Valentine Countdown

 Most years, I do NOT like Valentines-not one thing about it.  I've always thought it was just a marketing ploy to get us to buy a bunch of crap we really don't need.  Call me scrooge, but that was my mentality.

This year, I've turned over a new leaf.  I think it's quite possibly becoming one of my favorite holidays!  I'm learning you can find very teachable moments in this "marketers dream."  Someone on our MOPS page, linked to Happy Home Fairy.  She has some amazing ideas that are mostly cheap, practical, and Biblical!  When I saw her free printable for Bible verses about Love, it got me in the Valentine's spirit!

I went to Dollar Tree and grabbed a little banner.  It has 14 letters, perfect for hanging our 14 verses on.  Then, the $1 bins at Target had these cute little mail boxes.  Once home we cut up a bunch of paper into heart (or almost heart shapes) and taped or suction cupped them onto the door.  (the hanging envelope has our verses in it!)  

I can't tell you how much the kids LOVE getting their mail. Usually just a note, maybe a treat, always their vitamins, a clementine, stickers, some change, etc. A different kid each day will find the verse in their box.  Elliot didn't understand why W and I didn't have mailboxes because she really wanted to make us mail!  So..... I splurged, spent 2 more dollars and we all have boxes now.  I get lots of mail everyday.  The kids are asking to keep their boxes all year.  HAHA!  We had a mailbox decorating party Sunday afternoon.  It was fun.  They are all a big mess now :-)

A few other things I got inspiration for from Happy Home Fairy are below.

Elliot's Valentines for her classmates: (in black & white because our printer is out of color ink!)

 Elliot's teacher Valentine's:

Bloodwork

We recently went to the doc to have bloodwork done.  We wanted to make sure this whole "Paleo" way of eating is working  for us.  As much as we've read and believe it's what's right for our family, bacon and eggs everyday just doesn't seem right.  HAHA.  (Even though this IS how my great grandparents ate on the farm everyday-and they kept ticking for a long time!  In fact, one of my great great Aunts is still alive and is 107 today!!  She lived independently until well over 100).  Not that I really want to live that long-but I do want a good quality of life for as long as the Lord wants me here.

Anyways, our bloodwork came back fantastic!  I had my Vitamin D level drawn back in August and it was low.  (29)  I have supplemented with 2000 IU of D3 the last few months and my level is now 58.  Perfect!

LDL Cholesterol: 97     (Normal <130)
HDL Cholesterol: 82     (Normal >40)
Triglycerides: 60           (Normal < 150)
Cholesterol Pattern Size: A  (This is one of the most important things when it comes to Cholesterol!  So excited about this!!)
C-Reactive Protein: <1 (Normal <8)  This tests for inflammation
Hemoglobin A1C: 5.1  (Normal <5.7)
Glucose: 83 (Normal: 65-99)

I'm not sure you care about all of those numbers, but the point is that this way of eating IS healthy-look at what my insides are saying :-)  Wes' insides are also screaming of happiness!

When you eat good, you feel good, you then have energy to workout and get strong!  It's amazing how all of this works together.  If your 1st priority is workout, but you eat crappy, you aren't doing yourself any favors-and won't see much in terms of results. Diet is the foundation (I learned that at my Crossfit intro!)

Garage Gym

 We are slowly getting our garage equipped with workout stuff.  We now have a pull up bar, rings, boxes, some dumbbells, ab mat, white board up, poles (for stretching), etc.  We have a few things to add, but they will come in time. I really need bands to work on pull ups, but I'll just get strong with the rings 1st.

Today Wes and I worked out together.  He wrote everything up on our white board.  It was cute :-)  The workout was called "Donkey Kong."   I should start with our warm up

10 pass throughs  (hold wooden pole, keep arms locked from front of body-overhead- to back of body)
10 whirly birds (like above but in circular motion)
10 overhead squats (ideally you would use a weight lifting bar, but I just practice with the wooden pole)
10 ab mat sit ups
(2 times)

For a skill, I learned how to do ring rows after the warm up.  Then, it was on to the hard stuff......

"Donkey Kong" is done for time.  21-15-9 (do 21 of each activity, then 15 of each, then 9 of each)

Burpees
Dumbbells swings/kettle ball swings
box jumps

It took me 11 min 10 sec.  Wes took 9 min 9 seconds.  I almost got lapped!....but I FINISHED!  It was hard.  My abs are killing me.

It has been SUPER FUN to see how kids really emulate what their parents are doing.  Elliot use to sit around in the afternoons inside.  Since I've been working out, she is outside, RIDING HER BIKE (she never did this before-her "legs hurt, " setting up obstacle courses in the driveway, climbing on our boxes, stretching (hilarious to watch!), hanging from rings and swinging, and the list goes on!  I can't tell you how much this has encouraged me to STAY ACTIVE!!

I was talking to W tonight about setting up a mini Crossfit Kids in our neighborhood one night/week.  Just to get kids out, playing, moving, and making friends!  We'll see what comes of it.  He wants to get qualified as a CF Kids Instructor first.

12 minutes

Today's workout was a simple 12 minute series of exercises.  "Coach" modified it for me since the only equipment I have is 2 10 lb dumbbells.  Believe me, that's plenty of weight right now.

I repeated these exercises until my 12 minute timer went off.

5 thruster (Completed 8 rounds)
7 Box jumps (I jump up on the coffee table, 16 inches high-completed 8 rounds.  Supposedly a woman's box should be 18 inches.)
10 dead lifts (completed 7 rounds)

I have a feeling the quad's are going to be in some serious pain tomorrow!  After my last workout, it hurt my ab's to stir the cookie dough :-)

Tabata

Ta....what?!  Yah, that's what I said yesterday. My Hubby Coach explained what it was, so I decided I would do a Tabata workout today!  Even downloaded another wonderful Tabata app to help me keep my time.  If you don't know, a Tabata is a 4 minute workout.  20 seconds of work, 10 second rest, repeat 8 times.  I did 3 exercises today, for a total workout of 12 minutes!  Hey, I can't complain if I can get a good workout in in 12 minutes!

If you are joining me, your goal today is to beat me!!  Seriously, let me know if you are exercising and what you did!  It's part of the fun.  I'm sure it won't be hard for many of you to beat me!!

Squats- 61
Push ups-50 (I only did about 14 normal, and then did modified on my knees.  "Coach" told me it's better to keep going with modified rather than doing zero normal)
Ab mat sit ups- 38  (pictured above.  You put your feet together and then do sit ups and touch your fingers to your toes.  The ab mat helps open up your abs).  If you don't have an ab mat-just do normal sit ups.

Ice Cream by Chef Elliot

Elliot has been coming up with her own recipe ideas lately.  We went out to dinner the other night and I let them get some ice cream for dessert.  On the way home she said "wouldn't it be cool if there was Paleo ice cream?!"  I said "yes" and left it at that.  Today she was telling me her idea for ice cream, so we made it for dessert.  I was SO impressed!  It was delicious!!  Even if you don't eat like us, you should make this with your kids (or some variation of it).  She chose all of the ingredients on her own!  Even when it came to the chocolate, she chose 90% dark over the others in the cabinet.

Ingredients:
3 bananas
10 strawberries
handful blueberies
1 oz dark chocolate

Puree bananas in food processor then put in a container.  Puree strawberries and add to bananas.  Throw in blueberries (optional-I thought they would be odd, but it was actually really good.  They would also be good pureed like the other fruits).

Freeze for about 2.5 hours.  Melt dark chocolate and drizzle over ice cream.  It becomes like Magic Shell! Amazing!  Eat as soon as possible after taking out of freezer.

Talapia

I'm on a huge fish kick lately!  What has gotten into me?!?!  I bought this nifty little grill thing today at Costco.  You just put it right on the stove, it heats up, and acts like a grill.  

I took the Tilapia filets, sprayed with some olive oil, lemon juice, salt & pepper then wrapped in foil.  Cooked for 8 minutes on each side.

After cooking I topped them with more lemon, and some fresh snipped parsley (the one herb plant I've kept alive).

Intervals Day 2

I know so little about exercise, that I mistakenly referred to yesterday's workout as intervals, while in fact it was circuit.  TODAY was my interval day.  To help out, I downloaded a nifty little interval timer on my iPhone that alerted me every time my 30 seconds/2 minutes were up.  That was about the best part of the whole exercise.

Do you remember when you were a kid and there was nothing you wanted to do besides ride your bike?  For hours and hours you could ride that bike!  Somehow, as you get older, it seems way less fun.  Maybe it's just me-but it is some serious work now!  I'm guessing the hills, beach cruiser, freezing rain, and random patches of ice don't help the situation (See, I'm making excuses again-shut up and exercise, Erin!)

Regardless of the above factors I set out for a 5 minute warm up, and then 30 minutes of intervals.  Getting stuck going up hill on a 30 second rest was a bummer.  (then again, going down hill on my 2 minutes of hard workout was a bonus!)  I ended up stopping 2 minutes early, after I walked up a hill.  I was pretty sure if I kept riding I would not be getting back home on my own!

WOOT!  One more day of exercise accomplished.  I can't tell you how many times on my ride I said to myself "I can't do this!"  or "I'm going to go ahead and go home now."  But, it feels good that I didn't give in to my self doubt and just finished what I set out to do.

Puerto Rican Beef

 This meal was so yummy!  To top it off, it was also simple to make.  Granted, I cheated a little.   I used frozen chopped green, red, & yellow peppers and a bag of pre-chopped fresh kale.  I also doubled the recipe.  Looking forward to having the leftovers in an egg scramble in a day or so!  YUMM!

The recipe is from EveryDay Paleo 
Ingredients:

1 lb grass fed ground beef

1 bunch kale chopped

1 white onion sliced

1/2 of a green, red, and yellow bell pepper sliced

1/2 cup pimento stuffed green olives

3 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander (I did not have this)

1/2 tbsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp dried oregano

Pinch of saffron threads (optional)

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

3 sweet potatoes

1 ripe avocado

In a large skillet brown the ground beef.  Add the bell peppers, onions, and olive oil and saute until the onions and peppers are tender.  Add all of the spices and mix well.  Add the kale and green olives, continue cooking stirring often until the kale is tender (about 4-5 minutes.  Serve over mashed sweet potatoes with a side of sliced avocado.  To quickly prepare the sweet potatoes, peel and quarter the potatoes and cook in a pressure cooker for 12 -14 minutes. Or, boil 20-25 minutes.  

I thought serving it on top of sweet potatoes sounded REALLY odd, but figured if it made the cookbook that way I should at least try it.  It really was delicious!  Highly recommend this!

Working Out!

I'm still on track with this working out business!  Now, I want to know who's going to join me?  Seriously!  I know there are lots of you reading this that are just like me and have every excuse in the book.  Here are some of mine:

1.  Don't have a gym membership
2.  When I consider getting above, I realize there's no way I will leave my almost 8 month old, once preemie, in childcare.
3.  No time
4. Too tired
5.  It's TOO cold!
6.  Too many kids
7.  No equipment
8.  Too much to get done around house

..... lalala, you get the point.  There's always going to be a reason.  Even though my driveway and the roads were solid ice out today and only good for sledding on (see picture), I still got my run in.  I ran in place in my living room, then jogged around the house, did some more running in place and punches and kicks.  The joy of being in your home is that no one cares what you look like!  I'm starting slow, so join in with me!  It only takes a few minutes and you WILL feel it the next day!

This is what today looked like (very similar to my 1st day, but less time between intervals.  Decreased from a 1 minute rest to 40 seconds)  Once I'm down to 30 seconds I will add another full round.

1.  Run for 4 minutes without stopping (okay, jog or act weird too)
2.  rest 40 seconds
3.  10 jumping squats
4.  rest 40 seconds
5.  10 pushups (harder than day 1 b/c those muscles are still sore!)
6.  rest 40 seconds
7.  10 dumbbells raises
8.  rest 40 seconds
9.  Jog in place for 4 minutes (well, I had to wipe a butt while running in place for this round!  But I wasn't going to let anything stop me from finishing!)

In less than 15 minutes you can get in a good workout!  I know this is super basic, but we've all got to start somewhere!  I can't wait to see what a few months brings!  (besides a pull up bar, some rings, jumping box, etc ;-)