100 THINGS I LOVE (and am Thankful for...)!!

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

Thunderstorms⛈
🛏Getting into bed at night
When my mom comes to visit
Snow (but not driving in it!)❆
Nights out with my hubby
🍝Any Italian food
Fire in a fireplace🔥
My car!!
Bleeding Heart flowers
The smell and sound of rain
Overnight Oats
🐶Puppies
Bread and butter
The color purple (the actual color, not the book; although that was good too)
Getting a magazine in the mail
Owls
Banana Bread
Soft Green grass
Quiet
The Walking Dead
Facebook
Weekends and days off
"Pirates of the Caribbean"
Seeing Plays and Musicals
Laughing until I cry and my belly is sore!!
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
"The Seeker"
New Orleans
Pentatonix (music group)
Candles and candlelight🕯
Carrot Cake
"Harry Potter"
Air conditioning
Russos subs (restaurant in South Florida)
🎶Music
Books 📚
Reading those books
Chocolate
Cute Animal Videos
Halloween
Baskin Robbins Pralines and Cream ice cream
Massages
Going out for breakfast
Computers🖳
Mashed Potatoes
The color green (and I mean ANY green; well, maybe not fluorescent)
Bookstores
Sushi🍣
Napa Valley
Maxi skirts
NCIS (the original)
"Pitch Perfect"
🎄Christmas
Christmas Music
Laying in bed listening to the thunderstorm from #1
Elephants🐘
Ranunculus Flowers
Writing
Mac and cheese
Disney
Instagram
Cheesecake
💅Nail polish
The Phantom of the Opera
Vietnamese food
The sound of the waves on the shore
Pizza🍕
Red Hair
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches
Getting ANY mail (as long as its not a bill)
Purses
Lists
Eeyore
Being a Supervisor
Caramel
Stationary (but who sends letters anymore?)
Libraries
Brownies
Magick
Chick fil a
Really good chocolate ice cream
🌚Moonlight
Naps
Hot tubs
The sound of a babbling brook
Hugs
Pinterest
🍓Strawberries
Coffee with cream
Coffee Mugs to drink that coffee out of 😊
Jimmy Johns subs
Emojis (obviously!!!!😍)
Wicked
Nora Roberts aka JD Robb
Eating pretty much any food!
All the dogs I have had and known
My friends
My family
My husband
ME (my life, my body, my soul, my dreams and thoughts)

A reminder from my friend Jamie!! She shared this on Facebook and it was a great reminder.

Dutch - Its been 3 months

Its been about three months since my puppy, Dutch, passed away (well, not a puppy, but you know...) I miss him but it is getting better. I don't constantly think about him anymore. I am not in tears, as much. Our other dog is still getting spoiled (extra treats, getting on the bed), but I am not as stressed that something is going to happen to him.

Last night, Dutch came to visit me in my dreams. It has been a rough couple months. I have been stressed at work, stressed at home (just life in general) and then, to top it all off, the election was yesterday. It did not go at all how I would have liked. I was so stressed last night. When I went to bed, I was so worried about what our lives would become, what our COUNTRY would become.

Then, in the middle of the dream, I turned around and there he was. There was no one else in the dream that I recognized. I was not at home, my other dog was not there, it was just one of those random dreams. But Dutch was there. I went to him and was petting and loving him. He looked at me and disappeared. I think he knew that I was stressed, so came to help. I woke up and actually felt better. I could breathe.

I miss him, but it is getting better.

Meal Prep Sunday - 8/14/2016

Meal Prep Sunday

Downsizing Me Log - 5/8/2016 (Mommy's Day)

Date - 5/8/2016

Comments - Its Mother's Day.

I miss my mommy. She is 8 hours away (by car) and I sent her an gift card for Southwest so that she can come back to Las Vegas and visit. I am still thinking about my food and body stuff and having an off day. Went to breakfast this morning (normal breakfasty stuff). Then had some chips and olives and tomatoes. Just had some butter toast (it sucked, hard as a rock and VERY disappointing). Not sure what I will have for dinner.

Back on Nutrisystem tomorrow. Gonna try the higher calorie count plan that I lost so well on last year. 1500 calorie plan which is actually a range of 1500 to 1799 calories. More food, a little more options with powerfuels (PF - protein) and smartcarbs (SC - carbohydrates). (4 powerfuels a day and 3 smartcarbs as opposed to 3 and 2). My day will look something like this, sometimes with the PFs and SCs moved around:

• Breakfast - Nutrisystem Entree and PF
• AM snack - PF and SC
• Lunch - Nutrisystem Entree
• PM snack - PF and SC
• Dinner - Nutrisystem Entree and PF and SC
• Late Snack - Nutrisystem Dessert

Well, we'll see how it goes... Either way, we have so much Nutrisystem food that I have to give it a couple more months... I want to be healthy, not skinny, not even slim or thin, just healthy...

Also, I and my household are going through some stuff. More tests for me, have to watch my doggies since the legs don't work issue (no other issues, however, one of my dogs has a belly full of little rocks, seems like a silly thing to eat to me, but, hey... DOG). Just having to take it day by day, actually hour by hour at this point.

TOMORROW IS A NEW DAY! LET US SEE WHAT IT BRINGS...

I'm BAAAACCCCKKKKK!!!

So, I have been out of touch… for a while… a long while.

But I am back, from outer space… No, that’s not right.

I am back from Florida. Last week I went to Florida because my cousin was getting married. For WEEKS before that, I was trying to eat right, I really was… but it just was not happening. Nutrisystem for breakfast and lunch, but then pizza, hamburger and fried chicken for dinner…

No More!!!

Starting Monday, 4/18/2016, hubby and I have made a pact. We will be eating right, joining the gym again and this time, we plan to stick to it! We Have To!

Okay, enough excuses and promises… lets talk about Florida.

I grew up in South Florida, and moved to Nevada about 12 years ago after going through 3 hurricanes in a month. We went back a couple of months after moving for my cousin’s daughter’s birthday. My hubby and I went back in 2010 for my best friend’s father’s memorial. (Hubby got pneumonia while there) So now, 6 years later, I went back to Florida for my cousin’s wedding.

It was beautiful. The weather was perfect, cool and breezy, not too hot. There were a few raindrops to be seen, but not a lot. We stayed at a cute little hotel on the water, Jupiter Waterfront Inn, for a couple of nights.

Jupiter Waterfront Inn

The wedding was at a beautiful venue, Old Fish House in Jupiter, Florida. The wedding was beautiful. The ceremony was perfect and we were visited by two bright orange butterflies in the middle of the vows (the spirits of my grandparents, I believe).

photo credit:917e blaze of orange via photopin (license) 

Visited all my old haunts, the condo I grew up in, my aunt and uncle’s house from later. We saw my grandparents’ mobile home and my best friend’s house (she no longer lives in Florida, moved away a couple of years ago). My high school has changed a lot. My favorite restaurant, Russo's Sub Shop, has not. Still so good.

Russo's Sub from http://russossubs.com/home/photos

All in all, it was a great trip… did I mention I don’t fly well…

I haven't been on an airplane in 6 years, I do not like it, I would rather drive. When I visit my mom, I drive 8 hours instead of flying for 1 hour... I know, I know...Stupid, right?!? I actually made my mom come get me for this trip, she came to Vegas a day early so that we could fly together to Florida. She is the flying expert with all the traveling and visiting she does. Every time the plane did any kind of, well, anything, I looked ay my mom so she could tell me it was okay. I know, I'm a baby...

5 days in Florida, spent some time with my family, my cousins all have children who are growing way too fast. I miss them and really need to make more of an effort to keep in touch. They are really the only family I have as I am an only child and don't really have any other connection. 

So, here I am, home again and really need to get back to me and my health. We are going back to Nutrisystem, hardcore, starting Monday. I will keep you updated and will start the food posts again, it seemed to help me and gave others some ideas about what to do with the food. 

Stick around for a while to see our transformation with Nutrisystem...

New Year - New Me - New Blog Direction

Hi there! I am taking a little break from, well, everything over the next couple of weeks (well, 11 days, more or less)...

I have decided to change up the blog a little so I will just say this now...

HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to the new Plus Size to Downsized!!!

Well, it won't really be new. Its just a new direction. I will still be looking at my weight loss and downsizing me and my life, but I will also be looking at more about my life in general. I am sure that my like will take some interesting twists and turns, it ALWAYS does!!

I will have some new features... and keep some of the old ones... 

I will still be doing the Downsizing Me Log, but it will be on Saturday

I will still be doing the Monday - Listless No More weekly feature (most of the time)

I will be doing a 52 Week Gratitude Journal...not sure what day that will be on!

One of the new features will be the Oracle of the Week... I have several sets of Oracle Cards and will pick one every week to indicate where the week (may) take me.  

I am not really sure what direction this will take, but stay tuned and we will find out together!!!

My Dream Home if Money and Employment Were Not a Factor (Like when I win the Lotto)

When I was younger, I wanted to be an architect. I had a folder that I had a bunch of graph paper in and I would design my dream home. It was always a large box with square rooms. Now that I am older, I love looking at house plans and thinking about what would be in my ideal home. All the options and those cool little accents that I see on Pinterest (oh, Pinterest, how I love you). Right now, my ideal home would be two stories (most likely) with 3 distinct, separate living areas. My husband and I would be upstairs, maybe with a few extra bedrooms for any future children or guests. The downstairs would have to have 2 distinct living (bedroom) areas, one for hubby’s dad who currently lives with us and one for my mom, who most likely will live with us in the future (especially if any of those “future children” show up!!!). This is VERY difficult to find. Most of the houses that we have seen have 1 bedroom downstairs, and it is usually about the size of a closet. Some of the higher end homes that we have looked at have the option, but they are expensive!!!

I would love to actually design and build my own dream home.

Nominated for the Newbie Blogging Liebster Award!!

I’ve been nominated for the Newbie Blogging Liebster Award! I am very honored for this opportunity. I want to give thanks to Rosita Carobelli from All In Place Blog for nominating me!

The Liebster award is a way of connecting with bloggers in the internet world …. and bringing new bloggers together! It is for bloggers that have less than 200 followers.

How does it work? Well, the person who nominates you will pose questions for you to answer …. and in turn, you will then nominate newbie bloggers and pose similar or different questions to them.

So let’s get started! Let me start off by answering Rosita's questions:

1. Why did you start blogging? - I am going through a weight loss journey and wanted to document this. I started my weight loss journey in January 2015, although I have always been a big girl and wanting to lose weight.