December is Moving Way Too Fast

This month is moving way too fast. I cannot believe Christmas is going to be here next week already. We have been pretty busy with life in general and add the approaching Holidays and my stress level has risen while my bank account is depleting very quickly. I have gotten some super deals and PB is getting a few things I hadn't planned on because of that. I just have to remember for the next week that she is finished no more, no matter what the deal. That being said here's what we've been up to.

I did an ornament swap and got these gems. Love 'em.

Peanut Butter had to decorate a Christmas Tree for school, she couldn't wait and had to color in the car on our way to one of the Boy's basketball games.

We caught the Holiday parade.

We baked cookies. I have never baked so many cookies for Christmas before. I have never seen cookies get eaten so fast in this house. I must be doing something right or it is all the extra sprinkles PB  adds.

I just have a few more things to get and get this disaster of a house cleaned up and then we just have to wait for Santa.

Still Alive

Yes, I am still alive and Peanut Butter also survived the week of deer hunting. It was a very long week of having J gone. I did catch the new Harry Potter movie, it was good, but I think I was so worried about where they were going to end it I didn't just watch and enjoy. I may have to see it again. PB and I also saw Megamind. It was ok. Good story, but it wasn't the best movie. PB is gearing up for Tangled one of these days. I also switched The Boy's room with PB's room and repainted both. The Boy's original room was disgusting. There must have been and inch of dust everywhere and a bagillion candy wrappers under the bed since that is an easier place to put them rather than the garbage can. I also realized that we do not need anymore stuffed animals. This is the crazy amount we had.

I narrowed it down to one basket, but then filled another with all of PB's babies. 

PB has been doing really well in school. She is so proud of the things she is learning. She is showing us how she writes her name and practices and practices. She cuts all the paper she can get her hands on with scissors so our living room floor looks like a confetti pile. She is getting very attentive with her coloring, stating, "I no scribble, see!" It takes her a long time to color this way and I don't think she is finishing some projects at school because she is so worried about coloring "nice." Here she is practicing some of her letters with Nana.

I was honored to be mentioned in Nicole's post on Mom's Sippy Cup the other day. It was a great post on deciding to put your mind to doing something and just doing it. I really miss Nicole blogging so it was great to read her in blog form again. I hope it gets her to start one again. It also got me thinking what I need to do now. I really would like to finish my degree at some point in my life. I don't know if I will ever use it for anything, but just to say I have one would be sweet. I am starting to look at some options. I am also lining up another race to run. I'd like to do this New Year's Day race, but it is 5 miles. I know, I know, I can do five miles if I put my mind to it. I have already run 4.5 miles, so I just have to make it work. If I put down the money for it, I will have to. 

Tis The Season.

Deer hunting that is. J is getting ready to leave tomorrow and will be gone until next Saturday. Hopefully Peanut Butter and I make it through the week plus with out killing each other. I am on vacation for most of the time, so we will have plenty of quality time. She is going to daycare on Friday so I can go see Harry Potter. I can't wait. I am contemplating switching PB's and the Boy's room, but haven't decided how gung ho I am about repainting both rooms.
I have decided to do an ornament swap though, if you want to join in you can sign up until Nov 20th.

I Did It

I officially ran my first 5K this am. I also ran it pushing Peanut Butter in the jogger. I am cuckoo. Oh and did I mention that it poured during the race. Double trouble. Amazingly, PB stayed in good spirits and I ran the whole thing with out killing anyone with the stroller, though I bumped a girl who stopped right in front of me. I have to admit it was extremely emotional for me for some odd reason. Someone yelled at me, "Go Mom, your doing great!" and I started to well up. I don't know if it is because I have actually accomplished something or what. I will say it is very hard to run a race with a stroller or at least this one was. It was the Girls on the Run 5K which supports getting girls running in 5-6th grade to boost confidence and esteem, so there was a couple hundred tween girls that I was trying to maneuver around and since the 5 of us with strollers started dead last, we had to get through quite a few people to get going. It was fun and heck, I might have to try another one preferably on a day that isn't rainy.

Ready to Race?

I have finally reached my lowest weight since college. I still would like to lose quite a bit more, but I know this is the point at which I have the hardest time breaking through. It is nice fitting in to smaller clothes though. I have actually run enough that the capris I run in are practically falling off when I run.  I can't believe I am saying I run. I do, I run at least 3 times a week. I never thought I would say I can run three miles, but I can. I can actually even run 4 miles. I have started kicking around doing a 5k or maybe a 10k when I get that mileage on a consistent basis. I don't know what has got me even thinking about it. I don't run very fast, but I am getting this urge to prove that I really run, like a race is some kind of proof maybe. Will running a race do this for me? I don't know.

I am getting bored with some of the music I run to though. If anyone has some tunes that get them moving and want to share let me know. I listen to just about anything.

Halloween Part 2

Peanut Butter and i had picked up some ghost muffin tins at Target last weekend and after I finished making carrot muffins that looked like ghosts, PB declared she was taking them to school. I had to break it to her that I didn't have enough ghosts for her class, but I would make another batch for her school Halloween party that they were having on Wednesday. She was ok with that. I looked all over our town for something like the ghost tins, but couldn't find anything, so I bought black muffin cups and made mummy muffins. Meanwhile she also decided that the costume I spent all of last week making was going to be scrapped so that she could wear the fairy costume. I was crushed, but she does make quite the fairy princess.

She had a great time at her party and apparently the mummy muffins were a big hit, even though PB threw hers away because she doesn't like frosting, which seriously makes me wonder if she is indeed my child.

I was beginning to think she was Halloweened out by the end of the week because she wasn't talking about trick or treating or anything Halloween until we carved up the pumpkins. PB wanted a princess so I carved her Ariel. I also did a spider and a "mean" face as PB calls it. 

By Sunday she was begging to go trick or treating and wore the costume I made for her. She did decide that she was going to make it impossible for me to take any pictures of her...

I did manage to catch a few. 

She was excited on the trick or treat trail until she saw one of her friends from school and they went the other direction than us and she decided she had to go potty and wanted to go home. After we got home she didn't want to go potty, but Daddy took her down a couple more blocks. 

She came back and was all about handing out the candy. She was beginning to look like an air traffic controller trying to get the kids to descend upon our house for candy.

All in all a pretty fun Halloween.

Halloween Preview

We did the pumpkin patch earlier this month. We also happened to be in the middle of a heat wave, it had to have been 80 degrees that day, but we made it through.

Peanut Butter liked peeking at the chicks.



She is this tall this fall.



I don't know if this kid had a thing for PB or what but he seemed to follow her around and kept trying to talk with her.



A hayride with Daddy.



And some pumpkins were picked out for carving much later in the month.



Peanut Butter decided after seeing How to Train Your Dragon a few weeks ago that she wanted to be Astrid from the movie for Halloween. I got my craftiness together and after fighting with my sewing machine and borrowing another here's how it turned out. Friends of ours' neighborhood does trick or treating the weekend before so, went out with them today.



In case you want to know what Astrid looks like:

A Getaway

J and I went to Indiana last weekend for our annual Notre Dame game. This year we went with another couple which was fun, but different. The fellas planned a spa day for us ladies and I had a stone massage. It was pure heaven. My legs were sore from running and the hot of the stones was pure bliss. I also had a mani and pedi, but they were forgettable. My mani smeared right away, but Peanut Butter loved the glittery magenta color I picked out when she saw it.
The weather was fantastic! A wonderful fall day.


It was funny as many times as we have been through the campus, I saw a few new things. I had never noticed this guy holding a shamrock in the chapel ceiling.



J and I really needed to getaway for a couple days, it was nice not having anyone say "Mama?" for 3 days.



And we actually got to see our first win. Touchdown Jesus was in the house.

A Sweep Through September

I have been very bad in posting as of late, so prepare yourself for a run down of September. 

Peanut Butter started school.

She is going to 4K. It is two and a half hours in the afternoon, it is run through the school district, and our daycare is one of the sites that hold it. She gets to keep a lot of her daycare friends and seems to enjoy it. She was especially excited when I got her a Princess backpack. I was especially excited because I got it on clearance at Target for $2.50. 

My Mom got tickets from her friends to a Brewer game; Peanut Butter and I were more than happy to attend with her. Suprisingly, The Boy did not, even thought it was against the Cubs. Too bad for him since we had great seats. It was one of the quickest games I have been too, but the Brew Crew lost.

My Mom's birthday was also in September and she stopped over so we could take her to dinner. As I was getting PB ready, she asked if I cut her hair recently. I said no. Then as I was brushing PB's hair I noticed pieces cut out of the sides, when I asked her if she cut her hair, she went into full tantrum mode and I was worried we would not be able to step foot in the restaurant. PB calmed down after a bit and later admitted to me that she did indeed cut her hair while her brother was playing playstation in his room not watching her. It wasn't extremely noticeable so I let it go for a while.

But this past Friday night I decided it needed evened out and I was going to do it. Peanut Butter will sit perfect for the ladies who cut her hair, for me nope. It ended up a wee bit shorter than I had hoped, but it is growing on me,

The Boy's Mom got married this past weekend. They had a very informal reception at a park, the only bad thing was it was freezing out. PB didn't seem to care, she played like nobody's business.

Jackie vs Jillian vs J

I am still on my quest to drop the pounds. I have hit a plateau and it is really hard not to be pissed that my husband J is dropping it in 5-10 pound increments. I know I can't compare to him, but man it just seems so easy for him and he's still eating a lot. I have been for the most part really keeping track of calories thinking maybe I was eating too many, but I am around 1600 for a day and burning 600 of those at least 4 times a week plus 2 days of video workouts. Hopefully something happens soon.I do know I am back to fitting in all of my lowest weight clothes, except for a pair of work pants.

Anyway, I am now really liking Jackie Warner, I caught a few episodes of Workout, they were airing on Bravo to gear up for her new show Thintervention, which is pretty good. I found a dvd of hers pretty cheap called Power Circuit Training. I really like this one. It gives four, fifteen minute targeted(abs, lower body,  upper body, and full body), or a full forty minute workout. I did the 15 min full body one the day I got it in the evening of one of my off days since I was feeling guilty about not having exercised, it was easy to get through and I though well we'll see. I actually was sore the next day and thought hmmm, I've been doing a few of these moves on The Shred and haven't felt like this. I did the 40 min workout and pretty much breezed through upper and lower body, but had a hard time with the upper abs. Yeah, I could barely walk the next day, my glutes were so sore it hurt to sit down. This DVD is a keeper. It is easy to get through, the moves are not that hard, but when I can feel it 2-3 days after yet, it must be working. Jackie is a nice change of pace from Jillian since she is much more hmmm how do I put it, nice? encouraging? I love Jillian, but sometimes  she irritates me. Knowing they both started a gym together, I see the similarities in their work outs and they both must have used the same sets for their videos and just moved equipment around.

I have been struggling with the running. I am making myself run at least 3 miles, but I have been running them at a slower pace than I when I was alternating running and walking.  I don't know, but it took me for-evah to get to 3 miles and J is just cruising along after a month, I hate him. I am hitting 4 miles now and then and should really be happy with that and keep on keeping on and not get upset about J. A friend of mine posted this on facebook and I'm just going to think about that when I'm running.

4

Peanut Butter turned 4 this past week. I can't believe how time flies. 4K is right around the corner. We had a party at the park, besides the annoying bees and the heat it was a pretty good time. PB received some very nice gifts. She has been playing with play dough and wooden "paper" dolls with a fever. I gave her a play tent on her birthday and she managed to snap one of the poles in less than 2 days. I am going to call to see if I can get a replacement. I bought her a new Tiana dress since the blue one she has is hanging by a thread. 

I think she was pretty happy about it, but she hasn't really worn it much. I'm sure it will get it's use. She has been in a dress phase as of late. Everyday she has to wear a dress. I'm glad I found a couple at rummage sales to tide us through the rest of the summer. 

I Believe it is Official

This morning it was beautiful out, I wished I could run outside as I was putting Peanut Butter in the car to go to the Y. I didn't have any goal going into today's run, just to put in 40 min. If I had gone with J, I would have gone longer, but I just wanted to get three miles in and get on with the day. I have started to cover the treadmill read out so I am not constantly reading it and telling myself I can walk for a minute at X excuse. Today I just ran, I peeked a couple times to see where I was at. I said to myself when I get to two miles, I'll give myself a break, but I didn't. I said when I get to 30 min I will give myself a break, but I didn't. I said to myself you will run the 35 min and you will run 3 miles, even if you have to run it at  5 miles an hour. I range between 5-6 miles an hour. I ran my 3 miles and I had not run a full 3 miles until today. I told myself when you can run 3 miles without a walk break you can say you run and mean it. So, today it is official, I RUN. Next goal 5 miles. 

The Monster I Created

My hubs finally noticed that all the exercising that I have been doing is starting to pay off and the fact that I told him his face was getting a little round and decided now that baseball is over he is going to work out with me at the Y.   I started him on the treadmill and right off the back he is jogging for a good amount of time. I start to get a wee bit jealous since it had taken me forever to run 2+ miles. He then made me go everyday for about a week straight. I am used to every other day, doing a video on the other days. I started to hate the effing treadmill and it was only a week. J, on the other hand, was like I burned another 1000 calories today. It is his mission to burn as close to a 1000 calories every time he goes. I told him he should really take an off day since the body needs to recover and he adamantly said he can't do that because he just won't keep going then. He did take Saturday off since he worked overtime. Now I feel I have to compete with him on the treadmill, I have upped my time on the dang thing to 45-50 min, whereas he says on for an hour plus. I have upped my mileage in that time to four miles instead of 3-3.5 miles, which is faster than what he does. I would much prefer to run outside, but I refuse to run with the jogger anymore, the Y has child care, even though it is crap hours for our schedule, and it has been smoking hot and humid here. This week I tried to return to my schedule of doing things, yesterday I did a work out off of the Insanity set. O-M-G! I did one about a week and a half ago and that about killed me, at the end I was really struggling to get even a few moves in on the last circuits. I tried a different one yesterday and my calves and shoulders were killing me this morning. I was rubber when all was said and done, it was like the shred on speed with no weights. I had to laugh because there is one part in the workout I did yesterday where they show a full view of every one working out and you can see another camera doing a zoom in on one of the girls who is just dying and she pushes it away. I need to get this set of dvds. I borrowed the set I have now from a friend at work, but she burned them and they skip a bit and I would rather pay to not have it skip and get the full work out. So I am trolling ebay for a deal even if I have to do it disk by disk. I scored one today. The only thing that stinks is J lost 10 pounds last week and I gained 2. WTF.

Results

I have officially lost 10 pounds since June. Woot! I have been alternating 3 mile run days with an exercise video on opposite days, and one free/off day. I think I actually have started to get my vicious sweet tooth under control and I am seeing results. I have even lost at least an inch around my waist since I have gone up a notch on my work belt. I admit I have been struggling on off days with doing the Shred. I am actually sick of doing it, maybe because I talk the whole workout to myself, because "this is you time baby, make the most of it." I have been searching for a replacement until her new Shred It With Weights comes out and at the library I found Jillian's Banish the Fat, Boost the Metabolism, and let me tell you, wow. This one is a toughie and for people who don't like Jillian screaming at them, she is pretty tame in this one, relaxed almost. She does say some of her patented lines throughout, but I think I will be doing this one for a bit. It is 7 circuits, a lot of cardio, and is 40+ min. It says 40 on the box, but with warm up and cool down it is around 50 min. If you want to work your abs, this is a good one. My core was so sore 2 days after. I am hoping to find some other ones to prevent the boredom of one DVD all the time and this one doesn't do a whole lot of weights, which I need more of.

My Summer Vay-Cay Sort Of

As you may know our summer is chock full of baseball.



The boy's team did really well and took first place in their conference. They went 15-2. The all-star team is doing ok. They had a rough weekend in La Crosse, every team they played seemed to have one good hitting inning and killed our momentum. Their last tournament is this weekend.

While we were in La Crosse we took in a Logger game. Peanut Butter found a new friend.



She thought the Logger Dog was Scooby Doo, we tried to explain to her who he was, but just ened up saying he was Scooby's brother Logger Doo.



We stayed for the fireworks, usually PB isn't too hot on them, but she covered her ears and really enjoyed them.





Last weekend I went to Hurley because we were having a high school softball reunion. It was a good time. It was nice to see some people I hadn't seen in a long time. Peanut Butter was snapping pictures throughout the hall of fame induction. It was the only thing that would keep her busy.



A self portrait.



She got to throw candy during the parade and had a lot of fun. Of course I forgot my camera for that. I will say that riding by myself with Miss PB for 4+ hours is a very long ride.

It's all about me, me, me.

Yep, that's me sometime in the beginning part of June. I have been having huge body issues, probably because I have huge body issues. I have been working to loose weight since Peanut Butter was born. I did extremely well in the beginning probably losing around 60 or so pounds and then I hit the plateau and then I creeped back upward. I did this while exercising and felt like I was banging my head against the wall when I wasn't getting anywhere. A friend at work and I discuss what workouts we do and such and I was telling her what I do and she said why aren't you losing a ton of weight and then I said it. "I eat through every calorie I burn." She said she looks at the treadmill and how many calories she burns and says, I am not eating anything that will destroy what work I just did. I mulled this over for a few days, along with her asking me if I wanted to do a 5k, and thought, "crap, I really need to put my priorities in order here. I cannot keep eating a box of milk duds because I did the Shred today. I cannot be pissed that I am not losing any weight when I am not changing more of my bad habits." 

I have really been working on my eating habits. I have been trying to be very portion conscious and have been trying to eat more protein and fiber. Apples and real peanut butter are now my milk duds and cookies. It also helps that I have been short on cash and cannot afford to buy the crap. I have really been working on my running. I used to have the mind set, just get me through this mile and I'll be good. I now hate when I walk at a mile. I have basically given up trying to run with the jogger too. It has become way to hard with PB because one, she weighs a lot more than last year, and two, she won't sit so I am constantly stopping to let her out or back in. This has limited my options to running when J is home or the Y has child care. It was very different for me to actually run with out the jogger and I was surprised at how much the interval training on the treadmill has given my endurance a kick in the hinder. I have also been putting more into the Shred actually focusing on the moves instead of trying to get through the sucker. I comment to J that I was starting to get some guns and he laughed. Sigh, what can I do.

Today I was on the treadmill and it sucked, I couldn't get a speed, I was way to worried about time and miles and why the close caption wasn't working. I did get 3 miles in in 36 min,  running and walking, which is my PR right now, but I wasn't happy with it. I ended up walking another 10 min since I had to see if USA  hockey would beat Russia in the Lake Placid Olympics. And then cleaned up my machine sobbing because they did. Yes, I had seen Miracle before, but it always gets me. So anyway, I wanted to get something out of my trip to the Y, so I went and weighed myself and did a little dance when I got off the scale. It is moving, and moving in the right direction. Maybe if the closed caption had been working when this speech was on I would have done better, but now I will just have to remember it is my time now.

I have also been trying to work on J, but he came home the other day with a huge store brand bag of sugar smacks trying to explain the healthiness of the 11 added vitamins and minerals, yet getting pissy when I read the first three ingredients: sugar, wheat, corn syrup. Sigh, it is going to take a lot.

In The Summer

Well, I'm back. I haven't felt much like blogging as of late. We seem to be on the go quite a bit so sitting down to do an actual post has been tough. Peanut Butter has also discovered the wonderful games of Sesame Street online and has taken over the computer. I have also been scrapbooking in my free time rather than sit online, which is why one day you may get a bunch of comments from me as I catch up now and then. The ease and accessibility of facebook has been my main way of keeping up. If I could blog from my cell phone, I probably would post more, since there are hours I sit at ballparks doing nothing waiting for the games to start. Speaking of which.....

We've been watching a lot of baseball. I have actually been able to watch games since PB has been pretty good as far as staying close and playing with other kids.


This also means I have been getting a lot of sun and am full of freckles. I always think my face is dirty when I look in the mirror, but it isn't just freckles. I have been trying to be better with the sun screen and haven't been sun burnt very bad yet this summer which is a record I think.

Peanut Butter is trying to set the record for most days in a row that a princess dress has been worn. 

 The Tiana dress has taken a beating this summer and is almost ready for retirement. PB has asked for me to make her a new one. I am deciding what/how I am going to do that. Target is seeming like a better option.

Well, enough for now, I will catch up some more tomorrow hopefully. PB needs to get to bed.

BTW I am still figuring out sizing for photos through Photobucket, bear with me.

PhotoStory Friday: Playing in the Rain

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli
Yeah, it has been a while....

The other day, Peanut Butter came tearing through the house trying to put a shirt on and said, "Mama, I need my shirt on so I can play in the rain. I helped her get the shirt on and wondered what was up since Peanut Butter is not a fan of the rain. She ran through the house to one of the piles of shoes we have and zoomed back through and out the door. 

Do you like her choice in footwear? Yep, moon boots, in addition to riding boots,  apparently make outstanding wellies too. I never give in to buying the wellies because she hates to be out in the rain. 

Maybe I should rethink that.

Still Alive and Our Camping Excursion

I am still alive, I haven't found myself wanting to sit at the computer for very long lately. I have been watching a Veronca Mars marathon in my scrapbook room. I started a couple weeks ago, even though I have seen the dvds a few times I kept wanting to know what happened. As a result I spent my evenings somewhat scrapping and watching my girl. I am now debating season three or to start a different series. I had Breaking Bad out from the library, but couldn't break away from VM and had to return it since someone placed a hold and I couldn't renew it. I have however finished a few pages I never would have and have realized I really need a trip to the scrapbook store for some new paper, though I always can use that, but for real this time and that I have a new addiction to milk duds. 

The Lost Finale happened since I last posted and I was very satisfied. I must be one of the few who didn't need everything spelled out for me in the end. A lot of the Facebook posts on the Lost page were negative, but I didn't get why they didn't like it.

We did a little camping over Memorial Day weekend, it went surprisingly well. One of our friend's parents are the park hosts at the campground we stayed at. I usually am one that needs to shower everyday, but I made due. I am even considering camping when I have to go back up there in July, because I am cheap, but we'll see. So here's some photos:



Peanut Butter yelling for her brother to wait up.

I was surprised how well Peanut Butter did in the water. At swim lessons she is sometimes apprehensive about getting in the water. I don't know if being able to touch the bottom made the difference, but she did really well. She didn't exactly swim, even when I tried to help her too, but she'd walk up to her neck. 

Our friend's brother brought his two kids out on Saturday, so Peanut Butter had someone to play with. Our friend's mom also has more toys at the camper than I think PB has all together. Here she is playing doctor, making her patient lay on the picnic table.

She also got her play her favorite, Tea Party. I now have an idea what to get her for her birthday.

A little ride on the 4 wheeler with our friend's Mom. It was also the ATV rally in Hurley that weekend. They missed the world record for the most ATVs in a parade by 100 at 1532. I saw a UTV with a kid carrier like you would use behind a peddle bike, only made of plastic it was crazy. 

Peanut Butter had a pretty good weekend, she came away with some bumps and bruises, but seemed to have a great time. That is until the car ride home, after sleeping the first hour, she fought with her brother, made us take 2 potty stops in which she did not have to go potty, and wasn't happy until about 3 hours into the 4 and a half hour ride and then fell asleep 30 miles from home.