Managing through the crazies

Not that life is ever meant to be sane, but lately its been extra crazy. Life on the blog front has been non-existent because life in the real world has been extra crazy. About 6 weeks go, I took another position in the same company, and its completely different than what I have been doing for the past 15 years. So as you can imagine, when I said yes to that, life instantly became insane. New people, new context, new work; all exciting stuff, but it does not lend itself to blogging often.  Combine the new job with kids being back to school. The oldest is in 8th grade, so we are getting ready for high school. Which means we are she's EXTRA busy too. Although I have missed you guys and blogging, when I sit down at the end of the day, I usually pass out.

I have always reserved my mornings for blogging. However, since I really didn't know how to do my job (I'm in marketing now) I spent most of the past 6 weeks of mornings trying to stay caught up at work.



Where I spend most of my mornings

 This is my first post in.... forever. So I'm hoping to be back on the wagon. The good news is between kids' school and work, I think we're starting to get a handle on the crazies.

I have been trying to keep my workout routine up. I know I have said this before, but no workout = crazy mama that no one wants to be around. Now that we have gotten past August in Houston, its definitly better for running. For those of you who don't know, the heat index for Houston in August is typically between 105-110F. The insanity of trying to run outside did not get me very far. I HATE treadmills so I would look for times that were "decent" to run. The term decent is relative and used loosely in this case. Most evenings in August were still 93+F.

Since July, not too bad

When I did get to run, I started using the Nike run app to track my mileage. I've done pretty good so far with it; I think I've missed using it a few times. I like that it annonces the pace and distance, and has a counter on it that tracks miles ran. During my run, I still use my Garmin. I'm pretty much married to that thing; not sure I could ever live with out it. The level of detail it gives during the run time is awesome.

Life has been extra crazy which means normal minus blogging. So maybe now I can add the blogging back in. I have some traveling planned and I always try to run when I'm in a new city and talk about all the differences between cities and areas.

How has life been for you??

Happy Wednesday

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

My journey- A New Years story

 

 

 

Disclaimer: this is my story.

When you start the fitness adventure, your friends and family often ask Why are you doing this. But once you've been at it and your making some serious progress, it often becomes how did you do it. For me, I got to the point that enough was enough. I had been carrying baby weight around for three years. That's ridiculous, or at least that's what I told myself. I was tired of being fat and frumpy. I had been relatively thin and athletic my whole life, and by 2009 I was neither of those things.

 

I was also unhappy with my marriage. My kids are awesome, but my marriage was not so much. Early in 2009, I decided I didn't want to be "that person" any more. (the picture above was in June 2009). I got a new pair of running shoes and a pair of 8 pound weights, and started moving. In 2005 I did the Houston Half Marathon, so I remembered how to run and all the technical things that go with running. But let's be real... Starting over sucks!

 

 

The key to it all was I made up my mind. I didn't want to be like this, and I didn't have to be like this. I owned my success and my happiness. It was up to me.

Once I started moving, I remembered how much I loved it. The exercise started to show results and I was psyched. It gave me the momentum to start changing my diet. I worked to cut out fried, processed, and excess crap. I did it slowly. My fear was failure. I had failed on the diet side so many times. I could workout like a beast, but I was a slave to Mexican food. 

This time I did it slow and gradual, and it stuck. Don't get me wrong, I still love my Mexican food, but I eat it less often, I cook it myself, and I pick the healthier less fried options.

My point to all this is, I'm sure you (or someone you know) picked weight loss for a New Years resolution. It's not a quick fix, or a "give me 2 weeks" kind of resolution. It takes work and commitment, but it's so worth it. You own your success and you can be successful!

Recipe Share; It's been a while.

It's been a while since I have done recipe share; it's been a while since I have done a lot with the blog. (more on that later). So I decided to kick things off with recipe share. I am a sucker for Chinese take out, but I rarely order it because it's not the best for you. Between the frying and the MSG, its usually pretty bad. Pinch of Yum has a way of finding some good alternatives. So I'm sharing this one.

Author: America’s Test Kitchen Comfort Food Makeovers

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil spray
• 1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 large egg whites
• 5 cups (5 ounces) Kellogg’s Corn Flakes cereal, finely crushed
• 1 1⁄2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of all visible fat, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 2⁄3 cups water
• 1⁄3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1⁄4 cup apricot jam
• 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 1⁄4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, top with wire rack, and spray rack with oil spray. Spread flour into shallow dish. Whisk egg whites until foamy in second shallow dish. Spread Corn Flakes crumbs into third shallow dish. Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Working in batches, dredge chicken in flour, dip in egg whites, then coat with Corn Flakes, pressing gently to adhere; lay on prepared wire rack.
2. Spray chicken with oil spray. Bake until chicken registers 160 degrees and coating is brown and crisp, 12 to 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, whisk water, soy sauce, apricot jam, hoisin, corn- starch, and vinegar together in bowl. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Whisk in soy sauce mixture, bring to simmer, and cook until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and keep warm.
4. When chicken is cooked, return sauce to simmer over medium-low heat. Add cooked chicken and toss to coat. Serve.

Notes

I baked my chicken directly on the baking sheet because I didn’t have a wire rack. It worked fine. I’d also recommend using a blender or food processor to crush the corn flakes into very fine crumbs.

Try it out and let me know what you think.

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Happy Wednesday!

This was such a hit on the facebook page, I had to share here.

 

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

Angelina's decision: How does it effect you?

It's been a while since we all read about Angelina Jolie's extreme measures to prevent cancer. I have intentionally waited a while to post this just to see if my feelings on the topic changed.

AJ  underwent a double mastectomy because she has a "bad gene". After we heard that, it came out that she had her ovaries removed as well. I didn't follow this closely, but I did follow it enough to have some serious thoughts on it. She disclosed that she carries a precursor gene for cancer. Considering her mom died at 56 from breast cancer, her aunt since passed away, and she has a brood of kids, I think she's smart for getting tested for the gene.

But it leads me back to a number of questions. "How far do we go for our health?" Once you have this information about yourself, What do you do with it?  Once you know... does it mean you have to do something about it or live in fear of the possibility? Just embrace the fact that you're just built this way genetically? Or do you just ignore it, not get tested and just see what life deals you.

From www.usmagazine.com

Angelina and I are the same age. I don't have as many kids as she does, but it does make me think about what would I do. Her fear is one I think all moms have... Is they won't be around for their kids.

My family has a history.  My grandma had breast cancer. It was caught early, treated, and she hasn't had a problem since. My mom and her sister both have an issue with fibroid tissue, and I started my mammograms early. It is recommended for people with a family history, and I generally follow these recommendations. My theory is they are recommendations for a reason. So far, I don't have anything that would cause me to worry or have concerns. So I'm not in the arena of doing anything as drastic as what Angelina has done. It still begs the question, how much information is enough information?

Melissa Etheridge, a breast cancer survivor, provided a counterpoint to AJ. Stating in US Magazine, "My belief is that cancer comes from inside you, and so much of it has to do with the environment of your body. It's the stress that will turn that gene on or not. Plenty of people have the gene mutation and everything, but it never comes to cancer.."

AJ did what she felt was right for her and her family, and fortunately for us, she decided to share the experience. It puts these issues back in our thoughts and minds to think about our health and how it relates to our families. This can be the significant, like AJ, or it can be the everyday of getting active and eating better.

What she does may be right for her, but what does her courage do for the rest of us?

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Happy Wednesday!

Don't get discouraged because it doesn't happen over night. There's lots of little steps along the way.

 

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!