20% of myself

I am a fraction of the person I used to be.

Four fifths, to be exact.

I went to the doctor today for a follow-up visit for my blood pressure. I have now lost 38 pounds, which is 20% of my weight when I started. WOW! I'm proud! AND...my blood pressure was 120/70. The doctor was thrilled and so was I! Awhile back, I set a goal of a certain weight I wanted to be by Christmas. Now I'm only 10 pounds away from it! Yay! I feel confident that I can do it. After I get to that weight, I'll only have 10 pounds left until I'm in the correct weight range for my height. I'm SO happy! I can't even believe it!

In other news, I only have 9 days left at my church secretary job. I have mixed emotions about it. Part of me is ready to be home again, to have healthy snacks and exercise longer and more often (like I did before). And part of me likes the people and the work there. I know I'll miss it, but I might start going to their Wednesday night dinners. I know there are several people I will keep in touch with, too.

Things at church could not possibly be better. We had a ROCKIN' service yesterday! Chris brought in some horns - we had a trumpet, trombone, and saxophone player - and they were incredible! The band is tighter than ever! Chris wrote a cool new song that covers a brass lick from an old Chicago song. We did it yesterday for the first time and the place was jammin'!! I am SO blessed to be part of this amazing band!!!!

A week ago this past Saturday, Brian and I went to Dream Dinners. We had never done this before, and we had SO much fun! If there's one in your area, I encourage you to go and try it out! Most of you know what a picky eater I am - and let me just say that I have LOVED all of the meals we've had so far!! Last week, we had chicken enchiladas, pork chops with sweet ginger and apples (yum!), chicken with lemon and artichoke sauce (I know some of you are shocked by now), arroz con pollo (a Mexican chicken dish with black beans, corn, salsa, etc. - yes, I even ate the beans!!), and four-cheese and meatball calzones. I ate (and liked) all of it. ALL of it! Can you even believe it? (Some of you need to pick your chins up off the desktop!)

If you don't know about Dream Dinners, it's this place where you go and prepare meals that can be frozen. Brian and I made 12 meals, but we split them, so we came home with 24 meals. That will last us a month! I only have to grocery shop for lunch stuff and snacks!! And we had a great time preparing the stuff - it was really fun to do together. AND - one of the best things is...dinner is already done! You just have to stick it in the fridge the night before (or the morning of) to thaw it, and then cook it according to the directions! Everything is already chopped, mixed, etc. It might seem expensive, but when we divided it up, each serving came to $3.50. That's WAY less than we normally spend! (I should work for their sales dept.!)

Here are some pictures of our little Dream Dinners adventure. Click for larger images. Hey, if anyone signs up for Dream Dinners, be sure to give them our name! That way we'll get a free dinner!