Well… it’s settled..

I’m officially bored of journaling what I eat and my exercise habits. *blush* lol!! I’m finding that what I eat and what exercise I do just isn’t very interesting, I guess it’s to the point I was when I was calorie counting, you can only do that for so long… I think i’m to my “goal weight”, I keep bouncing between 131-132 and am a healthy & fit size 4. So really, I think i’d be insane to focus soley on losing one more measly pound! lol!! Gotta keep it real right?

So, that being said, i’ve decided to start a new blog focusing on my ‘everyday’ life as a SAHM with kids… I figure that way I can write about anything that strikes my fancy and not feel like it *HAS* to be fitness or food related, know what I mean?

I’ve added my “must read everyday” blogs to my blogroll over there and hope that some of you will still read and keep in touch with me!

Anyways, here’s my new link if you’re interested, and please update your bookmarks if you like!

http://halfdozendaily.wordpress.com/

Enjoy your weekend and thanks so much for your support as I lost my weight and changed my lifestyle!!

Same old.. same old..

Nothing spectacular happening today, but I thought i’d share my day anyways.. It was rainy & windy most of the day so I didn’t go anywhere except to pick up the little boy I watch after school sometimes… I got drenched, but such is life. lol!

Wanna see my newest addiction? Roasted Garlic & Sea Salt combo.. you grind it like a peppermill and it is SOOOO good.. i’m putting this stuff on absolutely *everything* i’ve been eating lately.. yum!

I did manage to snap pics of most of my eats today though, so let’s start with breakfast…

*PC 5 grain cereal 

*small handful of trail mix

*coconut

*1/2 cup plain yogurt

*1/2 banana

Then I did day 2 of my EA Fit 30 Day Challenge..

And I got a new trophy… look at me the tennis pro.. LOL!!!

You’ll notice that tomorrow is my rest day.. which i’ll not be doing my EA Fit. lol!! Gotta keep things straight this time! I’ll probably do one of the preset challenges instead, and if I have time. Grandma is coming over tomorrow for the day/night ’cause it’s our KISS concert night!!! Soooo excited! So i’m going to try to get my workout in nice and early tomorrow & get all my housework done, so when she’s here we can just visit and spend time together!

After my workout I gave the girls lunch, did housework, showered, etc.. then made up a quick lunch before I had to run out…

*whole wheat english muffin

*extra lean pastrami

*cheddar cheese

*baby spinach

*tomato

*light miracle whip (it’s gotta be Miracle Whip)

*1 clementine (my daughter stole one)

I made a nice, big dinner tonight.. roast beef, carrots, brocolli & cauliflower, corn, roasted & mashed potatoes & gravy. I didn’t eat my potatoes ’cause they weren’t “soft” enough…

After dinner I grabbed a Dove Dark chocolate…

And  my fortune…

And tonight i’m feeling especially munchy… so I had a bowl of strawberries & another clementine.. I also did some baking, this is far from healthy, but I like to have something baked here for when Grandma is over, so I made some Blueberry Coffee cake from the Joy of Baking. I just had a pc and it was soooooooo good! I followed the recipe to a T. Perfection. YUM!!

Apparently you’re not allowed to bring camera’s to the KISS concert, but i’m gonna try to sneak some with my cell phone.. LOL! I’ll be back with a post on Wednesday… see you later!

Todays quote:

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.  ~Confucius

There’s a chill in the air…

Well I think fall is officially here! The weather is cooler, leaves are turning orange & gold, and i’ve had to throw on a hoodie at night… all sure signs of fall…   That and my ’salad’ cravings have gone down… now i’m wanting warm comfort foods, soups, hot sandwiches, home cooked cereals, etc..

This morning I wanted to try the new PC 5 Grain hot cereal I picked up from Loblaw’s after seeing it on Krista’s blog… (her breakfasts *always* make me salivate.. lol!)… as Krista promised me, it was delicious! Nice and hearty, grainy, & very filling!!

Into my breakfast bowl went:

1/3 cup of 5 grain cereal

3/4 cup of RiceDream

1 mashed banana

1 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp flaxmeal

1 Tbsp. shaved coconut

Delicious!!

I let my stomach settle and decided to *restart*  (ugh!) my EA Active 30 Day Challenge.. once again. lol! So Day 1 it was… (no screen shots today). This time I wrote the days in my day planner so I know which days i’m *SUPPOSED* to do my EA Active and do them without “working ahead”… I figure on the ‘off’ days i’ll do a DVD workout, JM 30 Day Shred, or whatever strikes my fancy really… I like to squeeze in some Wii Fit most days of the week, so that’s always in there too!

Last night my best friend came over to hang out. We had 2 movies we wanted to watch, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past & Fast Food Nation. Ghost’s of Girlfriends Past was a cute,  yet very typical movie. Worth a watch I guess… but not something i’d watch over again. Fast Food Nation.. oh my. Pretty gross & graphic… it was a little slow at first, but just confirms ALL MY REASONS why I do not eat fast food! lol!! *shudder*

Whenever my best friend comes over I like to make us dinner… we decided on a spinach salad with all the fixin’s and a Roasted Tomato & Red Pepper soup in a tetra box by PC Blue Menu… this soup was *really* good.. yum!! I didn’t get a pic ’cause we ate later at night and I simply forgot.. lol! We also stopped at Starbucks as we always do when she’s over… that’s the only time I have Starbucks, so I don’t really fret over it… 2x a month isn’t bad. But.. this time I knew to avoid anything dairy based like the plague… my body just can’t handle anything with lactose in it… so after speaking the cute Starbucks boy behind the counter I went with an Orange Mango Banana Vivanno Smoothie using extra juice instead of milk. Was scrumptious and didn’t bother my stomach one bit! Yay me! lol!

Along with this I treated myself to a slice of Lemon Poppyseed Bread… was equally delicious, although i’m sure not very healthy! lol!

Well.. my youngest is up, so i’m going to decide if i’m heading out for the afternoon or not… it keeps getting bright & sunny, then dark & gloomy, it can’t seem to decide what it wants to do… lol!

Have a fabulous day!!

Todays quote:

Self-respect is the cornerstone of all virtue.  ~John Herschel

Are you kidding me!?!?!

So i’m blog hopping this morning (was up at 4am with my cat puking in the hallway) and couldn’t get back to sleep… so i’m hopping from blog to blog and someone links up this clothing site… I hop on over to take a peek, i’m browsing around and come across this particular item of clothing…

I’m thinking to myself… “uh huh”…. (not in the “oh, I love that and NEED it!!) more in the “WTH!?! Some people have more money than brains” type of way… then I notice the price tag… *faint* $72.75!!!! For a ripped & torn t-shirt… what the!?! (no offense if you own one of these lovely t-shirts, this is only my opinion which really doesn’t mean much in the greater scheme of things). I don’t know about you, but this is just a bit much for my taste… What do you think?

Ok.. onto another subject… CHOCOLATE!! Yum! I was on Shelley’s blog the other day and she was talking about chocolate… she had picked up a bag of Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Kisses and was saying they weren’t worth the $ on the bag… she was true to Dove chocolate. Well.. when you hear a statement like that you have to test it for yourself right? So I bought myself a box of the Dove 71% Dark Chocolate. Sooooo good.. Shelley is right. she’s knows her chocolate! You really can’t compare… i’ve never been a fan of “Kisses” anyways, but these Dove chocolates just melt in your mouth.. YUM!

I do have one beef with them… when you open them, you get a “fortune”… well my daughter got something about retail therapy, (I could totally do this!) but look at the one I got….

Yet, I was up at 4am this morning. Obviously I grabbed the wrong chocolate… LOL!!

Anyways, I also wanted to mention about my Journal I posted yesterday… my best friend bought it for me and informed me that you can’t buy it online. It’s from Chapters. The ISBN is: 159424840 and as far as I can tell “Pepper Pot” publishes it… it even has a pocket in the front!! It’s hardcover, and very thick.. it’s worth finding if you can!

Well i’m off to make some breakfast… i’ve had a huge cup of coffee so far and a fig newton.. that’ll only hold you over for so long…

Question: If you could only eat ONE kind of chocolate for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Today’s quote:

Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands – and then eat just one of the pieces.  ~Judith Viorst

 

Journaling for balance?

Morning!!

I’ve decided to keep a Health journal for a while, I find when I journal, I eat more balanced meals/snacks, get in all my water, remember to take my vitamin, etc… is anyone else like this? If not my meals will get carb heavy ’cause that’s what’s easy some days… I prefer to get in 8-10 servings of fruits and veggies every day, and keep a journal helps keep me on the ’straight & narrow’ so to speak. My health journal has room for daily goals, water intake, food journaling, weight, daily exercise, etc.. I don’t know how this “goes” with intuitive eating, but i’m going to try it for a while and see how it goes… who knows, I may get sick of it in a week and not bother anymore… LOL!! But for now, food journaling it is!

The other night the kids wanted French toast for dinner, so I went with that too! Used 2 pcs of 12 grain bread dipped in the egg mixture, then topped it with vanilla yogurt, 1/2 banana, flaxmeal, coconut, & a dash of cinnamon for good measure. It was soooo good!

And while I was out the other day I spied these little things and picked up a pkg of them… they’re delicious! Remember those “fruit strips” or whatever? But filled with sugar and other crap? Well these are organic and all natural ingredients… I love them!

YUM!!

Question: Do you keep a food journal of any type? Do you count points (WW), calories, etc.. ? Or are you an intuitive eater? 

Quote of the day:

 It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it. 

~Albert Einstein

Anyone else need more hours in their day?

I know its not just me.. but my days are going by so quickly lately… I seem to always be working on my “to do” list, or doing this & that for the kids, or something else that needs done… hoping things slow down a bit, but I doubt it.

It’s time for my Scale Junkie Check in!! No change really…  i’ve decided to ditch my EA Active 30 Day Challenge and just do random workouts on it… yesterday I went to do my workout on it and once again it said that I was on Day 8!! UGH!! I’ve done something like 15-16 workouts so far, but it’s not moving.. so instead of having a hissy fit every day… I’m going to do random workouts on my EA Active then start *FRESH* on October first and follow the schedule.. so i’ll do my workouts when it says, and take the days off like it says and do something else. Maybe it’ll work better that way…

So yesterday I chose a high intensity workout… think it was sports or something.. there’s pre-set workouts you can choose from, so I just scrolled through them and chose one.. here’s my screenshots:

I also played some Wii Fit last night for an hour… I have almost all the games/excercises, etc.. unlocked… I think I need to unlock 3 more strength exercises, 1 Aerobics and i’ve got them all! I’m LOVING the Yoga… its such a great workout, and you feel awesome after getting through them all.. I still suck at the tree post though.. LOL! Definitely need to work on that!

Eating has been going fine, my weight hasn’t changed at all… still at 132, my body seems to like that weight, i’m happy where i’m at now and am going to focus on more ab work and hopefully that’ll make a difference on what still bugs me… Last nights dinner was a nice, big omelet!! Yum!! 2 eggs (1 whole egg, 1 egg white) along with a good cup or so of broccoli & cauliflower, 1/2 of a chicken breast, and about an ounce of cheddar cheese.. was soooo good & filling! YUM!!

As you can see my salt addiction isn’t getting any better… *blush* I can quit anything but salt apparently.. anyone else have a salt addiction?

Also, I did do a bit of shopping lately to replenish donating a full garbage bag of clothes to charity… bought these jeans all in sz. 4 long!

A pr of the new GAP 1969 Curvy Profile Dark Indigo jeans…

A pair of American Eagle True Boot Cut Stretch Jeans…

And a pr of Abercrombie & Fitch Low Rise Stretch Jeans…

So now i’m set with jeans! I love jeans… *sigh* They make my life complete.. LOL!! Anyone else have a jean fetish?

Well i’m off for now… youngest dd is SUPER CRANKY, so she’s off for a nap and i’m going to do my workout.. have an awesome day! I hope to do some “blog hopping” today and catch up on all my favourite blogs!!!

Todays quote:

We are too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet.  ~Author Unknown

Life in the slow lane…

How’s it going with everyone? Here its been blah… dd was sick, i’ve had too much on my plate, figurtively, not literally.. , and i’m lacking sleep something fierce. When dd doesn’t feel well, she doesn’t sleep much at all. So when I get 2-3 hrs sleep a couple nights in a row, it really catches up with me! So i’ve been just getting through the last couple days really.. doing some stuff on my ‘to do’ list and catching up with things i’ve been meaning to do for months..

Another rant while i’m at it… is anyone else doing the EA Active 30 day Challenge? Well i’m on workout 13, but it’s not counting it.. there are days off in between, but I don’t always take them, so  now I have 3 different screen shots of “Day 8″ with the same stupid workout but with different calorie burns… and 2 of Day 7’s, it won’t let me go any farther, so i’m stuck doing the same workout over and over again. I guess I should have stuck to the schedule *EXACTLY* as they have it… so now I won’t be finishing my 30 day workout in September, ’cause it doesn’t want to give me ‘credit’ for my double days… blah! Oh well.. i’m still working at it and have done it, just so ya know! lol!

Anyways, my eating has been fine, nothing out of the ordinary, but no pics lately… my weight is now down to 132lbs and my BMI just a touch over 20. I was asked if I was sure that I wanted to keep on losing since my BMI is already pretty low. I know i’m probably too critical of my own body, but I still think my sides are too “soft & round”. I  know having 4 kids will give you hips, but i’m still not as slim on the sides as I want to be.. i’m doing plenty of cardio and toning, so not sure what to do that’ll get rid of that besides seeing if my body wants to lose a few more lbs.. i’m not counting calories, or fat, or carbs, or anything else… So my train of thought is that if my body loses weight it’s cause it’s not to my natural set point yet… I figure that soon my bodyweight will probably just ’settle” and not lose anymore. I’m not deliberately trying to lose weight now.. just exercising and eating intuitively.

Speaking of eating intuitively.. the other night my best friend came over with a Starbucks Spiced Pumpkin Latte (or whatever they’re called) and it almost killed me…. UGH!! She told me after the fact that she got it FULL FAT!! (whole milk, whip cream, and whatever else they shove in those things) I was in SO much pain for that night and all of yesterday… needless to say I won’t be having those anymore… blah! Live and learn right?

*Photo by Foodbeast.

Also, my sister is LOVING the Wii Fit I gave her for her birthday!! She’s having a blast with it! So that makes me very happy!! We were also talking how it would be nice if you could do the *FULL* Yoga routine, or the *FULL* Strength Training routine and found this online!!

The new Wii Fit Plus!! We both pre-ordered a copy from Amazon.ca! Ships on October 4th… soon! I can’t wait to play with it!

Well ladies.. i’m off to the mall with the girls soon to start looking for winter wear! (Obscene isn’t it?) Just finished my workout and wanted to make a quick post…  have a fabulous weekend!!

Todays quote:

The best six doctors anywhere
And no one can deny it
Are sunshine, water, rest, and air
Exercise and diet.
These six will gladly you attend
If only you are willing
Your mind they’ll ease
Your will they’ll mend
And charge you not a shilling.

~Nursery rhyme quoted by Wayne Fields, What the River Knows, 1990

Healthy You Check In!

How’s it going today everyone? Nothing out of the ordinary here, kid stuff, house stuff, etc…  It’s time for my Scale Junkie Healthy You Check In!! I did my EA Active 30 Day Challenge workout this morning and weighed in on my Wii Fit and did the balance test… I’m also always *just* one notch off of the balance test… is it even possible to get 100% on that!? LOL!!!

I’m excited that I actually weighed in today at 132 point something or other lbs!! This totally made my day!! It’s been now I think almost 4 months since I started trying to lose weight… I totally rehauled my diet, now eat 99% clean, and exercise daily of some sort!! ALL of my skinniest skinny jeans now fit like a dream!! In fact all but one pr need belted.. so I will eventually have to buy a couple prs of new jeans when I get around to it, but for now what I have is good!  

I thought i’d show you my *New & Improved* EA Active resistance band… the band that comes with it is useless unless I think you’re a child, or *just* starting out with weights/excercise… I found it pointless. So I had a firm tension resistance band that I cut the handles off of and used the EA Active Handles to wrap around it.. so with this band i’m actually getting a workout when I do my arm exercises!

And my stats from today’s EA Active workout….

And a new trophy! lol!

There actually were *less* lunges today, but I still did 40 side lunges, 40 side jumps, and 25 roller blading jumps… so I guess that’s “taking it easy on your lower body”. lol!! Oh well… it is lower body heavy, but my legs are looking SO good if I don’t say so myself… *whistle* So I don’t really mind.. lol! No pain no gain right??

Todays eats so far have been my usual yogurt, banana, strawberries, natures valley granola, coconut, and I just realized I forgot to put in flaxmeal. I guess i’ll throw it in my salad tonight… maybe. Not sure how that’ll taste. Hmmm…

Question: Do you use flaxmeal? Daily? If so, how do you get it in daily? Liquid supplement or the flaxmeal?

Lunch was a grilled cheese! Yum! A pc of swiss cheese & a tomato on whole wheat bread.. toasted with butter. Was sooo good.. haven’t had one forever! Cheese didn’t melt all that well, but was still delicious!

Dinner is spare ribs (YUM!) and i’m making some pasta, but i’ve had enough carbs today, so i’ll prob just have a side salad & some veggies on the side… tonights snacks will more than likely be fruit!

Well that’s it for me today, i’m off to finish getting ready to pick up my “borrowed kid”. Enjoy your day everyone!!

Todays quote: *LOVE* this one!!

All the so-called “secrets of success” will not work unless you do.  ~Author Unknown

Just another Manic Monday…

Not really.. I had a pretty nice & relaxed day actually… did some housework, some things got crossed off of my “to do” list, and my sister and her bf came over for a visit. I gave her the album I made her and the Wii Fit and she loved it! She first thought I used the Wii Fit box to wrap something else… lol!! I’ve been known to do that before, i’ll wrap something very light in a heavy box that’s huge.. last Christmas one of my sons gifts was a pair of UnderArmor receiving gloves for football, well I put them in a huge box with some HEAVY hardcover books… he had no idea.. lol! So can’t really blame her for thinking that..

I did my EA Active today after taking the weekend off from it.. my knees are sore again, not like my knee used to be ’cause i’ve built  up the musclen in my legs, but it feels like someone punched me in the kneecaps.. not good right? lol! I guess when you do a gazillion lunges that’ll happen. Tomorrow is *supposed* to be mostly upper body work it said.. so we’ll see! I do hope so though.. I do really enjoy the EA Active, but i’ll be glad to be done my 30 day Challenge so I can make up my own routines and go a little easier with all the lunges… and i’m gonna get in some Wii Fit tomorrow, kids played today but I haven’t had any extra time it seems… here’s some screen shots from today:

I ate a late breakfast of oatmeal, plain yogurt, a small handful of trail mix mixed in, banana, flaxmeal, & coconut, yum! This stuff always keeps me full for hours…

There was no lunch, no snack… I had to run out for a few things, and my youngest daughter hasn’t been feeling so great, so is super clingy… so I just spent some time with her and then my sis & her bf were over… by the time it was dinner, I was pretty hungry but didn’t want what everyone else was having (frozen pizzas), so I made myself a toasted whole wheat sandwich with turkey, tomato, lettuce, light miracle whip, butter, & some sliced orange peppers.. yum!! Exactly what I wanted!

Tonight i’ve snacked on a nice big, juicy pear & a cup full of ginormous red grapes… YUM! I think i’m going to go make a tea and my daughter wants me to play RockBand with her on the PS3 for a bit… so i’m off to do that then i’m gonna watch a movie till Dh heads off to work.  

How was your day today? Do anything exciting? Or same old?

Todays quote: (A good one for us carb lovers.. lol!)

A three-year-old gave this reaction to her Christmas dinner:  “I don’t like the turkey, but I like the bread he ate.” 

~Author Unknown

Chocolate covered bacon…

Deep fried chocolate bars, tornado potato, caramel cornball on a stick, these are just a *few* of the umm… nasty interesting eats you can find at our local fair… we didn’t go this year, it cost a small fortune usually and i’ve spent enough lately, so home we stay. Now is it just me, or do these foods I listed make your stomach turn as well? Just thinking about the deep-fried nastiness makes my stomach turn… I can’t imagine eating those.. ick!

How about you? Do you hit your local fair? Do you pack snacks or let loose since it’s only once a year?

       The last couple days have been busy, so I haven’t snapped pics of my eats, it’s just been the “usual” anyways, except I do confess, my hubby brought home a few boxes of these and I did enjoy one last night…. these things pack about 180 calories & 19 g of fat per cone though! The calories aren’t bad, but 19g of fat in one cone? Wow… needless to say, i’ll be leaving the rest of them for hubby & kids.. lol! But it was good!

I’ve also been playing my Wii Fit like a mad woman.. lol! It’s so much fun and I love unlocking the new exercises.. its a fun way to sneak in some exercise.. it’s low impact, so you don’t burn calories or get as much of a workout as you would with the EA Sports Active, but still a blast, and so far i’m quite happy with it! Here’s a screen shot of my body test/weight today…

*Please don’t even ask about the nasty blue eyeshadow on my Mii.. LOL!! I do  NOT wear makeup like that, barely wear any makeup, but my daughters insisted that my Mii have beautiful blue eyeshadow… rotfl!

I have about 2 1/2 hours banked so far.. lol! So I guess you know what i’ve been doing over the weekend.. haha!! I love it so much that I bought one for my sister for her birthday tomorrow!! She borrowed my EA Active but it was too hard on her joints, but this I think she’s going to LOVE!! I also made her a mini travel album for her to stick some of her pics in… (when I post that on my other blog i’ll link you up if you’re curious and would like to take a peek!)

Well… Dh rented me Obsessed to watch (while he sleeps.. lol!) so i’m going to make myself a tea and relax.. I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! Back tomorrow!

Todays quote: (A good one for all of us food bloggers! LOL!!!)

Nothing makes it easier to resist temptation than a proper bringing-up, a sound set of values – and witnesses. 

~Franklin P. Jones