Girls day!

Today was girls day with one of my best friends. We spent our morning shopping. It has been forever since I've gone shopping with a friend. Although I found many pieces of clothing that I liked, I decided not to purchase anything today. My goal is to get into smaller clothes and I currently have several pairs of jeans and capris in my closet just waiting for me to be able to fit into them. I did find the cutest hat for my little man. He loves hats (almost as much as my 17 year old). He seems to be drawn towards fedoras lately. While I was at Burlington I was able to find the "Agent P" hat that he had seen before. It's the cutest hat!



It's amazing how much kids grow! We were visiting with my parents yesterday and my dad was just amazed at how tall my 17 year old is. He thought they were about the same height... LOL. He didn't believe me so he said they needed to stand back to back... Talk about some serious denial! My dad thought my son was standing on a stuffed animal. My 17 year old is 6'3". I think he's the tallest person in our family! He towers over his short mama (I am a whopping 5'). He plans to try out for college basketball this year.



Tomorrow we meet with the Dr. to go over the do's and don'ts for hubby's surgery then off to the hospital to do all the pre-op paperwork. We are now just a few days away and I am praying there will be instant relief for him!

I know that a few weeks ago I was complaining about feeling like I am not doing enough. I think it was the next day or two that things in our lives got chaotic. That was God telling me to be grateful and giving me a gentle reminder that I am where he wants me to be. If I didn't have the time that I do, then I wouldn't be able to do the things for my family that I need to be doing. I have been able to be sure that with everything going on that my family has meals and they aren't eating a quick burger or a bag of chips or whatever their stressed out go to food is. I wouldn't have the time to help a family friend who is in need of our help. There are just so many things that God has put upon me in the last couple of weeks, all of which I welcome. It's amazing how perfect God's timing is, but in the same breath I feel I shouldn't be amazed because its God and he knows the plan and its just completely perfect! (I am not sure that came out the way I wanted, but it's an amazing thing regardless!)

Life gets crazy!

The last 2 weeks have been insane!  It seems life has bit me in the butt again!  I need to just be sure to juggle things correctly so that I have time for my blogging!  It seriously keeps me accountable.  We've had some family members that are sick over the last couple weeks.  Hubby's back just seems to be getting worse.  We finally talked to the Dr. again and convinced them to bump the surgery up a week, so he will be going in on Thursday to get this done.  I know he can't wait to be done.  It's so hard to see him in pain all the time.  (Only plus side is I don't have to share my bottle of wine with him...he can't have any with the pain pills..lol)  Thank you to those of you who sent me messages to check up on me!

Next weekend is my first scheduled run.  I am nervous because I have not been training for it at all!  So it will probably be a run/walk combo!  Both of my sisters will be doing it as well.  My sister created our team name...  "Twisted Sisters" LOL!  Love it!!  I am thinking of trying to get some t-shirts made up for it!  I think it would be great to have a memento from my very first official run (even if I walk most of it!).

Today was another visit to Acai Alaska.  My 17 year old son hadn't been there and neither had my brother in law, so we had to take the "newbies" for a visit!  They enjoyed their Acai Bowls, and heck it was a great reason for me to go and get a "fix" (along with my sister and my hubby, because they are hooked too!).

Whooaaa is me.... & Greek Salad!

I am driving myself crazy!  I really have to focus more on my praying to the Lord to help me every day.  I like to be busy and since we've moved my life has become almost stagnant.  The weather lately isn't helping any at all.  It's done nothing but snow.  I  know that I have to get my mind set right and I am just struggling.  What do you do to help you get through a winter that just won't seem to go away?  When we lived in Spokane I was a SAHM (stay at home mom), ran my own business, President of my MOMS Club, Event Coordinator for a local non-profit, Meal Co-ordinator for our Church and not to mention being a wife and just every day life with field trips and PTSA meetings & volunteering in my son's class. That was a typical day for me...finding the time to get all of that done along with housework, cooking, dogs, etc.  Now...  I don't do any of those things.  I feel like I've gone from 1,000/hour to stop.  There were days that were stressful but I love it.  I know I can't expect to be as busy as I was there, after all it did take me time to get there, but something would be good.
I have started my own event planning business here (just starting it) but I am finding the normal networking that I am used to just isn't the same here.  So what worked in Spokane isn't working here.
I looked for another MOMS Club here and there is one that is just being started, but the lady isn't so good at responding. So I started my own Moms Group, which has picked up in conversation today so that's a plus.
We are still in the process of finding a church that we feel is "home".  I signed up to be on the PTA here, but have yet to hear back.
Perhaps you can start to see/feel my frustrations.  I have my family here and that's great, but it doesn't keep me busy.
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Ok enough of my whining!
Hubby's surgery is scheduled for May 1st.  I pray that when all is said and done he feels like a new man.  I know it's been hard on him (not only physically) but mentally as well.  He can't really do anything physical at all.  He lucked out not having to shovel this year.  LOL!
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There is a restaurant here in Anchorage, Guidos and this is their Greek Salad.  Now if you live here in Anchorage and have never had one of these salads, then you truly do NOT know what you are missing out on!  (Their pizza is pretty darn good too!)  The in house made dressing is what (in my opinion) totally makes this salad!  Stop by and try it for yourself and let me know what you think!

Foods and allergies related?

I have had many conversations with several friends regarding opinions about foods, preservatives and allergies being related.  I don't know about you but the amount of people who are now allergic to things seems to have sky rocketed over the years!  10 years ago you didn't hear about people being Gluten Free.  Now it's seems to be the latest "fad".  And please do not read that wrong, it is not meant to be disrespectful to anyone who is Gluten Free.  I do believe that the allergies exist, but why all of a sudden are they existing?  Is it because technology has improved?  Possibly.  Is it because we are filling our bodies with TONS of processed crap?  Probably!  It could be a combination of both, but lets face it; did our Grandparents have to worry about the amount of processed foods they were eating?  I don't know about yours, but I know that my Grandmother canned her own food, made her own jellies and eating out was something that was done once in a blue moon.  Now a days it seems like there's a restaurant or fast food joint on every corner.  People wonder why or how obesity can be so dominant in our society.  I read an article on Facebook about "scary food additives".  It made me start thinking about the foods that we have been eating.  It's scary to think about what we put into our bodies.  Needless to say we will be eating more organic foods and I will be reading labels closer than I was before.  Not only will I be looking at the calories and fat but I will be looking at all the ingredients as well.  If there are more than 5 ingredients and words that I can't pronounce then I won't be buying it, let alone eating it.
Below are a few articles that you might find interesting about the different artificial additives that you can find in your foods.  It's hard to determine what articles are accurate, but after reading a few of them quite a bit of the information is the same from article to article.  I am just your average person who has done a little bit of research.

I have many opinions about the foods that are considered "ok" by our FDA....  but for now I will keep those opinions to myself.  I do think that we need to educate ourselves and not just accept what we are told or made to believe.
(Remember I am not a Dr. or a nurse and that all of this is my opinion.)

Do research and think for yourself!  Here's to reading labels!

http://fooddemocracy.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/the-dirty-dozen-12-foodsfood-additives-to-avoid-and-why/

 http://www.livestrong.com/article/370945-health-effects-of-yellow-5-food-coloring/

http://www.cspinet.org/olestra/11cons.html

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Winter is still lingering....  Here's pictures from today!  Hopefully it's sunny where ever you are, and think of me! :)
The first picture is when the snow started this morning, the 2nd picture is 4 hours later and the 3rd picture is while we were out and about.  Hard to believe that most of the roads were totally clear yesterday!  (Mother Nature is playing cruel cruel jokes!)

Salsa Anyone?

I had about 15 jalapenos that needed to be used or they were getting tossed!  So yesterday I spent some time chopping and dicing veggies & fruit.  I made some fresh Mango Salsa & Pico de Gallo.  I did not use a recipe in making either of these, it was just a throw it in and call it good (I have used a recipe for Pico de Gallo before ~ so I did have an idea).  I must say that the Mango Salsa is KILLER!  My Pico was ok, not earth shattering but not horrible.  I think I added too much cilantro to mine, I added the tomatoes last so I didn't realize that I didn't have enough of them until it was all said and done.  I don't think they were the best tomatoes either, they were firm and felt great on the outside but one you cut into them they weren't very juicy.  Ahhhh well, guess we can't win them all.  Here are the recipes; after you make them feel free to play with it a little and expand!  I would love to hear what changes you made, good or bad.

Mango Salsa
2 mangos, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
4 jalapenos, diced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro (fresh, not dried)
2 tbsp lime juice

Chop ingredients toss together in a bowl and splash on lime juice.  Enjoy!
*Note, I do not recommend using the Tostitos Thin & Crispy tortillas (they do taste delicious) but they break every time you scoop!

Pico de Gallo (with less cilantro than I used and more tomato) :)
8 roma tomatoes diced
1/2 red onion, diced
6 jalapenos, diced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro (fresh, not dried)
2-4 tbsp lime juice (or more to taste)
course sea salt

Chop ingredients and toss together in a bowl splash on lime juice and grate fresh course sea salt (1/2 tsp roughly more or less to your taste).  Enjoy!

Tonight we are headed to and Aces Hockey game.  They are in the Kelly Cup Playoffs and my little man is a huge hockey fan!  It will be a fun night for sure! And tomorrow is 50% off Acai Bowls at our newest found craving spot! (Acai Alaska) so you know where you can find me at some point tomorrow!

Spring?

As I look out my sliding glass doors I see an abyss of white.  However, when you look out of our bedroom window at the street below you can actually see pavement!  What a promising sight that is!!  I am ready for winter to be over!  I am not a winter, snow, ice, or cold person, I like the heat and sun!  Yes I do realize I live in the wrong state for the weather that I prefer, but I can't seem to get my family to move out of this frozen *&%$.  So until my youngest graduates from high school this is where we are.  Which is going to mean LOTS of vacations for mommy!  :)  I must say the snow is melting rather nicely though.  Hopefully it continues and there are no more snow showers in the future.  (Here's to hoping.)

A couple of years ago I came across Rocco Dispirito's cookbooks at Costco.  I LOVE his cookbooks!  It's amazing the fat and calories he cuts from regular recipes with simple modifications.  The other night I made the Jambalaya and it was DELISH!  For those of you who have not seen his cookbooks, I suggest you find one!

Jambalaya
4 servings

1 medium onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 medium green bell pepper (I used yellow, didn't have green)
1 c. low fat, low sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp. smoked paprika
3/4 c long grain brown rice
salt
4 oz. andouille sausage, sliced
1 (14.5 oz) can diced fire roasted tomatoes
12 oz large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Heat a dutch oven over medium heat.  When the pot is hot, spray it with cooking spray and add the onion, garlic, and bell pepper.  Saute the vegetables, stirring occasionally, until they are almost tender, about 4 minutes.  Then add the chicken broth, smoked paprika, and rice.  Season to taste with salt.  Cover and bring the mixture to a simmer.  Reduce the heat to low, and cook for about 25 minutes.  Stir in the sausage and tomatoes.  Cover, and continue to simmer until the rice is tender, about 30 minutes.  Season the shrimp with salt, and stir it into the rice mixture.  Cover, and continue to cook until the shrimp is cooked through and the liquid has been absorbed, about 10 minutes.  Remove the pot from the heat, and let the jambalaya rest for 5 minutes.  Then fluff the rice with a fork and serve.

Fat before: 34g
Fat after: 10.1g
Calories before: 636
Calories after: 340

*Recipe courtesy of "Now eat This" by Rocco Dispirito

Enjoy the recipe!  We all did (with the exception of removing the shrimp from Little Man's bowl...but that just meant more for me, right?) :)

Back to Reality

The month of March was just plain CRAZY!  Every time I turned around I got distracted my life in general.  So many things have happened in the last few weeks.  The biggest thing: Hubby is going to have to go in for surgery.  He has a ruptured disc and they have to remove the ruptured part of the disc.  We have been going to Dr. appointment after Dr. appointment.  The first Dr. had us coming in for different appointments with different nurses before we even got to meet with the Dr. himself.  Needless to say we weren't thrilled, and will be even less thrilled when we get the outrageous bills from his office.  We won't be using that Dr. or that office for the surgery or anything else.  Morale of that story: Always go with your gut feeling about a Dr. It's your body and you don't have to use them just because you were referred to them.  Get a 2nd opinion when it comes to surgeries (especially if you have a bad feeling).  We got a 2nd opinion and it was 1 meeting with a nurse, an assistant a Dr. all in one meeting, IMAGINE THAT!  And we really like them.  Now we wait for them to call us with the surgery date.  Hopefully it will be here in the next week or so, hubby has been miserable for the last 8 months.  I will keep you posted!

Exciting news for me: I have ordered P90X.  I have heard so many good things about the workout!  Hopefully I will be able to keep up and it won't kill me!!!  (Say a prayer for me.)  I will be starting the workout in the next couple days.  I have to get my body back on track!  (my mind as well for that matter).  It's amazing how easily we get distracted by life.

My little man has just started T-ball at school.  He will be starting Little League in May and then soccer.  Busy schedule here we come!  I have to get into a routine before things get crazy!

Not to mention I have started up an Event Planning business.  I love planning parties!  I did event planning in Spokane when we were there and it was a blast.  I recently planned and executed my Mom's birthday party.  It was a hit and turned out well.  She was surprised and it just made me want to do it more!

Ok folks, sorry for the absence in posts but I am back and focused!  Today was a re-cap of events.  Tomorrow I will have a yummy recipe for you all!

~Kari

The Start of Spring Break

Yesterday was day 1 of Spring Break for little man. As much as I would have liked to just hang out at home and enjoy the lazy day, he had other plans. So after I got my work outs done we got ready and made a trip to Subway to have a lunch date. He loves Subway and as far as fast food goes, I'm happy he enjoys healthy food choices. After we finished lunch we were off to go let him bounce at one of the local bouncy places. You know the kind with the huge inflatables that kids get to climb on and jump around in. Needless to say he had a blast and it was a great start to his Spring Break (not to mention that daddy took him ice skating after all that as well). My goal for his Spring Break will be "to do things that keep him busy" which in turn will keep me busy. And by busy I really mean active.

I do believe that this exercise thing is becoming more of a habit for me. Today is a scheduled "rest day" and I am really tempted to get on my elliptical. I do think I need to stick to my rest day, but perhaps we will go do something active as a family that will still get me exercise, but it will be family fun! That sounds even better than getting on the elliptical. Or I could do both.... Hmmm decisions decisions... LOL.

The end of my Diet Bet is here, I will need to get on my scale to see how I did. I am hoping that I lost enough weight to win! The pot is up to $5350! That gets split with everyone who loses 4%. This was the first time doing the Diet Bet, and win or lose I'm in for the next round!

My sister introduced me to Acai Alaska, and OMG! That is SO good! Not to mention addicting! The best way I know to describe it is: like a really thick fruit smoothie base (picture a bowl of ice cream but fruit smoothie) topped with fresh fruit and nuts! It was incredible! If you have never had an Acai Bowl, I recommend finding a place that serves them, you won't be disappointed! (My picture does not do it justice, next time I go I will try to remember to take picture before I start eating!)

Happy Saturday!

Kari vs elliptical

This morning I am struggling with finishing my workout on this bad boy (elliptical)! So I figured it's a good time to talk to you all. I increased the incline and the resistance and my body is rebelling! Needless to say I am working up quite the sweat. It's so funny because after I type up my post during my elliptical work out I have to come back and re read it all and correct the spelling and grammar errors. So if you find any that I missed please excuse them. (I rocked the elliptical!)

It looks like my mom and other sister are going to be joining my sister and I on our 5K in April, which will be awesome. I am excited to do this (I think I might have said that before, huh). I have talked about doing the 5K to a few people and I get the impression that some think I can't do this. And the only reason I can think of is that because I'm overweight. Never mind the fact that I am working out almost every day and training for it (doing my C25K).... Yes it struck a nerve, but I will be showing them not to doubt me, I am a very determined person when I want to do something. I know that my husband and youngest son (hopefully the older ones too, but they will probably be working) will be at the finish line cheering me on.

This weeks made 2 1/2 dozen breakfast burritos. I must admit, they are awesome! :). Try are a great breakfast in the go and a good staple for hubby's lunch box. (He usually eats a smoothie at home in the morning then eats breakfast at work.)

Breakfast burritos
Makes 28

5 c. Egg beaters
1# turkey sausage
1 onion, chopped
1 c. mushrooms, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
28 tortillas
28 tbsp shredded cheddar

Cook sausage, then add veggies and eggs and cook, stirring occasionally like scrambled eggs. Place 1/4 c. of mixture on tortilla and top with 1 tbsp shredded cheese. Wrap like a burrito and place seam side down on cookie sheet. After cookie sheet is full place in freezer to freeze. After frozen place burritos in a gallon size labeled ziplock bag and place back in the freezer.


Enjoy the burritos!

Running

As I have said before I am NOT a runner, but I am excited to become one. My sister asked me if I wanted to participate in the woman's run in June, so I got excited and started looking for more.... Yes I am crazy since I am just starting to run. But I did find one that is near and dear to my heart, literally. We will be running in the Alaskan Heart Associations Heart Run. When I lived in Spokane I participated in their Heart Walk, so this seemed to be a perfect fit. We get to choose from either a 3k or a 5k, and I believe we are going for the 5k. I am nervous and excited at the same time. The race is 8 weeks away and my C25k program is 8 weeks, so it's perfect timing. It seems everything is lining up perfectly. Now to find me some good running shoes that won't break the bank! Lol

This morning I did my elliptical work out for 25 minutes. However when I got to the 25 minute mark my distance was at 1.959 miles.... There was NO way I was stopping that close to 2 miles. So I kept on going until it hit 2 miles for distance, which got me 26 minutes! After I dropped little man off at school I came home and did my C25K around my house. Our road is covered with ice and over the weekend when I went out to run, I slipped so for today my house worked just fine.

Happy Hump Day! I am off to find some running shoes and look for birthday party stuff! In the next 4 months I have over 10 birthdays in my family!

Spending the day with the guys

Yesterday was a busy fun filled day! After we finished breakfast we headed downtown to see the start of the Iditarod.  While we hadn't planned on spending the entire say downtown, we did! It was a day full of walking!  Little man got to go on his first pony ride, horse drawn carriage ride, and not to mention his first ever Iditarod. We got to watch the Running with the Reindeer, that was a fun site. People dress up and enter this race (not sure how far it is, I believe it's only 2 or 3 city blocks) and they race reindeer to the finish line. There is also a carnival with rides, but we did that earlier in the week.  Yesterday I completed over 5 miles of walking.  Normally I average about 2 miles.

I felt like I did great yesterday with activity seeing how I walked so much and was on the go all day long.  But I was highly disappointed this morning when I got on the scale and I was up 3 pounds since yesterday morning! Are you kidding me?! I am sure that its due to my lack of water yesterday and my increased activity.  Even though I know there are good reasons for it, it doesn't make it any easier to swallow that my weight would go up so much overnight after being active! It can be discouraging to become more active if you see your weight spike so high so quickly.  Because we all low that it takes far longer for the weight to come off once it goes up.  So this little spike could take me a week to get rid of.  All because I am more active....  In the long run I am ok with that because I know that I am being proactive and moving!  I just have to keep reminding myself that the weight will come off and I am doing it the right way and making serious changes in my life, and my family's life.

As I was on my elliptical yesterday I noticed that it is getting easier for me.  I didn't realize that the incline and resistance were set until after I finished my workout.  Now I know that an incline of 3.5 and resistance of 1 aren't much, but the first time I set them, I noticed! And the fact that I didn't even notice them yesterday says a ton!  Speaking of which, I should probably get moving and do my workout for the day.  We have a hockey game to go to tonight and I hear the laundry calling my name....

Happy Sunday!

Ready for Iditarod weekend..... (Recipe posted)

This morning I decided to put together my work out schedule, up until now I've just been going by how I feel in the morning, and soon that's going to bite me in the bootie! So looking at my schedule its a little zealous, but I am determined to do it! Yesterday I started the "Couch to 5k".  I have never thought of myself as a runner in any way....well only if I were being chased by an axe murderer, then I might just run.  But, I must say that after doing Day 1, I am excited! I can't wait to finish this and be at a point where I will be able to run a 5K and not feel like I am going to keel over. I am excited for this new journey in my life.  I am also going to start looking around to see when there are races in Anchorage that I can participate in.  Then I will have a goal (other than weight loss and getting healthy) to work towards.  Who would have thought?!

Powdered peanut butter?

Who would think you could buy a powdered peanut butter?! I never would have even thought it, but it's true and it's pretty tasty.  This was my new product find and I really like it.  I mean who wouldn't for 1 point! Now don't get me wrong it doesn't taste like the processed full of chemicals peanut butter that most people buy.  I have only been buying natural peanut butter with peanuts and salt being the only ingredients so it wasn't too far for me to go to switch to this.  To create the peanut butter you simply combine 2 tablespoons of the powder with 1 tablespoon of water and voila! You have peanut butter!  It tastes just like peanuts, who would have thought.

Last nights dinner was a quick throw together, and sometimes those are the best meals. I used some turkey kielbasa sliced up and sliced some peppers and onion and cooked it all together in a pan. Added a little bit of salt and pepper to taste along with some garlic powder and Italian seasonings. Normally when I make this I add sliced potatoes, but this time I didn't have any and rather than go to the store to buy some I chose to go without. And it was delish!

Yesterday was weigh in day..... And I ROCKED it! I was down 2.6 lbs this week! Considering we had pizza Friday night and Red Robin Saturday I am so happy with my loss. Friday night we ordered from Papa Murphy's and got the delight pizza. Hubby and I have noticed that our choices have changed drastically. Yes we can still go out or order out, but it's the choices we make when we do eat out. The biggest change is our focus. We (hubby and I) have our goals in mind of where we want to be and we know how to get there, we are on this journey together and we will be successful.

Fruits and veggies....who knew?!

So I've made it my goal to incorporate more fruits and veggies into my diet every day. I know that they (weight watchers) say that its essential to get enough in our diets and that we should have some with every meal. I was doing pretty good at that, but the last 4 or 5 days I have really been focusing on doing just that. Today is weigh in day so we shall see just how well that goes. I am pretty confident that its going to be a good day. :) I have gotten on my scale here at home and its looking good so far. Even after going to Red Robin and having a burger, fries and giant beer! And when I say giant beer, I mean the LARGE beer! (I was the passenger). It felt great to have something I was really craving, and it feels even better to be able to lose weight even having indulged. I know that it has helped that I increased my fruits and veggies. It didn't hurt that I was walking quite a bit this weekend as well. I took a hiatus from the elliptical and Zumba this week to give my knee time to rest. But this week it's back to work!