Chad and I have decided to head to bama after he gets up this afternoon!
I have also decided to do a give away! There will be three prizes..
1 will be a jewelry box
1 will be a miscellaneous box
1 will be a random box with lots of different goodies.
Random box is big prize
Jewelry second prize
Miscellaneous third prize
What do you have to do???
Like my post on Facebook get three points.
Join my blog get three points
Comment on my blog get 2 points
That's it.....nothing too incredibly complicated. IF you try to join my blog or comment and have problems than comment on my Facebook wall and let me know. I will be happy to tell you how to do it.
Contest starts today and goes through Sunday night! Sooooooo....Get ready, Get set and GO!
love you all,
Francine
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Just sharing!
Good evening everyone! I hope you have a wonderful day today! I will be honest when I say I have literally not done much of anything today... I spend about half the day on the couch with my other half watching movies. I cherish those times when we get to do that together! I will stop anything I am doing to take time out to spend with that man. I cherish every second because I know tomorrow is never promised.
Tonight I have been thinking about how I sometimes seem to "give up to easy" I don't think I really know why I just always give up on myself. So I am asking God to help me to not allow that to happen anymore. I am getting a calendar and marking off 21 days for each thing I want to change... most people say it usually takes about 21 days to break a habit. I have A LOT of BAD habits to break. Just like loosing weight I am not getting any younger and if I want to live my life to it's fullest I have to start living and quit just dreaming about the day when......because the day" when" may never come UNLESS I make it.
NO it is not easy.... please know I am struggling just like you but I am also trying really hard to focus on not as much the struggle as the accomplishments. It's the only way I can do this. I have to have the right frame of mind in order for this to work. I am the only one standing in my way of making my dreams happen so it is literally NOW or NEVER!
I want you to be successful to in all that you are trying to do. I know you have it in you to accomplish whatever your goals for this year are!! I am praying for you to be all that you can be this year!
I also have another confession to make it's not really one I am proud of but I am going to make it anyway. My heart was very hurt and broken by several people in my past who claimed they were "Christians" and who have purposely deceived and hurt me. They still to this day think they have done nothing wrong but I was so hurt that I walked away from church.. People I am a church goer I always have been. I have always loved it... worshiping GOD is something I have always loved doing. For almost 2 years I have not walked in a church but I realize now that blaming GOD for what they did to me was very wrong and that I have no right to turn my back on God because of something HUMANS who are NOT perfect did. I am working on looking at church's to find a good match for chad and I and praying that the lord will open the door to where we can go and be accepted and loved. Until than I worship GOD in my home and trust that the door that needs to be opened will be when the time is right and GOD is ready for it to be.
So there you go... huge stumbling block and not something I am proud of !
So much in the past brought FEAR to my life. I never really backed down just found another way to make it work. Now I just want to accept it is what it is and move forward.. The PAST is just that in the past and the people in that part of my life need to stay there I have no room for that in the " here and now" or the future. I won't ever allow another person to pull me from God again. EVER!
Tomorrow morning I will start the day working out and I will probably pop in and let you know how it goes and I will also be applying for jobs as well because I am not happy where I am. So please keep me in prayer. There are a lot of changes being made a lot of things I have to work through but I know with GOD ALL things are possible! I have faith he WILL carry me through.
Love to you all,
Francine
Tonight I have been thinking about how I sometimes seem to "give up to easy" I don't think I really know why I just always give up on myself. So I am asking God to help me to not allow that to happen anymore. I am getting a calendar and marking off 21 days for each thing I want to change... most people say it usually takes about 21 days to break a habit. I have A LOT of BAD habits to break. Just like loosing weight I am not getting any younger and if I want to live my life to it's fullest I have to start living and quit just dreaming about the day when......because the day" when" may never come UNLESS I make it.
NO it is not easy.... please know I am struggling just like you but I am also trying really hard to focus on not as much the struggle as the accomplishments. It's the only way I can do this. I have to have the right frame of mind in order for this to work. I am the only one standing in my way of making my dreams happen so it is literally NOW or NEVER!
I want you to be successful to in all that you are trying to do. I know you have it in you to accomplish whatever your goals for this year are!! I am praying for you to be all that you can be this year!
I also have another confession to make it's not really one I am proud of but I am going to make it anyway. My heart was very hurt and broken by several people in my past who claimed they were "Christians" and who have purposely deceived and hurt me. They still to this day think they have done nothing wrong but I was so hurt that I walked away from church.. People I am a church goer I always have been. I have always loved it... worshiping GOD is something I have always loved doing. For almost 2 years I have not walked in a church but I realize now that blaming GOD for what they did to me was very wrong and that I have no right to turn my back on God because of something HUMANS who are NOT perfect did. I am working on looking at church's to find a good match for chad and I and praying that the lord will open the door to where we can go and be accepted and loved. Until than I worship GOD in my home and trust that the door that needs to be opened will be when the time is right and GOD is ready for it to be.
So there you go... huge stumbling block and not something I am proud of !
So much in the past brought FEAR to my life. I never really backed down just found another way to make it work. Now I just want to accept it is what it is and move forward.. The PAST is just that in the past and the people in that part of my life need to stay there I have no room for that in the " here and now" or the future. I won't ever allow another person to pull me from God again. EVER!
Tomorrow morning I will start the day working out and I will probably pop in and let you know how it goes and I will also be applying for jobs as well because I am not happy where I am. So please keep me in prayer. There are a lot of changes being made a lot of things I have to work through but I know with GOD ALL things are possible! I have faith he WILL carry me through.
Love to you all,
Francine
Monday, February 4, 2013
Hey y'all! I hope this finds everyone doing really good! I wanted to write about something that has just been pushing at my heart today and I am praying that IF somebody needed to read this for whatever reason that it will help them.
There are times when I get really down and come down super hard on myself and lately it has been every single day. I am not happy about it but it is what it is. I have become really really bad at comparing myself to others. This person has lost more weight than me, this person is prettier than me, smarter than me, has a better job,,, you get the picture. Today was no different from any other ...... I have to realize that I do not have to compare myself to anyone else.. I am on a journey and GOD NEVER promised that this journey would be easy OR that it would happen fast he did promise he would walk with me every step of the way IF i would do as he told me too and IF I would trust him. I am not perfect.. I have joked about this before but really I am not. So I may fail and I may even fall FLAT ON MY FACE but that's OK because GOD reaches down in his wonderful loving way and picks me up and makes things right. Where would I be without GOD to pick me up when I mess up? So while sitting here getting close to work ending God reminded me of something and it just was so strong and powerful I felt I needed to share it with all of you!
So here it goes:
When we are facing hardships, trials or things in our life that just seem to be taking forever to get resolved we need to remember to not rush them and to not try and find a faster or easier way to do it. TRUST GOD maybe there is a reason he wants you to do it the hard way,,,perhaps he wants to give you a testimony or have you be an example for someone but when we step in and remove that from him we loose all that and we ultimately tell him that we think we know better and folks let's just be honest we so don't know better.
I have been so busy hating that this process is slow and I hate the way I look that I have failed to see all the positives that could come out of this. An awesome testimony I can share with others, the ability to let GOD shine through me, education I will learn and new friendships I will gain through this journey of weight loss. Yes I will still have my days but I am working hard to not compare myself to anyone...how can I after all I am ME , Pamela Francine Howell created by GOD for HIS PURPOSE how dare I think I have the right to take what he gave me out of his hands!
I encourage you whatever battle you are fighting or whatever you are trying to change.. Put it in God's hands and trust him. I know I promise I do know it will not be easy but GOD DOES KNOW BEST!
love you all,
Francine
There are times when I get really down and come down super hard on myself and lately it has been every single day. I am not happy about it but it is what it is. I have become really really bad at comparing myself to others. This person has lost more weight than me, this person is prettier than me, smarter than me, has a better job,,, you get the picture. Today was no different from any other ...... I have to realize that I do not have to compare myself to anyone else.. I am on a journey and GOD NEVER promised that this journey would be easy OR that it would happen fast he did promise he would walk with me every step of the way IF i would do as he told me too and IF I would trust him. I am not perfect.. I have joked about this before but really I am not. So I may fail and I may even fall FLAT ON MY FACE but that's OK because GOD reaches down in his wonderful loving way and picks me up and makes things right. Where would I be without GOD to pick me up when I mess up? So while sitting here getting close to work ending God reminded me of something and it just was so strong and powerful I felt I needed to share it with all of you!
So here it goes:
When we are facing hardships, trials or things in our life that just seem to be taking forever to get resolved we need to remember to not rush them and to not try and find a faster or easier way to do it. TRUST GOD maybe there is a reason he wants you to do it the hard way,,,perhaps he wants to give you a testimony or have you be an example for someone but when we step in and remove that from him we loose all that and we ultimately tell him that we think we know better and folks let's just be honest we so don't know better.
I have been so busy hating that this process is slow and I hate the way I look that I have failed to see all the positives that could come out of this. An awesome testimony I can share with others, the ability to let GOD shine through me, education I will learn and new friendships I will gain through this journey of weight loss. Yes I will still have my days but I am working hard to not compare myself to anyone...how can I after all I am ME , Pamela Francine Howell created by GOD for HIS PURPOSE how dare I think I have the right to take what he gave me out of his hands!
I encourage you whatever battle you are fighting or whatever you are trying to change.. Put it in God's hands and trust him. I know I promise I do know it will not be easy but GOD DOES KNOW BEST!
love you all,
Francine
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Some Christmas pictures and Thursday happenings!
A while back when it was Christmas I meant to show you some pictures of my presents that I got and I just forgot soooooo here you go!
My Keurig tea/coffee pot LOVE LOVE LOVE!
My PRIZE the I have dreamed of this forever gift. My beautiful RED Kitchen Aid mixer! I cried yall! There were tears!
3 pre-seasoned iron skillets! LOVE!
Today I went to the grocery store to get the next week's worth of groceries... got to say I like shopping for 7 days at a time versus two weeks. Anyway wanted to show you how I do some things to help cut down on time in the week. First of all I have a menu that I plan so I know already in advance what we will be having for dinner every night and what is available for lunch and breakfast if wanted. I want to get in practice so when we have children this will just be routine for me.
I also chop all my vegtables up like my peppers, strawberries, and ect..... that way I can grab and go. I always buy two roasted chickens and de-bone them for quick recipes or soups through out the week.
I buy spinach raw and organic half and half mix salad which has arugula, spinach, red lettuce and a few other kinds in it. This is really good. I just slip it into a zip lock back and as I close I squeeze all the air out of the bag. It helps the lettuce last longer.
Tonight for dinner we had chicken burgers and baked sweet potato fries. Recipe is below the picture but man they were good! Excellent tast and trust me you won't miss the beef! Try them once before you decide!
1 pack of ground chicken
seasonings(salt,pepper, soul seasoning, red pepper flakes, garlic power and onion power)
***use as much of the seasoning or as little all up to you****
2 sweet red bell peppers either in jar or fresh chopped little
1 garlic cloves chopped fine
1 egg
1/4 cup panko seasoning i use whole wheat
Mix all this together NOTE it will be loose and sticky so don't be alarmed. Be sure to add the egg and panko to this mixture as well!
Form your patties and wrap in tin foil and put in freezer for about 20 mint so that get just a little firm.
Take out of freezer and pan fry or bake. I pan fry mine with a little olive oil. Till done but still juicy and tender.
We add spinach, tomato's and thin slice of mozzarella cheese as well as light may, mustard and a little ketchup.
Whole wheat bun.
We usually do all sweet potatoes bake fries but we only had one sweet potatoes so i did it with 2 red potatos as well. Everything on my plate there is around 10 pts for all of it!
Now on to something else I did my workout for the first time tonight and I was excited to get through it! Little baby steps folks little baby steps. I hope that you are all having a great week and looking forward to a good weekend. Looks like we may be getting some freezing rain tonight. Curious to see what actually happens.
Much love to you all!
Francine
Hey Y'all! How's it going??? Everybody had a pretty good week??? Did you exercise and eat healthy? Just checking on ya! Yesterday and today were my day's off.. yeah I know my work schedule stinks! Just trusting God will open another door soon and just thankful for right now I have a job! So yesterday I was really excited because typically when I wake up I am sluggish and tired and have 0 energy! Yesterday I woke up and I had some energy. I cleaned my whole house and it felt great! I was just go go go all day long. It has been a long time since I did that! Last night I made Shrimp Quesadillas ww points of 10 for two with 2 tbl of sour cream and salsa.. they were delish.
I have been asked for the recipe so here it is:
Shrimp Quesadillas:
4 med whole wheat flour tortillas
3/4 lbs of shrimp deveined ( i buy the frozen ones at Walmart for like $5.00)
2 cups of spinach (raw)
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 onion chopped
mozzarella cheese
Directions :
Take the shrimp and cut in half than put in a pan with a little E.V.O.O like a tbs let heat up a tad and than add the shrimp. With the shrimp add a pinch of salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and Cajun or soul seasoning. This can be as much or as little as you want. We like things hot so we went a little hotter you may not. Let that cook, tossing often till shrimp is done. Put into a bowl and set to the side.
Next add the garlic and onion to the pan and let cook till onion is tender and done and garlic is smelling. Than add the spinach and let cook down be sure to lower the heat as you do not want to burn the spinach.
Once that is cooked down than turn set aside.
Pull out a flour tortilla be sure to put a little spray in the pan to avoid burning or sticking than add a spoonful of shrimp and spinach mixture and a tbl of mozzarella cheese on one side. When one side is done flip to the other side till done.
You can add 2 tbs of reg sour cream and some salsa to this if you like.
10 pt for two with salsa and sour cream. ENJOY!
You will be surprised how filling it is! I loved it and chad did too!
OK that was it for last night!
Much love to you all!
Francine Howell
I have been asked for the recipe so here it is:
Shrimp Quesadillas:
4 med whole wheat flour tortillas
3/4 lbs of shrimp deveined ( i buy the frozen ones at Walmart for like $5.00)
2 cups of spinach (raw)
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 onion chopped
mozzarella cheese
Directions :
Take the shrimp and cut in half than put in a pan with a little E.V.O.O like a tbs let heat up a tad and than add the shrimp. With the shrimp add a pinch of salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and Cajun or soul seasoning. This can be as much or as little as you want. We like things hot so we went a little hotter you may not. Let that cook, tossing often till shrimp is done. Put into a bowl and set to the side.
Next add the garlic and onion to the pan and let cook till onion is tender and done and garlic is smelling. Than add the spinach and let cook down be sure to lower the heat as you do not want to burn the spinach.
Once that is cooked down than turn set aside.
Pull out a flour tortilla be sure to put a little spray in the pan to avoid burning or sticking than add a spoonful of shrimp and spinach mixture and a tbl of mozzarella cheese on one side. When one side is done flip to the other side till done.
You can add 2 tbs of reg sour cream and some salsa to this if you like.
10 pt for two with salsa and sour cream. ENJOY!
You will be surprised how filling it is! I loved it and chad did too!
OK that was it for last night!
Much love to you all!
Francine Howell
Monday, January 21, 2013
I am currently sitting in my office looking around thinking to myself there is A LOT of stuff that I need to do. Have you ever felt like you new what you wanted to do but you just weren't sure how to do it? Or is that just me...I am seriously hoping not! Anyway I had a chat/phone call discussion with my cool cuz Sharon and I might add one of my dearest friends about "depression and feeling over whelmed" we are both currently dealing with a lot of things in our lives and at a phase where we feel like we just aren't happy with the way everything is. Yes i do realize that change takes time I just did a post on that but that does not mean that I jump up and down and get all excited about feeling uncomfortable it just means that I am trying really hard to deal with this the best way I can BUT I still get times of frustration. Anyway another dear friend of mine sent me some reference verses and I thought I would share them here with all of you in case you amazing people ever have down times or need a word to lift you up. So here we go.
Deuteronomy 31:8- The lord himself will go before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Deuteronomy 33:27- The eternal God is your refuse; and underneath are the everlasting arms.
Ecclesiastes 9:4- Anyone who is among the living has hope.
Psalm 62:5- Find rest o my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.
Proverbs 12:25- Anxiety in a mans heart weighs it down (depression), but a good word cheers it up.
Just a few of the verses shared with me.. there are more and if you would like those let me know and I will be happy to email all of them to you. It would be my pleasure.
The fact is that as Christian Women we struggle daily to live up to what we think we should be, what our other half thinks we should be, what the world thinks we should be and so on and son on. When really and truly we should only live up to what GOD thinks we should be. Yes I know , I know that is a lot easier said than done I am right there with you TRUST ME!
So my hope is that as I grow closer to the Lord this year (which is one of my New Year's Eve goals) and learn new and encouraging things that I can share them here with you all and that if you have something inspiring that you have come across or learned that you will share it with me. We are ladies learning together and growing together.
**************************************************************************
Before I close I did want to update with my info on weight watchers thus far. I started on it and have been actively doing it for about a week and thus far have lost around 10 lbs. NOT bad ! I am thinking a lot of this is probably water and fluids but hey I will take weight loss wherever I can find it. Also I am waiting on my Jillian Michael DVDs to get here so I can start them but I am going to do some basic exercises until than. I will share my exercise plan tomorrow for that. So I encourage you to continue on your healthy journey and come along with me as I learn and grow and share.
The journey is just beginning and it is going to be so much fun! I hope you come along for the ride.
The journey is just beginning and it is going to be so much fun! I hope you come along for the ride.
Much love to you all,
Francine
Sunday, January 20, 2013
It's a new week!
It is a new day and a new week! Praise the Lord for a new week!
Although I am in a place in my life where I feel God is making me uncomfortable only because he wants me to stay alert "not get to comfortable" just yet because I have to stay on top of things in order for changes to continue to happen. I fight things everyday but every day I fight and GOD and I win its one less day I have to fight that battle again. I look at my life and I am so blessed...I live in a beautiful home, I have an amazing fiance, great friends and family, I have a job which in itself is huge in this economy, and I have HOPE for a brighter future and more. GOD has given me promises for a better life ahead and I am excited about where that will lead me.
I choose to surround my self with different tools that will allow me to grow and learn as I go through this process of "loosing weight" and "growing closer to God"
Over the course of the next few days I will share some links, bible verses and more with you that you can also use if you like. I will also carry you with me through my journey and I hope you will stay and go along on the ride with me.. You are more than welcome to come!
For today I am leaving this simple thought because it is what just continues to go through my head.
IT IS NOT ABOUT ME and what I can do IT is about GOD and what HE can do THROUGH ME!
I fail to many times for it to be about me...... I need God every step of the way I can not do this alone!
much love to you all,
Francine
Although I am in a place in my life where I feel God is making me uncomfortable only because he wants me to stay alert "not get to comfortable" just yet because I have to stay on top of things in order for changes to continue to happen. I fight things everyday but every day I fight and GOD and I win its one less day I have to fight that battle again. I look at my life and I am so blessed...I live in a beautiful home, I have an amazing fiance, great friends and family, I have a job which in itself is huge in this economy, and I have HOPE for a brighter future and more. GOD has given me promises for a better life ahead and I am excited about where that will lead me.
I choose to surround my self with different tools that will allow me to grow and learn as I go through this process of "loosing weight" and "growing closer to God"
Over the course of the next few days I will share some links, bible verses and more with you that you can also use if you like. I will also carry you with me through my journey and I hope you will stay and go along on the ride with me.. You are more than welcome to come!
For today I am leaving this simple thought because it is what just continues to go through my head.
IT IS NOT ABOUT ME and what I can do IT is about GOD and what HE can do THROUGH ME!
I fail to many times for it to be about me...... I need God every step of the way I can not do this alone!
much love to you all,
Francine
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