Girls Night Out

Okay, I was invited to a girls night out tonight and honestly I don't and didn't want to go.  I was originally meeting a friend for lunch, we were meeting halfway because she lives in Denver.  She had to reschedule and I mentioned the girls night out to her and so we decided to go.

I used to LOVE going out - I was always out.  I am a busy body and social (that may be an understatement).  For whatever reason I just did not want to go.  Now I am starting to get ready and I really do not want to go.  I am sure I will have a great time and I need the interaction with my friends but for some reason I just want to hang out at home.

I am going, so wish me luck!  Does anyone else feel this way sometimes?

Ham Roll Recipe

Okay while this is super funny it is NOT a joke.

My workouts have been going great but the diet side of things - not so much.  So I did what any frustrated dieter does and I joined the website of the diet.  One of the items on todays menu - ham roll, a delcious snack.  Here is the recipe as taken from Southbeachdiet.com .

Rolled Ham Slice

Serves 1
Ingredients:
1 slice ham
Instructions:
For an easy, portable snack, take one slice of ham and roll it.

While I can't stop laughing I feel sorry for the schmuck who requested they list ingredients and the process for preparing this rolled ham slice.

Seriously?

Getting Organized - BHG

I receive emails from Better Homes and Gardens but they usually get deleted in my desperate attempt to clear out my inbox.  I picked up the January issue, the annual get organized issue.  I am a complete sucker for anything with organize in the title.  I contemplated getting the issue because every year I buy organizing magazines and am left thinking, well no duh!

This years issue was a little different.  It had a family example of clean and organized.  Of course my house will never be as white or as prestine but there were some good realistic ideas.  My favorite was a shelf with color organized books.  The home owner stated that when she goes to look for a book she remembers what color it is, so she organizes her books by color.  I looked for a picture and sadly I could not find it.  I assure you the aray of colors in the white book shelf was beautiful!

The only "duh" of the issue had to do with one of the twenty-five list.  The item stated to bring your reusable shopping bags straight out to the car as soon as you unloaded the groceries.  Well duh!  But generally it is all I can do to fend off the family while getting all of the groceries unloaded and put away.  I get the problem but I usually do not get the opportunity to get the bags right back to the car.

All in all it was a great issue.

I Want to be Bad....

.....As I mentioned one of my goals this year is to loose 60 pounds (again not a typo).  I have been working out consistantly for 3 weeks now, having missed 3 days.  I have not seen any results, so I restarted my South Beach.  Yesterday was Day 2 and I was wanting junk food SO bad.  I was literally craving waffles - so bad I could taste the syrup. My kids had some M&M's last night and it took a lot for me not to eat them (not the kids - the M&M's).  Then on Biggest Loser they showed two huge trofs of M&M's and a piece of choclate cake.  Eek!!  I made it through the night.  Onto Day 3.

Now by the sounds of the previous paragraph it probably seems like an insane diet but really I get to eat a lot of great things.  Yesterday I had eggs for breakfast, hard boiled they are easier on work days.  I had string cheese and nuts for snack.  For lunch I had chicken fajitas, I made the night before, with black beans and guacamole.  I than had a jello cup with whip cream (free) for a snack and for dinner I made a stirfry with asparagus, brussel sprouts, mushrooms and chicken.  It was SO good!  So see I get some treats I just want to eat like my former self - JUNK!!

Wish me luck.

Gifts For Men

Our anniversary is days before Valentines Day, so we wrap both into one.  My problem is that I am NOT a good gift giver.  I lack creativity and I am not much of a browser when I go to a store.  So I was poking around on the internet today trying to come up with some ideas.  I actually decided to search "valentines gifts for men".  I did this because some of my favorite places to shop often have gift lists for men and women.  So the first link was a men's magazine gift list.  Tell Me if this list seems odd to you.

• Magazine subscription
• DVD's
• Bar Set
• Champagne & Truffles
• Grooming Products.

This is where I stopped reading the list.  Am I just out of touch or does this seem weird to anyone else?  Yes DVD's but boring!  The other items my husband would not be excited to receive. And grooming products?  For your man - on Valentines day?

(*list from askmen.com)

Growth and Development

I wrote a few days ago about AL's development at 8 months. As an update she is up and crawling a little but her rocking back and forth cracks me up!! She will get going back and forth back and forth really several times with a huge smile on her face, making sure everyone is watching and then she will collapse! What a work out.


Shortly after my post I received an update from my friend on her son. Her son was born the exact day Abby was but he was six weeks early. Kind of scary. At birth he weighed 5 pounds! He was a pretty big preemie. In her update she reported that he is doing some crawling and has two teeth. Two teeth?!

I have to admit I had that moment looking at AL thinking other babies have teeth where are yours? One of the comments to my AL post mentioned that her daughter was not saying the words AL. All of these things are a great reminder that all kids develop at their own rate. So we are just not thinking about those milestones she should or will be hitting. We are enjoying watching the things AL is doing and watching those things evolve. We will enjoy the other things as they come. I am going to have to axe those baby bulletin emails.

My father in-law says you spend the first two years of a child’s life trying to get them to walk and talk and the rest of their lives trying to get them to sit down and be quite.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Product Review - Aveda Beautifying Serum

I was introduced to this serum (oil) while pregnant with AL.  I really like the smell but it makes my skin feel AMAZING!! I am very picky about what I put on my skin.  I have very sensitive skin that likes to get a rash or be itchy.

I am almost out and it is a little expensive.  I put it in my bath or directly on my skin.  Either application does not make my skin feel oily.  You can also mix in a few drops with your regular lotion to make it go further.  Keep it away from your face and hair, it will make these areas oily.  Although it states it is a scalp treatment. I am not sure how that works.

Colorado is very dry and my skin is so dry and itchy all winter this serum is a life saver.  Enjoy!

The Emotional Journey of Weightloss

I am a huge Biggest Loser fan. I watch it faithfully (if Tivo counts). The one thing I always comment on to my husband is how much everyone cries on the show. I know it is very insensitive of me but with all of the editing some episodes it seems like that is all they do.


Today I left work early because I did not feel so good. My first thought was oh great I won't be able to work out today. I have worked everyday in the past week everyday but 1. Keeping this momentum is very important to me. So my husband suggests that I use the Wii Fit we got for Christmas. Well it has apparently been 15 days since I last used it and it went through all of the weigh in stuff. I have been feeling really good about my progress and the Wii Fit completely took the wind out of my sails. Of course that started me on that whole emotional cycle so I made myself go to the gym. Historically when I go to the gym while I am feeling this way it completely refocuses me. I get to the gym and there was not 1 parking spot. In my grumpy state I think dang these New Years resolutions. SO I get in the car call my husband and have a little break down.

At that moment I realize why people on the BL seem to cry a lot. Weight loss is an emotional journey with lots of good days and bad days. What is the saying? "It is all in the journey?"

So tonight after my youth leader meeting it is off to the gym - another 8:30pm workout.

AL is 8 Months!

Look at this face.  I just love to squeeze her!!  She is the happiest baby you will ever meet and you will rarely see her without a huge smile on her face.  I can't believe in four months she will be 1!!

Right now AL is busy learning to crawl.  She is not super good at it yet but some how she can get herself across the room.  It is mind boggeling.  AL has to have prunes mixed with every meal or she just won't eat.  I swear I gave birth to an old lady.  She can say "hi", "mama", "dada" and "baba".  This is one of my favorite ages.  They just start to develop so fast!

Be Prepared To Laugh

Here it is, the original photography of LD.  As I mentioned she shoots and than puts the camera down.  I am not sure how to express how fast she goes through the motion but you might get it when you see these.

I don't think these cute little things are what she was aiming for.

Hubby and his mom.

Again probably not what she aimed for.

Almost ready for a Facebook page. ;)

As I mentioned the quality is not great, really not even good but it is a childs camera.  Also there are settings to change the quality I just have not looked at any of that yet.  Did I mention it is water proof and kid prrof?  Pretty cool!

Hope you enjoyed.  She did get a lot better and in the last few shots people were fully pictured and centered.

Teenagers

Are you familiar with that cruise line commercial that talks about the rare sighting of a teenager smiling?  Yeah I thought it was stupid too.  Until my sweet little girl turned into a teenager.  Where oh where did my sweet little girl go?  So if you are wondering why there are never many pictures of AM on here there are two very good reasons. 1) I don't like to put too many of her on the internet 2) they are hard to get.

Here are the Christmas season photo's I captured of AM at different events we attended.  Here is sequence of pictures.

okay here is the final one - I threatned to post these to Facebook and here is the result of my threat.

And this is another event that I used the Facebook threat and it worked fast! ;)

We are doing a family photo shoot next month, hoping to get a few more pictures of her so we remember that she was actually a teenager.

Christmas Overview - In Pictures

As I mentioned we had an amazing Christmas!!  Here are a few pictures.

Christmas parties? Check

Baby making trouble under the tree? Check

Santa Claus? Check

Christmas pagent? Check

Crazy Christmas lights? Check

Baby Christmas dress? Check

Christmas Morning - We survived!

Fun With Christmas Toys

It may be a week past but we are still having lots of fun with our Christmas stuff. 

This toy is a HUGE hit with LD the 3 year old.

(picture from http://www.fisher-price.com)

The quality of the pictures is not great but she is having a lot of fun!  She took everyone's picture that was in the house.  Although I noticed she would tell you to look at her, hit the button and not wait very long before she put the camera down.  I checked the pictures yesterday and a lot of them are of her feet.  Which is SUPER cute.  I am at work otherwise I would post one.

Hope everyone had a magical holiday season.