Stacked Deck

Don't you hate testing?  I know I do.  I love product testing though (hint, hint.)  

Yesterday I changed up my workout AGAIN.  I've been searching for the quickest, most effective at home workout that I can do before I wake the girls up for school.  So yesterday and today I started doing a card workout.  This is a great workout that's versitile and portable.

Source: Wikipedia
All you need is a deck of cards and some space.  Assign a different exercise to each suit.
Mine were:

Hearts -- Burpees
Diamonds -- Jumping Jacks
Spades -- Crunches
Clubs -- Mountain Climbers

Shuffle the cards and place them face down.  Flip them over one at a time.  The number on the card represents the reps.  So, a 4 of hearts would be 4 burpees.

The number cards are their own value and then there's a few different ways you can do the face cards.  You can either have all the face cards stand for 10 reps and the Ace stands for 11 or Jack = 11, Queen = 12, King = 13, and Ace = 14.  The first way of counting will give you 96 reps of every move where the second way will give you 105 reps for every move.

Don't rest between exercises except to flip over the next card.  It took me about 20 minutes to finish the whole deck.  At the end my body was hurting and I felt like I got an awesome burn.  

And because I had an awesome workout, I decided to treat myself to an awesome dinner.  I made Dutch Babies.  I was wishing I had made more though.  

Doesn't that look yummy?

Really simple recipe that I have a feeling I've already shared with you.  

1 cup of egg substitute (or 4 eggs)
1 cup of skim milk
1 cup of flour

Heat a 3-4 quart baking dish that's been sprayed with pan spray in a 425 degree oven.  Let it get hot while you combine all the ingredients in a blender.  Take the pan out and pour in the batter.  Bake for about 25-35 minutes until the dutch baby is crispy and brown.  Cut it and eat.  Simple!  


Do you have a favorite, tried and true at home workout?  What is it?

Summer Colors

Okay, I know this isn't the usual type of post I do but, I just HAVE to talk about it.  I'm in love with my toenail polish.  

Never realized how unpretty my toes were until this photo

Isn't it pretty?  It's Watermelon by Pure Ice.  As soon as I saw it I knew I had to buy it.  I'm a sucker for anything pink (and anything named after the yummiest fruit.)  I actually went to Wal-Mart searching for an ocean blue.  I've been in a nautical color mood lately since Mr. Amazing and I have been talking about colors for the house and we decided on a "sunrise over the beach" color palette. So, of course my nails had to match.  Unfortunately I didn't find the PERFECT blue.  I settled on almost perfect blue though.

Shocking Seas Blue By Maybelline

Baye HAD to show off her nails too

 I think that I've located the perfect blue.  Hopefully I'll be able to get to Sally's to buy it before I go paddleboarding again.  

What's your favorite nail polish?  Do you change your color scheme for each season?

My New Love

Having a blast!

Paddleboarding, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways...

1.  It was a TON of fun!  

2.  It was a GREAT workout.
After being on the water for 10 minutes I could already feel my legs starting to work.  I'm not sore yet but I'll let you know in the morning.  I've read that you can burn anywhere from 400 - 1000 calories an hour paddleboarding.  I really wish I knew what I burned yesterday.  

3.  You get to be on the water.
I personally believe that in my past life I was a fish...or a dolphin.  I love anything and everything that has to do with the water.  I could be on the water 24 hours a day.    This is a perfect connection with the water and nature.  


I think I'm basically split between kayaking and paddleboarding for my top love.  Paddleboarding is 100% my new favorite love.  I have been wanting to do it for about a year now.  Due to a broken toe then life in general stopping me from going it took me 11 months to get to do it.    

We rented our boards at the same place I took Mr. Amazing, the girls and my dad.  I love, LOve, LOVE this place.  Tropical Kayaks is located on the water in Palm Coast.  They are excellent.  Nicely priced too.  $20 per person for 2 hours.  I think I raved about them in my previous post about kayaking.  

My sister came and did it with me.  We had a blast!  We paddled around for almost 2 hours and neither of us fell in.  Both of us were expecting to.  The fish were jumping, the birds were flying around, it was a bright, sunny, warm (read:HOT) day with a nice breeze.  We talked and joked around the whole time.  It was really nice to get to spend time with her without having 3 little girls interrupting every 10 minutes to ask a question or show off for their aunt.

My sister paddling along

We've decided to make this a twice a month outting.  I've even convinced Mr. Amazing to allow me to buy a wetsuit so I can go all winter.

What's your favorite sport?

What I Ate Wednesday

Guess what I did?  I made my reservation to go paddleboarding tomorrow!  I've been waiting MONTHS to do this and tomorrow is finally the day!!!

So I've decided I'm a horrible WIAW blogger.  I ALWAYS forget!  But here's the rundown of what I ate.

Breakfast

This has been my breakfast for the past few days. It doesn't look yummy but, it really does taste great.  It's a mashed banana mixed with 2 tablespoons of PB2, a handful of blueberries and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.

Lunch
I actually didn't eat lunch because we were out running errands

Dinner
Leftovers from fajita nite, brussel sprouts cooked in lipton onion soup and tofu marinated in 2 T soy suace, 1 T rice vinegar, and 1 T garlic then baked at 350 for 30 minutes.

Dessert
Marshmallow Fluff mixed with 1 T PB2 and a handful of chocolate chips

Yummy Yummy For My Tummy

Peanut butter and chocolate work great together.  It's one of my favorite combinations.  Chocolate and marshmallow are a great combination too.  I used all three of theses for the cake I made yesterday.


I made this amazing cake to use up the second failed birthday cake I made for myself.  I stuck the cake in the fridge because it was still good.  

It was really pretty last nite, I promise!  When I got up this morning to take a picture for y'all I found it like this.  But you can see the gooey layers of peanut butter, marshmallow fluff, and cake.  Next time I will be baking a one layer cake and not stacking them.  


FlufferNutter Cake
Boxed cake mix (Brownie mix might be good too)

I used chocolate but yellow would make it taste more like a fluffernutter sandwich

1 container of Peter Pan Whipped Peanut Butter (or your favorite peanut/nut butter)

1 container of Marshmallow Fluff

1. Prepare cake according to directions.  For a lower fat cake you can substitute applesauce or banana for the oil and you can use egg substitute/egg whites for the whole eggs.  Bake in a 9x13 pan.
2. Put cake together in this order:  Cake, peanut butter, marshmallow fluff

You can make this cake using a fat free cake, pb2 and marshmallow fluff and it would be practically fat free.  Using No Pudge Brownies would be a good alternative too!


Are you a peanut butter chocolate fan?  What's your favorite flavor combination?

Road to the Olympics

Source: Wikipedia

Have you been watching the Olympics?  I have.  I've DVR'd all the coverage and I fast forward through the sports that I'm not interested in.  It has surprised me how much Mr. Amazing has gotten into the Olympics.  We watched it last night and he talked thru it amazed by certain things, telling me what he could/couldn't do, and planning his road to the 2016 Olympics.  (I've had mine mine mapped out for about 18 months.)


I think the Olympic Games are a great way to get people, especially kids interested in sports.  I know that during the Olympics I think "I should learn to do that!", "Oh!  I should start practicing doing that," or "That looks like a great workout." atleast once during most of the sports.  I also start working out harder to get their amazing bodies.


It's also been great to be able to introduce Kay, Mo and even Baye to the various sports.  Mo has recently become obsessed with gymnastics so she's been watching that with me.  Kay loves soccer so I'm going to turn on a few of the games for her.  


Maybe one day I'll get to sit at the Olympics and watch one of my daughters compete.  (Yes, I have high hopes for SOMEONE in this family competing in the Olympics.) 


I actually found some research that was done about this.  The SGMA did a study on the Olympic games and participation in various sports.  You can read it all here.  It's really interesting.


What about y'all?  Do you get more interested/involved in sports or health or exercise after the Olympics?  

Back on Track

First off, I was going to have a recipe for you today but, it wasn't as good as I expected so, I'm not going to post it.  

Source:Wikipedia
Yesterday a large container with a mixture of peanut and peanut butter M&Ms collided with my mouth.  (They were really good though!)  I'm so disappointed with myself.  This week has been a horrible week for my goals.  I haven't gotten out for my normal workouts due to a 3 year old in my bed every other night and the fact that my lower half has been sore for the past few days.  

Besides gaining a bit of weight I've notice that I'm more tense and grouchy this week.  If this is the way it feels to not workout for 5 days then how am I going to deal with the stress of school and only being able to workout on the weekends?


I've set a new goal date of August 27th.  This is my first day of classes.  I've left my goals the same.  I want to tone up and get my waist measurement down to 27 inches.  That's about 1/2 inch.