Fitness Friday #5

Just some motivation for us all on this Friday!

(All images I got be searching google images for running motivation) I am trying to get better about this!!

Thankful Thursday #6

I am most recently thankful for my libraries.  Yes – plural. I use both the library on JBER (Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson) and the library in the Municipality of Anchorage. Each library has some things the other can’t get so that is why I utilize both.  I kinda laughed at myself while chatting with my friend Martha today. I have gotten so lazy that I place a hold on all things I want from the library so I can jut run in and come out without killing hours at a time.  Doesn’t mean I still don’t do that occasionally – but not near as much as I used to.  Wait so is that being lazy or smart?

I am also thankful that I can check out DVD’s and CD’s from the library. Since I am trying to find ways to save more money than normal so I can eat better (Cassandra don’t say anything about the donuts I had this morning – oh wait) this really helps me.  I like to listen to one CD for like a week at a time and then I am good with just catching it on the radio.  This sure beats paying for it and then casting it to the side for the rest of eternity!

Fun Fact – Did you know that there are more libraries in the US than McDonald’s?

I am hoping to wrap up my 20 book challenge as a success – I have not updated my book list or my Goodreads.com account.  That i honestly suck at. Forgive me if you follow me!

I am also thankful that the library has story time every Saturday at 1:30 pm – they  have cool chairs that make the kids want to sit and listen. It also gives me a little bit of a break to sit and listen as well! Barnes and Noble also has a story time on Tuesdays at 7:00 pm where the kiddos can wear their pajamas while they listen. They actually call it “Pajamarama” which I find totally cool 🙂  These story times also give me a chance to get the kids out of the house so Nick can have quiet time to study.

Virtual Runs

ATTENTION! – ATTENTION!

I need help people!

If you know of any Virtual Races that are still open – can you please send me the link?

I need to get my booty in gear with some motivation!

Your help is greatly appreciated!

What’s New Wednesday #7

So what is new…I have no motivation? No, that is not new at all.  I just think that I need to kick my tail in gear and make it happen.

I have tried to blame the cold – but let’s be real here…I have access to a free gym that includes a treadmill. No excuse. 

I blame my pants getting too tight on the price of healthy food – but let’s be real here…I choose the food I eat and maybe I need to cut back somewhere else. No excuse.

I blame my laziness on the dreary weather here – but let’s be real…I control my laziness. No excuse.

To start combating this I have been finding some blogs with women and men alike who are motivating in general and have great ideas and tips. (Check out my newly listed links to the right if you don’t believe me.)

I have also started to follow a few more people on Twitter to help get daily motivation.

I am researching different ways to change my diet to help with cost and health in mind.

I cannot change those around me – but I can continue to say affirmations to stay motivated and make sure I don’t let them bring me down. I will get out of this funk. No excuse.

Time to go sign up for some virtual runs – got any you know of? Please let me know!!!

***All images were taken from a google image search for running motivation.

 

Managing Monday #8

So this morning we had success! I changed my daily routine list a little bit. I mean the items on it didn’t change, but me adding time periods to it did.  I usually make a list that looks like the following:

4:45 up – get coffee and breakfast started

5:00 unload and load dishwasher – fluff dryer

5:15 news- blog – coffee

5:45 shower – get ready

6:15 wake girls – get girls ready

6:55 – out the door

I make a time frame for each project to be done – and it puts my OCD in overdrive when I screw this up.  I decided to experiment a little and just make a list of things to accomplish and goal times.  My daily routine list looked more like this today:

Morning:

Coffee and Breakfast

Dishwasher – Laundry

Blog – Enjoy Coffee and News

Get girls up and ready

6:55 goal time to be out the door loading the car.

Success happened for us today! It was such a smoother morning – I was happy! I think I have found that if I don’t make a strict list – I don’t feel so much pressure to get it all in and done. It would cause me to feel like a failure for not getting everything right (based on my timetable).  With the new format I can make it all fit and if I am not feeling it, or we have no bread to make breakfast sandwiches, or no laundry to fluff – I can linger longer on other tasks and not feel bad!

Isn’t it funny how little things can affect us in such a large way?  I am going to try to do this with a few other aspects of my life and see how well it works!

Tasty Tuesday #6

So Pintrest is really a great site for finding food and things that you may one day cook and will one day never cook.  I found a recipe for Parmesan Roasted Green Beans at the Budget Savy Diva HERE

We didn’t have 

green beans in our house – but we did have a huge can of corn! I decided to modify the recipe and use the corn instead!

I got a picture of the before – but not the after as it literally was surrounded by me and my husband as we ate it. All.

The directions on the link (above in pink) are very straight forward! I literally put corn on a cook sheet with olive oil, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Done and yum. I used a different temp and time as I have a retarded oven. That is right, retarded.

Now – once I have tried a recipe from my Pintrest board – I delete it. I don’t want to be overwhelmed with everything. If it turns out good – I put it in my recipe box – if it wasn’t good, it is deleted forever.  You should try to keep your boards clean too!

 

Proverbs 31 Woman – Virtue #8

8. Homemaking – A Virtuous Woman is a homemaker. She creates an inviting atmosphere of warmth and love for her family and guests. She uses hospitality to minister to those around her. (Proverbs 31: 15, Proverbs 31: 20 – 22, Proverbs 31: 27, Titus 2: 5, 1 Peter 4: 9, Hebrews 13: 2)

The debate about homemaking.  I do what I can – but sometimes I really get tired! I have been doing really good making sure my kids get a meal every night that is warm and good for them. I do this by meal prepping – which I am starting to really rock at!  I make sure they always have clean clothes to wear, regardless if it is the ones they love or not.  I kiss them goodnight and always let them know I love them after they have been scolded.

My husband gets loved – probably not as much as he would like though.  I make sure we talk every day, his coffee and breakfast are ready when his shower is done, and his clothes are washed.  He also love to get into a bed that is made every night.  I make the bed every morning before my shower. The little things that make him happy – I am happy to do!

I am always worried that I do not do enough with my girls. I want to read to them, but they won’t sit still through a book. I watch moved with them until they can’t sit still anymore. As soon as it warms up I will take them for a walk with me daily. I just think sometimes I don’t do enough.

I would love to make them a warm breakfast every  morning – but they don’t like to wake up and I would have to start even earlier! I just don’t know that it will happen as much as I would like for it to!

I also would like for my house to be a little bit more in order – just because I myself would like for it to be. Call it my OCD, but I have not learned the art of letting go of it. My friend Michelle stated what I want to be – “if the house doesn’t get done – oh well” (okay maybe all that isn’t a direct quote but it was something similar). Regardless she knows her family is take care of and they are loved and happy.  I think I could let go more than Nick could. ***Seriously chef Michelle out – she is funny and has some amazing coupon stories!

What do you do to be a homemaker in any sense of the word?

Blogs

Here are some blogs that I have found and think that I really like and will continue to like for many different reasons. A lot of them are running based, but they are all good – really!

If I Can’t Convince You – I’ll At Least Confuse You – This is some interesting reads – but she has different posts that are fun!

I {Heart} Nap Time – It is a cute little blog that makes me want to be creative again!

Shut Up + Run – Enough said.

See Mom Run Far – She is a mom of 12 and has time to run.

Run Eat Repeat – Good stuff that is a mix.

Enjoying The Small Things – This is a blog about an amazing family full of love – please check her out!

Run With Jess – She currently has an awesome giveaway and a Virtual Run coming up! You should join! I am going to!!

 

Fun Friday

So no fitness to report on – yes I am a slacker – so how about some fun?

Here are a couple of blogs I like recently – they are fun, enlightening, and I like them!

http://25by20five.com/ – 25X25 – she has some funny stuff and her recent post on what she thinks about when she runs – hysterical.  I might try to do this once – that is motivation to run!

http://diane-owens.com/ – In My Own Opinion – she is asking herself a question a day for a year. She hits on some great topics, and some things I would actually like to try!

http://davidkanigan.com/2012/03/22/life-goal-aid-or-blocker/ – Lead.Learn.Live – this post made me laugh as I have been on the internet all morning. Can you say slow day?

My husband started school – this is always interesting. He needs complete silence and no interruptions or his mood becomes unpleasant.  I, on the other hand, learned to multi-task. Just sayin’

I think I can see this being one day during the week where I find something for the girls and I to do outside the house.  This may also lead into something on the weekend as well. I want him to do well and I think he will do great if I can just give him what he needs to succeed. A room with padded walls and silence 🙂

I find I have tendencies like my mother – most would say this is normal and I should get over it. um, have you met mine?  I love my mom, I do. I just don’t want to be like her. She shows favoritism to my brother, my nephew, and my husband. Might I remind you she has two grand daughters, two daughter, and a daughter-in-law.  Yeah – she will deny it but she thinks the boys walk on water and me and my female counterparts are pond scum. It is the truth, I swear it.  My husband has been given permission to tell me I am acting like her so I can change immediately. 

I once bought two super cute shirts from JC Penny and immediately took them back when he stated I looked like her. Nice.

Have you ever read a book that is awful but you won’t give up reading it? That was me until yesterday when I finally finished it. I love Janet Evanovich and her Stephanie Plum books – they are funny. I decided to venture to another series of hers called Metro Girl and Motor Mouth is next. It took me forever to get through this book. It took like 300 pages to build up to a 3 page play out. Not good.  The first part of the book could have taken 200 pages and the ending could have been another 100. Oh well, that is why I am not a writer.  I also think the only reason she made money on this book is because people loved her other books and assumed this would be good to.

Packing my lunch – This is what I do now. I am trying to really reign in on spending that is so unnecessary. I pack my lunch as much as I am not a huge fan of it. I can eat leftovers once – not much more than that though.  It also helps that I meal plan and prep now as much as I can so the fact that I don’t have anything extra to do for my lunch makes me happy. Last night I did have to put together the meatloaf and throw it in a pan – but that is the most I have done all week. Totally worth the payoff in my mind. I think I may still buy every once in a while to reward myself, but it won’t be once or twice a week like some do.

The library – my new-found love. Especially since I can reserve everything online – CD’s, DVD’s and my books. Then when I go to pick them up I can gander at all the new arrivals and book shelves to get things I didn’t know about! I enjoy this as I don’t have to buy anything and I can still enjoy it like I did! It kind of kills the shopping addiction without actually killing it! 

Shopping addiction – I think I have one. Nothing major that costs me thousands, but it is where my $5 here goes to and my $10 there. I found the other day when I got mad I went straight to a shopping website and starting putting things in a shopping cart. I never ended up buying, but it made me feel like I had. This also in turn had me turn to the library so I could things and then bring them back when the buyer’s remorse” wore off.  Kinda silly – but I think I have made a break through with this one!

My kids – I read a book about a drunk driver tearing apart a family. A daughter and a husband were killed leaving a mother and her other daughter. It made me cry the entire 3 beginning chapters. I love my girls like no other and I hope they grow to understand that.  It makes me want to cuddle them at night, let them sleep in bed with us, sleep in later, eat cereal at all time, and just enjoy them. Now I realize I need to parent them and make them understand that no means no, but I also want them to know they are always loved.  Now to find balance in doing all of that 🙂

 

Is that enough for now? 🙂

 

 

 

What’s New Wednesday #6

Not much. No, really – not much  new as we are back to work this week!  I am enjoying being back on a schedule, but I am also realizing how much time I don’t have anymore to do the things I have to and want to.  I have more and more free time at work – which bums me out.  The days drag a bit and I think of the things I could be doing instead.

On the upside – all this time at work allows me to research budget ideas, money-saving ideas, activity ideas, summer ideas, and ways to visit family on the cheap (most likely not going to happen this year).

I am hoping that my book reading will continue as I am loving this.  I have ideas for girl time once a week and family time and such.  See what happens when I have tim on my hands???