Ugly Exercise Pic

This is what I look like when I work out. Sweats, hoodie, no makeup, double chin (LOL)... thought I'd share.

I totally ate lots of chocolate chip cookie dough tonight. I got asked last minute to make two dozen cookies for a meeting tomorrow night. I think I must be PMSing because I've been craving chocolate big-time. I gave in to the craving :( Oh well... I guess I better work out extra... ha ha ha

I've been working my arms a ton this week and it could be my imagination, but they seem to be getting less flabbier. I don't know if the measurements will show a drop in inches, since muscle could be just as big around, but less flabby is GOOD :)

42 minute work-out tonight :)

Non-Coffee Cappuccino

I am LDS (Mormon) so I don't drink coffee, not even decaf, I also don't smoke or drink alcohol. Since this is a "Healthy Me" blog and not just a weight-loss blog, I thought I'd share a simple recipe, that isn't exactly diet, but I believe is a healthier choice than coffee (and pretty freakin' good!) :) If you want to read more about the Word of Wisdom (which is what the commandment to avoid such items is called), I encourage you to check it out. Before I became active in the church, I used to love cappuccinos, especially caramel ones. I haven't had an actual cappuccino in many, many years, but occasionally I crave one. I came up with an excellent solution.

The Non-Coffee Cappuccino... here is the cast of characters.

2 tsp pero
2 c low fat vanilla soy milk
2 heaping T dulce de leche or caramel syrup
a handy-dandy hot chocolate maker (not just for hot chocolate anymore!)

Mix your ingredients into your Cocomotion (come on baby, do the Cocomotion) and turn it on. (You could also just warm it up on the stove & whisk it, but where's the fun in that?)

When it's done, pour it into two regular sized mugs or one big ol' mug like mine. Look at that frothy goodness. Mmmmmmmm so good! Even my coffee-drinker brothers and sisters have enjoyed this when I've made it for them.

Seven Random Things (that you don't already know)

Bunny Trails at Naturally Wandering tagged me today. I have to post seven random things about myself. OH NO... How will I do it? I'm so not a random person... ha ha ha... I know, whatever. I'm about as random as it gets. Most people that read my blogs already know lots of random stuff about me, but here are seven facts you probably don't know.

1- I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to sleep. Sleep is my favorite part of every day. I wish I could sleep in every single day! If no-one bothers me (including the alarm clock) I could sleep all day long.

2- Random songs and movie quotes pop into my head ALL them time. I hear something or see something and it triggers a song or a quote from a movie usually the same few movies. A couple of the random movies I often quote from: The Brady Bunch Movie, Wayne's World, Clueless, Blast From the Past. My little brother Tony quotes the exact same movies all the time :)

3- I change my taste in music about every 6-9 months. I'll go through phases of country, hard '80s rock, alternative, old stuff (Johnny Cash & Elvis), etc. I'll listen to only one type for several months and then randomly one day I change. Right now it's Christmas music :)

4- I'm the FEC vice president of my children's charter school. The FEC is the Family Engagement Committee which is the same thing as a PTA in a public school. I've also been the Theater Arts chairperson; the first year the school opened I developed and ran the theater dept. for grades K-8 including having 4 plays and a drama club in the first year. I directed one play, stage managed two and ran the whole program. I've stage managed more children's productions than I can count and most recently, drama-wise I taught a preschool drama class at work.

5- I asked my hubby what a random thing about me is and he said everything... LOL. He said pretty much everything that comes out of my mouth is random.

6- I bribe the IS guys (computer geeks) at my work with treats. I bring them homemade food so they'll come over and fix the stuff in our office quickly. I work for the city (in the art center), which means they are really busy, since they handle everything city-wide and it's not a tiny city, but a phone message like, "We need the latest WinTix update installed and I brought cake today." usually gets them moving pretty fast.

7- My husband and I live in different states. I live in Utah and he lives in Nevada. We've been married since January and have never lived in the same state. He's trying to find a job here, but if he doesn't (which it looks like he won't) I'll be moving to Nevada in June when school gets out. I don't want to move! I love it here and DO NOT want to take my kids out of their school and put them in public school. They are learning SO many things that public schools don't give. My hubby and I have cell phones and web cams and visit each other about once a month for anywhere from three days to a week and a half each time. I think it's good practice for next time he gets deployed... LOL

There ya go! Random Angie facts. I tag anyone that wants to be tagged!

Same Ol' Blah

30 minute work out
drank water
ate semi-healthy
avoided junk
same ol'
same ol'
I'm boring
I know

Today & Yesterday (you know I should start coming up with more creative titles)

I did a 30 minute work-out. That's the good news. Bad news is I didn't eat any fruits or veggies today unless you count pizza sauce, pineapple (on pizza), enchilada sauce, cream of mushroom soup or salsa... LOL. There's fruits & veggies in them. Right? Come on, someone agree with me :)

Now what I didn't eat today: soda pop, ice cream & cookies... all which were served at the lunch provided at work today. I just had pizza and water.

As we sat down for dinner tonight (beef enchiladas), Nina was like "this is all we're having, I thought we have vegetables with every dinner." Then I felt like a crappy mom. Nina is my child that hates half the food I make and if she's complaining about no veggies I've really been slacking.

Speaking of slacking, yesterday I was CRAVING cheese fries from The Training Table. They are so good there and they have the yummiest dipping sauce made with bbq sauce & mayo. I was so tempted to stop there and buy them, but I didn't. What I did do was came home and baked some fries, covered them with cheese and made the dipping sauce w/ bbq sauce and fat-free mayo. Sounds like a better choice, right. It would've been, but the kids and I ate them at like 4 pm and then I forgot to cook dinner because I wasn't hungry anymore. So dinner last night was cheesy fries. SLACKER!!! Tomorrow I am soooo making veggies with dinner.

Low Fat Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

Friday night I was CRAVING something warm and chocolaty. Dying to have it. I looked through my cupboards and there was Halloween candy and such, but nothing warm, gooey and semi-healthy. I decided to make something up. Now... I've mentioned this many times on my American Homemaker blog... I am physically and mentally incapable of following a recipe. I love love cookbooks and researching recipes online. I find the one I want, print it out and proceed to mark it up as I almost follow it. I had pumpkin in my fridge and wanted to make something simple. Here's what my recipe looked like when I was done :)

This bread was sooo good... maybe just because I was craving warm goodness, but my kids all had pieces for breakfast and later for snack on Saturday, and it was a hit with them too. It's pretty healthy, the chocolate chips of course detract from the healthiness, but it's just what I needed. This would be a great lower fat option on a holiday buffet or brunch table.

Low Fat Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

2 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 c cocoa powder
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 c pumpkin
3/4 c brown sugar
3 eggs
2 T water
1 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 pan or two loaf pans with cooking spray. Beat pumpkin, sugar, egg and water together. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Bake for 25 LONG minutes until a toothpick inserted in the bread comes out clean. MMMmmmm... So good with a glass of skim milk or a warm mug of herbal holiday tea.

Monday Measurements

weight: 167
waist: 36
hips: 42 3/4
thigh: 24 1/2
arm: 14 1/4

I seem to lose from just one part of my body each week. Weird! That's why I used to just measure like once a month instead of every week. It's nice to see the overall loss. I worked out only 20 minutes tonight, but I'm drugged on benedryl and want to go to bed. I found my 3lb weights in the garage, so I did 20 minutes on my arms tonight with them.

Weekend

Well... I did pretty good this weekend food-wise. I did slack a bit on the exercise. Friday I had no energy so I spent the evening chilling and watching a movie and last night I was exhausted so I was in bed by 8. I'm planning on working out tonight though :)

I'm hoping I meet my first mini-goal, but I'm not sure if I will. I'm losing the energy/will power. Hopefully it's just this weekend and I can be back on track tomorrow.

I love reading everyone else's weight-loss adventures. It motivates me to be better.