Mother of the year award....

Tonight I was getting my daughter ready for bed, and she asks me if she can use the new toothpaste she got for Christmas. "Sure honey, let's go brush", so she hands me the Dora toothpaste, and I dab of a little of the purplish/clear colored gel onto her brush and I start brushing her teeth...then she gets this really funny look on her face as if she doesn't like the flavor of the toothpaste, and says "it tastes yucky, what flavor is it", so I look at the Dora toothpaste container and notice the word "Elmers" on it, and for a split second I think...now that's strange, I didn't know Elmer's made toothpaste. Then I have a flashback of me buying her GLUE to put in her stocking from "Santa", because she loves to play with glue, but I'm very reluctant to let her do it without close supervision. Anyway, as you probably have now guessed, we brushed with Dora glue. Luckily glue is non-toxic, and Maree rinsed her mouth out and we both laughed over mommy's mistake....well, we both thought it was toothpaste, and when I told her it was glue, she was surprised that "Santa" had given her glue, and said "Santa would laugh about this!" Yes he would!!!
Please note below how close the glue container looks to my son's new toothpaste container....
Yep, I've been nominated for the Mother of the Year Award!! :)

Today's workout

Today is another day relaxing day with just my son and I. I decided to try a Turbo Jam video (Turbo sculpt). It wasn't really what I expected, as I thought it would be more kick boxing/dance type moves, but this particular video was more body weight exercises, like squats and lunges (a LOT of those), along with arm exercises mixed in. It was hard! It was 40 minutes long, and I think I burned 450 calories. My watch currently says 516, but I've been done for 18 minutes. I also got to training effect of 3.6, which I was pretty surprised at. To put that in perspective, when I was doing the 1 hour private pilates session on the big pilates machines, I was typically getting to a training effect of like 1.3 . So this was a good cardio workout with strength training as well. The best of both worlds!!

Gotta get busy!!

Christmas has come and gone again...I can't believe how fast time goes. Our Christmas was great as usual. Very relaxing time spent with family and friends. Surprisingly my DH did quite well with the gift giving, and I got things that weren't even on my list...which means he had to think about something I would like/need, and get it. This is much more difficult for him than just buying me something I've told him I want. His family gets you exactly what you ask for, so most of the time they all know what they are getting. In our family, it's mostly a surprise. Anyway, I've also had this week off, so I've spent yesterday and today doing mostly nothing, trying to get my house back in order (minimal effort actually), playing video games with my son...Maree is still with Auntie. It snowed today, so that was fun. Today Aaron and I played Mario and Sonic Olympics on the Wii, which is actually quite a workout..and very fun. Somehow he has the ability to unlock new games, whereas, I don't seem to be able to, so it's better to play with him :) Everyone's arms are sore from sprinting the 100m, swimming, rowing, hurdles, etc. Now, if I wore my weighted gloves, it would be even more of a workout....
Well, today I got my Million Dollar Body coaches showcase pack that I've been waiting for, which means I better get busy with my workouts. Also need to get my eating back on plan, but in all honesty, that probably won't happen until next Wednesday, when all the festivities are done with. I may try some of the workouts tomorrow though. Here is a picture of everything I got...
In that pack are 12 P90x videos, then several Turbo Jam videos, several Hip Hop Abs videos, P90 (2 videos), Slim in 6 (2 videos), and several Yoga Booty Ballet videos....plus a workout ball (needs to be pumped up a bit), 4 measuring tapes (many of the programs came with this), weighted gloves (which my son thinks are SOOOO cool....to be used with the turbo jam), 5 fitness bands (much better quality than the ones you can buy in stores), and many nutrition guides, workout calendars, progress trackers, etc. There is a lot of fun stuff. We watched a few snip bits of some of the videos and they look great.

Anyway, I hope all of you had great Christmas's too. We are having a family party on New Years Eve, probably full of eating, and playing games, which should be a good time. Then it's back to reality of Wednesday when I have to go back to work...get my act together before we go to Cabo!!!! I am so excited for Cabo, I've been dreaming about it the last few nights....

Funny ways people find your blog

Since I am a curious person, I like to know how many people are visiting my blog, and how they find it. So I have the little sitemeter feature which allows me to view this information. I was just looking and found that someone had found my site by doing a google search for "7 minute abs on a couch". A while back I blogged about what a crock those programs were, because they generally fail to emphasize how it is 95% dependent on what you eat, not how many crunches you do. That poor person probably did find someone trying to sell them a program on how to get a 6 pack while laying/sitting on your couch....for just 3 easy payments of $19.95 or something.

A dozen eggs, 10 cups of flour....

So yesterday I got up early to go to a pilates session...early being 7:45. I never workout earlier than 10 or 11, so working out at 9 was a little stretch for me, but it felt good. Pilates was great, we did some pretty hard moves, then I did interval cardio on an arc trainer, which I had never used before. Once again, so glad I have my watch because I would have quit way earlier without it.

Good thing I got that workout in, because then I came home and started baking. I made pumpkin bread (OMG, so good), banana bread, chewy caramel, english toffee, and sugar cookies. Well the chewy caramel (first time I've made it), came out more gooey than chewy, so I can't really use it for anything. The sugar cookies did not want to roll out without sticking to everything, so they ended up as "snowballs" instead of stars, Christmas trees, and candy canes. Oh well, at least they taste good.

Last night we surprised the kids by taking them to see the Nutcracker. Maree loves Barbie Nutcracker, and all things dancing/ballet, so we thought she would really like it. We told them we were going to see Christmas lights and headed downtown. Once we got in the auditorium, Aaron was able to read the program and figured out why were were there, BUT he had no idea it was going to be real people. He thought it was going to be a movie, and asked if there was going to be commercials. Anyway, I'm glad I had watched Barbie Nutcracker a dozen times, because otherwise, I think I would have been a little lost as to what was going on.....I have troubles interpreting dance...with no talking. The kids seemed to really enjoy it. Maree kept wanting to get off my lap and do her own ballet moves. It was pretty cute.

The kids Auntie comes down from Seattle today, which means 9 whole days of spoiling, sleep overs, mini vacations for mommy, then an auntie detox at the end of the 9 days. My daughter will undoubtedly cry for at least a day saying "I want my auntie....I miss her".

Oh, and did I mention....... 49 days until Cabo!!!!!

No new videos today :(

Turns out what I had received a UPS tracking email on was a fat burning book that you get as a free gift when you become a MDB member....not all my new videos. Apparently there was one thing on backorder for the showcase pack, so it's going to be another several days before I get them. :(

Oh, and also, I pooped out at the gym and only made it to a training effect of 4.4. So basically I would have had to do 6 more sprints to get to 5.0. I just didn't have it in me today.

Tuesday tales

7 more sleeps until Christmas...as my kids would say. I'm so excited for Christmas and all the family festivities. Last night we took the kids out to look at Christmas lights, and it was so cute to here them ooooooing, and ahhhhhing over all the sparkly lights. Steve and I were getting a kick out of little Maree. Many of you have not heard her speak, but she sounds like she is from Boston, because she says "ah" for any r in a word. We probably messed her up from the start by naming her Maree, which is pronounced Mahree, not Marie. Anyway, we don't correct her because we think it's just cute, and plus she sounds just like her Nana who is from New Zealand. We ended up making a Costco run, and *GASP* we didn't buy a single thing! Granted I've been in there a lot lately and donated my fair share to the Costco fund, and last night we went in specifically looking for PSP games, to which we discovered they had mostly disappeared in the several days since I had been there last. We also stopped in at Dutch Bros
, and got some warm yummy drinks. It was just a great time. Tonight the kiddos are going to Grandma's house, and DH and I are going to try to get the rest of the Christmas shopping done. Mostly for the kids.... I'm going to have to tell DH he does NOT get to buy himself Christmas presents...even if he plans on wrapping them and putting them under the tree.


In workout related news. I've been doing Pilates, which has been great for my neck pain, but not as good for losing weight, or dropping body fat. I was going to a pilates mat class 2x a week. There were only 2 of us in the class (the studio just opened), and the other gal is rather old and has had multiple surgeries...wears a neck brace...you get the picture. So we were on complete opposite ends of the fitness/pilates spectrum, making it difficult for the instructor to give us both a good workout. I have also been doing private lessons on the big pilates machines. Although I get sore muscles from some of the various exercises, I was definitely not getting any sort of cardio, and really didn't feel challenged enough by it....that combined with trying to fit in my other workouts just wasn't working for me. So I told the pilates trainer that I needed a little more challenge, and decided to stop the mat class. On Friday she is going to test my bodyfat (eeks), and then give me a good workout on the machines (at least I hope), then I am going to do some interval cardio in her studio. She also does fitness training, weight loss classes, etc, so she has a nice little room with several cardio machines, weights, etc. Anyway, that way I don't have to be running from Pilates to the gym to get a good workout in. Today I'm shooting for a 5 on my watch at the gym. I haven't been to the gym since last Tuesday, so I'm looking forward to getting a great workout in.

Also, my Million Dollar Body coaches showcase pack is in the UPS truck on the way to my house as we speak, so I'm going to have a whole slew of new workouts to try. Also P90x+ has just come out, available only to MDB coaches for the next 2 weeks, then on sale to the general public. It looks like a GREAT program, and plus, my upline coach Traci Morrow is in the videos (she's in a lot of the Tony Horton videos), so that's fun.

Forgot to mention...

Just wanted to give you a little idea of what my dear husband is like, and as he rarely ever reads this..usually only when I ask him to, and because I already told him I was going to blog about this, my husband can be strange!

We were getting ready to cash in some spare change and paper money we had been collecting in a large glass water jug. My husband decided that it would be easier to count the bills if he ironed them flat. So yes, he ironed about 30 some odd bills, simply so he could then count them and take them to the bank. I should have taken a picture. The male species can be so odd sometimes!

Also, got on the scale today....had been avoiding it for a while because my eating had been less than stellar...and with all the parties I had last week, I thought for SURE that I would get on the scale and see the same numbers I always see...the pessimist in me figured I'd probably even gained weight. BUT NO, I actually lost weight, and am now finally past the plateau I was stuck on forever. So I think I really revved up my metabolism by having high calorie days sandwiched in between several days of clean eating. That's what I'm going to tell myself anyway :) I'm just happy to see a number I haven't seen in a while!

58 days until Cabo!!

Update on watch

After 9 hours of having my watch on I burned a total of 2252 calories. Woooohoooo. Eating has been right on, so I'm feeling good. 59 days until Cabo :)

The pictures says it all....

Just thought I'd give you a snapshot of my watch right now. Top number 4:08 is how long I've had it on and running today. Middle number, 5.0, was my training effect while working out at the gym...it doesn't go any higher than 5.0. Bottom number is how many calories I've burned in the 4:08 hours. 600 of those calories were burned while at the gym. I really didn't want to go to the gym today, but now that I am advertising myself as a fitness coach of sorts, I feel a little more accountability and responsibility towards working out and eating right. I think if I wear my watch all day I burn a lot more calories because I've got this little motivator sitting on my wrist...If I just hop in place while waiting for the dinner to cook I can burn an extra 30 calories or whatever. If I run to the mailbox instead of walk, I can burn X amount more calories. It's really a great thing for me. Have I mentioned I love my watch???
FYI, I've burned 20 more calories since taking that picture :) and writing this blog.

Meowing...

All morning Daisy has been sitting looking up at me while I work, and she won't stop meowing...then when I walk anywhere, she runs next to me meowing. She has food, and she has water...I have no idea what her deal is, but I think it's pretty funny. She has now given up and is taking a nap after all that hard work....

December already!!! Free day. A new home business.

I can't believe it's December! Yesterday we took our annual trip to the mountains to get our Christmas tree. We went with some other friends and their 2 boys. The big boys went on the hunt for the Christmas trees, while the Mom's and kids stayed and played in the snow. The kids sledded down a very small slope..really just the road embankment, and we doled out snacks and hot chocolate. This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. This year was perfect...not too much snow to make walking and driving tedious, but enough for the kids to have fun. It was also sunny and beautiful.

Today is my free day as I had a great week of clean eating and workouts. I started off the day with a chocolate donut....mmmmmmmmmm!! I feel the sugar rush coming already!

As of yesterday, I started a new home business that I'm really excited about. I joined Million Dollar Body as a Coach. What this means is that I get to encourage people in their quest for fitness, and also have to potential to make extra money doing it. If you haven't heard of Million Dollar Body, also associated with Beach Body, they are the company that produces all sorts of fitness videos like P90, P90X, Hip Hop Abs, Slim in 6, Turbo Jam, Yoga Booty Ballet, and many more. They also have fitness equipment like bands, chin up bars, steps, etc., and also have their own line of nutritional supplements. I did one of the P90X videos the other day, and actually really enjoyed it. The trainer, Tony Horton, is actually quite funny without being at all annoying. The other great thing about his videos is that you can turn off all talking except for the cues...so once you get sick of his jokes, you can simply turn them off. Anyway, I'm going to start supplementing some videos into my regular gym routine, which will be especially nice during the winter months when the kids club at the gym is a petri dish of nastiness. The other great thing about their website is you can track your workouts and also enter when you go to workout, and have the potential to win prizes, just for working out. The company is really trying to motivate people to get fit, which is why I like them :)

If any of you are interested in learning more about how you could start your own home business, or want to buy any of Million Dollar Body or Beach bodies products for a discount, let me know.