TMI Tag plus a mini update.

Hello again my friends. I know I have been MIA for a little while. There has been a lot going on.

The weather has finally broke here in Ohio so we have been out a lot.

My mom has been having some health issues.

Things have just been a little cray cray so I will try to do some updates very soon.

Today I am having a down day. I did 6.3 miles yesterday and I'm totally feeling it today. On top of that, I have some raging seasonal allergies so I'm just kind of relaxing today. 

That brings me to today's blog post. I like to watch youtube videos and right now there is a tag going around called the TMI tag. I don't really like making videos that show me so I decided to answer all 50 questions here. So let's get on with it then.

1: What are you wearing? A tshirt and pants

2: Ever been in love? yes twice. Once in high school (my first love) and I am now madly in love with my hubby.

3: Ever had a terrible breakup? Yes. With the person I was seeing before my hubby. We had a child together and                                                 it got a little ugly.

4: How tall are you? 5 foot 2

5: How much do you weigh? 152

6: Any tattoos? I have a blue rose tattooed on ankle

7: Any piercings? I once had my nose, tongue, and belly button pierced but I am now just sporting earrings

8: OTP?  This is One true pair or partner? Hubby definitely

9: Favorite show? I love Criminal Minds, Duck Dynasty, Dancing with the Stars, Walking Dead and Sons of                                      Anarchy

10: Favorite bands? Hmm..bands..I dunno about bands but I'm digging Bruno Mars right now.

11: Something you miss? My grandparents.

12: Favorite song? Best Day of My Life, Gorilla, Automatic

13: How old are you? 34

14: Zodiac sign? This is against my religious beliefs but I am an aquarius

15: Quality you look for in a partner? loyalty, trustworthy, funny, fun

16: Favorite Quote? No one can make you feel inferior without your consent~ Eleanor Roosevelt

17: Favorite actor? Jason Statham, Vin Diesel

18: Favorite color? I'm loving Turquoise right now

19: Loud music or soft? Depends on my mood

20: Where do you go when you're sad? Either to my room or I go for a walk or to the lake

21: How long does it take you to shower? 15 minutes or so

22: How long does it take you to get ready in the morning? It depends. If I shower, do hair and makeup it can                                                                                             take an hour or more. If I just get up and throw my                                                                                           hair in a pony then about 5-10 minutes

23: Ever been in a physical fight? Yes

24: Turn on? Great smile, joy, happiness

25: Turn off? people full of themselves, people who think they are better than you or know more than you

26: The reason I joined Youtube? I'm going to sub blogger here. I joined blogger because I love to write. I wanted                                                    to get my struggles out there and possibly help someone who is going through                                                  the same thing.

27: Fears? Losing my family. Failure

28: Last thing that made you cry? A video I watched from facebook 

29: Last time you said you loved someone? A few mins ago to my daughter

30: Meaning behind your Youtube Name? My BLOG name is what this blog is about. Just the things that go on                                                                in an ordinary stay at home mom's life.

31: Last book you read? Mocking jay

32: The book you're currently reading? I am always reading the Bible

33: Last show you watched? Noon news

 
34: Last person you talked to? My daughter 

35: The relationship between you and the person you last texted? She is my other daughter :)

36: Favorite food? Chicken. I love chicken

37: Place you want to visit? Scotland 

38: Last place you were? Uptown with my hubby last night

39: Do you have a crush? Yes on my hubby

40: Last time you kissed someone? Last night before I went to sleep

41: Last time you were insulted? Yesterday

42: Favourite flavour of sweet? I love chocolate but I also love cherry flavored hard candies like jolly ranchers

43: What instruments do you play?? None too well. I can play a little piano that my grandma taught me but that's                                                        all

44: Favourite piece of jewellery? Wedding set hubby got me for Valentine's day

45: Last sport you played? baseball

46: Last song you sang? Daydream Believer by the Monkees

47: Favourite chat up line? hmm. pick up line, chat line..don't use either

48: Have you ever used it? see previous question.

49: Last time you hung out with anyone? Last evening. Walked with a good friend of mine.

50: Who should answer these questions next? Whoever wants too.

Ok my friends. There you have it. 50 questions. Did you learn anything about me? 

Until we meet again,

Be Blessed

Erin

Getting healthy: Week 10

Hello again my friends.

I just realized that I haven't been updating all of you on how I've been doing on my new lifestyle. SHAME ON ME!

Well I have to say it is going pretty good!

I am currently in the middle of week 11. I will weigh in again on Friday.

So let me see.

I have been doing pretty good. I am keeping my calories pretty much in check. Usually I stay right around 1200-1300 a day but sometimes if I feel I need more like around that time of the month and when I have a cold (like last week) I will take my caloric intake up to 1500 calories per day.

As far as exercising..well I started planning my workouts in advance the weekend before last and it has helped me be more consistent with my workouts.

I also started doing Fitnessblender workouts on YouTube. If you are trying to lose weight and you want some great workouts then look them up. 

I know I haven't updated in a few weeks and I honestly couldn't tell you what happened but I know I was losing a pound or so then gained a pound and a half. Then last weigh in I had lost 3 pounds putting me at 154 pounds. So that means that I have lost a total of 9 pounds since January 1st and a total of 14 pounds since November.  

As I stated earlier I had a horrible head cold starting last Wednesday. I literally couldn't breathe!!

However, I did manage a couple workouts while I was sick.  I honestly don't know how I lost 3 whole pounds but I imagine it was the mixture of Zumba and the fitness blender workouts I did.

This week I have my workout schedule as follows: 

Monday-FitnessBlender- arms/cardio

Tuesday-Walk or Zumba

Wednesday- Fitness Blender Legs

Thursday- walk or Zumba

Friday- Fitness Blender Core

Saturday- Walk or Zumba or Yoga

Sunday- Rest and cheat day.

As far as eating: I kind of have it down to a science at this point.

For breakfast I will have a couple eggs with a little shredded cheese and salsa plus a cup of coffee with French vanilla international delight creamer.

Lunch I will have anything really. Usually it's a tuna on a whole wheat sandwich round or a salad. 

But sometimes I will have a few potato and cheddar perogies ore a couple of chicken and cabbage egg rolls.

Dinner will be whatever I fix for the family. However, if there is something particularly unhealthy (like 400 calorie per half cup serving of Mac n cheese) I will substitute it with a salad.

I also try to make sure I have a snack or two between meals if I am going to go longer than a few hours without eating. I will have some hummus and blue corn chips or some veggies and hummus, guacamole, fruit, muscle milk. 

I dunno. I just have a simple approach to eating. I know how many calories I  need to consume daily (at least 1200) I eat what I want to eat (I'll have a small piece of cake if I want it) and just make sure I exercise!

Also, Sunday is my rest day and my cheat day. I eat whatever I would like (in moderation) and I try not to go too crazy. I try to stay below 1500 calories that day.

So there you have it. Today's workout was a walk/run. I did 3.41 miles in 58 minutes and 22 seconds. I burned 290 calories. I'm happy with that!

Ok my friends, it's gorgeous outside today so I'm gonna go out and enjoy it before dinner.

Until we meet again,

Be Blessed,

Erin

Cleaning: Before and After; Just keeping it real.

Hello again my friends.

I'm going to apologize ahead of time if this post seems off a bit. I am still sick! 

My head is so stuffy it is hard for me to think straight.

My friends, I'm gonna keep it real! I'm gonna show you what happens when I don't keep up with my house every day! This is going to be a cleaning before and after of some of the rooms in my home. I didn't do the laundry room or the bathroom because those two rooms were pretty clean to begin with. I just picked up and mopped those rooms. I also didn't include my kids' bedrooms because I just feel a little funny about showing them. However, those rooms have been cleaned by their occupants. :)

Now for a little background. We had a sleepover on Saturday. The house was cleaned on Sunday. So that means that this mess was 3 days in the making. Now sometimes things will be worse than this (a lot worse) and sometimes better. This was an in between week.

So lets start in the living room.

Here in photo one you can see the blankets and just ordinary mess on the couch. Those laundry baskets are full of clean clothes. My hubby washes and dries the laundry and I fold and put it away.

Here is the other side of the room. It isn't as bad. I just needed to put a few things away and straighten up some stuff.

Here is a good view of the majority of my living room. I put everything in it's place and dusted and vacuumed.

Here is the other side. The room looks much bigger when it is picked up.

Now for my kitchen.

My kids's chores are to do the dishes after dinner every night so there are only the morning's breakfast dishes to wash. Other than that I just had to pick up a few things and empty the trash. I also swept and mopped the floor.

Here is my kitchen after I cleaned it.

Next is the dining room.

My dining room is only 10 feet by 10 feet. So I literally divided it up into two sections. First is the dining room table. This is where my hubby does his school work and my kids do their homework. I also spend a lot of time here planning, studying, and deciding on things.

Here is the other side of my dining room. It contains the kennels my puppies sleep in at night, the school supply tote and my really messy bookshelves that housed books we have already read and no one touches.

My dining room table looks so much bigger after it is cleaned off. 

Here is the after of the other side. I tracked down the lid to the school supply tote and I put a lot of our books in the purge basket. We will be selling them in a yard sale when the weather is better.

Next is my bedroom. When we moved into this house my hubby and I took the smallest bedroom in the house. My room is where everything goes when we are deciding what to do with it. I wish I could say it stays clean but most of the time it isn't.

This is how my room looked before I cleaned it up.

(Please don't be offended by the flag. It is a state of Georgia flag. That is where hubby and I met and where we are from)

Here is after. 

Our room feels so much bigger and comfortable when it is cleaned up.

This shows the same view as the before picture above.

My friends please don't think ill of me or think I don't keep my house clean because I do clean a lot. However, I just to keep it real! This is what happens to my house in just a few days of me not tidying up every day. If I am sick or if we are really busy and I don't have time to clean, this is what happens.

Mainly I just want to let anyone out there who is struggling to keep their house clean know that it is normal. I have 4 kids and 3 pets and honestly I have to tidy up about an hour every day to maintain a clean house. If I skip a day or two then I have to spend a day cleaning up. This cleaning adventure took me around 6 hours to complete from start to finish and as long as I continue to tidy up daily, I will maintain my house as it is now.

I hope you all enjoyed this "keepin it real" post.

Until we meet again,

Be Blessed,

Erin

Gardening: My garden is moving! New garden plans.

Hello again everyone. 

How are you?

I can honestly say I've been better! We had a glorious day here in Ohio yesterday! The temps were in the 70s, it was sunny, and I spent most of the day outside doing some yard work and garden planning. Today is a different story. I woke up to rain and dropping temps. We are supposed to get snow this afternoon! How crazy is that?!? 

I'm not feeling too well today. I woke up with a sore throat and a stuffy nose. As the day goes on this crazy cold keeps progressing. Now I have added a cough and loads of nose burning sneezes to the mix. You know, I really can't complain much because I have had fairly good health all winter long! 

Okay, enough of my ramblings, this post is going to be about my garden.

I know I have stated before that my poor garden beds were looking worse for wear because they were made out of wood and the termites and weather had finally got to them. I did get a good 4-5 years from those beds so I cannot complain too much. So at the end of the gardening season last year we tore up all the wood and just left the dirt mounds. Yesterday I smoothed out those dirt mounds because my plans were to build 3 new garden beds out of concrete block and to fill them with the true Mel's Mix from the All New Square Foot Garden book. 

Well, yesterday as I was smoothing out the dirt down the sunny side of my home I got to thinking. I am going to be spending $500 or more on garden supplies to rebuild my garden beds. Well, the area my beds sit in is also the area that my water line connects the city supply to my house. If we happen to have a water line problem, I would have to tear at least two of my garden beds apart just so they could dig up the line. I would be devastated if those types of repairs had to happen at the peak of growing season! I would probably cry my eyes out!!!

So, I have decided to move my garden beds to my back yard. I have a pretty small back yard. So I was worried about taking up the entire yard in garden beds. I still wanted to have room to entertain in my back yard. So I took some stakes and some yarn and measured and measured and measured and then did some mapping out and I came up with a pretty good plan that leaves a little bit of space in my back yard. 

Now, I don't have any pictures because there isn't anything to show so I will tell you about it.

I have a chain link fence around my yard. If you face my back yard I have an alley side on the left, straight ahead is the end of my back yard and to the right is my gazebo and a path that leads to the spot where my garden beds used to be.  My plan is to have two 8 foot by 4 foot beds with a two foot space between them about 3 feet from my back fence (3 feet so I can get behind my beds). Then I will have a 3 foot by 8 foot bed on the alley fence, right up on the fence which will be mainly an herb bed. I am really excited about being able to see my garden from my back deck and my gazebo. It will also be safer from people coming in my yard and picking my veggies.

I think the only problem I may have is the amount of sunlight I get in the back yard. During the height of summer I know I will get enough sunlight for my produce but it isn't like the previous spot that got sunlight nearly all day. But we will see.

I plan on getting most of the materials in a couple weeks and I promise I will take tons of pictures of the process to show you all! I may even take some pictures of the spots and let you see exactly what I'm talking about. 

Well that is all for now. My meds are kicking in and I'm feeling a little bit better so I think I will eat a snack or some lunch and get some more of my to-dos for the week checked off my list.

Until we meet again,

Be Blessed,

Erin

Let's Play Catch-up

My friends, I wish to send special thank you's to each one of you who read every post I put up.

I know I am very inconsistent with my blogging and I am truly sorry. 

I do have a valid excuse though. In order for me to blog properly I have to do it on a computer. The only computer available to me right now is my hubby's laptop. Now he takes online classes so I don't really like messing with it. I can post from my phone BUT I can only add one picture to the post and I just have so much more to share. So today I'm hijacking my hubby's laptop and updating you all on some things going on around Misadventure land.

 First up is the crazy weather. This has been the coldest and snowiest winter since I have lived in Ohio. For most of the winter the ground has been white and icy. Here are a few pictures. These pictures are after a bit of a thaw and I'm happy to report that the past several days have been lovely and we can finally see grass!

Isn't all that crazy! We could walk on the ice in the creek because it was so thick!

Secondly, I have been really lazy. If I was brave I would show you a picture of my bedroom. It is the one room in the house that doesn't get a regular cleaning. Usually I just throw stuff in there when I am cleaning and by the end of the day I am too tired to pick it all up! The rest of my house looks pretty good buy my bedroom mess really annoys me but I still don't clean it.

The laziness has extended to my couponing too. I got behind a few weeks ago because I just didn't have time to sit down and clip my coupons. So now I am several weeks behind. I do still use my coupons to snag great deals only I have to search through the inserts to find the coupons I need.

Both of these things I will be tackling this week. I find I just cannot cope and be productive when I have unfinished things. I dunno if it is a mental thing or what but I just cannot do it.

My hubby was on vacation last week and we spent a lot of time traveling around. So my diet suffered significantly. It is really hard to find decent foods to eat while out. So last week my diet was on a vacation as well. I didn't over eat but I did eat a lot of fast food. My weight on the scale showed it too because I gained 1.5 lbs. However, I am back on my normal routine as of today and hope to lose at least 2 pounds this week.

My hubby has had some exciting things happen on the work front. He applied for a job closer to home but with the same company in January. They called him and he interviewed and was offered the job. So this new job offered daytime hours, evenings and weekends off, but he would have to take a $1 paycut. He was going to take it! He would be home every evening, he would be able to go to church every Sunday and it was only 15 minutes from home. However, his boss came to him and asked him what he needed to stay at his current job and my hubby laid out his conditions. He got everything he wanted! Including a nearly $2 raise. So he will not be changing jobs afterall and he will be moving up in the company this year!

My daughter Faith's birthday was this past Friday. She turned 13 years old. We had her a sleep over party. She invited 3 of her friends. The next day we went to Chiller in Dublin and took all the kids including our boys ice skating. It was a first time for all of us and we had a blast. Here are some pictures.

Let me tell you, if that ice rink wasn't so far away I would go every day! I loved ice skating!

Finally, I would like to tell you about my garden. Right now I don't have a garden at all. We tore all of my garden beds up and I am in the process of spreading out all of the dirt mounds from my beds. We will be making all new beds this month. We are going to use concrete block for each bed and fill them with the mix of soil in the All New Square Foot Garden book. 

I just cannot wait to get my new beds put in and filled. We plan on using rock around my beds so we don't have to get the mower in that area. I am chomping at the bit to get some veggies growing. I miss my garden so much in the winter.

Well I think that pretty much catches you all up. I hope to begin blogging regularly. It may just be words without pictures but there is so much going on I want to share with all of you.

Until next time friends,

Be Blessed, 

Erin

Weekly Weigh in #7 plus new workout gear

Hello again faithful readers!

I have been MIA for a while. The weather has been crazy, we've been busy, it's been nuts around here to say the least.

However, I wanted to give you an update on my journey.

Firstly, and this will be a little too much information but my monthly visitor arrived yesterday so today's results are not going to be too accurate.

So this morning I weight 157.4 which is pretty much the same as last week. However, I am really bloated from my visitor. I did weight myself on Wednesday before the visitor arrived and I weighted 156. So I know I have lost a little bit of weight.

This week went really well. I utilized all the snow and ice outside as my workout. I shoveled and shoveled and broke up ice and shoveled. In total I burned nearly 2000 calories total for the days I shoveled snow.

My eating was pretty good this week. I am still battling my sweet tooth and did really well until the pms cravings kicked in. I let myself have a little bit of what I wanted. I didn't over indulge, I didn't go crazy. I just didn't deprive myself of an oreo or two :)

I have another milestone for this week as well.

Today hubby and I went to Walmart on a whim and he noticed some workout clothing on sale.

Well, normally I am a size Large or a 12-14 BUT today (even being bloated) I was able to purchase size Medium or 8-10 in pants. 

I am still a size large in shirts because I have larger breasts and my size 12 jeans are loose.

I love this progress.

Now I want to share with you all the workout gear I have purchased over the past month or so. I will try to include where I purchased them and the price.

 First is an overview picture of everything I have (so far)

 First up, sports bras. I have larger breasts (38 D) so it has been a battle finding good supportive sports bras. So I did a little research and headed to my local outlet mall (Tanger in Jeffersonville for those close)

I went to the Hanes, Playtex store and found these (best thing is you can try them on!)

These are made by Champion. They are a Max Support bra. I got size xl. It is a racer back bra with a 3 clasp closure. I love this bra! The girls don't bounce around, it wicks the sweat away, doesn't give you pancake boob, and it's pretty. I think these bras were roughly $44.

 Next are my shoes. I also purchased these from the Tanger Outlets mall in Jeffersonville. I bought these from the Adidas store. They are the Adidas Supernova Sequence 6 shoe. I tend to over-pronate (tilt in) when I run/walk and these corrected that. They also corrected the way my foot struck the ground. These shoes are really comfortable and the coolest feature I think is they use Continental tire rubber on the bottoms. These shoes were $120

 Next are my hats. Both came from Walmart. Both were around $5 each. These just keep the sun out of my eyes and more importantly, my hair out of my face.

 Socks are very important. The colorful pair is from the same Adidas store I got my shoes (can't remember price) the white ones are from Walmart. The white ones are Danskin brand and were on clearance for $2. Both pairs are snug around my arch and both wick sweat away.

 These shorts are from Walmart. They are Danskin brand. I found them on clearance for $3. They are super comfy and the best they are a size smaller than what I used to wear :)

 These shorts are also from Walmart. They are also Danskin brand. They were $6.86. 

And finally, I picked up some running tights from Walmart. They are also Danskin brand and cost $12.96.

All of my clothing are athletic clothing and have the moisture wicking technology. I will try to remember to update on durability and performance.

Well friends that is all for today. I have to get dinner going for my hungry crowd.

I have tons of other news from pictures of all the snow and ice to my girl's Valentines dance. I will try to post about everything as soon as I can.

Thank you to all who read my blog.

Sending warm hugs to all who read this.

Be Blessed,

Erin

Happy Valentine's Day and Weigh in 6 official results

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Hello again my friends. The picture attached to this post is my Valentine's gift from my hubby.  I haven't had an actual wedding set for several years now so hubby got me one as a gift.  I absolutely love it. It has 55 natural diamonds 1/3 ct. It also has sapphires which is my hubby's birthstone and blue is my favorite color.  He did a good job.

Note for my weigh in results.  I did lose a pounds this week.  I'm at 157 pounds now.  I had a good strong week!  I ate well and I exercised daily.  I feel so much stronger mentally and physically.  I'm gonna do this!

Well I'm on my phone and it is hard to type.  Auto correct annoys me.

I hope all if you have a wonderful day.
Sending warm Valentine's wishes and big hugs to you all.

Be blessed
Erin