetically I
am predestined to depression, addictions, anxiety.....but I now know, that
just because my mother made her decisions to stay on that broken
path.......I won't."

A very dear friend of mine posted this on a board I'm on with her. It really hit home with me. I love it when someone says something so profound that I can finally put a feeling or emotion of mine into words. My parents weren't perfect when I was growing up. I have been hurt so many times and felt so unloved by my mother over the years. I don't want to get into details at this time but I'll just say that it hasn't been the most enjoyable ride thus far.

I've been thinking about this for the last two days. I am from Christ. My mother was just my passage way onto Earth. I can change my attitude and my ways. I am my own person...completely seperate from my mother. I don't have to become a clone of her or raise my children as she raised me. I feel empowered today by my friend's statement.

This is just another small step towards following and finding my bliss. Thank you.

Easter has come and gone and so has Lent. Now mind you I've never partaken in Lent before in my life. It's never been part of my spirituality and I never really knew anyone who went through it when I was growing up. I did some research on it this year and decided it was actually a really wonderful thing to do as a Christian. It doesn't matter what faith you are or denomination your church is...if you believe in God and believe that Jesus died for our sins then you should give Lent a try. You basically give up one thing that you love for 40 days during the time before Easter. Our family declared Lent over at 12:01AM Easter morning.

I went first. I decided to give up all sugar. Now that's a challenge! I love sugar! I told my 13 year old daughter all about Lent and how Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. The other thing I emphasized was that Jesus died a horrible torturous death for us...for our sins. He did that for us because He loved us and did that for us so that our sins were paid for. The least we could do for Him would be to give up something for 40 days. She agreed wholeheartedly and gave up all sugar with me.

Fast forward a week to when my step-daughter (10) came to the house. We told her about what we were doing and she also declared she wanted to join us! What a great family I have!

Ok so the first week was pretty hard and we decided that all sugar was going to be near impossible. So we allowed sugar in our coffee (because we absolutely do not use artificial sweeteners in our house because of how horrendously bad they are for us). We allowed natural sugars in our food as well. We changed it to no desserts, sweets, treats or any of that.

The kids did amazing! They were steadfast! My step daughter was faced with a few obstacles along the way though. Her mom (my husband's ex-wife) really loathes me. Really for no other reason than the fact that I dared marry her ex-husband and step into her daughter's life. She's vile but I'll save that for another post. Basically she has to control everything her daughter says and does. She goes berserk if I initiate something her daughter does. So because Lent was my idea this year and because my step daughter joined me in that challenge and because her mom didn't come up with the idea...well then the whole thing was just a horrible idea.

Her mom is the type of person who will dangle cookies and brownies and chocolates in her face and taunt her saying "Well if you weren't doing this stupid challenge you could have some of these...mmm they sure are good...don't they look good?" She's evil...pure and simple. What mother does that to her own child? Well this woman does. That's just the tip of the iceberg. So my step daughter would come to our house on the weekends so frustrated and so upset thinking she was going to upset Jesus for having a sweet or a treat at her mom's house. She would allow herself to be bullied into it. *vent on: BY HER OWN MOTHER! vent off*

What I explained was that Lent is symbolic. It's supposed to symbolize your faith as a Christian. That you will be faced with sin and tempation every single day of your life and that you have to hold onto your faith with all your heart and all your might and fight those battles and stay true to who you are. She did just that! I love that girl! She went to her mother and explained that to her and finally...finally her mom backed down. Her mom even went as far as to suggest she try it again next year! But see that sounds good right? Well the hidden motive is that next year it will be HER idea. As in her mother will control it. Whatever. Seriously...I don't care if satan himself asked her to do it as long as she does it. I'm so proud of her.

Ok so back to the post. Sorry to go on and on like this. I just wanted you to read the whole story so you could fully understand how it all went down.

Fast forward to Easter morning. 8am I was up baking chocolate chip cookies. These are my daughter's favorite treat in the entire world. They were salivating at the sight of the cookie dough. Needless to say no one had a healthy breakfast that morning. Even our toddlers got in on the cookie action.

We went to church and it was unbelievable. It was the BEST service I've ever attended in my life. The message was clear and powerful. We laughed, we cried, we sang, we worshipped! I witnessed nearly 200 people giving their lives to God that morning. It was amazing. Truly!

After church we went to the inlaws and had a wonderful ham feast. The kids had an egg hunt and we played games. What a wonderful day.

My kids gorged on as much chocolate and as many desserts as they could devour that day.

40 days without chocolate chip cookies? That was hard. And they were the definition of BLISS that day.

I took a shower this morning with the most decadent smelling product. It is so heavenly I have to share it with you.

This is my tangible bliss:

This smells so good I want to drink it (well not really)! My favorite beverage is an ice cold glass of freshly brewed iced tea with a lemon wedge. I could drink it all day long. This smells just like it. Go to Bath and Body Works today and get some. You won't regret it!


My other tangible bliss is something you can in fact drink. www.bocajava.com


My secret buddy got me a gift bag yesterday for Easter with 2 flavors of coffee: Vacation Villa Vanilla and Cottontail Delight. It's heaven in a cup.

Isn't this cute?

So there you go. My tangible bliss for the day. Isn't it amazing how the simplest of things can make a person so happy?

Have a blessed day!

Morning fellow readers!

I worked in the yard yesterday from 9am-5pm. I raked all the leaves that I could get to (there are still leaves stuck in the branches of the bushes along the fence and it's annoying me) and I picked them all up and stuffed them into bags. 7 giant bags full! I picked up all the sticks in the yard, weeded the garden and put all the rocks back where they belonged. After I did all that I put together the canopy swing from...let's just say it's not from heaven. It was made in China. Need I say more? It took me 4 hours instead of 1 like it should have. The directions said "Easy Assembly". Yeah if you are a sweat shop kid in China that puts 100 of these together in one hour. Give me a break people!

After cranking the handle of the little L shaped screw driver and holding the wrench for those 4 hours and having to start over 3 times on just about every screw I put in tightly...well my arms are rubber.

The back of my legs hurt, my arms throb, my butt is sore and I have a sunburn. But it was a job well done and I'm proud that it is finished.

My husband seeded and fertilized the front yard and got the sprinklers working. He used one of those leaf blowers (it also sucks them in too) and sucked up all the leaves on the side of the house.

Our 3 year old son was with him and walked over to where we have a basement window. It has a plastic bubble over it to keep out the rain and leaves. Well it must have been on there for years because it was quite brittle. He put his arms on it and it cracked and he fell into the hole *whimper* I swear he had a guardian angel holding him when he fell because he only had a tiny bruise on his forehead. There were rocks at the bottom. It was a good 3 feet deep and he's fine! Seriously...another miracle. I doubt nothing these days. I am so thankful he was ok. What a scare!

Last night after I had sat in my completed swing with my husband, I was sore but feeling content. I didn't have a lot of energy left but I still made a nice Mexican dinner with chicken, monterey jack cheese, corn tortillas, green chilie sauce and whole green chilies. It was a layered casserole and it was decadent! I even had a Corona with lime to go with it. Mmmm!

I was feeling really tired after dinner and quite dirty from all the dust and the leaves and sweat that was on me from working all day. I went upstairs to take a shower and a thought hit me. So I grabbed a few candles and lit them and took a shower by candle light. It was glorious! What a novel idea! I forgot how relaxing candle light is. I came out of the shower and lathered on my favorite smelling lotion (Honey Almond) and put on a big comfy t-shirt and cotton shorts and laid in bed while the candles were flickering away.

My husband came up and said he was going to hop in the shower so he took a shower by candlelight too. Then he shaved and put on Obsession cologne. When he smells like that...oh just watch out! We were going to watch a movie but it was so relaxing laying there together...freshly showered and smelling delicious and watching the candles. Well that movie never did get put in. Instead we had a romantic evening that left us both sighing with contentment. No you aren't getting details! It was incredible though ;)

Despite my slightly sunburned arms and super sore muscles, I slept like a baby.

Today I'm sitting here writing this post while sipping my decaf hazelnut coffee with cream and sugar. I have fresh strawberries on a plate in front of me. I'm sore but feeling happy.

Following my bliss never felt or tasted so good :) Have a wonderful day!

Following my bliss and good things are happening!

We attended church service at the same church that put on The Thorn this past week. We are drawn to this church in countless ways. It makes us feel warm and welcome and just plain comfortable. It's like putting on your favorite pair of sweatpants and soft slippers with an added fluffy blanket around your shoulders.

We walked in with our entire family yesterday and were immediately welcomed by a warm and caring man and woman. They were so happy to see us and they shook our hands and gave us hugs and said "Bless You". Just what I needed first thing in the morning.

We went over and registered our toddlers with the children's section and took them over to their rooms. Well our two year old is a social little thing. She doesn't mind going to a stranger's room to play and so she did just that. We put her in the room and she ran over and grabbed a toy and didn't even care that we had left! lol

Our son on the other hand... well he normally wouldn't go near a stranger with a 10 foot pole. However at this church they make the kids feel like they are going into an enchanted forest. The stairs are decorated like a woodland path going into trees. It's very creative. At the top of the stairs was a kind woman with a great smile blowing bubbles at the new kids. This wand had 20 something holes in it so there were a LOT of bubbles. Our son ran over and yelled "Bubbles!" and he was hooked! Turns out she was his classroom teacher.

This may not seem like much but for us it was truly a miracle. We were able to leave him with that woman and all the bubbles and he was happy! He was absolutely fine with us leaving to go to the main church! Wow!

So we went and took our seats sans toddlers. Amazing! Our second oldest daughter had never been to this church for a service before. You should have seen her face when the lights dimmed and the stage lit up and they started rockin' out Christian music. It was bliss. It was like a mini-rock concert in that building. Teens were dancing and had their arms extended to the skies praising God! In this church you can express yourself at any point. People yell out AMEN! at something the pastor says. People clap loudly all alone if they connect with something the pastor says. It's amazing.

Compared to our old church we are just in awe of this behavior. At our old church you just sit there. You don't speak. You certainly don't dance or raise your arms to heaven. You can't express yourself because you will stared at by the entire congregation. No thank you!

I found my spiritual home and I couldn't feel happier today. All my children had a wonderful time. Both our toddlers had an absolute BLAST in the day care center. I feel like a miracle happened yesterday. My son had FUN with strangers!

I can't wait to plug in to the smaller groups at this church. I found out they have a knitting group full of people MY age! Not all elderly people...MY age! Yay! They have cooking groups too! I love to cook! They have reading groups and crafting groups and moms of preschooler groups! I am pretty darn excited to tell you the truth.

I'm following my bliss and I feel like my life is taking on new meaning. Even my husband is in a really good mood today and is excited about going next week. My mom will be coming with us too! That is a miracle unto itself! Bliss!