So, instead, I'll do a quick week in review.
It's a crazy hot day here in VA today, so the kids and I are hanging out inside with the AC. Patrick has to work late tonight, so he went in late this morning so he could get the grass cut before work. My lord, I love that man! I did some weeding and then got out the weed killer and sprayed the buggers popping up between the cracks in the driveway, sidewalk, flower beds, and over taking the patio. I don't like to use the weed wacker along the fense line because it cuts into the wood, so I try to keep the grass etc dead along the fense line. The kids playground area also needed a good spray of growth killer, so since it was going to be an inside day for us, I went ahead and sprayed everything this morning. I harvested some of the yellow cherry tomatoes and a few green beans and I pulled back and supported some tomato plants.
Since you're undoubtedly wondering, "What is the Team Challenge Group" she mentioned, I'll tell you.
I'm leading a group of family and friends in a health and fitness challenge for the next 90 days. Some of us are using "Les Mills PUMP", which is a weight lifting program from BeachBody, the company that I'm a health and fitness coach for. This is a program that I absolutely ADORE! It's hard as all get-out, but totally customizable because you put the amount of weight you want onto your barbell. And, the set COMES WITH THE WEIGHTS! I bought an extra set so that Patrick and I could do them together. This was the class that I too at the gym when I was a member there, and I wished they had offered it every single day because I loved it so much. I would do spin class, then pump. Or I would do pump, then yoga. I spend 2 hours a day at the gym when the kids were little, and it was glorious!
We're in our first week, and not everyone is doing PUMP. Most members in my group are using the group as an accountability tool to keep them honest. Knowing they need to check in daily and report on their physical activity and eating is what they need.
Since I'm one of those honest salesmen, I wasn't going to keep anyone from being in my group because they couldn't buy the product. Ideally, yes, I need and want the sales, and the tools that come with the program are worth EVERY PENNY, but if I have friends and family in the group who will benefit by my help, by the groups help, and ultimately be healthier, stronger, and happier, then that's just as important to me.
It would be very difficult to do the challenge without being on Facebook, because that's how we communicate. I have set up a "group" in Facebook that allows me to post the information pertinent to each days activities and goals. It's a lot of fun for me to be the coach too. Remember that whole honest salesman thing...well, I can't and won't tell someone to do something that I, myself, wouldn't do. I was that way as a manager too. You'll see me right along beside my employees doing the grunt work too.
This past week consisted of me posting on my personal Facebook page about the upcoming group and looking to see if anyone was interesting in being a part of it. I got several people asking to join. 17 in total! Only 4 of us are doing the official PUMP program. My coach, my husband, a friend of ours, and myself. Everyone else in the group is using us as motivation and accountability, like I said before.
After reading the Transformation Tuesday posts, a friend of mine suggested I spend a day to prepare healthy food for the week. I've heard this as a suggestion several times before but didn't know what that REALLY meant. Was she cutting celery and carrot sticks and putting them in ziplocks in the fridge, was she cooking meals to freeze and nuke later, was she putting raw foods in marinades and cutting veggies for quick supper prep upon getting home at night? Well... Yeah. She was doing all of the above. But 2 of her suggestions really struck a chord with me, and I followed suit.
She suggested taking a family pack of chicken or a pork butt and cooking it in the crock pot with mild herbs until it falls apart. Then, she has precooked shredded chicken or pork to use in recipes throughout the week. She can add it to sandwiches, salads, or use it in tacos or enchiladas, etc. She also passed along a recipe for a black bean and corn salad. She knows how much I love corn, and since it's summer and in season, she knew I'd love it.
I did the chicken in the crockpot. I added dried rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves. We ate it hot that night for supper with rice and peas. Then put the leftovers in the fridge. Plus, we kept the broth, so I have chicken broth to use in other things for the week as well. Patrick cooked the rice in the broth that night, and it was dreamy.
For the black bean salad, I didn't follow her recipe because I'm in my pre-colonoscopy prep-week, and can't have corn as of today, so didn't want to waste what I didn't finish. I soaked the beans over night, then cooked them with bay leaves, dried thyme, and salt the next morning. We had left over grilled bell peppers that I chopped up and added to the cooked and cooled beans. I drizzled extra virgin olive oil all over, added more salt and black pepper, then added a touch of balsamic vinegar. Stir stir stir, taste taste taste. I love the crunch of fresh vegetables, and vidalia onions are in season too, so I diced up half of one into pretty small chunks and added that too. And, when it comes to my black bean refrigerator salads, as I call them, I can't have enough fresh herb, so out to the garden I went. A lot of flat leaf parsley, a little fresh rosemary, sage, oregano, and a good bit of basil and chives. Sort, chop, mix, stir, taste... YUM! Even Conner, at age 5 adores it.
The next day, lunch was a spectacular collection of shredded chicken, bean salad, fresh beets, and grilled portobello mushrooms.
And, as an added bonus, I signed my first coach. This means that I get to teach her how to be an awesome BeachBody coach as well. If I get another coach under my wing, I'll be promoted to "Emerald" which means I'll receive sales from the customers who purchase BeachBody products from the TV infomercials. Everyone who signs up and/or purchases product either online or through the phone gets their own personal coach, and I'll be in the database to receive those customers and help them as well. BeachBody is NOT a pyramid scheme, as I don't get any money from my coaches sales. Their business is their business. My coach doesn't get any money from my sales either. We get points based on how well our team does, and those points add up to prizes etc, but it's not like Pampered Chef or Mary Kay in the realm of the more people you sign, the more money you build from their hard work. And there are no horrible parties! Ugh! I despise the direct sales home parties with a passion. The pressure, guilt, etc... It's brutal.
In addition to all the health and fitness joy, I had my first Etsy sale this week too! A friend of mine bought 2 pint glasses, and she should be getting them today. I'm looking forward to hearing from her. Want to be sure they got to her without breaking, and make sure she likes them.
I got a blow torch this week too and tried using it to melt the edges of the freshly cut glass to get that professional looking rolled edge. This didn't work very well. I ended up shattering more glass than smoothing edges. I'll practice more when it's not over 100 degrees outside. I need a vise grip that I can mount onto something stable to hold the pieces. For this first practice round, I put the pieces on a cookies sheet and placed the cookie sheet inside our outside grill. Some of them worked, some of them did not. Some wine bottles are MUCH thicker than others. I'm starting to learn by feel which ones will cut well and which ones will be a disaster. The same will hold true for melting them as well, I'm sure.
I cut several hurricanes to put in the Etsy shop this past week. I need to get more pint and rocks glasses cut as well. I think I'm out of pint glasses after giving the first set to FunnyGrandDaddy, and selling the other set this week.
I added wooden trays made from pallet wood to the inventory as well. I need to get the pictures together for them, get them posted in my shop, and get more cut and put together. They're beautiful!
The McClellands camped out in the back yard this past weekend too. It was fun. It really was. All 4 humans and 2 gigantic dogs slept in the tent. I bought a tent that could sleep 6, and I'm SO glad I did! It has enough room for the 2 queen air mattresses and room in between for us to play games and walk without stepping on the beds and sleeping bags. We chopped wood, had a nice fire in the fire pit, and grilled our fresh veggie supper on the grill. We ate outside by candle/tiki-torch light, then sang songs and ate dessert of fresh blueberries and grilled peaches drizzled with honey. It really was a great time.
In addition to the events already told of above, we went to the pool, played in the sprinkler, had a water balloon fight with the neighbor, I managed to read another few pages of a book without pictures, and we gave the house a deep clean.
Oh yeah, and the girl-child flushed a bath toy down the upstairs potty, requiring us to enlist the help of our next door neighbor (a plumber) to auger, then pull the toilet to fish out the toy. Which, funny as it is, was a fish. Exactly like this one.
At least she picked a toy that we had a duplicate of, so I could easily let our neighbor-rescuer know what he was looking for.
Hope you all had a fun week yourselves, and hopefully ours will be ever so slightly less exciting next week.
Stay hungry, play with your food, get dirty, and have fun.
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