10/26/2009

Interval Training

Ever tried {interval training} at the gym for weight loss?  Ha!  Here's my home-gym version ::

A bit of back-story::

Yesterday as I was dressing the three kiddos for our trick or treat festivities, Ava was a bit over-excited.  I was bending over her putting on her tights and she was jumping up in the air.  Since she apparently finds no value yet in obeying me the first time I ask (we're working on that), she jumped one more time, REALLY high.


Right.

Into.

My.

Nose.

I'm not a wuss when it comes to child-inflicted injuries, but this time I actually wept so loudly that Marvin came running with an ice pack and some Tylenol.

Also yesterday, we realized that overnight Ava and Benji had wet their beds, AND Benji's bed somehow didn't end up with a "piddle pad" on it, so his mattress was S.O.A.K.E.D.  I attempted to use our carpet cleaner's upholstery attachment to shampoo the mattress, and ended up also using every towel we had to soak up the water that leaked out of it's canister onto the carpet.

In spite of all, yesterday ended up being a beautiful day.

OK, back to my home-gym training excercises...

The first thing I heard this morning was Marvin whispering, "Hon, hon!  Get up, it's 7:30! I'm so sorry, I was trying to be so quiet and I forgot to wake you up at 6:30 like you asked!  I'm so sorry!"
Nice.
I'm not a morning person and this does not make me happy to be faced with the knowledge that I"ll be one hour behind for the rest of the day.

I pretend to be cheerful as I haul myself out of bed and suddenly remember that nearly every towel, comforter, pillow and sheet we have plus a weekend full of dirty clothing was waiting for me in my own personal wet leaf and urine-scented Laundry Hell.

As I contemplate my strategy, my allergies attack and I blow my nose wondering why it hurts so much.  I groan as I remember the jumping and the tights and the disobedience.

I find my work out clothes, determined to exercise at all costs.  Blow my nose again, and it starts to throb. Before stepping on the treadmill, I continue with my morning routine of re-booting the laundry and folding what comes out of the dryer.  Just as I finish and glance at the treadmill, Marvin says, "Hey, can you fix my hair real quick?"

I fix it and think about the treadmill some more as I wash my hands.  I hear, "Hey, can you wash out that new mug for me before you get on?" Since it's a mug that I've gotten for review and I don't want to stand in the way of it's first test run, I head out to the kitchen.  On the way, I blow my nose for the third time and idly wonder if Ava actually broke it.  I reach the sink and discover that the dish soap bottle is newly emptied, thanks to Ava and her penchant for VERY soapy water when she plays in the sink.

Refill soap.

Wash mug.

Kiss hubby goodbye.

Think murderous thoughts about any child who dares to wake up and come downstairs right now.

R.U.N. to the treadmill and leap on.

My foot hits the belt, I touch my iPod, and I hear some alarming thumping coming from the direction of the stairs.  It's Ava, who has woken up decided to bring Huge Baby (a newborn sized doll that used to be mine) and Alec's huge Dumbo down the stairs.  The thumping was Huge Baby's head bouncing off each step and hitting the wall as Ava dragged her down by the foot.

After quelling a temper tantrum regarding the color of "juice" in Huge Baby's bottle, I settle Ava and Friends in front of a DVR'd episode of Dora and head very swiftly back to the treadmill.

I did my warm up plus 10 min of power walking and jumped off to restart the Dora episode so I could jog my newly-accomplished mile {uninterrupted}.        Ha!

I jump back on and jog for 1 1/2 songs, heading happily towards my time goal of 23:20 min.  At 18:45 minutes, Benji appears.  I reluctantly pause the treadmill and my music, mumbling "this had BETTER be good!" under my breath and say sweetly, "Good morning honey!  What do you need?"  "Can I have a brownie, Mommy?" he says, with his cherub grin widening.

Trying to remain peaceful, I grit my teeth and say in a harsh loving voice, "No, honey.  No sweets today, you had all that candy yesterday and you're trying to get over that cold."  To my utter shock, Benji grinned again, nodded, and disappeared into the living room.  I push away thoughts of conspiracy on his part, and punch the START button again.

My sore nose starts to drip again, and as I'm jogging, I gingerly use the hem of my T shirt to wipe it...Heck NO I'm not gettin' off to get a tissue!!!

At 20:34 minutes, Ava reappears with a petulant look on her face.  I pause the treadmill again, with much less calm and try to ignore the nausea that suddenly takes up residence in my empty belly.  After about 2 minutes of reassuring Ava that Dora and Diego will come back after the Danimals commercials, she retreats, leaving me with my last 3 minutes of jogging.

As I finish, my nose and head start to throb with each step.  Resignedly, I cut my workout short, but only after pausing to admire the display on the treadmill that confirms that I have indeed jogged a mile and walked another one.

Still sweaty, I sneak a look at the TV to see how much time I have left before I see Ava again, and begin folding load two of Laundry Hell.  I'm on my last towel, when I hear a voice in the living room that is definitely NOT Diego or Dora.  I round the corner to discover, to my utter shock, a woman standing in the open front door, shoving our German Shepherd into the room.

I give her a blank stare, hear her mumble something about the dog being on the street and her wanting to be sure she got home safely, and shut the door as she retreats down the front walk.  Wondering wildly why the front door had been opened, I get my answer as Ava says innocently, "Mommy, I opened the door because it was one of our neighbors!"

As all the thoughts of stranger danger, doggie road-kill, innocent toddlers and Did I Thank the Nice Lady? banged around in my head, I gently blew my nose again and looked at the clock.

It was only 10:30.





10/25/2009

Snappin' Apples


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Apples grow mighty well here abouts, and we always can't wait to go and pick them each fall.  Nothin' tastes better (or smells better) than homemade applesauce, or warm apple crisp!

We had a fun weekend:: a trip to the park, an impromptu evening with new friends over a fire, an early neighborhood trick-or-treat, more progress on Ava's dress (another Handmade post coming soon!)

Looking forward to a new week:: school, hosting my mom's group, play-dates, and a decision about Marvin's possible new job

Pondering a question from our small-group leader: "What has your attention?"

What has {your} attention this week?

10/20/2009

Wordless Wednesday






10/19/2009

I can't come up with a title for this post!

I haven't written anything for a while...

Marvin and I are struggling with a decision about a different job for him (a promotion of sorts) that might mean more time away from home for him.  The boys prayed every night for months for God to "get Daddy a new job to stay home more" and now that he has it, they pray "Thanks for getting Daddy a new job to stay home more" and so we're torn.

School is going well.  I'm feeling confident in my abilities and sort of feeling ready to add more fuel to the fire, so to speak.  Not sure what kind yet...

Alec is REALLY missing his friend, and is starting to act like a sullen teenager over it.  We just bought a webcam, downloaded Skype, and are getting ready for a face-to-face chat fest!

We spent the weekend doing tons of fun stuff together, celebrating Marvin's birthday...Happy Birthday honey!  I love you!  We went to a farm and played games in a barn, we went to a birthday party, we ate at restaurants, we took a nature walk, we watched a movie, and just hung out together.  We had so much fun!  My kids and husband are AWESOME!!

meeUp is doing relatively well, I have 6 orders going out tomorrow...I'd still like to be busier with it, so tell all your friends to try one of my rockin' pouches, and take advantage of my BOGO 50% sale till the end of October.

I still want another baby...I think.

It's one o'clock in the morning, and tomorrow I'll be up at 6:30 and on the treadmill wondering what in the world made me want to stay up this late.  But then I'll remember that it was because I was "hanging out" with one of my best friends on the phone and wishing that she was talking to me from her house two blocks away instead of two days away.

Goodnight!

10/14/2009

wordless wednesday







10/12/2009

these are a few of my {favorite things}


earrings on clearance

 
 canary yellow wristlet wallet {also on clearance}

 
 ava's {strawberry shoes} from the goodwill store

 
 more earrings on clearance

 
 turquoise and coral from our local flea market
{yes, i know they don't match that shirt I"m wearing}

 
ava's leather ballet flats for later {also from goodwill}

 
my new jeans
{oh yes, i did just post a picture of part of my butt!}

but not that wallpaper...

NOT junk food!





If you are like my family, who needs/wants to care about what we eat, you'll love this recipe for chocolate chip pumpkin bars.  I found it at {the campground}compliments of Mrs. Boo Radley.
Thanks Mrs. Boo!
 My kids love this, and I do too, eating it out of the pan {see the fork marks?} instead of waiting for it to cool!
Not Junk Food Pumpkin Bars
1 C spelt flour
2 tsp. baking pwd.
1 T pumpkin pie spice
pinch of salt

3 T butter
 1 C applesauce
1 C pumpkin
1/2 C real maple syrup

Mix all ingredients, pour thick batter into a greased baking dish (I used a 9X9).  Bake at 350 for 30 min or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Do not over-bake these!  I made that mistake the first time I made them and they were very rubbery! They will be the consistency of a chewy, moist brownie if they're cooked right.
p.s. Fresh pumpkin tastes best, but as I did not have a hand-picked, baked and cooled pumpkin on hand like Mrs. Boo Radley did, I cracked open a can of Libby's and it worked just fine.

Oh, and try to restrain yourself from eating the
whole thing before your family gets to taste it.


10/11/2009

bright spot



{last week, we went back to this park}

 

{the weather was incredible}

 

{alec found this amazing bug and nana was brave to hold it}

 

{ava found a new way to use the drinking fountain}

 

{that day was the best one}

10/07/2009

If you come in my kitchen...


chances are pretty good that you'll see this on the table


or some of these


maybe even this!


you'll probably see this face





and these faces


and you can't miss this face...



if you look closely, you'll see the tissues, dust and play-doh on top of my fridge



and if you look not so closely, you'll see this...

{What's in your kitchen today?}

10/06/2009

Wordless Wednesday


Handmade pt. 7


.dainty. flowers for my little .girl.

i saw a necklace similar to this on a very pricey Swedish clothing retailer's website, and got inspired!

it's just a simple crocheted chain, and three of the hair flowers I've been making

i put a loop and button on the back to keep it closed.

.she. loves .it.

10/05/2009

Was this the last time?


Each time I put Ava in my meeUp (and they are more and more infrequent) I wonder if it will be the last.  The most popular time is still around 5:00 when I start to fix dinner.  She's stopped napping, but still gets very tired around then, and the meeUp or my Maya Wrap have saved the day evening many times!!
Want your own meeUp to save the day for you?
Now through the end of October, buy one meeUp and get the second one 50% off!  It's time to start buying gifts, people!  Or, maybe you're the one that needs a gift!

10/01/2009

Wordy Wednesday

Hey, y'all!

I"m happy this week!

It's going well, and I have pictures to show, and some Handmade to display!

But not now.

It's after midnight...

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