Moving Day

Well moving day is coming up!! mind you we have most of our stuff moved already. Having a husband in the oilfield you pretty well have to take advantage of him at home. So on his days off we moved everything except the stuff we needed. So on saturday we have only about three truck loads to take out to the new house. I will be sooooo happy when this is all over and im soooo excited to be moving out of town. I am very much looking forward to having all the room and my kids being able to just go out and run around and play.

Far Too Long!!!!

Man, life sure can go by fast. I knew it had been a super long time since i blogged last, but when i logged in i realized its been almost a year. What have i accomplished? Well, I am still sane. Life in my house is crazy, never stopping and exhausting. Some days i realize at 3 in the afternoon i haven't even eaten yet, never mind brushed my teeth. Starting at 630am i get Kearstin up, shes a typical girl and hates getting up in the morning, has to try on 15 outfits and spends hours in the bathroom staring at herself. At 730am the first of 4 dayhome kids show up. by the time Kearstin is gone to catch the bus, the kids are all here and hayden is up. So i spend the morning cleaning, chasing, breaking up fights, wiping snotty noses and wiping away tears. By Lunch i'm exhausted. The two younger kids take naps, and on a good day Hayden and Jaxon do too!! By now i've drank three coffee and have to do a tour of cleaning again so they can wake up and mess it all up again. 4pm and Kearstin gets home, usually grumpy cuz shes tired and hungry. Making supper, doing laundry and making sure she does homework and chores. Two days a week we rush off to Taekwon Do and then rush home to put them to bed. Some days i feel like my running around never ends. On top of all this, we are packing, AGAIN!! Our house now is a rent to own property and when we moved in we had every intention of the own part. Now with the drop in realty we have decided against it. They want about 100000 over market value for this house and that just isn't an option for us. So we have been quietly looking for other options. We wanted something cheaper, more practical. Don't get me wrong i love my house but i have been watching and i can purchase the same house for ridiculously cheaper. We decided to rent for a year or two to see if prices drop some more which our realtor tells us is going to happen. That way we will have saved up a reasonable downpayment and can get into a house we feel financially good about and love. So Dec. 1st we move into our new to us home. Very nice house on a few acres just 3kms from town. My daycare kids will still be able to come to me so i wont lose money and the place is really great. I'm really looking forward to being out of town. I miss my families farm. I remember being a kid and just spending my holidays and weekends and every spare moment out there. I want my kids to have that too.

Well on to the subject of my wieght loss. I haven't been. But i haven't forgot that i have to. I start and then lose motivation and then i stop. A cycle i know has to stop. I'm trying to get some others to start up a biggest loser type competition. Everyone who wants to participate puts in 20 bucks in a pot after 3 mths we all weigh in and whoever has lost the most percent of body weight wins the money. i think it might be the motivation i need. Or maybe i just need to join some online support groups. One thing i do know is that i need to find a way to stay on it. That seems to be the main part of my problem, i lose my motivation. I am hoping that after the move i will be able to continue. My elliptical will finally have a home, on my main floor in my living room where i have to look at it every day. No excuses, i keep telling myself. Another thing is that i need to blog, it gives me a reason to keep up with the working out. Because when i do lose weight i'm proud so i like to share that with others. its also my place to vent and get things off my chest, which is hindering to my success. When things bother me and i get stressed out or depressed, i eat, don't sleep proper and its not good. I'm hoping one day my life will slow down and then i can concentrate more on losing weight but until then i guess i just have to figure out how to make it work!!!

Computer Down

Well my computer is finally up and working. I had a nasty virus which took me some time to get rid of. Chances are i picked up this virus on facebook! Who knows! Anyway, my computer was down for awhile and once my hard drive was reformated, i then found out that i didn't remember the address for this site as i was always able to access it from my favorites before. Anyway no excuses. I have been still able to keep on track for the most part, this time of year is always hard on me. I love christmas too much and really enjoy holiday treats. I did want to make at least one post before i leave. In 4 more sleeps my family and i are on a plane heading to Florida!!! We are very excited! I am going to miss all the normal holiday tradition, its been kinda sad not to set up my tree! But i just tell myself its only one year!! And how often will my kids get christmas dinner with winnie the pooh!!!! i think next year i will be making the trip to my grammas house for xmas. Its been far toooo many years since i spent Christmas with that part of my family. I got the pleasure to spend easter with them last year. This year, after this trip i wont make it there for easter. The Budget just wont allow it so im going to make plans for christmas!! I have fond memories of my grandparents house at christmas!! Altho my grandpa is no longer with us, things wont be the same without him.

Anyway, holidays have kind of thrown me off and im sure florida wont help either so as soon as i get back its back to the gym!!

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year!!!!

4 Pounds Down!!

Well i am down 4 lbs!!! Doesn't sound like a lot when its written on here but i know its a good start. Who ever would have thought this journey would be soooo hard. Seems like i have ups and downs every day. With life being busy, its sooo easy to get off track. A normal monday: up at 7 kids up eating breakfast, getting kearstin ready for school, first kid shows up 730. kearstin off to school at 8, depending on the day i have anywhere from 4 to 7 kids that i watch. so between kids, laundry, lunch, cleaning, and anything else in my house that needs to get done that often doesn't, kids start going home at 4 and kearstin is off the bus at 4 too. she sits and does homework and i struggle to help her. (so much has changed with the new math ciriculum its crazy) make supper, all kids gone by 5, eat supper, get kids cleaned up, dishes and kitchen tidy, kearstin ready for tkd, leave for tkd at 630 home 830, kids washed, pjs ready for bed, 9 is gym time home between 1030 and 11. then i shower and go to bed. somewhere in that time i have to eat and count calories its tough. altho when my husband is home i definetly have help which is great but sometimes i feel i just have a third kid. Not all the days of the week are that busy tho. Im not totally crazy. just mondays and wednesdays.

Ugh Day 4

Man i would have thought that by now my muscles would be not as sore, clearly that is not so. I have been changing up my workout every day. Sometimes treadmill and elliptical, sometimes bike and treadmill. Also im becoming a lot more comfortable with all the other equipment in the gym. Instead of being scared of it, its actually a lot of fun. But my legs, arms and abs soooooo do not agree, i just got back an hour ago and my arms and legs are still like jello. I only do three days a week weight training, so they get a break in between. I also have noticed that my stamina for cardio is improving. It takes longer for my muscles to start to burn, so im going to start adding more incline and resistance. I want my body to be challenged, my workouts shouldn't be easy. Its funny, i was scared shitless to start at the gym, and now im realizing that my only fear was trying. Now that im going i love it. I hated that i gained back some weight when i wasn't working out. Its really scary how fast it goes back on when you dont take care of yourself. My weight starting out again was 210 and already in 4 days i have lost 2 lbs. Im really happy about it. A set back just makes you realize how hard i have to work and how easy it will be for me to fall off. Im not a quitter, and im not going to quit this.

Day 2 Back To The Gym

Hey All!
Dont think that i have forgotten about what i started. Everything got side tracked for awhile. Starting again was the hardest thing. It was always "ok back to work tomorrow" and tomorrow came and went. So Friday i went to snap fitness, and signed up. I didn't want the commitment of a year long membership so i was happy to hear that at snap you can sign up on a monthly term. So Dwayne and i now have a joint membership and its really affordable. Working out at home was definetly more convenient but my treadmill decided to die this summer. Not to mention i just dont have room for it. Saturday was the first day, and it was really fun. It was nice not to be limited to just running on the treadmill. I also found that the elliptical was so much easier on my knee and got my heart rate up faster. 45 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes on the spin bike left my legs feeling like jello. Altho i really missed how i felt after working out. I had forgotten how good your body feels when you make it move. I have also forgotten how much it hurts the next morning. My legs, abs, arms and sides were ACHING the next morning. But as i got moving around and had a shower they started to feel better. Last night at the gym i did my 1 hr on the treadmill and 20 minutes on the elliptical. Today im still sore but no where near as sore as yesterday. Another nice thing about going to the gym instead of working out at home is I CAN LEAVE MY HOUSE!! Dont get me wrong i love staying home with my kids. But when i leave to go to the gym i get to forget about the kids for 2 hours. Forget about cleaning, and cooking and all the other household worries and just be alone. Funny when your younger you never want to be alone and when your older you just wish you had 5 more minutes alone.

Eating has been going alright the whole time, altho the snacking needs work. I made a really great chopped steak with a really great sauce last night for supper. My husband and kids ate it all up and i dont even think that they realized it was good for them lol. So i thought i would share the tasty recipe with you guys.


In a large bowl, mix 1 pound of lean ground beef, 5 tablespoons of parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt until well combined. Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions and form into 1' thick oval patties. Season evenly with pepper, pressing it into the patties on all sides.
Place a large nonstick skillet over high heat. When hot, lightly mist with olive oil spray. Add the patties and cook for 2 to 4 minutes per side, or until the outside is brown and the insides are very slightly less done than desired. Transfer the steaks to a platter and cover to keep warm.
Respray the pan off the heat, then place over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, or until tender. Add the 1 1/3 cups of grape juice and 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar and return heat to high. Boil for 9 to 11 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced to about 1/2 cup. Place the steaks on each of 4 serving plates and top with onions and sauce. Sprinkle with parsley and serve!
Per Serving: 271 calories, 24g protein, 32g carbohydrates, 5g fat (2g saturated), 60mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 372mg sodium

Life Getting Back To Normal

I know its been forever since i have written, i guess im not a consistant blogger. Life is getting back to normal now. Break up was SLOW but work is picking up in grande prairie and everything seems soooo much better. Dwayne is now busy at work, kinda wish i had my car back but oh well. My dayhome is full for the summer anyway. Which is great, i love being able to be home with my kids and still pay bills. In fact i make more money this way than if i was to go back to work. Not to mention i dont want to miss out on anything. So thankfully money is no longer a worry, and im so glad too. Life is too short to have to worry about stuff like money. Our savings account is back where it was before the slow time, mind you a little chunk of the savings was spent on a boat but that too has been replaced. We also have been doing some quiet house hunting. The house we are in right now, altho its great, we are looking for something of our own. We weren't sure that we would be approved because we still own a mobile home in clairmont, which we are renting out. But seeing that our renters have been consistant with paying thier rent, the bank has giving us a new mortgage!!!! We now are the owners of a really great house!!! We get possesion Aug 1st!!! Whats really great and sad at the same time is that the mortgage payment is significantly less than the rent we pay now!!! Not to mention that the heating and electricity should be lower too being that this is an older house and the windows leak and such. The new house is less than 2 yrs old so there will be soooooo much less maintenance.
Anyway, back on the subject of wieght loss since that is what this blog is for. Process has been slow but im still losing. seems to be about 2 lbs every two weeks. which i think is still great as long as that number keeps getting smaller im happy! Altho once moved into the new house, i definetly need to get back to work. My weight training has been staggered, and not very consistant. Snacking and pop have kinda moved back in, but as of today diet is back on and im again posting in my log book. I thought that i would be able to keep the diet up with out tthe log book but its harder than i thought. In the past months i have lost almost 25 lbs and im very happy with that, altho according to my trainer it should have been more. But in my eyes, everything in life isn't always going to go as planned. Some things take longer than expected. Its just sad that it doesn't take very long to put the weight on but takes sooooo long to take it off. Anyway i am going to try to get back on track. Working out, eating right and blogging more!!!