Five Years Later...

Finally! It took over an hour, but I finally found (remembered?) how to post a new entry to my blog!

So, it's been five years since I blogged about anything. Here's a quick review of what's been happening the past five years:

• I've lost and gained the same ten pounds...about a thousand times
• Our twin grandchildren are now 8 years old! How did that happen??
• I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in February 2014
• My dad had heart surgery to replace two valves in June 2015
• Our youngest grandson was born in Ocotber 2015
• After struggling through varying health issues, my mom passed away January 3, 2016. I miss her EVERY. DAY.
• Joe broke his foot (twice) and had surgery (twice) in 2016-17!

These two people, Bill and Katie Studebaker, are why I'm here today.  I wish my mom's health journey had been different. I feel like she still had things she wanted to do and wasn't really ready to leave the people she loves. I believe her various health struggles snowballed and contributed greatly to her death.  Lord knows I sure do love and miss her!! I'm sure she wants me to be healthy, so I've decided to dive into healthy eating with a low carb high fat (good fats!) way of eating, along with getting back on track with exercise. I want to manage my diabetes like a boss! Instead of weighing myself and measuring myself, I plan to gauge my success by my blood sugar levels, the way my clothes fit, and how I feel.

My mom would've turned 77 on Saturday, August 26th. This seems like a great time to start and a way to honor her.  I know it won't be easy and there will certainly be ups and downs, but it's time to get started! 😊

Just for fun, here's some of my motivation. 💙💚💛💜

 

Starting another challenge

I signed up (eight times) for another UGL challenge.  I've been refunded for seven, received some info, and will go by the gym tomorrow night to be weighed and measured.  In anticipation of the next 42 days, I indulged more than I normally would since completing the 30 day challenge.  This weekend I've had cake, mini chocolate xtreme blizzard, french fries (just a few), a few bites of a hamburger bun, pizza, and a sausage egg mcmuffin. I think I'm ready to return to clean eating after all of this!

Today is day 31!

We did it! I am proud of all of us! When we first started I thought there was no way we would keep it up! It wasn't always easy or fun, but we sure learned we don't need all the crap to be satisfied!

Today we celebrate, but tomorrow is back to healthy choices and deciding what foods we may add back into our diets, in moderation!

Good job family! Yay for us!

8 days down, 22 to go

When starting this challenge last Wednesday I didn't really know what to expect.  I have to say that overall it hasn't been as hard as I thought it might be.  Big shout out to the Kucza clan for doing such a great job and helping keep me on track!

Time to update the list of things I've learned!

• 1.  It takes A LOT of time each day to prepare food for this challenge. 
• 2.  Temptation has been easier to resist than I imagined. That doesn't mean it's easy to do, just easier than I expected...so far, anyway.  :-)
• 3. Although we're not supposed to weigh during the 30 days of the challenge, I think it's actually a way to keep myself motivated to continue. Not everyday, but every few days...
• I figured out how to allow comments on here, but having a little trouble with pictures (obviously).  Might be time to call for back up from Mark and/or Jacob?!?

For your viewing pleasure, here are a few pics of our recent trip to Kentucky!

 What is Sarah saying?  "Wanna fight," maybe??



Noah


 



Sarah

 



Pam and Joel



Me

Day 7!

Good morning! Heading into day 7 and ready for a succesful day. Headed to KOA for the kids to swim, and then home to keep tackling laundry & paperwork!

Christmas in July!

 Happy Monday! Tonight we celebrated Christmas in July with our PEO Sisters for a fundraiser. I thought it would be very, very hard to not eat all the yummy appetizers people brought to share. While I wanted to have some, it did not kill me to just have some veggies and fruit! However, the sugar cookies I got as part of the fundraiser (along with the promise of 8 more dozen!) were finally too much to handle. Paula and I shared 1 cookie. It was delicious and I am experiencing a bit of guilt...but not too much! I am proud of how well we have all done for 6 days! The cookies will now be put into the freezer and I will look forward to enjoying  them when the challenge is over!

Sarah is amazing....she smelled the cookies, she thought she would eat 1/4 of a cookie, but after the tiniest of nibbles, she decided no! Sarah Grace, you rock my socks off!!!

I have already taken out chicken to grill at breakfast time, and have our plan for dinner tomorrow. That makes this much easier...to have a plan! I will visit Bismark Gardens tomorrow for more fresh tomatoes, onions, and peaches.

Keep it up family....we are doing great!!!!

Pjk

Day 6!

We are almost done with the first week!!! (yay- that means only 24 more days) But really, it has not been as bad as I was expecting.  Yesterday we grilled out with Paula, Joe, Jacob, and Lindsey.  Everybody says that the first week of these dealios are the hardest and I haven't found it too terrible so I'm excited!  I've decided to start "jogging" at least twice a week plus my two times working out a week... we'll see how this goes. My worst craving so far has been some Sylas and Maddy's yesterday afternoon, because it was Sunday afternoon.

Noah and I are off to swim laps with Paula,
Happy Monday!

Sarah

Day 2 - Things I learned today

1.  A banana and four almonds is not enough for breakfast.
2. Some days of the 30 day challendge will be easier than other days.  This day was harder than yesterday.
3.  I don't like thinking non-stop about what I can/can't eat.
4.  I ate dinner (chicken, veggies, pineapple), but am hungry again...but nothing sounds good.

That's it for today!

Day 1 - Here We Go!

Today is the first day of the challenge and so far, so good!  Breakfast was 2 eggs with ground chicken and veggies, plus some fruit. For lunch I had a banana, some pistachios, and a little fruit smoothie, courtesy of Pam. Looks like dinner will be BLT's, minus the bread, and cantaloupe. 

The countdown is on to Friday, August 10th...the day after the end of the 30 day challenge, also the day I can return to Starbucks for a delicious chai tea latte. I'm excited to see what happens over the next 30 days!

Hello and Welcome!!

I played around with creating a blog about 3 years ago, but didn't seem to have much to say, nor the time/inclination to think up witty things about a normally humdrum existence.  Well, tomorrow I'm embarking on a 30 day challenge of clean eating with Pam, Joel, Sarah, and Noah and thought it might be interesting to keep track of our progress, adjustments to cutting out foods we're accustomed to eating (all sugar, grains, dairy...to name a few) and the various successes and challenges we're sure to encounter along the way.  I've invited Pam, Joel, Sarah, and Noah to be authors on this blog too, so we'll see how this all works out!