Recipe Link Love, Making It My Own!

I am linking to a couple of good recipes rather than typing them up here because they are new to me and I will be trying them for the first time this weekend so I don't have my own version yet. I like to try a recipe a couple of times and change a few things before I am willing to call it my own. So without further ado, here is our tentative menu for tonight:

Dinner:
Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Tossed Romaine and Orange Salad

Dessert:
Frozen Raspberry Dessert Cups

Can you tell that I love Recipe Zaar! I get a lot of recipes here. If any of you give these recipes a try please let me know and let me know any changes you made to the recipe.

Happy Saturday,
Love Jenn

A long day and A well recieved Award!

Yesterday was supposed to be a pretty much normal day. Go into the office till 5 then be a nanny for an hour, then come home. However things don't often work out the way you think they will and my Friday was no exception. When I go to my nanny job I found out that the kids dad was not picking them up that night so my one hour became a full shift. Mr. C was being a little difficult but nothing that I couldn't easily handle. The dog was driving my crazy but I can look past that too. I was tired but I just kept telling myself that we need the money and doing this is not a bad way to make ends meet. I did my best to be upbeat and cheerful throughout the night. Then I came home and crashed. I had been awake at that point for 21 hours so I was exhausted!



Now I would like to take a moment to mention a special blogger friend and the award that she so lovingly passed on to me. I look forward to reading Annette's words every day because I always learn something from her. She is an amazing mother and a dear person in general. I would like to quote something that she wrote yesterday in her blog:

"Staying on the "passing it on" subject, if you could pass on one quality about yourself to one of your children...........if you don't have children, pretend that you do ;)... what would it be?

I would pass on my heart---- The ability I have to look past race, circumstances, or attitude to just see a person for the beautiful soul that they are. Even the grumpiest of people have good qualities. I try to strip it all away and remember that once they were just an innocent child. What factors in their life set the grumpiness in motion? Why are they hiding their real self? What can I do or say to make a difference for them today? I pray that my children will learn to see past all the layers of those that they meet, and reach out with unconditional love for everyone."

What an amazingly powerful message. I would pass on my strength. Physically, mentally, and emotionally strong. That is something that my own mother passed on to me. I am so grateful that she did too because I have needed to tap into that strength from time to time in my life and it has gotten me through many things that could have taken me down. I want my kids to someday show that same strength of character that seems to run in my family.

Now I think I am supposed to give this award to 5 or 6 people who I think deserve it. So although I would have loved to give it to everyone I have whittled down my choices to the following people. In no particular order:

Laura-- Who encourages me to keep going by being crazy and running every single marathon she can get to. I love that about her!

Xenia -- Who encourages me to follow my dreams by following hers. She is living her dream in Rome right now.

Linda -- Who encourages me by just being. She tries hard to do the best she can for her boy and herself. She has committed to her goals and is working hard to achieve them.

Chantelle -- Who encourages me by stopping by and telling me that I can get through whatever issue I am working on. She always has a kind word which is so wonderfully refreshing!

Charlotte --Who encourages me to try something new through her fitness experiments. I love to read her blog.

POD --Who encourages me by keeping a positive attitude through adversity. She has obstacles to overcome and she is doing it with a smile and a laugh.

Alice --Who encourages me by staying active and fit even during pregnancy. She is proof that you can be fit, healthy, and pregnant. She is funny and caring and has a great family.

So that is my list but I am also going to give it to anyone else who wants it. You all deserve this award too!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Happy Training,
Love Jenn

A quick, fast, fun Post!

I gotta get to work but I wanted to make my contribution to bloggerville so here is a fun link for all of you who don't have anything else to do this weekend (unlike myself, but I digress).

Discover A Hobby has some amazing and fun ideas for things that you can learn to do, most of them in a weekend. I have actually done a few of them already and there are a few that I am looking forward to learning. I hope you all enjoy and have a wonderful weekend.

TGIF,
Love Jenn

Random Acts Of Busy!

Well some of you asked if I was able to get everything on my list done. So I will go through each item and let you know how it went!

1. Fill out the paperwork for the nanny job.
--Got that one done fairly quickly.
2. Go to the office store to fax it in.
--Didn't get this one done because I had to get the bosses signatures on a few of them.
3. Go to michigan works to ask about uniform assistance.
--Apparently they don't do that unless you are on welfare. (I have so many things I could say about this but I won't)
4. Purchase uniforms for biller/office worker job.
--I bought exactly one full uniform that I will have to wash every day until I get some extra money for another.
5. Pick up crickets for the leopard gecko at the pet store.
--Got her a dozen of the nasty little things...
6. Feed the Gecko
--... which she promptly gobbled up.
7. Laundry at the Laundry Mat.
--Done
8. Put away Laundry upon returning home.
--Not quite done. I ran out of time.
9. Change cloths and go use the trial gym membership I have been holding onto for weeks.
--Ran out of time for this one too.
10. Cook a fantabulous dinner for myself and my man.
--Ended up with pizza, but hey at least I did have to cook it.
11. Clean up the house and do the dishes.
--Picked up a bit but the dishes are still not done.
12. Get to bed early so that I will be well rested for my first day of my externship.
--Went to bed at 9:30 which is very early for me.

So that was my day yesterday.

This morning I woke up way too early, exercised, had a healthy breakfast, packed a healthy lunch, then sat around for an hour waiting till it was time to go to work and wishing that I could just go back to bed. Like I said, Way Too Early!

My day went pretty well. Everyone at my office is really nice and they where all very helpful. I spent most of my day alphabetizing faxes and files, then filing, then a little more alphabetizing, then lunch, followed by more alphabetizing and filing. So basically it was a good day because I didn't make any huge mistakes. How could I? A monkey could have done what I did today. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more challenging. I am working front desk! Hopefully that won't require me to alphabetize or file. (I am not going to hold my breath though)

Well that is all for me tonight. I have an early morning wake up call and when I get done at the office I have to go be a nanny for a couple of hours. WooHoo! Thank God I have this weekend off.

Happy Training,
Love Jenn

Today's Plan

It's going to be a busy day in which I will be transitioning from being a student to being a full time nanny and a full time biller/office worker! I have a lot to get done today and since I was celebrating way into the night last night I am a little behind on my to do list! So here it is in all of it's glory!





1. Fill out the paperwork for the nanny job.
2. Go to the office store to fax it in.
3. Go to michigan works to ask about uniform assistance.
4. Purchase uniforms for biller/office worker job.
5. Pick up crickets for the leopard gecko at the pet store.
6. Feed the gecko.
7. Laundry at the Laundry Mat.
8. Put away Laundry upon returning home.
9. Change cloths and go use the trial gym membership I have been holding onto for weeks.
10. Cook a fantabulous dinner for myself and my man.
11. Clean up the house and do the dishes.
12. Get to bed early so that I will be well rested for my first day of my externship.

Boy is that list ever long. Sheesh! I think I had better get started already! I will try to post my workout before I crash into bed tonight, but if not then I will add it to tomorrows summary of my first day on the job.

Wish me luck!


Happy Training,
Love Jenn

Cookbook's

I have lots of them. I collect them from everywhere, book stores, garage sales, gifts, etc. I love to cook so it's a natural obsession for me really. However with my declutter theme this month I wanted to share with you a way to clear up that shelf full of cookbooks.

Be honest you have a tone of them and you only use one or two recipes from each one right? I know I have the same problem. And don't get me started on the recipes I have saved online. So I came up with a cheap, easy, solution for the problem. First, I took a trip to my local super center for some basic supplies.

One 3 ring binder.

A package of clear plastic page protectors.

Some divider tabs.

Some pretty fabric.

Heavy poster board.

Batting.

Glue sticks.

Then I was ready to start. I went through all of my recipe books and typed up the recipes I actually used. Then printed them and sorted them into categories.



Next it was time to make the binder pretty. Glue the batting to the outside of the binder with the ends wrapped around the edges of the binder. Then wrap the pretty fabric of your choice around the binder and glue on the inside. Then cut out pieces of the poster board, big enough to cover the edges of the fabric on the inside of the binder and glue a contrasting fabric on one side before gluing it into place. You can even add a little ribbon around the edges if you want to. There are so many ways to customize this. ( and so many uses as you can see from the pic above) Let this dry as you put the printed recipes into the plastic page protectors. Once the binder is dry you can add your recipes and voila. You have one attractive cookbook that you will actually use instead of 10 or 20 that rarely get touched.

The best part of this is that if you should get something on the pages while you are cooking (or am I the only one who does this?) it can be easily wiped clean without damaging the recipes! Another bonus is that once you have all of the recipes that you want from the cookbooks you can pass them on to someone else.

My challenge for you this week dear readers is to find something in your house that can be crafted into a special feature. You can even use my cookbook idea if you would like. I love mine!

Happy Wednesday Challenge,
Love Jenn

Editor's Note: I am not the only one that posted about cookbooks this week. Yesterday I read a great post from Mrs. Jelly Belly about the exact same idea! Isn't it crazy how great minds think alike?

A New Routine For Core Performance.

Well I warned you all that I was going to change my routine. I bought Core Performance Essentials several months ago because I wanted to work on core strength, flexibility, and movement. I love pilates and these exercises are based on pilates but reworked for athletes. I watched the dvd and figured I was not going to have a problem with this at all. The moves are simple and looked easy enough.





I thought that I was pretty good already so I tried to start on 1B instead of 1A! Boy was I ever wrong. I was struggling to make it through the first set and B requires two sets. Yikes! I was feeling these exercises! I can see how this would condition your body, as long as you do the exercises correctly and with good form. Now I understand why stage one gives you 30 minutes for the 8 moves. They want you to concentrate on your form first. Then you can start to build more sets and reps into your routine.





One really neat thing about this workout is that it comes with a laminated card with all of the moves on it so that once you have the idea and have done it a couple of times you can just take the card and go anywhere. No dvd player required! I love this because it means that if I am traveling I can take my core performance with me. I can do it at my nanny job once the kids are in bed. I can do it on my lunch hour at the office. It works with my current need for versatility and flexibility.

I am really excited to see how this progresses so I am going to stage my own little Great Fitness Experiment. (Shout out to Charlotte! I love you girl) I will see how I am progressing each week and let you know how my body is responding to this routine. I have high hopes that it will improve my athletic ability at least a little and may help me hit the bikepath running in the spring.

Wish me luck!

Happy Training,
Love Jenn

Almost there!

Tonight is my final exam for A&P. I can't believe that I have finally made it to the end. I am so excited to start my externship on Thursday so that I can prove to them that I can do it! I will be sad to leave the friends that I have made in class, although I know that some of them will keep in touch. Tonight I won't have to stay the whole 4 hours. I can just go in and take the test then leave. Tomorrow night I just have to show up. After class tomorrow night we will go out and have a drink to celebrate the end of this part of our lives and the beginning of the next.





I am so glad that I took this nanny job as not only does it bring in extra money, which is always good, but it also makes me feel like I am doing something important with my time. Taking care of Mr. C is tough but at the end of the day I can still smile about it knowing that I helped.





Today was the weigh in for the Christmas Challenge but I didn't lose anything this week. I didn't gain either so I am still happy. This last week was rough for getting in workouts and eating healthy on the run. I will have to work out some solutions however because life is going to just get busier over the next couple of months as not only will I have the part time externship that will hopefully lead into a full time job in 5 weeks but I will also be slowly adding more hours to my nanny job. I will have to find ways to sneak in exercise during my days and since most of my meals will be away from home I will start packing small meals that I can eat throughout the day. This should also help keep my metabolism up and my energy high so that I can keep up with Mr. C!





As for today, I challenged myself again and did the Leslie Sansone 3 mile walk twice. That's 6 miles in an hour and a half. I am beat, yet I feel relaxed, content, and even a little energized. Now I just have to hop into the shower so that I don't have to fumigate the house to get rid of my stink. Yuck! Then it will be time to get in some last minute studying before exam time.

Happy Training,
Love Jenn

Explanation of my Absence.

Well I bet some of you have been wondering where I have been!

Anyone? No!

Well I will tell you anyway because this is my blog!

I started my Nanny position on Friday evening! I am so excited to finally be bringing in an income again. As I explained before, the nanny job is for a friend from class. She has two sons, a 16 year old with down's syndrome and a 9 year old. We shall call them Mr. C and Lil Z respectively. Now Lil Z is the easy one, he is only 9 but he has grown far more than his years and he is my little helper. Mr. C is the real reason that I am there. Most of the time he is really easy though. I pick up after him and make him some dinner but otherwise he doesn't require much. Friday night was an easy night.

Last night however was a tough night. Mr. C decided to test his boundaries last night and I felt the strain. Things started off ok until he put in a sponge bob dvd to watch. The sponge bob episode that we were watching had sponge bob splitting his pants and showing everyone his butt. Now Mr. C likes to play a game where he copy's what he sees. So he kept getting up and showing me his butt. When that didn't get a reaction from me, he pulled his pants down and mooned me. Then he turned around and sat down on the sofa with his pants and underwear around his ankles. 45 minutes later Lil Z and I finally got him to put his cloths back on. That was the first test and I am not really sure who won that one.

Later on Mr. C fell asleep on the couch and I thought he was out so I went to clean up his room. I had only been in there a few moments when I heard him get up from the couch and walk through the kitchen. I poked my head out of his room to see where he was headed and saw him go into his mom's room. The boys like to go in there and sleep when their mom isn't home so I didn't think anything of it and went back to what I was doing. After a few more minutes I heard a weird noise in the kitchen and looked out to see what it was. Mr. C had a suit case and was heading into the living room. Now I have to admit that my curiosity was piqued a little so I followed him. He went through the living room and out the front door onto the porch where he stopped for a minute. I turned to Lil Z who was watching a movie and joked that "it looks like your brother is running away". It didn't occur to me that he actually would run, but when I turned back to the porch after making the joke to Lil Z, Mr. C was in fact running and he was dragging that suit case behind him.

At the end of the road that they live on is a big field, which of course is where Mr. C was headed. I started walking after him at first because I didn't want him to spook and started calling his name. He ran faster. Now I was running too but he had a significant head start. When he went into the field I knew that it was going to be a long chase. Mr. C was struggling and falling and still keeping ahead of me.

Did I mention that this field was a wheat field and that it was muddy and had furrows of water that was up to my knees. The wheat was waist deep and I kept getting tangled in it. I was struggling!

Apparently Mr. C was struggling too because the suit case dropped into a particularly deep furrow of water and Mr. C decided to go on without it. This was not good news for me because that was the main thing slowing him to a managable pace. Without the suit case to hinder him he took off across this field at an amazing speed. I was doing good to keep moving forward as I was constantly off balance and kept falling into unseen furrows. The chase went on for about 20 minutes. We eventually left the wheat field and ended up in someones back yard. Mr. C took off running even fast and I tried to run after him but I was starting to feel exhausted from the difficulty and speed that we had already been maintaining. He came to a road and turned to run down it. I was struggling to keep going at this point! Then he stopped and looked at me. He stood there for a few minutes until I had almost caught up to him. He was smiling the biggest smile and I knew then that this was not over. He thought we where playing a game.

When I was about 20 feet away from him he took off down the road, made a left turn and headed back into that dang wheat field! I wanted to cry! I was already exhausted and I was going to have to make it through that field again. I sighed deeply and then headed back into the field. I knew that if I stayed as close to him as I could and as long as I could still see him that I would eventually catch him. This plan backfired when Mr. C made a right turn around a wooded area and vanished. I tried to pick up the pace but by the time I got there Mr. C was nowhere to be seen.

Now I was panicking. The wheat was so high that if he fell I would not see him and there where woods surrounding me on two sides. I had no idea where he was at. This is when I decided to call 911. As I was describing Mr. C to the operator I heard a splash and a laugh behind me. He had hidden in the woods and I had walked right by him without seeing him. I took off running after him and calling his name. " I have the police on the phone and if you don't stop they will have to come looking for you." I called after him. This statement stopped him in his tracks and I caught up to him and took his arm and told him that he had made a very unwise choice and that he was in big trouble.

As I was lecturing him I heard a voice in my ear and realized that the 911 operator was still on the line. I thanked her and said that I had him. Then I put my phone away and took Mr. C's hand for the journey home. He kept falling to his knees and saying that he was tired and couldn't walk anymore. "You made me chase you all the way out here, you are going to walk all the way back. I don't want to hear what you can't do. Just get up and do it!" I spent the whole walk explaining to him that he was in trouble and he was not going to be able to go outside tomorrow and that privilages might be taken away next weekend also. We met up with Lil Z and a neighbor on the way back and we all started searching for the suit case. When we found it and got out of the field I asked Lil Z to open it and see what Mr. C was taking with him on his little adventure.

Notebooks! Brand spanking new notebooks was all that was in the suit case. 26 of them to be exact. Maybe he figured that he could write about his trip?

Mr. C took a shower and went straight to his room and I spent some time trying to salvage my pants and my running shoes. I think the pants will be ok but the shoes are not salvageable. 100 dollars that I will never see again. Lil Z cracked me up when he told his brother "Your grounded Mr.!"

I learned a few lessons from my time with Mr. C yesterday.
First, know what he is watching in case he decides to mimick it.
Second, never let him get more than ten feet away when he is outside.
Third, don't wear 100 dollar shoes to my nanny job.
Finally, have extra cloths and shoes in my trunk in case of emergencies.

Yesterdays experience also gave me a new inspiration to get fit. I want to be able to catch that little bugger if I have to!

One other test I went through last night didn't even involve Mr. C. There dog Tank took off twice last night forcing Lil Z and I to chase after him. Yeah, it was an aerobic kind of night. No gym required!

Well I had better get into the shower and head over for another day of chasing Mr. C. Wish me luck!

Happy Training,
Love Jenn

Clutter Cleanup and Fall Decorating!

Well it's that time of year again. In fact it's my favorite time of year again! I love fall! The cool, brisk air. The colorful tree's. The bonfire's. The hot cocoa!

Oh how I have missed this time of year.

So since I only have a very short time left in this month my goal project is going to be decorating the apartment for the season. (Again I am going to apologize for the lack of photographic evidence. I will try to describe in rich detail so that you can picture it in your mind. )This is going to require me cleaning up some of the clutter. We have both been so busy with work and school that little chores have piled up and now I am stuck with a big job. We tend to have a lot of clutter around here anyways. We both came into this relationship with a lot of stuff. We each had our own apartments full of furniture and decorations and neither of us so far has been willing to part with much. Well mostly I have not been willing to part with much! I am a yard sale-aholic! (Is there an anonymous group for this?) Plus I tend to attach sentimental value to things quickly.

So for the rest of September ( and possibly October judging by the look of things) I will be working on Clutter Cleanup and Fall Decorating! I will try not to cry too much as I pack up my things. I will be sure to pick on Whit however when he cries while I pack up his things. J/K

Are we the only one's who do this? Please tell me that we are not alone in this problem?

Is there any way that I can blame this on my mother?

Again i'm kidding! (Although she is a pack rat too!)

Have a clutter free Monday!
Love Jenn

Life's little blunders

Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from.
- Al Franken

I know that I have made my fair share of mistakes, blunders, faulty choices, and unadvisable steps in my life. Sometimes I look back and ask myself " Why did I do that?" Sometimes I get down about things that I have done that I can't change. I wish that I could go back and erase it and start over again.

Most of the time, however I know that my past has made me the person that I am today. Yes it's not all good, but it's a part of me! I learned so much from my mistakes in life. I have grown and changed and shaped my goals based not on my successes as much as on my mistakes. If I never tried something I would not know if I could do it.

Example:
Skateboarding + Jenn - Coordination = Really Sore Bum and a lesson learned.

From that I realized not only do I not have coordination or balance but I also have a very bony bum for a big girl! I know that this may seem superficial but if you look closer you will see that the important part is that I learned something about myself. I tried something that looked really fun and a little scary and learned that although I enjoy watching others do it, it is not for me.

I am learning to look at more things in my life this way. I could really put a lot of examples up here, but why? My mistakes are not the point. My life and my lessons are! If you don't want to make any mistakes then you had better be very comfortable on your couch because learning, growing, living, and being human causes mistakes! It is an important part of life and God new this and made provisions for it. We are not perfect creatures and I thank Him for that everyday.

Seriously, how boring would life be if we where all perfect?

So my question for you, my dearest readers, is have you made any mistakes today? This week? Did you try anything new lately, maybe with questionable results? Leave a comment and tell me about it. However, don't just tell me the mistake but also the lesson learned from it.

Have a beautiful Sunday!
Love Jenn

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins!

I love my CSA box! I love getting fresh produce each week and I love that I never really know what is going to be in there. It forces me to get creative with my cooking. Lately it has also forced me to make lots of zucchini bread! Not that I am complaining!

Here is a version that my friend Diana gave me. I have made it before and absolutely loved it! Whit ate most of the batch in one weekend!

Today I am making a double batch because I am planning to take them to school with me as a treat for our last day. Diana is making Chicken A La King and my muffins will be desert! Yummy. I don't have pics of this as my camera is a no go right now, maybe some time in the future I will repeat the recipe with pics! The pic above is one that I found on the internet that is being used here just to get your mouths watering! Is it working yet?

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients:
3 eggs; beaten
1C oil + 1T
2C sugar ( I used brown sugar because I ran out of the white stuff, it was still very yummy) 2tsp. vanilla
3C flour ( I used whole wheat flour but you can use whatever you have on hand)
1/2 C nuts (optional)
1tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1tsp. salt
1tsp. cinnamon
1/2tsp. nutmeg
3T cocoa
2C grated zucchini

Prep:
Pre-heat oven to 325F.
Spray muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray.

Stir together:
Flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cocoa.
Set aside.

Cream: Oil, sugar, eggs, zucchini and vanilla.

Slowly add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Blend well.

Add nuts if being used.

Fill muffin cups about half full.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool 5-10 minutes and take out of pans to finish cooling.

Makes about 2 dozen muffins.

So there you have it. My first weekly recipe and I hope that you enjoy. Leave me a comment if you make it to let me know what you think. I will be relaying comments to Diana and I am sure that she would love to hear them!

Hope you all are having a wonderful saturday!

Love Jenn

Walking! Biking! Ellipticalling?

Remember when I told everyone about the Eowyn Challenge back in July. Well I have put a new ticker up for the Challenge and am well on my way to out of town! I will be logging miles for walking, biking, running, and the elliptical. If any of you are as big of a nerd/geek as I am, please join me on the journey, I would love someone to talk to along the way.





I was given some free gym passes from a lady in my class. I am going to use them to challenge my body a little more. I have been a bit lazy this week thanks to my hectic schedule and I don't want that to transfer into pounds on the scale.




Short post today, I am studying for my final test in A&P plus I start my nanny position this weekend. Yay for income!

Happy Training,
Love Jenn

Structure and Organization

Oh how I love those words. I like to have things just so. It's a bit of an obsession for me actually. I used to organize my books according to genre and author and whether it was a paper back or hard cover. I have all of my movies organized alphabetically by title and don't get me started on my music collection.

I also love lists. I am always ready with a pen and paper when it comes time to make a list.

Another of my structure quirks is that I like to know ahead of time what my days will be like. I like to have a plan. So here is my plan for this blog. I am going to have scheduled posts for the week so that I know what is coming. This will allow me to plan ahead so that I can keep it interesting for my readers. So without further ado, here is my list along with explanations.

Monday: Monthly Goal Update.
Every month I will have a goal that I am working towards accomplishing. It will change from month to month but most of the time it will be domestic or crafty goals. I have a lot of crafty projects either in developement or in early stages of completion. The problem is that I will often get distracted by something and not finish them (or in some cases, start them). So this will be my way of focusing my energy on one thing and working on it till completion. Mondays will be my check in days. I will tell you how I am doing on my project and eventually I will have the ability to post pictures of my progress. I hope that you will all enjoy my monthly projects and maybe even join me on them.

Wednesday: Mid-Week Domestic Challenge.
This will be my chance to challenge all of my readers to something. I am not sure what yet, but I have makeshift ideas in the works. So stay tuned.

Friday: Pre-Weekend Randomness.
Things that I find fun and interesting. Links to web sites, blogs, stores, news articles, whatever. It will be my chance to let you all in on what is going through my head.

Saturday: Recipe of the Week.
I love to cook. I enjoy the process of making things from scratch and love finding new recipes to try. So at some point during the week I will try out either a new recipe or an old favorite with a personal touch. I will take pics and I will post the recipe and the results.

Sunday: End of the Week Inspiration.
I love to read inspiring messages. I love quotes and passages that really make me think. I like to have a little brain challenge sometimes. I hope you will enjoy the insights as much as I do.

So that is the structure of this blog. At least for now. I should warn you that I also like change. I get antsy if things are the same all the time. So expect that occasionally I will make a total overhaul of this blog. Anyone who reads my fitness blog knows that I am not kidding on this.

Well that will be about all for me tonight. I will leave you all with this thought from Maya Angelou.

Someone was hurt before you,
Wronged before you,
Hungry before you,
Frightened before you,
Beaten before you,
Humiliated before you,
Raped before you,
Yet someone Survived.

I think that this is such an amazing thought. Sometimes when you are really down in the doldrums you forget that you can survive. What does not kill you, can only make you stronger. This is the message that I want to leave with you all tonight.

Your challenge is to write this down and keep it with you. The next time you are feeling like the world is ending and there is no way you will make it through, pull this out and read it, then pray. Thank God for being there for you through your toughest times. Ask for his presence in your life. He will respond.

Love Jenn

Something Old, Something New...

I have started this blog to track my goals outside of fitness. My dream has always been to be a housewife, mother, and homeschooling parent. I currently have to work outside of the home but eventually I will be starting my own billing business from home. Then it will be time to start being a housewife and mother.

Until then I am going to pick away at some other goals. In fact, every month I want to have a new goal. Something that will bring me one step closer to my dreams. Something that will be fun, challenging, and hopefully photogenic. I will be taking on crafts and projects, reading books and doing research, plus a few little recipes from my favorite room in the house. The kitchen.

I hope you will enjoy my ramblings and insights and I hope that you will come back for more.

The following are posts in the works:
Future goals explanation and outline.
September mini goal.

Stay tuned to find out more.

Love Jenn

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

As you can see, I did some housecleaning. Yet again I was wanting a change. Will I ever be content with things as they are? Probably not. But it's good to change things sometimes. It keeps you on your toes.

This is true not only in blogger land but also in our lives and especially in fitness. When we get used to things being as they are it leads to complacency in life. We stop moving forward toward our goals and dreams. In the same way if our body gets too used to what we are doing it will stop responding, it will learn to adjust. This is when we hit the dreaded plateau.

So in short, don't be afraid to change it up a little. It's does a body, mind and spirit good!

In other news, I officially landed an externship today. My interview went great, they loved me, and she was all about talking "the future" with me. I am confident at this point that it will lead to a job offer.

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the exercise front, I have been busy and using that as an excuse to not get my workouts done. I have been walking Butter, but that is not done strenuously! So tomorrow I am going to jump right back in the game. I think I will be switching up my routine next week. I'll let you know when I decide something.

I have also started another blog that will be focused on the rest of my life so that this one can be dedicated more towards my fitness goals. I am wanting to go a little more serious blogger on you but didn't want to use this blog for that. You can find my new blog here.

Happy Training,
Love Jenn

Being punished by the Dog!

So lately I have not taken Butter for as many walks as we usually get. In fact there are some days that she does not get walked at all. I feel badly about this but we have been so busy and now that my workouts are indoors I don't have that excuse either.




Well she has been retaliating! Big time.





The past couple of days we have been finding little Butter presents all over the house. Not because she doesn't get enough time out side mind you, because we take her outside three or four times a day for a half hour or so.





I figured out that it was punishment yesterday morning when she pooed on Whit's school books! He was not happy! So last night we took her for a walk after class and guess what? No poo when we woke up this morning. I think we found the answer.





Does anyone else have a dog that disciplines them or is it just us?

Happy Training,
Love Jenn

I am Challenged!

The Gym Rat did a post this morning about challenging yourself and doing a little more. Well I thought this was a great idea so today I did the Firm Lower Body Sculpt and then I did the 3 miler video twice. That's right folks I did 87 minutes of Sansone.




All I have got to say is that I muscled through it and I feel really good about what I accomplished.




I also feel very hungry and a wee bit tired.





Having said that I am off to eat and shower and job hunt. Don't forget to challenge yourself today!

Happy Training,
Love Jenn

Wishing I had a hammock right now.

It's a beautiful fall day and I am taking a bit of a rest. I am thinking that thursdays and sundays may end up being my rest days. At least that is how it's turning out.




I have been on a carb mission today. I am craving carbs so badly right now. I am eating dry whole wheat toast and loving it. lol.




Off to find something else to distract me from homework. Later taters!

Happy Training,
Love Jenn

Do you ever get the feeling that your being watched?

I just set up the follower feature on my blogger dashboard. Now when I sign in to blogger it tells me all of the updated blog entries on the people that I read every day. Pretty cool huh!?! No I can officially stalk you all.




As for my workout, I did a 30 minute walk today instead of the 45 minutes that I usually do. I haven't done my abs yet though so I have that to look forward to later today.




I have tones of homework to do so this is a quick update. Hope you all are having a wonderful day!

Happy Training,
Love Jenn

Gettin' My Workout On and Randomness!

Time Flying

Sorry folks, but I never got a chance to post a workout summary yesterday. Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in a day.

Not my house but you get the idea.

Yesterday's workout went well. I am back to doing Leslie Sansone because although I would like to do the dance workouts, I am a big girl living in an upstairs apartment in a hundred year old house. I can't do to much thumping around. So I will stick to Leslie for now. I am getting to the point where I don't have to listen to her verbal cues anymore so I turn the volume down and turn on my own music, which is totally fun!

Not me workin' it. I sweat more.

I am still doing The Firm Sculpting video's. Yesterday was lower body and today was upper body. I am doing a bit better at being able to keep up with them and have even added some weights to a few of the exercises. Mostly upper body exercises though as my lower body is still working on just making it through the whole workout. I think this is probably because I am doing it after the Walk video and my legs are already getting tired. I may try flipping that around and doing the strength training first to see if I can get through the video a little easier.

Forgive me Father...

On a side note, I have a confession to make.

I'm melting, melting! Oh what a world!

I got on the scale again this morning to check and see if the 5 lbs where still gone and found that I was down 3 more lbs! And this was a post breakfast weight. I don't really understand why my body has decided to suddenly drop a bunch of weight. I am not really doing any more exercise than I have been, and I am eating a healthy 2000 cals a day. They only thing that I can think of is that my stress levels have gone down a bit now that all the events of the last two months have passed. Although I am not sure that makes sense either because I am starting to freak about the end of school and my externship and a weekend job.

See told ya!

Don't worry, I have not lost my mind and started complaining about loosing weight but I don't want it to come off too quickly as that can be a sign of bigger health problems, which I really do not need. So what do you all think?

Bigger butt, smaller hair.

On another note, I think I may have found a weekend job. A lady that goes to class with me has a 16 year old Down's Syndrome son and a 6 year old son and she needs a baby sitter. I would be paid by the state as a child care worker and there is a possibility that the weekend could lead to more hours when I am done with school in a couple of weeks. I am so excited about this because it means I will finally be bringing in some money again. Things have gotten pretty rough around here financially. We have been forced to borrow from family to help with expenses and I hate doing that. I is bad enough that Whit is covering for me but to have to except money from others as well really gets to me. I was not raised to let someone else pay my way. My family is full of independent women who take care of themselves and everyone around them. I always followed suite until now and I will be glad to be back in the ranks of the proud women I was raised by.

This is me stressing!

My externship placement is not going as well. I have had a site set up for about 3 weeks and the office manager was supposed to call me to set up my schedule for my externship and an appointment to meet everyone in the office. Well I have been calling about once a week as have the placement people at school but none of our phone calls are being returned and frankly the receptionist is getting rude about having to leave messages for the office manager all the time. I called the school today and told them that if we did not hear anything soon I wanted a different externship.

9 buisness days left.

I am not usually one to cause problems but honestly isn't three weeks long enough to return a phone call. I am supposed to start my externship on the 24th! Is it wrong of me to expect some professionalism from the office that I will be working at? I just don't understand what the hold up is. I know that they are a busy office but seriously, all I need is five minutes for a schedule to be set. She has probably spent more time reading my messages than it would take her to call me and settle the issue. Am I being irrational?

Good question!

Anyhow, that's my randomness for the day. Take care everyone and please pray for me, I really need it.

Happy Training,
Love Jenn