Menu Plan Monday

This week went great with the meal planning. I am so happy that I do this and get it out of the way. This one step makes it so much easier!!

Monday: Baked chicken with green beans and corn. 

Tuesday: Tacos

Wednesday: Birthday dinner for my sweetie - his choice!!

Thursday: Veal/liver with baked potato and cauliflower

Friday: Take out pizza

Saturday: Meatloaf with mashed potatoes 

Will be trying to make banana muffins this week. I had planned on baking a bunch last week but did not work out as planned. 

Happy Cooking this week!!

TWIW #3

Another week has passed and my goal for working out is not where it should be. But I am slowly recovering and getting there!

Monday: plank, crunches and wall squat

Tuesday: plank, crunches and wall squat

Wednesday: plank, crunches and wall squat

Thursday: plank, crunches and wall squat. Ran my Cupcake Classic 5k.

Friday: nil

Saturday: wall squat

This coming week begins the Best Body Bootcamp, so I am looking forward to a great but sore week ahead!!

Well my first week at these goals went pretty bad. I think part of the problem was that I wrote them down on the blog but didn't write them down where I could see them everyday. I need that. I need to actually write it down day after day to drill it in. So that said, that will be added to my list for the next week. 

Family:

1. Read 2 chapters aloud of Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know to Emily. I began this a few months back and she really enjoyed the stories but as summer progressed this ritual fell by the wayside.

I am removing this from my list mainly because Emily reads on her own in the evening and I am reading to her aloud from the Greek Myths. It is a time constraint thing. Once the myths are completed I wsill move onto this. 

2. Read 1-2 stories from D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths. Sadly children do not learn of these great stories anymore. I think Emily will love them!!

3. Work on touchpad with Sarah. My youngest has a genetic disorder that includes a gross developmental delay so we are working on communication skills with her. This includes a touchpad with simple command such a yes, no, eat and down. 

This was just a huge fail on my part. Will be a priority this week. 

4. Sit with Emily while she does her homework. She has a tendency to get distracted but last week when I sat next to her she did so much better. No complaints, no dragging her feet. Yes, she is 10 and she should be able to do this on her own, but I can spare 15 - 20 minutes for her. Worth the compromise I think.

Another huge fail, though Emily is getting much better on her own. 

Personal:

1. Exercise 6 days a week. This includes running it least 3 of those days. 


2. Get my book list together and read a real book - it least 15 minutes a day. This does not include cookbooks!! Nothing against cookbooks but I tend to skim those. As far as my booklist goes - I have so many on the kindle right now I need to categorize and organize what I want and need to read. 

3. Get to bed by 10:30 this week. I usually make my way upstairs by 10 but end up fiddling around until 11 or so. And yes - I used the word fiddling. We all should. 

Home:

1. Menu plan by Friday this week. Since I have been working more on weekend this is going by the wayside. So I need to prep ahead of time for this.

2. Work on cleaning the basement it east 30 minutes 3x this week. My basement is a complete mess - it looks like a WMD went off down there. It's so bad that I can not even begin to know where to start so it completely discourages me. 

3. Bake, bag & freeze it least 3 dozen cookies for future fundraiser. 

4. Create my home cleaning schedule. I need to find one that will fit with my now increase weekend work schedule and daughters new swim season schedule. 

5. Have sink cleared before bed. This is a problem for me. I absolutely hate waking up to a sink full of dishes so this needs to be corrected.

6. Make sure counters are cleared before bed. Once again - this is a lazy clutter problem on my part. I think I will need something so I leave it out....duh it'll take me 15 seconds to grab it from the cupboard! 

---

This weeks goals:

Family:

1. Read 1-2 stories from D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths. 

2. Work on touchpad with Sarah. 

3. Sit with Emily while she does her homework. 

Personal:

1. Exercise 6 days a week.  

2. Get my book list together and read a real book - it least 15 minutes a day. 

3. Get to bed by 10:30 this week.

Home:

1. Menu plan by Friday this week. 

2. Work on cleaning the basement it east 30 minutes 3x this week. 

3. Create my home cleaning schedule.  

4. Have sink cleared before bed. 

5. Make sure counters are cleared before bed. 

6. Write goals down and refer to them everyday.

Menu Plan Monday

Another week has gone by and I finally seem to be caught up on my meal planning. I admit that what I don't have a plan my day seems to go to hell. While I try to keep to the list, sometimes we do change the days up. But that's ok since I have all need in my pantry/freezer for making that meal. Plus it makes me feel rebel-ish if I do it once in awhile.

Monday: Ribs with sweet potato fries and braised cabbage

Tuesday: Pasta with meatballs

Wednesday: Ham and potatoes. 

Thursday: Breakfast for dinner. I am looking to make some delish coconut pancakes!!

Friday: Take out pizza

Saturday: Grilled cheese with soup

I was planning on making my own ribs sauce for Monday nights meal, but the fam wasn't too crazy about the last one I made. So I just bought a bottle which has no artificial colors or flavoring and tried to keep as clean as I could. The recipe itself comes from the cookbook Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook. . It's a great recipe as you place the ribs in a brine overnight, then dry rub prior to cooking. Amazing!! The braised cabbage recipe if from Nom Nom Paleo. It will be my first try at it so I will update on results!. The meatballs are also not homemade this week as I bought a bag for a swim team event and had a bunch leftover. I need to get them out of the freezer!! The ham on Wednesday is mainly for my daughter, most likely I will need to make hubby a burger as he is not a ham person. Actually he was to be out of town for business but they cancelled the meeting!! YAY!! :) 

Now as for desserts and snacks I plan on making lots of banana muffins this week. I have about 4 bunches of bananas in my freezer that seriously need to go. They are stashed in the doors, on every single shelf and much to hubby;s dismay in the ice cube maker bin. SO baking will be a priority this week. I will add some chocolate chips to them to make my girl happy. Freeze most of them for a future bake sale our neighborhood will be planning to raise money for a family whose son was recently diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Sad story all around. 

Happy Cooking this week!!

Holiday Planning

This year is going to be different - I am going to actually plan our holiday this year. Yep I said it. Now do I really mean it? I do. Too many years I have spent wondering what to buy, getting nice bargains ahead of time only to find them stashed in a "great hiding place" in March and all together totally missing the mark all due to the fact I did not plan. 

This time around I going to make use of planners that are available on the web. I love printables and this one is a great one from the TheHouseholdPlanner.com. I love printing out pages & binding them at Staples - it's so geeky yes I know. I did this last year for Thanksgiving and it totally saved me!!

Stop by the site and download a few of the free printables to try!

TWIW - October week 1

I've been following a blog called Meplusmytrainer and has has a great post every Sunday where you can brag about your workout for the week. I love it! I find that it gives a great way to view my week & say "tada" all over the net. Plus I find this will be a great way to get new ideas & different ways to challenge myself.

Monday:               Burpees 40
                           calf raises - 50
                           wall squat - 1:05.6
                           crunches with 10# wt. - 25
                           plank 3:06.5

Tuesday:              40 burpees
                           completed chair pose (Utkatasana) for the day.
                           25 crunches with 10# weight
                           50 calf raises
                           1:06.6 wall squat
                           2.04.5 plank
                          18 knee push-ups: 0-100 Push-up app

Wednesday:         Burpees - 40
                          Yoga pose - High lunge
                          Plank - 2:08.8
                          calf raises - 50
                          wall squat - 1:12.7
                          crunches with 10# wt. - 25

Thursday:            Plank: 2:12.6
                          Wall squat: 1:25.3
                          Calf raises: 50
                          Crunches with 10# wt.: 25
                          Push ups: 25
                          Yoga pose: Warrior II 

Friday:                Plank: 2:12.6
                          Wall squat: 1:25.3
                          Calf raises: 50
                          Crunches with 10# wt.: 25
                          Push ups: 25
                          Yoga pose: Warrior II 

Saturday:            Plank 2:23.9
                          Wall squats: 1:44.8     

I did not have any real cardio in my workouts this week due to the fact that I am still in recovery mode after my surgery last week. I am hoping to begin again Monday! As for the weekend, I worked nightshift on Friday, slept all of Saturday to end up being cancelled Saturday night. Throws my day completely off. 

Day 4

Another day another lost chance to run. It is what it is. I think I am trying to push myself to fast to recover mentally. I'm just calling it done for the week and resume my lofty goals till Monday.

I was able to get in most of my workout today though except for my burpees. This is a major fail on my part and will have to do extra tomorrow to make up for today.

Plank: 2:12.6
Wall squat: 1:25.3
Calf raises: 50
Crunches with 10# wt.: 25
Push ups: 25
Yoga pose: Warrior II

There is so much time in my day that is wasted so plans needs to made and bad habits adjusted. Ahh the waning moon can take all these with her! lol Beginning next week I will be working on goals and posting them for accountability. They will be wide ranging and not just health/fitness related.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 3

I had a ll good intentions on going to the gym today, taking my kettlebell class and then running maybe running a mile. Didn't happen. I happened upon a massive headache & wussed out. I still not up to full throttle but hoping that it will come about soon.
Burpees - 40
Yoga pose - High lunge
Plank - 2:08.8
calf raises - 50
wall squat - 1:12.7
crunches with 10# wt. - 25

pushup app - 20
I really dislike the yoga pose part of my routine only for the fact I look absolutely awful. Even though I have lost close to 56 lbs. - I still see how overweight I really am. Makes me sad that I got this way. Hoping tomorrow will be a more productive day.

Day 2

Today was an ok day. I was able to get all of my personal challenges in but still have not ran this month. I still consider myself in recovery mode so I am not pushing it too much.

40 burpees
completed chair pose (Utkatasana) for the day.
25 crunches with 10# weight
50 calf raises
1:06.6 wall squat
2.04.5 plank
18 knee push-ups: 0-100 Push-up app

The wall squats are much more difficult than I expected them to be, which means I need to do more than 1 a day. I also slacked a bit on my plank this evening as I have been able to hit the 3 minute mark the past few days. I like the yoga challenge but absolutely DESPISE how I look in my poses. I look so.....non-yoga like. Awkward is more the word. Hopefully it will get better!

ITunes Freebie Tuesdays at Starbucks

I love Tuesdays for the fact that I can grab a free app or tune from Starbucks. Free just feels so damn good. Yes... it may be a bluegrass ditty but..it's free. This week it's a Van Morrison song, End of the Rainbow. So run..don't walk to your nearest Starbucks, grab a cup of Chai Latte & grab it before they are gone!

Menu Plan Monday

Fall is here!! It's also the time of year I seem to get back into planning all my meals. Which makes my life seem a bit more sane. So here is the list for the week. Saturday is usually up in the air since if I am working the family is fending for themselves, aka "artificial day" aptly named by my daughter. If I am not working, we improvise a home cooked meal...sometimes. :)

Monday:            Matzo ball soup w/chicken (Emily has been begging for this over a week now!!)
Tuesday:           Beef stew w/rice (The beef stew is paleo but the rice was a compromise)
Wednesday:   Sloppy Joe's on gluten free rolls. Sweet potatoe FF
Thursday:         Everyday Paleo's "Best Ever Chicken Wings" .... and they are...no lie
Friday:           Pizza....this is pretty standard since I work nights.
Saturday:           If i work - they fend for themselves or as my daughter calls it "an artificial day"
                                  (we try to keep about 90% artificial colors/flavors out of her diet.)

Foodie Penpal Reveal Day!!!

This was the first month I decided to try the Foodie PenPal. I think it is a really nice idea since these days with the Internet & email, phones & texting we tend to get away from that personal touch of mail. Once I received my penpal I emailed her right away! I was matched with Jenn from Littleblackraincloud. She has a really nice site where she does a lot of reviews on different things. She has given me some ideas for future buys!!
She sent me an email letting me know that her package was on the way - Sept. 15 mail date. I was expecting it maybe Tues/Wed. but lo and behold it came on Monday. Thank you USPS - you are awesome!!

 I could hardly wait to rip it open. My 9 yr. scolded me for not waiting for her. Ooops. 

 Included was an amazing assortment of goodies!! I tried the Cinnamon Roasted Almonds from Emerald first. I just came home from the gym and was STARVING!! Then I moved on to a fruit strip (strawberry) from the Target brand Archer Farms. I've never been one for these kind of snacks but I really liked them and may be purchasing in near future.
 My poor daughter was a bit sad that she couldn't have a lot of the treats in the box since with her braces they are a huge no-no. We had to promise her not that we would not eat the Cracker Jacks & aalt water taffy in front of her!! LOL. Speaking of the salt water taffy - oh so delish. It is made locally around Jenn so that made it even cooler.

 I love this little bag of yumminess. It is presently in my car as my emergency fix while on the road.

And saving the best for last. OMG - this stuff is sinfully good. I have wanted to get some of this in the past but knew it would only mean danger. My intuition was correct. This stuff I could slather on rocks and they would be crunchy goodness!!
I haven't tried the Larabar or Luna bar yet - those will be my post workout snacks sometime this coming week. The tea mixes were pretty good  - I like little quick mixes for fast flavor.
 My daughter thought the PB Skinny Cow candy bar was the best thing in the whole box. I took one bite & had to concur it was down right good - then let her have the rest to herself. She was a happy little girl.

I can't wait until next month!! Thank you again Jenn!!

Burpee Fun Challenge

I got a bit hooked on burpee's when I joined a challenge started by Roadrunnergirl a few months back. I initially loathed them but knew that they "were good for me" - so I did them as any good girl should do. As the month rolled on I grew to love them as seeing the results were so totally worth it.
I have since slacked off doing them, so I am creating a challenge for myself and opening it up to others on instagram and twitter. Pretty much the challenge goes like this - do as many burpees as you can a day & post them to twitter with the hashtag #burpeebootastic. I will trend them & post weekly leaders with the total at the end of the month. No frills - just fun!! Join me!!

Forced time out

Just when I started to get on a roll I am forced to take a timeout. *sigh*.

Today I had a partial thyroidectomy so rest for the next week. Good thing about all this is that I am missing it already.

Today was a scheduled run day. I am sitting my recliner at the surgi-center chomping at the bit, thinking about lost miles. I am 6 miles away from my monthly goal of 30 miles (my starter goal) and realize that I will not make it. It sucks. But October will be my month. New month and new goal - 40 miles!! Looking forward to it too 😀


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Personal best time on the treads!!

Yesterday workout was great! I did a few errands in the morning then felt that tug to just forget about hitting the gym up completely. The story of my life. I figured hell with it, I'll just go to Costco, grab a few sample snacks & go home & clean or something else productive. I ending up taking the route by the gym, to get there & just decided to get it over with. Glad I did since I had a PR on the treadmill. I know - PR....for a treadmill? Yes a PR - because I getting back into all this exercising shit & I need a little "PR" to give me goals. Snicker on you own.

I actually ended up getting my whole workout in - which was pretty amazing to me since I will make any excuse not to do shit.

Tuesdays are an upper body day for me, according my little plan (which is subject to change when I damn well feel like it).

Pulldowns: 4 sets/12 reps 60#
Lateral Raises: 4 sets/12 reps 5#
Tricep press: 4 sets/12 reps  60#
Preacher curls: 4 sets/12 reps 40#
Tricep extensions: 4 sets/12 reps 40#
Miltary dips (gravitron): 12 at 17# BW
Pullups (gravitron): 12 reps at 17# BW (level 1)
                              31 reps at 31# BW (level 3)

Overall, I am just pretty damn pleased with myself that I actually worked out at all!

As for today, I had my kettlebell express class for 30 minutes. It's pretty tough. My first class was a killer but since then I have been able to increase my weights. Need to get a rundown on what we do in the class so I can do some of this stuff at home too. Afterwards - went into the gym to do some shoulder work and the test out my new Vibrams.

Seated DB overhead press:         1 set/12 reps 5#
                                                   3 sets/12 reps 7#
Seated bent-over lateral raises:    4 sets/12 reps 5# (god I hate lateral raises! They feel so awkward to me)
Seated front raises:                      4 sets/12 reps 5#
DB flys:                                       4 sets/12 reps 9#
DB press:                                    4 sets/12 reps 9#

Still need to get the plank in for today. But I usually average 1:30 - 2minutes. On the longer end of the stick if I can keep myself distracted enough.

As for the run, I only ran a mile for the test run in the Vibrams. It was ok. I could definitely tell that different
  as I could feel it in my legs. I'm not sure I am a convert yet. Though I love wearing the shoes on a day to day basis - they are not the most fashion friendly things. They make me look like I have cankles.

$1150 Giveaway - Blendtec, Le Creuset, PaleoKits

Great giveaway!!! Would love to win this goodie bag. Hop on over & secure your entry. While you are there browse abit - some really fantastic recipes!!

$1150 Giveaway - Blendtec, Le Creuset, PaleoKits

A difference a week makes

Persistence. Not one of my strengths. So to get to this week and actually WANT to go to the gym. Hell I am surprised. I was crunched for time today & thought that maybe this was the day I would slack. But I had that feeling - something I haven't felt in awhile - the desire to feel good again. So I went to the gym. And I even did a bit of strength training...which I really, really dislike and it felt pretty good.
To add the cherry on top of all this was the fact that I ran my 5k under 40:00. I haven't done this in eons. And it felt awesome!! My goal was to run 30 miles by the end of September - I am almost half way there! Tomorrow will be my rest day from running since I have a kettlebell class but will hope to get another form of cardio in. Now to plan for my strength training!!

My aching legs!!

Wednesday was my 1st day of the kettlebell express class at the YMCA. I’m not to great when it comes to strength training, even though I know it is more important for your body than cardio. But to hang out & lift after running? Not appealing to me. So I decided to take a class. Oh my goodness – I can barely walk today!! For a 30 minutes class it really kicked my ass. Then to top it off I ran again today. UGH!!!! 

I decided to stop by the local LA Fitness & see what was so exciting about. Nice gym – the fans attached to the treadmill was the most exciting things I found. I wouldn’t mind joining if it was not for the $249 initiation fee. Really??? So needless to say – I have 2 days left & that will be that. 

As far as nutrition goes – I spent the month of August doing a Whole30 regimene No dairy, no grains & no added sweeteners. I did pretty well though at the end I made a few mistakes. My lovely 9 year old was kind enought to tally them for me – 18. But all in all I learned alot. Especially the week AFTER. How sensitive my digestive system became. I always knew that something wasn’t right after eating sometimes but since I ate so much crap all the time I had no idea what it was. Too much gluten is not good for me. And that goes for sugar too. I thought I was in hell last night after eating at tiny sliver of cheesecake. It was awful. Lesson learned. Not quite.

Since I am trying to get my 9 year old on the gluten free lifestyle I needed to bring along some treats to entice her. So I bought Chocolate Triffle Brownies form the Gluten Free Pantry brand. I am starting out with box brands with the intention of moving to homemade goodies. I whipped them up today & they are wonderful. I would have never guess that they were gluten free. Big bonus in my box. Almost too chocolaty - if there is such a thing. Now to have my daughter taste test them. 

Update: She loved them!!

Where am I going with this

I am not sure where I want to go with this blog. Should it be about trying to go gluten free? How I am struggling to start running again? Raising my girls? I think it will be a nice mish-mash of all of the above.

I will begin with my “Weekly Chase” which was a  project started on blog Live, Love & Run. She has just recently ended this project but I think it is a nice way to start mine. It’s a about goals – which I really suck at. I am great at making them but completing them, well another blog post. So below are my goals for the week

1. Run 3.1 miles – 3x this week. It takes me for ever to run this. About 45 minutes but I have to start somewhere.

2. Burpee’s – I need to do 50 everyday. THis is such a small thing to do espcially since I break it in to 2 sets of 25.

3. #plankaday – Continue my plankaday drill that I do as it is.

4. Spend 30 minutes twice this week purging/organizing the basement. – O…M….G…. it is so gross right now. It is like our personal dump spot in our home.

5. Meal plan – Need to get on this today. I used to be pretty good at this – well ok at it. Now I am back to the 4pm freak out. Not good. Swim & field hockey season is beginning so I need to get on the ball. Plus I need to figure houw to wean & weed out the gluten food in our home.

So – these are my goals for the week!!

 

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Slow year..

Slow year for blogging...busy year f or family. We have spent the past year with a little sick one & swimming fish for the other. Hospitals & doctors with one & the swimsuits & pools for the other. I am hoping to get back on track!! Making my goals for the new year. I figure if I start now maybe they will be close to being finished by then!!