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

I dreamed of James

I dreamed of James again last night. It was strange. I don't remember too much of it now but I will write down the parts that I do remember.

I'm not so sure where we were to be honest but I was with him. In one part of my dream I was with him in a car. We were driving somewhere. He was smiling. I knew what the future was going to bring but I couldn't bring myself to tell him. I just wanted to warn him. Tell him to be careful and to take very good care of himself. I remember feeling a bit sad. But I also remember feeling so happy to see him once again. He looked content. 

That's the only thing I remember now. Just us two in a car together. And at one point I was looking at him through glass. He was on the opposite side. I couldn't hear him or touch him or anything. I was just able to mouth my warning to him to be careful and to take care of himself. Weird. 

I talked to Stephanie about it. I am not sure if I should keep telling her about my dreams or not. I feel like I should but then I feel like maybe I shouldn't. Not until her heart heals just a little bit more. But if my friendship is helping her even just a little bit then it's worth it right? 

I'm confused. I will think about it some more and follow my heart. See where that leads me anyway. 

~L