Time Fly's When Your Reading Blogs

I've been so into reading blogs this week it has left me no time to blog myself. So many newly discovered ones I'm enthralled with. Bloggers rule!

Last Saturday I discovered I had a mole running loose in my house...yes, a mole and no, I don't know how it got in. CRAZY!

Let me just say that the next 2 hours of Chris and I trying to catch the thing was pure Saturday afternoon entertainment at it's best. I wished you all could have tuned in to watch.

You would have seen Chris freaking out and sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed underneath him screaming MOUSE (oh yes he did), while I on the other hand, threw myself to the floor all face down and ass up going...omg, it's a mole, not a mouse, cool!!, must get a closer look. Cause apparently moles aren't scary in my book?

Yeah, I was so wrong. It was all good for about the first hour with Chris and I running to and fro, lifting up furniture and squealing with delight(ok maybe not delight) as it kept getting away from us somehow. We were like cats chasing a mouse, but we had to be cause my animals weren't doing jack to help us catch it. At one point when Chris and I had our guard down, the mole came crawling through the living room with my cat just sauntering behind it like he was out for a Sunday stroll. Once my dog noticed it, then it was like teamwork...

You go over there, and I'll go over here...



Dude, I can so hear it...



Course since I'm down there snapping pictures anyway, I want a piece of the action also, cause I can so hear it! It was going from one side to the other behind the front panel of my non-working dishwasher. I told Chris to get my cup and plate for me cause I was so getting it this time. Chris mentioned he wished he had his bow so he could shoot it and I was like...lol, there is no way, plus I don't want to kill it, so put the hammer down!

Yeah, too bad there's not a picture or a video of what happened next.

Did you know moles hiss?

In 2 seconds flat it went from being a sorta cute, harmless little rodent to...*HISS*...OMG, WTF, I'M SCARED OF IT RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! *scream*

If I could have jumped on the counter like a girl, I so would have. It didn't help matters any when it also bumped into my knee, cause I couldn't scramble to my feet fast enough to get out of it's way. Trust me, I was trying!

Hissing + knee bumping = lose.my.shit.

After the hissing episode my dog wouldn't even have anything to do with it. She just went to the front room and barked her fool head off. Lots of help that was. And the cat, well, we already established he was worthless from omg, it's a mouse.

So it was all up to Chris and I. And by "I", I mean Chris, cause my heart was still pounding and I wasn't touching it (even though I didn't voice that out loud).

We played cat and mouse with it for probably another half an hour before we finally cornered it behind a homemade treasure chest of sorts, that I keep hats and gloves in by the front door. We crouched down at opposite ends, each with our handy dandy blender shaker cups and a paper plate to trap our prey. Chris couldn't see it real well from his angle so it was up to me to watch it's movement...which I yelled out often and loudly...CHRIS, IT'S COMING TOWARDS YOU!...NOPE WAIT, NOW ME!...NOW IT'S ON THE TRIM!...OMG IT'S TRYING TO CLIMB UP THE BACK!

Finally Chris was like woman,...SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So we waited silently and motionless till I saw movement again. I so wanted to SCREAM OUT, but instead I (loudly)whispered...you you you.

Ta-Da!


And even though the little buggers leave my yard looking like this...
and making it uber difficult to mow, I couldn't kill it. So Chris gallantly took it across the yard and set it free in my neighbors cornfield.

My hero...


And because this blog is suppose to be about my workouts and such...

I arrived at the gym today and SURPRISE, Bob had us drive to the park to run hills. Just when we thought we got out of doing them cause it rained on hill Thursday.

Sneaky little bastard.

But I'm not going to bitch, moan, or complain.

Nope not me, I'm not going to bitch about how my right hamstring hurt like a mother, and I'm not going to complain that my workout pants were soaked from the wet wet grass making them feel like weights attached to my legs and I'm certainly not going to moan about Bob making me do 5 more then I did last week even though this was his first week running them and he did 12 more then both Chad and I in the same amount of time. He could have stopped at 10 but he ran the last two hills with me so I wouldn't quit.

Okay, maybe he is not such a little bastard after all, but he is still sneaky!

After that torturous workout I had the mother of all shakes...



There was so much fruit in it, the spinach didn't even turn it green and needless to say I couldn't even finish it all. Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, papaya, mango and strawberries...it was a plethora of berries and fruit I tell ya with a touch of spinach.

:)

One thing about these is you got to blend the hell out of them so as not to get a string of green while your drinking them. By "string of green" I mean just that. Nothing like feeling strings of spinach on your tongue or stuck in between your teeth to make you want to toss the shake out of the moving car window, then pull over and hurl if you can even hold it in that long. That's one reason I quit putting Kale in with the spinach. Kale strings do not blend up and it's absolutely hurl inducing, every.time.

I'm just sayin. :)

PB & Hills

It came...



I saw...



I ate...



Thanks so much Becca, it was all DELICIOUS!!!! So delicious in fact that I have ate the other two tubs since taking these pics, but my favorite was definitely the crunchy pb!...with pita chips, mmmmmmmmmmm!

Hey, you need to eat a lot of peanut butter to fuel brutal hill runs...I'm just sayin. :)

Speaking of hill runs, I did more today but this time Chad was with me and he was awesome enough to use my phone and snap some picts for my blog. You see, we agreed that 30 hill runs(this time I counted right) was plenty and seeing as he was done before me cause I was waiting for the pool to be opened up so my girls could do swim team...

awwwwww so cute, I know :)

He was done before me and snapped some picts...

Where in the world is Stacey?
Can you see my ant like self there at the top amongst the trees?

and...


Action shot...

It was some crazy ass 68 degrees out this am, hence the Hawaiian Punch t-shirt :)

It's That Time Again

Hill time!

Of all the pictures I took this morning I forgot to take one of the actual hill we run...and by "we", I mean ME, because Bob and Chad are whiny little girls that didn't show, so this picture is for them...

I was actually done when I snapped this shot and hot and uber sweaty!

Hill runs are getting a late start this summer cause of all the dang rain we have been getting. Even today after two days of holy hotness it was still wet and a touch muddy...but I already had it in my mind that I was running hills so hills I ran.

I only ran 15 sets...and by sets I mean running forward down & up 3 times + backwards down & up 2 times = ONE SET. Yeah, who's the whiny little girl now and I say that because usually by the end of summer we are running 30 sets(I have work to do!)...but wowza was it HOT and I had this deer fly that would not leave me the hell alone, Plus it was the first one of the summer...and did I mention it was wet...

Thank goodness for trail shoes...even with them I slipped a few times.

I was really done at set 12. I was already to stop and call it a workout but then I was like...12?, what is 12, you can't stop at 12, you have to at least do half so 15. Yeah, those were THE HARDEST THREE SETS EVER and I really thought I was going to ralph on the way home...but I didn't, instead I text'd Chris
and told him I loved him in case I died of a heat stroke...wow was it hot out, even at 8:00 in the morning. By the time I arrived home I had sucked down 2 liters of water and was then STARVING.

Green muscle time! Only, I realized after I started making it that I had used the last of my organic blueberries yesterday and forgot to go to the store. So I rummaged around in the freezer and found this...

and while they weren't "organic" they did the trick.

At the last minute I threw in 5 of these as well...
and OH MY CHERRIES was it DELICIOUS! I could totally taste the cherries, it was so good. I am keeping them in from now on.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm



That was an awesome workout this morning followed by an awesome shake and now it's time to sit down with a cup of green tea and catch up on some awesome blogs work.


:)


EDIT: Okay, I also have to add that Chris is texting me saying that Bob is saying bullshit on my hill runs, so either I counted wrong(what, who me?) or worded it wrong so who the hell knows, all I know is I ran hills for 50 minutes and they didn't so they can suck it! :)

There's Got To Be A "Better Whey"

A while back I got the nicest e-mail from Kasey for Better Whey yogurt. She said how much she enjoyed reading my blog and would I mind if she sent me some yogurt and all she wanted from me in return was a review. I replied with an....Awesome!, Sweet!, send it!

And send it she did...

This arrived at my door only a few days later.
I just LOVE getting stuff in the mail, it's like CHRISTMAS!



Ta-Da!
She may have sent it lickety split but I have sure taken my time in writing this review, but here it is...

I got three flavors, the Acai Mixed Berry, Strawberry Banana, and Plain.

I immediately tore into the acai mixed berry and YOWZA, was it tart. Definitely made me pucker up. At first I thought maybe because I was expecting sweet it kinda threw me off so I took another bite and yep, nope, still sour. I honestly couldn't finish it. My son, who just turned 14 yesterday...
(that cake was a joke btw),was like... oh mom, give it here, your taste buds are whack anyway(which they really kinda are cause I am super picky when it comes to food~I drove my mother crazy as a kid). So he promptly took a bite and squinted his eyes and puckered right up. But he likes stuff like that(he loves those horrible Warhead candies), so he finished it off and deemed it good.

I waited a day and then tried the strawberry banana and it too was just too tart for my liking.

The tartness surprised me as they do have quite a bit of added sugar(less then other brands, but still.)...and yes, it's "natural cane sugar" but, you all know how I feel, sugar is sugar. So if the tartness didn't keep me away, the added sugar would have.

Even so, the Plain flavor on the other hand, gets a big thumbs up from me. With 17 grams of protein, 17 grams of carbs, and no added sugar, giving it only 7 grams versus the flavored's 14 grams...the taste is not an issue for me with the plain, cause I like to mix it in with stuff like my shakes in the morning, you know, the ones I drink after Bob beats the crap out of me, like this morning for example...

Not a great picture(via my phone) but you can still see the bruising on my eyelid
okay, maybe not, but I swear it's there!...Bob does not care that I am a girl, he shows me no mercy! Ok, maybe if I would just keep my damn hands up...anyway,

Can you see all 3?, ankle, shin, knee...
those are from blocking his kicks WITH SHIN PADS ON!

I also got an awesome kick to the twat waffle and a sweet jab to my left boob but I'll spare you all from those images as I'm sure the mental ones are more than enough to require years of therapy.

*ahem*, anyway, to wrap this all up...

While I may not be a big fan of the tartness of Better Whey's flavored yogurts, the Plain version get's a big pink squirrel...WOOT! but, I'm thinkin, I definitely need to come up with a "Better Whey" to fight ...*wink wink*.

The Truth About Organics And A Product Review Coming

Just because it says "Organic" does NOT mean it's good for you.

An organic cookie...is still a friggin COOKIE.


These are like crack and will make your ass fat.

Raw sugar...is still SUGAR.

And, while nosing around the PN nutrition board I came across this... organic Blue Agave Nectar...no matter how cool the name...is no better for you then HFCS(high fructose corn syrup)?...read this:

"Worse Than We Thought
The Lowdown on High Fructose Corn
Syrup and Agave “Nectar”"


Now this doesn't mean I'm above shoving my hand into a bag of cheese doodles...but I am well aware I'm eating crap and not trying to save face by saying...well the package says organic so it must be good for me.

Not so.

An organic fat ass, is still, a fat ass.

Let's look at some peanut butter shall we...

I have been a HUGE fan of the Smuckers Organic PB for some time, but a lot of the blogs I read just rave about the MaraNatha brand. Awhile ago I did shell out the almost $12 bucks(omfg!) for a jar of MaraNatha Almond Butter...and it tasted like ass. I hated it...so much so, that I actually threw the stuff away. I can go buy a bag of raw or roasted unsalted Almonds and make my own that is way cheaper and so good I can't even control myself and all I did was blend it forever and ever, and ever, and ever, and forfreakinever, in my food processor.

BUT...

Obviously I did not learn my lesson cause I was at the store last week and instead of getting my Smuckers, I decided to try the MaraNatha brand organic creamy pb cause it was on sale for cheaper than my Smuckers, and again, everyone seems to love it.

I HATED IT.

I swear it tastes just like the generic peanut butter at Aldi's and that stuff is bad.(there are some things you just cannot buy generic and peanut butter is definitely one of them)

Anyway, I then decided to take a look at the ingredients of the MaraNatha pb cause I swear all I could taste was sugar...


Ingredients:

Organic Dry Roasted Peanuts, Organic Palm Oil, Organic Cane Sugar, Sea Salt.

Organic Cane Sugar is still, wait for it, SUGAR. I might as well be eating Super Crunchy Jiff(now there's some crack for ya).


VS.


Ingredients:

Organic Roasted Peanuts, Roasted Peanut Oil, Contains 1% Or Less of Salt.


Even better, even though it's not organic...


Ingredients:

Peanuts.



Now that's what I'm talking about.

Be a label reader, it really will amaze you and remember, no matter how few ingredients in the peanut butter you still can't eat the whole damn jar in one sitting and expect to look like a rockstar.

Stay tuned for Monday where I'll be writing a product review on some yogurt that was sent my way, sweet!, or so I thought...

EDIT: I promised Becca that I would let you all know that if you have wondered where the heck her blog went, she changed the URL from her dogs name to her name and for some reason blogger wasn't forwarding to the new url...at least when I was trying to read her blog anyway. Here is the link: A Mile In These Shoes (and hooray it has a feed so we know when she updates!)

How Many Pink Squirrels Does It Take To Jump A Rope

Last week when we were switching between working the mitts and jumping rope, Bob was like...now when your jumping, switch it up. It was then that I informed him I had but one move and that was the basic jump, and I don't even do that well. Now I can do a little criss cross action, on a good day, but that's nothing. So today when we were doing it again he tried teaching me some different stuff like running, and the boxers jump(which is a heel thing) and some side to side stuff which I never even made it to cause I couldn't even get the running thing down...

Bob Quote..."okay, um, a little less like Forrest Gump"

Jumping rope is HARD!

But you can bet your butt I'm going to work on it and before you know it I'll be looking like this guy:


Okay, maybe not, but when I did a jump rope google and found that video, it led me to a really cool article...

Jump Rope Training

and a really cool website...

RossBoxing.com

I know what I'm going to be doing at work today.

Anyway, even after my pathetic attempt at the rope I managed to work up quite a sweat and knew I needed a green muscle...



Yes, I've been reading way too many "foodie" blogs(love them!)...




The green cup totally adds to the green awesomeness(is to a word)...




And since you haven't seen me lately...



On another note, after I got done "jumping", and I use that term loosely, my stomach was killing me, and I mean KILLING me. Needless to say the boys, and I use that term...no wait, it fits,...anyway, they were eagerly waiting for me to throw up. But I hate to tell them that my stomach issues were not from a too tuff workout but rather from the 5...yes count them, FIVE fiber bars I scarfed down last night.

Yeah, that adds up to like 50 grams of fiber...right before I went to bed.



I.Will.Never.Do.That.Again.

I am all kinds of tore up still and it's 12:30 p.m.


What makes one eat 5 fiber bars you may ask yourself and all I can say is, I had a moment.






Go Green!

Cortisol

is a bitch.



This week has been just stupid dumb with stress and how does my body cope???...by adding 6 lbs(one week!!) that's how, Oh and did I mention the zits???? Seriously, as if I am not stressed out enough right now...THIS just adds to it, not to mention Who the hell wants to exercise, and eat healthy only to walk around like a zity puffer fish. What the hell is the point?!?!?!

It's maddening.

But I got my bloated butt to the gym this am and tried not to think about how fat and ugly I felt.

It was hard.

Life is super hard right now. I know I'll get threw it, I always do, but it's still just HARD.

I'm going to go for a long run after I get off work. It's beautiful out and I got loads of new "Thriving Ivory" loaded to my ipod to zone out too.


I swear watching and listening to him sing makes me forget who I am and where I am at...and especially right now, that's a really good thing.

On a not so bitchy note, We've got fights tomorrow in East Peoria that I am so looking forward to going to. I Don't have to leave till around 5 p.m. so I will definitely be working out and going for a run beforehand.

In the meantime, I'm going to drink the hell out of some dandelion root tea, pop a few zits, and call it a day blog.