#31days Lean Cuisine and Skinny Cow Challenge Week 2 finals

What a week last week was, only continuing on this week. Yeah, I know weeks have a habit of doing that but when you're sick like I've been it makes them soooo long. My son was home from school for 2 days last week and by the end of the second day I felt it coming on, but his 'ick' only lasted 2 days so I wasn't worried. I should know better by now. Today, Tuesday the 18th, makes a full week of my on the couch, watching tv, coughing, blowing my nose, aching and so on. Late yesterday though I was treated with something new....pink eye!! Yay! I swear, I just start to feel better and I get kicked back. So that is why you are getting blog post today instead of a vlog.

I don't know about you but when I'm sick I like comfort food. I had toast or eggs for breakfast, chicken soup for lunch and for dinner I had a Lean Cuisine dinner. There were even a couple of days when I had soup and a Lean Cuisine entree for lunch (when I was starting to feel a bit better and just craved something more than soup). I don't normally weigh myself when I'm sick so I really have no idea if I lose or gain weight but this week, with the help of Lean Cuisine and Skinny Cow I was able to lose 3 lbs, bringing my 2 week total to 6 lbs. I was shocked! Happily shocked!

So, I will continue my recovery, hoping I get over it soon so I can get out and walk. But to walk you have to be able to breath without coughing your head off so let's hope the coughing subsides soon too. And thanks to Lean Cuisine and Skinny Cow I can rest a bit easier knowing I'm not going to go off my healthier way of living, just because I'm sick.

Take a look at the whrrl below to see my daughter do my shopping for me this week.

More check-ins at Walmart Supercenter #827

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The Social Network: My review

In 2003 I had just moved to Texas and looked forward to a new life with my new hubby. What I did with my life only changed a few lives: mine, my kids and some friends. What Mark Zuckerberg did in 2003 changed the way we all communicate.

I had heard a lot about the movie 'The Social Network' and was very interested in seeing it, since October 2010 when I first came out in theaters. So, I sat, with my juice and my popcorn on a rainy day waiting to be wowed. I mean, after so much hype I surely wouldn't be let down, would I? Hmm, I'll let you know.

The movie opens up with 'Mark' (played skillfully by Jesse Eisenberg) and his girlfriend at a bar and he is so 'not getting it' it's not even funny. I call my son socially awkward, I'm not sure what to call this. He seemed cold to his girlfriend, almost like he was doing her a favor by being with her and she ended it, right there. He was drunk. He was hurt. So what would any guy do? He went home and blogged about it on Wordpress. Then into his head, after talking with his friend Eduardo (Andrew Garfield) and getting an algorithm from him, decides to make a comparison site. A website that compared girls from different schools to each other. He called it FaceMash. It took off like wildfire and had so many hits that night it shut down the Harvard computer system. He ended up being put on 6 months academic probation for breaking into the Harvard system and the systems of other schools but that wasn't enough to stop him.

Some other guys in Harvard, named Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer) heard about what he had done and decided to pitch their idea of inner school website called 'Harvard Connection. He agreed but instead of doing it with the other guys he decided to take it in another direction and run with it. He gold Eduardo about a project he was going to create called 'thefacebook' but he needed some money to get it started. Eduardo was the money man after that first installment of $1000.

I'm not going to tell you the whole movie because you really should watch it for yourself.

Another great performance was given by Justin Timberlake as Shawn Parker, the founder and creator of Napster. He comes in and takes over the part of Mark's financial adviser, which makes Eduardo understandably 'mad as hell'.

This movie is based on 2 separate, but simultaneous law suits and did not have any input from Mark Zuckerberg himself.

How did I feel after watching the movie? Honestly? I felt a bit sorry for Mark. Here he was, with brilliant ideas and a brilliant mind to make billions of dollars with Facebook, but he can't talk to women, he doesn't understand 'normal' people nor does he try to. He did come off as a bit mean at times and even a bit clueless when it came to the feelings of others. And because he had a brilliant idea people immediately found a way to get their chunk of it, which he did end up having to pay.

The movie was very enlightening. I mean, I go on Facebook every day and don't think twice about it. I just go on and leave my status update, post my pictures, talk to friends and then move on to my next task. It was quite interesting to see how it all came about. From a night when Mark Zuckerberg was mad and drunk and felt scorned, now the rest of the world, over 500 million people around the world, have Facebook.

I highly recommend this movie. It's definitely worth the 3 Golden Globe awards it received at this year's ceremony, including 'Film of the Year'. Let's see what the Academy Awards bring it. I know I'll be cheering for it.

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I was compensated for this review by Collective Bias but the opinions and review are my own.

Skinny Cow coupon #31days

I found a $1 coupon for Skinny Cow Truffle bars. Good timing, seeing how I'm doing the #31days challenge with Lean Cuisine and Skinny Cow. Think I'll use it this weekend (if I can ever get out of this bed and the 'ick' that has taken over my body!). Skinny Cow coupon

#31days Lean Cuisine and Skinny Cow Challenge Vlog 2

How did I do this week? Did I lose any weight? Did I get any exercise in? Watch this to find out.



I am being compensated for my blog post by #leancuisine #theskinnycow and #walmart but the opinions are my own. @leancuisine @theskinnycow @walmart

Coming up to the first weekend on the #31Days Lean Cuisine and Skinny Cow Challenge

Look what I found.........

It's been a while since I've put these on and used them, but this week, so far, they've taken me 6 miles. Yeah, I got a blister the first day because I didn't put socks on (duh!) but I put them on the very next day and went out again. My son says I need to set up a goal/reward system for myself. I think a new pair of running shoes should be my first reward.

I don't know if I've lost any weight yet, not going to weigh myself until either Sunday or Monday morning, which will be a week since starting on the #31Days challenge with Lean Cuisine and Skinny Cow ice cream. So far I've enjoyed eating a Lean Cuisine meal for at least one meal a day.

This is what my freezer looks like right now....

It's hard for me to pick a favorite so far but anything with tomatoes wins so far. My goal is to try at least one of every kind before this challenge is over.

My family is getting into the swing of things too. So far they've enjoyed the healthy snacks, including fruit and granola bars, I've been bringing in. Apples are the new mainstay for a snack or 'treat' after school and my husband's even taking V8 fusion juice to work instead of soda, which for me, is a HUGE victory.

I even bought a case of water, which is something I DO NOT do. I took out the bottles and labeled them L1, L2, L3, and L4 to make sure I drink enough water every day. That's a tough one for me because I don't drink a lot of water. I've been doing it though.

I've chewing gum, drinking water, walking, doing workout dvd's, eating Lean Cuisine and Skinny Cow ice cream every now and then. Let's hope the scale shows a positive effect for me when I do weigh in in a couple of days.
#leancuisine #skinnycow @walmart @leancuisine @skinnycow #31Days

#31Days Lean Cuisine and Skinny Cow Challenge

#31Days Challenge with Lean Cuisine and Skinny Cow

Before: Me in summer of 2010

I'm not exactly sure how it happened. When I was losing weight two years ago I was very precise about everything I did. Everything was planned out, every day. From food/calorie intake to how much I was planning on working out that day to knowing what day of the week (yes, I said DAY) I was going to take off and do nothing. I lost 60 lbs being precise. It was easy. I remember saying, "why didn't I just do this years ago? I can't believe how easy it's been for me". I was fitting into size 14 jeans (a nightmare to some of you, a dream come true for me) and I had found my long absent collar bones. Then the wall showed up, in the form of 'the Holiday Season'. I decided to just take it off and get back to work right after the holidays. Well, that was two years ago. It is after the holidays, again. So, even though I'm two years, and 70 lbs late, I'm getting back to work NOW!

Thanks to Lean Cuisine and Skinny Cow, I'm hoping to get a good kick start. I went to Walmart yesterday and was very surprised to see how many different kinds of meals they had there. I had never looked for Skinny Cow ice cream before either so was surprised to see the different varieties of that as well. I picked up a few of each for myself to get going.

My family is a very unhealthy one. Half of us are overweight. Of course, the younger boys (19, 16, 11) are all thin and in good shape...heck, just because they're young males. My daughter, who is 20, me (I'm 42) and my husband (who is also 42) are all in bad physical shape. My husband is the worst though, being over 400 lbs (gasp!) and a 2 shot a day diabetic. He's always been large but it's gotten out of control. After much talk, yelling, crying and talking again he finally agreed that he also needed to do something so we decided, as a family to get healthy. His goal, right now, is to lose 100 lbs. That is also my goal right now. I'm hoping that by the time we both reach our goals we'll want to go farther and lose more. My daughter, well, she can get away with losing only (only...lol) about 40 lbs and she'll be good. It's a large undertaking, I know, but if we all pull together and agree, as a family, to do this, nothing can stop us.

I will be logging my nutritional information and fitness goals at SparkPeople.com (my user name is jchllm). Sometimes, actually most of the time, just marking things down and having them in front of us, makes us think differently about what we're doing and it's not mindless anymore.

I will be blogging, making videos which I will post here, whrrls, facebook posts, tweets and so on. I will hashtag everything with #31Days so check that out if you want to keep up. Right now I have a whrrl planned for later today, or tomorrow, and a video planned for the same time frame so be sure to check back.

So, here we go. A New Year. A new challenge. A new beginning.
Yesterday my husband and I walked a mile, without stopping and without smoking (he smokes). Today I am going to do a video and likely go for a walk as well. I have Biggest Loser DVD's (6 I think) and they helped me last time so I'll get Bob and Jillian yelling at me too (yikes!).

I have not posted my weight, etc here, but if you are interested you can go to my SparkPeople info.I will be making daily posts of some kind to come back and take a look.

Make sure you check out what the other 11 Lean bloggers are doing during the challenge period:

1. Zippy Sandler http://www.champagneliving.net/
2. Nicole Brady http://www.sahmreviews.com/
3. Wendy Hammond http://www.thelocalcook.com
4. Naomi Shapiro http://superdumbsupervillain.blogspot.com/
5. Tara Altier http://thismilitarymama.com/
6. Shelby & Steve Barone http://www.feltstories.com/
7. Elizabeth Ferree http://www.homemom3.com
8. Brandi Jeter http://www.mamaknowsitall.com/
9. Mel Lockuff http://www.mamabzz.com/
10. Ellen Christian http:/www.confessionsofanoverworkedmom.blogspot.com/

I started a weight loss blog a while back and I will likely put this post on there as well. It is http://etxsaverandloser.blogspot.com 

I am being compensated by Lean Cuisine, Skinny Cow and Collective Bias for this but the opinions and words are solely my own.