Simple Machines

Tonight for dinner I stood by my theory that I love to eat by volume...roast beef salad with cherry tomatoes, chopped zucchini and shredded cabbage with light honey mustard dressing.

Apparently, if you spend over a 100 bucks a month on protein powder you eventually work your way up to a free shaker from the protein company lol.

It feels like every week I am repeating myself with the comment "I am so glad tomorrow is Friday." Really, though I am so glad tomorrow is Friday. For one, we have meetings all day and the kids are out of school, I can sit through a day of meetings for a change...I need a break from teaching for a day, especially after the crazy projects my kids have been working on.

This week we learned about Simple Machines, machines that are used to make are life easier. I gave the students four days to create whatever machine they wanted, as long as it made work easier. I was surprised how creative the students were in their projects using just recyclable materials. Here are a few...

The Stop Light made out of old gum holders

A balancing scale made out of wood levers and plastic pop bottles

Another example of a balancing scale using erasers and wood

A zip line to help move objects from one place to another without wasting gas

Finally, a robot with moving hands to help you clean and store things inside it's stomach

I am always so amazed to see these creations they come up with!!

Workout Update

I was pretty pumped to hit up the gym this morning and get a good run in. I managed a 3 1/2 mile run and my Achilles started to get a little stiff again...grrrr. I had only planed on a three mile run, so I did more then planned, but I am still bummed that I am having Achilles problems. Throughout the day I had little pain, probably a 1 so not much at all. It just seems to go in spurts and I am unsure if I should even be running on it at all...I don't feel any pain at all when running so I figure I am okay. Saturday, depending on how it feels, I want to try for four miles. I just want to get back up to my 10k distance, but I am in no rush. Doing the elliptical and biking has worked just fine for me lately :) I did get a rocking upper body workout in though..I tell ya that new Lady Gaga song really pumps me up!!

If you could create a simple machine to make your life easier...what would you create?

I would love to have a machine that automatically makes my lunches for the next day, healthy and portioned sized differently...plus a different tasty lunch every day!

What song really gets your blood flowing when working out lately?

Lady Gaga You and I

Confession Time

I am still amazed that tomorrow is already Wednesday...hump day and even better, kids are out of school of FRIDAY...no teaching for me. Sad, but sometimes I would rather sit through a meeting then have to teach.

Today's post is dedicated to a few of my confessions...I hope you enjoy!!

Confession #1 I eat in extreme volume! I would much rather have a HUGE protein shake at night rather then a small cup of yogurt for my nightly snack.

Confession #2 I go through several (I am talking like 4) tubs of protein powder a month, especially Muscle Gauge Cake Batter and Peanut Butter

Confession #3 I actually went to Borshiems and had pictures taken of the ring I wanted and had them emailed to Craig before he proposed, hey I had the ok from him :)

Confession #4 I sometimes put washing my hair off for a few days due to my love of an extra cardio burn at the gym

Confession #5 I have been known to eat whole boiled eggs and boiled egg whites as a snack in front of my kids at school and at meetings with co-workers, they think I am a little nutty

Confession #6 I watch WAY too much reality TV, I am talking Teen Mom, Jersey Shore, Brooke Knows Best, Real World, Bachelor Pad, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Real Housewives, etc.

Confession #7 I give my dog peanut butter in a spoon to sometimes keep him quiet when I eat my dinner

Confession #8 I replace all water with Propel Zero, Powerade Zero and Crystal Light...I am not so perfect

Confession #9 I still rock out to the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC on my burned cds in my car and at home from time to time

Confession #11 I still sometimes weigh my meat, I know it sounds ocd, but I never know how much is too much

Now tell me some of your confessions!!

The Best and Worst of My Sunday

Worst of Sunday: Waking up and opening my door to find this little guy with a sad a face sitting in the living room...I think his belly was full of stuffing from a pillow he ripped into shreds

Worst Part of My Sunday: Cleaning up the stuffing that literally covered every inch of my apartment

Best part of my Sunday: Enjoying an awesome breakfast with oatbran, peanut flour, chocolate protein powder, yogurt and chopped apples...followed by an hour extreme cardio workout with ab exercises and enjoying peanut butter on top of rice cakes afterwords

Worst part of my Sunday: Feeling severe stiffness in my Achilles tendon after my workout, why did I decide to do so much jump roping and knee highs, I know better :(

Best part of my Sunday: Enjoying my new fav combo of egg whites and chopped apples sprinkled with Splenda and Cinnamon

Worst Part of my Sunday: Tracking my order of Protein powder that should have arrived at my place last Thursday but I have still yet to receive it, I am crossing my fingers my apartment complex is holding it or someone stole it from outside my door :(

The number 1 best part of my Sunday: My guy Craig returned from a weekend trip in Vegas this afternoon!! Three days without him was way too long.

What are some of the best/worst parts of your day today?

Do you find it hard to get on with your life when you significant other is out of town?

2 Thursday Tangents

Happy Thursday!! Okay this was at eight o'clock this morning when I had no kids and a good breakfast settled in my stomach.

Lunch today again was.....SAUSAGE, luckily it was my last one because I am starting to get a little tired of them. After my workout this morning (3 mile run/elliptical workout with some weight lifting) I felt a little out of it. I figured I needed to fuel myself a little bit more, so what does a girl do...drown herself in Powerade, yes I literally drank all three bottles today at work. I love this stuff!!

After work I was in no rush to get home because Craig is out of town, so I stopped by Target and picked up something for dinner...Turkey Meatballs. Yes, I can make my own meatballs and I have before, but come on pre-made ones are sooo much easier when you don't get home until 6pm.

The teacher in me also came across these cool little cursive practice books for only a buck. The kids can use dry erase markers to practice their cursive. Trust me, anything with a dry erase marker kids fall in love with.

Now for 2 fun tangents about me this Thursday.

1. I always eat my dinner on a TV Tray. Craig always laughs at me because I look like such a nerd eating off a tray, but it holds my entire meal perfectly...I promise when we get a house we will eat at the table...well sometimes.

2. I always have to have some carbonated drink with my meal. I know not the healthiest, but I do make sure it is diet and no caffeine. I just love having the carbonated taste with my dinner.

Well folks, we made it to Friday! I am pretty excited, tomorrow after school my Mom and I are going to check out my wedding dress that just came in!! I am going to try to sneak some photos in, for some reason they will not allow pictures.

Do you eat all your meals at a table or somewhere else watching tv?

What are some of your favorite items from Target?

WIAW

How is everyone this Wednesday?? I am doing great, especially because the weather here has been a cool 70 degrees, I actually crave recess duty!! This weekend, I picked up some long lost Oat Bran. I used to eat this all the time for breakfast, and it has been forever since I have eaten it. I forgot how good it is!! This morning I mixed mine up with pb, chopped apples and peanut butter protein powder. I love how thick it comes out :) Perfect way to start my day!!

Lunch and dinner consisted of my new fav, Chicken Sausages from Costco. Also, some pita bread topped with melted cheese, garlic powder and ketchup. I have yet to find something that ketchup does not belong on.

My first sausage creation for lunch today consisted of cut up sausage, tomatoes, broccoli, and zucchini topped with cottage cheese and Dijon mustard.

Dinner was cut up sausage, salad mix with squash and tomatoes drenched in low fat ranch dressing.

I must admit, I am not really looking forward to the weekend. Craig leaves for a bachelor party in Vegas this weekend :( So it is just me and the little Cooper. I do have a family reunion to attend on Saturday, so I won't be lonely...but I favor weekends with Craig. It is a chance for him and I to lay around and catch up with each other. During the week it is so hard to do things together, we are both tired from the long work day and I usually have papers to grade or secretly blog lol. So it will be a weekend with family, Cooper but no Craig.

On the workout front, I have considered training for a 10k. I must admit guys, I am SCARED TO DEATH of running outside again and in fact have stuck with the treadmill since early July. My tendon still gets sore at the end of the day and can be a little stiff when I wake up in the morning, but once I get moving it is fine. I have said it before, I love 10ks because they allow me to fit all my other fun fitness activities in as well and not focus so much on just running. I need some thoughts/opinions on if I should do this 10k. The race date would be 8 weeks out from this Saturday. Is it too soon to start running again?

Headaches and a Sunday

This weekend was filled to the brim with fun and friends. Friday (pic below) we met up with a few of Craig's friends for a birthday party. Saturday we high tailed it to Lincoln at 9:30 in the morning to start tailgating for the Husker game which kicked off at 2:30. Since we started out so early in the day, we made it through till about 7 at night and headed home exhausted and ready for bed. Hey, I only went through 6 beers the entire day, that and two subway six inch sandwiches and a huge chef salad! Sadly, this will probably be one of the very few weekends we will make it up to Lincoln to tailgate, our September and October months are swamped with wedding dates and social outings. I am okay with this, tailgating is something, anymore, that I can only do every one in a while.
This morning I was up by 7am and ready to go. I checked online for my local pool schedule because I was planning on swimming this morning and found that once again the pool was closed! I was bummed, but figured since I was going to church this morning, after the service I would head to another YMCA nearby to use their pool facility, I was determined to swim today! So Craig and I cleaned the apartment and headed to church around 10. Most of my meals were eaten on the go today. I refuse to spend excess money on food to go when I spend enormous amounts of money on my groceries at home.
This light snack was eaten shortly before leaving the house after my already big bowl of oats. I was a hungry girl this morning. Kashi Go Lean+yogurt+peanut flour+protein powder.

EAS protein shake and raisins after my failed attempt at a mile swim :(

Lunch was a yummy tuna and apple wrap and take a look at my cluttered front seat full of powerade, veggies and yogurt!

Can you tell I like my yogurt, I went through four cups today!

When I arrived at the gym this afternoon I was dying to jump in the pool and get my mile swim on. Well about twenty laps in, my head started to hurt. Minutes later my head was throbbing so bad I figured there would be no way I could finish my workout. I thought I might have my goggles on too tight or my swim cap. I got out of the pool and dried off. My headache lightened a little, so I did some cycling to finish off my light cardio workout today. After heading off from the gym, I did my usual Sunday errands and headed back home to a spectacular clean apartment (yes I have the best fiance, he lets me go get my gym groove on while he cleaned the apartment and took care of our puppy).

I am now lying in bed glued to my lab top with an even more throbbing head. I was so excited to enjoy the day as well as the night, and now it looks like I will be nursing myself all night :( I doubt that I am dehydrated, I went through 3 powerades today. I am crossing my fingers that I feel better tomorrow. I have an 8:30 spin class along with a date of either the zoo or golfing with the fiance!

Ever get headaches in the middle of a workout? What is the deal?

What food travels with you??

YAWN!

3 Mile Run + p90x Arms and Shoulders workout = Miss Long falling asleep at her desk this morning. Okay, so technically the past two weeks I have ran only twice (once per week) each being between 10-15 minutes and forcing myself to stop due to little pains in my foot. Well...today I had a goal for 2 miles in mind. 2 felt pretty good....so I went for three, by three I was whipped out. I feel a tiny bit guilty for over doing my goal just because I don't want to vamp millage up too fast and have my Achilles start to act up again.

I take full blame to these lovely gentlemen. I was doing great for stopping at mile two when Keith Urban's Long Hot Summer song played on the cardio tv. Ok, I can't say no to Keith so after he stops I will stop. Well....then came Jason and Dirt Road Anthem...um yeah talk about an endorphin high during a run along with feeling all hot and bothered lol...(Craig I hope you never read this!) Lucky for me, I would have probably went for four miles but a commercial came on and I took it as my sign to move on to weight lifting and give my tendon some stretching and rest.

Was I energized after my run! I felt like I could conquer the world and took on my 50 minute p90x workout and followed it up with another 20 minutes on the elliptical. Showered, got ready for work, sat down and BAM! The fatigue hit, hard core...I was whipped out. Now, yesterday was my rest day so I am thinking this overall fatigue was due to the fact that it has been over two months since I have ran this long of a distance at a 10min. mile pace (I know I am pokey lol) and the fact that I added another hour of working out on top of that. I think my body just got a very rude awakening.

I am very proud of my run this morning. It is funny, I have had this injury and at first I thought within a week I would be up and running again, WRONG! Over the last two months, I have slowly started to think that I would never really be able to fully run again. I mean yes, one or two miles at most, but never be able to get back up to my 10k. I have not been depressed over it, more accepting to looking into other forms of exercise and curing my endorphin need. But today, oh today it really made me smile. How easy my legs adjusted to the distance, and the fact that my legs could have probably took another mile...FANTASTIC! I am not one to put all my marbles in one basket. Over the past month or so I have really enjoyed branching out and doing things other then running. I have gotten back into weight lifting, have some guns now ;) Even started swimming. I am just estatic that running again can be a fourth of my workouts. I love have the endurance and capability to just lace up my shoes and decide I want to go for a six mile run and feel great!

Does working out ever just exhaust you?

What workout achievement have you conquered lately?