Month: January 2012

1000+ Views!

I finally made it to 1000 views…plus some! It’s a good feeling. I watch the stats like a psychotic person. I don’t know why I’m so addicted to seeing how many people have viewed this blog. I know there are blogs that get more than that in one day and well I’m just not there so I will take my stats and embrace them! LOL, I don’t know that I’ll ever be “cool” enough to get that many views a day :/

1/16/12 WOD

Had a good WOD today. Short, sweet and tough! We worked on Front Squats and my 1 RM was 115. I was really hoping I could get more but not today.
And for the MetCon… box jumps and straight legged sit ups… 30 seconds for each movement for 5 rounds. The first round was good and I slacked on the second round for some reason. Grant reminded us this was a sprint workout so I got on it and started moving… now wishing I didn’t slack on my 2nd round. But I did so I just had to push the rest of the way through. 120 reps total. Not bad but I know I could have had a few more reps.

WHEAT BELLY - WILLIAM DAVIS, MD

You all know I strive for Paleo and push to eat as clean as possible and discourage grains. I follow several blogs and what not that are Paleo and advise against grains including the Wheat Belly Blog but I had yet to read the actual book. This weekend we bought it and I tore through it. It’s not a long read so that was nice but there was a lot of information on what Wheat does to us. I feel assured that wheat and gluten are the enemy to everyone not just to those with celiac or other gluten intolerances. I don’t want to give you a book report because I think it’s important for you to read and soak it up for yourself. But if you are wishy washy on the issue or don’t even have a clue, then I highly recommend reading it. And at least try giving up all GRAINS, not just wheat, for 30 days. See if it changes you. You will go through a withdrawl of sorts, at least you probably will, it may last 2 days and it may last up to a week or 2 but you should just TRY. And don’t replace your GRAINS with junk… just eat more meats, veggies and fruits. If you don’t feel great and more awesome than ever then go back to your gluten filled ways. It won’t bother me one bit 🙂 Let me know if you do it or plan on doing it. Let me know if you need support or have questions. It’s tough mentally to remove the grains but in reality it’s not that hard if you’re willing to make the change.

I know that after reading the information in the book I am good without the “yummy” things that are made with wheat. Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD! Buy it! It’s good.

Happy Monday, MLK day, etc. Enjoy your day whether you have the day off or have to work it like I do… make it a happy day 🙂

Death by Power Clean on Friday the 13th!

1/13/12 WOD

It was a dreadful sight on the board but it had to be done! Grant asked us what we were thinking in regards to how far we’ll get and I just couldn’t manage a number in my head but eventually I blurted out 12. Then after I did blurt it out I mentally changed it to 13 since it’s the 13th. And to try and push past my initial blurted out goal. Getting up to the 10th round I was still feeling pretty good. Tired but good. Then the 11th round hit and dang I was zapped of all energies and I made the major mistake of dropping the bar. Boy was that the wrong thing to do! I made it through 12 rounds and got to 8 reps on the 13th attempt but Major Fail. I lost strength fast. But at 70lbs not too bad I suppose.

For those of you that don’t know what DEATH BY (Insert any movement) means I’ll explain it a little bit. You take the movement, it could be sprints, deadlifts, pushups and in our instance POWER CLEANS and do 1 for every minute that passes and add reps to match the minute. So in the first minute you do 1. Rest till minute 2 starts and then you do 2. Rest till minute 3 and do 3 reps. You do this until you can not complete the number of reps that correspond to the minute you are on. So I made it to 13 minutes but didn’t complete the 13 therefore I only count that I completed 12. Make sense? I hope so. It’s tough. You think this is easy – I GOT THIS, until you’re on your 50th rep overall and you want to DIE! Hahah, fortunately we don’t die and we push past our limits. It always feels so good to be done and to know I have done something. I am strong!

I really don’t want to talk about SNATCH BALANCE cause we are truly not friends. But I’ll say my peace and move on. Snatch is a movement that takes a lot of thought but I’m the kind of person that just needs to “DO” and not think because I’m an overthinker (legit word? eh I don’t care). So you give me a movement where you are forced to think of all the form it takes and all the little things that go into it and my brain can’t HANDLE it! I suck at SNATCH. I do not like it, it’s not a natural movement, and other people make it look so easy. Just DROP under the bar. THAT’s IT…. SIMPLE. Not for me and guess what? I made it a goal to not fear it. What a stupid stupid goal to make! I hope this year I can actually overcome it but I’m not feeling it at all. Maybe it’s just the crappy week I’ve had that brings me to despise it so much. I’m pushing my feelings all into this one lift. Sorry Snatch. One day we’ll be friends, I promise!

I am so freakin glad it’s Friday! The past couple of days have driven me bonkers! I know it’s all meaningless in the scope of life but I’m ready for change! I think subconsciously and consciously…. the impending anniversary of my mom’s death has shaken me. Last year I was pacing up and down hospital hallways with no answers. Hoping, Praying and CRYING my eyeballs out. Lost and confused. Argh, I’m still doing all of those things but for different reasons and I can’t move forward. I’m sure I can move forward but I feel stuck. I NEED CHANGE! Can I get a reset button? a reboot? a do-over? Anything? I know it has to come from within but it’d sure be nice if someone would just throw opportunity into my lap. And it would be nice if I had the foresight to know it was the opportunity that would change my life! I’m afraid that I’ve had to many things cross my path that I’ve never taken advantage of because my mind and whole self was closed to change. But NOW I want–desire CHANGE… REAL CHANGE and I feel like I’m stuck in a boat with one oar. Going in circles.

I know I’m rambling and I realize I say that I’m rambling often and always apologizing for doing it! But it’s what I do. One of my friends made a point to me that this was my therapy and it really is in a way. It’s good to get it out there even if it doesn’t make sense to anyone but me. Maybe you can relate, maybe you can’t. I’m not a super blogger with deep thoughts on politics, environment, world change… etc. I’m just an average citizen, mom, human with a computer. I’m not changing the world one post at a time. But hopefully regardless of my craziness someone is getting encouraged to keep on truckin!

Happy Friday the 13th! TRIVIA NOTE… all months that start on a Sunday will have a Friday the 13th… my 12 year old told me that. Have a good weekend 🙂

New Workout Schedule means – NO REST THURSDAY!

I had become a little bit of a slacker on Thursdays and I had no REAL reason to be one I just got lazy over the month of December. But with my new CrossFit Schedule I’m OFFICIALLY on a new course.

1/12/12 WOD

This morning’s WOD was a nice little chipper. I felt pretty good the whole way through until I got to the burpees. They got to me for some reason today! I got super hot super quick and couldn’t shed the layers fast enough. Once I regrouped I knocked them right out. And reluctantly went to the sled pull… 30yds, not that far but I’m just not good at this yet. It’s awkward and it’s cold outside… I’m whiny too! Get over it people! Hahaha, yes I do realize I get a little cry babyish…sometimes ALOT cry babyish but I wouldn’t be me any other way. I finished in 8:36… Things to work on: PISTOLS (I suck at those) and PULLING SLEDs!

Like I stated yesterday, dinner would be OUT not IN so no new recipes. I won’t always try out a new recipe either I suppose but I want to at least once a week. Sometimes I may choose to be a little more ambitious 🙂 It’s been brought to my attention by Ernie and others that maybe I should consider creating some sort of Paleo catering/mealplan and in theory it sounds like a good idea but I don’t consider myself a CHEF by any means. I like to cook. I like making something yummy but I’m just a regular ol’ person. I’m pretty clueless most of the time.

So is it an idea I should really try to process or is it a wishful thinking dream maybe turn reality in the future? I don’t know. Do y’all think there’s a market out there for such? I know people do it already. It’s not new or unique but how successful/fruitful can it be? I can’t afford timewise to do it for fun and I can’t afford to do it full time if it doesn’t pay the bills… so much to think about. Chime in if you feel the need. Sponsor me maybe! Hahah, I wish. Any comments for or against the idea are welcome.

Moving on… I did have a little extra chicken on Tuesday so I cooked it up, minced it up, added chopped mushrooms, finely chopped walnuts, jalepenos (roasted and fresh), onion to make a little filling for some lettuce wraps. I like to buy the butter lettuce where it’s still attached to the root. They are giant pieces, sometimes a little flimsy but mostly durable enough. I sent some with Ernie to lunch and he kindly snapped a shot for me. I brought the same thing but I left my tomato and avocado at home so it wasn’t as pretty. Just another quick idea if you’re in a rush. It doesn’t take long to cook a small amount of chicken and sautee up whatever else and slap it in a piece of lettuce to have a quick snack or meal.  NOTE: it’s best to mince, shred chicken while fresh cooked and warm. You may know that but I thought I’d share anyways.

Easy Breezy Chicken Wrap in Butter Lettuce

So that’s it for Thursday. Back to being active. It feels good. Feels like I was productive. I KNOW I KNOW before y’all tell me, I need rest too. I do get rest. I know when to hold back. My body tells me, I promise 🙂

Enjoy your day. Try to find a ray of sunshine if your day is bad and if your day is going good then just soak it all in! WOW I’m a cheeseball! Aren’t I?

More Foods, More Beatdowns and More Airrosti

I really enjoy being in the kitchen when I have the time and right now I have the TIME… not for long when baseball season gets into gear and the boys are going full speed ahead BUT for now I can play in the kitchen and it’s fun!

Meatloaf was on the brain last night and I had 2lbs of grass fed ground beef ready to be cooked. I did a quick search on the interwebs and stumbled across Paleo Diet Lifestyle and a recipe they had on their site.

Paleo Meatloaf with Mushrooms! It was a HOMERUN in the family department. Perfect served up with Mashed “Potatoes” Cauliflower and some Asparagus.

2 lb ground beef (you may substitute with ground pork);
1 ½ tbsps salt;
1 tsp ground black pepper;
1 egg;
1 medium onion, finely chopped;
2 cups white button mushrooms, finely chopped;
1 tsp chili pepper flakes;
3 tsp fresh thyme, minced;
1 tsp fresh oregano, minced;
3 cloves garlic, minced;
½ cup homemade ketchup;
(I USED an ADDTIONAL 1/3 CUP for the meat Mixture … stephanie)
1 tbsp honey, optional;
½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce, optional;
1 tbsp paleo cooking fat;

Preparation
Preheat your oven to 350 F.
In a medium sized skillet placed over a medium heat, melt the cooking fat, add the mushrooms and saute for 2 to 3 minutes, or until soft.

In a large bowl, combine the meat, salt, pepper, egg, onion, mushrooms, chili pepper, thyme, oregano and garlic. Mix well, makng sure to break-up the meat. Add the cooked mushrooms as well. It’s very important that the mushrooms are evenly distributed to ensure the loaf bonds well.

Lightly grease loaf pan with additional cooking fat and fill it with the meat mixture. Place in the oven and cook for approximately 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine ketchup, honey and Worcestershire sauce to make the sauce for the top of the meatloaf.

After cooking for 15 minutes, gently spread the sauce on the top of the loaf.
Continue cooking for another 40 minutes.

PLEASE NOTE… I did not make my KETCHUP. I used organic ketchup from Whole Foods. While this has some sugar in it, it is better than OTHER ketchups. In the future I plan on making my own ketchup but I didn’t have the tomatoes to do so. Also I added some ketchup to the MEAT mixture – about 1/3 cup. I also left out the Worcestershire sauce because I don’t have any in my kitchen.

Ingredient Prep

Cookin' Up the Mushrooms

Ready to be MIXED!

Another Blurry Pic ARGH! But this is when I put the Sauce on the Meatloaf 15 minutes after it's been in oven. I made a little extra cause it seemed like a good idea 🙂

Meal Ready to Be Served

All I can say is "DELICIOUS"

While that was baking, I steamed up some cauliflower and garlic gloves. Once the cauliflower was done I salted and peppered it up, threw it in the food processor with 3 TBS of pasture butter and got it mixing. It turned out really nice and creamy in texture. Perfect with the meatloaf! The kids gobbled it up as did Ernie and myself. We then watched some Biggest Loser to see if “CrossFit” was incorporated and passed out!

Steamed Cauliflower Ready for the Food Processor

 

Rise and Shine (in the dark) as it was an early morning today. It’s my CrossFit day off and I decided to attend iChoosefit Bootcamp in Midlothian. It’s a good 25 minutes away from me but they have an indoor facility that I’ve been wanting to check out! One of my local bootcamp friends came along for the ride as well. We were equally impressed with Speed & Performance Training Facility. The upside to this place is that they have barbells and plates which allows for heavier lifting than the mobile bootcamp allows. It was a good beatdown today. We had everything from Box Jumps, Back Squats, Deadlifts, Sled Pushes, Running and so forth! AJ did not hold back in his beatdown. It’s a great large space with plenty of equipment. I wish I owned something along those lines.

I came home with no ambition in regards to cooking so breakfast was eggs and fruit. But I was excited for my AIRROSTI appointment. My hip pain has dramatically decreased and it appears that I have an impingement in my hip so I’ll always have to work hard at keeping myself properly stretched as well as keep up with the foam roller and ice. But the constant burn and ache is GONE. It would hurt while I was just sitting in my car on the drive home or burn if I was on my feet for too long. I definitely recommend giving AIRROSTI a try! Thank you Dr. Bertrand and Casey!

Have a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY! I forgot to defrost any proteins (DOH!) so I don’t know what will be on the menu… probably eating out but we’ll see.

Is It Friday Yet?? (I wonder how many blogs have that as a title… ORIGINAL, I KNOW)

It’s been a busy busy week and it’s only Tuesday. It’s been busy work wise and at home.

I’ve never know where to start when I begin typing. Do I start with last night’s dinner or with the WOD this morning? Blah Blah Blah… y’all don’t even care I’m sure! I understand it’s a trivial decision but I don’t like leaving anyone confused.

So I’ll start with last night’s dinner – SPINACH STUFFED CHICKEN with BACON which turned out excellent! I found the recipe online (http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=4574737) and I’m sure it’s been posted, reposted and modified to anyone’s liking so please NOTE you can be as creative as you want to be with this recipe.

Sizzlin Bacon


Garlic, Onions (washed out :(), and Spinach


Stuffing the Chicken Breast


A Lil Blurry... But Seasoned and Ready to Bake


Voila! Stuffed Chicken, Brocolli and Guacamole


All That Stuffing.... Yummmy!

Spinach Stuffed Chicken With Bacon

INGREDIENTS:
10 slices of “clean” bacon, (nitrate, nitrite free, etc.), divided
1/2 cup red onion chopped (I used yellow onion)
4 large garlic cloves chopped
3/4 pound of spinach, chopped
4-5 boneless skinless, organic, free range chicken breast

METHOD:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Take 6 slices of bacon and chop them up into about 1/2 inch pieces and fry them in a med-large skillet until nice and brown. Then remove the bacon from the pan and saute the red onion in the bacon grease for a few minutes. Add in the garlic cloves and saute until the onion is translucent. Add the spinach, sprinkle with salt and pepper, simmer just until the spinach is wilted nicely, and remove from heat to cool slightly.

Then taking your chicken butterfly each chicken breast and spread filling evenly on one half of each chicken breast. Then flip the other side of the chicken back over to cover the spinach filling, and wrap each with an additional slice of bacon. Place in a glass baking dish, sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper and dried Thyme leaves.

Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 35 minutes, then increase temperature to 500 and bake for 10 minutes more to brown the bacon. If it is not brown enough you can broil the chicken for a few minutes, but be sure to watch it! Serve and enjoy.

For more recipes visit: CrossFit Eureka’s Paleo Made Easy

Made for a good dinner and I was ready for bed not to long after. This morning was my “first” Tuesday workout in my new 4 day week at the Boom Box and I feel great!

I feel a little better at Snatch and besides not getting low enough on either snatch or cleans, I’m getting better at it in general.

01/10/12 WOD

The MetCon was fun! Yes FUN! I was giving myself a time of around 7 minutes because I haven’t really been doing any deadlifts lately. The weight was 85lbs to help ensure speed but it felt super light. Time 3:55! We have a newcomer that was there with me but he had a modified workout so it was just me on the board that early in the morning. I’m sure the rest of the day will put me to shame ESPECIALLY the high school BOYS… they blew my MetCon out of the water yesterday! Oh to be young 😀

01/09/12 WOD... Those Dang High Schoolers!

When I got home this morning post WOD I got a little ambitious with breakfast and took on some Coconut Pancakes from Mark Sissons “The Primal Blueprint Cookbook”. And they turned out quite dandy and the boys devoured the few I did make! Another win 🙂 I don’t have the book with me as I type this so I don’t have the recipe. But it’s simple and good. I did have to play with the liquids as it was a rather thick batter at first. But in the end they came out YUM-O!

Batter cookin' up - Treat like regular pancakes!


Doesn't look to shabby!


Finished Pancake! You can top with anything... Blackberries and Maple Syrup shown here.

There you have it! Not so sure I’ll be as ambitious tomorrow… but you never know! Happy Tuesday… SMILE! 🙂

Movin On UP — in the BOOM BOX

Starting this week I am steppin up my attendance to 4 days a week with the occasional Saturday WOD included. I know I’m just adding a day but it’s a big step in my mind. Hopefully I get some good gains over the next year by adding this EXTRA day 🙂

We had an all lifting Sat WOD this past weekend and it was all about SNATCH! I only got to 55lb max because for some dumb reason I don’t want to drop under that bar when 65lbs is on that stinkin bar! I did get to work on form a lot and felt like I was “getting” it but I didn’t get the 65lb max 😦 It’s not too heavy with the exception of my fear.. that’s all I can attribute it to excuse wise. FEAR. Sigh… I’m working on it and that’s one of my goals. We were asked to write goals on the white board so I put up 3: Get pullups, Snatch with NO FEAR and be successful at Handstand PushUps…HSPUs.

As I’ve noted in the past I can do a strict pull up with smallest band now and I’m close to a kipping pull up as well. It’s getting there. I didn’t want to set a “deadline” but I did promise myself that post WOD I will work on pull ups for a minute. I haven’t worked on HSPUs in a while so I gotta get going on that as well. And for snatch… NO FEAR!

1/09/12 WOD

This mornings WOD was WORK. Clean and Jerks were just taxing on me today. But I pulled through just fine. As far as the running was concerned… IT WAS RAINING so I thought Running was OUT but I WAS WRONG! (As I usually am) We did DEATH by 10M instead! Woohooooo. I got up to 15 rounds and I was done. I could have and should have pushed for 16 but I feared I would puke and I didn’t feel like puking today :/

That’s it for now. I hope y’all had a great weekend. Below are a couple of pics of dinner over the weekend. I barely remembered to take photos but I did. I remade the HOLIDAY Brussels Sprouts from Everyday Paleo that I had made for NYE and they were still tasty 🙂 Kids enjoyed them as well since they didn’t get a chance to taste them on NYE!

Brussels Sprouts and Onions Cookin'

Walnuts and Cherries

Added Walnuts and Dried Cherries

YUM-O with Chicken and Sweet Potato Fries... I did have more Chicken but I didn't want to forget to take picture!

Holiday Brussels Sprouts

3 tablespoons grass fed butter, ghee, or coconut oil

1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced

1 lb Brussels sprouts, halved and then cut into strips

½ cup walnuts, chopped

½ cup dried unsweetened cherries, chopped

2 teaspoons raw organic honey

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet saute the onions in the the butter, ghee or coconut oil until they start to brown and carmelize. Add the sliced Brussels sprouts and cook until the just become tender. Add the diced walnuts and cherries and cook for another minute or two and remove from heat. In a small saucepan melt the honey, add the balsamic vinegar and olive oil and whisk together. Pour the dressing over the Brussels Sprouts and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serves 5-6.

Seriously?!?!?! The year HATES me already!

And I am not joking one bit. I felt so defeated yesterday. After all my proclamations of how great 2012 will be and even if it’s not I’m gonna MAKE it great. Well it freaking stomped my face in yesterday as my car DIED, just flat out DIED in the middle of the road. I was “THAT” person… broke down at a stop light with nowhere to go. All systems down folks. Fortunately for me Grapevine police showed up QUICKLIKE to help me out to which I am grateful.

Now I did know my car was coming to failure as all sorts of warnings and noises were putting me in a panic but I was still going. I wasn’t far from dealership and I just knew I would make it. As I was on the phone with the service department to alert them I was coming – complete POWER FAILURE left me hangin’ out to dry. They called a tow truck to get me, which helped a lot as well. As the tow truck shows up, the guy asks if I needed a ride to the dealer as well and as I told him yes he told me to take a seat in the truck while he hooked up my car. So I’m sitting there and I see out of the corner of my eye a giant TIRE come out of nowhere. I look up and there I see what appears to be Grapevine CrossFit. The pic I have here is a total blurrilicious terd but you can kind of tell. I should have hopped out, joined in and gave em hell but instead I sat there and watched in my sadness.

Grapevine Crossfit ... I think! Appeared out of nowhere while I was waiting in tow truck.

I eventually got rescued by my brother. And car is being fixed. Dead battery and alternator 😦 And I move on. I won’t let it bring me down. 2012 will not defeat me. But I did stumble a bit and the first week isn’t even to a close yet!!!

Onto my WOD which gives me peace and strength (sometimes!?! and sometimes it just pisses me off too, haha).

1/06/12 WOD

As you see we worked Snatch and Clean&Jerk. I am no bueno at the SNATCH but I am determined to get that lift down. It’s so intimidating. So much to think about form wise and that’s just with a bar. Adding weight gives it a whole new form of intimidation. I got a little better, we’ll see what tomorrow brings as I will attempt my 1 rep MAX :O Doh, I SCARED!
I feel a lot more comfortable with the Clean&Jerk and my workout buddy today told me I had a “pretty” jerk! LOL. That made me laugh and I told her I would document it because it was cool to get that as a compliment and never in my life would I have ever imagined that would give me a warm fuzzy inside. Never in my life would I have imagined anyone ever saying that to me so WOW .. who am I? 😀

I felt pretty good about the WOD going in but I knew it would get to me! TABATAs always do. And it was OLD SCHOOL! LOL… air squats, pushups, situps… easy breezy right? WRONG… Not even halfway through squats my legs turned to JELLO. Pushups were murderous and surprisingly I felt pretty good at situps. A total overall rep count of 241. I was feelin pretty good. Worn out but good.

As for dinner last night, it was simple. Some grass-fed steak chopped up and sauteed with mushrooms and asparagus. I failed to take a picture as I was tired, defeated and HUNGRY. Ernie and I ate like it was the last meal on Earth… maybe it was just me though. I finished well before Ernie. The kids feasted on left over chili which by the way turned out pretty good considering I was lacking a lot ingredient wise. They informed me it was tasty and they liked it a lot. I too enjoyed it for my lunch. And I also forgot to take pics. But chili is chili right?

After dinner, I was proactive again and helped the kids out with their lunches and I remembered to take PICS! Yay me. So the whole point of the pictures is that this is EASY stuff to do. We haven’t bought “bread” in a month now. I ran out of Ezekiel Bread a few weeks ago. And all of us are A-OK withOUT it! No one has revolted or threatened my life. We just move along as if this is how it’s been all along. The boys enjoy it and know they are eating healthy. They loved the spinach and had no idea it was spinach. They saw I added zucchini this time around and were excited.. Yes we are a bunch of nerdos!

Preparing the Ham Rolls

Kid Approved Ham Rolls

And that’s how the cookie crumbles! COOKIE..??? Who said COOKIE?

Hahahah I am probably the only one laughing but that is how my brain works folks. I’m weird. Happy Friday to you all! Enjoy the weekend 🙂

And today the BACK to the ROUTINE really starts!


The kids are back in school and we get back into full swing! No more lazy days for them and no more slacking on my part! My EXCUSE(s) for not working out this morning was two fold… 1. I was lazy and did not want to drive 25 minutes to get there. 2. I had an Airrosti appointment at 8 and didn’t want to push it by not getting back quick enough! Although I don’t have workouts or meals to report on, I have found Thursdays to be my rambling day.

But we are fully back in the swing of things. Back to a real schedule and back to reality. Last night my kids kindly pooled their “christmas” monies together and took us all out to eat! It was nice of them and we all were happy but I still had ground beef that I needed to cook because it was on the verge of my comfort zone of expiration! So I came home and attempted to make a chili with what little ingredients I had and little window of time I had as well. The verdict is still out though because it will be lunch for Ernie and I and we won’t have lunch till later! While my chili was cookin and a simmerin, I got proactive with lunches! It’s not typical of me to be so on top of things! I got sweet potatoes baking in the oven. I got eggs boiling for next day snacks and I even helped the kiddos out with their lunches. I made them Ham Wraps stuffed with spinach and carrots. They typically make their own lunches but I was up so I figured I’d help them out a bit. And of course I didn’t take pictures! Not that it’s a hard thing to do but as I’ve been told “pictures” make everything better! But hopefully I’ll stay proactive and get more done in the evenings instead of trying to RUSH everything and everyone in the mornings!

I really looked forward to this morning for my Airrosti session. My hip has been much better but there is still some pain and now my hamstring, quad and glute have been acting up. Dr. Bertrand hit some super tight spots on the side of my hip/glute and HOLY SHITAKES it hurt! Besides the tenderness from finding spots that hurt really bad my drive in to work was much better. Normally my hip aches a lot of the drive in but not so much this morning. I’m hoping that I truly only need one more session to be pain free. I’m sure there are 7987979 little things I could work on but this whole hip thing is really the only thing I feel that is HOLDING me back in regards to lifting.

My post today is a little on the ramble/random side and it just happens that I’m ok with it. I hope you are too! I thought I’d share with you my new found interest to really want to help people with their overall health! It’s not so much new found but it’s REALLY pushing my brain right now. I always like helping others, encouraging them, etc but it’s always something I don’t put effort towards regularly. I stay on the sidelines and watch and offer support when asked but I’m not BOLD about it. Whether it be trying to get involved in a profession like Therapy, Rehab, Nutrition, Fitness etc… But I really truly feel that I need to find my place in that whole world! I like blogging about my progress and what I’m doing and learning. I figured this was an indirect way to encourage people that they too can find the time, energy and drive to do better for themselves…but I want to be hands on – not “just” a blogger who types her thoughts out into the virtual world. I just have to figure out what it is I want to do. I know it’s not going to fall into my lap and right now it’s all talk as I’m not doing anything to further my desire besides proclaiming it to all of you reading. I want to help those who struggle with shedding the weight and I want to help people get out there and MOVE! Like really move and just not talk about it. Frankly I’m tired of hearing all of the excuses. The I can’t, the I’ll try it soon crap, or OH NO you do that, I can’t imagine. Eh I’ve lost myself in my own thoughts and rather than editing, I’ll just stop. If you get me, then you get me! If you don’t… leave a comment we can discuss and if you need a virtual cheerleader, supporter, friend… I’ll be there. I want to help people!

Thanks for tuning in on my weird ass post. Looking forward to tomorrow… it’s FRIDAY!

Woohoo it’s Wednesday! (and more yummy goodness)

I feel really good today! I think getting back on track eating wise over the past few days has greatly helped me! After the cake ball frenzy before Christmas I continued to eat stocking stuffer candies and what not. I wasn’t too over the top as I was with the pizza and cookies but it was still MORE than I should have consumed in general. And after a couple of days of CLEAN eating I’m already feeling better.

1/04/12 WOD

The BOOM Box did not fail me and I had a great WOD. We worked on kipping and pullups after our warmup. I have the kipping down pretty good considering I suck at pullups. I stole Ernie’s “hand guard” thingies (like the ones gymnasts use) and those helped me out tremendously. I’m such a wussbag when it comes to hanging onto that bar! I’m so close at getting that kipping pullup. I can taste it! I want it so badly but I guess not badly enough to practice at home! Ha! I have to make the effort to work on those at home but I just don’t 😦 So after the kipping practice we had to do 3 sets of 5 strict pullups. I managed to get a few in with just the BLUE band (smallest band there is at our box) then I doubled up blue bands and finished out the reps. It’s hard work but I AM GETTING THERE!

And the MetCon was fantastic! Did I just say it was fantastic? Wow I may have suffered a blow to the head and I don’t recall! With the exception of a few NO REPS on my wall balls, I think I did well. Did I tell you I despise wall balls? Did I also tell you they are my enemy? Hehehe, Yes I know I did, I just wanted to make sure you’re following along! So 7 rounds of 7 wall balls, 7 ring rows and 200m run on rounds 2, 4 and 6. The fatigue really kicked in after the second run. Not sure if it was the cold air in my lungs that was bringing me down or just overall loss in arm strength. Round 6 was weak, but I finished strong in round 7 for an overall finish of 8:45.

Last night Ernie started his new 7pm Box time versus waking up early and being miserable….so I had some time to myself to play with my food processor and get dinner going. The shredding disc on my processor is AMAZING! In no time I had shredded zucchini and carrots! And I loved it. The kids were rather impressed as well! Now that I have shredding down, the plan was to make faux latkes and that is what I did. They fell apart a little too easy so next time I will add more egg to hold them together. I used grapeseed oil to cook them in and the taste was nice. Not sure how “paleo” grapeseed oil is because I haven’t done much research. It’s in several recipes I used but like you know by now there are varying lines of thought on “paleo”. Overall they came out great! Along with my latkes I baked some chicken and steamed a little broccoli. A nice light dinner 🙂

Dinner and testing out "latkes"

I’m a blog troll who randomly finds recipes from oddball places but I found this following recipe from Paleo Parents. I troll their blog regularly and like them on Facebook so this recipe “glowed” at me. And I knew I had to try it out.

A new treat Chocolate Banana Bites!

Dark Chocolate Banana Bites

2 bananas
5 eggs
3/4 C coconut oil
1/2 C maple syrup, we recommend Grade B
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 C almond flour (or coconut flour if you’re nut-free)
1/2 C cocoa powder
1 Tbsp cinnamon

1/2 C dark chocolate chips

Using an electric mixer or food processor, combine all of the wet ingredients (bananas should smooth out)
♥ In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients except chocolate chips
While mixing on low, add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until just combined
♥ Sir in chocolate chips to the dough
♥ Using a silicon mini muffin pan or mini muffin liners on a metal pan, scoop the dough until almost full into mini muffin pans
Cook at 350 for 10 minutes

Makes 4 dozen; store chilled and let come to room temperature before serving or eating. This is a super easy recipe and perfect for letting kids help (♥)!

I had a super mini muffin pan and I felt like these just weren’t very pretty but they tasted just fine! I also have a 6 count mini muffin silicone pan that I have never used and it ended up being just perfect! I had to cook those a little longer, closer to 20 minutes but truly I don’t recall. I watched them for a while but I just don’t remember the exact timing. My apologies for being a slacker. A win from the kids and a SUPER WIN from Ernie as he devoured many of the super mini bites!

I’m glad I have another “treat” in my bag of recipes.

I hope y’all have a great day. See ya tomorrow! Woooooohooooo!

HELLO 2012!

Welcome to the NEW YEAR people! I’m really hoping it’s great. I plan to make it great regardless of what life throws at me 🙂

I bypassed yesterday’s blog because I was lazy and slept in and it was a day off. But today is a new day and I need to get my crap under control!

Let me recap for you NYE and the bringing in the New Year with FRAN! She’s a dirty girl and we started off by kicking her to the curb. I hope I don’t see her for a while but who knows. New Year’s Eve, Ernie and I hosted a small gathering of the Boom Beasts to eat, watch dvr’d CrossFit Games and then head over to the Boom Box to meet Fran.

The FEAST NYE!

As you can see by the spread of food I was a busy girl that day. New Year’s Eve PALEO feast! Everyone brought their own protein and I provided most of the sides. Everything but the Israeli salad (which was great and resfreshing) brought by Josh. On the menu was Kale Chips, Guacamole, Holiday Brussel Sprouts (taken from Everyday Paleo), Sweet Potato Casserole, Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus, Stuffed Mushrooms, Paleo Deviled Eggs, Walnut Date Bars and store bought veggie tray, fruit bowl and shrimp trays.

MY PLATE NYE

It was a good time and it appeared that everyone enjoyed the food and hanging with each other outside the BOX. A little after 11, we headed out to CrossFit Boom for a little warm up and the countdown to Midnight! There were 9 of us working out and we had to split up into two groups so I didn’t start at Midnight per say, I started at about 12:15. Travis (injured) wanted us to set a goal time so I said 12 minutes. Last time I did Fran was Nov 1 and I used 55lbs and finished in 11:38. This time around I used the RX’d 65lbs, still used bands for pullups and finished in 10:30. I’m getting there slowly but surely. For those of you that don’t know… FRAN is 21, 15, 9 of Thrusters and Pullups. So you do 21 Thrusters, 21 Pullups, 15 Thrusters, 15 Pullups, 9 Thrusters, 9 Pullups! Crazy insane I know but we brought in 2012 like that and it was actually a good time! I had a blast. It was also Jonas’ “first” BOOM workout. He starts officially today. I’m excited for him 🙂

2012 FRAN at MIDNIGHT 1/1/12

Sunday was absolute sleep and rest day. We didn’t do very much at all! Monday was back to CrossFit and shop day since we had the day off and we got all of groceries done for the week.

We did CFT for our WOD and it was good and not so good! I PR’d (Personal Record) my Press by 5lbs and my Backsquat by 5lbs. I did not however do good at Deadlift! I was not happy. I didn’t even come close to my Max of 185. Fatigue and bum hip got to me I think. So overall for the morning 140lbs backsquat, 65lbs shoulder press and 155 deadlift.

1/2/12 WOD

Starting next week I’ll be CrossFitting 4 days a week as Ernie graciously signed me up for an extra day! LOL, it should be good. But it’s still intimidating!

Doing a little Mobility post CFT WOD

So that was it for today people. Short and sweet! Happy Tuesday! Back to normalcy for the most part. No more vacation Days (which really make me lazy) 😦 Like I said earlier… 2012 will be great! Bring it!