Can I Burn Calories Doing This??

You know, if I just had one of those Zac Morris pause buttons for a DAY, I swear I wouldn't abuse it!  (Ok, maybe just a little...but you've had those days!)  My sister is on the airplane AS WE SPEAK on her way to visit...my baby turns one tomorrow...and my car has chosen this opportunity to act up.  

Oh, have I mentioned it's raining and I have muddy dog tracks all over my floors and laundry not done and bathrooms not clean?!

We got up and went to the Y real quick this morning...literally.  I dropped the girls off, jumped on the treadmill for 30 minutes and picked them back up.  I didn't think it was enough time for Elizabeth to get markers all over herself, but she proved me otherwise.

We ran to the grocery store for the staples...milk, eggs, bread, salad fixin's, "brokkoyi" (per Elizabeth's request), and shredded cheese.  I was so thankful that not many people shop at Kroger at 11:00 a.m., as I was pushing a cart the size of a semi down the aisles with one child screaming and the other trying to get out of the little car that's strapped to the front.  I was also thankful no one else was in the potty...OF COURSE WE HAD TO GO EVEN THOUGH WE JUST WENT AT THE Y...because there I was, holding onto Elizabeth so she didn't fall in and trying to keep Rachel from dropping down on all fours to crawl on the floor...ewwww. 

Back home, I thought I would be so smart by giving the girls leftover pizza with vegetables on it.  I heated it up, cut it up and plopped it in front of them.  They both took one look down and then looked back at me like I was the stupidest person on the face of this earth.

"Pizza!!"  Elizabeth wailed.

"That IS pizza!"  I answered.

"No it not!!"  Of course, Rachel just yelled. 

*Sigh*

So now it is wonderful nap time.  I just finished a cup of coffee, put dinner in the Crockpot and am getting ready to start mopping these floors.  I need to make cupcakes for Rachel's birthday and start a load of laundry and plan meals for next week and get my coupons together for a grocery trip this weekend.  

Through all the chaos, I can't help but be thankful.  I have so little to complain about and am daily challenged not to take my life so seriously that I can't laugh at my kids or sit and breathe for a second.  I have a wonderful family and a warm home and food on my table.  The extra challenging moments just build character...

...and I hope to heaven that they also burn calories!

Have a great day!

Draw your own conclusion...

I thought I would let Elizabeth color on a piece of paper with a pen at the table while I cleaned up the desk area.  Additionally, she's been in love with this little board book called, Minnie so Pretty where Minnie wears make-up.  I will just let you enjoy my rookie parenting mistake.  *Sigh!*

Hot Lips!

Listening to Elizabeth talk is one of the funniest parts of her growing up.  The more time I spend with her, the more I understand her and she never ceases to amaze me with the things that come out of her mouth.  She repeats full sentences...a lot...sometimes to my chagrin.  

She doesn't say her r's, which I figure is normal.  And her l's sound like y's.  She tends to run words together so unless you know the phrase she's saying, it can be hard to catch.  Other than that, things come out pretty clear.  But funny.

The other day, she sat on Scott's lap and began messing with the zipper on his sweater.  She said, "Oooo, Daddy!  I yika you shirt!"

She tells Rachel all the time that she "yikas" her outfit.  

The other morning, I got out of bed and was wearing a nightshirt (we had a couple of warmer evenings last week, which was WONDERFUL).  Elizabeth took one look at me and said, "Mama!  Where you pants??"  So after I explained to her that it was a nightshirt and that you didn't need to wear pj pants with them, she nodded in recognition and told me, "I yika you heart shirt..."  (It had a heart on it...ha!)

Now, tie this in with her normal 2-year-old tendency to want attention and crave mischief and you get our child.  She is all the time telling me that something hurts so she can get cream rubbed into it or a band-aid put on it.

"Mama, my finger...," she says, sticking any one of her fingers in the air, with her lip poked out.

"Mama, my back."

"Mama, my yeg."

You get the idea.

Now, the other half of this is that she likes to grab things that she knows she's not supposed to have and run.  A cell phone.  A remote.  A camera.  Some sort of wrapper that falls out of the trash.  She also loves climbing up to inspect anything left on the table when dinner is over.

So the other evening, we had gotten takeout from a local burger place and Scott thought he'd treat himself with some spicy french fries.  The girls and I got regular and he got some with a little heat.  (You already see where this is going, right?)

After dinner, I took Rachel into her room to change her diaper when I heard Scott yelling at Elizabeth to get off the table and heard her feet take off down the hallway.  She stopped momentarily and then immediately started yelling for me.

"MAMA!  MY YIPS!!!"

My husband was dying laughing, telling me that she had taken one of his spicy fries from off the table and had obviously sampled it.  We then had a four-ring circus as Scott tried to get the sippy for Elizabeth to fix her burning "yips"... Elizabeth threw the spicy fry on the floor... Rachel grabbed it and immediately stuck it in her mouth and I tried to get it away from Rachel. 

We figured that would be the end of her getting on the table until the next night, when she climbed up and took a big chomp out of a piece of a red onion. 

Ah well...enjoy the ride, right?

What do YOU classify as a date night?!

Tonight found me crabby and irritable and my husband suggested a garage workout instead of a date.  I agreed, hoping it would get me out of my funk.  Ah...it did and then some.  

Scott stumbled upon BODYROCK while looking for a body weight workout earlier today and this woman is incredible!  We tried her 550 Rep Muscle Murder Workout tonight after watching the video and all I can say is holy moly...  Scott finished in 33 minutes and I finished in 38 - which is only because I know I didn't do everything correctly.  

Photo courtesy of BODYROCK.tv

Like this little move, for example.  I had to do these on my forearm after collapsing after trying two with the straight arm.  My push-ups were also ridiculous.  I would say I'm going to continue to work on this workout, but I get the drift that she posts a new at-home workout daily so I may work these into days I can't get to the gym. 

Plus, they are inspirational to watch while I munch on a few Hershey Kisses...which my husband caught me doing after dinner..."like a true Mama Wants her Pre-Baby Body Back," he said.  ha!  

I'm off to shower before my arms lock up on me. 

These Booties Were Made for Walkin'...

Oh my...we are officially on two feet rather than four most days now.  Here's to moving and shaking!  Hope you have a great weekend!

Healthier Lasagna Roll-ups

I think it would be hard to steer clear of pasta with kids.  Before our children were born, I think Scott and I might have fixed some sort of Italian dish a couple times a month.  With Elizabeth and Rachel, I buy my weight in noodle-type products.  So I was hunting through my recipes for SOMETHING other than mac and cheese or spaghetti and ran across my mom's recipe for Lasagna Roll-ups.  I tweeked it a little bit with a healthier cheese mixture I found in an old La Leche League cookbook**, plus added spinach and ground turkey.  This got a 100% child approval rating in our house.  Let me know what you think!

Healthier Lasagna Roll-ups

Begin your pot of water boiling and cook up one box of lasagna noodles.  Brown your turkey in a pan and add one can or jar of spaghetti sauce, one chopped onion, one (defrosted and drained) box of chopped spinach, and any additional seasonings you might like (I added salt and pepper and garlic powder).  Let this cook up while your noodles finish.  

In a blender, mix 2 C cottage cheese, 2 eggs, 1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese and 4 T parsley.

Drain your noodles and pull out your pans (I used one 9x13 pan and one 8x8 Pyrex dish).  Spread a bit of your tomato sauce around the bottom of the pan.  Make yourself a clean workstation to work the noodles.  Lay out a single noodle and take a spoonful of the cheese mixture and spread it along the full length.  Then, roll it up so that it looks like a pinwheel.  Place on top of the sauce. with seam-side down  Continue this until you've used all the noodles.  Pour the remaining sauce over all your little bundles and then top with Mozzarella cheese and some additional Parmesan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Enjoy!

** 

Siddons, K. (1981).  Kathy's Lasagne.  In R. Johnson (Ed.), Whole Foods for the Whole Family - La 

     Leche League International Cookbook (pp. 200).  Illinois:  La Leche League. 

You may be able to take the girl out of the mass comm lab, but you can't take the APA style book out of the girl... ;)

My husband's thoughts: What's your excuse?

I committed a few weeks ago to write a couple of posts dealing with common excuses given to not train or to not follow a sound nutrition plan.  Today I will post some of my thoughts on training excuses and hopefully can offer up some tips, motivation, and action steps to help in overcoming this obstacle.  I will apologize in advance to anyone who gets uncomfortable reading some of my thoughts on this subject of excuses. This is only my opinion, based solely on my experience as a fitness enthusiast, athlete, teacher, trainer, and coach.    

The most common excuse a person will give to not start or stick to a structured exercise plan always sounds something like this:

“I would like to exercise but I am too busy because…:”

“My schedule just does not allow me to workout because…”

“With my family and work responsibilities I don’t have time to...”

Or it some variation of this type of physical limitation excuse:

“I would like to workout but I have a bad (knee, back, foot, shoulder)..”

“I just had surgery to repair…”

“I would love to train but I have a heart issue or I am a diabetic...”

“I have shin splints…”

“I am pregnant or I just had a baby…” etc, etc.

Please let me share with you my common responses to the above excuses:

• The person running beside me on the treadmill at 5:15 a.m. on Monday morning is busier then you are.

• The mom with 3 young kids finishing up a Cross-Fit Class at 10:30 a.m. has more going on her life than you do.
• The successful businessman on set 5 of an intense squat workout at 7:00 p.m. has the same life responsibilities as you.
• The diabetic walking out of the gym at 7:00 a.m. after a hard interval cardio session had worse blood sugar issues than you 1 year ago (but is now completely off of insulin).
• The 40-year-old woman in the locker room doing a little happy dance because she just fit into her skinny jeans had worse knees than you before her total knee replacement 2 years ago.
• The recent retiree that just started training 6 months ago and is now planning on running a 10K this summer had worse heart problems than you do.

And the list could go on and on….

Here is the deal – I think everyone will admit that physical training is good for us all and should be part of our life schedule.  The difference between the people that do train and the people that don’t is a simple perspective shift around the “rule” that says – physical training is beneficial to me and should be an integral part of my day. 

My old college wrestling coach, the very respected, Dr Vince Monseau, once told me that people that make excuses always believe that they are or should be exceptions to rules.  He said that people who don’t make excuses usually believe that "rules" apply to them.  If you are someone that uses the not exercising excuses listed above – I would challenge you to change your perspective.

The fact is that all of us should have time to train; it all becomes a matter of priority.  The only difference between consistent trainers and non-trainers is the priority given to the activity TIME, not necessarily the activity (or task) itself. 

For those of you with “no time” for exercise, try this homework assignment for two-days this week:  Make the effort to record your activity (total activity) for a complete 24 hours.  The more detailed your documentation, the better.  This will take some effort, but what I guarantee you will see is how much time is wasted each day.  I documented my day on Friday as a reference.

4:05 –Wake up

4:10 -4:25 – Get dressed / coffee on couch while watching news / bathroom break

4:30 -5:10 – Drive  to YMCA

5:15-6:30 – Workout

6:30-7:00 – Shower / shave / dress

7:00-7:05 – Drive to office / Call Annie

7:10-7:30 – Make shake / start computer / check email / update job list

7:30-8:30 – Conference call

8:30 –:900 –Nashville unit meeting

9:00-10:00 – Phone calls / client proposal

10:00-10:15 – Check wrestling sites / protein shake

10:15-11:00 - Internal interview

11:00-11:20 – Drive to client lunch

11:30-12:30 – Client lunch

12:30-1:00 -Drive back to office / get gas

1:00-1:25 – Client contract agreement

1:30-2:15 – Cold calls

2:15-2:50 – reply emails / finish SOW / finish contract

2:55-3:15 – Drive to client Happy hour

3:15-5:00 – Happy hour

5:10-6:45 – Drive home (Friday traffic)

7:00-7:30 – Dinner with girls

7:30- 8:15 – Baths / read books / put girls to bed

8:15-9:15 – Watch TV/ talk with Annie

9:20 – Asleep

You have to be honest with this exercise or it serves no purpose. You can't list, cook dinner from 5-6 when you actually had hot dogs and chips and spent most of that hour looking at Facebook on your iphone from the kitchen. You have to be detailed and specific.  This activity will help identify time wasting activities and will help you identify areas to be more efficient. 

Consistent gym goers will have the same requirements on their time as non-gym goers, but will prioritize their time in a way that they will be able to get their activities done in shorter amount of time.  This does not happen easily or without meticulous planning.  Step one in this process is “setting in stone” your workout time for the week.  I would challenge everyone reading this blog to post your workout schedule in the comment section or on Annie’s Facebook site for this blog. It will help for accountability and could be a fun assignment to track.

For those of you who often use a physical limitation excuse to not train –I would offer you this thought.  If you were to stop at any local gym, you would find someone who has had, or is currently battling the same physical issue as you.  It is what I love about training in a public facility.

At every gym you will find people that inspire you, people that have the same lifestyle, body, body goals, and limitations as you.  Where else on earth can you find that?  Training is motivating and being around people with common lifestyles, issues, and goals is incredibly motivating and rewarding. This week – leave the excuses at home, set your schedule, get to the gym, and have some fun.