So I am finally getting around to posting this....better late than never right!  So as many of you know here in CT a few weeks ago we got a Blizzard, I mean full fledged blizzard.  Well being a teacher I thought how great a day or two at home with the kids and playing in the snow while the hubby snowblowed.  WRONG!!!! It turned into three days home from school (five days in a row because of a weekend) and the snow blower died ten minutes into the clean up.  I am sturdy girl and was like hey no big deal we can shovel....WRONG.  Three feet of snow is impossible for someone who is only five feet tall to shovel because soon the snow piles were taller than me.  We have a relatively small driveway and it took us two days to clean our driveway and that included five hours for the hubby and three for me on day one, and three hours from hubby and two from me on day two.  The first day I wore my heart rate monitor and burned over 1400 calories.  I can honestly say other than gestating my babies and then birthing them....this was truly my greatest physical feat to date!  I have never worked so hard it was awe inspiring how much snow we had!  So I figured with all this moaning (notice I didn't swear my lent no swearing thing is going ok) you would want some visuals, so here you go.

View out to the deck-Yup the snow is up to the top of the grill.  It was as high as the door handle

This is hard to see but this is the walk that was shoveled so the dogs could go out.  For perspective look at the mailboxes

Here is me trying to look good while busting my rump shoveling.  That pile behind me was well over my head.  This is why it was so hard to shovel it because each shovel full had to be lifted over my head onto the pile

This is my folks SUV-Its parked here because they were on a cruise in the carrivean while the blizzard happened.  You literally had to dig the car doors out it was so high.  Not going to lie this was the last thing we did and when I reached the car I cried because it mean we were almost done

I was off the grid last Monday-it was vacation from school that means crazy times here at the house.  I have been hanging sold weight wise for the last two weeks.  Not great but still ok.  Although I will say I was able to get a lot of great exercise in over the last two weeks. I got a few trips to the gym, plus a few tae-bo workouts.

What has been on my mind lately is the thought of applying to be one of the Mamavation Moms.  I typically try to limit pictures of myself or often do not talk how much I weigh that sort goes in the category of never ever wanting to do.  Yet, somehow I keep getting drawn back into the thought that this is maybe what I need.  Some extra support and some extra pushing and guidance to help kick my booty.  Is anyone else going to apply?  I will let you all know if I do apply and the scariest part of all I have to submit a video-yikes!  Anywho, I hope you all have a great week and my goals for this week include
   1.  Exercise three times
   2.  Record all my food
   3.  Post two blogs after today's post.

Now I know a lot of people especially those who are dieting have a tendency to give up goodies etc.  I have tried this and always fail-mainly because my birthday falls during lent so I want to eat chocolate or cake on my birthday.  Lets be honest I want it all the time but I will settle for my birthday and a few other special days.  I have often said I am going to do something and give something up.  So for me this is what I am doing.

    1.  I am giving up swearing.  I don't swear a lot on here because  well swearing isn't for everyone.  Yet, I do it a lot in my real life....a lot.  Now of course I don't do it in front of my students and I don't do it in front of my kids, but every other second of the day.  Yup-That's me with the gutter mouth.  So I decided that perhaps as an educated adult I do not need to use those words all the time and perhaps I should be saving them for choice occasions.  So I figured let me see how I can do.  I will give up swearing for the 40 days of lent (don't worry I won't defile the sanctity of Easter by filling an Easter basket with swear words!).  Every time I swear, I but a buck in my crystal bowl-see below.  The first day wasn't so bad there is only two dollars in there.  I am hoping that as time goes on there won't be too many in there at the end

So I know some people get all mushy and gooshy on Valentines Day-That is not really how I am.  I am a firm believe that we should enjoy the day and celebrate by telling those we love-just that, that we love them.  So here a picture of my Valentines.  I hope you and your Valentine are enjoying the day!

My littlest Valentine




My Big Man Valentine

My OG (orginal Gangsta) Valentine

So a few days ago one of my favorite bloggers, and dare I suggest online friend Kelly from www.curyfitgirl.com wrote a post about excuses-Go click on the link read and come back if you would like...I'll wait.  Well anywho she was discussing about how people need to stop making excuses about why they are not getting healthy.  They need to just shut up and get the job down and if they really looked at themselves the reasons that they give for loosing weight is because they are really not reasons they are excuses.  So at first there was a lot of eye rolling and annoyance.  Of course someone who has the luxury of living alone can discuss not making excuses blah blah blah.  I was annoyed because I had "real" reasons for not working out and "real" reasons for not getting the job done weight loss wise.  I will be honest this post stuck in my craw for awhile.  Then I realized why...I was annoyed because she was right.  All things I discuss about my life being crazy and having no time to do things for myself are true but I am often using those as excuses to not take care of myself.  So my apologies to Kelly for the side I was giving her for a few hours a couple of a days ago (I know she is a great gal and won't judge me for it).  The reality is....I make excuses.  I think if we are honest about ourselves nad our journeys there is a lot of excuse making because we don't want to see ourselves as failures.  I still dont' see myself as a failure-I refuse to.  Yet, I realize I need to stop making excuses for the same reason I make them...my crazy life.  I know in terms of exercise I feel so much better and more capable of handling the stress when I eat well and workout.  I just got some great Tae Bo tapes and they are 30 mintues long I can certainly fit that and if I can't I am lying!  Feel free to kick my ass if I ever say I don't have 30 mintues.  Shit I spend at least 30 minutes on twitter every day!

So thank you Kelly for making me admit that I am an excuse maker and that needs to change.  So it might mean less time on my blog or social media or reading blogs, but that time will be well spent with exercise and getting myself organized (something I will talk more about later).  In a nod to my new commitment since reading Kelly's post a few days ago I have worked out every day and even turned down a slushy at dairy queen, stopping for cupcakes because I knew I would eat them, and refusing a doughnut when the family got some pre blizzard this am.  I realized no more excuses...excuses have gotten me to where I am.  I want to change more than I want to believe my reasons (excuses) anymore.

This week the Sistahood is introducing a fun book by Chef Jessica titled the  The MILF Diet: Let the Power of Whole Foods Transform Your Body, Mind, and Spirit…Deliciously.   I can honestly say I am intrigued for several reasons.  I love looking into plant based diets (which this is about) as well as food that will make me feel better and more beautiful.  Second I have always been upfront about my personal struggle with my self esteem.  I am lucky that I have a man who always thinks I am beautiful and sexy, but I often don't see this in myself.  What an interesting look at eating, eating to not only make you feel great on the inside and outside.  I am looking forward to checking out Mamavation TV on Monday night for the interview. 

Now onto my week.  I started getting really sick this weekend and hung in there for a few days, but ended up at the Dr on Wednesday with a full blown sinus infection and laryngitis so bad I could barely talk.  I had to take the next day off from work which was upsetting because my new semester just started.  Needless today I didn't get all my goals in.  I did manage two workouts before I got really sick.  I tried out my new Tae Bo tapes which was a great and managed weight wise to get off the pound I gained last week and then some.  So despite being sick this was an ok week in terms of eating and exercise considering I was sick.  I am hoping for a more consistent workout week next week-this is where I have been struggling so I am looking forward to a post where I hit my goal for working out.    

Right before Christmas I was contacted by a great company called Black and Blum.  They are a company that makes European functional products.  The contacted me and wanted me to test out one of their food containers.  I chose to look at the Lunch Pot.  This handy little lunch container has two separate containers with leek proof lids.  They are BPA free and are microwave and dishwasher safe.  They are good sized for soups, fruit, oatmeal, or a small salad.  I used mine to carry some fruit along with a few soy crisps for my lunch.  My favorite part is that the two containers stack on top of each other lock into place, then you secure the strap and it also has an attached spoon.  I thought that was a super handy product and a great encouragement to take lunch to work.  As a teacher who only has 20min to eat I always bring my lunch and this is a nice way to keep elements of my lunch separate.  If I take soup I can do fruit in the other container, if its salad the dressing in the second part.  Now the price is a bit high for my taste of 24.00 but I would say the quality is well above what your average plastic containers are.  I would suggest if you are looking to upgrade your lunch containers to something a bit more stylish as well as environmental friendly I would head over to Black and Blum now to check them out!  My next purchase is going to be the Bento Box!

The whole container

My snack for my Prep Period

Me holding it so you can get a feel for size