Closing out the year

Took a relaxed approach last week but with the laziness comes the guilt.  And the cupcakes.  I do love that funfetti frosting.  Man oh man is that stuff good. lol  So this week I'm closing out the year with double-duty on the workouts.  I have to burn the cupcake calories and make up for lost burn-time last week.  I have some new dvds for this week that I have yet to try so I'm looking forward to it! A couple of my beloved Ellen Barrett workouts for this evening to start the week off right.

I'm ready for a new year.  I'm ready to cut out the bs, cut out the fat, avoid people and conversations that don't bring anything positive to my life.  I've started taking steps to battle the stress, the stomach fat, the high-strung/on edge constant that circles over my head and my middle.

 The kids and I are eating better (though they are still two fickle eaters...seriously...how can you eat an italian bmt with lettuce, tomato, green peppers, onions, oil & vinegar and mayo and not eat a variety of "simple" foods?? lol)  I have one salty/sour kid who also needs dessert after every meal and one strong/savory eater who also has her mommy's sweet tooth.  Thanks to Dinner Done I now have less to come up with on th entree front but that means I need to be more creative with side dishes the kids will actually eat......so I have some used cookbooks waiting for me in my Amazon cart. ;-)

Our schooling is going well, we've finally been doing lessons each week day and it's one of three goals I have for each day.  1.  Don't lose my mind..breathe...take a time-out..unclench the teeth...and don't kill anyone.  2.  Exercise 3.  Lesson time

We have had a choppy school schedule so far this school year but we've finally found the happy time slots that work well for us.  Running errands is now an afternoon thing (and only every other week) so there's less running around in the cold, less germy people to come in contact with and less "other stuff" keeping us from doing the productive things we have to do here at home.  The kids are re-discovering their many toys, as well as new Christmas gifts.  I'm weeding through the clutter and donating/freecycling as much as I can.  I'd like to organize the schooling cabinets this winter and clean out the spare room downstairs.  I have a couple of storage bins of clothes I'm ready to go through and donate.   If I'm not going to actually wear my shorts from junior year in high school they can be donated.  I WILL keep one or two jean skirts that I wore in high school...and if I can fit into them then I will wear them this summer. ;-)

Speaking of clothes...I tried on a dress 3 sizes smaller than I normally wear and it fit!  Well, not around the boobs but that's not so bad. lol  It's definitely progress considering I couldn't squish myself into any of my dresses a few months ago.  Since I started blogging at the end of September I've now lost 13 pounds.  13 pounds on 60% effort.  Not bad eh?  I cannot eat rabbit food (though Mike says a salad IS rabbit food) but I've cut excess calories and if I decide to treat myself then I just take it easy on the other meals of the day or week.  I'm not exercising every day but for the last couple of weeks I've been setting out 5 days worth of workouts...and if I skip a day then I just make up for it on the weekend.  This week I have catching up to do so I'm doing double, 7 days this week.  You won't see results if you just coast. lol 

Setting out the workouts for the week has been really motivating.  I'm getting a chance to do new workouts instead of choosing the same ones over and over.  I'm looking forward to trying something different and I'm more aware of combining cardio and strength training to balance it out for the week.  I'm also ready to put some dvds on Ebay because I found some new ones I want to try. ;-)

http://www.collagevideo.com/

This site is great for previewing exercise dvds.  You can see clips of the workouts, read reviews, see the breakdown of the workout (how many min for warm up, cardio/strength training, cool down).  I check back with Amazon for additional reviews and price comparison though.  Amazon is usually cheaper but doesn't have new videos in stock.  For some reason CollageVideo gets new dvds before Amazon offers them (every yet to be released dvds). 

Wishing everyone a healthy and happy new year full of positive moments with your loved ones!
 

Cardio Axe

Axe (A-shay) in Portuguese means "energy" or something along that line.  Cardio Axe is part of the Brazil Butt Lift Beachbody program.  30 minutes of fun Brazilian cardio.  I liked it.  :-)  Good part is I did Jackie Warner's standing ab workout before this one (approx. 20 min) and that alone used to kill me back in August when I started working out.  Now I can put that together with a higher intensity cardio workout and not feel like dying afterwards!  Woohoo!

Haven't blogged in a bit so time to catch up.  I've tweaked the schedule yet again.  I can't muster enough energy to get breakfast into children and myself, do lessons with my son and have energy to workout during naptime if I fit everything in the morning.  So I flipped lesson time to afternoons between lunch and dinner.  You know that gap of time when you start looking at the clock wondering how soon you can feed them and get them to bed? lol  Yeah, we leave the girl upstairs to play or watch a show and the boy and I scootch downstairs for 30 min or so to do lessons.  I do my workout an hour after breakfast during morning playtime or during naptime (or if I'm really procrastinating, after the kids go to bed!).  It all gets done eventually.

Today is Monday and I'm always lagging on Monday.  The mojo for the week hasn't set in yet. lol  We have lots of holiday crafts to do.  Not a crafty mom in general but little kits at Michaels and a foam gingerbread house that was on clearance...I can handle those. ;-)  So this afternoon will be craft time and both children can participate.  We're having an early dinner today -Salmon with dijon cream sauce and garlic mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli with lemon butter. 

I have a list of meal ideas for this week and 4 cardio choices, 4 ab workouts and 4 cardio/strength training workouts.  I hope to get through all of them this week in some combination every day but what doesn't get done this week will be used next week.  This way I get through each dvd once instead of sticking to my favorites.  I also have some new ones I've previewed but haven't done yet.  And some more coming. ;-)  This is the healthiest addiction ever. lol  Thank goodness for Ebay, now I can re-sell the dvds I don't use or I don't like as much and try something new.  Until tomorrow....