On the Road Again

Yesterday's post had us preparing for our trip from Texas to Wisconsin. Today we are in the car on the way. The plan was to leave at 5 am but as with most family trips, 5 am became 8 am.

The boys and I were up most of the night finishing up our packing, making a trip to WalMart, and cooking up food that didn't get eaten and freezing it. We only got about and hour of sleep before the hubster got up and was ready to hit the road.

Within twenty minutes of rolling out of the driveway my son was out cold. This was the way most of the day went. When they were awake they gt along great, not at all what I expected. I guess I'm used to the constant bickering but I guess they are maturing.

We made it through 12 hours of driving and only stopped 3 times for gas, food and bio breaks. The hotel bed is calling my name and I must answer.

Vacation Time

I haven't posted in a few days because I'm trying to get my family ready to leave for a lovely road trip from Texas to Wisconsin.  Does the movie National Lampoon's Vacation come to mind?  It does mine every time we decide to take a family trip and drive.  Granted its never as bad as the scenes from the movie but pretty darn close sometimes.

When you travel with small children you think "This will be so much easier when they are older".  I am here to tell you that is not true in the least.  Mine are 22, 18, and 14 and this is been the roughest trip to get ready for!  Making sure they have taken the time off work, they have school covered, they have enough clothes packed, and that they have even packed.  When they were younger we packed for them, we kept them occupied with Disney movies and a portable DVD player.  Now they do their own packing and Disney movies are not going to cut it this time.

You would think with this trip being planned for almost a year they would be ready, not the case.  We had to keep reminding our daughter to take off of work.  No clue if she has packed yet since she no longer lives at home.  My oldest son has been in some trouble so he's had to get permission to leave, I've been telling him for months to get it done but teenage boys just don't listen.  He waited until last week to let people know.  Then there is my 14 year old, the baby of the family and our "monster child", he wouldn't stop playing video games long enough to pack.  I forced the issue last night and he finally pulled some clothes together, a few t-shirts, two pair of underwear, a sock (not a pair just one sock), a pair of shorts and two pair of jeans.  Yes all this for a week long trip!  I know all the mothers reading this with teenage boys are dying laughing because you have been there done that.  Oh and one of the shirts he has is long sleeved.

Once all my laughing stopped I asked him, why the long sleeves and why 1 sock.  He looked at me with the most serious face and let me know that it could get cold you know so he might need a long sleeved shirt.  Now I'm laughing again, this child thinks that he may need long sleeves during 4th of July week.  Really?  I'm thinking right about now I must have dropped him on his head at some point when he was a baby.  He never explained the 1 sock just shrugged his shoulders and returned to his game.

At the end of the day even thought my children have made me crazy getting ready for this trip, we are sure to have a great time.   I can't wait to share with you how this trip plays out. 

Grandma Would Be Proud

Farmer's Market haul.

If you read my last post you know I have been doing a lot of cooking from scratch using fresh ingredients.  While at the Farmer's Market I picked up some fruit and veggies.  But today I focused on the small cucumbers I got in this haul to make pickles. 

I started gathering my canning equipment and getting very excited.  Seriously to this city girl it was one of the highlights of my week.  I used to watch my grandma prep her vegetables for canning when I was little.  Unfortunately I never learned from her because we movd out of state when I was 13 so spending weekends on the farm just wasn't in the cards anymore.

Boiling pickling juice.

After gathering all my stuff I gave the cucumbers a vinegar and water bath then started to cut some of them into chips and spears.  After packing them into my ball jars I got started making the pickling juice.  My house started to smell like one big pickle and my son stopped playing XBox long enough to come into the kitchen to see what smelled so good.  There aren't too many things that can drag him away from shooting zombies, but I guess pickles will do it.  He's my pickle eater, and given the choice of a bowl of pickles or a bowl of ice cream, he's grabbing the pickles.  Now back to the pickling.

Once the pickling juice was ready, into the jars of cucumbers it went.  As I put the lids on I started to think about my grandma and wondered if she ever had the same thoughts I was having.  I've made pickles before and every time I have the same thoughts, that it would be so much easier to just go to the store and buy them.  I mean the time it takes to sterilize the lids, the jars, cut up the cucumbers make the pickling juice, the water bath, I could have been to the store and back several times.  Well more than likely she didn't have those thoughts, after all she grew up on a farm during the depression, and helped my grandpa run their farm in her adult life, so I doubt that they got pickles from the store.

Ready for the water bath.

I brush those thoughts away and continue on with my pickle making.  Into the pot go the first 7 jars for their water bath.  I was able to make 9 pint jars and 5 quart jars of pickles.  Like the title says grandma would be proud, I'm kinda sorta following in her footsteps.

At the end of the day even though the thoughts of just bypassing all this work, not that it was a whole lot of work, and just going to the store and buy pickles, I kept at it and got a great batch of pickles.  Like the title says, my grandma would be proud because I'm kinda sorta following in her footsteps.

Pound Meltage

As promised here is what I've been doing to loose the extra weight I have gained over the last couple of years.  It really wasn't hard and I'm amazed at how my body has responded.  To date I have lost almost 30 pounds.

The first thing I did was to cut way back on my soda intake.  I was drinking anywhere from a 6 pack to a 12 pack of Mountain Dew a day.  Did I really think I could loose any weight drinking all that Dew?  It would have been one thing if it were Diet Dew but no, it was full on packed with sugar and calories.  I cut back to one a day.  I knew cutting it out wouldn't work for me because I would so get the lovely withdrawal headaches that come with cutting caffeine out of your diet.  The first week of cutting back to one a day I lost 7 pounds!  Was it all the water I was drinking?  Was it all that sugar I cut out?  I have no clue but I was going to keep going.


About a month later after watching "The Beautiful Truth", I went through my pantry and bagged up anything and everything that was boxed, ie preprocessed.  This movie did a number on me and I made a decision that night to only by fresh meats, fruits, and vegetables.  I decided to make everything from scratch that I could.  This wasn't a hard decision for me because I love to cook.  The problem was finding the time to make everything from scratch.  You see I work full time, have a house to run, 3 kids to deal with, and I write when I can, so where in the world was i going to find the time.

I had been pinning a lot of recipes and started really looking through them to find what I could make that wouldn't take me very long.  A lot of the items I pinned had one thing in common, a crock pot.  I dug in the cabinet and pulled mine out and started using it the next day.  My son helped me decide what to fix, Cheesy Chicken and Rice.  It was so good and took me virtually no time at all.  This was only the beginning...

That night I went through all the recipes I had pinned and made sure to get them loaded into ZipList.  If you have tried it, you are missing one of the best tools ever!  Anyway, I sat there and figured out what I was going to make for dinner for the rest of the week added them to my shopping list.  After work the next day I went to the store bought everything I needed for the week.  I was off to the races at that point.  That was 3 months ago and almost 30 pounds later.

At the end of the day, I feel much better, I have more energy and I'm not putting all that crap into my body anymore.

Caution...Tired Grumpy Mom!

Have you ever woken up and wanted to post a sign like this on your door or around your neck for all to see?  If you haven't then please let me in on your secret.  I really don't remember waking up like this before I had kids, but since my oldest is 22 that is a long time to think back on.  Well yesterday was one such day...

I woke up to my husband flipping the light on to get dressed and yep you guessed it, immediate irritation.  I'm still trying to figure out why he can't get dressed in the dark but I digress.  I looked at the clock and realized I could go back to sleep for about 30 minutes, so I pulled the covers over my head and did precisely that.  Two seconds later the alarm started blaring.  Yes that is an exaggeration but it really felt like 2 seconds.  So irritation and grumpiness? Oh yeah turned on full blast and I haven't even had to deal with my boys yet!

Jumping in the shower woke me up a bit more but the tiredness and the irritation and the grumpiness didn't subside.  Once I was ready for work I grab my keys, my purse and my morning vitamin mineral drink and was out the door.  I made it to the end of the street when I realized I didn't have my stuff for boot camp or the work I had brought home with me.  After a few choice words I turned around in one of the neighbor's driveway only to be even more irritated because I noticed how pretty their yard looked.  Why can't mine be so pretty?  Made it back to my house to retrieve the items I needed and back out to the car.  Irritation level?  Off the charts and I still haven't seen any of my children!

Once I got to work my day got no better, sometimes I feel like these people are more immature and more needy than my children.  I definitely need this sign for my office.  I tried to keep a low profile and only talk to the women in my group because who knows what could have happened otherwise.  I made it through the day with several eye rolls and biting my tongue only to get ready for boot camp.

Today was the start of week 3 of boot camp.  I'm amazed I have made it this far, I think if it weren't for Hanna and Veronica I would have stopped during the first week.  I was dreading this workout all the way to the gym.  We were doing PT testing to see who could move into the advanced class.  Seriously I can't make it through a normal class I will surely die if I try the advanced class.  It was a hard workout and the testing proved to me that its been working.  I did much better than the first week and my clothes have been fitting differently.  Dead dog tired now I make it to my car and head home actually not feeling so grumpy.  Maybe those that say exercise makes you feel better are right.  I'm tired but actually do feel better, but I haven't made it home to face my children, that will be the real test.

I was dreading walking in the door but did because I needed a shower after that workout.  I walked in expecting to hear "Mom whats for dinner?" but was only got "Hi mom".   Wow who are you and what did you do with my boys?  Of course the youngest was busy playing XBox and the older one was sitting on the couch texting and watching his brother play.  I quickly let them know they were on their own for dinner and that I was getting in the tub and once again I got a shock when they both simultaneously said "Ok".  Is that sign around my neck?  Have my boys finally gotten in tune with me?  I don't know the answer and I'm leaving well enough alone, since they actually let me go in and soak in the tub for and hour....yes an hour!

Maybe they were too busy, maybe they realized my mood, or maybe they just bugged their dad.    But at the end of the day this tired grumpy mom was able to relax in a nice hot bath and just let the annoyances of the day go down the drain with the water.

Huffing & Puffing....But Not Dead!

Today marked the end of week two of boot camp and the halfway point.  I begrudgingly walked in thinking to myself "I could just turn around go back outside and head to Taco Bell".  I didn't I kept moving forward and into the gym talked to Hanna for a bit...of course about work....then started my laps around the gym for the warm up.  That warm up was the easiest part of the whole workout and I would have loved to have just kept doing laps and I HATE to do those laps.

Andy, the one that is funny and has seemed to be easy going, ain't so easy going.  I think he took on Eric's personality tonight, he was a ruthless taskmaster.  I do have to admit that if he didn't push so hard I know me and I would definitely skimp on the leg up thingies.  Those leg up thingies are hell on your stomach, which is the whole point, but in the moment I want to strangle someone.

After some more of the ab work we went to do our stations.  Yup you guessed it outside we went.  I really don't think they realize we are in Texas where it is 90+ degrees out and HUMID!!!!  What are these people thinking.  The three stations we had were killers tonight too.  Thank God we didn't do this last week because I know I would have been dead by the end of the night and would have thought about never coming back.  Well after all the shoulder work with Andy, and the leg work with Judy, we got to get good and dirty with the damn tires again with Eric.  That man must love tire work.  The tire we had to flip was bigger than me...thanks Hanna...lol.

At the end of the day I may have jello legs and arms and may be sore tomorrow but as Eric said "it's better to be sore than sorry".  I had a great workout and actually right now I'm feeling pretty great and I'm so proud of us.  Ladies we have made it half way!

Boot Camp Week 2 - Not Dying Yet

We started week two of Judy's Boot Camp last night, yes we came back!  Can you say exhaustion?   I was tired, no I was beyond tired but I kept going.  I would say this was by far the best workout I have had in a very long time and I may have been tired but I felt great. 

I can definitely feel a difference in how my clothes are fitting and I feel so much better about how I look.  Before kids I was never self conscious about my body but three babies later its a whole different story.  I do what I can to try to hide my figure.  Since I've been loosing weight with my new eating habits (yeah I know I said I would post more on that later and I will) and now this boot camp I'm not focusing on how to hide my body since I'm feeling a lot more confident.

Now, having been so sore last week I assumed that after three days off I would be sore again after last nights workout, not to mention the intensity of that workout.  To my utter amazement I feel great today, no stiffness, no soreness, nothing.  Maybe my body is getting used to it, maybe my body is remembering where it used to be, maybe this is a trick and tomorrow I'm gonna be dying again.  No matter the outcome I'm not stopping, I have a goal to get healthy again and I WILL get there.

At the end of the day this is the only body I'm going to have...well I guess if I were rich I could buy another...so I need to get back to treating as such.

Boot camp?!? At my age...

Haven't posted in a while, but you know how life gets...   So yesterday several of my co-workers and I started boot camp.  Yes, as I sit here typing I am wondering where my brain was when we decided to do this.

I knew I was out of shape but I didn't realize how the extent of it.  I huffed and puffed through the 4 laps around the gym in the beginning.  Was able to keep up with the cardio drills.  Who knew that something I learned in 1st grade would come back to haunt me, the dreaded bear crawl.  Ok Ok I know you are probably sitting there laughing but at my age and the shape I'm in the bear crawl should not be in the scope of things for me.  So anyway, bear crawl to the middle then stand up and jog the rest of the way back, easy enough right?  Well my body decided it was time to show me who was boss, yup you guessed it, down I went and I am now sporting a lovely bruise on my knee.

The skinny perky little blonde running the show decided it was time to go outside.  Ummm hello please? Does she not realize this is Texas and its freakin hot outside.  Well outside we went.  What was that she said?  Run? In this heat? Around the building?  Ok this chick is crazy or I'm hallucinating, did she really say that.  Now I'm feeling like a lemming as we all start to run, oh yeah I ran, for about 100 yards.  Walking is so much easier on the knees, so I was giving my knees a break, yeah right I'm just old and out of shape.  Well in the 10 minutes we had I managed to get around the building 3 times which was 3/4 of a mile.  Go me!

We did a bit of  stretching then headed in to see how many situps and pushups we could do in one minute.  I did ok I guess, 20 pushups and 10 situps.  Now for the funny part, did my pushups fine, turn over to do situps and in my head I'm thinking "I got this".  Little did I know my body once again was gonna put the kubosh to my plans.  I was mortified!!! I couldn't do one, after wasting precious seconds laughing I finally got my body to respond and up I went, got 10 done but boy was that hard.

At the end of the day... I got my butt up off the couch and started an exercise program to go along with the new eating habits (more on that later).  I'm proud of me!