Run with the dog & Looong Bike Ride!

Didn't make it to the gym this past week.  Spring time can be crazy busy with end of year school activities, meetings, kids forgetting stuff etc.  

Wednesday ~ It was a beautiful non-raining spring day, I had to take advantage of it and run with the dog. This was in between all the craziness, I slipped this into the schedule.  

- Work until 12:30
- Volunteer at elementary school from 1:30-2:30
- Was going to head to the gym after this, but my daughter left her crochet bag at home.  I'm a nice mom and ran her bag up to the school for her at 3:00.
- Not enough time at this point to go to the gym and then get to the meeting on time. Grabbed the dog, since it was a beautiful spring day, and she went with me to the school drop off and we ran from there.  It was a nice change to run a different route, instead of one of the routes I normally take.  I have 4 different routes I rotate through.  Depends on the day and what I feel like running.
- Ran for 25 minutes and then took the dog back home.  
- Back up to the school for a meeting at 4:00.

Friday ~  Ate SUPER bad on Thursday, read You Are What You Eat, to find out more.  LOOONG bike ride to make up for the week.  My girlfriend and her husband are huge into bike riding and go on 20 mile bike rides and sign up for runs all the time.  She came over to my house the other day and we ran my neighborhood, so I finally decided it was time I load up my bike and try out the trail that they ride.   It started out kind of hilly in the neighborhood and then we got to the flat part.  We were only going to go 4 or 5 miles and turn around to make a total of 8 or 10 miles.  The ride out was, so smooth most the time that I said lets keep on going.  Well the ride back was much tougher, as we were going against the wind most the time.  The ride out was super easy, now I felt like I was climbing a mountain and that's with my gears at 1 -1.  YIKES!  We ended up doing 17 miles total on this crazy bike ride.  Burned 700+ calories according to Run Keeper, Yeah!  After you read, YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT you'll know why I did this.  Still crazy though, but felt good after not making it to the gym all week.  

You are what you EAT!

Wow, weekends are hard.  I always tend to fall off the band wagon and not eat as good as I should.  Although, that's exactly why I exercise.  Well this pre-weekend party has been a tough one.  I love food and don't deny myself great foods but try not to over indulge either.  I eat in moderation, but I still feel like I am what a EAT, after what I've had this past Thursday and Friday.  

Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

This past Thursday was my birthday and I didn't cook at all.  It was also, Take Your Child to Work Day.  I work part-time, so I was going to take my kids out to lunch afterwards.  I was just thinking Arby's which is my favorite fast food restaurant.   Although, they mentioned going to Chili's which we all love, so that's where we went.  Of course, I always get the same thing, click Spicy Grilled Shrimp Tacos, to check them out.  They are fabulous!!!  Ate two of the tacos and took the 3rd one home along with the rice and beans.  Leftover lunch for Friday.  Plus, we had a dessert and licked the skillet clean, I shared it with my kids of course!

   
We always go out as a family to celebrate our birthday's and it was my turn to pick.  All week I was planning on eating at Olive Garden for supper.  My hubby wasn't able to join us for lunch, as he was headed to a conference. No way was I going to make supper, just because we went out to lunch.  He missed lunch, so of course we had to go out again for supper.  I got my usual here as well, click Stuffed Chicken Marsala, to see what your missing.  This is delicious!!!  I always ask for extra sauce on it, so I have plenty on my leftovers that I take home.  Leftover lunch on Sunday.  
My hubby and I went out for happy hour on Friday and ate Tater Tot Nachos and Buffalo Wontons, no pictures of this, but it was YUMMY!!!  Plus, lots of Cherry Limeades with Vodka, 2 for 1 well drinks. They went down way too well.  No leftovers, ate it all to help soak up the drinks.

Who doesn't like CHOCOLATE?

As I'm typing this up, I'm eating a chocolate Cadbury creme egg that's left over from Easter. YUM!!!
        

The Bride Wore Chocolate by Shirley Jump 
(Recipes with Romance #1)

I just started reading the first book of this series of 5, and so far I'm loving it.  It's a fiction book of course, which I love because it's made up or FAKE.  The author has yummy recipes written throughout the book.  Looks like I might need to try a few of them, they sound delicious!  I've never read a book by this author before, but so far, so good. I got one of her books off of Freebooksy.com, that I've talked about before. Check out freebooksy by clicking here.  

Check out Goodreads.com for more information or Shirley Jump's website here.

I just finished this book.  Read it in 5 days (really only 3 days), would of gotten it done sooner but couldn't read it while back home for Easter (family time!).  I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads, which is an amazing book.  Had a hard time putting it down and doing other things that needed to get done.  The ending could of been better as it just ended really quickly after the decision was made, but still an amazing read.  I wanted to read more about the final decision, which I'm not saying what it is, don't want to spoil it for you if you decide to read this book.

Dive into a book, and read!

Fiction vs. Non-Fiction

I've always had a hard time remembering the difference between fiction and non-fiction.  Until, my daughter came home from school the other day, and told me the difference and how she remembers them. 

My daughters definition:
Fiction ~ fake
Nonfiction ~ not fake






Definition of fiction in English: (Noun) Literature in the form of prose, especially short stories and novels, that describes imaginary events and people.

Definition of nonfiction in English: (Noun) Prose writing that is based on facts, real events, and real people, such as biography or history.

Oxford Dictionaries online

If you read my previous post about Let's Have Tea, this goes with it.   The two books that I've not finished reading, have both been non-fiction books.  I guess that means, reading true stories are just not my favorite types of books to read or my cup of tea.  I did enjoy the book, Heaven is for Real (nonfiction) by Todd Burpo, Sonja Burpo & Colton Burpo , which is now out as a movie.  Can't wait to go see it!

With that being said, this is probably why I really enjoy watching my Soap Opera that I've been watching for 20 years now.   General Hospital just celebrated their 50th Anniversary last year, kind of scary that I've been watching it for almost half that time.  My kids are now starting to watch it, as well.  It's amazing how quickly you get sucked into it.   Takes you away from the real world, and takes you to another world (fiction = fake world).

Pick up a book and read!

Let's Have Tea!

I've been reading this book Three Cups of Tea By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, since before spring break and just can't seem to get it done.  I put it down over spring break and read 3 other books while on our trip.  It's just not one of those books, that calls my name to read it.  I've only done this one other time and not finished a book and it looks like this is going to be my second unfinished book.  The other book I didn't finish was Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.  

I'm a little over half-way through with Three Cups of Tea, right now.   It's Easter weekend and we are on the road again to see the family back home.  Started out reading Three Cups of Tea and it was not keeping my interest.  I actually bought this book as I heard it was a good read and ratings are pretty high on goodreads.com but it's just not my cup of tea! (Love the pun in that.)  I do have to admit I got it at a garage sale for only .50, thank goodness, since it's not my cup of tea!  So on to the next book I go.

This is just my opinion, so feel free to give it a try and have some tea if you want.  I do like tea!

                                            

Workout time ~ Even with allergies, head cold or sinus issues?

It was another great workout today!  Despite feeling like crap and not being able to breathe.

Cardio -  Stationary bike 20 minutes, level 10 then down to level 6.  Need to give myself a break with this nasty crap in my head and nose.  Didn't think I'd share that, but what the heck!

Weights - 3 * 15 reps each

Glute machine - also works the legs

Assisted chin dip and pull ups (Did both)
(two exercises in one)

Tricep Overhead Extension

Leg extension

                                                                                                  

                                                       











Abs - 25 reps each
Crunches
Bicycle crunches
Russian twist with 15 pd weight
Crunches
TOTAL = 100

Stretching -
Stretch machine

Get up and move!

What to do with old Christmas pictures?

Got this clever idea from Pinterest!  Here's my creation.  Took the cover of one of the cards and put a title on it.  Then 2 hole punched the pictures and put together with clips. Enjoy!    

I've been wanting to do this for a while and finally got it done, under W-Day #26. Check out Joyous Junk!

Supplies needed:
Old Christmas card pictures
punch
2 clips (I need to go buy or find some laying around my house.  This is all I have right now that I can find. But it's basically done, YEAH!)

Directions:
1.  I sorted my pictures out by out by horizontal and vertical.
2.  Then I cut them down if they were to big to fit behind the cover page.  8" wide was the max. for this booklet I made.  
3.  Punch the 2 cover holes, and then the pictures with them behind the cover so you get them in the right spot.
4.  Put together by size, horizontal/vertical order and put clips through each pile. TA, DA!!!

Finished project, almost!  (Ugh, need another clip.)

Supplies needed ~ 

     Paper punch 

     2 clips (as you can see I'm short one, need to find another one or go to the store.)

     Cover - Christmas card, this one used to have a picture where the words are at.  That picture is now                       behind the cover with the rest of them.

      Pictures 

Last week & 3 days, of 31 items in 31 days ~

Here it is finally the last week # 3 days.  Still behind, but finally getting this on my blog site.

Week #4:

P.S. -  I use a lot of empty shoe boxes & empty Girl Scout cookie boxes to sort and store stuff in.  (One of my daughters sells G.S. cookies, so we have a lot of these boxes sitting around.  They are the cases that 12 sets of cookies come in, perfect for throwing piles of stuff in.)

S - Day #22 - Put a little boys Black & Decker workbench and tools on f.b. s & s -  SOLD $15.00

S - Day #23 - Put a set of Legos of on f.b. s & s -

M - Day #24 - Returned a shirt to Kohl's, that my son didn't need.

T - Day #25 -  Took 4 boxes of RE supplies back up to the church for storage. Yeah!

W - Day #26 - Went through this box and ordered Christmas pictures to put in the frames, now in our Christmas storage until next December. Yikes, more old xmas cards and these are from 2004.   Check it out the fun book I made with them under Joys of Scrappin'/Craftiness!

TH - Day #27 - Returned/shipped a broken viola case back to the store!  Huge box out of my house.   




F - Day #28 -  Went through another box that had my It Works paperwork and supplies in it.  Put it all in the binder, nice & neat.  Recycled the empty boxes as well.  Maybe I would still be selling it, if I was orgazined with my paperwork back  then. HA!

All my paperwork thrown into the box.

Now it's all organized and neat!

Week #5:

S - Day #29 - Put all my PTA stuff away in a file cabinet.  Not sitting out on the floor anymore.  Sorted through and got rid of papers I didn't need anymore, recycled!

S - Day #30 -  Went through another set of old xmas cards, pics etc. up to 2007

M - Day #31 - Went through a box of old school papers of one my kids.  Another box cleaned out!

Honey Do Project - Dresser Reveal!

Well, awhile back I purchased an old dresser off of Facebook Swap and Shop.  Got it for only $20.00 with the plan to spruce it up and make it new again.  My daughter that I got this for, currently has two plastic Sterilite storage bins in her room serving as her dressers. Thank goodness my husband jumped on the band wagon and took this project on.  It probably wouldn't be done yet, if I was doing it. It ended up being a bigger project than what I had in mind.  Plus, he wanted his garage back, so the dresser needed to get done.

Here are some pictures of the dresser.  We used up some old paint we had sitting around, that we used in other rooms of our house. The pink stripes match her bedroom walls and the bright green is an accent color we are using in her room.

Dresser is done!

Here's what we started with.

This is after the 2nd sanding with 180 grit paper, to make it nice and smooth.  I think my husband started with 80 grits to get the stain to come off.   Didn't worry about getting all the stain off as he is primimg and painting it.
Sanding information click here or here, more sanding info!

Dresser is primed.

Drawers are primed.

Painted white and lime green. 

Pink stripes were added to match the walls.  He used painters tape to make the lines nice and straight.  Last step, was spraying it with a satin polyurethane spray to protect it and give it some shine.  Good job darling!

Now it's time for Mom to step in and work her magic and organize the room.  Here's where the dresser is sitting at now.   This is now where the two Sterilite storage bins used to be. 

New home for this bin.  Cleaned it out for better storage/organization of stuff in my daughters room.

This is now in the closet.

The final reveal with cute baskets on top!