SOOOO HOT!

I haven't felt like doing much today simply because it's pushing 100 degrees!!! It's so hot I took the dog for a walk and nearly passed out ,if only I could get extra points on spark people for Heat LOL.Also my poor pooch looked drained today so I have been feeding her specially made food and plenty of ice water.Which is kinda funny because in the midst of taking care of pooch I forgot my own water. Thank God once again for spark people because it reminded me about my water intake.So if you can't tell I'm am not good in the heat.Oh yeah and my hair was like sweating ,(I didn't even know hair could sweat.) I just had to tell you about my strange experience with the heat today. Plus I can NOT be the only person who is totally thrown off by a massive amount of heat.. AHHHH that felt good now I'm going to take a nice cool shower ,drink some ice water and do nothing for the rest of the day....... Yeah right Now I've gotta finish laundry,cook dinner,clean house and hopefully have time to toss in a quick shower(the life of a Christian Homemaker !!!)

Weight-loss Update

Just wanted to share with you guys that it's been 3 weeks, last Sunday, since I started watching my calories and I've lost a total of 13 pounds. I am so very excited! What has helped me the most is logging my food daily on SparkPeople . I know how many calories I should be eating and it logs how many I have eaten.  I feel great and best of all, there are no food restrictions so I can just eat with my family, in smaller portions :-)

Blessing Journal!

So I have joined spark people (by referral SchI) It is great but it is showing me some things that I have been really skimping on in my life. One of the things that it tells me to do is keep a fitness journal. So as my sis and I  were telling each other about our goals on spark people ,Of course we began talking about how we had been blessed that day and SCH I gave me a great idea! Keep a blessing journal that way anytime I'm down I can look back at the journal and see how great GOD has been and IS in our lives. So fitness and Blessing journal it is.
Enjoy!
Oh BTW here's the first blessing : I was walking home from the pool ,I was hot ,tired and ready to go home. When all of a sudden I here someone call my name .. It's the courtesy officer asking me to help him lug these boxes and bags to the trash.AHHHH I guess so there I go walking to the trash, Then right as he is about to throw away a Brand New unopened 4 pack of wrapping paper . I yelp yes I yelp . He turned around fast and looked me into the eyes with a questionable look. I said you're not about to throw that away ? He said yes but you can have it if you want I reached out and almost yanked it out of his hands. Then he reached into one of the boxes and said if you like that ,you will like this. Then he handed me a large pack of tissue paper.Simple but sweet (plus wrapping paper is expensive.)

Cake mistake!!

Well as most of you should know by previous post my birthday just fell on the 19th of July. Well it just so happens that I have a close friend who has her birthday on that very same date.So being as money is kind of tight and I am already frugal to begin with I was thinking of what I should give her. I finally decided that a cake would be nice. She had told me in a prior conversation that she was a little upset that no one had made her a cake at work (considering they do a cake for everyone else.) So I was going to do this fabulous fun cake..(you can see a pic on one of the last post) Any who... So cake it is! Well timing was off and she had taken off to celebrate her birthday so towards the middle of the week I decided ,well.... it's only one person I can just give her a piece of the cake I had already made. Good there was only one piece left , I had assigned hubby NOT TO TOUCH!!! In the midst of me worrying about someone eating the cake ;I gracefully place the piece into the fridge.I was to give my friend the cake on Sat so being as it was Friday night I wanted to double check my work. To my terrible surprise I realized that I had placed the cake into the fridge without a cover . The cake is dried out yes DRY!!!! LOL so I told myself make another one it was 11o'clock at night I was not about to bake a cake,wait for it to cool,cut it,decorate it ,and cover it ALL for one person or a bunch a co-workers that didn't care to make her a cake to begin with... Ok that was snotty ..cool off ..where was I ?? Oh yeah so I had gotten a brilliant idea *cupcakes I quickly mixed the batter for cupcakes dumped them into a pan and baked 20 min later cupcakes. Needless to say I rain out of frosting But I had enough to do 4 beautifully fun cupcakes.I placed them in a dainty box and whoola. She loved them and well I got more frosting yesterday so cupcakes are about to be my breakfast, lunch and dinner unless I can find someone to had them off too.

Wish me luck LOL

AND DINNER IS DONE...

That above is a picture of our dinner for tomorrow night. It's healthy and frugal. Tonight we're having a family meeting at MiMi's cafe using the $100 giftcard we won at a church barbeque. I made dinner ahead of time because I used the leftover crockpot chicken from last night. I'll have the recipe for the herb crockpot chicken in the sidebar, so let me share how I created a new oriental style dinner for tomorrow night; I took a baking dish and poured into it a frozen package of Oriental-Style vegetables then layered it with the leftover chicken which was falling apart from being in the crockpot (I just love how tender meat is when cooked in a crockpot). I added a little ginger, salt and pepper to the top of the chicken. I then cooked up some brown rice to be served with it. I make quite a bit of brown rice each time I cook it because we eat A LOT of it and it's great to eat as sweet rice in the morning. I'll also include the recipe for sweet rice just in case someone doesn't know.

Getting blessed.....

Well I just received great news from my sis (schI)But first I want to build up the story ,I love doing that!! Ok first I got blessed to have a part time job at the complex pool(making sure everyone in there is abiding by complex policy.)A great job that allowed me to be very flexible with my time,while also making extra money to cover my rent.Well my sis was looking for a part time job but all circumstances were pointing her in the direction of home. (Which makes sense!)So I was very thankful to get a call from my Sis with good news.She got offered the same type of job with her complex and also The manager at the complex loves her personality sooo much that she also asked if she could work another job. Both jobs allow her to chose her own hours as well as take the children with her. I am so excited for her that was just absolutely wonderful news.I just want everyone to look at the many blessing that GOD has allowed in our lives. Also when I am in a hard spot and see no way out I just remember that God always knows a way out (He made the way out ) and in the long run everything will work out better than we could have ever imagined..

Got Instyled....

Hey everyone I got Instyled in more ways than 1. First my sister (schI) bought me the worlds best cookbook in the world. Number 2 My Hubby got my the Instyler for my hair(a hair accessory that I had been begging for.)I usually do my hair all natural which is a whole bunch of curls. Matter of fact I had never straightened or did anything with my hair. So this was a big day for me.Thank GOD for my sis because she Showed Told me the ropes.LOL Now my hair looks great ,my body feels great and I'm back on track. I know I know it's just a new look but a New look can transform your thinking BIG time! So I'm thinking positive and wondering how much stuff I can get done in one day.BTW yes I am making some wonderful food for my lunch and dinner.(For lunch I'm thinking marinated cucumbers and for dinner cream-sauced pasta with vegetables.

Happy Birthday Sis!!!

Today is my sister, Alonna's (SCHII)  birthday!!!! Yay!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Gotta Get On It

 I've been in the land of Neverending Busyness lately (well, the whole summer really). I just LOVE summer. I like hanging out with the kids and not thinking about school work or the usual rest of the year stuff. We've been trying to pack as much stuff into every single day as possible. Don't come over because we've used our mere minutes at home to leave a mess. Yesterday I was thinking how I'm looking around the house and it's NOT looking like a blessed place to be. I thought I'm not gonna sit down and plan out another packed week. I'm gonna use this week to get my house and myself back into shape. I started out by steam cleaning my WHOLE house (it took 5 hours) yesterday. I got up this morning and began making some bran muffins that I have been wanting but haven't had the time to make. While the muffins were in the oven I hopped over to Nan's blog and remembered it's Monday and she does a special post on Mondays. I kept reading and wouldn't you know her post was EXACTLY what I was thinking about this morning. Funny how that happens often at her blog. Anyway, she does this thing called Making Your Home Sing! Monday that you can find here. She talks about how she's gonna be a blessing to her home this week. I had to get involved. I'm just gonna get on it, chores and  cooking real food. We've been having picnic fare lately.  This week I'm gonna not only get back in the kitchen cooking, back in the gym working out,  I've made a chore list of must-dos that I've put off far too long. This week I will: get caught up on laundry, organizing the kitchen pantry, mopping hard floors and cleaning the baseboards. I feel motivated looking at this nice clean carpet :-) Below you'll find Nan's cute little Making Your Home Sing! button

I like to move it move it....

Yes I like that song it's cute.Anywho I got inspired from SCHIs post about all the things she was doing this summer. That helped me to want to do more ,to be honest I had done so well exercising and keeping up with things before the 4th of July vacation. But....So much has happened since I have been home that I have fallen off of my Get it done train. Well time to get back on track Plus unfortunately for my family I realized that If I'm not happy with the shape I or my house is in than I get pretty grouchy. It's just the truth so in order to keep my family and I in a happy mood I got to stay happy with myself. Whenever I am feeling  down I remember something good. Here's 1 thing I can definitely say made me smile. So my pooch was on the porch yesterday and all of a sudden started barking wildly . I knew it was about to rain,so I got on some comfy clothes and was heading out to sit with her(I do that when It rains because I like the rain and it calms pooch.)So as I was heading out the door BANG BANG BANG thunder and Lightening scared the "you know whats" out of  me. I told the dog to come on and we spent the remainder of the day enjoying each others company INDOORS! Also as I walked her afterwards she was not trying to get (her precious little paws wet) Yep she's prissy but it's cute. Back to work I go, now that I have my happy thoughts I got things to do,I realized another tip it's hard to spend time feeling sorry for yourself ,If you keep busy and have no time LOL .
Enjoy!

Summer in Pics.

I have been having the best time with my kids this summer. Anything free or cheap we've done. Beau Jr. has been having a blast with the youth group at church, all three kids are doing swim lessons on Saturdays, we've done farm tours,  attended birthday parties, gone to almost every park in the city and so on and so on. Here's a look (in pics.) of some of the things we've been doing

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sorry guys, you gotta turn your heads for some of the next pics. My camera went wacky at the amusement park

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Forget me Nots!

So with all the new things that are going on in my life I have began losing not keeping up with things.It's not even the unusual things I'm losing but the basic things I use everyday.I tried singing to the tune of hokey pokey ...Get my watch now and my keys today ,throw it in my purse and I will be on my way ....But I still forgot and even lost basic things. I mean I'd lay my keys down on a random table.Place my phone down on a bed where it was hopelessly lost within a mess of covers,while I prayed the ringer was turned on. Well the turning point was when I had a business trip......I was scheduled to leave for a business trip on Fri and travel back home on Sunday ,just a quick business trip.Well the trip felt days longer when I was about an hour from my destination and realized I had left my phone back at home.How on earth could I leave my phone at home. So enough was enough; I arrived at home to find my phone laughing in my face on the top of the sofa.I figured it out I found a clear place on top of a counter top ,wrote on a post it note everything that I take on a daily basis and stuck it to the wall in front of the counter.So I know I'll have all my basic essentials, also whenever there is something I don't usually need but need to have that day,I simply lay it by my purse on the counter top.I made a vow that there will be no more forgetting simple things LOL.  If you don't have a free spot on a counter find a small table.
Enjoy!

Health and Fitness Motivators

I just wanted to share some things that are helping me to get on track with my annual health and fitness goals. I have an extremely hard time getting motivated to workout. I feel like I'm way too busy to exercise so I wanted to let you guys in on some motivators...

• THE SHRED SISTERS - Those ladies are AWESOME!!!! They are just some average ladies who have committed to working out and are a great encouragers. For me, I like encouragement from regular, down-to-earth people, not some super-human exercise junkies. That's just where I'm at :-)
• Spark People - This is an awesome site that's absolutely free.  You can keep a food log and keep track of your calories, keep track of your fitness,... This site just has so much to offer. I've been keeping track of my calories on this site and it has been so helpful. The first week I lost 4 lbs. just by eating within my recommended calorie range.
• Dr. Phil's Cookbook - Now, I don't too much care for Dr. Phil. I haven't really seen him on T.V. but a few times, but when I did view him he didn't seem to be a very compassionate person. I could be wrong. I'm not really a daytime T.V. person to begin with. But his cookbook has quite a few recipes in it that won't break the bank when you go to buy the ingredients. The recipes are yummy and filling.

• A WORK-OUT BUDDY- I have a friend who lives down the street and I go to her house to workout a few times a week. We are both watching our calories and doing pretty much the same things. Also, she has three young kids as do I. The accountability is super helpful. Also, we have standing appointments to workout with one another so there's no getting away from exercising :-)

The Gift

No I'm not talking about the movie. LOL I am on the other hand speaking about my birthday gift.For those who don't know me, lets just say I do not ever ask for anything on my birthday.I feel like if someone wants to give me something they can without me having to make notice of it.So never the less  it has been over 5 years since I have really done anything for my b-day or received a gift.(I was blessed to have my parents come down one year and buy me 2 outfits for  work ,which was very sweet.)Ok I'm losing track I do that a lot. I enjoy calling up family or making/buying them the perfect gift.So I was surprised to hear my sis had bought and sent a gift to me!
TO ME! yes I was excited.oh yeah this is funny when the fed ex guy arrived at my house it was 0'dark thirty in the morning.I had on pajamas and my hair was doing a different style on each side(one side was... child who tried to pull hair back and then went on a roller coaster.The other side was ...forget a hair tie just straight Afro.)So guy knocks on the door and I hightail it into my bedroom pull out the 1st pair of shorts I can find run in the bathroom throw water on my hair and  answer the door.All that just to close the door and realize The water made my hair worse,and the shorts I chose were very wrinkled and 1 half of my shirt was tucked into my shorts.O well can't win them all.So I was excited to receive my package  I was about to open it buttttttt I have this thing where I don't open things ahead of time and since it's not my b-day I didn't want to ruin the surprise.So I wrapped it ,yes I sure did;I wrapped that puppy in some Hot pink wrapping paper wrote a little note to myself and called my sister. Needless to say sis is a little a Lot impatient.She persisted on me ripping open the paper and busting through the box. To no prevail she will have to wait. Heck she only has 11 days to wait ....lol I think she can do it!

You know you're tired when.....

You know you're tired when.......

• You get home so late that you bump into walls.
• You eat so much you can't buckle you're pants.
• You walk the dog so long you trip over air.
• You clean so much you can't stand the smell.
• You cook so much you're no longer hungry.
• You make so many homemade birthday cards you're seeing spots.

And you know you're tired when just the thought of doing all these things again wears you out......
Just a look into my yesterday!Please let me know ,when you're tired LOL!

Scout Camp

Bakari is in Cubscouts and having a great time. He's making friends and is having a load of fun. Last month he attended a day camp . I like to be involved in whatever my kids are doing and thought it would be nice to be a Group Leader. Since I was volunteering, the camp allowed me to bring along my other two kids to a "mini-camp" that they did just for children of volunteers. We all had so much fun, including my "mini-campers".

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The Other Man

 THIS IS A HUSBAND APPROVED POST :-)

I caught ya'll off guard with that title didn't I? Let me start off by saying it's not what you think.  My dear husband was growing his hair out.  He was doing it because he was a little self-conscious about his lack of hair in the middle of his head.  The bald spot doesn't bother me at all but when you start growing your hair out it kind of  looks as if all the hair your growing is running away from the bald spot.  Now, I'm not liking the hair too much.  I begged and pleaded with him to get a hair cut.  He would not! We went through the whole pinky-promise thing and everything.  Still no hair cut!  Then he had the nerve to ask me to put his hair in a pony-tail for him. That's where I draw the line!!! Now how could I lovingly let him know that the hair had to go?  I went bible on him.  I reminded him how his body was not his own and MY (his) hair needed to be cut.  He FINALLY agreed to a hair cut.  He left to get his hair cut while I stayed home with the kids.  You would not believe that I thought a stranger walked through my door when he had gotten back.  My husband had gotten his hair cut and looked EXACTLY like when we got married! He was so handsome. I could hardly take my eyes off of him.  Everyone complimented him on his hair. He looked like a new man. I told him that he looked so different that when I kissed him it kinda felt like I cheated on my husband with another man. We both laughed so hard. Yeah, he's "The Other Man". He's already everything I could ever ask for in a husband and the his new look is just a little bonus.

keeping it Moving!

Well I'm sure you probably noticed there was no post for yesterday(heck I just noticed.)So I wanted to tell you all about my wonderfully busy day. First here's what my checklist looked like.

• Go to dollar store
• Go to bank
• Grab toy from toy store
• pick up products
• meet up with lady for appt.

Easy enough right LOL....But I forgot I have to drop off hubby before I go to pick up products,(products=some dog food,certain vitamins that I take and other necessities I get from 1 particular place)Well I had to place an order first which in turn got lost ,so I ended up losing 2 hours of my time.After that I ran to the dollar store and Needed to hit the bank which was in a totally opposite direction lol. Needless to say I forgot to pick up my nephews birthday present;which reminded me I had to run by the post office and grab a box  to mail it.Soooo I ran back out the door and went to the mall,thankfully they had just what He asked for.I drove by the post office and  grabbed 2 boxes (1 extra for luck.) Now I rushed back to the house crammed everything into the box ,handcrafted a card and called to confirm my appt.Well the lady had to meet up early so... I cleaned the house as quickly as possible(the one thing my hubby asked me to do.)Unloaded the car of all the products threw a change of clothes in my purse and again ran out the door.I met up with the lady just in time to rush away from there,pick up husband and arrive at a part time job, Whoosh now I'm not complaining I actually loved it, I think because I completed every task that I needed to.I just wanted to let you all know what I did I hope I didn't bore you AND please tell me about your busy experiences.

Enjoy!