{ Workout for this week }

 

I'm often asked what workouts I do, or how I've been achieving the results I have over the past year.  It's been a challenge at times, and I've explained some of it already, there really isn't a magic word or action to make it all happen, but it's also not this unattainable, super difficult thing to do.

Biggest thing, cut out soda, cut out junk food and take out, cut out cakes and donuts and tons of sugar.  That's it.  And move, move your body every day.  10 000 steps a day is a huge one, I find that if I don't get to do my exercise for that day, for whatever reason, as long as I make sure to get 10k steps in, I'm good.  

But, I wanted to share Lucy Wyndham-Read again because without a doubt, she has been the biggest help for me, and the reason I was able to get off the couch and start moving.  It was so hard at first, I started with her 5 minute workouts a day, and now I do a 20 minute workout every day, and then 1 hour at the gym on Saturday and Sunday.

Lucy's workouts are amazing, they're easy, but they work.  Please check her out.

She usually releases a new workout each week but her playlist on YouTube is full of easy ones.  Walking, cardio, lower cholesterol, lower diabetes, arthritis, menopause, joints, sitting.  You name it, she has it.

I thought today I would share her workout for this week, it's the one I've been doing since Monday.  It's fun, it's only 20 minutes but it works.

Hope you enjoy, and if you want me to keep sharing the weekly workouts, let me know.

{ Finally rain and a diagnosis at the doctor }

We have just had the most glorious of rain showers. 

Aahhh there is nothing quite like it, especially when you've been dealing with horrible heat and triple digits that just won't budge.  The first thunder boomed out and I must have looked like a crazy woman with a huge smile on my face.

It didn't last very long, about 30 minutes, but it cooled things down and the plants in the garden certainly welcomed the water.

I've had a bit of a busy day, an appointment, and a few hours homeschooling with Nick.  

{ THAT appointment, that no woman likes }

I had my yearly appointment this morning.  I have always stressed myself and worried leading up to the appointment, throughout and until the doctor gave me the *all good* news.

Much as I still find these appointments awkward and uncomfortable, I have learned to just go in with a peaceful mind and to not let it bother me.  I always tell myself that this is so important to do, and I've been very good about sticking to my yearly appointments, check ups, mammograms etc.

Truth be told, I often sit and think that I wish I didn't have to go to these appointments, ever.  Or I remember how it was before I had to worry about any of these things.  But as a woman, it's imperative that we do our part, no matter how out of our comfort zone it may be.  At least I feel good knowing that if something were to be wrong, I will have done my part and it will be caught early enough.

Anyway, I went in, it didn't take too long, actually took longer finding the clinic, because they've moved yet again.  We've been here 2 years, and the Women's Clinic has been in 3 different areas in the hospital.  I don't get it.

I sat and had a chat with my doctor about a few things that had been worrying me, mainly just changes that I have noticed taking place the past year or so.  I was pretty certain that it's all normal changes due to me getting older and being in my 40's but it's always good to double check with the doctor.  She definitely put my mind at ease, which is a very good thing cause given my mind a chance to overthink, it will go completely off course and imagine the worst.

I came home and I don't know if anyone else gets this, but I have pretty sensitive breasts as it is (sorry if that's too much info, but we're all friends here), and when I have the breast exam done, they press so hard that the rest of the day I'm quite sore.

I took some Motrin, I had some lunch, I chatted a bit with my sister in law and then went ahead and finished my menu plan and grocery list for tomorrow morning.

It's not a big list at all this time, I still have a bit of meat in the freezer, and I planned around that, and also a few meals using pantry staples that I already have on hand, so that definitely helps.

The rest of the day was a bit of blur to be honest.  Nothing really happened, I didn't get anything done cleaning or organizing wise, and that's ok because I've been so busy the whole week that one day is certainly not going to kill me.

Dinner tonight was a new recipe from one of the cookbooks that I'll be reviewing tomorrow night, I have to make a dessert as well, but have to pick up the ingredients when I get my groceries, so yeah, I'm not seeing the review up before tomorrow night.


I have so many reviews and posts that I want to make, and it's quite funny that it feels like I don't have enough blog hours or days to do it in.  Does that make sense?

Like when I wasn't blogging daily, I often couldn't think of a single thing to blog about, and now I have too many thoughts and ideas and not enough days to do them in.  Hahah

So all this to say that I'm healthy, I'm feeling so well lately, and enjoying feeling good and living life to the fullest.  I'm ever so thankful to God for everything that I have, my husband and children and my health, my home, my pets, family and friends.  Just everything in general.

It's a good place to be and it's a great feeling to be truly content where you are.  Best feeling in the world :)

{ Grocery Haul, Cosplay, Blood Work Results and some GREAT News }

I did my usual grocery shopping on Friday morning.  At first I had mentioned sharing the haul and maybe doing a video and so on, but I decided against it, matter of fact I had already made the video and was rendering it when I cancelled it.

Here's the thing, I'm a blogger, I write.  I am not a vlogger, I never will be and I really don't much care for videos or putting myself on camera.  I tried and I have done it a couple times, but it's just not me.  So I really don't want to pursue that.

Anyway, Friday morning I headed to the commissary and did my grocery shopping for the next two weeks.

I will say that I am now quite sure my grocery budget needs to be adjusted and increased, because the past two grocery runs have cost about $300.  Not surprising with the prices of everything going up.

I had a really busy day though, right after the grocery store, I came home and had a quick bite to eat since I was the only one home and had to run back out within the hour.

After lunch and putting all the groceries away, I went to pick up my kids, brought them home and then had to get right to work on finishing up Jasmine's Cosplay Gun.  It was done but not until the last minute, we were still hot gluing pieces and doing paint touch ups.

This morning, Jasmine, Curt and I headed to the Animania Convention.  It was the first time it was being held here in town so we were quite looking forward to seeing how it was.

Jasmine looked absolutely beautiful in her D.Va Cosplay, who is one of the characters from the game Overwatch.

I have tons of pictures, but I'll share my favorites and if you want to see the rest you can just head on over to my Flickr Album.

Did I tell you Jasmine wants to pursue a career in Performing Arts and Theatre?  Yeah, that's what she wants to do and I am quite certain she would do really well :)

We didn't stay for too long and were home around 1:30pm, we were supposed to return but Jasmine's feet were really hurting and she didn't want to go back anymore.  I spent the rest of the afternoon editing photos, doing laundry and basically relaxing after a week of rushing and hours on end making a gun out of foam.

On the topic of blood work, I still don't have my allergy panel results back, I think I'm actually going to call them on Monday morning to find out what is going on with that.  Everything else came back as normal, the urinalysis, and my cholesterol and diabetes, everything is just right so I'm very happy with that.  Cholesterol and Diabetes runs in my family so I've been very blessed to not have either.

And lastly, the big exciting news is about my husband's job.

You know that we moved to Texas so that he could take a job as an Instructor at Sheppard AFB.  But, this job was as a contractor, which means that every year, the contract runs out and is up for auction again.  There's always the worry and fear that another company will win the bid, come in and fire the previous employees and rehire new ones.  The past two years, Curt has worked for 3 different contractors.

We've been blessed in the sense that he was able to get a job, but we also had to deal with him being laid off last year.  All this time, he had been putting in for a GS position on base which would make him a federal employee with benefits and a secure job.

He kept being passed up for others with more experience, or others who had friends in the know and so on.  It was frustrating, it was scary, it was worrisome for us, and we even began wondering if making the move to Texas was a good idea.

Of course as always, it's all about God's timing and not ours.

We found out about 2 weeks ago that one of the GS jobs he applied for, he was chosen for.  I couldn't say anything until now, had to wait until it was all official and so on.  He starts on Monday and we are both beyond thrilled and so happy.  This means a secure future and we can finally start building roots and looking into buying a house in Texas.

So there ya go, that's what has been happening the past two days.

I'm off to bed, cause you know, I'm such a rebel to be staying up until after 9pm on a Saturday.  Be jealous friends, be very jealous :)

I'm cold in Arizona!!!!

Yep, you read that right, I said I.AM.COLD.IN.ARIZONA!!!! How's that for an opening statement????

It's been raining and today it's cloudy and I feel chilly, I should be shocked or in disbelief and I mean I am a little, but it reminds me of Idaho so I'm happy. See I'm easily pleased!

I've been bad with updating my blog but in my defense, it's been hard to type with the pain in my wrist. It's doing much better and one of the cysts is completely gone, the bigger one is taking a little longer but that's fine, it's nice to be able to bend my wrist without seeing these huge balls sticking out, it was yucky and I'm sure not very nice to look at LOL

Remember how I told you that usually when I'm not feeling well or in pain is when I get the urge to cook??? It's really something because you would think I would not put myself through that but for some reason I just do, so I was craving some jam and decided to get to work on it. I did!!! I ended up with 5 jars of the yummiest jam I've had in a long time.


The best was Curt and the kid's reactions, I handed them a slice of bread with jam on it and they started eating and ooohing an aaahing, then I casually threw in there "I made it". The chewing stopped and they all looked at me like I had grown a second head, maybe they thought the pain medication for the wrist was getting to my head LOL

There's nothing like making something in your kitchen and getting a big thumbs up!

Right now I have Orange Chicken cooking away in the crockpot, have I told you lately that I love you how much I love my crockpot?

It really does make things so much easier and I know that I'm a stay at home mom, but even we have days that we're not feeling well, or had surgery or are in pain or whatever the case may be, could even be that we just want to spend the day with the family without worrying about sitting in the kitchen fixing a meal. Thank you to the Rival product designer that invented the crockpot back in the 1970's........you have no idea how much you've helped us all.

It's a lazy day for me, I don't feel like doing anything and we're planning on staying home, watching movies and doing absolutely nothing. Those are usually the best days I think, you forget about the time, there's no schedules to keep, no school and work or appointments, no need to get things done by a certain time......it's just an easy day all around, meals are leftovers or whatever you feel like, you want to nap...go for it.......read, play on the computer, play with the kids, whatever, just do it.

So I'm heading out, all I have to do today is run to the library to return movies but come on, who could call that a chore or an errand really??? I love the library so it's a reward for me, I did a great job all week on the house, I reward myself with a couple books...........for me personally there is nothing better than a book, makes me giddy, there's something about opening it up and not knowing what to expect, smelling the pages, feeling the corse paper on your fingertips....yes it's pure heaven!!!

Sick, Soup, Sewing!!!!

What do they all have in common??? Well, it's what's going on in this house this morning.

Jasmine is home from school, remember the birthday party on sunday with the water balloons and getting soaked down??? I guess that was the beginning, because yesterday everyone started sniffling and by this morning, the kids are both running fevers and not feeling well and I'm not much better off either.

Right now I have some homemade chicken soup cooking away on the stove, it smells heavenly and it's one of those things that just make you think of childhood days. I vividly remember my greatgrandmother making chicken soup and checking on me while I lay in bed surrounded by books or napping. Gosh I miss her!!!

Anyway, the kids are settled in front of the tv, pillows, blankets and favorite cuddly toys in hand, some whimpering is heard at times and even some bickering, but for the most part they're too miserable to mess around. I'm keeping them fed and giving them plenty of fluids.

I so wish I could also just veg out on the couch, but I can't, I need to take care of them and there's still a house that needs taking care of, so I'm hoping to get all that stuff done and out of the way so I can sit back and do some sewing.


I'm always looking for projects or crafts to make with the kids, so this weekend we've decided to try our hand at some Rock Candy. The kids are excited and honestly, so am I. I'm hoping it turns out good.

If everyone is feeling well, we're also planning a day at the Castles and Coasters Amusement Park........though if we're not, it's home with movies, popcorn and cuddling on the couch. For some reason the second choice is more appealing to me!!!

And now I need to get off, I wish I could chat more today but kids need my attention and I'm feeling a little queasy myself. I feel like I have a chest cold and when I was at the doctor he said it's caused by a lot of dust and pollution in the air around here. I've been coughing and seems that it's loosening up all the gunk in there which actually makes me sick to my stomach.....sorry if I grossed anyone out.

I'm going to finish off the chicken soup and make myself a cup of hot tea with some honey and lemon.

Honey Lemon Tea

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup water
* 2 teaspoons honey
* 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
* 1 teaspoon white sugar, or to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Pour water into a mug. Add honey and heat in the microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Stir in lemon juice, mixing until honey is dissolved, then stir in the sugar.

How was I to know???

Remember my eye problems, being on the computer too much has given me eye strain and thenI was having this problem where I would wake up in the morning and my eyes were really red and remained that way all day long.

I finally stopped last night and decided to think back to when this started and if there was anything different that I had done. Then it hit me.....about 2 weeks ago I bought new make up, new mascara and eye liner. The minute I started using those is when my eyes started getting red and itchy. You would have thought that I could make the connection straight away but I didn't, so I continued wearing it everyday and I admit..............one or two nights I completely forgot to remove it.

I guess I'm allergic to whatever was in that make up, I removed it all yesterday afternoon and instantly saw an improvement. I've kept it off and I'm going make up-less today........which means wearing sunglasses everytime I step out the house, I refuse to traumatize the little kids at school or any adult that comes into contact with my bare face. LOL

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I was over at Barb's blog and she just amazes me, she continues saying she's NO Martha Stewart but again I beg to differ *snicker* She always has some sort of project going on, the cutest little things you can imagine. She just finished an Advent Calendar which is to die for and now she's getting ready to make the cutest Fleece Blanket.....so now she's motivated me to start or rather, FINISH some of the projects I have laying around. One thing I'm going to start soon is all my christmas decorations etc. Yes I know it's a couple months away but if you knew me, you would understand the need to start them this early.

Chances are, I will get sidetracked along the way or lazy and they will end up being put aside until NEXT christmas.

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I've been keeping up to date on my house cleaning, since cutting back computer time I get so much more done. I've decided that computers are wonderful but also addictive in a bad bad way. If you find yourself sitting at the computer desk for half a day or more, you know something is wrong.

Yesterday I got all the bed linens changed and washed, I swept the whole house and mopped, finished all the laundry and put it away, hung up my kitchen curtains and did my menus for next week.

Today I have some more laundry to do, I intend to stay on top of it so it doesn't accumulate, I need to make the grocery list for friday and I also want to go through my crafting supplies and fabrics etc and see exactly what I have and what I need. Should keep me busy for a while.

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Get this, the housing at this base is privatized. The houses are NOT fenced in, so the back yards are wide open, something that bothers me because I can't let the dogs out without being on a leash, or let the kids just go play unless one of us is out there. I just called to find out about getting a fence and aside from paperwork it will cost us about $12 a month or more depending on what we want.........I only have one thing to say "WHAT the HECK?"
Now we have to measure the pros and cons, the pros of not having a fence is that they come in and mow all the lawn, water, do the landscaping etc.....obviously the con is the kids and dogs.

Now do we want a fence bad enough to pay $12 a month or more and mow ourselves etc......or do we just continue to take the dogs out on a leash, let the kids play outside with us there watching and let the housing people do all the work???? I am lazy, I'm kinda leaning towards letting them do it all LOL
What would YOU bloggers do???

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I posted a recipe on my food blog, for a Blender pie. It's one of those easy desserts that you throw in a couple ingredients and VOILA, great custardy pie.



Now doesn't that look tempting??? It literally only takes a couple ingredients, dump them all into a blender, mix it up, pour it in a pie dish and bake it....it can't get any easier than that can it???

I'm keeping this one short, I have things to do and eyes to cure....doesn't that sound wonderful??? LOL

Besides, I just took a sip of my coffee without realizing it's gone ice cold, it's just nasty nasty nasty, this means I need a refill so I'm out of here. Have a great day everyone and please don't forget the Slow Cooking Thursday tomorrow.

Before I leave though, go on over to Mari's blog, her Works For Me Wednesday tip for today is about the Slow Cooking Thursday......she's a genius I tell ya. Go on and check it out.

God Bless,