Monday - Cinnamon Blueberry Waffles, Turkey Sausage, Grilled Bananas
Tuesday - Spicy Southern Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans
Wednesday -  Pork Chops, Applesauce, Corn
Thursday -  Taco Night!! (Taco Salad for me)
Friday -  Chicken Fingers, Au Gratin Potatoes, Spinach
Saturday - Lasagna, Garden Salad
Sunday - Loving Leftovers. Spread out a buffet table of all the leftovers from the week’s meals. This means a day-off for the chef!

For a thousand more recipes and hundreds more menu plans, check out I'm" An Organizing Junkie!

Me, oh my, was yesterday a beautiful day or what?!



We reached a high yesterday of 66 and everyone could not be happier!  It was so refreshing to be able to open up the windows in the house and let in the cool, crisp air. Nothing like airing out a once germ infested home from the Winter and virsus's.  Everyone you came into contact with was more upbeat and cheerful. Wherever you looked, people were smiling and enjoying this wonderful break of temps above 30 and the sun beaming down on us.

I loved that when lunch rolled around a collegue and I did what we do every time the weather is nice. We walked.  From our place of employment, down to the park (Yes, we are fortunate to work close by to a park), around the park and back to work again is a total of approximately one mile and thirty minutes. It was and is a perfect way to spend your lunch break. Walking is so rejuvanating for the soul and makes for a more productive afternoon as it boosts one some energy. ;o) Wanna know what made the end of my lunchtime even more magnificant? A surprise text from my dear sister-in-law....



Yup! Lisa came for her Thursday visit to see our home to see Little Bear and took her outback to enjoy the weather. As you can see, Little Bear was quite happy and enjoying herself (and the outdoors) immensely.

I could not wait to get home from work and enjoy the weather with Little Bear. I had informed her in the morning that when Mommy come home from work, provided it was still warm and no crazy wind (like the night before), we would go out for our Mommy and Me walk. She was so thrilled at the prospect. Needless to say, when I came home and after we had Dinner we went out and huffed it around the ol' hood for a good thirty minutes. It would have been longer but it was getting dark out.

On our walk, we explored. We found pockets of rocks and pebbles to take home. A baby acorn and even one of those sticky pine like balls. We enjoyed views of home additions, people out on their porch and children playing in the street. It was relaxing and rejuvanating and it reminded me how much I missed this very special time with my daughter. It's a time that she and I share and share alone. Time to bond. Time to explore. Time to just be! We were sad that we had to go cut our normally hour long walk to just a half hour but before we headed home we took in the view....which we both loved....



Bad pic, sorry! I forgot to bring my camera and this was with my camera phone. Little Bear and I loved this view!!! It was so pretty!! I had to point it out to her at first but then afterwards she would say "Mommy, let's run and catch the pink" How adorable is that?!

Today, they are saying we'll reach close to 70 again. That means another lunchtime walk and another evening adventure with my Little. I don't know about you but I think that's a great way to kick off the weekend! I am looking forward to both!

Are you having Springlike temps in your area? How are you enjoying this wonderful weather? Any special plans for the weekend?

Happy Freebie Friday, everyone! Welcome to another installment of Freebie Friday. Below, please find all the freebies that i've come across via blogs, facebook, emails or the likes over the course of the week. I hope that you will find some of these useful.



Health and Beauty

Origins Plantscription

Food

Philadelphia Cooking Creme
Nescafe Coffee
Burger King Kid’s Meal for Birthday


Entertainment

Great Tasting Healthy Meals Made Simple Recipe Book
The Bible Explains Dinosaurs Audio Download
Kindle Edition of I Love You This Much
Kindle Edition of The 1-2-3 Money Plan: The Three Most Important Steps to Saving and Spending Smart

Home

1,000 free Rollover Minutes from AT&T by texting YES to 11113020 by 3/31/11

And then, of course, we cannot forget about this week’s Freebie Events...

February 18 – 24

19 - Michaels: Turn a T-shirt into a bag, 10 am – 12 pm.


I'll see you here next Friday for another installment of Freebie Friday! Enjoy your weekend and your freebies!

What does this mean exactly? Well, every Friday the wonderful people at Swagbucks increase the rewards on your everyday searches! For today only you will have greater chance of earning larger SwagBucks! You could even win up to 500 SwagBucks! (Just now I earned 3 for searching Blogger to post this. Anything more than 1 or 2 SwagBucks just rocks my socks.). You can also learn more about it from my post here.

If you don't have a SwagBucks account, today would be a great day to sign up! You'll earn 3 SwagBucks just for signing up!

If you hit the 500 SwagBucks you'll have to let me know. I'd be so excited for you.

I don't know about you but sometimes I go through moments where there are a million things I would like to have and more often than not times where I cannot seem to think of a single thing that I would like to buy for myself. Sure, a new pair of pants would be nice but do I really need them? Certainly not. I rather spend my money on my daughter than on myself.  I cannot tell you how many times I went out shopping for a little something for me only to come home with nothing for me and a ton of things for the Little. (It also holds true that when I do purchase something for myself, I feel guilty and have to get something for the Little as well.) I'm sure a lot of Mom's out there are shaking their heads in agreement and chuckling a little. Am I right?


The Christmas before last, I could not think of a single thing to tell my in-laws or husband what I wanted when asked. Last Christmas, I was smarter. I made a list up throughout the year and handed it out when asked. Truth be told, the list was like 22 items long.  Ha! Everyone agreed tho that that happens when you don't purchase things for yourself and that when you plan throughout the year the list can get lengthy. I was told this because truth be told, I felt rather guilty giving everyone a list that long. I felt like I was being spoiled and selfish. Glad to find out I wasn't. But i'm going to be real with ya'll, I also felt a little disappointed after the holiday. Don't get me wrong, I was ever so grateful for what was given to me but there was some things on that list I really wanted and did not receive. I did not buy any of it throughtout the year because a) I would feel too guilty or b) because I needed to give people ideas of what to get me since i'm always sooo hard to shop for.

Currently, I have been doing quite a bit of daydreaming lately. I don't know why but for some reason there is just a lot of things that I would like to have. For example....

I would really like to own a Breville BJE200XL 700-Watt Compact Juice Fountain. But my frugal side of me thinks that this particular item is rather pricey for something I want to purchase just for me. Sure, it's investing in my healthy eatting style. Sure it'll pay for itself quickly because I can guarantee i'd use it at least once daily. Sure, i'd also be making healthy green juices for the Little. But $90.00? That's a big hunk of chump change! To which my mental thinking process continues on to try to find a more frugal alterantive. Which leads me to a Consumer Reports value of the Hamilton Beach 67650 Big Mouth Pro Juice Extractor  Surely, that's the better choice, right? However, it's only saving me $20.00. Sure, the $20 I could spend on something else (like fruits for my juicer) but would it not hurt to just take that $20 and get the better of the two? I would think so...wouldn't you? Still, whether this item is $70 or $90 I still feel that that is an awful lot of money to be spending on something I would want. This particular item wish has been weighing heavily on my mind for almost a week now! Le Sigh.... Maybe my blogger pals can help on this particular item dilemnia?

Other items I've been daydreaming about and adding to the ol' Wish List are....

This NEXT TiaraPro 24" Girls' Bike. (Which happens to be one of the items on my Christmas list that I did not get.) Both Little Bear and Poppa Bear have bikes. Poppa Bear bought himself a bike last year (with goals to pedal to and from work at least 2x a week after he builds up his stamina with practice last and this year)and we purchased Little Bear one for Christmas. I would really like to have family bike rides this Spring/Summer and am looking forward to it. However, I do not own a bike yet. This is the one I would like to own. The reviews are great and when I tested it out at the store I found out it was perfect for me. Which leads to the next item...

A Sunlite Cloud-9, Bicycle Suspension Comfort Saddle, Comfort Gel Ladies, Tri-color Lycra to go with the bike above. Let's face it, the bikes on these el' cheapo bikes are not comfortable! One of my besties, Genie, just bought this partiular seat and loves it. I always listen to her recommendations because they have never steered me wrong. (Love you, girl!)

I would also love, love, love the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor  With nearing the end of my Girls Gotta Move 5k training program I'm going to be doing a lot more outdoor running and a lot less treadmill running. It'll be far too nice outside to be inside on the the treadmill. This handy, dandy gadget will be a very resourceful and useful tool for me as I continue my running endevours - especially since I plan to complete my first 5k this year (and hopefully a few more!).

I also need new cross-training/walking sneakers. I refuse to wear my running shoes for daily walks and cross training workouts. That's putting mileage on my running shoes and I'm not having that.(After all, running shoes are NOT cheap and I prefer to get the maximum useage out of them, thankyouverymuch.) With the Springlike weather we've been having, I take afternoon walks at lunch and then another walk in the evening with the Little Bear. This Momma needs some cross-training/walking sneaks.

Hm, am I seeing a pattern with my wish list here?

A few more things on my list are...

The Rubbermaid 2856049 Rubbermaid Reveal Microfiber Spray Mop because I am sick and tired of getting down on my hands and knees to scrub my floors. I had the swifter and hated it. The stupid wax would build up on my laminate/pergo flooring and I'd end up having to get on my hands and knees anyway. Enter the Shark Steam Mop and well, that did not live up to it's name either. All that thing did was push my dirt to the edges of my flooring requiring me to take a rag and go around the edges and pick them up. It also left a dull finish. Not good! I heard exceptional things about the Rubbermaid 2856049 Rubbermaid Reveal Microfiber Spray Mop and I want to try it. I like the fact that it comes with it's own cleaning agent container - where you can use any cleaner (chemical filled or natural cleaning products) you so desire. That saves on money (and the environment should you chose). Also available for purchase is the  Rubbermaid Inc 1M20-00-RED Reveal Dry Dusting Microfiber Pad . This works out great because I need that kind of attachement for Little Bear's room.

I've also been daydreaming about the Kindle and the Nook Color. Yup, I would love to own an e-reader but just the thought of the cost of such an item sends my head spinning into those thoughts that I have when thinking about the juicer - tho these thoughts also lean more on the frivilous side for this item. The thing with e-readers that i've been hesitant with is the fact that I love to go the local library. The books are free and just the whole adventure of going to the library, hunting for the perfect one, etc etc awakens my spirit and is so lively and thrilling. Having an e-reader, you loose that experience. Also, from what I am gathering, books aren't exactly free on the e-readers. And what about borrowing books? From what I am reading, the e-readers are still working on perfecting this. And how does these e-readers work with your local library - if at all?! I just dont know but the thought of having one would be nice. Then again, that might just be me seeing everyone having one and wanting one for just that reason. Ha!

Hm, I thought this list was a lot longer than that but apparently it's not. However, there are some pricing items on this list so that's probably why. Ha!! So, that's what i've been daydreaming about lately. How about you?

Have you been daydreaming of any special items you've been wanting to purchase? If so, what? Do you forsee yourself making this purchase soon and if so, why not? And this one's for the Momma's ... Do you have the same mental thoughts and battles within yourself about personal purchases for yourself? What's your take on it?

Working out at home has it's perks. For starters, it can be quite cost effective. Some gym memberships cost hundreds of dollars a month. Add a year's worth of monthly dues and well, for that price you could have bought all the equipment you need (or at least a good portion of it) for your own gym at home (provided you have the space of course)

Another great reason for working out at home is that it's great for those colder months. Let's face it, who likes to travel out in the blustery cold, Winter months? Let alone going out there to travel to the gym. I don't know about you but I certainly dont. Oh hey! Look, another cost factor..you save on gas because you're not traveling to and from. ;o)

One of my favorite reasons for working out at home is that my gym is always open. I can exercise at 4am or 11pm if I so chose. It's always there waiting for me with open arms. No excuses! I was once notorious for getting up in the early AM and working out in my jammies!! (of course ive since graduated to more technical wick absorbing gear. Ha!) This reason, however, also makes it quite difficult if you lack motivation or discipline. It can be quite tempting to find reasons not to or to get side tracked with errands, chores, etc.

Of course there are some downfalls to having a home gym.  For starters, it can get quite costly buying equipment to build your gym with the required tools. It also means that you will need the required space for said tools.  Or, you could be like us and fit it in where you can.....



That there above is what I like to call my "cardio corner" (Forgive the rubbermaid containers..they obviously are not cardio equipment..ha) in our basement. It looks awful and cluttered but it's really not that bad. Our treadmill fits just nicely in that corner. And once Poppa Bear gets his "big tool" out of there and Little Bear's bike, well, it is much more open in front of the ol' treadmill. There was a time where this whole section was open and clear (minus my gym equipment) but the Poppa Bear always manages to use that "free" space for other things. Le sigh.....

Alas, I make due with what we have. As long as it gets the job done and I can work around/with it then I'm okay with it. I don't have much room in this area. I can do my cardio on the ol' treadmill and the TV is equiped with a DVD player for videos and such. However, I dont have much space in front of the treadmill for that so I go back a bit and to the right - in front of the washer and dryer actually (about where that ol' club step is) - to get the DVD jobs done. Which brings me to this key point...in front of (and to the side of) the treadmill is prime real estate for weights....



The Poppa Bear and I have quite a few more weights than this. We actually have quite a bit, however, it's upstairs in the spare bedroom/office/gym space. This is the space where the majority of the weight training happens.....



You'll have to forgive us and the clutter that is surrounding. Again, i've cleaned this room out quite a few times but the Poppa Bear seems to just start taking those free spaces and using them for storage. *eye roll*

In one of the corners of this room above, I have my "yoga corner."  It just consists of all my yoga equipment, readily available, for when i'm ready to practice. (Ok, so my knee sleeves are in there too. I needed a place to store em and this basket serves the purpose well)



As you can see, we have gym equipment in all areas of the house. Take this pull up bar on the ol door frame of our spare bedroom/office/gym space for example.



Then, of course, we have some fitness dvds, some ankle weights, 3lb. dumbbells, etc. in the Play Room. You know, in case I want to exercise and have to keep an eye on Little Bear. In which case, she exercises with me and enjoys it immensely.



As you can see, we don't necessarily have a home gym area persay but we do have a home gym. Make sense? Ideally, Poppa Bear and I want to clean out the basement and have half of it his tools, etc. area while the other half be our 'gym' and laundry/storage area. We get it that way for maybe a month or two but it always gets all cluttered up and then next thing you know the weight training goes back upstairs and my cardio, well, it's too big to obviously transport. Ha! Eventually, it'll all be designated but for now, it works for us! Sure, there is still a lot of equipment that we need (and some that are still stored because they are not in use right now) but this does it job and makes us both happy.

Do I miss working out at the gym? Sure! I miss the energy and vibe that everyone feeds off of. I miss working out with my commerads and having small competitions. I miss weight training in the gym. Nothing beats a good weight session like one at the gym. Something about it that a home gym just wont do for me. I really, really miss the classes (primarily spin!!) but realistically, it's not doable for me, right now. The classes offered are only available when i'm not and the opening hours don't work for me if/when I switch to early am training. Right here, right now, it's my home gym and i'm okay with that - whether it's in the basement or in the spare bedroom/office/gym space. LOL!

How about you? Do you have a home gym? If so, do you have a designated space? or is it all over the house like us? Prefer to workout at home or in the gym? Why?

It's that time again...Weekly Check In's with the Sisterhood. Wow! Has a week gone by already?! Time is moving too fast! I need to step up my game. Ha!

Here's my check in/recap for this week. Overall, it wasn't too bad.  Here's the low down.....

1. Wednesday through Tuesday I was finally overcoming my bronchitis so the meals were hit or miss with following my normal eatting at about 90%.
2. Wednesday through Tuesday I regret to inform that my hydration on water intake was pretty much out the window. I was lucky to drink 60ounces in a whole day. Blah!
3. Wednesday through Tuesday Due to the bronchitis, I rested!! I don't mess with my lungs. They need oxygen. I did restart my 5k training this week on Monday.  I did very well with no complications or signs to stop. I actually performed better than I had the week before I fallen ill. 
4. Weigh In....No Loss. No Gain. That's okay with me. 

  How did your week shape up to be?

That's right..I think I've finally kicked that bronchitis to the curb...for both and me and Little Bear. No, scratch that...we did kick it to the curb!! Thank goodness!!!

So, I know it has been a little quiet over here and not so chatty about my daily happenings. Sorry about that but when im sick, well, im sick. Ha! I dont have much energy or motivation to do anything. I was lucky I was making it into work. Ha! But it's gone so we can resume our regularly scheduled programming. ;o)

Let's see, where to start? Hmmm.......

Well, gosh. A week's worth of happenings seem to be a lot to catch up on. How about I just dive right into the nitty gritty of yesterday? You know, Valentine' Day!! or as I like to tell Little Bear Love Day (thanks for the inspiration of said name Stephanie )

Our Love Day morning started off on the right foot. We decided to give Little Bear one out of her three gifts early. She was feeling artsy fartsy and so we thought this gift would be a good one to give her now so that she could enjoy it all day while we were at work...





It's a reusable sticker album and as you can see, quite happy to have one! (Hey! Have ya'll noticed that you cannot find any of the "good" toys that we had when we grew up around?!? I could not find one of these ANYWHERE). One seller on ebay had them...it's a 5x7 not like the 8x10s we were used to. and the sad part, the pages were only one sided reuseable (she did not specify in the description which kind of upset me). It even came with a whole boatload of stickers that she got to use for her album. She loved it!!!

After showering her with this wonderful delight it was off to work I go.  What a pleasant surprise that after two hours of being at work, and two flower deliveries later that I was called to the front desk. What did my wondering eyes appear....



A bouquet of my all time favorite flower...Stargazers!! Here's the kicker, they did not come from the Poppa Bear (He has told me since Day 1 of us dating that he does not do flowers. They are a waste of money. He rather spend money on gifts i'd want/need like, oh, i dunno, a new toothbrush, shoes or purse. Ha) This beautiful arrangment came from a very close, very dear friend. =) It was such a sweet sentiment that I actually cried. LOL! I'm a dork, I know.

I don't know about you, but this flower arrangement reminded me how much I love having live foliage in my office. Pretty flowers brighten your day and your environment. They also make your office smell SUPERB! Once these decease, I think i'm going to make sure to purchase myself an arrangement once a week (even if it's a single bud flower in my single vase) or perhaps get a plant for my office also (But what plant requires no sunlight? my office doesnt have any windows!)

Anyway, I could not wait to get home so that Poppa Bear and I could give Little Bear her Love Day gifts! When I came home and got settled in, I immediately went to the office and took care of my procrastination with wrapping said gifts. When I came downstairs, the look on her face was priceless. She knew they were for her. 



We gave her our gifts and then she was off....















She loves, loves, loves Tinkerbell and owned all the movies bu tthe first one. Now, she has all of them.  Of course we had to get her a new book "I Love You Through and Through" such a cute little book! Needless to say, she was one loved and happy Little Bear. I had to immediately read her the book followed immediately by putting the DVD in the dvd player. Ha!

And before ya'll ask where the chocolate is in this post, well, PopPop and MomMom made it a point to stop by Sunday afternoon to give Little Bear their gifts. One of them was a huge chocolate Hershey Kiss. She seemed to enjoy the few bites immensely...





I tried to capture the "chocolate face" but she was being a little too difficult. Ha!

As for the Poppa Bear and me, well, we just had a nice little dinner together after Little Bear went to bed. His gift to me was a new Philips Sonicare toothbrush since mine, after seven years, bit the bullet this weekend. (As in, too much mildew and crap in the base between the head and motor that I was unaware was there until I took it apart to put in a new head. I did not even know that saliva, etc. could get in there. It immediately went into the trash.). My gift to him was a new pair of Sketcher sneakers for his workouts.

To cap off the night, I decided that I was well enough to resume my Girls Gotta Move 5k training program.  I went into the training with the intention that if my lungs were not ready I would quit but also if my lungs were ready but still alittle week I would take it down a notch (ie, start back with workout one in the week that I completed last..in other words, redo week 3's training) Folks, I'm here to tell you that I did not have to do that. After 10 minutes in I realized I was going to be able to finish Week 4, Workout 1's training. It required 30 minutes of Run for 4/Walk for 2. I did take the pace a little easy at times...The walking segments were at a 3.6 and the running was started at 5.0-5.2 segments but ended up being in the 5.5-6.0 for the second half.  After my workout I felt GREAT!!!!!!!! My lungs showed no signs of weakness or crude. My stamina actually was, dare I say, better than before I got sick. Yayaya!!



My knees are starting to act up tho so I think i'm going to look into a podiatrist and see if I need some orthotics. I already know I am wearing properly fitted running shoes. If the orthotics prove to work, great. If not, I'll look into an Ortho and see just how bad these meniscus tears I have in my knees really are. For the most part, when I wear the knee sleeves when I run i'm okay and they dont bother me so much but last night they were agitated a bit. Is it because I had a week off? (Also, I had been wearing my KSwiss sneakers all last week. They have no arch support and I found that after wearing them for a week - even tho i wasnt running, my knees were starting to ache) I don't know but it doesn't hurt to look into orthos to see if maybe that will help or if I need to take it a step further and actually see an Ortho.

Alrighty, well, I think i've left ya'll with enough of a lengthy post for today. Ha!!! So, I'll end on this note...

How was your Valentine's Day? Do you have any special tradtions for this holiday in your family? Do you and your significant other exchange gifts or keep it low key?

Monday - French Toast, Turkey Sausage, Grapefruit
Tuesday - Beef Pot Pies, Buttermilk Biscuits (Did not make last week)
Wednesday -  Pork Chops, Applesauce, Green Beans
Thursday -  Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Corn
Friday -  Chicken Fingers, Stuffing, Asparagus
Saturday - Homemade Macaroni and Cheese, Buttermilk Biscuits (Did not make last week)
Sunday - Loving Leftovers. Spread out a buffet table of all the leftovers from the week’s meals. This means a day-off for the chef!

For a thousand more recipes and hundreds more menu plans, check out I'm" An Organizing Junkie!

Happy Freebie Friday, everyone! Welcome to another installment of Freebie Friday. Below, please find all the freebies that i've come across via blogs, facebook, emails or the likes over the course of the week. I hope that you will find some of these useful.


Health and Beauty

Maybelline New York FIT ME Makeup
Bayer Aspirin
Vaseline Intensive Rescue Lotion

Food

Crunchy Beef Taco from Taco Bell
EAS Product

Entertainment

LeapFrog Tag Book
Working Mother Magazine Subscription
Thriving Family Magazine Subscription
Heart of Stone Kindle Book
Redbox Rental on Valentine’s Day with code BEMINE
Printable Disney Valentines

And then, of course, we cannot forget about this week’s Freebie Events...

February 11 – 17

12 - Michaels: Create a Valentine’s Day Photo Frame, 10 am – 12 pm.

12 - Borders: Silverlicious Fun – games, crafts, and more, 2 pm.

12 – Lowes Build and Grow Clinic: Make a Music Box, 10 am – 11am.

12 - Pottery Barn: Doll Tea Party, RSVP required.

I'll see you here next Friday for another installment of Freebie Friday! Enjoy your weekend and your freebies!

I absolutely adored this book so when the movie came out, well, I just had to watch it. Tho it was a bit dissapointing I still enjoyed it. We had rented it on the ol' Netflix but after watching it I had agreed that it was a must-have in my DVD collection.  That is why I was so excited to hear about this deal at Kmart this week!

This DVD is on sale this week for only $10.00 but after a coupon and a rebate we can get the price down to $2.00. $2.00 people! How awesome is that?! Of course you'll have to purchase a pasta sauce also but no worries, I have a coupon for that too!

Eat Love Pray, DVD $10.00
$4.00/1 – Eat Love Pray on Director’s Cut Blu-Ray or DVD – (coupons.com)
$4.00 Mail in Rebate when you buy Eat Love Pray AND 2 Classico Pasta Sauces
Use: $1.00/1– Classico Sauces, 44oz Jar – (classico.com)
Pay $6.00, Receive $4.00 Mail in Rebate

Final Price: $2.00, plus the cost of Pasta Sauce

Enjoy and Happy Savings!!

What does this mean exactly? Well, every Friday the wonderful people at Swagbucks increase the rewards on your everyday searches! For today only you will have greater chance of earning larger SwagBucks! You could even win up to 500 SwagBucks! (Just now I earned 3 for searching Blogger to post this. Anything more than 1 or 2 SwagBucks just rocks my socks.). You can also learn more about it from my post here.

If you don't have a SwagBucks account, today would be a great day to sign up! You'll earn 3 SwagBucks just for signing up!

If you hit the 500 SwagBucks you'll have to let me know. I'd be so excited for you.