Melissa’s Neighborhood

I'm not exactly what got into me last night...Every morning I work out for at least an hour before I take Kobe to school.  Then on top of that I get an extra 40 minutes of walking...So, my workout is pretty good each day. But, yesterday in the mail I got my new DVD that I have been waiting for...I order from this guy on Ebay all the time (mostly because I can get it so much cheaper )  So, I put the DVD in and it was just making me want to work out..So, last night

(after Melissa brought me the 2nd book of Stephanie Meyers---thanks MELISSA--I can't wait to read it)

I decided to work out AGAIN....For a full INTENSE hour...What was I thinking?  But, I did manage to go through the entire workout at full pace...I felt so good when I got done..Where all that energy came from I don't know...

Here is a little clip of the DVD I did last night...

 

I have to say I had a blast with this!! I loved it...Just watching the clip makes me want to try it again tonight...

We'll see!! Kind of tired today...

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So, I guess orange is the new color for Fall.....

So, I wore an orange shirt today....Anyway, running some errands today.....getting on the freeway....

And....I see prison workers picking up the trash..They are all dressed in orange..

Hmmmmm..I hope I don't look like  a prison worker...

Had to dress up my shirt with a little more jewelry!!

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Every morning walking Kobe to school I am always leary that in the bushes or behind the rocks a snake with slither out...Or a coyote will come from around the corner...Or the havalinas will be making their trip home from roaming the grounds at night...Lizards we see almost every day...Rabbits there are tons of them...3 or 4 of them always in the backyard.  Because this is the desert and we have a lot of open area these are homes to all the YUCKY things I don't want to run in to...

Last week Kobe was riding home and a snake slithered across the street....He rode back fast to tell me..It was bleeding and we watched it for awhile..It was definetely going to die.

Well, this morning when I was walking home from taking Kobe to school I saw another snake almost in the exact same spot....It was much bigger though and again it was bleeding..It's dead!!  Not sure what is going on...

Makes me so leary about walking around...There is an empty landscape right across the street from us and coyotes, havalinas, snacks, lizards love love love this area....

Here is the picture of the snack that is right out next to our house.

 

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A blog I read today had some great tips..

The article was called,

"You are what you think"

Great poem from her blog....

“If you think you are beaten, you are,

If you think you dare not, you don’t

If you like to win, but you think you can’t

It is almost certain you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost

For out of the world we find,

Success begins with a fellow’s will -

It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are,

You’ve got to think high to rise,

You’ve got to be sure of yourself before

You can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go

To the stronger or faster man,

But sooner or later the man who wins

Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!”

It was such a great article. In anything we do in life if we think we can't..Well then we definetely can't..If we have the mindset that we can do anything....we will accomplish so much!!  It was great food for thought today!!

The article was all on nutrition and how if we think healthy food is YUCKY then of course it will be...If we think fruits an vegetables are great then they will be..

I knew Salmon (fish in general) was so good for your body but I hate fish...But, I knew that it was good for you..So, I made a mind-set that I was going to like fish.  I tried it the first time and HATED it..Tried again..HATED IT...Probably by the 5th try and over a period of a few months I began to really like it..Now I love it!!

Some foods take awhile...Soon your body and mind began to thrive on that....

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My latest necklace for today!!!

 

Just a cool picture I saw today!!

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It's getting cloudy outside!!!  Does that mean it MIGHT rain?  I sure hope so!!

Time to get off the computer...Finish my cottage cheese and peaches and do something productive!!

 

The other day I was walking out of Walmart and at the entrace of Walmarts they always have a standing board that tells you the latest CD out or the latest DVD.  I rarely if ever pay attention to this....

But, I was walking by and had to stop, walk back and look again...

The sign said:  NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK CD coming soon!!

Are you kidding?  I could not believe it...I had to laugh to myself....

Okay, so I was a HUGE fan....I was in the club, I went to their concerts, I had posters, I was so in love with Joey...I had t-shirts...In fact, some of the guys I went to school with would come over to my house and try to dance like the boys...

Trent, Jeremy, David, Bryant, P.T. (who am I missing) we would laugh at them for putting together the New Kids on the block MOVES...We were all crazy about them...

HOW FUNNY!!!  I laugh about it to this day....

Okay, but NOW...come on...they can't really be making a new C.D.

Not only that..But they are keeping it the same, "NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK"

Um...I don't think they are kids anymore...

They were on the, "THE VIEW" today so I watched...

Can't say I'm totally in love with them anymore but it totally brought me back to High School days...

They can't sing...I just seeing them kind of FLOPPING...

Now, I thought Donny sang pretty good..But, the rest...NO WAY

SO FUNNY!!!

 

Can't say that I'll buy the C.D.

What does everyone think?

I have been making some cute cute necklaces.  Here is another one for today.

I have some darling ones to finish tonight and I will post those tomorrow.

They are lots of fun to make.

I just finished posting this one on Ebay!!

 

 

This is what I have been up to lately!!  I think these necklaces are turning out so cute.

I make the bottle cap of *ANY* design and then add charms, crystals to the bottle caps.  (Very cute)

Then design a knotted necklace.  Lately, I have been making Cinderella, Hello Kitty, Minnie Mouse.

I am in the process of making all Halloween.  Miss Kitty Halloween, pumpkins, Fall Hello Kitty...And then all Disney characters.  They take awhile to make so lots more to come.

I have these up for sale on Ebay but if anyone is interested...Just send me a note..

 

 

 

 

 

Up next:  Tinker-Bell, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Mickey Mouse, Halloween, Hello Kitty, Fall, Minnie Mouse, Bell, and whatever else I can create...

Kind of fun and so cute on little girls!!

My kids have been doing GREAT lately!!

But, I have been trying to come up with a reward system that will really work with the boys.

Devin is still young but when he sees that Kobe gets reward coupons he thinks that is

COOL!!

So, when I see the boys doing something great, un-expected, nice, pleasing, helping clean, or whatever it may be I'll take note of that and then present a coupon to the boys.

The coupons usually will equal one point but if I see something they do REALLY neat or totally un-expected without me asking then the point value may be higher.

The max # of coupons per day is 5.  The rest of the day just needs to be doing good deads without being paid a reward ticket. 

In life we don't always get paid for good deads.  We especially don't get paid for doing *SERVICE* and I want to teach my kids that by doing service is a pleasing feeling within our heart.  It's the warm fuzzies we feel inside when we know that we have served someone without asking for payment.  I am also trying to teach my boys that service usually needs to be a quiet act of kindess and sometimes without the person knowing.

So, this seems to be working out GREAT!!!

Once the boys are ready to cash in the coupons I will stamp them, count up the points to see what they can buy.  Then I will give them the coupon back.  Once I have punched the card it's no longer valid.  They have to start earning new ones.  It's a little bit of a process to do all of this but it shows them quite a few things.

*How to count*

*How to save*

*How to serve*

So many things.  The boys also earn allowance and that also teaches them how to save, pay 10% and also to pay themselves for reward money.

My computer is out of INK so my cards right now aren't that fancy but for the boys...It works just as well....and why waste my ink.

We have been doing this for awhile now and Kobe gets so excited when he gets a coupon.

Today he said, "I feel pretty happy that I got these Mom."  So, it's also really helping to be proud of himself for all the great things he is doing.

 

David is home today!! 

He starts school tonight..David is actually really excited about getting back to school.  One of his classes is at the hospital and I told him soon enough he will be at the hospital every single day!!  But, he is excited to get classes going.  Which brings me to this point...We had to go get his books this morning.  (ya, not a good idea to wait until the day of class to get them) anyway, I was expecting his books to be about $65.00 or $75.00 a book...I completely choked when the total came to over $250.00 (FOR BOOKS)  Can you believe that..School books are such a horrible rip-off.  I just can't believe it.  Granted the pay off for going to school will be so worth it but that is just ridiculous for books...OH well!! 

But, the highlight of my day was surprising Kobe at lunch!!  This morning I asked Kobe in general, "So, one of these days we need to go out to eat.  Where would you like to get something from? " Kobe quickly told me, "SUBWAY"

**GOOD TO KNOW**

So, after running our errands this morning we hurried and went to Subway and got over to the school before Kobe went to lunch.  We only had to wait about 10 minutes for him.  He came into the cafeteria didn't really see us as he walked RIGHT by us and then he took a second look and saw us...Totally looked confused!!!  We told him we had brought him lunch from Subway..

The huge smile on his face was priceless.  He was more than excited and more than happy for us to be there..So, we sat next to Kobe and all his friends and ate lunch. 

It was a really fun surprise for him!! He kept hugging us all through lunch and telling us how much he loved us...

It was a great moment..Totally made me forget that just two hours early I was forking out over two hundred and fifty dollars for school books.

Kobe made my day and I'm glad we could make Kobe's day a great day!!

Couple of pictures of Kobe at lunch today...

 

 

Kobe lined up after lunch and we turned to wave bye...Here is all these little kids and then Kobe towering over all of them...

We had a great lunch with you today Kobe!!!

Reading a blog today I heard this quote

 

IMPROVE YOURSELF WHERE YOU CAN

&

ACCEPT YOURSELF WHERE YOU CAN'T

~ The point that was brought out was...If you can't like your self NOW until you get way skinny, or until you get the PERFECT job or until this or that...Life is going to be entirely hard until you achieve what you are striving for.

We need to really like the position we are in NOW and continue to move forward...It's going to be hard to move forward if we are always saying, "I'll be happy when I reach this point." 

Well, shouldn't we be happy now? 

So,

 

IMPROVE YOURSELF WHERE YOU CAN

&

ACCEPT YOURSELF WHERE YOU CAN'T

~Life is definetely definetely meant to be enjoyed and to live for every moment we have~

~I have learned to stop criticizing myself and really loving the hear and now....Remember life is to be ENJOYED not to live day to day in misery because we aren't where we WANT to be....

Every day is a new journey and one to be enjoyed.....

 

Great Meal replacement!!

I tried this yummy shake this morning and it's so good!!!

PROTEIN SHAKE

 

I think we sometimes *THINK* that eating healthy isn't all that good...(the taste just isn't there)

I think we actually acquire the taste of natural foods and soon realize

all the processed, greasy foods just don't sit right in our bodies.

We soon realize our bodies feel so much better with fresh foods and eating healthy.

Awhile back we decided to eat out...We ate chinese food and it tasted *Okay* I could taste all the oils, the fats and it just didn't sit well with me...A few hours later I was deathly sick and (to spare you the details) I was so sick.  David on the other hand ate the same thing and he was *fine*  I have gotten my body used to fresh & clean food and it just was not going to agree with my body.

So, since that trip for chinese I have vowed that I will be more careful.

I did try this shake this morning and to my surprise it's REALLY good for a breakfast food replacement.

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PROTEIN SHAKE

5-6 Ice Cubes

1 Cup Skim Milk

1/2 Banana sliced

1 Scoop Whey Protein Powder (I use chocolate)

1 Tbls Flax Seed

1 Tbls Natural Peanut Butter

Blend really good and enjoy for breakfast

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All good things for our body!!

**Try it and let me know what you think**

 

**I still enjoy my spinach fruit smoothie--It's a great one as well** There are so many smoothies we can make that are really good for us...

It's fun to find good healthy things that are REALLY good for us...

Now all I wish for was a fruit market close by....

 

 

 

I've come to the realization that Fall just isn't going to be happening anytime soon here...When other people are watching the leaves change on the trees, the air getting a little more crisp.....that isn't quite happening here..

It's still really hot here....Every Christmas we hang our Christmas lights up in shorts and flip flops...

So, this is the time of year I get a little blue because I really would love to see the Fall leaves, take a drive through the canyons....getting ready to pull out my sweaters and jeans and thinking about wearing socks and shoes...

This year I am trying to stay busy so I don't think about it too much...One day I will get to experience Fall like weather..And when parts of the country are getting tons and tons of snow I can happily say...

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE winter here...

So a little of this and a little of that...This is what I have been up to...

 

There is a lot of different kinds of chocolate chip cookies I like...

But, if you want a really good chocolate chip *CAKE* cookie these are by far my favorite recipe.

**If you remember awhile back I was talking about making a cookbook for my kids**

Well, each yummy recipe that I make I have the kids help me...then we take a picture of the process as well as the finished product.  Then I scrapbook the recipe.  When my kids are grown off to college, on a mission, or married with their own family they will have this cookbook that we all made together of our favorite foods, family traditions, etc. This is one of the recipes that will go into the family cookbook.  I love this recipe because you can make it so many ways...

This is just a plain chocolate chip cookie but you can make it will butterscotch or pistacho....Lots of variety in this cookie....

So, I am sharing my yummy recipe with you!!  Enjoy trying all different flavors....

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tst baking soda

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 (3.4 oz) package instant pudding mix  (I use the sugar free instant pudding in various flavors)

*my most favorite is vanilla* 

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

**if I had it my way I would add nuts to all my cookies---but my cute husband hates them*

**experiment with the differenet flavors**

Today I am making pistachio sugar free instant pudding with chopped pistachios and chocolate chips.

When the cookies bake they don't spread on the pan...the rise like a cake would..

So yummy!! 

 

 

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What else???

We have tons of tomatoes in our house....

 

I absolutely HATE tomatoes!!!  David LOVES them...But, funny enough...I do love salsa, ketchup, even tomato soup...but to eat a tomato all by itself...NOT a chance.....

So, my great friend Melissa gave me a great Salsa recipe that I'm going to try tonight....

I'll let ya know how it is...I think I'll make two batches...a chunky batch and a smooth batch....

SALSA

5 Large Tomatoes

1 clove of garlic

2 Jalapenos (more if you like is spicy)--I'm a medium gal

1/2 white onion

Cilantro (I love cilantro so chances are it will have a lot)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Lemon & Lime Juice to taste

**I'm excited to have chips and salsa tonight**

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I'm pretty good at drinking THIS:

 

But...I am really trying to make an effort to drink 4 of these a day!!!  It's still so hot that this is so refreshing!!

Gotta make sure you stop the water shortly before 7:00p.m. or else you are up ALL NIGHT!!!

(Get it in early)

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Okay.....so I walk Kobe to school every morning and pick him up every afternoon.  It's okay in the morning but in the afternoon it's really really hot..Yesterday it was really hot..David was home and we had the BRIGHT idea to walk down to the gas station to get a soda refill...(which is going in the opposite direction of the school)

Yeah, not such a bright idea...The extra 40 minutes of walking exercise each school day is GREAT..but the 30 minutes walking to the gas station and back and then to the school...DUMB idea..(On top of the 1hr work-out that I do at 6:00a.m. in the morning)

Hey, I guess I just got that much more exercise in RIGHT??

We were so hot by the time we picked up Kobe we were not looking forward to walking home..But, we made it!!

Which brings me to this....

Because I walk everyday I'm getting quite the flip flop tan line....My arms are getting dark and my face...I really need a HAT...

Does anyone have a suggestion for a good sun hat..

I don't want a baseball cap...TOO HOT!!

So, if anyone has a fashion hat that would work...I'd love to hear it...

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NOW...I have a little one that is SICK!!!  crummy nose, sore throat, horrible cough and can't sleep at night, or during the day...He is just down right MISERABLE!!

Poor guy...He is having a tough day!!!

So, off I go to find something that will make him happy!!!!

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So TAG to all my friends...What is the little bit of this and a little bit of that....that you are up to!!

 

It's been a really fun weekend...especially for the boys.  It's been a lot of everything the past couple of days.  Kobe has really enjoyed being with his cousins.  I have to say...we just don't see much of him...

This weekend was a special weekend.  My brother and his family from up north came for my Dad's Birthday.  It was a surprise to him and we are glad they came.  Kobe especilly loved that his cousins were here.  I don't think we saw Kobe much on Saturday!!  David and I had tons of errands to run Saturday and it was so nice only having Devin with us.  We didn't have Kobe with us to say, "Mom can I have that, Mom can I have this?"  It was actually very peaceful getting our errands done.

Saturday night was a fun BBQ for my Dad's Birthday.  His Birthday is actually tomorrow but we celebrated a little early...

We had a great weekend with family and the kids had a blast...

Here is some fun pictures of our weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a fun weekend!!! 

I could tell Kobe was completely worn out today...He felt asleep on my lap during Primary.

I had to wake him up so we could go to class during church!

Kids will definetely go to bed early tonight...

ME TOO!!!