Give me strength

Girl Scout Cookies everywhere! I have some favorites. We actually have them in the house. WHY!!!!!!
Tagalongs the perfect blend of chocolate and peanut butter on a thin cookie. Delish..


Jeff and Adams favorite are Thin Mints.

They have mowed through 2 boxes! I haven't even had time to put some in the freezer. I intended on putting some back to save for this summer. I want to chop them up and blend with vanilla ice cream and make a mock thin mint blizzard.

Anyway, I worked with the nurse that has a daughter in Girl Scouts. I bought 2 more boxes of Thin Mints and a box of dulce de leche.

For now I am just trying to stay away from the Tagalongs

Pie

Who doesn't love a good fruit pie! I know I just love them or I used too. In making healthier choices in my eating this is one pie I can't afford to eat anymore.
This pie is the more calories and such than an entire meal.


check it out
480 calories
20g fat
69g carbs
But hey look it does have 4g protein!!!

Bye, bye cherry pie !!!

March

I want to start by thanking all of my friends and family for supporting and encouraging me. You all are priceless!

On March 15th Jeff and I will celebrate 18 years of marriage. 18 YEARS!!! Are we that old, OMG.
I wouldn't change a thing. He is my best friend.

We had decided some time ago that if California didn't work out that we would go to NW Arkansas and go hiking and show the kids Razorback Stadium and around Fayetteville where we used to live.

So today I called Devils Den State Park and booked a cabin for the weekend. This is rather short notice to try to get into a cabin. Especially since that weekend is Spring Break. Thankfully they had a cabin for us. I am very excited!

I have a few trails pick out too. We just need to decide which one to do.

Arkansas State Parks

Believe me there will be photos from our trip.

No Hollywood for me

The judges in the contest did not pick me for a finalist. I am very disappointed, but.. I am ok. I have to be right.

I am a winner no matter what. I never started this for $$ anyway. I wanted to feel better, look better, and be a better wife and mother. I have achieved that.

So since that weekend is my anniversary we (us and kids) are going somewhere. I hope hiking or something. I need to get away from here.
With all the drama of the hospital going bankrupt and then being bought by another company and worries about jobs etc. I need a break.

Thank you for all of your encouragement and support during my ranting about the contest. You will be glad to know that I can now move on to other things..lol

Counting down!

The time is rapidly disappearing. I still have not heard anything from Million Dollar Body. As I have said before I only assume that they are calling the finalists ahead of time. I can't help but feel like they would have already called and that somewhere there are 8 people very excited and planning a trip to California.
I know Jeff is probably so sick of me worrying and fretting about it.
They will make the announcement on Monday. I will get a blog out about the winners when I know something.

They have a little "commercial" about the finale. It is pretty cool.
Throughout 2008 they had
1158 participants
96 winners (I am one of those...woohoo)
4393 pounds lost (WOW) that is an average of 46 lbs/person. I lost 49.5
1591 inches

These are very impressive statistics. I am proud to have been selected and to even have a chance at anything. I have succeeded no matter what.

More spring pix

Here are a few more pictures I took today.

this house is near our house. I love this house and the pink blooms on the tree.

Glory of Spring

Even though it is only February the flowers are blooming everywhere. You can already see hints of the yellow haze of pollen. Before long everything will be covered in the stuff causing a multitude of allergy symptoms.
Today is absolutely beautiful. Today is the perfect day in my opinion.
I went outside and took some photos of our flowers.

February 17, 2009

For starters I want to say Happy Birthday to my sister Sarah. She came and rocked my little world in 1974. I was 2.5 at the time and she invaded my space and toys and everything. We were not really close growing up. Another sister came along about 18 months after her and they were like twins. As we got older (grown with kids), we became closer.
She lives about 2 hours away. I miss her a lot.

1. Next Monday Team Beachbody will announce the finalists for the $250,000. Just getting in the finals assures you $50,000. I am very anxious waiting. I try not to worry or think about it too much, but I almost cannot help myself. I just try to take a deep breath and go about my day. I try to be positive, but I really don't have a lot of confidence about it. I have looked at the updated stats and photos of the others in my age group, and WOW.

2. I am in my last week of the Push Phase in ChaLEAN Extreme. I am lifting heavier! I am stronger, I look stronger. My muscles are becoming more defined. It is really awesome. Next week I will start the Lean Phase. Workouts average about 40 minutes each. This is about 8-10 minutes longer than the Push Phase.

Today is supposed to be a rest day, but I have decided to do some cardio. Not quite sure what yet, but something. Maybe Burn Intervals, or Fat Burning Challenge.....hmmm

More ChaLEAN

I am really loving the Extreme! I am into the 3rd week of the 2nd phase. I previewed the next phase. I will begin the Lean Phase on Feb. 23rd. The workouts are a little longer and a LOT more intense than the previous 2 phases. It combines upper and lower body work at the same time like the Burn Phase did. With the heavier lifting of the Push Phase.


Here is one of the moves. This beauty is called Plank with single-tricep extension. Goal, to hold yourself in plank position while you do tricep extensions. In this phase you lift heavy enough to "fail" at 10-12 reps.
Looks like next month is going to be fun.

Stuff

For the last week the house has been sick. It started with Adam and he kept it for about 6-7 days. Victoria was a little sick but not as bad as Adam.
Now Jeff is sick. Temperature, achy, chills, sore throat etc. He is a walking NyQuil commercial.
I am hoping my years of working on pediatrics has really helped me to build up an immunity. I cannot afford to get sick. Who would take care of me? Who would take care of the house? the dishes? the laundry?

I hope this weekend everyone gets better and we get the sickness outta here!


Tomorrow I will finish week 2 of the Push phase of ChaLEAN Extreme. I really am noticing I am stronger, but I am limited to 15lb weights. I really need to get the heavier weights, and I have found some I really like. It is just hard to part with the $$$.

These are the weights I am thinking about they are by Weider. Each dumbbell goes from 10-50lbs in 5lb increments. With the stand for $299 at Sears. The reviews have been strong in the positive. I played with them at the store and they seemed easy to change weight and lift out of cradle etc.

I worked all night last night. I am tired and heading for a nap.

Go Red for Women

Join with millions of women, as well as companies, organizations and cities across America on National Wear Red Day, Friday, Feb. 6, 2009. By wearing red and making a donation, you'll help the American Heart Association support ongoing research and education about women and heart disease.

Plan a Wear Red Day
It's easy to be a part of this special day. Consider organizing a National Wear Red Day at your workplace, with your faith-based organization, at your community center or in your home. We've made it simple with our free, downloadable tools. Use them anytime of the year to host your own Wear Red Day event. It's a great way to raise awareness and help us fight our No. 1 killer - heart disease.

You Can Give a Child a Book

But can you make them read it!

Every January at Veritas Academy there is the much anticipated Reading Contest. The entire elementary reads as much as they can for the month for the coveted 1st place. They tally the number of pages read per child and the child that reads the most pages in their grade wins the 1st place title and a prize from the super duper prize table.
The deal is the child must read a book on their grade level or higher. This prevents the 6th graders from reading a million little readers.

In the Bruce house we have Victoria, she is our little reader. In the month of January she read 2239 pages. The books were large and approx 600 pages each. Jeff and I both love to read, so she comes by it honest. On the other end we have Adam. What is there to say about Adam. We tried to get the boy to read. Give him a book and he would sit there forever and look like he was reading. He is very good at making himself look busy and not get anything done. Needless to say, he didn't even get through 1/2 of a book.

This Friday there will be an awards assembly to announce the winners. Victoria usually ranks in the top 2.


Today is a rest day on the ChaLEAN Extreme calendar so I am going to do Get Lean Intervals and Extreme Abs. I will save the rest day for later this week, just in case.