Sport Wedding Bands

Confession 1: I really only wear my wedding ring if I dress up.

Confession 2: I rarely "dress up." We're talking one or two days a week, usually church and home school co-op day.

I feel kind of bad about it. I mean, Zach spent a pretty penny on those rings and we've got 13 years going over here...I ought to represent! But I don't really like wearing jewelry that much, I don't like getting my pretty ring dirty with the messes I make in the kitchen, and I inevitably scratch one of the kids in the face whenever I have it on.

At Christmas Zach mentioned he'd like to get a sport wedding band that he could wear while training. It's basically just a piece of rubber that isn't going to get tarnished or broken, or hooked on a piece of metal and tear off a digit. I'm for all those things, so I got him one. And it was so cool, I bought one for myself, too!

Zach's (black) is a BULZi brand ring (order on Amazon here) and mine (gray) is a ThunderFit brand (order on Amazon here). 

What I like about my ring is that it's comfy, and I can wear it anytime, anywhere. I don't care if it gets chicken guts or chicken poop on it (both very real possibilities). It will not maim anyone's face, and I can wear it while working out. Both rings were really cheap, so it's been funny to hear the amount of comments both of us have gotten about them. People are surprised when I tell them it's just rubber. 

I've heard of hard-core exercisers getting tattoo wedding "bands" instead of wearing a ring. If you're anti-tattoo, I think this is a good alternative! Personally, I'm glad for the chance to represent even when I'm not "dressed up." 

Workout of the Day

Yoga Camp with Adriene Day 4

I know, I know! I haven't posted about how our Ultimate Reset ended up. I will soon. It's just that things haven't changed much since it "ended." I'm eating many of the same meals, still drinking a gallon of water a day, and still feeling AWESOME. It was a great experience.  

Barn Wood Backsplash

We have lived in our home near Austin for 18 months now, and for a good bulk of that time we have wondered what to do with the backsplash. Well, actually there were more pressing things on our mind before the backsplash, but now that those things have been largely completed, we recently turned our attention to the torn up, ugly walls in our kitchen.

I was truly open to all kinds of ideas for backsplashes, but I thought it would be nice if it was:

1) Cool looking.
2) Easy to install.
3) Relatively inexpensive.

I'm happy to report we were able to accomplish all three! While at Home Depot one weekend, Zach spied some engineered, tongue and groove "barn wood." It was regular wood stained to look like barn wood, but it was symmetrical, uniform, and hence very easy to work with.

Now I know that real barn wood would be much cooler, but real barn wood is neither easy to install nor relatively inexpensive. So it was off the table. We also considered pallet wood, but I'd read some things about the chemicals and cleanliness of using pallet wood in your kitchen, so that gave me pause. After one trip to Home Depot to take a look at their product, I was sold!

This project was so easy. I feel comfortable saying that even though I was not the person doing the measuring and cutting. The whole thing took less than a day and I didn't hear even one curse word along the way, so to me that equals an easy project. And the final cost for materials was in the neighborhood of $150.

Here's a picture of the project halfway through. The most difficult part truly was the measuring and cutting out for the electrical and light sockets. Luckily my math whiz, construction-minded husband does not have an issue with that. See that window on the right? That angle was a nightmare to cut and measure, but he got it the first try! He's the bomb.com.

Here's a closer picture of the back wall and wall by the refrigerator. We glued the boards but used nails sporadically, too. I think the nails add to the rustic look.

Here's a look at the whole kitchen (my apologies for not bothering to clean up. I was tired from telling Zach what boards needed to go where). 

Ooh, look at the floors, too. That's ceramic tile that looks like wood.
We've had it for a year now and I'm still SO HAPPY with it. 

I'm thrilled with how this turned out! After getting all the boards up, we took another trip to Home Depot to procure some stain to touch up some areas where cuts made real wood color show through. Then we put a coat of polyurethane on the wood so that I can wipe it down when splashes inevitably occur.

This stuff was so easy to work with that we are planning another project using the "barn wood" -- an accent wall in the formal dining room that will cover three-fourths of the wall with a small shelf on top. I found the idea on....wait for it....PINTEREST, the place from which all good and bad ideas are born. I'll be sure to chronicle that project, too!

**************

Workout of the Day

Chopping loads of veggies for the Ultimate Reset and Yoga with Adriene Day 14 of 30 

The Lesson of the Water Hyacinth

Hey! Susan here. I'm so pleased to announce that Zach is going to start helping me keep this blog active by sharing some of his fitness and general life tips/observations. That's good because if you really want to know, he's the brains behind anything fitness that goes on in our household. He is a major researching and experimenting enthusiast, and as an ultra-marathoner (you'll never hear him call himself that, but I will!), he has some really great insight into the human body and mind. Our goal is to help as many people as possible, so I hope you enjoy a new perspective on the blog!

*******

The Lesson of the Water Hyacinth

The water hyacinth is one of the most beautiful and unusual plants on earth. A delicate flower with six petals, it ranges in color from  blue to lavender to pink and floats on the surface of ponds in warm areas around the world.

What makes the water hyacinth really special is that it is one of the fastest-growing plants in the world. A single water hyacinth can produce as many as 5,000 seeds and sends out short stems that become new plants. Over time, a single water hyacinth continuously doubles itself - one plant becomes two plants, two plants become four plants, four plants become eight plants, and so on.

One day there was a very beautiful (and very small) water hyacinth growing near the edge of a big pond. Nobody ever noticed it. Nobody noticed the second day either, when it had doubled and there were now two plants. Nobody noticed the water hyacinth on the third day or the fourth day. Even though they kept doubling in numbers, the water hyacinths were so small on the big pond that you’d have to look very hard to see them.

For two weeks the water hyacinths continued to double, but still covered only one square foot of the pond, just a tiny part of its huge surface. On day 20, a person passing by the pond noticed something floating along the shore, but mistook it for a lost towel or a discarded trash bag. But by day 30, it was impossible to ignore the hyacinths, because a blanket of beautiful flowers now covered the pond’s entire surface.

The lesson of the water hyacinth is this: Small actions may not seem like much at first, but over time they have a compounding effect. All that means is that actions add up or intensify over time - you can get big results from small, daily steps. this is perhaps the most important lesson of the slight edge and it applies directly to your life.

Source: Success for Teens, by the editors of the Success Foundation

The water hyacinth in our lives are our choices. We make choices every hour of every day. The impact of these choices will spread throughout our lives like a blanket of water hyacinths covering a pond. We may not see or realize the results of our choices today, tomorrow, or even next year. However, the results of our actions become apparent by the fabric of our life that has been woven over the years.

This concept can be applied to any aspect of your life: losing weight, getting healthy, starting a business, learning to play the guitar, saving for retirement, etc. It sounds so easy. Just make the right choices day after day.

But if it’s so easy, why are we not all successful at the things we pursue? I think it’s because, while it sounds easy to do, it is also easy not to do. It’s easy to think that the burger we order for lunch isn’t going to make a huge impact on our life. But when we order that burger again and again over the weeks and months of our lives, it makes a difference. That doughnut on Sunday mornings? It makes a difference. That workout you chose to do instead of sleeping in? It makes a difference.

We must remember and understand that little steps make a difference. What results do you want? What actions will you choose today?

********

Zach's Workout of the Day

8-mile run

The Tale of Two Laundry Bags

This is the story of how two laundry bags taught me how people can look at life in two very different ways.

This is our laundry hamper.
It sits in my closet, as it has each day for the past nearly thirteen years of marriage.

A week ago, a spied a dreaded roach scurrying into my closet. In my desperate attempt to squash the life out of it before it took up residence in a shoe, I threw that hamper across the closet. When I determined that the roach was lost (probably to make its next appearance, I imagined, crawling up a sleeve onto my neck), I threw the hamper back in place and went on with life.

A day or so later, I noticed that, inexplicably, my husband had started putting the "whites" in the back hamper, when they had always gone in the front. I chalked it up to a miscue, but when it kept happening, I asked him why he was throwing the universe off kilter by throwing whites in the back and not the front.

"Because whites go in blue, and darks go in black," he replied.

"No," I politely replied. "Whites go in front and darks go in back."

"Front and back has nothing to do with it. It's about the color of the bag."

Mind = Blown.

In 13 years, not once have I noticed that the whites happened to go in the blue bag and the darks in black. I suppose it makes a certain amount of sense...blacks...dark. But I never looked at it that way. I was all about the position of the bag, not the color.

Isn't life like that in so many ways?

"There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so." - William Shakespeare

I read a really great book this summer that I want to recommend to you. It's not new; in fact, I've been meaning to read it for years.

Chapman proposes that there are five different ways people give and receive love: acts of service, quality time, gifts, physical touch, and words of affirmation.

This book made sense to me on so many levels. If you're running around giving gifts to someone whose primary love language is quality time, you're going to be upset because it seems that they don't appreciate the gift. And your partner is wondering why you're wasting money on gifts because they just want you to quit spending money and start spending time with them.

I learned that I'm a "Words of Affirmation" gal. I run around doing acts of service like cooking great dinners and attempting to keep a clean house because I'm fishing for compliments...I really just want people to tell me I'm a good cook...and also that I'm smart and pretty.

Zach is a quality time kind of guy, and always has been. I remember even back when we were first dating that he was adamant about spending weekends hunting with his Dad because that was precious time that he wouldn't have once his Dad got older and couldn't do that stuff anymore. Looking back, I'm glad he took those weekends.

It works on kids, too. When I asked Kate how she knows I love her, she said it was because I "kiss and hug her." That was an easy one...that "Physical Touch" girl has had to be on someone's lap since she came home from the hospital. Drew's answer to that same question? "Uh...I dunno. When you make me lunch." I guess that's Acts of Service?

Anyway, it was eye-opening, and I highly recommend you find out for yourself the dynamic you have going in your own household.

As for us, you can tell by the picture above that once we cleared the confusion, I went ahead and moved the blue bag to the front so that we can both be "right" when it comes to the whites.

*****************

Workout of the Day

Beachbody on Demand Challenge Du Jour - Insanity Round 18

I'm loving these daily workouts on the On Demand channel! Our television in the garage blew up, so our entire library of DVDs is basically useless. We've been streaming our workouts on the phone or computer and it's opened up a whole new group of workouts I've never done before! Love it.

Idyllic

I am not a rebellious, anti-establishment person.

I've spent most of my life doing "the norm." School, good grades, college, respectable job, marriage, children. I am married to someone who is equally disposed.

And so it was remarkable with just how little trepidation -- after a season of due diligence that included book research and personal interviews, of course -- that we removed our children from the public school system.

Maybe that's how I knew it was the right thing to do.

Beyond what was naturally ingrained in me as a child in the United States, I have never felt so proud and fortunate to be an American before I considered that I truly had the choice to run my life -- and my children's lives -- in the way that I saw fit.

Without really much consideration as to whether it was the best thing for them or not, when my children came of age I sent them to public school for years; my son for four and my daughter for two. I blindly trusted the system to protect and arm their minds with the knowledge they needed to succeed in life. And in some ways that was very comfortable. I was not responsible for what they learned.

As I grow up, I'm confronted more and more with how the truth is often very backward from what you would suspect. I never suspected that by taking on the very serious responsibility of educating our children, that we would find joy, renewed curiosity about the world, and freedom. That our imaginations would be sparked and our dinner conversations would be more complex than ever before. That the stress of hustle and bustled lives would dissolve. That we would struggle, and be able to use that struggle to teach important lessons.

While in these six short months I have become a proponent of home schooling, I would concede that it's not for everyone. I have particularly amiable, willing students. However, I'd also like to posit that it's for more people than may have that realization.

If you've wondered if it's good for your kids to be stressed out in elementary school...If you've ever thought maybe you're not so sure you would expose your child to this subject matter or another before they are ten, but felt helpless to do anything about it...If you've ever thought it would be nice for your child to get some more freedom to learn the way they learn best, or have more one-on-one time with the teacher...If you are one of those people who are sad to see your children go back to school at the end of a long summer...

Far be it from me to be a militant home schooler. As trite as it sounds, everyone must travel their own path. But if the only thing stopping you is some fear in your head that "I'm not smart enough to teach my children," let me try to alleviate that pain. There are more resources out there than you can shake a stick at. Some come in the form of literature, and others come in the form of friendly (non-bun-wearing, surprisingly engaging, non-denim-jumper wearing) home school moms and dads, who have found joy in the ultimate child-rearing responsibility.

My saving grace has been Classical Conversations and the support I've found through their curriculum and the community of people we meet with weekly. Their very accurate tagline is "making classical education approachable." If you've never heard of a classical education before, read about it. When I did, I felt like I was putting on a comfortable old jacket. I remember thinking, "Yes! This is what I think education should be like. This is how and what I want my children to learn. This is what I think of when I think about someone who got a good, solid education."

If your heart is stirred toward something, I believe God will put people in your path to show you the right direction. You have to start down the path, but the people you meet along the way will provide you with the things you need to progress.

I know I sound very confident. Does that mean that I don't question our decision to home school? On the contrary; I believe the hallmark of parenting is the constant, looming question of whether or not our kids will one day sit on the bench at a psychiatrist, bemoaning the fact that "they home schooled me!" All we can do is make the best decisions with the information we have, and hope that our best efforts and intentions will set these kids on the path of becoming the very best version of themselves.

********

When I drive home from boot camp at 6:40 in the morning, I see my neighbor pile her four boys (aged 6 months to 13 years) into the van before the sun is up, hurrying to get each kid where he needs to go on time. As we eat breakfast, the kids in our neighborhood wait outside for the bus. They've probably been up for an hour or more. We bid Dad farewell and the kids sneak upstairs for 30 minutes to play before we start school. I finish my tea and wrap up my boot camp social media posting duties, and I wander upstairs to start the day.

More days than not, I am excited about the day's planned events. We hit all the subjects and then pause for a park break if the weather is good. We sit outside in the sun and I read books aloud. They ask questions, and I get a deeper insight into their unique and amazing personalities. If Dad has a trip and we want to tag along, we go. We are silly. We visit museums. We laugh. I cajole. We follow rabbits down holes. We test on Fridays, and when they are done the kids let loose a ball of energy and nerves that has them whooping and wrestling in their rooms. It is...idyllic. I can't believe I get to do this each day.

When Zach was a principal, I attended each of the graduation ceremonies over which he presided. I never failed to tear up at the video showing the kids as kindergartners and then seniors in high school. The emotion of the parents and their baffled looks about just where these 18 years had gone was palpable. It left a big impression on me.

Child rearing is a stage. They will be gone before you know it. We are not promised anything in this life...not a single day. Are you living a life of your own design? Because you can. You are allowed. You have permission to take the reigns of your life and steer it in a totally different direction than you may have ever thought possible. And in taking responsibility, you just may find unexpected freedom and joy, and time with your children that can never be replaced.

Three kitchen tools that are rocking my world

I purchased an embarrassing amount of "As Seen on TV" products this Christmas.

From the Scrub Daddys I gave out at my "Favorite Things" Party for my boot camp chicks:

The most successful product ever invested in on "Shark Tank," my favorite show EVER.

 To the "Chord Buddy" we bought to go with our family gift, a guitar:

Also seen on "Shark Tank." This fabulous little item has us playing simple tunes mere weeks after Christmas. It's super fun.

 To the "Veggetti" purchased in a whirling, last-minute trip to Bed Bath & Beyond where I finished up the last of my Christmas shopping purchasing fabulous items I never knew I (and my family members) needed.

I'm a sucker for that little red square in the corner. If it's on TV, it's got to be good, right?

You've probably seen the Veggetti or something like it advertised someplace or another. It's the little tool that lets you easily cut zucchini or yellow squash into thin noodle ribbons.

Y'all, pasta is SO 2014. Just look at how you can cut calories and carbs with the Veggetti:

Last year I was working with a client who was doing The 21 Day Fix, and she told me that she fixed pasta one night for dinner, but it didn't turn out to be many noodles in that yellow container. My response: "Why are you eating pasta?" It's not that it isn't allowed on the plan, but why eat pasta when you can have way MORE "noodles" that have less calories and more health benefits. That goes for spaghetti squash, or these fabulous little Veggetti noodles.

This tool is super affordable (about $15) and very easy to use. Just wash your veg, and twist it through the machine by hand. You can eat them raw, or saute them in a pan for a few minutes before you slather your delicious, homemade sauce on top. When we ate these we also had some awesome Body Beast turkey meatballs.

The Veggetti needs to be in your kitchen arsenal!

I don't know if my next item has ever appeared on television or not, but it sure makes my weekend mornings fun. It's the Aerolatte milk frother.

Comes with a convenient carrying case, so if I stay the night at your house I may whip this puppy out and make you a latte.

I've decided that I much prefer our coffee at home to Starbucks (or anywhere else, for that matter). I like my coffee fresh and weak. I also like lattes, so this is fancying up my coffee in a big way. All you do is put a little bit of milk at the bottom of your cup, stick the frother in there and run it for about 20 seconds. Then pour your coffee in and you've got yourself a home made latte. Love it!

And finally, this. The BIG Christmas present:

This.

This is NOT just a blender. If, one day, I go to turn on my car and it will not start, I will hook it to my Vitamix and drive to town.

This is a blender like I've never experienced before. My dream blender (as I've referred to it for the past several years).

Do you know what this thing can do? You can put ingredients for soup into this blender, turn it on high for 5 minutes, and the force of the engine (I guess? Maybe it's centrifugal force? Sounds like a home school research project in the making) makes the soup HOT. It steams out the top! And then you pour it in your bowl and eat it! There are not enough exclamation points to tell you how cool this thing is! ! !

!

So far we've made our Shakeology in it (of course), and it pulverized kale so thoroughly that I couldn't tell it was there. We've made apple sauce, tomato soup, acorn squash soup, smooth roasted red pepper hummus, and chocolate fondue. The fondue was a trip...you put whipping cream and chocolate chips (plus some orange zest and vanilla) into the blender, then whipped it up. When it got hot and pourable, you put it in a bowl and dipped all manner of yummy fruit in it.

And then a special bonus: we didn't eat all the fondue, so I put it in a container in the fridge. The next day it had hardened into a fabulous chocolate mousse-like substance that in my opinion was better than the fondue!

On the Vitamix menu today: peanut butter! I can't wait to make our own peanut butter.

In summation, you need to hit the stores and pick up a Veggetti and a milk frother ASAP. And if you've got some cash on hand, look into a Vitamix (they ain't cheap). At the very least put it on your long-term list of dream items for your kitchen.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!

************

Workout of the Day

T25 Beta Core Cardio

We just finished week 3 of Body Beast, and will be posting our thoughts about the program soon. We've been taking weekends off from the Beast for cardio and yoga, and this week will be a recovery week before we get back to Beast mode. 

Programming note: We will be doing another round of the 21 Day Fix starting SOON, so if you're interested in trying this program, please visit www.SmellsLikeFitness.com and look for the 21 Day Fix Challenge Pack, which is on sale this month for $140. It gets you the program AND 30 days' worth of Shakeology, which is a stinkin' bargain -- that's like getting the Fix program for 11 bucks!

Six Months Later

Wow, now that was quite a blogging hiatus! Six months later and our life looks quite different than it did on May 28, back in Dallas/Fort Worth making homemade laundry detergent.

The past two years have been turbulent for our family, to say the least. Without going into too much hairy detail, suffice it to say that we have been put through the pressure cooker, and have come out on the other side wiser, humbler, and thankful. Things happened to us that were utterly, completely bewildering to me. In the process I learned that God does not do things TO us, but he does things FOR us...even though at times that was very hard to swallow.

We learned about good friends. We learned about tough decisions. We learned about flexibility. We learned about letting go. Here are just a few of the changes in our life over the last six months:

1. We moved to suburban Austin.

Three hours and 200 miles south of our old homestead, we now live in bustling Cedar Park, north of Austin. It did not take long for us to like it here. It is a great place to have a family, with tons of activities, a great library, tons of grocery stores -- a Sprouts just a mile from the house! I was immediately struck with just how nice people are here. It's not unusual for someone to chat with you at the park, and as my commuting husband will attest, drivers actually let you in when you try to merge. It's all very refreshing.

2. We are home schooling our kids.

Considering that my husband just spent ten years in the public school system, you might think that our decision to home school our two children is some sort of statement on today's public schools or anyone who chooses to send their kids there. It is not.

Public schools are very important to our society. Zach continues to support the institution in his current position; in fact, he is able to help more districts now than the single district he used to work for. For many students, public school -- and the wonderful, dedicated teachers who work there -- is among the only positive things in their day-to-day life.

But Zach and I have the desire, the resources, and the ability to teach our children at home. We also have some very fantastic, very bright children. While I admit that my first response to Zach's suggestion that we home school the kids was, "WHAAAAT? You want me to do WHAAAAAT?", it has been among the best experiences of my life.

As our research proved during the decision-making process, I uncovered the fact that not all home schooling mothers wear embroidered denim jumpers and buns in their hair. And when I met the other moms in our home schooling co-op group (where we meet each Tuesday), I found out that these people are smart, talented, and dedicated to giving their kids an excellent education. A classically trained opera singer, a nuclear engineer, an illustrator of books about Mesopotamian hieroglyphics (that is a real thing, apparently!) are just a few of the moms in our group.

I am learning history, Latin, science, and math right alongside my kids, and in the process I learn more and more about the pure awesomeness (put that on a vocab quiz!) of my kids. Our family relationship has grown so much in the last four months. I could go on and on about it, but I'll just jot down a few of the things that I love about doing school at home:

- Learning is constant -- not just 8-3. When the kids were in school, I found it difficult to extract what it was they were learning about, so reinforcement was lacking. Now we learn, then reinforce all day long, and then talk to Dad about it at dinner. We are learning all the time.

- We can go as fast -- or slow -- as we want. Today Kate finished up 1st grade math curriculum, and so we will move on to 2nd grade math.

- Quality play time. We get so much work done in less time, which means more time for parks, Legos, reading, field trips, library visits, imagining, silly games, and more.

- Less stress. Quite simply, I have never seen my children so happy. "I used to dread Mondays," Drew told me a few weeks ago. "Now I look forward to them, because I want to see all the new stuff we're going to learn." That alone makes this decision worthwhile.

3. Zach gets to be home from work at 5:30pm.

This is a really big deal. He is home from work, and work does not follow him home. No one calls, rarely is something looming over his head. Rarely is he brooding about a decision to be made or a tough conversation that has to be had. Work life balance. It's where it's at!

Among the things that have not changed are:

- Our 5am workouts.
- My Texas Fit Chicks boot camp (although my new class starts at 5:30am instead of 5am, which makes a remarkably BIG difference).
- Our general health-nutness. (It's actually much easier to be a health nut in Austin...there are more of us down here.)

All in all, things are good. Finally. For many bitter, angry months we asked ourselves, "What did we do to deserve this?" and now we happily, thankfully ask ourselves, "What did we do to deserve this?"


*****************

Workout of the Day
PiYo Buns

Homemade Laundry Detergent

When people ask me how they can start eating better, I usually tell them to focus on one thing at a time. Don't throw out every nasty thing in your pantry at once; pick one thing, work on it for two weeks, master it, then move on to another thing. Maybe you switch to wheat bread instead of white. Or brown rice instead of white. Then you focus on sugar. Then processed food, and so on.

This is the process we used, and it's the process I'm slowly using to get rid of chemical cleaners in our home, too. I'm already on the vinegar and water cleaning solution band wagon, and you know how big of a fan I am of the magical shower grime killer (see it here).

A year or so ago I decided I ought to look into making my own laundry detergent. That was right after I bought the mother lode (pun intended) of laundry detergent on sale at Walmart. So about 300 loads of laundry later, last week I was finally ready to take the plunge on making my own laundry soap!

I used The Wellness Mama's recipe, as it seemed simple and straight forward.

Here are the ingredients:

Borax: found at Walmart
Super Washing Soda: found...I can't remember where. I bought it a year ago after I knew I was going to make this. It sat faithfully in my laundry room until last week. It was kinda chunky due to age.
Castile Soap: found at Walmart. We've been using this castile soap for several months now. Drew has skin issues and I wanted some natural soap. Zach likes it so much he uses it as shampoo, too. It smells nice and lathers well, even without the sulfates that most contain to make lather.

First, I had to shred the soap. I started with the cheese grater, but as I was grating two bars, I decided to get out the big guns: the food processor.

The recipe says that the soap should be finely ground, so I brought out another attachment:

Then I mixed the following: 1 part soap (I had about 3 cups grated), 2 parts washing soda, 2 parts Borax, plus 2 tsp. of baking soda. Then I mixed thoroughly.

It made quite a bit of soap, and luckily I found some spare Mason jars to store the soap securely. I nearly filled up three jars.

The recipe says to use 1/8 to 1/4 cup per load, and an old scoop from our P90X Results & Recovery Formula measured a little more than 1/8 cup. Perfect!

So making the soap was very easy. Took maybe 30 or 40 minutes. (Clean up was relatively easy and struck me a bit odd..."cleaning" soap. Whatever!) But would it wash our (incredibly stinky) clothes?

Yes!

I'm so pleased with how this soap washes. It does not get all sudsy like regular soap, but the soap companies just put that stuff in to make you think the soap is working well...it's not really necessary. This soap made my clothes come out smelling like...Nothing! They didn't really have a smell, which is a good thing. It's kind of like when we installed our reverse osmosis water filtration on our sink and the water tasted truly like "nothing."

Lately our clothes had kind of a wonky soap buildup smell. Like maybe the detergent just wasn't ever rinsing out or something. No more! That smell is gone and replaced by pure nothing-ness. I'm very impressed!

Here's the official recipe if you'd like to make your own laundry soap:

Natural Laundry Soap Recipe
1. Grate the bar soap or mix in food processor until finely ground. Use the soap of your choice.

2.In a large bowl, mix 2 parts washing soda, 2 parts Borax and 1 part grated soap. (Add a few teaspoons of baking soda if desired).

3.Store in closed container. If you are using a big enough container, you can skip step 2 and just put all ingredients in storage container or jar and shake.

Use 1/8 to 1/4 cup per load of laundry.

***************

Workout of the Day

P90X3 Yoga, AKA the best yoga ever put on DVD.

Here's Zach doing "Ted's Chair" this morning. I'm amazed every time I see it!

If I had never done P90X...

A few mornings ago Zach and I were in our gym working out to P90X3, and my mind started to wander (as it tends to do sometimes to take my mind off the temporary discomfort of the "Kablam" move and other torture inspired fitness moves that Tony Horton has created for this program).

What if we had never started doing P90X? Where would I be right now?

It seems so trivial. I mean...it's a workout program. Some DVDs in a case.

The first answer that popped in my head was "bed." I would probably be in bed right now if I had never started doing P90X at 5 in the morning nearly six years ago.



Then I started thinking about all the deeper ways this program has impacted my life. How it jump started my interest in fitness and nutrition. How it spurred a third career as a personal trainer, allowing me to fulfill my second career of stay-at-home-mom.

It's pure speculation, but here are some of the things that would have happened if I hadn't started P90X:

- I would be 20-30 pounds heavier than I am now.
Thanks to an active childhood and a commitment to jogging, I haven't ever really had a weight problem. What I did have was a white bread and mayo problem, which meant that even before children I was hovering around 150. My guess is that if I hadn't gotten my head on straight in the nutrition department, that would be more like 160 or 170 now.

- I would still be eating this:



Yes. Hamburger Helper Beef Stroganoff used to be a regular on the menu at our house.

- Zach and I would not have the great relationship that we have now.
In August 2008 Zach and I committed to a shared goal of completing 90 days of P90X at 5 in the morning. When we finished that 90 days, we were so impressed with our results and so pleased with our energy levels (despite "waking up early") that we were afraid to stop. That shared goal has blossomed into our shared hobby, shared business, shared "thing" that we do together. The kids join us sometimes, but our time in the morning is "our time." A year ago when I started my boot camp, losing "our time" together three days a week was the thing that most bothered me. Now that we have several programs that are 30 minutes or less, we now work out at 6am as soon as I get home from training and before he has to leave for work -- that is how important it is to us.

I'm not saying that if we hadn't started working out together that we would be headed for divorce or something. The fact of the matter is that we have always worked out together. But I know that before we started the 5am thing, I was starting to feel like I never saw him because of his long hours at work. Like we never got to talk. Like we never got time together when there weren't two kids around. This P90X thing gave us an outlet that makes our relationship stronger.

- I would have had to found a "J-O-B" by now.
This stay-at-home mom thing was always supposed to be temporary. When Kate went to Kindergarten, the plan was for me to wade back into the job force. But after five years without a cubicle, I was not anxious to go back. A few years before she was headed for school, I committed to coaching with Team Beachbody, with the understanding that if I could just bring home about $1,000 a month, then it would be worth it for me to stay home. Then I decided to pursue a personal trainer certification and start a boot camp for women with Texas Fit Chicks, which allowed me to make my schedule to fit my family and help women find their fitness too.

The past six years have taught me how valuable my time at home is. I love being able to pick my kids up at school. I love planning and cooking meals for my family. Zach and I are committed to eating together as a family most nights of the week.

Could we be bringing in much more money if I got a regular job? Yes. Would it be worth it to us? No. We only have one life to live and one chance to bring up our kids. We want it to be about quality, not quantity.

- I would not have seen Zach accomplish one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.
Zach ran 100 miles in 24 hours and 30 minutes. It was terrifying and awesome at the same time.

Zach's running has sparked an interest in running in both of our kids, and we regularly enjoy family jogs down at the land. Drew is shaping up to be a pretty awesome runner in his own right.

- I would not have an opportunity to impact people's lives.
Last summer a neighbor came to me asking for help and guidance to lose weight. She had seen me post on Facebook and wondered if there was any way I could help her. I volunteered our gym and told her to use it and our workout programs whenever she wanted. I gave some suggestions on food, and helped her navigate the difficulties of starting a new program. A year later, she is nearly 50 pounds lighter and has a completely different attitude toward life. I could not be more proud of her!

Zach and I have led two different small groups for our church through a study on taking care of your body through healthy eating and exercise. Through my boot camps I have the opportunity to teach women not only how to exercise, but also how to truly live a fulfilling, healthy life with proper nutrition, rest, movement, and positive mental attitude.

A few years ago I started wondering why I continued to work so hard at our workouts. "There has to be something more to this," I thought to myself. Paying it forward and helping others find their health. That's what the "more" has turned out to be.

- I most definitely would not have abs or arms like these:

P90X3 and 21 Day Fix "After" Pictures - April 2014
36 Years Old

I'll be the first to tell you that fitness is most definitely NOT about how you look.
But I will also be the first to tell you that it sure is a nice byproduct. :)

One small decision. Big impact on my life. Thanks, P90X.

***********

Workout of the Day

P90X Plyometrics. 

Hard six years ago. Hard today!

100 Miles

February 1, 2014
Huntsville, Texas
Rocky Raccoon 100 Mile Trail Run

Zach and his friend Mark ran a 100-mile ultra marathon through the piney woods of the Davy Crockett National Forest a few weeks ago.

- 100 miles.
- Must finish in 30 hours or less.
- Five 20-mile loops.
- Start at 6am in the morning, finish sometime early the next day.

I cannot pretend to understand or explain what motivates my husband to run 100 miles. In fact, Mark's wife and I were conspiring to hire Tonya Harding to go to our husbands' school and bust some knees prior to the race, as we were considerably worried about their health (and sanity).

However, it was a pretty cool experience to witness, and I would imagine you have a few questions about how one goes about training and completing a 100-mile run. I will answer a few questions that I hear a lot and share some of the pictures from that very long day. 

Waiting for Dad to come through the Park Road aid station.

Do they run the whole thing? Yes and no. They are constantly moving forward, but often times they are walking up hills and running downhills and flats. Mark and their friend Brian, who was so kind as to pace them for the last 40 miles of the race, were forced to walk the last lap due to Mark's blisters.

Do they eat? Yes! You must refuel your body. On an ordinary day Zach eats around 1800 calories. A rough estimate of calories burned per mile is 100, so 100 miles run = 10,000 calories burned. During the race the runners come to an aid station roughly every 3-6 miles and are able to refuel with food (peanut butter and jelly, bananas, pretzels, trail mix, quesadillas, sausage, chicken soup, mashed potatoes, etc. See the overall salt theme? Salt is important during an ultra). They also have energy/sports drinks, salt tablets, water, and coke.

Despite a very harsh winter, race day was quite warm and humid -- 65 degrees.
Until the front came through around 3am.

How many people sign up? More than 600 people signed up this year.

How many people finish? This year, less than half completed the race.

Drew was able to run a 3-mile section with Zach. He only fell once!

How do you train for an ultra marathon? A runner cannot go out and run 50-100 miles for training; it's just too hard on your body. The way Mark and Zach trained was to do back-to-back long (14-25 miles) runs on the weekends. During the week they did one fast (7-minutes per mile) 5-7 mile run, and during the rest of the week they trained using P90X, Insanity: The Asylum, and other Beachbody workouts in our library.

If Zach were writing this post he'd also give a shout-out to Shakeology, which he used once as a snack during the race and as post-run fuel, as well. He said the shake during the race was among the better-digested items he ate that day, and he felt like it gave him a pick-me-up when he finished, as well.

A screen shot from the live feed of the race. Zach is on the left.

Did Zach have any trouble during the race? There was surprisingly little trouble on the course. His feet were mostly fine, with the exception of stubbing both his right and left 2nd toes so often that the toenails are going to fall off. He didn't have trouble with blisters like Mark did, but that is because his feet are freakishly soft and baby-like at all times. No calluses, no blisters, no nothing, no matter what he does.Weird!

He did have stomach issues on the 4th lap that caused him to visit a few trees (that he told me were most likely going to be dead by spring). A nice Irish worker at the aid station gave him some crystallized ginger to suck on and a cup of soup and told him to get on his way. On the 5th lap he mostly stopped eating which calmed his stomach down.

On the 5th lap he began to have trouble with his knee, which caused him to have to walk a considerable amount of the last seven miles (and was the cause of him missing the 24-hour mark).

Last bit of trouble? His personal aid worker (me) neglected to give him his jacket on the last lap. When the cold front came in at 3am he was c-o-l-d, as he was in a T-shirt and shorts.

In his research prior to the event Zach read (and we have heard) that ultra marathons are emotional events, with the runners' emotions running the gambit from high to low to wanting to quit. Both Mark and Zach were very narrowly focused on completing the race, and I never once saw them do anything that indicated they wanted to quit. They were very even keeled the whole time.

Park Road aid station, 4th lap. 6 miles to the start of the 5th lap.
Head lamps help them see in the dark.

What did you and the kids do while you waited for him? The race is at a state park, and we brought the camper down. Zach's mom, the kids, and I walked the runners to the starting line before dawn on Saturday. Throughout the day we calculated where and when we could see them on the course, then made sure we were there to see them go by. It's a relatively small race, so when someone goes by you can see and talk to them. At the main start, the runners linger for a little bit to change gear (shirts, shoes, etc.), and Zach had a detailed list of supplements and supplies that I was to have ready at each lap.

In the middle of the night the kids slept in the camper while I went around the corner and waited at the starting line. I saw them at 12:30am before the start of the 5th lap, then went back to get a few hours of sleep before the expected finish time of around 5:30am. I needed to drive us home that day so it was important that I get at least a little sleep.

We started waiting for Zach to come across the finish line at about 5:30. It was cold and had started to drizzle. He didn't come and didn't come. We went inside the tent and waited by the heat lamp. Finally at 6:30am he slipped into the corner of the tent with a dazed look on his face and sat down. It was over! Rather anti-climactically, I might add.

Mark and Brian were still on the course; Zach told us he had left them shortly after the first mile of lap five because Mark was unable to run with the blisters on his feet.

"I just ran 100 miles! Thanks for the belt buckle."

After we got him warm(er) and fed him some soup, it was time to get Zach into the shower and into the camper to sleep. I didn't want to leave him alone in the men's shower, so I peeked into the ladies' room to see if it was occupied. One lady was taking a shower. "Ma'am? Ma'am in the shower?" I asked. "My husband just ran a hundred miles and I need to help him shower. You mind if I bring him in here?" "Nope! Bring him in."

The lukewarm shower wasn't all Zach was hoping it to be, but it got the grime washed off. Then he huddled over the sink for about 10 minutes and brushed his teeth. I kept wondering if maybe he was sleep brushing, but he seemed to be at least slightly coherent, so I just let him do his thing.

As we stepped out of the bathrooms we saw that the bottom had dropped out: it was pouring rain. I felt so bad for Mark and Brian. I got Zach into the camper, fixed the kids a snack and set them up with a movie, then headed back up to the start to wait for Mark and Brian with Zach's mom. At around 8:30, they finally made it.

Thank goodness for those trash bags.

They were freezing cold, but they made it all in one piece.

Yup, a belt buckle.

Mark and Brian had slept in tents the night before, and with the rain and cold I couldn't imagine that they would get any rest before trying to go home. It was a sloppy mess at the campground and there was a lot to pick up.

Not fun. Even when you hadn't run 100 miles.

So we pretty much threw everything into the camper and the back of the truck, slammed the doors, and took off down the road to downtown Huntsville where the biggest, thickest, most delicious pecan pancakes awaited us. Along with eggs, bacon, hash browns, sausage, and biscuits.

And then we drove home!

Zach got out of bed the next day unassisted, and even went to work. The sleep deprivation was pretty brutal, and we both went to bed really early the whole following week. And the following weekend there was a snow day that allowed us to have three consecutive nights of 10 hour sleeps. Felt so good.

Zach's knee continues to bother him; it appears to be a fairly severe case of patellar tendonitis (runners knee, don't ya know).

As I told several people after the race, it was amazing. And awful. I didn't like seeing him in pain, but at the same time I was amazed at the perseverance both he and all of the runners showed. Will they do it again? I honestly hope not.

Selfishness: The Greatest Gift

“You take care of you for me and I’ll take care of me for you.” - Jim Rohn

Lately the reality of my age is setting in. Not that I am feeling old, mind you...I turn 36 next week and feel stronger and younger than ever. In fact, a few months ago when my niece was preparing to go to college and I was thinking about a gift to get her, my exact thought was: "I will come up with the perfect gift because I JUST LEFT college...uh...13 years ago." Wha? When did that happen?

I guess what I mean by age setting in is that I see things happening around me in friends and family that show that we are aging. That the seeds that we have sown are coming to fruition (how about those $5 English major words?). Some marriages are striving, others are failing. Some have successful careers, others are searching for new ones. Some are vigorous and healthy, others are succumbing to illness or disease. Many friends are having to take care of their aging, ailing parents.

Zach and I spend a lot of time and money on "self care." We work out every day. I spend many hours per week planning, preparing, and cooking our family's meals. We get out of bed before dawn and head to sleep before 10pm most nights. I bet people think we are missing out on a lot of stuff. 

But here is the deal: taking care of yourself and your health is the absolute best gift you can give your spouse, your kids, and your extended family. 

These people love you. They are invested in you. When something happens to you, they are grieved and stressed. They put their lives aside so that they can care for you.

In theory, eating crappy food and sitting on your duff is a victimless crime. You're the one who gains weight, develops Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol. Combine those lifestyle diseases with aging and stress, and the next thing you know you are in the hospital because a wound won't heal. Or you have a heart attack. Then it's not so "victimless" anymore. Your family, friends, and co-workers are not only worried and scared, they also have to cover for you. Someone has to pay the bills. Someone has to meet with the client and deliver the report.

When people think about trying to lose weight, it's a trap to think that it's just about how you look. "I want to look good in those jeans," or "I want my spouse to think I'm attractive." Sure, those are nice byproducts of a healthy lifestyle. But investing time and money in your health is ultimately about living in a way that gives your loved ones the gift of YOU for as long as possible. 

I don't want to spend the last 15 years of our marriage managing a chronic disease. I don't want to have to say no to a retirement trip because I'm in no shape to walk or haul bags to the airplane. I understand that there are no guarantees, and no amount of exercise and carrot eating will ensure that something bad doesn't happen to one of us. But if there is any way I can tip the scale in my favor, you know I'm going to do it. 

You take care of YOU for ME, and I'll take care of ME for YOU. Sounds like a good plan.

*************

Workout of the Day

P90X3 - The Challenge

Shakeology of the Day

Pumpkin Pie:

1 scoop chocolate Shakeology

1/2 a banana

2 TB canned pumpkin

dash of cinnamon

ice

water