Our Kind of Fort

Did you ever make a fort when you were little?

My brother, sister, and I used to make them all the time. We would drape blankets over chairs, covering them all the way so they touched the floor. We'd put pillows and blankets underneath and have the best time hiding out, giggling, and peeking out to see if anyone knew where we were.

Yesterday, I built a fort.

But it was a different kind of fort.

I didn't use chairs, just billions of pillows covered with blankets.

And I had candles.

And lotion.

And a surprised husband who walked into our living room upon returning from work who couldn't have been happier.

You see this man of mine. He loves massages. He has back problems to begin with, but pair that with sitting in a desk all day and let me tell you the man suffers.

So you think God would've blessed him with a wife who loved to give him nightly massages to rub his worries away?

He did not.

In fact, I pretty much hate it.

Okay, I don't hate it. I just get bored! I mean, how long are you supposed to rub someone? When can I stop? Plus, it's not like I know any special massage techniques!?! I have no idea what I am doing.

So this, ladies, was special.

And I really didn't have a reason. I just wanted to do something to show my husband that I was thinking about him. But you know what? It was the perfect day to do it. Unbeknownst to me, he had quite the rough day at the office and it was just the thing he needed.

Maybe God did know what he was doing.

Biggest Loser Fridays

Welcome to the second week of Biggest Loser Fridays!

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This week was AMAZING! I lost 3 pounds!! That brings my grand total to -3.5 lbs.

And you know what? I worked for it. I've been at the gym 4 times this week sweating my booty off in classes and on the elliptical (jamming to Glee I might add). I've also been following WW to the letter. I'm in the zone people. I can feel it. This is finally my time.

Tips from this week:

• I learned from previous WW meetings that it is a good idea to track your fiber and protein and make sure you are eating enough each day. This has helped me in the past so I try to eat at least 30 grams of fiber and 50 grams of protein a day.
• I also make sure to get at least 5 servings of fruits/veggies, 2 servings of dairy, and 64 oz. of water each day.
  

Topics for discussion:

• Flex and activity points. What to do with those litter boogers? The last time I was in WW I freaked about eating more than my regular daily points and just flat out didn't. You know what happened? Week 1 : maintain. Week 2: gain! Oh I was livid. But you know what my leader told me? I wasn't eating enough. So I slowly started eating a little bit more on days I worked out. My current plan is adding 3 points to days where I feel like I got a really great workout in at the gym. So far, so good
  
• This does change, however, if I have a splurge day. Say I go out to dinner and eat everything on the table but my napkin? No more extra points on those workout days for me that week. I figure I've clearly used up all of those extra points in one meal!

How do you ladies use those extra points? I know many people who eat all of their flex points and all of their activity points every week and still lose weight...so I'm just curious what works for you!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Easiest, Fastest, Yummiest Recipe of All Time

Thank you all for the wonderful sentiments on my last post. You have no idea how much they are appreciated, especially now :)

I wanted to share a recipe with you that I made on Tuesday. It is called Potato Chowder and it was INCREDIBLE. And....it was only 6 points for 1/4 of the recipe. Seriously cannot beat it. And it was the simplest, fastest recipe of all time.

3 c. fat free milk
1 can condensed cream of potato soup
2 c. frozen southern style hash browns
1 c. cheddar cheese
2 slices bacon
1/4 c. green onions

Heat the milk, soup, and hash browns in a large pot. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 10 minutes. (Please note...I brought mine to a boil and covered it...and some bubbled up and out all over the stove. Be careful of this! Perhaps I brought it to a boil too fast over too high of heat. Oops!)

Top with cheese, bacon, and onions.

Seriously ladies. You must try this. And if the man in your life is anything like my husband he will love it. It follows Matt's rule of "everything is better with bacon."

Men.

But it's so true.

I Will Give You All My Burdens

Good morning ladies!!

I have had a rough couple of days to say the least. My co-worker...AKA the Devil...is driving me insane and I finally made the decision to tell someone. So...the next few weeks could be rather interesting. Prayers are appreciated :)

But other than that, life is good.

Do you ever experience that moment where you just realize you have no control and you give everything over to God. I am there.

We want to move but have few job prospects. My job blows but what else can I do? We're trying for babies but nothing so far. All of these worries of which I cannot change lay on my heart daily. However, slowly but surely, my burden is being lightened by God. I can feel myself letting go and it has brought me such a peace. There are so many things that I want to pray for...but in the end I mostly just pray for God's will to be done.

So thank you for being my outlet, blogland. And I am sending prayers out there for all of my friends who carry burdens of their own. Love.

Good afternoon my friends!! How was your weekend!?! Ours was just lovely. Full of nothing but snuggling, date nights, and lounging around the house. It was heaven.

I even got to finish a book I have been working on Friday evening.

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It seems like I have read a review of this book on every single blog I read....so I'm not going to waste your time. I will just say, if you haven't read this, do it. You won't regret it. And a big thanks to those bloggers who recommended it. What an incredible story of Christ's love for us! It took me a little while to really get into the book, but once I did...I couldn't put it down. Seriously check it out people!

So my question....has anyone read any of Francine Rivers's other books?? Good/not good?? Let me hear it!

Saturday we went out for Mexican food and watched Julie & Julia. Super fun date night if I do say so myself! Sunday we went back to "our" church and it just felt right, you know? I'm pretty sure a decision has been made to just suck it up and drive the 45 minutes because we just love it so much! It's our perfect fit.

Sunday was also my sister's 1st wedding anniversary!! Happy Anniversary Jessi and Dave! I cannot believe it has already been a year since you became husband and wife! Congratulations to you both!


Oh...and go horse.

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Biggest Loser Fridays

I thought since my co-workers and I just started a Biggest Loser competition...and we weigh in on Fridays....I would take this opportunity to check in and tell you about my weight loss and work outs! Oh, and food. Always food. I'm calling it...Biggest Loser Fridays. Genius, I know.

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Since I was out of town on Monday (our initial weigh in day) I had to weigh in on Tuesday this week. That only left me with three days of "dieting" before the weigh in today. Eek! Tuesday and Wednesday I hit the gym hard with new classes. I tried out Boot Camp and Cardio Circuit, both of which kicked my booty in a major way. I also did my old standbys of Yoga and Pilates as well as some lifting and cardio on my own. I cannot express to you how sore my little abs are. Well, they're not so little...so I guess it's a good thing they're sore!

I also did great on my food intake. I'm back on "poor girl Weight Watchers" AKA: doing it on my own. I stuck strictly to my points both Tuesday and Wednesday.

Thursday I had a dinner date with a friend at Bonefish Grill. I had never been there before so I checked out their menu online. I couldn't find any solid nutrition facts so I just used common sense. I went into the meal with 8 points left and ordered grilled tilapia with no sauce and some veggies for my side. That's it! And drank water! So I think I did just fine.

At the weigh in I lost 0.5 lbs. It was quite a bit lower than I hoped for but I'm trying my best not to get discouraged. I did only have 3 days so I can't wait to see what I can do with 7! And the people at the site are doing fantastic! One guy lost 9 lbs! So far this morning we have lost about 40 lbs. total and only half of the people participating have weighed in. I'm really excited about the program and the success it is having thus far. Hopefully next week will bring more of the same (except a little more of a loss for me please!).

Hope everyone has a great weekend! We have NO plans so I am completely stoked!

Superdog!

Last weekend, Matt and I headed off to Chicago to visit my sister and her husband! We had just a fabulous time and I cannot wait to go back!

We arrived late Friday evening and didn't really do much but head to bed. That bus ride sure does take it out of you! As an aside, can I just talk a second about the passengers of the Megabus? We had a young man, maybe early college age, sitting across the aisle from us. Here is just a taste of what we got to enjoy during our 6 hour trip:

• our very own rendition of Fireflies
• witnessing the conducting of an orchestra (we heard later he was taking out the soprano part in his head and changing it around...apparently he's in the choir)
  
• overhearing all about calculus and physics homework (who does homework on a Friday night?? Sad boys who will never, ever have a girlfriend. That's who.)
• hearing every street we passed relayed over the phone to his friend when we got near the city

By the end of the trip, I was completely delirious and found all of this hilarious. And we heard Fireflies 4 times over the weekend which made it even better.

Saturday we got to spend some quality time with this little man!



He had his very own Milkbone that he carried around with him all the time. He wouldn't even let go of it when he was chasing the tennis ball! So cute!


But my favorite thing about Mook was when his ear did this:


Family portrait!



This is as close as Matt got to Mook. Although his allergies weren't acting up, he didn't want to risk it. The joke all weekend was that Mook loved Matt the most and they were the very best of friends! You can tell by Matt's face that he didn't agree.


We spent the day playing board games, eating yummy deep dish pizza, and watching the Colts win! We also went to dinner and got to enjoy this deliciousness for dessert!




Sunday was pretty much more of the same...board games, leftover pizza for lunch, more football, just a wonderful relaxing weekend with family. Couldn't have been better.

We left Monday morning to go back home and spent the evening recouping from the trip. Isn't it funny how sitting on your butt for hours can make you tired? Weird. But we're back...and back to work...and ready to plan our next visit :)

I shall leave you with a few more pictures of Mook. I know. I am clearly puppy obsessed and I MUST HAVE ONE NOW!