Been awhile

So it has been a long while since I have posted. My life has been so busy that some things have just gotten neglected. To try to update, I have resigned as the Chapter Manager of VegasMommies and I have resigned as a PEL Manager for TMN. I am now officially certified as a Personal Fitness Trainer and I am working on my second certificate in Biomechanics. I have also recently began my own Tastefully Simple business. This last one is probably the most challenging so far. My very first party is next Friday and I must say I am a huge ball of anxiety. I have never really liked being in front of people, however, I guess I will be getting over that fear.

In the getting fit area, I have lost a total of 45 pounds since August, just completed a 6 week challenge where I lost 20 pounds of it, and recently ran my first 5k. I have learned to eat better, even though I still love my sweets. I still have about 40 more pounds that I want to lose and know that I will achieve it. I am feeling much better, learning to love working out and hating the days that I miss, developing a love for running, and overall, just craving a healthier lifestyle.

Mommy's Project 52:31 Singing

When I was little I loved singing. So much so, that often times, I would pretend to be a famous singer. Granted that fairy tail daydream never actually came to light because I have a horrible voice, but I still do love to sing. I now sing to my girls every night that I am not working. Well, here lately, I only sing to my oldest because my baby does not want her songs. I still cringe whenever I truly listen to myself sing without music to drown out my voice, however, it does seem to calm my children down when they are upset. If my singing is good enough for me, that's all that matters. I only hope I still have a few more years left of being able to calm them with singing.

Mommy's Project 52:20 Cooking

I love cooking, but I can be very anal about it. I love to try new recipes, but if that recipe has a picture with it I am in trouble. Even though I know the picture is air brushed so that it is flawless, I get it in my head that my meal should come out looking like that. Of course we all now that it never does right? Not exactly. This was a few years ago, but I had found a salmon recipe and it looked and sounded really good. So, I set out to duplicate it. And I did! In fact, I think it may have actually looked better than the picture. The problem...pictures can be deceiving. After working so hard to make sure things were perfect, the meal was finally done, table set, and my husband and I were ready to eat. One bite in and we decided that the meal was not as appetizing as it looked. We actually threw almost all of it away and ordered pizza instead.

Needless to say, I have somewhat learned not to go by the pictures. I still like for my meals to come out looking like the pictures, so now I just try to find recipes that do not have them.

Mommy's Project 52:14 Nap Time

So I am very late with the post this week...the results of being just a bit too busy right now.

This is a picture of a very rare occasion of my oldest actually taking a nap (granted it is from a year ago). She does not nap often so these moments are far and few between. Mommy thoroughly enjoys these rare times!!!

Back to school

Well, my life just got busier...I am finally enrolled in school again. It is all online, but it's still school. I am actually freaking out a bit. Studying, learning, deadlines, certifications, on top of all the other stuff I am doing. This means that I will be stepping down from my position in my mommies group, but I need to focus right now. I cannot have the added stress of other things, nor can I have the limitation of time because I have to take care of other things.

My husband and I are now on the road to our future and it scares the hell out of me. What if we have made a bad decision? What if we fail? What if we have nothing to fall back on? What if, what if, what it??? BUT... What if we make it and fulfill our dreams? What if we make this positive change for our family and get to where we want to be? What if we become better people from making this change? Bottom line, a lot of good can come from our decisions that we are making right now! This is going to be a positive thing, not only for me or for my husband, but for our entire family! These decisions that we make today will make our future better!

Mommy's Project 52:13 Bathing

Bathing...A time to clean yourself...or is it?

If you are like my daughters, bathing is a time to splash and see how wet they can make mommy! I long ago decided that it would be better to wear a rain coat in the bathroom whenever they take a bath simply so that I stay dry. I still have yet to do that.

Then of course, there are the dogs. Yes, they are "fun" to give a bath to. We have 3 dogs and they all weigh over 60 pounds with one of them over 100 pounds. There is nothing better than fighting a dog that is half your size to get into a bath tub and stay there. If you are lucky enough to get the dogs into the bath (one at a time of course), you can almost be guaranteed that by the time you get them all soaped up, they are out and running. No, bath time with them is not fun. In fact, so much so that it went from bath time to shower time a long time ago. So much simpler now.

My husband is a shower man. I don't even know the last time he actually sat in the bath tub. I think it is a man thing...

And me. I love baths. I don't take the to actually clean, that's what the shower is for. No, bathing for me is purely about relaxing. Light some candles, bring in a glass (or bottle) of wine, fill the bath with bubbles and the hottest water I can stand...Yep, that to me is bathing.

Mommy's Project 52:11 Rewarding

I could go into a lot of things that are rewarding for me. Raising my children, making a good catch at work, finishing a project that I have been working on for a while, etc. However, I think right now the most rewarding thing in my life, other than my children since they will always win hands down, is working out. I was really doubting myself when I started working out again. Especially after a couple of weeks when I was not seeing any weight loss. However, I kept at it. I have started to slowly see progress, not only on the scale, but also in the way my clothing is fitting, and my stamina. I never thought I would be able to run. Although I still have a very LONG way to go with running, I can now do the laps that the fitness instructor has us do. Granted, they are slow, but I am no longer walking. I have also noticed that my intensity is increasing. This is a recent development thanks to some encouraging words from the instructor to the entire class on what he expects. It has been hard, but it as been so worth it! I can now actually see me reaching my weight loss goals if I continue to work out. For me, working out is my reward...my reward to myself for working so hard to not fall apart with everything else I have going on in my life.