Meatloaf is the answer...

Are your cupboards bare? Do you have 2 lbs of ground turkey already two days thawed in your fridge? Are you out of spaghetti sauce and the only thing you can come up for a "ground turkey" meal involves pasta, which involves spaghetti sauce? Did I mention I'm out of sauce? Well, after much being in a rut about all the uses of ground turkey which I couldn't do because it would mean I'd have to pay a visit to the store, I came up with MEATLOAF. Yay!

Tonight's featured dinner:


Nutritional Info: Mashed Potatoes/Turkey Meatloaf

Total POINTS: 7

Side note: I'm overwhelmed by the responses I received when I posted my "before" pics. We are not made to be alone for many reasons but in this realm we just need people who will be there to be what we need. I hope that I or something I write inspires or is something that you can nod to because you know just what I'm feeling.

You all are so beautiful! Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support!

BEFORE pictures.... gulp

You know what I said when I was examining these... "hmm, I actually don't look as bad as I thought". WHAT!!!! Bad self image girl actually has something NICE to say about herself for once? Yep, I guess I did. :) Yay me!

So, as noted and as promised, these are my before shots. I will post once a month my progress. Hopefully I am taking up less space in the pictures to come.

I wanna be HAWT!!!

Ok, resolution # 893123. I totally copied it from the dark haired cute chick on The Biggest Loser. I don't usually watch but got sucked into it because nothing else was on . You may have seen her in a commercial for the show. She's the one that says, "I wanna be hot!".

This pic of me was obviously years ago and I remember my state of mind. I was young, insecure, thought I was fat (ask Mel) and not cute at all. My friend K who is a professional photog and ex-model used to love taking pictures of me. We would have strike a pose sessions often in our days of living together and it was fun. I mean, what girl doesn't like getting all pretty. And she knew some great makeup and picture taking tips so it made it all the more fun. As much as I loved the picture taking itself, I could not wait until we got the proofs back. The funny thing was as excited as I was to get the proofs back, my reaction was always the same. I was ALWAYS displeased with myself. Found some new (or old) flaw. I would pinch "imaginary" fat which Mel would remind me was called SKIN. And then I would eat nothing but Twizzlers (because I had quite the addiction to them back then), diet pills, drink nothing but diet Coke and exercise... a lot.

As I get older and the weight is harder to take off than it was in my teens and my boobs have repositioned themselves (without asking me first!!), I am needing to remind myself that any 'work' I do on myself needs to come from the inside first. My mom and I were talking recently about my weight struggles and she was said that I worry too much about my weight. I told her I actually struggled with the decision to go home to visit because I was afraid of everyone thinking about how fat I had gotten. I know that's stupid and that family love you no matter what: fat, thin, moody, happy, life together, life fallen apart.. but I was so warped into thinking that my family, the people that care about me the most, would actually give two sh!ts about my waist size.

I, like many of you, am working on this, my view of me. For today and everyday, I will take this verse and say it to myself daily... "I am fearfully and WONDERFULLY made... your works are wonderful".

By the way, I still wanna be HAWT!

*** Happy New Year ***

So in honor of the new year, new beginnings I decided to post some things that I was thinking about that are some ideas, goals... resolutions.

1. Work on my house: painting, gardening, etc.
2. Move more (and I don't mean my address)... exercise challenge anyone?
3. Invest more time with family and friends.
4. Write a book.
5. Post a picture on my blog daily (of anything, not necessarily food).
6. Be more of an encouragement to my readers by commenting more on their sites.
7. Walk Polly at least once a day everyday.
8. Take two trips a year to a foreign country.
9. Travel more within the U.S. I can't believe I haven't been to Cali yet!
10. Fight the fat!

It's good to have things to look forward to. In addition to this I want this to be a year of growth and strength. I want to practice giving myself grace when I need it and accepting a swift kick in the ass when it's due. Can't wait to spend this year with you all. Happy New Year!