New plan….

I did it.  I switched plans!  I was struggling so bad and so unhappy.  Yes, I’d already lost a bunch of weight… but I was miserable.  Beyond miserable.  All I did was switch from 3 liquid meals a day to two plus one actual meal.  I went from 600 calories to 1000.  Still a low calorie diet.  I’ve also been more comfortable to add in A LOT more exercise.  Today alone I walked 4 miles.  I had a blast doing it.  My plan is to start trying some P90x in the next few days too.  I feel amazing.  I can’t remember the last time I felt so good.  I see the littlest differences in things like my face, my thighs, my fingers… it’s awesome.  I ended up having to buy some new pants (wore out the thighs… damn thunder thighs)… I went from 16-18s to 12-14s.  One pair I got were 14s and another were 12s.  I feel so skinny and good in the 12s.  It was the best feeling.  Everyone keeps commenting on the changes.  I love it.  I can’t wait to keep it up.  Charli is loving all of the walks.  I am even toying with the idea of attempting jogging.  *GASP* haha.  We shall see.  No matter what, I have to start slow.  Every time I try to get the ball rolling with working out on the regular, I tweak my back enough to derail.  I refuse to let that happen this time.  REFUSE.  I am just over 2 months away from my *29 for the second time* birthday… my goal was 30 by 30.  I am SO close to that already.  I am 22lbs down.  22 freaking pounds.  THAT IS INSANE.  In just 5 weeks!  I can do this.  I CAN DO THIS.  In this whole 6+ year journey, I have never hit this point.  Never been so determined. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported me, complemented me and understood what I was going through.  I couldn’t do this without you all! 

Update!!!

I have officially lost 20lbs.  I have also lost inches everywhere! 

It is awesome.  But it hasn’t been easy.  This past week I cheated literally every single day.  Most days I tried to stick to at least it not being horrible cheats.  But I am still seriously struggling.  In fact, I was planning on calling (or going in this week) and telling them I wanted to switch off of this program.  I mean, what good is the strictness of a program if I am unable to stay on it (because I am so hungry I’m nauseous, not because I can’t mentally do it).  BUT then I took some “after” pictures and was shocked.  Floored.  Amazed.  In awe.  Excited.  I am probably not going to post them, I am still really embarrassed of them (and I’m in a tank top and my undies).  It was just the motivation I needed.  I can’t believe the huge difference 20lbs has made.  EVEN with my cheating.  So, I am going to try to hold out for the last few pounds I wanted while on this particular program.  I am so close.  My 30 by 30th birthday will be blown out of the water at this point!  I am so excited.  I can’t wait!  So, I will probably stay on this program for a couple more weeks.  Then I will be switching over so that I can do 2 meal replacements and then regular meal a day. 

 

Here is to NOT cheating and losing the last few pounds I wanted while on this program

JIMMY BUFFETT

So, I have now earned the title of BEST WIFE EVER This story begins back in TX…… We had plans for a game night with one set of friends… another set of friends called us saying they had FREE tickets for us to go see Jimmy Buffett because friends of theirs backed out.  Aaron LOVES Jimmy.  His dream concert/date/day is Jimmy Buffett.  He didn’t want to bail on our friends who we already had plans with… I understand that.. but this was an amazing opportunity and the friends would TOTALLY understand!  I’d expect them to do the same to us if a situation like this came up for them!!!  Long story short- we didn’t go.  Any time since then I’ve seen a concert near us, tickets were $150 each.  NOT HAPPENING.  Sorry babe.  So fast forward 4-5 years… I hear he is in town.  I go on my phone and look at ticket prices… $150.  I’m bummed.  I get home and look on the computer (I guess I couldn’t get everything going on my phone)…. tickets were reasonable.  Extremely reasonable.  I bought them.  I didn’t tell him.  I went and bought him some Margaritaville flip flops to add to the surprise.  THEN I found out that one of his friends and his gf (whom we hadn’t met yet *ahem* Picciano…..) were also going and we made plans to tailgate!  So Friday night I told Aaron about it (so I could figure out food for it…). He was excited.  We went and spent a couple hours before the concert with Picciano and Tori, went in, then hung out for an hour after.  IT WAS AWESOME. 

See Aaron there…barely HA.  I am bad at group selfies! (and Tori all perfect HAHA)

Be jealous… :)

It was so worth it!  Aaron was like a kid in a candy shop on Christmas morning!!!!  It was so cute!  Now we want to make it an annual thing.  We VERY RARELY get to go out out with friends without Charli.  We get time without her… but we usually stay at home or just go out to dinner at home…. This weekend was filled with so much friend time and fun!  It was perfect!  Busy but perfect!  We need more friend time and more time out childless doing fun things!

Monday will be 3 weeks…..

Three weeks of hell.  Hell that has helped me lose 18 pounds so far!  I miss food.  I am struggling with not having variety.  I am STILL not understanding why all of their food has aspartame in it.  Frustrates me…

As of last Sunday, I had lost 16 pounds.  So, when we went to my family reunion… I decided I was going to stray from my diet but keep my portions tiny and TRY to stay within a normal calorie limit.  (I am eating 600 calories a day now and normal is about 1200).  I did VERY good and LOVED eating different foods!  I even had a latte… that being said, I was planning on sticking to my diet starting Monday again.  No straying.  I planned on getting back into walking since I hadn’t been able to do much from my super low BP.  Fast forward a week… I still haven’t been able to really do much walking… I have tried to make it a point to go up and down my stairs as often as possible in my house.  My blood pressure is still pretty low.  It’s definitely giving me a run for my money.  I dealt with it when I was pregnant, but I was able to stabilize it and get used to it.  This time, it's all over the place.  One day its normal, the next its super low.  So I am struggling.   I try to do what I can though.  Cleaning, painting, running up and down the stairs…

I miss food.  I will have ONE bite of something Aaron has or even what Charli has to try to satisfy my want for different food.  USUALLY it helps.  The past few days…. it hasn’t been helping.  I am dreaming about searching for food and eating it.  I am dreaming about finding a bathroom and then peeing (shockingly, I haven’t woken up wet….).  They told me that even though I am drinking 3 liters of water a day (they suggest 2 and no more than 3-4) my numbers are saying I need more.  So on Thursday I tried to drink 4 liters.  I was literally CRYING at the end of the night trying to finish drinking that much.  It was making me so nauseous.  I decided it wasn’t for me.  Those numbers can stay how they are… 4 liters of water a day are ridiculous.   I tried.  It was making me feel sick. 

Today and yesterday… I’ve been a raging psycho crazy bitch.  I want food.  I am wanting to eat people’s arms off.  I don’t understand how people can do this.  I am hoping I am able to keep doing this and meet my goal and then just do the nutritional counseling.  I am finding myself wanting to sneak snacks and hide food.  I don’t want to be that person.  I see a difference.  Everyone else is mentioning the difference.  I am able to wear clothes I haven’t been able to wear in a LOOOOONG time.  I am hoping this will keep me on the right path.  In group they tell you it gets easier, even the others in the program further than me.  For me, it’s getting harder and harder. 

Searching for the light at the end of the tunnel…… every day. 

Four days in….

So, it’s been 4 full days on the new diet.  As of Weds at my first weigh in (yes only 2 days in, just how it worked out…) I had lost 4lbs already.  Amazing.  I am sure I have lost more already as I have been SOOOOOOOO good!  Today I slipped and had a couple triscuits.  JUST A COUPLE.  So that’s not even a terrible slip.  It has been so much easier than I thought.  I haven’t been tired, I haven’t been cranky, I haven’t been anything.  At my group meeting on Weds, they took my bp and it was SUPER low.  They were a littttttle worried this quickly… so they had me add some bouillon to my soup at dinner.  I also added in some pickles (not in the soup EWWW) since they are one of the veggies I am allowed to have.  Usually I can tell exactly when my bp is off… I couldn’t tell at all.  Honestly.  On Tuesday, I had a very little bit of dizziness when I would stand up… nothing crazy.  To be expected.  But my bp was 90/60.  Oooops.  Last time it was that low, I was preggo (no I’m not) and I wasn’t handling it well… I was constantly near blacking out and a mess.  But, when I was in that meeting, they told me that sometimes ketosis gives you extra energy. I’ll take it!  It’s been awesome.  I went for a mile walk today with Charli and Aaron.  I wanted to see how I would end up feeling… I feel great.  No issues!  WooooHoooo!  If I can keep busting out the mileage, I will be down in weight in no time!!! 

 

Off topic, I had to share this picture…..  I was taking my '”before” pictures and Charli decided she needed to pose for some pictures too.  Funny considering we can’t ever get her to let us take pics!!!!  She is too cute! 

One day down….

Ok, so I survived my first day of the VLCD (very low calorie diet). Barely. I was dragged to two restaurants and by the end of the day I had a screaming migraine. That morning, I’d taken Aaron to work and like normal, walked at Gravelly Point.  Well, this time I practically ran 2 miles while pushing a stroller.  I burned A LOT of calories.  Not to mention it was nice and humid out.  Long story short, by the end of the day I’d only had a net of about 200 calories.   No amount of water was going to hold of my migraine.  They had told me to hold of exercising for at least a week…. I figured since it was my first day and I wasn’t weak yet, I would be fine.  NOT SO MUCH.  Live and learn.  Today, I am actually doing fine so far.  Wearing my glasses to keep the headache manageable (all I have to take is Excedrin Migraine and it has aspirin and I can’t have that) and drinking copious amounts of water.  Funny, I thought I would struggle to drink a liter of water.  Yesterday I had almost 3.  Today I’ve had about 36oz so far and keep sucking it down.  I hope this gets easier.  I was exhausted by bedtime yesterday.  I just hope I don’t get too weak while doing this.  I hope my body regulates quickly.  I also didn’t think about this: my first week doing it and I am expecting something that makes me seriously cranky, hungry and in a lot of pain.  Wish I’d timed it a little better… but again.  Live and learn.  I am determined to do this. 

 

Thank you to those awesome people who have been so supportive so far and especially those going through something very similar!!! 

30 by 30

It’s been entirely too long since I last posted.  Life has been a little crazy and I just haven’t known what to write.  Things are good right now.  Health wise, still not so much.  But hopefully this next step in our journey will help that out.  I started to look into weight loss programs.  I figured I needed to do something drastic to get a jumpstart on the weight loss  After asking around, I heard about a program that FMH Wellness center offers.  I heard about quite a few success stories.  Then, I heard that they now take insurance for it.  It was just a matter of an orientation and then finding out if my insurance would cover it.  Thankfully, it does.  I only have to pay copays and for the food (which is kinda expensive!!!).  So here goes nothin…. I start tomorrow.  I already had all my medical prescreening done and got the go ahead.  I am so nervous.  I’ve always been adamant about NOT doing a diet like this.  I love food.  I don’t eat obscenely large portions, I don’t eat horribly unhealthy.  But I love food.  This diet is a liquid diet.  Shoot me now.  But after yesterday, I learned that there are times when I can replace a liquid meal with things like chicken and salad (as in spinach and no carb dressing).  I can handle that.  I can chew on occasion!  I also found out that they give you a recipe book to spice up your liquid meals.  You can make them into muffins, cookies, slushies, ice cream and so on.  They make sure you don’t get bored and in a rut.  I think I can, I think I can.  Here is the link to the program http://www.fmh.org/weightmanagement if anyone is interested. 

 

Just for fun, some pictures of the past few months….

Last Day of Preschool

Niagra Falls- Maid of the Mist

At a wedding

Blowing bubbles

Rockin the dance floor

Being a goofball with blueberry pie

At her birthday party

Jumping on her new trampoline with Parker!

 

 

Hopefully I will get better at updating during my new weight loss journey! 

 

WISH ME LUCK

Easter 2013

This year was awesome now that Charli is understanding it more and can get really excited! We dyed eggs last weekend, and every morning since then she has asked when she can give the eggs to the Easter Bunny. I love it! She wanted to go see the Easter Bunny at the mall, wasn’t keen on the idea of sitting on his lap…. but we did manage a picture (with some bribing) where she is smiling and standing next to the bunny. Easter morning she just kept thanking the Easter Bunny for her basket and every egg she found.  As she went around looking for all the eggs, she would gasp every time she found one and say FOUND IT! LOVE! For the past few weeks her favorite story has been the Story of Easter. She asks me to get her Jesus every night. I love hearing her talk like that and seeing her talk about it!

Who would have thought this year would be so cold and un-spring like! WHERE IS SPRING?!

So while most of Easter was good, personally for me it was bad. I have been having A LOT of issues and had another cyst burst. I am about at my wits end. The dr has said they can’t do anything for them except birth control, which isn’t an option for me as it makes me really sick (and we’d like another baby!) I just have so much going on emotionally lately… it’s a mess. I am trying so hard to just see past it all and look for the bigger picture, but it’s frustrating. I think it is time to see yet another doctor about it all. Seven months of infertility and 4 ruptured cysts in 5 months. Yea, not a good thing. 

Anyways, here’s to hoping things get better soon!

Welcome, 2013!!!

Wow, I am lame when it comes to updating!  I could go on for days if I really wanted to tell you everything that’s gone on.  But if you read this… you see me on FB and that would be completely repeating myself HA. 
I think we finally have a grasp on Charli’s behavior!  WOOHOO.  We ended up breaking up with the behavioral therapist and since we were still having issues, were recommended to the child psychologist with the county.  She is AMAZING.  Charli took to her like white on rice!  The first two appointments, Charli didn’t stop talking to her the entire 45 minutes she was here!  It was adorable.  We just turned a corner over Christmas break.  She is going down for a nap and bedtime no problem!  I had been telling her that I had to go to the potty or to take meds or put my pjs on and now she tells me “go potty Mommy” lol.  No tears or anything.  I love it.  Makes life sooooo much better for all of us!  After we finally got that handled, I decided to work on the rest of her behavior too.  I had been avoiding situations that usually caused a major meltdown (which was damn near everything!)… I stopped avoiding them and started to just say No or work through it.  The “mommy look” is now working on her as well as saying NO!  She is listening much better.  Next to work on the whining.   I am worried that all of this work over the past year is going to go to shit as soon as softball starts in March.  I already leave her two evenings a week for a couple hours and she seems fine so far with it. 

Charli on the Santa Train

Dancing with Daddy to Jingle Bell Rock

Charli’s first experience baking cookies!

Our First Christmas in our house!

 

We had a White Christmas!!!!!!  We had a wonderful Christmas!  Charli was so into it this year!  She was very good at thanking everyone and yelling “HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS” all day every day LOL.  She was so spoiled this year.  Next year, I think I will ask for less gifts!  It looks like a toy store blew up in our house!  She is so cute with all of her new stuff though. 

Charli’s cute Christmas outfit!

Mackenzie and my Mom enjoying Charli’s first preschool program!

Charli onstage with her classmates!

Life has just been crazy the past few months.  In October we were crazy busy dealing with Daddy’s Surprise 50th birthday party… Hurricane Sandy the week leading up to said party… Thanksgiving… getting sick… December with trying to pack in as many new traditions and setting up our own house for Christmas for the first time… getting sick again… Christmas Day… getting sick again (all of this just me… )… Having some friends and family over for New Years Eve… a medical scare… and now we are all caught up.  What is life without chaos! 

I have a lot to say today….

Lately life has gotten crazy.  Lots of changes and new things coming.  Charli started preschool.  We started watching Mackenzie.  We have talked about trying for another baby.  Lots of things.  MOPS starts up again soon too.  Hopefully we can get into a routine with all of this going on.  Not to mention we still have speech therapy (not for too much longer I think) and behavioral therapy (still not sure if I am comfortable with this…. more on this later).  We are now to the point where we don’t have chill days at all.  We still have to factor in family time with my parents and my in laws.  Oh and pick up and drop off Aaron!  All that said, I still can’t wait until we have more kids which = even more craziness!

I feel as though I no longer sleep.  For some reason, no matter what, I don’t feel even remotely rested.  I have taken Tylenol PM, all natural sleep aids, wine (don’t judge me LOL), tried hot showers before bed, lavender… nothing makes me feel rested.  Oh, can’t forget just good old trying to sleep without help.  I am feeling in a constant serious fog.  Like no matter what I do, I can’t get a grip.  I can’t think straight.  I have become a raging hormonal sleep deprived freak of nature bitch.  Yea, I said it.  That’s me.  As for the raging hormones.  NO FREAKING CLUE WHY.  So frustrating.  I wasn’t even this crazy right after having Charli!  Naps haven’t helped either.  ARGH.  I swear all the other issues going on aren’t being brought on by this… they are not made up….

So, lately I’ve had a lot of questioning about my parenting.  No, I don’t do anything crazy or wacky.  The big things being questioned: speech therapy, behavioral therapy and putting her into preschool.  Apparently as a stay at home mother, I shouldn’t have any issues with Charli and I should be the one schooling her.  Well, she was VERY behind in speech.  Still is slightly behind.  One reason why I wanted to put her into preschool when I found out our church offers a 2 year old class.  Another reason for preschool…. she doesn’t get a lot of interaction with other kids without me.  I think she needs it.  If I am around, she still clings to me unless they are much older kids.  So I felt this was a good decision for her.  NEVER made the preschool decision to “pawn my child off” or to even get more alone time.  The kid takes LONG naps, I got that covered.  Behavioral therapy…. apparently because “she never does that for me, she listens to me” are all good reasons for me to NOT be having behavioral issues with her that I can’t seem to get a grip on.  Well hello…. weren’t you always good for others and extra bad for your parents.  DUH.  She is completely different when it is her and I alone.  The issues aren’t there so much when Aaron is home or we are with others.  The behavior issues got pretty bad.  Something I wanted to get a handle on before we brought in an infant to watch and better yet, before we decided to have a second child.  I didn’t want to let it get so out of control that once another kid was here, we just didn’t have the time or patience.  I by NO MEANS expect any 2 year old to be a perfect angel.  She wasn’t listening to me AT ALL.  Literally would laugh in my face when I tried to discipline her.  Didn’t care if I spanked her, or put her in time out or even took things away.  Yelling just got ridiculous because she yelled back and we were seriously having fights that I fully expected… but when she was 16 not 2.  Things had finally gotten so bad that I started doing anything and everything I could to prevent major tantrums.  I was doing whatever I could to prevent these tantrums that she was hurting herself during.  Clearly, seeking help makes me a bad mom.  Charli is my first kid.  She is only 2.  I am still learning and growing as a parent.  I bet you could ask my mother, who has a 28 and 23 year old, that she is still learning and growing as a parent.  I bet my grandmother would still say the same thing too.  I am truly trying to do what is best for Charli.  She is my first priority.  I feel that once we get it under control…. most everything else will fall into place so to speak.  I definitely don’t think being a parent is going to be easy.  I don’t think I am going to be perfect at it.  But I will strive to do the best that I can, be the best I can.  The person who keeps questioning EVERYTHING I do as a mother shouldn’t be.  Not by any means.  If anyone needs help, it is them.  Anger, bitterness and hatred only hurt yourself and those around you.  Clearly that’s a nonissue.  If you aren’t happy, no one can be happy.  It should never be that way.  You should always want your family to be happy.  I’m not your family… but my family is your family.  You should want them to be happy and safe.  Always.  Remember, I make them happy.  I do all I can to keep them happy AND safe.  Therefore, I am extremely important. 

Behavioral therapy.  She told us it would be hardest on me.  That the true question was, could I do it.  Could I stay strong and hold to the discipline for my child.  Then she says that I have failed my daughter as a parent because I have not been able to stay strong with her.  Then, says to get over any guilt I have for failing my child.  Then, says… by realizing there is an issue, I am doing one of the best things I can as a parent and seeking help.  I am so completely confused.  Everywhere I turn, my parenting is being questioned.  And this, I brought on myself by bringing her into our home.  I am seriously struggling with it.  She swears we have to have an extremely strict schedule for Charli.  Not just same time for naps and bed.  But exact same time daily for waking up, eating, naps and bedtime.  We tried to explain to her that with our lives, it’s just not possible.  Our schedules change weekly depending on when we have to take and pick up Aaron.  Also, Charli now has preschool 2 days a week.  That changes things.  What happened to “never wake a sleeping child”?????  I’m sorry, if we don’t have something to do, I am NOT going to wake my child up in the morning for no reason.  My kid loves her sleep.  If she went to bed at 9 as she does every night, and wakes up at 11 instead of 930…. she CLEARLY needed the sleep for whatever reason it may be.  When she went through her growth spurt… she was down at 9pm, up at 10-11am then down for a nap at 1 and up at 4-5.  Still down again at 9pm.  I will NOT deprive my child of sleep unless we have plans.  For us, she goes for a nap and bedtime at the same time everyday.  Unless there are certain circumstances like vacation or maybe the occasional longer visit with grandparents.  I  do not think we are failing her by not waking her up at the same time daily.  When we mentioned to our therapist that we weren’t down for a strict schedule like that, she said too bad DO IT.  That is not ok with me.  You have to be willing to work with our lifestyle as well as us working with you.  Don’t just do it all by the book, adjust your learning to each family.  Not everyone fits into the same mold.  That is where I am having an issue with this therapy.  I don’t feel as though she is willing to work with our mold.  I understand it is her job to help us and that we brought her into our home.  But we would be changing her “strict schedule” at least twice a week.  Kinda defeats the purpose of a schedule, eh?!  I am just so frustrated and not really in a good place to look at this in a good way.  But, I don’t want to pull out of it because I want to help Charli and I.  I was told she would find the issue between Charli and I, get to the root of things.  I by no means feel that way.  AND, since I set up the initial appointment, of course Charli has been really good!  HAHA.  Joke is on me! 

I just need a moment.  A break.  A getaway.  I think our little family needs a nice relaxing getaway alone.  We need to be allowed to run our lives ourselves.  There are too many people involved in our lives.  Involved in our marriage.  And I don’t just mean people we talk to about things, but people who feel they have a say in all of anything.  I want to be able to be out from under everyone.  AHHHHHH. 

 

Clearly I had a lot to say today.  Four posts.  Geez.  And I never even touched on all the crazy new stuff Charli is getting into!  I guess I might have to post a fifth to update on Charli HA.  Talk about wordy!

What….3 posts in one day?!

This one will just be some pictures of late…..

Giving Zeus some love… we thought we were going to lose him.

More Zeus love… we thought for sure we’d have to put him down that day…. God answered our prayers and we didn’t have to.  He will be 13 this year!

Running around at Gravelly Point while picnicing and watching airplanes!

Attacking Daddy!!!!!

Love.

How they roll in the hotel!

Love these two!

Playing “I have two kids”

Now that my “niece” Mackenzie is two months old, I get the pleasure of watching her a couple times a week.  I LOVE IT.  I am considering this my practice for whenever we have a second baby!  Charli is so good with her!  She is at that age where she wants to help out with everything and what better way than with a baby. 

She insisted, pushed me away in fact.  She had a good deal of patience too considering Mac takes forever to eat!  My little helper!

Loving on her some Mac.

The first day we had Mackenzie… we also had our first ever Behavioral Therapy session, a speech therapy session and a shortened nap.  Lucky she didn’t riot against her HA.

The second day I had Mackenzie, it was alone.  No Aaron to help out.  I thought for sure Charli was going to have some jealousy issues since I have to give more attention to Mac.  Nope, Charli just chipped in and helped as much as a 2 year old can.  Because Mac is still portable (I can set her up in the Boppy on the floor next to us) I think it will be ok for Charli.  She did definitely try to climb all over us, but that’s too be expected.  I am sure we will run into issues later.  We just threw a ton of changes at her all at once.  Preschool, intruder (Mackenzie), behavioral therapy, MOPS again (more time away from Mommy)… this could get interesting.

This just solidifies what I’ve always wanted… tons of kids and lots of fun!

I have a preschooler.

WHAT?!  Who sends a 2 year old to preschool?  ME!  I feel that it will seriously help her speech and behavior!  Also her shyness.  Although, we have found that it’s only towards girls!  HA. 

Breakfast the morning of preschool

When did she get so big?

At school in the parking lot!

She had so much fun!  When we picked her up, she took me over the the 2 boys in her class and introduced me to them.  Then she showed me around her classroom.  My big girl is growing up!

Playing when we dropped her off!

Ahh, love this kiddo! 

 

Lord help me the day she goes to FULL TIME school!!!!!

Homemade Miyakos (Japanese Hibachi Style Yummy-ness)

So, I found a recipe on Pinterest for YumYum Sauce  and got the bright idea to try a homemade Japanese Hibachi-style dinner.  It turned out A.W.E.S.O.M.E.  I don’t even say that because I closed the night with wine.  I say that because it was amazeballs.  My 2 year old daughter gobbled it up.  My husband gobbled it up and even my neighbor gobbled it up.  I also happened to gobble it up. 

Chopping up the veggies

Oh, we didn’t eat her for dinner… but the cutest 2 year old EVER. (tell me this isn’t a total look into the future… she looks SO OLD)

The mushrooms, squash, zucchini and carrots all chopped up

The soup (amazing)

The rice… I half cheated and found a recipe for the fried rice in the rice cooker… I swear it’s under there!!!!

The final countdown…. I mean- the end result!  AMAZEBALLS. (also……)

I was shocked at how good it turned out.  It wasn’t all that hard either.  I did NO hibachi skilled tricks.  Blood would have been shed!  It was seriously soooooooo good!!!! 

The recipes are all linked in the descriptions below the pictures!  I ended up using our griddle for the steak and shrimp.  Probably could have used it for the veggies too, but I’m a little too OCD to really allow that to happen.  I needed a skillet with sides and easier clean-up.  I realized with the steak that the griddle was tilted downwards so it made it harder to keep the seasonings on it.  So I decided to just throw all the butter, oil and soy sauce into a bowl with the shrimps and let them sit.  Then I threw the whole bowl onto the griddle.  It worked perfectly!  I also threw a bag of mixed veggies into the rice instead of just corn.  We had planned on adding an egg to make it a true fried rice dish… but forgot.  I also forgot to refrigerate the YumYum sauce overnight.  It ended up being a few hours.  Came out perfectly also.  I plan on making this at least once a month.  It was amazing.  I loved it.  Everyone loved it.  They kept telling me!  Try it.  You will love it!

PS.  The hubs made some awesome homemade bread to go with dinner tonight.  He was upset that I didn't give him a shout out.  I said I was sorry, but I was so focused on the actual Miyakos style dinner.  But really... his bread is always awesome.  He is the baker no doubt.  This bread was french bread with some Italian Seasoning in it.  YUMMMMMMMY.