Sunday, March 25, 2012

Saturday Afternoon

I have not been doing anything remotely crafty since I started really working out.  Since "craft" is in the title of this blog, I figured I better get my act together.

I was sitting down at my kitchen table thinking "what shall I craft?".  I tried to get up and was attached to the chair via play doh and god only knows what else. Aha- the chairs!

About six months ago I recovered ONE of the chairs.  Then I just never got around to doing the rest.  It's so pathetic- it could not be easier. Why didn't I do it?

Backing up- about the chairs. These chairs are about 25 years old.  My husband is the youngest of six kids and  these were the kitchen chairs he had while growing up.  About five years ago his parents finally upgraded (that's after 6 kids and-at that point-thirteen grandchildren) and we were the only takers for the kitchen set.When we received the chairs, the seats were covered in a brown pleather and I covered that with a plaid.  Two kids, two cats and a dog later- here is one of the chairs...

 
 The blue stuff, that's Play Doh. The white stuff? That is actually cat fur stuck to the chair with some sort of sticky foodstuff. Mortified?

When I picked out the new fabric, I knew I needed something durable and I was completely willing to forgo fashion and style.  I went extreme.  The only thing that will be sticking to these new seats are sweaty thighs in the summertime.

Yes, we went back to plastic.  Well, the fancy sewing store I bought it from calls it Oil Cloth, but really, it's vinyl. And of course..Of. Course...I was about 2 inches short of the fabric for chair number 4. I went to Haberman;s during my lunch today and bought another yard (and did some browsing).  They have this sign there, which I adore.



I think I'm officially a blogger

I went running this morning and as I ran by Nikki's, a little Greek breakfast place, I was surrounded by the wonderful, delicious aroma of bacon.  I instantly thought, "I need to take a picture of this for my readers".  Quickly I realized that you cannot see the smell of bacon and then acknowledged that I have lost a little bit of my mind. Then I just kept on running.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Date night

It's not all working out and eating right over here! Met up with some friends and had a great night. Though i am wondering if the fact that I am laying in bed, typing this and it's not even ten pm means I should rephrase and say we has a great evening... Well, evening sounds much more sophisticated anyway!

Tiny Donuts

How could I have forgotten? The very, very best part of Tuesday was this donut.  Sure, I loved spending the day with my little man and I loved shopping.  But nothing compared to this small circle of sweetness.

Let me tell you something about me. I love donuts.  Not the Krispy Kremes (yuck). Not jelly donuts, not bear claws and not fritters.  I just like the 3 classics. Chocolate chocolate, plain chocolate and plain old cider mill style.

(Confession: I once ate 6 donuts from the Franklin Cider Mill in one sitting. That's how much I love donuts)

Since Thanksgiving, when I really started taking care of myself, I don't think I have had a single donut.  As much as I love them, it's just...too much.  Too much sugar. Too much fat...Too much.

Then I met this lovely lad.  The MINI donut from Starbucks.

TJ and I got to the mall a full hour before it opened (oops). We decided to stop into Starbucks (our mall has TWO Starbucks, by the way).  I got some sort of skinny coffee, TJ got a chocolate milk and we each got a donut.
Mine was fantastic!  Just the right size, and only 130 calories . Perfect!

Then TJ took this pic of me. Not bad for a 3 year old!


Friday, March 23, 2012

A Morning at the Mall

Krista wasn't able to join me Tuesday, so I did the workout on my own and it went really well.  I'm sure completely broke gym rules by taking over a treadmill and a mat on the floor simultaneously, but since it was a ghost town, I don't think anyone cared.

I set up the mat and some 15 lb dumbbells on the floor and hung a towel on a treadmill- and went to it.  Some rotations on the floor were a little over 5 minutes because I wanted to finish out a set.  I also had to quit a little early because I started late (was visiting K at her house). I stuck to the slower speeds since I had done the Barbell class that morning, still, after about 55 minutes I had burned 475 calories.  I'm pretty please with that.  Next time I will give myself 90 minutes to complete the entire workout.

I did edit the incline portion.  What I initially has was close to impossible, now it should be doable.

I also did a lot of shopping on Tuesday.  I had to work on a project at Tommy's preschool, so I sent Mack to daycare for the day.  This left TJ and I free to do something we had not done in awhile-go to the mall. I wanted to go to Lululemon to try on sports bras.  This was a pretty big deal and I think I might address the sports bra issue in more detail- so I will save that for another day.

I will say I bought two sports bras and two headbands.  I will also say that the total bill was outrageous.  The sales woman did take some of the sting out of the $150.00 by telling me how cute Tommy is and giving me a extra free Lululemon shopping bag.

We bought a variety of small items at Crate and Barrel, like this cute measuring thing:

 OXO Good Grips 1/4 Cup Mini Angled Measuring Cup

And these spatulas

Here's one in action:
Note to self- need much better picture of that!

I was hoping to find a purse and was looking at Anthropology.  I found this one that I liked, but didn't love
You can't tell from this picture, but it's all beaded.  It was pretty heavy and to be honest, I was worried that it would not hold up well.  The last few things I bought from Anthro fell apart pretty quickly.  I want something that I can carry every.single.day. 

I'm glad I didn't buy it, because I was able to go to one of my all time favorites stores later that day, Leon and Lulu, in nearby Clawson.  I found my new purse there and I love it. 
 
 It's by Skunkfunk.  It's a part of their Spring/Summer 12 line, but it does not appear to be available from their online store yet.  The staff at Leon and Lulu said they just got it in a day or two ago.  They had some other color, but I was drawn to this one.  I love how it will go with blacks or browns, and it's made of renewable and sustainable resources and all that stuff.  

In the first 24 hours of owning this bag, I revived no fewer than nine complements!  I am so glad I bought it.  It was also decently reasonable.  I think I paid about $80.00 for it.  As long as it lasts me through to fall, I'll be very happy with that price. 

Leon and Lulu has so many chotchkies, I could stay there all day and I could spend $100 and not actually have purchased anything of actual value! By the way, I didn't know how to spell chotchkies, so I looked it up.  I enjoyed Urban Dictionary's definition:

Chotchkie
143 up, 17 down
A small piece of worthless crap, a decorative knick knack with little or no purpose.
Side note: Chotchkie can be pretty, sentimental, or even occasionally useful though it usually breaks easily if useful. If you are having trouble identifying Chotchkie just look around your house or someone else's and whatever you see that a burgler wouldn't steal is probably Chotchkie.
Fake fruit, a ceramic frog containing candy, pretty much anything purchased at a dollar store, costume jewelry, etc. Referenced by Phoebie on the TV show friends.
Meg loved her cow figurine collection, but Dave thought it was useless Chotchkie.

I especially like the part about what a burglar would not take.  Unless that burglar was me, and I'd have a big ol pillowcase full of Chotchkie!







Monday, March 19, 2012

Circuit/Interval Workout for March

Equipment: Dumbbells, Bosu, Swiss ball, treadmill
Time: :55 minutes not including transitions 

How it works: Each "card" lasts 5 minutes. You alternate between being on the treadmill and being "on the floor".  I call them cards, because I actually printed mine out, glued them to card stock and laminated them.  Nerd City!



Start with "1. Core". Next do "A: Warm Up", then "2. Quad Push", and continue like this until you get through the final set of abs.

How to read the cards:

I think the strength training cards are pretty self explanatory.  Let me know if not. There are links to images/videos of the exercise being performed.

For the Running Cards: 
IN: Incline
A: This is for those aiming for a moderate speed
B: This is faster
A Note about speed: The speeds are just guidelines.  You may find you have to -2 or + 3 - or whatever.  
If you do the A speed, you should get about .5 mile on most of the runs. B should be closer to .6. 
e: time elapsed for that segment.

Example: For the Warm Up Card: You chose speed A. Start the treadmill at at .5 inclide and a speed of 5.5. You stay here for a minute.  At 1:00, increase the incline to 1 and maintain the speed. Do this for 60 seconds. At the 2 minute mark, keep the incline the same and increase speed to 6.5.  Maintain this for 60 seconds.

Get it?

Hope you give it a try.  I'll let you know how K and I do with this Tuesday.

By the way, I was able to just open this page on my iphone and do the workout from the phone. Very cool.



1: Core
60 sec
30 x
30 x
leg V, hands through V*
Repeat until 5 minutes is up.

*can't find a pic of this- sorry.


A: Warm Up
Time
IN
A
B
e
Start
0.5
5.5
6.5
60
1:00
1
5.5
6.5
60
2:00
1
6.5
7.5
60
3:00
0
7
8
30
3:30
1
7
8
30
4:00
0.5
7.5
9
30
4:30
0
6
7
20
4:50
0
3
3
10
5:00
Stop

2: Quad & Push
20x4
side lunge on bosu
12x 3
 chest press on ball


Strength Training Note: You can do all the lunges first then go do all of the chest presses, or you can do the chest press in between the lunges.  I prefer to alternate so that my heart rate stays up a little higher.  If you finish all of this and have time left, try to get in another set of whichever you prefer. 

B: Endurance
Time
IN
A
B
e
Start
2
6.5
7.5
60
1:00
2
7
8
60
2:00
1
7.5
8.5
60
3:00
1
8
9
30
3:30
2
7.5
8.5
30
4:00
1
6
7
30
4:30
0
3
3
30
5:00
Stop
  
3: Glute, Ham and Pull
15 x 4
16x2



C: Sprint
Time
IN
A
B
e
Start
0
6
7
30
0:30
0
9
10.5
45
1:15
0
4
4
45
2:00
0
9
10.5
45
2:45
0
4
4
45
3:30
0
9.3
9.3
30
4:00
0
6
7
45
4:45
0
3
3
15

4: Quad & Push
20x 2
8 x 3
12 x 2
more sumo if time


D: Incline
Time
IN
A
B
e
Start
6
6.5
7.5
45
0:45
8
5.5
6.5
30
1:15
10
5.0
5.5
45
2:00
8
5.5
6.5
60
3:00
0
7.5
8.5
30
3:30
4
7
8
30
4:00
6
7
8
30
4:30
8
6
7
20
4:50
0
3
3
10
5:00
Stop

5: Glute, Ham and Pull
15 x 3
8x3 (HEAVY)




E: Combo
Time
IN
A
B
e
Start
4
5
7
60
1:00
4
6
8
60
2:00
4
7
9
60
3:00
0
8
10
30
3:30
4
6
8
30
4:00
4
7
9
30
4:30
4
4
4
30

6. Core
30
30
30
Repeat until 5 minutes is up.