What's Up Wednesday! 1.20

Still a sucker for a good link up...I'm joining back in on the WUW post at the end of every month for 2020.  Nine questions and a you-never-know-what-you're-gonna-get answer from me!

1.  What we are eating this week:

Is it weird that I just want to eat seafood?

Ok moving along!  Do you meal plan?  I do like a boss.  Literally, I have a calendar in my kitchen devoted to meal planning because God forbid we eat similar meals back to back.  So this week it looks like we will be feasting on:

eMeals is where it's at!

Pork Loin with onions and cucumbers
Progresso Soup (per the eldest child)
London Broil with asparagus and potatoes (for the kiddos!)

2.  What I'm reminiscing about:

Not a thing.

3.  What I'm loving:

A few things like the fact we had freaking spring in January (well until last week!)

Being back in the gym with my girls!

Good streaming television (just admitting, y'all!)

An adults only weekend last weekend.  The kids enjoyed a long weekend at the coast and the husband and I enjoyed time together.

4.  What am I excited about:

The fact that we are that  much closer to spring.  One thing I wrote about being happy about last week was the fact spring sports sign ups are open and active now.  On Friday I was talking to a softball umpire and he was talking about getting ready for the season and he said, "You know its spring sports but we will freeze until the end of May!"  That's true but give me all the soccer, softball, and sunshine I can get - I'll be ok in my many layers!

5.  What I am watching/reading:

I finally checked into The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and I absolutely love it.  Of course since I found it so late it will probably cancel production.

I will probably finish up watching Catastrophe (also on Amazon) because I watched a season of it a year or two ago, forgot about it, then was reminded of it again and reminded that I did indeed like it.  My husband hates it.

The hubby and I have been watching The Aaron Hernandez Story on Netflix.

My daughter and I are now into the last season of Anne With an E.  We both bawled during episode three.  I wasn't ready for any of that! 

Of course my favorites are back from fall break - This Is Us (which I actually have a love hate with) and A Million Little Things.

Ok fine and yes I'm still watching all the housewives shows.  I cannot help it this is addiction, people!

As far as books go I do want to read Little Fires Everywhere before the movie comes out.  And yes, I'm also aware that the book is now old; no I don't think its new.

My reading as of late is just for work.  Zzzz.

6.  What am I listening to:

I reprogrammed all my Sirius XM stations to mix it up and lately I've been enjoying the oldies.  When I say oldies I mean music from the 50's, 60's, 80's, and 90's.

I need a suggestion for a new podcast to listen to.  Currently, my go to's are The Popcast, The Bible Binge, and Criminal.  I have already listened to Dolly Parton's America.  It was gold.

7.  What am I wearing:

Right now?  Pajamas.  I bought those Crown & Ivy pajamas over this past weekend for......$3.99!!!  That's a freaking steal.  I'm totally in love with them.

I never take photos of my outfits but I can show you my simplified closet!  I worked on it a few weekends ago and let me just say - this girl is having a yard sale in the spring.

8.  What I'm working on:

Me. That's a never-ending project.  Probably worthy of a blog series.  Or a Bravo series.

9. What am I looking forward to in February?

Tulips
My daughter knowing what team(s) she will be on for spring
Hardcore workouts
The temperature increasing a degree as it generally does in the month of February (per the weatherman on WXII 12) 

Friday 5

Hey Friday!  Oh my gosh it couldn't get here fast enough this week!  Anyone else in that mindframe as well?  Here are my five.

After Thursday's Metabolic - Even got a young one to join in!  

1. Great workouts this week!  The best part?  I can still use all of my appendages without needing assistance! 

2.  I watched two Netflix trailers for upcoming shows.  And yes, one was Miss Americana the Taylor Swift documentary - that's what it is right?  And I liked it!  Maybe part of it is because my kid is so T Swift crazy?  The other was for Horsegirl.  That looks pretty interesting.  Anyone else scope out these two?

eMeals

3.  If you subscribe to eMeals you have to make the Turkey Burgers with the Greek "Slaw."  It isn't really slaw at all (feta, tomato, and cucumber.)  It's awesome.  Maybe I'm biased because Greek style food is my favorite food of all.

Etsy

4.  Spring really IS coming!  This week softball registration opened as well as soccer!  I know it will make my spring super busy but I just love it so much.  A lot of older moms have told me to totally soak in sports with the kids because when it ends you do miss it.  I already can see that when the day comes I will totally be bummed to not have a field to go to only to rush to another field immediately following that game.

Amazon

5.  Is it just me or is anyone else thinking about the beach?  Admitting I have been checking in on this swim suit more times than I need to for January!  But a girl has to be prepared for beach and pool day!

Friday 5

Oh what a week its been.

Here's five...

1.  I'm bored with Trim Healthy Mama.  If you don't know what that is its a eating lifestyle where you focus your meals on an E (carb) or S (fat) base and go from there.  I feel like everything is beginning to taste the same.  So I turned to that wonderful little app I bought last year - eMeals.  Tonight is Chicken Alfredo Pizza night.  The kids are stoked.  Its low carb (cauli crust) and it has cheese and chicken on it...win win.

I do like the eMeals app because I can pick our nutrition preference (low carb) and get a fresh listing each week of meals to choose from.  Then I pick the ones I want to make the app will automatically coordinate with my grocery ordering services (Walmart) and bam!  Grocery shopping and meal planning is done.

Diet preferences include clean eating, keto, quick and easy, budget friendly, thirty minute, kid friendly, slow cooker, heart healthy, low calorie, diabetic, gluen free, mediterrenean, vegan, vegetarian, and paleo.

Sorry but I don't have any promos for you - however - if you go to their site I'm sure they have a deal going on.  I believe the regular special is a two week trial.

If you're a Dave Ramsey follower then you already know about eMeals.  (Yes, I'm that girl.)

2.  Back to class for me!  I started back to p90x class and metabolic effect this week.

 It was so much fun.  I was dripping with sweat by the end of class and I love to be dripping with sweat (once again I am that girl.)  Unfortunately....

3.  Sick day for me.  I missed Thursday's class because my body was attacked by germs.  BOO HISS!  I got zero sleep and couldn't breathe because mucus likes to kill you.

I spent Thursday on the couch sleeping through Real Housewives episodes and bits and pieces of Mrs. Maisel.  When I get sick I'm not one to rush off to the doctor.  I think most of the crap we get we need to allow our bodies to fight without leaning to heavily on pills.  I upped my veggies on Thursday and my water and slept a lot.  Nobody wants to use PTO on sick days!

4.  My daffodils are shooting up from the ground.  The Forsythia is blooming.  Guys, it's mid January.  Of course everything is going to freeze now because our early spring is being interrupted by winter's return.  I really need to move to Florida.  But...I got an alert spring sports signups are on the horizon (as in next week) and that made me super duper excited!  Spring will come back!

5.  If you subscribe to Fab Fit Fun and you got the Kate Somerville goats milk moisturizer use that ish!  It's the best moisturizer I have ever used.  I'm a big fan of Kate Somerville products anyway but that moisturizer is a must have. here's a link to get you some, girl.  If you're interested in Fab Fit Fun here's a link to save some money and try it out (I personally do love it.)
If you aren't a FFF subscriber and you're wondering what I'm talking about

Alright, its Friday let's do this!  Have a great weekend xo.

Amanda Buys A Vacuum Cleaner

When you think about catchy titles and you need help, obviously call me.

I bought a vacuum cleaner this morning.  Stop the presses this is big shiz.  When we took down the Christmas decorations something on my regular vac broke.  Turns out it was this two inch, plastic rectangle that manages pressure or something.  It also turns out you cannot buy a replacement two inch plastic rectangle to save yourself a couple hundred dollars.  And furthermore it turns out a two inch Lego that looks JUST LIKE the part that went missing will not fit.

Motherhood ingenuity at it's best...

So today as I woke up to clean the litter box and also make a big ass mess in the whole process (those cats should be OUTSIDE) I decided that it was time to order a new vacuum.  Even though I love my Swiffer with all my heart and soul I really needed a vacuum cleaner.

Shout out to the Amish community and their mad broom skills.  I can work a broom but apparently not as good as some cultures and generations.  Plus, using a broom is time consuming!  And on a Sunday morning I want to be sipping coffee not working the straws on a device that was probably one of the first tools man made back in 4AD.

In case you really care about the vacuum - I ordered yet another Shark because I'm a loyalist even if they piss me off with a two inch, looks-like-a-Lego-would-work, piece of plastic I cannot rig up to make my old vac work.

I really wanted a stick vac but tell me how it makes sense that a stick vac is $400 for a smaller machine that still has a cord on it and a smaller waste cup?  

Are people getting that much more stupid as time goes on?

***

Do you January clean out?  You know what I mean right?  In January you put away all the holiday crap and then start going through your closet and tossing stuff.  I know I am not the only one who does that.

Yesterday, I took apart all my clothing areas (closet, drawers, storage boxes).  If you are in the neighborhood and wear a 7.5-9 shoe or a size medium/8 dress or need a good bag stop by.  

I refuse to take this to Goodwill.  Anyone else over Goodwill?  Goodwill to a CEO.  May I suggest this year you donate to Salvation Army or small groups that actually HELP people in need?  

This morning I noticed that many people are doing sale pages on Facebook.  Meh.  What I think is they start cleaning out their shiz and then post it and whoever says they will buy it comes to that person's house to get it.  I like that idea.  

But I don't like Facebook.

Disclaimer:  This blog has a Facebook page.  I like it.

***

Facebook is kind of ridiculous.  Since your grandma and great aunt are on there the whole Facebook feel is horrid.  I have friends on Facebook who are baby boomers.  Oh these poor people.  I just pray for their safety.

When I log onto Facebook to scroll through the feed (and become either super angry or super worried about the comprehension skills of our aging population) I am just left going holy hell and we worry about the kids?

My favorites are the Bible thumpers who will jump on anything anti Christian and post it with "WE NEED TO PRAY!"  Nevermind what they have shared is bogus or a decade old.  

I also enjoy the people who fall hook, line, and sinker for ANY political headline that talks bad about a person in the party they typically are not a member of.  Wink and nod Russia you are so smart.  

Yes, the USA is GREAT but I'm afraid our deductive reasoning skills leave a lot to be desired.  

Once again - have your grandkids help you decipher what is true and what is false and what is heavily skewed.

My favorite headline that was shared on a page - Trump Knew Markle Was Evil.

Eye roll.

***

Last week and that's not a video - nice conversion. (not a boomer)

Amanda's losing her twenty pounds.  I haven't weighed this week.  But when I do I will be so annoying and share it.

I gave myself two weeks to get my stamina back up in the gym.  This past Thursday I decided to take on a class I used to love.  Metabolic Effect.  Its a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) exercise and every class is something different.

I grabbed my bar bells and mat and died.

But I did my best to power through.  As of Saturday morning my quads, abs, and parts of my glutes had went on strike.  This girl probably could have gotten away with parking in a handicap spot at the grocery store but I promise I didn't do that.

Today is three days post ME class and I'm feeling better. 

Tomorrow I do P90x.

T's and P's.

***

Friends, its sunny and sixty something degrees out.  I have spring fever like none other.  So I'm going to wrap this one up here and ask you to drink your water and move your body.  Turn off your Facebook and go outside.  Save the vacuuming for later.  Clean out if you wish.

If you are in New England - stay inside.  I heard its nasty up there today.  Please stay inside and watch tv.  Please.

XO

Amanda Loses Twenty Pounds

It's January and I decided to fire the blog back up.  You may notice the name change.  I kinda made a boo boo with CCK and so you have a little switcheroo here.  It's all good.

Since my kinda sorta passion in life is working out I decided January is probably the BEST time to work on bringing the blog back around because um...so many freaking people make stupid resolutions that they probably will not keep.



At the top of the list?

Lose weight.

Second?

Eat healthier.

Third?

Save money.

I love all those things because I am a true weirdo.

So...you need a little back story because since I last regularly blogged on CCK I have:

Totally changed occupations.  I'm no longer 110% physically active for an eight hour work day.  For the last year I have had my tail end plastered to a chair for eight freaking hours a day.  And I let my workouts fade away.  I actually cancelled my gym membership last winter. 

Oh the good ole days when my hair was longer ...

Because of this I kinda sorta gained some fat.  Like ten pounds of it.  EWWW! 

But I'm a weirdo and I don't see it as a problem.  I see it as something I can fix. 



Ohhhh and I turned thirty-eight two months ago.

So if you're jumpstarting a program this month I'm here to cheer you on and tell you what works for me and what I've tried and what totally blew up in my face.

There is way more to "getting healthy" than just losing weight.  Sometimes you do not have to lose weight you just need to get in shape.  Sometimes you are in shape but you don't know how to eat.  Sometimes your chemical imbalancements get the best of you and you need to pop a xanax.  I'm just being real people.

So I'm going to to post these informal pieces of fun healthy girl shizz all throught January so that you have a resoure that doesn't glaze your eyes over and that you can read and say, huh hmm ooh ok yeah to.

Throw back

Until the next one I'm off to throw on some compression pants because its Saturday morning and I have a date with the gym and a couple bills to pay and a kid to drop off and some other stuff I realize I am now forgetting.

xo