Category Archives: Family

A Husband & His Brownie Points!

Good evening!

On my way home from work this evening, my sweetie texted me to let him know when I got home. When I got here I texted:

“I am here”

“OK, Baby, go straight to your favorite seat in the living room, and sit down.” I read.

“ok.” I replied. “why???”

No response. “Hmmm…”

I got into the house, dropped my things off in their respective homes, let the dogs into the living room, and then headed over to my favorite living room seat, and what did I see???

A beautifully wrapped package!! What a NICE surprise!!! Inside was a lovely box of French chocolate mint truffles – my FAVORITE!!! The movie Tangled, which is something that I am VERY EXCITED to watch!! and the SWEETEST card!! Talk about a man making BROWNIE POINTS!!!

Then he walked in with his arms full of groceries, which means he took care of that HUGE chore without any prompting from me, and then proceeded to give me another item to go with my gift!! The newest InStyle magazine!! YEAH!!! He knows the way to this girl’s heart!!! When I asked him what the reason for all of this goodness was, he simply replied,

“You needed to know you’re worth it!”

AAAAAAH!! WHAT A MAN!!! 😉

I love you so much, Baby-Jay!! I can’t wait to spend some time this evening hanging out with you, having fun, being silly, and have a blast laughing!! YOU ARE MY WORLD!!!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOU!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

The Chunky Dunker’s Club, Week 5

Good evening!

Welcome to week 5, of the Chunky Dunker’s Club!!! Can you believe it has been Five weeks already??

Every week I post a new Chunky Dunker’s article ever Wednesday evening, and you have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

Before I get on tonight’s topic, I am VERY HAPPY to report that I have lost 7.2 pounds since our very first week!!!! YEAH!!!

Tonight’s topic: Tracking Your Way Towards Progress

By no means am I an expert in this area, but I am coming to realize that tracking your journey could be the key to your fitness success. The primary benefit of logging your diet and exercise is motivation. It is much easier to stay on track if you can look back after sticking to your program for a period of time and see that you’ve lost several pounds or shaved a few seconds off your routine neighborhood run; and if you should keep your weekly weight on a simple chart, then you can see that descending line or the ascending graph of your weight loss progress. These visual cues are reminders that you are taking small steps each and every day toward your larger goal and it’s working.

Having your diet and exercise plan in writing greatly increases your chances of sticking to them versus simply trying to “cut back” on unhealthy foods or “exercise more”. Defined goals and plans to reach those goals will ensure that you achieve what you wish. Sometimes your mind will tell you that you’ve been exercising regularly when you can look back at your training log and see clearly and definitively that you’ve only averaged one workout per week for the past month. I find that when I track my food, I actually have eaten more than what I thought I had, or eaten more of the wrong things, then what my memory could recollect, which is why writing it down has become key for me.

Whether your goal is to lose 10 pounds by next summer, lower your blood pressure by 5 points, or shave 30 seconds off your weekly club 10k time trial, you will need a plan. By tracking your exercise times, distance, diet, measurements, feelings, and any other thoughts or goings on a daily basis you will be in a much better position to understand what you need to do to reach your goal.

There are many ways you can start tracking your progress. There are many online tools that you can use, my personal favorite is LiveStrong.com Thier . Or, you can keep your details in a journal, spiral notebook, or some other paper-based device – the choice is yours. I personally track my food and exercise using LiveStrong.com’s My Plate (which is free, btw) and I journal for the most part either on paper, or on my daily blog, which most of you already read. 🙂 I weigh and measure every Wednesday morning, and I LOVE keeping that progress in a simple Excel graph! Being visual it is GREAT motivation to keep doing a good job!
So, tell me what you think?? Is tracking your progress something that you might want to do? If so how, and what are you going to start tracking? Also, how has your Kaizen assignment been going from last week? Also, I want to know what is working, and what isn’t working with our Chunky Dunker’s Club. Do you have any ideas that might help us make our group more successful? I am always up for suggestions!!
With that, I am going to wrap it up, and we can open up our discussion in the comment section of this posting!
Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

The Chunky Dunker’s Club, Week 4

Good evening!

Welcome to week 4, of the Chunky Dunker’s Club!!! Can you believe it has been FOUR weeks already??

Every week I post a new Chunky Dunker’s article ever Wednesday evening, and you have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

Tonight’s topic: Keizen or Constant and Never Ending Improvement!!

At work today, I had an 8 hour class on the Japanese concept of Kaizen (pronouned Ky-zen), which literally means “Good Change”. The basic concept of Kaizen is the idea of making minute changes to your processes to create a different outcome than where you may already be heading. Otherwise, constant and never ending improvement through baby steps!! I LOVE THAT!! I thought that this would be PERFECT to apply to our goal of getting fit and healthy.

I had studied Kaizen as it relates to fitness in the past, and one of the things I had read was, if you are having troubles exercising, do one thing – one small thing, just to get the ball of momentum rolling. This doesn’t have to be a big action, I would actually encourage you to do one VERY TINY action. For me, it is simply the act of putting my tennis shoes on, as if I am going to go for a walk. That’s it! Not the walk, just putting on the shoes for the walk. If today was successful, for tomorrow, I might make it my Kaizen goal to put on my tennis shoes, and then add a 5 minute walk. Nothing too big, or scary!!! I can commit to TINY ACTION!! If today doesn’t work, try something else, but just keep trying ANYTHING!

For some of you I know that you might be thinking that exercise is not an option, so maybe your TINY ACTION might be to raise your arms above your head 1 time! Can you do it twice tomorrow? How about 3 times? If you find that it 3 times is too much, then go back to 1 time, until eventually you ARE able to do it 3 times, 5 times, 10 times, etc!!

You can apply Kaizen to your eating habits too! Maybe today you decide you will have diet soda instead of regular, or maybe you will get really brave and have none! Maybe you can eat one more serving of vegetables than you did yesterday, or maybe substitute one unhealthy ingredient out for one healthy one instead. Do you see what I mean!?!?! We can all DO THAT!! 😉

The idea behind this is that if you do enough TINY HEALTHY ACTIONS every day/week/month you will EASILY be on your way to your most AUTHENTICALLY healthy and fit self!! I fully believe that! I don’t always act on it, but that is what we are all here for – to SUPPORT ONE ANOTHER!!!

This week, my commitment to you, is that I am going to carry a small notebook with me every where I go, and ANY TIME I DO ANYTHING that is good for me, or promotes a healthy and fit lifestyle, I will write it down and share it with you every evening! How does that sound?? I would encourage you all to share any TINY ACTIONS or KAIZEN TASKS that you may be taking any and every day! They will quickly add up, and you will have LOADS of proof that YOU CAN GET FIT AND HEALTHY!!!

I dare you to literally take that FIRST TINY STEP! I would love to hear in the comment section what that TINY step might be!! GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!!

Before I go, I was hoping to share a health-ified recipe with you this evening. I “borrowed” this off of one of my FAVORITE sites, Eating Well. They have all sorts of GREAT recipe ideas, and I would HIGHLY recommend going out there and checking out their site!!

This recipe is from their article, 10 Spring Diners in 30 Minutes or Less – you know how much Mamma likes getting in and out of the kitchen as quickly as possible!!! 😉

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Aquavit Seasonings

The seasonings traditionally used to make aquavit—a Northern European distilled spirit—vary with every recipe, but they usually include pork-friendly seasonings like caraway, cumin and fennel-so why not combine the two? This easy, pretty dish is great hot off the grill or made ahead and chilled.

8 servings

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes (including 30 minutes marinating time)

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
  • 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
  • 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1/2 bay leaf
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
  • 2 1-pound pork tenderloins, trimmed

Preparation

  1. Combine caraway, coriander, fennel, cumin and bay leaf in a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder; process to a fine powder. Add salt and pepper.
  2. Place 2 tablespoons of the spice rub in a small bowl. Combine the remaining rub with dill in another small bowl.
  3. Place 1 tenderloin on a piece of plastic wrap. To butterfly it, hold your knife parallel to the cutting board and slice through the meat to within a half inch of the opposite side. Open like a book. Cover with more plastic wrap and gently pound with a mallet or heavy skillet to 1/2-inch thickness. Repeat with the second tenderloin.
  4. Spread half of the dill-spice mixture down the center of each flattened tenderloin. Roll the pork, jelly-roll style, to create 2 long cylinders; tie kitchen string around each in several spots to keep them rolled. Rub all over with the reserved (no-dill) spice rub. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 6 hours.
  5. Preheat grill to medium-high or preheat the broiler.
  6. Oil the grill rack (see Tip) (if broiling, line a broiler pan with foil and oil the foil). Grill or broil the tenderloins, turning several times, until just cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 145°F, 14 to 18 minutes.
  7. Transfer the tenderloins to a clean cutting board, tent with foil and let rest for 5 minutes before carving into 1/2-inch slices.

Tips & Notes

  • Make Ahead Tip: Prepare the spice rub (Step 1) up to 5 days ahead; store in an airtight container. Cover and refrigerate rolled tender loins for up to 6 hours. If serving cold, grill or broil the pork, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. | Equipment: Kitchen string
  • Tip: To oil the grill rack, oil a folded paper towel, hold it with tongs and rub it over the rack. (Do not use cooking spray on a hot grill.) When grilling delicate foods like tofu and fish, it is helpful to spray the food with cooking spray.

Nutrition

Per serving: 130 calories; 3 g fat ( 1 g sat , 1 g mono ); 74 mg cholesterol; 1 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 24 g protein; 1 g fiber; 207 mg sodium; 475 mg potassium.

Exchanges: 3 1/2 lean meat

WOW! I am sorry for the SUPER long posting tonight! YOU KNOW ME!!! Anyway, I look forward to hearing how all of you are doing this week with your health and fitness goals, your thoughts on Kaizen, and if you might try any TINY action tomorrow! and if anyone has just stumbled onto this blog, please feel to join in on the commenting, this is not a closed group!! – THE MORE THE MERRIER!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Recipe Pic, Week 4

Happy Tuesday!

Good evening!

I am at home, by myself for the second night in a row, and it looks like it will be that way all week! My sweetie is helping our sis, Nette, build on an addition on to their house. They are hoping to have it done by the end of the week. I am not sure if it will be, but they are making some serious headway. My niece, Megan, keeps saying, “we are all squished – I can’t wait to get a living room.” I understand completely, my living room is probably my FAVORITE room in the house. It is where most of my fiction books are stored!! 😉

Anyway, work was pretty good today, we are doing a lot of interviewing for a few positions open in my group, so that can be a little draining. I find that it is difficult to find someone for our type of positions, since we are so specialized, and the job description really sounds scary – even to us who are actually doing the job!  I am hoping we have found a good candidate today, and that everything works out. They will need a lot of training, but then again, ANYONE we hire would!! I DID!!!

Anyway, that is enough about that!! As for my house on a diet? So far, so good!! When I got home today, I realized I was able to make quite a big dent in the cleaning yesterday, and tonight I am happy to say that the house is pretty clean!!! Jason even helped me change the bedding last night, which was WONDERFUL!! I just love slipping in between freshly cleaned, crisp, cool sheets!!! AAAAAAH!! That is the LIFE!! 😉

Tonight I am going to write a letter to our sponsor child in Mozambique! I had set out a goal for myself to write her at least one letter every month, and I HONESTLY forgot all about sending her one in February!! SAD, I KNOW!!! But I am determined to have a letter sent out tomorrow!! I will have to find something from the goody basket that I can slip into her package. We are able to mail small things that she might enjoy, like stickers, and what not, so I try to keep a basket full of all kinds of goodies that are ready to be sent at a moments’ notice!! I am sure whatever I choose she will love it!!! 😉

I have started a cross-stitch project last evening! I am wanting to have a homemade Christmas this year. I am not sure how that will go over with everyone, but I want to see if I can get more creative in my gift giving. I can’t really tell you too much about it because I know that the future recipient of this gift reads my blog, and I want it to be a surprise!!

But, talking about crafting, I am really wanting to learn how to quilt! I would LOVE to have a homemade quilt for our bed, and maybe even make future quilts for others! Wouldn’t that be lovely??? I think there is something very special and intriguing about sleeping underneath a handmade quilt. Especially if it was made by someone who knows and loves you! I am not sure there is anything more precious than that! I will have to do some research!

In the meantime, I am going to be looking up some how-to’s on how to press flowers. I would like to go on a nature walk this week and press a bunch of beautiful flowers, and leaves that I might find! I think that framed, they would make such a fun and personal way to remember  special location, like Silver Creek Falls, or the Oregon coast!! The only problem I will end up having is trying to find wall space to display those treasures! Oh well, I am sure I can find someone’s walls to use for hanging them on!!

I apologize if my post seems to be rambling on a little bit tonight! It is kind of the state of my mind at the moment, I am tired and revved at the same time! I didn’t sleep well last night, but it feels much too early to go to bed yet. Well, if that is the biggest problem I am facing right now, then life is pretty sweet isn’t it???

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

Note to Chunky Dunkers: Don’t forget that tomorrow night is the Chunky Dunker’s Club. I can’t wait to hear how everyone is doing!! I am going to see if I can find a yummy recipe to share! Please feel free to do the same!!! See you tomorrow night!!! GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!! 😉

Putting My House on a Diet!

Good evening!!

Before I start my rant this evening, I wanted to give a shout out to my sister, Alexa, in Arizona! I am just SO PROUD OF HER!! She bit the bullet, and has started a blog! I look forward to reading about her hopes, dreams, and desires! I love you, Sissy! You mean the world to me!!! CHECK HER OUT HERE!!! 😉

On to my nightly rant 😉

Tonight is one of those rare evenings when I am home by myself, and I noticed something as I walked through my front door, that for some reason I haven’t noticed lately:

MY HOUSE IS A BIG OL’ PIG-STYE!!!

SERIOUSLY!?!?!?! So not only have I made a HUGE dent on chores since I have gotten home from work, but I have decided to put my house on a SERIOUS DIET!!! I already have a box packed and ready to go to Goodwill! I think I will take that over there before I get my dinner ready!!

Where does this need to pack as much CRAP into your life as humanly possible come from?? Is this the American dream? Is this what I work so long and hard at a job that literally drains me of all energy and motivation to do anything??? OH HELL NO!!! I am not sure how my husband is going to feel about it, but SOMEONE has got to stop the insanity and HONEY, THAT SOMEONE LOOKS LIKE IT IS GOING TO BE ME!!!

The first thing I am going to do is turn on my happy music, and gather 3 bins/bags/receptacles:

  1. Stuff to  put away!
  2. Trash to throw away!
  3. Stuff to give away!

Then I am going to pick one room to go through every other day – that way I don’t overwhelm myself and just decide what to do with each item I come across!! Do I really need 6 years worth of magazines??? Well…NO! I DON’T! I am taking my home back!!

When I think of all the time and money I have invested into all of this STUFF & not even IMPORTANT STUFF, and how much time and money I STILL invest in all of this STUFF, it just makes me green with sickness!! UGH! I am sure I could have gone to Paris 3 times over already!! WHAAA!

Ok, so I am putting my big girl panties on, getting with the program, and taking responsibility for the mess (LITERALLY) that I have gotten myself in, and I my house is now OFFICIALLY on a diet!!

Wish me luck!! I hope my house doesn’t end up going through withdrawals, or going through the DTS, I am not sure I will be able to handle that. But I am mentally prepared to deal with a house that will be, at times very snarky, and I will have to deal with all of it’s cravings for a new tcha0ki, or magazine, or dust ruffle – who knows what kind of tail spin a diet of this magnitude could do to my house!!! LOL! I will keep you posted!! 😉

As I get my booty busy cleaning house…

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Note to Chunky Dunkers: How is everything going, did you think I had forgotten about you?? NO WAY! I am still in the thick (and thin) of trying to take care of my body, and get fit and healthy!! Hang in there, if you fall of the wagon, just get yourself up, and hop back on. One step at a time, one minute at a time, one bite at a time! WE CAN DO THIS!!!

Another Lazy Sunday!

Good morning!

It looks like it is going to be another lazy Sunday around my house today! My hubby is still sick, but apparently going to fight it, until I can finally convince him to get back into bed!! The dogs are happy, fed, and snuggled up against my side while I blog this morning – I really love that.

It is rather quite this morning at my place. The only sound going right now, is the sound of the heater blowing, which is kind of nice when your week is full of crazy hububb-iness!! The sky is the limit for what I can do today, but I think I am leaning towards going swimming, to give my body a good stretch and workout!

Talking about taking care of my body, well – I have been tracking my food with a daily calorie goal in mind, and for me, that is going to be my bread and butter for getting fit and healthy. It seems to be the only thing that makes the scale tip in my favor – which really makes this girl HAPPY!!! 😉 Water has always been something I like to drink, but I find that when I drink AT LEAST 2 liters a day – OR MORE, that is when my scale likes to cooperate with me too!!! So I am trying REALLY HARD to stay on top of that!! As for exercise, right now SWIMMING is my saving grace. It is the only place in this world where I feel not only weightless, but graceful!! I can do things in the water that I could NEVER do out in the real world – not at the weight and size that I am. With the addition of my friends and family for support, I know that fitness is something that I can and will achieve!!!

OK, I am not sure where that tangent came from, but let’s talk about books for a moment! I would love nothing more than to spend a few hours reading today, but I am having trouble finding a good book worth diving head-first into, to be enveloped inside of it’s delicious story!! This is soooo ironic because my library consists of over 1000 books from which to choose from, and most of which I have never even have read yet. Part of my problem is my self-appointed guilt that I feel whenever I start to read a book and don’t like it – for some reason I feel like I have to read the entire book, no matter how much I feel like I am just trudging on! In some kooky way I feel like I am somehow being disrespectful to the book! OK, TOTALLY CRAZY, I KNOW!!! LOL!! 😉 I will have to just suck it up today, and start reading. I just know I have quite a few gems in this collection that, once I find, I will be kicking myself for not having found them sooner!!!

Another thing I was just thinking of, was my sis, Nette, is remodeling her house. Most of the family is helping her, except me. You see, everyone knows that if you want design ideas, decorating tips & hints, a shopping buddy, I am your girl, BUT if you need some manual labor of any kind, you might as well call someone else (sorry, sis!!!). 😉 This may stem from the fact that I NEVER like to get my hands dirty! This has been a long standing joke in my family! Ever since I can remember I have HATED to get my hands dirty!!! My dad says, that I could have been covered from head to toe in all sort of mud, dirt and grime, but if my hands got dirty, I would come running over, crying, until someone wiped them off and then I would run off to play some more with the rest of my filthy self! All of the witnessing adults would look at each other as if they had just come into contact with an alien species, and laugh their heads off!!! Well, as much as I hate to admit it, I STILL HATE to get my hands dirty – TO THIS DAY!!! I am not sure what that is all about, but I have a nephew who is EXACTLY THE SAME WAY!! So, I am TOTALLY SURE that it must be something genetic!! Well, at least that is my story, and I AM STICKING TO IT, well, as long as my hands don’t get dirty in the process!! LOL! 🙂

Thanks for sticking with me this morning, as I see my post today is pretty random!! Now you have a sampling of what it is like to be inside of my head – scary right??? LOL! 😉

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

A Saturday Evening Update!

Good evening!

Well, sort of!

I really have had a GREAT day, but the same can not be said for my sweetie – he is sick with, what I think could be the flu!! I never do very well when he is sick. You see, he is the person who makes this house fun! He sees humor in almost everything and his joy is contagious!! When he is sick, I almost don’t know what to do with myself. There is this sense, that I put upon myself, to walk around on egg shells and be extremely quiet, and try to make him as comfortable as possible!!! Just so he can get better and bring the joy back into our home!!! LOL!! NO PRESSURE, HONEY!!! LOL!! 😉

So, he is sick! I have picked up some medication, and root beer popsicles for him; his only two requests, and he quickly drifted back off to sleep! I have been quietly sitting next to him, watching a movie on my mini laptop, with headphones on – The Stone of Destiny. VERY GREAT movie by the way!!!  and now that the movie is over, I am at a loss as to what to do next. How sad is that? I have a few magazines I can read, ok, really a lot more than a few, but it is just too quiet in the house for 8 o’clock on a Saturday night!!! Even the dogs know that “daddy” is sick, so they won’t leave his side for anything – not even when I went downstairs to EAT MY DINNER!!! I know, hard to believe, isn’t it??? 😉

Anyway, as sad and pathetic I sound, even to myself, I realize I am just going to have to hunker down and keep myself busy. He can only get better so quickly you know? But REALLY, if he COULD JUST HURRY!?!?!?! I would really appreciate that!! 😉

Maybe he is right, I may have no patience…but that will have to wait for another blog posting!!! LOL!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!!

Our Day, Part 5

Only one last thing to do before I take Megan home today, and that is lunch. Of all the places in town she could choose from, she chose Wendy’s because the Frostys are her ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!!!

I love this chickie of mine, and I am just so thankful that I get to be a part of her life! I know there may come a day where she thinks I am just too old to hang out with, or completely uncool, but as for now, I am still in and I am sooooo working on living it up!!!!

I love you, Miss Megan!!!
Love, Love, Love,
~Auntie Chrissy 😉