Calorie Counting

One of the girls on my roller derby team introduced me to this app for the iPhone, called My Fitness Pal. You basically enter a little info about you and your lifestyle, and then it creates a program for you. And its super easy to enter what you're eating into it. I decided to start using it because I want to be at my peak physically with derby. Its definitely hard work keeping up with other girls when you only skate 3 days a week for 2 hours. But in the past month I've added 5 days at the gym also. I started doing zumba, cardio circuit, running on the treadmill, the elliptical and an ab class. All this is great, and I feel good, but what and how much I eat will eventually affect my results. If I'm just eating whatever I want whenever I want, am I being counterproductive to my goals? This program on this site or app, its really nice though. I enter my work outs and it will adjust my caloric intake for the day. Its amazing to see how quickly the calories add up, so I'm watching it and being careful, because I want to be in the best competing condition I can be. I don't want to call it a diet, I'll call it a lifestyle change.

The day after Xmas

So Christmas day has come and gone. That morning the kids woke up, and we got them all ready to go in the living room. They wanted to run straight in there of course, but it just doesnt work that way for us. Mommy and Daddy need time to at least put their glasses and contacts in, hahaha. Also, I needed time to run and grab the camera. When we got there finally, they were totally excited.

Desi wore her shock face for a few minutes.


Then they proceeded to investigate. Parker had to make sure Santa ate his cookie, while Desi followed up behind him making sure that the reindeer ate the celery she left out for them.


After everything got their approval they started checking out the gifts Santa left. For the record, Santa doesn't wrap in our house. That is probably my way of being lazy, but I don't care. Its usually a good way for me to get out of wrapping really big things. Parker got his train table, with Batman toys we'd set up on top. Desi got her art easel, and a puppy toy she'd asked Santa for 3 times. Then came time for them to begin unwrapping. They got several cool things.

Parker got the Star Wars Mighty Beanz carrying case and a two packages of beanz. I dont know exactly what they are, but they sorta remind me of bean shaped Weebles. Matt picked them out, because he said Parker just LOVED them in the store one day.


Desi and Parker, each got a new play doh set. Desi got a kitchen set, and Parker got an R2D2 set. They were so excited. Desi almost wanted to stop with presents and just go play with it.


Finally they were finished with gifts, and Parker wanted to play his new Rock em Sock em with Daddy.


While the kids played, I made breakfast, which was waffles as per Desi's request. Everyone ate, and I cleaned the house. I wasnt overly in a mood to do it, but I knew we had to go to Matt's parents' house still, and that could mean certain mayhem and doom to my work load, depending on what all they got for the kids. Last year, I ended up with 3 extra loads of laundry just from gifts alone! So I wanted a head start this year.

Well, we got to Matt's parents' house and had dinner. Then we went downstairs and it was time for gifts. Parker got a cool Batman castle, and a Stinky the Garbage Truck and a few other things. Desi got a HUGE wooden kitchen, this thing is amazing looking! She also got Dora blocks and a princess book, and again, some other things, I just can't remember what all they got, haha. But they had a ton of fun. Matt's parents also got 2 Wii games, to keep at their house for the kids. And for our family, they got an Xbox 360 and the Kinect with two games. It was pretty cool.

After gifts, we played Wii's Just Dance game and the Michael Jackson Experiance dance game with Matt's parents, and aunts and cousins. They were fun. Matt and I competed in "The Way You Make Me Feel," and "Tik Tok" and he won both. Later we did one more to a song he chose, "Wake Me Up Before You Go" and I won! I was so excited. Guess my 80's dancing is just better than his.

We tried setting up the Xbox when we got home, but I think its going to take some work and time to figure out. We haven't had a console in about 4 years, so we're probably pretty behind in gaming.

Xmas Eve Scrambling

This year's Christmas has been spread out a little bit for us, which works out great. We went to my mother's house tonight, and tomorrow we'll go to Matt's parents' house. The kids got a ton of things as usual. But most of it was practical things they enjoy, like coloring books, flannel button-up pajamas and dvd's (they watch TONS of movies). I was super stoked because I got two Hunger Games shirts, maybe I'll post pictures later. They are pretty awesome.

After we came home, we bathed the kids, and then said it was time for bed. Parker reminded us pretty quickly though, that we still needed to put cookies and milk out for Santa Claus. So he got them ready and set them on the tv stand. Desi got a piece of celery out for the reindeer. Now they are in bed, although they aren't sleeping yet. They seem to be needing more potty breaks and other various stall tactics tonight than usual. We got their "Santa" toys set up now, and Matt is having to build the two big items. We got Parker a really nice train table, which I found on clearance for $18!! Not too shabby, seeing as it was originally $75. Desi we got an art easel. She loves painting, writing and playing with playdoh.

Here's Matt working on the train table.


It will eventually look like this.

Abracadabra! You're a cow!

I spent yesterday ripping a zipper out of my husband's coveralls, and today pinning it in correctly. I'll sew it in later, not much motivation in stuff like that.

But Parker decided to put on his costume that I made him for Halloween last year. Its quite a bit shorter on him this year, but still fits overall. It made me smile, and he used the tail from his dragon as his magic wand. He then proceeded to turn me and Desi into whatever animals he could think of. :)

Hopefully back in the saddle

Been busy and bored and whatever else I could have been doing for the past forever months. During the summer I made several tiered skirts, as demanded by Desi, and a few for her friends for their birthdays. The nice thing about these, is they are made wide enough, and with an elastic waist band. So as Desi gets older and taller, her ankle and calf length skirts will become knee length skirts but probably still fit her around the waist just fine. I figure if they get a little too short, I can always just throw some leggings on underneath them. :)






I also made some hair clips/flowers to match the skirts.



Trying to prep things for Christmas, I decided I better get sewing. I wanted to try to do aprons and pot holders for people. I've finished 6 adult aprons, and 2 childrens aprons so far. I used 3 different prints for the aprons. Jana's a good model. She fixes herself up more regularly than I do, lol, so its better to take pics of her. Also Desi loves her mini apron. She's such a cutie.




The pot holders were easy, altho I cut so many out, that they've become a chore. I only did one full oven mitt, and like 3 of the fingertip mitts. I'll get around to making the ones that match the other aprons later. They are a cool thing to do with your fabric scraps, but I should have used a little more variety than cutting out enough for 8 fingertip mitts. I should have used some of it for zippered pouches or something, just to keep myself from getting bored.

Chocolate Nutella Turnover

I was eating Nutella when I lived in Germany between the ages of 2-8. I LOVE it. Its one of my favorite things, although I do try not to buy it too often. I like just putting it on a slice of white bread, folding it in half, and eating it that way. So, imagine how excited I was when I found this recipe for Chocolate Nutella Turnovers!

I was supposed to make these one morning when Terri was gonna come over. But "someone" overslept and didn't make it. So I proceeded without her. The puff pastry thing rolled out pretty easy. Nothing to it really I guess. Mine didn't stay in the square shape though, exactly, it was a little off. I filled the squares with the Nutella/chocolate mixture, and had to make sure not to put too much. It really does make it hard to shut if there is slightly too much. The dough is so thin at that point that you can't fill it and then push it down a little without breaking through. Anyway,
end result..... Ta Da!

They were very yummy. I think I prefer the Nutella chocolate, over the semisweet chocolate on the top. Its just not my favorite thing, I suppose. It was yummy, and I enjoyed the almonds. I don't think I could sit down and eat more than one at a time, so make sure you have friends, if you wanna try this. The turnovers DO reheat in the microwave well, so that's a plus!

Monkey Bread

So I've been slacking for a little bit lately. Busy with things, and doing simple meals or repeating the ones I've really liked. I ended up deciding yesterday to make Monkey Bread for the first time. I'd never had it before, and although I'd heard of it, I didn't even really know what it was. What it is, is ridiculously easy!

Monkey Bread
3 cans of buttermilk biscuits
1 cup sugar
2-3 tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1/2 cup brown sugar

First things first, preheat the oven to 350. Then, pop open the cans of biscuits and then cut them into fours (cut in half, then cut the halves in half). Then, put the white sugar and cinnamon in a gallon zip lock bag followed by all the biscuit pieces. Close the bag and SHAKE! They were all sticky going in, but coming out, they were each coated with sugar and cinnamon very evenly. Then I put them into a bundt pan. FYI, I had to drop my oven rack one notch. Not because the bundt pan didnt fit, but because the pan overflows once the biscuits start to rise.
So then we put the butter sticks into a little sauce pot, and get them all melted and liquidy. When the butter is melted add the brown sugar and mix it up really good. Then pour it all over the biscuits in your bundt pan.
Pop the pan in the oven and bake for about 30-40 minutes. I think I ended up having to go around the full 40 minutes. The biscuits rose up over the edge of the pan and were all puffy and browned.
You're supposed to let it sit for a little bit to cool, but unless its a cake, I don't really listen to that. Fair warning, the butter that didn't seep into the biscuits, may pour all over your counter, if the plate you are putting this on, isn't large enough. Little thing I didn't think of, but will definitely remember in the future. It was a sticky mess.

And TA DA! Its so yummy and so pretty. I'm pretty sure my husband thought I was crazy with all the "Oh my god! MmmMMMmMmm! Oh man!" sounds that I was emitting from the kitchen when I took my first few bites. Its to die for. I'm not a huge cinnamon fan, but this is absolutely to die for!
One thing I will say is, its a lot of food. It IS 3 cans of biscuits after all. So we barely made a dent into this, even tho my mouth wanted to keep eating it, my stomach just couldn't handle anymore. But maybe eventually I'll work out a smaller version of this so less goes to waste, if any.