New Goals

I have two new goals to work on this year. I'm not calling them New Year's resolutions, because we all know those always fail.

My first, obviously, is to lose weight. This time it feels right. I can't really explain it, but I feel good about changing my eating habits and increasing the time I spend at the gym. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but I do think this is *my* time. I'm tracking calories on Spark People, but not otherwise doing a specific diet. I picked up the book, Breaking Free from Compulsive Eating, by Geneen Roth. I've heard wonderful things about her. I'm not very far into the book, but it's great so far. I may request some of her other books from the library if I really like it.

I'm also going to the gym as often as I can. Unfortunately, I only have about an hour and a half window in the evenings (after my husband gets home from work and before the kids go to bed), but that should be plenty. It takes me about 45 minutes to do all the weight machines, and those I should only do every other day. The rest is slated for cardio. I also have high hopes to work out at home during the day, but we'll see.. I've never had much luck with that in the past (mainly due to the kids constantly interrupting me).

My goal is to lose 100 lbs in 51 weeks - in time for our next planned vacation to Disney World. I'm pretty excited about this. You may know that Disney World is actually completely friendly to overweight people, but I would love to be able to enjoy our vacation as a much thinner (and fitter) woman.

My other goal is to work on my marriage. We're on the brink of divorce. I've thought a lot about whether I want to write about this here, but I may as well. Without going into too many details, my husband revealed some major issues last summer, basically opening my eyes to the fact that he was not the person I thought he was, and that much of our marriage was also not as I'd thought. After five months of fitful progress and astounding setbacks, we've both recommitted to working on us. We're both working hard and putting our efforts into concrete actions. We've read a lot of books on this subject, some of which I may review here. Most recently, we both read Getting the Love you Want, by Harville Hendrix. It was recommended to us by my individual therapist. The plan is to resume marriage counseling soon and work through the exercises (there is an accompanying workbook, too) together, guided by someone experienced with the method.

Check Out My Etsy Store!

I've finally done it - I now have an Etsy store! I'm listing new items regularly, but there's lots to look at even now.

Here are two of the cute shirts you can find in my store:

Chicken Tortilla Pie

I wish I'd taken a picture of the dinner I made last night. It came out really well, and was a big hit with the boys (my husband and two older sons.. my daughter didn't really care for it). I don't have the amounts, I mostly eye-balled everything, but here's a 'recipe' anyway.

Ingredients:
Shredded Chicken (I used 4 chicken breasts, cooked in a pan w/ some Carribean Jerk sauce)
Fresh Salsa
Black Beans (or black bean dip)
Shredded Cheese (Monterrey Jack or other)
Tortillas

Preheat oven to 450.

On a cookie sheet or similar, place a tortilla (nice big ones if you're cooking for a lot). Spread a good layer of black beans (or dip). Then layer on salsa (I used about 1/3 cup), chicken (about one breast, shredded), and shredded cheese (I went heavy on the cheese, at about a cup). Cover with another tortilla, then layer again with beans, chicken, salsa, and cheese. Rinse, repeat. Do not put a tortilla on the final layer, it should be open.

Bake for about 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and everything is heated through. We cut it like a pie, and it was fantastic. Ours served 6, though 4 of those were children. :)