i'm here to pump, you up.

 

i started a new workout program.

i know.

it's been awhile.

like maybe years?

oh sure, i diet all the time,

but actually getting up and doing

some exercise?

well, like i said, it's been awhile.

this might not be accurate, but the last time

i remember working out consistently was when

i brought the treadmill upstairs in my old house

because i was pregnant with brette.

let me repeat: PREGNANT WITH BRETTE.

four years ago.

 

but my friend, marge, told me about this cool

thing she's been doing for awhile now through facebook.

(which means, yes, you can do it too!)

it's called 2 Fit to Quit, and it's a closed group so

if you actually want to join me in this little endeavor,

let me know and i can add you.

here's how it works:

you pay $30.

$20 goes in the pot and $10 goes toward administrative fees.

and then you make a commitment to

workout 30 minutes a day for an allotted term.

the last round they did was 60 days.

the one we're currently on is 75 days.

in this specific round, we get 8 rest days of our choosing

and all holidays off including black friday.

everyday you log into facebook and post proof of your workout.

you have to take a picture of your FitBit, or treadmill screen,

or workout video - - just something that proves you

worked out for 30 minutes.

along with that you also  

have to take a "sweaty selfie."

if you take more than 8 days of rest, then you

forfeit the money you paid in.

at the end, the ladies that make it all

the way through split the money in the pot.

the last round they had 140 ladies sign up and
88 challengers that completed all 60 days.
the total $$ in the pot was $2800, so the 88 ladies each

got $31.80 back.
so it's not like you're winning big money, but if you

stick to it then it pays for itself.

 

i've really enjoyed it so far because you can get some

good work out ideas and its so motivating.

i don't want to be that person that can't make it.

plus it forces me to think about my day and figure out

a way to get 30 minutes of free time to exercise.

it sounds easy, but honestly, finding 30 minutes with no kids is hard.

just today i managed to get 15 minutes on the treadmill before

they woke up and i did a 20 minute arm exercise off youtube while

the girls crawled all over me.

luckily, most days i can get it done during nap, but on

mondays and fridays is gets tricky.

this also started the week i lived with my parent's so

one day i had to go to the community center and

the other two days i drove up to lee's summit to get on the treadmill.

(i was there for other reasons too, but still...)

 

so yeah, i'm excited.

i'll let you know if i make it.

the 75 days are over on new year's eve.

hopefully, i can see some real results in time to ring in the new year.

and for those of you that want in on the next round,

you'll have to wait until 2017, but honestly,

i think you should do it.

come join me and marge, my already skinny friend who still insists on working out.

 

 

back at home

last i left off we were shacked up with

my parents while ronnie worked on our septic system.

 

(the girls at mimi and papa's)

 

with the help of some super amazing friends, jason and cale,

they finished working on the whole thing on wednesday

and i was back in my bed by wednesday night.

who knew ronnie could actually get something

completed in one day.

(now if only i could hire jason and cale to finish my walls...) 

i actually had a really nice time spending a few days in warrensburg.

shannon and i had a play date everyday so

paige and reid could become besties.

i also saw the dentist while i was there, which is so nice

to leave the girls with my parents and not drag them along.

i'm telling you, live-in help is the way to go.

not to mention, mealtime.

we eat better and i don't have to do it,

my favorite combination.

 

 

there were a few drawbacks.

1- leia was sprayed by a skunk in my parent's backyard.

although i find this ironic considering my yard is

much more "wild" but leia managed this in warrensburg.

she REEKED and we had to bath her in a weird combo

of things to get the stench out.

my mom almost puked, so that's fun.

 

2 - i was pulled over and got a ticket for speeding.

i really hadn't realized this until now, but there are not many places in

lee's summit that are only 25 mph.

not the case in warrensburg.

so when the officer told me i was going 39 in a 25,

i thought, no freaking way.

but 10 minutes after i get pulled over, i look down and

sure as shit, i'm going 37 in a 25.

whoops.  looks like i'm just used to "city driving."

 

3 - brette sucked at life while trying to sleep in

my parent's guest room.

one night i was literally in there until 10:30 and

finally gave up and just spent the night with her.

this is getting out of control.

but since we've been home, she's been going to bed alone,

thank god.

however, when i say bed, i mean hallway, so there's still that.

 

but it's nice to be home.

i'm not loving the excavator and bobcat still sitting in my backyard,

or the gravel and half cut up tree.

actually, things look a damn mess.

but you know, i try not to complain too much.

i'm sure one day (who knows when) our yard will look nice again for once.

 

 

october roads

fall day.

an annual family tradition.

we carve pumpkins.

sit around a fire.

drink beer.

eat homemade donuts and

lots and lots of other food.

 

normally we have it at my parent's or my aunt mickie's.

this year, since our house was finally ready and

we have enough land to have some fun, i decided to host it myself.

as you know, everything fell through last minute and

i herded the whole shebang to my parent's.

i was disappointed but it's such a chill day

that it didn't spoil any of the festivities.

ronnie missed out since he was

busy working on our septic system, so that sucked,

but the rest of us had some fall family fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the shit show

family fall day was really cute, but first

let me tell you all about our very own

shit show that is now playing at my house.

friday night ronnie heard our bathroom sink gurgling.

greeaaaat.

he checked our basement drain and yep,

it's clogged.

thank god there was no actual poopy water in the basement,

but we were definitely close.

ronnie said he would try snaking it in the morning, which

i was praying would work since we had

all my relatives headed our way the next day.

it. did. not. work.

of course not.

so last minute, we had a change of location for family fall day and

we had to try to figure out what to do with the house.

there was good news though.

ronnie's best friend, jason, had the company excavator at his house.

um, yes please.

he brought it over and the two of them spend the rest of the day

digging up the septic system and figuring out the problems.

the bad news?

we have major issues.

enough where we had to pack our bags and head to

my parent's house for a week.

ronnie and jason bought supplies and ordered

two dump trucks full of gravel to be delivered.

the plan is to be back in our house by friday.

f i n g e r s  c r o s s e d

 

ham and apple quiche

i finally made the quiche that i meant to make last week.

it took me a few days to talk myself into making pie but

like always, it's totally worth it.

i used this pie crust recipe, but i'm sure

you could buy pie dough and go from there.

i combined two different recipes i found and

kind of did my own version:

 

i cut up a small apple, 1/4 of an onion and 1 cup of ham.

i sautéed the onion in butter and added the apple and ham.

i also sprinkled in some fennel.

(i don't think i've ever used fennel, but the recipe

called for it, so i just added a bit. i was nervous.)

in another bowel, i cracked four eggs and a cup of half and half.

the recipe called for milk, but i thought half and half would

be better and i already had it in the fridge.

i also added some salt and pepper.

i dumped the ham/apple mixture into my uncooked pie dough and

added 3/4 cup shredded cheese on top.

i poured in my egg mixture and sprinkled another 1/4 cup of cheese.

baked it at 400 for 45 minutes.

and done. 

both kids ate it - whoop whoop!

but ronnie said he prefers breakfast casserole - whatevs.

 

at least it was something different to try AND all our ham is gone now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ps- can i just say that trying to do this while two kids were running around was super hard and a little frustrating.  i mean, both girls were crying at one point and i'm all like - please, can i just make dinner?!  and ronnie wonders why i don't cook more...

 

october days

september is for the apple orchard, which

means october is made for the pumpkin patch.

we normally travel out to johnson's farm with the fam, but

brette's class had a fieldtrip planned to faulkner's ranch.

(which is 30 minutes closer to our house and just as cute.)

they allowed siblings to come, so reid and i met brette and

her class last wednesday for some good old fashion fall time fun.

they had story time in the hay.

crawled through a blow-up caterpillar.

went for a hayride.

made friends with the barnyard animals.

had duck races.

found their way through a corn-maze.

and picked out their very own pumpkins in the patch.

the weather was on point and i liked that i was finally

able to meet some of the other parents and kiddos in B's class.

brette's favorite part?

the bus ride.

of course.

 (reid wanted to be part of the class.)

 

ronnie missed out but i think we're going to skip

going again as a family.

we have homecoming, family fall day

and finally, halloween.

our calendar is full.

but that's just the way fall was meant to be.

 

i'm actually hosting family fall day this year.

i'm pretty excited just because it will be so much

easier on the girls.

tired? i can haul them upstairs, no problems.

i've decorated my house and been making a list of

things i need to grab at the store.

that's on my to-do list for tomorrow.

it's supposed to be kind of hot, which

bums me out, but hopefully we have a super fun day.

can't wait.

 

 

 

 

 

window dressings

i feel like curtains are THE THING

that make a room feel finished.

in my last house, i always meant to hang curtains,

but i only managed to get it done in the dining room and the office.

it bugged me for years.

in this house i've made a point to finish up a room with curtains.

first, brette and reid's.

and now, my room and the dining room.

(master bedroom)

(dining room)

i want to buy four more panels for the two windows 

on either side of the fireplace in the living room.

i think it will tie it to the dining room.

i bought these from target, but they didn't have anymore in lee's summit,

so i'm going to try another town and hope it can scrounge up enough.

(if you see them, let me know)

the only other window in the house i'm 

thinking of adding one to is the laundry room.

i think the curtain i used in our old office would 

actually work really well, but i need to resize it first.

the finishing touches are my favorite.

he's getting older

remember back in the day when 

ronnie broke his back?

it's one of my favorite stories to tell

because i always end up crying-laughing.

it's just my memory of his legging slithering across the floor,

trying to get to bed, while i ignore him because i was on the phone, gets me every time.

(i'm the worst.)

so you can imagine the laugh i had when i came 

home sunday to find ronnie on the couch watching tv - - back broken.

for some people, sitting on the couch watching television 

might be pretty normal, but in my house,

it's cause for concern.

he said he had been out spreading lime on our yard 

(80 lb bags) and then he went to start his chainsaw.

it was too much.

he went down and had to basically crawl back to the house.

he stayed on the couch for a few hours so by the time

we tried to get him up he was so 

stiff and his back completely seized up.

(i might have laughed some trying to get him up.)

it took us forever. 

there was a lot of cries out in pain, followed by giggles.

and i might have tried recording him to have video, but he yelled at me.

he's no fun.

basically, he ended up using my head as a crutch.

i left him propped up in the doorway and went to find

something in the basement he could use as a cane.

i found his fly rod case.

perfect.

he had to stand for most of the rest of the day because

sitting hurt so much.

he took off work the next day and went to urgent care for 

some pain medicine and made an appointment with 

rockhill orthopedic for friday so he can get another epidural shot.

i've spent this week doing most everything.

he can't pick up the kids, he can't bend over to get anything,

he can't put on his own socks, he can't get out of the tub after soaking his back. (ew)

although, he did go back to work?

i'm not sure how helpful he is, but there's

no way ronnie could have sat around here all week.

it would have killed both of us.

i'm like a live-in nurse. 

i really hate life.

he really hates life.

so anyway, i really can't wait for friday.

i need ronnie back in working order. 

but it HAS been nice to watch tv together.

i have to take advantage while i can.