One Dirty Girl Mud Run

Well tomorrow I get to participate in another mud run! I would say mud obstacle runs are pretty addicting. It's the fun with friends, getting sweaty, dirty and doing obstacles that you never thought you could do.

There is a team of 5 of us traveling from Canada to Buffalo NY to the Go Dirty Girl tomorrow. We are the Muddy Beavers and we are excited to work as a team get through the finish line.

I haven't trained as hard for this run as I did for the warrior dash but it's going to be AWESOME! I love that even though I'm not even close to my goal weight I see my life changing. I have the confidence to get out there and sign up for crazy runs with obstacles which my Mother feels is so unsafe. Love you Mom. I can encourage my friends to come with me and have a good time. I'm not the one that needs the pep talk and extra support anymore. I feel as though I'm free and getting my confidence back.

Tomorrow is going to be a blast with my team and family coming to cheer me on. It will be a different feeling running through the finish line having my 2 kids cheering for me. I'm more fulfilled in the choices I'm making now, then the satisfaction from the delicious unhealthy food I used to eat. I'm happy as well as I don't feel deprived and that is what matters.

I'm sure there will be pictures to share once I get home.

Tammy

Wordless Wednesday Back to School

Wordless Wednesday - The Upside-down Mom

A Gift for the Hostess with the Mostess

I found this paper basket on pinterest and thought it would be the perfect little hostess gift. I needed an alternative to my go to bottle of wine or flowers.

 

I love handmade gifts. To me it shows that the person took the time to really think about what they are giving instead of just walking into a store and grabbing the first thing they see. The time and effert put in is what I appreciate so much.

 

For this project I got to go through all my scrapbook paper that doesn't get brought out enough. I have so many different beautiful sheets of scrapbook paper just waiting for some creativity. This was such a great way to use some up and really personalize depending on the occasion.

 

The basket took about 5 minutes to make and was so easy. I would do this again ,especially for my Christmas cookies. Just click here for a tutorial on how to make this super cute basket.

 

 

Until next time,

Tammy

Weigh In after Camping

Well this is the first week back on track. I've done well and had my weigh in a day late because I was at a No Dad's Camping trip with my kids. The last 2 day's I have gone over my daily point so I was nervous to weigh in. Stepped on the scale waiting for them to say you gained and I was down 2.5lbs!! I'm very encouraged! It feels wonderful to see the work I put in earlier in the week show up on the scale.

So as of right now It's The Gray's -2.5 and That Mom Blog +1.3

I know That Mom Blog is going to be kicking some butt this week so I'm going to have to say focused!

My first weeks challenge was to drink 8 glasses of water a day. I had a few tricks at getting all my water. I would drink a herbal decaf tea with a splash of agave nectar in the morning, one of my water bottles during the day would have a little mio in it and sometimes I put some frozen berries in my water if I felt like I needed something a little different. I was successful but did I ever get my exercise going to the bathroom every 5 minutes. I'm going to continue with the 8 glasses of water. A great way to keep track of it is if you fill a jug full of 8 cups of water then mark the side and fill it every morning.

The challenge for this week will be at least 30 minutes of exercise each day this week. I'm going to be bike riding, Jillian Michale's 30 day shed and some jogging to get ready for Go Dirty Girl I'm doing in 2 weeks.

What are your favorite exercises?

Tammy

Weight Watchers vs My Fitness Pal

So I have been on my weight loss journey since about January. I’ve lost 30lbs and celebrated that for most of the summer as I stopped weight watchers online and tracking my food all together. I tried to get into my fitness pal because some of my friends swear by it. I’m not into it! I think mostly I like the nutrition factor in coming up with the weight watchers points vs me tracking calories. It's just not for me but it is a great program.

Monday was my big kicking it into high gear again. I join Weight watchers again but this time I’m going to be doing the meetings not just online. When I weighed in Monday a good friend of mine that has been doing the weight loss journey with me and I hit the same weight. Well what else can we do then to have a competition to spice up the weight loss journey!

So it’s a race as who can lose 20lbs first and let me tell you it’s on! So That Mom Blog is using her my Fitness Pal and who knows maybe she'll have some pizzas or cupcakes magically delivered to her house. Hahaha I wouldn’t do that! I’d think about it but I wouldn’t…. This is going to fun for both of us. Just a reminder on those days you want to eat everything in sight and to get back into the workout.

I’m sure there will be more updates on to progress of the It's The Gray's vs That Mom Blog challenge!

Tips are welcome J

Princess Party for Lil Miss

The theme for lil Miss this year was Princesses. All her little friends came all decked out in the jewelery, puffy dresses with lots of crinoline and even some Tinkerbell wings. It was very adorable! I wanted to keep the food light and easy.

When I was a little girl and I'd go to a family bridal or baby shower my Mother and Aunts would always make the most fantastic colourful sandwiches. After asking for the help of my Mother we worked together and made some pink and white tea sandwich's. If you'd like tutorial on how to just leave a comment and I'll put it in another post.

I seen on pinterest paper cones with popcorn in them. I went searching for my girly card stock and glue gun and this how it turned out.



As you can see below this is what our snack table contained:
Pink Popcorn made with cherry jello
Chocolate Dipped Marshmallow and Oreo Princess Wands
Cream cheese checkerboard sandwiches
Peanut butter Banana roll ups
Cherry and cream cheese roll ups
Cupcakes, Fruit and Veggies

Our snacks were a hit! Now to start planning a Lego party for Lil Mr.

Tammy

Wordless Wednesday Warrior

Warrior Dash July 2012 Ya we jump over fire!

Warrior Dash Complete

Sunday I completed the Warrior Dash Ontario. I'm SO proud of myself. This is something I would look at and say I'd never be able to do that. It's for people that are super fit, but I did it and loved it!

I'm not going to lie I was so scared as we arrived!! My stomach was doing flips but once we got into it, it was so much fun!


We got pumped up at the start of our wave time and we were off. Jogging along with my husband and all of a sudden he lost his shoe to the mud. He's a warrior he just dug in deep to the mud and reclaimed his shoe and we were off.



I did the dash with 2 friends and my husband. A bit after the 1 mile mark our one friend was struggling with her asthma and needed to slow down and walk. We stuck together and did every obstacle! We climbed over walls that were 3/4 of my height and under barbwire, crawled through a trench, climbed over a huge cargo net (did I mention I'm afraid of heights?), jumped over fire as a team, crawled through a mud pit with barbwire over top and more.

I'm a bit disappointed I wasn't able to push myself and see what my best was but it was AWESOME being able to complete this with such close friends of mine! We completed the Warrior Dash Barrie in 1 hour and 19 minutes, which obliterated our goal of completing it in 2 hours.

I'm excited to continue with my exercising, weight loss and training for next years Warrior Dash. One thing I will say I really need to work on is my hill training because those hills kicked my butt!

Next goal is to completely jog a 5k race.

~Tammy

Wordless Wednesday - Teachers Smores Gift

Grandma's Birthday!

Today was one of those days where we ate everything that was bad for us! I guess that's what happens when we celebrate Grandmas birthday. We pretty much had dessert for lunch. At least mine had fruit....

As you can see we all enjoyed some yummy Demetre's waffles. I used to be able to gobble down that whole thing without even thinking about it but today i was going to burst before half way.

The times are changing.

Due to the poor eating this is what the children's dinner looked like.

My children are not huge fans of everything on those plates but because it looked pretty fun, everything vanished. Mommy wins today!

This week is a big milestone for me. I get to check off my bucket list a 5k run. I'm not doing just any 5k run I'm completing the warrior dash! Keep your eyes open for my next muddy post.

Tammy

Summer Lovin had me a blast!

Summer is here! I was very surprised with how hard the transition from our first year of full day everyday j/k to now having both kids home. The first few weeks we struggled with keeping busy, sibling rivals, routines and extra circulars. The past few weeks we have seemed to get in our groove. I wanted to share some of the activities we have done so far and what’s to come.

1. Camping – We love camping. We go with a few families with kids around the same age. By the end of the day the kids were ready for their sleepovers in the big tent. I have people tell me it’s crazy to camp with kids but really all you need is a little organization and a laid back attitude and everyone will have a great time. For some camping tips you can check out That Moms Blog.

2. Treasure Hunt- We did this well we were camping which was nice because when the children were getting a little too excited it really focused them. We started each hunt with a little circle time, doing duck duck goose and singing different songs. I picked up 6 treasures, one for each of the children. When they found the treasure they needed to share it with all of their friends. Our treasures were: crayons with colouring pages and crafting materials, balls and frisbees, Fruit snacks, sand toys for the beach trip later in the day, glow sticks and finger lights, and water balloons with water guns. This was just so much fun. Each child got a treasure map with their names on it so they took turns being the leader and everyone else had to follow holding hands. They went around under benches and over logs, finding treasures hung in trees, behind rocks and in tall grass.

3. PLAYDATE PLAYDATE PLAYDATES!!!- This one is very important to me. Being a SAHM it’s nice to get the kids together with friends and I like getting together with some awesome Moms too. We just had a Ice Cream Tasting play date today. Everyone brought a topping or ice cream. The kids tried all the different kinds of treats and made a sundae. What a great time! Some other different play date ideas we've done or been to are book play date- bring your favorite book, superhero play dates- make masks out of construction paper and elastics, Cookie decorating play dates, fairy play dates with a tent and sparkles and a nice picnic with friends never fails.

4. Road Trips – We have good travelers so we pack up and take a day trip to the beach with a packed lunch. A few weeks ago we had tired kids in the van but my husband and I didn't want to go home. The kids slept in the van well we drove almost an hour to get to a beach for an ice cream. We sat and enjoyed the view beside our van with 2 sleeping children inside. FANTASTIC! We are also excited to plan a family road trip to National Museum of Play in Rochester NY. I’ll let you know how it is but I’ve heard great things.

5. Kids Games – We can spend the day making tents out of bed sheet and pillows, playing hide and go sleep seek, dance parties, Lego, painting, colouring, water balloons, playing on our trampoline and tea parties. Here are a few links that have bucket lists for summer activites. Side note – Gotta love pinterest! Summer Activity Bucket List Quiet Time Activities I hope you enjoy your summer and if you have some family summer activity ideas you post your ideas below. Tammy

What I Want!

Two more days and I will have been on weight watchers for 5 months. In that time I've lost 30lbs. When I look back at it I'm so proud of the choice I made to change my life. Starting my 30's off feeling good about myself and enjoying life. I find myself running through life with my head down, with goals and timelines checking things off on the way. I want to change that! I'll continue to make goals but I need to slow down and enjoy the little accomplishments I hit while making my goals. I want to cherish the time I have with my children they are only this age once. I want to make time once a month for just me and my husband to get out and enjoy each other's company. I want need to make time for me. Whether it be getting out to excercise or just spending some quiet time alone. I've always felt guilty about doing this but I'm not the best mother or wife I can be if I'm not taking care of me as well. I'm sure you can tell that changing my eating has changed more than just my weight. I have a ways to go to hit my goal but I'm going to keep trucking along, working hard. The warrior dash is in 2 months and this mamma of 2 is going to kick some serious butt! One last thing... This week I decided to try on my wedding dress. It's been 6 years and 2 kids since I've been able to fit in it and well it's a bit big.

Pinterest + Me =Our Menu Plan

Do you make a weekly menu plan? I've found that with trying to keep track of what I eat I have to plan. The easiest way is to spend some time at the beginning of the week and make a meal plan. I go through my flyers for sale items I can incorporate into our meals, pinterest for some new meal ideas and make my meal plan. I'm finding it so much easier when I plan for success. After my menu plan is set, my grocery list is made it's easy to make those healthy choices.

Here are a few of my favorite new recipes.

Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal - I am not one to eat a bowl of oatmeal. I just can't get past the texture but when I found this I knew I had to try it. This is a perfect oatmeal recipe for me. It taste like an oatmeal pumpkin cake for breakfast. I feel like I'm cheating!

Mushroom Stroganoff - A family hit and it really made a lot per serving. We had so much left over we had it for a side dish the next night.

Turkey Burgers with Zucchini - I was a little nervous about this recipe because my hubby is a big fan of his red meat and even he liked them. We also roasted some red onion and red peppers on the BBQ well the burgers were cooking for some low point toppings on our burgers.

Chickpea Cookie Pie - We had this for a treat one night and it was just like a warm gooey cookie. We also made banana ice cream to go with it. Which was just frozen bananas put in the blender with a little cocoa powder. Our children couldn't get enough of it!

This is our new recipe for this week Chicken Pot Pie Bundles. I'm hoping they taste as good as they look.









I'd love to hear your fav recipes. You can find all of these recipes links on my pinterest.

Until next time
Tammy

The Journey from a Pretty Face to One Healthy Mom

Just wanted to post a quick little update on my weight loss journey. I have been working hard at learning the weight watchers points and changing my routine. The first few weeks of weight watchers was a challenge. I felt hungry a lot and really deprived of my favorite foods. I think that this week I'm finally in the groove. I'm choosing foods that are more filling and satisfying.

I am a cook! I enjoy making homemade meals from scratch and baking as much as I can. One thing that I don't need to give up is my love of baking homemade bread! This makes me very happy! I am aware of the points and am able to enjoy the homemade bread smell filling my home. As you can probably tell I LOVE carbs. I'm still enjoying them just in a smaller portion. With the weight watchers online site I can put in any of my recipes and it will calculate the points. This is my life saver. It's nice to play around with it and see what different substitutions I can make and see the impact on the points.

The last few weeks have been filled with some very satisfying meals! Homemade pizza with thin crust(homemade dough from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day), turkey dinner with stuffing veggies and faux mashed potatoes (it doesn’t have any potatoes but cauliflower) and stir-fry with quinoa. I'm going to try and post a few recipes as I continue on with my healthy choices but one website has been very helpful skinny taste. Chek it out there are some fantastic recipes!

Ok back to the weigh-in... today was my 3 week since making a healthier life for me which inspired me to write this post. I have been sticking to the weight watchers and running but need to work on getting my strength training in 2 times and working up to 3. So after 3 weeks I've lost 13.4lbs which I am celebrating every single one of those pounds!!

I’d love to hear your weight loss success and challenges. Plus tips and tricks are always welcome!

Tammy

Books aren't just for reading. They are for Crafting too!

This was a fun craft that I did for our friend’s daughter for Christmas. I really tried to do as many homemade gifts as I could this year. I couldn't post a few of them on here or I'd ruin the surprise. I found this idea on Pinterest, which I'm completely addicted to!

I got out my trusty glue gun, went into the basement to find an old book of ours and cut out a circle from some cardboard.

I proceeded to rip apart the book (which on a side note was very therapeutic, I felt a little rebellious), and making the pages into cones with a dab of hot glue. You could really do this with any book depending on how big you wanted the cones to be or just cut the pages in half.

Once I had an abundance of cones I started hot gluing them to the circle starting on the outside working in. Then ta da... the finished product! A beautiful wall art flower.

I might just have to do this for our hallway. You could use different colour papers to make it festive as well.

Thank-you pinterest for yet again another fantastic idea.