Whip It Up Wed. (I know it is Thursday)

It was pointed out to me today that I seem to have baked goods on Thursday's.  It then dawned on me it seems that way because I have been baking on Wed., when hubs is out.  He goes to Ju-Jit-Su and it seems that my house is calmer when hubs is not home...  Huh, wonder why that is.  Anyhow, here is the recipe that I made last night!

Apple Cake

2 cups apples cubed

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9-in cake pan.  Combine all ingredients until smooth (of course there will be apple chunks) and pour into prepared cake pan.  Bake until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 35 minutes.  Cool about 10 minutes and remove from cake pan to cool completely.

Happy Baking!

Food For Thought

I was able to watch about 1 hour of Biggest Looser last night.  (then I fell asleep)  What appeals to me about the show?  I like seeing the participants make life altering changes.  Of  course I do wonder what happens after the show is over, clearly the contestants go back to their lives and do not have as much time to work out as they do when they are on the show, but I like to hope that they have taken what they have learned and continue on with a healthy lifestyle. 
As you continue to get to know me through what I write you will find out that I have VERY strong feelings about living a healthy life.  Now before you think I am a self righteous person I will explain some things to you.  I was a fat an obese child.  I remember at the start of 7th grade I had a sports physical to play soccer.  I tried to hide my physical form because of what my weight was.  I realized it wasn't good, I was scared and embarrassed, no one in my family is overweight and we lived an active lifestyle.  I was afraid of what my body was and how I could change it.  Over the course of that year the weight melted away, it was in combination with little changes to my diet and with an increase in exercise (soccer everyday after school and on the weekends) in combination with what, I am not sure but it came off.  Up until I had my first child I struggled internally with my weight, my weight did and still does fluctuate.  (I have two children and put on 50lbs. with my first child and have gotten back to pre-pregnancy weight) 
**Please don't think that I believe all who are overweight are unhealthy because I know many people who are at a good weight who are internal time bombs because of diet and lack of exercises and other things.**
I never want my children to go through what I did.  I want them to have a healthy outlook on themselves and life.  It worries me that I hear over and over that this generation is not expected to out live their parents and that childhood obesity is on the rise.  At the same time I do not want my children growing up obsessed with food especially my daughter, I want her to realize that she is beautiful and not feel that her weight determines who she is.  It took me a while to understand that there is a difference between being healthy and thin.  I believe that excess FAT on your body is not good, but you can weight less than someone and have more fat on you than someone who weighs more.  I want my children to understand that, that and the importance of movement.  I tell my students this all the time, you don't have to move fast, just MOVE!!!
Again I am not a self righteous person.  Trust me there is room for improvement with me on my diet and how I exercise.  I eat a little chocolate everyday, if not I would consume all of Chocolate World in one day!  I LOVE to exercise, I don't have enough time/days in the week to do it as much as I would like.  I wish i could do more cardio, time just doesn't let that happen.  I do try to exercise most days of the week (cadrio, strength training, stretching).  I love to strength train (free weights, resistance bands, body weight as resistance, you get the idea).  I eat what I want, I feel there are no "bad" foods just "bad" portions.  This is something I want my kids to really understand.  Trust me, they eat junk food, more than they should, but my kids do know what strawberries are (I have some students that don't) and my son will choose broccoli over mashed potatoes (change that to french fries and you might change his mind) but my son is also learning about exercise.  He has his own resistance band and he uses it when I use mine.  He says its "mommy exercise time", I love that!  I just want my children to grow up healthy, physically, emotionally, mentally, and for them to realize that they have the power to shape who they are (no pun intended there).  Watching Biggest Looser last night just reminded me that it is hard to break that cycle of inactivity and poor diet, but I believe ANYONE can do it!

PINT

Okay my mistake, click here

 

 

S is for...

S is for Saturday- what today is.

S is for Soccer- we had soccer today, we made it to part of my nieces game then Bear's.  It was hot!  So hot that Bear decided he was done with 3 minutes left to the game and laid down on the field.  The other coach had to carry him off! 

S is for Score- Bear scored his first goal, unfortunately it was in our goal, the one we were defending.

S is for Sneakers- B-nut got new sneakers this morning, they are too cute!

S is for Saving- I started clipping coupons, with the money I saved with the coupons at Target I bought Jillian Michaels "Banish Fat Boost Metabolism" DVD workout.  (I'll let you know how it is)

S is for Sleep- the kids are asleep, now I can watch the WVU/LSU football game.

S is for Sad- sad because there are only two days in the week that start with S and those days are the weekend, and the weekend is half over.

90/10 What's Your Ratio?

As I was drinking my morning coffee I was able to ignore my children to flip through my October issue of Family Circle.  There was a little blurb in there about exercise and eating right.  It said you should focus on a 90/10 ratio.  Basically you should eat right and exercise 90% of the time and let your-self splurge 10% of the time.  So my question is how does one break down their ratio. 
1- Do you do it by a week?  You eat right, exercise, and allow yourself to splurge and not exercise one/two days on the weekend...
2- Do you work on a 10 day cycle?  Allow 9 days of awesome "behavior" and 1 day of PURE gluttony?
3- *Do you do it by the day?  Allow yourself to eat right, get daily exercise but totally give yourself the right to have WHATEVER you want for dessert?  Wine and chocolate please! 

(*can you guess which I choose?)

It is a good guide line to follow.  I could however see how one could skew this in their favor.  I am the type who does not limit myself to what I eat.  If I want it, I eat it.  I find that if I do not allow myself to have treats then I splurge when I get my hands on it.  So not good!  I am so #3.  I think I eat right, I allow myself treats every now and then, and I exercise.  Now that I am back and work I wish I had more time for my cardio, but I love my strength training so I am always sure to get that in.  I will admit to you all that after my first was born I took a long exercise hiatus.  I didn't work out, sure I walked with my son in the stroller but I didn't call it a "true" me workout.  I love the sweat, I love the burning feeling!  Maybe some of you might think that is nuts.  That's me though.  After my daughter was born I was out walking with both kiddos, once given the okay to exercise, I go back into running, then I started to strength train and I realized how much I missed having the feeling that my body is strong.  I got the itch to do more so I did my first sprint tri, I L-O-V-E-D it.  I am going to end my ramble.  I did go off on a tangent, so sorry! 
Have a great weekend!  Eat, drink, and be merry as you exercise!

Sometimes I Can't Take It

Sometimes the fact that I work eats me alive.  This morning was one of those times.  I consider myself to be a fairly laid back person, I talk in an even tone, I take things in stride, and like to laugh a lot off.  When life consumes me however, the ugly side of me comes out, and I yell, I yell loud, and people cry.  I HATE THIS!  I tend to think that me loosing it this morning had to do with the fact that I saw Bear for about 15 minutes last night and B-nut was asleep by the time I got home.  Anyhow, I was running around the house this morning and Bear told me he didn't want to lift the toilet seat because he didn't want to have to wash his hands.  (my son can pee without getting his hands near "anything" and in his mind if he doesn't touch the potty, he doesn't have to wash his hands) Judge me if you want but I was not going to open the potty for him.  You may think I got what I deserved but whatever.  Anyhow, he peed on the floor of the bathroom and a little on the wall.  I was done!  I yelled, he went to his room, B-nut had no clue what was going on.  I didn't want to clean the bathroom, I wanted to sit and eat with my kids this morning before I had to go back to work.  After he went to his room I started to clean up the pee, I cried, because I was cleaning pee I hate yelling at my kids, I much prefer to talk to them, I don't like to be yelled at, why would they?  After the crying on both ends stopped, Bear and I talked, I know he was fine because he sent me to work with one of his favorite Hot Wheels cars but still, I hate mornings like this.  It is a slap in the face to me that I work, and my drive is L-O-N-G, and it takes a lot out of me.  A lot of me that should be given to my kids.  Sometimes I just can't take it!

This Stinks

Literally, my office stinks! Maybe it is me. Yes, I am in my office at 5:12pm... Shh, I am blogging! Anyhow, there is a smell, like sweat, pizza, and yuck! Oh wait, that is right, I was sweating today, I ate pizza a little while ago and well, I share an office with a guy so... there is the yuck! (I kid, he is good when it comes to personal hygiene, always smells like some type of manly deodorant in the AM)
What stinks is that I am at work until 7 pm tonight! This week has been crazy. Hubs and I haven't spent more than 1 hour together (awake) since Saturday and the tail end of the week is not looking any better. So my hopes is that I get home tonight around 7:30, get the kiddos to bed (hubs may get one out but not sure about the other, she is still nursing to sleep) and be able to keep my eyes open to watch Modern Family. I'll let you know how it goes.