I’ve been so busy I barely realized it was the first day of July (my favorite month - lol).  10 days to my birthday. I’m about 1/3 of the way through the cookbook but I’m still shooting for 2 recipes a day so it’s going fast. I slacked off a bit this past weekend though. I’ve been making a little calendar so I can keep track of what I’m making when. I can’t wait to get this cookbook out already!

I took a day off from writing my cookbook. I’ve been cranking out 2 recipes a day but I had to work late today so I only had the energy to make leftovers. I successfully avoided the Taco Bell which was calling my name though! I’ve been eating so good, I just have to keep up with it - it’s pool season for goodness sakes! I’ve got lots of things in the works so I’m psyched about that!

Here’s a thought for the day: I never knew how to really take care of my pools. That was always handled by my ex. It’s been a struggle to figure it all out but this week it finally all clicked! Now I feel like a pro. Losing weight is the same way. In the beginning, it’s hard. You don’t know what you are doing, you don’t have the routine down, but after awhile it just clicks and you’re on autopilot! So, hang in there!

It’s officially two weeks to my birthday! Woo hoo!

I did 4 recipes today - whew! I reformatted the layout of the cookbook a little. I’m so excited! Although, I misread my handwriting and ended up putting in 4 times the amount of Splenda that I should have so I’ll have to retest that one again. It was still edible but way too sweet for me! It’s weird for me because I’m used to making one recipe and eating that for several days but with all this cooking, I’m eating something new every meal!

I’m paranoid about ticks! My dad was just diagnosed with Lyme disease and then today, I saw a tick on Chiquita. It hadn’t attached so I was able to flick it off her, but then she got the flea and tick treatment and has been miserable all day. She hates it! She’s been sulking around ever since I put it on her.

Now I’m going to relax!

I really feel like everything is just working with respect to my eating. I am eating super good - real food! I came home today and made a quiche, then some chicken (a double oven would have come in handy LOL). I didn’t get done cooking and eating until 6:30 which is late for me, but all this cooking is helping me stay prepared. My lunches are all made the night before so they are ready to go in the morning when i go to work. I’m finding that eating good seems to be helping my tastebuds too. They feel more sensitive. I had some pumpkin seeds today and they tasted way salty. I just feel like I’m tasting stuff better, which sounds sort of weird but it’s true! Anyways, just super happy with my eating right now!

Weight: 141

I am feeling amazing! Not only am I losing weight but I feel like my life is more organized. I’ve been planning out my meals much more because I’m trying to do 2 recipes a day for the cookbook so when I get home I make 2 meals - one for dinner and one for lunch the next day. It’s so nice not having to stress about what to eat - it’s already ready!

The only bummer has been my new storage containers. I got the Fit and Fresh Lunch on the Go set, which looks really awesome. It has a salad container with a special compartment for dressing and it even has a built-in fork. It also came with 2 small containers and 1 big container. It even came with a shake mixer that has a bottom compartment for dry powder. All the containers came with ice pack thingys that are made to fit with the stuff. The downside? The salad container leaked yesterday and the small container leaked today. I hate when good ideas aren’t implemented well. These things are just about perfect but I’m going to have to stop using them if they keep leaking! At least my other containers (Smart Spin) don’t leak! I have a different set that I ordered that I’m waiting to get so I’ll be anxious to try those out and I’ll let you all know!

Weight: 141.5

I’m back to having McD’s scrambled eggs and bacon, but I’m going to make a quiche tomorrow I think. I had peanut satay for lunch with veggies and some papaya. Dinner will be greek salad. I’m almost out of my cocoa roast almonds so looks like another trip to the store tomorrow.

I almost wanted to restart at Day 1 since I am newly focused and ready to git er done! But instead of starting over at Day 1, I’m going to countdown to my b-day! 25 days until July 10 so we’re officially at T-25! I’ve lost 2.5 lbs of my TOM (and general slacking off) weight so I’m currently sitting at 142.5. Making the recipes for the cookbook has helped make me be more prepared with what I’m eating and I think that’s helping!

I went over to my parent’s house for father’s day. My sister made the most awesome quiche ever! I’m totally going to steal her recipe! I worked on the cookbook some more today. Since I’ve been cooking and eating for the cookbook this weekend, I’m already down 1.5 lbs so I’m happy I’m back on track. This was a pretty good weekend! It was a nice mix of being productive and relaxing (hello, naps on both days!). I think work is going to be a bit busy this week but sometimes that can be a good thing!

I don’t know if you guys ever get writer’s block. I work as a technical writer and at work I NEVER get writer’s block, but somehow as soon as I try writing at home….blocked! When I was an angsty teenager, I never got it either. I noticed that as I got older and my life, in general, got better, writing became more of a struggle. Perhaps, you get filters the older you get, where all the good ideas get squashed down by that little voice that makes you second guess yourself or maybe your brain just gets too full of information so the good ideas have to struggle to reach the surface.

Whatever it is, I have been struggling with my second cookbook since last fall. But, it’s just recipes you say! But to me, it’s more than just recipes! I like having a theme to my books, even if it’s just a cookbook. I’m a bit scattered - if you’ve ever met me, I’m pretty much all over the place, so it’s good when I have something to focus myself on because otherwise, things turn out just like me - scattered. So, I’ve been toiling away with this pile of recipes that just didn’t feel right…until now!

The past few weeks have been rough. First, no power. Money worries. Muddy pool. TOM. Work stresses. Bascially, just life. Like writer’s block, I felt like I had life block. Questioning myself. Struggling. Too many what ifs and shoulda’s. Not knowing what to do. The more I fought and fretted, the worse it seemed to make it. Finally, I just stopped struggling and worrying and told myself it would be ok. Everything would be ok…somehow. And sure enough, when I let go, the fog seemed to lift. The a-ha moment came.

Suddenly, it all started falling into place. The ideas, the focus, even my pool is starting to clear up! Of course, none of this happens by itself. I still have to do the work (and I still have to vacuum and backwash the darn pool), but the point is that I stopped fighting and just let it be, knowing that it can and will work out as it should.

If you’ve ever experienced the moment when writer’s block lifts, it’s like seeing a snapshot or a video of the finished product. You actually see it done, words on a page…sitting there, even if you haven’t even written a word yet and it’s still all up in your brain. Well, I’ve seen it! The book is sitting there, completed. I even see the listing in Amazon (because this one I’m going to sell via Amazon…sorry Lulu LOL). So now it’s up to me to make that a reality. I don’t have a date yet, but it will be soon! Realistically, it will probably be July, which will be exactly one year since I did the first book. I’m actually really excited about the cookbook now and it’s going to be a lot of fun to make it and I hope you guys will have fun with it too! So life is good.

Birthday challenge…well TOM is over so it’s back to business. With all I’ve had going on the past week or so, I did more of maintenance type eating. Which isn’t bad, but it’s not going to get me to my goal of being back in the low-mid 130s by my birthday. Working on the book will also force me to eat good - I need to take pics of the food for the book so I can’t let all the food go to waste!

I’m beginning to take this power thing personally. The power went out yesterday at work so we all ended up leaving and working from home. Then I went and got my pool water tested and spent the rest of the night adding chemicals every few hours. My water is out of balance from all the rain so it’s cloudy and crappy looking at the moment. I’m going to vacuum it tonight after work and see if that helps (although it’s hard to vacuum when you can’t even see bottom!). The pool guy said that it could just be taking awhile to get back to normal after all the rain and then no power for all those days.

I’m almost done with my TOM. This week has been weird eatingwise. I’ve been doing half good so I’m probably just maintaining. I’ve been trying not to weigh this week because I’m feeling bloated. I need to hit the store tonight because I’m all out of food!

I’ve been experimenting with different fish this week. I got grouper. It sort of tastes similar to tilapia but seems meatier to me. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad LOL. It has more texture than tilapia, which I call the tofu of fish. Yesterday i baked it with butter, lime, dill and chives. Today, I baked it with lime, soy sauce, butter, and salt and pepper. Both were tasty! I’m not *in love* with the grouper but it’s a good change. I just felt like branching out and trying different fish.

I’ve got TOM at the moment so I’m not weighing for a few days (I feel massively bloated!). I had quiche for breakfast and my chicken stir fry for lunch with cocoa roast almonds for snacks. I had the fish for dinner with some sweet potato fries and a BIG salad for dinner with ranch dressing. I’ll probably have a snack of some kind tonight because I’m still hungry!