This & That...My Silly Life

I apologize for my lack of blogging recently. Making time to work out in my busy life has taken away my blog time. This post will be short, because it's almost 12:00, I am tired and actually I am just waiting for a load of laundry to finish :)

It's been a rough week and a half for several reasons. We have lost 2 of our puppies in the past week to Parvo. We have been working out but off trying to keep the last two well. My evenings have consisted of force feeding and watering the last two pups and keeping a watchful eye on them. Right now we feel pretty sure our male will make it, he is quiet healthy. The last female is touch and go...she is weak but still making it, we are keeping our fingers crossed she is going to pull through. They have had two rounds of their shots but they could have been exposed before the shots entered their immune system so it was a losing battle. I have been so upset about it, but we have done all the right things and it's not in our hands. So everyone keep their fingers crossed for the two remaining pups they are definitely fighters!

Other than that the garden, pool and yard work have been keeping us busy. Today was grass cutting day, garden picking day and weeding the flower bed day. I am exhausted!!!

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My picks from the garden today...yum!

I noticed in the garden today that we have lots of new plants flowering. I noticed tons of tiny string beans and the butter beans are flowering. All I know is that is going to equal a TON of picking and a TON of shelling...not to excited about that part! We also have cantaloupe starting to bloom and I am thinking by the end of next week I will have tomato's and cucumbers ready to pick. I foresee a lot more work in the garden in my near future...I will let you know how I feel about that later (LOL)

The pool is crystal clear :) Too bad Mark and I spend to much time working to enjoy it :( I look at the pool every day and want swim so bad, but there are just not enough hours in the day. For example this evening I never set foot in the house until 7:30 this evening. By the time I cooked dinner I had to get outside to walk before I ran out of day light. It never ends!!!!

The diet and exercise thing is going great :) I think I have lost 3 pounds. I have not been in the gym but 1 day this week, but I have walked/jogged at least 4 miles every day. So it's good...just time consuming. I haven't had any type of fast food in 2 weeks now, and it is killing me!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss my Big Mac :( It's hard to cut out fast food, but I am managing. I had got away from eating a good healthy meal with veggies so now I eat veggies or starve. I eat the veggies...LOL I wish I could wake up tomorrow and have 10 lbs magically disappear, but that's not going to happen. Working out, eating less, eating well...too bad the results are not immediate, but I am going to keep going strong for the next month and see what happens.

Well folks that's it for now. The load of laundry is done and bed is calling my name. I have a busy weekend ahead. House work has to get finished up tomorrow night, because we are cooking out for a friends birthday this weekend and I am sure we will be eating at Marks parents house Sunday for fathers day. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend :)

In the garden!!!

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Growing beauties :)

You know I love the garden, but this week I am super excited! I have retrieved two huge Zucchini this week and have so many things coming to life in the garden. Woo Hoo!!! Yes, you are fixing to be graced with many pictures of my discoveries today....get excited!!!!

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Silver Queen Corn, growing big and strong

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A plant full of Squash

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these tomatoes can not grow fast enough...I want a sandwich!!!

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Spice it up with these yummy jalapenos

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a baby cucumber :)

It's wonderful that all these good veggies are growing so quickly, I need them for my diet!

The Weight Loss Thing...

So my last post was about working on my fitness. I am happy to announce a few things... Yesterday I stepped onto the scales at the gym (gasp) but to my surprise I am lighter than I first guessed. I weigh a cool 145 lbs. I was pretty happy about that. So I need to loose 10lbs to get where I need to be (in my opinion) and a extra 10 lbs would be just lovely ;) I have really been doing a great job over the past week in working towards this goal. I have been jogging, walking, swimming, major calorie cutting and yesterday was my first day back in the gym. Today I have mananged to eat only 800 calories and I jogged a mile and walked 2 1/2 miles. Not to mention I cut my part of the grass after work (push mower) and went swimming for an hour. My goal right now is to try to stay under 1000 calories a day and do some sort of exercise each day. I promise to be in the gym at least 3 days a week. I don't know how it is going to work out with the actual weight I want to loose. I am lifting serious weight at the gym so i will probably end up gaining weight. Note to self: take measurements to see how many inches are lost/gained by the weight lifting. Anyway, the jogging at the end of last week left me where I could barely walk up and down the steps to our house...LOL Then yesterday I way over did myself at the gym. I think I got a little weight happy and couldn't lift my arms all day. Hopefully they will be feeling better tomorrow so I can get back to it. My main problem is I can't do anything half way!!!! I walked and jogged tonight until my legs were jello...I could have gotten another mile in if I hadn't started so late.
So for now its all good on the diet/exercise track, I will keep you up to date on the progress.

Random other stuff:

Who knew...my pool is actually starting to look crystal clear (it has taken long enough) Just a few more chemical adjustments and it will be perfect.

The new puppies are growing fast and they are so cute. They have so much personality and I love just watching them play with one another. My sweet Daisy seems to be the ring leader of the pack. She goes to the food bowl and stands in the middle where the other pups can't eat. Don't worry I always stand in the pen and hold her for a few minutes so the others can eat. Let me tell you...Daisy is SERIOUS about her puppy chow (LOL) Maybelle is the quiet one of the bunch. She just sits back and watches everything, she is calm, cool and collected...she could care less what those other pups are fighting over. Then there is the last girl Shelby...she tries to stand up to Daisy the bully, but she always backs down. When she is lucky they team up to take over the food bowl. My one little boy Bocephus is the sweetest one of the bunch. He is the attention hog and always the first one to meet me at the door to the pen. If all the pups are gathered around me he just climbs over top of them to get to my hand and lick it...he's such a sweet baby.

Tomorrow is my brothers last day of middle school....man time flies! Next year he is onto the best years of his life. If only kids would believe you when you tell them these things!!! I can't believe how grown he is... Oh and by the way I love him and all, but I am keeping my fingers crossed for ONE B this time...geezzz I can't take another $100 A honor roll!

Well that's the update. Coupon match ups to be posted tomorrow.

Good Night :)

Since the beginning of the year I have been saying I was going to go on a diet. It's June and I have done absolutely nothing!!! A dusty gym key and a batch of cookies baking in the oven, no wonder I can't loose weight. I always say eating right and working out is so much easier said than done...I am sure several people can relate :) My husband lost a ton of weight about two years ago and he manages to keep it off which leads me to believe men loose weight faster than women. I know my weakness (fast food and sweets) I have a plan (in my head) so why can't I just put it into action hmmm I am going to chalk it up to being lazy!!!

I am not over weight by any means, just have a few (cough 20 lbs) I would like to loose. If I woke up tomorrow 10 lbs lighter that would be great...don't see that happening. So today I have made a plan. I figured if I wrote it on my blog I would be more likely to go thru with it just because I want to prove I am not a lazy blob of flubber. HA! I took my first step today by taking a walk/jog this evening and I think I made it a little over a mile. Yay! It would help if I actually knew how much I weighed but I honestly don't. I would guess no more than 150...gosh I hope not anyway!!!! In my eyes my perfect weight is 135 which would put me in a size 5 or maybe smaller...it's been a little while.

The Plan:

My goal will be to weigh 135 by December 31st. I am going to start slow and see what happens.

The major things I want to work on now are...drinking more water, cutting out fast food and STOP SNACKING!!! Then I want to make an effort to do some type of work out 4 days a week. Walking, Jogging, going to the gym or laps in the pool. We will see how it goes, but I have decided that if I want the result I am going to have to do the work. It's not fun but I feel it is necessary. At least Mark goes to the gym a few days a week so I am going to tell him to FORCE me to go with him. The last 6 months every time he ask if I want to go to the gym I always make an excuse...LOL I am also going to try to go to bed earlier. I think some of my problem is I am exhausted all the time so even though I am a night owl and never go to bed early I am going to try. I will shoot for 11:30-12:00 every night besides the weekends ;)

So there it is...I am going to hold myself accountable!!! Geez I think of all the times people told me that when I got older I would start to put on weight. I laughed and thought not me.

So that's it for now. Hope everyone has a great weekend! I am planning on laying by the pool (and swimming) catching some sun and hopefully getting my 4 wheeler a little dusty. Have a good one!!!!

Searching for motivation this week. I think I found it in a cup of coffee and a soft comfy couch...LOL So much to catch up on today so lets get to it!!!!

Memorial Day Weekend:

Hooray for a long weekend! This is the first day we have had off since New Years so it was much needed. I thought our weekend would be pretty blah and low key, but that is never the case. There was lots of work to be done around the house and garden this weekend and we managed to get everything done and squeeze in a little bit of time for good food, friends and family...who says you can't do everything? Saturday Mark and I decided to host a small cook out at our house. Grilling, music, corn hole friends and fun. We had a nice time hanging out and spending time with our friends. Sunday was fun day this week ;) Off to a cook out hosted by our friend Katie...same story different location. Lot's of fun!!! Sunday and Monday I relaxed by the pool and ended up with a mild sun burn. Quiet unusual for me...I never get burnt oh well I welcome the redness that will fade to tan. Monday night Mark and I went out to eat by the pond (a place at the mall) with my Mom and Winston we had dinner and ice cream afterwards. What a great ending to a long weekend. All of my favorite things :)

Puppies:

The next generation of rabbit dogs arrived at our door step on Sunday. Three little girls and 1 little boy they are so sweet and super cute!!! I guess that I should explain that our hunting dogs are beloved pets as well...they just have a little more purpose than the average pet :) I have been waiting for these puppies to arrive here for the past 4 weeks and we have named them all and they are settled in, now they just have to play and grow. Benny one of our males is the father of these pups and they are beautiful just like their daddy.

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So cute...my babies (Daisy, Shelby, Maybelle, and Bocephus)

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Look at those faces :)

Garden:

If you haven't figured it out I love the garden. I get so excited every time I see something new popping up in the rows or a plant starting to bloom. Your probably thinking...LOSER ha ha I don't care, once you work so hard on something you will understand. I walk through the rows almost every day inspecting every plant to see whats new. Today I have super exciting developments!!!! The garden has dried out to the point where I can walk down the rows without sinking up to my ankles in mud. We were worried that a few of the last seeds we planted had been washed away, but to my surprise today I saw the cantaloupes and okra protruding from the ground :) Some parts of the rows did wash out so we have some missing okra, cantaloupe, squash and cucumbers but for the most part our garden is looking very fruit full. I am almost done with the garden peas...I think I have about 2 good pickings left before they are done for the season. So here are all my discoveries from today.

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baby tomatoes...this is the first time in several years that we have had healthy looking tomato plants. Almost every plant we have has blooms or small tomatoes on them and we have at least 20 plants. Can't wait to sink my teeth into a tomato sandwich!!!

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Banana Peppers

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Zucchini

So you may be wondering what all we have planted in our garden. I don't know if I can remember everything without standing and looking at the rows, but I will give it a try. This year we planted all of the following things: garden peas, potatoes, silver queen corn, cabbage, black eye peas, snaps, butter beans, okra, squash, cantaloupe, cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, zucchini, and I am pretty sure I am missing something but that's all I can remember. I can't wait to start picking everything and having plenty of fresh veggies...yum!


Monthly Round Up:

Last but not least tonight my monthly round up for May. Not so great on the grocery shopping this month, but in my defense I do have a freezer full of chicken and these totals include our last minute cook out, which I did not have coupons for any of the items :( I spent $304.30 and saved $528.08 a savings of 63.5% I am not too disappointed, but not the greatest month of savings.

As for coupon match ups for the week...right now I have posted nothing. I have seen the Kroger and Harris Teeter ad for the week and they are not looking to hot. Tomorrow I should receive the Food Lion and Lowes food ad tomorrow so we will see what they look like. Seems like this will be a good week to take a break from grocery shopping. I will keep you posted.