Learning To Lose It

Homemade Fajitas

2012-01-10T20:15:00.001-06:00

New Year's resolutions are sosme of the hardest resolutions to follow. I've known this all of my life, hence why I am still overweight. However, I figured that smaller goals would be more attainable. Well, they are almost just as difficult. This weekend my DH and I had a discussion about how I am really good at starting things, but terrible at finishing them. I agreed. This is not something I am proud of, but it is the truth. I set three goals for this week and I pretty much failed at all three of them. I didn't have my shake for lunch, I spent money, and I ran to the store to buy food for dinner. I guess the third one wasn't necessarily mean I failed at the goal completely, but I could have made dinner without having to run to the store. In my defense, it was a rough day and uncharacteristic for me to crave fajitas, but I did. So I ran to the store and purchased the necessary items. Unfortunately, I do not have a cast iron skillet, nor could I use one if I did. I have a glass top stove and it would shatter. Here is the recipe of sorts:1 ONION1 BELL PEPPER1 TOMATOTHINLY SLICED STEAKFAJITA SEASONINGSOUR CREAMCHEESESALSA REFRIED BEANSGet the skillet hot. Thinly slice the vegetables and the steak of your choice. When the skillet is hot enough, and I mean white hot, add some oil to the skillet and throw in the vegetables. Let the vegetables cook and begin to caramelize and then add salt. The salt will draw out the liquid and caramize more. Once the veggies have reached the desired level of softness, add the steak. Add salt, fajita seasoning and pepper. Season to taste. I also like to add garlic powder to the mix as well. Warm up your tortilla, add your extras, put in the meat and veggies and enjoy! Super simple. Next time I will try to take pictures.

Day One

2012-01-09T19:44:00.001-06:00

So today was the beginning of a few first attempts for me. The first one was trying to drink two shakes today and that was it until dinner. The second was to not spend a penny today. The third was to fix dinner with just the items I had on hand.So I admit, I bought a ton of weight loss shakes in order to try and lose weight. The only reason I did that was because I had a buy one, get one free coupon. My mistake was trying to go all day on just those two shakes. By the end of the day I was starving. So I ended up scouring my purse for loose change and found enough money to buy some crackers and a pepsi. In one fell swoop, I undid my first two goals for the day. My third goal was to fix dinner with just the items I had on hand. I can say that I did this successfully, although I do admit I tried to talk DH into going to the store and buying sour cream. I LOVE sour cream. But, alas, I failed and he did not go the store. For dinner I made chicken breast covered with cream of mushroom and roasted garlic. I laid down a bed of onions first. I also made scalloped potatoes with cream of broccoli and cheese. SUCCESS!!! I had purchased the soups with coupons and got the chicken at a markdown price. The only thing I paid full price for was the onions, but since I buy bags of onions, it isn't too bad. Yay me!Summary:Weight loss goal: failSaving money: somewhat successfulEat at home: success

2012-01-08T19:39:00.001-06:00

Nobody gets into debt by accident. It all starts with a choice. And then another and another. Eventually you have spent more than you earn and snowballs down from there.My husband and I have been married for over six years. I came into our marriage with debt. He did not. It wasn't much, but I did have one credit card because I felt like that was the best way to establish credit. I do not regret the decision to get a card; I just wish that I had been smarter about it. Fast forward a few years and we both graduate with our bachelor's degrees and student loans. So now we have credit card debt, student loans, car loans and a mortgage. Sounds like the american dream, right?A couple of years ago we went through Dave Ramsey's financial peace university. It really was the best idea and I'm glad that we did it. We did go to the envelope system . . . mostly. Unfortunately we still use our debit card, so that means we don't zero out the checking account. This is one of the first things we are going to change.So here we are, the beginning of 2012. Yes, we've both said that we are going to lose weight. Realistically, we also resolved to take a large chunk out of our debt. I am going to journal our journey on here and hopefully by December of 2012 I can proudly say that we have gotten rid of our credit card debt and are working towards getting rid of our student loans. HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! As Dave Ramsey says, "Live like no one else so that later you can live like no one else."