Crappin Good

I've found it. The BEST ice cream on a stick. EVER. I LOVE Mounds candy bars. So when I spotted this in the freezer case that has all the healthfood/organic stuff in it at Fry's Marketplace. I had to try it. Expensive but good. It's like a Mounds Candy bar, but it's an ice cream bar, dark chocolate and all. Holy cow. It's called, Frustix. And I checked out their site and that is where I found the second picture. They have Dark Chocolate Almond Creamy Coconut. I have GOT to try that one next.

My birthday presents

Thank you everyone. Fab birthday--and I made out with some rad gifts.







$1,000 Gift card to this store:




I would get to meet him


Here

Go shopping

My birthday is Friday. You have two days to shop for me. Anyone can do this. Find what you would buy me (if money were no object) and link it in the comments.

You don't have to know me in real life to buy me a present.

Do it.

SSHHHH They're listening

I was shaving this morning with my $.25 razor when I realized.

I NEVER TOLD YOU ALL

Check the shot above. Do remember this post? Where I went on and on about a certain razor company. Well . . .they found me. I was checking the comments and realized there was one I hadn't read. So I checked it. HOLY CRAP! It was straight up from the razor company. What the Freak??? How did they find me? AND it wasn't just a form letter sort of response. She straight up quotes me in it. Go back and read it--it's crazy. Apparently us blogging moms are a threat, or why would they care?

I think I figured they found me because of the image I stole from their site. I think that is how they tracked it. But I'm not sure.

But freaky eh??

iPhoto

I got my computer cleaned off and I had to reload all of my iPhoto pictures. Somehow they got multiplied and confused putting them back on, so I have to go through the years and clean them up. It's annoying but I've found some cute ones.

Sunday Post

Speaking of being Unspotted from the World (the article in August 2009 Ensign)

President David O. McKay:

"This is an individual work, and what the individuals are, that the aggregate is."

I'm just hoping more individuals are like my visiting teacher

I need to step it up to contribute more to that aggregate.

1 year

Happy Birthday My Boy!













See him at 2 Weeks old

And at 4 Weeks Old

This girl

I was laying down on the couch, resting from my early morning butt kicking at the gym.  And Josie brought the book Pinkalicious and said she would read it to me (she can't read).  So she was doing pretty good getting through the pages, and then we got to the page where the little girl is sticking her tongue out at her mom.

Josie:  Do you think she's going to get a treat?

Me:  No, because she's being rotten.

Josie:  (laughing)  Like sometimes we're rotten, like when we do this {punch motions in the air}  or when we do buttlocation.

Me:  What's buttlocation?  

Josie:  You know, when there's two kids and one is on the ground and then the other sits on their face---buttlocation.

Me:  butt-li-ka-shun?  or butt-lo-ka-shun?

Josie:  Butt-lo-ka-shun

Hiatus

I was backing up all of my files on my computer and found this gem. So I thought I'd post.

Anyhoodles, I'm getting my computer all cleaned off and RAMmed up, so I'll be away for a bit. Not very long, but I thought I'd post anyway

Ask Calli

Q: Butter or Margarine?


P.S. Regardless of what you say, I'm sticking with butter.


A: This is easy,

BUTTER

Anything that has been chemically altered or processed extensively should be avoided. Butter is good. It is an all-natural form of fat. Margarine came out when people (nutrition researchers) thought fat was bad and it was giving people heart disease and high cholesterol. There is more evidence everyday that fat is good, especially from nuts, seeds, fish, and vegetables. Sure, butter, cheese, and other dairy-based fats should be treated as a condiment or occasional dessert, but overall, fat is essential. Fake, processed, chemically altered fat, like Margarine, is not. Go Butter!
www.foodnerdaz.blogspot.com

Sunday Post

Quoted in Elder Oaks talk from last conference:

"We cannot walk as other men, or talk as other men, or do as other men, for we have a different destiny, obligation, and responsibility placed upon us and we must fit ourselves [to it]."
----Elder John A. Widstoe

Pray more today

I forgot that I got his in an e-mail a few days ago. So I'm a little late in getting it out. Too late to fast, but not too late to pray.

Today I pray:

That my children will be safe at school
That my husband will come home safely
That I will not lose my temper at my children
That I will know who in the media to believe (if any)
That I will choose for myself and not be influenced by what others are choosing
That Congress will actually come together and reform health care--in a way that doesn't create big government
That the Czar's will all go away (since they don't answer to anyone but the president)
That the left and right extremes will chill out
That the man in this article is wrong
That people will realize that hard work is what makes this country great
That people will realize that things that are free are never free
That my blogging friend Snarky will have the time she needs to bond with her family before her husband is deployed
That college students will not be so influenced by that age and some of their professors, that they forget what they know-and were taught by their parents
That our soldiers and commanders will be guided and protected
That our elected politicians will remember that they are servants of the people--and not the lobbyists
That our President will fulfill his promises of working with both sides, and being transparent.


Finallly--that my bosom friend Lenor and my beautiful sister-in-law Brook will have fabulous birthdays.

For Serious?

I have avoided buying replacement blades for my razor for months. No kidding MONTHS. Because I refuse to pay that much. So I was excited to see a $3 coupon in the mail for razor refills. I was stoked. I figured the razor refills are about 9 bucks, -$3 coupon=$6. I'm ok with that. So I head off to Wal Mart, stroll into the razor section and


WHAT THE????

The razor REFILLS I had a coupon were $15.00 or almost $20.00 (two different versions). ARE YOU SERIOUS? How are they getting away with this? It's plastic and three tiny little razor blades. How do they justify it? It was something like the new Venus Embrace or something. They looked exactly liked the old ones I used to use, just with a new color packaging. And the old ones were ridiculous. So I thought I'd just suck it up and buy the old version. But it was 4 for $9.42. That's about $2.50 PER cartridge. REALLY? REALLY? (can you tell I'm excited about this). I thought it would be more environmentally friendly if I just got the cartridges and not the whole disposable razor. But NO FREAKING WAY am I going to pay $2.50 for 1 little baby cartridge that I KNOW cost them about 25 cents to make. It's PLASTIC people and paper thin metal.

So I flipped Venus and the environment the bird and bought 4 disposable razors for $.99. Yes 4. At that price I could use a new one every time I shaved (that's once a week IF I remember)

Take that Gillette.

Ask Calli

Today I'm inaugurating a new blog post idea that I've wanted to do for a long time. This is my friend Calli,(and her husband), I stole the picture of her blog. Anyhow, she graduates in December from ASU in nutrition. She has a blog FOOD NERD. I ALWAYS have questions about what I eat, so she has obliged to be a guest poster on my blog. I writer her a question, she answers it, I post it.

So first question:

Q: Are potatoes good for anything? Or are they just good tasting?

A:I love this question. I am all about eating anything natural that grows out of the ground, but the WHITE potato is a different case. Here is my list of pros and cons.

Pros:
They contain a lot potassium
They provide satiety rather quickly
They are relatively cheap
There are so many different ways to prepare them, and most are easy

Cons:
Besides potassium, they aren't very nutrient dense
They are very starchy and have a big glycemic load (this means eating a white potato can have the same, if not worse effect on the body as table sugar because they are absorbed into the blood stream very fast)
They are very high in carbohydrates- Carbohydrates aren't bad, but carbohydrate-dense foods should be avoided unless you are extremely active
The cooking methods and serving styles are usually dangerous to our bodies (potato chips, french fries, coated in salt, hash-browns ect.)
Some studies have shown that societies with higher consumption of potatoes have a higher risk of diabetes.
The skin is the best part, but most people discard the skin or peel the potato as part of the recipe

Me personally, I do not eat white potatoes. I may have a couple french fries every now and again, but the cons out weigh the pros for me. There are 2 cases where potatoes (baked) would be good for me to eat.
1) In a time of famine
2) If I were a marathon runner training for 2+ hours a day

America is known as the meat and potato country. America is also demonstrating the fastest rise in obesity ever. My advice to all those white potato-aholics would be to get to know the sweet potato. They are more tasty, have more nutrients, and ranked most nutritious vegetable in 1992 in a study by the The Center for Science in the Public Interest. Here is a recipe for honey roasted sweet potatoes (I leave skins on) that I love to make and it can't get much easier! I hope this was educational, persuasive, and useful!

Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes


Thanks Calli!

Go Today!!!!

GO TODAY!!! GO TODAY!!!! TUESDAY TODAY!!!

You have to eat IN the restaurant to participate. No to-goes.


My niece has Juvenile Diabetes. She's had it since she was 6 or 7, I can't remember. She uses a pump now, but it broke the other day and I watched her GIVE HERSELF a shot. She did it like an old pro. And that sucks. Everyone has their cause. THIS IS MY CAUSE. To raise money for JDRF. So check this out. Go to any Mi Amigos restaurants on Tuesday (tomorrow) and donate to JDRF, and Mi Amigos will give you a free burrito. Donate $1 or purchase a JDRF Sneaker (a little piece of paper in the shape of converse) and you get a free burrito. Simple as that. Bring in your kids--hand them each a dollar, and they can all get a burrito. Actually--you should donate more. Why? Because being a young teenager and managing your blood sugar--is lame. JDRF needs your help to find a cure. So go there, help my niece and others like her, and get a free burrito.

It's that simple.

Oh--and EVERYONE please repost this on your blogs and e-mail it to everyone you know.

I'd do it for you.

THX

Daughter of Eve

If you don't have this book--get it. NOW. If you have any question about your divine role as a woman--or a where a woman's "place" is--get it. Other than the scriptures, no other book makes me more empowered and feel more sacred than this one. Eve made a wonderful decision. And it was that--a decision. Not a mistake, she wasn't fooled. She knew what she was doing--she UNDERSTOOD--what the decision brought on. She didn't fully understand everything, as none of us do with the choices we make. But she KNEW. And she was a wise woman who was there in the councils of heaven along with all of the other major players in the story. She was noble and valiant and GREAT. So much is lost in translation, and this book reveals the context of language and has really enlightened me on so much of the whole Adam and Eve story. I wish I could quote all of this book and tell you all about the parts that make me so excited about her.

This quote struck me today. It is probably more powerful to me, because there was so much in the chapter before it, but still. It's brilliant:

(the author it talking about her colleague, Clare Hardy Johnson, whom she had lengthy conversations with regarding the subject of this book)

'As an impassioned advocate for our beloved mother Eve, Clare declared that to accept the idea of a "lucky guess" is to "deny her knowledge, ignore her wisdom, reject her unselfishness, impugn her faithfulness, and mock her courage. It is to suggest that mankind's passage into mortality was not the result of the free and informed choice of a noble parent, but a fortunate accident"'

Isn't that fantastic? Genius.

And there is a great part in the book on Lucifer's roll, and how he thought he was tricking, but really he got tricked. And how he has it out for women because of it. Really--it's things I've known, deep down, all along.

Women are fabulous. Much more fabulous than any of us realize. We are daughters of Eve--and in being so--embody all of the attributes she has. If only we could all KNOW this.

You have GOT to read it.

Today

Today

it rained

we played

See it here.

???

I was just checking one of my billing accounts, and after I logged in it gave me one of those questions that has answer that only I should know.

Question: What was the name of your first cat?

and I thought--that's weird, I don't remember picking this question. Then I rememberd the answer:

Answer: I hate cats

Things I know

Things I know about exercising that I realized today others might not know.

Right out of college I took a class at MCC about exercise--it was a full course and it prepared you to become an aerobics instructor. You can actually just take a day course to become one, but that wasn't good enough for me. I wanted to in the know. So the info I'm giving you is circa 1998, so different studies might have been published by now. But this is what I learned.

In order to burn the fat that you want to get rid of (the terms escape me) you have to elevate your heart rate for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes your body turns from burning your normal energy to burning fat stores. So whatever you do, keep you need to exercise at least 40 minutes or so to burn the stored fat.

In step aerobics it's not necessary to add two risers to get a good work out. In fact, it could be harmful to you. It all depends on your height. I'm too short for two risers because of the angle my legs are--it does damage to my knees. So even when I'm my most fit, I still use one riser. Also, it's safer.

If you want to get your heart rate up elevate your arms. To make up for only one riser, raise your hands above your heart. That is what is going to make your heart rate rise. So just do more overhead reaches when the teacher is keeping hers at a lower level. That is how I get a good cardio workout without damaging my knees.

Balance your abs and back. Each muscle has a balancing muscle to make others work right (again terms escape me). Bicep and tricep. One works one side of your arm, and the other works the other. Most people focus on ab work and neglect to balance it out with back strengthening. In severe cases this can cause hunching, but seriously--how many of us are doing THAT many crunches? So when you work your abs, make sure to do back strengthening exercises too. I lay on my stomach and then lift my arms and feet and hold it.

Keep your core tight (abs and buns) through most of your workout--if it allows.

I think that's it. If I remember anything else. I'll be sure to add it.