Fitness Friday #7

Weigh-in:

Dear Bathroom Scale,

I've been up and down this week, as you know because I couldn't stop checking in on you all week.  Earlier in the week I was THRILLED when you showed me a 193.8!  WHOOO HOOOOO!!  I know I celebrated a bit this week because of my husband's advancement as well as my baby brother being home so please don't let me have screwed up that beautiful 193.8!

Your Friend,

Nicole

Dear Nicole,

Yes, you were way down earlier, but the Chili's (twice) and the Durango's lunch, you have probably had a lot of sodium.  So my answer to you is....

....

..

194.3

..

....

Not much off of what you wanted.  Hope you're happy.

Love Always,

Your Bathroom Scale

Dear Bathroom Scale,

Yes, I'm happy because it's still down!!

Thank you,

Nicole

Last Week's Goals/Results: 2/4

:) Continue with C25K. Week 7 here I come! I did it! :)  Week 7 is DONE!  All three days were a 5 minute warm up, a 25 minute run, and a 5 minute cool down.  on Day 1 I had to have a couple of short walk breaks on the 25 minutes.  On day 2, however, no breaks!  I ran straight through!  But then on day 3, I had Baby Girl in her stroller and I just didn't have it in me :(  I ran sluggishly and had to stop several times.  I also didn't make it nearly as far as I had even on Day 1.



:( Log 4/7 days. I didn't manage this.  I think I logged 2 days or so.  As I mentioned above, I had a lot of celebrations this week and although I tried to make better choices, I still enjoyed myself a bit and forgot to log.


:( Take my vitamins. I forgot more than I remembered.


:) De-stress by doing something for myself each day. I got a mani/pedi with a friend, read a book, went for walks, and yes, I accomplished my goal.

My husband was officially given the notice that he made First Class! We pretty much knew he was going to, but this made it official so we went out to eat to celebrate.  My baby brother is home from the Navy for a couple of weeks so he came to visit and again, we went out to eat.  I had some girl-time with a friend and...you guessed it...we went out to eat!

 This Week's Goals:

Pretty much the same as last week...

• Although I did fine with Week 7 of C25K, I am going to repeat it.  The reason for this is that I start back to school and will have to run in the hot hot hot Florida summer afternoon sun after work. I want to make sure I am comfortable with what I'm doing. 
• Log 4/7 days.
• Take my vitamins.
• Don't let the stress of a new school year get to me this week.

half marathon training

I have a friend who recently decided she wants to run her first half marathon! YAY!!! So together we planned to run a local half marathon at the end of November. She's not been real athletic and has proudly put herself in the "Couch Potato" category for several years in a row, so I started her off with the Couch to 5k (C25K) program from Cool Running this summer and told her to try to be up to about a 5K by the end of summer. My thought was that by the time school started we could choose one of the MANY half marathon training plans and go from there.

She is doing amazingly well and I'm so proud of the progress she has made, however she isn't up to 3 miles yet - but she's diligently working on it! School starts in a week and she is able to go about a mile and a half (at a 10 minute mile pace) which is SOOOOO much farther than she could go without stopping when she first started! ::Doin the happy dance for her cause her legs hurt right now::

I'm not too far ahead of her to be honest. Yes, I have done several full and half marathons, but I took about a year and a half off with myself squarely in the couch potato mode as well, so I too started using the C25K at the beginning of the summer too.  However, my body remembered it could run (hers never knew it could)so I am up to week 7 and running 2.5 miles or so (not counting the warm up/cool down).

This will be the first time I've trained for a race without a coach, (not to mention pretty much being someone else's coach!). With my other marathons/half marathons I usually did Galloway's 4:1 intervals and told my friend that it would probably be a good idea that we stick to some kind of interval for this race as well (I was thinking maybe hoping down to 3:1's or something if we needed to). We both have small babies at home making training a bit more tricky (and often need to run with the strollers). So my question to all of my running friends is...

Do you have any tips for us, and what is your favorite half marathon training program for a novice? Hal Higdon? Jeff Galloway?  Someone else? We have from now until the last weekend of November to train (about 16 weeks or so if I just counted correctly).  Thanks guys! :)

Wordless Wednesday - My Baby Brother and my Baby Girl

Tuesday Teaser - Boys in Crisis (possibly controversial)

I haven't done one of these in a while so I thought I would try to get back into it.  However, I'm reading several books at one time so I'm not getting very far in any of them very quickly. I think I'll try to "tease" one each week for a few weeks perhaps.  Maybe this will tease myself into reading them more!  LOL

Today's tease is from a professional book, but if you have sons it would be worth a look as well.  I'm a teacher so this is quite relevant to me.

HEAR OUR CRY: BOYS IN CRISIS is all about how to reach boys and young men in a meaningful and relevant way.  Here are my two sentences from a random page (I just started reading it so I think the book automatically fell open to a page close to the beginning):

"Statistics on boys and men reflect the results of a society that has ignored the social and emotional life of boys.  To disregard the impact of these myths on young males is to put them in a decidedly weakened position to succeed personally, professionally, and emotionally (not to mention life expectancy: U.S. women on average outlive U.S. men by about five years). "  pg. 3

In my county, school starts back on August 9th. I would love to have read a good portion of this book by then in order to see what strategies I can implement to reach all of my students; male and female, exceptional ed and general ed, high achieving and low.

What are your thoughts?  Are our boys in a crisis?  The author states that they are being stereotyped as women were in the past as they are expected to hide their emotions, be tough, and "be a man"?  He also states that more fathers show up to support their sons in sporting events than school evens (such as Honor Roll ceremonies) giving them the impression that it is more important for males to be athletic than smart.  Do you agree that our boys are in crisis? Do you agree with this quote from the book? (Remember, if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all! Discussion and respectully disagreeing is fine, insults are not)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Let it open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Our male identity crisis: What will happen to men? (psychologytoday.com)

Menu Plan Monday

Check out Orgjunkie.com for more menus!

Last Week's Menu:

Meal 1: Breakfast for Dinner (eggs, turkey bacon, fruit salad) One of my favorite dinners is breakfast!  Hubby had an omlet and I opted for good ol' scrambled eggs.  This was Thursday

Meal 2: Parmesan Chicken with Garlic and Herbs, Veggie (whatever we have - peas, green beans, corn...) Right before I took these out of the oven on Friday, I laid a slice of provolone cheese over each and warmed up some maranara sauce to put over them.  We coupled the chicken with salads.  Yum! :)

Meal 3: Shrimp Kabobs on the grill (shrimp, red peppers, green peppers, zucchini, whatever we find to put on them), and grilled corn on the cob We had these on Tuesday and they were YUMMY!!  The Grill Master (AKA Hubby) outdid himself with this tasty - and healthy- meal!
Meal 4: Lemon Chicken on the grill, and Herb Roasted Veggies Never did the Lemon Chicken, but did do the Herb Roasted Veggies with the London Broil on Sunday.  Not bad!  I think I like the Roasted Broccoli better but these were pretty tasty too!
Meal 5: London Broil on the grill with a spinach salad  Hubby Grilled up the London Broil on Sunday after marinating it all night - Yummos!
Meal 6: Probably another CORN night on the weekend CORN night ended up being Monday and Wednesday. Monday to make room for the groceries we bought, and Wednesday to accomodate a crazy schedule.

**Added meal** Saturday night rather than grilling we stir fried some green, yellow, and red pepers with onions and sausage and whole wheat spaghetti noodles (It's what we had lol).  It turned out pretty good :)


This Week's Menu:
We are doing something a little different this week.  Instead of buying anything, we are going to try to use up whatever we have in the fridge/freezer/pantry and clean it out a little.  I've seen several frugal/cooking/etc blogs with an eat-from-what-you-have type of challenge so I thought I'd give it a shot this week. There are 2 main reasons for this.

1. We're trying to save money and would rather spend our grocery money on other things this week and...
2. We are running out of room to store things in the fridge/freezer/pantry so there MUST be too much stuff in there!

I know we have some frozen chicken, shrimp, and beef so that is on the menu.  We also have canned veggies galore (both in our pantry as well as in our survival/emergancy store that we need to rotate through).  There's pasta and rice in the pantry for sure and even though we are trying to watch carbs, we still use some of these.  There's also about 4 boxes of Hamburger Helper to choose from as well. I have some left over fruit and veggies from this past week's grocery shopping that will be used first so that we don't have to throw anything out.  The only thing I can foresee us needing to get at the grocery store this week is maybe some more fresh veggies and fruit - but then again we may be able to work it with just what we have canned and frozen. I just bought milk (skim and almond) a few days ago so we should be good there.

•  Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole
• Maybe even Parmesan Chicken with Garlic and Herbs again as it is really yummy! 
• I know there is some frozen Tempura Shrimp so we may have to do an Asian night and break out the chopsticks we have left over from Japan.
• Hamburger Helper one night
• We have Spaghetti that I can make also
• Other than that it may be just simply grilling/baking the meat (Chicken and/or shrimp) and adding a veggie.
• Saturday: Definately eating out this night.  My baby step-brother is having his Eagle Ceremony for Boy Scouts!  YAY  Proud of him!  That makes My Grandpa (my mom's dad), my biological dad, my uncles (My mom's brothers), my brothers (two of them), and my cousin Josh all Eagle Scouts. It's become a family tradition :)

Somewhere around here I have a cookbook called "A Man, A Can, and A Plan" that has recipes with simple ingredients such as "a can of this" or "a bottle of that" that can usually be found in every house.  I may have a look in there and see what I come up with once I figure out what is lurking in the back of the freezer/pantry (If it's lurking in the back of the fridge then it probably isn't fit for ANY kind of recipe other than a science experiment - and I still have a few weeks before school starts back up!)

My other baby brother (The other Eagle Scout) is coming to stay with us one night this week, so that night we may go out to dinner - or Bubby may want to stay in, who knows with a 19 year old Navy kid!  He's going to spend a few days with us, a few days with our sister in Orlando, a while with mom, then a few days with his dad.  He only has 2 weeks leave so he has to split his time wisely!  Glad he's coming to stay with us a while -- I've missed him now that he's all grown up and on the other side of the country!  He's coming back to see Carl recieve his Eagle, and to present it to him :) (Yes, I just got goosebumps thinking about it...so proud!!)

I'm also stocked up on healthy snacks.  Fruit of course, but also cereal bars, Sugar Free Jello, Real Fruit Bites from Dole, apple sauce, and I think there are some Craisins in there somewhere too.

Feeding Four is giving away cool fruit pouches from Peter Rabbit Organics that would make great snacks!  You should check them out.

My "normal" recipes are found HERE
And OrgJunkie always has some great menu ideas on Mondays!

What's on your menu for the week?

Twitter

https://twitter.com/seecolerun

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Feeding Four is giving away lots of stuff this week!  Everyday this week she will be giving away something different. 

Monday Was:  Ernie's Salsa. 
Tuesday is Peter Rabbit Organics


Go check it out...and check back every day this week!  I will update this post daily for all the giveaways and add the links to the individual give-away pages in my sidebar so make sure you check it!

Fitness Friday #6

Weigh-in:
Dear Bathroom Scale,
I'm not talking to you again until you play nice!
Sincerely,
Nicole


and his answer is.....


195.0


WHOOO HOOOOO


Dear Bathroom Scale,
Thank you!  Are we good now?
Your Friend,
Nicole

Last Week's Goals/Results: 2/4

Re-run week 6 of the C25K. Ran Week 6 Day 1 on Saturday and again on Monday, took a 1.5 hour hike through a nature preserve with the family on Tuesday Morning. Days 2 and 3 on Wednesday and Friday as I was supposed to! :)



Keep up the good work with the Vitamins. Forgot Most of the week :(


Log my food at least 4/7 days. I only logged 3 days this week


Read a book/take some pictures/do something fun for me once a day. Saturday: Caught up on a guilty pleasure (The Vampire Diaries), Sunday: took a nap and let the dishes sit in the sink, Monday: Read some of "Murder Most Royal", Tuesday: Took a hike with the family through a local nature preserve,  Wednesday: took a bubble bath, Thursday: Watched a movie (Percy Jackson and the Olympians), Friday: Shopping/lunch with a friend.
 
Evaluation of the Week:
 
I didn't do nearly as well on my goals as I had hoped but apparently I still lost.  Perhaps it was because of the carb-cutting. I'm not sure because I didn't log ...  sigh.

This Week's Goals:

Pretty much the same as last week...

• Continue with C25K. Week 7 here I come!
• Log 4/7 days.
• Take my vitamins.
• De-stress by doing something for myself each day.

Give Aways!

I added a section on my sidebar (Over there ------> below my quotes) for contests and give aways.  You should go check it out! Most of them are running/workout related but not all.  Legacy of Home is giving away healthy snacks.  Nuu Muus can be used for anything - heading to the coffee shop or running - and two sites are offeing give aways for those.  GoLite has some awesome stuff that you should check out too.  So what are you waiting for..go check them out!

I'll show you mine...

Marlene over at Mission to A(nother) Marathon offered to show us her if we showed her ours (medals that is)... so without further adu, here is my current collection:

It's rather small compared to Marlene's but I'm proud of them!

Marlene also asked which ones are our favorites and why.   Hmmmm....

My San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon metal is special because it was the first marathon I ever completed.  I ran it with the help of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program which raises money to help LLS fund it's caner research as well as help the patients.

And of course my Mickeys!  Who doesn't want to run 26 miles through Disney? (Really, you don't?  huh... why not?)

I have to add these too.  They are age group medals from a local 10K back home put on by the father of a friend of mine who was/is a marathon runner.  He got cancer and now uses these runs to raise money for The American Cancer Society.  I'm proud to run in it yearly!  One is 2nd in my age group and the other is 3rd in my age group.

Then of course there is my one and only Olympic triathlon medal.  The Disney Tri (Which they don't do anymore - this was the last year they did it.  They still do tris but not THIS one!)

Which only leaves one.  I don't want to say it isn't special, but it isn't as cool or meaningful to me as the others, though I'm still proud of it.

And like Marlene, I don't really have a good way to store most of my medals (hers are in a shoebox - all 26 of them!).  Should I hang them all?  Put them on display?  Would I even have a place to display each of them individually?  I do have one displayed individually in the guest room.  My first medal.  The San Diego Rock and Roll marathon.  I have it hanging on a nail next to a framed (and signed) poster of a painting inspired by and painted just for the 2006 marathon.

But the rest are just stored on a short shelf in the guest room.

So what about you?  How do you, or do you, display your medals/awards/accomplishments (running or otherwise)?

Dear Grocery Store,

I've been working hard to make healthy choices.  I've visited your fresh fruit and veggie section more lately than I ever have and I am learning to love all of your choices of good-for-me foods.  Even in the organic/tofu section.

However, WHY OH WHY would you label "Assorted Fruit Slices" as such?  A more appropriate name would be "Fruit Flavored Sugar."  Furthermore, what possessed you to place them next to the more nutritious foods, specifically the dried fruit that I am fond of having as an easy to grab snack.

Are you trying to sabotage my diet?

Sincerely,
Me

Menu Planning Monday

Last Week's Menu/Results:

Monday: My Favorite Meatloaf, green beans  Made the meatloaf (used Italian spice mix instead of garlic powder because I didn't have any.  Yes, I know, everyone is shocked that I altered a recipe and it turned out OK but it really did!) but instead of green beans, I made Roasted Broccoli. It was very yummy but I think I used too much broccoli without increasing the other ingredients.  I also forgot to add the parm. cheese.  However, it was still yummy and definitely going to be made again!

Tuesday: Cheesy Crock Pot Chicken, green beans Turned out very yummy!  Hubby thought the cheese sauce would be good with the broccoli from the day before so he threw some leftover broccoli on it as well.  Definitely Yum!  The soups in the sauce made this full of sodium but knowing that I really watched what I ate the rest of the day in order to be able to "afford" it.
Wednesday: CORN/fend for yourself Hubby was off doin' his thang so I had some left over chicken and a yogurt.
Thursday: Broccoli, Ham, and Cheese casserole I forgot to get some of what I needed for the casserole so we zoomed ahead and made the hamburgers with a salad instead.
Friday: Breakfast for dinner - omelets, English muffins, turkey bacon Hubby wanted to grill Pork Chops instead so we had lemon pepper pork chops and mixed veggies. 
Saturday: Zesty BBQ Chicken sandwiches, baked beans I made the Broccoli, Ham, and Cheese Casserole - Yummy!  I was even able to pull some of it out for Baby Girl and she ate with us :)
Sunday: Hamburgers, Cucumber salad  Made the Zesty BBQ Chicken sandwiches in the crock pot.  YUMMY!  We decided that the chicken would also be good over mashed potatoes...maybe we'll try that next time :)

This week's menu plan:
After a disappointing weigh-in on Friday, Hubby talked me into trying to cut some carbs. I'm usually against no/low carb diets (for myself - I've seen other people have success but it isn't typically something I want to do for ME.  I want to change my lifestyle and no/low carbs isn't a way that I could live so I don't want to do it now.  However....) We looked at some of the reports that I can run with my food diary and noticed that I'm still eating like I am in serious training for a marathon - almost always 50% or more of my cals are from carbs.  Great when you are running 50+ miles a week...not so great when you are lucky to get in 8 miles a week!  We decided that for this week we are going to cut back on carbs then slowly increase them back up a bit to a reasonable amount.  I LOVE bread and pasta so this is going to be interesting...

I also decided that since there isn't anything special planned for this week that I'm not going to worry so much about what day we eat what - other than Wednesday in which schedules are all crazy.  That is a dedicated CORN* night!

Meal 1: Breakfast for Dinner (eggs, turkey bacon, fruit salad) I LOVE breakfast for dinner and since we didn't get to have it this past week... I WANT IT!  haha
Meal 2: Parmesan Chicken with Garlic and Herbs, Veggie (whatever we have - peas, green beans, corn...)
Meal 3: Shrimp Kabobs on the grill (shrimp, red peppers, green peppers, zucchini, whatever we find to put on them), and grilled corn on the cob
Meal 4: Lemon Chicken on the grill, and Herb Roasted Veggies
Meal 5: London Broil on the grill with a spinach salad
Meal 6: Probably another CORN night on the weekend

As you can see, Hubby will be doing a lot of grilling - this was his idea!  LOL  Fine by me!  Let the Grillmaster take over :)

I've also picked up some stuff for Lunches:
Yogurt Chicken Salad  I can make wraps or just put it over lettuce
Deli Creations Cracker Combinations (Oscar Meyer)
Fruit Salad
Spinach Salad
May even make a shake once or twice (yogurt, milk, fruit.... whatever I have to throw in the blender)

And some snacks:
Fresh fruit (apples, strawberries, grapes, watermelons)
Dried fruit (Craisins, pineapple, mango)
Crackers, banana peppers, and cheese (Sounds like a strange combo but...YUMMM)
Celery (with low-fat ranch dressing or peanut butter)
Greek Yogurt (Fage)

*CORN= Clean Out the Refrigerator Night
**All of my "usual" recipes (and a few that I haven't tried but want to) can be found HERE.
***Check out orgjunkie.comhttp://orgjunkie.com/2010/07/menu-plan-monday-july-19th.html for even more ideas!!

Fitness Friday #5

This week's weight:

Listen here Mr. Bathroom Scale...

I've been MORE than patient with you.  I've done all you've asked and then some.  I think I have been pretty darn nice about this whole thing so far if I do say so myself.  Now, I expect you to show me a different number this week!  I'm SICK of seeing 196!

So,  SHOW ME THE MONEY...er, uh, I mean...NUMBER! (unless you've got some money hidden.  Then I'll take that too...)

Apparently my scale is as obstinate as I am because he answered by going in the OPPOSITE direction this week. 

197.2

Last week's goals/results:

Run 3X's this week. Week 6 of C25K :) Woke up Monday with a headache so so running that day so I ran Week 6 Day 1 on Tuesday. Thursday I had an inservice so I had to get up very early and didn't have time to run in the morning before I left, however, Hubby and I did a quick run/walk Thursday afternoon when I got home - it was WAY hot (89*F with 68% humidity, making it feel like 100*F).  I plan to finish my 3X's weekly by running again tomorrow morning.
Take my multivitamins DAILY! Took the vitamins Monday through Friday.  I wasn't home Sat (still at the wedding and had forgotten to pack them), and I forgot Sunday.
Log my food. Logged Monday, Tuesday (Over on sodium), Wednesday (over on cals), and so far I'm logging today so that's 4/7 days this week.

Evaluation:
:,( I am very sad/disappointed/depressed/upset/confused/ _________ (fill in the blank).  I can't figure out why I'm not losing and why this week I actually GAINED!?!  I know I didn't make great choices yesterday (Chili's with the girls - but I ordered a chicken Caesar pita...better than some of the other choices I could have had there!) but I had great food choices the rest of the week.  On the days that I logged, I was in the "Lose 1/7 lbs a week" range or under on all but one day.  Wednesday wasn't like I blew it...I was still under the amount of cals I need to maintain my weight so I shouldn't have gained.  Can ONE day blowing it (which I think I might have done yesterday) screw the whole thing up like that?  I didn't think so before.  Eating like that on a regular basis, absolutely can cause a gain...but one day?  UGH

:-/ I did a great run on Tuesday then on Thursday I did a so/so run with Hubby.  I couldn't run Thursday morning before I left for my inservice (no time) and by the time I got home it was HOT HOT HOT so we ended up walking more than I usually do. I plan to run in the morning again with Baby Girl.  This was week 6 of the Couch to 5 K, but I only did Day 1 (hubby and I didn't try to stick to any set intervals when we ran, just paid attention to our bodies knowing that it was so dang hot).  I think I may re-do week 6 next week.

? I start back to work soon so I will have to figure out how/when I'm going to run until it cools down some.  Once it cools down I can run right after school with no problem,  But running at 3pm in August/October in Florida = crazy!  We don't have the money to join a gym just yet but it is an option we are trying to do.  However, I don't like the idea of always running on a treadmill either.  I like to be out on the road more often.  I have to leave the house around 6-6:15am so getting up early enough to run and come home and get ready (not to mention get Baby Girl ready) isn't a real option.  There is a good streetlight right by my house, but they are very sparce throughout the rest of the neighborhood.  Besides, I'm NOT a morning person!

:) I did manage to take my vitamins (Woman's One-A-Day) Mon-Fri so that is 5/6 (I don't count Saturday since I wasn't in a position to take them even if I had wanted to!)

:-/ Also, I was concerned about my sodium last week.  Of the days I logged I was only over on sodium one day - but I know I was also over yesterday as well based on what I ate.  5/7 days I was good on sodium.  I think I'm still going to watch it but maybe it was just an off week the week that it was so high.

 Next Week's Goals:

1.  Re-run week 6 of the C25K.  I plan for M/W/F.  I would have to bring Baby Girl with me on Wednesday and probably Friday too but that's OK.
2. Keep up the good work with the Vitamins. Takes 21 days to make a habit (and one day to break it) so I need to keep up with this habit!
3. Log my food at least 4/7 days.  Logging everything every day is really tedious but I think if I log most days then I will at least be getting a good idea of what I'm eating.
4. Read a book/take some pictures/do something fun for me once a day.  I am really upset right now over this bathroom scale refusing to move for the past several weeks and then moving UP this week, so I'm going to try to de-stress a bit by trying to take some "me" time every day this week.  Even if it is just a few minutes while Baby Girl is taking a nap.

Thoughts?   Comments?   Advice?   Help?

Smile!

My post-run breakfast made me smile today :)

Whole wheat English muffin, blackberry jam, and a bananna :)

Monday Meal Plan

Well, my menu plan for last week pretty much went by the wayside.

Here was the plan....

Monday - I'm going to put my hubby to work and make him grill something yummy- his choice! Maybe I'll make some Roasted Broccoli or Herb Roasted Vegetables to go with whatever he makes. Rain made this idea fall to the side.  Instead we just ate some Tuna Salad sandwiches.
Tuesday - Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad We did manage to have this on the correct night. 
Wednesday -My favorite meatloaf, shells and cheese, leftover roasted broccoli (if there is any!) Hubby had to go to work early so it was just going to be me, and I ate some leftovers that were in the fridge.  A bit of a CORN night.
Thursday - Rehearsal Dinner for a wedding that my husband is in. The groom's parents had lasagna, salad, breadsticks...and quatro leche cake...FOUR milks...YUMMO
Friday - Wedding Day! Reception will be our dinner! Mmmmm  Herb Roasted Chicken, Veggies, Mashed Potatos, and White Chocolate Mousse Wedding Cake.
Saturday - Cheesy Crock pot Chicken, green beans Got home later than we planned...Driving all day to get home, too sleepy to cook!
Sunday - Hubby treated me to my favorite -- OLIVE GARDEN!!  :)

Perhaps we'll do better this week! I shouldn't have to do much grocery shopping as I have most of what I planned for last week!

Monday: My Favorite Meatloaf, green beans
Tuesday:  Cheesy Crock Pot Chicken, green beans
Wednesday: CORN/fend for yourself
Thursday: Broccoli, Ham, and Cheese casserole
Friday: Breakfast for dinner - omlets, english muffins, turkey bacon
Saturday: Zesty BBQ Chicken sandwiches, baked beans
Sunday: Hamburgers, Cucumber salad

I WON I WON I WON

I feel like one of the Miss USA winners....shaky hands covering my face, mouth open wide in disbelief, tears streaming down my face smearing my mascara...

OK, so maybe I'm not quite THAT excited.  But I am pretty darn excited.

I won a free pair of Yurbuds Earbud Enhancers for Hubby from Lacy!

It's the first ever giveaway that I've won from a blog :)  ::doin' the happy dance::

Thanks Lacy!!

What are Yurbuds?  Well since you asked... They are custom fitted earbud covers.  Guaranteed not to fall out of your ears while you run, jump, sweat, or are otherwise active.  Many people have trouble with standard earbuds, because, well, ears don't always come in standard sizes.  For example, Lacy's ears are small and my husband has larger than average ears.

How did I win?  I'm so glad you asked!  I won because I apparently made Lacy laugh.  I know, shocking, right?

To quote her quoting me,

"She entered on her husband's behalf and had the most comical quote describing his frustration.

'(He refers to his head as a taxicab with the doors open, calls his ears his satellites and explains that this is why he works at NASA...if he doesn't laugh at himself everyone else would).'

I laughed all week at the imagery and felt bad for my fellow struggler on the opposite end of the ear size battle."

So, in a nutshell (Help me, help me, I'm in a nutshell and I can't get out!), I won by making fun of my husband's ears.  Hey, it's nothing he hasn't said about himself.  I only quoted him :)

All we have to do is take a picture of one of his satellites..er...ears, with a quarter next to them in order to get this great gift.  So this afternoon I took said picture of my husband's ear.

Getting him to lay down was easy.  convincing him to let me take a picture of a quarter next to his ear without telling him why...that was a little more challenging.  "You're trying to prove how big my ears are aren't you?  Who were you making fun of my ears with, huh?"  LOL  (He said it while laughing, not in anger or annoyance...he knows I'm up to something but I won't tell him what!)

He never (OK, rarely) reads my blog so he probably won't know that they are coming until they are here.  Guess he should read my posts a little more often huh?  he he he (I love you, Baby!)

10 on 10 - July

I have some great photos to share of the wedding I attended...but I can't   :(  For some reason, when my computer got recovered from whatever alien life form took it over a few weeks back, certain things stopped working on it.  One of those seems to be my card reader so I can't load my pictures from my camera onto the computer.  So in order to keep up with the 10 on 10, I will post some of the pics from my phone.  I'm not sure if I have 10 or not...  lets see....

1.

"Mommy and Daddy get chicken and wedding cake, and all I get is a bottle??"

2.

Table runner pattern - it matches my blog!!

3.

Daddy and his little girl - dark and fuzzy due to the lighting

 so I turned it B&W hoping to make it look better.

4.

OK, I didn't take this, but it was taken with my phone --

Does that count?  lol

5.

The precious flower girl

6.

Hubby's boutonniere

7.

The table cloth and the bottom of my glass - not sure how

 I took this.  I think it was an accident ha ha!

8.

The best of friends already! 

9.

The Groom and his groomsmen (Hubby is far right)

10.

Wish this sign worked at home too...

OK, I did manage to get 10 on 10 today :)  Sorry they are crappy quality... the glory of the camera phone :) Hopefully by next month I'll have this problem figured out and will have better pictures.

Fitness Friday #4

This week's weight
(Done on Wednesday morning.  I knew Thursday morning would be crazy hectic trying to get everyone and everything ready to leave, and I wasn't sure if the hotel gym would have an accurate scale for me to weigh this morning --Does Running around crazy getting everyone ready to go count as a "run" for Thursday?)

196.4

::sigh::  I think this number is stalking me.  I may need to get a restraining order!

Dear 196,
GET AWAY FROM ME AND STAY AWAY FROM ME! My friends in the 180's are waiting for me!


Last week's goals:

• Run at least twice.  **Doing the happy dance and patting self on the back!**  I ran my scheduled C25K runs M/W/F (Friday on the treadmill at the hotel) PLUS an extra run with Hubby on Tuesday. That makes 4 runs this week!  DOUBLE what my goal was. We also walked with Baby Girl several times this week as well.
• Log my food for the days that I am home, and be mindful of what foods I choose and how much I eat while we are gone. I logged Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday at home.  I also (on my phone) logged a good portion of Thursday and today. 

2 for 2!  Go me! :)

Evaluation:
:( I did an extra day of cardio but it seems as though I still didn't lose.  I had a particularly high sodium count on Tuesday before weighing Wednesday morning so perhaps that had something to do with the weight - maybe I'm retaining some water?

:)  I feel great about being able to get in the extra run, and it was extra fantastic that I could do the run with my hubby (who it seems I rarely get to do much with other than errands or daily chores).

:) I'm glad I was able to log fairly consistently because, as I was hoping it would, it made me aware that there may be an issue that I need to look at as far as what I'm eating rather than just how much.


This week's goals:

1. Run 3X's this week. Week 6 of C25K :)
2. Take my multivitamins DAILY! I keep forgetting to take my vitamins...argggghhhhh.  Gotta get back into the habit of taking them.
3. Log my food. I've noticed the few days that I have logged that I've had quite a bit of sodium.  I want to reevaluate the sodium after this week to see if it really is a problem that I need to tackle.

If you are making an attempt to be healthier, how are you doing on your goals?

10 on 10 - July

I recently came across a blog that asks it's readers to take photos on the 10th of every month and post 10 of them.  Sounded like so much fun that I couldn't pass it up! I decided that I would actually take the photos on the 9th and post them by the 10th because I know that I'm more likely to get to them posted the day or so after than the actual day I take them.

This is the perfect month for me to start because Hubby and I have a wedding to go to tonight so I should get some GREAT photos to post tomorrow!

Story Pyramid of ME

I was looking through various blogs the other day and saw one whose description mentioned that every life is a story waiting to be told.  Hmm...a story huh?

So the teacher in me came out in full force... I often used a Story Pyramid to help my older students remember a story we've read.

Here is the Story Pyramid of my life:

Nicole

caring, Christian

always near water

What's this life about?

Raised in very small town.

Married a friend from high school.

Masters Degree in Special Ed and Reading

Beautiful healthy baby girl, what more is needed?

That was kind of fun!  I think (if I ever teach older kids again that is) that I may have them do a story pyramid of their own life at some point in the year! :)

 **Putting this safely into my "teacher bag" to be pulled out if/when needed**

It was kind of hard to determine what to put in and what to leave out when you are limited on words and lines.  For instance...where do I put my running?  I decided that my running wasn't as important to me as the others so that's why I left it out...although it is important to me.  Decisions decisions!

What's your story about?  What would your pyramid look like?

Menu Planning Monday

Lets see how close I can get to following my plan this week....

Monday - I'm going to put my hubby to work and make him grill something yummy- his choice!  Maybe I'll make some Roasted Broccoli or Herb Roasted Vegetables to go with whatever he makes.

Tuesday - Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad

Wednesday -My favorite meatloaf, shells and cheese, leftover roasted broccoli (if there is any!)

Thursday - Rehearsal Dinner for a wedding that my husband is in.

Friday - Wedding Day!  Reception will be our dinner!

Saturday - Cheesy Crock pot Chicken, green beans

Sunday - CORN*

Lunches are usually me on my own so, for the exception of Thursday and Friday which will probably be lunch out at a restaurant since we will be at a hotel, I will probably grab leftovers, a sandwich, or something light like a salad. 

Also...Did you notice the Dailymile.com widget on the left hand side yet?  You can see my latest workout and stats :)  COOL!!

OrgJunkie has more recipes/menus to look at, and all of my recipes are always found HERE


*Clean Out the Refrigerator Night

Defining "Freedom"

According to Dictionary.com, "freedom" is defined as:

free·dom   /ˈfridəm/   –noun
1. the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint: He won his freedom after a retrial.
2. exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.
3. the power to determine action without restraint.
4. political or national independence.
5. personal liberty, as opposed to bondage or slavery: a slave who bought his freedom.
6. exemption from the presence of anything specified (usually fol. by from ): freedom from fear.
7. the absence of or release from ties, obligations, etc.
8. ease or facility of movement or action: to enjoy the freedom of living in the country.
9. frankness of manner or speech.
10. general exemption or immunity: freedom from taxation.
11. the absence of ceremony or reserve.
12. a liberty taken.
13. a particular immunity or privilege enjoyed, as by a city or corporation: freedom to levy taxes.
14. civil liberty, as opposed to subjection to an arbitrary or despotic government.
15. the right to enjoy all the privileges or special rights of citizenship, membership, etc., in a community or the like.
16. the right to frequent, enjoy, or use at will: to have the freedom of a friend's library.
17. Philosophy . the power to exercise choice and make decisions without constraint from within or without; autonomy; self-determination. Compare necessity ( def. 7 ) .
 
My church has a sign up this week that states "Real freedom comes in God's love."

 
That will make you stop and think!

I am free to do His will.  I am free to give myself wholly to Him.  I am free to follow His commands.

And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” Mark 8:34-35 NASB

 
Even if we had to live in times of Christian persecution, no one has the ability to take away our faith.  God gives us that freedom.  Others may be able to gain control of other aspects of my life, but that is one that no one can control.

A man in my Sunday School class does a prison ministry.  He commented once before that some of "his guys" have more freedom where they are than some people who are out walking around.  That is because "his guys" that he ministers to have found a true relationship with Christ and are free in His love, even if they are not physically free to walk among the populace yet.
 
Often, when I think of freedom, my first thought naturally goes to my husband and the brave men and women who are serving with him.  Sailors, Marines, Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, and all Law Enforcement help protect and fight for our freedom; physical freedom as well as freedom from fear of attack or persecution. 

Freedom isn't something that can be summed up or have a finger pointed at it and pronounced "THAT" is freedom.  It is something one feels in his/her heart and soul.

Thank you to all military and law enforcement agents who keep me physically free...

Thank you to God for giving me REAL freedom :)

We throw away things that people kill each other over...

A few days ago My husband and I watched "The Book of Eli."  In this movie, the world is a totally different place that where we live today.  The ozone layer is so thin that the sun will blind you if you are not wearing sunglasses, there is little to no water, people have very little, and education is not a priority.  The Bible and religion is lost. 

One of the quotes from the movie got me thinking.  Well, actually, many things made me think about my spiritual life, but this one in particular made me think about my physical life and the things I have or think I need.

A young girl was asking Eli what it was like before and he replied, "We threw away things that people kill each other over now."

It made me think about all the excess in my life.  What do I really need, what is just junk, wasting space, cluttering up my house/mind/soul?

One of the biggest recurring arguments that Hubby and I get into is over clutter and cleaning up.  I don't like clutter, he doesn't seem to see it.

After thinking about it for a while, I decided that we do have too much stuff.  Less stuff = less clutter = less arguing for Hubby and I = even happier Hubby and I.  Sounds logical, right?

So I am slowly going through the house and looking at everything we own and asking myself  "Do I really need it?  When is the last time I used it?  Do I have a plan to use it in the near future? Does it work? Do I have space for it"  All excess is being dealt with (donated/given away/recycled/ etc.). 

We've taken bags of clothes to the Salvation Army, a box of "decorative knick-knacks/junk" to a friend who was having a charity garage sale, and even emptied our pantry (are we REALLY ever going to eat this?  If not, it went to our church for the food pantry).

Ironically, one of the biggest excesses we have is...MOVIES!  We have an entire bookshelf filled with DVD's plus the two DVD cabinets that are on our entertainment center!  Now, most of these movies were bought, and watched, by the Hubster himself so I don't want to just go in and assume that he doesn't watch a movie enough to warrant keeping it...so I'm attempting to get Hubby to discern that for himself.  It's slow going! HAHA  I love him! :)

The movies that I have chosen to keep are: The Princess Bride (my all time favorite movie), Chronicles of Narnia, Chicago, all of the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Twilight series, and of course my Audry Hepburn movies for a total of about 20 movies.  Yes, I know.... I don't NEED movies for my survival, but we aren't going that far (yet). 

So my question of the day is...What are your favorite movies that you couldn't part with?  If movies aren't your thing, then what TV shows, books, or whatever?

Fitness Friday #3

"Dear bathroom scale,
I know I wasn't very good this past week.  But please please please don't go higher than you did last week...please!  If you only stay the same then I swear, I'll be a good girl from now on.
Your Friend,
Nicole"

......

And the answer is......

......

196.4!

My plea was granted!  WHooo Hoooo :)  Thank you dear Bathroom Scale.  I swear I will keep up with my end of the bargain!

These were my goals last week:
1. Continue with my running (3x's a week). I'll be at my Mother-in-law's Sunday/Monday so it may end up being Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday rather than my normal Monday/Wednesday/Friday... then again...maybe I'll bring my running stuff to her house and let her watch the little one while I go for a run... Hmmm... decisions, decisions...

2. Try one new healthy recipe. Any suggestions?
3. Log my food/water
4. I will plan my snacks and meals and eat them at set times so that I'm not munching just to do it.

Well, I managed to reach one of the goals...#2.   I made Chicken Pot Pie that was delicious!  I found it on a Weight Watchers site.  I don't do WW or watch points but it was only 4.5 points per serving...however for those like me who need "real" numbers, there were around 250 cals per serving and 4.7 g of fat, but A LOT of sodium.  Hmmm  Need to do better on that.

I have also found a new yummy (healthy) snack food.  Dried vegetable chips.   YUMM-O!   I may have to try to make some of my own.

As for #1... I brought my clothes to run Monday at my MIL's but forgot how uncomfortable her guest bed is.  I slept OK but woke up stiff and my back was a bit sore, so I decided that I would wait until Tuesday and run at home T/Th/Sat.   Well, we didn't get home until LATE LATE LATE (for me) on Monday night so I didn't get to bed until nearly 1am. I totally missed my window of opportunity to run the next morning seeing as how it is too hot to even think about running by 8am.  I was still in dreamland until Baby Girl woke me up.  "OK, I'll run Wednesday and get this started again"...or so I thought.  Baby Girl got a cold and coughed all night Tuesday night so no sleep for mommy.  No sleep = no run.  Sigh.  I did manage to run this morning. I did Week 4 day 3 of the C25K plan (5 min warm up, run 3 min, walk 90 sec, run 5 min, walk 2.5 min, run 3 min, walk 90 sec, run 5 min, 5 min cool down.  I actually had about a 7 minute cool down because I wasn't quite to my house at the end of my 5 minutes of cool down walking.  I figured after a week off it wouldn't hurt to repeat the last day of last week before starting week 5 next week. Next week is 5 minute warm up, run 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes, (repeat 2 more times), 5 minute cool down.

We did however, take Baby Girl for a walk after dinner on Tuesday and Thursday.  I plan to do it again tonight - weather permitting.

As for goals #'s 3 & 4.... I wasn't home.  OK...Yes I was....and I made poor choices.  I wasn't home on Monday, that part is true.  Also, Wednesday I did have to take my daughter to the doctor in the morning and didn't get home until early afternoon, but other than that I was pretty much home on Tuesday, Thursday and today.  Thursday and Friday were better than earlier in the week, but 2/7 isn't a majority!

AHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGG

I know what to do.  Why am I not doing it??  I think I am lacking motivation :(

So...in hopes to motivate me by keeping my motivation at the front of my mind, and taking some of my own advice that I recently dished out to a friend of mine...here is some of my motivation that I need to keep in mind:

1. Baby Girl needs me to be a healthy adult roll model so that she grows up to be a healthy adult.  I need to make a healthy lifestyle a habit now so that she doesn't see me struggling with it later on when she is old enough to realize what is going on.
2. Baby Girl needs me to be active enough to play, run, and generally have fun with her.  Who wants a party pooper mom who won't play with her?  Blah...no fun!
3. I need to be in shape to run the 1/2 marathon in November with my friends. They've never run a marathon before so they are counting on me to know what I'm doing and be able to do it!

With that motivation in mind...here are my goals for the week:

1. Run at least twice (I say 2X's rather than 3 because hubby and I have a wedding to go to out of town* so will be gone for a bit.  I don't know that I want to run in a strange, unfamiliar place.  Maybe the hotel will have a treadmill...that would be cool!)
2. Log my food for the days that I am home, and be mindful of what foods I choose and how much I eat while we are gone. I should say log my food even when I'm gone but I'm trying to be realistic here.  We will be with friends that my husband hasn't seen since he was stationed in Japan with the Navy and some that I've never even met.  It will be difficult to log everything by logging in on my phone and guessing at what everything was that I just ate.  Rather than logging it online in my food diary via my phone (which is a PITA), I'm thinking I'll print out a couple of these to carry with me. (if you'd like a different printable food journal, here are some others.)

Keep it simple, right?  2 simple goals.  I should be able to manage that!  At least, in theory.

No...

I WILL be able to manage that!  I can do this :)

*Which reminds me....Because we will be gone, I might not get around to doing Fitness Friday until Saturday or Sunday next week!  We may bring a laptop and I might get it done but if you've ever been in a big wedding then you know...there is no guarantee I will have time!

Pages

I've been playing around a bit with the blog today (Baby Girl is at Day Care today so I have free time!  Yipeeee!!!).  I added some pages up at the top.  See them?  Right now I have "Books" and "Running Events"  but I'll probably add some more later.

Under "Books" I've made a list of the books that I've read this year (or what I can remember - haven't had much time for reading with a newborn!), books I am currently reading, and books I want to read.

Under "Running Events" I put the marathons/tris/etc that I have completed.  I thought about putting my upcoming or planned events but then I thought better of it.  There are crazy people out there and I'm not sure I want them to know where I'm going to be and when!

I made some for my recipe blog too...