Today's Workout

Tae bo Total Body Fat Blast, 52 minutes, 560 calories

Total for week 207 minutes, 2057 calories

Had a migraine all day, but recovered to work out :)

Down 3 pounds this week, but still not caught up.

Asthma Attack

My nail polish remover was sitting on the end table today (yes, my house is a mess). Ben saw it and asked "is that to give bugs asthma attacks?"
"No, it's for my nails. Why?"
"Well, we need to give bugs bad food so dey have asthma attacks and dey don't know where de doctow is so dey get dead."
"Why do we want them dead?"
"Cause we don't like bugs. Not spidews or bees or beetows, or odo (other- I can't figure out how to write it) spidows, or ....."

So funny.

Today's Workout

Biggest Loser Power Sculpt (in honor of my show starting back up last night), 53 minutes, 505 calories

Total for week, 155 minutes, 1497 calories

I'm seeing muscle again.

Real Busy Again

Last night I went to bed completely exhausted. First, we had Ben's field trip to the Apple Orchard. Since I am staff as well as mom, I did more helping than enjoying. It was good, though, because I got to visit with some of my former students and parents. Then after dropping Ben off at his second school I got to come home and do manual labor. First we had to unload the trailer from last week of floor panels- you should have seen me staggering around the yard. Then we had to return to Menards to load the cement, 4x4's, and fence panels. 20 50lb bags of sand and 20 4x4's. My arms wanted to fall off. We were still finishing up when it was time to go pick up the kids so I ran for them and came back. We all came home and shoved the trailor into the garage so Daddy could go to work. I came in and washed dishes, cooked dinner, straightened up in hopes of finding my keys (they've been missing since Saturday- they seem to be nowhere, and the boys are too big to have hidden them from me.) Then it was time for Joey's first Tiger Scout meeting. Dropped him off with Daddy while Ben and I ran to the grocery store for milk (ran out again) and to the library (I have a bunch of books to read right now!). Picked Joey up, came home, showers for the boys, bedtime stories, into bed. I also had to get publicity done for my genealogy society, then I was hoping for a few minutes of reading. I think I managed about 10 minutes before I closed my eyes for the night.
Ok that doesn't really sound like that much. You'll have to trust me that I had a really busy day yesterday:)

Today's Workout

Tae bo Rockin Abs + Elliptical, 46 minutes, 403 calories

Total for week, 102 min, 992 calories

Today's Workout

Tae bo Amped Full Throttle, 56 minutes, 589 calories

Yes, I am actually up 2 pounds. Grrr.

Seriously. Grrr.

Today's Workout

Tae bo Fat Burning Blast, 53 minutes, 564 calories

Total for week: 240 minutes, 2372 calories

Last week: 175 minutes, 1915 calories

Our Newest Venture

When my dear husband was young (before we met), he raised and raced homing pigeons for a time. He has always recalled that time with fondness and I should have known that this was bound to happen. A few months ago his friend who has quite a managerie at his house brought home some pigeons. The more hubby visited the birds, the more convinced he became that he really wanted to get back into it. He finally asked for my approval to build a loft in the back of the garage a couple weeks ago, yesterday we spent 4 hours at Menards getting all the building supplies (plus we're re-doing the privacy fence in the backyard), and this morning we went to a "small animal swap meet" in Freeport. I never knew. There were all kinds of birds, rabbits, geese (why not just stop on the side of the road?), ducks, swans, kittens, llamas, etc., and supplies. Of course, we are not ready to actually have pigeons yet, but of course we bought two. These ones are not to race, but for Joey and Ben to call their own and be involved. The black and white is Ben's called Sammy, and the red and white is Joey's called Jo-Jo. I'm sure there will be many adventures to report in this whole process of building, breeding and racing. Stay tuned for the mishaps.

Today's Workouts

Tae bo Sculpt Express, 45 minutes, 425 calories
Mowed the lawn, 15 minutes, 75 calories

Total for week, 187 minutes, 1808 calories

Ate a piece of ice cream cake before I worked out:(
But at least I still got up:)

Today's Workout

Tae bo Rockin Buns, 48 min, 515 calories

Total for week, 127 min, 1308 calories

A Lesson In Rudeness

Is it not considered rude to tell someone that they are rude? Or gang up on them in front of complete strangers? It just baffles me when I run into people who feel "entitled" to respect from others but don't give it. And those store cashiers are people, too. They are not getting paid extra for people to yell at them.
Here's the story: I was in line at Target and the woman in front of me had some shorts which she thought should have been clearance. Anyone who shops at Target knows that their clearance has red tags, but apparently she didn't care. She pointed out the rack that she got them from to the cashier and then to the manager. The manager walked over to the rack, came back and told her that the clearance sign is on the back of the rack and the shorts are clearly marked $8.99. I was relieved because, really, I had been in line for a while and wanted to check out. All of a sudden this lady is yelling at the manager that she is rude. The manager apologized, several times, saying that she didn't intend to be, she just was trying to let her know that the shorts were not on clearance. As I'm gaping at this woman, another woman from another line started lecturing the manager as well. Oh. My. Please control your mouth if you have nothing nice to say. So the poor manager eventually walked away with a very red face, and the poor cashier had to complete the sale while these two ladies just ranted and raved. I have been treated badly many times by those customers who are always right, and it never gets easier or less embarrassing. We all say things that perhaps come out the wrong way. Just because we are employees does not mean we have to be called on it out in public. I find myself smiling in commiseration with cashiers frequently, and it just gets worse and worse.....
Ok, I'm getting off my soapbox now. I realize I was ranting and raving there.
Just please, please, remember that cashiers are people, too, and we all deserve respect.

Today's Workout

Elliptical, 30 minutes, 260 calories.

Week total 79 min, 793 calories

Portrait Session

With the beautiful weather today, and since I didn't get any good pictures of Ben on his birthday, I decided to drag the boys out for a photo shoot in the front yard. Here are some of my pictures after I played with them on Piknic:

Funny Conversation

Conversation we just had:

Daddy: Who wants to go to Home Depot?

Boys: Me!

Mommy: It's too close to bedtime, and Daddy likes to wander around. Let's watch tv for a few minutes instead.
(Mommy leaves the room for a minute)

Ben: Let's blow up ballons and put them in our beds so Mommy will think we're in our beds when we go to Home Depot!

Mommy and Daddy: (Falling on the floor laughing)

PS: Guess who's at Home Depot right now, too close to bedtime? (How can we resist?)

Today's Workout

Tae-bo Fat Blasting Cardio, 49 minutes, 533 calories

Still going strong

Goodbye To One Commitment

So here's a little bit of what's been going on in my head:
Last February I discovered an awesome company called Once Upon A Family. I thought it was so awesome that I decided very quickly to become a consultant and start selling their products. Even though I've never sold anything in my life and am not very good in new stiuations, etc, etc. There were lots of reasons for it not to work out, but I really believed in the product so I took a chance. Eighteen months later I have to say that it was a good decision. I had to step outside my comfort zone and do some very new and big things like public speaking and I will never go back to being that girl who couldn't talk to people. Unfortunately, I'm still not much of a salesperson. The only time I made decent sales, the effort was way more than the payoff. Now I haven't had a sale in several months, and if I don't have $300 in by the end of this month I lose my consultant status. So...if there is anything you would like to order, now is the time. I have so much else going on right now that I think I am going to let this go. Visit my website and check out our new products and September specials, then let me know if you need anything. Many thanks to my girls who did support me in those first months when I was trying to get started.

PS: I will give you my cost for anything you order, generally 20% off.

Today's Workouts

Tae-bo Total Body Fat Blast, 54 minutes, 580 calories

Total for week, 175 minutes, 1915 calories

Is that a pound yet?

Happy Birthday Ben!

My baby is four years old today. I know this is a worn out line, but wasn't it just yesterday that we went into the hospital to have him? Then he was a happy-go-lucky baby, a busy toddler, a feisty 2 and 3 year old. What is in store for us next? I really feel that school is doing him worlds of good (I just hope I don't suddenly find out that he has been awful there) and he is really starting to go places. He learned to snap the other day simply because his brother could do it. Now I wonder if he'll just start reading because he sees Joey doing it. Daddy's coming home for half an hour this evening so we can have cake on his birthday, but first we're going to Sapora Playworld and then the favorite McDonalds for dinner. He got a remote control dinosaur and a view-master projector from us, and various what-nots from grandma so far.

I have more to talk about, but saving it for a separate post- stay tuned for more details:)

Today's Workouts

Biggest Loser Workout, 55 minutes, ~600 calories (I accidently stopped the stupid heart rate monitor and lost my total)

Total for week- 121 minutes, 1335 calories


(In case you are starting to think I am insane or starting out too fast, I am taking tomorrow off. And I feel pretty good but real sore today. And I stepped on the scale which gave me great motivation. I'm not telling how much I had already gained back, I'll just let you know when I'm back to where I was.)

Today's Workouts

Tae bo Rockin Abs, 40 minutes, 422 calories

Total for week, 66 minutes, 735 calories