A quick follow-up to my "8 week challenge"

Okay, I was looking at my last few posts and realize I really am not portraying the right picture of myself! I see that I began a couple posts about an "8 week challenge." It looks as though I gave up and never completed them because I didn't blog about it. 

Not true!

I did complete the challenge. In fact, I won the challenge! 

There was a little pot of money involved and that was fun :) 

I wound up finding myself eating sugary treats only once a week - which is huge for me. 

I also found I had a little more energy than before. The energy part took a few weeks to kick in.

I was pretty low on energy when I first began. My goal with this 8 week challenge was to go all out crazy and start a new work out routine and start eating healthier and avoid sugars. I needed to start with one newly focused habit; or I knew I would not succeed. 

My goal was to just to focus on what I ate. 

It was awesome. I lost weight and gained a new happy habit in return.

After the eight weeks I decided to incorporate working out.

This was just one new habit. After all, I had already been settled into a new eating plan that was going well. It was time to keep the upward momentum going. 

My body was happy, I was happy. I'm not sure that I was actually accomplishing much more on a day to day basis. I felt good on a day to day basis. Not sluggish, energetic. Ready for bed. 

That was/is so important to me. 

I wanted to follow-up on this, because the strides I made during that time - are notable.

So, It's been TWO years!

It's been two years since my last post. Yikes! I am in definite need of some consistency.
I'm not sure why I can't quite get it together. However, I've been getting the bug to do some "vlogging". I've been toying around with the idea, but I don't want to invest the time if it's something that I'm not really committed to - like this blog.  I had such hopes!

So, my goal for now, is just a few updates here and there. Keep it simple like before. No stress. Just a simple online journal, riiiiight!? 

We'll see where it goes. Again.....

8 Week Challenge! Day Two &Three-Week One

So it's day three and I am doing pretty well. I am getting all my healthy meals in and exercising is back up to an hour-yay! I had a southwestern burrito on a whole wheat tortilla for breakfast, followed by a fruit smoothie for a snack. For lunch I didn't get much in today, I mostly snacked today- I'm not sure why, but I had half a granola bar with some veggie sticks. Then a delicious slow cooked, bonless country rib pork, which I covered with onions, salt and pepper; and a homemade bbq sauce of: ketchup, mustard & honey..yum! I served it with rice and peas with carrots. I got 100oz. of water in and I am still thirsty. I worked out this morning by way of jogging for an hour outdoors-it was really cold, in fact colder than I thought it would be, but being out felt great, and I'll hit the trail again tomorrow.

I thought since I didn't recap my day two yesterday-it was a busy night; that I'd do it now.

I worked out for 45min. via the treadmill-I hate jogging indoors! If I had been outdoors I would have jogged an hour, but I wimped out-out of boredom, I know it's pitiful.  Yesterday’s menu went as follows: 

Whole wheat  toast w/ almond butter/honey

Turkey & Whole wheat Wrap w/ spinach

Smoothie

Protein shake with almond butter

Granola bar

Sorry about the ugly menu, I just copied and pasted it from my electronic food journal because I’m feeling lazy =)

Well, there’s my two days in a nut shell. I still have to fight it out with my cravings for chocolate and sweets in the late afternoon/evenings. But I am holding strong, this is the part I don’t want to mess up. I know I can do it!

8 Week Challenge! Day One-Week One

Today was my first day on the 8 Week Challenge. I think I did awesome! I ate well(whole grain toast with almond butter and a little honey for breakfast, nuts for a snack, roasted veggies for lunch, a banana for a snack, then dinner.) I drank 80oz. of water, because I needed it, we only need to drink 64oz.
I was busy today. I worked out for 30min. and I usually work out for about an hour, but today was an exception. I have a friend who is dying of cancer and in home hospice, so I spent most of my day there today, cleaning and visiting. I came home midday today to watch four of my nieces and nephews, and I still had my own house to clean and a soup to make from scratch(Chicken & Gnocchi Soup, from allrecipes.com, yum!) I do have five children of my own, and today two of them came home not feeling so well. Needless to say, by 7:30pm I was really getting a craving for some chocolate-this is usual for me. Buuut, because of this challenge, I am determined to take each day at a time and not give in.

Oh no! It's a blog train!

Have you ever clicked on a picture or article or link and it took you to a really great blog?
Once you get there, you start reading about what you clicked on and theeeeeen. That's when it happens. Your eyes start to wander..like, over to the sidebar, where of course there are other links to other great blogs that you can click on and check out.

You move from one blog to another gathering tidbits of information that's informative, fun, creative, even touching. All of sudden, an hour has gone by and you realize that your on the blog train and you can't get off! After all, there are all these great ideas and interesting stories and, and, and, take a deep breath. I know, It's all too much.

Falling Off The Wagon

This is not the meal of champions! Buuut, lately it's all I'm craving. Yum,yum! Although, when one is training for their first little 5k, they should be eating better, I don't like to rock the boat too much, ha ha! Not a brownie specifically, just anything sweet and if it's chocolate it's better.  I had to add the picture of the chocolate brownie with caramel frosting I ate. It's was way to moist and fla-va-full! The caramel frosting was mmm, mmm, good! Are you wondering if I could ramble on about for another paragraph or so...well yes, quite frankly I could. But I won't.   I have a bunch of fall dessert recipes I want to try these upcoming weeks. I think the first will have to be some pumpkin butter biscuits that a friend of mine made, I tried them and they were gooood. The next one I 'm going to make is a pumpkin muffin using yellow cake mix and canned pumpkin. You don't even need to add the eggs and oil-we shall see.  I'll post those later.

Registered!

Okay! So yesterday I registered for my very first 5K! Yay me!!! I am so excited! Can you tell by the use of all the exclamation points. So, my jogging buddy found this website,(they are hosting this 5K, so I thought I better give credit since I put up their pic.)
They are Bodies by Brad & Jen, they have a running
club that looks great. I may go check them out. We'll see... I am so looking forward to the upcoming events, stay tuned to see how it all turns out!

Feeling Fine

We were sitting in the family room laughing about how ridiculous the whole weekend turned out to be. I hurt my lower back(actually pulled my psoas muscle,it's in your hip and attaches at your back) last week during my workout and have been down and out for a week. With a family of seven to keep up with, this has been a major set back.
Then my husband goes and twists the wrong way and tweaks his back too. Ugh!!!
Thankfully his back resolved itself in a few days.
I made it in to the chiropractor and I'm really glad I did.


Anyhow, you would think that between my husband and the older kids we could keep up with laundry.
Buuut noooo. Everyone was so busy-between scout fundraisers, camp out's, family dinner to plan for(yep, at my house, and yep, I said they could all still come.) I had my hair appointment that I make six weeks in advance and I wasn't cancelling that, ha! We were running around in every direction. Then my daughter came down with a 48hour something-or-other. We were literally down and out, but not hopeless. My husband and I felt fine, we just couldn't move much.
Needless to say it's a new week, a new outlook and we're feeling...almost fine.

It's Over Already!

Yesterday was a world wind. I can't even remember what had me so completely busy that I forgot to update my blog. I've been doing so well.

I teach a religion class at my church for young college students ages 18-30. Thursdays are my prep day. If I need to finish up any printing or make refreshments that I'll bring to class- I'll do that in the afternoon to have ready for class that night.

 I've loved teaching this class the past year. I have enjoyed the young people that I've become acquainted with. I've also loved the way the spirit has worked with me and helped my understanding of the word of God.

Today, I jogged, showered, took a friend out for a birthday lunch and some quick shopping for some tights =)

I love Fridays! Fridays is Date Night.  Yeah, Date Night. My husband and I are pretty religious about it and we both really look forward to the time together. We have no specific plans tonight so I have no idea what we're doing. We generally like to eat out, catch a movie or see a play. Occasionally we go to the Opera which we become fond of, and when weather permits we head outdoors.

Today the weather is a little wet and quite dreary. It's also looking like a double date could be in store.

Stay tuned.....

Pepper

We have an American Mastiff, she is a beauty. She has a dark face and eyes with a light coat that is just starting to gray around the muzzle. She's a mellow dog with moments of crazy-just like the rest of us. 

Pepper is a big girl at 128 pounds, but not too big for her breed. 

She recently got some fleas, yes I said fleas! We took her to the vet because she got a sore on her tail from scratching. Long story short, we discovered that the poor girl also has arthritis. She is middle aged and something was bound to happen as this breed is prone to hip dysplasia and some heart disease. I'll take the arthritis over heart problems any day.  Any how, she got a shot of cortisone wich should help her feel better over the next week and a half while she heals up. So I'm off for some glucosamine for the old girl, and I hope we can keep her comfortable during these upcoming colder months.

Pot Roast

Question?
Will the crock pot roast ever cook if I don't plug it in?
I think I'll have better luck with dinner if it actually cooks. ::flat hand to the forehead::

My Morning Jog

Got my morning jog in! Yay me! It was so cool out this morning and I forgot to layer up, eek! Took forever for my body to warm up. It was beautiful this morning. On the jogging trail there were wild turkey and bright yellow wild flowers; I'm going to have to get a pic of those. Today there was a young buck and doe right on the walkway. They stared me and my jogging buddy down for a while then meandered off into the tall grass. From there they kept a close eye on us. The buck walked away slowly, as if to say, "Yeah, I own this place, and I'm watching you." He was slightly intimidating. Although, while my friend just laughed at me, I tried sending mental messages to the buck not to mess with me. Ha ha.

I couldn't ask for a better start to my day than this. It was beautiful!

Getting Ready

Today we have guests coming for dinner. We are having my go to easy dish of lasagna with green salad and garlic bread. Dessert will be a surprise as our guests asked to bring some. Hope it's yum!

I just need to get the old lady(refer to yesterdays blog) to be quiet long enough to get the house picked up. I also need to find time this weekend to cut the boys hair, and gather all the clothes that don't fit anyone in my house and to give to goodwill. They've all been washed and mostly folded, they just aren't sorted from the everyday wear, ugh! It'll get done...sure it will, tomorrow.........yeah, tomorrow.

This morning

Wow! I haven't blogged in forever. Got my jog in today, and I really needed it. I was so bummed yesterday, I didn't even feel like working out. Today feels much better. I think the 80 year old woman who shares my body isn't liking what this cooler weather is doing to her bones. Thankfully the eighteen year old girl who inhabits my heart is on top of things today!

One Week Down

It's been one week of school and we are still alive! 

There have been no injuries to report or illnesses! LOL

Other than it now being time for everyone to get their eyes examined, the hum of the 

school year is upon us! 

Let the PTA meeting, Back to School BBQ's, and host of other school year festivities begin!

Karma or Consequence?!

Alright! If I didn't know any better I would think that Karma had just dealt me a bit of medicine. After re-reading my last post, I realized I may have sounded a bit boastful about my checklist of tasks that I was able to go through in my day. I mean it's not like I accomplished any grand feats or anything. The day felt like a whirlwind, all while being able to accomplish the things that were needed. 

Yet! This past weekend I have somehow managed to pull my hip and lower back out. Leaving me completely unable to get any chores done...for the last four days! This may not seem like a big deal, but in a family of seven, well, it's an avalanche waiting to happen.

So. One might say that if I hadn't felt so great about getting my two loads of laundry done before anyone woke(and posting it in my blog,) that perhaps I wouldn't now be seven loads of laundry behind for the week.

Well...I'm at least smart enough to know that it is not karma, but the consequences of my own behavior. Rather, the lack of my behavior that has put me in this position.

I know that when I don't exercise and keep my muscles strong that my back will eventually go out. Well, that 's exactly what happened. 

Here I find myself, the product of my own design!

The result of my own making.

Now, I must regrettably make the decision to..........................begin exercising again!!!!

Today

Today I woke up a little later than I would have liked.

I still manage to get two, count em' two, loads of laundry in, and a shower... before any kiddos get up.

I check my emails. For some reason I still have two email accounts...I need to condense(because I never really count my third account that I use for online junk.)

Made my replies and fed the boys. My two oldest are still at their cousins spending the night, we sort of swapped kids.

We have a couple cousins spend the night, which means I have five boys today.

They play the Wii and hide-and-go-seek!
The four year old needs help counting to fifty. One, two, three.....
I load the dishwasher, for the first time today.

I bathed a couple kids up. Switched some more laundry around and checked a suspicious ear ache for infection. It's now around 7:45am, I need to get a call in to the doctors office, but they don't open till eight! I tell myself not to let it get too far past eight or the day may run away with me. Wouldn't you know the ear infection hits on a weekend.

I make the call and they can fit us in this afternoon! Yay us!!

After I take the suv to the mechanic, pick-up the oldest, (I need him to watch the younger two,) I drop Grandma off. She was watching the little ones while I made the run to the mechanic. We all clean up. Which means a complete outfit change for the kid with the ear infection, and a discussion on why we shouldn't wear clothes with mud on them to the doctors office.  I leave reminders to be kind, and for the oldest to remember to give the little ones some lunch.=)

We head off to the doctors and... of course it's an ear infection!

This makes number seven in the past fifteen months, not including the four ruptured ear drums. Looks like another set of tubes for the six year old. Yay us!!

We pick up the prescriptions and head back home.

Now its around three and I realize as I check my email that I forgot to pick up my daughter. (Sends quick text to patient Aunt)

No big deal of course, everyone is having fun. 

Hubby calls and is on his way home...................early!!! Yay ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday is Date Night in our house! 

All-in-all, it's been a good day.

Quote

From a book by Sheri L. Dew

Summer So Far

This summer is flying by. Although, summers usually do.

It seems like each week is a flitter of activity. We have visited the local art museum, been to the fountains, seen the Clifford exhibit, gone to the park countless times, ridden the roller-coasters relentlessly,(we bought season passes,lol.)

We've been to BBQ's galore and birthday bashes. We have sat through performances, some good, some well...

We have put miles on the Sequoia and have nothing but time and an oil change to show for it.

We have dined with family and friends and laughed and cried at the movies.

Ahhh, summer-so-far has been good to us!

Living Up To Our Potential

It's not that I haven't read or seen an uplifting story before, it's just that today I decided to pass it on...via my blog.

I am grateful for those who not only believe in Jesus Christ, but regardless of the reason, strive to share the truthfulness of his gospel to others. I am a Mormon. I know that Jesus Christ lives. I am thankful for the opportunities to live up to my potential as daughter of God. I am grateful for the gentle, and not so gentle reminders of this. I am blessed. I am a wife and mother, a daughter(in-law), sister(in-law), aunt, niece and friend. I am loved by many and I am striving daily to fulfill Gods purpose for me on earth. 

I watched this video today via Mormon Messages, I wanted to share it.

Rachel

p.s. click on the link in the post below,as I haven't figured out how to embed it here yet.