Merry Christmas & other things

Well, Merry BELATED Christmas!  We had a lovely Christmas & was getting ready to be part of a friends wedding and we got hit with a flu that took my family of 5 DOWN hard!  Sheesh.  My oldest got it first & usually he can be sick & no one else will get it.  Then my other son got it, then my daughter & me and now my hubby.  It's taking a while to get over it but I can honestly say I feel the upswing happening. 

Christmas, as I said was lovely.  Christmas Eve we had our yearly Wagilia traditional dinner at my sisters then we went to church.  Christmas Day after opening presents & just relaxing we walked next door for a fun time at our neighbors house.  So much fun to have neighbors you can hang out with and just be yourself!  We have a few of them & are so blessed!

Thursday was the rehearsal for a friends wedding & my daughter was asked to be one of the flower girls with her little friend being the other.  We were so excited.  Then we woke up the next morning with 103deg fevers.  WHAT??!!  I'll be honest I was in COMPLETE denial.  I don't get sick.  This flu wasn't being discriminatory at all.  All day I walked around with a pit in my stomach that my little girl wasn't going to be able to do what she had been looking forward to for so long AND I felt like we were letting down our friends.  My prayer since then is that they are healthy & well on their honeymoon.  I found out other friends from church have also fallen to this bug.  Just nasty.  A friend asked if we had gotten our flu shots.  I can be honest -- I have never had a flu shot.  Ever.  I just always felt that my body could build up resistance huh?  Well, after this I may rethink that!!

Today is my beautiful princess' birthday.  I can only post this picture because of how sick we are, she just wouldn't have any other picture posted :)  She loved getting her little girly presents & playing for a little while with them. 

 

We are looking forward to bringing in the New Year healthy & blessed. 

 

What are some things YOU are looking forward to in this New Year? 

 

Be Blessed & Healthy!!!!

 

 

Christmas Prep

Ah, Christmas is upon us.  There are so many yummy foods to look forward to right now.  My family follows a Polish tradition for Christmas Eve called Wagilia.  Ours is a 7 course meatless meal that, may I say, the older I get - the yummier it gets :)  Nowadays even that has to look different for me with not being able to eat gluten.  We have soups, noodles, perogies (YUM!), fish and a very scrumptious apple rice strudel.  That is just ONE meal! 

We also have a cookie tradition.  We make lots of them & have cookies platters coming out our ears.  That is what I have been working on lately.  Making cookie doughs so this weekend I can bake.  I also made banana breads today.  We like to hand out cookies plates to our neighbors & special people in general :)  I am really looking forward to that part.  The giving :)

We are also invited to our neighbors on Christmas Day.  REALLY looking forward to that!  Usually we are the ones to have lots of people over for the different holidays.  We get to be guests this time.  It's something to get used to but I think I can handle it.

Christmas Day we have a Happy Birthday Jesus cake that I found a recipe for a long time ago.  It's cute the way there are different colors that mean different things throughout the cake & we talk about them with the children gathered.  It's fun for sure.

So, this is just the Christmas stuff.  I won't get into the New Years Eve meals :) 

My plan, and we definitely need a plan, is to continue my workout schedule maybe with some adjustments so I can still enjoy my family time.  I won't be skipping any meals.  That doesn't work AT ALL in regards to weight loss.  I will be good about my portions also.  The cookies?  Yeah, I might have to run a little longer to run a few of them off but I will schedule that also.

What are your Christmas traditions?  Anything that goes way back in your family?

Be Blessed & Healthy!!!

P90X - Complete & Results

Sorry this took so long!  I thought I hit "publish" but I must have hit "save" -- duh :)

I have finished.  When I first decided to actually do the whole 90 days of P90X, instead of just picking out the workouts I wanted to do each day, I got nervous!!  I'm not positive why but I'm so glad I did it.

Doing the scheduled workouts for P90X is good for a couple reasons.  Having a scheduled workout for the next day is REALLY a good idea.  There is no guess work.  You KNOW what you are going to do & you get up and do it.  Knowing that Tony Horton has a plan & seeing that it has worked for so many people also helps.  Muscle confusion is a real thing as far as I'm concerned now.  It sounded good before but now that I have done it I have to agree with him completely.  There is a comment in one of the workouts "he's not loose in the cage anymore".  That is how I feel.  I don't have the ab definition YET but I can feel a big difference.  I feel alot more stable also.  Like I have more control over my movements.  Not as weak, to be sure. 

I did not change my food/eating lifestyle to match the P90X plan.  That was the only thing I didn't do.   I kept track of each workout & used my workout sheets to track my reps, etc.  That makes a HUGE difference for me.  It was so nice to know how many reps & how much weight I used the last time I had done the workout.  I can see for myself now how far I have come.

Ok, now for the numbers.  I didn't lose alot.  Not sure I have alot to lose in the first place.  I know the # (weight) I would like to be at but I'm not going to fool myself.  I like that I saw inches coming off though.  My clothes are fitting different and while that may not be because of weight lost my body is changing with muscle instead of jiggle :)  My husband has noticed changes as well & has been very nice to share them with me.  He said my shoulders are more defined for sure & he sees a difference in my waistline.  Remember, I wasn't losing any inches in my waist in the 1st 2 phases.  It was only in the last phase that I lost 1" in my waist.  I'll take that!!

My final phase I lost:1-1/4" and 4lbs

Total P90X - Lost 9lbs & 8"

I will call that successful. 

Now for those of you that say you have no time to workout like this I will tell you this -- You make that choice what you have time for.  The longest P90X workout is 1-1/2 hours.  Yes, that is a long time (that is the YogaX DVD).   He has broken it down into 2 segments (my opinion).  The 1st 45 minutes is the workout to me.  The 2nd is more of a relaxing/stretching time.  Both are so very important.  The other workouts will take you about 1hour & 20 minutes.  Are you worth that time?  Yes you are!  Don't sell yourself short.  You CAN do this! 

Now, I'm getting geared up to tackle ChaLEAN Extreme.  I am looking forward to seeing how this differs from P90X. 

In the mean time I have gone back to my Chalene TurboFire favorite.  Fun & Sweat wrapped into some serious working out!

Have you tried a Beachbody workout before?  Which one?  What were your thoughts & results?

Be Blessed & Healthy!!

Book Review: Come To the Table by Neta Jackson

Let me start by saying I LOVE Neta Jackson's books.  I have been a huge fan since the Yada Yada Prayer Group series (written with her husband Dave Jackson).  When I received this book in the mail to review I took about 0 seconds to open it & start reading.  The way she writes just draws you in & you feel like the characters are your friends by the time you are done.  I never want her books to end & can same the same for this one.  I am very much looking forward to reading more about the characters in this series Souled Out. 

Read on to get HOOKED!!  It's available TODAY!  http://www.amazon.com/Come-Table-SouledOut-Sisters-Novel/dp/1595548653/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1355256821&sr=8-2&keywords=come+to+the+table

From the author:

TODAY'S THE DAY! "Come to the Table" officially releases today (Dec. 11), just in time to stuff those Christmas stockings. If you haven't already got your copy, enjoy the continuing saga of Kat and Nick and Rochelle and the SouledOut Sisters! And let us know what you think.
 

About the book:

Kat Davies is suddenly wondering if her good deed was a bad idea.

Kat may be new in her faith, but she's embraced the more radical implications of Christianity with reckless abandon.  She invited Rochelle -- a homeless mother -- and her son to move into the apartment she shares with two other housemates.  And she's finally found a practical way to channel her passion for healthy eating by starting a food pantry at the church.

Her feelings for Nick are getting harder to ignore.  The fact that he's the interning pastor at SouledOut Community Church and one of her housemates makes it complicated enough.  But with Rochelle showing interest in Nick as a father-figure for her son, their apartment is feeling way too small.

But not everyone thinks the food pantry is a good idea.  When the women she thought would be her biggest support just wants to "pray about it," Kat is forced to look deeper at her own motives.  Only when she begins to look past the surface does she see people who are hungry and thirsty for more than just food and drink and realizes the deeper significance of inviting them to "come to the table".



Be Blessed & Healthy!!