Challenge and Cake

Here is a link to the Bikini Body Mommy Challenge
https://www.facebook.com/BikiniBodyMommy
(anyone who starts it, let me know.  You will probably be able to catch up to me because I take a day to  do other things or I got sick and it took a long time to do the first 3 days.  Let me know)


and a recipe for the best cake I have had in a long time.  Yeah Yeah... you are thinking if you read my other blog that my oven is broken how could I have had cake last night... It is a crock pot cake! So stinken good!
1 package devils food cake
1 package chocolate pudding
1 C sour cream
4 eggs
1 C water
3/4 C oil
1 C choco chips

Combine everything but chips with electric mixer till all mixed then stir in chips.  Pour into greased slow cooker pot.  Cook high for 3-4 hours OR low 6-7 hours until an inserted toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs..
I guess I could have skipped an egg and used apple sauce instead of oil and skipped the chips but I did use light sour cream..

Efforts and New Things

In my recent efforts and attempts at losing weight, I have been generally successful.  I started with running because I knew that running is the fastest doable way to lose weight.  Then I learned that gaining muscle will help me burn more calories when I run so I started doing that. The weight has had a downward trend and the fitness level has had an upward trend but I want more.  The answer for me is doing new things.  Changing things up has been the answer for my weight loss plateau.  Deciding to train for a triathlon, finding the facebook 90 day bikini body mommy challenge, and finding friends to do things with.

Triathlon:: A friend in my ward (church unit) has done a triathlon before and she is helping me along.  This past weekend GoodLooking and I dropped a bike off at the bike shop to be fixed up so that I can get comfortable on a bike (if comfort is the right word).

90 Day Challenge:: Incredible.  Different workouts everyday and they are challenging to say the least.  It is doable but not too easy and you don't need any equipment so far as I can tell but I am only a week into it.

Friends:: I do the challenge with a friend a day or two per week (the other days, I just do it myself).  I am also walking with a neighbor.  We walk fast and talk and it makes the 2.5 miles seem so quick and easy.  I also run once a week with a church friend around the church.  I don't know exactly what the distance is because we go for time but we run for a full 20 minutes and she pushes me toward the end.  When I run by myself, I feel like a slug at the end.  She is such an inspiration to me.  We ran the color run together and she pushed herself because I forgot my stopwatch and she wanted to make sure that I knew my time at the end (she ended up shaving 6 minutes from her previous time).

Family Support:: I know Honey doesn't have much choice in it because I take her whether she likes it or not but she doesn't cry or scream in the stroller when we run or walk.  GoodLooking is okay with spending money on expensive undergarments so that I can have comfort when I run (without it, I would not "enjoy" running as much as I do) and spends money on bike things so I can train and spends money so I can sign up for runs and the said triathlon.  He takes care of Honey on his day off so I can go to Houston with my friend and run the color run.  He tells me how good I look and how happy I seem since I started doing these things.

I am so thankful for all the support I have had.  Without it, this journey would be lonely and a lot slower going.

Thank you

FINALLY!

Do ya'll remember when I took on this disaster?

white paint over yellow wallpaper over beautiful wood?

Well after a long time (I don't really remember exactly when I bought them... I know I didn't wear a jacket to pick them up... but then again it hasn't really been the winter for jackets.  I have gotten my jacket out maybe 3 times all "winter").

"but I digress"*

I have finally finished these suckers.  Well, I still need to line the drawers but I can't find what I am looking for.  Maybe some of you out there have ideas for drawer liners... I can't find cute contact paper... maybe there are other options.

 I re-veneered the drawer fronts of the vanity/desk and used the same stain that I used on the dresser and the color is not even close so I don't plan on selling them as a pair.... but if you are interested in both let me know.
The wood design on the top drawer of the dresser is original and was an awesome surprise while stripping. (The vanity had the same sort of thing on the front blue part but it was damaged beyond repair :(
GoodLooking chose the colors and painted the dresser and is a "library-esk", "leather-ish" green and reddish brown.
Vanity/desk is "bison brown" and I forget what the blue is called.
Both pieces have protective layers to last through regular and some irregular use.

In other news, HONEY IS A WALKER. not all the time but she can.


*This seems to be a popular phrase and I fit it in to be popular.. tell me if I used it wrong.

Color In Motion

On Saturday, I ran my 3rd 5K.  I made my own shirt for the run and when I would run by kids, they would say how cool it is to whoever they were walking/running with. 

I shaved 5 minutes off my time, I ran the whole time, and I enjoyed it a lot.

This woman here is AMAZING.  Such an inspiration to me.  She shaves about 2 minutes off each of her 5K's and yesterday, she shaved like 6 minutes off her old time because she wanted to make sure I knew my run time (I forgot to bring my stopwatch and didn't want to cary my phone through it).  She is so cool.

I created a team but some people were unable to come :(.  I carpooled with a friend and we went to lunch afterward.  It was a great break from the pinching, food throwing and spitting, cranky, amazing, funny, smart kid.  Some great adult conversations were had.

Here I am at the "color party" after the race where I caught 3 bags of color.

(I'm not in this picture)

I can't wait to run my next race!!