Jack-O-Lantern Fun

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

My daughter came home to spend the night this weekend. I think she knew I’d have her some Halloween treats waiting for her. Ever since she out grew trick or treating, I make her a treat basket. 

Before she came, I wanted to have a pumpkin to carve. The past couple years, we have painted little pie pumpkins for Halloween but I decided to have the fun of carving one. I waited last minute to find one. I did not know stores ran out of pumpkins but I went to two Walmarts and a Food lion looking for one. No luck. 

On the way home I asked Nick to stop by another Food lion on the way home. “If they do not have any pumpkins, we will just not do one”. I said.

He pulled up to the door so I could jump out and run inside. When the sliding doors opened I saw the best looking pumpkin sitting on the floor like it was was waiting on me. I was so excited, I snapped a photo before snatching it up and taking it to the register. 

Before my daughter arrived, I went ahead and cleaned out the insides and prepared the seeds for roasting. I knew it would be late when she comes in and I wanted to have it ready to carve. She was so excited when she came throught the door and saw ole Jack O waiting on her. We could have printed out a cool stencil to use and got realy creative but we decided to go with the traditional Jack O lantern face. 

Well, Sort of. 

I let her do all the carving this time. Nick got nervous when he saw her cutting with a knife. Me and her are both left handed so it freaks right handed people out when they see us use a knife. He left the room. His nerves could not handle it. 

I stood watching as she carefully brought the pumpkin to life. She played around with it then said, “It’s throwing up”.

 

We did not let him stay sick. We added some battery tea lights to make him presentable at night. 

Meanwhile, we snacked on some candy corn and peanuts to add to the fun.

Do you carve a pumpkin or paint one? 

I’d love to hear how you create pumpkin fun during Halloween. 

What is Your Why?

We all make goals for ourselves. For me it was to lose 30 pounds. I went above that goal and lost 50. I did this with *Nutrisystem. I'm not going into my whole speech about how great this diet works or how good it makes me feel. You can simply find that information on one of the page tabs at the top of my blog.

I'm posting today about one of the struggle most dieters go through. I am guilty too. 

I have not fallen off the diet, but those pieces of moms cakes have started getting bigger on my plate.
My hula hoop routines have turned into arm workouts using the recliner handle.
My three mile walks have turned into half miles walks around the grocery store.
You get it? Need I say more? Ok ill say it......I put on an extra eight pounds that I do not want.
My pants have started getting snug, my energy level is low and I am feeling that low self esteem creeping up on me.

It's hard. I work alone in a tiny office eight hours a day. I do not get a lot of motivation to do anything for myself. I simply do not have extra money to join a gym or hire a fitness trainer. It's easy to get depressed, to envy others and just loose all hope of ever bettering myself.

I have to ask myself "what is my why?' I had a reason for dieting in the first place. There was a “why” I made that choice. For me, it was to be able to wear those cute outfits again, to get my energy back and to have a healthier lifestyle. I put a lot of work into getting there so why would I want to just let it go?

So, I refuse to let cake and recliners win. I'm grabbing the bull by the horns and plan to push myself harder to get that extra eight lbs off. I love that I have Nutrisystem foods stocked up and my Nutrisystem friends are always there to motivate me. 

Dieting is a life style change. I compare it to a drinkaholic. You simply can not give into what destroys you. You have to stay away from the temptations (that's why I have not had a Krispy Kreme doughnut since Jan 2015). You have to always fight to stay on track. We have to push ourselves to be better and not fall back into bad habits. Only we can make this decision. 

So if your trying to reach a goal and feel like giving up, put your hat back on on remember why you started in the first place. 

*Expect to lose 1-2 lbs on Nutrisystem