It's August!

Almost 6 months ago, I made a goal.  My goal was to lose 25 pounds by my 35th birthday.  I have never kept a diet goal for more than maybe a week, I love eating and hate working out.  But I kept reminding myself that at this age, the only way for me to reach my goal was to keep up with my food intake and working out. The eating part was hard to change but after 6 months, I definitely can tell the difference.  I love fresh veggies and fruit, and though I still have a weakness for chips and chocolates, Im doing a lot better with picking better foods :)

As far as working out.  I started with Shawn T's Insanity Max 30 everyday.  I did that for 2 months.  In the middle of that I decided to add walking 2-3 miles a day.  I haven't done much cardio in a while, but I have walked at least 2 miles daily.  I love walking!

As far as my goal, I am not gonna make it.  My birthday is in 8 days and I still have 10 pounds to lose. It makes me bummed that I didn't make my goal.  But I did lose 15 pounds and that's a big deal! My clothes fit better, some are too big. lol I've lost inches all over.  So there is something to celebrate! Right now I'm trying to see just how much more I can lose before my birthday... We shall see.


For now we are 7 days into August and we've already started school, celebrated baby girl's 6th birthday twice, and are counting down for mommy's bday. Baby boy is 3 and a big, cute mess. lol  Big sis is doing a great job holding down the fort!

Getting healthy journey

It's been a while since I've been on my fitness journey.  May was kind of a lost month for me, I didn't gain or lose anything.  It was very annoying.  I lost 2 pounds the last 2 weeks of June.  I am now at a 13 pound loss.  I have lost inches, though I don't know how much b/c I haven't measured in a while.  I've gone down a size, so that's nice :)  I still 12 more pounds to lose by August 15th.  I have no idea if I can make that goal.  I've been stagnant for so long, it's a tad discouraging, but I keep going.  If I don't make it to my goal I know it'll be ok, I'll just keep going.

I walk 2-3 miles everyday.  I'm trying to get to running but my left leg always hurts after running. I may have to invest on better shoes. A friend wants me to do the half marathon with her in February, I'm both excited and scared. I never thought I'd be a runner lol I'm trying to get back to my Beachbody work outs on top of running but I've been struggling.  Hopefully next week!

Im hoping to see the scale start dropping again...

This past weekend I got to go on my first mommy's getaway to visit my mom at NC.  It was so relaxing and fun. I loved getting the 1 on 1 time with my mom :)

Gorgeous views where she lives! 

 I gained a little bit of my weight back, like 1.5 pounds... I ate a lot of carbs! But I mean, this baked French Toast was the most amazing thing ever.  After I was done I was full and could've totally eaten more. 

Feeling very relaxed... 

I indulged in ice cream from my favorite local ice cream shop.

Here we are on one of our walks.  So many beautiful sights.  Kyra photobombed my picture :) 

We walked 2 times a day up and down the mountains.  We walked a total of 3 miles daily and the equivalent of going up 30 floors, my daily average is 10. lol 

10.5

10. 5 weeks ago I started a new journey.  I had tried diets and working out before but never fully committed.  This time I had a goal.  I wanted to lose 25 pounds by my 35th birthday.  I set this goal Mid Feb, which gave me almost exactly 6 months to complete my journey.  I am almost at the 3 month mark, in 1.5 weeks I'll hit 3 months. Today I weighed myself, I have lost 10 pounds, 15 more to go!  I'm hoping that in 1.5 weeks I can lose 2-3 more pounds to hit half my goal weight :)

I think my goal is attainable, but regardless if I reach it by Aug 15th or not, I'm still going and I'm still trying.  I haven't done cardio for almost a month.  But I walk everyday, around 2.5 miles, and somedays of the week I can do more than 3.  My distance/time is dependent on when daddy goes to work. lol

This week I've struggled with getting up early to do my walk.  I am slugglish and tired.  I think my anemia is getting the best of me again, but I've restarted my iron so hopefully that helps.  Seeing the scale victories, is a huge encouragement.  Also my clothes fit so much better!  It's really nice to finally have clothes that fit and not make me feel fat. lol  Everyone I come across asks me "what are you doing" lol I am not losing weight for anyone but me, but it's nice to get the compliments ;)

8 weeks in...

Tomorrow marks 8 weeks since I've started my "healthier me" journey.  I've been doing Beachbody for 8 weeks and walking for 6 weeks.  I've changed how I eat, slowly.  I LOVE food, so giving up the junk food has been hard, but I'm noticing more and more that I WANT to eat healthier and crave the healthy foods...

This is the end of my 8 weeks, alas I will have to complete my 8th week next week.  I've been sick this week and feel like a truck ran me over.  I walked 3 days this week instead of 5 and have not done my beach body work out b/c I couldn't manage it.  I'm still working on eating healthy. :)

But in 8 weeks I have lost 7 pounds.  I was hoping for a bigger loss, but excited for the progress I've made.  I've also lost 6 inches overall.  My clothes are fitting better and people are starting to notice that I'm smaller.  It's kinda nice :) I have 18 pounds to go before my 35th birthday, and 4 months left! I think i can do it! I'm excited.

So what am I doing? People keep asking...
I follow the beach body nutritional plan. I bought these knock offs on amazon for $10.  You follow the serving size containers according to how much you want to lose and calorie intake.  I allow 1200-1400 calories per day.  So that is 4 red containers (protein), 3 green containers (veggies), 2 purple (fruit), 2 yellows (carbs), 1 blue (good fats) and 1 orange (dressings and such).  I eat all that per day.  Which I am "supposed" to eat it everyday, but I can't eat all that in 1 day.  It's actually too much food. lol I'm slowly trying to figure out healthier recipes and one of my new favorites is salad. :)

I am also doing 30 minutes of cardio a day.  I'm using the Insanity Max 30 work out videos.  Which as I've said, this is the last week, week 8.  But I'll have to redo it next week ;)  After I finish it, I'm not sure what video I'll use, I might redo month 2 of Insanity Max 2.  

I also power walk every morning, 2.5 miles which takes me about 45-50 minutes.  I started trying to run too, but I had to take a break b/c my arthritic knees couldn't handle it. I LOVE walking :) 

Aren't sunrises so beautiful?!?! 

4 weeks in...

This weekend marks 4 weeks since I started a getting fit journey.  4 weeks ago I started back to insanity max 30 with Shaun T.  It's REALLY hard but I can def see some changes in my body.  I have def lost some inches but the pounds aren't coming off as easily.  In 4 weeks I've lost 4 pounds, not bad, but I was hoping for more.

2 weeks ago I started walking in the mornings.  I didn't think I'd like giving up an hour of sleep to walk, but I love it.  Seeing the sun rise, hearing the birds, the still and quiet of the morning, it's so amazing.  I love starting my mornings this way.  I wake up before everyone else and get to walk.  I've slowly built up to 2.6 miles today, I'm power walking and hoping to build up to running soon.  I am so weak I was able to jog .09 miles today before collapsing. hahaha I can def see the progress though just in power walking, I feel less tired during my walk now and I hate the days that I don't get to walk.

 Look at this beautiful sunrise! It's just gorgeous.  I seriously love my walks! 

All in all I'm excited at the progress I've made these 4 weeks.  I'm building a healthier more fit me.  My goal is to lose around 25 pounds before my 35th birthday in August.  We shall see... Whatever I lose will be progress.

How is it March!?!?!

This year is flying by!  It's March!
We are about 12 weeks away from finishing the school year, I know it's still far, but I'm excited. lol It's been a tiring year.  Baby sister is slowly improving her reading.  She is like her sister, if it's too "hard" they tend to not want to do it.  They like to get things right away and not have to work. lol So we're teaching that practice practice practice!!! Big sis loves science and we're working on getting her to like History.  Or at least not whine about it. ;)  Baby boy is running around like crazy and constantly getting hurt :(  Boys are SO much more clumsy and active then girls... I need to put him in a bubble!  We're still working on potty training, this week we did away with pull ups during the day.  He's doing so well in big boy underwear.  I can't wait till he's fully potty trained!

Mommy has been working on getting in shape!  Today I will finish week 3 of insanity Max 30 with Shaun T.  This is not my first go a this work out, but I'm def more committed this time around.  I've never gotten past week 4. This time I'll go to week 8.  For the past 3 weeks I've also been watching what I eat, but I was still allowing some cheats. lol This week I changed a few things:
- I bought the 21 day fix containers, so I"m following their nutritional guides.  I love those little containers, and it's changed how I see food.  I have been eating a LOT more veggies and less carbs.  Actually I barely eat/crave carbs anymore.  The other day I made vegetable fried rice, but instead of rice I used cauliflower.  SO SO GOOD!  And way less calories!  So I'm working on eating healthier and feel like I'm doing pretty good.
- on top of my daily 30 minute cardio with Shaun T, I added a 20-30 minute walk to my day.  I wake up an hour earlier in the mornings and walk.  I'm slowly building up to jogging.  I can power walk 1.5 miles now almost w/out feeling like dying. lol Baby steps! I want to be able to do 3 miles soon as well as hopefully build up to jogging.

I am feeling so much better, sleeping better, and losing weight!  My goal is to lose 25 pounds.  In 3 weeks I've lost 3.  Not great, but a loss is a loss. :)  I know I've lost inches as well, I can see some loss in myself.  I can't wait to lose more!

Life

Potty training is still going on, we have good days and bad.  He's doing so great!
Baby sister is rocking Kindergarten, getting more and more confident with her reading :)  Big sis is rocking 3rd grade.  We struggle through History, she thinks it's boring. lol I'm trying to find ways to make it more fun for her...

This week I've decided I've had enough.  Though in the past 2 years I've had many of those moments.  But I am still holding onto 20 pounds from baby boy's pregnancy.  I just can't lose it.  I look at pictures of myself from pre kids and I was SO skinny.  I hate that I can't lose this weight.  On top of which, I'd like to lose an additional 5-10 pounds from the girls pregnancies.  So 25-30 pounds is my goal. I'd love to lose it by my 35th birthday, in August. I'm really hoping that b/t avoiding my carbs and working out, I can lose this stupid weight!!!

Not much else is happening.  Thankfully life is boring! :)

Potty training

Almost exactly 3 years ago (sounds crazy!) we found out baby #3 would be a boy.  My first comment to hubby was "you will be potty training this one!"  I was terrified of potty training a boy.

Fast forward to about 6 months ago, hubby starts mentioning baby boy needs to be potty trained.  I was dreading it and I didn't feel ready, as well as didn't feel he was ready yet.  So I waited.  Till last week when I decided I'd be doing it soon.  then came this past Tuesday, we were out of diapers, but I had already bought pull ups.  So I thought maybe I'd wait till next week b/c we had been out Monday and Tuesday all day, I knew we'd be gone most of Thursday morning and I wanted a full week home to start.  Hubby said I just needed to bite the bullet, with 2 other kids we will be out and about a lot.

Which brings us to Wednesday.  I put him in pull ups, and we began potty training.  He had 3 incidents where he wet his pull up, but each time he told me immediately after.  There were times that I'd take him and he'd pee in the potty, which he thinks is hilarious!  And then once he actually came to tell me he needed to go potty and went!  I was impressed by how well he did on the first day, I wasn't expecting any of that!

Today he did #2 in his pull up, he had gone to bed in his last diaper and woke up VERY wet! lol  So after I cleaned up, we tried going potty but he wouldn't.  We left the house at 10, I tried taking him 2x to the potty while we were out, he wouldn't go.  We got home and had lunch.  He kept telling me he didn't need to go.  I finally took him at 1 to the potty, he was DRY! He went potty and did so good!

I'm so impressed and excited at how well he is doing.  I hope he keeps doing this well.  So far he's been easier than the girls :)

Getting Crafty

So I've been over my house decor for a while, but it became one of those "I'll update the look after we move" since we're looking to move soon.  Anyways, with the flood and new floors, I kinda decided to do some updates, just small things that I'll keep for a while, even after we move.  I bought a new area rug for the living room.  I had a 5x7 in teal there before, but moved it to the playroom to get a bigger one for the living room.  The one I fell in love w/ was from wayfair, but $200, so I decided to check out Ross and found a similar one, gray and beige, for $60.  Um, that's a no brainer there! lol  I also got some pillows in gray/aqua for the couch.  I bought new lamps b/c the ones I had were not only 11 years old, they were broken.  Actually I had already tossed 1 of them.  

Then came the task of what will go above the couch.  I am going for a "Fixer Upper"/Joanna Gaines look. lol  I LOVE the style.  So I found this thing on pinterest that I fell in love with.  So here we go, my quick weekend project.

First I found an old frame in my garage.  Thankful for #1 decluttering and #2 an artist husband who has a ton of old frames just sitting there. 

 So I have this paint, oh how I LOVE this paint.  I painted my dining room table this color (yes it's kinda of a nightmare with children).  It's called Crisp Linen white and I just love this color.  So I painted the frame, 2 coats. 

 Here's the frame all painted.  Now because I planned on distressing it, I didn't paint it perfectly, though I wanted a nice coverage because the frame was black.  After the paint dried overnight, I sanded the edges.  It has some designs on it and I really wanted that to pop.  I sanded all that to distress it. 

 Here's the frame all nice and distressed.  Next the husband helped me with this part, I attached chicken wire (bought on amazon for $8), to the back of the frame.  We used a staple gun for that part, and because I have no strength, my wonderful husband did that part. 

I LOVE the way it came out.

 Then came the fun part, attaching the boxwood wreath ($20 Target) to the wire.  So simple but so pretty! 

 And here it all is, above my couch.  The room still has a ways to go, but I'm happy with the simplicity of it right now.  I can't do much else until we move.  I love the minimalist look, which I did not have pre flood.  BUT it's SO easy to keep things clean now, so I'm going with the less is more look from now on! 

This is what I copied from pinterest.  I had planned on getting the little pennant banner and put our last name on it, but I am not sure if I still want to do that. 

at the end of the rainbow

For a while we kept wondering why God would allow our house to flood.  We're renters right now, this flood affected us, but we weren't responsible for the cost.  In the end our insurance covered all costs, which meant our landlord got new floors and a new downstairs bathroom at little cost to him. lol  So the joke was, "well what are WE getting out of this"..

To be honest, I dunno that we got anything out of it.  It did force us to PURGE a LOT and organize a ton of stuff downstairs.  The house looks incredible now, as long as you don't go upstairs ;) So some friends have said I gained peace of mind.  The floors are beautiful, and our closets are organized, we got rid of stuff we weren't using, and we even cleaned out the garage, which had been long overdue!
And for that I am thankful for the flood :)

So this is my favorite part, the dining room.  Hubby's desk used to be in front of that window, and now we moved it to another room.  Which makes our dining room HUGE! lol  And if you'll notice, our dining room serves as our school room. 

This is the table you see when you come into the house.  

The living room, the dining room is off to the left, it's one long room.  This is the view from the stairs.  I got a new rug, new pillows and new lamps.  We'd had the same pillows and lamps for 11 years!  It was overdue! I'm channeling my inner Joanna Gaines and love it!  I have a project in the works for an art piece for above the couch :) 

This is the playroom.  That rug used to be in the living room, but with tiled floors now, I wanted a bigger rug for the living and I wanted it gray :)  Because of the flood, I was forced to go through toys.  I got rid of a ton!  The playroom is now less overwhelming and quicker for the kids to clean up! 

I have definitely adopted the "less is more" mentality.  Having less junk makes the house feel less cluttered and easier to clean!  I love it!!!!

the big flood

January 7th started out as any other day, I don't even remember what we did.  Till about 4 pm.  I was taking a nap upstairs, nursing a migraine.  When I hear my children and husband screaming for me.  At first I thought something had happened to one of my children because I knew they were outside.  So I FLEW (yes it's possible to fly) down the stairs to find all my children safe and sound, and my usually chill and calm husband franctically running around.  I discovered a flood.  In the middle of him trying to fix our 1/2 bath toilet, the pipe broke, water EVERYWHERE!  And because grass had grown over the main shut off valve, it took him 15-20 minutes to get to it.  Which meant water traveling everywhere.  So our downstairs flooded and flooded...

Here's the cursed bathroom... 

within about 30 minutes, I discovered the water had traveled to the playroom, kitchen and garage (the garage shares a wall with the bathroom)

 Once I discovered water had traveled, I went to work packing up and moving things away from flood zones.  It was a tad overwhelming but thankfully all our stuff was safe.

For 1 week we lived with 13 dehumidifiers in the house, drying the carpets, walls and baseboards.  It was hard to live with these, they sound like mini tornadoes in my house, times 13.  Because their job is to dry up stuff, it made the house super dry, it was hard to live this way.  But we did it.  

I call this ground zero.  This half bath had to be completely remodeled. 

For the next weeks we lived in chaos.  Then came more chaos.  Laying new floors!  Our landlord went with tiles b/c he (and I) HATE carpet. lol 

During the floor remodel stage, the house became a giant mess.  The kids and I lived upstairs in one of the bedrooms.  Everything was everywhere!

 MESS!  With this flood/remodel, we took the opportunity to PURGE like crazy.  Neither of us realized just how much CRAP we had been holding onto.  So a TON of stuff went bye bye.  And it felt great!  

While the floors were being redone, we lived upstairs, in the girls room.  The floors took about 1.5 weeks, originally we were told 3-4 days.  sigh... I have to say, the kids were TROOPERS!  There we some complaints, but overall, they did an amazing job putting up with the mess.  I'm so proud of them!  We spent most of our days watching tv and playing outside.  I couldn't get to our school stuff for a while, but once I did, we did school in their room too. 

So this is how we began 2017, spending the entire month of January dealing w/ floors and chaos.  This is the first trial I can honestly say I did not stress.  I had a moment of feeling overwhelmed b/c I can't deal w/ change and mess.  But overall, I'm happy to say God gave me the grace I needed to deal with the situation.  And it all was kind of a blessing in disguise, because of insurance, everything was paid for.  And it forced us to really clean up and organize and PURGE.  It's very exciting to have stuff back in order.  We are now working on getting the garage back in order and I will do the same kind of purging upstairs. :)  I've also been redecorating downstairs, so it's been fun!
Purging and getting rid of crap has left us feeling so much better.  And the less stuff we have, the easier it is to clean up.