A Healthier Me. (it has pics...i promise)

Hello again my friends. Thank you for stopping by and seeing what I am up to now. As the title suggests, this is about what I am doing to get a healthier me. Usually I take care of everyone else and neglect myself. Well I am still taking care of others BUT I am now more concentrated on myself.

Those of you who have been following my blog know of the things I have overcame in my life. I struggled with severe anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. Stayed in my room for a year and stayed in my house for 6 years. In the past 2 years I have been getting out and about and doing things I never thought I would do again.

Those years wreaked havic on my body. You all have read the story of my teeth troubles. I am happy to say that I am very glad I made the decision I did and had them all pulled and got dentures. I still hope to get implants someday but until then I am very happy with my smile.

I also have a cyst on the right side of my face beside my nose. This is an external epidermal cyst. I am making an appointment on Tuesday to my family doctor who said he should be able to remove it (yay..it is all I see in my pictures and I hate it).

Everyone is also aware of the cervical cancer issues I have had and overcome so.....

Now I am off to a new issue. All those years being depressed, down on myself, feeling like Shit (excuse my language) left me with a body I am not used to. In school I was 100 lbs soak and wet and very athletic. Well that definately isn't the case anymore.

Here is a story. Last year at this time I went to visit my dad. He lives on top of a hill out in the country. The daffodils were blooming and I wanted to pick some and dig up some to bring home and plant. Well I like to have never made it up that hill (huge hill) back to his house. I used to run up it!!!

Well I exercised pretty regularly until June of last year. The reasons why things got so mixed up is a blog post in itself and if you wanna know it let me know and I will post about it.

Well, now I am ready to get in shape. Here is the deal. I am 5'2" tall. I am petite. I have a small frame. Well my ideal weight is between 110-120 lbs. I weigh 141 lbs. This is considered obese for my body type. YIKES. My chest measures 36 1/4 inches, my waist above my belly button (at the narrowest point) is 31", my waist across my belly button (where my spare tire is) is 34" and my hips are 38 1/4 ". That may not sound too bad but on my frame it is. Oh and I am in a size 8/10 clothes.

My Goal is by June 1st I would like to be between 120-125 lbs. I would like my waist to be 26" which is a size 6. I would love to be a size 6 without a muffin top. This is still a little big for my frame but I don't want to be all skinny minny again.

So here is what I am doing......

 I ordered this thing. It is like a Total Gym but at a fraction of the cost AND it has more accessories. It is called the Total Body works 5000 made by Weider.

 Here it is put together and the exercise chart that comes with it is on the right of the picture. I LOVE THIS THING. I use it every other day. I do 12 exercises, 20 reps each and one set of them all. I am going to work my way up to more sets as I get stronger. I do these exercises every other day in the morning or early afternoon.

 Here is the monster from the top (incline side) looking down. It is amazing.

 I love exercise balls. I don't exercise on them because I don't have the balance to do so BUT I love to sit on it. I sit on it all the time (I am right now) and I lay over it on my back to stretch my back out. Love it.

 This video will kick your booty. Jillian Michaels is one of the trainers from Biggest Loser. This dvd has 3 workouts. Levels 1, 2, and 3. They get progressively harder. You do level 1 until it becomes less of a challenge and then you move to the next level. I am on day 10 of this video and I have done level 2 twice. I love it. I am doing this at night...every night.

 I have the whole p90x set. I do love it but I am not good at sticking to the diet or the whole layed out exercise routine thing. There are some foods I just cannot tolerate so it is a little hard to stick to. However I love every dvd in the set but my favorite is yoga x! It is an hour and a half + of yoga and it works and bends and stretches you. On days I am completely frazzled I can pop this in and chill out.

 Zumba is all the rage now. It is fun dance aerobic, sculpting exercises. I ordered a complete set from zumba.com. It is awesome.

 It comes with all you see here. 2 toning sticks and several dvds.

 IN this pack there is Zumba Fitness Basics. It breaks down the moves for you, Zumba fitness 20 min express, Fitness cardio party, fitness sculpt and tone/

In this purple one there is zumba fitness live and flat abs.

So you know my goals and here is my plan. I started on February 10th. On one day I will do the total body machine exercises in the morning and the 30 day shred workout in the evenings. The next day I will do Zumba in the mornings and the 30 day shred in the evenings. I am going to keep up this alternating pattern until the 30 days is up on the 30 day shred. Then I will be doing Just the Zumba and the total body machine. One in the morning one in the evening. Just depending on which I feel like doing at each time. I will take every Sunday off to give my body a rest. I may take Wednesdays off too depending on the muscle fatigue I feel.

I am also watching what I eat. I am keeping track of calories. I should eat not more than 1400 good calories daily to lose fat and to keep my body running tip top. I eat 3 meals a day plus snacks. Each meal has low fat protein, complex carbs, and good fats in it. I also add a source of fiber.  I drink 84 ounces of water a day at least. Some with Crystal Light some without. Just depends on what I am in the mood for.

I can tell you I feel wonderful. Strong. I am loving it.

Well that is what I am doing. I have done tons of research and I think this will work for me. I will keep you updated on my progress.

Thank you all for reading this long post. I love you all and until next time peeps...be blessed.

Happy Valentines Day!

Hello bloggy friends. I have to say that today is a wonderful day. It is a day full of being spoiled and showing the love(s) of your life just what they mean to you. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

My hubby and I discussed when we first got together that flowers are super nice and I love them BUT they die (cut flowers that is). So if he wants to get me flowers please get me some that are potted and will keep growing and growing. I have had orchids, mini roses, pansys, oh just so many wonderful flowers for various of occasions.

This V-day I got my hubby a pack of his favorite candies (peanut butter cups) and a nice card that nearly made him cry :)

My hubby had to work over night last night so I woke up this moring to a cute, plushy frog (a weird obsession of mine..stuffed frogs), a lovely card, and some of my favorite Dove Chocolates. He had also gotten each of our lovely kiddos a card of their own for me to give to them this morning before they left for school. Let me tell you all of his gifts to the kiddos and to me were a hit. I love this man of mine!!!!!

I hope each and every one of you get spoiled rotten this Valentine's Day! Thank you for reading my blog and reading your lovely comments. Much love and many hugs are going out to each of you. Be Blessed Y'all.

Updates and New yarn!

Hello my lovely bloggy friends. There are lots of goings on here in my neck of the woods. I have been one busy woman, as I always am :). This time more of luxury running around than needful running around.

I want to take a moment and thank each and every one of you for the wonderful birthday wishes you sent to me. I enjoyed my birthday very much. I received lots of handmade goodies from my kiddos and a day of relaxation from my honey the day afterwards. I embrace getting older. I love to learn and do new things. I hope I live to be over 80 years of age and stay in reasonably good health so I can sit on my front porch as an elderly lady, in a rocking chair, crocheting my heart out and playing grandma to all the little kids in the neighborhood.

I have been getting out and doing more sociable things lately. The Saturday before last I went to a Pampered Chef party. Ooooh the lovely kitcheney items that are sold there. I did manage to buy some biscuit cutters, cutting boards, and a neat measuring cup. I will do a post on those things when they come in.

This past Saturday I was invited to a Passion Party. For those of my bloggy readers who may not know what that is, well it can be a sensitive subject to some, but it is a party or get-together that shows and sells sensual candles, massage oils, and other bedroom novelties. There were 20 or so ladies there and let me tell you, it was a blast.

 Here is a picture of all of us ladies. The middle with glasses and the green sweater is my friend Angie. She was the host of this party. Can you spot me? I am in the purple sweater between the 2nd and 3rd girls (from left) in the front row. I think I look a little funny in this picture but I was laughing my hiney off at these crazy women.

 At this very moment I am taking a break from cleaning. Valentine's day is in full swing in our house. My kiddos love to cut and create and glue and well leave me the mess. Here it is in full scope. Glue was spilled on chairs and paper..well you can see.

 Here is another more up-close view of all the cut paper on the floor. I just wish my kiddos would learn to clean up their own messes. That way I can have more hooky time.

 Here you can see the full scope of the mess on my table. Ahhh...mommy hood and those messes. BUT did you notice one good wonderful thing? The sun is shining outside. It is wonderful to see. Of course my puppies jumped right up on my table (which I don't allow) and sat themselves right in the sun. I did allow it for today because we haven't seen sunshine in such a long time.

I also bought some yarn today. It was about $40 worth. I had to get some to finish up a baby blanket I have been working on forever and get some so when I finish my youngest son's granny stripe, I can start on my oldest son's granny stripe.

 Here you can see the Red Heart Super Saver I bought. I purchased 11 skeins. I must say ahead of time that the red on the far left is actually more like the red in the middle and the red in the middle is a nice burgundy color.

 Ahh...Here you are from top view. From left to right the colors are as follows: #0319 Cherry red,
# 0631 Light Sage, #0341 Light Grey, #0376 Burgundy, # 0313 Aran, #0254 Pumpkin, # 0387 Soft Navy. My son's favorite color is red so I thought these colors would be great for his GS.

 I also bought some of this beautiful yarn. it is Bernat Baby Jacquards color # 06230 Spearmint candy. I think these last 2 skeins will be enough to finish the hearts baby blanket I have been working on since summer.

Here is the picture of what I have so far. The pattern is super easy. It uses Front Post Double Crochet to create a little heart in the pattern. I love working on it on the go.

Once I finish my youngest son's GS and my oldest son's GS, I am planning on making Giant granny rectangles for my daughter's blankets. I am hoping to have them all finished by fall. I guess I need to unfreeze my hook and get on it. :P

Well my friends I am off to clean up that disaster my kids left me. I hope to have a Ta-Dah post for you real soon. Thank you all for reading my blog and until next time...Be Blessed.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Hello my super lovely bloggy friends! It is my birthday today! Thank you all for the birthday wishes you sent me on my last post. It has been a pretty good day so far. In my family, when it is someone's birthday, that person can do whatever he/she wishes. Everyone else takes over his/her chores. The birthday person also gets to choose what we will eat for that day and the activities for that day. This year it has been a little different for me as my hubby couldn't get today off work. So I have spent my day doing my usual routine of tidying up and laundry. I haven't been alone as my kids were out of school today due to the ice storm we are experiencing. I will try to get out tomorrow and take some pictures for you but it is treatcherous out there.

Now back to my birthday. As of 10:45 am this morning I turned 31 years old. When I was born I was very premature. I weighed only 4 lbs 1/2 oz. I had to stay in the hospital for a couple of months before I could come home. I had a rocky start but I'm still here living.

 Today has been a nice day all in all. I have enjoyed having my kiddos home with me. I have loved hearing them tell me Happy Birthday every time they see me. They even made me some presents. The above pic is a present that came all the way from England. A very nice lady over on Ravelry and I share the same birthday. Mrs. Maria Steele ( hookedandstashing) and I got together and decided to send eachother cards. Unfortunately, I have not been able to send her a card yet as my road has been horrible from all the weather we keep getting. But I will get it to her. Anywho, she sent me this nice envelope.

 Inside was a card and Inside Crochet Magazine all the way from across the pond. The patterns are awesome!

 Here you can see the lovely card she sent to me. Oh how I love it and I hope I can get to the post office very soon to mail hers off. I can't explain how I feel not having sent hers out.

 Since today is a cold and icy day, we have treated ourselves to some hot chocolate. As you can see I have to buy the super sized boxes because my kiddos love the stuff. I can go without it but they love it.

 We also decided we were going to make some cupcakes using this lovely Valentine cake mix and icing. Yummy!

 20 minutes in the oven and the whole house smelled lovely. They came out so golden. And you can see the nice red peices that were baked into the cakes. Again..yummy!

 My hubby came home from work last night with my birthday gifts. Above you see the very sweet card he picked out for me. It was lovely! It made me cry.

 Here is my ring! :) He had planned (i found out) on getting me a ring for my birthday but our tax refund hasn't came in yet so he got me this one. I love quirky things like this. I think it is awesome.

 He also got me my favorite Dove Chocolates. It is so silky, creamy, yummy. Here are all my lovelies from my hunny.

 OH I almost forgot didn't I. Here are our lovely cupcakes all icinged up. The pink frosting is vanilla. The kiddos helped with all of it. They are little wonders in the kitchen. Oh and they did taste mighty yummy.

Last but not least is me on my 31st birthday. Little, laid back me. All smiles, happy, content, enjoying this day.

I hope all of you are well! Until next time, Be Blessed.

Just Checking in.

 Hello my wonderful bloggy friends. Just wanted to check in and update you all on the goings on in my life and tell you thank you, thank you, thank you for all your wonderful comments on my posts.  As you can tell by these pictures, I am still dreaming of and wishing for warmer weather. Our lovely weather people around here are all calling for ice, rain, and snow over the next couple days. I am really hoping we get none of it but looks like it's gonna hit us hard. So just when the roads are getting better, we get even nastier stuff. Oh the above pic is one of my lovely peonies that grows beside my house during spring. They are dark pink in the middle, then yellow, then light pink on the oustide. I think they are called sorbet.

 I have been busy today. I absolutely had to go get my tag stickers for my cars today. This is not one of my favorite tasks as the DMV is always crowded and it usually takes FOREVER to make it through the line to the desk to get service. Luckily this morning there were only 3 people in line in front of me and 3 people being helped at the desk AND the line moved very quickly. Of course, I hate how much those little stickers cost as well. It is the law and I guess I must deal with it :) (Oh how I miss the green leaves on the trees)

 My teeth and I are finally getting along great. I finally got them adjusted to where I have no more sore spots. I can eat nearly anything I want, I can sleep in them if I choose to do so. I can do whatever. They are pretty much a part of me. I still say certain sounds with a lisp but I am doing well. I even ventured out to a Pampered Chef party (that was being held just down my road at a friends house). No one knew they were dentures. Everyone, however, thought I had a beautiful smile. (a beautiful Japanese maple is adorning the above pic)

 The above picture is fitting as tomorrow is my 31st birthday and my zodiac sign is Aquarius. I certainly miss the puffy white clouds on a beautiful blue sky and spending days by the lake. I know those days will be here soon enough but you know what, these pictures keep me sane in these cold, dark, grey days.

I think that is all for now my friends. I have lasagna baking away in my oven as I type. I have cupcakes to make just because. I am enjoying life so much more now that I can smile, eat, drink, and live pain free. I am just living and enjoying it. (I even miss the dandelions. There is something magical about the seeds floating through the air. Oh and blowing them so they would land in my ex neighbor's yard. He hated them with a passion...lol...devious aren't I)

Yarny goodness.

Hello my fabulous bloggy friends. It is still super duper cold here in Ohio. I am so ready for spring and leaves on trees, green grass, flowers, even bees. I am so tired of the cold and snow!!! But I have lots to keep me busy.

In my last post I mentioned I needed to pick up more yarn for my son's granny stripe blanket and some of you showed interest in a yarny blog. SOOO...I decided I would take some snapshots of the newest yarn I have. I honestly didn't realize I had gotten so much new yarn. Between needing it to finish up projects, my sister-in-law from Florida mailing it to me and my husband suprising me with it well my stash is building up nicely. So without further adieux....Yarny goodness.

 The above picture is the yarn I needed to finish up my son's granny stripe. I had plenty of skeins of the light and darker blue but I needed to buy more (l to r) Red Heart Super Saver 0312 black,  0365 Coffee, 0312 Aran, and 0336 Warm Brown.

 This yarn is from Lion Brand. I just recently misplaced the sleeves so I can't tell you exactly what it is but the color is this nice deep blue. It is kind of like velvet. I am currently making a hooded scarf from this Lion Brand pattern out of this super soft and bulky yarn.

 Here is an upclose picture of this yarn. It looks black here but it does have blue hints in it. Oh and this batch came from my sister-in-law.

 Next is some yarn my hubby recently bought me. It is in my favorite colorways. I love blue. This is Lion Brand Homespun yarn in the color 406 Ocean. It is a bulky yarn and it is so super squishy and so super soft. I have no idea what I will make out of it and I am definately open to suggestions.

 These four are also some my darling hubby brought home to me. They are Caron Simply Soft. It is a nice softer yarn and it has this lovely sheen to it. It is a worsted weight yarn but it is thinner than most worsted weight yarn. Oh and the sheen makes it a little slippery so your ends don't want to stay woven in. The colors I have from top to bottom are: Sunshine 9755, Limelight 9607, Autumn Red 9730, and Country Blue 9710.

 Can you tell Red Heart is readily available close to where I live. It is also pretty cheap at $2.99 for a 7oz/198g/364yd/333m of yarn. My hubby brought these home to me not too long ago. I think these will end up going into my youngest daughter's giant granny rectangle blanket. The color is candy print color 0786.

 This yarn is so squishy and soft. It is Hometown USA yarn from Lion Brand. I love this yarn. It is super bulky weight and is soooo soft. I know I am going to make a Diagonal Afghan found here with this yarn. My sister-in-law also sent this yarn to me. I love the names of the colors as well. The three colors I have are 108 Washington Denim (blueish), 147 Minneapolis Purple, and 102 Honolulu Pink. The order you see here is the order the colors on the diagonal blanket. I think it is going to gorgeous and super warm.

 Here is thos colors a bit closer and stacked on top of eachother.

 Here is all the yarn just thrown all haphazardly about the floor. My daughter is a bit OCD like me and was trying to straighten up the yarn.

Ahhh....all the yarny, squishy, goodness. I love it. I hope you all have enjoyed this post. Please leave all your lovely comments below and if you have any suggestions on what should be made with some of these yarns, let me know and I will definately check it out!

Until next time all my friends, Be Blessed.

Baby it's freezing cold outside.

Ouch it is freezing cold here in Ohio. This morning when my darling hubby left for work it was -6 outside. Yes MINUS SIX! Now it is only 12 degrees. We are having a rare sunny day. A deceptively sunny day. You would think it is warm but your nose freezes within minutes of going outside. My poor furnace is running non-stop trying to keep our humble home warm. I hope the temps warm up soon.

We did get the snow they were calling for. The kiddos got out of school early. Their school was closed on Friday because the super cold temps has made the slush on the road turn to ice. Even my 4x4 has a hard time on it.

 Here is a picture I took during the storm on Thursday. At some points the snow was coming down 1.5 inches per hour. It was beautiful to look at but was hard to go out in. It blew around alot and as I was shoveling my sidewalk the snow kept going up my nose and in my eyes. lol

 Even my puppies didn't want to be in the snow. Here is a good action pic of my precious Tinkerbell. I had to take her out because she HAD to go....She was running to go back in the house. She wanted no part of the cold and blowing snow.

 Of course I just had to measure how much we got. A meager 4 inches is all. It sure seems like a lot more when you are trying to drive in it and keep the sidewalks clear. The bad thing about it all is that we are supposed to get some more flurries tonight and we have yet another winter storm on its way. The weatherman is showing snow on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. They said we can get even more snow than we just got. I guess we will see.

 After going outside to potty this is where you can find my beautiful puppies. Laying in the doggy bed in front of the fireplace chewing on their bones. They are so cute together like this.

 Also, as I promised, a better pic of the red hair. I took this one yesterday. Please forgive me for not having makeup on. I look so pale and colorless. Kind of gross if you ask me but you have to show the real you sometimes. So this is the real me..lol

Finally I have a pic of our newest addition. I am pretty sure I posted about this little gal when we rabbit-sat it for a friend of ours. Well we took Salem back to her owner and Salem seemed to be kind of sad. Her owner works alot and decided she didn't have enough time to spend with Salem so she asked if we would like to keep her. Of course we just fell in love with her when she was here with us so we said, yes of course we will take her and she is here. She is the sweetest thing and loves to snuggle up to the puppies.

That is all for now my friends. I have to get some things done today. Oh and I get to go yarn shopping when my hubby gets home from work. I can finally get the yarn I need to finish up my first granny stripe and to start on my youngest son's blanket. I am very excited to get it.

I hope you all are doing well. Until we meet again. Be Blessed.