eep!

I’m promising at least TWO blogs updating both C’s 3rd birthday party and various happening around here. I’ll try to have them up by Saturday night! For now – the things I’ve been wanting to get out of my head… list style. Sorta.

--- I fell dove head-first off the dieting wagon the day of Christopher’s birthday party (August 18th)…and I’m still not completely back on it. I’m TRYING to climb back on… I have one foot on but I’m still hopping along with one foot one the ground. Basically this means that every morning I wake up and say, “Okay – healthy eating today! Log your calories! Start The Shred today or do a C25K run today!”  …and I do great until lunchtime. Then I stuff my face with whatever food I can find. Which isn’t much because I’ve been avoiding Walmart like the plague.

--- I’m officially an MBA student. This freaks me out juuuuust a wee bit. I don’t know why. But I do know that it means great things are in store for my future. I was in a little pity-party type funk right before classes started – mainly about going “back to school.”  I honestly thought that when I graduated just a few months ago, in May…I just never thought I’d be back to commuting, classes, and homework just a few months later. But I’m so excited to see what doors this opens for me. Between you and me – at this point in my life, I’m hoping that I never have to look inside the walls of a middle or high school. I’m thinking bigger…much bigger! (I’m not saying that I would never teach in the public school system…just that it’s not my first choice for a job right now.) (There’s a reason I’m not getting my Master’s in Education.)

--- Accounting just makes no sense to me whatsoever. It was such a hard undergraduate class for me. I never thought I’d be taking an accounting class again. Thankfully, there’s just one grad-level accounting class in my MBA program.

--- I quit running for 9 days. I ran on the morning of Christopher’s birthday, (Saturday) then didn’t run again until the next Monday. It’s amazing how much ground I lost just in a week. Ugh. I’ll be heading back out tonight.

--- Have I ever mentioned my interest in running a half marathon? I’ve wanted to run a half marathon for two years now…once I’m finished with my 5K training, I’m planning to train for a 10K. Then after THAT, I’m going to train for a half-marathon. Once I start training for that, I want this shirt.

--- I can’t believe I have a three-year-old.

--- I hate hardwood floors. We are living in my MIL’s house right now, waiting on our house to sell. I hated our carpet at our other house, but mainly because it was poor quality carpet and it needed to be re-stretched. In our next house, I want the good-quality stainmaster carpeting. I definitely don’t want hardwood/laminate floors in our living room/bedroom areas.

--- I’m obsessed with the Mio water flavorings. We have about 8 different flavors in our fridge.

--- I’m not excited that the NFL season has started back up. (Although I will say that so far, Stephen has only watched games when I’ve been out of the house or busy working on projects.)

--- I just asked Christopher for a kiss, and he turned his cheek towards me instead of letting me kiss him on the lips. Waaaaaaahhhh! Excuse me while I go cry into my pillow.

--- I hate the days getting shorter, but I do love Autumn. The colors, the weather, the feeling in the air, Halloween and Thanksgiving – and I stay excited for Christmas practically all year long. I’m just having a hard time letting go of summer this year. Sigh.

--- I’m about to transfer 1700 pictures and 200 videos from my iPhone to my computer, then delete MOST of them off my iPhone. Wish me luck. I’m almost out of memory on my phone and I think it’s causing it to be slow.

--- I lurve me some Instagram. Here are a few of my recent(ish) Instagram faves!

 
post-run glow


good dog vs bad dog

marketing management snoredom

C + BB = ♥

 
“show me your guns”

a little cereal with your peaches?


boredom.


grad student


clean boy


childless + wm@10pm = quiet, quiet bliss

 
hoss – the cutest puppy ever

 
C – the cutest 9-month-old ever
(again, WAAAAH!!!! it feels like I took this picture just last week.
it’s been TWO YEARS.) 


my wallet is still crying
(three books for my grad classes)


somebody is tired of saying “cheese” all the time


email-happy marketing professor (ugh.)


if you can’t name this movie then we’re not friends
#randomtextstomybrother

Do you Instagram? Follow Me! stephn85

HAPPY DAY BEFORE FRIDAY!!!!!!!

the dentist

Christopher and I made a trip to Ft Smith yesterday so that he could go to his first ever dentist appointment! It was my first day trip out of town alone with him. I knew we would be at the dentist right during nap time, but he did fine all day long. And he was great for his dentist appointment! A little shy (nothing out of the ordinary there) and a little skittish at first with the dental hygienist… but otherwise perfect!

We ate lunch at Geno’s when we first got to town. My absolute favorite pizza, hands down.

After lunch I ran to a few stores to get a few items I needed…then we headed to the dentist’s office. I didn’t think to take pictures of the inside of the office but it was set up really neat for kids. (It was a pediatric dentist.)

They said his teeth look great – no cavities! He was SUCH a big boy during his appointment.  Of course, he knew that if he acted like a good boy then he’d get ice cream afterwards! Ha!

We went to Cherry Berry for some fro-yo. I tried a sorbet they had out – Strawberry Lemonade. Oh my goodness! Delicious! And fat free/dairy free! Yum. Christopher asked for chocolate with mini M&Ms and strawberries and a cherry on top! (And a little Strawberry Lemonade like mom.)

Above: he approved of the fro-yo
Below: dancing and singing

I love the drive between Mena and Poteau – the Ouachitas are so pretty.

I also love quiet car trips where I don’t have to hear the words “WHY? WHY MOMMY?” a thousand times. =)

Funny story – on the way from Geno’s to the dentist, Christopher started playing with his cup from Geno’s in the backseat. He pulled the straw out then couldn’t get it back in the lid, so I had him had it to me. I told him not to play with his water and that I would get him something to drink once we made it to the dentist. WELL he’s three and doesn’t listen to me – so for whatever reason he decided to stick his FINGER in the straw hole. We’ve all done that, right? And it gets stuck and hurts like heck sometimes. Yeah… happened to Christopher yesterday! He started whining (WE’RE ON THE INTERSTATE AT THIS POINT) about his finger being stuck and when I realized what he’d done I just started laughing. (My Mother of the Year Award is on its way, I’m sure.) I told him that’s why he should listen to his mommy and not mess with stuff when I tell him not to and that I couldn’t help him because I was DRIVING. His finger was stuck – hurting – and he couldn’t/wouldn’t move it. I finally exited off the interstate and got to a stop light where I could reach back and help him….but of course first I had to document the funny moment!

Birthday Week!!!

A certain little boy I know will be turning THREE on Saturday!!!!

Our week is jam-packed with all different kinds of crazy and I’m already stressing over it… I have SO MUCH TO DO and I’m in denial that this is my last week of summer. Seriously. One week from today I have to go BACK TO SCHOOL?!?!?

Not.

Exciting.

I’ve had a WONDERFUL summer and I’m really, really, really not ready for it to be over.

This week we are getting ready for Christopher’s party – it is on Saturday, but I’ve done pretty much nothing to prepare for it so far except write down a mile-long to-do list. We have to get the house clean and ready for both party visitors and overnight visitors. I need to clean up the front porch and back yard and deck. I have to buy and prepare all of the party food. Decorate. Get the dog groomed. Take Christopher to get his hair cut. On Tuesday, Christopher is going to the dentist for the first time! We’ll spend most of that day traveling to/from Fort Smith for that appointment. I’m sure I’ll have to pick up a few party supplies while we’re there, too… SO yes, busy busy week.

I just can’t believe my widdle boy is turning THREE!  sniff sniff.

Haystacks

I thought I’d share a recipe that my family enjoys a few times a month. It’s super easy and healthy.  It’s also vegetarian! I was introduced to this dish after Stephen and I were married. It’s actually the dish that made me realize my love for avocados. I can’t believe I went 25 years without eating avocado. I now eat avocado on an almost daily basis. I have to make up for the lost time!! Ha.

Haystacks:
1 pound Pinto Beans
1 can Rotel
1 packet Mild Chili Seasoning

I buy my beans dry and then follow the instructions for cooking them. Rinse, soak, rinse, cook until just a little shy of tender. Then throw the beans, Rotel, and Chili Seasoning in the crock pot, (fill pot with water so that all the beans are covered – if needed) stir, and cook until the beans are tender and all ingredients are incorporated. You could also do this on the stovetop; I use the crockpot so that I can set it and not worry about it if I need to leave the house, etc.)

Once all those ingredients have cooked and are nice and warm, prepare your toppings!

Toppings:
lettuce (we use Romaine)
cheese (low-fat or fat-free if you’re watching your calories/fat)
corn chips (tortilla chips would be good, too)
avocado
onions (we don’t use these, but if you like onions I’m sure they’d be good in this)
…whatever else your heart desires!

I calculated the bean mixture yesterday. It makes approximately seven cups of beans (not including any liquid.) A one cup serving of beans is 138 calories, 0 fat, 778.6 mg of potassium, 30.4 carbs (7.5g dietary fiber, 2.5g sugar) 10.4g protein, and 15% of your daily recommended amount of Iron.

This is my bowl yesterday. I used 1.5 cups romaine, (15 calories) 1/2 cups fat free cheese, (90 calories) 1/4 of an avocado (63 calories) and 1 ounce of Fritos (160 calories.) My entire dinner was 466 calories – and 160 of it was the corn chips. I’m thinking about using baked tortilla chips next time. It’s very filling though, and that was all I had for dinner!

This is seriously one of my husband’s favorite dinners and I love it because it’s tasty, filling, cheap, and super easy to make – especially if you use canned beans! You can tweak it all different ways – you could even add meat to the bean mixture if you want it. (Use lean ground beef or ground turkey to keep it healthy!)

Enjoy!!

Weekend Recap

We stayed in on Friday evening. We usually play cards with my parents on Friday nights, but we didn’t this weekend. I did my C25K run that evening. I did Week 5, Day 1 – for the third time. I try to do each week until I can successfully complete it, at least once or twice. During Week 5, you do a different run each day instead of the same run three times. Well, last week I did Week 5 Day 1 three different times and I still didn’t successfully complete it, which is frustrating, to say the least. I hate spending a whole week on just One Day of the program… it just drags out the entire “9 Week Program.”  I’ve already had to take two weeks on some of the program where it calls for only one week. BUT that’s okay… I’m going to keep doing it until I can complete Week 5 Day 1 and I will just move on from there. Doesn’t matter if it takes me 9 Weeks or 39… I’ll complete it. =)

On Saturday morning we woke up early (7am – early for a Saturday morning for us!) and headed to our old house to do some cleaning up in the yard. Last fall we had trimmed several big limbs off a tree in our front yard and then moved them to the backyard and planned to burned them. Then we moved and were busy, yadda yadda, whatever. Then it became summer and it seems like we’ve been under a burn ban since June. Anyway, we really needed to clean up around the yard so my parents met us over there and we hauled limbs, mowed, cut back bushes and even cut down a mimosa tree! We worked for almost four hours and it looks SOO much better. We’re hoping it sells soon.

Timbeeerrrrr…
{please ignore the white trash neighbors across the road from us}

Mimosa – all loaded up. We had three heaping trailer-fulls and one pickup-bed full that we hauled off.

My dad climbed up in a tree to cut down a few dead limbs.

We came home around noon and all had showers (or a bath in Christopher’s case) and then tried to take a nap – but none of us ever fell asleep – including the three year old. That evening we took my parents out to eat to thank them for their help.

Today we have been lazy bums. We did manage to venture out to Walmart this morning… we were trying to beat the after-church crowd, but apparently so was half the town. It was busy at 10 this morning. After Walmart we ate lunch and just watched TV. We were total bums. When Christopher went down for his nap at 2, Stephen and I laid down for a nap as well. I told Stephen that I wasn’t tired and that neither of us needed to nap… and then I woke up three hours later. Ha. I rarely take naps. Christopher wasn’t even awake yet… so I guess he was making up for his lack of nap yesterday.

We picked up The Vow from Redbox when we were at Walmart this morning and we’re watching it right now. (The reason for any typos in this blog post – I’m having a hard time paying attention and writing at the same time.) Good ending to a good weekend!

Housekeeping, You Want Mint for Pillow?

**I'm trying to do a little cleaning up of the blog. I decided I wanted to use Disqus for my comments, but somehow I've lost every.single.one. of my previous comments. I'm working on getting them back. Just wanted to let you know in case you've left me a comment recently and it's now gone. I didn't delete it!  I'm also going to try to update my layout and header, as it's been the same for a year now.**

I have been trying to do my C25K runs on MWF, as those are the days that work best for both mine and Stephen's schedule. On Tuesday, I started Tony Horton's Power90 at-home boot camp. (Not the same as P90X, more of an introduction to it.) I plan on alternating days. Stephen and I packed up our scale because I can get obsessive with weighing myself when I'm dieting. I set a date for me to weigh myself a few weeks away.

Anyway, I normally run in the evenings -- it's just what I prefer, but yesterday morning it was only 80 degrees and cloudy, so I decided to run before the sun came out and it warmed up to 108. (Yech.)

I downloaded a new app called RunKeeper and I love it! It was free and it keeps track of you with a GPS so you can see your running path. It calculates your calories burned and your average run pace. It ALSO tracks your run pace by the minute, so I can look back on my entire run and see when I was making the best time, etc.


The fastest time I had yesterday was during minute 24, and I ran at a 10:34 min/mile pace. Not too shabby! Most of the rest of my run time was between 11-12 min/mile. The low bars that you see are the times that I was doing the walking intervals.



This was me pre- and post-run. I elected to sit in the floor in front of the fan and cool off while eating my oatmeal for breakfast. Then a little while later I remembered I had bought Muscle Milk for a protein boost after runs. I had never had it before but I thought it was yummy... Stephen wasn't a fan. Which really is good thing for me because it means he won't be stealing any of it from me. Ha!
OH and I just have to say WOO PIG!! I normally don't wear caps when running, but I wanted one in case the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. Stephen's Longhorns cap was the only one I could find with a hole in the back for my ponytail. I texted that pic to my brother (another Longhorns fan) and told him I was scared of going out in public with it...didn't want to get beat up!

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