2011 Wrapup

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Yes, I know - I'm a little late with my end-of-the-year wrap-up but with the holidays and a couple big projects that seemed to take over most of my December....  Well, you get the idea.

So, let's discuss health first:

I haven't stepped on a scale since ..... oh, early December-ish, I think.  At that time, I was a solid 190.  My goal for this year was to get under 200.  Seems that I blew past that goal!  WOOT!

This means that over the last two years, I've lost 77 lbs (almost 30% of my overall body weight) and around 10 inches around my waist, all without starving myself.  I'm quite happy where my weight is now - all of the charts say I should be around 170 but realistically, I'm not sure I'll ever get down there and still be healthy.

Though I did really well in the weight loss category, I've done really sucky in the "get in shape" area of my life.  Everything was great up until the end of July when I broke my leg/ankle while hiking.  (Yep, my new healthy habit bit me in the butt hard!)  I've been on the sidelines ever since. 

It's been hard to go from "being able to walk 4-6 miles without even the slightest muscle complaint" to "walking to the end of the block and back makes me want to cry".  *sigh*  I keep repeating what the doctor told me right after my accident: 6 months to a year....6 months to a year.  Well, it's almost been 6 months, god damn it!  Get with the program, ankle!

Food Wise:

It seems that I have become the Queen of Soups, Stews, and Gluten-Free Muffins.  With my limited budget (and a major influx of homemade chicken broth), I've been experimenting with soups and stews.  One in particular, my Turkey Meatball Soup, gets rave reviews, even though it's different every time I make it.   (It's becomes my new "clean out the fridge" stew.)  Every time one of my friends is sick, I get a phone call, begging for some of my soup.  They repay me with extra veggies and fruit when they're well, so I can't complain.

Oh, and I discovered over Christmas that my Gluten-Free Pumpkin Oat Muffin recipe is a great all-purpose muffin recipe.  I've replaced the pumpkin with homemade orange sauce, bananas, and homemade apple sauce, and they always end out good!  I made extra batches of orange and pumpkin muffins for Christmas gifts for my gluten-eating and non-gluten-eating friends and everyone loved them.

On other fronts of my life:

Money still sucks.  Budget is as tight as ever.  I've had to investigate some alternatives for bringing food into the house to keep us within our means.  (More about this in a later post...)

Freezer is as full as ever, thanks to some great end-of-the-year turkey and steak sales.  I just wish I didn't have to shovel out the snow every few days. (Yes, it's snowing in the freezer - enough to make a good-sized snowball every few days.  No, it's not fixable.  Yes, the landlord knows - he's waiting for the appliance prices to drop at the end of the month.)

Kids are...well, growing like weeds and are always hungry.  I think 80% of my budget goes into feeding those two.


Car is acting okay now.  My dear sister bought me a code reader that would allow me to reset the computer codes.  No "check engine" light ever since....but I still cross my fingers and say a little prayer ever time I start up SwampThang in the morning.