Tuesday Blog

Yesterday morning, since I didn't have a morning workout scheduled, I decided to be lazy and have a bowl of cereal for breakfast. I should know better by now. Silly me! :) I had a nice bowl of cereal but shortly after, I'd say an hour or a little more, I was hungry AGAIN! Ah!

Every time I eat cereal I notice I get hungry really soon after I've eaten! Milk+cereal= not a very good (filling) breakfast. For me anyway. It might have been the TYPE of cereal that I ate. I bought two boxes (with a coupon) of fiber one 80 calorie cereal. It's "OK" but it's not filling and just a bit too sweet. I think I'll stick to kashi from now on or cascadian farms organic cereal. I have been liking those. I like to eat cereal on my "days off" or mornings off. I don't know why. I guess I just get lazy. We all do that every now and then right? But I know better. I set myself up for a day of horrible eating (in my eyes). Whenever I eat eggs or oatmeal for breakfast I usually do pretty good the rest of the day.

So this morning I made myself some oatmeal! With frozen fruit (microwaved) and some nuts. I also drank half a scoop of protein powder in water before my workout with the trainer. The results of eating a healthier, filling, meal in the morning? .... Well, I WAS hungry after my workout but not terribly hungry like I usually am on days that I only eat cereal. But even if I was to eat, lets say yogurt, along with my cereal, I STILL get hungry soon after. I guess cereal is OK as a snack. I think I'll be doing just that.

Anyway, my workout was hard but awesome! It was so hard waking up this morning! UGH! But I did it. I got it done! I am always amazed at how much I can push myself. I mean, last night I was SO TEMPTED to call it a night and say "FORGET IT! I'm not going to Body Pump tonight!" My kids were outside playing with the neighbors kids, having a blast. It was a gorgeous evening. Warm. But I packed my kids in the car and off we went anyway! It was nice for them there, there weren't so many kids and they had dibs on everything around. ha! And off we went again this morning! Sure hope they don't get tired of that place. Well, right now it's the only place they can watch TV! lol

So yesterday I went grocery shopping with JUST the things I needed for dinner in mind. I spent only 40 dollars today at the store! woohoo for me! I bought fruit and veggies and some whole wheat tortillas and some cheese. I also picked up a Clean Eating magazine! I have been browsing through it and LOVE some of the recipes in there! I'm going to be trying some of them out. I have most of the ingredients for some items and others I can plan for them. I can't wait to try one out! I have no intention of going 100% clean but I LOVE how delicious everything looks. So clean and healthy! :)

So last night I made my own version of Frijoles Charros. Frijoles charros is a Mexican dish usually made with pork. Ham, chorizo. Really high in fat. But I made mine with turkey ham and turkey bacon, red and green bell peppers (since my kids ate some I didn't want to make it too spicy, otherwise you can make it with some jalapeños instead), onions (white and green), tomatoes, some garlic, and in my bowl I added cilantro, red chili pepper flakes, and sliced radishes. It was pretty darn good! I'm looking forward to left overs for dinner later tonight! Mmm! I bought spinach to add to it!

<img src="http://photos-ak.sparkpeople.com/nw/5/4/l542368339.jpg">


to be continued...

Saturday Blog

I really do love Saturdays. I love spending time with my kids. I love cleaning my house. Doing this or that. Going out. Whatever! Saturdays are great. :) I love going to the gym on weekends!

Before we moved here I had planned on only going to the gym Mon-Fri. Only because my husband would be working out of town 4 days out of the week and I would want to spend time with him. That has changed big time. Now I can't imagine NOT going to the gym on weekends. Husband is sedentary. Not active at all and it's starting to bother me big time. But what am I suppose to do about it? I can't do anything but go and do things on my own with my kids. I'm glad I have the gym to go to. :) It's so much better than sitting around watching my husband play his computer games all day long. Ugh! And my kids get to play at the kids club at the gym for an hour or so while I workout. It works out great for us! If anyone else has a husband/SO like this though...I feel your pain.

I went to Body Pump this morning. Came home all energetic and the moment I walk in my door and face my husband, it's as if a lot of that energy gets sucked right out of me. I am bummed he won't get up and suggest things to do. It's just like being in Norway except now I have the freedom to go things on my own. Which I plan on doing!

NO matter what though I have to keep going. I have to keep this energy of mine even though I am faced with negative energy here at home. I just have to keep pushing myself. That's it. That's my way out. I don't know if my husband will ever come around but I know I'll constantly be improving myself. I'm NOT going to go back to sitting on my butt all day in front of a computer. I sit in front of one enough as it is. lol I love my computer! It's brand new. I love Photography and editing photos.

Anyway, enough with the negative. ONTO THE POSITIVE!!!

Here's my breakfast this morning!

<img src="http://photos-ak.sparkpeople.com/nw/8/4/l841196435.jpg">

Oatmeal with a sprinkle of brown sugar, pecans, and cherries. Yummy! It was really tasty! I counted around 280 calories or so.

I am REALLY starting to love oatmeal/oats. It's becoming my favorite food! That and eggs. And squash!

I LOVE:
-Oats
-Eggs
-Squash, Pumpkin, Zucchini...ALL of those! YUM!


I made Spaghetti Squash for dinner last night. I LOVED IT!!!!!! And here I go again with some negative. Sorry but my husband is starting to annoy me. He HATES anything healthy I make. So he hated the spaghetti squash. Lucky for him I had made regular pasta. But I'm NOT going to next time. Seriously NOT! I'm getting tired of having to make something completely different for him. I'm getting tired of NOT being able to make fish when he is here. I haven't eaten anything fishy for over two weeks. It's always beef, pork, chicken, sometimes turkey. But even turkey he doesn't like all the time. Turkey burgers? Forget it. **sigh** Will this ever get better?? I know he'll never love fish so I'll have to "hang in there" for the rest of my life. But ugh! So many dishes to wash=annoying.

I'm getting healthier and healthier as the months go by. And my husband is staying the same. I talk to him but it goes in one ear and out the other. I tell him just because he is skinny doesn't mean he's healthy. Imagine what he is doing to the INSIDE of his body when he eats junk and doesn't drink water. I can't imagine it. I want to be as healthy as I can be. I LOVE vegetables and would honestly be VERY happy eating nothing but for an entire week! The spaghetti squash last night was SO SATISFYING! And whenever I make eggplant it's so delicious who needs meat!!?? I love veggie soups. I love veggie juice! I love fruit too! I LOVE BEING HEALTHY! I look forward to trying out MORE recipes with nothing but veggies. Yum!

Well I gotta go shower and get ready for the rest of my day. :) My brother and I are going to the movies! And I'm sneaking in my own popcorn ;-) One of those 100 calorie bags of popcorn. Yummy! And I'm also going to see about picking up some supplements. I think I could use them. :) Wouldn't hurt right?

~L

New SP BLOG

Today I decided to wear my long workout pants, brand new, to the gym. I put them on and put on a shirt I thought would be OK but then realized it was too short. So I reached for a longer shirt to cover my hip area. Oh my GOSH!

I LOVED the way I looked!

So I sit here and think... I really need to work on how to pair up my clothes. What shirt with what pants, etc. Not just workout clothes but my other clothes as well. Because I FELT GREAT today up at the very front of zumba! A room full of close to 40 women all having a great time! And I was in the front! I LOVE IT UP THERE! Seriously! The energy is amazing and the instructor gets right up in your face and you are forced to try your absolute BEST! :) Other people ARE looking at you!

Man I felt amazing today! I still do as I write this. I smell FALL In the air and its fantastic!!!!

I went shopping for a few things over at Michael's and Ross. And get this...I only spent $20 in each store! Ha!!! I deserve a pat on the back for that one :) I actually just wanted to go in to find some fall things to decorate my kitchen. The kitchen is my favorite place in this entire house. I don't know why really. I just love it. It's used a lot. I love to cook and bake and I just love eating breakfast in a nice comfy kitchen. Well, Michael's didn't have many good things. OK no..THEY HAD A LOT of Fall and Halloween stuff! Wow! I was so overwhelmed! I bought a center piece for my table and a few $1 wind up toys. I bought a little milk carton and ice cream wind up toy. Yeah I'm nuts. I collect them. LOL The cute ones! 

(insert pic here)

Anyway, then I went to Ross. I was only looking for a Fall mug for my morning coffee and a few Fall plates to eat my breakfast on. You see, it takes me awhile to wake up in the mornings. I come down stairs. My son is playing with his toys usually waiting for me to call him to breakfast. I prepare my coffee and his breakfast. He sits down. I prepare my breakfast, whatever that may be. Then my daughter comes and joins us. I usually try to make my food in time to sit with them. I start waking up and how nice is it to look down at your plate and feel inspired? Motivated? I don't know. Somehow I get a bit of inspiration in the mornings at breakfast. I get my creative juices flowing. Get a great start to my day. It doesn't matter to me that my house is still a complete mess. lol Oh well right! 

How cute are my dishes??? 

(insert pictures here)

Now I just need my Fall coffee mug. OH yes since I couldn't find one that I wanted I bought one that I thought was pretty cool anyway. :) Seems appropriate no? My brother says I should dress up like Wonder Woman for Halloween. Ha! I don't think I could pull off a costume like that ;-) Maybe next year. haha! I saw a tshirt like this at old navy and liked it but I thought the coffee mug was more appropriate for someone my age. LOL! I'm going to LOVE looking down at my coffee mug every morning, or whenever I decide to drink out of it. I'm sure it will make me smile each time. :)

I'm also going to go out and buy some Fall placemats for my kitchen table. I really need to clean up my house a bit too! 

It's so messy. The mess never ends! :-P Man... I can't wait until next Sundays Zumba class! Yeah!!! Being in the front is FUN FUN FUN!

~L

SP Blog Breakfast #2

<em>31</em>I didn't go to bed as early as I wanted to last night. I should have. I think I like my alone time a little too much these days. My kids are with me 24/7 right now. The only time away from them is when I go to the gym or at night after they go to bed. I love going to the gym! It's MY ME time when I'm there so I try to enjoy every second of it. But we all need some alone time don't you think? I think once they go to school things will change around here. I'll have more alone time during the day so that at night I won't need or want so much of it. I'll be able to go to bed earlier. I'm hoping anyway! Right now waking up at 8 in the morning is going to have to do! Don't get me wrong though I LOVE being with my kids!!! =) I love doing little projects with them. It's just too bad I have so much cleaning left to do around here! I am actually ignoring the cleaning sometimes so that I can do something with them.

For example, my kids made me these.
My son LOVED doing this. He didnt want to stop. :P
<img src="http://photos-ak.sparkpeople.com/nw/2/2/l222851891.jpg">
And my daughter made me this one.
<img src="http://photos-ak.sparkpeople.com/nw/6/7/l679677042.jpg">
They are both sitting on my desk right now. I love them! Cheap to do too. I love how cheap things are around here and you can take them home and do a little project with the kids and get something nice in return.

<em>216</em>But I missed Turbo Kick class this morning because I woke up so late. =( OH well! It's ok. I WILL become a morning person eventually! I know I will! I just need to go to bed earlier!!

Anyway onto todays breakfast. Sorry I ramble so much! My brother went and bought some eggo waffles yesterday. I didn't want to make any and I don't have a waffle maker yet. They were yummy!
<img src="http://photos-ak.sparkpeople.com/nw/9/7/l979553047.jpg">

I had 1.5 tablespoons of Maple Grove Sugar Free butter flavored syrup on it. 1/4th cup of syrup seemed like too much. Only 30 calories for 1/4 cup but I didn't want that much. =) Also had about half cup of strawberries, mango and melon. I cut a bunch of fruit last night. That's the only way I'll eat it, if it's already cut up and ready to go. I also just learned how to cut up a mango. <em>246</em> Yeah I never knew how! I learned, it was super easy! And I think I'll be buying that fruit more often now that I know how to cut it without it getting too messy. <em>20</em>

And of course my cup of coffee. I have already had my two glasses of water with my coffee. OH yes and I finally bought some bananas! We love bananas around here! =) So I had half a banana.
<img src="http://photos-ak.sparkpeople.com/nw/8/9/l892700267.jpg">

All this totaled up to about 285 calories or so. Still not enough calories for breakfast huh? I swear I'll try harder next time. But I did get full. I'll probably have a good snack before lunch. I'll try to anyway. Oh but I did enjoy eating  my waffles. <em>4</em>

For lunch I'm either going to have tuna or leftovers but I think I'll be saving leftovers for dinner so I don't have to make anything. I am planning an evening workout today. I'm thinking Body Flow and then Step Class. Then come home and warm up leftovers for dinner. Yep! Hubby isn't here until Thursday so that also helps a little. I know he doesn't mind leftovers usually but I know he prefers something new every night. I LOVE leftovers though. My kids don't mind either.

I also have to show you something. I don't remember what sparkmember inspired me to do this but I saw a picture of her plastic containers all organized in one cupboard. I was inspired and cleaned out one of my cupboards that was just holding a bunch of whatever stuff. And I am now using it for all my plastics! I might buy some sort of something else to put in there to organize it a bit more but it works for now! I also put my kids cups in there as well. It's the only place low enough for them to reach in and grab a cup. I still have lots more organizing to do! Once I get my stuff from Norway it will be a bit easier I think. =) I plan on going to Ikea eventually and buying some plastic cups and plates for my kids. This is all I have for now. I used to have a lot of them but left them in Norway. (Ikea just opened here so I don't know when I'll be brave enough to go!).
<img src="http://photos-ak.sparkpeople.com/nw/3/8/l387654008.jpg">

And one bonus pic. Here's my spice cabinet. I actually really like it. I can NOT reach the very top though! I'm so dang short! I need to buy myself a step stool or something I think. <em>41</em>
<img src="http://photos-ak.sparkpeople.com/nw/3/2/l324913272.jpg">

And one more because I LOVE blogs with pictures...don't you?? :-P This one is from the Renaissance Festival. Hubby took video and I just got a snapshot of that through VLC. Lucky for hubby I record in the highest quality available on my camera. <em>20</em> Me and my daughter riding the elephant. First time for us! It was fun! Amazing animals they are!
<img src="http://photos-ak.sparkpeople.com/nw/3/9/l398358465.jpg">

OK well I'm off to do something around the house. Writing this blog this morning I got interrupted about 8 times by my kids. lol Takes awhile to write everything and post. Oh yes and I also woke up a little sore this morning. Just a little bit. I like it. Just means my strength training yesterday worked. Sometimes I think it doesn't work but that's only because I don't always sweat when I strength train. I do work hard though but not really sweat. Spinning, now THAT really makes me sweat. I guess sweating isn't a sure sign of burning calories though is it?

~L

Family Blog #1 with pics...

I am thinking I'll start blogging about my family more often. I LOVE picture blogs so I might start doing just that. 

My husband left for Boston Tuesday morning. His job requires him to travel, quite often. This was his first trip out of town. I think he was excited about it. I hope he likes his job here in the USA now though. I know it must be a lot different than Norway. I know Americans are different than Norwegians. 

A part of me does miss the Norwegian culture. For so many years I kept rejecting it. But as soon as I started losing weight I started to embrace it even more. I would have embraced it even more if we had decided to continue living there. I don't really know if I would have gone further with my studies though. I don't even know if I'm going to continue them here. I really want to though. But life is just getting started for me here. I'm still young. I know I can do what I want to do. I'm not 100% sure what that is yet though. It will take some time. 

I need my stuff here first though. I can't wait to have all my things back! I am really in the mood to start organizing but I need proper things to start organizing with. I guess I could start with my clothes upstairs. I just hate the thought of letting my kids watch TV all day while I clean. It will be a lot better once they start school. I will get some time to myself, probably to do the grocery shopping in peace, while they go have some fun at school. I have to say I miss the barnehage in Norway. They were such nice ladies. The kids were brats, some of them and I could never understand everything they would tell me but the ladies who worked there were nice. They aren't as strict in Norway as they are here. It's such a different culture! They really concentrate on letting the kids spend more time outdoors there than they do here. Of course we are talking about just a daycare here. Not school. I'm sure it's a bit different with school. 

Anyway, speaking of school. I let my kids do a little project for me here at home. I bought some cheap frames at Walmart I believe, for 99 cents each. I bought some foam stickers and let them decorate the frames. I love them! I need to put the picture in them a bit better but they are cute and are sitting (for now) on my desk in the office. 

So lately I have been blogging about my breakfasts! I don't know why but I guess it's always nice to have something to do. I could think of more things to do around the house but I am really good at procrastinating! I need to get better about that actually. I try to keep myself busy around the house but with my two kids it can be a bit hard at times. 

Today for breakfast I had two waffles. I'm thinking I should have had me some eggs on top of that. I miss fried eggs and salsa! Yum! I might have that tomorrow actually. I don't know. We'll see. 

I had a cup of fruit. Mangos, Melon and strawberries. I also had half a banana on top of all this. I was under 300 calories for breakfast. I made up for it at lunch though. 

I had one of my moms tortillas with cheese, chicken, avocado, salsa and romaine lettuce. Oh yeah and sour cream. It was delicious!!! I like my moms tortillas but not all the time actually. They get a bit hard and crack easy and aren't very good for burritos. Maybe when they are fresh but not after a couple days. But I enjoyed my burrito regardless.

For snacks I had an apple and a fiber one bar. I also had a yogurt. I'm about to sit down and have dinner. I am patiently waiting for my brother but I'm thinking I'll have to start eating without him. I will be warming up last nights dinner for tonights dinner. Will be adding some chicken though and perhaps a sprinkle of cheese.

 ;-)

Tomorrow I will be making crockpot chicken! I can't wait!!! I am throwing in some chicken breasts, salsa, cream of mushroom soup and my own blend of taco seasoning spices. I'm not sure what else. But I hope it turns out good! I think we'll be eating it with either rice or a salad. I might do both. I can't wait! 

Oh yeah and something else. I organized one of my cupboards the other day. I am proud of it! 

I added my kids cups at the top so they could have easy access to them. I think I'll be changing it a bit later on though once I get more of their things here. But I love having this huge cupboard for nothing but plastics. Easy access! I just hope it doesn't get super messy with time. I'm sure it will. lol 

And here's my spice cabinet as well. I love it! I'm still missing quite a few spices though. I'll buy them as I need them. 

I really want to make a new recipe I saw online somewhere. It sounds so good especially for breakfast! And for a fall breakfast too. Served warm. Yum! Pumpkin Oatmeal I believe. 

Anyway, that's enough for today. 

I'll leave you with a picture of my son eating breakfast with me this morning. =) 

Not yet wanting to go potty in the toilet but I am trying to soak up all the hugs and kisses he gives me. =) He's my cutie pie!

Until Next Time!

~L

Have I changed??

Sometimes I think back to certain things. I sometimes wonder if I have changed in certain areas of my life. OK Well I have changed in certain areas like my weight and attitude towards life.

But look at the house I am living in right now! Look at all the stuff I have around me. My husband works very hard and man am I a lucky woman to have found such a wonderful man! He's a great father and he works very hard to provide us with everything we have around us! I never would have imagined living in a house this large! Sure it has its downs right now but that's only because we are renting. Renting is so much different than owning. Ugh!

But regardless...it's our house for now. It's huge! Look at the type of life I am living now compared to the type of life I had years ago. I was renting silly apartments and for all my life I lived in a trailer. Just a trailer. Never a house. I always imagined myself living in a house with stairs. I never ever thought that would be possible. I never thought I would be living in a house this large and beautiful.

As I tell my brother, we live with Los Ricos now. In the rich area. Probably not though but for Mexicans we do live in the rich area of Denver. I'm a stay at home mom and around here that's not odd!!! There are so many other stay at home moms here. It's weird. But I am loving it so far!

I need to get on a better schedule though. Oh well. It will all come with time. =) And my kids are starting school soon!!! Wow.

~L

Dear James...

I think about you often. I don't know why. Perhaps it's because I feel guilty for not calling you when you gave me your number. Or perhaps it's because I have a picture of you and me together in a frame right here in my kitchen. I see you every single day now. I think back to the days when you and I were hanging out. We were best friends. I loved you very much. I could have been happy with you but I knew deep inside the feeling wasn't entirely mutual.

I called your mom today. She sounds so sad without you. She's so lost without you. I hope her heart heals in time. I feel so bad for her. I tell her about my dreams of you. She loves to hear them I think. So from now on I'm going to try my hardest to write down all my dreams and share them with her sooner or later. Please send her calming thoughts. Help heal her heart. Let her dream of you. I think she needs to dream of you at least once. But maybe now is not the right time.

Anyway, I don't know what else to say. I wish you were still in this world. I wish I knew exactly where you are. And if you are OK. Can you hear me? I wish you could come to me in my dream and tell me if you can hear me or not. Please do. I'd love to see you again. I guess for now dreams will have to do. I hope I get to see you again some day. I miss you. And I'll always love you. I know you broke my heart several times but I always loved you anyway.

Take care of yourself. Wherever you are. You are loved. And missed.

~L