So I stink at Friday posts!

I really just can't get organized enough at the end of the week to remember to post on Fridays!

Maybe it has something to do that I'm working a more weekend based schedule and by Friday I'm fairly tired and just trying to get trough.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I don't truly have my own kitchen and feel kind of weird posing food for a picture.

Probably the latter. :)

So, I don't have any pictures from the food this week, other than archived pictures from older, and my previous blog.... 

Earlier this week I made one of these....

 Raspberry Bundt Cake Recipe-
1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
1 Stick Softened Butter
3 Eggs
1/2 Cup Vanilla Coffee Creamer
1/2 Cup Milk
1/3 Brown Sugar
Dash of Cinnamon
Dash of Nutmeg
2 Containers (little plastic, half pints?) Raspberries.

Preheat Oven to 350. Generously grease and flour Bundt cake pan.
Beat first five ingredients.  Fold in Sugar and Spices.  Fold in half of the raspberries.  Pour into greased pan.  Cover batter with remaining raspberries and push into batter with spatula.  Bake 40-45 minutes, or until it passed the "toothpick test".  Let cool 10 minutes, flip out of pan and let cool on plate or wire rack for an hour to drizzle with frosting, or sprinkle with powdered sugar immediately.

And some of these....

(only two left)

And bought blueberries to make some of this....(which never got made, had to buy more blueberries and will try again tomorrow!)

One of the husband's favorite foods!

I'm pretty traditional, basically, it's the batter for scratch blueberry muffins, Betty Crocker Style, slightly doctored up.

Whisk together-
1 Egg
1/4 C Oil
3/4 C Milk
1 ts Vanilla Extract
1 Tbs French Vanilla Coffee Creamer

Stir in-
2 C Flour
1/2 C Sugar
2 Tbs Baking Powder
1/2 ts Salt

Fold in-
1 Cup fresh or frozen blueberries (rinse frozen ones in room temperature water first)

Pour into greased Bundt Cake pan, bake 20-22 minutes at 400 degrees.
You can also do it in a loaf pan, but I like the way it comes out better (consistency wise) in the Bundt cake pan, but to do a loaf pan, bake 28-30 minutes at 375 degrees.

Serve warm and buttered! And preferably with fresh coffee!

And for tonight I'm making these.....

Brownie Batter-
Ingredients-
4oz. Unsweetened Chocolate
2/3 C Butter
4 Eggs
2 C Sugar
2 Ts Vanilla
1 1/3 C Flour
1 Ts Baking Powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x13" pan.

Melt Chocolate for one minute in microwaveable dish, add Butter, melt one more minute, stir, set aside.

In medium mixing bowl, beat Eggs and Sugar.
Add Chocolate Mixture and Vanilla.
Stir in Flour and Baking Powder.

Bake 25 minutes.

Frosting-
1/3 C Softened Butter  *(leave out remaining 1/3 Cup to soften when making batter)*
Roughly 2 C Confectioners Sugar
2 TBS Milk Chocolate Instant Jello Mix
1 Ts Vanilla
Enough Milk to make it spreadable.

Beat all ingredients together, gradually adding milk until it reaches the desired consistency.

Spread on cooled brownies.

And tomorrow afternoon I'm making two of these....

Pie Filling-

4 Large Apples any variety
my favorite combination is 2 Granny Smith, 1 Cortland, 1 Yellow Delicious, I like a slightly tart, non-mushy pie.

Peel, core and thinly slice into large bowl.

Cover in-
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
Cinnamon, Cloves and Nutmeg to "smell"

Let sit and get juicy while you do crust.

Crust-

Sugar cookie dough! You can use store bought (like the Pillsbury in a tube kind), half a batch of your standard dough, or this-

Mix together-
1 stick softened butter
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla

Add-
1 Cup Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Press into the bottom and sides of a greased, deep pie dish.

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes (it will settle into the bottom and corners of the pan).

French Crumb Topping-

Mix together until crumbly-
1 stick softened butter
2/3 Cup Flour
1/3 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon

Fill crust while still hot, cover with French Crumb Topping, cover with foil.

Bake at 375 for 35 minutes, then remove foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until top of crust starts to brown. (TOTAL of 45-50 minutes)

Let sit 45-60 minutes before cutting.

I think that's all in the food department, I'll post more about the weekend in general tomorrow, maybe, if I think of it, or anything interesting to say. :)

Thankful Thursday

This week has been good to us....

Thanks to the nice little tropical storm, we had three days off together this week

My wonderful husband got a bunch of work done on his car, and a bunch of cleaning for me

My husband bought me a new blow dryer-yay straight hair again!!

We were able to get some great deals at our Christian Book Store

Our health insurance plan got approved and started

Our car passed the Texas inspection system

We hit the 40% mark in paying off all of our debt, a project started only 6 months ago!

The storm finally broke and let us go walk around Old Town Spring today and enjoy an afternoon outside

We were hired to cat sit again for a neighbor for 3 weeks, they pay $10 a day, bonus $200 for petting a car 30 minutes a day

We have awesome friends who invited us over for dinner Saturday, double date night!

My hair is freshly colored and nails freshly painted-I love the little things!

Wordless Wednesday

A morning off....
 

Recipe

Thankful Tuesday

It's raining and finally below 95 degrees!!!! I'm in jeans today and it's only 77!! I'm loving it!

I'm definitely fully acclimated because I was complaining last night that I was freezing and it was 69, I've turned into a southern wimp! :)

My husband is off for 2-3 days because of tropical storm/hurricane "Hermoine" and I'm off for the next two days! Lots of time together!

I baked cookies last night!

My new friend Amber from work and her husband checked out our lifegroup on Sunday and he's asking about salvation and Jesus! (Praise/Prayer for understanding)

We're getting our car registered in Texas finally! Which means, Texas Driver's Licenses and no more explaining why my addresses don't match up.

We finally have health insurance again! Yay raise that lets us afford it!

Monday Musings

So we started a new series in our Lifegroup at church yesterday.  It's fantastic.  It's perfect for basically anyone.  And, amazingly enough, I kind of feel like we're on the better off end of it.

Check it out if you get a chance. There is a clip from the first lesson is on youtube-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiDLv24Xd64 

Also, if someone wants to tell me how to upload a video instead of a link, I'd appreciate it. Thanks :)

So.....

2 days into it and I already missed a post! Not a good sign!

I do have a decent excuse though, my husband got asked to work a double, so I had to drive my mom to work to be able to use her car to get to work later, then I got called into work 2 1/2 hours early, so, basically I had an hour free in the afternoon on the computer and didn't get to posting after paying the bills.

Our food was not very interesting this week anyways.

This coming week I'm only closing once, so hopefully I can get a few good meals out.  I'm looking forward to some baking today, maybe, after my mom leaves for work. My dad has company coming tonight, so she'll freak if I even start to use the kitchen, but I'm really in the mood, so I'll just have to deep clean again when I'm done.  These-

were on sale this week, which means cookies need to be made!

And these-

looked good and fresh, which means bread for tomorrow morning.

Unfortunately all of my pictures are stored on my computer, (and hard drive, don't worry!) and my computer decided to die, so I'm going to have to take some new pictures since all of my archives of food pictures are a bit of a pain to access at the moment.

This afternoon Adam should be getting home earlier from work and I'm hoping to get out to the outlet mall for some Labor Day weekend specials.  He needs cleats and some more dri-fit/heat gear type shirts, and new sneakers, because his are getting destroyed at work. I just want to shop! I let myself buy two things at work yesterday, I have at least one more I really want, but, I'd just as soon get some good deals on shoes at the outlets.  I'm discovering that all of my boot type shoes are a bit impractical for down here and peeptoes and sandals are the way to go.

I'm drooling over these-

at the moment.  At $130, I'll be looking for some lookalikes at about 80% off :)

Have a great weekend, off to clean so my mom stops freaking out at me. You'd think I'd never been responsible before sometimes. :)

Thankful Thursday

The Blessings from the last 3-4 days!

I have a wonderful husband who was off work today while I was at work and took it upon himself to fix our noisy ceiling fan and sort through his paper pile and put away his laundry!

I have a job that I love 99% of the time, and a new hire who is currently my mission field.

I have a manger that is so supportive of my time off requests for church events, and excited with me when I share answered prayers!

I have a Lifegroup at church, and Ladies Fellowship group that holds me accountable and prays with me through everything.

My kids choir is growing and so are my helpers! My kids already know their hymn of the month after only 2 weeks and are so enthusiastic to learn more (though silly band prizes are good incentive!)

Our car finally has working air conditioning again.

It's getting cooler! It's amazing the difference it makes when you drop from 105 to 95!

The police arrested the armed robbers who've been preying on my work plaza! BIG YAY!!!!!

It's cool enough to wear jeans today!

My husband is back on speaking terms with his brother.

Not deliberately hiding away

So, it's been 5 weeks since I've blogged.  I'm not really sure what's kept me from posting, other than that I feel like I don't have anything interesting to say.  My life in Texas is very very VERY different than my life in New York. My life in NY was non-stop, always busy, filled with people, stories, events, crazy schedules and someone interesting seemed to happen almost daily.  Here in TX, things run quite a bit slower. I'm working 25 hours a week instead of 50. I'm only working in 1 ministry instead of 4. I'm not keeping my own house since we're living with my parents, so less cooking, decorating and housework. I'm paying off debt left and right, so less shopping and deal finding.  I'm much more relaxed without the in-laws around, so less venting. Things are just different.  In NY I could always find something interesting to write about, here, it's basically just my rambling mind.

But, this blog was originally started for me, so my rambling is going to become public once again.

I need to blog.

I need to express myself with words.

I need a sounding board.

I need interaction with people, even if it is just through the internet.

And I'm learning and studying things I feel like I should be sharing and spiritually I feel like I'm in the closest relationship with God I've ever had.

So, my new system.....

Monday Musings-ramblings from the weekend
Thankful Tuesdays-no complaining allowed!
Wordless Wednesday-my excuse to take a few pictures
Thankful Thursday-because I need to be positive!
Food Fridays-I can't meal plan, but I can meal recap!

Weekends will be whatever pops into my head. And yes I know I have a thing for alliteration.

Feel free to link up and join me on any of these.  I'd love to see a whole group of thankful people during my week. We're all so blessed in ways we don't see, and acknowledging that can make a huge impact on our attitudes towards the little things that bother us.

I'll be back tomorrow with my first official post.  Today is not a good picture day, gym clothes, laundry piles and cooking chickens are not nice things to show off to the world, and I didn't plan ahead by taking any earlier this week. :)

A Day Off

Spent here-

 Laying under this-

 Then enjoying some lemonade and a sandwich from here-

 

Playing with her-

But now it needs to get a bit less pleasant while I put away all this-

Before going here-

With a bunch of ladies from church tonight.

Oh, and I did get promoted, but more on that later, I'm not thinking about work today!

Back again

So, it was a bit of a weird week.

Found out on Tuesday I'm not completely out of the running to move up at work.  I had a phone interview with our now former District Manager (her last day was yesterday) about possibly overriding the test you're supposed to pass to be considered. I guess my observation part of the interview (that I never knew even happened on her last visit to our store) was so good, and my test was so close, that I'm still in consideration. I probably would have known yesterday had my manager not been off. Now I get to wait until Sunday to find out if I'm getting promoted or not.  It's kind of driving me nuts, but kind of not. I'm really not that worried about it, but we could use the 6-12 extra hours worth of pay, and the extra $2 an hour.  I think I have a decent chance as I was one of 4 finalists, and I'm the only one the DM made a followup call about to my manager, so that's a good sign, but I'm not going to be crushed if I don't get it. My husband on the other hand will be, he's determined I deserve it and no one else should get it. Flattering, but probably a bit exaggerated. :)

The husband on the other hand, had a rough work week.  The latter half of July til early August is slow season for him.  Meaning, as a contract worker, he may only get work 2-3 days a week instead of his usual 5-6, which is pretty depressing to him.  I'm just praying he can still see his worth even if he's contributing a bit less financially for a few weeks and can get through it still enjoying his job. He loves the job, when it's busy, so hopefully this slow spell doesn't ruin it for him.

We did actually get a day and a half off together this week though, and it was wonderful!!  We didn't do anything major, just slept, caught up on our Tivo and run a few errands together, but it made a huge difference in my outlook for the week.  We're just a bit more insync now.

I'm kind of thinking the other reason things are going better between us is this book-



I can not recommend it enough. I've read through it twice, prayed through it both times (never in the month suggested, always takes me 2 or 3) and this time I'm journaling my way through it as well. 

A few favorite quote from the first 4 chapters-

"It's a gentle tool of restoration appropriated through the prayers of a wife who longs to DO right more than BE right." (speaking of the power of prayer)

"That's because prayer is the ultimate love language"
"Talking to God about your husband is an act of love"

"If He asks us to prayer for our enemies, how much more should we be praying for the person with whom we have become one and are supposed to love?"

"Telling your husband everything that is wrong with him is not only ill-advised, it probably doesn't reveal the complete truth"

"Our goal must not be to get our husbands to do what WE want, but rather release him to God so He can get them to do what HE wants"

"Allow your husband to be the head so you can be the heart"

"When disappointing things happen it's best to remind myself of my husband's good qualities"

"Loss of respect seems to precede loss of love and is more hurtful to a man than we realize"

And those are just from the first chapter.  It's a great tool to strengthen the spiritual bond between you and your husband. 

It's my day off, so I'm off to do laundry, and put away last week's laundry and go grocery shopping and to the bank and all those other fun things we do on days off.

Have a great weekend!

Still playing catch up

So, after 2 months off, be ready for lots of double blog days!  If you haven't read the prior post yet, please do, it has all the big stuff in it, this one is just all my little daily thoughts type stuff.

I've been keeping up with the working out. Haven't lost a single pound, but I've dropped almost an inch off my butt and waist, and a half an inch on my thighs, (butt and thighs are definitely my problem areas!) and have done some arm toning, without actually measuring, the backs of my arms basically just don't jiggle so much. :)  My standard routine is
15 minutes Elliptical (typically 1.35ish miles)
15 reps on the leg machine that does the outside of your thighs
15 reps on the leg machine that does the inside of your thights
15 of those things where you hold your body up by your arms on handle things and pull your legs up to 90 degrees
15 reps on the machine where you press your arms in against the weights
15 reps on the machine where you pull the bar down against the weights
and 75 crunches.

Can you tell I've never belonged to a gym before and don't really know anything about the machines except for what the little instruction posters on them tell me?  If anyone wants to correct my names for things, feel free.

I go 3-4 times a week, just basically trying to stay toned without really changing my body any.  I'm loving it and the days I work out, I notice I don't feel like I need quite as much coffee.  I've always been a coffee girl, started stealing my dad's at 12, spending my babysitting money on Starbucks with my girlfriends in highschool, and a complete, a pot a day addict by age 19. After getting married I started cutting back to two cups (or one 20oz travel mug) in the morning and then one either in the afternoon or evening.  I'm basically down to one necessary (16oz) cup a day and then a social coffee drink once or twice a week.

We've gotten really involved in a Nearly and Newlyweds class at our church and I'm loving everything we do with it.  I'm the social coordinator, we've had one social at our house and are planning an Astros game to go to as a group later in the month.

Alot of the women in our group have decided to read through the Bible together. They're doing it rather slowly, and having read through it in highschool and again as an adult, I decided to opt out. 

I'm re-reading "The Power of the Praying Wife", which I highly recommend!  It came as a suggestion from an absolutely amazing Pastor's wife I knew back in NY, who was a bit of a mentor for me. She recommended re-reading it every few years, so I'm on re-read number two.  I'm noticing it's just like she said, every stage of your marriage you get something different out of it, or a new part becomes relevant, and it's definitely something new for me each read.  If you want to join me in reading, let me know, I just restarted it this week.  If not, I'll try to give you some of my notes on it.

We're also, as a couple, reading the book "The 5 Love Languages" for the first time.  I know it's kind of a classic in Christian marriage related literature, but we'd done a short study on it without ever reading the book and decided to go back and read the whole thing. Definitely worth it so far.  I'll try to do a few posts on it as I get further into it.

I think that's it for tonight, I'm sure to have a few event specific posts, or food posts in the next few days, still trying to get caught up.

Is this thing still working??

I know, seriously? 2 months without a post? Some of you must be wondering if I'm still alive, other than the fact that most of my loyal readers are also friends with me on facebook. :)  Anyone else, introduce yourselves so I know who's reading!

Anyways, I owe about a dozen posts that are topic specific, but instead, I'm going to just give you a brief run down of what's been on my mind and keeping me from posting.

First off, I found out in early May that I was going to be an Aunt by early December!!!  Congratulations to my sister and her husband on the arrival of their BABY GIRL in 20 weeks!! I was sworn to secrecy until this weekend, so I haven't been talking to alot of people for fear of slipping. 

 This picture is a year old, but it doesn't make any difference, I'm still going to have one very beautiful niece in a few short months! Too bad she'll be living way up in Minnesota with her parents. :)

In late May I was asked be our Nearlywed & Newlywed's Group at church's social coordinator, so every other week I remind the ladies that it's Starbucks night (Good group, huh? This was established before I got there!) and once a month set up a social gathering of some form for the couples. We hosted the first one here in the end of May.

Same weekend I also helped my friend Amber (middle) host a Baby Shower for her sister Kailey. Kailey's 17, and doesn't have a very stable faith, so I know Amber would appreciate your prayers for her.

**
The first week of June we headed over to Disney World with my parents so they could work a couple of shifts and keep their seasonal cast member status up.

**

In mid June we were able to attend our first wedding down here.  Our friends from class Jim & Maryanne got married.  They are an amazing couple, so perfect for each other, so strong in their faiths and ready for marriage, it was a great wedding, just wishing I'd actually brought my zoom since I wasn't the official photographer and had to take my pictures from farther away.

In mid June I took a test through work to find out if I was eligible for a promotion/raise to "Sales Lead", of course it's a messed up trick question test (according to my manager even) and I missed by 3 points, so I'll be retaking it sometime in September/October.

The first week of July we found out my brother in law finally proposed to his girlfriend after 5 years.  So, there will be a wedding in NY sometime in the next year. Whether we'll be invited or not is still up in the air, but there will be a wedding, and I'll finally have another girl on my husband's side. Hopefully things get worked out eventually between them. At the moment we're unfriended on facebook, blocked from contacting them on facebook, and not getting responses to emails or texts, so we'll see. We're leaving the door open on our end and reminding him especially that it's still open on our end, so we just have to wait for him to come around at this point.

This is quite literally a 3 year old picture of them, but it's the best I have without stealing one of their profile pics, and I'd rather not cause a problem.

So, basically that's been all the big events.

I'll try to get a more personal blog going later this weekend. I'm back, I'm not planning on stopping blogging again anytime soon either, so keep reading!

When the words can't come....

So I have plenty of topics to blog about, in my head, because they're all topics I either can't, or am afraid to speak about on here. 

There are topics I want to share, but am not allowed to, and that bothers me, even when things aren't mine to share necessarily, I don't like being seen as the bad guy and this horrible selfish insensitive, jerk for wanting to talk about things that excite me.  Good news is meant to be shared, scary news is meant to be prayed about, how can either of those things happen when everything's kept secret?

After my last blogging experience, writing about personal struggles and annoyances terrifies me. The threats and emotional abuse I had to take from people was ridiculous, and the thought of having things that belong to me destroyed over my words is scary, because then I'd justifiably feel the need to press charges, which would bring out even more garbage, and do more emotional damage to relationships that according to me, already seem beyond repair.

It's a messed up world, which means all of my messed up feelings have to stay inside of me, at least in any detail.  It seems every time I say anything, phone, facebook, here, I upset someone, so maybe I should just stay silent for awhile, I'm getting tired of getting yelled at....

4 Years Ago Today

Astros, Absenteeism (probably not a word) and a little bit of slacking.

So, I haven't written anything in about a week, really bad for me, and you, because this is likely to be a long post!

Since last week, we've been to an Astro's Game....Great seats, free parking, all courtesy of my aunt's fiance who got them from work and couldn't use them, so much fun!

 Beautiful Park!

 BEST SIGN EVER!!

My only excuse for my lack of posting, would be work. I seriously worked all but one day out of each of teh last three weeks.  I'm loving it though!  The job is going great, mostly great people, not bad hours, 5-6 hour shifts only between 9am and 7pm, and I've already been offered a lead sales position!!  Normally you have to be with the company for 6 months, well, I've only been there 2, so I have to test out of their "Management Aptitude" test to officially get the position, but it's been offered.  I take the test over the weekend and find out Monday, so I'm a bit anxious about that.  It would mean a 22% raise and an average of 30 hours instead of 20, which I wouldn't mind at all, and I'd still be able to have 2 evenings a week off to start booking lessons, if those ever show up.  It would be great, all around, so I'm hoping the test is pretty basic. I've been in management before, but in smaller companies without so many manuals (I wrote one company's!) and never had to take a test to get there.


Running wise, I got in 10 miles last week, barely, because of time issues.  I've discovered I just plain get bored running after about a half an hour, so it's really hard to run much more than 2 1/2 to 3 miles at a time.  Today was the first I ran this week, and I got in 2 miles before I got bored.  10 miles might be a stretch this week, especially since I don't really care to run before work on early mornings. Work usually involves heels and heels after running just doesn't work for me. I may have to start running in the afternoons/evenings next week, we'll see. I made my inches, so if I back off a little I'm just hoping they don't come back. I'm officially my wedding day measurements, so that's a huge deal for me!

Working at noon today, still need to put away 4 loads of laundry and figure out what to wear and what to eat, so I'm going to run. Miss you guys! I'm reading, even if I'm not posting or doing much commenting.

Prayers

Josh was a friend of my husband's in highschool.  They Bible quizzed against each other, spent summers atcamp up at the area where my in-laws cottage still is, and kept in touch through their mutual ministry contacts in college.  The first trip my husband and I took when we were first dating was to a Michael W Smith concert near where Josh lived and we spent the weekend with his family.

Sunday night Josh crashed a recently donated plane while testing it for the Steve Saint Ministry.  He had worked as an airplane mechanic and pilot for 3-4 years before joining the ministry, and apparently realized something was wrong just after taking off, but could not make it back to the runway safely.

Prayers for Josh's family would be appreciated.

Article

Weekend Workout Recap and some Food Related Ramblings

So, this thing has been my best friend this week it seems. 2 hours worth of running later, I'm proud to say I made my goal of 10 miles and then some! 10.4 miles to be exact!  On average, that makes for an 11.54 minute mile, though I know those numbers are off because my best run was 3.3 in 30 minutes.  I'm not necessarily worried about the speed, but I'm keep track for the sake of knowing my consistency. I'm thinking I may try to get out on the road in a couple of weeks and see what difference it makes.  5k's down here will not be happening for me during the summer months, which start in mid May, but come next fall, the idea is tempting.

Measurements wise, I'm already down to my goal in the hips thighs and butt areas, but my waist just doesn't want to come.  I kept with the crunches last week and actually went up, so the crunches have to go!  The middle of my abs are actually protruding further than before because of a little bit of definition, so, maybe on Monday I'll go figure out how to use one of the ab machines, if not, I may just have to run even more than the 12 planned miles, either that or eat less, and that's not high on my list!

I'm very much an "everything in moderation" kind of girl. I like my butter, bacon, red meat, bread, chocolate, and my theory is as long as nothing is in excess, it's okay. I'd rather eat smaller portions of natural, full fat foods than bigger portions of chemically altered to be lower in fat or sugar foods.  Just my logic, and what my body likes, as I've discovered Splenda and I just don't get along, I can't get sugar free things to sit well on my stomach, so real sugar it is! Raw sugar in my coffee, but standard granulated sugar for baking, mostly for budget reasons, they tend to make it difficult to buy healthy on a budget, so I just moderate how much we use.

Definitely the right fit!

Every other Wednesday evening, for about 2 hours, the ladies from our couples Sunday School class meet here to talk and fellowship-

That should have been my first sign that we'd found the right class. :)

Dinner with new friends

So, we've only been in Houston 2 months now, and we're finally getting to entertain some friends! I'm so excited!  I've been menu planning all week, even before I invited anyone, and now it's finally the big day!

We've got these-

and that amazing pink fruit dip I still have to mix up, as appetizers.

Amber's bringing a salad.














For the main course we're having-

 Barbeque Chicken and Macaroni and Cheese








Followed by this-

for dessert-Boston Creme Cake!

And I made a few of these

to keep on hand for if we visit or play games long enough that anyone gets hungry again. :)

Weekly Workout Recap

I so need to post more often!!!

So, it's been a week, and my workout recap is-

7.4 Miles
250 crunches (I got called in to work one morning)
30 reps each arm (can't find my free weights, think I may not have packed them somewhere I have access to, so missed my first two days looking for them)

Not bad for only the second week of a workout routine.

I'm realizing an inch everywhere wouldn't be a good thing, (I can't afford to lose any on my top half if you know what I mean) but right now, I'm down-
1/2" each thigh
1/2" hips/butt area
1/4" waist

The goal is 1" thighs, hips and butt, 1 1/2" waist.

So, I need some more waist whittling exercises! Tips, advice and links appreciated!

Weekend Recap, also known as "Rambling"

So not sure what all happened this week.  It was kind of a blur.  We're trying to really hard to pay off all of our bills, but more keep appearing out of no where, hours are not great this week for my husband, or at least not very good tips for the hours he works.  He's working as a caddy at a high end country club, and a typical tip is anywhere from $60-$200 dollars per round of golf. Lately, he keeps getting the $60 and $80 tippers, part of him having to earn his place as the new guy, so it kind of stinks.  He is getting asked to do more loops (rounds of golf) and caddy for more special events, which is good, but the veteran guys keep taking all the good loops. One switched with him yesterday, and instead of caddying for five members (guaranteed $100) he got stuck with two guys, who tipped him $50. So, he was in a pretty miserable mood. Pray for encouragement for him right now.  He's kind of feeling inadequate and I'm probably not helping much because I'm really stressed about the money stuff and he sees that and feels like it's his fault.  He's earning decent money, but it's not always consistent, plus, his first bag fees paycheck just paid for his uniform and equipment, so he hasn't brought home a real check yet, so he's hating that.  I keep getting more and more hours at work, which is wonderful, my job just doesn't pay nearly what I made teaching. Finding students would be a huge help about now!

On a plus side, I'm getting in shape again!  I'm discovering I was behind alot more than I thought, so I'm really having to work back into my running.  I did 3 1/2 miles last week, 5 this week, I'm shooting for 7 next week, 10 the week after, 12 the week after that, and then plan on leveling off at around 15 miles a week, split into 3-5 runs depending on my schedule at work.  I used to run 15 miles a week, 3 miles a day, 5 days a week from the time I was 16 to 20, but then work got in the way, so, now I'm trying to get back into it.  After I run, for every mile I run I do 50 crunches.  I need to get new free weights for at home (mine got left in NY) for adding in 10 reps each arm per mile as well, either that, or use the ones at the gym.  Ideally, all this working out will shave an inch off everywhere.  I don't want to drop an entire size, (it's hard to find my little sizes sometimes anyway!) and I'm not worried about the pounds, I expect to actually go up in that area, I just want to tone everything so my clothes fit a bit looser.  I still fit in the same size I did when I got married, some things are just snugger than I'd like them to be and I'm border line going up a size, so I'd like to be on the small end of my size again and stay that way.

I'm planning to log my miles, crunches, and arm reps weekly, I just need to find some form of ticker so I can post it on here, either that, or I'll just do a weekly workout recap on Saturdays.

So, this weeks log-

Miles- 5
Crunches- 250
Arm Reps- 0 (need to figure out a system for weights)

We have a wedding to go to June 19th, so I'm shooting for a June 1st of being down an inch all the way around.

I'd post my measurements, but I think that's a bit personal, so I'll just post when I lose 1/2 inches.

I guess that's it for now, back to laundry, then the grocery store, then maybe some tanning before work this afternoon.

What's the point?

So this morning I colored my hair, went to the gym, ran 2 miles on the elliptical, then did  60 crunches at home, took a shower and ran some errands with my dad.  Fairly productive, right?

Then, we stopped at Cinnabon on the way home, and I ate one of these-

For lunch.

Then when my husband got home he wanted this-

For his lunch, which of course I had to have a bite of.


Then for dinner I made this-

Back to the Gym in the morning I go! Normally it's every other day, this week, I'm going to need a few extra days, from today's eating alone! Especially since today was 81, and I laid out tanning in the back yard (inside the privacy fence of course) and felt like I needed to suck in my stomach the entire time, just for my own peace of mind.  Tomorrow will be a better day!

Sunday thoughts

The Blue Sky and Sunshine out our Den Window

Two quotes from church this morning....

From Sunday School/Lifegroup-

"Forgiveness is giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me"

Sermon-

"The cross shouldn't just be a symbol of a religion, but of a relationship"

Now I'm off to find something to do outside on this beautiful sunny, Sunday afternoon. :)

Whine Warning

So I'm probably going to start making people mad at me, but I don't have enough stuff to do, literally.

I'm only working about 18 hours a week.  We don't have our own place, so I only have two rooms and a bathroom I have to take care of.  I only have to cook once or twice a week because other nights everyone's working or my mom cooks for everyone.  I'm meeting with one new student tonight, but as of right now, that's all I have.  We got involved in a couples Sunday school class, but outside of class they only really have every other week to monthly social things.  My husband is just starting to get on the schedule for work, so he's home 4 days a week and bored out of his mind.  Because of the lack of work, there's a major lack of funds, so I can't really pick up a new hobby, or go shopping, or do much.  Because of the nice yellow coating of pollen torturing the area I'm finding it difficult to work out, even indoors, as sneezing while doing almost any form of exercise makes it impossible to breathe, not to mention makes you feel like you're going faceplant while running on an incline!

I need more to do. More work, more housework, more ministry, just more.....

Contentment seems to be the lesson of the month, I just seem to be a slow learner.

Yes, today I'm in a whiny mood of discontentment, I'm working on it, but rather than make my husband feel bad about everything he wants more of too, I'm whining on here, instead of to him, sorry, but I don't have to live with my readers, if you're annoyed it's not so painful.

What do you think?

Is it a good thing when your new boss, of 2 1/2 weeks, keeps giving you extra hours and switching you with other people so you're there when they have the most people in the store?

Of course since I have to buy at least one dress by tomorrow night, as we're focusing on dresses in the store for the next week and I can't just wear the same two over and over again, for 6 shifts (could, but won't) the extra hours are quite helpful!

Happy Birthday to me

So today is my birthday, not that I want any hype made of it, because seriously, I don't, I hate making a big deal of it, but it is a somewhat big one.  I hit my quarter century today.....

We celebrated by opening a new checking account, paying bills, running errands, and so forth.... Don't you just love being a responsible adult?

My husband got me one of my favorite old classic movies....

 

And we got my mom to take a few new pictures of us. I'm still a little nervous about posting pictures of us after my last blog, but I really want to share, because I like the way they came out, but still, okay, maybe one, shrunk really tiny....

And now we're going out to dinner at a Texas Steakhouse, so I've got to run, and enjoy, and get over my online stalker freak phobias someday.

Treadmills, Taco Dip, Tanning and the Remains of a Raspberry Bundt Cake

So this morning I actually got to run in a fun way! The last few times I've gone to the gym the track (1/8 mile indoor) is always full of really old people walking, in groups, two and three across and sometimes using walkers.  Do you know how hard it is to keep any kind of decent or even pace when you're weaving in and out around 80 year olds? Not fun! So, last week I tried the treadmill, kind of, (and by kind of, I mean massively!) hated it! I ran for what felt like 4 hours, looked down at the counter thing and discovered it had only been 14 minutes.  I used to take hour runs all the time (7 years ago) and 30 minute runs have never been a problem, I usually stop there due to lack of time, not energy and motivation.  So, basically, treadmills are out, two runs like that and I gave up, pathetic I know.  So, Tuesday I went to the gym and tried an elliptical instead, as all the treadmills were taken and the walker trio (what I refer to the three little old ladies who always come together) were on the track.

Let's just say, it was amazing!  I started the resistance kind of low and did one song on my Ipod with the forward motion, one song backwards, and repeated to 2 miles.  It was amazing! I went back today and the results were the same. I'm so doing that from now on, maybe only every two or three days though as I can already feel the tops of my thighs from the backwards, but, if it can burn that much 2 hours later it must be doing something.  The nice thing was, my heart rate didn't even get up all that high for me, like 135, which I don't really feel that much.

So, I rewarded myself with some of this...

(Taco Dip)

For lunch today.  And then I'm going to go lay out in this....

And get some sun.


And maybe, if I decide to treat myself, I'll eat some of this....

(Raspberry Bundt Cake)

Before work tonight as a reward.  Don't worry, that's not my piece, that's all that's left from making it Wednesday night.

Taco Dip Recipe-
1 Block 1/3 Fat or Fat Free Cream Cheese
1 Can Hormel Fat Free Turkey Chili with Beans
1 8oz Bag Shredded Taco/Mexican Blend Cheese

Soften Cream Cheese in Microwave for one minute in the bottom of a glass pie pan.  Spread evenly. Cover in can of Chili and Shredded Cheese. Microwave another 4-5 minutes or until cheese is bubbling.  Serve with Tortilla Chips.

Raspberry Bundt Cake Recipe-
1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
1 Stick Softened Butter
3 Eggs
1/2 Cup Vanilla Coffee Creamer
1/2 Cup Milk
1/3 Brown Sugar
Dash of Cinnamon
Dash of Nutmeg
2 Containers (little plastic, half pints?) Raspberries.

Preheat Oven to 350. Generously grease and flour Bundt cake pan.
Beat first five ingredients.  Fold in Sugar and Spices.  Fold in half of the raspberries.  Pour into greased pan.  Cover batter with remaining raspberries and push into batter with spatula.  Bake 40-45 minutes, or until it passed the "toothpick test".  Let cool 10 minutes, flip out of pan and let cool on plate or wire rack for an hour to drizzle with frosting, or sprinkle with powdered sugar immediately.

Enjoy!

While my

Duke Blue Devils are #1 in their region for the NCAA March Madness Tournament

The 

North Carolina Tarheels didn't even make the big tournament!

And I couldn't be happier!!!

Anyone who wants in on my husband and mine's brackets this year just shoot me an email or leave a comment in the next 24 hours, brackets have to be done by end of tomorrow.

Seriously?

So, in my first three shifts, I've met my share of interesting people. Technically this was my fourth shift, but one was in the stock room, so that hardly counts.

Anyways, my interesting stories....

First "solo sales" day; little old lady comes into the store carrying a black and white skirt. I asked her if I could help her find something to go with it, and she said it was for a funeral, but she didn't want all black.  I offered my apologies about the occasion and began pulling a few pieces while she looked around.  I met her back in the fitting room and she explained that it was for her husband's funeral, but he wasn't dead yet, but would be soon because he was on his 4th round of cancer and in hospice, but he was happy to die and the skirt we were matching too was his favorite thing in her closet.  She also had me get her a more supportive undergarment as she'd just had a mastectomy and was battling her 3rd round of breast cancer and was hoping that she could be buried in whatever I helped her with that day.  Fun day of shopping huh? I can't imagine going through that with a smile and being excited to find the perfect outfit for my husband's and my own deaths. 

If you think about it, her name was Eja, she sounded Scandinavian, and she was very sweet, I don't think she'd mind a few prayers.

Today, on shift number four, with only 45 minutes to go on my shift, a very frantic looking woman with an eight year old boy came in, desperate for something for a rehearsal dinner and bridesmaids luncheon for a wedding she's going to be in this weekend out of town.  She had me find a place for her son to sit then proceeded to pull up her facebook on her phone and show me a picture of her highschool sweetheart who she just found out is her "corresponding groomsman", and he's recently divorced and she's currently separated, but her son doesn't know she's checking out her ex at the wedding, so she needed a "hot" outfit without him knowing that's what she was shopping for so he didn't tell his dad.

Yeah, fun stuff....

I seem to be a magnet for people who want to share their interesting lives with me through their clothing purchases.

More Deep Thoughts

So, two more Sundays in an amazing Sunday School class, and my mind is wandering in deep directions again.....

So, in Sunday School and Service we've been studying alot about responsibility and  how cause and effect is very much a spiritual thing.

When we feel defeated it's because we didn't trust God to get us through some disappointment.

When someone wrongs us, it's because we made a poor relationship decision.

When we're broke or in debt it's because we weren't responsible enough with our money.

When we feel like we're undervalued it's because we did not act in a way that God says is noteworthy.


All of the consequences we get hit with are based on the behaviors we exhibit.

What consequences would you like to get rid of?  Just a thought, you don't have to answer publicly, but I will pray for things if you email.

I'm a working girl!

So, it's just retail, but it's fun retail! And I get major job perks, like 50% off full prices, 20% off sale, bonuses for signing up credit cards or helping make months, and the fun of wearing nice clothing and working with all women.  I honestly didn't know if that part would be fun, but so far it is, besides the one lady who started two days before me and acts all experienced while asking me how to do stuff on the computer and kept asking how I was married, how old are my kids, was this my first job, etc....some people just assume because you're young, you're messed up.....

But, other than her it's great, my manager is a Christian, as are two of the other girls I work with, one of whom I may start teaching piano to soon, as she's a singer on her church worship team and has always wanted to be able to sing and play at the same time.

Anyways, lots more on my mind, and I'm off tomorrow, so I'll try to put stuff into words then.

I'm employed!

And, at a store with amazing clothes and major discounts!  This will be fun, and the fun starts Monday!  Yay!!!

Brownie Recipe!

So, dinner did not end up being Crockpot Chicken and Rice Soup and Scratch Biscuits because it was nearly 70 and sunny here, and seriously, that's not a soup night for a northern girl!

So I turned the leftover chicken into Quesadillas, but made the frosted brownies this afternoon anyways.

Here's the recipe-

Brownie Batter-
Ingredients-
4oz. Unsweetened Chocolate
2/3 C Butter
4 Eggs
2 C Sugar
2 Ts Vanilla
1 1/3 C Flour
1 Ts Baking Powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x13" pan.

Melt Chocolate for one minute in microwaveable dish, add Butter, melt one more minute, stir, set aside.

In medium mixing bowl, beat Eggs and Sugar. 
Add Chocolate Mixture and Vanilla.
Stir in Flour and Baking Powder.

Bake 25 minutes.

Frosting-
1/3 C Softened Butter  *(leave out remaining 1/3 Cup to soften when making batter)*
Roughly 2 C Confectioners Sugar
2 TBS Milk Chocolate Instant Jello Mix
1 Ts Vanilla
Enough Milk to make it spreadable.

Beat all ingredients together, gradually adding milk until it reaches the desired consistency.

Spread on cooled brownies.

ENJOY!

And no, I did not get back to them with my camera until after they had been dug into. :) Of course I did some of the digging to pay off the guy who helped us unload the cube two weeks ago.

Banana Bread

I have a strange feeling this recipe already made it to my old blog, but since it is no more, I'll start reposting alot of my recipes as I bake again.

And yes, this is how I keep recipes and follow them, I'm so not a detail oriented cook!

Why......

is running on a treadmill so much harder than running on road?

Is it the boredom of not actually moving?

Is it the distractions of the people on the machines near you?

Is it the hum of the actual machines interfering with the songs on your Ipod?

Is it trying to find the right pace and incline instead of just dealing with whatever you come up to?

Or is it all just mental?

I can't do it so it seems!

For one thing, I ran out of breath at a half mile, totally not like me, I can usually go close to 2 miles without really feeling it.  Of course I haven't really run in 6 months, so some of that probably isn't the treadmill's fault, but it just felt harder to breathe without the wind in my face, almost like I had to remind myself to do so.

Anyone have any breathing tips, especially for indoor running?  Should I try an elliptical instead of a treadmill and what are the major differences in the workout they give you? My old playlist was not holding my attention this time, anyone have a good motivational workout song with a decent beat?

Oh well, tomorrow's a new day and I'll go see how long I can keep it going again then. 

Job Search

So the finalizing of jobs is happening for both of us tomorrow, or so we've been led to believe.

My husband goes for his final full day of training at the Country Club tomorrow at 10:00, and I have my followup interview for the Retail job at 3:30.

We're both hoping to get on schedules no later than Monday.

Also, we get to find out how much of my husband's remaining vacation, personal time and sick time he's getting paid for as whatever they're paying him should be showing up in our checking account via direct deposit tomorrow. Here's to crossing our fingers and saying a prayer that they're paying the full amount, otherwise, we'll be broke until one of us gets a paycheck.  The nice thing about my husband's soon to be job is that it also brings in alot of cash flow.  I know we have to keep track and set stuff aside for taxes next year, but if we use more at first to hold us over til I get a paycheck, we can make it up later.

Hopefully I'll have some good news to post tomorrow, also, my scratch brownie and frosting recipes when I'm baking, as well as a repost of the crockpot Chicken and Rice Soup and a first time post on scratch Biscuits.

Lots of good food coming tomorrow!

Results

So my mom made it through the stress test!  I know worrying was dumb, but after two stopped ones, and having her last one stopped 3 minutes in because her heart rate was going nuts, did make me a bit nervous. The results were good, she just has to wait til her normal cardiologist goes over the results to see to what level she can work out.  I'm hoping she can at least go on brisker longer walks again, because then we can go use the track at the gym together. I typically walk a song, run a song, repeat for 30 minutes when I work out, so I could walk a lap with her and then run two alone, then walk one again with and so forth.

Here's to hoping for positive results!

Prayers Please

I just dropped my mom off for a nucleo-something or other stress test. Prayers would be appreciated!  She's "failed" two stress tests already, if she fails this one, the next step is an angiogram, which is alot more invasive and has a higher risk to it. As is, this one gives her like a 2% chance of having it trigger a heart attack and getting her sent to the cardio department of the hospital.  And, I'm not a huge fan of the idea of the angio because her best friend's dad died of cardiac arrest during one when he was all of 7 years older than my mom is now.

She's taking them all the get permission to start excersizing again, as her primary told her she needs to lose weight to bring her cholesterol down, and improve her overall health, but her cardiologist (she's had a couple of scares before) won't let her work out and she doesn't want to have to try to lose weight (like 15-20 pounds) with dieting alone.

So, please be praying she passes this one!

So we're both almost employed!!!

So my husband went in for training today and got hired on the spot for full time hours at a high class private golf club, which will pay basically double what he used to make, HUGE RELIEF!!  He has another interview/training thing Wednesday for a different job, that he'll still go to, but he's supposed to call the first back Thursday morning to get on the schedule and take care of paperwork. YAY!!!!

I applied and had a preliminary interview with the interim manager for a job and she scheduled me with a supervising manager for a final interview on Thursday!

So exciting! Things are falling into place rather quickly all of a sudden and I'm so much more at peace!

Prayers answered! If you will, keep praying for my final interview on Thursday!