Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Weight Loss Journey


So for 3 1/2 weeks now I have been busting butt to lose weight. Its just the beginning and I have a long journey ahead of me. I have 30lbs that I'd like to be rid of and they didn't magically come on over night. So, I am giving myself a goal of next June to reach my weight loss goal. With now three little ones its quite difficult to make time to work out. I tried the 30 day shred and even a mere 25 minutes seems to be a bit much for my life now. So I am on a very calorie restricted diet. I'm on 1,082 calories daily. I try to go for a hard run twice a week. We have been taking the kids to the park once or twice a week to play and hubby watches them so the baby and I can walk. It's been a nice arrangement. I hope to lose all this weight. Sometimes I feel I'll never reach my goal but I'm still truckin on.

My diet now is high protein, low carb, and low to no sugar. I allow myself only one cheat meal a week. Since mornings are pretty rough here anymore with feeding kids, diapers, and taking care of our dogs, I have no time for breakfast myself. I have found a great protein bar though that I love as a great breakfast. They taste really good too!

    Out of all of the flavors of the brand, this is my least favorite.
It taste more chalky and the peanut butter flavor is less than desirable.



Now this one is my favorite flavor. It taste almost like chewy cookie dough with little chocolate chips inside. Can't taste a protein flavor at all.




This one is my next favorite. The marshmallow creme filling is really good!


This one literally tastes like a Snickers bar! Very good! It seems to be a little bit smaller than the other bars.



I was afraid to try this one. Chocolate in a protein bar can be easy to screw up the flavor, but surprisingly this flavor was really good! The flavor and consistency made this taste just like a brownie!! I really like this one as a snack every once in a while if I have some calories left over at night and am craving something sweet. :)



 This is the last flavor I have tried so far. It's not bad. Very good. A nice change up when I want to try a different flavor. It has a strawberry mixture on the top.


These two are the only flavors I have not tried yet but I hope to once I find what stores nearby carries them!

The great aspect of these bars is their high protein low carb and calorie ratio. If you are looking for a good protein bar I highly recommend these bars! Reasonably priced at just $6 and some change at Walmart! They taste great too!

I hope to be posting more about this journey and hopefully I'll get closer to my goal by the holidays!




Monday, August 5, 2013

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Summer Fun




Our little trio sure keeps us busy! But they sure do look cute!


Little Ellie is 2 months old now. She's smiling and cooing and she starts to grab her toys on her play mat. 


Sweet Arleigh is growing up to be a big girl, makes momma sad but she is such a good girl!


Maz is still ornery as ever but he loves to help me with the baby. He is always volunteering to hold her and feed her.


Took the kiddos to the zoo today and it was quite an adventure taking all three but it was fun. It was a good workout for us parents pushing strollers and wagons!



Ellie did nothing but nap the whole time. lol


Gotta love our crazy little crew! :-)









Monday, July 15, 2013

Ellette "Ellie" Grace is here!!




Ellette aka Ellie was born on June 4th at 12:24pm. She weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and 18 inches long. Her delivery went well and she is very healthy. She is doing well now at home and very much loved by big sister Arleigh and big brother Mazio. :)



Saturday, June 1, 2013

Fluffy White Towels



I realize my nerd side is coming out in this blog post but I had to share how excited I am about this! :) I decided to switch to all white bath towels as they are easier to keep clean and they look so classic. These towels are so soft and absorbent! I love them! I got a bunch of bath sheets and regular towels. Stepping out of the shower makes me feel like I'm at a spa now. Its a plus that I have a rocking awesome hubby that just so happens to also be a licensed massage therapist! :) Just need some aroma therapy and we could have a working spa over here!

Just love these towels!

Four more days until baby #3 comes into the world! :) She is probably the reason for my cleaning obsession and fondness for these white towels! Thank you little baby and I sure hope that this passion doesn't die off after you're born. ha!




Thursday, May 30, 2013

A party and pool fun


Since I am scheduled to have baby #3 ( yes, she still has no name) on June 4th and my big boy's birthday is on June 14th we thought It'd be easier to have his party before the delivery.

We had a Sonic the Hedgehog themed party since Maz really likes him. With all the chaos of the day I forgot to get my camera to get pictures but I took a couple with my phone. They are a bit blurry though.



With the craziness and unpredictable Ohio weather we got to enjoy some mid 80 degree weather a few days later. It was good to be with the kids and have some fun before this baby comes and life gets a little more busy.



















Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Laundry Tips and Tricks


Lately I have developed a passion rather an obsession for perfecting my laundry skills. I am still obsessed with the smell of my Gain which makes doing laundry all the more enjoyable.

I have discovered though that my laundering abilities are lacking quite a bit. I went digging and found some awesome tips that have helped me a lot and made my laundry smell great, look brighter and cleaner. So I thought I would share my findings. :)

 My clothes and towels have in the past had a funky smell to them regardless of the amazing smelling detergents and softeners. One major culprit of the funk I have found was that I use to occasionally let my laundry sit in the washer for an hour or so after the cycle ended. Bad idea. This creates excess moisture and that creates mold and the nasty funk smell. Sometimes I just can't help it even though I know that the laundry will smell funky. Sometimes I have to leave the house in a hurry or something unexpected comes up and I can't get to the laundry right away. Most of you may know if you've ever left your clean wet laundry sit and get the stink that re-washing doesn't really get the smell out. However, I have good news!


How to get rid of stinky smelly laundry:
One to two cups of white vinegar( depending on load size) and 1/2 to 1 cup of baking soda.
Re-wash laundry in only the vinegar. (This strips away the mold)
Then add baking soda in the rinse cycle. (This deodorizes and takes the stink away)
You can also pop in a few scent booster crystals like Downy, Gain Fireworks, or Purex for a fragrance.

This really works! I had a blue towel that had gotten wet and I tossed it down stairs in the dirty hamper and forgot to clean it right away. Before I could get around to dealing with it the stink had taken it over. It was pretty bad. I was very surprised that this trick worked amazing at stripping away the funky smell and mold.


Since using this trick I learned that there is a ton of uses for baking soda. One that I plan on trying here very soon is a foot soak. Get a basin with warm to hot water and throw in some baking soda and it softens your rough dry skin plus it sounds quite relaxing. It is especially good for laundry. It helps boost the power of your detergent, its a natural softener so if you have hard water its great to add to every wash, its a great deodorizer ( you can even toss some into a smelly trash pail and it helps neutralize odors, and its fairly cheap too! I have since stocked up on my baking soda here. :)

My laundry room stock has grown extensively lately. I have my Gain detergent and softener, Gain and Downy dryer sheets, OxyClean powder, OxyClean spot spray and gel stick, Borax, Brite White, Purex Crystals in both scents, Baking Soda, White Vinegar, Shout stain sticks, and bleach. I know I sound crazy but I love doing my laundry now! I just dislike putting my laundry away afterward. :)

Another great tip is to wash your washer and dryer! I haven't yet cleaned my dryer but I have cleaned my washer twice now. Its best to clean it every 3-4 months. Detergent and softener leave buildup over time and can leave stains on your laundry during a cycle so its important to have a clean washer to clean your clothes.


How to clean your washing machine:
One quart of white vinegar
One gallon of bleach

Fill washer all the way up to the top with super hot water- as hot as you can get. Pour in the vinegar and let it soak for an hour. While its soaking get a scratch pad or sponge and start cleaning the walls and the agitator. Clean the softener cup out well and remove the cup to expose the inside of the agitator. ( this is the way to clean top loader washers) You may need a baby bottle brush to get all the left over softener gunk out of it. Its important to clean all of this out so it doesn't get redistributed on your clothing. I found that I was getting mystery grayish stain on my laundry and this was the very reason so cleaning this out is essential. Once you get the gray stains they are difficult to remove. Once that is done, run a cycle with the vinegar. Once that cycle is over, fill the washer again with very hot water and this time add the bleach. Get your sponge and do the same thing scrubbing the agitator and walls. Don't forget to clean the inside of the agitator under the softener cup with the bleach water as well. You will notice in all this scrubbing how dirty and clumpy the water will get. That means its working. Its pretty gross but a great reminder to keep up on the cleaning every 3-4 months. Once again run a cycle with the bleach. Once you are all finished leave the washer lid open. In fact, you should leave it open after every wash so that moisture doesn't get trapped inside and create mold or smell.

My other handy laundry tip I have found is for towels. I recently decided to switch our towels to white ones that are super soft and still absorbent. I did my homework and saw how crazy expensive great quality and soft towels really are. There was no way I was going to spend $30 on one towel! Ridiculous! I really wanted to get the bath sheets which are the really long towels but this time I didn't get those. I will say that Walmart has great Home and Garden towels that are really soft, absorbent and bath sheets for only $6.88. I will be getting a bunch of those in the future for sure. However, this time I found some great towels at Target. Their Room Essentials brand were only $3 on sale! I couldn't pass that up. They are super soft, bright white, and fast drying. I used them today for the first time without washing them and they were amazing! No pilling or lint and very absorbent. I felt like I was at a spa coming out of the shower, it was great!

So now that I have these towels the trick is to keep them white. I thought I'd experiment on a dingy grayish old white towel I had in my old towel rotation. Its a different brand and not very soft but its white so it will stay in my new rotation.



The old dingy gray towel is in the middle sandwiched by two of my new towels. You can see its quite gray. I decided to try a nice hot bleach soak.



Since my washer in energy star it doesn't get super hot to save money and energy so I filled a tub with piping hot water along with bleach and a little bit of baking soda and some detergent. I let it soak for about 2 hours. I agitated it with a wooden stick every so often as well. I may try to re-soak this again with more bleach and for a longer time and dry it outside in the sunshine but for now its ok.





The towel I bleached is on the top and one of the new towels I bought is on the bottom. You can still see a slight difference in shade but it definitely looks better than before.

Hope some of my laundry tips help you as much as they have helped me! :)



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