Cut the locks

Sooooo most people have their hair as a blessing ornamentation on their head. Some can't have it due to health reasons and others are hereditary. Having family members pass away including my mother pass from cancer I am completely blessed to be healthy and have a head full of thick locks. Now here's my problem that I hope someone can relate with. I get upset, or have something playing on my mind I do something drastic. It usually has to do with my hair. I want to freak out but instead I do something with the doo. At times I dye it it, trim it or completely cut it off. Well today I pretty much cut my "down to my butt hair" off. I thought I was doing a good job keeping the length but pretty much ended up with  a mullet. I left a lot of length on the bottom layer but realllllly trimmed up the rest. Man I should have just got drunk or got a tattoo or something. It's going to take forever for the doo to grow back! Biotin here I come! If the USAF could just let us know what road we are taking next I might be able to stay away from the scissors! LOL!

TGIF!

Happy Friday y'all! This week flew by, well kinda. I was able to apply for jobs at about the same rate I was getting denied for others. Joy! I was accepted to work for one at home position through Alpine Access. My only issue is that I need to get a phone line. This wouldn't normally be an issue but with Jimmy's USAF career in limbo right now, we don't know if we're staying or leaving NJ. So luckily to my benefit the company has put me back in a pool to be hired once we know which path our lives are about to take.

Now on to TABATA. I tried this on Wednesday. It was only four minutes of my time. I like that kind of workout! Ok, so I'm not a fitness professional but from what I have read about Tabata is that it is a high intensity workout of one exercise for 4 minutes. You do the exercise for 20 seconds rest for 10 seconds and repeat 4 times. You should be completely exhausted. I guess I did an easy one because I was out of breath but could have kept going. The one I first read about said to alternate 2 exercises. 20 secs of jumping jacks 10 secs rest and the 20 secs punch planks, complete four sets. I found a Tabata timer on my phone at fitlb.com/tabatatimer#! which was awesome it talks to you, counts down and congratulates you at the end. I highly recommend it. From what I learned the exercises I did were a beginners workout. There are so many more you can do. From just one exercise like bicycle sprints, weight bench hop overs or even treadmill sprints. Then you can incorporate 2 to 4 different exercises  in one session. I learned that Dr. Izumi Tabata is the one to thank for this high intensity workout. He claims that you can get more aerobic and anaerobic produced in this short amount of time rather than in an hour workout. A great example of a workout I located in an article by John Harker is as follows:

- Jump Rope

- Push Ups

- Squats 

- Pull Ups 

Each exercise done in 4 min intervals making the whole workout including your rest periods a total of 16 minutes. It's recommended to incorporate the Tabata workout throughout the week alternating with your regular workout regimant. 

I would love to hear about your experiences and different Tabata workouts you may do. But above all whatever you're doing just remember.....

Sugar Wax Experiment

I would have used my own legs for this experiment but they were not hairy enough. I could have let them grow out but I'm way to impatient. So, that being said my son (the 18 year old) let me borrow his skinny hairy legs. So sweet right! I found the recipe on thebirdandtheberry.blogspot.com. Which by the way is a really cool blog! The ingredients are simple and right in your kitchen. I'm so excited cause this wax project is wicked cheap and if your an avid waxer it will totally save you some dough! On to the ingredients....

- 2 cups Sugar -

- 1/4 cup water -

- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice -

You want to add all the ingredients in a medium saucepan. Turn on medium high heat until it starts to boil, once boiling turn down the heat a smidget and add a thermometer, continue to stir so it doesn't boil over. Once the temp is up to 250 degrees remove from heat. Please I can't stress this enough, LET IT COOL! This is boiling hot sugar and will cause major damage, so handle with care.

Once off the stove I poured the wax in a thick glass jar. Don't use anything too thin or it may crack on you. So at this point while we are waiting to cool I will go over some prices. Your typical wax in the drugstore can be purchased for somewhere around $8-$20. If you choose to get it done in a salon or spa you're looking at prices starting around $15 all the way up $100 or more depending on what's being waxed. The prices for the ingredients in this homemade wax is as follows:

1. Sugar 5lb bag bag is $2.60 (you're only using 2 cups)
2. Lemon $0.30
3. Water 1/4 cup even though it's paid for in your bill, today let's just say it's free
4. Wax removal strips $4.80 for a box of 500
5. Tongue depressors are about $5 for a box of 500
6. Or you can use an old cotton Tee shirt and cut into strips....free

That puts us at $7.70. That's counting a full bag of sugar and numerous wax strips that you're not going to use all at once. I would say for this batch it only cost about half of that so around $3.90. This is much cheaper than any store bought or salon purchase! Looking good so far.

Looks like the wax has cooled, now the next necessity, hairy legs baby!

Ok, as long as you have the hair you're onto a great start. I personally tested the wax on my wrist before slathering away on my sons leg. Now we did a different type of strip on each leg. On Dustin's right leg we used the regular strip that you can purchase and usually comes in the store bought kit. On his left leg I used  a piece of a cotton tee shirt I had cut up.

Both legs are waxed and ready to roll. Let the fun begin....hee hee! When I removed the paper from Dustin's right leg all the wax did not come off, in fact only about a quarter of the wax did. However, when I put the strip back on the same spot and pulled it off again more hair was removed. The tee shirt strip seemed to have worked the best. It pulled the most hair at the same time with out having to go back over it. If I may share a quick video, mind you there is nothing professional about this video at all.

 

As you can see the wax strip had a bit of a struggle coming off. What you don't see is after I put it back on and pulled again most of the hair was removed. On to the cotton tee...

Much better! Again I apologize for the lack of professionalism with the videos but that's just how we roll in this crazy house....no excuses! After the fun with Dustin's legs we played with waxing my arm which worked great. My friend Soranlly dabbled in the wax a bit with her face. It worked great. The best results were when we used the cotton tee. So I guess if you are going to wax at home don't give those old tee's away, save then for a little waxing action. 

I would love to hear your experiences with this recipe or one of your own!


TABATA

Later this afternoon I am going to be attempting a new tabata routine. What is tabata? Well I'm so glad you asked. I don't want to scare you by saying that I read in a SHAPE article tabata is the hardest exercise you will ever do in your life. It's only 4 minutes, what can be so hard. Apparently it's 4 minutes of 100% maximum intensity. Basically you do 20 seconds on 10 second rest repeat for 4 min. You can choose in the beginning to do just one exercise and then build up to 6. I'm going to do a total body tabata workout and will share the results with you most likely in the morning. I say in the morning because I want to know how my body is going to feel. Wish me luck!

Tasty Tuesday!

For the most part we try to eat well and have healthy treats laying around the house. But every once in awhile you need something sinful. I make what I've been told "world famous" rice crispy treats. The only thing that makes mine different is the use of the marshmallows. Well aren't they a;; made with marshmallows? Of coarse, but I have my own twist. By the way mallows are considered clean and kosher. I make my treats with the same traditional recipe. 3 Tbl butter, 1 package marshmallows, and 6 cups of Rice Crispies (I use the generic brand, less expensive with the same taste.

I like to use seasonal marshmallows. This time the victim was the Easter themed mallows. Ok, now on to my trick which I originally saw at Starbuck's. What I do is once I have the treats mixed up I then pour in more mini mallows and stir them into the treats . This way you are getting whole mallows in every bite. It not only tastes good but looks good too. It's also fun to add food coloring to the treats when your mixing. For example at  Halloween I will put orange coloring then once mixed stir in whole mini white mallows. They look great and have always been a crowd pleaser. I would love to hear your ideas on how your you make your rice crispy treats original......Enjoy!

Happy Sunday!

Well, Good Morning. This is my favorite time of day, dawn. It's a little light out but not too much. The air is brisk and everything is quiet except all the little birdies and geese wandering through our yards. Oh and I must not forget the wonderful smell of hot Joe making it's way throughout the house. Yes I love dawn.

Today is the final weigh in date for my "Eat Your Heart Out" experiment. The instructions for the diet reads you will lose 10lbs in 7 days. Ummmmm, I lost 8lbs. I started at 151 and final weight is 143. I followed the program exactly. Feeling a little frustrated right now since I didn't lose the full 10lbs if not more. But hey 8lbs is 8lbs and I lost it quicker than I would have not trying the experiment. I'm also constipated so maybe those extra 2lbs would have come off if I could just have a BM! Throughout the whole week there were times I felt like I was starving myself. Like Banana yogurt day, I just never felt full. I don't think this is a bad diet but I do think it should be used for specific circumstances. That being if you need to lose a quick 10lbs for a particular reason. My personal opinion is to just eat clean and incorporate some sort of exercise and you will lose the weight without depriving yourself of certain foods that not only taste good but are also good for you. Again that's my personal opinion. If you shall decide to take on this venture then (in my best British Voice) "may the odds be ever in your favor". I am anxious to hear your personal reults!

Now, on to an experiment I read about and was eager to try with the minions. I really wish I could give kudos to the person I read this from. I'm assuming it was from Pinterest and from what I'm learning from Facebook responses this is nothing new. Well it's new to the crazy Cooke household. All we did was try to make popcorn from kernels in a lunch bag. Oh, in the microwave of coarse. Please do not try on the stove. That's just a recipe for disaster and a visit from the fire department. Here's how it went......

It was a success! I also think this is healthier than the oil on the stove top method. You have nothing in the bag except the kernels. And by the way it doesn't matter if you use white or yellow corn. Also, they are both gluten free. I brag about the healthiness of this method but than you can add whatever topping you wish which may take away from the healthiness a bit. Some Cooke family favorites are butter, Parmesan, Stevia,
salt and my daughters favorite the Nacho flavored sprinkles made to top your popcorn off.

We attempted a DIY bird feeder. I discovered this project from totallygreencrafts.com. I made the bird feeder with my 3 year old daughter Phoenix. She had a blast cutting the paper and gluing to the carton. Now our version was a milk carton, construction paper, rubber cement and twine. I just lathered the carton up with rubber cement and Phoenix stuck all her paper pieces where ever her little heart desired. Now the original instructions on totallygreencrafts.com recommend using some kind of lacquer to spray over the paper to protect it from the elements. Not having lacquer in the house I again used the rubber cement to cover the paper once it was applied to the carton. I cut the hole for the birdies to get into the food and made the holes on top for the twine to hang from the tree. Phoenix poured the birdseed in and TADA it was ready to hang. We didn't want to hang it too high so we can easily refill it. Also we're hoping the squirrels don't get greedy and take away from the beautiful birds we get to watch from inside the house.

Here's to a good Sunday with your family and friends! Today we will be making my version of rice crispy treats. I can't wait to share them with you tomorrow.

Yummy Apple Dip

 Happy Hump Day!! Let's start with a dip I was inspired by Skinny Ms. to make. I used.....

• 16 oz Greek Yogurt (not shown, silly me)
• 1 scoop Chocolate Protein (provides energy for active lifestyles, yes kids too)
• 1/2 cup Peanut Butter (Packed with nutrition and just yummy)
• 2 squeezes of the bottle of Honey (Natural sweetener)

I mixed all the ingredients at once with a hand mixer. My 18 year old son Dustin was my taste tester. It took a few attempts to get the final product. Once complete it complimented the apple slices quite well. I had never seen my 3 year old daughter eat so many apples in one sitting. Ok, so she really only had one and a half apples. Any way they loved it. Now, based on personal preference you may like the dip less or more sweet. If less, omit the honey. If more, add a couple packets of Stevia. And TADA!

 
Today was day 4 of the "Eat Your Heart Out" experiment. I weighed in this morning at 145, that's 6 lbs! The menu for today consisted of 8 bananas and 8 glasses of skim milk or weight watcher yogurt if you don't care for milk. Thank goodness, I despise milk unless it's with cereal or cookies. I went to 3 different stores and could not find the weight watchers yogurt. So, I just substituted with Light and Fit. Not only was it tasty but
the nutrition facts are actually better than weight watchers. Tomorrow I hope the scale continues to plunge downward. I will get to eat chicken, turkey and tomatoes. 6 tomatoes to be exact. Also lots and lots of water.

I know I should do a formal disclaimer for my blog but I need to get the kids in bed. Just know that all the products I use for my recipes are not preferential over another and I'm not getting paid to use them. Bottom line, if I have a coupon it gets bought!

Night All XOXO

I am so excited to say I am on day 2 of my "Eat your heart out" experiment! I know, I know I was suppose to start this program on Thursday the 13th. To be quite honest with you I woke up on Thursday with the worst head cold ever. All I wanted to eat was soup, even though I had no taste whatsoever it felt so good on my throat. No, it wasn't homemade soup I would have made if I felt like a normal human that day. It was store bought, but my husband went and got it for me so that makes it almost homemade. Right?

Ok, yesterday was day 1. I was able to eat fruit, fruit and more fruit. Any fruit I wanted except bananas. I started my day by dreadfully weighing myself. The whopping grand total was 151.2, holy cow where did the extra 3 pound since last Thursday come from? I'm blaming it on uhhhh, ya no excuses. Now breakfast was an orange and a glass of water followed by a 5 mile run to kick start my day. The run was my choice it just makes me feel better it clears my head. You are not expected go out and run 5 miles, but, you are encouraged to get in at least 30 min of some type of exercise daily. You can go for a walk and BAM you have your 30 minutes in. This is encouraged not required. Just think the 30 minute effort will help you lose more weight than if there was no exercise at all. Back to the fruit, the rest of the day was filled with watermelon, grapes, apples and oranges. I did feel hungry most of the day. When hunger pangs came down went the fruit.

This morning I weighed in at 148.4. Woo hoo! 3 pounds not to shabby eh. Now day 2, all veggies baby. Oh ya, and 1 baked potato. I get to eat all kinds of veggies fresh, raw or cooked. It is recommended to stay away from starchy veggies like, peas corn and beans. No problemo. My husband even asked for a veggie soup tonight for dinner. I guess that's his way of supporting me. Now the family's soup and my soup will be different of coarse. The family's soup will have chicken stock, and I'm making mine with water. I'm adding everything you can think of, less the starches and the kitchen sink. Since I am able to have veggies again tomorrow I may make a bigger batch of soup. I will use 8 cups of water or more if I need to fully cover the veggies in the pot. The only other ingredients I will add besides the water and plethora of veggies will be  pepper and a little bit of salt. I read that you can use salt and pepper to season your veggies. My personal preference with the salt is not to use too much. I want to stay away from anything that's going to make me retain water. Speaking of water you need to drink lots of it! If you can't stand the water add a lemon slice for a different flavor. Also, you can have green tea. Yesterday I think I had 5 cups of green tea just to break up the monotony of the water.

May the luck of the Irish be with you today! And like your mama always said "eat your veggies"!
 

Thrift Shop - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Zumba with Mallory Hotmess

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Zumba Baby!!
My new addiction. As the infomercial states "ditch the workout, join the party"! So true, you get to shake it like a salt shaker and no one cares how sexy or silly you look. It's just fun. What better way to get in shape than dancing. When I first started I was so worried about how I looked and getting the moves right that I wasn't really doing anything but getting my heart rate up. Don't get me wrong that's a good thing. Yet if you want better results focus less on how you look and more on tightening your core with your moves. Once you start to focus on your core you will notice changes in your body appearance. Good changes! Sexy changes! The Zumba classes around here I live cost around $7-$10 a class. Not cheap when you want to do this 3 to 5 to 7 days a week. SOOO, why not do it for free. I have a cd but for me I like to mix it up a bit, I personally love using www.youtube.com on my smart tv. This is way convenient for me but we didn't always have internet on our tv. I would just pull up www.youtube.com on my computer, plug in a USB cord to the tv and BAM you have internet and a dance party in your very own living room. If you haven't tried Zumba I highly recommend it and don't get me wrong get your bootie into a class now and then. It's a great way to meet fun outgoing people like yourself. I'm posting an example of one of my favorite girls on www.youtube.com.....her name is Mallory Hotmess. She dances to current hits, very energetic and fun. If you want more traditional music just search for Latin Zumba....Now go get your shake on!

Here goes my 1st "experiment"

Ok, so those of you who know me you know I am a Pinterest FREAK! In fact that's were I find most things I love to try.  That is where I found this Eat your Heart Out idea. Well I have been struggling with my weight for some time now, and by sometime I would say for about oh let's be fair and say the past 3 years,since I had our daughter. I am completely exposing myself here and letting you know that today right now after dinner with all my clothes on I weigh 149. I am healthy and for the most part try to always eat clean. Now my vices are sugar and alcohol, well wine. I feel like right when I lose 5 lbs. I smell pizza and gain back 8 lbs. Not really, but you can imagine my frustration. I discussed this 7 day program with my neighbor and friend Soranlly. We decided that being the daredevil I am I will try this first, and if it works she will follow suit. I mean there's no reason two of us need to be running to the a-hum bathroom for 7 days! So I readily volunteered and thought this would be a great kick start not only for my blog but also my waist. I will be shopping for everything tomorrow and will of coarse have an official weigh in and game plan to share with you. Good night for now. Xoxo