ZUMBA

If there's one thing I have never cared for it's exercise! I have always hated to sweat, lol! Seriously I was not one to play sports in school or anything like that. And although now as an adult I am not way overweight, I do get VERY chunky from not using my muscles enough and bad eating habits. I am fortunate to have a good metabolism and no health issues other than arthritis. The food choices I make I should weigh a whole lot more.
In 2009 I came to a realization that I had lost part of identity. I was letting myself go, dressing frumpy, not taking good enough care of myself by being busy taking care of others.That summer I began walking for an hour daily in the hot sun and lost 26 lbs. I kept the weight off until Dec. of 2010 where I have put back on 13 lbs. I now live in a location that's not the greatest for walking and I know that I will NOT stick with a treadmill or any other gym type routine.
Zumba has hit big in our area and a lot of woman have told me I should give it a try. So I did!! And I was a little apprehensive about it not knowing if I could keep up. It's something you do at your own pace really. If you want to be real enthusiastic about it you can or you can ease into the moves and in time get them down. It's a dance mixture of hip hop, salsa/samba, belly dancing and more! I wish I could do it every day! I absolutely love it and have felt more energized since I started. I wish everyone would go and give it a try...it's very addictive and if I can do it YOU can do it! =)

Eat Your Veggies

Everyday I strive to be a better mom and keeper of the home. At the end of the day I will think about what all I have accomplished and the things I need to work on. One major thing I need to work on as the homemaker is what I cook. We eat fairly heart smart as far as oils, butter and certain fats are concerned but we could always do a little better about eating fruits and veggies. Madi is like her mama when it comes to not liking the vegetables. So tonight I made Speedy Stovetop Lasagna from this awesome website ( http://www.sneakychef.com/) refered to me by a friend. It's a way to incorporate veggies in without tasting them, lol! My SIL Stacy has talked to me about doing this before as well and I am happy there's a website to help me with it.
Well, although Madi didn't eat a bite of it :(...Andy didn't know it was diet and absolutely loved it. I thought it was definatley doable and I am not giving up on finding something on here that Madi will like.


This may sound kind of silly to some people but one of the reasons I wanted to have a baby is simply to do the duties of a mother. I remember telling my mom when I was trying to get pregnant that I wanted to make sandwiches and pack school lunches. And she assured me that wasn't silly to her but natural. It seemed so odd to me because I had no clue I would ever want children. Now I can't imagine my life any different.
Being a parent is the hardest job you'll ever love.

He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD. Psalms 113:9

SERENITY

I have been in a serious rut for about a year now. Some things I can change, others I cannot. So instead of moping around another day I have decided to set some small goals and stick with them. Work on the things I can change. The things I need to work on in order to make my life better for myself and those around me. I can be a bit of an open book and I definitely wear my heart on my sleeve at times. We are all human and fall short of the glory so I don't mind sharing some of my problems, thoughts and views on things.
I have had some dark days as the individual named Amy. I am very happy and blessed as a mother but that's only one part of my life. Madi is such a joy and as much as that should make me happy it would be unhealthy to ONLY concentrate on her and not myself. To be a good mom~I have to take care of her mother. So one goal I have conquered but is an everyday battle is my weight loss and trying to exercise. I fail often at the exercise. I plan on going to school in Feb. for a phlebotomy course and will gradually go back to work when need be. No rush on that just yet but I want the degree under my belt for when I need it. Although we are moving and our expenses will increase so I may be going back this fall. I do have some private personal issues I am working on as well just to be my best as a person in general. It's a new year and I am ready to get over this rut one way or another.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
The courage to change the things that I can;
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Wordless Wednesday~24 pound Weight Loss

Before: (April)




After: Aug/Sept

*Next week I will do Andy's...he has lost WAY more than I have!

Please visit 5M4M for me great WW!

Ummmm...

This:

Should make me quit doing this:



It's actually called "Mountain Dew Mouth"!

Do you tan?

As I've been out shopping I see that a lot of the young girls are already tan, and I mean TAN. I know that they are wanting to look their best and have all the peer pressures and so on. I was a very girlie girl in school myself and kept up with the latest fashions etc. Seems like to be VERY tan is part of our youths fashion today.
Several years ago I worked for a dermatologist and if we had the least bit of a tan or burn we had to wear turtle necks to hide it. If young girls came in with tans the Dr. really chewed them out and told them to wear long sleeves, straw hats and pants...yeah right?! How fashionable is this for a 16 year old girl?

While working there I had to witness a lot of things. I was his assistant and I helped him with all the surgeries. A lot of them were older people with mole removals and some of them being cancerous. It heartbreaking when he would have to tell them they didn't have much time left. There are a few types of skin cancer; basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. But even after seeing that happen, I still would continue to sun bathe or mostly go to the tanning bed. A few years back a friend of a friend lost her fairly long battle with cancer. She was around the age of 41. I believe it started out as skin cancer and spread. She was one who went to the tanning bed often. I haven't went back to one since her death and even had paid for appointments left.

So, please be safe in whatever way you decide to tan. I tried the spray tan once and I thought I would suffocate! I had to jump out of the machine...horrible experience.

I leave you with this video clip, enjoy. :)

Dr.'s appointment...

As I'm sitting in the waiting room for over an hour, I read (looked at celebrity pics) one mag after another & then I came across the word "blog" in one. As soon as my eyes read that I had to see what is was about.
His name is Matt and he gets over 40,000 viewers a day on his blog. He had a baby and lost his wife all with in 27 hours. She had a c-section and when she stood up to see her baby some hours later she died from a blood clot going into her lung. Not only was he devastated about her death, he had a new baby girl to raise. Check it out when you have the time~Matt's blog.
So as I'm sitting there feeling sorry for my young arthritic self I realized I really don't have any "problems" in my life, only blessing.

The Dr.'s name is Kataria, they should change it to Karate if you ask me,LOL! Seriously, he was a nice, soft spoken, calm man and I liked him. He thinks I do indeed have RA but that it's a mild case and is going to have me do more blood tests to be certain. He gave me some medication that I will try tomorrow in hopes that it will help with the stiffness. I have great news to report, I do not have a fatty liver and my enzymes were in the normal range...Praise God! Thanks for the prayers.

Green X 2

I know most of you along with me will be wearing some form of green today. I sure don't want to be pinched!
I am going to see the Rheumatologist at 2:00 today to find out if I have arthritis and what can be done about it. Say a little prayer for me that all will go well.

Although you are wearing green today, I'm asking you to please wear it again on Friday for Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day. My friend Keri over at Life of Logan is doing a very special post on Friday with giveaways included so you don't want to miss it.


Have a wonderful day!

"The Sickly Bunch"

Here's the story of a sickly lady
Who was bringing up one very congested girl
All of them had a heck of a cold, like their mother
All we haven't done yet is hurl (vomit)

Here's the story, of a man named Daddy
Who was busy giving us this cold he got on his own
They passed it around from living all together
Yes, they were home all alone!

Till the one day when I had to drink mellow yellow
But I knew I would drink a Mt. Dew for Lunch
That this croup would somehow form a family
That's the way we all became the Sickly Bunch
The Sickly Bunch

That's the way we all became the Sickly Bunch



Sorry, if I haven't be able to comment as much lately, yes Pebbles, Fred & myself have all had a nasty flu bug. My Grandma Wee is very sick with a UTI & a terrible cough. And my poor Mother has been the Nurse!
I'll be back blogging strong soon! Taking care of my baby girl for now.

Crossroads

The last few weeks have been a real eye opener for me. When BHE started the BBS diet I thought I was ready to give 100%. And I didn't even make it the first week without cheating. I have been thinking about this and come to the realization that I'm VERY addicted to fried and junk food. But now I have entered a crossroad in my life. If I stay this way I am heading down the path to obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. I am already at risk for a fatty liver (find out more in March) and pretty sure I have arthritis. I know all of these things and I still eat this crap. And I have a beautiful girl who needs me to be healthy and strong to be able to keep up with her. What is wrong with me??? Makes me so disappointed in myself. Please pray that I will choose the path of a healthy lifestyle for my family and myself. And send me any comments, advice, recipes or a kick in the butt!

Thanks!

What's in Your Freezer?

This is it, now if I'd only eat this diet, veggie, organic and wheat goodness! They are the only things feeling the "burn" around here...Freezer burn that is!
Thanks a lot BHE, I think I'll go and clean my freezer now!!

(I do however eat the garlic toast. ;)

Going to Be Hard

I had a stressful week and when I'm stressed I eat. I also eat when I'm...
Happy
Sad
Excited
Tired
Mad
Lonely
Bored...
you get the picture, right?!

I have however been eating a low sodium turkey wrap on flatbread with pita chips all week for lunch.
This has been a real eye opener for me on how addicted to food I really am. Worse than ever in my life.
I'll keep trying.

BBS or Bust!

My week of Blogger Butt Smackdown started out pretty good, but as time went on I felt like all I did was talk a bunch of smack! I did descent on my diet but cheated 3 out of the 7 days. Sounds worse than it was!

I guess I'm just having one of those weeks! I've been trying to potty train Pebbles a wee bit too early. She can only hold her bladder for an hour and a half and to potty train it has to be at least 2 hours preferably 3 hours. I'm PMSing and my arthritis (?) is very bad and making my chores and chasing/lifting Pebbles really painful. My father in law keeps falling and is unhappy at the nursing home even though it's just temporary it's still very sad that he has to stay there.
And when I'm down or stressed...I EAT.
But it's a new dawn, a new day and I'm feeling fine.:)

See the tiny mt dew?!




I mean which looks better to you?



But I have to get healthy for my girl!

The Fight-Round One

I 've been challenged by my friend BHE to a fight!


Wilma Flintstone in this corner of the world, weighing in at 150 lbs 5' 4" Tall.
Reigning Champ for consuming the most Mountain Dews in a day.
Her best move is: The Edith Bunker Gallop" (anytime her kid wants something!)
Her Opponent: Mr. Calzone with his Tag Team partner Mr. Dew
The Grand Prize: Good Health for herself and family along with a smaller champion belt!

Are you ready to Ruuuuuumble?!!! If you are go here.