Finish this!

Today's blog is 5 "finish this" sentences.  Feel free to put your answers below in the comments.  I'd love to hear how YOU would finish these sentences!

1) On Saturday morning, I usually

I will sleep until our doggies wake us up because they don't realize it's Saturday and we can SLEEP IN!!  After they are taken care of I usually watch the news, check email etc. then get ready for the gym.

2) I feel beautiful when

This question is a tough one for me!  Self-esteem isn't my forte, so I guess I'd have to say when my hair will straighten and lay the way it is suppose to.  :)

3) I wake up every morning

to the sound of my cell phone alarm.  UGH!  It's that time already?!  Sometimes I wake up to the sound of my black lab, Jett snoring.  Then the instant I drift back off to sleep, the alarm is scaring the crap out of me. 

4) A happy home

is a home with tons of dog hair.  Hey I can't help it!  It happens when you have 3 BLACK dogs.  :)  Thank goodness most of our house is hardwood floors so it swiffers up pretty easily.  Otherwise a happy home is full of love & laughter.  

5) When I have down time, I

usually am at the gym.  But as of lately I've been spending a lot of my free time getting the word out about the blog you are reading right now!  I enjoy writing, so it's good for me to do this.

by Font Meme

Join me next week:
Prompts for WEEK 15 (April 16) are:My favorite vacation spot is …
If I won a million dollars I would …
If I could go on a date with ONE celebrity, it would be …
If I found a genie in a bottle, my three wishes would be …
My favorite clothing item is …

How animals can help us

This is Jett!  He is my black Labrador Retriever.   He just turned 9 years old and he is my everything! (besides my kiddos of course!)  

Animals are amazing.  They are intuitive, loving and loyal.  They are part of our families and can be considered our children!  Their personalities crack me up.  Jett has a funny way about him.  He has some anxiety problems, so if something freaks him out or he's nervous he'll give what we call the "side ways glare".  LOL He literally will turn his head and stare at you from the side.  It's almost like he's saying "I'm not looking at you" (but I am!).  

Don't you love how excited they get to see you?  You could have had the most craptastic day ever, and they are waiting there to give you a welcome home kiss (slobber) and lots of wags.  It also cracks me up that you can leave the room and come back 10 minutes later and they are just as excited to see you as they were earlier!  Awesome!

What kind of pets do you have?  And what funny things do they do?

by Font Meme

Just drive!

The open road…….have you ever felt like getting in your car or ride of choice and just drive?  To anywhere?  Maybe with a destination in mind, or perhaps just drive till you end up somewhere?

I get this way sometimes.  Right now is one of them.  It seems sometimes life just gets the better of me and I want to just run.  Nothing life shattering happening, just feel like life catches up to me.

There’s something appealing about the open road and being alone with your favorite music blasting in the car.  I can sing at the top of my lungs because no one will hear me, or I can just sort through my thoughts.  There is a song that comes to mind when I get the urge to drive.  “Brand New Start” by Alter Bridge.  I love this song!

Cast your sorrows to the wind

Let the highway take us in
As we escape the disorder

So if you ever decide to take a drive to sort out your thoughts, take this song with you.  J

As my very wise Mother says “this too shall pass, dear”…yes…yes it will.

Sibling love

This is my sister, Kim and I.  Growing up we took lots of camping trips with our parents.  We had a "pop-up" camper.  What great memories we had!  We had chores to do even while camping as you can see from this photo.  As we grew up, we could even be heard singing "My Sharona" very loudly as it echoed through the camp ground.  Then there is the time that during the night the lower half of my body ended up falling out of the lining and when I woke up I wasn't sure what was going on.  What a sight that must have been for early morning walkers.  :)

Kim is a very special person.  I'm not saying that because she is my sister, but because she really is!  She has more patience than I ever could have.  And I think I'm a pretty patient person.  Her first born son, Benjamin was born with Williams-Syndrome.  Williams-Syndrome is a genetic condition that is present at birth and can affect anyone.  It is characterized by medical problems, including cardiovascular disease, developmental delays, and learning disabilities.  These occur side by side with striking verbal abilities, highly social personalities and an affinity for music (courtesy of http://www.williams-syndrome.org/what-is-williams-syndrome).  This describes Ben in every way!  

Raising Ben has not been an easy task for my sister and her family.  It has been difficult, but she always seems to have a smile on her face and is willing to lend a hand to someone in need.  Not only is she a great Mom, she also has a beautiful singing voice, plays the flute like no one's business and is very crafty!  They went on to have two other great kids, Noah and Lydia.  

We weren't the closest siblings growing up, but we grew closer as we grew older.  I admire my Sister a lot. And I dedicate this blog post to her!  I love you Kim!

check out my new facebook page!  

Work stuff

Oh yes….that one co-worker that gets under your skin.  I have one.  I’m sure you do as well.  I am not a mean person, (honest!) but this person talks a lot….about NOTHING.  From the moment they come in till they leave at the end of the day.   Maybe it is just where I am getting these doses of nonsense chatter.  Maybe it would be different if I wasn’t at work?  I don’t know. 

But for those that don’t know me well, I was born under the sun sign of Capricorn.  Capricorns are very serious about their work.  I mean SERIOUS.  Not much time for small talk or nonsense chatter.  I want to do my work.  I mean don’t get me wrong, I let loose and talk every now and again.  (LOL)  But for the most part I could do my job with little interaction from any other humans (except the people talking to me on the other end of my phone).  I guess that is why Capricorns might come off as “aloof” or “snobby”.  I’m not really either of those things, I’m just working. 

So now that you know this about me, the endless “Are we having fun yet?” or “I’m having way too much fun, someone please make it stop!” can really just drive me to start drinking at work (I would not do that by the way).   Then there are times where they must share about what every customer said to them.  Why?  I have heard the same scenarios about 50 times over the course of my career here. LOL

Anyway, you get the picture.  We all have annoying people we must work with.  Perhaps my quiet manner or aloofness gets on other peoples nerves.  Who knows!

Now shut it, I’m trying to work.  J

Exercise...love it or hate it?

Exercise.....I have a love/hate relationship with it.  I'm sure you do too.  For those that know me well, know that my first choice for cardio is ZUMBA.  It's a great one hour workout that keeps you moving and is FUN!  To me, it has to be fun, or you lose me quick.

I have found; however, a great treadmill work out that is only a 1/2 hour, but I am soaked when I'm done.  I got this from my trainer and would like to share it with you.  I don't know about you, but when I find something that is working for me, I like to let people know so you too, can feel great!  This work out is at your own pace, where you are comfortable.  That being said, there is no "speed" specified.  If you're a slow walker, great.  A fast walker, super.  If you're a runner, more power to you.  As long as you're doing it, that is all that matters.

Warm up - 5 minutes (flat, or .5 incline)

3% incline for 1 minute

6% incline for 1 minute

9% incline for 1 minute

12% incline for 1 minute

Recover - 2 minutes (flat, or .5% incline)

3% incline for 1 minute

6% incline for 1 minute

9% incline for 1 minute

12% incline for 1 minute

12% incline for 1 minute

9% incline for 1 minute

6% incline for 1 minute

3% incline for 1 minute

Recover - 2 minutes (flat, or .5% incline)

3% incline for 30 seconds

6% incline for 30 seconds

9% incline for 30 seconds

12% incline  for 30 seconds

12% incline for 30 seconds

9% incline for 30 seconds

6% incline for 30 seconds

3% incline for 30 seconds

Cool down - 5 minutes (flat or .5% incline)

I love this work out.  I will definitely keep it in my rotation of cardio training.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  

I love food!

I do.....I really really do.  But sometimes I get VERY frustrated with watching every little thing that goes in my mouth.  I fall off the wagon very easily, so a weekend of eating whatever I want is setting myself up for disaster!  Needless to say, the Holiday season was not my friend!

I had a lot of success with Weight Watchers, but I needed something different to concentrate on.  So I'm using www.myfitnesspal.com as a way to track my intake and monitor my calories/fat/protein/sugar/carbs etc.  In doing this I realize just how much sugar is in the food we eat.  Like skim milk - really?!  There is sugar AND sodium in milk.  WHY? 

And does it bother anyone else that when you crack open a can of soup (Progresso Light perhaps) and read on the can that there are TWO servings in the can?  Like what am I suppose to do with a 1/2 can of soup at work?  So annoying.  

I love fruit (over veggies, which I know I'm not alone out there!).  But fruit can easily push me over my sugar limit for the day.  This also frustrates me because in my mind I'm thinking I'm eating something healthy then BAM! I'm over my limit.  grrrrrr  I know it's "natural" sugar not the bad sugar, but still.  I never find myself sitting around saying "wow, I could really chomp on some broccoli right now".  I wish this were the case, but it's not. 

I will always be that person who has to watch EVERYTHING that goes in my mouth...for the rest of my life.  That statement alone annoyes me, but what can you do.  I have to constantly keep after myself to track my food and watch it.  And I have a sweet tooth which doesn't help.  (CAKE!!!)

What technicques do you use to keep yourself on track?