If you Give Madelyn a Pancake....

This is what I found to be true yesterday..

If you read the book If You Give a Pig a Pancake to Madelyn, you will have to take Madelyn to eat pancakes.

Her conversation with Grumpy goes like this:

Mads - Grumpy, look at my new book.
Grumpy - I see that.
Mads - You know what that means?
Grumpy - Ummm, no.
Mads - It means we have to eat them
Grumpy - the pig or the pancake
Mads - Oh Grumpy, you know we don't eat animals

So, off we went to eat pancakes.  If you eat pancakes, you have to go shopping.  If you go shopping, Madelyn does NOT want to ride in the cart, but she WILL get tired of walking and want a special ride.  Not in the cart.

If you are in town, you HAVE to eat ice cream.  Evidently, it is a MUST.  If you eat ice cream in town, you HAVE to go to Orange Leaf, not the Big ice cream place (Andy's)

If you eat too much ice cream after just having pancakes, you WILL get a bellyache and get sleepy.  But, you will be able to stop and suffer through one more store for more shopping.

If you have fun all day long, you WILL be too tired to keep your eyes open and have to go home and take a nap.  I wanted to take her picture in the car with her tired eyes, but she told me that I had enough pictures of her and to just give it up for today!  So I did!

I'm only human, you know!

As you all know or at least I have talked about it - you may not know, I've been dealing with adrenal fatigue.  It is hard to deal with.  Some days I felt like I couldn't get off the couch.  I've taken more than one nap per day on some days and finally I am feeling a bit better.  I have good days and I have some not so good days.

During all this, I've had to change the way I eat, the way I work out and not only did my butt get bigger, but my body fat percentage has gone up.  I'm not happy about either of these things, but I have been given the green light to up my workouts.  I've mostly been doing light workouts, yoga and walking.  So, I'm REALLY ready to move it up a level.  I've tried this in the past and had to go back to the lighter workouts and let me tell you that really sucks the life right out of me!

So, just to keep things fun, I have written all the workouts I have on a piece of paper and put them in a basket.  I'm going to draw out a workout each day and do that one.  Then I don't have to think about it and i will know which workout will be the best for me to begin when I finally get released.  (I've been told that it can take up to one year to fully recover)  I'm doing the Tracey Anderson leg workout every day and need 30 mins of cardio to go along with it.  My poor body is SORE!

I've also been doing the Missouri Fit Club's March Madness challenge and Tuesday's are a doozy!  I feel that one every week.  All I can say is it hurts to move!!  This is a good thing for me, it's been a while since I've felt like that! Saturday is my favorite day of the challenge,  Silly Saturday!  This includes fun games you used to play as a kid, or just fun with the kids and family.  Things such as a good game of HORSE, freeze tag, bike riding, baseball or a good hike.  When we get back to what we consider fun, it doesn’t feel like a workout, but we get the benefit of the exercise!

I remember playing wiffle ball with the kids and one particular time that we were out at a friend’s house playing the kids against the adults.  The boys all thought they had this one in the bag, they were surprised that the mom’s had some game!  However, at my second time at bat, I was running the bases and stepped in a hole and twisted my ankle.  I saw the bottom of my foot and it swelled up instantly and I was just sure that I had broken it.  I was rushed off to the ER, but luckily (or not), it wasn’t broken, just a bad sprain.  I had to wear an air cast and be on crutches for a while, but what fun we had!!  

So, I am trying to get back into the swing of things.  This week is a good eating challenge week as well.  I'm doing green smoothies, salads and green juices, whole foods!  It's how I should eat everyday, but I usually don't!  I"m only human, you know!

App-Happy or Hap-Appy????

Since I've switched over to the iphone, I've found even more apps that I love.  I thought I'd share a few of my favorites with you.

These are the ones I can't live without!  Well, maybe I can, I just don't want to try.  Not being a bit dramatic huh?

Fitbit - Since I upgraded to the Fitbit One, I can sync the fitbit with my phone and see all my stats.  Love having that info at my fingertips, no matter where I am!

aNote HD  - One of the best to-do list keepers of all!  I have made it my own, with what I want to keep track of and it is customizable

Trip Advisor - another good one for reviews of places to eat and stay while traveling.

Urbanspoon - Brian and I travel a lot, so it is nice to be able to find a place to eat no matter where we are!

HappyCow - I have no excuses on finding a healthy place to eat or shop ( This app cost $3.99)

InstaGram - I love taking photos and sharing them on Instagram is just fun!

Facebook/Facebook Pages - I need to stay up to date, on the go and can do that with my personal page as well as my biz pages

RunKeeper  - Great for those walks/runs.  Will post your stats to facebook if you want!  Another good thing, you can add your playlist to your walk or run.  This one will come in handy next month when I do my 5K Color Run!

Good Guide - This one is great when you are out shopping!  You can scan the barcode and it will give you the rating. or Simply type in a product name and click the magnifying glass. Your product will pop up with a number rating:
0-2: Poor, 3-5: Average, 6-7: Above Average, 8-10: Best.
InstaCollage - makes quick collages of your photos for you to share!

Madelyn approved apps:
Toca Hair Salon and Toca Monsters - these are her favorites to play.  She also likes the Disney books ( they cost unless you are lucky to get them on free days!)

It's really a shame that I can hand my phone to Mads and she probably knows more about it than I do.

I'm sure there are many more apps our there for me to discover!  Do you have a favorite app that you can't live without?

Time to Roll!

I have a guest post today and a few words of my own at the end!  Enjoy!

Strap On your Skates, It’s Time to Roll

A pair of roller skates was something you asked for as a tenth birthday present. You and you’re friends whizzed down the steepest local sidewalks then stored your skates in the garage to collect dust until your parents had that yard sale the summer before you went to college. Right?

No way! Roller-skating is relevant for adults too. So dust off the skates (if they were not snatched up at that yard sale and still happen to fit) and strap your feet in or grab a pair here. It is an awesome work out and provides a break from the monotony that can be your gym routine.

Before you say “yeah right,” keep reading. You will not be the only once gliding around with a helmet and elbow pads. (Safety first!) Many cities already have established roller skating areas, and they are not the kind you remember from birthday parties when the lights dim down and you awkwardly look around for a couples-skate song partner.

New York for example has several designated areas in parks around the city. Skate along a trail in Central Park or Hudson River Park. Skaters in Brooklyn can roll through Prospect Park, which has a loop for beginners and a loop for more experienced skaters. Los Angeles also has several outdoor areas that allow roller-skating. Try South Bay Bike Trail to take a nice Oceanside journey. The stretch is quite long so go for as long as you’d like but remember, you still have to turn around and skate back!

Search around to find parks in your local neighborhood. In general, paved bike paths are a good option and typically allow roller-skating, and parks provide a scenic view.

 http://www.rollerskatenation.com/

It has been a LONG time since I've been on roller skates.   Chase had a birthday party when he was 7 or 8.  That was the LAST time I skated.  Of course, the kids still thought I was cool then!  I looked for a photo, I know I have one, but didn't find it quick enough.  If I do find it, I'll be sure to share it. Short, permed hair, red and white striped shirt and red pants.  Yeah!  I was stylin'!!

I do remember going to the skating rink in junior high.  If you were lucky enough to like a guy that could roller skate backwards, then you could be cool during the couples skate.  Of course, the song I associate with the skating rink is Leo Sayer's When I Need You!  Do you remember that one? ~ I'm really showing my age here!  Do you remember doing the Hokey Pokey or the Limbo?  I didn't go enough that I had my own skates, you know the cool ones, white with pom-poms on them.  I just wore those ugly brown ones that most of us were wearing!

Now they wear roller blades of course, I haven't tried those - I think I'd need all kinds of padding everywhere!  I'm going to put that on my bucket list - go rollerblading!

I love being able to use play time as a workout - as long as we are getting our heart rate up and moving all is good!  I don't care WHAT you do as long as you DO it!

So tell me, what is your workout du jour?

Putting things off - No MORE!

It's been a good couple of days.  I perfected the chia pudding - YAY Me!  Madelyn was here to play and hang with us, a family dinner and of course, the New Start class is winding down.

It's been busy, but a good kind of busy!


I've been drinking my green smoothies

Blueberry/kale smoothie

juicing

Carrot, beet and apple juice

eating some Valentine's Day Love

Brian surprised me with these!

and just enjoying Madelyn!

She told me it was good to the last drop!

I had been putting off a lot of things that I don't like to do and decided to just get them done.  I got a little help, which made the job go faster and was more fun!  I haven't been keeping my journal lately and I think it is PAST time to get that bad boy out and get to writing in it!

It helps me to stay on track and more organized!  No more excuses, right?

What do you do to stay on track?  Keep a journal, a to-do list?  I am interested in hearing your successes!

Epic Pudding Fail!

I tried my hand at making chia seed pudding.  The recipe looked good, sounded good and it is healthy for you too.  Why wouldn't I want to make it?

Find the recipe and photos here!  from An Edible Mosaic

So, I whipped up a batch fairly quickly.   I followed the instructions and let it sit and stirred it.  I waited the couple of hours required and still had a soupy mix.  So I stirred and let it sit some more.  Like a few more hours.  Still soupy.  BUT, it tastes great.

So, I decide to add a few more chia seeds and see if it thickens up.  It did thicken a bit, but I'm going to have to claim this as an epic pudding FAIL!

At least it tastes good!!!

I've been trying a few new recipes and I think this is one I'll have to work on!

It's been a busy couple of days.  Haven't even had time for my  words with friends or song pop fun!  BOO!  Gonna have to fix that toot-sweet!!

I've been getting my 15 mins of sun every day (except when it was raining) and I'm hoping I'll be able to do that today before the snowstorm gets here.  This is nothing like Nemo,  this one is just a little guppy storm.  Maybe an inch or two.  But, that is all we need in my opinion.  I'm craving the beach, the sand between my toes, the sun shining brightly and the smell of the ocean!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

It's been a while since I've checked in with you all (again).

We've been plugging along.  The classes are going well, we are educating a lot of people and that makes me happy!

Yesterday was such a beautiful, sunny, warm day here.  It was Wednesday and that of course means that it was a Madelyn day.

I may have mentioned first thing to her that we could go to the park.  That might have been a mistake.  She was like a dog after a bone!

We ran our errands, did a little shopping at Target, and had lunch with Grumpy before we went to the park.  But, we had a BLAST!

As you can tell, Madelyn wasn't really thrilled with having her photo taken.  Little stinker!
After the park, Madelyn decided that ice cream was needed.

If you look closely at the photo, you might notice Brian's fingers.  Yep, he and the band saw didn't get along so well.  He was working in the shop and cut his fingers.  Luckily, he still has them!  He had to get 13 stitches and see the surgeon.  Again, he was lucky in that no surgery is needed for now.  Just another day in the life of Brian P. Moritz!!

Earlier this week, we headed up to KC for a shopping trip and to visit our friends, David and Lisa.   We had a great time and I got to eat at Cafe Gratitude.  That made the whole trip!

Such a cool place, can't wait to go back

Our water bottle was playful!

  I shopped at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and Natural Grocer's and Brian got to shop for lumber at Schutte's!  Good day!

Since we've been having such beautiful weather, until today (it's rainy), I've been getting outside to get my sunshine fix - and soak up some vitamin D.  Did you know you only need 15 minutes every day with face and hands exposed to get your daily amount of D?  Super easy.  I took the kindle out and enjoyed it!

I'll try to be more of a presence on here,  just haven't been feeling it lately, but am feeling better!!  Thanks for hanging in there with me!