Giving Back

Today as I was running errands, I saw a flier for someone collecting donations for the people affected by the tornado in the town about 5 miles over. I called her up and told her I would drop by with some baby stuff for them.

We had about 4 big boxes of diapers he grew out of before he got to wear them. I also went through clothes he has grown out of, is currently wearing, and hasn't grown into yet, and gave them some of those. He had a lot. He really didn't need it all. And if we need more, we can always buy more later.  I also gave them a changing pad, some cloth diapers that I used as burp cloths, some receiving blankets (we had a LOT), a couple big fluffy blankets, some formula we were given that isn't the kind we use, and a few other odds and ends.

 

Turns out the girl lives in my neighborhood now, so that made it very easy to drop off for her. I was very happ to see that she had two vans full of stuff to bring to the people in need there. It's estimated to be another 10 days before people there have their power and water fully restored. So heartbreaking! You never think about this stuff happening so close to you, and to people that you know. 

Is it obvious I shop at amazon.com a lot? :-)

I haven't gotten much done around the house today. I really need to get a little cleaning done before my husband gets home. Oops! I took a nap this morning, then went and ran my errands, gathered and dropped off our donations, then called a friend of ours whose husband is deploying Monday...and they just told them on Wednesday. Good job with that one, Air Force!

Tomorrow is a running day again, and I am really excited! I actually felt a little sore in my legs today, so that means that it's working. I really can't wait until I can start seeing results. Not only in appearance, but in the running getting easier! We went on a nice walk last night too, and I carried the baby on my front, and he is getting huge and heavy!

Wwe also stood around for like an hour while I was still carrying him and the boys fished. So that was a nice bonus mini-workout. Every bit helps!

Anyway, off to take care of the baby and the house!

Day 1 Complete!

So after a LONG frustrating battle with iTunes (Install of update failing, twice, then having to uninstall, reinstall and re-sync) I finally stepped out of the house at about 12:45 or so. It's fairly warm out, and very sunny. I was shocked how hard this was! You run for 60 seconds, walk for 90...8 times. My asthma made my lungs and throat burn a little. But I got through it (I did however, skip run number 6). The hard part came when I got to the bottom of my hill. It is HUGE. Very steep. Sooo hard to push the stroller up. I had to stop 3 times because I thought I was going to vomit.

I finally got in my house and almost passed out lol. I was purple in the face. I felt like this...

I did lay on the floor similarly to that actually. My poor dog thought I was dead or something, he came over and kept trying to lick my face. YUCK.

I knew I was out of shape. I haven't done many workout since I got pregnant. The morning sickness kept me from it the first 6 months...then it had just been too long and I had just gotten too huge. The c section was a set back, so was this damned infection. So this may take longer than I thought, but I am DETERMINED to get back into good shape, and to be able to run! I've never been an outside runner, so this will be new for me :-)

Tomorrow morning a bunch of the squadron wives all get together and walk, so I will meet up with them, then do Week 1 Day 2 of C25K on Saturday! Then Sunday I will go to the gym and do some weights I think.

I made a D-Lights turkey sausage biscuit, and some brussel sprouts for lunch, and lots and lots of water. Now I need to help hubby with getting his resume out, and do some cleaning...I should probably also make sure I look presentable before he gets home.

Day 1

Wish me luck, I am going to feed the baby, then do my first day of Couch to 5k! I will post afterwards and tell you how it went!

Edit: Ugh almost two hours later and FINALLY about to leave. Feeding the baby and getting ready took like an hour, but now its trying to get my stupid iPod to sync my podcasts, so I can have the C25k one, and know when to run and when to walk! I guess I had a super old version of iTunes and it wouldn't do it...so I am updating. Grrr I was SO ready to go an hour ago!

Running Away!

So I am super excited! I have a new goal! I have been working really hard to try to get in even better shape than before I had the baby, but I have had a set back recently, with one of my inner c-section incisions becoming infected...it's not terrible just pretty painful, and I can't really work through it. I am on the antibiotics now, and hopefully in a day or two will be back up and running...literally!

My cousin has agreed to run a half marathon with me NEXT May in Oregon.

I figure that gives us both about 13 months to train. I will definitely need it, I can barely run 3 blocks right now. I have never been a runner. My cousin in doing AWESOME though, totally an inspiration! She has been working on the Couch to 5k plan and kicking it's butt! It has motivated me to start on the same plan here in the next couple of days. I am going to try it outside first, instead of at the gym, because I think that will be easier for me to do everyday. I can just take my jogging stroller with the baby and go.

So to help, I downloaded some couch to 5k podcasts so that I will know when to run and when to walk. Hopefully that will make it easier, and I will have some music to help keep me going too. I am really excited, but also a little nervous. I have just never been much of a runner. A lot of the time I feel like my body could keep going, but my lungs can't. I am hoping with starting slow that will go away.

Well, I am off to do some cleaning. We have some friends coming over to shower and whatnot...their home was destroyed on Monday in the tornado.

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears...OH MY!

Last night the state of Arkansas was once again devastated by tornadoes. We had two come very close to our house, under 5 miles. One North and one South. (*actual photo of last nights tornado)

My husband is at the Air Force Base right now helping to clean up. It touched down there. He just called and said there were cars flipped over in the commissary parking lot that had been destroyed, that it looked like they were spun around like tops. There are homes with no roofs...it hit right in the housing area. A C-130 had a wing ripped off. 3 planes were so badly damaged they can't even fix them. These planes have survived through a lot. A lot of them were flown in the Vietnam War. That tornado was the one that came just South of us. We could hear the wind being sucked into the tornado. This one also went through Little Rock, and was blowing cars off the interstate.


The one North destroyed a small town. Tractor-Trailers were blown off the road, livestock were killed, homes destroyed...just very tragic. (*actual photo of last nights other tornado)

We start round two of this again tonight.

In lighter news! I have really been enjoying this low-cal iced coffee drink. I got the recipe from Hungry Girl. It's a cocoa malt iced coffee. Delicious and only about 65 calories! (I make mine a little different, and its probably around 90) Recipe!

Easter was wonderful. I made Lamb Chops (I add garlic and herb spices to my bread crumbs, and used garlic powder and some water in my marinade and it was wonderful!). We both LOVE lamb, so that was a really nice treat. I think the last time either of us had lamb was when I made it like over 2 years ago. We took the baby to church for the first time ever. He did SO good, no crying or anything. But he DID let out a huuuuge burp, in the middle of a pretty quiet moment during the sermon. We went to my husbands church, which I do really like. I want to raise my son Catholic though, so we will start going to my church soon. Here is an Easter picture of my and my baby boy!

So I have to go back to talking about recipes. I made that Chicken Taco Chili again because I LOVE it. Not doubling it still is enough for about 7-8 meals. I got a picture to show you all the deliciousness that is this chili! I really cannot stress how good this is, and how incredibly easy it is to make. I was intimidated at the thought of shredding chicken. I thought it might be hard...I had never done it before! But I assure you its soooo easy. I just use two forks. One in the chicken to hold it, and then scrape the other one on the chicken breast to shred it. After it's cooked in the crock pot its just falling apart, so it WANTS to shred. Anyway, here is my yummy Chicken Taco Chili

Weekend Alone

Well I have officially started my first weekend alone with baby boy. I think it will be pretty easy, I am used to being the one who mostly takes care of him anyway, with some of these crazy schedules hubby has had...sometimes he is only here to sleep and eat.


I just got vomitted on. That was pretty cool. I was wanting to change clothes anyway, its like he knew or something.  He's already being helpful, awesome!

I really want to go out later and go for a (short) jog. Well, as long of one as I can, which isnt long at all. But maybe I will walk a mile first, then jog on my way home. I need to wait until the sun has been out for a little longer though, to dry up all the rain from last night's huge storm.

That was really cool too, waking up at 2:45 to tornado sirens. Rather, hubby waking me up, because I didn't hear them. And bless his heart, he told me that he wanted to take the baby, and let me wake up alone because he thought it would be funny. Yes, me waking up thinking a tornado is coming, and I don't know where my family is-THAT is hilarious. 6 people died in cities fairly close to here, just from the storm, not even a tornado. The winds and lightning brought down trees that crushed people. 3 of them were kids, super sad. We just went and sat in our guest bathroom until the sirens turned off. It's our only interior room that has no windows, so its the safest.

The repairman is supposed to be coming sometime this afternoon to fix my garbage disposal. But he didn't say what time. And my house is a mess and I am tired. If he doesn't call me and give me a 20 min heads up at least to pick up, I am not answering the door. It's rude to just expect me to be here all day. I just don't feel like cleaning yet, I am sooo tired. I probably only slept 4 hours last night. It's already 3, I doubt he is going to show today.

Oh! The Chicken Taco Chili? DELICIOUS!! I doubled the recipe, and in my huge crockpot, I had only an inch of room at the top. It could feed 10-12 people doubled like that. I loved it, and so did hubby...and he can't even tell it's "healthy". That's exactly what I am going for. I need recipes that will help me lose weight, but that he will still enjoy. And that's tough! He loves fat, and grease, and heavy foods!

Well, off to keep looking up recipes! I want to combine ones I like into my own little cookbook for my kitchen!

Mixed Up Schedules

This whole week kind of blows. My husband has to work nights, so it totally throws my days off. He comes home as I wake up, I make him breakfast, he goes to bed...then I have to try to be moderately quiet so he can sleep. He wakes up in the evening, enough time for us all to go on a walk, for me to make dinner, and for him to leave again.

It's not much fun.

I have to keep the baby on his schedule too, so juggling these two totally opposite schedules can be tough. And I also get ZERO help the whole week because of this.

When he works these weird hours, I try to make it as easy on him as possible. I make a meal or two for him to take with him so he isn't starving all night (he is a real pill when he is hungry), send him in with two cups of coffee, and anything else he may need. He is the boss, so he has a lot of younger guys there with him, who obviously do not get the same from their wives, because they are always jealous of his food. So last night I sent him in with banana oatmeal cookies for them all  ( Recipe! ) and they loved them. So tonight I am cooking dinner for them all. Right now I am looking up recipes.

I feel like its kind of sad that my fun is looking up recipes and planning when I get to make them. I really enjoy cooking for people, even just my husband. I like making things that people like and that are new and a little different. I am thinking Chicken Taco Chili ( recipe! ) or some sort of pasta casserole.

Well, baby boy is up. Time to feed him, and try to get in a walk after!