Girl Scout Cookies

Good evening. I hope all is well with you!  :-)

As mentioned in my last post, I have decided to make February my 'turn-around' month in terms of diet and exercise. So far I've done pretty good. In only five days I've lost about two pounds and even made it to the fitness center today. Of course, I have been working all weekend (Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) on twelve hour shifts which doesn't leave much time for the gym, but I made sure to go there this morning, instead. After I got home and had showered, B pulled out some Girl Scout cookies (Girl, 2013) that he had bought from a colleague at work yesterday. That's when it happened. Game over. *SOB* I ate my entire day's worth of calories in Tagalong peanut butter cookies and they're not even my favorite! (I'm mostly fond of the Samoas with caramel and coconut.) Bleh! And now I am disgusted with myself and totally regret even tasting a single cookie today. Boo! That was not cool. But -- tomorrow is a new day and I'm sure that I can bounce back from this little screw-up. Right?! Yes. By the way, this upcoming Friday, February 8th, is National Girl Scout Cookie Day.  :-)

The Thought for the Day:

This morning I found a fun little message in my Facebook inbox. I tend to take part in prize drawings and such on social media as well as other blogs and this morning I was informed that I had been selected as the winner for one such drawing.  :-)  I won a wall sticker of Iceland that I was seriously thinking about purchasing before today. So, to me, this was great news. *YAY* The company sponsoring the drawing is an Icelandic clothing labeling company called Imprimo Fatamerkingar (Imprimo, 2013) stationed in Akureyri, located in the northern parts of Iceland. The sticker is really cool looking. Here is a picture of it from the company's Facebook page.

My new Iceland wall sticker:

2013.01.28 @ Imprimo Fatamerkingar, ehf.'s Facebook page

Description: Isn't that super?! Heck, yeah! Although this image contains a white Iceland with black glaciers, I have decided to go with the black Iceland sticker with white glaciers. That'll look awesome somewhere in our home. It's always fun to have something from the homeland in one's residence overseas. I'm really excited.  :-)

As I have already mentioned, I am from Iceland... So, this morning I noticed an awesome video on Facebook that made me exceptionally proud to be an Icelander. In this video, made possible by the Inspired by Iceland (Inspired, 2013) campaign, local celebrities, authority figures, and the general public are openly inviting the world to come and partake in traditional Icelandic activities. Not only are the people of Iceland offering to show visitors the true Icelandic way of life, but they are also openly inviting others to come into their homes and get to know the people of our country. I think this is wonderful! And I think that this will become a hit for tourists. *BIG SMILE*

Inspired by Iceland's personal invitation to you:

 

2012.02.28 @ Icelandic President's fan page on Facebook

Description: In this video you will see the Icelandic president, the mayor of Reykjavik (the capital city of Iceland), and other Icelanders officially invite you to come into their homes and experience Icelandic daily life. Get to know the real Iceland! I'm telling you -- it's great!

This evening I decided to try to make some home-made soup for the first time and it went surprisingly well. I was impressed by own 'throw-something-together' recipe for soup that I've never made before. Here's a picture for ya.

2013.02.05 @ G's Potato Soup with Carrots

Description: There you have it, my brand new potato soup. Recipe card coming soon!

And after I made that soup, little A took a nice, long bath. He hasn't taken a bath for a while. He's been too busy to spend that much time in the tub so we've gone with showers, instead. *HEHE* But tonight he wanted a bubble bath which was great. He is too cute!

2013.02.05 @ The Bathtub

Description: Mama's little man in the tub tonight. What a cutie-pie!  <3

Maybe it's time to get off of this computer for the night. Hubby is home and I wouldn't mind spending a moment with him before I head to bed. Have a great night and happy hump day tomorrow!

-- Gigi


References:
Girl Scouts of the United States of America. (2013). Meet the cookies. Retrieved from:
          http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_cookies/meet_the_cookies.asp
Imprimo Fatamerkingar, ehf.  (2013). Sidan er i vinnslu - vinsamlega komid aftur i 
          heimsokn! Retrieved from: http://www.imprimo.is
Inspired by Iceland. (2013). Home: All. Retrieved from: http://www.inspiredbyiceland.com

Another Friday Night

Good evening, friends!

So another week has come and gone. Actually -- another month has come and gone! We've made it to February, people! Can you believe it?! Time flies when you're having fun, right?  ;-)

So, like I said, it's Friday night again -- not that it matters at our place. The hubby always works nights and I work every weekend. I know what you're thinking. Great... *SARCASM* Yup. At our house the weekends are just like any other day. Unfortunately, Mommy doesn't get to spend a full day with A or a romantic evening at home with B because of our conflicting schedules. I wish there was some other way to make things work and still manage to have some good old-fashioned family time. But this is what seems to work for us at the moment and hopefully it won't be like this for the long-term. Family dinners and movie nights are long overdue around here! ;-)

Today was the day that our applications for adjustment of status with immigration (USCIS, 2011) finally made it into the mail. Woohoo! Yay! *HAPPY DANCE* I am much relieved, to say the least. It was a bunch of tedious paperwork and I'm so glad that it's over. I would estimate about forty hours of filling out paperwork (completing forms, checking them, re-checking them, and then checking them again); gathering all supplemental documents required for the various forms; getting pictures taken; and going to doctors' visits (having TB skin tests, getting blood drawn, and receiving vaccinations). After all that hard work and endured pain (by the little man, mostly), the packet was finally put together and ready to go. This afternoon we stopped by the post office to drop the envelope off and as we left, so did the packet. So -- off it goes!  :-)  Now, a couple of weeks and almost $3,000 dollars later, all is said and done. The next part of this process is to wait, and wait, and wait. It's okay, though. I could use a little break.

2013.02.01 @ Lazy Friday Night

Description: That's me (G) after a long day of running around town trying to get those documents in the mail. Now I can relax and take the night off from paperwork.  :-)

Poor little A injured himself last week after our initial doctor's visit for the immigration stuff. The kiddo had done so good all day -- he visited with a doctor where he got poked with a needle and was super brave at the hair salon when he got his hair cut (which he absolutely hates to do) -- but fell out of my truck once we had finally made it home. Let me set the scene... After seeing the doctor and getting his hair cut last Thursday, I bought my son an ice cream sundae at McDonald's to reward him for his bravery and good behavior. As we are getting out of the vehicle outside of our apartment, A's foot got caught and he fell out of the truck -- head first -- right onto the concrete and I thought I would have a heart attack. Of course, he had his hands full (an ice cream sundae in one hand and a bottle of apple juice in the other) and did not think to let go of anything to shield himself during the fall. Why would he, anyway?! Goofy boy. Mommy was almost certain that her child was going to end up with a black eye, an all-over bruised face, and a huge bump on his head, but the healing process has been quite stunning.

2013.02.01 @ A's Stages of Recovery

Description: Here is a comparison of A's injury from the day following the fall and then again this evening, seven days later. Isn't he healing great?! I sure am relieved. *WHEW*  :-)  Isn't that smile lovely?! He melts my heart like a stick of butter.  <3

In Wednesday's post I also forgot to mention that Uncle G and Auntie M are expecting! Not only are they expecting, but they now know that they will be having twin girls in June. Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. G! This is so exciting! We have not had a baby in our immediate family since my son was born. And he is now going on his sixth year. It's about time we had a new addition.  ;-)  Maybe Mr. H and I will have another of our own sometime soon. That would be fun. I think A could use a sibling or two, you know. *WINK WINK*

I have decided that I will embrace this new month and take the opportunity to get back on track with my fitness regimen. I went ahead and weighed myself this morning and started my day with logging my new weight on the Lose It! (FitNow, 2012) website. I more than love that application! It has helped me so much in my personal struggle with weight loss. I have now been a member of Lose It! for just over three years and with the help of my friends in the network (that hold me accountable for logging both my meals and exercises as well as encouraging me to make healthier food choices) I was able to lose a total of fifty pounds. I have always been a skeptic when it comes to dieting, but I didn't even have to diet to lose the weight. All I did was make myself aware of the nutritional values of food, watch my portion sizes, and incorporate more exercise into my life. That doesn't sound too hard, does it? It's not. Trust me. Although, unfortunately, I have been stuck on a plateau where I can't seem to drop any more weight for about a year now and it's driving me nuts. I think I need to do something different for a while that can help to kick-start my progress again. Any suggestions?! I'm open to (almost) anything.

It's getting pretty late and I should probably be asleep by now. But before I go, I will leave you with this...

The Thought for the Day:

Good night, y'all! Have a great weekend.  :-)

-- Gigi

References:

FitNow, Inc. (2012). Lose It!: The best, most seamless weight loss system available.

          Retrieved from: http://www.loseit.com/new/what-is-lose-it

USCIS. (2011). U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: Green Card (permanent 

          residence). U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved from:

          http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a

          7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=ae853ad15c673210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

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