Making potty room pretty

New look for the potty room

So, since we are planning on selling the house, we thought we should dress up the restroom a tad. We've had the towels for quite a while and the rug was looking very worn so it was about time. We went to Marshall's and found a lot of stuff that we liked. Photos to come....

Compost success!!

I'm not sure if I informed you, but I have been working on a lazy version of a compost. A while back, a coworker informed me of a simple and affordable way to start to compost. Instead of purchasing a $200 compost bin or figuring out power tools to construct an outdoor fenced in bin, I bought a plastic storage tub, drilled holes all over it and set it in my back yard. I started with some soil I had just to have something to start off with and then I added my kitchen scraps, coffee grinds, and some sawdust from my husband's ever growing pile in the garage. All of this, in the right measurement, breaks down and makes a material that your garden and flowers will love. It's not even hard work! The easy part about buying the bin (with the lid) is that you can just flip it over to turn it.... you don't even need to stick your hands in it!

Common misconceptions are that it stinks but I am here to tell you my sensitive nose did not turn away once I learned what NOT to put in and to always cover it with a layer of sawdust. What is it, you may ask, that I refused to stick in my pile of decomposing vegetables and fruit? Banana peels. I read that they take too long to break down and it ends up stinking up the pile. No good for me. The layer of sawdust that I mentioned helps ward away flies. It really works!

Anyways, there's my recent story I wanted to share. Now I need to figure out where I want to put the compost now that it's ready to throw in a garden or flowerbed.

I haven't given up!!

Well, I bet you were just thinking... "Celise has thrown in the towel... she's given up!" But I'm writing you today to say that I have not. Laziness has not won this battle.
Friends, I recently purchased a second-hand treadmill and it was the best purchase to date. Starting yesterday, I have woken up around 5am and hopped on for a morning walk. It's not easy but when I focus on the long term goal, it makes it a little better. They say after 21 days, habits are established if you keep it up.

Anyways... it's given me more energy lately. I hope I can keep it up.
I'm figuring out if I should start to document our building plans. Wouldn't that be neat?

Trixy being mean

I video taped Trixy being mean to Oreo. Watch as he comes up to Eric to give Eric the ball to toss for him. (Sigh) my dog can be such a meany.... a b-word comes to mind and it would be accurately used in this case, but I still won't say it. ;)

Chicken breasts with homemade tomato sauce

The past few days I had a recipe pop up in my head. It involved goat cheese, tomatoes, and basil over some chicken. So, since my brother just brought me roma tomatoes from his own garden, I went to the store to get the rest of the ingredients needed: fresh basil, herbs to season the chicken, chicken breast (mistakenly bought chicken tenderloins), fettucine noodles (or whatever noodle you desire), garlic, olive oil, white wine.

I put some olive oil on the chicken, then sprinkled herbs on them and salt. I let them sit there for a little bit while I got the water boiling for the noodles and prepared the sauce. I got a medium pan, put about 2 tbs of olive oil in it and then once it was warm, I added about 2 garlic pieces, diced up. Then added the roma tomatoes, sprinkled it with salt and added about 1/3 cup of white wine. Then after tomatoes got all saucy and mushy, I added the chopped up basil. I would say

about 1/3 cup of basil.

I put the chicken on a broiler pan to broil in an oven at 450 which might be too hot or I cooked the chicken too long because it was a tiny bit dry. After everything was ready, I placed noodles on the plate, fanned out the chicken tenderloins, covered it with the chunky sauce and placed little slices of goat cheese on top. Voila!!

New craft

I'm hooked!!! I needed a yellow necklace and while I was out on a search for something else not even closely related, I stumbled upon some beads at the craft store. My creative mind started thinking and I thought "how hard can it be to make a necklace?" So, I bought beads, called my mother in law who owns beading tools and made sure she would lend me the tools and stuff I needed. After work, I drove to her home and waited for her to arrive so I could pick up the tools and get a quick tutorial. Then I ran home, kissed the hubby, and spread out my new goodies. After trying a few bead combinations, I realized I should keep it simple and 1 color. Lo and behold!

It's not that hard to do it. You just need patience and a workspace that can be untouched by curious fingers.

Fell off the wagon (not literally)

Well, as you have noticed, there are not any new posts about jogging outside. That's because it's been extremely hot and I've gotten occupied with various other things. So, have I lost any weight? Technically, I'm not sure. I have not weighed myself and my clothes don't fit diferrently, so I don't think I lost any. :(
But I'll get back on the wagon. I'm going to try (like always) to eat a little more healthy. Maybe I will try the Special K plan next time I go grocery shopping.

Jogging in my neighborhood - good or bad idea?

Tuesday night, I tried for the first time to jog outside in my neighborhood in the evening since the morning just wasn't going to work out. It was 8:30 but there was a little bit of light left. I was able to do about 15 minutes and did about a mile.

Wednesday night (last night) I went longer. Despite getting followed (not necessarily attacked) by 3 dogs, I continued on. I half-jogged, half-walked for about 30 minutes which was an accomplishment for me. So, in total I went for about 2 miles.

After speaking with a new neighbor (who happens to be a retired cop) I learned some great things that I thought I'd share about jogging around:

• Take your cell with you in a fanny pack. I wasn't taking my cell in my pocket because it would get covered in sweat (eww!) and I thought after a few runs, my phone might go ka-put on me. I know, I know- fanny pack??? But seriously, who's trying to look trendy while jogging and covered in sweat!
• Carry MACE brand pepper spray with you. Unlike other pepper sprays, it's in a gel form so if it's windy and you have to spray it, it won't spray back on you and it comes out like hot gum. The perpetrator cannot easily take it off of his face which will allow you time to run away. Shake your pepper spray regularly and test it out just to make sure it's still good every once in a while. It works on vicious dogs, too. We were laughing at some people we've seen walking in our neighborhood with a stick. What can you do with a stick? Won't it make the dog more mad at you?
• Use your ears! It's best if you don't take your ipod with you (sigh) because you need to hear what's going on around you in case someone's coming up behind you or dogs are coming at you. This one's going to be hard for me because the music keeps me jogging.

That's all for now. Be safe out there!

Run Faster Without All the Work at Runner's World

Run Faster Without All the Work at Runner's World
I saw this article and thought it had some great tips for those who are jogging. Did you know we'll perform better if we exercise first thing in the morning rather than in the evening? And it encourages us to eat yogurt or some kind of immune-building supplement because exercise does take a toll on your immune system.

Not bad!!!

Welcome back from a day off! I hope all of you had nice weekends. I did. Even though I didn't get out to jog all weekend, I did walk ALOT yesterday at The Galleria. Walked so much my feet hurt a lot! There's nothing like trying on clothes to get you motivated to lose some pounds!!!

How did I do this weekend? Well, I was not too bad. If I ate something heavy or calorie-filled, I skipped dinner or only ate a snack. And even my "calorie-filled" food choices weren't that bad.

I am going jogging this evening after work around the campus. I brought all of my stuff and I'm prepped.

Old movie
We watched the movie, Shane, this weekend. It was an OLD movie that I had watched with my parents a long time ago. It was really neat to watch it again and my husband really enjoyed it. The young boy in it is really funny.

Day 3

Exercising with friends is always easier than exercising alone. Yesterday I walked with a friend. The time passed quickly as we talked while we walked around a high school parking lot in the evening.

Mornings are more difficult. I got up for the second morning in a row. I got up earlier than yesterday and looked out the window. It was still kind of dark and I didn't want to walk/jog in the dark. It's just too creepy even if I am armed with pepper spray. So, I waited and almost talked myself out of going but said something is better than nothing. So, I got outside and jogged for about 15 minutes. It's not alot but it's something at least. Maybe if I get out in the morning for 15 minutes and in the evening for 15 minutes, it'll help. What do you think?

Benjamin update!!

So, last night, my in laws sent me some new pictures of the cute little baby boy. Here they are:

This morning, too! (Day 2 of my diet and jog)

Well, I managed to get myself out of bed to attempt jogging this morning outside. I originally was going to jog by my work and shower in a random shower in our business school, but as I was driving to exit my neighborhood and saw kids walking to the bus stop. I said "if they can walk outside, so can I" so I turned around and parked and walked for about 16 minutes. I didn't jog as long since my legs are still weak and sore from yesterday but I figured I can consider it just acclimating to the area. I took pepper spray with me just in case a mean man came to cause me harm. It was actually kind of nice jogging around and hearing the birds chirp. I'm going again tonight with a sister and then I might go tomorrow morning, as well. We shall see how it goes.

First attempt at running

I did it! I got out there in the heat. It actually wasn't that hot. Took a huge water bottle which was kindofa hassle. Time: lil more than 45mins. Did a long stretch of just jogging. It was awesome. Im so tired now.

I'm on a mission! Day 1/20lbs to go

FYI- this is a private blog so only people I give permission to can read it.
Anyways, I got on the scale yesterday and saw that I gained all my weight back that I had lost. So, now I'm on a mission.

Goal set
I have a goal in mind. I want to lose 20 lbs. Since you have to have a span of time, let's say... 15 weeks. That's a little more than a lb a week which I think is reasonable.

How am I going to do this?
I am motivated to get my booty outside and go jogging. I think I found a friend to jog with me once a week and I have a wonderful running trail around by where I work. It's about 3 miles long, takes me about 45 minutes at this time. I aim to make it around there in 30 minutes. See, right now, I say "jogging" but 80% is walking and then a 20% jog (or what my husband calls "trot").

What about diet?
Well, I am going to do a diet for 2 weeks. Which one? Eeny meeny miney mo- I picked Special K. But I'm going to see if I can work around it and not use only that brand of cereal. It can be kinda pricey.

Who's with me!?!?!?!