Plan it, do it!

So I have been saying for the lasy last 3 months that I was going to run the half marathon in Fargo in May 2012.  Yep, I paid the money and registered today to do it.  Now on to training....  LOL!
I just took my measurements and they are BAD.  Like almost the same as 2 months after I had Dylan bad.  Guess I had one too many Christmas cookies and need to get running!!

So, 21 week to train and 13.1 miles to run... that day!  20x15 miles a week minimum = 300 miles to run training between now and then.  I will track it and keep track.  I am betting I run closer to 400 miles by May.  I better keep it up and I can run a good 800 miles in 2012! 

So...  I better set my alarm, fill the ice in my cup, set out my clothes and make it a plan to get on the horse!  I have a lot of miles to run!!

Kneophla Soup

Today has been a cleaning frenzy after the hurried Christmas tree take down last night.  I dusted the living room last night.  Vacuumed the living room including moving the furniture and vacuumed IN the furniture.  ::Shutters.::  I swept the entry way and the dining room/kitchen.  I cleaned the bathroom.  I washed, dried and folded 3 loads of laundry.

All of this while a freezing rain advisory is going on outside that caused me to meet the pavement while getting the mail.

Well, tonight in the spirit of cold rainy days, I made a ND favorite, Kneophla soup.  This recipe comes from my husband's uncle and we tweaked it a little through the years to accomidate our tastes.  I have learned that there are tons of variations of this soup, so I thought I would share mine.

Kneophla Soup

Kneophla
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
a dash of salt
1 cup of flour
mix well and add more flour if sticky.  Should be able to handle it without the dough sticking to your hands.
Take the dough and roll it between your hands to create "worms" about 1/2 - 1" thick.  Usually each "worm" is about 6" long.  Lay on a plate while rolling the remaining dough.

For the soup part you will need the following ingredients:
1/2 pint of heavy cream.
1/2 pint of half and half
1-2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced.
chicken bullion to taste
2-3 potatoes peeled and cubed.

Peel and cube the potatoes and add to a pot of water and boil until soft.  While potatoes are in the pot, using kitchen scissors, cut the kneophla's into bit size peices directly into the pot.  Boil until the potatoes are soft and the kneophla's are floating.  Drain and place back in the pot.  Add cream & half & half and stir.  Add chicken and chicken bullion to taste.  Cook until warm throughout.  Enjoy!

(This dish also freezes well.)

Another day, another try!

So the last two days have not been great eating/drinking wise.  I ran 2 miles on Thursday, 4 miles Friday and did the 30 day shred and 20 minutes on the eliptical yesterday.

So on Friday my major slip up is that I had a cappicino at the football game.  In the great 40 degree ND wonder, anything to keep me warm.  I should have opted for real coffee instead of the sugary substitute.

Yesterday I took my girls to McDonalds to redeem 2 free fry coupons we won at the Monopoly days.  Snack at McD - complete with a milkshake for all of us to share.  Then we made cookies and took them to my SIL's where my hubby went to cut up his deer.

I guess I can work out with the best of 'em.  Life is about making memories with your kids....  so I am finding it hard to get that balance.  If I have free coupons for a snack my kids will think is awesome, a once in a great moon type of thing, why not?!  If making cookies for Daddy to celebrate his big kill as a master hunter, why not?

I do know one thing that would make life easier.  To never stop doing Jillian.  My body hurts too much when I start again!!  I hate what Jillian does to me, but I honestly love how toned my body is when I am doing it.

My hate of laundry

I hate laundry.

I hate having piles of dirty stinky clothes piling up in my house.

Because of this, I am doing laundry every other day or every 3rd day at the most.

I suck at folding laundry and putting it away though.

I honestly blame this mostly on my toddler.

Forgive me baby.

I fold our laundry on our bed. 
I have rows along the bed for each person,
Wade's goes on his dresser behind me.

I make rows for Dylan, Taylor, Alex and me in that order. 

The hang up clothes for Wade and I go at the end near the clothes basket. 
The girls go on our pillows.

Most times when I try to fold laundry without Wade home,
Dylan is in our room.

Most toddlers I assume follow Mom where ever they go...
 mine have always done this!

So, Dylan is getting into my jewelry or playing with my bottles of lotion.

Today is a laundry day.  I have to catch up!

I am doing more laundry, so laundry HAS to be folded and put away as I only have 2 laundry baskets.

I also just decluttered our bedroom and having 2 full baskets of clothes to be folded in there is a serious distracter.

As I was folding clothes, I found one of Taylor's most loved shirts. 

It is coral colored so it looks great with her red hair.

It feels like satin and makes her feel good.

I bought it at a rummage sale in perfect condition which makes me feel good.

Well, Taylor's sticker from storytime was still on her shirt.

The dryer acts like glue perma-sticking those on!
I am a Mom.  I will get it off!
I used to say pre-kids that a Mom had to be a genious at laundry.

Well, I am not prefect and always learning, so I'll try my best!

Another cruel fact of my world and laundry is that my husband works shift work.  4 on, 4 off and rotates days and nights.  When he works nights, I cannot do laundry until he wakes at 3-4 pm.  That gives me 4 hours maybe 5 to do laundry before the kids go to bed.  I am blessed that our laundry is main floor, but it is in a small closet just across the hall from the girls room and right next to our room.  We all know that laundry is not quiet either!  So....  when you take in Wade's work schedule AND the fact that the girls have dance class on Tuesday and Thursday night, church school on Wednesdays....  that really takes those 3 nights out of the week to do laundry.  So, if you are at my house on a Friday when Wade is working nights, expect it to be laundry night.

Ahh...  time to switch the washer/dryer!

Day off struggles...

Well, my eating is not an A++ today.  I am okay with that.  If I can go 6 weeks with minimal exercise and eat whatever I want and not gain, I don't think one day will kill me.

Alex is off of school today and wanted biscuits for breakfast.  I ate 2.5 biscuits and some peaches for breakfast.  We made quasadillas for lunch, which was 1 tortilla with onions, reduced fat cheese and black beans... so not too bad. I plan to get a workout this afternoon and have round steak with onions and cream of mushroom soup in the crockpot to have over mashed potatoes for dinner.  Smells delish!

I am betting tomorrow which is Wade's deer hunting day will also be a struggle because it seems so natural to bake something with the kids!  Maybe we can share them with the neighbors?

1 month to do it!

This morning, 3 days after the Halloween sugar haul, I have had enough.  I took all the chocolate and froze it, downstairs to save it for a rainy day.

Today marks 1 month until Wade and I take a weekend get away to go watch a football game.  Sadly, I am still the weight I have been since we returned from our Oregon vacation in July.

This morning the scale showed 175.2  YUCK!  I would sure like to look at that scale in a month and see it say 165....  not sure if that is possible, but I am going to try!  First small change is to drink at least 64 ounces of water everyday!!  Second is to make time to work out, everyday!!!

A first!!

So, this is a milestone in our house. 
Alex lost her first tooth tonight!

Last night Wade suggested she tie her mildly wiggly tooth to the door knob and close the door.  She was all excited to try it.  We did, but her tooth did not come out.  It kind of hung there and she was tickled to move it easily.  Well, this afternoon she suggested we try it again.  She wanted her little sister to "gently" close the door.  Well, her tooth must have now been ready and it slid out like butter.  Shockingly to me though, there was about as much of the root of the tooth out as there was the tooth above the gum line. 
She was so happy about having it out that she never complained about it hurting.
She did make sure to rinse her mouth out to not swollow the blood since last night it made her puke.

So....  the first of many at our house.

10/23/11 - the date my first baby lost a tooth!

Wednesday Weigh-in

170.6!!  To me that number means that I lost about 2.5 pounds this week.  It also means that I only have half a pound of baby weight left!  Why is it no matter how much weight you lose, you don't change your view of yourself as quickly as you lose the weight?  I am afraid to pull out smaller jeans for fear that they will be too tight.  I'd rather wear the bigger size and have then fit too loose.  I guess feeling in my jeans how far I have come makes me feel good.  This year, in 2011 I have lost 17.4 lbs in 3 months.  We were constanly sick in Febrary, so that month really didn't count.  My husband has lost 20 lbs as well!  Even better, now that he works out he doesn't snore which means that our couch has been lonely at night for several months!

Wednesday Weigh-in

Well, after a 4 pound weight loss last week, I was not expecting much this week.  Hoping for a pound, maybe two.  Well, both thoughts were far fetched.  I thought my eating was on track since the stomach bug made the way through our house.  It is tough to have much of an appitite when your little ones can't keep their dinner down.  I believe that I had a very mild case of this last week, before my weigh-in - so that may be part of those 4 lbs last week.  So, would I just get to it?

Well, this week my weight was 173.2.  Don't look back to last week.  That means that I lost -0.6 of a pound.  Not great, but I'll take any minus sign even if it is little.  8.2 lbs left to lose and 6 weeks left to do it.  I think I am going to sign up to run a 5K that is the weekend before my birthday - just shy of this 6 week mark.  I have been running about 3 miles a day anyway... so why not?!  I also have found a partner to run a 10K race with me in June, so I suppose I will have to get to training for that one as well!!!

I am still going strong on my running 30 minutes a day for 30 day challange.  Today is day 26, so I am almost there!!!  I am a little surprised because I never considered myself a runner.  I have logged 2.5-3.26 miles a day!  Even after breaking my ankle, shattering my leg, 2 knee surgeries, I  can run.  This really just started as the quickest way to lose weight after my 54 lb weight gain with my littlest one.  3.2 baby pounds left to lose!

After this challange, I will do Jillian Michael's 30 day shred for 30 days.  I will do each level for 10 days.  I should be at my goal weight after this 30 days....  but then I think I will try checking workout DVD's out from the library....  if it is not nice enough to go outside and get some air.

Wednesday Weigh-in

Today was 173.8, that is a 4 lb lost from last week. Watching what I eat AND running everyday works! Yeah, 8.8 more lbs to lose!

11 days of running

I have ran for 11 days now. It appears that I should pay more attention to what I eat though. After burning more than 400 calories per day on the treadmill, I have lost a whopping 3/4 of a pound. I was 178.6 at my last weight and today I was 177.8. Really? All that hard work and I can't stop shoveling it in my face so I lost not even a pound. Well, I have to control my eating or I will not reach my goal. I began journaling what I ate yesterday. I am off to enjoy my coffee with far less creamer than I enjoy.... just to save a few calories which hopefully will transfer to a few inches from my waistline.

Personal goal

I don't know if I have too many people that read my blog, I really don't update it that much, so I wouldn't be surprised if no one reads it. If you do, please help me.

I am attempting a lofty workout goal. My plan is to run 30 minutes a day for 30 days. After that, I plan to do the 30 day shred for 30 days. This will take me just past Easter to the end of April.

Right now, I am 9 days into my running, varying between 2.5-3 miles a day. I have 12 pounds that I would like to lose before my birthday, which is 68 days away (9.5 weeks). I have a special event 2 months after my birthday that I would like to look my best for, so I will need to maintain my weight loss for the summer and hopefully forever.

I will try my best to post my weekly weight loss on here, so please comment if you'll keep me in line and cheer me on if I succeed!!

An attempt at a crafty mom

So, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I am working with the kids on making heart collages as placemats for dinner. Since the hubbs is working, dinner will be with MIL and her Mom - and of course my wonderful girls.

We already made the jello, that we will cut out with heart shaped cookie cutters that will become dessert with a little cool whip. MIL is bringing over lobster tails she has in her deep freeze. I will make some sausage for my little ones as they cannot/will not eat lobster. I will also make some mashed potatoes and veggies since the girls like them a lot. I will also make up the jiffy rolled biscuits and cut them out with heart shaped cookie cutters.

Banana oatmeal muffins are in the oven now for breakfast tomorrow morning. Of course the muffins are in heart shaped muffin pans as well.

Of course, lunch will be heart shaped grilled cheese sandwiches. :o) I figure I should attempt to do these things while I am a SAHM and have the time. Hopefully these jestures are making memories for my girls.

It's all about me!

I think as a Mom, nothing is ever about YOU.

Especially as a SAHM, very little in life is all about YOU.

Well, here is one thing that I am doing for me.

The last 24 days I have half-heartedly attempted to lose a few dress sizes. I would like to go from a (gulp) size 12-14 to a size 10-12. I know realistically that any smaller than a 10 is probably not going to happen. I was an 8 when I graduated high school, a 12 graduating college, an 8 when I got married.... lets shoot for a 10 after 3 kids.

So, in 24 days I have lost about 4 pounds. Not bad, 1 pound a week. Not great either. I am not a patient person. I do not have much self control when it comes to food. I enjoy cooking and enjoy eating probably more.

Well, the last 2 days I have gotten motivation to try monitoring my food choices. First, and probably hardest is that I am limiting carbs. I am not cutting them out - but if I am hungry, I choose to eat fruit, veggies or dairy instead of my typical go-to snack of carbs. So far, so good. I am a champ at working out. I can work out all day. However, I will not beat myself up if I and the kids have a bad day and I doin't get my miles in.

I have 16 pounds to lose (current weight -181 - goal weight 165) and 14 weeks to do it - by my birthday May 4th. My current BMI is 26.1, which over 25 is considered overweight. At 165, that would take me to 24.5, within the healthy weight for my height.

New Me progress report

Well, the new me is off to a good start. I can workout. I am good at exercising. If I got time away from the kids, I can run, walk, hike with the best of them. I have been alternating doing the eliptical for 30 minutes, running a mile and going Jillian Micheals 30 day shred - which I am now enduring level 2.

Food continutes to be my weakness. Isn't it everyone's?! Really, we are not animals that kill another for dinner. We do not graze on the grass for nutrition. Food is not merely energy to us, it is an art form to create in the kitchen. My food downfall is probably sweets the most. I can do without the salty chips but give me a treat and I am all over it!

Another issue that I have with food is limiting my portions. I will never be a small woman. I am 5'9" and need adiquate caloric intake to fulfill my body's function. I am also a nursing Mom, so that is what another 500 calories a day? I have never really been a salad person. Really, a salad for lunch or dinner? Guess what I have been eating for lunch? Yep, a salad. Rich, dark leafy greens, sunflower seeds, avacado slices, tomatoes, green onions, bacos, mushrooms minced, feta cheese and smoke salmon. When it is arranged like this - it sounds more like a feast than punishment. I still probably use entirely too much dressing....

Well, today is what day 12 of the new year? I have now worked out for all 12 days of the year. Opps, I just looked and it is the 13th! :o) I have worked out 13 days of the New Year! I need to keep it up and keep drinking lots of water and before you know it those 12 & 14's will be jumping out of my closet and the 10's will be floating in.....

New Year, New Me.

Well, it is now 2011. For the New Year, I am not going to say it is a resolution. My goal is to lose at least 20 pounds, if not 25 by May. That is about 16 weeks away.

I got a gift card for Christmas to buy a new pair of jeans (because really, how can anyone pick that out for you?), however I said that I have to wait until at least February to buy them so I will be skinnier.

I will wake at least on Wade's work days, to work out before the kids wake. We'll see how this goes because a lot of the time Dylan wakes at 5-6 am and only goes back to sleep snuggled up next to me.

So, I will eat smaller amounts, healthier food choices and work out daily.