Cold Stone Creamery’s Frozen Yogurt Creations and Yogurt Shakes. You MUST!

Strawberry Crumble Vanilla Frozen Yogurt: that’s what I sank my teeths into. (side note: “teeths” is plural for “teef”) Their Yogurt Creations and Yogurt Shakes came out in Feb 2012, but I hear only for a limited time. Don’t ya hate feeling limited ‘n stuff?

You better high tail your booty cheeks on over to the Creamery so you can indulge in a treat that’s delectable and tasty, yet downright sensible. I was NOT a Cold Stone fan until I tasted these new yogurt-thingies. Now I’m going back for more. They better get ready to feed me on repeat.

Yogurt Creations

Strawberry Crumble: Dreamy Vanilla Yogurt mixed with juicy Strawberries and Graham Cracker Pie CrustChocolate Banana Indulgence: Gratifying Chocolate Yogurt mixed with fresh Bananas and rich FudgeBerries Upon Berries: Luscious Raspberry Yogurt mixed with sweet Strawberries and Blueberries

Yogurt Shakes

Shake Them Berries: Divine Vanilla Yogurt blended with sweet, juicy Strawberries, Raspberries and BlueberriesPowered By Chocolate: Enticing Chocolate Yogurt blended with rich Fudge

The breakdown of my Strawberry Crumble Creation went like this:

Vanilla Frozen Yogurt: 170 calories (size small)Graham Cracker Pie Crust Crumbles mix-in: 180 caloriesStrawberries mix-in: 20 calories

My stomachs took in 370 calories of dessert-lovin’ delight. If you pick the same one I did, you can always ask the creations-maker to go easy on the graham crumbles to reduce the calorie count, but hell naw if I’m doing that.

See Cold Stone’s Frozen Yogurt Nutrition info and Cold Stone’s Mix-ins Nutrition info so you can tally your calorie (…hey, that rhymes) before you get there. And don’t you go ordering size large unless you are the infamous Dark Overlord of Greediness. You heard of ‘em?

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Do you make time for YOUR second wave?

We love our morning bus stop time.

Today it is eight months since the Tornado started the Garten of the Kinder.

Some days it feels as though she’s always been in school, but most days I still miss my sidekick.

I pine (yep. dropping the p-word.) so much I had a fleeting notion we mightcould need more children up in herre.

(Ill let you digest that for a moment)

Beyond the fact Im older than the hills Ill be 43 in three months, I realize it’s HER I miss.

Her spirit. Her spunk. Her attitude.

But I digress.

Seriously.

That’s not what this post is about.

Lets return to the morning bus stop time pictured above.

We. Have. The. Best. Morning. Routine. Ever.

We’re early risers so we’ve plenty of time to do our ‘morning necessities’ and still git our PLAYout on.

We jump rope.  We Skip It.  We play tag.  We play duck duck goose.  You get the idea.

By the time the bus arrives it practically feels as though we’ve had an entire day together (we up EARLY).

Because of this, when the Tornado asks as the bus arrives: can you stay for the second wave? I panic a bit in my too-long-to-do-list-must-get-to-work-bus-comes-BACK-at-330p heart.

You see, the second wave requires I stand & wait while the bus loops around, picks up other kids, and when as it passes again Im there.

To wave.

For a second time.

I’m not embarrassed to say (even with my off-track yammerings about missing her) most days my answer is no.

I skip the second wave so I can work. 

I pass on the second opportunity to flail my arms to return emails. 

I give her a shrug & a sorry so I can begin my writing a mere 5 minutes earlier.

And, each time I tell her NO, she says “OK Mama!” & climbs on the bus.

No whining.  No pouting.  No glimpse of the two and three year old whose meltdowns very nearly wore me out.

And this made me happy.  And proud. And think how amazingly grown-up & mature she’d become.

Until it occurred to me, on the 123rd day of living my priorities, the mom who skipped the second wave was not who I aspired be this year.

Do I really need a five minute head start on work? (No. I fritter away more than that during my day. I can steal the 5 minutes back from somewhere else.)

Is anything I “need” to do during the day more important than stopping, waiting & waving one more time when I know in a few short years she’ll be *begging* me not to do the first wave? 

The answer, for me, is a resounding no.

Im aware how fortunate I am to work from home (& if I forget my troll informs me. she be helpful that way).

Im up-at-the-crack working & up late at night writing—yet I have the luxury of being able to live my priorities.

Today, day 124, these priorities include starting to stay for the second wave.

Im also closing the comments.

I know the collective-you dont adore that, yet I also know when they’re open people feel compelled or obligated  to leave some thoughts.

I’d much rather you snag those same five minutes and spend them on your second wave.

Whatever form said ‘wave’ takes in your life.

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More Hours Please

I’m having a rough day. The Husband and I are out of sync which sucks because we had such an awesome weekend. I’ve been having technical problems holding me back from accomplishing a few things. And the conference is really starting to ramp up with new (fun but stressful) things happening daily.

I can’t seem to catch up and things just. keep. getting. piled. on.

*deep breath*

I don’t want to admit it but attempting to get anything done at home with this little guy is proving almost impossible anymore.

He’s lucky he’s so darn cute!

I kid but I find myself yet again torn between working and just hanging out with Little Bean. I feel so lucky and so grateful to be home with him but I’m not getting what I need to get done. Sometimes It takes me days if not weeks to get back to emails and frankly, I feel like I’m working around the clock. (side note: so is the husband, hence our disconnect. :(

I even missed my workout this morning. First time in months that has happened but I couldn’t wake up even though I went to bed early.

I’m tired.

This month Bean will be starting day care twice a week and I’m again struggling with guilt.

Guilt that I’m shipping him off and I’ll be home.

Guilt that it costs so much.

Guilt that I just can’t manage it.

There it is.

I’m mad at my self for not being able to do it all.

Typical. huh?

In other news…

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A Sensational Secret Agent Sunday

This morning started bright and early with a Tough Mudder session. Normally it’s Saturday mornings but yesterday I ran the Sole of the City 10k so moved a few things around.

We met at 6:30 this morning and it was great! I’ll post a little more about it tomorrow. I recorded 1 fun video and snapped this photo in the car before heading home.

oh and yup. I joined Instagram. FINALLY now that it’s on the Droid. To be honest, I’m still trying to figure it all out. I’m more of a web girl than a phone girl and it’s more app based than I’m used to.

When I got home Ryan greeted me at the door all excited. He said I needed to see his "messy room." I told him we would be cleaning today and his room was a total disaster.

I could tell by the way he was acting that he already did it and I was so proud of him. Here it was barely 8AM and he woke up, cleaned his room and got dressed all while The Husband and Little Bean slept.

We had breakfast. I know it’s weird but I had leftovers.

Nothing else sounded good and I was out of eggs. :(

We had a good morning. Little Bean wasn’t feeling 100% so we just chilled a little.

Then it was down to business. The boys organized clothes….

while I cleaned the bathrooms.

After cleaning the upstairs and starting the laundry it was lunch time.

The Husband and Little Bean were both napping so it was just us. I had a leftover Salmon burger and Little Guy had leftover chinese food.

In the afternoon Little Guy and I had a Special Agent Birthday party to attend. We left the 2 sleepy heads at home watching soccer.

Our instructions said to arrive in disguise.

That is Cheetah Boy. We made the mask a few weeks ago and he’s been wearing it almost daily.

Once we arrived additional disguises were supplied.

There was Secret Agent Training,

code decoding,

and many other agent duties. It was a great party. Perfect for 15 – 7 year olds and so creative. They even had a homemade bomb shaped birthday cake!

I was planning on hitting the grocery store on the way home but honestly, I just didn’t have it in me. I’ll go sometime during with week. It was raining and cold and I was TIRED.

Instead we came home and planned our Sunday Picnic. I made a fun pizza in honor of Cheetah Boy…

The Boys played in the living room they just cleaned.

Little Bean finally decided to join us.

He slept most of the day but boy did he need it. I think his molars are really coming in. His drool’s been like a faucet, he was running a slight temp, and he was uncharacteristically GRUMPY!

This week our Sunday movie was The Lost World: Jurassic Park. We watched. We folded.

We played.

We annoyed the cat.

It was a great day. :)

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I’m Here! (And I brought along a “60 Minutes Australia” link)

I apologize for my absence. Clearly, I can’t blog and learn medical terminology, medical nutrition therapy, employment law, and the names of bacteria, viruses and tapeworms that cause food borne illnesses (which I can thank for my newly acquired hand washing compulsion) at the same time.
I feel like I’m in boot camp for the left-brain inept. Geez-oh-man… Summer offers no breaks, either. I just registered for five weeks of chemistry and lab and 10 weeks of algebra. And as if THAT won’t be enough fun, I’m registered for biochemistry and advanced algebra in the fall. Like my advisor said, “You know how to party.”

So if I’m not here much between now and winter break, I’m probably drooling in a corner somewhere begging to read Jane Austen.

Oh, I kid! Life’s not been all work and no “weigh.” My jeans are looser and my legs are stronger. I’m still committed to my food plan, exercise, meditation, and the people who keep me sane.

Here’s a bit of a summary:

Daughter Carlene and Boyfriend Ben got engaged! (No, it’s not a shotgun wedding. Carlene’s holding baby Mae in that picture.) Wedding date TBD, but next April seems likely.
Grandbaby Mae rode in my Jeep for the first time since being able to legally sit facing forward. My stepson Andrew moved into his dorm. He’s studying filmmaking at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. It’s good to have the boy so close. Claire helped.
Andrew’s brain food. When he was younger, we called him “Cereal Boy.”
I ate at bd’s Mongolian Grill with BF and his son a few weeks ago for the first time. Yum! 
Got the bike in to the shop for a much needed tune up. I upgraded her seat and pack, too. Comfy seat means longer rides. Longer rides means I have to pack more stuff than just a cell phone and Kleenex. I also went to see the Moody Blues with Larry (my ex-husband, for those of you who aren’t familiar with his name). Larry and I have seen the Moodies 9 times in 15 years, and it was at one of their concerts that I felt the weight of my 300 pounds more profoundly than ever before, and that feeling contributed to my decision to finally lose weight for the last time.
It was 2003. The Moodies were playing a concert in a casino in West Virginia. Larry and I checked into the hotel, played a few slots, had dinner, and then about an hour before the show, went to the lobby to wait for the shuttle that would take us to the concert venue. A few other concert goers began to gather, too, when Larry nudged me and whispered, “Look to your left.”
Standing next to me was Moody’s front man Justin Hayward, whose music is the soundtrack of my life. I don’t remember a time I didn’t know “Nights In White Satin,” “Tuesday Afternoon,” or “Question.” When I need to remember to believe in myself, I listen to “The Voice.” And the song “Forever Autumn”… Gets me every time. Justin’s shoulder was no further than a foot from mine. I wanted to say hello and to thank him for the gift his music had been to my life. Then I remembered I had  57-inch hips and I said nothing. At the concert, I sat in the second row, regretting all the choices that had brought me to such disappointment in myself. Disappointment not only in my size, but disappointment for feeling so unworthy as to not thank someone who’d contributed such depth of feeling to my life. I recall that unworthiness every time I see the Moody Blues, and each time, I vow that if I ever stand next to Justin Hayward again, I will tell him – no matter what I look like – “Thank you.” My former body and the me who occupied it continue to be the source of my determination. I would dishonor she who was me by giving up the fight, because she is the one who thought enough about herself to start that march down the scale. ??David Ballment, Richard Malone, me, Howard Sacre, Liam BartlettWhich leads me to the “60 Minutes Australia” piece I participated in. It aired last weekend and I just now had the courage to watch it. I’m OK with my part in it, but what surprised me was the almost defeatist attitude of the Australian researcher, Professor Joe Proietto. (Liam Bartlett is the “60 Minutes” correspondent.)
LIAM BARTLETT: So if we’re not completely obsessive, we’re just leading a normal life, we’ll probably put the weight back on? JOE: Yep, yep. And that certainly explains the experience of all of us who treat obesity – that it’s a difficult thing. Not so much to get the weight off but the failure rate after a few years is very, very high. Thank goodness for, Dr. Rena Wing from Brown University, one of the researchers at the Weight Control Registry, of which I and many maintainers are a part.  RENA: The Melbourne study was a very small study and I think that’s a very pessimistic message for viewers and listeners to hear because we know that many people are able to be successful at weight loss and so…LIAM BARTLETT: It may be pessimistic but is it reality?RENA: Ah, I don’t think it is. On average they’ve lost about 30 kilograms and they’ve kept it off about six years. One of the interesting things is that they report that they have tried many times before to lose weight unsuccessfully but this time they got it right okay.LIAM BARTLETT: So what was the difference?RENA: What they say is “this time I was more committed to behaviour change and this time physical activity was a bigger part of my regimen than it was in other approaches.”

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Epic Week of Fitness

If you think you can’t have a flat stomach. Think again.

If you believe your legs will never be lean and sculpted. You’re sadly mistaken.

If you’re convinced your fatty parts won’t melt away. You need to think again.

Can’t? Never? Won’t?

Screw all that defeatest nonsense. You’re the one in control.

Commit to making this week an epic week of fitness. Only YOU can make change happen.

XO

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No flipping time for fitness.

I need more ideas or a smaller jar.

Ive ranted ad nauseum about how my workouts are brief.

The thing is, whether your workout du jour is 2 hours or 20 minutes,  it *still* requires you find.the.time.

What about those days where, no matter what you do, life conspires to steal your exercise time away?

Or the days where, despite valiant efforts, every.single.thing. goes wrong as you strive to steal some YOUtime? (not that Id know anything about that one).

I give you my 5 best tips for days when the world seems to be against finding time for a full-on traditional workout.

With special emphasis & “try this! try this!” for numbers 3 and 5.

1. Meditate. Too often we view meditation as an act which requires tremendous time commitment (not to mention oodles of preparation). This does not have to be the case. Steal two or three minutes to stop, pause, unplug, and just be still.  Use this time to wholly focus on releasing tension and capturing the same feelings you have after a challenging, sweat-producing workout.

2. Help others. Nothing makes us feel better than a good ole case of Helpers High.  No time to volunteer traditionally? Email a struggling friend a note of encouragement.  Heading out for coffee? Take a moment to see if you can bring anyone else a cup.  Hold the door for someone.  Heck, even a simple smile can be a kind act which changes someone’s day—and makes YOU feel better, too.

3. Laugh. (Or, if you’re me some days a tough customer in a grumpy mood, at least smile) Take a moment and grab whatever it is that makes you giggle. A silly movie. A television sit-com or even phone a funny friend. While exercise is fantastic for us laughter also serves as a powerful stress reducer.  A good guffaw relieves physical tension (for up to 45 minutes!), can help boost your immune system, increases your blood flow (always good for reducing heart attack risk!), releases those endorphins we all seek and burns approximately 100 calories per twenty minutes!

4. Take full, deep breaths. When we are stressed (as we can be on the days life steals our workout time) we shift to shorter, shallower breaths.  This manner of breathing causes fatigue, increased stress, and is even correlated with triggering anxiety/panic attacks.  If time forces you to skip your workout make the time to stop and focus on your breathing pattern. Check out your posture. Don’t slump or hunch which encourages shallow breathing. Inhale and exhale deeply. Allow your abdomen to move as you breathe. Slow frequency of breaths. I’ve found breathing in for 4 seconds, holding for 2 seconds, and then breathing out for 4 seconds provides me stress relief which can rival my recumbent biking.

5. Create a fitness jar. No time for a full-fledge workout? Make today when you finally create a fitness jar. Snag some scraps of paper & write down as many non-gym workout ideas as you can think of (skating, hula hooping, exercise DVDs, jump rope, walking, basket ball, playground time, biking, pogo-sticking are but a few).  Even if you dont have time for the workout TODAY you’re now all set up for success for the next time life has you harried.

Whats your approach when life gets in the way of fitness?

Do you chalk it up to a rest day or try, as I do, and fight back with “creative” fitness?

Would you be annoyed with me if I lovingly remind you 30 minutes of movement is only TWO PERCENT of your day?

please to hit us up with your suggestions, tips & whinings in the comments below.

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