Test blog with picture

 

 

Just testing this with a new picture to see if Windows live will recreate the folder I deleted on accident.

OOoh no, my pictures are gone!

Whelp…I’m an idiot.  Any help here?  I deleted the pictures from my folders….that were on my phone.  Thinking for sure they were saved on my computer.  But, I guess I was in my dropbox folders?

 

I don’t have time for this.  Or the patience.  Is there a quick fix to this????

 

Oh geez……

What a doozy of a day!

“What a doozy of a day!”  I was saying that by 10 am this morning.  It’s days like these that make me so happy that I’ve already done my workout for the day.  Not that I’m seeing a huge benefit and a greater amount of energy from working out in the morning, but that when I get home tonight, I DON’T HAVE TO WORKOUT!!!!!  I have to believe though, that had I NOT worked out, I wouldn’t be handling things as well as I am today. “Well”, meaning laughing most everything off.  “Laughing”, meaning borderline hysterical giggling. And “hysterical” meaning, you’re not quite sure if you should be crying instead.  Or popping pills.  Or drinking booze.

Speaking of popping pills…..

I remembered to take all my condoms* vitamins today!

If anyone catches me taking my Advocare supplements, they inevitably think I’m tearing in to some birth control.  Uh, yeah people.

*Speaking of vitamins, you might need them after this workout: http://www.fitsugar.com/10-Minute-Buti-Class-Video-28580417

We had a conversation on Facebook this morning that you wouldn’t want anyone watching you do this workout….but THEN….if you CHARGED them….that would make you a … oh let’s not go there.

This morning, for my workout, I continued with my run streak of one mile.  I figure, starting next week, I’ll need to start bumping up my mileage, mid-week.  Along with my leg workout streak, I also did a core workout this morning from the Turbo fire series and I have a model… She definitely needs to work on her core a little bit more.

I don’t think she approves of the girl’s posture.

So did you go watch the Buti Yoga workout video?  And would you be caught dead doing the workout? 

A little refresher course on the basics of me

Would you like to know what I do a lot?  Sure you would!  I start writing a blog post, and then in the evening, when I have internet again, I either get too busy, too lazy, or just plain forget.  It doesn’t go up on the world wide web.  So sad, right?

Then, I come back to it the next day, read it, and wonder what the heck I was trying to say.  I edit it and say, “Oh that’s not relevant now.  That’s just plain boring.  That is…OMG why would you write that!!”  Delete delete delete. ha!

So there my friends is why I don’t blog so regularly.

My current life – refresher course

I work a 40 hour week, outside the home, in banking.  A very popular industry these days!

We have three teens at home, two her’s, one his. Two are out of the house…yipeee!  (Don’t judge.  You will get there.)

• 16teen is mine and just got her driver’s license.  We are in the market for a teen job and a teen car….in that order.
• 14teen is his….a boy…and he would be happy to be a professional gamer/movie watcher.
• 13teen is mine and she is a social butterfly and is addicted to volleyball.

My hubs and I are going on 5 years of wedded chaos bliss and we are starting to get the hang of things.  Give us a couple of more years and we’ll have it down.

For the most part, he cooks and I clean.

He also irons, but I do the laundry and put it all away….which sometimes doesn’t happen super quickly, and then he gets to iron.  Full circle peeps.

We have hobbies, and church, and family, and friends….and in the midst of all of that, I just forget to blog.  Then why do it right?

Because it helps keeps me accountable.  And because I like to.

The end.

PS I’m addicted to neon.  I think it’s amazing! You?

Secret Running

I have a little secret that I have been keeping for a whole four days!  I wouldn’t get too excited since there is no real benefit to you, other than I’ll be motivated to post more and remind you of how awesome I am.

You ready?

I started a running streak.  I’m a perfectionist, so get this…I started it on a Saturday, towards the end of the month.  Who AM I?  I had no rhyme or reason to do so.  I was just looking for a way to motivate myself, cuz uhh, well marathon training starts in May and my base miles are squat. So I just up and started with this running streak where I plan to run at least a mile a day for the rest of March and all of April.  I do plan on being careful, which won’t be hard since I’m probably the most careful runner around.  Three marathons and no real injuries.  (You better believe that I just knocked on wood!)

Since I was on a streak with my streaks, yeah, I know, just shut up…I decided to add two more.  I have a full body, body-weight workout that takes about 10-15 minutes to perform….doing that once a day, and lastly, I’m de-cluttering for 15 minutes a day.  I found my medal from my first marathon that has been missing for two years!! Go me!  If anyone is reading, I do not want to get injured so if there’s the slightest twinge or ache, I will be paying close attention and will modify or stop if needed.

Exciting huh?  Let’s recap!

• Run at least one mile a day
• Strength train with body weight only, once a day
• Declutter for 15 minutes a day.

And just because….check out the beautiful rolls my handsome hub and I shared the other night.

Do you adore sushi? I know, not the healthiest and white rice, yadda yadda yadda…oh and I ate too much wasabi so I was chugging my water and S’s water.   I kept our waitress busy with her pitcher.

Stress Relief–Tips and Tricks

I’m still looking for some tools and ideas to help me not turn to food when I’m stressed, tired, or auditioning for the lead role of Miss Crabby Pants. What are some non related food rewards/activities/techniques that you use as incentives to stay on your clean foods diet?

Some ideas that I have or have tried are:

• Taking a bath (I don’t have a bathtub though and I WILL NOT go use the bathtub in the kids’ bathroom – but when I did have my own tub, this was one of my treats.)
• Make some tea and read a good book
• Download some new tunes/podcasts
• Do some light yoga/stretching while listening to some calming music, better yet, lie down on a foam roller or some tennis balls under tight spots on your back/neck.
• Go for a walk/run with some upbeat music
• Look up funny animal videos on Youtube/Pinterest (I swear by this!)

 

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, then you’ve probably seen this picture.  It’s blueberry green tea with some vanilla flavored stevia.  SO DELICIOUS!  Definitely doesn’t taste like a milkshake or Oreos, but that stuff isn’t good for you anyway.  I’ve been trying to trick myself with this stuff and I think you should try it too.

I love that the tags on the tea bags have little uplifting sayings or quotes on them.  Again, not quite the same as the quotes inside a Dove chocolate square, but it’s progress, right?  Oooh but the dark chocolate Dove squares would be somewhat ok as long as you didn’t eat the whole bag.

The Yogi brand also makes a stress relief tea that I’m still trying to get myself to like.  I mean, I DO like it but it needs to grow on me a little more.  It tastes a little chocolate-y and a little licorice-y (which I don’t exactly care for anise, or the black licorice taste.)…HOWEVER, there is no caffeine in the tea and I swear that it helps me fall asleep quickly.  So don’t take it during your work day unless you’re ok with your face on your desk in a puddle of drool.

So what do you do when you find yourself about to crack?

The time I went to Dublin, Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day

My life changed a lot in the couple of years after these pictures were taken and for the most part, I tucked them away on their CDs to be ignored.  Sniff sniff.  Then, it turned into one of those projects that I should tackle….one thing after another. So 10 years later, here’s a few snippets of the time I went to Ireland, for the second time.  The first time was the year before, 2002ish?  This trip in 2003 actually had us in Dublin, Ireland, smack dab on St. Patrick’s Day.  Enjoy…this not so great blog post that is written in a hurry, so I can cross this off my to-do list and quit procrastinating. You are welcome for that horrible sentence too!

Blarney Castle

The view of the castle, once you get past my double chin.

Some views from the top. I liked all of the green stuff growing on the broken stuff.

Kissing the Blarney Stone

I wasn’t keen on the idea of getting down on the ground, leaning over backwards and kissing something that had been kissed by a ton of other people.  Once in a lifetime opportunity missed?  Sigh…but I didn’t want everyone to see my hat hair either!  In my defense, no one else in our party kissed the stone either.  Fuddy-duddy!  I would do it in a second now!

St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland.

We were visiting in conjunction with some musical events that were happening in “town.”  It meant we got special passes and partook in activities that were not your normal touristy fare.  Early on St Patty’s day, we were at the parade in Dublin.  I took tons of pictures, but they were mostly of marching bands (Work related…and there were a bazillion…I’m sparing you.) So the above two are from the cathedral, and other than that, I don’t remember a thing.  Except it was a very cool experience and music inside a cathedral always sounds amazing due to the acoustics.

Random pictures from around Ireland.  Could be Limerick, Dublin, Cork…who knows?  I have a bunch of pictures of different colored doors, doorknobs…oh and Ethan Hawke (didn’t get a picture of him, but I saw him.  Swear.)

I wish we had places like this in Klamath Falls.  Don’t you?!

Glendalough, the Monastic City in the Wicklow Mountains National Park.

The Gateway

The history here is fascinating.  If I could spend the rest of my day, reading up on this place, I would.  I love old broken stuff…and history, and traveling, and I think it’s pretty cool that I got to visit!  St Kevin, 6th Century Stuff, Vikings, no big deal, right?!

The Round Tower

St Kieran’s Church

This was our fun driver that I tried to get him to say any word with the “th” sound in it “Two or tree” times a day.  I tink here he was trying to tell me how everything is two or tree tousand years old.  Or someting like tat.