Kindergarten, College, and Crazy Living

I am sure there are many that have gone to college and while yes it is stressful have gotten through and moved onto amazing things!  I am currently the one that is in college full time, an AdvoCare distributor, a single mother to my two lovely girls, and feel like I am being pulled in so many different directions that I am starting to feel overwhelmed.

I want to point out how AMAZING those single moms are that work full time, go to school full time, and raise their children!  I personally don't know how they do it and feel they truly are like super moms.  Just thinking about how much they do blows my mind.

My oldest started Kindergarten and loves doing homework and learning how to read. I know...Enjoy her enthusiasm now because it won't last!  She is like a sponge and will soak up anything she can when it has to do with school.  I wish I had her love for learning.  Right now I am at the point that I hate the sight of my college books and I literally do not enjoy reading anymore...not even a random book in my free time.  I will return to loving reading books I am sure, although it may just be after I finish my degree!  For now I am trying to buckle down and be like my daughter, absorbing any and all information that I can, so that I may further my education for my kids sake as well as my own.

I have been trying to come up with ways of keeping my daughters entertained while I do my homework.  I came up with little work folders for them to do so that they can be learning new things like their mommy.  I included Reading, Spelling, Writing, & Math for my oldest and for my youngest I included Writing, Numbers, & Math along with some coloring and pattern activities.  Luckily all the worksheets I got were free thanks to Teachers Pay Teachers.com!  They have many different school worksheets available from Pre-K & up.  So far my girls are enjoying these although I may need to come up with a few more things to rotate between.

I also am struggling to find time to fit workouts into my day, partly because I have a certain workout I am wanting to follow but there are things piled up on the equipment which I am unable to remove myself due to my back becoming weak again.  (LAME RIGHT?!)  but in all reality I don't have to do those certain exercises so I really need to make time for myself to workout and get it done.  I know for a fact I will feel so much better when I do.

Another topic...food prep!  I am always reading on how people set aside prep days.  I always mean well and set aside Sunday as the day to do it but something always comes up that I have to take care of.  Again same as above there is no excuse...who says it HAS to be on Sunday anyway?  Well I just always saw everyone else doing it on this day and decided that Sunday is my prep day, although this may have to change.  Maybe I will do short prep sessions throughout the week as breaks in between my studying and time with my kids.  I am thinking this would be a better option for me for now until my schedule isn't so stressful from both my College classes as well as my eldest daughter's kinder class, and my youngest wild child!

Clean Chicken Cabbage Soup

I am not a big soup fan so when I do actually have soup its the predictable "Chicken Noodle Soup".  When I found this recipe I wasn't sure how it would taste, wondering how good a cabbage soup would even be, but decided to try it anyways and I am so glad I did!  It tastes delicious, my whole family loved it as well which is a big plus, and its healthy.

My dad had seen me stirring it when it was getting close to dinner and said how it was probably going to taste gross but when he tried it he was surprised at how good it was.  If you knew my dad you would know how hard it is to find a meal made with chicken that he actually likes and enjoys.  

We leave out the stewed tomatoes at our house because they don't agree with us.  So I just cut the vegetables and do not marinate the chicken overnight since I leave the stewed tomatoes out.

I would definitely recommend checking out her blog as she has many delicious healthy recipes!  Here is the recipe for Clean Chicken Cabbage Soup from Little b's healthy habits:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head of cabbage, chopped
• 1 box of low sodium chicken broth
• veggies of choice; carrots, celery, and onion (I use the same as Little b)
• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 can low sodium stewed tomatoes
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• pepper to taste

Directions: 

1. Pre-cut all the vegetables the night before so they are ready to go the next morning.  Throw chicken in a Ziploc with stewed tomatoes with some oregano so it can marinate.
2. Put all the ingredients in a crock pot and turn it on low.  Let it cook for 8 hours.  If your like me you forget and end up cooking it on high for 4 hours! 
3. Shred chicken with a fork.  You can leave chicken in while you do it.  As little b points out it should be cooked enough that it easily shreds.

I FINALLY did it!

I have been with AdvoCare for almost a year now and have been going back and forth on whether or not I should create my own website.  I am happy to say I DID IT!  The nice thing is that with using their web builder plus looking up tutorials on how to use HTML codes to create what your looking for I was able to do it all myself.  I don't know about you but I absolutely love that I can use google to look up how to do things myself and not have to pay someone else to do it!  Although depending on what you are trying to do things can end up much worse...but I think it turned out awesome and am extremely proud of myself.

The thing I loved the most is finding the things I wanted for both my blog and my website for free and not having to spend money on buying things from people to get the look I wanted.  .  Who doesn't love free stuff right?!  I actually enjoyed putting it all together too.  I am thinking I could do this on the side just for fun.

Alright are you ready to see it???  I am just so excited that I keep going back and looking through it haha! Okay...here it is...TA-DA!!

AdvoCare Fit-Girl It-Girl

What are you going to be today? A gym rat or a couch potato....

Today I woke up and honestly did not feel like starting my workout routine back up.  My lower back was aching and I did not want to overdo it but knew I couldn't just skip working out.  I kept telling myself I would and kept finding excuses not to the past few weeks.  I would think to myself:

• I am too busy with school
• I am too tired!
• The girls will get into trouble if I go work out in the garage
• My back is achy
• I have a migraine

The list could go on and on....but I realized the only person I am hurting by making the decision to skip my workouts is myself!  I am sick of being tired all the time and want to get back into shape.  Well, in order to do that I have to make the effort to get myself into my garage "home gym" and do the workouts.  We all know sitting around doing very little activity is NOT going to get you the results you want.

I had to decide if I wanted to be a couch potato....

Or a gym rat...

I decided I would do my workout while the girls were eating their lunch thinking this would keep them out of trouble.  Unfortunately they finished lunch mid workout but thanks to my sister Nicole the girls each had a fun Valentine's day activity they did for the last half of my workout.  I will be honest my arms were so shaky afterwards that when I drank some water I thought it was going to just dump all over me!!  At least I can look myself in the mirror today and be able to say "I killed that workout!" instead of saying "I really am going to start living a healthier life and start my workouts tomorrow!"  I feel so much better about myself just from one 45 minute weightlifting workout.  Plus I realized how much I actually missed that feeling I get after my workout...feeling my muscles being sore and tired after a good workout, the energy I get from it, and the excitement for my next work out!

For those of you wondering what made my arms limp noodles, it was Jamie Eason's LiveFit Trainer which I will link below.

Jamie Eason's LiveFit Trainer

Do yourself a solid and bust out a workout!  It doesn't have to be a really long one, just take baby steps, but I promise your body will love you for it.  Taking care of yourself is the best thing you can do for yourself and you deserve to be happy and healthy!