Instant Energy Boosters

Burt's Bees Fabulously Fresh Rosemary and Peppermint Body Wash- I use this every day in the shower after workouts and its light and bright smell really seems to perk up my tired muscles.

nature's Bounty gentle iron-I'm not a vegetarian (anymore) but I also don't eat a lot of meat. I pop one of these daily and it really seems to help that midday flagging gonna-pass-out feeling.

Greens Plus Chocolate Energy Bar- one of these, a coffee and a piece of fruit in the morning is the perfect pre-workout breakfast. Not too heavy but leaves me full enough to get the kids washed, fed and clothed, take them to school and then get my workout done without wanting to gnaw off my own hand from hunger or feeling too full to bounce around and get some cardio.

A day at the Santa Ana Zoo

It's a cute little zoo and a good way to while away the afternoon. If you go after 2pm it's half price!

50/50 Workout

You can do this two ways. The first is more of an endurance trial and should be performed with weights. The second way is to be done quicker and will get your heart rate up higher-go through the exercises as fast as you can.

WARM UP: do 5-10 Sun Salutations. Namaste :)

50/50 Workout

50 Squats/50 Pushpus
50 Jump Lunges/50sec Plank
50 Jumping Jacks/ 50 Tricep Dips
50/Deadlifts/50 crunches


OR
 
10 Squats/10 Pushups
10 Jump Lunges/10 Second Plank
10 Jumping Jacks/10 Tricep Dips
10 Deadlifts/10 Crunches
Repeat 5 times

COOL DOWN: Do 5-10 Sun Salutations. Namaste. :)

ENJOY!

The first step is to listen

This morning's workout was a good one:

I love the Zuzka Light workouts. They are just basic calisthenics and toning using your body weight and hand weights. I like the Body Rock workouts as well, but they use a lot of equipment that I don't want to purchase. And she's Czech like me, so I like her even more! My husband also likes her videos. For different reasons.


Breakfast was a yummy sweet/salty combo- scrambled eggs over blueberry frozen waffle topped with real maple syrup. Side of orange slices and black coffeeeeeee! Needed that after last night. The babe woke up every hour from 10:30 to 1:30, no idea why. Just needed some extra soothing and cuddling I guess to get through the night and I was pretty happy to oblige. Knowing that this is (probably) our last babe, I am less begrudging of losing a nights sleep. She is just growing so dang fast.

I was listening to KPCC (local news and talk radio) this morning, and the title of this post is a quote from a guest they had on, a Christian pastor. (Notice: I am not of any religion and I don't care or mind what other people think or do with their lives as long as you know, they don't want to kill or hurt people because they think some book or deity is telling them they should.) This pastor was pretty awesome though and represented the best of what religion can offer, when you try and hue to the actual tenets and stuff. He was discussing how he counsels his parishioners who have had or are considering having abortions, touchy topic. And he stated simply "the first step is to listen". How great that he is advocating compassion rather than judgment. Love this guy. I think the first step should be to listen in so many interactions-with your children, your spouse, your parents, that guy who just cut you off. Don't just react and wait for your turn to speak or offhandedly sew the seeds of negativity and hate in your mind by cursing someone for some inconsequential wrong you feel they have performed. People are speaking to you with their actions even when they aren't talking to you, so just empathize and imagine if you were having a bad day or a hard time how you would like someone to "listen" to you. In other words, give people a break- they are human. And don't let negativity suck the life and energy out of you- because that is a self-defeating and quite exhausting downward spiral.

Good read: anything by Thich Nhat Hanh. Although honestly I have to be in the right mood for it, or I just end up rolling my eyes and there you have one of my negative qualities. I would like to work on being more genuine, but my defense mechanism is sarcasm.

And how can I tone down the sarcasm in a world where this is an actual product people can buy:

Thursday Sandwich

I had a bit of a rough day. We had the neighbors over yesterday night for a dinner and small birthday party for the boy. My son's best friend happens to live next door so that's pretty cool. Anyway, I found out this morning that 2 glasses of wine is now over my limit. How times have changed.

Fitness today involved an hour long walk and some tracy anderson leg and arm toning. About all I could manage. I did try and do some yoga first thing this morning, but the kids weren't going to let that continue. Usually I get pretty cranky when this happens, an interrupted workout that is, but today I just rolled with it. Skipped the workout and hung out with my kids joyfully and non-begrudgingly

Made this quick and tasty dinner:

Wow I have to find out how to take pictures of food that make it look a tiny bit appealing. Anyway, this was delicious. Those are frozen sweet potato fries, I usually make my own but as it happens those are great. The green bowl of sludge in the background is what I dipped my fries into- guacamole made from avocado, salt and some nutritional yeast.  Now onto the best sandwich I've had in a while:

Caramelized Onion Kale Swiss Cheese Sandwich

Makes 1 sandwich

1/4 red onion sliced

1/3 cup frozen kale

Bread ( I used sheepherders)

1-2 slices of swiss cheese

sauted red onion slices in a bit of olive oil over medium heat til lightly browned, add frozen kale and stir to thaw. add salt and a bit of sugar and stir for a couple more minutes.

Assemble sandwich: mayo on sliced bread if you like, swiss cheese on either slice of bread, and pile the kale mixture in between the two slices. Grill on the stovetop or use a panini press, foreman grill, maybe a waffle maker? So good.

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After dinner I now have this mountain of work to summit, favor bags for my 4 year old's birthday party. His main event party is over the weekend at a local park-no way am I having 14 toddlers crazy-ing it up in my house.

Beauty Bag

Garnier Sleek Finish Serum Spray



Cheap and smells really fresh and clean and does the job. I have thicker almost coarse hair, on thinner hair I think this would be too oily.

Priori Night Complex Coffee Berry

Love this stuff. Uber-expensive. too rich for my blood, I am currently using up the remnants of a sample packet. But when my need to remedy wrinkles outstrips my need for food, this is where that money will go.

Luncheon sur la table

baby A and I sat down for a nice lunch today.

 

The lady enjoyed some peas, black beans and avocado chunks. 

While I had some black beans topped with avocado and a cup of green tea. Those avocados are homegrown picked from my husband's parent's yard which is a fruit wonderland. They are incredible.

this is the green tea I made- Gyokuro Japanese tea leaves. Mild and yummy. That glass tea pot works very well on the stove top and it's simple and good looking enough to keep out all the time.

After lunch was outdoor play time:

Put some leaves into the water table and enough water to let them bob and float around. She loved it. And tried to eat all those leaves. 

After Baby A's nap (about 1.5 hours from 12:30-2) we took a walk around the neighborhood.

now off to frost someone's birthday cake!