We put up some christmas decorations today and I'm loving the way it makes me feel! All warm and cozy inside..and our stockings are now hung by an actual chimney with care! I love christmas!
Good news - Old Navy called this morning and offered me a job. Finally! I start training this weekend.
Ooh..and did anyone see SVU last night? Whoa it was intense. Elliot has a new baby!
Well, after a shaky thanksgiving week, I was nervous to have my weigh-in this morning, but I'm happy to report that I was down another 2 lbs, which puts me at a total of 22 lbs lost, with 23 to go. Just about half way there! I'm getting nervous though because my only cardio I was doing before was going for a run outside, so now that it's snowy and cold I am going to have to come up with a new way to exercise. Anyone have any good ideas (besides joining a gym - can't afford that right now)?
On thanksgiving day I decided I really wanted turkey, so I went to the store around 3 pm and bought a bunch of thanksgiving type food. I made a rachel ray recipe that was soooo good, I just had to share it with you all. It's cheesy breaded turkey breasts with mushroom gravy, and then I served that with sweet potato fries. For dessert, we had a store-bought pumpkin cheesecake!
Here goes: (serves 4, I cut it all in half to serve 2 and did my own thing a bit, this is my rendition)
- 8 turkey breasts or turkey cutlets - 1 pound mushrooms, quartered, divided - 2 1/2 cups breadcrumbs ( i used seasoned breadcrumbs) - 1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated - 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided (I used whole wheat flour) - 2 tablespoons poultry seasoning - 4 eggs - 1 clove garlic, grated - 2 tablespoons butter - 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar - 2 cups chicken stock - Olive Oil
Preheat a large, nonstick skillet over high heat with 2 tablespoons Olive Oil, and add in half of the mushrooms. Cook on one side, trying not to move them too much, until they are nice and golden brown. Once they are golden, flip them over to brown on the other side. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, remove to a platter and repeat with the remaining mushrooms.
Set out 3 shallow dishes, in the first one add the breadcrumbs, cheese, salt and freshly ground black pepper. In the second dish, combine 1 1/2 cups flour and poultry seasoning. In the third, whisk up the eggs and milk.
Dip the cutlets into the seasoned flour, then into the egg mixture, then into the cheesy breadcrumb mixture. Repeat with the rest of the turkey cutlets.
Heat a large skillet with 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil over medium-high heat. Cooking in batches to avoid crowding the pan, add the breaded cutlets and cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side, until nice and golden brown on each side.
In the same skillet the mushrooms were cooked in, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until it's golden in color. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour. Cook 2-3 minutes, then add the balsamic, allowing it to slightly reduce. Next, add in the chicken stock and reserved, cooked mushrooms to the skillet. Cook everything down until thick and creamy.
Here's the view outside our window today ---it's happened every year since I was born, you'd think I'd be used to it by now! For some reason though, I'm always shocked/enamored by it each winter and put like 80 pics of it on my blog... I guess this year's no different! ;)
Sooooo it's thanksgiving...a glorious holiday for Americans, almost on equal grounds with Christmas. I'm sad that I am not once again with my parents and brother, especially because we live so close now. But we're going down there in 2 weeks so we'll celebrate an "in-between christmas/thanksgiving" then. And honestly I totally forgot it was Thanksgiving until this morning so I think I might go to the store and buy at least something resembling a thanksgiving meal. And since I don't have the YWAMers around that made us all go around and say what we're thankful for (which I always secretly enjoyed!) I'll do it on my blog.
I'm thankful for: - My family- My husband, mom, dad, and brother, K-Dawg, Susan, and Kyle, my Aunts and Uncles and grandparents and cousins, a great bunch to be related to! - my home - I have a warm home with a bed and food and computer and TV...all sorts of comfort things that I'm lucky to have - my education - something that much of the world would give up a lot more that I have, for the opportunity of getting an education - TV shows - they bring me lots of joy - a new Church - looking forward to getting more involved, the pastor invited us for supper too - Friends - though we're all spread out around the world, we are lucky to have a spider web of people that care about us. I miss you all - a lot - my health - it's been over 2 years since I've had any sort of bechets break outs... amazing. I'm also thankful for my weight loss and that I feel so much better in my own skin - Canadian residency - to know that I will be able to live here forever without having to renew a visa is an awesome feeling
Lots of things to be thankful for. Happy thanksgiving everyone!
Well, the red cups are out at Starbucks which means christmas is coming! Yay...I love christmas. Not a huge fan of the winter though, which is fast approaching in this neck of the woods. Craig and I were out on a walk a few days ago and by the time we were coming around the block in felt like the beginning of a blizzard! Luckily it wasn't cold enough for it to stick. We tried to get some pictures of it but they didn't turn out too great...you can kind of see the snow though.
The job hunt is still going okay, went into Old Navy this morning for an interview. It's promising, they're looking to hire 15 people but it's only a seasonal position. If offered though, I will most likely take it. The manager said some people will be able to stay on after christmas, so maybe I could be one of those people...who knows! I just keep praying that whatever the right place for me will come up and that I'll know it's where I belong. Until then, I'll just keep doing my part.
Sorry for the lack of posts. Not much has been going on this week. I've been dropping off resumes and job applications around the city, but haven't had much luck yet. I've gone in for a first and second interview at starbucks, but they only have 2 positions open and are interviewing 16 people for them, so slim chances there. Craig's boss offered me a job at the pizza place, so if I don't find anything by next week I think I might take it. Not necessarily my life's dream to work at another pizza shop, but at least it's a paycheck, it's close (just a few blocks away, I could walk) and I'd be working with Craig which would be great. So, we'll see if anything else comes up but if not, that might be an option. Well, lame post but nothing else to say. Anybody see any good movies lately? I just watched "Scotland, PA" and it was awesome...a sort of modern day remake of Macbeth. I also watched Donnie Darko, which was a little mind blowing but definitely good. Anyone seen either of them? What did you think?
I keep forgetting that I got "tagged" last week by a few of my friends. Basically the deal is that you have to write something about yourself that starts with each letter of your middle name. Lucky for me my middle name's tiny.... So here goes:
Jamie Lee Church L - Laugh. I love to laugh, and I love making other people laugh. Especially my mom, she's really easy to make laugh. Hmm..maybe I'm actually not that funny but she just laughs cause she's my mom? E - ER. I love ER...it's my latest obsession that frequently rotates from show to show. E - Eat. About 7 weeks ago I started paying attention to what I eat, and tracking each calorie. It's opened up my eyes to a lot of things... I used to feel like I was controlled by food, but I really don't anymore. It's quite liberating.
So there you go, laughing, eating, and ER. Not very deep or spiritual, but all 3 words definitely pertain to my life right now! In fact, on the evenings that Craig's at work you can usually find me eating dinner while watching ER reruns and laughing.
p.s. Got bored with the current template so I went ahead and changed it - whaddya think?
Oh my gosh did anyone see ER tonight?? Please tell me someone out there is still watching this show... I was almost screaming at my TV. I haven't felt that strongly about something going on in a TV show since Meredith Grey almost died...
I thought I'd give a health update since I haven't talked about it in a few weeks. I had an unfortunate scale issue this past week which messed up my results a bit. I had been using our landlord's scale which was an older dial one to do my weigh ins, but a week ago my parents brought me a nicer digital one and it turns out that the older one was 4 pounds off, and not to my advantage. So in reality, I've only lost 15 lbs...stupid scale. But, atleast I know it's accurate now. Eating and exercising have been going well, I generally jog/walk for 30 minutes (about 3/4ths jogging now!) 4-5 times a week. I used to hate hate hate running, especially on a treadmill (boring!) but now that I've got a nice route in the great outdoors I'm enjoying it more and more. I find also that putting to practice another technique from the Secret is helping with that as well. Instead of telling myself that I hate running, I am now telling myself that I love it, and calling myself a runner. What a stretch! BUT, it's working..my mindset is changing and I'm slowly finding that I'm starting to look forward to these little jaunts. Crazy how we can control things like that if we want to. Here's a nice pic of me lookin all hot and sweaty after my run today (in 6c degree weather! Brrr)
Today Craig and I went hiking on a trail near our home. It's about 2.5 miles and really beautiful, especially with the colors in the trees. Here's some pics from our time there. We're going to try and get out there once or twice a week until it snows. It's a nice way to exercise for me because it doesn't really feel like exercise, even though my heart rate really gets going.
That's right - I have been approved for my permanent resident status in Canada! Yay!! I got this letter, along with a real work visa so now I can go out and get a paying job! So exciting.. who ever thought I'd be excited to work? Now I just have to mail in my FBI clearance (which I have here already) and then hopefully I will be getting my residency card in the next month or 2.
Name: jamie Home: St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada About Me: I am an American living in Ontario. I've just recently started going to school again for a BA in Human Services. I like mexican and indian food and watching tv way more than the average individual. I absolutely love talking to my parents on the phone and my brother is one of my best friends. I'm married to a great guy whose pretty much the exact opposite of me but he loves me and makes laugh and we have a lot of fun. I didn't always feel this way, but these days I'm feelin' pretty good. That's my life, welcome to chaos and order. See my complete profile
