Yesterday was fantastic! Both the menu and my schedule had to be tweaked, but I stayed true to my goals! I ate breakfast, worked out (I almost doubled my expected workout time), got all cleaned up and started preparing our meal.

It was so good! I threw the garlic, mushrooms, green beans, and onions together with some "Better than Vegetable Bouillon", cooked it up, added water and cornstarch to make a sauce, thereby inventing something that was more delicious than what I've been inventing recently. Success! Topped it off with sliced almonds and it was the perfect replacement for green bean casserole for me. That's usually the dish that looked forward to most every year anyhow.

The mashed sweet potatoes were so creamy! All I added was a little bit of almond milk, so I was surprised. I also barely used any brown sugar for the oatmeal topping of my cranberry apple crumble and did not sweeten the fruit at all. I just tossed the sliced apples and cranberries with cinnamon, nutmeg, cornstarch and some water. It tasted perfect, though I'll use more fruit next time since it cooked down so much.

I knocked it all out of the park for health, taste, and no overstuffing myself! On top of my morning workout, I also raked leaves and went for my family walk (it was shockingly sunny, if very cold) and fit in a mini-cardio workout and abs routine with my spiffy 12 pound weights. Those things are awesome! =D

It felt so good to be on my feet and so active all day, to be getting creative with my diet, and thinking about what I was really thankful for. Such a far cry from most of the Thanksgiving Day celebrations of my life. All I was probably thankful for then was the pretty pink bottle of Pepto and the hoodie I could try to hide myself in.

Today was also my morning to weigh in and do my measurements. Hooray! I have almost gotten back to my goal weight, just as planned. I know that I was still in my maintenance range, but these were not "fluctuation pounds". All of my measurements have gotten smaller, too. That makes me feel pretty good and gets me motivated to keep on exercising, taking care of myself and getting my family healthier and more active. Ash and I are going to go see Wreck It Ralph and run around stores looking for a present for his daddy. This will be his first year to pick one out. Excited to see what he'll go for. =D

Thank you, Lord, for all of the big and little blessings in my life. I pray that everyone else had a great holiday and has a great day today!