Tales From The Gym

Last night I got to the gym and after several days of not being able to find my ipod I FINALLY found it. I settled in for my workout and instantly knew it would be a good one as Tall Paul and Jonny Vicious kicked me off!! I LOVE to workout to dance music! Also on the playlist last night was a little Dave, Sugarcult, Joe Strummer, Travis and Madonna. I had a GREAT workout.


I have been spending a LOT of time at the gym lately. Recently I have been disappointed in the gym that I go to. After my pregnancy I had lost my membership card and frankly after 3 years of membership and 2 years of volunteering my time to coach a Volleyball team I felt like they could just give me a new card. Um apparently the feeling was not mutual so for months there was a "silent" battle between me and one of the guys that worked there. I would come in and not have my membership card and I would get huffs and puffs from him as he had to look me up in the computer. It was a hugely annoying situation and I honestly was not going to back down on my position. Why should I have to pay for a new card? I felt like I had been a member long enough to receive a new one for free. His fits became so similar to that of my teenage daughter I finally mentioned it to somebody. Yes I did play a role in it but guess what - I am the customer. Sorry for making you do your job. The lady I mentioned it to, guess what, gave me a new card.

The new trouble was this, for a few months now the scale in the woman’s locker room has been noticeably broken. Not leveling at 0. So I just kept quite hoping that someone else would mention it to a staff member. Nobody did so about 2 weeks ago I mentioned it to a staff member and she said yeah I don't think it has ever been calibrated but lucky you I think it weighs light. I am going to over look the fact that she thinks I need the good fortune of the scale weighing light. Really I am on a mission and need a reliable source. So I wait and wait (yes a few weeks is torture waiting for me) and last night I finally say something to a lady I have never seen before. She was so nice about and I am hoping it will get fixed. Who knew so much went into fixing a scale? How does everyone else handle these types of situations? I feel like saying something I am singling myself out. I have had many customer service oriented jobs and I know it can stink but you are providing a service.

Onto the people watching of it all. There is a lady that is at the gym most nights at the same time I am. She is on the same treadmill every night right up at the mirrors. I am assuming she is listening to some sort of praise worship music because she holds her hands up and is moving her mouth with her eyes closed. The night before my phone rang interrupting my music that was playing through the phone so I could actually hear what was going on around me. I had no idea until that moment she was not just moving her lips but there was actual LOUD sound coming from her mouth - she was singing out loud the music she was listening to. Part of me thinks it is hysterical, the other part of me admires that this woman can stand at the front of the gym, in front of all of the wall of mirrors, running on a treadmill, worshipping Jesus, not caring what anyone else thinks. Seriously that is one tough lady! I won't even use a machine up at those mirrors!

This weekend will be a busy one. We have a birthday party and than I am taking AM and LD to Denver to the Butterfly Pavilion and to do a little shopping. What does everyone else have planned?

Updates and Helpful Tip

Springtime in the Rockies - Storm update:

This is what it looked like last night when I got home from the gym.  Keep in mind, when I went into the gym the ground was completly clear.  When I came out it was like an ice storm.  The pellets stung my face, I was instantly grateful my face was not sun burnt!

Here is what we woke up to this morning - and it is still snowing.

So needless to say I am at home with the kiddos today.  Normally I would be excited but I had planned on taking Friday of so I could bring AM and LD to Denver to go to the Butterfly Pavillion and than shopping.  Looks like I will have to miss church and go Sunday. (and ask for forgivness the following Sunday.)

With my day off I am doing what anyone would do on a snowday during a spring snow storm - spring cleaning.  It is slow going.  A certain baby sure likes her mommy - in LARGE doses.

Does anyone else have a ton of these around their house?

I have been saving mine so a friend of mine can make me another one of these,

Can you tell what it is? 

A Christmas tree made of baby food jars, tinsel, a string of lights and some ribbon to line the outside.  Pretty cool huh?

Well I have well exceeded the 17 jars I need for this project but it feels so wasteful to toss those jars and containers in the trash.  Turns out my nephews kindergarten class uses them to divide up large containers of paint.  So I will be donating a good portion of mine to the school.  Check with your local elementary schools, or daycare centers to see if they can put these items to good use. 

The square plastic one's are also usefule for jewlery or makeup drawers. 

Happy Tuesday - hope everyone is warmer than I am! 

If you are in a nice warm climate send please some warm thoughts my way!

Sunburn and 10" of Snow

So I have my first official sunburn.  Hubby says it is not a sunburn but a UV bulb burn - details, details.  I usually do not tan.  I have VERY fair skin (like glowing white) and a not so good family track record for skin cancer.  So I try to stay clear of the sun and it's brother the tanning bed. 

That being said with my recent work towards weightloss and the possibility of a summer vacation involving a bathing suit I decided a tan was the way to go.  In the past a tan helped fade my stretch marks.  Of course I was younger and had a lot less of them.  I know what all of the studies show about the dangers of tanning in the sun and in a bed but in my opinion having a base tan to prevent myself from extreme burns while out in the sun this summer is a good option for me.  I am very good about putting on sunblock throughout the day and I still get burnt everytime - severly burnt.  I tanned for 6 minutes yesterday and have a burn going down the center of me.  Let's just say I was not excited to put my bra on this morning and considered wearing my sports bra to work.  Does anyone else tan?  I always hear woman say it makes them feel slimmer.  This is one of the reasons I am doing it.  The optical illusion of slim until I am officially there.

Onto more Colorado weather news.  The forecast is calling for more snow as in 10 inches of snow.  So I will have a sunburn while it is snowing.  How strange will that be?  Welcome Spring time!!  We better not get Gipped out of summer again this year!!

Weekend Recap

WOW - What a weekend!!  We had a GREAT weekend!  An AMAZING weekend even!!  Seriously we needed it.  Our Saturday started off with finding a Harry Potter marathon on ABC Family!!  Yah!!

Credit

We love Harry Potter at our house!  We don't have any memorbilia or anything but we do have one or two of the xBox games.  When Hubby and I first started dating we saw the second Harry Potter and we used to sit around with AM playing Harry Potter on xBox we finished one or two of the games.  It was a lot of fun, so Harry Potter has a lot of nastalgia for us.  This was the first time LD has seen Harry Potter.  I would have thought it would too scary for her but our neighbor told me it is her daughters favorite movie.  Her daughter is six (6) months older than LD.  They also came to LD's birthday and one of the gifts they gave her was Candy Land.  So while watching HP we laid on the floor and played Candy Land with LD.

Credit

When you look at the package you can see it is for ages 3+ but I honestly would have never thought to buy it for her.  We had a great time playing.  I will be on the lookout for other age appropriate family board games.  We pretty much lazed around the rest of Saturday.

On Sunday we went to the early service and after service hubby took LD on a winter walk, I went to youth group, AM went to her youth group and AL stayed in the nursery.  LD saw this winter walk on Nick Jr.  A daddy took his daughter on a winter walk and found sticks and pine cones and other natural things and she has talked about it all winter long.  So hubby announced Sunday morning that this would probably be the last chance he had to take LD on her winter walk.  He took her to Helen Hunt Falls a gorgeous park in Cheyenne Canyon.  One of the great aspects of living in Colorado Springs - all of the wilderness/nature.  Here are some of the photos he took with his phone.

Once LD and hubby came back AM and I left and went down to Manitou to eat at the Mate Factor. 

We have to drive by Garden of the Gods to get there.

 So we stopped to take some pictures.  Manitou is a cute little town nestled into the base of Pikes Peak.  The mountain behind the Garden of the Gods in the picture.  The Mate Factor is a cafe run by The Twelve Tribes.  If you are interested you should read a little more about them.  The items they seel in their cafes are natural and raised on their farms, sourced naturally or they bake them fresh (even the breads and chips).  They do not have a huge menu but everything is delicious!!  I had the tuna melt and a peach mate and AM had the turkey sandwich with an apple juice.  Here is the website with the cafe locations.  My father in-law attended college with one of the elders and we were invited to his daughters wedding.  It was very interesting and fun.  Very family oriented which was nice to see.  Tomorrow I will try to post some of the great photo's AM and I took while out.  Something is not right with my computer so I can't get anything to load or resize.

Hope everyone has a great week!

My Summer Baby Wish List

Okay so I am sure everyone has received their 30% Gap/Old Navy Give and Get coupon.  If you have not leave me a message with your email and I will send it to you.  With my recent trip this weekend is not a great weekend to spend more money.  If it were these are the items I would have bought.

These clothes are for AL.  LD got a lot of clothes for her birthday and I don't usually pickout AM's clothes anymore.

While in DC and in New York I went to 4 GAP's I have a small GAP obsession.  I got this little jumper for AL - it is ADORABLE!!

This is a great outfit!  It is easy for her to move around in and light weight so it will be cool enough for summer.  I put a long sleeved onsie underneath because it is still cold here and it was still very cute!  Have you already started Spring/Summer shopping?

When Did My Friends Turn Into Old Ladies?

As I mentioned it snowed yesterday here in Colorado.  yesterday was also Stamp Club night.  My two friends from Denver where supposed to carpool down and meet me for dinner than we would head to Stamp Club.  These ladies are my two closest friends and we rarely see each other.  So here is the email I received Thursday evening from BB (my best friend whose wedding in Mexico we went to last July).

"As a precaution, I hear we are supposed to get between 5-10 inches of snow.  If it does start snowing or show sign I will have to bail. :(   We can play that by ear. 

 

But if the weather keeps up and passes us by I would love to ride together and meet beforehand for dinner.  I am off work at 4:30pm." 

 

and then AT's follow-up email first thing Friday morning

 

"Well, so far it doesn't look good for driving down later.  I will check back in around 3pm for a final decision."

 

and BB's response

 

"I know...they say we are going to get 5-10 inches.  It doesn't look good at all. 

and tomorrow is the first day of Spring.  Lies all lies!  :)"

 

and finally my response

 

"I am breaking up with both of you.  I can't believe neither one of you is willing to risk your lives to spend a few hours with me!!

 

PS the twelve year old girl side of me (yes she still exists - she is the one that fights with AM) is SO NOT KIDDING!!!!!! ;)"

The responding consensus was that we needed to move up to Denver.  I get lost in Denver - I don't think that is a smart plan.

Please keep in mind 2 things - #1 - ALL 3 of us learned to drive in Colorado and in our younger days would have driven to any good party worthy event under ANY weather conditions at ANY distance.  #2 - WE ARE COLORADANS!!!  It Snows.

Now here we are 3 old ladies only getting together once a month for dinner and stamp club.  Okay so the source of my fit is truley that I don't get to see these awesome woman nearly as much as I need to.  Here is a picture of us tearing it up at the Madonna concert last year.  Not really tearing it up, AT and I were pregnant.

Miss you ladies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Time In the Rockies

It has been 70 degrees this week in beautiful Colorado Springs.  Today?  It is snowing HARD!!!

This is what it looked like all week.  Not so much today.  I can't see the Peak or the Garden of the Gods. 

No big plans this weekend.  I was going to go up to Denver with the girls on Saturday but than I realized AM's soccer game is at 2:30 in the afternoon.  So we will go to that and than maybe go to a movie or find something else to do afterwards.

Anyone have any big plans this weekend?

Honest Scrap

So excited I received an award from La over at Prone to Wander  You must go over and check her blog out and give her babies cheeks a virtual squeeze - you won't be able to help yourself!  Thank you so much La and sorry I am a little slow!

La gave me this award

Here are the rules:

•First, you have to tell your readers ten things about you they may not know, but that are true.

•Second, you have to tag 10 er 5 people with the award.

•Third, let all the people you've given the award to know they've gotten it (comment on their blogs or something).

•And, finally, make sure you link back to the person who awarded you
 
This is a tough one because I am a pretty open person.  So I will try my best for 10 things - here it goes.
 
1) I had my first daughter before I graduated high school - I was 17 and a junior in high school when I found out I was pregnant.
2) I graduated high school on time when everyone said it was not possible (including school administrators).  I had to go to day school, night school and an alternative school, so school 7am -9pm Mon - Fri and than I had a part time job Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  My grandparents helped with AM while I was at school.
3) I don't like being told I can't accomplish something.
4) I love having goals and I love meeting them
5) Even though I had my own cleaning business I don't like hair and really hate touching trash.  I started my business so I could be more available to my kids with a flexible schedule and to get out of a horrible job.
6) I can't wait to retire and spend all of my days with my husband doing what we do best - nothing!
(I asked for my husband's input on these last few and here is what he gave me - I laughed so hard and they were all so true I am using them all even though they put me over the 10)
7) I can’t touch chalk
8) I have the best luck with second husbands
9) I make the cutest babies
10) My husband says I don’t take his advice; I’m only putting this in to spite him
11) I am a pack rat who hates clutter
12) I love competition—I’m currently winning our snoring contest
13) We went to London on our honeymoon and the Londoners thought we were crazy for that!
14) I love the beach and the water

Huh and I thought I had told you guy's everything.  There you have it.  More about me than I am sure you would ever hope to know.

I am passing this award on to

Alyssa
Hilary
Mo
Margie
Jessica

Tip Toes

AL has gotten so big - she is a mover and a shaker.  My other two girls were pretty mellow.  I didn't have to move much, I just said no they would move on to something else.  Not this baby.  She moves so fast and gets into EVERYTHING!!  When I tell her "no" she looks at me and smiles and just keeps going about her business.  I set her down the other day and turned around and she had made it up 2 flights of stairs.

She is such a busy body that I have had to start letting her sit in the bathroom with me while I shower and get ready in the morning.  It is the only way to know where she is.  This morning I was getting ready to get in the shower and she was trying to reach the shampoo bottle, but it was slightly to far for her so she reached up on her tip toes to reach it.  I never thought about it before but how fascinating is it that even a 10 month old baby would think to elevate themselves by getting on their tip toes?  It was so cute, sorry no picture.

I have been slacking off in the diet department so today I am back it, with lots of workouts planned.  What does everyone else have planned?

Look Who's 4

LD turned 4 yesterday.  And because it seems I am behind in everything in life right now, I suppose it is only fitting that I am behind in doing this post.

I bought her a cute outfit for her big day.  At daycare they had a party for her.  Staurday she will have a birthday party at Chuck E Cheeses.  I usually do parties at our house but I did not want to do the stressful panic cleaning the night before and than the dreaded after party cleanup.  So Chuck E Cheeses here we come!

 Here are a few pictures of the birthday girl.  LD has fine hair like her mommy and here in Colorado it is dry which makes it a little staticky.

These pictures were taken first thing in the morning.

This was taken while opening her presents - it was picture 50 maybe - a little sick of pictures.

So here she faked one last picture for me.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!!

How to Hug a Baby

I am back!!  I had a great time and I will give a full report tomorrow.  Still trying to get back into the swing of things, I thought all of you ladies would love this.  My husband sent me this from here.

The Blog is called Great Dad and I will say it is absolutley fitting my husband reads it because that is EXACTLY what he was while I was gone.  Actually I would say AMAZING!!  Thanks honey for doing such an amazing job!!!  Love you!!

Instructions for properly hugging a baby:


1. First, find a baby.

2. Be sure that the object you found was indeed a baby by employing classic sniffing techniques.

3. You will need to flatten the baby before beginning the actual hugging process.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4. Simply slide paws around baby.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5. If a camera is present, execute the difficult and patented 'hug, smile, and lean' so as to achieve the best photo quality.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ahhh!!  Makes me want to go home and squeeze my baby!!
 
Hope everyone is having a great week!

A Bissell Rave

Okay so I rant a lot on my blog.  Today I want to rectify that just a little with a huge RAVE for Bissell.

As I have mentioned I had my own cleaning business for about 2 years.  I enjoyed the flexibility and I made pretty good money.  It was not good for my cuticles.  When I first started cleaning I bought one of these.

Love this thing. It cleans great. I use it on my tile at home and when I cleaned I used it on linoleum. I have used it on my wood floors but I don't suggest it. And DO NOT use it on laminate floors.

I needed new mop head covers, they are generally $19.95 for a 2pack and I have yet to find them in a store. A few weeks ago I found them on bissell.com for $9.95 for the 2pack so I ordered them and when I went to pay I kept getting an error. I was hugely frustrated because it said the price was good while supplies lasted. I was starting to panic. So I emailed Bissell and a few days later I get an email stating they were just going to mail me some out. I was never charged and they mailed me a 2 pack that I received days after I received the email. Just when I had given up hope on the big companies a company like Bissell does something like this - you know - great customer service! I thought customer service was dead. This was WAY above and beyond.  It was a GREAT experience.  Thank you Bissell!!

My Life Right Now

Some things that are going on and things I can't stop thinking about:

1) We are getting our house ready to be put on the market.  Can I say I am a little stressed?  We painted all (4) of the bathrooms last weekend and they look great, but we have a lot more to do.  We need to paint trim and paint kitchen cabinets, have the carpets shampooed and the list goes on, to include painting outside and some yard work.  Did I mention March is the coldest nastiest time of the year in Colorado?  Genius right?

2) I need to break up with these people  - or as I like to say "get off the sauce"

 3) I liked it better when my husband went to work to talk to me at my work.  Now he goes to work - to work - gross ;)

4) I can't stop thinking about the 4 lbs I lost last week and if #2 does not happen I will not have a repeat.  I have shin splints and my workouts have been very inconsistant so I am getting very worried about my weightloss.  And I have a small confession, my pants aren't the only thing I did a victory lap with, I may have, while still staying within my my calorie allowance, done a victory lap with a few Chewy chips ahoys and a peanut butter cup.  I had taken 5 days off to heal my leg (painting counts as resting right?) so I was not planning on not getting through my workout last night.

5) If the baby does not stop bonking her head on things she may never learn to read.  I think the WORST sound in the world is the sound/feel of a child hitting their head on something.  Apparently I dislike it so much that I can block it out of my memory.  I always forget how much a child at AL's age (9 months) hits their head.  It churns my stomach and yanks at my heart.  I had no idea the two where attached.  So AL if you can read this - please stop hitting your head on things!

6) In the mornings when I first wake up I think of some great things to blog about.  By the time I have time to blog - I can't remember them.  So this is the product of that.

7) My trip and 32.  This week I am going to DC and than NYC for my birthday I get to see family and I get to have some fun with my oldest sister!!  I also turn 32 on Friday - not so fun.

Sorry I have been a little unavaiable the past week and the same will probably be true this coming week.  Our house has been very busy.  I hope everyone has a fabulous week!

P.S. - I weigh in tonight and I can't wait - did I just say that - Yes I did!!