My Weekly Meal Plan

After my meeting with the nutritionist on Tuesday I decided to make out a detailed meal plan for each week. I already kinda did this but not using the food guide pyramid! So for those of you who are interested, this is my plan for this week. I figure after several weeks I will have so many planned I can rotate them and change new recipes in and out without having to do a two hour planning session every week. But I love doing this....planning meals that is. So here are my 3 meals for 6 days.





Day 1
bagel
apple
coffee
milk

pb&j sandwich
yogurt

Baked Chicken
Broccoli
baked potato
whole wheat roll


Day2
yogurt
cheese toast
coffee
juice

turkey sand
w/lettuce
baked chips
apple

Lima Beans
pasta salad
cornbread
corn
peaches

Day 3
cereal/milk
coffee

healthy choice soup
crackers
apple
yogurt

Pork Tenderloin
green beans
corn
whole wheat rolls



Day 4
bagel/cr. cheese
banana
coffee

turkey sand
w/lettuce
baked chips
apple

Spaghetti
Salad
fruit?


Day5
yogurt
toast w/jelly
banana

Salad
apple
crackers

Hamburger Steak
pinto beans
pasta salad


Day 6
cereal/milk
coffee

Healthy choice soup
Crackers

Roast
Baked potato
Broccoli
Carrots
rolls

Its not perfect but I am trying to stick within the guidelines of the pyramid. I need to add a fruit or dairy here or there.....here are the number of servings I should have each day.

Milk group-3 servings

vegetable group- 3-5 servings

fruit group- 2 servings

meat group- 2 servings

bread group- 6 servings

The good news is that with a balanced diet and exercise (and little medicine for 6 months) I can turn this around! I'll keep you posted on my progress.

News of the Week

This week I got some news that wasn't so pleasant. Let me give some back information. I have not been feeling great for some time now. I have had somewhat high blood pressure, slightly high cholesterol.....things I thought only happen to really old people, not me. So my doctor did some tests, one of which was a fasting glucose screening. Well they called with the results on Friday and told me I have pre-diabetes. From what I can understand, this can be treated with diet and exercise. I have to take a class with a dietitian this week. I love to cook(and eat) so this is gonna be hard for me. I especially love to make desserts. It seems all the things I really love to eat are not good for me to eat. I have a family history of diabetes so I really have to take this seriously. I know things could be much worse....this at least is something that I can work on to reverse. So please pray for me to make good choices. I'll update you on what I learn in my class.....

Cooking and Dancing!

There's nothing like a little Thanksgiving cooking followed by some dancing......We had a great Thanksgiving. Wednesday we went to Mama's and cooked for Thursday. We made cakes, peanut butter balls, casseroles, and dressing. After dinner Thursday night what could have been better than some dancing. Lori and the kids danced and we laughed and watched them. Tracy joined in at the end.....my kids definitly get thier dancing ability from Dave and my sisters, cause I can't dance....not well anyway! It was fun and who knows, it could be our new Thanksgiving tradition....Dancing after Dinner!

Give Thanks

"O give thanks unto the Lord;call upon his name, make known His deeds among the people."
Psalm 105:1

Today I am thankful for so much. This is a small list I have compiled during the month. God has blessed me way beyond anything I could have ever asked. So today I give Him Thanks for who He is and all that he provides.(these are in no particular order:)

God providing my every need and most of my wants.

Our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq

Getting to spend the day with family

Gas for $1.87 a gallon

getting to cook Thanksgiving dinner with my mama

my daddy helping me buy a tire

walks at the park

Ruthie singing happy birthday to me(so sweet)

Lori and Giny babysitting

Having coffee with Dave and walking around Target

having a November birthday(its such a fun time of year to be born:)

hot coffee on a cold day

the sound of the kids singing

firewood

my bible

a few hours by myself

Dave working two jobs so I can be home with the kids

smilebox

piano lessons

good friends

candles that make my house smell sweet

nights when we are all home

Christmas crafts

rainy days at home

Charlie the dog

our little schoolroom

Handwriting Without Tears(Abby is writing in cursive beautifully)

Erin and her silkie

Abby's smile

Samuel's cute face

the time change( I love when it gets dark early)

Starbucks Coffee

a warm, cozy bed

cool weather

Christmas Music(96.5 is already playing it)

Grace Fellowship

the beautiful fall colors.

the Internet

a good nights sleep

my sisters

a sovereign God

Cable News

Saxon Math

freedom

Dave, Abby, Erin, & Samuel

Decking the Swinney Halls

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

sharing the computer

"Are you almost done?"

"I was fixing to get on that"

"Aw its my turn"

"Mama, she knew I was about to get on the computer"

"Mama can you get me on Playhouse Disney?" Samuel

This is a lot of the conversation I hear throughout the day. It seems every time I get on the computer the kids heckle me until I get off. I guess I will have to come up with a schedule for the kids. Dave never has to deal with this because he has a laptop. I really need a laptop. Maybe I should write a note to Santa this year and ask for one. :) I don't mind the kids getting on the computer, but they seem to rearrange things when they are on here. I can't figure out how they got my screen like this. I am a little annoyed. I will have to get Dave down here to fix this problem.

OK enough mindless rambling. We are putting our Christmas tree up today!!! Yay!! The kids are excited. Me too! We will not start until tonight but the kids wanted to do their schoolwork last night so they did not have to go to school today. So we started at 5:00pm and completed today's work by 7:00pm. Then we cleaned their rooms. So today is a free day. Actually the kids are going to school with Dave at 12:30. They love his students. He is working on Christmas music and the kids wanted to go hear the band. So that gives me the afternoon to myself. Not sure what I'll do yet. I am always thankful for a few hour all to myself. Anyway, I'll post pictures of our Christmas decorations later.

The twins

Today Lori and Giny turn 29. I was almost five when they were born and I thought they were my new dolls to play with. I turned five the week after they were born and Tracy was 20 months old when they were born. They were very little weighing only 3 and 4 pounds...I think. Mama did not know she was having twins until she delivered Lori and they told her there was another one....that would be Giny. I can remember Daddy saying "4 girls what am I gonna do." But what would we have done without them? They both are married and have little babies of their own now. Most of their life they have been referred to as "the twins". So Happy Birthday Twins. I love you.