Motivational Monday - Eat, Drink & Be Merry!

EAT, DRINK & BE MERRY!  This is exactly what I did this past weekend.  Now I'm paying for it!  We celebrated my birthday this weekend with friends and another gal that has an April birthday as well.  Below is one of the coffee mugs I use at work.  The saying on it is so true for most of us.  Like the song goes, I'm only human. During the week I do pretty good most the time making good choices but when the weekend rolls around this is how I feel sometimes.  FOR TOMORROW WE MAY DIET.  

Which brings me to my next point.  Now that you know I had a not so good weekend when it comes to eating right for two days, it's time to get back on the the band wagon.  Earlier this evening I was reading an email from FitbyBurn and it had an article about an app called Goal Streaks for iPhones.  Well I don't have an iPhone so couldn't get the app.  Of course, I started searching for something for my android phone and found a couple of different apps along this line.  I ended up getting the Goal Tracker app and set it up for keeping track of how many days I workout and how many I don't for a month.   You can make your goal for whatever you want.  I did mine for 3 days on and 1 day off for a month.  Shouldn't be too hard to do this but after this weekend I need to get busy and do something.  After doing this I of course wanted to give myself a check mark for doing my workout today which I hadn't done yet.  (It's now 10 pm)  

I then went to the 

site that I found the other day and did the Beginner Upper Body workout, check it out here.  20 minutes workout at 10 pm before I head to bed at 11pm.  Rev up the body so I can burn calories while I sleep.  I don't normally do my workouts this late in the evening but I was feeling guilty for being lazy today. 

After doing all this I went to my computer to finally type up my Monday Motivational blurb for the day, ENJOY!

GET UP AND MOVE!

Another Fabulous Read ~

This is so very true!  Instead of going to bed I sit up and get sucked into a good book and can't put it down.  

Don't plan on going to bed and putting this books down.  You'll be up all night because you want to find out what's going to happen next.  Here's another book I finally got my hands on and finished the other day.



Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles, #3.5)

By Marissa Meyer

This book is about LeVanna's story and how she came to be.  What happened to her when she was little and why she is the way she is now.  I always wondered about this while reading the other 3 previous books and now I finally know why.  Can't wait to get the next book coming out November 2015 ~ Winter!  

I gave Fairest 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.com - It was amazing!

If you don't have time to read Fairest here is an audio of the book to listen to that I found.  Check it out HERE!

Pick up a book and READ!

#lovetoread #fairest #marissameyer #books

Reading time is back!

I've been in a reading slump lately and finally got out of it and read two great books!

Why was I in a reading slump?  Well, my parents werein town about a month ago and my Mom mentioned that she likes to play solitaire on her phone.  I ended up getting the app on my Kindle and the it is way to addictive.  Especially since you can play game after game so easily.  The rest is history, that's what I've been up too instead of reading a good book.  I've been getting sucked into playing solitaire on my Kindle.  

Here are the two books I just recently read after taking the solitaire app of my Kindle. 

Accidental Book Club

By Jennifer Scott

This book is about a group of six ladies that come together in a time of need and support one another through their ups and downs in life.  Jean's neighbor Loretta talked her into starting it after Jean's husband passed away.  The book club is an excuse to get away and have some fun and discuss whatever book they are reading for the month.  It ends up being more than just a book club as they have a potluck each time, wine and become better friends along the way!  It has lots of twist and turns throughout as each character deals with their daily lives.  

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars on Goodread.com ~ I really liked it!

Flowers in the Snow
By Danielle Stewart

I love, love, loved this book.  I've read a lot of her other books in the past and this is a new series off of the Piper Anderson Series.  I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads.com ~ it was AMAZING!!!!

This book is ALL about Betty growing up and what she went through.  It based on growing up in the 60's in the south before Civil rights went into effect in Edenville.  The whole family gathered around Betty after she received a letter and she shared her story and everything that happened along the way.  

LOVE TO READ!

#lovetoread #books #flowersinthesnow #theaccidentalbookclub 

Throw Back Thursday Exercise Tools

Here are a couple of fun throw back exercise items that I wanted to share with you all! 

First off, have you seen Suzanne Somers on Dancing with the Stars this season.  If not, you really should.  Her legs look great. Why, because of the thigh master.  She has aged a little bit but for her age (68) she looks great.  Did you ever you use the Thigh Master growing up or one similar that is out today? If not that's OK there are plenty of other exercises out there to work our thighs. Although, this is a great tool to use if you had or have one now.

A couple of great thigh exercises that you can do are lunges or squats.  Otherwise, check out the link HERE for their top 10 thigh exercises.

The second throw back exercise item I want to share is the Skip Ball.  I actually got one of these to put in my one of my kiddos Easter baskets this year.  They had light up ones at Target for $3.00 in the Dollar area but I couldn't get any of them to light up.  I then was looking around in the toy section for something to put in the Easter basket and ran across an end cap of exercise Skip Balls that were better quality.  They were on clearance for $13.00, which I thought wasn't bad.  I always wanted one of these when I was growing up so I got one for the basket.  My daughter that got it from the Easter Bunny didn't really know what it was but once she figured it out she loved it.  She's my one that doesn't exercise much unless I push her and this is a fun way for her to exercise and not call it exercise. 

I've been using it quite a bit as well when I sit down to watch TV.  During commerical breaks I use it and do at least 50 skips with it each time.     No better way than burning off a few calories while watching TV.

Here's what I actually got but very similar to the Skip Ball.  I got the SkipFit by Empower. Check it out HERE!  On the box it says burn up to 330 calories when used for 5 minutes, 5 times per day.  

GET UP AND MOVE!

Closet Make-Over

This was a project that I've been wanting to do for awhile now.  My husband really wasn't ready to take it on but my In-Laws were coming to town so I hit up my father-in-law.  He loves to work on projects and I had a couple in mind for him to choose from.   He chose the closet make-over project while they were staying with us.  His wife was at a conference for church all day for 2 days, my husband was at work so he was stuck with the kids and I.  He likes to be busy, check out the pictures below on what we did.

I also wanted to mention that I originally got this idea from Pinterest but gave my own twist and ideas to the project.  Here's are the pins and websites that I got the idea from.  They both have their own looks to them are wonderful as well.  Check them out here and here.

We started off by taking the ugly white doors off and measuring everything.  We drew up some blue prints and came up with a plan of attack.

Here are the pictures to show the work that was done and the wonderful outcome we had!  Thanks Norbert for helping me out.

Before the closet make-over.
What a scary mess!

Cleaning out the closet!
Yeah, the white doors are gone.

Time to paint.  Just a little back story on painting.  When we first moved into our house 5 years ago my husband painted all the rooms.  I decided I'd try and help him out and put a first coat on in the kids bathroom while he was at work one day.  Needless, to say it wasn't the best and he said, "What the heck did you do in here?"  After that I haven't painted until the closet update, and I think it turned out pretty darn good!

My father-in-law measuring and
cutting for the bench and top shelf.

Painting in progress!
Break time right now, got some good upper
arm workout in painting the top half.

Even one of my kiddos decided to
 help out with the painting.

Here's the finished mud room/closet.

Baskets - purchased from Michael's with 40% off coupons or they were already on sale.

Coat Hooks - found at Target.

Tan (Maple) 15 cube organizer/ shoe shelf on the right - already had from before if you look at the before picture.  (Got from Target a couple of years ago.)

Dark brown (Espresso) 15 cube organizer $29.95 - Target and Wal-Mart no longer had anything to go with the one I had prior.  Ended up getting the Espresso one and the two organizers on the left as well from go organize.com ~ check them out HERE!

Upper shelf and bench with dividers - bought the wood at Lowe's with my father-in-law.  He sanded it down measured and cut it to size for me.  I ended up staining it with some stain we already had and I think it turned out great.  

I have to say, I think the dark and light browns go great together and look really rich and warm.  Very welcoming when coming into the house.  

  

Here's what it looks like now with stuff in it.
No more closet doors to shut and hide all the crap
so it stays pretty clean most of the time.