Insanity Day 1

This work out sucks!! It is hard and I had to take a lot of rests because I was so tired. BUT it sucked in a good way! I sweated my ass off and my muscles were sore after. I liked how it was different from anything I have ever done and I really had to push myself. I took the fit test the night before and it was pretty hard as well. I am looking forward to tomorrow's workout! I will either update daily or at the end of the week, depending on how my week and attention span are going! :)

Update!

Things are going very well with my weight loss journey! I am weight lifting at the gym and actually loving it! I can't to be able to do more. I finally can do not only 1 full push up but 5 full push ups! Today I did 5 sets with 5 reps. I also ordered Insanity and it should be here Friday! I am so excited!!! My SIL is currently doing the program and she has really enjoyed it. She is losing weight and feeling great. I am going to try and do Insanity in the mornings and then still keep my normal gym schedule. I will post as I do the program! Stay tuned to see my get ripped! Haha!

Bladder physical therapy

I have started bladder physical therapy. I thought my doctor was kidding when he suggested it but it is real! LOL! I have since learned that I have a pelvic floor muscle that I can control. I have been taught exercises and they are no kegal exercises. What I've learned:

Your pelvic floor is only as thick as about 5 sheets of toilet paper. Over time is wears down and gets thinner. All your important organs are supported by this wall.

Your can control your pelvic muscles and it isn't hard to do but it does take a lot of focus.

Most people think that they are using their pelvic muscles but their abs are actually helping and that is actually not good.

Not interesting to many people but it was to me. Anyone who needs to know how to control their bladder should too! ;)

3 Ingredient Banana Ice Cream

I read a couple articles about making homemade banana ice cream. It is a not bad but I still need to experiment with different ingredients!

Ingredients:
2 bananas
1 Tablespoon peanut butter
1 Tablespoon Chocolate Syrup

Slice the bananas and freeze them for about 2-3 hours. Put all the bananas in the blender and mix. Add the other ingredients and blend. Your done! Serve immediately or put in freezer to harden the ice cream.

I am think that strawberries would be good.

Calories: 345
Carbs: 74
Fat: 8
Protein:7
Sugar: 54
Sodium: 78

Still Working Hard

Well we have had some serious changes in our lives recently. Cameron was in an accident at the end of January and we have decided to become a one car family. I will be going back to being a full time stay at home mom and I am super excited about that. I miss my little man, I miss the things we used to be able to do and the bonding time we had. We are saving a TON of money and with the money from the accident we were able to pay off my truck!! We are very happy with out decision even though it will require some sacrifices. We can finally start to send extra money to credit cards and have money to spend if we want something. I can breathe when it come time to pay bills and we will be able to save money as well.

I am currently in physical therapy for my bladder. I am going to do a whole post on that and explain all the things that I learned!

I have made a new friend (finally!!!) and so has Jackson! I joined the YMCA and I LOVE it. I didn't think I would but I have really enjoyed going. I drop Jackson off at school and go and work out for about an hour and half then get an hour and a half to surf the net on my iPad or sit in the hot tub. It is total momma selfish time and I LOVE it. My new friend is also a coastie wife and our boys go to the same preschool and she works out at the Y! She is teaching me some basics on strength training and I am really enjoying it. Me and one of my sister in laws are doing a challenge with our food accountability. We have decided that if we can stay on track for 3 weeks without going over our calories and track every day then we will treat ourselves to a reward day. We are thinking of going to Red Lobster!! :) The app Myfitnesspal has been a lifesaver for food tracking. The bar code scanner is awesome!

And I am now down to 182!!! Woohoo!!!!! I am so excited for spring and summer. I am now over the cold and since losing the weight I am not as hot all the time! Soon I will be starting a garden and that will be an adventure.

Until next time.... Stay happy!

Time Get away

Time gets away from me so often. I am still working out hard. I started working part time back in September and the school system I work for has a program for employess on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It is free and awesome! It is a work out program with a circuit training design. The first two weeks were hard and my abs hated me but I am doing much better now. I am still running/jogging and trying to get my mile quicker! I am now doing an average of an 11 minute mile which is a difference of 2 minutes from when I first started! I am really excited about that!

Sadly I haven't been crafting to much although. I am the worst time manager EVER!! LOL! My next project is a quote to go over our bed. I started working on it but then got stuck with the circut and haven't tried again.

I recently joined Beachbody and got my first bag of shakeology to try. I traded some extra 31 stuff I had for the bag since it is so expensive and I am super picky. I didn't want to hate it and spend that kind of money. I did hate the first batch I made but now I add soymilk, strawberries and either yogurt or bananas to it. I want to try the peanut butter powder but I have yet to find that. I also intend to buy a fitness program but I keep going back and forth from insanity to brazilian butt lift. I need to lose inches and weight but I'm not sure which to do. I don't know if my body is ready for Insanity. I will decide eventually!

I need to do another measurement of my body soon but for now my weight is decreasing! I am now down to 189!!

That's it for today! The weather is gorgeous and me and my little man are going to be heading out to play soon!

New year New Start

I got very sidetracked with all the holidays that are packed into the end of the year! I haven't blogged in FOREVER! But I am back and hopefully sticking around! So some things that have happened since the end of September:

1. Jogged my first 5k and survived. It was a color me rad run and I enjoyed it so much! Super storm Sandy did come close to my house so I had to leave the girls weekend early and head home. But we did the run and had a blast doing it!

2. I joined a company in the direct sales area called Thirty One Gifts. This is my third direct sales attempt but I LOVE this one. I am currently working on building a team and advancing in the company! I had a great start and I am looking forward to this upcoming year!

3. We are retraining our labs on how to stay home alone. They are 4 and have regressed because of separation anxiety when I leave. :/ We have had 2 successful outings and come home to find no mess, I am hoping it sticks!

4. I went to work part time and temporarily. I don't enjoy it either. I miss my baby and hanging out with him. But he stays with his Great Grandparents so that is good for them and him.

5. We put our credit cards away and will not be using them AT ALL in 2013! We will be paying them down and working really hard to get out of debt!

6. My baby brother got married! It was a beautiful wedding and I am so excited for him and his new wife!

I think that is all the stuff worth mentioning! I did fall completely off Weight Watchers and I haven't jogged since I did the 5k or even attempted exercising. That is changing tomorrow. I am back on it! I bought a Kinect with my Christmas money and the game The Biggest Loser. I did the profile set up tonight and bought a scale. I am starting the program tomorrow! I will also be putting my feet back on the gravel and jogging! I will stick with it this time! I put my food journal on the fridge, so there will be no excuses! I also wrote out the menu and got all the ingredients for my meals! I am excited to get back on track! We are also budgeting hard core! As I said we locked away our credit cards and now it is time to start paying them off! I am excited about that!

Here's to a great start to a great year!

New Fall/Autumn decorations!

Today I made some new fall/autumn decorations! I got the idea from...wait for it...Pinterest!!! Surprise, surprise! I am not sure what to call them because they can be used for some many things. Here is a picture of the finished product.

They were actually pretty easy to make once I got the hang of it! I took some candlesticks and bowls (not sure what else to call them) and hot glued them together. I used my Cricut to cut out the word autumn from the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge and I loved it! I put designs on the back as well using the same cartridge!

The pumpkin was so cute I just had to use it and the little acorns added just the right finish I thought. The orange one doesn't have a lot going on on the back, I am not sure what to add to it yet! Right now I have a votive in one and another little candle holder and a tea light in the other. The tealight is sitting on some fake leaves. But you can also fill them with some fake leaves and other fall like things. Like this: (Excuse the lighting, they reflect the flash so bad that this was the only way to take the picture.)

I got the leaves, gourds, candlesticks and bowls from the Dollar Tree! Super inexpensive since I already had the vinyl that I used to cut the word and accents with! Now to find a place for them!!

No Sew Blanket

I made my first no sew blanket today! I am behind on most things that other crafty people have been doing but I finally got some fabric and made my little guy one! It was actually more of a pain in the butt then I thought it would be. I finally stopped all the measuring that was in the directions. So my fringes are not all 1" or 4" long but Jackson likes it! Here are some pics of the progress and then Jackson enjoying his new blanket!

 

I had to cut that wording off the fabric before I could begin. I have no idea why it was there but it was not attractive.

I can NOT cut straight! Haha! 

Fall

I am way late in discovering Pinterest but since I have, Holy Cow!! I am addicted, seriously in need of rehab! And now that Fall is on its way here I can not wait to recreate some of the things that I have seen! I have not been able to restrains myself from putting up my fall stuff. I held off until yesterday but I lost it after that! Everything I have is up! Sadly it isn't much, I need some more stuff!

This morning I woke up and walked out onto the front porch and it was slightly chilly!!! I was beyond excited to feel the coolness in the air. I didn't even care that is was rainging AGAIN! I know it won't last and the humidity will be back soon but this morning was glorious! To bad it isn't time for fall in NC yet! Soon enough though!!

Made my first wreath!

I have been on a crafting spree lately. I blame Pinterest personally! There are so many wonderful ideas out there for making everything! So here is my wreath!

This wreath was very inexpensive to make and I LOVE it!! Total it cost me about $11.00 to make! The ribbon, flowers, gourds, pumpkins and berries came from the Dollare Tree. The vine wreath came from Wal-Mart and the little pine cones came from my parents Stuff Store. The Letter came from Micheal's and the scrapbook paper that is on the letter is some I had laying around.

First I popped all the flowers and berries and leaves off the stems. Then I wrapped the wreath with the ribbon. I took all the flowers and berries and just started sticking them places to see how I liked it. After I got them situated, I filled any empty spots with pine cones, gourds and pumpkins! Once everything was exactly the way I wanted it I used a hot glue gun to make sure it all stayed in place! I used Modge Podge to put the scrapbook paper on the letter. I cut a strip of ribbon to use to hang the letter down and hot glued it to the ribbon that was wrapped around the wreath. I did it that way so I could see exactly where I wanted the letter to be.

I can't wait to make more of these for the different months!

DIY Laundry Sign

The next DIY project I made was a laundry sign. I found this on Pinterest as well! I really loved the look of it and thought it would look nice in our laundry room.

Here is the original and the link to the tutorial: http://go.tipjunkie.com/dc/1342/jensidea.blogspot.com/2011/06/heres-your-sign.html

I did do mine a little different. I chose to wrap my each block with the scrapbook paper instead of just the front. I didn't have any pain to use. It did take a lot more time to do it this way because I had to cut the paper for specifically and use more glue. I also used wood glue because that is all we had on hand. My letters are printed of the computer and cut out. I didn't have a cricut at the time so I used the computer. I printed the letters on white card stock. I glued them on the wood with wood glue. This caused me to get glue everywhere. I used a little paint brush that I just through away afterwards. It took a lot more time for me to do it this way because I had to cut each letter out and glue them on. Here is my finished product! I am very happy with it though!!

I still need to paint the wood that the letters are on but that will be a project for another day!

DIY Cubby Shelf

So I have been addicted to Pinterest lately. I can not get enough of the DIY, Holiday and Home Decor sections! So far I have only created 2 things... who has the time when there are so many other things to pin?! My hubby actually made one of the projects... it involved a lot of cutting and nailing wood. I did pain it though!

So here is the original pin that I saw for the behind the couch table. It is apparently a IKEA design. We do not have an IKEA store near me so I can not confirm this. Here is the link to the directions: http://knockoffdecor.com/white-storage-sofa-table/

I did not actually read this thoroughly before hand but the picture looked easy enough! ;) After I sent my hubby to the store with the supply list he came home and read the directions. We did not have a table saw or even a table to put the wood on to cut it and we were lacking a nail gun. The measurements also did not work out for us. I don't know if it would have helped to have something better to cut on or if her measurements were off. However my wonderful husband was able to cut the wood on the ground and get it put together for me by hammering the nails in and then using a screw gun! I did make some changes because I did not need 4 little shelves up top, I want 2 big ones because I had a big basket that I wanted to use. So here is our version:

I wanted this cubby shelf to help organize my sons toys. This is his play area downstairs. I bought the baskets at Michael's, they were on sale and I had a 25% off my entire purchase! It took my a couple hours to paint because of the humidity in the air and I had to put 2 coats on it. It turned out perfectly though and I absolutely LOVE it!

Got sidetracked!

My husband and I had been living apart while he was finishing his time at his previous duty station and he came home the beginning of June! Sorry, I have been out of the loop for a while but we took time to hang out and enjoy the summer. We have moved into the home that we will be in for the next 4 years (I hope) and we are loving it! We are finally getting it decorated and settled! I am loving the space we have here and the quiet! We are on 5 acres and have virtually no neighbors!

We did discover that our son has severe separation anxiety. When we tried to leave him with family so I could work a part time job he cried the entire day I was at work. So, that was a no go. We are instead going to try a preschool that is part time. He will go 3 days a week for 4 hours. We feel it will help him branch out and become more social. I don't want him to panic every time I leave him, I want him to understand that I am coming back to get him and I would never permanently leave him.I was able to work long enough to earn his year of tuition, so that is a major plus! Thank goodness for the leave that Cameron had already put in for!

I have become addicted to Pinterest! So far I have made laundry sign and my husband made me a cubby shelf for our son's toys! I have a ton more that I want to do but most of it is fall or holiday stuff! I do need to get cracking on some crocheting or I will not have any gifts to give this Christmas!

My weight loss journey got very very off track. I stopped running and tracking my food. I have a million excuses but mainly I just stopped one day and never picked it back up. I am going to get myself on track again here soon! Now that we are settled, I have no more excuses!

That is it for now! I will make a couple posts later today or tomorrow morning with the awesome Pinterest things I have made!

Another long absenence

I have not blogged in awhile, life tends to get in the way! I have fallen off the Weight Watchers wagon. It was really hard to track points during all the moving. I haven't started it back yet. I plan to start tracking my calories though. I was doing it for al title while but I stopped. I recently got an iPhone and I can use the app on there to help me track my food. I hope that it works as well as WW did. I am still running and adding more and more to it everyday! I jog 5 days a week with my jogging stroller! I hope that when we move in July things will get back to normal and we can start doing things like we used to do!

Busy enjoying beautiful weather!

It has been awhile, again since my last post... The weather is gorgeous and I can't help but be outside as much as possible! We recently got a family pass to the zoo, aquarium and living museum. So far we have been to the zoo twice and the aquarium once. I was very disappointed by the aquarium, it was small and a long drive for us. Jackson did love the turtle area, so it wasn't a complete bust! The zoo is great and we have enjoyed it a lot. He is starting to notice all the animals! Jackson is very fascinated by boats and ducks currently. He went out on a boat trip with me and his grandparents and stayed awake the whole time, that trip really made him like boats! He goes around talking about boats, and pointing to every boat he sees! I have enjoyed taking pictures out on the boat and pretty much everywhere we go! I am click happy! This weekend we went to Wilmington to visit Cameron and we had a great time! I took 279 pictures and it was so nice to see Cameron and get to hang out! We walked around a 4 mile park and Cam's parents walked ahead with Jackson so we could have some time together. It was sad to leave but time is going by fast thankfully, not long until he is here with us! Jackson went swimming in a pool for the first time and loved it! He had a Bakst floating around and kicking his feet! We started practicing going underwater with him and he did great with it!! Weight wise I am doing ok, not losing like I was but still losing a little. I am still jogging, walking and I have started doing sissy push ups and sit ups! I am really trying to flatten my tummy!

Quick Update

It has been over a month since I was able to get on here and update but we have had a very busy month. We have moved temporarily until July. Everyone is doing good, Jackson is talking up a storm! We found a great house to rent for the next 4 years and are very excited to move into it in July!

I am still doing good with WW. Not as good as I was doing but I am working on getting back on track. I have upped my jogging and it is going good! I am officially down 22 pounds since the beginning and very excited about that!

I finally got the camera that I have been dreaming about! I was waiting until we saved the money but we got a great deal on a used Nikon D3000 and as soon as I opened the box I started taking pictures!!

So overall, life is still fabulous!

Another week has started and almost ended

It amazes how fast days go by when you are busy. I had a doctor's appointment Tuesday to check back on some labs for my liver function. I was supposed to start some medication that is filtered through my liver and can be harsh so they wanted to make sure my liver was going to be able to handle it. Instead of finding out how my liver was doing I find out that I am sitting on the line for type 2 diabetes. Teetering so close to having it that they put me on a medication to help. The doctor warned me that the medicine would make me nauseous and upset my stomach and she was SO right. I feel sick all day, UGH! She said after my body gets used to it the side effects will wear off, I am ready for my body to be used to it! Thankfully, I have already changed my eating and living habits since having the blood work done in December. I have already lost 14 lbs since then and started exercising almost everyday! I go back in a couple months to check my levels again and hopefully I will be far far away from that damn line!

In other news... We have our house rented out and I am so excited! We also will be moving in to the apartment that my cousin owns above her house. I am really excited, it means that we will get to see the husband more and I have missed him! And we finally got orders for where we will be moving in June/July and we got our #1 pick!!!! We are heading back home closer to family! I have been researching my butt off trying to find us a house that we can afford and that will take pets. The houses go quick once orders start dropping because everyone wants to secure the home they can see themselves in for 4 years. And I finally found the perfect one!!! I did find 2 and one is $300 less then the other but I just kept going back to the first one I found. I love the house, the layout and the location!!!! After talking to the husband, he said I could go for it if it was the one I wanted, so I contacted the owners and hopefully we can work something out soon!!!! I could not be happier right now!

My mom should be coming down next week to help me pack and get moved. We did hit a snag in our refinance but USAA quickly straightened it out after I freaked out on them. Probably not necessary since they are a great bank but I was upset and we could not afford to have anything get messed up. So we close later then we thought but it will all be done before our tenants move in on March 1st!! I am so excited to get our lives moving, I feel like we have been at a stand still waiting for something to happen since we put out house in the market last year!

I never thought that we would be land lords and the idea is still not the most appealing but I am excited for things to happen. And I am really excited that we rented out our home so quickly, I just pray that it works out well for the family and they want to stay for awhile. Maybe even buy one day!! *Hey a girl can hope ;)*

Busy little life

We have had so much going on these days. Last March my husband's section of the base was moved about 2 hours away. We purchased our home and could not move with everyone else. He has been making that commute and having to stay the night for almost a year. It is so hard to believe that it has almost been a year but if you look at his face and talk to him about his job, you can tell it is really wearing him down. After our home had been on the market for 8 months without a single offer we decided to refinance and look into renting. We were both very scared to be landlords and not sure if we should do it ourselves or get a property manager. In the end we went with a property manager and I am so glad that we did. As of yesterday our house was officially rented out after only being on the rental market for about 2 weeks! I am so relieved and I hope that it works out for us. Now we have about 3 weeks to get out of our house and into another one. Thankfully, my mom came to my rescue and talked to a cousin that has a house with an apartment and she agreed to rent it to us. I was so afraid we were going to have to split our family up. We only have 4 more months left of this tour and no one would rent anything to us knowing we would be leaving in such a short amount of time. I am so happy to cross 2 major stressors off my list. Now if we could just get orders to find out where we will be headed in July I would be one happy lady! Now all we have to do is get our house packed up and everything moved!

First on my agenda tonight, a glass of wine (maybe) and watching some One Tree Hill and doing some reading! Life is so good!

Been absent a little while!

This has already been a bit of a stressful week and we aren't even to Friday yet! I didn't get a chance to weigh in on Tuesday, I had to go grocery shopping, come home get dinner in the crock pot, get lunch made and ate and then me and J headed to a friend's to hang out for a bit. On the way home we stopped and picked up a jogging stroller! I am in love with it! I took it for a spin yesterday and it was great. Although, it is a lot harder to jog while pushing a baby! Here is my awesome stroller:

 The speakers are in between the cup holders. The only thing I would change is having bigger cup holders but they hold a bottle of water, so it's all good! (Boo was doing a safety check!)

The front wheel locks for jogging! J was very secure while we jogged and there was little to no shaking as I jogged! You can unlock the wheel for easier use in stores!

Yesterday I went to a play date and then ran errands. I ate horribly but the play date was fun and I got to hang out with a friend talk! Our house was viewed by a possible renter while we were out and we got positive feedback! I am really hoping that it is going to work out. We really could use some good news regarding our home. This has been such a stressor for us and we have so much other stuff going on. After we got home we went for a jog and then spent about 1 1/2 cuddling and watching tv. It was nice to just relax after I have been running my butt off the last few days! I did have a good dinner but I let my emontional eating habits get the best of me last night and indulged in some not so good snacks. I will have to work really hard to not let that happen again and hopefully burn off what I devoured last night today when I work out.

I did finally get the Wii Fit Plus! N (this is how I will refer to my best friend from now on) traded with me! She had the plus but didn't use it and I had the regular so we switched! I am excited to try it today!