My digs

So, I was randomly sitting in my office eating my breakfast, and then I glanced over at a picture of the kids. And then I missed them. This happens every couple of months, where I think to myself “Gosh, I wish I could be a stay at home Mom, and greet them after school each day, and make nutritious snacks and we would catch up about the day sitting at the kitchen table over some homework." And I snap back to reality. I love my job! Yes, I love my kids too… obviously. And I do miss them throughout the day, like my most parents. But would I really trade my job (and the money) to stay home all day and tend to their needs? And the housework! Because you know as a SAHM, there are expectations right? The house will be clean, laundry is caught up, dinner is ready when the hubs comes home, etc. But that shit doesn’t happen either. And then I would probably be stressed about not reaching that expectation and then it would snowball into me sipping wine from a box in the afternoon just to escape the madness! Lol  So, instead of whining about wishing I could blow this joint today and play hooky, I instead decided to share what my office looks like, since this is where I generally post my blog entries, early in the morning before I begin my day. It’s so quiet here! (much different than at home).

Love post-its! Thanks Romy and Michelle!!

My view... such a nice day, eh? See why I want to play hooky!?

Still selling cookies... Anyone need some??

A quote from a co-worker ... LOVE it

Another good one!

Need a pen? I apparently hoard them.

The rugrats I was missing this morning... they look so sweet huh? Dang teenagers.

Mmmm, my breakfast. Plain oatmeal...clean eating, right?  #ratherhaveadonut

Happy Wednesday!

Side note... do you ever open your photo album on your phone up, and get greeted with about 20 random pictures like the one above?? My kids do this ALL the time. I actually love it... You never know what you're gonna get...and then it just makes me miss them more. :)

Have a splendid day friends!
xoxo - SR

February's almost over??!

Happy Monday… well, that’s what you’re supposed to say at the beginning of each week. But Monday’s generally suck, right? … so.. yeah. 

Our weekend was good! We got so much accomplished (YAY!) and there was no teenage drama (EVEN BIGGER YAY!!!) Altough, my Friday started off rough, so I was nervous about the weekend. I got rear-ended Friday, while on my way to have lunch with Becca. It was by a co-worker too! Neither one of us was hurt, so that was good … but our cars don’t look too hot. I need a new bumper, and she needs a lot more than that. :(

Friday night Emilee had a band lock-in, so she was out until midnight. Becca crashed at a friend’s house, and the rest of us went and grabbed some dinner. Ashlee and I then curled up and actually watched a movie! I LOVE to watch movies… it is one of my most favorite things to do. And since the little guy came around, I have not seen too many. But Brian was kind enough to keep Bubs happy and I finally watched The House At The End of the Street.

 

Really good movie! I bought it a while ago, and JUST now opened the package. So sad. Lol Saturday, got up early and had the busted up car detailed and then ran around picking up the various kids from their activities. (If you want to call Dhall an activity) I had an eye appt, and then sold girl scout cookies in front of the most ghetto supermarket in our area. It was entertaining but not where I wanted to be on a nice Saturday afternoon. In between all of that I squeezed in the grocery store too. Yeah, I was BUSY. But like I said, productive. Sunday was mostly around the house stuff. Bri and I decided to try our hand at recycling an old dresser and turn it into more of an entertainment center. We’ll see what it looks like when I am all done. J Oh, I also made those little no bake energy balls. They turned out AMAZING!! So good!

So, I am beginning the 30 day Jillian Michaels challenge… again. Lol I will DO it this time! We have a good support group through IG so that should be fun to keep up with. I am also going to be doing the Advocare cleanse beginning March 4^th, with the ML Fit Campers. Excited to be doing that, finally! I hear nothing but good things so I can’t wait to see my results!

Here are some pics of our weekend. Take care ya’ll!

Still fascinated with Q-Tips.

Little man is getting a clubhouse!

My new favorite snack! Caramel corn rice cake and small smear of Natural PB.

 

xoxo - SR

Sleeping like a baby and my girl baby is 12!? How'd that happen?

It feels like forever since I have posted. So, where did I leave off? …. Oh yeah, Valentine’s Day. I had intentions of sweating at the gym but instead went home to my sweetie where we dined on a heart shaped pizza with the kids, and I may or may not have opened up a sleeve of these:

Don't know if you can tell, but they're HALF gone! And the baby had some. Sooo... yeah.

 

Yeah, those are Thin Mints. I hate girl scout cookie time. Why? Because I eat these like it is my last meal. They’re just SO good… right out of the freezer, and conveniently small enough to pop in your mouth as you walk by the fridge. *sigh* Oh well. It is what it is. J

 Anyway, the weekend was full but pleasant. We had minimal teenage drama, so that was nice. Emilee’s birthday was Sunday and we began celebrating with her with a sleep over Saturday night. We had good food, and they did girly things like paint their nails and watch movies. We actually saw on Pinterest where you could open up a glow stick, and add the “juice” to clear polish for glow-in-the-dark nails. It actually worked really well! They then trashed the back yard with silly string and devoured obscene amounts of sugar. Pixie sticks, Air Heads, Cookie Cake… oh yeah, throw some Mountain Dew in there… they had a blast and it was so nice to watch Em smile and giggle with her friends.

 

We spent the rest of the long weekend shopping. Huzzabin and I bought a new bed… a super nice Temperpedic. It was a little piece of heaven last night, crawling into that thing! I love new sheets, don’t you? And once you buy new bedding, well then you need new lamp shades, and curtains, and pictures for the wall. Ha Ha… But it is all worth it to have a small retreat of our own to go to at the end of the night.

 

On the fitness front, I am continuing with my clean-ish eating. I am still hitting the gym as often as possible, and even went on a small run /walkthis weekend (ok, mostly walk but I ran SOME!) while Em tried out her new bike she got for her birthday. I know swimsuit and short season is around the corner (and in Texas, that could be tomorrow for all I know!) so I am determined to keep at it and feel completely comfortable in that bikini. 57 more days until our cruise!! Woot Woot!

Grilled chicken breast, small salad with balsamic spray, carrots and an apple.Yummo!

So, as I bid you farewell, here are a couple of my favorite things today. Happy Humpday!

little baby elmo feet



little baby batman

little baby's show that allows Momma to check IG and Facebook each night :)

Caffeine free - calorie free ... it's basically water, right?

Great buy at ULTA for a UV free color boost

xoxo - SR

A broken foot and a plan to poop away the pounds

Happy Pre-Valentine's Day!
I love all holidays. I like to decorate and buy special treats. And I love pink, so I am a fan of Valentine's Day. However, once you have kids, the "romance" part of this holiday seems to go to the curb. There isn't time for the nice dinners, or the petals and candles leading to the bedroom... What we have now is a rushed card opening, and if we are lucky we get to go grab something quick to eat. (Just so that I don't have to cook) Kids change everything! But I do like living vicariously through my friends though, and hearing their plans and seeing their tokens of love.

So this morning began with an early doctor's appointment for Rebecca's foot. She's our athlete and is always hurting somewhere. So when she began to complain about the ache in her foot, we chalked it up to her normal aches and pains. Well this weekend it ended up swelling quite a bit and was more painful so we went and saw an orthopedist and sure enough, she has a stress fracture on her 2nd metatarsal. So, she is down for the next month at least and will miss her last basketball game and won't get to do track this year. I feel a little bad for dismissing her pain but am glad she is doing better today. She even walked away with a lovely boot!

I also got my Advocare cleanse packet last night after Nightclub Cardio, and will start that on Monday. I do NOT want to start this thing over Valentine's Day! I want some food, dang it! But in preparation for it, I have been eating cleaner and have dropped 8 lbs in two weeks. So I am pretty stoked about what this cleanse will do! I am craving bad stuff though, ya'll. Today I had my salad and balsamic spray (boring) and followed it up with an apple and a pretend candy bar. Yeah, you read that right... a pretend one. I stole my husband's sugar free double chocolate pudding cup and threw some almonds in it. It sounds weird, but I thought it might taste like a Hershey bar with almonds. Sadly, it did not... but it jazzed up my otherwise snooze-worthy lunch.

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day! I can't wait to see and read all about it tomorrow!!

xoxo - SR

Teenagers suck ... and other weekend news

Sorry for the long week and no posts but life in the Ransom household has been worrisome and exhausting this week. Raising kids is hard work, we all know that. But I severely underestimated the effort and heartbreak that would come with raising teenage daughters. The reasons why are for another time but just know that I am happily accepting prayers and positive thoughts…always!

So with that said, our weekend was overshadowed with teenage drama. But we did try and make the most of the two measly days off. My Mom moved out, and into her own apartment this weekend! Woot-woot! I am happy for her. It’s a super cute place and it’s all hers! So she should feel much better with that little bit of independence back. It’s also literally right down the road from us, so it will be convenient for her to get to our house each morning to watch the baby.

Saturday night we took the kids to dinner and then to enjoy some ice cream. Yep .. Marble Slab. We don’t do it too often, but my gosh… it is SOOO good. My favorite (and what I get 99% of the time) is sweet cream with cookie dough. If you have never had Marble Slab, it is an ice cream place, and you pick the “mix-ins” to go into it. (cookie dough, candy, fruit, etc) Then it gets all mixed up on an ice cold marble slab. So delish!

 

 

 

Sunday wasn’t too exciting either, just the usual errands and such. We did get Braeden a hair cut… and as usual there were tears. But he cheered up soon after receiving the magic “stop-a-crying-kid” Dum Dum.

 

It tastes better than it looks!

I also whipped up, what I hope will be a yummy protein heavy side dish for my daily salad lunch. I have amped my work outs up a notch, and noticed I was starting to feel sluggish. So I found a few recipes for simple proteins, being that I am not one to eat tons of veggies. So, I sautéed some chicken breasts with a little olive oil and spices, then threw in some quinoa and chicken broth. Simmered that down and it actually tasted really good! I have some frozen veggies to pair it up with too, but opted just for a salad today. The kids even liked it! So, while the picture is a little bland looking, just know it has a good chicken soup flavor, with the nuttiness of the quinoa. Hopefully this dish will help my stamina this week as I begin my Advocare cleanse. And to make matters worse, as I glance around my kitchen, I notice I am filled with temptation. Why pick the week of Valentine’s Day to start this??! Ugh … wish me luck.

 

I just keep visioning my arms looking like this:

And my legs like this:

And squeezing myself into something like this by summer:

 

So, here is to a new week! And mine is off to a great start, thanks to the nice man who paid for my coffee this morning!  

 

Happy Monday folks!

It's Monday already ..blech

The weekends fly by way too fast! I know I am not the only one that thinks so... really, I think we should push for the new "normal" work week to be 4 ten hour shifts. I would happily work longer hours four days a week, and a gain an extra weekend day! Plus, I would probably get more done than I do now ... both at work, AND at home. Eh... maybe some day.
So my weekend began with a mani/pedi lunch and a picnic in the park afterwards. Texas has beautiful Springs... well, temperature wise anyway. So I sat in my car, listening to the 80's channel on Syrius and let my toes dry.

Saturday we woke up early and started knocking off chores on the never ending list. This weekend was installing a camera securtity system for the house. While the boys did that, I managed to clean the inside up and even snuck away to the park with the baby!

The Huzzabin and I enjoyed a little date night Sat night. We went and saw Mama. What a creepy movie! Kids in horror films always up the fright factor for me. Always staring into corners and talking to themselves.. We used to have a cat, and she would stare into the same corner of our bedroom all the time... completely freaking us out. We always wondered what she was staring at.. but glad we never found out! Anyway, the movie theatre offers a full dinner at your seat so we noshed on some yummy food.

They called this the Porky's Hickory Sandwich .. grilled chicken, BBQ sauce, peppered bacon and provolone cheese. SOOOO good!

Sunday the baby was sick, and even ran a bit of a fever so we didn't do too much and ended up having to bail on a few SuperBowl parties. :( But we did have a nice family picnic in the park for lunch.

I love that Becca photobombed this pic! Makes me laugh!!

So, I am going to be starting the Advocare 10 day cleanse here this week. So to prepare for that, I have decided to start eating cleaner and re-commit myself to losing the rest of the weight I want to lose, and to continue to set a good example for my girls. Luckily we haven't dealt with eating disorders in our house, but I am very aware of the need to teach my kids how to choose better foods. I also believe in balance though, so I am not cutting out all savory items... we need our chips and chocolate, ya'll! But I am trying to buy more healthy options. And hopefully the kids will start to look at labels too, and choose that bag of Baked Lays at Subway over the Cool Ranch Doritoes. One can hope, right?
Here are a few more pics from the weekend... in case you haven't seen them already. :)

He actually was watching tv like this

xoxo - SR