Happy Halloween!

A corner just for me

I didn't mean to take such a bloggy break.  It just happened.  I have some projects going on but they involve painting and I can't go outside to do it.  My town is getting swarmed by mosquitoes so we have been stuck inside.  They are so bad that we had to run all the way home from school the other day and soccer practices were cancelled.  

Anyway, I did do a little rearranging though.  I'm slowly but surely adding furniture to my empty front room and it makes me very happy.  

 This area of our house is right by the front door in formal living room that we now use as our workout room.  I don't want it to be empty but we still need space to move, jump and lunge around.

I bought the rocker at a local antique store.  This chair is very comfortable even though it doesn't look like it.  The table is a hand me down from my house growing up.  It has moved with us umpteen times and I so glad that I still have it.  I remember dusting this sucker when I was younger and it was a pain to get in between all those grooves!

Here is a closeup of the detail on the chair.  

The lamp was on clearance last year at Target but it took me forever to find and make over a shade.  When I found one, I spray painted it and then hot glued rope around it.  Two hours later and a few burned fingers and I have a new lamp.  But wouldn't you know that I would run out of rope at the VERY last second.

That's OK, I just turn it around and no one can see it!

Books I've read

Let me start out by saying that I'm not much of a reader.  I would love to be but I have a tendency to fall asleep after reading only two pages at night.  Reading two pages a night doesn't get you far in the book world.  So the fact that I have read 4 books since the beginning of the summer is huge for me.   I think because my kids have gotten older, I actually have some time to read.  This coupled with several good book recommendations from awesome bloggers recently has helped in my book reading success.   Since I liked some of them so much, I thought I would share.

The first book of the summer, Bloodroot, was recommended by Edie.  She summed it up by saying that "it gets under your skin".  And it sure as shoot got under mine.  I started it on my getaway vacation with hubby.  I spent more time with the book than hubby.  On the mornings I was supposed to be sleeping in, I woke early and read it for hours.  I won't get into the details, but I will tell you it it's not for the faint of heart.  Of course Edie describes things much better so go here to read more about the book.

I'll only mention that I read The Midwife's Confession because, honestly, I didn't really like it.

Moving on, I finally read The Help.  I didn't even know about it until I watched a 20/20 episode on it.  I should get out more.

I'm glad that I read it.  I saw this performance on So You Think You Can Dance right after I finished reading it and I cried while watching them.  

And finally, I just completed Ellis Island by recommendation of the Sarah of Clover Lane.  (I already found a few more books to put on my list while searching her blog for this link!)  

It was great.  I'm so glad that it didn't end up being a cheesy love story.  I don't do those.  It was a little slow in the middle but I'm glad I hung on because the ending was surprising for me.  

So I'm currently reading In the Company of Others.  

I have been reading all of the Mitford series dating back from my student teaching days 13 years ago!   If you are looking for light, funny but meaningful stories, I highly recommend them.  They are a family favorite. 

I'm hoping to get some more reading done today so I can keep up on my good reading stretch.  I'm home today with the other sick one now!  I like to share books and my kids like to share germs. 

Healthy Hump Day-A crazy weekend recap

Things have been a bit quiet on ye olde blog since it has been crazy around ye olde house.  Here's how our weekend and the next few days played out.  When something goes wrong with my kids I tend to shut down.  It's hard for me to focus on anything else.

Friday:
6:00 pm:  J-man slices the heck out of his heel running around outside and it is bleeding everywhere.
6:30:  stitches or no stitches?
6:45:  Dr. down the street checks it out and says to go to urgent care to be on the safe side.
8:00:  Urgent care does a thorough cleaning and closes it up with steri strips.  It's more of a flap than a deep cut.
9:00:  Kids are asleep and I'm thankful that it was just a cut and nothing worse.

Saturday:
9:00  Roo has a soccer game in the morning and the ball came to her a couple of times so she actually kicked it.
*I don't remember the rest of the day.  But I think it involved some crafts down at the neighbors' house.  See?  Hard to focus.

Sunday:
10:00 am  J-man sits with me at church during worship because of his foot.  Then tells me the whole time that his ears hurt.  I tell him they are just full of gunk and that he's fine.
The rest of the day we do everything to keep him off of his foot.  It's torture, I tell ya. (for all of us)

Monday:
8:00 am:  Send J-man to school but get a work in appt. for the doc for his ears and by now he's coughing.  Since he has asthma, it puts me on alert.  At least she can look at his foot too.
9:45:  See a different doctor than our regular pediatrician.  She doesn't even take the bandage off his foot and says it's fine.  Whatever, I already know that.  She changes his allergy meds to a super duper one I've never heard of that is expensive but says his breathing is fine.
1:00am:  "Mommy, I'm coughing really loud and it hurts."  He sounds like a seal and is freaking out.  I pull out all of the asthma guns and put him in a steamy bathroom.  He sounds better and falls back to sleep while I lay in the guest bed waiting for him to cough again.

Tuesday:
8:00: Roo relishes in her independence to walk down to the neighbor's house that morning by herself while I keep Justin home for observation.
The rest of the day is steamy bathroom visits (more torture) but he's doing better.
8:00pm:  He is sounding worse and has now lost his voice.  I sit with him in the steamy bathroom to monitor his breathing.  Unfortunately, I know what labored breathing looks like in him.  He's not laboring just a horrible cough.
9:00: We do another breathing treatment while I pray.  I put him to bed and sleep in the guest room again.  He coughs throughout the night but never gets up.

Wednesday:
8:00 am:  Home again for observation and he's only missing the 4th grade program that he is playing a xylophone part in anyway.  He's not too sad.
8:30:  I sit down to write a Healthy Hump day post since it's Wednesday.  Wait, what was I writing about anyway?  Focus Kristen, Focus.  Oh yeah, you should take this when you feel like something is attacking you.  It might help!

{click on picture for a link}

Halloween mantel

The kids wanted Halloween decorations and this is as scary as I get!  

I did not want to spend any money so I went to my handy printer once again.  The crow was filled in with a sharpie and then cut out.  The sticks were collected outside of my church the day I was volunteering and spray painted black.  

I love how it turned out but I especially love that I didn't spend any money.  

******Happy Halloween******

Healthy Hump Day-Challenge yourself

 How did a week go by already?! The long weekend threw me off, I guess. We spent our weekend in Austin so hubby could run the Tough Mudder race in Central Texas. The kids got some time with the grandparents and we got a night out with some friends after the race.

What does all of this have to do with Healthy Hump day? It's about challenging yourself! While I'm not going be the first to sign up for Tough Mudder (too much mud!), hubby and I got to talking about doing a different kind of obstacle course/race together. Two years ago, I would have never even entertained the thought of such a thing! And the reason I can now is because of Insanity and completing other Beachbody programs before it.

Hubby knew I could do it and challenged me. He tells me all of the time "See, I just wanted you to know that you could do it, too!"  I'm so glad that he did.  I now have the confidence that I could complete an obstacle course, little marathon, or do P90X2 (coming out at the end of the year).  I just have to challenge myself and train for it!

{See the big guy on the left?  

He's challenging himself to run the race again next year 100 pounds lighter!}

What could you challenge yourself to do? 

Whether it's a new workout program, bringing lunch instead of eating out, or giving up coke, every little challenge, little or big, is for the better.

Healthy Hump Day-Workout clothes

Today I want to share with you some of my workout clothes.  But rest assured they are not fancy and none of them are brand new.  I don't spend a ton of money on workout clothes because all of them get worn so fast anyway.  Most of mine are easy on the budget and from Academy or Target.  Also, they must be comfy!  I'm a firm believer that if you feel better in your workout clothes, you do a better job and are more likely to actually workout.

My absolute favorite pants are from Target.  They are the perfect length and not too tight but still conform to my body (you can get them in short and long length).  The waistband is wide and awesome because it gives me a little help in the sucking in department and doesn't "cut me off" in the midsection.  You can find them here:

I often pair it with a sports bra and a simple tank from Old Navy.  I can wear this to the store and start my workout right when I get home.  Bonus.

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I got this at Target too and I wanted to show it to you because of the flared out bottom.  It's slimming on the top but takes care of having to suck in on those days I just don't feel like doing it!  Find it here:

And this is what you would see me in most days lately because of doing Insanity.  I'm just getting used to showing my legs off a little but it's a necessity to wear shorts while doing this workout.  I sweat like crazy and it is SO hot here. The shorts are from Target too.  Do I go anywhere else?!  Find them here:

The thing I love most about these shorts is the waistband.  See how it is not too "elasticky"?  I hate too much elastic because it cuts me off and who wants to feel their tummy over their shorts while working out? Not me.  I'm glad that I bought three pair of them!

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I should stop here but let's talk socks for just a minute.  Oh my goodness, I never thought socks would make that big of a deal.   I recently bought the Champion brand short socks at Target and they are like heaven on my feet.  (They are kind of like this but these aren't the Target ones)  I said goodbye to my flimsy ones forever.  And a side note, short socks make your legs look longer.  Why did I ever wear the fold over socks with shorts?  

It's taken me a while to figure out what makes me feel good while I work out.

I hope this gives you some ideas the next time you shop!

To learn more about my healthier lifestyle, click here!

Easy Congrats banner

Hubby got a promotion the other day!  The morning he called to tell me the good news, I was volunteering at my church until later that day.  I didn't have time to create a big celebration.  But I did piece together a very simple Congrats banner.  Here's how I did it:

In a word document, I changed the format to landscape and placed two letters on the page using 2 columns.  Then I cut the paper down the middle and grouped them all together to punch holes in the top.  Lastly, I strung them up with my favorite string/twine.  

I'm pretty sure that he liked it and I loved seeing him sitting in front of it while we feasted on fancy turkey burgers.  (-:

Updated:
Linked to:

Southern Lovely  
and
320 Sycamore's Under $10 under one hour party
and Not So Simple Houswife's party too!

p.s.  Would someone be so kind as to tell me how to put the buttons for these linky's on my post?  Thanks!!!