Thinking Like a Size 8

/ Patricia M / 1 Comment

My new thought process is to think like a size 8. I am currently about a 12 and my goal is a comfortable size 8.  I have been every thing from a 0 – 14 over the past 20 years. That sounds crazy right? It felt crazy to just write it down. Out of all the sizes I think 8 is were I would like to be right now. My body has change and weight has shifted to different places. I feel as though an 8 would look perfect on me.  In pounds that may be about 25 pounds away.

So I am thinking like a size 8. I have already been going through my closest to pack away many of my larger clothes. Why? Because I am a size 8, I don’t need those. I have also been going through the smaller clothes I have packed away so I can start wearing them. I am not delusional I know that I can not wear them yet….YET. However, I will soon. I know that. I am confident of that. I am excited.

A couple things that I have started recently are wearing ankle weights during the day and drinking water.  Those are obvious things to most but obviously I have not been doing them. I found this great 64 oz chugger at 5 below and I love it. That is also where I got the ankle weights.  SAMSUNG

I fill my chugger with water and add sliced cucumber, lemon, lime and orange.  I also add a peppermint tea bag for a few minutes to add a taste of mint.

SAMSUNG

Also when it comes to my food intake I am again thinking like a size 8. Once I become satisfied eating I simply stop. While we are eating why do we eat past the point of satisfaction. Just save some for the next meal.

What size are you thinking like?

~Tricia

Deck of Cards Workout: A Great At-Home Workout

/ Patricia M / Leave a comment

My husband introduced me to this workout a few years ago. It is a great alternative if you can not make it to the gym or if you are just looking for some at home workouts.

You will need:

  • A Full Deck of Cards

Description:

Once you have a deck a cards designate an exercise for each suit. Write it down on a little piece of paper to refer back to. Here is an example:

  • Clubs = Crunches
  • Hearts = Jumping Jacks
  • Spades = Squats
  • Diamonds = Push Ups

You decided. If you have weights maybe make one of the exercises bicep curls. That is the beauty of this workout, you can do whatever you like.

Once you have designated the exercises you can begin. Shuffle the deck good. Pick a card and do the exercise that correlates and then put the card to the side. For instance, if you pick the 10 of diamonds do 10 pushups. If the next card is the 8 of spades do 8 squats and so on. For face cards we do the following:

  • Jacks = 11
  • Queens = 12
  • Kings = 13
  • Aces = 14

*For an extra challenge include jokers and when a joker is picked do 5 of each exercise.

Keep going through the cards until you complete the deck. You will find that although this is a simple concept it is a very challenging workout.

 

Enjoy

~Tricia

 

 

 

 

Peppers Stuffed with Italian Chicken Sausage and Brown Rice

/ Patricia M / Leave a comment

Yesterday afternoon when I was thinking what I wanted for dinner, stuffed peppers popped in my mind. I had some Italian Chicken Sausage on hand as well as brown rice.

What is amazing about stuffed peppers is that you can put anything you like in it. This is what I used:

  • A pack of Italian Chicken Sausage
  • 1 cup of uncooked brown rice
  • 4 nice size green peppers
  • Some chopped onions
  • Some tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 360°

I cooked the sausage in a covered pan with some water on medium low heat. This took about 40 – 50 minutes min (check often to make sure there is still water in the pan and add when needed). I also cooked the brown rice according to the package which also took about 40 minutes.

Cut out the stem of the peppers and clean out the seeds. I like my peppers kind of soft so I put them in a covered dish with some water and placed them in the preheated oven to steam them and soften them a little while the other ingredients are cooking.

Once the sausage was done I cut it into little pieces and mixed it with the rice, tomato sauce, and chopped onion. Use your own desired amounts but enough to fill up the four peppers.

I stuffed the peppers with the ingredients and baked them uncovered in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes.

They came out great. You can eat them alone or add any additional sides.

Enjoy!!

~Tricia

I’m Possible!

/ Patricia M / 3 Comments

I have not posted in 13 days. I needed motivation and I came across this quote by Audrey Hepburn. “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!”

I loved it! Lately I have lost focus of my goals, my writing goals, my fitness and nutritional goals, and home organization goals. I find myself tired….often. Drained. From what? I don’t know. I do not get up super early and have even found myself taking a nap some days when the kids take theirs.

I have not been writing or working out so what am I tried from.To be honest with myself I must admit that I am tried because I have been doing nothing. I have not been doing the things that keep me focused, energized, and motivated.  The only thing being tired from doing nothing does is puts you in that funk. Are you in that funk I have spoken about before? Click here to read more about it.

Why have I stopped doing the things that I enjoy and make me feel good. Working out makes me feel great!  For me it is not about losing weight… it is about doing something I thought was impossible. Waking up early and working out is not something I thought I could do.  And if I did work out in the morning I figured it would make me feel drained all day. But I was able to do it and it had the exact opposite effect on me. It gave me more energy than usual.

There was a time when I made sure I drank at least 64oz of water every day. I did not think that was something I would be able to handle, but I did it. It made me feel so refreshed and focused. When I stopped drinking water throughout the day and began to feel irritable and dehydrated and I allowed myself to become content feeling that way.

When I started this blog I set the goal of 4 posts a week. They could be recipes, short posts, long posts, it didn’t matter as long as there were 4 a week. At first I was making my goal and it was not a difficult task. It was fun.  I enjoyed going to the stats and seeing how many people my blog reached… people from all over the world were reading my posts. I was so excited! So why did I stop?

I begin to ask myself the following questions:

  • Why did I start doing nothing?
  • Why am I sabotaging my own progress?
  • Am I am afraid of success?

Ask yourself these questions when you feel yourself retreating from the things you enjoy that make you feel better about yourself. The answers you come up with will be a a wake up call. If you begin to feel your goals are impossible turn that ugly word into “I’m possible”. And never forget that with God ALL things are possible.

Taking the time to do things for me makes me a better, wife, mother, daughter, and child of God.  I need to stop being tried from doing nothing and start being energized doing something!

~Tricia

Slow Cooked Beef & Brown Rice Meatballs

/ Patricia M / Leave a comment

Need an easy meatball recipe? These came out so well. My children even liked them.

You need:

  • 1lb lean ground beef ( I have also done this with ground turkey and it came out just as good).
  • about 1 cup cooked rice ( I used brown rice)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce ( I love tomato basil flavor)

Very simple: mix ground beef, rice, and egg in a medium bowl.  Feel free to add seasoning but it is not needed, as it slow cooks, the sauce really gives the meatballs flavor. Pour about half the sauce in the bottom of your crock pot. Then roll meatballs into your desired size. Pour the remainder of the sauce over the meatballs.

Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4 hours (until inside temperature reaches 167 ° F).

Enjoy with your favorite pasta and sides.

~Tricia

Will You Parent With Me?

/ Patricia M / Leave a comment

I was watching the newwpid-PhotoGrid_1391443385537.jpgs the other day and there was a segment that caught me by surprise. It made me realize that I live in a bubble and I am totally unaware of things that going on around me. I don’t think I am alone in being ignorant to issues outside of “traditional” ways of living. I put traditional in quotes because I am not hung up on traditions but I do understand that what is considered a “traditional” family in our society is a heterosexual couple with children.

So this brings me to that news segment that caught my attention. It was a segment on co-parenting matching websites. On these site you are not looking for the end question not to be “Will you marry me?” but “Will you parent with me?”

I knew there are relationship matching websites, but did not know that there are parenting matching websites. If you are single for whatever reason and desiring to have a child but do not want to raise a child alone you can go online and find someone to co-parent with. I like this idea in the fact of having two involved parents in a child’s life.  Even if it is not a romantic relationship I admire that people want to co-parent. Parenting is hard work. When I see a single parent whether male or female I always wonder how they do it.

I do not know exactly how this works but in my mind it goes a little like this:

You sign up and make a profile describing yourself. You list your sex, race, religion (or lack of), sexual orientation, height, weight, etc. Then you describe what you are looking for in a co-parent based on the above categories. You also do a more personal description about you as a person which includes your hobbies, interests, likes, dislikes. When you come across a potential match you message them and begin the process of getting to know one another. Once you feel you have made the perfect co-parent match you set up you plan the process for sperm retrieval and fertilization. I am imagining that you will also need to plan what your living arrangements might be.

Does this work? I don’t know. In no way am I here to judge this lifestyle. I will say that I think it is better then having casual sex with someone you that leads to the birth of a child where one (or both) parent(s) have no desire in having a relationship with them.  We have a lot of children out there being raised by one parent simply because the other parent chooses not be be involved. There are also far too many children being raised caught in the middle fighting parents.

What is your take on co-parenting matching sites? Here are a few of them:

~Tricia

Writer’s Block

/ Patricia M / Leave a comment

Being a writer, nothing is worse than not having anything to say. I have ideas for some posts but something is hindering me from competing them.  I have about 3 drafts that I can not seem to finish. I am at a standstill.  So I decided to write about not being able to write. Why is it that I am unable to complete these posts? What is blocking me? Is it lack of confidence or insecurities when it comes to my writing?

This not only happens to writers. It can happen to anybody. Are you trying to get in shape? Do you ever get to a point where you hit a standstill and your progress stops? What should you do? Just stop? No! Take a step back and try to be more creative. Face your issue head on and do new things to continue your progress.

Have confidence and faith in yourself and in your abilities. If you give up on a goal no one is going to complete it for you. Find ways to motivate and inspire yourself. Here are some some things you can do.

  • Talk to a encouraging friend
  • Journal about it.
  • Get creative
  • Take a short break to make a new plan
  • Get organized

What ever you do just DON’T stop! If you stop NOTHING can be accomplished. I could have just not put up a post and kept looking at my uncompleted drafts but I didn’t. I got creative and decided to face my issue by writing about it. I don’t always have to have a clever topic or something deep to say. I simply enjoy writing and should just write.

 

~Tricia

 

 

 

Chicken Breast Stuffed and Topped with Spinach and Goat Cheese

/ Patricia M / 1 Comment

This came out so good. I can not call it a recipe because I did not really measure out everything. But this is what I used:

  • 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
  • 4oz Fresh Goat Cheese
  • Fresh Spinach
  • Seasonings
  • Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 370° .

First I sauteed up some spinach then mixed about half of it in a bowl with goat cheese. Set it to the side.

Next I used a filet knife to make a pocket in the chicken. I used a spoon to put the goat cheese mixture in the chicken breasts (this was not that easy…lol).  What I had left over I put to the side to use as a topping.

I then seasoned both sides of the chicken breast with some salt, pepper, and some Mrs. Dash seasoning.

Pour a little olive oil in a skillet and sear the chicken breasts on both sides until brown.

Transfer chicken breasts to a baking dish and top with any extra spinach goat cheese mixture. I drizzled a little more olive oil over the chicken breasts and placed in the oven. I would say I baked it for about 15 minutes or until the inside temperature of the chicken reached 170°.

It came out so good. I served it with the other half of the spinach that did not get mixed with the goat cheese and some roasted garlic quinoa. Goat cheese is typically fewer in calories with less fat than cow cheese and has a nice creamy texture.

Try this out and you will enjoy it!

~Tricia

Checklists to Help Simplify

/ Patricia M / Leave a comment

I like lists. I do not use them as often as I should but I like them. They help keep you organized and help you from wasting your time. As I am pursuing a more simple lifestyle I was on the search for lists of household essentials.

I came across these checklists from the HouseBeautiful Website:

These are just simple checklist with essential items. Of course every household is different and has different needs, so tweak them according to the needs of you and your family.

Happy Simplifying!

~Tricia

You Can Do It!

/ Patricia M / 1 Comment

When I was pregnant with my first child my husband booked me a pregnancy massage. I arrived at the Spa early to relax in the waiting area. There I was met with beautiful soundscapes, crisp cool water with lemon, and a variety magazines filed with celebrity gossip. I heard the door open and a gentle voice call my name. I looked up to find an attractive young girl with a warm smile.

She introduced herself and we shook hands. It was then I noticed that she only had 3 fingers on her right hand.  Another might have felt slightly uneasy but I didn’t, I felt very comfortable with her. She inspired me. Although she had a handicap she entered into a profession that made her look it in the face and move past it. A profession that called for her to use her hands. I am sure she faced many naysayers along her journey, but she believed in herself. So in the room w
as one person afraid of pursuing dreams for fear of failure or perhaps success (click here) and another person who knew her capabilities are limitless.

Do you ever feel like you can’t do it? Well you can. And you can do it well. That massage I had was the best one I had ever received. When I was pregnant with my second child I went back to the Spa and asked for her. To my disappointment the receptionist said that she no longer worked there, she had taken a position somewhere else. I was disappointed because I hoped to be in her presence again, I wanted her inspiration to increase my motivation. I am sure she is accomplishing great things.icandoallthings

Believe in yourself. How can you expect someone else to believe in you if you don’t even believe in you?

~Tricia