My Running Mix

So I said the next blog would be about my running mix so here it is.


I searched and searched for good up beat music, with no curse words.... that is HARD to find! :( So I knew the only way I could go was all Christian music. So I'm going to give you the song (some are old school) and I'll talk a little bit about why I love it for running.


I Am Free - Newsboys
This is perfect for starting out a run - first line "I am free to run!!" :) what better way to start a great run.


Name-Droppin' -  T-Bone
This is a fun one, mentions all the Christian artists names. Two lines I like in this song "she stayed in shape cause it was her temple and God's property" and in the chorus it says "we don't quit, we don't stop" even though it's talking about singing, it's nice to remind myself to keep going.

Take it All - Hillsong

This one has a great beat to help me keep up my tempo.

Our God - (As made famous by Chris Tomlin) Christian Remixed 2011 Hits

It is such a good worship song, "Our God is greater, our God is stronger" and this has a beat too since it's the remix version.

Tonight - tobyMac

Great beat!

No Way - Tye Tribbett & G.A.

Fun lyrics say "there's no way I can make it without You". Which is so true to every aspect of my life, there's no way I would be where I was without God's grace & blessings.

Welcome to the Show - Britt Nicole

A good beat to remind me to make my feet hit the pavement with every beat.

4321 - Manafest

A little more "rap" than my other ones, and not exactly to God, but it's a good clean song. My favorite line "I'm in my zone right now, I'm in the groove right now."

God of Wonders - Rebecca St. James

A good worship song. And when you're running outside you can just take in all of God's magnificent work.

I Want it All Back - G.A. & Tye Tribbett

This song has been my motto for myself, friends and family for the past couple of years.

I'm Letting Go - Francesca Battistelli

A little slower, still has a runnable beat. A good reminder to myself to put my life in God's hands....every day!

Irene - tobyMac

Another rap one, my husband put it in my mix.

Give Me Your Eyes - Brandon Heath

A slow one, but a great prayer to pray. So when I pass people on the trail I run I pray for them and pray that I can see others the way God sees them.

Made to Love - tobyMac

Another good prayer to God and a good reminder to myself why I was created - to Love and worship Him!

So I'm sure there's a gazillion other songs that are great running ones... but here's my mix. Hope you enjoy and can use some for your own mix :)

Mindless Running

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. My "thoughts" are never more than a paragraph. So I don't blog them, I just update my FaceBook status :)

Jogging is very beneficial.  It's good for your legs and your feet.  It's also very good for the ground.  It makes it feel needed.  ~Charles Schulz, Peanuts

I am not a runner. September 2011 I ran my first race. It was a local Women's Four Miler. I trained for it with a training program. I ran about 12 minute miles. I am not a runner. I finished the race with running the whole time and under an hour, my two personal goals. 

I am not a runner.

Then my crazy Fitness Instructor, Kira Sullivan from Baby Boot Camp decided to tell me about all these other races coming up. So October 2011, I ran a 6K and a 5K. November 2011, I ran a 5K. December 2011 another 5K. February 2012 a 5K again. March 2012, an 8K and a 10K!!! 

I am starting to be a runner!

My 10K time was quite close to my 4 Miler time. I ran 9 1/2 minute miles!!! Starting out at 12 minute miles I am quite proud of myself!

Most every Saturday, my wonderful husband takes care of the kids so I can go running. There are very few Saturdays when I miss. It's my alone time. I realized, my mind is completely blank when I'm running. I'm not thinking about grocery lists, laundry, paying bills..... it is blank! (although I do talk to myself, "don't stop running!") It is quite an amazing feeling. I really think every person, every MOM needs a blank mind sometimes! So I may not be a super speedy runner, but I enjoy it! and I am always looking forward to my next race. I am a runner!

Runners just do it - they run for the finish line even if someone else has reached it first.  ~Author Unknown

Next blog I'll talk about my Running Mix on my iPod. 

My Love Song

I wanted to have this written by Valentine's Day.....
but here it is.... a day late ;)

I am an emotional sap when it comes to Love Songs. Delilah is my girl, her call in stories, the oooey-gooey love songs she plays. I just love it. 

So the other day I heard this song "Kissed You" by Gloriana. And I thought to myself Joel & I don't have a love song like that! and I started pouting. Saying poor me, I don't have a love song. 

I also like Taylor Swift's "Our Song" just a typical teenager romance.

There is no song on the radio that plays "we met at 16. had the same mutual friends. you turned my high school ring at 18. we wrote letters as friends. we saw each other at 20 and started dating. eloped just a few months after dating. we were going to have a big wedding but we didn't. we have been married 11 years. we have 3 beautiful kids. i love being a stay at home mom. you love the job you have..." 

I mean, really, WHO has a love story like that!? not many people. 

Then I got over my pouting.... and thought as long as our Love Song never ends.... then it's fine with me that I don't hear it on the radio!!! :)

So here's to everyone who may never hear their "Love Song" playing on the radio... just keep writing your love song and it will play in your head :)

*disclaimer - I know the songs played on the radio are mostly fictitious. 

Me & My Valentine on 2.14.12

Decoupage Queen

In 2011 I was crafting like crazy. Most of it was because of Pinterest. So I will share my craftiness.

Above are the Accessories I created for friends and family.
Pictures 1 & 4 are shoe clips. They can be used as hair clips or even a hat clip.
Picture 2 is of the hair bows I made for my girls for our Disney trip in December. They had matching bows to match their shirts.
Picture 3 is a lapel pin.

For Pictures 1 & 3 I used the technique of twisting. I cut a long piece of fabric, left the frayed edges and twisted and twisted until I got the size I want. I sewed the fabric as I twisted, well, really just tacked it. Added toile and an embellishment and mailed them off!

For Picture 4 I cut five different sized circles, cut slits at various places and used an open flame to burn the edges. Added toile (I love that stuff) and an embellishment and mailed that one too!

Button Art - this was a lot of fun. I chose the shape I wanted, printed it out on plain paper, put it behind the glass and hot glued away. Chose a nice pattered paper, cut it to fit the frame and secured the frame. So the buttons are on the outside of the glass. With the letter D you see I just used whatever buttons. With the fleur de lis I used all neutral colored buttons. So it is definitely a craft that will look unique every single time! Gave these as Christmas presents.

Wall Decorations -

Picture 1 - I did with my older sister for my younger sister. My older sister thought of this and we had fun together. We took a map of Uruguay (which is where my sister Mandy and her husband are going to be full time missionaries) used decoupage. Oh, we bought the letters G & O and the small plaque at an arts and craft store. Bought the hardware, my brother in law attached it ever so wonderfully. And we added the Scripture. They LOVED it!
Picture 2 - was for my friend who loves anything to do with music. It is a wall wreath. I could not find a music book at the thrift store so my wonderful mother let me use her old ones, which made it all the more special. I cut a round piece of cardboard. Then I rolled the pages and hot glued to the cardboard. After I was finished it was rather large. But it fits perfectly on my friends' wall with her other music note wall hangings. Success!
Picture 3 - was for the same friend. Her birthday is shortly after Christmas. I bought a piece of ply wood, I seriously went to Lowe's, the the ply wood section and told them I needed a piece cut "this big" with my hands at a certain width. Ha! So I think it was about 11 or 12 inches. I used decoupage for the sheets of music. Printed the word KEYS, decoupaged those. And had my wonderful husband put the hooks on. I've used wonderful 3 times.....oh well. My friend loved it!

Coasters!!! This was a ton of fun, but so were all the others! As you can see I made a lot. I intended to make a set for a friend for Christmas. Loved it so much decided there were so many other people I would love to give gifts to!

I bought tiles at the hardware store I think like 16 cents each. Used scrapbook paper, cut them to size, and you guessed it - decoupaged! After they were dry I took them outside and sprayed clear acrylic on them to give them that beautiful shine and to protect them from moisture. I absolutely loved giving these to my friends. The color combinations were so much fun to make!

 This last one was for myself. I had all the stuff so why not make a custom iPhone case. I already had a basic iPhone case then I cut the scrapbook paper to size. I added my initial. Decoupaged it then sprayed the clear acrylic coating on. Of course make sure your iPhone isn't in the case and don't put it on until it completely dries. Bad thing, I did not have the proper cutting tools so the piece that was cut out for the camera wasn't big enough and it was messing up my photos! :( boo hoo.

So I gave very basic instructions - because these were pretty basic crafts. But of course I will give more detail if needed and will help you find the tools you need if you want to create any of these!

Happy Crafting!

Lost Pacifier #264

So at the beginning of January we had two pacifiers (we call them "paci") for our little one. Within a week I could not find either! Come bed time and no paci. I wanted to go to the store right then but my husband said "Nope, let's just let that be the end of them"

Well that's all fine a dandy for one night.... but nap time??? when she gets too loud??? when she just wants to be soothed??? Was I ready for my 20 month old to grow up? My last baby?
I wasn't emotionally ready! 

I recently heard a new mother say that there should be tracking devices on pacifiers. I totally agree! Over the course of our 3 children, pacifiers have shown up in my sisters' suitcase (when she was in CA and we were in VA). They have been hidden in toy boxes & all sorts of places in the toy room. Behind my parents' entertainment center. In my mom's purse. In my dad's pocket (my parents live a couple hours away, the lost pacifiers were found after we were already home of course).

So then I began to ask myself if I find one of the lost paci's - do I give it to her??? or do I throw away the last thing that ties her to babyhood (ok, not really....but I'm emotional, ok!) So one week ago - I found a paci in my purse! A place I had looked thoroughly!!!! I was SO tempted to give it to her, hold her in my arms and rock her.... But I didn't. I hid it. :(

That's the end....no more paci's in this house. Mayci has adjusted better than I have.

Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy came for the third time to our house the other night! I pulled it out for my 6 year old. And it is NOT as fun as it used to be when I was a kid. It made me sick to my stomach! She was so excited. She couldn't wait to go to sleep!

Malayna with tooth #3 - top front tooth

A few things I learned - and thankfully by just the third tooth. 

Write down how much you the Tooth Fairy gives. For the first tooth I thought she got $5.00, well she thinks she got $10.00. I'm hoping by the time Jayden loses his first tooth she won't tell him that. For the second tooth she got $1.00, she said she got coins, "lots of coins". I don't know if I just didn't have a dollar bill and I came up with a dollar in change??? So I wrote down in my iPhone exactly how much I gave!

Make believe yourself! I made a mistake with the first tooth and I told her that I was the Tooth Fairy, I gave her the money. I just didn't want the Tooth Fairy to get credit for the work that I do.... I got over myself....  After much some reprimanding from friends and family, I decided it's ok to make believe. So by the second tooth I told her that the Tooth Fairy let me do the first tooth because it was special to me. She bought it.

Have fun with it! After my selfish act I decided to figure out a way to make it really special. A friend told me that she had tea and a piece of cake for the Tooth Fairy sitting out (and then the tea was gone and just crumbs were left by morning). She shines up the quarters with glitter, for Fairy dust. And makes footprints around the tea. I recently heard that someone makes footprints in the glitter with Barbie feet to make it look like Fairy feet. So I had Malayna put her tooth in a ziploc bag (I need a better way) under her pillow. And the Tooth Fairy put fairy dust all over the dollar bill (I didn't want to post a picture, so people don't think I'm trying to print my own money) I had ultra fine glitter - gets on everything - but is super pretty and shiny. I put that in the bag and put blue regular sized glitter in the bag. She LOVED IT!!!! YAY! Success!

Since Malayna was getting all the attention, Jayden, 4, was pretty bummed. He said the Tooth Fairy would never come visit him. Even after I told him she will when he loses his tooth. So I had to take a picture of him when I took a picture of Malayna. I also decided a note from the Tooth Fairy would be special. The next morning he was excited about his note. But he told me "I know this isn't really Fairy dust. This is actually glitter" I told him that's what Fairy dust looked like. He wasn't buying it. Such a boy!

I had to give kudos to myself!

So hopefully you learned from my mistakes and you got ideas for your own Tooth Fairy files! 

Happy Fairy-ing!

Three Low Cal - Healthy Recipes

So I came across some recipes that I tried & loved! And I thought they were worth sharing on here :)

1) Pumpkin Spice 'Latte'
I say Latte very loosely since I don't have a Latte maker! Of course this was wonderful around Thanksgiving time. But I guess you can make it when you're wanting to be in the fall mood.

Pumpkin Spice Latte‎ Recipe

2 Cups of Milk (I used Light Soy Milk)

2 Tablespoons of canned pumpkin
2 Tablespoons of sugar (I used a sugar substitute)
2 Tablespoons of vanilla extract
1 teasoon of pumpkin pie spice
1 cup of coffee

Directions:
in a saucepan combine milk, pumpkin & sugar. Cook on Medium heat. Stirring until steaming. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla & spice. Transfer to blender and process for 15 seconds (if you don't use a blender, whisk with a wire whisk)

Pour into large mug (or Mason jar) & pour the coffee on top

You can top with whip cream & sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg or cinnamon (I did not)

For the entire 32 ounces it is 210 calories. I drank half after I made it and then the other half in the morning for an Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte

Recipe via a MyFitnessPal friend

2) Single Serving Brownie yum!

I normally don't eat past 9pm but the other night I really wanted a brownie! I did not want to make a whole batch, nor did I have all the ingredients. SO I found this recipe Single Serving Brownie! And boy oh boy was it delicious!!! and it hit the spot with only 100 calories!

Single Serving Brownie

1 TBSP flour (could be whole wheat)
1 TBSP sugar (do not substitute - it says)
1 TBSP unsweetened cocoa
a pinch of baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 TBSP of low fat vanilla yogurt (I did not have, so I used applesauce)

Mix together in a microwaveable bowl, you may need to add more yogurt/applesauce until you have the right consistency. It needs to look like batter. I added mini chocolate chips on top.

Pop it in the microwave for 1 minute (depending on your microwave - I did 55 seconds)

And voila - your 2 minute brownie!!! 

3) No-Bake Energy Bites 

I saw this a while ago on Pinterest but had not made it. While laying on the couch with my kiddos, with no energy, I decided to see if these really were energy bites! And I had all the ingredients! So here is the recipe for the No-Bake Energy Bites and I added 2 scoops of protein powder (I saw where someone else added 2 ViSalus scoops) 

So after I got it out of the fridge and I couldn't make very good 'bites' (I don't know if the extra protein powder is what made mine dry) I added some more honey & more peanut butter. Much better! I have to admit, I ate several of these as taste testers. Oh, and these are 110 calories.

Do I have energy now??? possibly... they are pretty much granola bars like the ones you can buy.... so would I make this again.... maybe because the possibilities are endless as to what ingredients you put in!

Left - the DRY bite.                                     Right - the formable bite

I hope you can enjoy these and please share any great recipes you've tried & like :)