11/02

Say it with me…mod-er-a-tion!

This photo has been making it’s rounds on social media

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and every time it pops up, it annoys the hell out of me!

First off, IMHO, moderation is the key to success. If you can’t eat one small piece of candy without feeling like you need to “work” it off, you may have a problem. If you eat one fun size snickers, it is not the end of the world. You will have enjoyed a piece of candy, realizing that you can have treats here and there and not pay any consequences. You will NOT gain a pound, you will not have fallen off the wagon, you will not have ruined all your hard work!  Remember, you would have to eat a surplus of 3500 calories to gain ONE pound. 3500 calories! To put that into perspective, one fun size snickers is 2.5% of a pound (in layman’s terms, that would be 2 1/2 cents out of a dollar).  Tell me again why I should care about 2.5% of a pound.  Oh right, I shouldn’t.

Secondly, exercise is not a punishment for unhealthy eating! I repeat…NOT a punishment! If you workout to punish yourself, working out will always be just that, a punishment. You should workout because you love yourself and you want to take care of your body as best you can.

Thirdly, if I were trying to work off candy I ate, I would wear my heart rate monitor to decipher how much work needed to be done because depending on your size/weight/age/muscle mass, everyone’s burn rate is different. I could also just take the dog for a walk and probably work off my candy.

This is my take on Halloween candy (or any candy/goodies for that matter). Mindfully have treats. Don’t go overboard, but don’t beat yourself up if you do. Being aware of what you’re putting in your mouth is half of the battle.

And instead of doing these ridiculous exercises, maybe suggest that the whole family do something active together. Go on a hike, a family bike ride, play a game of tennis/basketball, go rock climbing, walk the dog, play hide and seek, etc.

FWIW, according to this stupid chart, I am supposed to do 15 min on Jacob’s ladder and 100 burpee’s.  NOT gonna happen!  I’m going to go into the gym on Monday thinking, “let’s do this!” and get my regular workout in. No punishments. Just taking care of myself! 🙂

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11/01

Kicking off this challenge with an easy post

My kids are 14 and 11.  Any year now they could decide not to dress up and *gasp* not want to go trick or treating. Ever since my youngest was born, we’ve been trick or treating with cousins.  My nephew and son were born 3 days apart (pretty cool since their dads’ are twins ;)) and since my nephew was the first child, it just seemed natural that we’d trick or treat together.  My BIL & SIL have added two more kids since then and it’s been a tradition of sorts to always trick or treat together.

But, we broke tradition this year. 🙁

As the kids get older and have more extracurricular activities, it was bound to happen, but it doesn’t make it any easier.

My husband said to me yesterday, “I don’t like not trick or treating with the other Higgy’s”.  I know, hubs, I know.  I don’t like it either.

It was weird to only walk with 2 kids instead of 5…to walk door to door with a pre-teen and a teenager…to miss the giggles and “wait for me’s” of my adorable nieces as they run to try to keep up with the older kids (something that’s gotten a lot easier through the years!).

*sigh*  There’s always next year!

And, while the kids were bummed to not be with their cousins, it didn’t keep them from getting a buttload of candy.

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My little teenage Princess Leia and Boba Fett.  *thank you daddy for the Star Wars phase*

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Do you know how hard it is to find Star Wars costumes?  Boba Fett was only available online and all the Princess Leia costumes were not only also available only online, but the options sucked.  We ended up just putting one together ourselves.  We scoured the mall one afternoon searching for a white dress that would work (thank you Forever 21!), bought gogo boots at the Halloween store, leia buns on Etsy and made the belt from scratch.

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Hayden was so stoked when people knew who he was.  Everyone recognized Princess Leia, but only a handful of people knew he was Boba Fett.

How was everyone’s night?!  What did you or your kids dress up as?  My kids refuse to let me help with costume ideas so I’m living vicariously through you all with your awesomely creative costumes!

NaBloPoMo November 2014

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10/31

Because I’m so good at challenges

I have heard of NaNoWriMo, but NaBloPoMo?  Brandy, over at Fresh Sugar Photography, posted about NaBloPoMo today and it was impeccable timing.  I was just thinking that I hadn’t posted in awhile and I was annoyed with myself.

Annoyed because I like blogging, but don’t seem to make the time for it.

Annoyed because when I do make the time for it, I sit staring at my laptop, with my fingers on the keys waiting for inspiration to strike…but it rarely does.  Maybe it’s because I don’t post often enough that I feel whenever I do post, it should be something worth reading or something really interesting.  Sadly, my life is not that interesting.  In my busy time, I’m running errands or cleaning, in my down time (most of the time) I’m surfing the internet, reading about essential oils, making lists of things I need to get done, making lists of things I want to get done, binge watching SOA, catching up on my weekly shows.  In a nutshell, I’m really good at wasting time and planning to do things.  😛

Anywho, back on topic! (I’m also really good at getting distracted!)

NaBloPoMo {National Blog Post Month} – Blog every day in November!!

I’m so good at challenges…um, not really…but, challenge accepted anyways!!  😛

Forewarning, my posts may not be super exciting and they will quite possibly be just a photo or a quote some days, but I’m going to really try to write more.  Even if it’s just what I did that day.

Over the course of the month I hope to get better at…

  • scheduling posts instead of flying by the seat of my pants
  • more real writing…talking TO you, instead of sometimes talking at you
  • writing posts faster
  • posting more often…duh

K.  Now, don’t be a party pooper and join in on the fun with me!  You can go to BlogHer to get your nifty NaBloPoMo badge and add your name to the blogroll.

If you decide to participate, please leave a comment so I can make sure I’m following you!

NaBloPoMo November 2014

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