Good book = lack of sleep

I'm tired.. So very, very tired. Stupid me decided to start reading a new book last night at 10pm, bad mistake. You see I can't stop reading an interesting book before its finished. Well needless to say it was 1am when I finished. This in itself wouldn't still have been an issue if it wasnt for my bodies new wake up time of 6am. Luckily I took today off. Really by fluke. I originally requested I and forgot to un request when plans changed.

Oh well, Cassie and I are catching up on some notebooks for school. She's loving them. Its a fun way for her to learn the information. If you homeschool and haven't looked into doing them, you should. Even if you don't homeschool, its still a fun way to study the material learned in class.
Sample ideas from Pinterest.. http://www.pinterest.com/jimmiescollage/notebooking-for-homeschool/ Our other lesson today included web research and a BBC movie on Pompeii. This we will continue this week and will end with a wrap up of the new movie Pompeii that's out on DVD this month.

Cassie and I saw this squirrel today. Of course in our attempt to get a good pic we made a few people come out of their houses. I think they were a tad paranoid by a car that kept slowly driving and turning around lol. So needless to say this is not one of our pics, but isn't the squirrel cool looking. I think this was the highlight of our afternoon :)


Borrowed the picture from http://www.squidoo.com/our-michigan-squirrels-squirrels-in-our-backyard As we couldn't get a good one of him.

Mother's Day

 

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!

I woke up early this morning and instead of doing my AM workout, I ran to the store to pickup Cassie's requested ingredients for breakfast that she wanted to make me. Homemade Vegan Crepes. Ours looked very similar to the ones pictured only we had mixed berries. Yum! She did a wonderful job.

This photo was taken from the site below.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/saloona/vegan-crepes-recipe_b_2447179.html

During breakfast I was given a beautiful scarf that Cassie's been making for me

After breakfast we headed out to a neighboring town for a festival. First stop Flea Market where Cassie was in heaven looking at all the purses and I was able to get in some walking towards my 30 day challenge (ok only 2 miles, but hey I'll take it).

 

 

 Next up the Carnival where we blew some money on games and "fair" foods. The only ride she wanted to go on was this one

Doesn't she look happy :)

 

 

 

We left the festival and headed home, well after a stop at Tasty Treat for some ice cream. Took our treats home to enjoy while vegging out in front of the TV watching Prometheus and Smurf's 2. I'd say we had a very nice Mother's Day and I hope you all did as well.

Day 1 of 30

First day of my 2 30 day Challenges. I think it went fairly well. I got up early this morning and did Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds DVD before work.. Go Me ;)



Its a good video and it knocked off 5 of my miles :) only 45 left. After work I kicked off my squat challenge and did day 1. I'm feeling good today that I was able to get my challenges done.

Now time to just kickback, relax and enjoy the sun while Cassie's out at Camp doing a cleanup day with the church youth group. Have a Happy Saturday!

30 day squat challenge

I've decided to try this 30 day squat challenge along with my walking challenge from prior post
Both challenges will start Saturday May 10th

http://www.fitsugar.com/30-Day-Squat-Challenge-30806625

 

 

 

 

30 day walking Challenge

Wow its been a long time since i blogged. Lets see, i probably should give you all an update.

Cassie: Loves the Co-op and her Irish Dance class and troop. We just moved her into 7th grade (we go year round). Since she's not going to her Dad's this summer we are working on a few mini trips and a visit to her Grandparents this summer.

Myself: I love my job. I'm taking a couple classes online. I'm not dating anyone and my weights went down and then back up again... So basically I'm where I was this time last year. Which brings me to my next endeavor...

I decided to try something new with my workouts or rather lack there of. I'm going to start a 30 day challenge using the Walk away the pounds dvd's or even just walking outside when weather permits.

Challenge = 50 miles in 30 days.
Reward = New Walk Away the Pounds DVD

Challenge starts Saturday May 10th

Fall

Fall is my favorite season. Its not overly cold yet, the trees look pretty, the grass and well everything looks cleaner versus how spring looks and lastly the air has this crisp clean smell. This season we have been busy with canning our garden bounty, cheerleading and moving.

Canning:

Cheer:

 

 

Moving: We moved "across" town into a townhouse. Its a cute little place with 2 bedrooms and a full basement. It gives us plenty of storage space and the upstairs that I've always wanted :)

Carb cycling and work

I've been following Chris Powell's Carb Cycling diet since mid June. Ok well I started the diet mid June, lost 5 lbs in 2 weeks and then Cassie left. When she left my diet completely went out the window. I restarted it last week (yep over the 4th of July weekend), any guesses how that went? That's right, not good at all. I broke down and bought his book (well kindle version), hoping that it would have a ton of recipes or daily menus, it does not. What it does offer is plenty of information, success stories, info on each of the different carb cycle plans and lots of tools to help in your weight loss journey. It does have recipes in it, but not really anymore then what I already have found online that he's shared. He needs to come out with a carb cycling cookbook next. He states that if you fall (meaning you eat outside of the plan) you pick yourself up, admit to someone exactly what you did, recommit and start right were your supposed to the next day. For example. I ate bread on Tuesday on my last low carb day, Wednesday is my high carb day, I continue on with my high carb day on Wednesday and follow with the plan like normal. Basically you don't try to correct the fall by redoing that day the next. Yesterday was my high carb day and today is my cheat day. So yes I picked myself up, admitted where I went wrong and all the junk I ate that I shouldn't and continued the plan where I was supposed to even though I fell almost every day since I restarted last week. I did well yesterday with the exception of having 1 tsp. of vanilla ice cream as I was preparing my cheat day treat. A peanut butter cookie ice cream sandwich. Which I will have today with lunch. I even worked out yesterday :) I'm excited about work. I had the privilege of working with my boss on Saturday, this is a rarity and I really like to. Since we had been childless we went to the fitness center, hopped on the treadmill and walked a mile. She shared with me some exciting things happening in our department and asked how I felt about her asking the director of the Y if I could be guaranteed no less than 34 hours a week. She said it would actually be 36, but she couldn't get him to let her guarantee that. She had already spoke to him of course and its a go. The hours start increasing in August and will be there in September. She's working the hours around my schedule and will hire someone to fill in where *I* need them to. Plus I will work a lot in this new venture for our department, which comes with a raise. I'm very, VERY excited about this. And before any of you ask.. Yes I have our homeschooling all figured into the new schedule. The only things I'm missing is when Cassie's class at the school will fit in and cheerleading. Well those and we wanted to do the co-op. That one might be harder to work in. Oh well, I shall sign up for it and work it out later.