XYZ . . . the end :)

Food Freedom officially begins in the am (although we have been pretty lax the last week or so)! We were driving home tonight and Shawn said, NEXT time, I would definitely do things different!
Ummm, Shawn. . . .we do a lot of crazy things but we arent repeat offenders :) No Next time my dear!!

Early on we decided in order to enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas, we needed to jam together the final 3 letters of the alphabet! I will be the first to admit, our final day of XY&Z was basically a cheating bust

I ended up having a surprise day off today and spent it with the family running every which way . . .

Breakfast: Zinger (kind of like a donut, right?? haha)
Lunch: Yoshinoa . . .an old time favorite, that isnt really a favorite anymore, but super for Y day
Snacks: Zinger (again), york peppermint patty, and some cookies (sprayed with this awesome Yellow food spray Tab bought me to help me succeed haha)
Dinner. . . .okay so embrass yourself for the FINAL meal of this diet . . .Zouplantation . . . ummm formerly referred to as Souplantation lol . . . yes, we shook hands and cracked the very last day :) Oh well, maybe we WILL try again HA!

Thanks for following us during our crazy month long adventure . . . we hope to find something fun and new to laugh about soon! Merry Christmas to you all friends!!

W . . . onderful Wednesday!!

So W turned out to be an all around WONDERFUL day!! My sissy had her adorable little girl

It was my last day of work for the week

and we got to eat some pretty wonderful items :)

The day started shakey. . . I headed out the door with only a pocketful of werthers - no plans on what would be on todays menu. For some reason I traveled a different way to work and coincidently ended up driving past good ol' Wedekings Bakery - delish!! I picked up a pastry for the office and basically made it my breakfast, snack and lunch :) YUM!

For dinner we conned mom and dad into taking us to their favorite joint . . . the Wagon Wheel
There I endulged in a Wagon Wheel grilled chicken salad and french fries. We often laugh about "the Wheel" but I have to admit, it was pretty dang satisfying tonight.


Shawn, the kids, and I then decided to head to the mall for some last minute items before heading out to look at Christmas lights. We left the mall with an armful of snacks and drinks (although i guarantee we didnt eat or even partake a bite of it all lol)
White hot chocolate
Wetzel Bites (both cinnamon and salted)
Warheads
Wax bottle candy
Wetzel lemonade slushee
and a diet coke lol
I'm really not sure if Shawn serious had intentions of eating all this - she is one crazy sister :)

**and I didnt eat the WWs but I thought it would have been pretty creative (and I was SUPER BORED at work lol)

V . . . ery close to done :)

2 more days, hooray! V was most definitely a sugary day . . .
We had a birthday at work . . . and being the office baker girl, I strategically planned pretty&pink Vanilla cupcakes as the birthday treat :) I forgot to snap a photo. Vanilla cupcakes and vanilla wafers were my healthy morning breakfast. For lunch, Shawn brought the kiddos, and veggie panda bowls to my work. For dinner mom made burritos. . . Shawn and I skipped the meat and consumed delicious Vegetarian burritos (creative, I know). We snacked on some sort of Christmas cookie. They were white . . . Shawn called them vanilla, so I called them legal. Shawna stayed at mom and dads tonight, so to show her what she missed, we rushed out for Vanilla Milkshakes . . . . Love you Shawn :) haha!

U . . . LTIMATE!!!

I would like to tell you to simply refer to Shawn's blog. . . she is home for Christmas vacation and we are basically mirroring each other's every bite!! lol but I suppose I can give you my version of the day. . . . basically, after much effort in preparing for U day last night, I FAILED!! I found myself starring at a bowl of Uncle Bens rice pudding this am and decided NO WAY!! YUCK! The day continued somewhat like this (far from any true diet strategy) . . . order the XL item on the menu and add the word ULTIMATE to the item and ANYTHING becomes legal :)

Ultimate Nachos . . . Ultimate trough of popcorn at the movies . . . Ultimate cheeseburger from Jack n the crack (honestly a true item and where the ULTIMATE idea originated) . . . Ultimate Shamrock-Kelly-Santa-Green-purple-4th of July-MUDPIE . . . . Just ultimate size it :) Oh yeah . . . .we also had Upside down cake! Obviously we are SO DONE but only 3 more days, why give in now?? Be prepared, we will continue to amaze you with our creative cheating ways! Happy Monday before Christmas friends and Happy my sister is in the hospital ready to have a baby day:)

Really Super Tardy

We had a Christmas Party weekend filled with family, friends and lots of food options :)With a little pre party planning, we were able to partake in some festive celebrating!!
Friday was R day . . . RRaisin Bagel and Rainbow chip cookies during my really, super lousy work day
I was kept in good spirits knowing I got to spend my evening with some fabulous friends.
After a somewhat Long and traffic-filled drive up north (and some appetizers on the road) we made it and had a lovely time. My friends are the best and all came with me in mind - they boys even claimed they were drinking some sort of R beer in my honor - I think they may have been lying but I'll take it anyways :)
Dinner was fabulous (although I missed out on Kristen's Enchiladas)! Restaurant Style Tortilla chips with Refried Bean Dip (aka 7 layer dip), Romaine lettuce Salad - mexican style with mangos/black beans/tomatoes/cheese/cilantro dressing, Rice, and topped off the day with a Red sugar cookie (yes, a stretch I know) and a rainbow chip brownie :)
Muchos Gracias AmigosSaturday was S day . . .
my morning and early afternoon was 100% sugar cookie galore . . . In case youre not aware, I make the bestest sugar cookies and have missed the last couple of batches during this holiday season. Yup, ringing my bell again lol
We then again headed to a Christmas Celebration with our extended family. We had a lovely time and I luckily was able to partake in much of the dinner. . . . If you would like Shawna's bitter take on my Christmas party experience - head on over to her blog :) lol Love you Shawna!!Christmas Party Dinner. . .
Salad, SMELLY Swiss Cheese (YUCK), Smashed Spuds, Sandwich of cracker and cheese, Stuffing, Shammrock Santa Kelly Green mudpie . . . yeah, yeah, shutup :) After the party we headed out for the famous "last saturday before Christmas shopping experience." It was amazing :) While shopping, we stumbled across the food court, and for the last 19 days, my heart has been dreaming of Sweet Fire Chicken from Panda Express . . .with intentions of just having a "snack," I suddenly found my plate quite full (who knew so many of my favorite panda items start with "S")
Dinner #2 was served . . .
Streamed rice, String bean chicken, and my FAVORITE, Sweet fire chicken
Overall Saturday was an extremely SPLENDID day

Today was T day . . .
It rained all day today but was a good family day. We went to church, played some games (which I of course won haha), and got to attend a special caroling activity for a family friend struggling with her fight with cancer. Although sad, it was a pretty amazing experience. Picture the movie Pay It Forward. Hundreds of friends, gathered in the rain, in her front yard to sing Christmas Carols. One, it makes me feel so lucky to have the health and happiness of my family during this holiday time and lucky to be welcoming a new baby into our family within the next couple of days and two, what an example! Rita is obviously a special personal and an example of one who have touched many. I hope to leave an impact on all those I come across.

sappy, sappy. . . back to the eating aspect of this blog :) For breakfast/lunch/snack: Taco, Tostada, Toffee, and Toast
For dinner, mom and dad cooked a T friendly Sunday dinner (they may totally make fun of us, but they are also very supportive lol) . . . teriaki chicken, tater tots, and texas toast
tata til tomorrow . . . the end is near phew!!

Q . . . . quite surprised

Yesterday I certainly thought I would be STARVING today. Lucky for me, that was not the case!

Breakfast
egg Quesadilla

Lunch
Quiznos

Snack
Spicy Jack Quesadilla

Dinner
Quaker Granola

Dessert . . . if you call it that lol . . . .
Queso Fresco (my favorite Mexican cheese :)


. . . think I will be skipping the cheese for the next couple days

P . . . .perfecto :)

I'm with Shawn . . . if I had to choose one letter to eat forever, P is definitely in the running! Lots of possibilities for sure :)
Mini apple PIE for Breakfast
Peanut Butter crackers and Potato chips for snack (dang snack bin)
Potato for lunch
then discovered a giant bag of holiday Peanut M&M in the stamp drawer at work (grrrr) . . .no worries, I shared :)
Personal Pizza and Pinto beans with cheese for dinner (yeah, random I know)

Happy P day and Happy Happy Birthday to my Pops! Love you :)

O . . . . oh BOY! (cheesy I know)

I thought for sure O was going to be horrible!, but it turned out to be a pretty spectacular day (well the food aspect, the social part of my day was CRAP) . . . .anyways, I am doubting shedding those 12 pounds lol
Maybe it wont seem like as much if I just list it out. . . .

Breakfast: Omelette (made by my dearest mother) and orange juice
Snack: Oatmeal cookies with craisins &
"O" shaped lifesaver candy, candy cane flavored . . . come on, I had bad breath
Lunch: oatmeal
Snacks (yes, again): Orange from my very own tree
Dinner: Orange chicken
and my very favorite, DESSERT. . . . Oreo icecream sundaes, YUM!



Think it gets great from here on out

N . . . not too shabby

Sorry, sorry . . . late again! I had a late baseball game last night and when I got home I still had all my around the house stuff to get done! I didnt grab breakfast on N morning and was pleasantly surprised the "snack bin" at work had more than 1 options . . .i couldnt resist and chose 2 . . .

Natures Valley granola bar
&
Nacho Cheese Doritos

Followed by a pretty satisfying lunch. . . :)
Noodles

On Mondays I pick Cayd up after school and bring him to work with me for a couple hours and each Monday I stop and get him a Mcflurry from McDonlds (shhhh, dont tell Aubs). On this particular day, we opted for a Neapolitian Milkshake from In-N-Out (so I could have a few sips of course)
In the evening, we celebrated dads birthday (a few days early) Fillipis Pizza was on the menu (and by the way . . . he is the greatest dad) so we added Albertos super NACHOS to the table - delish!!
heres also a pict of the yummy looking chocolate football Cayd got for grandpas birthday . . . .sadly, It wasnt consumed :) haha

Now when we started this challenge, now 14 days ago, I did an initial weigh in. Happy to report 8 pounds have indeed been shed. I have been carrying 10 pounds that I knew should be easy to lose - so the test is to see if the final 12 come off just as easily - kind of looking forward to seeing how this whole challenge pans out!

L . . .azy & M . . . erry

yeah, yeah I am a day late with this one (and no Shawn, I didnt lose) . . . yesterday was jammed packed with events and I was busy, busy, busy!! The post however says LAZY . . . it was L day and I am realizing, if you are LAZY AKA unprepared, you pretty much just dont eat. Yesterday I consumed a Lettuce salad (yup - there is that salad again) and a bowl of life cereal, both during the 11 am hour, and that was it! I was very proud when I whipped out 6 dozen sugar cookies and didnt eat a single piece of dough :) We attended the church Christmas party in the evening (where dad played a superb Santa). . . I had planned on again eating lettuce salad but got caught up serving and such, and by the time we got a chance to eat - only the mystery Lettuce salads remained ( I am a weee crazy and like to know where and by whom my food was prepared before I dare put it in my mouth) . . . So, I ended up going hungry

AND hungry I was when I woke up on M morning :) I whipped up a batch of macaroni for 7 am breakfast - it was honestly weird! I found a stick of mild cheese for lunch and for dinner prepared meat and mashed potatoes. Neither of which I really enjoy, but seriously hot food has been lacking from my life :) I have skipped on the dessert lately, but today I was tempted by the milk chocolate mini candy bars in the freezer, and one of those sugar cookies I skipped on yesterday, became decorated as a "Merry Christmas" cookie today :) and probably tops the best thing I have eaten in days!

N . . . O . . . P coming on up :)

K . . . Kellogs special K

The End :BLAH:

. . . REVISE THAT . . . .

So this evening I was headed to a friends house for pizza, movie, and gossip night, and with no intentions of eating, finished my post before I left. Between my busy, hectic day (Aubrey's Student of the month assembly, a little work, and a marble painting art lesson with 25 eight-year-olds) and my nervous induced upset stomach, I downed a bowl of Kellogs Special K cereal sometime midmorning.



When first invited to the friends, the text went something like this . . . .
Friend: Pizza and Salad okay??
Me: (I quickly did the alphabet thing in my head and counted up the days. . . . K - dang!) Ummm, kind of on this weird diet, I will bring myself something to eat.
Friend: Oh no worries, I'm up for something different - what can you eat
Me: ummmm . . . .anything that starts with the letter K lol
Friend: ummm. . . . okay, pizza and salad it is :)

So I intended on grabbing something on the way but a few random things have been bothering me and havent really been hungry. So jump ahead to the dinner party of our fun night. . . . I emphasized I was fine, and sat around the table with everyone. I had semi-explained the whole diet thing and our "justification" rules, and after a sudden creative idea from an awesome, and creative friend, I found a piece of pizza, carved into the letter K infront of me :) How could I possibly fight with that?

Dessert was suggested in a similar manner, and although I declined, we thought it would be fun to create! The kids thought it was beyond cool. Looks like 2 mommas need to get out more often :)

J . . . just a little late

Ummm . . . totally forgot tonights post, yikes . . . but sadly wont take long to tell you todays menu.
I was running a bit late this am and my lovely sister, whom I love dearly - and who also happens to be my competition lol, text me the words Jamba Juice! One of my old time favorites. I stopped on the way to work and got both breakfast and lunch. On the way home from work, I walked the aisles of Target and came out with only Jif Penut Butter ( I, myself thought it pretty creative lol). Finally made it home around 730 (after a later stop for bread) and consumed a "Jif and Jelly Sandwich" for dinner AKA PB&J - all about the creativity, right! My mind is already asleep, and my contacts are out, so I am leaving the lame last sentence to your choosing tonight :)

I . . . ♥ variety! haha

So today was I day . . .Ice cream and Icing were in my mind, but never made it to my table :) Stopped by the grocery store on my way to work and seriously walked up and down the isles . . . failure :) At this point, it was way tooooo cold to venture down the freezer section and buy frozen dessert for breakfast.

Instant Oatmeal and a bag of iceberg lettuce (with italian dressing) made it to the checkout! Breakfast (check), lunch (check)


Now if you recall, we were supposed to go to Dave and Busters but our date canceled and I decided
on a more "I" friendly restaurant . . . IHOP :)

IHOP signature double blueberry pancakes and Iceberg lettuce salad were happily consumed for dinner :) I love salad and if you have noticed, have snuck it into many meals. . . .an we havent even got to S yet!

Just bring on J

H . . . . there was hope

I am suddenly feeling extremely whiny posting this week. This challenge requires lots of preparation and unfortunately, prepared was something I was not today :(

Breakfast breakfast, whats for breakfast???
I decided at work this am, as I was dumping HOT chocolate down the drain, I guess I really dont like the stuff. I LOVE the melted marshmallows on the top, so once they are gone, I am pretty much done. Breakfast was thus a flop!

Lunch
The work morning was busy busy busy and I was thankful for the Hershey Kisses on the reception desk and for the Janitor's Holiday Cookie Tin :) Hershey Kisses (Candy Cane flavor) and Holiday Cookies completed lunch . . . it was quite festive if you ask me

Dinner?
Hotdogs or Hamburgers were the obvious choice. . . Hotdogs won Cayd's Heart! We went to Auntie Molly's favorite hotdog joint and I got a ketchup dog (with a pretzel bun of course) . . .Lucky for our little puppy, I'm not a huge hotdog fan . . . he ate most the weenie, and I ate the ketchup filled bun :) Delish! (or not)

And the evenings grand finale . . .
I bought Holiday Red Chocolate milk a couple days ago and have been anxiously waiting to taste it. If I can get my house to be a decently warm temp, I am planning on making some holiday milkshakes for dessert :) - - - - - - - - - - - - - >
ended up being the best part of my crabby day :)

I cant wait for I day (insert sarcastic laugh here) . . . .we are going to Dave and Busters with friends for dinner and fun . . . I cant wait to see a menu full of Iceberg lettuce . . . Goodnight friends :)

G . . . green and grilled

I didnt love G day, AND it's Monday . . . splendid combination :)

Granola for breakfast (also served as cereal on C day)
Green apple lifesaver x 2 :) for midmorning snack
Grilled chicken something or another lean cuisine for lunch
Green machine naked juice for afternoon snack
Grilled chicken and Grilled Green pepper for dinner

Hip-Hip-Hooray for morning HOT cocoa, its cold out!!

F . . .fun with food

Coincidently F fell on Fast sunday - weird? I thought so - but I am the one suddenly consumed with thinking in "letters" lol
After lunch, fasting was finished and food filled the belly :)


French bread toasted with Fruity jelly
French toast
Fettucini
French Fries
and something sweet of course . . .
Frosted, funfetti fudge brownies
**add frosted flakes to that :)


Lucky for you, I dont have any fun stories to accompany eating today :( Goodnight guys, gotta get G going!

E . . . Everything Edible??

Even if I stocked food in my house on a regular basis, E was a hard grab and run letter . . .We rushed out of the door (empty handed) this am to pick up sissy and some friends and head over to a local retirement community to carol with a bunch of church kids. I was starving when we made it home at 11 and shared the last 3 eggs in the house with my Cayden. We then spent the afternoon at Chuck E Cheese with some friends. I intended on stopping at the store and picking something snacky up but we were running late so I arrived at the pizza joint empty handed :( The only option in the salad bar . . . eggs, and those weird mini ears of corn (which I dont like, and didnt eat, but put on the plate for the pict haha) . . .

scrambled EGGS for breakfast
dice, hard boiled EGGS for lunch
:BLAH:

Dinner time rolled around, and with enchiladas on the mind, we ended up at one of our favorite mexican joints. The especial of the day. . . ensalada . . . .so most places would simple refer to this as SALAD, but being in a Mexican restaraunte - Ensalada de pollo does the trick :) and 2 cheese enchiladas please haha! The enchiladas were muy delicioso and the salad looked good but the dressing was YUCK and thus ruined the ensalada! Oh well! We ended our night with eggnog milkshakes. Now I am not a fan of eggnog but add it to ice cream and is is divine :)

Excitement fills me as E day comes to an END

D . . . Done for the Day

Holy cow I think this diet is totally backfiring on my waistline . . .I expected this to be a pretty low cal day because think about it, there isnt a whole lot of "real food" that starts with the letter D . . . ummm, but somehow I managed and have the FULLEST stomach ever! I think I may even be embarrassed to post what was consumed. . . it was Friday, a day of celebration, right? ha - oh well . . . enjoy the confession

GIANT Donut for Breakfast
. . . this actually comes with a story
So this am i told the kids we had to leave 10 minutes early so we could stop and get donuts before school. In the end, Aubs decided she didnt want one, and between the announcement and the the 3 minutes it took Cayd to get dressed, he forgot and made himself oatmeal for breakfast (probably a better choice anyways) and thus decided to trade in his morning donut for an after school slurpee- deal! So I dropped the kids off, and stopped at 711 to get gas, which is strangely also my favorite "donut shop." 7:30 am and the kind I like where already gone :( So, I decided to hit up a real donut shop and pick up a dozen for the office. . . . I quickly came to a conclusion. . . Friday is a horrible day to buy donuts. . . .the donut shop had 3 unfrosted, dry looking cake donuts and 2 giant chocolate covered glazed things - guess I wont be getting donuts for the entire office! I grabbed the 2 chocolate things and left (leaving the gross looking cake things) and the woman locked and closed the store behind me. It wasnt even freakin 8 am!! I was stunned. I guess thats a good thing I didnt know donuts are a SUPER early morning thing. Anyways. . . I had a giant chocolate donut for breakfast and gave the other one to a favorite coworker friend :)

Lunch day with my middle schooler makes me smile :) . . .Deli Sandwich & a handful of Doritos

Picked Cayd up from school and got him that promised slurpee . . . .SCORE, Dr. Pepper slurpee fits today perfectly and grrrrr, this 711 has my favorite donut in stock . . . . add Dr. Pepper slurpee AND donut #2 to the consumption list :(

Aubs went to a friends for the night, leaving me and Cayd for dinner. . . our options a Double-Double from in-n-Out or a Del Classic burrito from Del Taco . . . Cayd chose In-n-out and therefore, I consumed my first (and last) double double!

ummm, mom . . . you forgot to order me a shake! Ay yi yi child, youre killing me . . .Dairy Queen Dip Cones topped off our night. There you have it, the entire list! Please, please, please do not add up the calories.
Eeeeek, I think E might be a fasting day :)