Exhaustion

I am just worn out these days. So much going on and my babies are almost finished with kindergarten! And here I was at the end of the week thinking I had done great not boo-hooing my eyes out at their program on Friday. Well, it all hit me this weekend. Reality. Smack in the face. I have had such a run of emotions I don't even want to be around myself!

But tomorrow will bring a new day and all will be well with the world again. I think the business of last week has caught up with me too. I am just wiped out. Ready to go to bed for an entire day to catch up. So, after the boys go to bed tonight I think I may be hitting the sack early myself. Will have to plan my menu for the week tomorrow as well as hit the grocery store. It's poring down rain so no way I am braving that when I don't "have" to. :)

My $15 find...

I am not normally one that goes for things like this rug, but when I saw the $15 price tag I decided it may be worth seeing if I could clean this thing up. I knew there was no way in the world I would ever be able to find a rug of this size for even $100. So I threw caution to the wind and got it.

This is the before and after:

I would say it was worth the $15 and the $30 worth if cleaning product. :)

Reinventing things...

Well, I have spent the last few weeks really pondering what exactly I want from this blog. Trying to do so many things right now and I think this blog will be where I can just come and talk it out. I mean, I am doing everything in my life right now from organizing my home to weight loss. So this just needs to be about my journey, not just one specific thing. Mainly because I am starting to find they are all kind of tied together in a strange way. The healthier I get, the more I want to organize and get things done. So now I am just going to go with it!

Menu Plan Monday 04/08/2013

Monday -Spirit night at school

Tuesday -Hot dogs on the fire pit with fruit and yogurt

Wednesday -Cashew Lettuce Wraps

Thursday -Spicy Honey Chicken with veggies

Friday -Left overs

Saturday -Turkey with veggies

Sunday -Grill steaks or fish with veggies


I am attempting to start using the sale ads each week to plan my menus. I used to be a big coupon gal. When we moved almost a year ago I just stopped. I have tried to start again a few times but trying to figure out all the new stores and rules each one has just gives me a headache every time I do. I figured I would start small and start using the sale ads to attempt to plan our menu for the week and then hopefully work up to using coupons again. Not crazy like I was (I haven't bought shampoo in a year!), but just to help save a little money each week.

Head on over to I'm an Organizing Junkie to help plan your menu this week and come up with some new recipes to try for your family!

Smoothies

On my birthday this year I treated myself to a Vitamix blender. I had been looking at the thing (and others) for several months now. I happened to walk into Whole Foods to get a few things and they were having a Vitamix demo! Well, next thing you know I am heading back to the house to get the kids and hubby and said if either of the kids would eat anything they made I was buying it. Well, one of them ate EVERYTHING he made. So the machine came home with me. :)

I have been making smoothies and other things nearly every day since I brought that baby home a month ago. I have LOVED it and it has been changing the way I am eating. Now to just find things my hubby and kids will also eat and I will be set. But I am settling for one step at a time!

I had posted a few of the smoothies I had made on Facebook and a friend of mine asked me to start posting the recipes to go along with them. Since I figure most people I know aren't really interested in my smoothie adventures I am going to start posting them here instead. If you aren't a smoothie fan then just click to another post please. But this is also part of my journey to organizing my life so I figure why not!

Yesterday I made something hoping my kiddos would eat it and at least one of them did so I was thrilled. I had a big glass of it myself and it was full of Vitamin C, perfect for this crazy weather we are having this year (cold, then hot, then cold, then hot, why the cold is back again!).

10 oz orange juice
1/2 cup frozen peaches
1 orange, peeled and quartered, seeds removed
1/2 frozen banana
1 tsp stevia (sweetener of your choice)
6 ice cubes

It turned out pretty yummy and I will make it again for sure, probably during the summer to cool off on a hot day. It made enough for 2 drinks for sure so I may try and scale it back a little next time for just me.

Spring Break

Well, this week is kicking my rear with regards to all my "big plans" of staying on  track and getting things done. Oh well, spending time with my kiddos is a little more important to me than the house. Come to think of it, that is probably a big part of my problem. Ha! Next week I will resume my regularly scheduled tasks and attempting to get organized and back on track. But this week I have just decided to do what I can and if anything else gets done above and beyond that I will feel blessed! I have been keeping up with making the beds and picking up at the end of the day. Determined to make some good habits again so those are at least manageable in all the craziness of the kids being off from school. I guess really this is a good test because this is how life is, and I am attempting to figure out how to do everything even with my kiddos at home every day. So maybe Spring Break wasn't such a bad thing after all when I take a step back and think about it. I have done well keeping the "regular cleaning" up done and also getting a few things organized here or there. So maybe it hasn't been as bad a week on that front as I thought. Hmm...maybe I am making more progress than I thought after all!

Exercise

Ugh...another word that just makes me cringe when I hear it.Not exactly sure why I truly despise people telling me I need to exercise. When they do it truly makes me want to do just the opposite! Call it the defiant part of me coming out to take over. But last Fall I started doing the Couch to 5K program and really did start to see some health benefits, mostly more energy and mood difference.

Let me say this first though...I am NOT a runner. As a matter of fact, I actually didn't like running at all. When I was way younger if I did run I was a short distance runner. Speed, not distance, was my friend. I was fast as a kid and competitive (still competitive but so not fast anymore!). But I found over the weeks of doing the program I almost came to look forward to getting out there and running. At first it was an accountability kind of thing. I wanted to finish what I had started (which I didn't and it still bugs me). But then, I was finally starting to hit a point it wasn't nearly as hard to run and it actually kind of started to feel, well, good.

As usual, life got in the way. I got sick and then had surgery. A very simple procedure that I was supposed to be back on my feet in just a few days ended up being a month long process of healing. Craziness. By then it was Winter and nearly the holidays so I just gave up. So here we are now in the middle of Spring Break and I am wanting to start again. I am promising myself that Monday morning after I drop the boys off at school I am going running. I am going to start the Couch to 5K program again. Maybe even try to sneak in some time this weekend if I get adventurous!

The thing is, life will always get in the way. What I need to learn is how to keep on going even when it does. Because after all, it IS going to. That has been proven time and time again to me. But where I think I differ from other people is that I give up. I tell myself it just isn't possible and so then it isn't. Must get rid of the doubt and negative self talk!