Getting Monday started right...or trying to.

One of my fellow 101ers (Finding Joy! 101) gave me motivation to start making it a habit to make my bed in the mornings. As it is, our bed just stays messy until I change the sheets. Its a terrible habit that I wanted to change, since we will one day be telling our kids to keep their rooms clean.

So taking Joy's cue (and because we got a cute new coverlet this weekend), I made our bed. Such a simple task, yet it makes me feel so accomplished. :)



Of course, less than 30 seconds later, my little monsters were all up in it making a mess again.

Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. :)

My Monday morning started out a little rocky...at exactly 6:04AM our power went out. And for no particular reason at all...it just decided to go out. So there I was, in the dark, in my underwear, with my hair in a towel, with no power. It was 14 degrees outside (yes in Florida) so it got chilly pretty quickly. Thankfully, the power outage only lasted 26 minutes...at 6:30AM our power was restored. Hallelujah.

For breakfast I had a yummy sweet treat of Fage w/honey and a peanut pretzel granola bar. It almost felt like I was eating dessert rather than breakfast, it was so decadent. :)

Best of all, combined, it was a total of 340 calories. :) I read somewhere that if one has a breakfast of 300 calories, they save 100 calories throughout the day. Food for thought... ;)

After scrambling and making it out of the house on time, I find out ALL the traffic lights in the Milton from my house to the interstate are OUT! But wouldn't you know, the ONLY time Miltonites are courteous drivers is when the traffic lights aren't working. What could have been a chaotic morning commute went by rather smoothly, even if it was 20 minutes longer this particular morning. :p Thank goodness for dual-screen dvd players and the Backyardigans.

Once Noah was dropped off at school, Caleb and I made our way to the gym...I did my 40 minutes of cardio and burned 431 calories.

At home, I decided to do the upper & lower body sculpting segments of TBL's Last Chance Workout, and in 20 minutes I really broke a sweat! The lower body workouts were killer; I ended up burning more during that segment than with the upper body segment. Total, I burned 183 calories. Total cals burned for the day: 614.

Lunch today wasn't anything special...just a Lean Cuisine. It was actually pretty tasty. I also added a Breakstone's Cottage Doubles, making my lunch calorie total: 440.

We decided to make dinner a little bigger tonight, since both Babydaddy & I killed a ton of calories working out. We made some broccoli & cauliflower...

...some turkey burgers...

...and some chicken noodle soup.

Total for all that food: 545 calories! Its so much fun preparing food and finding out the calories aren't that much...I know I'm a nerd.

My evening, after the kids go to bed, blogging snack was an organic granola bar, 130 calories.

My total caloric intake for today was 1755. I burned 614, so my net caloric intake was 1141. :) A little less than the 1430 I alotted for myself, but I feel good and not hungry, so I'm not worried about it.

Sorry for all the calorie talk lately, its just a new thing for me and I am learning so much about food and nutrition. Its also a great feeling to not feel deprived; its quite refreshing actually. :) 2 benefits to this lifestyle change so far: 1) the kids are trying new foods and liking it; and 2) extra money isn't going towards take-out. Win-win!

*Yawn* I'm Ms. Sleepy Pants right now, so I'll end here...'til next time...

My Little Monsters

Dinner tonight was another yummy low calorie meal! We made turkey burgers on thin whole wheat buns with Laughing Cow cheese, veggies, and mustard. Did you know that mustard has ZERO calories per tsp?! The burger was 295 calories...

...and the ranch flavored rice cakes were 70 calories per serving, making the meal a total of 365 calories! :)
After dinner, and while prepping the fruit for this week (cutting them into bite-sized pieces for the little ones and for our yogurt), Babydaddy decided to make a green monster for tomorrow's breakfast...

First Noah asked for a sip.

Then Caleb asked for one too!
My little monsters loved the green monster! Caleb was killing it; we stuck a straw in the cup and he went to town! LOL. Love it. :)

So I decided not to do any yoga tonight...just gonna chillax and do my nails. :) Since I didn't burn any calories today, my total intake of calories was 1265 for Sunday.

Have a good night! ;)

Weekend Blog-worthy Eats.

So would you all think I'm weird if I say that I am actually enjoying this whole healthy-eating change I've adopted?? Its fun to see how much I can eat for a small amount of calories...and its also fun to see just how tasty these healthy eats are! Its like my eyes have been opened...I have officially crossed to the other side. :) LOL!

Yesterday, after my morning cardio workout (treadmill & elliptical; 435 calories burned), I had a yummy breakfast of 3 egg whites, tomatoes, 3 Little Smokies, & green onions. It started out as an omelette...

And ended up as a scramble. :) I topped it with a teeny tiny bit of cheese. Total calories: 236. :)

We spent Saturday afternoon gallavanting around Pensacola. We made a stop at Sam's Club, which is usually a fun little outing, but Caleb was in rare form again, so we made it in and out in about 30 minutes. We picked up Clif bars, more stevia sweetener, Kashi cereal, and diapers for the little guy.

For dinner, Babydaddy concocted a little chicken fajita meal consisting of 2 tortillas, 8 oz of chicken, 4 tbsp of fat free sour cream, veggies, & cheese. Total calories: 517. It was delish, filling, and very satisfying. :)
For Saturday, I consumed a total of 1767 calories, burned 435; my net amount of calories was 1332.



This morning, the boys let us sleep until 7AM so we had a glorious 9 hours of sleep!! My body needed the extra sleep I got this weekend. :) It was a rare occasion when I made Sunday's breakfast, but Babydaddy welcomed it. :) Breakfast was a filling and delicious mix of 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup Kashi almond/honey/flax and 5 strawberries. Total calories: 230.

After a leisurely morning, Caleb went down for a nap and I went to take a shower. Babydaddy took our leftovers from dinner last night and made a yummy sandwich for lunch. With the sandwich thins (bread), veggies, & Laughing Cow cheese, the total amount of calories came to 280.

Some honorable mentions from this weekend: my new go-to Starbucks drink, a soy chai latte, no water. Total calories: 170.And always a yummy treat: Breakstone's Cottage Doubles. Total calories: 130.


I never thought I could do the whole calorie counting thing...but it really is eye-opening to see how much food I CAN have for 1500 calories a day. It also opens my eyes to how many calories I used to consume before. I don't even want to know! :p

I haven't worked out today; technically today is a rest day for me, but I think I might do some yoga tonight. I got The Biggest Loser Weightloss Yoga dvd and I'm thinking tonight be the night to try it out...I need to get some stretching in. :) I'll report back to let you know how it goes. For now, though, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my Sunday! :)

Crazy mornings!

Its going to take me awhile to get used to our hectic morning schedule after having 2 weeks off! I'm up between 5 and 5:30 every morning and from that time until 8:15AM, its go-Go-GO! I get ready while the kids are asleep (shower, hair, makeup--I look dead without it-- dress, etc), then Noah's up at about 6:15AM. He & I hang out for a bit; I make coffee for myself, and we sit and watch Nick Jr or play on our computers...at about 6:45, Caleb's awake, then I make breakfast (4everyone), pack lunches (4Noah), snacks (4me & Caleb), sippy cups (4Caleb), water bottles (4me), pack diapers & wipes (4Caleb), and make sure I've got everything ready for the day. This is what my kitchen counter looks like in the morning...

We've each got a bag as we walk out the door. :)

For breakfast this morning I started with my morning coffee, sweetened with Truvia. It tastes so much more like real sugar than Splenda! Love! Random fact...did you know 8 oz of black coffee only equals to TWO calories?! Decaf is actually calorie free per 8 oz. Craziness.

I also had a mini-breakfast of cottage cheese & pineapple. I ate the second half of my breakfast (2 small lemon poppy seed muffins) on the way to Noah's school, as a pre-workout snack.

I headed to the gym after I dropped Noah off and did my usual 40 minutes of cardio: 20 minutes treadmill & 20 minutes elliptical. 428 calories burned. :) Afterwards, I came home and did Day 3, Level 1 of the 30 Day Shred. I definitely feel stronger, but I still have yet to complete a workout without cheating on the cardio. LOL. I burned 267 calories brining my total to 695 calories. :)

When Babydaddy came home this afternoon he brought a box in from Zappos.com, or so we thought...I swore I didn't order anything; I had to think about it for a second there. I have been known to forget what I've ordered online. :p But after a closer look, we saw that the box was from my fabulous girlfriend, KCB! I tore into the box and read the card first...I loved the line

"We all need fabulous shoes, especially for our fabulous 32's."

OMG, I love KCB! :) Anyway, here's a pic of the fabulous shoes for my fabulous 32's:

Aren't they FABULOUS?! Now I've got a great pair of go-to shoes for my nights out; they'll look great with jeans or a LBD...I just need to learn how to walk in them first. ;) Haha!

For dinner I had another salad monster: lettuce, tomatoes, tomato-basil crackers, cheese, & Italian dressing.

I also had a serving of lasagna, which I didn't eat much of, so I added several pieces of steak to my salad.

My dessert was some chocolate...yum. :)

I have room enough for a snack tonight...I might either do fruit or some popcorn. :)


Gonna curl up in bed now! 'Night! :)

Grocery store meltdown.

So today was grocery shopping day in the Phillips Ohana, and we like to make it a family affair. :) The timing has to be right: after Caleb's nap and after they've eaten; so that the trip goes as smoothly as possible. Today we decided to hit up the Apple Market Grocery store in Pensacola. Its a family-owned corner store, and while it didn't live up to our hopes of being our Pensacola Trader Joe's (we don't have a TJ's here...*cries*), it was a cute little grocery store with a great deli and a cute local coffee shop chain called The Drowsy Poet. Babydaddy & I got a couple sandwiches for lunch and coffee to boot. :)

I got the classic beef: roast beef, provolone, lettuce, & tomato on whole wheat.
Delish! :) Very fresh.

The coffee was good too...I ordered a small white chocolate mocha.
After our visit to Apple Market, we made our way back to Pace to hit up Publix. By then, Caleb was in rare form. He didn't want to sit in the cart, he didn't want to walk (he had a face-down-on-the-floor moment) and he wasn't being quiet about it. Thank goodness for the Publix Cookie Club: free cookies for kids. :) That, paired with those carts that have the steering wheels, we were good for half an hour. Even then though, he kept throwing his sippy cup at me. :p

We made our way around the store. This week Babydaddy & I vowed to get back on the healthy eating bandwagon so we chose a lot of fresh fruits and salad veggies. Here's some of the loot...

Truvia, an all-natural sweetener made from the stevia plant.

Larabars, which I have been seeing all over the blogosphere. The Fitnessista is a fan. :)
Honeycrisp apples and Bartlett pears. The honeycrisp apples were our splurge ($2.50/lb?!) and we love us some pears. :)
I picked up some cottage cheese & fruit for me (Babydaddy is NOT a fan)...my fave...
Greek yogurt of course, his & her's. I turned Babydaddy onto Greek yogurt and now he can't eat the regular stuff. :)We decided to try salad spritzers for our salads, rather than dressing. 1 calorie per spritz?! I had to try this out for myself...

I wrote up what I'll be eating tomorrow and it comes up to 1,145 calories, not including the salad greens I'll be eating with my lunch & dinner and my morning coffee. I predict I'll round out at 1,300-1,400 calories tomorrow. Bring on the food withdrawal headaches. :p I can do this, I can do this, I can do this!!!

Nighty-night. :)

Toy Story.

So every year I tell myself I will be more organized. I used to be such an organized, neat, clutter-free person...then I had kids. When Noah came around, his baby things took over the house, but I was still able to maintain a semblance of organization...now with 2 kiddos running around, its nearly impossible! Our house seems smaller too...the way too open layout is getting to me (I hate how you can walk through the front door and see the entire house). I am sooo ready to move! I hear the houses up in MD are bigger and most have basements, so I am quite excited. :)

Anyhow, after Christmas, Babydaddy & I knew we had to do something about the massive amounts of toys the boys had all over the house. We had to make room for the new ones, plus with the move coming up soon, we wanted to purge some stuff anyway. And so Operation Purge the Toys was underway...

We collected all the diecast Monster Trucks, Hot Wheels, Matchbox cars, and Cars figurines and put them into a large wicker laundry basket...I swear there's over 150 cars in there. The boys can't get enough of these! I picked up all the stray books I found in the living room and collected them in this basket. These books don't include the ones in Noah's room and our office. We love books in this family. :)
All the larger toy trucks and cars went into the toy chest.

After purging 1 HUGE box and several large black trashbags of toys, we put the "For Keeps" toys in their respective spots on the hearth...in a perfect world, the toys would stay there forever.
But in MY world, this is what the living room looked like 10 minutes after the boys woke up this morning. SIGH.
Oh well. At least we've got a place for everything. :) Next on Operation Purge: the boys' closets...

Busy Busy Busy & Impromtu Pizza.

Hey bloggy peeps. :) Sorry its been awhile since I last touched the blog, but like I said previously, motivation is definitely lacking this time of the year. If it doesn't have anything to do with turkey or Christmas trees, I have major ADD. The kids and LIFE have been keeping me busy too.

After Noah's birthday last Thursday, Babydaddy came home on Friday, and we did some cleaning and grocery shopping and catching up on the weekend. Come Sunday, we find out that a hurricane is brewing in the Gulf of Mexico and its headed straight for Pensacola! WTH?! Its November, for sobbing out loud! Anyway, Monday comes around and Escambia County is hoping for the best and preparing for the worst; schools are closed Monday and Tuesday, people are clearing the shelves at the grocery stores and filling up their gas tanks. Monday is also the day I decide to take Caleb to the doc's because he's been extremely fussy and pointing at his right ear for the past several days. I call Whiting Field and of course there aren't any spots, especially since they were closing early that day. Thankfully they give me a consult to go out in town and we all take Caleb to the Urgent Care in Pace...in the rain and hurricane traffic. Well, turns out it was a good thing we took him because he did indeed have an ear infection. His second one in a month, opposite ear. Sigh. Noah's had 1 ear infection in his whole 4 years and Caleb gets 2 in a month. :o/ Anyway, we get the antibiotics and we are prepared for the storm to come...

...the storm came and went with much hoopla and little follow through. :p We've had worst thunderstorms! We are thankful that Hurricane Ida ended up being a dud though. :) Thanks to Hurricane Ida, Noah was off from school and Babydaddy was off from work...we got bored quickly so we headed out for a drive. :)

We decided to try a pizza place we've driven by many, many times: Santino's Pizza & Grinders. We'd heard good things about the place and Babydaddy & I were hungry...we were pleasantly surprised! Santino's is attached to a gas station, which is why we had never gone in...how good could pizza from a gas station be?

Well, turns out pizza from a gas station can be AWESOME!!! :) I'm not typically a pizza person, but this pizza was the bomb diggy. Loved loved loved it. I had 2 slices. :p
We will definitely be heading back to Santino's! ;)

Well, today is Veteran's Day so Noah is home from school again...3rd day in a row! Babydaddy's command decided to come into work today and possibly get a 3-day weekend instead. Hopefully they still get one, even with their 1.5 "free days" they got this week. Anyway, I foresee today being a lazy day...its gray outside and there's nothing on my task list that needs to get done today, so today will definitely be a curl up with The Vampire Diaries kinda day. ;) Have fun, ya'll!