Garage workout

I had a funny conversation with my Mom a few weeks ago. We were chatting on facebook and I told her I had to get off the computer and go do my garage workout, which is where I have to go if Jack and Jason are asleep cause then I can jump and they won't hear me.  It was 10:00 at night and I caught the workout bug.  She asked me what I could possibly do in the garage for a workout, and here is my response, all I had was 10 pound free weights, a yoga mat and a chair, you really don't need fancy equipment, and this workout took me about an hour and 20 minutes.  When I blast dance music in my ears sometimes I have to force myself to end the workout cause I'm just feeling the music. This is my response to my Mom: "You wanted to know what I do in the garage, well I ended up going in the storage room - too hot in garage. Blast dance music on ipod: do 20 minutes of cardio: cheesy 80's dancing, running in place, kickboxing, criss cross kicks, jumping jacks, kick butt kicks, kick forward/jump run, kick backs, pretend jump rope, mountain climbers, tire jumps, sumo wrestler, burpies, suicide drills, football runs. That is just the cardio then I do 10 different things with free weights, I do tri-cep dips with a chair, lunges, squats, side kicks, leg lifts, plie kicks, 10 different ab exercises , different leg exercises on my knees, then a little more cardio then my cool down. What I did tonight burned 760 calories.

HELP, teacher gift ideas for a man

So for the past three years Jack has had female, teachers, teaching assistants and speech therapist. Now he has a male Kindergarten teacher, and I am so used to coming up with cute ideas for the woman.  I have a few that could work for both male and female.  The smores gift basket, the movie gift basket, the coffee set. but I am kind of at a loss for anything else. I like to give lots of gifts throughout the year, cause lets face it they have my child for about 37 hours a week they deserve presents.  His new teacher drives over an hour every day to get to his job.  I always like to give a pretty big gift at Christmas time. Here is my idea tell me what you think:
A personalized tote box or small storage bin with kind of like a car emergency kit in it
Here are things I would give him if you think this is a good idea, otherwise I am at a loss
Tide to go pen - for spilling things on clothes - we have all spilled coffee on the way to work, right
lint roller
de-icer
fix-a-flat
gas card
travel coffee mug
flash light or maybe a flash light key chain
snacks (cause his only meal all day is cafeteria food)
ice scraper

I can't think of anything else, ideas Please, need feedback

I wants

So, I don't have a pinterest account, but I like to go on there and look at stuff and get ideas.  I have a few things that I think are adorable and only know too crafty people in my life, so Mom and Cass if you see this post, these items are adorable and I love them. The first is these cute little booty socks. Love them, looks so cozy. 

This pumpkin wreath is super cute, I love it.  Mom I hope you read this, cause this would make a great gift, you know I love your hand made gifts.  

This little snowman is adorable and would go great with my Snowman Christmas decorations.

I love this ring, I know this can't be made, but this is my wish list so it is on here. LOL

Also, I love this outfit, especially the necklace and purse.

2 year weight loss Anniversary

Well 2 years ago I decided to eat better and work out every day. I pretty much lost all my weight in the first year and have been toning and building muscle in the second year.  I had originally lost 80 pounds in the first year, went from a size 20 to a size 8.  Over this past year everyone kept telling me I look smaller but I have gained 10 pounds and was getting upset about that, because I eat pretty well and am actually allergic to gluten now, so I am kind of forced to eat healthy.  I didn't want to gain weight on the scale, I wanted to lose 10 more pounds on the scale, so I would be in the middle of the healthy weight range for my height.  But, I noticed I had gained weight so I got a heart rate monitor to find out how many calories I was burning, cause I had been working out extra hard.  Well, doing most of my workouts at home, I was burning between 500 and 1,000 calories during my workouts. I eat between 1,700 and 2,000 calories per day (if I don't feel good I eat less, about 1,500 and if it's a holiday or birthday I eat more about2,200). Over the past year my 8's are fitting loose and I can wear a size 6 now.  So, although I wanted to lose 10 more pounds on the scale and gained 10 (which means now I have to lose 20 on the scale), but am smaller and have more muscle tone, I have come to the conclusion that over the past year I have packed on 10 pounds of muscle.  So even though I am bummed that I have gained weight on the scale, I much rather gain muscle than fat.
So I decided to compare a few pictures of me wearing the same outfits a year apart.
This first picture was taken in summer of 2011.

 

This next picture in the same dress was taken last month

This picture in the black dress was taken in July of 2011

This next picture in the same dress was taken in May of this year

So, I guess I will continue to build muscle and stay healthy and not worry about what the scale says.

 

Special Time

I had a wonderful time tonight with my son. We signed him up for fall baseball, ate dinner at Griff's Deli, spent some time at the library, ate a fudge sunday at Sonic.  Then we came home and had a dance/sing party to random songs on the ipod, then read books and I tucked him into bed.  I don't know if it is cause he is starting kindergarten in 2 weeks or what, but I was getting sad.  I love hanging out with my son, we have the best time, but pretty soon he is going to think that hanging out with Mom is lame. I hope that day never comes, but I know it will.  But I guess for right now I am going to spend as much time with him as I can.  Tomorrow there is a science experiment fun activity class for kids at the library, we are going to dinner with the family and then the concert in the park.

Relaxing after Vacation

We are back from vacation and had a great .trip.  We played a lot in the pool and on the beach, Jack got buried in the sand, we went to the Gulfarium and saw lots of marine life, saw Madagascar 3 and Spiderman when it rained, Jason and Jack went to the Air Force Armament, went shopping, played and ate at Fuddpuckers, played putt putt golf twice, road on bumper boats and ate lots and lots of food.  But, I do not feel too bad about all the eating because I went to the gym 3 days out of the 7 and I ran on the beach and swam every day too.  Jack and I have sunburns. Jack's skin is starting to peel and it is freaking him out, he is afraid he is going to shed everything like a snake, LOL  All in all it was a great trip.

Pre-Birthday Fun

I had a great dinner at my In-laws house and my sister in-law made me gluten free brownies and cake for an early birthday celebration.  I went to Nashville the next day to spend time with my best friend, we went for a 8 mile bike ride, Had a great dinner at PF Chang's then she took me shopping to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods (I had never been there before, lots of gluten free options).  Finally we went to see Rock Of Ages, which was pretty good. I am not a big fan of  Tom Cruise and his crazy antics, but he is a great Actor and I never knew he could sing like that either. I had a great weekend and more birthday fun to look forward to.

A strange thing happened though.  On the way back from Nashville, stopped at a red light looked over at the van next to me and they had a strange bobble head on the dash. The bobble head was a naked baby with red x's where the eyes should be and black electrical tape over the mouth.  Um, I have never wanted a light to turn green so bad in my life.  What was even creepier was the music they were listening to, I would expect like metal or alternative, but it was Patsy Cline's "Crazy".  Um there's no place like home, there's no place like home!  I was so happy when the light turned green.  I understand people want to express theirselves with art, fashion, music, whatever, but that was a little too creepy for me.

It's official, test confirmed

I haven't gotten around to posting this yet,  but it is official, I do have celiac disease. I had to meet with a Gastroenterologist to discuss tests I have to go through to see how bad the damage from the celiac disease to my small intestine is.  The Dr pretty much put me down by saying, "Wow, people with celiac disease are usually skinny but you were 80 pounds heavier, wow"  Gee um thanks, I guess I don't follow the typical stereotype of a celiac.  That being said, I already kind of knew I had it because of all my other symptoms and my general Dr was pretty sure that I did.  So, I have been on a gluten free diet now for 2 and a half weeks, I have tried new recipes and checked out books from the library on it and done my research about what items have gluten in them.  It hasn't been too bad. I am just glad I can still have chocolate and peanut butter.  The problem with this gluten free stuff is there isn't anything quick and easy, you have to make everything from scratch or pay the high prices at the grocery store for the gluten free pizza and burritos.  I will definitely be learning  a lot in the next few months, I feel like I have to learn how to cook all over again, cause everything I knew before is completely different when cooking gluten free.

The Kid is happy

For the most part, during the work week Jack and Jason are eating whatever Daddy makes, cause I pretty much will eat a salad and a huge bowl of fruit for dinner.  They have already eaten dinner by the time I come home since Jason has to go to bed pretty much as soon as I walk in the door.  On the weekends I have been experimenting with recipes I can have that they will eat too.  I have gluten free vegetable soup in the crock pot for dinner.  I didn't realize that chicken broth, cream of mushroom soup and pretty much all other soups have wheat in them, so I got gluten free vegetable broth and added everything else.  This morning for breakfast I made gluten free pancakes, I added cinnamon and a few organic chocolate chips to Jacks (he loved them), then I made scrambled eggs with gluten free cheese for my picky fellas.  I had a mushroom, spinach and mozzarella omelette.  Jack and Jason said they like Mommy experimenting on the weekends with recipes cause they get to be the taste testers.
Now on to a different topic, Jack's baseball coach finally let him do something else besides being the catcher.  He was the catcher for 6 games and getting pretty bored with it.  The look on his face when he was made 3rd baseman was priceless.  I noticed on all the other teams that they have played they use a different catcher for each inning, but I couldn't figure out why Jack was ALWAYS the catcher.  Last night he came home talking about how excited he was to play in the outfield.
Now on another topic my husband is obsessed with Diablo 3.  I am not bitter though, I think it is great.  When I first met him he was obsessed with some other game and then we had Jack and he was home during the day. Instead of putting Jack in daycare, he took care of his son all day long until he was 3 and preschool started then he got a 4 hour break.  I am a woman, who is a neat freak and a multi-tasker,  men seam to be just one-task oriented (like make sandwich then answer phone).  He would go play games with his friends every Friday night, but that is the only guy time he got.  So, now Jack is old enough to watch him play or help him, or he will play in his room so Daddy can play his game.  I am glad he found his game time again.  I wished my friends lived closer so I could have a girls night once a week.  I have been trying to spend more time with my sister-in-law, we have been watching an old tv show and having lots of girl talk and it has been nice.

I love my game/tv obsessed family (trust me I have been trying to get them outside more).     I think Daddy is counting down the days until kindergarten starts. I give him credit, cause most men could not have taken care of a child 4 days a week for almost 6 years.

Lambrusco

So my favorite wine used to be Moscato, and Jason read online that the only reason to drink wine other than the obvious is the antioxidants.  I don't like red wine I never have, I like sweet wines not dry ones.  Then Jason read somewhere that white wine is basically just sugar that's why it is sweeter and he persisted until I gave in and agreed to try red wine again. Being as relentless as my husband can be, he came home with several different options of a new favorite wine for me, just as long as it was red, then he would move on to another project.  So it was definitely a challenge to find a sweet red wine filled with antioxidants, but I found it.  It is Lambrusco, and it is my new favorite, so delicious.  If anybody out there watches Cougar Town, you know the main character has a gigantic wine glass and it has a name and every time it breaks, she gets a new one and names it.  I think she has gone through Big Joe, Big Carl and now Big Earl.
Well this is the glass Jason got me for Mother's Day along with some Lambrusco.  I think you have made your point honey, I will never drink white wine again (in front of you).
Everyone meet me my new Cougar Town inspired wine glass Big Bob, I just have a red plastic party cup there so you can see how big it is.

Experimentation

I have been experimenting with new recipes since I can't eat gluten now.  Last night, I made gluten free spaghetti with gluten free turkey sausage, gluten free bread from a bread mix, it was delicious, then for dessert I made gluten free brownies.  Everybody ate the food and liked it, even my picky boy Jack.
I found this recipe on pinterest for fruit salsa and baked cinnamon chips, and I made it today for lunch along with banana smoothies and carrots with hummus.  Jack ate it all well except for the fruit salsa and hummus, but hey I'll take what I can get.  It was really good. I used corn tortillas and stevia instead of sugar for my chips. I used flour tortillas for the fellas, the flour tortillas were larger and crispier, but I have to get used to no gluten.

Headed for a big change and I don't like change

So, my Dad was just recently  diagnosed with celiac disease, which is a fancy word for being allergic to gluten.  Gluten is in everything.  It's in the obvious stuff of course likes breads, muffins, bagels, cakes, cookies, but it is also in flavor packets, salad dressings, soy sauce, barbecue sauce, hard candy, flavored and malt vinegars.  It is a hereditary, autoimmune disease, it is the only autoimmune disease controlled by your diet.  The only way to fix it is a complete and total gluten free diet.  I was allergic to gluten as a baby. I am patiently waiting on the results, but the Dr is 90% sure that I have because of the other symptoms I have.  Usually people that are allergic to gluten get sick to their stomach every time they eat gluten, but other symptoms are: losing hair, arthritis, osteoporosis, skin issues, digestive issues, iron deficient anemia.  I have all that but the osteoporosis, which I am going to get my bone density checked eventually after all my other tests.
What does celiac disease do to you?  Celiac disease is a condition that damages the lining of the small intestine and prevents it from absorbing parts of food that are important for staying healthy.  So if you don't go on a gluten free diet, you become malnurished and sickly like an anorexic person even though you are eating food. 

Because the Dr was so sure that I have it, I organized my pantry yesterday, the fridge and the freezer, I have my own shelves in all.  After I get the results of the antibody test back, it will be official, the I have to have a colonoscopy to see exactly how bad the damage to my small intestine is, then after that I will have the gene test done and they want my Dad to have the gene test done, to know which specific gene to check for in Jack.

So, while this is completely turning my world upside down, it couldn't have come at a better time.  I have lost 80 pounds and gained a lot of muscle definition over the past 2 years, I eat a lot of fruits and veggies, lean meat.  So, at least this didn't happen 2 years ago, I would have just cried, but now I am in a healthier athletic state and can handle another diet change.  I have done my research too, there are several restaurants that offer gluten free menus, and hey I can still eat Mexican food, woo hoo, it just has to be corn tortillas.  Hey who knows, maybe being gluten free will make my thin hair grow back too.  I think the worst is gonna be at work, I won't be able to eat any of the desserts or bagels, cookies that other offices send us. Grrrr.

Mother's Day Weekend

I had an amazing Mother's Day weekend.  It started with Jack's baseball game and a visit from my Dad and step Mom. Then we drove to Mom's for Mother's Day lunch/dinner at her house, the men did all the cooking, cleaning and serving and the women got to kick back, relax and open presents. My Mom got me these great stainless still mixing bowls and dish towels.
My son brought home this flower from his last day of preschool for me and I planted it in this planter that I dressed up with a butterfly rub-on from my craft stash on Sunday

Then my son and husband made this card from my craft stash, so cute.

Then my husband surprised me with good smelling stuff and a giant wine glass to rival the one from Cougar Town.
Then I took my Mother-In-Law out for lunch and we went to see Cats then to Starbucks, then when I came home, the house was clean.  Yep I had an amazing Mother's Day weekend.
here we are before Cats

Style Icon

So for a while after I had my son I didn't wear makeup, I would walk around in sweat pants.  I didn't feel bad about myself, I just didn't feel pretty so I didn't even try.  Now, that I have lost the weight I am wearing makeup and jewelry, I am wanting to dress up, because I wear scrubs all day at work.  I have always liked Lauren Conrad's style, she has a very classic style with some trendy pieces but not trend overkill.  I was looking through my closet and she is probably the celebrity I dress most like.

I think she dresses feminine and girly with a classic sexy side, granted I'm not that skinny but I pretty much have this outfit in my closet. I wish I had her hair, my hair doesn't look good long , because it is so thin.

Now I don't wear shorts this short, but I love this look.

This is probably my favorite look, it looks so comfortable and just thrown together, but it's casual and trendy at the same time

I love wearing sleeveless tops since my arms and shoulders are smaller and have more muscle definition.  I do not like her sunglasses in this picture though, they are almost beetle like, bug eyes

This is from her own style collection at Kohls and I love how flowey and feminine this look is. I spent so many years looking like a tomb boy that I am so ready to look girly and pretty now.

My thighs aren't small enough for a pencil skirt, but I love both looks. I pretty much wore this look on the left yesterday.  I am not bold enough to wear heels with shorts but I did wear wedges. Baby steps, to not looking like tomb boy.  I always though Lauren handled herself with style and grace, so here is to my fashion icon Lauren Conrad.

Cobbler

I found this recipe on pinterest and followed it to this girls weight loss blog and she has a ton of healthy and yummy looking recipes. This recipe was super easy and calls for just 3 ingredients: Frozen fruit, cake mix and sprite.  I didn't have mixed berried or strawberries like she used, I just had a big bag of frozen unsweetened blueberries, I used yellow cake mix and sprite zero.  I used one of her reviewer's advice about stirring the cake mix and sprite together and it ended up great. Even though I made it for the Mother's Day celebration at my Mom's tomorrow, I had to take a little taste. Sorry Mom for the missing spoon full.  It was so yummy, it was sweet, but not too sweet and I am taking vanilla ice cream to serve with it. I baked mine at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Thank you to her commenter that said to stir them together, cause it ended up great without any dry areas.

A different view, showing all the berries. I might make this for July 4th with blueberries, strawberries and vanilla ice cream.

A picture of my little helper, he stirred and poured and in between dances on the Just Dance game he came in and looked at it with the oven light to see it turn into cake.  I can't wait to dig into this tomorrow at Mom's.

Addicted to pain?

So I did this Backyard Boot Camp type work out yesterday. It was awesome cause it challenged me and I like to be challenged  when I work out, cause I get bored easily, I have worked out every day for 2 years after all.  Well it was a challenge, I am super sore, but I loved it. I got to do things like jumping over hurdles, slamming a sledge hammer into a giant tire, kick/boxing with a sparring partner, doing squats and lunges on a Bozu Ball, lots of other things too, but that's what stood out the most.  I am sore, but after that I came home I went swimming, then later on that day I went for a walk after dinner with Jack.  Today I woke up so stiff and sore, but I forced myself to get up and work out, I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and I played just dance and the Wii fit with Jack, then I'm gonna lay out and get some sun, then I might roller blade.  I went from being someone who was addicted to tv shows to someone who is addicted to working out. since the DVR was invented I can do both, I am not a slave to my tv anymore, I don't have to be home at a certain time to catch a certain show.  So, I get to run around and play with my kid and get exercise and not be a couch potato.  I think my life is pretty good. This is my idea of playing outside on a beautiful day.

This is Jack's idea of playing outside, he is pouting cause the ipad battery just died.  Yes I know I have my work cut out for me with him, but he is watching less tv and playing baseball now.

Uh Thanks?

Here are some of the weird and random compliments? I have gotten since I lost weight.
"Wow your eyes are big now"
"you have tiny feet now"
"you can see lines and muscles around your mouth now"
"Wow, you have a super skinny neck"
"Your legs from the knee down are tiny"
"Did you always have freckles"
"Don't lose any more weight, you look anorexic"
This is what I feel like saying to those responses
Were my eyes not big before, did my fat face swallow them or something?
Were my feet huge before?
Are you saying that my head is huge, if my neck is super skinny?
So, my legs are tiny from the knees down, what are you trying to say about my thighs?  I know I have tree trunk legs but sheesh do ya have to point it out.
YES, I always had freckles!!!
The anorexic comment hurts the most, because for your information, I am 5 foot 6 and a half inches tall and should weigh between 130 and 160, and I am currently 144 pounds, so I am still in my weight range, I am not under weight, I do eat and I do not binge (thank you very much).  I was just determined and set a goal and people that know me really well know that when I set a goal for something NOTHING will stop me from my goal.
Whew, I feel better, I just had to get that off my chest.
FYI, I have always had a low self esteem so when you tell someone like me that I have a skinny neck, I become paranoid and think holey cow do I look like Maria Shriver or something?
I should also note that I have had a glass of wine.! hee hee, so if this blog post offends you in anyway, just ignore it.

Summer Lovin

Those of you that have known me my whole life, also know that I used to hate summer (especially driving my college clunker car with no air-heat or reverse), I would get hot super easily and I was out of shape and I would sweat just going to get the mail at the mailbox.  I would practically stay inside all summer unless I knew someone with a pool.  Then Jack came along and I forced myself outside in the summer time for him, but I just wasn't having any fun. Now that I'm in shape and my asthma hardly bothers me anymore and I don't get hot (stay cold all the time now), I LOVE SUMMER! Here are just a few things I am looking forward too this summer:
hearing about Jack's adventures at VBS
second Saturday street fair
The Farmer's market
Eating Watermelon
watering my petunias every day
swimming
concerts in the park
new plays/shows at SKY PAC
taking Jack to the Zoo and the Science museum
Hot Rods baseball games
hopefully getting to go to Beach Bend this summer
put put golf
vacation to Florida
after dinner walks with Jack
group family birthday/July 4th party - it's tradition now since everybody in my family has a summer b-day    
(except for Jack) I through a birthday/July 4th party at my house to celebrate all of our birthdays at one party and Jack's half birthday
golf cart rides
picking honey suckle
Jack catching woolly worms and naming them
catching lightening bugs
eating ice cream
grilling out
butterflies
geocaching
play dates with Jack's friends and their Moms
watching the rest of Jack's pee wee baseball games
Blowing bubbles with Jack
eating fresh summer berries
trying to get Daddy off the computer and to turn the tv off and go outside more , cause I love watching him play baseball with Jack
and hopefully throwing in some craft time

crafting in TN

had some time to craft with my friend Cass in TN a few weeks ago and I'm just getting around to posting  these cards I made while I was there.  This was her stamp set that I used for a friend's birthday card.

this is the inside of the card

A pretty simple card I made for my father-in-laws birthday, he loves golf

.This card is simple too, but I like it, I got to use this pretty green textured paper and some pink magic mesh.

 Hopefully I will have more posts soon, I am going to be working on a baby book for a friend soon.

the rest of the robot party

Here are some pictures from Jack's 5th birthday party, it was a robot party.

Here is the robot cake I made using the video tutorial from the Betty Crocker website.  The lady on the video makes it look so easy, LOL, it wasn't for me, so I think it will be the last themed cake I try.

used Jack's stuffed robot as decoration.

the goody bags, I decorated.

the goodies inside the bag

leftover candies form making the cake that I set out for the kids and cake pops that a local baker made.

robot pinata and we had a craft table too, but didn't get pics of the craft table, it was in December, so we cleaned out the garage and let the kids play corn hole and kick balls and play with scooters. This is Jack's friend Noah taking a whack at the robot.

Birthday boy, Jack, blowing out the candles.