I'm feeling a little old.....

>> Wednesday, December 30, 2009

.....because I just heard Metallica's "Enter Sandman" on the classic rock station!!!!

You better believed I still rocked out to it though!

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Merry Christmas!

>> Thursday, December 24, 2009

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Christmas! Please remember those who cannot be with us and thank your soldiers! :)

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Cookie Exchange

>> Tuesday, December 22, 2009

This past weekend, Jason & I headed out to College Station to visit our friends Sylvia and Jake. We were also going to Sylvia's 1st Annual Gig 'Em Cookie Exchange. We made Jason & Jake eat cookies and vote. Guess who's husband didn't vote for her cookies? Yeah, mine. Some girls might be disappointed but I'm not. He likes chewy cookies and I could care less whether mine are chewy or not. I made my great grandmother's pomanders (basically rum balls without the rum). I realize that I may be the only one who loves these, but they're more of a sentimental thing for me.

I also made Lime Coolers, which are sugar cookies with lime zest inside and a lime frosting on the outside. Yum. I had tried these at another party (I forgot to take pictures) and I liked them so I decided to try them out again. There's always so many chocolate cookies at these parties so I wanted to break it up some.

We also had Butterballs (kind of like almond flavored pecan sandies):


Jelly cookies:


Chocolate chip cookies:


Oreo truffle balls:


Super Chunky Christmas Cookies and Peppermint Swirl Cookies:

Pecan Praline Cookies:

While we noshed on cookies, we toasted our sugar highs with some AMAZING apple cider and eggnog:

I don't even like eggnog and I thought it was really good. But that cider.....that cider was deeee-lish. It was a Paula Deen recipe. I joked that it was her only recipe that didn't include butter or bacon. Sylvia told me the recipe actually was called Hot Buttered Apple Cider because you're supposed to put a pat of butter into your glass of hot cider. Gross. Glad we skipped that part. At least we know that P. Deen is consistent!

Here's a shot of us all. From left to right: Myself, looking a little too casual, Kim, Dawn with baby Jacob, Sylvia, our hostess, and Ashley.

After counting the votes, Kim's Oreo Truffle Balls won! Yes, Jason voted for them.

Her prize was a couple spatulas and some copper cookie cutters.

Before the night was over, I couldn't resist getting in some quality baby time. Be still, my ovaries.

After some more oohing and aahing over baby Jake, stuffing our faces with a dozen or so cookies and knocking back a few more glasses of cider, the party ended. I came home with lots of cookies to eat.

And I'm not sharing! Ha!

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Confession

>> Tuesday, December 8, 2009

So last week Jason & I began the process of getting our alternative teaching certificates. He's tired of working as an engineer in manufacturing and I'm tired of..........well........sitting at home. The economy is so awful that a freaking MBA graduate can't even get a job. What gives people? Thank you Mr. Obama for "fixing" the job market. And I mean that in the most sarcastic way possible.

Anyway.

So apparently Jason is best apt to teach either high school math or - wait for it - technology. Who the heck ever heard of a technology class? Back when I was in school, it was called shop. And I stayed waaaay away from shop. You wouldn't have caught my fingers coming anywhere near that messy, oily, dirty old shop class. Yuck. But these days, shop has transformed into technology. They go beyond working on engines; they delve into computers and technology and stuff.

So Jason immediately tells them "No way, Jose" (or was her name Rae?) to the technology class. He wants to stick with math and math only. Meanwhile, I'm told that there are no marketing classes taught in our school districts (is this a surprise?) so based on my undergraduate degree, I'm best suited for high school science.

Awesome! I'm totally going to be teaching biology and doing dissections and chemistry experiments and taking physics trips!

What? YOU didn't get to take a physics trip to Houston to see cool stuff? Too bad for you!

Teaching scares both Jason & myself, but we both think it will be a good option for now. Our time off will be the same, we can work on other ventures (i.e. Arctic Concepts) after school and in the summer and we found out that school districts like to hire married couples. Our classes start in late January, so we won't be able to be hired until August by a school district. We both need 30 hours of subbing or observation before passing the final test. I'm starting to get excited about this new path, but at the same time I'm nervous. We both need to find some sort of income to get us through August. Although we have savings that we've been living off of, August is cutting it pretty close. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. You'd think finding a simple job would be easy, but I'm always over qualified. In fact, I was just told that today. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. Please wish Jason & I luck on our new adventure together. :)

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Legs workout

>> Saturday, December 5, 2009

I had changed my workout from the last time I posted, but I got bored with it quickly. I got my new issue of Oxygen magazine in few weeks ago and decided to give their legs workout a try for the next 8 weeks. It's a twice a week leg workout. They gave a sample workout series for the week and I'm trying to follow that. I just finished my third week and it's been a great workout! I'm doing 3 sets of each exercise. Here's the breakdown:

Monday - Leg Workout #1

  • Front Lunge/other lunge variations using 30lb curl bar, 12-15 reps per leg
  • Medicine ball squat using 10lb medicine ball, 15 reps
  • Froggy kick, 10-12 reps
  • Bridge with ball between knees using ~6lb ball?, 12-15 reps
  • Lying medicine ball extension using ~5-6lb ball, 12-15 reps
Tuesday - Back & Chest (all are 12-15 reps)
  • Incline dumbbell press, 15-20lb dumbbells
  • Flat bench fly, 12.5-15lb dumbbells
  • Seated cable row, 55-70lbs
  • Lat pulldown, 55-65lbs
  • Cardio: 45 minutes
Wednesday - Biceps, Triceps & Abs (all are 12-15 reps)
  • Seated incline curl, 15-20lbs dumbbells
  • Preacher curl, 30lb curl bar
  • Skullcrushers, 20-30lb curl bar
  • Overhead cable extension, 30lbs loaded onto cable machine
  • Plank & side planks (hold for 30 seconds to 1 minute)
  • Cardio: 60 minutes
Thursday - OFF!

Friday - Leg Workout #2
  • Cable squat (think I loaded 65lbs), 12-15 reps
  • Leg press, loaded 140lbs (will probably up it), 12 - 15 reps
  • Cable kickback, couldn't find the ankle strap so I had to use the glute machine - loaded 70lbs, 15 reps per leg
  • Lying leg curl, loaded 35lbs, 12-15 reps per leg
  • One-legged bridge, 10-12 reps per leg
Saturday - Shoulders & Abs
  • Side lateral raise, 12.5-15lb dumbbells
  • Dumbbell press, 12.5-15lb dumbbells
  • Leg lifts with medicine ball in hands, 10lb medicine ball
  • Side lifts w/weight plate, using 25lb weight plate
  • Cardio: 60 minutes

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Guilty Pleasure

Listening to the all-Christmas station the entire month of December, only changing the station when - teens and tweens cover your ears - the Jonas Brothers sing.

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