Spring Break Shape-Up

I know we say we're back and then we're not and then we are.... Life is just really busy so I'm not sure if I'm back.   I go back and forth as to whether I want to post or not.  But, I need some fitness motivation and accountability, and I'm sure many of you do too.  So I thought I would start a little spring break shape-up plan.  It would be great if people want to post their own ideas and tips, either here or on the facebook page.  I am not trained in any aspect of human diet or health, so anything I post here is just something that is working for me or that I have read somewhere. 

I had a baby in July.  I've lost all the baby weight, but I'm still not in the shape I want to be.  We have 3 weeks until spring break, and I started trying to really tighten up my diet and exercise more.  I'm going to try to do 4 weeks of "spring break shape-up posts" here.  I'm not brave enough to post any before pictures or anything, but I will tell you what my goals are and how I'm doing.

I'll post my diet and exercise plans but if you are interested in participating you have to find what will work best for you.  That may not be what works for me.

So, I will post both of those soon.  For now, if you're interested in participating, here are your "assignments":

1- Set goals.  My goals used to be "lose xx pounds".  That's no longer effective for me.  Hydration status can make your weight fluctuate up to 4 pounds a day (according to my brother-in-law who has a BS in kinesiology and a Doctorate in Physical Therapy).  I am using inches.  I measured my waist, hips, left thigh, left arm, and left calf (some may want to add bust but number one I'm nursing and number two I'd prefer to keep every inch I can there).  I am not going to weigh myself at all, but I will remeasure every week. 

Although using inches is good for longer term goals, you honestly can't control how much you lose where and at what rate.  For that reason, I think it's good to have goals that you can control 100%-- such as "I will eat clean every day this week".  And try not to have too many goals.  I am guilty of making my goals too high and then I get discouraged when I couldn't exercise 5 times a week for 50 minutes.  I get super annoyed when I hear people say things like "There's no excuse for not exercising.  An hour a day 7 days a week is only such and such percent of your time".  As a mom, I know that any percentage is high, when you spend most of your time taking care of kids or cleaning the house or making lunches for the next day. (And in my case getting up 4-5 times a night still to nurse a baby).  So, I think exercise is really important but I know as moms we are already stretched to the max and sometimes sleep needs to win.  Overall, my personal opinion is that diet is about 70% and exercise is 30%.  So if you can only do one, focus on what you're eating.  That being said, I didn't watch much tv before, but I've given it almost completely up now that I've kicked up my exercise.  I DVR a couple of shows and watch them while I'm doing weight training but other than that I am making exercise a priority over tv and reading.

2- Decide on a tracking method- Keep track of everything you eat and all your exercise, including taking a walk with the kids.  I like the app Lose It.  Old fashioned paper is great too.  Just pick something that works for you.

3- Decide how much time you can devote-    For the next few weeks, I am going to try to do cardio 4 times a week for 45 minutes and do weights (at home) at least 3 times.  Honestly, that's alot for me and I am sure some laundry will slide.  Also, some of your time will be used for food prep so think about how many hours you can realistically devote.

4-Make an Inspiration Board-   You could cut out pictures/quotes from magazines and put them on some posterboard so you can hang it up in your exercise area.  You could also go digital (this is what I do and please someone destroy my phone if something happens to me so people don't wonder why I have so many photos of women's abs/thighs.)  Great online sources are pinterest, instagram, and Fitness Magazine's website.  Even google images.

5-Take a Before Picture-  Okay, I haven't done this.  It's painful.  You can hide it, but just take one and I promise I will too!

Is anyone willing to commit? You can do anything for 4 weeks (the goal is to turn this into a lifestyle of course, but a jump start does wonders! :))

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Easy Pizza

I'm coming back to the blogosphere because I've missed it!  Since I've been gone, I've:

• successfully survived a year in a 2 bedroom apartment with 2 kids
• built and moved into a new house (not that I built it, but you get what I mean)
• worked a little on and off in my job-before-mommy
• gone to numerous cub scout, football, and other school events
• and, had a baby!!! Whom I sort of adore.  Isn't she cute?

So needless to say, I've been a little busy and have neglected this blog.  I'd like to start posting again, as time permits.  Mostly recipes, because I love to cook and I'm always trying new recipes.  But maybe some other stuff too.


Most of my recipes are just normal, family recipes.  I grew up with old-fashioned home cooking, and that's what I like to stick to, but I usually try to make it a little healthier.  And what kids don't love pizza, so I thought I'd share my easy method for pizza.  We have 1 pizza place in our little town now that we've moved to a pretty rural area.  It's about 7 minutes away and I'm more than a little tired of it.  We have a couple more in the next town, 15 min away. 


I typically use frozen bread dough for my crust.  I just thaw it, roll it as thin as possible and top it.  I have learned it has to be really thawed, not still cold, or it's too rubbery and too hard to roll thin.  One day my father-in-law came on a Saturday to play with the kids.  I didn't have time to thaw dough and I was just trying to think of something to make them really quick.  I tried a quick, no rise dough recipe which I think I'll stick with.  My favorite pizza sauce is LaRosa's (although I'm not a big fan of their pizza), but other members of my family are sick of that sauce so for this I used Classico tomato and basil marinara sauce and it was really good.   You can do so  many variations on the topping - taco pizza, chicken/black beans/cilantro/onion/bbq sauce, buffalo chicken, veggie, thai, etc.  And of course kids love to do the make-your-own so sometimes we make individual ones.


Dough:
1 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups (approximately) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
Butter, for greasing the pan


To make pizza crust, combine warm water and salt in a mixing bowl. Add about 1.5 cups of the flour along with the yeast and stir. Add remaining flour and knead into a smooth dough (add enough flour, beyond the 2.5 cups if necessary).  I use a stand mixer and the dough hook to mix this together and knead it.  Cover and set in a warm place (but you don't have to let it rise).  Roll it out to your desired thickness, put on your greased pan, add toppings and bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes. 

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Space-Saving Coat Storage

My husband thinks I'm crazy sometimes, but I think I'm genius!  Ok, let me explain.  See, we had our home built about 6 years ago.  We basically went with a house at the top of our budget, at least the budget we wanted, not the bank.  That was when the housing market was booming, so they approved us for much more than we actually felt comfortable with.  Good thing we had some common sense (thanks, parents!), 'cause it probably wouldn't have been good.

Anyway, back to the genius part.  Our builder wasn't a custom builder.  As in, we had a few choices but not many.  We picked our flooring, countertops, cabinet style, and siding color from a limited selection.  Most things were upgrades that we would have had to pay extra for, so for the most part we stuck with the basics.  We didn't even have a choice in paint....everything was painted flat white.  My mom and I painted almost the entire house in the 2 days before we moved in.  Fun times!

One of the great things about our house is that it is a perfect DIY house!  Everything works and there is nothing we had to do, but there are lots of things we (or at least I) want to do.  One such project was to add storage near the main entrance.  Our front entrance and garage entrance are close to each other, and there is just a small 2x2 coat closet in between.  Not enough coat storage for a family of 5!  So, I started googling (this was before I knew about Pinterest.com!) and found a couple inspiration photos that I thought would be good for our situation.

Here's the project:

Basically, when you open the door from the garage, there is a blank wall that is just not doing anything.  Here it is in the photo below.  The door you see in the background on the right is our 1/2 bath, behind me is our front door, and to the left is the coat closet.

Anyway, I decided the best solution would be to add a coat rack behind the door.  My parents have a 103 year old farm house, and it has coat storage flat along the wall, so I kind of use that as my inspiration as well.  I would have loved to add a "locker" or a bench or something, but obviously there is no room for something like that.  So, off to the hardware store I went.  I basically just purchased some 1x6 boards.  I picked the pre-primed composite ones, because I'm pretty new with woodworking and didn't feel competent to work with raw wood.  If I had to do it over again, I would choose the raw pine wood because it's a little nicer material than the composite ones I chose.  The only extra step is to sand and prime the wood before you paint it, but that doesn't take very long to do.

So, basically once I purchased my wood, I came home and cut it to the length of my wall, painted it, put construction adhesive on it and then screwed it into the wall.  I wanted 5 hooks on each board, so I measured them out equally and put the screws in so they would line up behind the hooks.  No patching... genius!

Here's how it looked with the screws, before adding the hooks.

And here is the finished product:

It's the perfect place to hang the backpacks as well as some of the jackets that we use the most.  It also turned out to be a good place to stash a couple of baseball caps.

Here's a close-up of the hooks I used.  I found them at Lowes.  But unfortunately there was a supplier issue and I had to go to 3 different Lowes to get all 10 of my hooks :(.  But I really wanted hooks with two places to hang things on.  Plus I didn't want something that was tiny or huge since the door would hit them if they stuck out too far.  These were the perfect size.

So, those 10 hooks added a lot more storage room in a previously unused wall space.  For a little extra shoe storage, I hung a closet organizer on the back of our closet door...it's the perfect size for all of those toddler and little boy shoes. Plus our adult sandals fit in there as well.

Hope this post gives you a little inspiration for a totally easy DIY project!

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No, really...I am back :)

So, I wrote a blog post with the reasons why I haven't posted much over the past 9 months. And then I promised that I would write more.  And it's been an entire month since that post and I haven't written anything.  Ugh.  I'm such a good blogger :)

I do have several posts to write on projects that I've been working on...but for now, I'll share a recipe that I tried for breakfast this morning.  It was really good, but totally not healthy by any stretch of the imagination.  But it's great for a special occasion.  And today's special occasion was that it's Monday and my youngest had her 15-month check-up (3 shots!) today. Which, in my book, requires something special for breakfast.

If you are looking for a quick, no rise cinnamon roll that tastes good, try this recipe:

No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls (click for the original recipe & wonderful photos!)

source: http://www.pipandebby.com  

Preheat your oven to 425. Pour 1 tablespoon of melted butter into a 9-inch round cake pan. Brush to coat the entire perimeter of the pan.

Filling:

In a small bowl, combine:

• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Add 1 tablespoon of melted butter and stir until crumbly. Set aside.

Dough:

In a medium bowl, combine:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

In a separate bowl, combine:

• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until the liquid is just incorporated, about 30 seconds. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead until just smooth, 3 to 4 minutes. Roll the dough into a 9x12-inch rectangle. Brush the surface of the dough with 1 tablespoon of melted butter.

Sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough. Gently press the filling into the dough. Starting at a long edge, roll the dough to form a log.

Cut the log into eight equal pieces. Place one roll in the center of the prepared pan, and the seven remaining rolls around it in a circle. 

Brush with 2 tablespoons of melted butter. 

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 28 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow rolls to cool for 5 minutes.

Glaze:

In a small bowl, combine:

• 3 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk, at room temperature
• 4 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Whisk first 2 ingredients until smooth. Add 4 tablespoons of confectioners' sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Whisk until a smooth glaze forms, about 30 seconds.

Enjoy!

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I'm BACK!

Ok, so it's been almost 5 months since my last post.  I'll be surprised to see if there is still anyone following my blog :) I've missed blogging and hope to be back!

There are a couple reasons why I decided to take an "unofficial" break the last few months.  First, there's a fine line of knowing what to share and what is too much.  I don't want to offend people or make people think that I'm going to write about EVERYTHING that happens in my life...some things are private and I don't want the entire world to know. Just like on Facebook.  I still get on there, but my postings have been fewer and fewer.  I like to find out things from people by running into them at the grocery store and catching up or meeting for lunch.  When I share things on the Blog or Facebook, I feel like everyone already knows what is going on in my life so they don't ask how things are (same with me towards people).  Does that make sense?  I just feel like it's impersonal.  And like I said, I don't share everything online, so if the posts you see make you think that I have a perfect life or perfect kids, that's totally not the case.  So I'm trying to balance telling enough about me and my family to make us seem like real, normal people but also not over-sharing :)

The other reason why I chose to take a break is because the last few months, I have just felt off.  I'm still not sure what is totally going on...it's frustrating.  Ever since my 3rd pregnancy, my Type 1 Diabetes has been out of control.  Still, 14 months after delivery, my body is super-insulin resistant.  I'm working with my doctors to get this under control, but it's taking much longer than I ever expected.  Needless to say, that's been affecting my exercise and training as well as numerous other areas of my life.  I won't go into all the details here on the blog, but I will share some of what I've learned.

So anyway, I'm back.  I'm excited to share some of the things that have happened in the last 5 months, some upcoming home projects I want to do, some diet and exercise stuff and lots of other things...hopefully I can stay on a roll and keep up :)

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Flying Pig 10k Results

I did it!  I finished the 2012 Flying Pig Marathon 10K race this morning!  Yep, that's 6.2 miles...my longest race yet.  


I started out this morning by waking up at 5:30 to wake Molly up to nurse her before I left the house.  Breakfast was in the car (banana with peanut butter, yogurt with cereal) as I had no idea what to expect parking-wise.  I had planned on carpooling with my running buddy, but she backed out at the last minute, so I was in it alone.  That made me more nervous on my way down and waiting for the run to start.  I found a spot to park right away so I had plenty of time to mentally try and get ready for the race and to get my gear together, try to get my blood sugar under control (I try to keep it a little higher than normal so I don't crash in the middle of the race) and get to the start line.  I didn't take my phone or my camera, so I don't have any photos of the actual race or start, but it was such a fun atmosphere.  Actually, all of the races that I've done have had a great spirit and a "buzz" before the start.


So the actual course was crossing the bridge over into Northern Kentucky, running the riverfront, back over the bridge, past the start line and another 1.5 mile loop around downtown Cincinnati.  I think most of the first 4.5 miles of the course is the same as the Flying Pig 1/2 and Full marathons that take place on Sunday morning.  


The run was scenic, the water stops were well placed, and overall I just really enjoyed the run.  The last mile was probably the toughest for me, but once I saw the finish line, I was able to pick up my speed a little.  My garmin said that my 5k (3.1miles) was around 34:00 and my 5 mile was around 56:00.  Both of those times were about 2 minutes better than my times at previous races this year (Shamrock Shuffle 5k in March was 36min and the Walk for Life 5 mile was 58min).  So, overall I'm pleased.


Here is a screen shot of my Garmin upload:

Here are my official race stats:

The fastest lady finished it in 38:00...which is just a few minutes longer than my 5k pace :)  I'm definitely not a fast runner, but I'm proud of where I finished.  For me it was good.  And it was a great first introduction to the Flying Pig Marathon.  I say first because I will be back!  Hopefully doing the 1/2 marathon next year...

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It's go time!

So, Goal #1 for the year was accomplished on March 30th when I finished the Bible in 90 Days reading program.  Part of Goal #2 will be accomplished tomorrow when I run the Flying Pig Marathon 10K course.

I have to admit...training was much more difficult this year than it was 2 years ago when I completed my first triathlon.  I'm not sure all the reasons, but one major reason was that now I have 3 kids instead of 2.  Not only does adding one more kid to the mix take a little more time, but it also makes it so they don't fit in the jogging stroller.  Which has made it logistically more difficult to get my runs in.  So, I'm not expecting a stellar time tomorrow.

But, today I went to the expo associated with the marathon and was blown away.  I've only competed in two 5k's, the annual walk for life for our local women's center (a 5 mile course, have only run twice but participated probably 10 times), and 2 triathlons.  That's it.  None of those events were big enough to have an expo, although the Shamrock Shuffle 5K that I did earlier this year had lots of vendors outside.  But this was huge.  I thought I would walk in there, grab my bib number and leave, but there were like 5 rows of vendors that you walked past on your way to get your t-shirt and poster.  I didn't have my camera because I totally wasn't expecting anything like it, but I really wish I had allotted more time to visit all the booths.  I'm so new to the running world and just have so much to learn.

Anyway, I thought I would show you my "flat shot" of my running gear for tomorrow.  I saw this idea on Moms Run This Town's Facebook page last week and thought it was a cute idea.

For my electronics, I have my Garmin Forerunner 205, my iPod shuffle (thanks to my friend, Mary!) and my insulin pump.  The pink shirt is what I'll be wearing, but the grey shirt is the official shirt and I'm taking it with me to change into after the race.  If I make it that far :)

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