Get your workout on!

Real quick... YouTube has some good workouts and they are free so you can mix up your workouts as you feel the need to.

I found one that is 10 minutes focused on the abs.  This is a major problem area for me.  I carry all my weight in my stomach and to make matters worse; I have had three major surgeries that have cut open my abdomen so it's hard find workouts that are gentle enough but also work those muscles.   Click the link below if you are interested.  Good thing it's 10 minutes so it doesn't take up much time.  I even used my smart phone, set it the couch and was able to follow the workout.

10 min. Booty Shaking Waist Workout

Best meatballs I have ever made...

Happy Memorial Weekend... Thank you to all who have served to protect our GREAT country...

Now on to food, my favorite topic.  I found this great blog with many exciting recipes,   http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/.  More specifically I found a recipe for Mahogany Meatballs.  I followed the recipe loosely by using all the same ingredients but I put the sauce in the crock pot with the uncooked meatballs and set on low for two hours.  They were perfect.  I personally I am not a huge fan of cooking my meatballs first then adding them to the sauce.  To me the meatballs absorb the flavor of the sauce a bit more if they cook in the sauce.  Also, this recipe calls for a small amount of apple cider vinegar.  I seem to think this is the key for juicy and tender meat.  (Maybe some of you more experienced cooks have already noticed this)...

While you are relaxing in the sun with a cocktail, please take a moment to visit http://instacanv.as/desert_oasis on Instagram and enjoy his beautiful desert photos.

So Clean

I swear the floor to my shower seems like it is cleanser resistant. Nothing has been working to clean my shower as I like it.  Thanks to an idea on Pinterest I mixed equal parts Dawn dish soap and Heinz white vinegar and watched the magic happen. Soap scum melted away and the floor looks brand spankin' new.  I am not sure why I never thought of the idea myself. I use vinegar to clean my floors and use it in my dishwasher in place of Jet Dry. The floors are a lot cleaner.  Your feet literally squeak on the floor.  It also makes the glasses come out clearer and same with my Tupperware.

Tomorrow is Monday. Make it a successful week!

Simple Home Updates

Just a quick update...  If you are looking to do something to spruce up the house but not spend alot of money.  Think about changing out your current door knobs.  We had these brass looking door knobs in our house and we changed them out with "aged bronze" door knobs by Gate House.  You can buy them at Lowes for under $15.00, about fifty percent cheaper than Kwikset.  I figured since they are indoor door knobs I can go cheaper.  They update the look of the door and kind of looks like we repainted the doors too.

Looking forward to Friday to get the weekend started.  Hope it's a good one for everyone!

• Before

•  After

What to say?

Last night after dropping her cousin off at home my daughter asks me "what do our souls look like?" I did a double take and asked "Huh?"  She asked again, mama "what do our souls look like?"  I felt like I had to be quick in my response, I didn't want to keep her hanging.  I said that our souls are round like the sun and are bright like the sun.  She accepted that.  Then she followed with, mama "why does God take our souls to Heaven?"  I again feeling like I needed to give her an answer said, "because God turns our souls into angels.  I explained we are humans here on earth and we are turned into
angels in Heaven to spend eternity with our loved ones who are also angels."  It was a pretty intense conversation for a 6 year old.  Who am I kidding, it was an intense conversation for a 38 year old.

Anyone else have had their kids ask them similar questions??  How do you answer them?

Happy St. Patty's Day!

We started the day off with Keith and kids riding on the levy and I walked it.  I completed 3 1/2 miles and I would have kept going but the arch of my foot was hurting.  Guess I need another pair of shoes.  It was pretty amazing though... the longer I went the faster I was walking and even ran 1/4 of a mile.  Not long for some but it is for me.  Even better news my stomach didn't hurt after working out.  I am still avoiding bread and now dairy and not really missing it.  YEAH!!!  Another thing, it is so great for the kids to be out getting exercise with us.   Hopefully since they are still young we would have instilled a healthy life style for them so they won't go down the road we have.

As I was walking the wind was blowing on my face and I could smell the sweet smell of orange blossoms in the air.  It's my favorite thing... When I was a child I would spend the night at my grandmother's house and she would leave the window open and all you could smell was the orange blossoms from her massive orange tree.  Great memories...

The peach and nectarine trees are starting to grow fruit.  Their beautiful blossoms have fallen off and now we just wait for the fruit to grow.. YUM!  The orange trees are just growing their blossoms and same with the tomatoes.  Hopefully we can keep the squirrels away and enjoy our fruit this season.

We went an entire seven days without going out to eat that's money in our pocket.  I have been finding many one pot recipes that are quick to put together and the entire family loves them.  One hit this week was chicken, tater tot, bacon, cheese in a crock pot.   The recipe calls for bacon bits but I am fundamentally against them, so I fried some real bacon and chopped it up for this dish.  I also got the tater tots from Walmart.. Almost $1.00 cheaper than the name brand tater tots.  I have pasted the link to food.com for this recipe.

 http://www.food.com/recipe/cheesy-chicken-bacon-tater-tot-crock-pot-bake-403520

Wind Caves Anza Borrego National Park

Warner Springs on our drive to Anza Borrego

Life Style Changes

My last post I talked about cravings and not thinking about them as a sign of failure.  For the past nine days I have been acknowledging the cravings and not feeling like a failure.  Kind of exciting.  I noticed for the past couple months especially when I eat bread I tend to get very sick to my stomach.  I also noticed when I drink beer the same thing happens.  I had violent stomach ache again about two weeks ago and I thought "that's it, I can't live this way anymore".  I started doing my own research and found out I might have a gluten intolerance.  I haven't seen a doctor yet but all blogs and medical sites indicate my symptoms are just that, a gluten intolerance.  So I have been staying away from bread, cereals and beer :-(...  I have cravings for them but so far I have not given into them.. I do feel better in general and not so bloated.

So far no weight loss.. definitely picking better foods than the ones high in carbs. so I am sure weight loss will start to come.

Another thing I realized... People like me that have made a life style of unhealthy eating habits need to make this change in phases.  To go cold turkey is kind of unreasonable.  I don't want this to be diet, it needs to be a lifestyle change and that doesn't happen overnight, unless you have Jillian Michaels living in your house barking at you 24/7.   I started with just not going out to eat like I used to.  I would stop for breakfast on the way to work, at lunch, and most times my husband would get fast food for us for dinner.   So during 2012, there is no fast food for dinner whatsoever.  All dinners are homemade regardless of the ingredients.  Second half of the year we also began making breakfast and lunch at home too.  If we go out to eat it is maybe on Friday night and that because frankly after working, cooking, cleaning, etc. all week, we both need a break.  Now that we are used to eating at home and have made it part of our routine and a habit we can really move on to clean eating.

Keep you all posted on the progress...