My Cleaning LIst

I was really sick for a few days last week and NOTHING got done.  One day my whole goal of the day was to keep the kids alive until my sweet husband came home.  As you can probably guess, my house completely fell apart.  I have been obsessively trying to organize and clean everything ever since I started feeling better again.  I have been stalking organizing and cleaning sections of Pinterest all week and here is one thing I came up with.

I have seen so many cleaning schedules online and none of them really seemed to fit me.  I decided to adapt one to my own lifestyle and habits.  While it is not a complete list of everything that always needs to be done, I think it is pretty good at making sure the basics are covered. 

If you want my template so can adapt it to your own schedule, I can send you copy. 

Inspired by:

I kind of thought a girl needs a maid and no kids for this to be realistic for me.  (sweep after every meal? Not happening for me.) So grateful for the idea's though!

http://www.brownpaper--packages.com 

Star Wars Valentines

 

I made valentines last year for William that turned out ADORABLE!  This year I was seriously lacking in ideas so I decided to just take William to the store to buy some.  While we were at the store, I was so annoyed about how cheap the valentines were - they didn't even come with envelopes. While we were there I was looking up supplies for another project and my sister posted a tutorial for these cute Star Wars valentines (he wanted the Star Wars ones at the store anyway) and I found my solution!

While I am happy with how they turned out, they actually ended up being so much more work that I thought.  First, bought wrong size of bag. Second, couldn't find a 3/4" hole punch for kisses so went with a 1".  Third, ran out of ink. Fourth, could NOT find my stapler!!!  Since I refused to head back to the store again, I went with ribbons.  Oh well!  At least Valentines is only once a year (and next year I get to make some for Katelyn too!)  Here is to trying to be a more prepared crafter.


Star wars tutorial link:

http://www.meckmom.com

Masterpiece display

 

Just finished my new art display wall.  Sadly I bought the store out of clips, so more clips will be coming this week.  (Is that sad I posted it before it's totally done?  Sorry!)  Thanks a TON to

http://alittleofthis---alittleofthat.blogspot.com/2010/11/diy-kids-art-display.html

Back to Fall and Back to Crafting!

 I made this for Katelyn with Vinyl from http://yourvinylanswerdecor.blogspot.com/.  She also has an etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/YourVinylAnswer with adorable things! 

I am also obsessed with pinterest and bought copy rights to this image, had it printed at costco, and mod podged it to wood.  This is the first of a series of three I am working on for William's room.  I have been looking for things for his room forever, and I fell instantly in love when I found these prints.  http://oohmoon.com/2011/03/planes-trains-automobiles/

I have a few other projects in the works, so I will post pictures as I finish them.  I HEART PINTEREST!

To Gym or NOT to Gym?

That is the question.  I have been going to the gym for almost a year now.  I checked my account and I have gone 97 times!  I have received so many benefits from getting in shape, even I am surprised I am thinking of dropping it.

• My hips don't hurt after a busy shift at work anymore.  
• I am actually happier and not nearly as moody.  I even feel like I have more patience.  
• I feel great and my pants are all too big. 
• My kids are frequently the ones dragging me to the gym - they have made lots of friends there.  
• I have been able to do things there is no way I could have done without going including shoveling 5 yards of dirt and biking 40 miles and still trying to break a sweat. 

So the disadvantages have to be pretty high to make me think of dropping it.

• First, I am paying over $600 a year for me and my children to go to the gym. 

Even more than money, are the time and energy factors.

• Time wise, it takes me 15 min. to get there so that's 30 min. round trip I am losing as opposed to exercising at home.
• I also go first thing in the morning, which makes me feel like I am not getting to use my most productive time of the day to get things done.  
• At the gym feel like I have to kill myself exercising since my time there is so valuable to me (having to have my kids in the kids club). Then I come home all worn out and a nap is usually in order with the kids afternoon naps. (not to mention no energy to clean!)
• I love to plan adventures with my kids, but going to the gym has definitely cut out lots of these adventures. (we have used our zoo season pass once!) 

I guess the question is, is can I actually get myself to exercise at home? Is it better for my kids to find something to do at home, or play and watch tv at the gym? (The ideal would be to wake up early...dream). Will I actually use the time I am saving productively? I am sick of walking into the gym and smelling the sweat.  I adore Brenda, who teaches some of my classes, but other than that, I usually do my own thing anyway.

I am still mulling it around in my head, but I am definitely pointing more towards the 'quitting' direction. What do you think?


(As an end thought, this is a hilarious post in regards to my last 3 posts. They are all about exercising and eating healthy, and the one before those is about my role as homemaker.  Well, there you have it, my two arched nemeses.)

New Exercise Philosophy Part 2

 If you read Part 1, you are probably laughing at me because eating healthy should not be a new concept.  In one sense, I exercise so I can eat whatever I want. In another sense, I started thinking to myself "I just killed myself at the gym and I don't want to throw all that out the window for just anything". It is a fine line either way, but there is no downside to eating healthy, so finding a cool app to help and even make it a game is always welcomed. 

Now, since I am more drawn to the 'eat whatever you want' concept, I'm continually tweaking my exercise philosophy. Here is what I am doing right now.

Since I started going to the gym, I have mainly been focusing on low weights and high reps to build lean muscle mass because muscle burns more calories than fat (and I don't want to bulk up).  Well, this new plan goes along with that. One of my girl friends (Katie Tyler:-) told me her trainer (Brenda, whom I adore) told her from the very beginning to just work on her legs and not to worry about the rest.  That is because if you want more muscle to burn more calories, your leg muscles are the biggest muscles you have.  Long story short, I am now trying to kill my legs at the gym, so if you see me hobbling along or wincing as I get up and down, cheer me on. It is all in the name of guilt free treats.

New Exercise Philosophy Part 1

I am continually tweaking and modifying how I exercise and try to get in shape.  One thing that hit me recently, was a weight loss show where a girl exercised 4 hours a day but didn't eat healthy and she only lost 3 lbs in 3 months!  That was huge compared to how much she had been losing when she ate healthy.

I recently discovered and AWESOME app that goes along with eating healthy. It is called my fitness pal, and it is basically a calorie counter.  You put in your age, weight, activity level, ideal weight, and how fast you would like to lose the weight, and it tells you how many calories you can eat each day.  It even gives you more calories to eat on the days you exercise. The amazing part is the database on this app. You can scan in the bar code of whatever you are eating and the put in your servings. You can do a search on that food and it has probably every brand out there - kroger, western family, you name it. It even had our local salsa company in its database.  It also has homemade versions for calories and you can put in a recipe of something you eat a lot of, and it will tell you how many calories a serving is (I did it will my homemade granola).  I took Katelyn to IHOP one day and it even had my IHOP strawberry danish crepes in the database.  WOW!!!

I lost 2 lbs the first week, and that was more than my goal!  It is all about portion control and it really helped me realize how many calories are in the junk food I eat.  (Clark happened to make a huge pan of Texas sheet cake and this little app helped me have the will power to resist even that at 450 calories per 4" square). I realized I could eat a tiny piece of cake and be hungry later, or I could eat lots and lots of fruits and vegetables and feel great. I am not still trying to lose weight, but I love this just to maintain and be aware of what I am eating.