Feeling good!

First time in over a year that I've had a gym workout!  Since management changed at Anytime Fitness, I decided to give them another chance and renewed my membership.  They also gave me 3 free months because of all the crap the previous manager put me through.  I renewed it almost 2 weeks ago, but of course, I ended up hurting my back the next day.  Last Friday I was feeling pretty ambitious and told myself that I was either going to the gym or going for a bike ride.  I should have chosen the gym!!

I don't know how, but I managed to convince my husband to go with me and the kids.  I thought maybe we should ride to the grocery store, but he said let's just go to the gas station - baby step since I have only ridden bike once or twice in the last 10 years.  Plus I had Scrappy riding in the bike trailer behind me.  I wish someone would have reminded me that I live on TOP of a hill - I admit I had to stop a few times on the way there and on the way home.  My tops of my knees hurt the whole time we were riding, and my butt hurt for a few days afterwards.  But that's ok - I got quality time with my family while getting a good workout!!

Tonight I forced myself to go to the gym.  Yes, the word is FORCED because I just had to do it.  I think about it and think about it.  No more thinking - just DO it.  (Yeah, Nike, right?? lol!)  It wasn't as hard to get back into it as I had thought.  I wish I would have paid a little more attention when I went to sign up because I didn't notice there were new machines and I'm not familiar with all of them.  I'm sure with a little time I can figure them out.  I tried doing a few 'torso rotations' since it works the abs and back, but I could feel some pulling in my lower back and hip area, so I kept that at a minimum.  The elliptical is my cardio machine of choice - it's a lot easier on the knees.  I wish it had a pause feature though.  I was almost 15 minutes into my workout when I dropped my towel - I stopped to pick it up, and the machine had shut down.  I think some of them do have that feature, but not the one I happened to be on.  So I started it up again, programmed a set time of 30 more minutes, and off I went.  I checked my heart rate on the handles every few minutes to keep it in the 'cardio' range.  I was around 154-157 most of the time, which is at the top end of the cardio range for my specifics, but it's ok with me.

I don't think I'm going to be hitting the gym tomorrow because we have one-day camp for Girl Scouts.  I'm one of the camp counselors.  I'm hoping to get some hiking in to make up for the gym.  It shouldn't be too bad.  I just hope my efforts pay off on the scale this week.

I'm also done with school for a whole 2 weeks.  Just in time for canning season.  Beau and I both start school Sept 4, and Scrappy starts preschool on Sept 13.  It's going to be here before we know it!!

Here's a cute pic of Beau riding horse at camp :)

Separation Anxiety

Today I took Beau to her first sleep-away camp.  She has stayed overnight with family members for a few days at a time, but never with anyone who wasn't family.  Today she left for a 4-day horse camp for Girl Scouts.  I have been worried because as far as we knew, none of the other girls from our troop would be going.  She has been worried about making new friends.  I told her I didn't think she'd have much trouble and maybe she'll even make a few friends who would want to become pen pals!

After getting her registered, Beau and I went to drop off her stuff in her cabin and drop off some money at the 'trading post' (camp store).  When she walked into her cabin, the first girl she saw just happened to be one from our troop!  So now she actually KNOWS someone there.  Not that the two of them get along particularly well - as a matter of fact, this particular girl grinds on my every nerve - but maybe they'll become friends at camp.  We went to the trading post and Beau picked out a couple patches for her Junior vest - one is for First Time Camp Out (for GS), another is Camp Like a Girl, and the third is for attending that particular camp.

By the time I left, she was doing pretty good.  She had changed into her swimming suit and was heading off to the pool with the other girls from her cabin.  I left a letter with her camp counselor to be delivered tonight if she has separation anxiety, or tomorrow if not.  She was also supposed to be getting a care package tonight that Daddy sent in for - it's a t-shirt, jump rope, cinch sack, journal, and a few other things.  I'm hoping she does well.  She already told me she wants to go to the 13 day horse camp next year.  I told her we need to see how she does this year first.

I must admit, I'm excited to hear all about her time at camp and look forward to getting her camera developed when she gets back!!  I'll have to post some pictures :)

First touches of fall

We started canning this week already.  I went to the cabin after TOPS to help Opa with a batch of salsa.  Well, I helped the best I could.

I woke up with a little bit of back pain.  Back pain isn't all that odd for me since my car accident in 1999, and it's not uncommon for me to knock it out of whack.  Well, that seems to be what I did because by the time we were done with lunch, I would almost black out from the pain.  I didn't dare go in to the doctor until after hubby got off work because I wouldn't be able to wrangle both kids while talking to the doc.  I hung out at the cabin, sitting on the stool to stir the salsa and chopping veggies at the table.  We got 34 jars done!  On Monday, Opa is going to help me with my first batch of applesauce for the year.

When hubby got off work, I followed him home so we could drop off the truck before we went to the hospital.  By that time our only option was the ER since Urgent Care was already closed.  We were only there about half an hour, which is almost unheard of!  The doc diagnosed me as having "chronic back pain" since it's an ongoing issue.  He sent some meds out for me to get at the pharmacy, which seem to be helping.  Prednisone and 800 mg ibuprofen for the swelling and the pain, flexeril for the muscle spasms that about knock me out.  And of course the horrible recommendation of bed rest.  I have WAAAYYYY too much to do to be on bed rest!!

Beau had gone to spend the night at my uncle's house last night, so I had to run up and get her this morning.  Tonight she had to pack for the next few days because she's leaving tomorrow for Girl Scout camp.  She'll be gone for 4 days and 3 nights and it going to be 2 hours away.  None of the other girls from our troop are going to this one as far as we know.  It will be a good opportunity for her to meet new friends.  I just hope she doesn't get scared....

Recipes - P4

Lo-Cal Chicken and Dumplings (8 servings, 272 cal per serving)
(I got the calorie count by entering the recipe into http://www.myfitnesspal.com/)

Ingredients:
Soup:
6 cups homemade turkey stock
3 split chicken breasts
3 cups water
2 cups frozen peas & carrots
3 tbsp corn starch mixed with 1/2 c water
salt and pepper to taste

Dumplings:
1 1/2 c flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 c 2% milk
3 tbsp veg oil

Directions:
Add stock, water, and chicken to a large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes. Remove from heat. Remove chicken, allow to cool enough to handle (I stuck it in the freezer about 10 minutes). Remove meat from skin/bones, chop meat into bite-sized pieces. Discard skin and bones. Return chicken to stock and heat to boil. Add frozen peas and carrots. Return to boil about 5 minutes. Add corn starch mixture, reduce to simmer. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

While the soup is simmering, in a medium bowl, combine all dry dumpling ingredients thoroughly. In a separate small bowl combine all wet dumpling ingredients. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, add the wet mixture, and stir just until moistened.

Drop dumplings by spoonful into soup. After adding all dumpling mixture, cover the pot and simmer about 12 minutes, until dumplings are done.



Crock Pot Maple Ribs
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 pounds country style pork ribs
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 dash ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. Combine ribs, maple syrup, soy sauce, minced onion, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, garlic powder and pepper in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on Low for 7 to 9 hours.


Loaded Nachos
tortilla chips
refried beans
salsa con queso or nacho cheese
chopped tomatoes
chopped lettuce
shredded cheese
sliced black olives
sour cream
guacamole

Heat beans until warm/hot on stove or in microwave.  Heat salsa con queso or nacho cheese in microwave or on stove until hot and runny.  Lay tortilla chips out on plate.  Top with refried beans.  Drizzle on salsa con queso.  Top with additional toppings (lettuce, tomato, salsa, sour cream, guac, olives, etc) and serve!  My kids LOVED it!!

Fair Week

I still haven't figured out why it's the "6 best days of summer" because honestly I could do with only 3 days, but  it is what it is.  I'm sitting out here, in the heat and humidity (which is actually kinda low on both aspects right now) trying to make contacts, trying to talk to people, trying to expand on my business.  


It's fun seeing some friends I haven't seen in a while.  Honestly there are a few people I've seen that I'd rather avoid, but that hasn't been too much of a problem either.  I had debated if it would be worth the expense of spending all week at the booth and paying out for it, but I'm at a point that I'm not sure what else to do to make new contacts.  So here I am!!!


My display actually looks pretty good

and my husband was pretty creative at setting up a display for my wall hangings.

Who would have thought some shelves set up on end would work to display pictures?  Just zip-tied them together and voila!


My hubby is bringing the kids out tonight.  We usually make the kids save up their own money to use at the fair, but this past year has been quite the exception to the rule.  I picked up some discounted wrist band passes for them.  Fortunately we don't have to worry about paying to get into the fair, though, because I get a couple Exhibitor passes that cover one adult admission plus parking.  They seem to cover the kids too, since we've never been charged for them.  Otherwise I'm not sure we'd be coming out this year.


It looks like we're going to be doing some demo in the very near future.  I talked to our contractor, and the trusses are ready (finally!), so he'll be starting soon.  I can't wait to finally have an office area!!  Beau is excited about her new room, of course.  And I'm sure Scraps is going to love all the new area to play in.


My homework is calling - I'm trying to take advantage of the quiet study time I have in between customers (it's pretty slow during the day).

Where Has Summer Gone?

It's hard to believe that it's almost August!!  This has been one heck of a summer - there hasn't been a week gone by that we haven't had something going on.  That's not necessarily a bad thing.  The kids have been busy making memories and Mommy has (mostly) been able to be there for it all.  There have been a few conflicting events - like when Beau had baseball practice and Scrappy had soccer practice at the same time, but we got to see the end of her practice.

The best news:  the life insurance realized they were at fault, and paid the full amount of Baden's life insurance policy!  It only took me calling a lawyer for some advice and finding out if they didn't honor it, it would be breach of contract and we'd get a lot more than the amount of the policy.

We've also decided to add on to our house.  This has been in process for several months.  We closed last Wednesday, so now we're just waiting on our contractor!  Our home currently is about 890 square feet.  Our addition will be 500 square feet - doubling our main floor!!  I'll finally have an area to do my work and my studying in!  And the kids will have separate bedrooms.  And we'll have a second bathroom!  It's just a half bath, but it's still another bathroom!! :)

In spite of the extremely hot summer we've been having, the kids have been busy! What have they been doing?  Well they have...

spent a day at 'Art In The Park' doing free arts, crafts, tie-dying, face painting, and watching a puppet show,

picked out a memorial tree for Baden that will go next to the new patio,

won second place overall for the season playing baseball,

went fishing with Mommy and Daddy,

went fishing and out on the boat with Opa,

helped Mommy plant a garden,

rode bike in a kiddie parade,

went to summer preschool....

and the end-of-preschool party,

 had a party (I LOVE this expression!!)

to celebrate Scrappy's birthday,

played soccer,

went to see Monster Trucks two weekends in a row

and got the drivers' autographs!!

We have one of our many family reunions this weekend, along with a Zombie Pub Crawl for Cystic Fibrosis that our group is organizing (can't wait to share those pictures!), and then the fair starts on July 31.  I will have a booth there to try to help promote my business.   Beau is planning to come with me a couple days to help out.  Just trying to make sure I have someone to watch Scrappy cuz it will be WAY too hot out there for him!!

And - as if I haven't had enough going on, I just enrolled at Walden University and started on my MBA on June 25!!  I am doing a double major "self-designed" program - Leadership, and Project Management.  I'm considering getting a tablet to make it easier to study on the go instead of having to haul my laptop everywhere.  Just gotta decide which one....

Going to post pictures of the house before and after the construction too!!  Contractor says it's only going to take about 1 1/2 months - yay!!!!!

The Breaking Point

I think this is the point I'm starting to get to.  Not because of anything I did, though, or because I over committed.  Because of the frikken insurance company.

If they're going to deny Baden's life insurance claim, I wish they'd deny it already instead of dragging it out for so long.  I swear the woman from the company has absolutely NO compassion. 

How many times can they expect me to be able to tell and retell the events that happened that week?  How many times to I have to recount what I went through losing my son?  What kind of sadists are they when, 5 months later, they're still making me tell and retell everything that has happened with him??  They obviously have no clue the emotional toll this takes on a mother!!  They want to talk to my husband too, so he can tell them the same flippin thing I've been telling them for the last 5 months.

I swore I would keep my blog clean, so I am trying so hard not to swear up a storm right now!

My wonderful husband was not happy that the insurance lady made his wife cry.  Or of the many accusations that the insurance lady made.  He called, ready to rip her a new one, only to find out that she had left the office for the day.  She told me she wouldn't be in until after noon, but the secretary told my husband she would be there at 8 am.  He said she won't have a chance to even set down her cup of coffee and he'll be down her throat. 

I must say, I love it when my husband goes all pit-bull protective of me.  It's not something I've ever been used to before - most guys I'd dated in the past just let me fight my own fights.  Including my ex-husband.  But that's why they're just that - exes. 

I am emotionally drained - I am worn out.  I'm doing my best to keep my head above water, but I don't know how many more straws can be piled on the camel's back.

Gotta just keep reminding myself to keep breathing....

This too shall pass....

I'm getting a headache :(  I hope that decides to pass as well!!!!