Mommy Musings

Poor Emmy is home with a stomach bug today.  It was yesterday she was sick, and thankfully she seems to be all better this morning.  Still had to keep her home though since she had a fever last night, and while I'm sad she was sick, I'm excited to have another snuggly day with my girls. And as we are on day #4 of cold, damp rain, staying in the house is not  something I am minding today.  I think I shall declare it a pajama day! As of today I am officially out of my salted caramel mocha coffee creamer:(  It is my most favorite creamer ever, but only offered seasonally during Christmastime.  I planned a bit better this year and stockpiled as much as I could in the freezer.  Considering they stop selling it at the beginning of January, that's pretty good in my book.  Now how to convince Skip to get a second freezer just to store enough to last me year 'round....hmm... Last Wednesday something amazing happened.  For the first time in eight months I didn't have to put t

Thanks to Alpine Lace® for sponsoring today's discussion.. It's no secret that I have been trying to ramp up my workouts these days.  Not only is it good for me to get out of the house and have some time to myself, but I am finding a lot of personal satisfaction in constantly pushing myself a little farther with each workout. When I was in college, I went to the gym almost every day.  But after about 20 minutes on the elliptical or bike, I called it a day.  Now as a 31 year-old mom of two, I can work out hard for about an hour a day, and am so close to running five miles at a time...something I never thought I'd be able to do. Personal motivation, encouragement from my family, and good time management have all helped get me to where I am now in my fitness journey.  But another extremely important ingredient I need every day is a balanced snack to help me fuel and or/recover from my longer workouts. Now, we've all seen the pictures of people's post-workout smoothies

If you aren't caught up or aren't a fan of Parenthood {the show, not raising kids} then feel free to skip this post. I'm here to write about why I'm Team Joel and have been since the very beginning. I've seen a lot of hatred towards Joel on Twitter the past few weeks and I could not figure out why.   Julia  cheated.   Julia  lied about it.  So why is Joel the one everyone is blaming? In my life, I believe marriage is forever.  When I pledged my love for Skip, I meant it until the of time, not just until things got hard.  I chose him to be my partner for life, which was not something I entered into lightly.  I truly meant it when I said the words for better or for worse.  Whatever life throws at us, we are going to work through together. However, all that being said, if Skip were to cheat on me {and I include just kissing someone as cheating}, especially if he lied about it, I would be out there.  There are a lot of things I would work through in a marriage, but chea

Thursday March 20 - 2 mile run Friday - 4 mile run Saturday - None Sunday - None Monday - 10 mile bike Tuesday - kickboxing Wednesday - none Weekly Total - 16 miles March Total Miles - 66.2 March workout total -17 It's funny how I really don't think I've been making much progress this month, but then I see my total numbers and I'm super happy I was able to get this much in!!  That's why I think tracking your miles and workouts is SO important and really helps you see the overall picture!  It can show that you really have been doing a lot, even when you don't feel like you have.  It can also show where you've been slacking when you don't realize.  I definitely attribute the fact I have been working out at least 3x a week for the past 16 years to writing down my workouts! How did you do today?

I have seen a few people blogging about the prom, specifically their prom dresses today, so I decided to jump in on the fun!  I went to my senior prom in May of 2001 {wow I'm old}.  I bought this dress for under $100 at Lord & Taylor.  I loved that it was bold, and yet very simple.  I had hoped I would get a lot of use out of it. Well I think I got more than my money's worth on it!  Not only did I wear it to my senior prom, I wore it to lots of other events over the years as well! My senior prom The senior prom at the public school in my town Fall 2001 - college semi formal  I also wore it for the ball at West Point the night before my cousin graduated, but I cannot find pictures from that night anywhere! Spring 2004 - Spring semi in college Fall 2005 - Marine Corps Ball Spring 2007 - Gala dinner for my dad's business Even cooler?  Jennifer Aniston wore the exact same dress  on Friends one episode!  I'd like to think she stole her style from me:) Now who wants to in

I've done a few posts like this before in the past.  Emmy is becoming quite the little budding photographer these days.  As her camera is still awaiting new batteries, she has taken to using her I Phone {my old one she only gets at certain times} to snap some pics.  Not only is she perfecting the art of the selfie, she has also taken to staging shots with her toys!  I just love getting a little glimpse into her world!

I rarely, if ever, do a "weekend recap" post here on the blog.  I'm not opposed to them, it's just that our weekends are usually not very note-worthy.  Skip is normally working more overtime that normal...and the girls and I really just become home-bodies because of that.  It also has been much too cold to do anything more than that, so our weekends are pretty boring. But not this past weekend, it was wonderful  and something I really needed to help get me through this last push of winter.  First off, Skip was home....on a Saturday and Sunday....both of them...all day long.  If you're a cop wife, you know how very rare that is.  I'm pretty sure he hasn't been off on a weekend since well before Christmas.  And yes, I understand that he is off two other days during the week, but with Emmy in school full-time, that means she gets to spend much less time with Skip now.  It's also nearly impossible to try and do things together as a family.  So I was going

Thursday March 13 - none Friday - 13 mile bike / yoga Saturday - None Sunday - 8.5 mile bike / 2 mile run Monday - 2.5 elliptical Tuesday - kickboxing / arms and abs Wednesday - Jillian Michaels 6 pack abs Weekly Total - 26 miles March Total Miles - 50.2 March workout total -14 I still haven't been feeling that great {and will be headed to the doctor this week with some concerns} but I'm super happy with what I was able to get done this week! Hope you all had a a good week!

I'm linking up today with Airing My Dirty Laundry for her Hey, It's Okay Tuesday!  It's Okay: - That I we helped Emmy make a leprechaun trap after she asked us to.  We used to make them in school growing up as well.  I love being able to add in some magic to the every day, and as my grandma was a big fan of St. Paddy's, I felt it was important to go all out this year.  It's also okay if you and your family didn't.  Isn't that great that we all have the choice to parent our own kids? - To be waaaay more excited about the Pretty Little Liars finale than I should be.  Apparently we're finally going to be getting a lot of answers tonight! - To be seriously, seriously, seriously done with this winter.  I'm so glad that we didn't get any snow this past weekend, but these cold temps really need to get out of here. - To be extremely concerned about the fact that they still haven't been able to find this plane, or the 200+ people on board.  I can tr

Happy Monday everyone..and a very happy St. Patrick's Day! Thankfully we're not getting any snow up here today, though the real feel outside is about 9*.  Not quite normal for the middle of March. Needless to say we're still eating a lot of comfort food around here still.  I was going to make the every favorite Spicy Sausage Pasta the other night, but halfway through I realized I was missing a few ingredients.  Not to be deterred, I made a few substitutions and was not only able to save dinner, but came up with something really delicious!  So if you're looking for something quick and easy, come check out my: Cheesy Tomato Pasta Ingredients: -1 medium onion chopped - 3 cloves of garlic chopped {or however much you like - 1/3 - 1/2 cup tomato sauce {homemade or jarred kind is fine} -2 cups of chicken broth -1/2 cup of cream -1 lb pasta -Salt and pepper to taste - 8 oz pepper jack cheese shredded {see, all very similar to the SSP, but without the sausage....or spic