Winter Wonderland Warriors~Week 9

 

 

Questions:

1. What have you done this past week to help you achieve your goals?

Not too much different than the past weeks... worked on course and crafts. I took my camera out with my "new" lens (is it still new if I got it in November and haven't used it much?) then I downloaded a trial version of  a photo editing program I haven't tried before and spent a few hours messing around with some pics. From the beginning I sent my exerci se goal at 4 times a week knowing that I was perfectly fine with 3. I got 3 times this week. Two days cardio/running and one day hour walk with the dogs. So I don't feel too bad about not hitting number four this week.

2. Today's the last day of the month--how do you feel you've done in February?

For being 9 weeks into this challenge I think I've done pretty good. Amazing? probably not but this is life... things happen and can't get too stressed if everything isn't 100% perfection. I'm pretty proud of how well I feel I've done and how I'm doing and that's 100% the most important thing!

3. What is your go-to favorite meal to cook? Share the recipe if possible.

I have two that are my absolute favorite. We make one or the other whenever we don't know what to cook. They're great because they take very few dishes to make! My husband is dutch and they make a really healthy meal called Stumput. It sounds weird but is delish! It's basically veggies boiled and mashed together with hot dogs. The other recipe is an amazing sweet and sour hamburger dish. It was always my birthday dinner meal request. It takes a bit of space to type out on a blog post so if you want either recipe let me know and I'll email it!

4. Share a quote or saying that is inspiring you today.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="via we heart it"][/caption]

I really like this saying right now. Reminds me that even though my goals are taking a while to complete and feel like nothing big is happening... keep an eye on the end goal.

5. Fun Question of the Week: What's your make-up routine? Wear any? Lots? Do you have a must-have? I LOVE make-up! I really enjoy putting it on so I tend to wear more than less. But I only wear make-up maybe twice a week? Lately though I've been putting less and less on because I realize I don't need to wear much. I love eye make-up though so I always wear eye shadow, mascara, and usually eye liner.

Bring on March!!

Sometimes Things Workout In The End

Ok kids... story time! Except it's not all that captivating of a story. And I'm a horrible drawer. So pretend that I'm a great cartoonist... days away from being employed at Pixar or something.

A couple week-ends ago Mr. J and I went on a date in the big city. We were given a gift card at a restaurant as a three-year-late wedding gift, so we were going to go use it. I really dislike eating out. I hate how loud some restuarants are, I feel like everyone stares (there's my self-absorbed self again...), and I often feel I could make equal or better quality at home myself. Anyways, I gave in and off we went to the city.

 

That's us driving in my car listening to my sweet stereo.

 

"We wined and dined
Did them things that couples do when in love (you know)
Walks on the beach and stuff (you know)"

I seriously just quoted a Black Eyed Peas song?? We didn't visit any beaches as there was a horrible snow storm that started as we were leaving our small town and ended when we just drove back into town... so the ENTIRE time we were gone. Anyhoo.. we went to the mall and a few stores and I got spoiled with lots of stuff.

 

Then we went to the restaurant to use our card. We had both never been to this franchise before and didn't know if we would again. So we decided to order whatever priced items we wanted so we'd use the whole gift card up and be able to use our debit for a bit of it so we could leave a nice tip for the waitress.

I ordered a delicious pasta dish... it was SO good! And Mr. J ordered a pizza that he figured was to die for! Which could have perhaps been quite literally considering what happened next.

 

He was working away at his pizza when he all a sudden stopped chewing and pulled something out of his mouth. Usually he has pretty great table manners so I thought that was a bit strange.

 

It was a chunk of plastic in his pizza! We were like "huh. that's interesting..." so we looked through the rest of the pizza so there wouldn't be any more surprises.

 

The waitress was really nice and mind you more conservatively dressed than her co-workers. Apparently at this restaurant tips are much wanted as the waitresses dress in really really tight revealing clothes with lots of cleavage... and their short skirts barely cover their lady parts. I'd be lying if I didn't say it made me a bit more self-conscious of my extra poundage. Anyways, we politely told her that the food was really delicious, all except the chewy piece of plastic.

She was like "what! oh that's so horrible! Let me take that from you!"

We were all like don't be so moritified! perhaps it gave the pizza extra flavor.

 

And when we got the bill the pizza had been taken off and was free! Score! But this meant that we hadn't used all our giftcard! So we had to ask not charge the whole amount on the GC and put a couple dollars on our debit so we could leave a tip. But not too bad! Free meal!

 

But by then I was all peopled out and frustrated because it was too loud to have a conversation with Mr. J who was right across the table from me. So we left and started our trek home in the massive accumulated snow.

That picture is supposed to be the horrible roads from the view of my car. Lots of high snow banks and white out conditions, topped with really icy roads and patches of black ice. Plus the mountains and hills in the background.

So that's my happy ending story. Despite the crappy drawing... it would have sucked a lot more without them lol

Accent vlog

For some time now I've noticed a fun vlog showing up on people's blogs. It has to do with accents and the different ways people pronounce or call things. I've really enjoyed watching different ones and noticing the different accents so I thought it was probably about time I did one. Excuse the weird annoying sound in the background. I don't know how to get rid of it, it must be something with my computer or something. I took a lot of takes to get one I could get through! The first couple I was super nervous and couldn't talk without stumbling and Kudjo decided he wanted in on it and a couple takes he was taking up the whole screen, or pushing the computer to show something else, or one take he decided to scratch and shake the whole bed. But alas I got one. And I'm a HUGE dork. I'm sure I'm not in real life. Just video blogs. Ok so if you have done/do one please leave your link in the comments so I can see!



The list of words are:

aunt, route, wash, oil, theater, iron, salmon, caramel, fire, water, sure, data, ruin, crayon, toilet,  New Orleans, pecan, both, again, probably, spitting image, Alabama, lawyer, coupon, mayonnaise, syrup, pajamas, caught.

The words I added are:

camp, pants, mittens, buttons, frustrated, garage

The questions to answer are:

-What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?

-What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?

-What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?

-What do you call gym shoes?

-What do you say to address a group of people?

-What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?

-What do you call your grandparents?

-What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?

-What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?

-What is the thing you change the tv channel with?

Wee Bit of Me Wednesdays

{one} do you always wear your seatbelt in the car?
ALWAYS if I'm driving. Not all the time if I'm a passenger. Not sure why the difference.

{two} do you crack your knuckles?
I used to all the time but at some point I got myself out of it. I can't actually remember when I stopped.

{three} what is your favorite flavor of gum?
light blue trident

{four} what is your favorite piece of jewelry that you own?
my wedding ring. Although rumor has it I'm getting a new one sometime in the near future.

{five} who is your best friend?
My husband Jon.
{six} what is your favorite smell?
I have so many... after it rains, fresh baking, a vanilla lavender candle, a puppy/kitten/baby, a new car, fresh cut wood/grass, J's cologne.

{seven} what is your favorite lunch meat?
some sort of cold cut perhaps? I don't actually know right now.

{eight} do you still have your tonsils?
yes I do.

{nine} do you untie your shoes before you take them off?
no not usually. Sometimes if they're new still I do. But not once I've had them for a while.

{ten} what color is your car?
white. always needs to be washed!

Remaining Unbroken

As been previously mentioned in this blog... I'm really klutzy. Like young kids are clumsy almost akin to fawns with spindly legs. I'm almost worse than that. A month ago in my Winter Wonderland Warriors update I mentioned I had a swollen foot. I was walking across the bathroom floor to reach the door where my cat was reaching his paws under... when I slipped on some water I forgot to wipe up after my shower and down I went landing on my toe wrong and having a bruised and swollen foot for a week or so.

Then last week I had a great workout and was thinking how great it was not to be sick or injured and how I hoped it would last for a while. And not even a couple hours later I was walking to my room and didn't bother turning the light on because I was just walking through the one room when I slipped on the floor and landed on my knee on the concrete. One of the cats had dumped the dogs' water pail and I hadn't seen the water and bam on the floor!

That sounds like enough falls for one month right? Think again! Two days later one of our dogs Kudjo is barking at something so I hurry across the living room to discipline him and get him to stop barking and BAM! I fall again! This time flat on my backside! I KNOW I fall more than the average person (i.e. every time I go hiking!) but this is starting to get ridiculous! Going to need to start walking around in a bubble suit or something!

But other than that the week's been busy with quilting and working on my correspondence course. Perhaps if I spend sometime sitting relatively still this week I can remain unbroken!

Winter Wonderland Warriors~Week 8

 

 

Inspirational Picture

I got these the other day and LOVE them! They're above our bed and they say "Dream of tomorrow" and "Believe in your dreams"

Week 8 Questions:

1. What have you done this past week to help you achieve your goals?

So I`ve managed to keep the "sick" weight loss off! Yay! But I only worked out once this past week. And I fell down two more times! But I'll save that story for a different post. I've been really busy working on another quilt! And I played around with designing a header. I've been drinking more water and less coffee. And I posted a blog post that was in my drafts from last July but I wasn't brave enough to post. So yay!

2. Pretty much everywhere this past week experienced some mild weather - did this change have any effect on you?

Actually we had really cold weather -31 to -37 several days. I had wanted to take the dogs out for some walks but the cold weather meant staying in doors. But otherwise I don't think it had any  effect on me. Perhaps make me bundle up under blankets instead of being outdoors and active.

3. Walk us through your ideal workout.

This is a great question; I can't wait to see everyone's answers. Lately I've fallen back in love with running. So my ideal workout lately has been doing that day's C25K schedule run, then 15 minutes on the elliptical and then another 30 minutes on the treadmill alternating incline and speed. Then finish it off with cool down, stretching, weights, and core. But I also love the Jillian Michael's dvd series because it's a total body workout too and I feel great after.

4. What happened in the last week that you have to brag about?

This is a great question too! I don't feel like I have much to brag about. The only thing that comes to mind is I wasn't as hard on myself as usual. And started giving myself a break and being less worried by my fears.

5. Fun Question of the Week: Spring fever has hit the stores... what's your favorite thing to shop for in spring?

Shoes!! Sneakers, Heels, Flip Flops... you name it! I'm getting tired of the winter boots and want some cute shoes!

My new favorite drink

A couple months ago we were experimenting with mixing drinks and we came up with a mixture that we really love. I don't know if it's an actual drink or what it's called. But Mr. J dubbed it "The Fruit Loop"

The Ingredients to make it are:

-Raspberry Sourpuss

-Blue Curacao

-Peach Schnapps

-Malibu Rum

-Pineapple Juice

-Sprite

Ingredients

 Fill a tall glass half full with ice. Take a shot glass and fill it half up with raspberry sourpuss, fill it the rest of the way with blue curacao. Dump that into the glass. Fill the shot glass half way again, this time with peach schnapps. Fill the rest of the way with Malibu rum. Dump into glass. Fill shot glass with pineapple juice and pour into drink. Add a splash or two of sprite and you're good to go! Mr. J and I differ with the amounts of juice and sprite  but it tastes good whatever way we make it! Play around with it and enjoy!

The Fruit Loop

 It'll look something like that! My mom doesn't like sourpuss so we leave it out. But it doesn't make the drink really bitter. Let me know if you try it! What's your favorite mixed drink?

I'm Actually Mother Teresa

I'm really not a B!tch. Other people make me seem like one. But I'm really full of a lot of concern and care for others. Unless you're a complete dumb ass.

I'm all about trying to get along with the in-laws. I can look past a lot of reasons why they are not as great the same as my family. I even agreed to have one of my husband's brother's move in with us. So I suppose I am part to blame for this "interesting" living equation. I didn't say much when my spotless new bathroom was violated and made to feel like a truck stop washroom. I hardly put up a fuss about having to hold my breath and light a candle every time I enter the bathroom. I only grumbled a few times when I had to start my car in -20 weather just to drive down and pick the BIL up from work. But after five months of this... I've had enough.

I mean NO BODY stands above me when I'm working on something creative like cake decorating or painting and tells me how it should be completely different. And if I wanted a child to cook and clean up after ALL. THE .TIME. I would have had one. My gender as a woman doesn't define my role in a household. If that's the case... your penis can be removed, and you can start cooking and cleaning for yourself. I don't care if you're too lazy to pack leftovers for lunch the next day so you dink your money all gone on restaurants and junk food... I'm not lending you money every pay day.  And have I mentioned how you should never bull shit and bull shitter. I can't stand a liar.

He's had possession of an apartment for five days now, but won't move into it. $400 isn't enough for groceries for two weeks. Plus he keeps coming up with excuses to why he can't move five minutes away and needs to stay for a couple more weeks. But today Mr. J promised me my ultimate Valentines' Day gift will happen. He will move his brother out. It's that or I pack him up tomorrow myself and move him while he's at work. I'm really good at packing and moving. But I mean you're almost 30 for crying out loud... try not acting like you're 12... and perhaps grow a pair.

Like I said I'm really not a Bitch. I'm very understanding.

 

Winter Wonderland Warriors~Week 7

 

 

Week 7 Questions:

1. What have you done this past week to achieve your goals? Due to having the cold-that-never-ends... I failed at most my goals this past week. I had a fever and cough for the week so that meant no working out and not doing much else but sleeping... booooo. But my 1oth goal... to learn to love and accept myself more that I believe I've made some improvement! On Saturday Mr. J and I went to the city and I was in some need of a few new items of clothing so we hit the mall. Normally I HATE shopping. Can't stand the crowds. And I usually get really down on myself when I'm shopping because I'm not super tiny like I used to be and like it seems all clothes are made for. But after several stores and buying everything plus more than I came for... I felt great about myself and how I look. Course the 8 pounds I lost this past week from being sick, helps a little!

2. What goal are you doing best on? From this point I have now done all my goals but one. I did more ongoing, lifestyle goals. The one goal I won't be completed till the end is being ready to buy a swim suit and dress. My desire to be in a good shape to go shopping by the end of this. The goal I seem to do the best on is exercise, even if I don't do it as much as I'd like. The other goals seem to occur easier if I have a good exercise routine in place. I need structure in my life!

3. What goal do  you need to push yourself a little more to complete? What is your plan to do so? Probably the blog regularly and courageously. I always worry that others might not find my blog as interesting as I find theirs or as I think it might be. I need to just write anyways but I always get self-inflicted writers' block.

4. We've talked about what pushes us to do better with our goals--is there anyone/anything that hinders you? I talked about this several weeks ago but I'm a self sabotager and Mr. J is one! He means well but I have a real weakness to 5 cent candies and he likes to bring some home as a surprise when he's proud of me for working out hard. I need to work on not giving in to my sweet tooth or late night snacking!

5. Fun Question: Happy Valentine's Day! Do you have any special plans for the day? Back before Mr. J, I used to use Valentines day to remind my single friends how awesome I thought they were and how much I appreciated their friendship. Now they're all married and Mr. J loves to do V-day up. We started by having a date in the city on Sat. Where I got spoiled with new clothes, cds, and fancy dinner. Then last night he made a really nice dinner and we sat down with wine and enjoyed it. Tonight we're snacking on guacamole dip he made while we watch some of our favorite shows. Nice and quiet just how I like it! I made him some red velvet cupcakes so he's snacking on those but I'm keeping them far away from me!

Quilting

About two years ago I decided it'd be fun to learn how to quilt. Mr. J surprised me and went out and bought all the stuff the lady at the store said I would need to get started. I'm not an overly patient person nor do I like following patterns (or recipes for that matter). So I went ahead and tried my own adaptation and it turned out horrible. My "quilt" quickly became a couch pillow.

Fast forward to last summer, my mom introduces me to this older lady in he 70's who used to know my mom when she was just a little girl. Her ID might say she's 70-something but her personality and energy says she's early 60's same with her husband. Anyways, the past several months she's been asking if I could help teach her some things about computers, facebook, email, etc. Every now and then I get a call to come fix something because of a virus or she hit a button and she doesn't know what happened. Over the course of several computer sessions it comes out of my failed quilt attempt. Well wouldn't know now it... she's a professional quilter. Has all the machines and know-how. She makes quilts as  a living for people. And they are so beautiful! So she offers in exchange for all the computer work, to teach me how to quilt.

My mother-in law gave me some beautiful fabric once when I commented on how much I loved it. So I showed my newly acquired quilting friend M  and off she went to find some matching ones in her rooms full of fabric. She was determined I was going to learn. So for weeks I worked at it, she'd call every couple days to see if how it was going and if I needed help. And last week I finally finished! The colors aren't perhaps exactly my choice. But the quilt tuned out pretty good. The fabric I got from my MIL is the black one with colorful butterflies on it,

 

It's also the same color I used for the binding. Poor Mr. J! I had him hold the fabric up so I could take some pictures of it, and the quilt is heavier than it looks!

 

[caption id="attachment_240" align="aligncenter" width="227" caption="border and binding close-up"][/caption]

 

I participated in a facebook thing where you post a status about paying it forward with homemade things... I'll write more about it once I get working on the projects... anyways for it I want to make rag-time quilts. I've never done this before so M gave me some fabric to practice on so I figured why not use it to make a baby blanket. (no I am not pregnant! But it sure got people thinking that around here!)

 

[caption id="attachment_237" align="aligncenter" width="245" caption="front"][/caption]

This back heart fabric is also some that my MIL gave me.

 

[caption id="attachment_238" align="aligncenter" width="245" caption="back"][/caption]

So not too bad after my first two attempts at "real" quilting! Now perhaps I should get started on those other projects I have in mind!

 

 

Winter Wonderland Warriors~Week 6

 

 

My Inspiration picture this week is a picture Mr. J and I took this past summer during a hike. My husband has been such a big motivator to achieve my goals, whatever they are.

He surprises me sometimes with supplies for different crafts I'm doing or takes the dogs out so the house is quiet while I'm busy doing my schoolwork. The past couple of weeks he's been asking to work out with me, it's motivating to have someone work out along side you! Love you!

 

Week 6

1. What have you done this past week to help you achieve your goals?

-I was doing really well with working out... went running three times but then I got a cold! boo! And there goes the running for a few days. Hopefully it's over soon and I can get back to it. I'm really starting to enjoy it. I lost weight but I think most of that was from being sick so it doesn't count as I'll probably gain it back once I return to eating more than just soup. But I'm noticing areas are getting smaller/flatter/toned so that's encouraging!

-I finished two quilts! yay! I'll post some pictures in a few days of them. I cut back on my coffee intake this week and drank a lot more water. And I took my camera out more and experimented.  So all in all not a too bad week goal wise.

2. New month! Fresh starts! How are you feeling in February?

Like I said last week... I'm feeling great about February... Bring. It. On.

3. Are you competitive? Do you find that seeing how well (or not so well) others do pushes you?

I really don't see myself as competitive but rather the opposite. Seeing how well others are doing encourages me to do better and seeing others struggle or have a tough week reminds me that next week that could be me so stay positive and not down on myself because everyone has off days.

4. What is your favorite outdoor winter activity?

hmm I really enjoy skidooing but I also like skiing. Once I get a better winter jacket this year I plan to go. But for the past six years I've lived away from BC (one year in ontario and four in saskatchewan aka land of no hills) but this year my little brother wants to hit the slopes lots with me... so we'll see.. it is already February!

5. Fun Question of the week: What would be your ideal way to spend a Saturday night?

Because of our shall we say "interesting" living arrangement Mr. J and I try to go on a date either every Saturday (or Sunday) or at least every other week-end. So an ideal Saturday would be spending the day on our date then returning home with some movies and getting cozy.

Upcoming Fun

I gave these invites out today for a CSI party idea I got from a great website... more details after the fact!

Wee Bit of Me Wednesdays

 

I had fun filling this out last week so I thought I'd participate again today!

{one} what was your favorite sitcom growing up? full house or family matters

{two} what song always makes you happy when you hear it?Does Your Mother Know--Benny Anderson from the Mama Mia Soundtrack


{three} do you still have your wisdom teeth?no in december I had to have them removed. When I was younger the dentist told me I would only have two wisdom teeth and they wouldn't need to be removed. But they did.


{four} what is your go to way to relax? a good drink, with a good book.


{five} do you play any instruments?yes, i sort of play a bit of keyboard, clarinet, and guitar. I'm not really great at any.


{six} nude beaches: yes or no?no thanks


{seven} do you chew your pens/pencils?sometimes if I'm thinking hard. and it's my pen not borrowed or shared.


{eight} can you change the oil in your car?I probably could figure it out. My dad thought it was important that I learn that. Would I? probably not. Mr. J loves to do that stuff.


{nine} can you curl your tongue?yes!


{ten} can you knit or crochet?both! I have a lot of projects on the go... some I doubt will ever get picked up again and finished lol.

The One About What Goes Around Comes Around

I love to laugh. And I love to do this by "giving people a hard time".  My family has a witty more subtle humor where either you get us and we're absolutely hilarious or you totally don't get it and we seem a little off the topic. The wonderful world of internets makes this humor a little more difficult to translate sometimes, not impossible but more challenging perhaps. My first year of college I had this great roommate, who we're still good friends today. Anyways, she would believe almost anything people told her. Needless to say I sometimes had a little fun at her expense. She was a great sport and would laugh about as hard as I would, about it. She was also always down for helping me with my next victim joke.

There was this guy we were both friends with, and he thought he was pretty great stuff. Like what lady wouldn't want a piece of that. One night I was talking to him on msn and decided to play a little with his vanity. I forget exactly how it came up, but some how I brought up how different people have different ways of walking. I causally mentioned how like he walks different... ya know, from the hips. He said what? was I serious? I was quite adamant. Stating how his hips would kinda swish from side to side, much like girls'.  How had he not noticed that before? I said even my roommate had noticed, we had talked about it before. He said hmmm... one second. Usually when he said one second it wasn't very long. But we waited and ten minutes later he starts typing again.

"I do NOT walk from the hips!"

My roommate and I burst out laughing so hard. Turns out when he was gone for "a second" he had asked HIS roommate to watch him strut up and down their dorm room and see if he did in fact move his hips lots!

Ok so not such a mean joke or anything, it's pretty funny right? Ok so fast forward three years. I'm working in a retail store during the summer before returning to college in the fall. One day in July I'm upstairs in the staff room for lunch and this older guy (he was 58 I think) who worked in a different department was having his lunch break at the same time. We're sitting there eating in silence with the tv on in the background and he says "Are you a dancer?"  A little background... I am NOT a dancer. I might look like I am mocking a ridiculous dance but it's actually me being serious. I.can't.dance.

I practically choked on my apple and said "hahaha no not at all... uh why?"

He said "oh I was just wondering because you walk like a dancer. The way your hips move when you walk. I teach salsa dancing and that's important for it."

I said  "Thanks?" and finished the rest of my lunch and went back to work. But for the rest of the summer every time I worked the same time as him I was so conscious of how I walked. It's really hard to walk normal when you are trying to! Try it sometime, especially after a few drinks!