Exercise Vlog: Part 1+2

Yesterday I posted a great exercise (click here if you missed it) for strengthening and toning your hamstring muscle(s) that run down the back of your leg from your bottom to your knee.  Today, I'm going to give you an exercise that helps work the glute (bottom) muscle and it can also be done in the privacy of your own home.    I used an 8 lb dumbbell and typically have my clients do 3 sets of 10-20 repititions. Feel free to start out with less weight, maybe a 3 lb or 5 lb and maybe 2 sets of 8-10 reps.  While you are doing it, make sure to keep your abs pulled in to strengthen them and to support your lower back.

Dumbbell Glute Raises

On a side note, my friends Lyndsey, Erin, and Diana have all mentioned to me how hard it is to find time to exercise now that they are moms. We filmed an example of an exercise you can do that gives you face to face time with your little one and gets in some strengthening and toning for the butt and arms. If you don't have a child, you can still do this but you'll use some hand weights instead. 

Mommy Squat with Overhead Shoulder Press:

Try it out and let me know what you think! Don't do too many if you haven't been exercising or you may end up crash landing on the potty tomorrow! ;-)

Exercise Vlog

Lyndsey requested a good exercise for toning the bottom and back of the legs but, in exchange, she had to be my "demo girl".  I have a great one that I thought I would share!  You can do at home with just a mat (or towel) and a stability ball.  We've got more fo' ya if you like them and want more like this...

Hamstring Curl on the Ball...

Part B to this lift...coming tomorrow!

Our friends, the McCormick's, are on vacation and we are watching their pit mix, Abby, and their pug, Frank.  It's been a quite the adjustment, even for the dogs. 

Meet Frank...

FRANK THE TANK

All week Frank has been comfortably sleeping in his bed.  Until last night.   For some reason, when I told all of the dogs to get in their bed, Sam quickly raced to get in Frank's bed, leaving Frank a bit confused. 

SAM IN FRANK-THE-PUG's BED

For a while, Frank kept walking up to Sam, sniffing the bed and nudging at Sam.  Most recently, when I walked through the room, I saw the final outcome and had to laugh. 

FRANK GIVING UP...

Pretty stinking cute...

Weekend Conversations...

DW was out of town all last week for work and I really missed him.  While I don't like it when we are apart, it is a great opportunity to see what my days would look like without him and I don't like it.  These brief periods apart really renew my love for our life together and what a sense of humor he brings to our relationship.  

Since he was coming from Mississippi and I had to work in Birmingham on Saturday, we decided we would just meet there for the weekend.  As I was driving to meet him, I drove under a bridge near his home town and noticed it had a girls name spray painted on it. We were talking on the phone and I say to him, "Do you know who Tracy Dobbins is?"  "I know of her, why do you ask?" he says.  "Because the name sounds eally familiar to me. It rings a bell for some reason." I reply.  "Well, you didn't hear it from me. I haven't thought of her since I left high school."  I hear him pause for a second and then start to laugh before he says: "Ohhh, there is a Dobbins Rd, which might be why you remember the name." I blush, suddenly realizing where he's headed with the conversation.  "Dobbins Rd" was the location of our Redneck Rendezvous several months back. I absolutely died laughing when he finished by saying proudly, "The name of the street 'rings a bell' because you got your 'bell rung' there." Nice, DW, really nice.

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While we were in Birmingham, we spent the night so I could see my favorite little girl, Liz, and she felt like I was sick and needed some TLC.  Even though I didn't know where this toy thermometer had been and I tried to avoid having it in my mouth, she felt like I really needed my temperature taken.  She put the hat on my head so I could sleep and, of course, I needed a bib so I didn't spit up on myself. 

The next morning in the shower when I pulled my hair out of the messy up do I had going and bent over to work the conditioner to the ends of my hair, a plastic toy coin from Liz's grocery store cash register fell out.  As I was telling DW the story, I said, "I was like, Where the heck did that come from?" He didn't even have to say anything, he just raised his eyebrows...the combination of bending over and a coin falling out was just too easy, even for him. 

Leave it to me to hand deliver a joke at my expense...ha!

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We drove back home on Saturday and decided a perfect night would be just to be at home, hanging out on the couch.  I decided to do a clay face mask and when I walked in the room, my face covered in white goo and sit down, DW looks at me for a looooong second before saying: You sure woulda made a pretty clown!

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Later in the evening...

"Lets have breakfast for dinner, I suggest.
Ok, when? he asks.
I shrugged and said, I'm not sure. I'm not hungry for dinner yet.
Well, that's perfect, he says, since we are having breakfast.

Heat Wave...

Yesterday, I ran some errands to the post office, to buy some stuff for work, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary but I literally felt like I was going to burst into flames any second it was so hot! I finally ducked into a public restroom in Barnes and Nobles and stripped off my undershirt & put it in my purse! Ha! I felt really classy, but hey, when you are sweating like 3 men...you do what you have to do. I really think I only like Spring and Fall. If there was a place where the weather went from Spring to Fall and back, I'd move there.

Speaking of bursting into flames, one of DW's former co-workers posted this quote yesterday and it really has been sticking in my mind:

Success is never the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. - Arnold Glasow

I'm so the type of person that whats things yesterday and this was a great reminder that Success doesn't happen by accident. As long as I continue to work hard and take those baby steps, that's what it's really all about. Just have to work on remembering that more...

I found an article in Andrew Weil's "Healthy Eating" mag from Fall 2009 that talked about the labels that are on food now and what they mean. Several of them really suprised me so I thought I'd share a few of the "less-reliable labels" that were listed:

"Antibiotic free" found on dairy, eggs, & meat: this term is banned by the USDA but they do allow producers to label meat and poultry with a "no antibiotics administered" claim. However, there is no system in place to verify these claims.

"Free Range" found on beef, chicken, & eggs: this term implies that the product comes from an animal that was raised in the open or was "free to roam". The USDA regulates this claim on poultry but producers can qualify with as little as 5 minutes of "free roaming" per day. Additionally, the USDA doesn't even regulate this claim on beef or eggs.

"Hormone Free" found on meat and dairy. There is really no system in place to verify such claims. The US has banned the use of hormones in hogs and poultry so products labeled "no hormones administered" aren't any different than those without such labels. Save your $$$$$.

"Natural" found on chicken and meat. There really is no definition on what this term actually means so this label has little meaning. It might imply that the food does not contain any artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, or other ingredients, and is only minimally processed but there is no system in place to verify this.

Best option: look for the USDA ORGANIC label.

You can find it on beer, coffee, dairy, frozen, and processed foods, grains, meats, produce, shrimp, & wine. It means that this has been certified by the USDA and food with this label cannot be grown or raised with synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, antibiotics, sewage sludge, or use genetically modified crops. USDA organic food cannot be irradiated. Organice animals much be fed 100% organic feed without animal by-products or growth hormones.

I don't know about you, but I thought I was doing good when I had the "natural", "no hormones added", "free range" labels. From now on, I'll shop smarter and save my money!!!

Pro Picker

I had early testing yesterday morning before classes so by late afternoon, I crashed and burned. My 20 minute power nap turned into about 2 and a half hour power slumber because I just could not get up. I lay there awake for awhile and when DW walked by me, I stretched, reached out for him and lazily said, "Wow, I don't know what happened?! I slept SO hard." I continued, "I wonder why I can sleep so much better during the day than at night?" He tickled my arm with his fingertips and pensively thought about it. "I don't know", he replies. "Have you ever considered that you may be..." at which point he pauses for dramatic effect and nods his head seriously, "...a Vampire?"

I shake my head and roll my eyes...which makes him proudly laugh at his own joke. DW actually told me one time that he wished there was a job for being a "Professional Picker" because he thought he'd be the "best Picker in the world". This makes me laugh out loud just writing it. I also have to laugh thinking about how I always try to do the things he does to me like hide and scare him or sneak up on him and it never works. His response is always to say with a smirky grin, "You can't get the get-er, baby." LOL!

In other news, I'm waiting on a treadmill repair person who is 30+ minutes late and counting. I haven't gotten a single phone call to say he's caught in traffic or just plain running late...and he told me that I was the first appointment of the day when we set the appointment last week. One of the things I've found most shocking about being a business owner is how often I have contacted vendors for products, services, etc...and I have to basically beg to spend my money. I have to call multiple times, follow up and confirm appointments, request quotes that are promised and not sent. It's a strange world, people, when we are in a seriously struggling economy where everyone could use business and employees of companies blow off revenue. Maybe this is one of the reasons we are a struggling economy. People don't know how to work anymore or do what they say.

But I digress, I'm just getting on my soap box now and my Mama always says if you don't have anything nice to say, hurry up and say it really fast. Just kidding, I stole that line from a tv show I saw but can't remember which one at the moment. It was something more like, "Don't say it at all..."

Missing Coopy-Do

I've been missing Cooper especially bad today and it occured to me that it's been 3 months to the day since we lost her. I'm still not to the point where I can think about her and not feel heartbroken all over again.



I don't know what I was thinking, but I decided to go on the Consumer Affairs website to see if any more negative reports have been posted against Nutro and tons - with symptoms JUST like Coop's - have been added since I last checked when she was sick. I read them and just cried and cried thinking that had I realized it earlier, losing her could have been (possibly) prevented. I know I can't think about it like that, but it's sooooooo hard not too.

I wanted to post something about it again, not to be "poor me" but in case some reader is still feeding their pet Nutro and missed my post about it back when Coop was sick. I still believe it had to have contributed to our loss. I also wanted to make sure that people know that Mars Internati*nal, the company that bought Nutro, also owns Royal Canin, Whiskas, & Pedigree...just so you know.

Miss you, sweet girl...

Project & Pounce

Dusty was out of town last week for work and when he walked in Friday looking all cute, he had picked up a canoe paddle from somewhere. The first thing out of his mouth? "Turn around, you deserve some whippins." Um, no I don't I replied but he persisted, "It'll only hurt for a second..." which made me laugh. In the course of our marriage, we've learned that I (sometimes) have a "tone" issue when I say things even though I don't mean to. His solution has always been to just say "Whippins..." and it's our signal. Not saying it works perfect every time because we've had our discussions about it before but it's a pretty funny, neutralizing way to handle this potential conflict for us. This time, however, he just walked in feeling like doling out some trouble I didn't deserve.

Looks pretty threatening, doesn't he? ;-)

On Saturday night, we drove over to Adam and Lyndsey's house, who were house-bound with a sick little one, to hang out. The boys watched ALM while Lyndsey and I went hunting for some old, ragged out frames at the local Goodwill. I wanted to get some big old frames that I could paint and add in "screen" material so that I could hang up my jewelry and make a neat wall decoration. I have a kinda "vintage" room for one of our guest rooms so I thought I could make fashion meet functional. What do you think of this idea?


Once we got back from Project Frame Hunt, we sat down to grab a bite to eat and play a card game DW and I recently learned called "Pounce". It involves speed, skill, and being that we are all highly competitive people, we knew it would get interesting. After a practice round or two, we got to playing and hours later, after lots of laughs and when our eyeballs were blurry from staring at cards, we called it a night. Good times.

Lastly, when I called my parents for amnesty should my brother find out about my "Show Us Your Single Boys" transgression, I found out that my Dad had already thrown me under the bus and told him about it. I know he's super busy with work right now, but he promised he'd at least give it a look when things slow down a bit. Yay! I wasn't in as much trouble as I thought I'd be. After like 40 comments, he has no right to be mad, only flattered, in my humble opinion. ;-)

Now, if I could only get up the energy to hit the gym on this rainy Sunday afternoon! Instead, a nap is calling my name...

Show Us Your...

You know the phrase: Sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission...? Well, Kelly at Kelly's Korner is doing a "Show Us Your Single Boys" post and, although my little brother might kill me, I couldn't pass this one up.

Dallas area girls, I'm talking to you...

Adam is 29 years old, has a great job he really loves, is 6'4 and is a total teddy bear once you get to know him. He has a dry sense of a humor that sometimes takes getting used to and, best of all, an incredible heart. His biggest turn off? High maintenance. Over the last several years, I've really seen him grow as a person and I believe he'll make a phenomenal husband and incredible Daddy one day...he's just got to find that right woman.

Funny man...

Adam, DW (my husband), and I...

He loves athletic, quick-witted "good girls" so if that's you, let me know...and if you love Jesus, which is the first thing my Mom will want to know...I'd love to pass on the information if he doesn't shoot me first! ;-)

On My Mind...

So one of the things that I have to be in charge of as a new business owner is our marketing campaign. It's seriously my least favorite thing because I'm not sure what constitutes a successful marketing campaign. The catch-22 is that we are a "baby" in the sense of the business process so we don't have the funds to afford professional help just yet...buuuut if we had a successful marketing gig going in the community, it would probably grow our business faster and so we could afford it. Ugh...the joys of ownership. :-) I say that a with a smile on my face, though, because while there is a lot to learn and a lot to work through, I'm stoked to have this "problem".

Anyway, I haven't blogged in several days because, besides testing and classes, I've been slaving over what would probably take a person in the marketing field two seconds to create and a heck of a lot better than me. We are going to put an ad in a Game Day program for a local high school and, although I'm not sure we will get much business from it, it will help us gain some name recognition in the community (hopefully).

My masterpiece...ha!

Anyway, it is what it is...

In other news, Lyndsey from All Things Fluffy, Fashionable, & Famous came to see me earlier this week and we decided to go on a "walk & talk". About 8 miles in, our conversation slowed down enough for us to realize we were still about 2 miles from my house and neither one of us had our cell phones. You can be sure we would have called DW to rescue us because, at about the same point, we both hit the wall. Our feet, our knees, everything hurt...but man, did we burn some calories.

As an aside, Lyndsey has done the FitLab testing so we know how many calories she burns per minute and I do also, of course, and we both wore our heart rate monitors. Doing the same walk for the same amount of time, her body burned 981 calories and mine only burned 679 calories. Nice for her...stinks for me! But the good news is that we are calculating our info right and that means that we are both working off realistic expectations for weight loss and maintenance. LOVE this stuff!