Insanity!! I hope I am not crazy.

Tomorrow starts my first work out doing Insanity. My husband and I are going to do it together. I am a little anxious, but ready to get it going. Thought I would show you what we are going to do.

New Season, New Blog

I felt like it was time for a change, and who knows it could change again before I decide I feel like it is done. With a change in weather and the colors around me I wanted new colors on my page, you could say lack of color compared to the last layout.

 I love that the fall brings cooler weather, warmer drinks, the change in colors and twinkle lights, whether it is for your home decorations or in the city. Most of us love this time of year. I just wish we were closer to home. 

Captured Beauty Photography photo sessions.

Saturday November the 19th I will be having 45 min sessions to take Fall pictures, at Euchee Creek Trail park in Grovetown. If you want your kids photographed or new family pictures just let me know we will start setting up times. The cost will be 30$ and you will get a CD with your edited pictures on them.

Another Family Funday in pictures, Our amazing Fall day

We went to our local Dairy, where they have tons of things for kids to play on and in. 

Many of these don't need explanation, Just my beauties having a ball in this amazing fall weather. ENJOY!!

Weston was trying to use his GPS to get us out of the corn maize. No luck!

Answering a question to find our way out.

We had a wonderful time out, even though it was Georgia's first below 60 degree temperature day. I am glad we got time to go out and spend time with each other. Here is to you and your family spending more time together and more holidays come our way. 

Friday Funday

This morning I wasn't much in the mood for anything. I had no motivation. Sadly my choices were go to gym, be lazy and stay at home, or stay at home and clean. Well my ending result was stay home, but I went for a walk with the kids then I cleaned the house. But this is how my walk went. It was a beautiful morning and we had an amazing time out together. 

Running down the street after me, sadly out of focus.

Erica eating her Eggo Waffle on our walk. 

Wearing the Converse. I bought them at different times, neat that they fit them at the same time.

Sibling love, this was the best part of our day, they were great with each other while we were outside.

My little Erica likes to pick up and collect rocks, not sure why, but I hate it when they end up in my house. 

A path made by one of the fork lifts.

He said to me "Can you smell it mom? I can smell the forest animals" 

E being E.

Are you Miss forgetful?

A few days ago Mrs T, Naturally wrote on her blog about something she knew about, being organized. Then this morning I saw a post from The Vanilla Tulip, she was showing some fabulous family organizers that you can design and buy that are normally around 50$,  but if you get them though Plum District you get them half off and if you are a new follower to Plum you get get an extra 5$ towards a purchase. That means under 20$, and let me tell you they are pretty awesome looking. But you have to act fast, this deal won't last long. 

Braking rules and making some new ones.

So today is my husbands birthday, ( Happy Birthday Honey) I wanted to do something but hadn't planned anything, so this morning I decided that the Flank I thawed would be perfect. I looked in my Crock pot cook book and found a recipe that sounded easy to throw together before running out the door for the gym. But here is the thing, I didn't follow the direction to the T, I am not good at that with food. I like to explore and experiment. A guaranteed thing when I don't have all the ingredients it calls for. But here is what I did.

  

One Flank steak almost 2 lbs

One onion chopped in slices

One can of diced tomatoes with basil rosemary and olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Beef broth (progresso brand Tuscany Flavor)

Corn starch

and Flour

I added the onion to the bottom of the Crockpot.

I salted and peppers the meat, then quickly browned it in a pan on both sides,

 then laid the meat on top of the onions. 

the original recipe called for beef gravy, I didn't have any, that is why I used the broth. I put it in a pot, brought it to a boil then added some corn starch to thicken it. 

Added the can of tomatoes to my homemade gravy, stirred it a bit and then poured it over the beef. 

Put the lid on, turned it on high and ta da! Fab Dinner in 6 to 8 hours!

Oh yeah, the four is to make gravy with the juice after it's all ready. 

I will be adding mashed Potatoes and green beans to the plate for dinner. Yummy!

ENJOY!!!

Acne! At my age.

Not that I think I am to old to be getting acne, but I didn't think at my age I would be getting acne. I would say that thus far 90% of my life I have had clear nice skin with no acne problems. I had a short period when I was 17 when I had a cat that I broke out but only then. When we moved here to the south, about 9 months later is when I started seeing my face change. More often then not during the last two years I have had painful acne on the bottom third of my face. I know there are triggers as to why I get them, like leaning on my hand while at the desk or at the table. but I don't get why now. If anything we eat better and healthier.   

Why did I go from this,

to this? No lie, this zit has been there for almost 2 months. Getting bigger then smaller, but never leaving all together. 

I get what Doctors call Nodule and Cyst acne. This is what I learned so far about it:

Severe acne vulgaris is characterized by nodules and cysts:

Nodules: As opposed to the lesions mentioned above, nodular acne consists of acne spots which are much larger, can be quite painful, and can sometimes last for months.¹ Nodules are large, hard bumps under the skin's surface.² Scarring is common. Unresolved nodules can sometimes leave an impaction behind, which can flare again and again. Absolutely do not attempt to squeeze such a lesion. You may cause severe trauma to the skin and the lesion may last for months longer than it normally would. Dermatologists often have ways of lessening swelling and preventing scarring, such as injecting the lesion with cortisone.

Cysts: An acne cyst can appear similar to a nodule, but is pus-filled.² They can be painful. Scarring is common with cystic acne. Squeezing an acne cyst may cause a deeper infection and more painful inflammation which will last much longer than if you had left it alone. Dermatologists often have ways of lessening swelling and preventing scarring, such as administering a cortisone shot.

www.acne.org

I have been to the doctor before and asked for help, but all they do is give me the same stuff you can buy at the store, which just dries out my skin. I really hate my skin and hate how it make me feel. I am really blessed to not have severe acne, but still having it hurts, emotionally and physically.  


Have you dealt with acne? When I try to hide it it just makes it worse. Another reason I don't wear makeup. How do hide something that pops out at you. 

My funny thought of the day.

Do you ever go into the gym and silently compare yourself to the others around you? Possibly looking over at the Hottie McHottie in the corner, or the awesomely fit chica you wish you looked like? Well this morning while Weston Goodwin and I went to the tiny gym at the hotel I was doing just that. I looked over and and thought that the guy at the weights was looking pretty good looking, he looked up and I noticed in the mirror that it was my hubs!!! LOL good thing right!!!

.... My body and the stress I put on it.

This has been on my mind a lot. During my husbands year long deployment my self esteem was tested. We joined the Family Y just a month before he left last summer. For a woman of my height I have never been over weight or fat, and when I first got married I was 15 lbs heavier then I am now!  I never had confidence issues then, or felt discouraged about the way I looked. My wedding day almost 7 years ago. <--  After having two kids, I have a harder time loving my body. I thank God so much for the wonderful DNA he has given me that I don't gain much weight during pregnancy and am able to lose it quickly after giving birth. But it is hard to love a body that doesn't make you happy. I know there isn't anything not to love and I have just been brain washed by the media. I was a model before I got married, which I think is another reason I have a time hard on my body. Even with all the changes they make on picture in different editing programs you still have to look perfect just to get a job. Something that no one in the real world looks like.  

 An ad from DOVE

Why can't we grow up getting images like this one, showing that woman are all different and we all look amazing.


While he was gone I missed out on hearing verbal affirmation of how I looked (one of my love languages) I missed hearing "Babe you look great in that" or "I have one sexy wife" yes I know that may sound corny and cheesy, but you try not hearing it for a year, it changed the way I felt about myself. I didn't feel good enough or sexy. I craved hearing complements. (writing that sounds very vain and selfish but it is true and how I felt)

This was taken at my best weight, after the Military Mud run in May 2011. I weighed 138. If I could keep this body I would be happy. But how many things in our lives as Moms change, and don't make it easy to have the body we want and desire. I knew after my husband returned home it would be tough, I gained 10 while he was on leave last month. I was able to eat whatever I wanted while we was gone. Also eat smaller portions more often during the day, I think that helped me stay fit. 

I wanted this!

 But felt more like this!

I don't want to teach my own daughter that what you see on TV is the way she should look in the mirror, these people have personal trainers lots of money and nanny's for there kids. I want her to look at me and see her mom that is healthy and fit and proud of her body. To teach her that we should spend time on our body keeping it in shape and healthy, but what really matters is what is inside, how we treat others, the world and how we give back. How do I do that if I am not there yet for myself? Day by day! 

Why do we always make it hard for ourselves then it needs to be?! Measuring and pinching different parts of our bodies. Why is it that we can't seem to be happy with the body God gave us and treat it well and feed it good food? I hope I can teach my daughter to be happy with her body no matter how she turns out to be, as long as she is healthy too! 

I don't feel like this is done, but this is what I have for now.