Chirimoya and Cactus Berries

Today, I'd like to share one of my favorite seasonal, exotic fruits with you!!
Chirimoya
I checked it out on wikipedia and they're called sugar apples. And they are delicious!
My parents have a few trees in their back yard and they've had a bumper crop this season. Even here they are a very coveted fruit and most people love them. I wish I could share them with you all.

The fruit is usually round, slightly pine cone-like, 6–10 cm (2.4–3.9 in) diameter and weighing 100–230 g (3.5–8.1 oz), with a scaly or lumpy skin. There are variations in shape and size. The fruit flesh is sweet, white to light yellow, and resembles and tastes like custard. The edible portion coats the seeds generously; a bit like the gooey portion of a tomato seed. Sugar-apple has a very distinct, sweet-smelling fragrance. The texture of the flesh that coats the seeds is a bit like the center of a very ripe guava (excluding the seeds). It is slightly grainy, a bit slippery, very sweet and very soft. The seeds are scattered through the fruit flesh; the seed coats are blackish-brown, 12–18 mm (0.47–0.71 in) long, and hard and shiny. (source: wikipedia)

Now my next even more exotic fruit is nameless right now. We call them Cactus berries, but I can't find them on Wikipedia so I don't know what anyone not from here would call them.
I love to find them in the "bush" (our woods!) and eat them as they are.

They have a grainy texture and are just barely sweet, but I love them. It's worth getting stuck with thorns to have one!

Have a great weekend!
Casey

What can I say...

Well, I've been going back and forth on what to write on my blog after being MIA for 2 weeks. Shall I give you all the reasons? All the excuses? Do you want to hear about guilt, frustration, my lack of self-discipline?
What can I say?
So, I decided since I'm not writing so much to entertain you, but rather to journal my journey. And the only way I can do that is to give you honesty.
But I am not going to recap every guilty thought, every frustrating moment or all the times I have lacked self-control. But believe me, I've had plenty of all of that.
I know I need to get past that to move ahead, and admittedly, it's not that easy. It would be easier if I would stop sabotaging my efforts with my bad choices. If I were to make only good choices from now on, it'd be easier to forgive the past.
I needed to get this off my chest tonight, I will be back to post more soon. And although I've not been posting for the last few weeks, nor commenting on any blogs I follow, I do still read my favorites every day. And I'm encouraged by your journeys. Never give up, right?!
Back soon!
Hugs, Casey

Day 7 of 7! And a Weigh-in, too!

First, we'll go to the weigh-in!

Last week saw me at 255.9 lbs - almost embarrasing, really!
This week I'm down to 253 lbs, and though I'm still not at my lowest, I'm glad it's going down again.

I think I'll go back to posting my weigh-in on Mondays. And even if, for whatever reason, I can't post on Monday, I will still post the Monday weight.

Just a little easier to keep track that way.

Well, my first 7 days of intentional tracking are done and this is how I did:

1. Track all food consumed and  I did all my tracking at myfitnesspal.com. I may have underestimated on the calories with some foods, but since I make everything from scratch and didn't use a scale, it was a more guesswork than an exact science.

2. Stay within my calorie range (myfitness suggests 2080 calories/day) I didn't go over my 2080 calories on any day, but I did get close on 2 days - would have gone over if I hadn't done my work out. Not good!

3. Exercise at least 30 minutes/day for all 7 days. This can be a walk or a shred! As long as I sweat! Ok, here I actually missed one day, but I did make up for it on another... I did a 60 minute workout on  Friday. But my goal was everyday, so I guess I fell short.So although I didn't do things just like I would have liked, it was a start!!

4. Deep clean for at least an hour/day on 5 days. (My spare room and master bedroom really need it!)I thought I'd miss this one! But... I did the spare room. It needs maybe another hour or so, but I spent about 3 hours in there over the weekend! I even got caught up on all the ironing!!!


I was going to do another weekly challenge, but I think I'll take the jump and do a May challenge. I know there's alot of challenges going around right now, but I need to do my own right now.
I'll try to post daily, evaluate weekly and keep going down with the weight.
And I'll try to stay away from the Doritos for another 18 years!!

May Challenge
1. Track all food consumed at 2myfitnesspal.com
2. Stay within or under my calorie range (myfitness suggests 2080 calories/day)
3. Exercise at least 30 minutes/day for 6 of 7 days. Shred, or C25K or Leslie Sansone DVD or even just a walk. Again, as long as I sweat!
4. Spend at least 30 minutes doing my Bible Study (Stepping up, with Beth Moore) or just in the Word and in prayer. This needs to become more of a habit and not just a sporadic thing I do.

Thank you all for reading, and challenging and encouraging me in this journey. I love reading all your blogs and am learning so much from you all!

 Hugs, Casey.