I am truly a slacker...I won't lie to you! I haven't posted in a few days and that was the first slackerish thing I did and the second was not exercising last night. I know it doesn't seem that bad to you out there in the World Wide Web...however I will tell you that for me it was devastating. My goal is to lose a full 32lbs by May 5th and that is a loss of only 1.75 pounds a week. I don't know about you but that seems very doable for me since I am losing more than that now at about 2-4lbs in a week.

I have also been slacker on my laundry, dishes, sweeping the floor & mopping the floor. Yes my house is a disaster and now I am not happy with myself. However, I do have tomorrow to clean my house and redeem myself in the "domestic club." Right now though I am officially a part of the "slacker club" and I am not happy to be it's newest member.

What I will tell you is that I am happy to know that despite my slacker abilities I am able to pick myself back up and make anew my domestic woman title ;) With that said I am off to enjoy the rest of my Friday & I hope you too can share your "slacker" tendencies so I don't feel like a complete failure.

Healthy Eating: Chicken Sausage Delight Recipe (with Picture)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 red onion cut into strips
• 1 cup fresh green beans
• 4 tbsp water
• 5 tbsp chicken broth
• 1 link of Hillshire Farm Chicken Apple Sausage with Gouda Cheese
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup brown rice
• Morton's Natures Seasonings (or a mixed seasoning of your choice)
  

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in skillet on medium heat, add red onion and saute
2. Add green beans, seasoning (I eyeball this), stir together
3. Add water to skillet & cover, allow to steam for 5 minutes
4. Slice chicken sausage into pieces at an angle & add to skillet, brown all around
5. Add chicken broth & let come to a boil, turn down heat to simmer
6. Cook Success Boil in Bag Brown Rice
7. Place 1 cup of rice on plate & pour mixture from skillet onto rice.
8. Enjoy! Using exact measurements is only 427 calories :)

I had to share this recipe with you in hopes that I will prove my attempts at healthy eating and you might possibly join me too?! Now this recipe was actually and truthfully created on the fly when I just bought some random items Monday at the grocery store and blended them together when I went to cook dinner that night. You can always increase the amounts to double your recipe or increase the amounts even more for the whole family. I hope you like it and if you try it please take a picture and come back to comment and share if you like it or not...remember I like honesty!

Eating Healthy & How it Sucks!

Humph, sigh, grrr! Eating healthy is hard & it sucks, literally. I want so badly to be healthy, feel better, look better, enjoy my body, play with my kids without something hurting or being out of breath. Exercising in my house behind the closed doors and curtain covered windows is soooo easy, but when it comes to eating healthy the word "difficult" does not even begin to describe the trials of this change.

I am not an alien to vegetables or fruits in their fresh or natural form, nor am I a fast food/junk food addict. Do not get me wrong I love me some Zaxby's or Wendy's every now and then and not all vegetables I eat are fried (even though I was born and raised in the south). However, I have as most all humans born in the 20th or 21st century, become somewhat accustomed to our processed, sugar soaked, salt covered boxed foods that giving them up for those "natural" foods is very hard.


Let's talk a minute about these two pictures below we have picture #1 which is a Zaxby's Chicken Finger plate with the famous Zax Sauce...yumm-o!

We have plate #2 with brussel sprouts? Now I do like brussel sprouts but they have to be covered in butter and salt...but that is not very healthy is it. Which is why I am going to have a very hard time eating my fresh brussel sprouts after I figure out how to cook them in a healthy way. Any suggestions are taken :)

My main issue is that although we are made to eat these foods in their most natural form, because of the conveniences this world has brought us we are not accustomed to their natural flavors, therefore disliking their taste. I will persevere...I just finished my first 160 calorie cup of greek yogurt with lots of protein...it was awesome I feel full.

Friends: The True Reason They Exist

As a mother we struggle to have adult time and more often adult time that does not consist of conversations surrounding our children or work duties if we work outside the home. All women love a GNO (Girls Night Out) every once and a while (I know I do, just ask my best friend). However, I think sometimes in the midst of trying to have "me" time, or just time away from the kids we get lost in the true reason friends exist. I most recently found my new best friend in September of 2011 through my church and one of our local MOPS (mother's of preschoolers) group (if you have never heard of this group or do not have one in your area, visit the link and consider joining or creating one, they are wonderful). Anyhow, we hit it off from the start so much that when our MOPS table became overcrowded and a new table needed to be started we were asked if we would move together because they had been told we "hit it off."

I loved that idea! The idea that myself and another woman had been considered to be such good friends after such a short period of time was really awesome and I was so excited. I know I sound a little crazy right now, but let me explain a little more. You see I have struggled with keeping friends my whole life, not because I am unsocial, non-personable, unfriendly, or anything closely related because I have been told my whole life that "I don't meet a stranger." When things tend to get bad or seem to be going down the ski slope instead of up and I get that daunting feeling that we are somehow on a downward spiral staircase and I have my socks on but my hands are tied behind my back...I run!

My new best friend, did not make me feel that way?! Go figure, we are 5 1/2 years difference with me being the senior and I can't explain to you how much we are alike but yet our differences draw us together as well. Now, what I have learned from her in these mere 4 months of being such great friends is that a friend is not someone who is supposed to be there to go out with or make you feel better about yourself. A friend is someone who will tell you if you are wrong, love you when you are right, cry when you are hurting, get mad at the person who hurt you, remind you that life will go on, encourage you to do you best and that your best is wonderful, love her kids like your own, tell you if your hair looks horrible, and never let you leave the house in that floral print skirt.

A true friend and the reason they exist is not merely to fill up our lives with another person, take us out or enjoy our company but someone we can be there for too. They are a person who should never run away when the tough gets going or the going gets tough. She is a woman who despite the crazy world around her loves you anyways and never forgets you. You see I live in a military town where friends are easy to come by but hard to keep and since I am not military those friends come and go quite quickly. I would be lying to you if I said I wasn't scared to death to lose her, because she has become someone that I cherish and couldn't imagine not calling her my best friend 20 years from now. However, inevitably it will come to pass and although her family is not going to continue their stay in the military they may not always call home where we live now. My heart hurts thinking she might leave one day, but I am forever blessed by the memories we have shared together. God puts you in specific places and times for a reason and I think He brought her to me so that I could learn not to run away. She has made me laugh and we have cried together and no matter what happens in 1 year or 5 years, I will always be grateful for the friendship we share.

Throat Punch Thursday

With staying in line of my honesty is the best policy for my blog and hoping that this openness and lack of hiding the truth with my audience I will gain more readers and hopefully give you all a sense of strength that you never knew you had. Thursday's on my blog will be called "Throat Punch Thursday."

I will find a story that has either stood out in the news or one that I find totally disgusting and will give you my opinion and a link to either the video or copy and paste the story along with the URL. Today's story comes from Dateline and it is about the ever lovely economy and how it has affected our nation since 2007. Therefore the Throat Punch goes to "President Barack Obama" for his ever wonderful job in office, changing our economy and bringing jobs back to where they need to be for our nation and its people to survive (that was sarcasm people if you couldn't already tell).


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/#45781792

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Honesty About Being a SAHM

If I can be completely honest with all of you ladies out there in "SAHM" land I would tell you that, "despite the fact that I love my children dearly, would do anything for them, and chose the life of staying at home with them...I do truly despise never getting one moment to myself and sometimes wish I could run away." There, I have said it! My true feelings are out and you know, but before you start condemning me walk to your bathroom mirror and take a good long hard look at who you are and how many times those same thoughts have crossed your mind? Even though we may try to make being a SAHM look like it is such a super fun and easy job to the rest of the world, if we were to be honest with ourselves and everyone else the truth would be a pretty ugly thing and here is a list of the non-perks to being a SAHM:

1. The hours truly suck in comparison to any other job in the market right now! We never get a break, not even to take a bathroom break, and honestly our shift never ends? Who would want a job like that?!
2. Working with the public is not my idea of enjoyable duties. When you have to deal with your children 24/7 and anyone else you might encounter like the lady at the register checking you out who keeps looking at you like you are crazy when you keep telling your 4 year old to get her hands off the bag turnstile at Walmart because you don't want her fingers jerked off yet she manages not to listen you anyways? Give me a break Walmart is hard enough as is with 3 kids without adding insult to injury.
3. Sick days do NOT exist, at least not at my branch of the corporation. I recall having a 12 hour stomach virus while pregnant with my 3rd son, puking my brains out and still having to care for my 4 year old and my 2 year old without any assistance, then had a wisdom tooth become infected shortly after having him only to still keep nursing him, still keep cleaning and recover from a 3rd c-section.
4. The pay is NON-existent...paycheck, what is a paycheck? I have never heard of those are they some sort of balance system to ensure things run smoothly?
5. Everyone believes every task is your responsibility regardless of the load you already have on your shoulders and the lack of tasks they are currently doing as well.

I could go on for ages but those as I see it right now are the one's that just rub me the wrong way the most. My goal for this blog and any post was to be completely honest so I feel that is what I have done and will continue to do. Thanks & have a blessed day!