Too cold to swim today!

 
 

I was helping my mom learn to upload pictures from her digital camera. Look what we found!

Snow Day?

The kids all came home from school with ideas on how to make it snow tomorrow. It IS Chris’ birthday after all & it usually occasionally snows on his birthday.

• Wear your pajamas inside out.
• Wear your pajamas backwards.
• Put ice in the toilet.
• Put a cup of ice on your bed.

Let’s see what happens…

Gingerbread House, part two

 

The house is completed. Do not worry about the other one. It is still undecorated & may remain so. Much of the candy has been nibbled & interest has died down considerably. I love the roof that we all came up with together.

Boredom Busters

This is my workout room in my basement. Scott painted the cute stripes on the wall about 5 years ago. There’s a small TV with a VCR, a DVD player, & DISH with DVR. It should be easy to workout – cute room, lots of fans to keep me cool, all of Scott’s trophies from his childhood to inspire me to accomplish great things. And yet, I am still pretty uninspired whenever I hop on the treadmill.

You may or may not know that I am not crazy about running outside when it is below freezing & windy outside… or raining… or too hot… or … you get it! I tried running on the treadmill the other day. I had a little snack, wore cute clothes, took my iPod with me, & settled in with last week’s Biggest Loser episode. They were even running a marathon – inspiring, right??? Eh, not so much! I lasted for 3.5 long agonizing miles before bolting out of the house to run the final 2.0 miles on the road.
It was not so many months ago that I did almost all of my cardio workouts indoors. This is just a small blip in the road – spring will be coming in a month or two – but I need to prepare for next summer when the blast furnace gets turned on again outside! I collected a bunch of different workouts online & have linked them here so I can remember them when I need them, & so I can share – maybe you will do some & let me know your favorites. Most of these workouts include interval training – alternating bursts of higher intensity with lower intensity workouts. Interval training burns more calories, improves aerobic capacity, and alleviates boredom. Great benefits!!
Here are a few workouts to try:
The bike, elliptical & treadmill cross training event
The 2000 calorie workout (treadmill, one week, assorted workouts)
Run/Walk: The 20-Minute Treadmill Hill Workout
20-minute 300-calorie workout
Lindsay Price’s Treadmill Workout
Burn 500-calories with Treadmill Intervals
And Fitness Magazine’s 25 Best Cardio Routines including a couple of the above
Running Planet’s Treadmill Hill Workouts
Runner’s World Treadmill Workouts
And from the vaults of my memory, here’s a happy workout that will let you know you’ve torched a ton of calories. Walk at a comfortable & brisk pace. At 1 minute, increase the interval by 1.0. Add 1.0 for each minute until you reach 10.0. Then decrease by 1.0 each minute until 5.0 & then start back up & then all the way back down again. Walking at 10.0 is difficult enough for me that a walking workout is plenty for me.
And after we have done all of this running we can stretch - http://www.runningplanet.com/training/dynamic-flexibility-stretches.html.
Happy running, jogging, or walking! My next adventure is the Tybee Island half marathon. It  is just two months away, not that I am stressing out or anything!

Mud Pie Heaven

 

I wanted to make a special Christmas dessert for family night, so I tried this one from Sister’s Cafe. While you’re there, notice how beautiful all of their food photography is! My piece looks half eaten. This recipe is definitely not DJ-the-trainer-approved. But it received two thumbs up from all five members of the family!

Mud Pie

1 package Oreo cookies

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 gallon peppermint ice cream (we used Publix Peppermint Candy), keep frozen

1 jar hot fudge

1 container Cool Whip, mostly thawed

Crush Oreos (I used the food processor) – mix with melted butter. Press into bottom of 9x13-pan. Slice ice cream into 1-inch thick slices & arrange in pan. (This is such a great idea! Even layers & you don’t have to melt the ice cream!!!) Smooth out with a butter knife or frosting spreader. Add layer of hot fudge (unheated). Top with Cool Whip & crushed Oreos. Keep frozen unless serving.

I had problems cutting the pie without making a mess. I started dipping the knife in hot water before each pass & it was MUCH easier. Enjoy!

Calories? … do you really want to know? 24 small servings or 12 large servings.

12 large servings, 525 calories, 29 g fat, 75 g carbohydrate, 6 g protein. If you want to work it out, you have to go to a spinning class & sweat everything out for an hour.

It sure tasted good though…

Gingerbread Houses… a lesson in patience?!!!

In an effort to have a more meaningful holiday season, we asked the kids what traditions they like & what doesn’t matter. The only thing they mentioned was gingerbread houses. We have done this once! Funny, huh? Reading the scriptures & other meaningful stories, going to see the lights, baking goodies for family & friends, singing carols, and everything else – and they remember the gingerbread house that we made last year. OK.

I took Jared to AC Moore (craft store) with me & picked up a kit. The kids expressed that they wanted the biggest house possible. (Of course (boys) would we expect anything else?) We bought the kit & unveiled the pieces. It was too small. So while out & about today, I saw another bigger kit (with fondant!) and brought it home. I found my Wilton cake decorating kit that I’ve only used 3-4 times in a short period of time. (yes!) I made the icing & carelessly schlopped it into the pastry bag. (Have I mentioned that I hate having sticky fingers???)

The directions said to assemble the house. (Wait? Did I assemble last year or just decorate?) I don’t remember ever doing this before but okay … the roof broke in half so I repaired it. House number one is structurally sound.  My fingers are gooey & the icing is oozing out the top of the pastry bag onto my hand & the counter every time I use it. On to house #2 … Put the walls up & let them set. Check to make sure the roof fits… too small! Try to make it fit. Break the back in half. Glue it back together. Let it dry. Wash hands. Try putting the roof on again. Break the back in half…

Did I mention that meanwhile Christopher & I tried (successfully) to charge the van’s battery after the interior lights were left on all night? Luckily, the van starts fine now.

And I am resting… and contemplating going to Publix & buying a preassembled house from the bakery department.

Why am I doing this? Because most of the magic at our house has died down, except Jared is so excited that he has been carrying the box around & talking about the gingerbread house & how he’s going to decorate it for days and days. I guess this is why I do a lot of crazy things … because I love to see my kids’ delight.