Fit & Fabulous Friday

Accountability is a beautiful thing.

It really is helping me get my house back on track and get my routines in place again. Just posting stuff knowing someone might read it (even if it's only a couple of people) goes a long way in accountability.

So...I need to be held accountable for something else. My life.
Well, getting/staying healthy which hopefully means I live a better and longer life!

You see, I was doing very well last spring/summer/fall. I was running and biking regularly and I was eating well and drinking lots of water.

Then the holidays rolled around. And I lost focus a bit. It was too cold or wet to run or bike. And I wasn't motivated enough to do any indoor exercise. And I simply haven't gotten completely back on track since then.

I've found that exercise and eating well go hand in hand. When I got lax on the exercise, I got careless with my eating.

The result of this, or results actually, are:
I'm not as happy.
I don't feel as well in general.
I have many more aches and pains.
I'm not sleeping as well.
I don't like the way my clothes are beginning to fit again. (As in, they are getting tighter!)
I feel tired and drained.
I'm having a hard time being motivated to do other things.

I KNOW that when I'm exercising regularly, I automatically eat healthier, and that resolves most of the issues above.

So...I'm ready to feel good again!

My goal, as it's been for a while is to be healthy! My primary goal is not weight loss, but I see that as an added benefit.

I just want to feel good and be healthy so I can live life to the fullest. I want to be FIT so I can feel FABULOUS!

So, I'm starting "Fit & Fabulous Friday" on my little ol' blog.

On Fridays, I will post what I've done the prior week to work on my goal to get healthy. And I may post what my goals are for the upcoming week as well.

I need to do this for myself. Posting it here will hopefully be a major reminder to just do it! And knowing that someone MIGHT check in to see how I'm doing goes a long way as far as accountability goes!

If anyone reading (all 5 of you!) wants to join me in this quest to get healthy, let me know! If you are a blogger, it would be fun to have someone else posting their results/goals on Fridays with me! That would be even more accountability and some extra motivation as well!

So...what did I do this week? Not much. I did buy the Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred on Wednesday. I did it yesterday. And boy oh boy, am I feeling it today! My arms and abs had a rude awakening! I had full intentions of doing it today, but I'm way too sore. I will try again tomorrow, but I know it's gonna hurt much more since my muscles are already screaming!

Next week, I hope to be able to do it at LEAST 5 days. And I plan to increase my water intake. I did pretty good yesterday, but not so much today.

I'll be back next Friday with a report!

Menu Plan Monday

We had a couple of changes in our menu last week - on Wednesday, time got away from me and the kids and I ended up grabbing fast food on the way to church. Then we decided to grill ribs on Saturday. So we never got to two of the meals, and they are back on the menu for this week. Not a ton of cooking going on this week, we still have lots of leftovers in the fridge! And we'll end up having more...so we can't let those go to waste!

Monday: Chicken Squash Bake, Couscous, Bread

Tuesday: Leftovers (I have an open house I need to be at, so I'm not cooking.)

Wednesday: Sandwiches or more leftovers (Church night - not cooking!)

Thursday: Quesadillas, Black Beans, Chips & Homemade Salsa

Friday: Homemade Calzones

Saturday: Probably leftovers again - It will be just me and the kiddos

Sunday: TBD

To see more menus or add your own, be sure to visit Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there! And especially to three of the greatest Dads I know!

Happy Father's Day to MY Dad. I am so incredibly thankful for my Dad. I couldn't have hand-picked a better Dad. He's always been there for me and my family. He's supportive and encouraging and very loving. I've always been a Daddy's Girl and always will be. I love my Daddy! He's helped to make me the person I am today. And he's an amazing Poppy to my kids! We all love you Daddy!

Happy Father's Day to my Father-in-Law. Again, I couldn't have hand-picked a better FIL! He's an  incredible Dad who was the greatest example, and raised an amazing son. I'm so thankful he taught his son how to be an amazing husband and father. He has always been wonderful to me and is an amazing Papaw to my kids! We love you Jr.!

And Happy Father's Day to the greatest husband on earth! And the most amazing father our kids could have! I love you more than I ever imagined I could. I'm so thankful you've put up with me for over 18 years! And I couldn't have asked for a better father to our children. You love them with all your heart, and are never afraid to show it. You are an incredible example to our son and are teaching him how to be an amazing husband and father. He will be well equipped when the time comes! Thank you for teaching our daughter through your example, how a wife should be loved and treated. Thank you for always putting us first. We love you so very much!

A New Season

Yes...Summer is upon us. But that is not the season I want to talk about.

I am entering a new season in my life. And I am very excited.
I love that seasons in our lives change. If they didn't, I'd probably get bored. It's funny to me though, when I'm in a season that I absolutely love, I can't imagine the possibility of leaving it and moving into another season.

For the past year I've been volunteering at my local thrift store that a good friend of mine owns. I have LOVED every minute of it. I've loved the flexibility I've had with it as far as scheduling and being able to take Ruthi along with me. I've loved the way it has made me feel important outside my home. I've loved getting to know and talk often to our regular customers. I've loved working with a variety of people. I've loved that it's even allowed me to connect with people I haven't seen in years who have come in there to shop. And I've loved the perks of seeing lots of stuff come in and getting first pick of stuff! I'm so thankful that Ruthi has an entire wardrobe of adorable clothes thanks to this season.

But that season is coming to an end. It is bittersweet, because I truly do love working there. But the change came out of necessity, and now that the change is in place, I could not be more excited!

CJ has been attending a local homeschooling tutoring program for his 9th grade year. He "goes to school" two days a week where he receives all his instruction and homework assignments that will carry him through the other three days a week at home. It is fully accredited, so other than logging his hours, I don't have to stress about him getting his credits for college.

It has worked beautifully for us and he absolutely loves it. The downside is the cost involved. Unfortunately it has become difficult for us to pay his tuition without hurting our budget elsewhere. So, I decided I must do something to make it possible for him to continue there.

So, I prayed about what to do. I knew of a possible solution and just prayed it would work out the way I had hoped. The first year this program was open, I actually taught a couple of classes there and loved it. But I couldn't continue because Ruthi was little, child care was no longer going to be available and I needed to be home with her.

But now...she is ready for kindergarten. So I approached the director and co-director of the school about teaching again. GOD ANSWERS PRAYER! Beginning in August, I will be teaching 5 classes. Most of them will be K/1st grade classes, and Ruthi will be able to attend those classes. The one, possibly two, other classes will be second grade, but Ruthi will still be able to attend the class(es) in her grade level.

The classes I will be teaching will more than cover CJ's tuition, and anything above that will go toward the extra gas I'll be using, lunches and clothing if necessary. With the bonus of Ruthi getting to go too! And let me tell you - she is EXTREMELY EXCITED!!!

I'll be spending MANY hours the rest of the summer getting lessons planned and getting everything ready for the first day of school on August 9th! I am so excited, I can hardly stand it. I've always had a passion for teaching, and it's been a while since I've gotten to actually do it. I'm very thankful God has given me the talent and ability to do this. And I'm very thankful for this solution for my family.

I'm very excited to begin this new season!!!

Maybe I Have a Green Thumb After All!

I don't have a good history of keeping things alive. And by things, I mean things that grow in the ground. Obviously I can keep SOME things alive...I mean, I do have two kids after all who are very much alive.

But I've never been able to keep any kind of plant alive for very long. And my luck with flowers in the yard hasn't been so great either.

But despite that, I decided this year I wanted to try to grow something. Several somethings, actually. I decided I wanted to grow food!

My neighbor's sister (Denise is my neighbor, Cindy is her sister) moved here last fall to stay with Denise while her husband is in Afghanistan. Cindy had a garden last year. We got to talking and decided we could do a garden here, and since she had experience, she could teach me!

So we decided to plant a garden and split it. It's not a huge one, but a good starter garden. She has 5 rows and I have 5. We started working on it in April, getting the ground ready and then getting everything planted. And today, it doesn't even resemble the way it looked 3 months ago. It's growing like crazy! And I'm eating food from it already!!!

I have to say, I never knew how much satisfaction would come from growing my own veggies! My husband laughs at me a little bit over how excited I get about it. But I can't help it! Even I'M surprised at how much fun I'm having!

I planted tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, onions, green onions, 2 kinds of lettuces, spinach and sweet potatoes. I also planted basil, oregano, parsley, cilantro, dill, chives and mint.

I've already had plenty of squash, zucchini and cucumbers to pick. I've had more lettuce than I know what to do with. I picked my first 3 jalapeno peppers the other day, and I couldn't wait any longer, so I picked 3 green tomatoes for frying. I've been using my herbs and need to use more of them up. Yesterday I used some basil and spinach and made a wonderful pesto.

For someone who never could keep a houseplant alive, things are going quite well in the garden! Apparently Cindy is teaching me well! She has given me lots of tips, but I've done all the planting (of my side) and tending myself, with the exception of her watering for me a few times when I wasn't at home. Maybe my thumb is at least a little green after all!

I'm already trying to figure out how to make this garden bigger next year. And we learned that our rows need to be a bit further apart - it's getting very difficult to walk between them!

I thought I'd share a few pictures. I have a TON of them, so I'm not going to try to post them all, but here are a few several!

CJ getting the ground ready:

Ruthi's helping too!

Rows are ready and planted.

First watering.

Squash are growing!

Cucumbers are growing!

Tomatoes too!

So much lettuce, and some spinach too.

First squash ready to eat!

Sweet Potatoes are doing well.

Bell Peppers growing!

More veggies to eat - squash, cucumbers and a big zucchini!

Sink packed full of lettuce!

More goodies - basil, peppers and a bit of oregano.

Menu Plan Monday

So, if I'm going to attempt to try blogging again, I might as well get back on the menu plan posting as well. Here's what this week is looking like:

Monday: Something quick - probably sandwiches. (I'll be at the hospital most of the day, and it's just me and the kids for dinner, so I'm not cooking!)

Tuesday: Sausage Zucchini Bake

Wednesday: Baked Spinach Pasta

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Chicken Squash Bake, Couscous, Bread

Saturday: Homemade Calzones

Sunday: TBD

To see more menus or add your own, be sure to visit Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie!

What Happened to the Night Owl?

Seriously...has another 4 months gone by? Good grief. I just don't know if I'll EVER be a regular blogger again. I think about it a LOT, but thinking about and sitting down to write a post are two different things. If only just thinking about it would actually make it happen! I suppose it's a good thing it doesn't happen that way. If all I had to do was think about it, I'd be posting all day every day and everyone would get sick of it!

But you'd think I could get back to at least semi-regular posting. Apparently that's not so easily done for me!

One thing that makes it difficult is the fact that I used to post late at night. It wasn't at all unusual for me to be writing a post at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. I was, after all, a TRUE night owl!

But, that seems to have changed in the past few months. I don't know why really, but it has. And I don't feel so much like a night owl anymore. Now days, it's more unusual for me to be up past 11 o'clock at night. Yes, it is past 11 now...I'm not always asleep by then, but it is more often than not these days.

So you'd think that maybe I was an early bird now. Um...not so much. Most mornings I do get up earlier than I used to...I rarely sleep past 9 anymore (yes...I realize that is LATE for some, but I used to sleep until at LEAST 11 am!) but I'm still SO NOT a morning person. Who knows...maybe one day I will be though.

Doubtful.

I still have a night here and there where my natural night-owl kicks in and I can't sleep. But I think the days (nights) of that being a regular thing might just be behind me. Maybe I'm getting old!

So...since I don't stay up super late anymore, it's even harder to find the time in my day to blog. I've always struggled with time management, and I find myself feeling guilty doing things that are fun when other things need to be done.

Funny though...I still manage to spend way too much time on Facebook!

My neighbor just started a blog yesterday, and it's inspired me to try to get back into it again. Maybe she can give me an extra little nudge!

I'll try, but I'm not making any promises!!! I have lots to share, hopefully I can make the time to do it.

But for now, I'm signing off and getting some sleep. I have a long day ahead of me sitting at the hospital. Anyone who might read this...say a prayer for my cousin who will be going through surgery tomorrow at 1:00. She is having a double mastectomy. Please pray everything goes smoothly and her recovery will be quick and as pain-free as possible!

Good night!