"Trim the Fat" Tuesday

Last week I decided to keep the same goals as the week before. Here's how I did with them the second time around:

1. Drink 4 glasses of water a day. DID IT! Even this weekend I made sure to get my water in...WOOHOO!
2. Take vitamins EVERYDAY. DID IT! I almost forgot yesterday but remembered right before I fell asleep.
3. Work out with Jillian 3-4 times. FAIL. I worked out once with Denise Austin, which was okay. She's a bit too perky for me so after I get the workout down I'm thinking of muting her.

I will add that on Saturday we walked the length of two malls, a flea market and a grocery store so while I'm not counting that as a "workout" it was more walking then I've done in a long time.

I'm not going to make any excuses. It's something that I definitely need to continue working towards.

Next week's goals:

1. Drink 4 glasses of water a day.
2. Take vitamins EVERYDAY.

I'm keeping the first two so that I continue to make the right decisions everyday. I haven't included exercise in my list of goals because I'm off from work and will be spending time with my friends. I know that some our activities will involve a fair amount of walking so I'm not too worried about scheduling time to make it happen.

So how did you do this week?

If you are participating in "TTFT" don't forget to link up at Angie's place!

Sleepless Nights...

Lately my sleeping pattern has been all kinds of jacked up. Normally, I wake up in the mornings around 7-ish on the weekdays and go to bed between 11 & midnight.

For the last couple weeks, I've been falling asleep between 9-10 and waking up in the middle of the night multiple times Sometimes it's to go to the bathroom. (All this water I've been drinking has to go somewhere.) Sometimes it's because my hubs has gotten up early and he wakes me up. But most of the time it's for no apparent reason.

Last night I woke up at 3AM and vividly remembered the dream I was having. Let me be clear - I am one of those freaky people that dream EVERY night. Every. Single. Night.



I don't remember most of them unless I make a point to go over my thoughts as soon as I'm awake. The dream wasn't too significant but there were some weird things going on.

-I was in my childhood home which is typical.
-I was with an old friend that I haven't seen in over a decade and had no reason to think of.
-I was around 16 or 17 because I was old enough to drive. Even though in real life I didn't drive till I was 18.
-I was talking to a boy in WV. I've never had a boyfriend from WV, but we do have plans to visit our friends in West Va so I assume that's where that part came from.
-The boy was faceless. I have no idea who he was but it doesn't matter because that wasn't the important part of the dream.
-We had to eat dinner and my Mom, niece & nephew were there. You may recall that my parents were divorced before I was 16, not to mention that my niece & nephew didn't exist then. I guess those two were just too cute not to include.

All odd things, but the most important part of the dream was that I was talking on a CELLPHONE. I was texting on a CELLPHONE.

Apparently my cellphone is so important to me that I am now dreaming about it instead sleeping.



No freakin' way dude. But I do need to get some sleep...

Not tonight dear. I have a headache...

Not really, but I don't feel like blogging today.

And "I have a headache..." is a classic excuse among us women right?!

I usually just say I'm tired. Which happens to always be the truth. Because I'm ALWAYS tired.

Hence the lack of post today.

A-Z...Monday Meme

I had a lovely weekend. But my wonderful husband woke me up at 4:30 this morning so I'm awfully tired. Blah, blah, blah...on to the meme:

A -Age: 33
B -Bed size: King
C -Chore you hate: Bathrooms
D -Doughnuts or Kolaches: Doughnuts (IDK what kolaches are)
E -Essential start your day item: Going to the bathroom
F -Favorite color: Green
G -Gold or Silver: Gold & some silver
H -Height: 5'6"
I -Instruments you play: Not a one
J -Jokes or Rhymes: Jokes!
K -Kids: 2
L -Living arrangements: With S and the teen
M -Movie: Lots; I can watch just about anything.
N -Nicknames: None really. :(
O -Overnight hospital stays: Never
P -Pet Peeve: Stupid people
Q -Quote you like: "Those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."-Bernard Baruch
R -Right or left handed: Right
S -Siblings: 2 sisters
T -Time you wake up: I'm supposed to be up at 6:30, but I usually get up at 6:50.
U -Underwear: Clean
V -Vegetable you dislike: Asparagus
W -Ways you run late: Ways? Not sure, but it happens ALL THE TIME.
X -X-rays you've had: Just dental
Y -Yummy food you make: Everything I make is yummy!
Z -Zodiac sign: Pisces

He will always be Bad to me...

Even though his personal life was always under scrutiny and being judged, there's no doubt that musically he will always be known as the "King of Pop".

I can't tell you the number of times that my middle sis and I played his Thriller record, emulating his style. We even received glitter socks & a matching glove that Christmas. It was like hitting the lottery...

He was iconic.

And that's how I'll choose to remember him because he will always be Bad to me.

"Trim the Fat" Thursday

Last week I discussed my lack of motivation when it comes to exercising and eating right. I put myself out there and announced my goals hoping that it would help to move me in the right direction.

Eh...maybe not so much.

My goals last week:

1. Drink 4 glasses of water a day.
2. Take vitamins EVERYDAY.
3. Work out with Jillian 3-4 times.

The reality:

1. While I did drink water everyday, I only managed to meet my goal of 4 glasses on two days. Blah. I tried carrying water with me all the time & I cut back on the diet sodas, but that didn't seem to help. I'm just not a big drinker period - another problem in itself.

2. I did take my vitamins everyday, except for Saturday & Sunday. Apparently everything falls through on the weekends including this.

3. This was a complete FAIL. I only worked out once. One single time, when I thought I would die and subsequently went to bed at 9-ish.

Ugh. That was not a good attempt at meeting my goals at all. I admit it and I'm not going to make excuses for it. I suck.

I will not dwell on the bad though. This is a new week & I will work on the these goals for the next 7 days:

1. Drink 4 glasses of water a day.
2. Take vitamins EVERYDAY.
3. Work out with Jillian 3-4 times.

Yep, they are the exact same because I am determined to tackle these before moving on.

Persistence will pay off. Right?

Pig Pickin' Cake

A few weeks ago we rode our motorcycle to the lake and ate at a little BBQ place up there. I had something called "pig pickin'" cake while I was there and LOVED it.

Knowing that I would want to recreate it at home, I tried to figure out all the ingredients as I was eating. I assumed that the restaurant had given it the cutesy name because they served BBQ, never thinking that I could find the recipe online.

I really wanted to make it for our cookout on Sunday so I decided to try Google. And thousands of recipes with that name popped up. I choose this one from allrecipes.com but made it in a 13x9 inside of layers since I was transporting it.

On Monday S was bragging about my cake so last night I made another three (one recipe, smaller pans) for his co-workers and THIS time I took pictures to share.

Pig Pickin' Cake

For the cake batter you'll need:



1 box yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup butter
11 oz can mandarin oranges

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease & flour your pan(s). Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl for 3 minutes. Pour batter into the prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. (It was closer to 35-40 minutes baking time in a 13x9 pan) Allow the cakes cool completely before icing.



For the icing you'll need:



1 3.4 oz package of instant vanilla pudding
15 oz can of crushed pineapple
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1/4 cup flaked coconut
1 8 oz cool whip, thawed

Mix the pudding and pineapple; add pecans & coconut. Then carefully fold the cool whip into the pudding mixture. Spread onto layers and refrigerate.



Since my oven was already on and I knew that these cakes were meant for someone else, I went ahead and made a Paula Deen's Peach Cobbler too.



Damn. What a consolation prize.