Health and Fitness Friday : Goals for June

It's that time of the week again. Health and Fitness Friday with Jen.

Tomorrow is June 1st. We're nearly half way through this year and I'm no where near where I wanted to be in terms of fitness. I blame life, kids, the weather and lets be honest, MYSELF. I need to get out and run more. I need to just GO! But to do that I need an end goal to try beat. I'm gonna follow in Jen's footsteps and set my self some June goals.

June Goals

1. Run at least 30 miles

2. Workout 5 days a week.

3. Keep my sugar intake down

4. Sign up for another race.

5. Run a practice 10k

Fitness

I did pk this week fitness wish. I ran more again. I ran 3 days this week. The weather was amazing and that helped so much. I got tested to see what kind of running shoe best suited me. I didn't think it was going to make much of a difference when I was running... But OMG, it made such a difference. It was lie I was running on air. My sister said I looked like I was bouncing off the ground. For the first time in a long time running just happened. No effort. No trying. I just ran. It felt amazing. Seriously, go get the test done. It does make a huge difference.

I'm trying to do more workouts at home. I was going to try the 300 challenge but I really don't have the time to do that. So I giving this a go. It looks doable and I know what all the moves are.

I'm also looking for a good arm workout.  This arm workout is just 10 minutes and all you need is a dumbbell. 10 minute workouts are what i'm all about. And I can team it with my ad workout and be done for the day.

I have so many fitness workouts and fitness things pinned on my Health and Fitness board. I would love to follow your if you have one. Leave a link in the comments and I'll follow you. Get fitness inspiration together.

And after reading Jen's post this morning I'm adding this great new stretch routine for after runs. I can't find the actual source, but I have pinned it to my Health and Fitness board. I needed this so bad and I'm glad she found it.

Health

I'm not sure if I told you guy about this but I suffer with pain in my joints and bones alot. It was never really a problem. Just a little pain in the background and I was able to work through it. But recently it's been getting worse. My wrists hurt when I cycle. My knees hurt when I run. Just pain in my joints. I've even had to take pain killers just so I could sleep. I went to the doctor to see if I could get blood tests done to see if there was anything going on. There is arthritis in my family and I didn't want to let it go too long if I had it. But thankfully all my bloods came back clear. I'm just one of those people who get aches and pains.

I have a birthday party today and it's a bank holiday weekend too so I'm not sure how good my diet is going to be. Oops!!

hat's it for me this week.

Happy Friday Peeps!!

Room for Improvement Challenge : Boys Car bedroom Makeover

A blog-friend recently posted on Irish Parenting Bloggers forum on Facebook about an online competition she was entering, organised by MoneySupermarket.

 If your an Irish blogger and your not a member of this group, go join it now. Fantastic group of bloggers over there. 

Back to the competition. The deal was this : you registered your interest and they sent you £50 (almost €60). Sounds good?

With that money you got to give a room in your home a makeover. Even better.

Then blog about it, explaining how you did it and how far you stretched the money.

And not only that, but you would be in with a chance of winning £500 B&Q vouchers. 

I knew I was up for the challenge. I love to see how far a can stretch my money.

I knew what room I was going to makeover the second I saw this. My sons room. He has been sleeping in what was the spare room since he moved into his cot. And it still looks like the spare room, just with a cot in it. It's the catch all room. If I'm being honest, the single bed was covered in baskets of clothes waiting to be folded before I took this picture.

I had three goals when I was doing this makeover. 

1. Make this room a BOY room. I wanted anyone who walked into the room to know that a boy slept here.

2. To have cute and functional storage.

3. To decorate it in a way that he could grow up in it. I wanted to get a few years out of this room.

I chose a car theme. This boy loves cars. I picked up the duvet set in Tesco. That's right, I said Tesco. I was a bit unsure of how good the quality would be but for the price I couldn't have asked for better. It cost me €12.50 and this is where my inspiration came from.

I had the paint left over from another project. It's Crown Breatheasy. Not sure of the colour. It was worn off the tin. It went with the theme of the room perfectly. I got the cute rug (above)  and storage boxes (below) in Argos. They cost €31.49.

 I used a bit of left over wood for the shelves and paid €4 for the brackets to hang it. The prints in the frames came from the internet and the frames cost €4 in the pound shop. The curtains were free from a friend.

 The prints in the frames came from the internet and the frames cost €4 in the pound shop. I think they tie the theme together.

In to total I spent €51.99. The rest went into the little guys piggy back for his first real car. Ha!

I'm so happy with the way it turned out and I'm sure that my little guy will have many years of fun growing up in this room.

I'm also linking up with Mandy @ House of Rose Blog for her blog hop "Inspire Me Please Weekend".

Disclosure: Thanks to Money Supermarket for providing the £50/€60 for this makeover challenge. I was in no other way compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.

Baby wipes : My life would not be the same without them.

I love baby wipes. Seriously, I LOVE them. 

How the frick did I ever live without them?

Got new running shoes filthy while running in the rain. Baby wipe.

Spilled Hot chocolate in the car. Baby wipe.

Sticky fingers after chocolate jasmin no longer wanted. Baby wipe.

Spot of red sauce splattered on my top. Baby wipe.

A little funk on the couch from some excited eaters. Baby wipe.

Got sweaty boobies after the gym and no time for a shower. Baby wipe.

Come 'on. I KNOW I'm not the only one who does that.

Need to take off your make-up and no face wipes. Baby wipes.

Have someone calling over and see dust on the mantle. Baby wipes.

Seriously!! How do you non-moms get anything off of anything?

Health and Fitness Friday

It's my favourite post of the week again.

Linking up with Jen for Health and Fitness Friday.

Fitness

It's been a bit of a strange one. I never made it to any of my Beach Body Bootcamp classes this week. Just couldn't find the time. I did however manage to clock more miles this week then I have in the past month. My sister has finished collage and she wants to start running with me. So we headed off together. The weather was great too. We ran 1.5 miles Tuesday, 2 miles Wednesday and I cycled 7.5 miles yesterday. My quads felt a bit tight during the cycle but I stretched and push on. I'm so happy to be back out running. It felt great. Only downer this week is I think I have a shin splint. Pain isn't too bad. I can work through it. I'm hoping to get back to beach body bootcamp today or go for another run.

I also need to start some kind of ab workout. Something I can do at home. I'm finding it hard to get out the door to my classes and now that school is finishing up I'll have two kiddos to try and get a babysitter for. I might start a 30 day ab and arm challenge and see how I get on. Any suggestions?

Also I'm a little more than excited about this...

I can't wait!! It's going to be amazeballs!!

Plan for the week

Friday : Beach Body Bootcamp ??

Saturday : Run

Sunday : Run

Monday : Beach Body Bootcamp ??

Tuesday : Run

Wednesday : Run

Thursday : Cycle

Health

I'm still cutting back on my sugar. I have been pretty good with our dinners too. Pretty healthy and upping my veggie intake. Still need to drink more water. What do you guys think about energy tablets for water? I'm thinking of using them. What ones do you use? Which are the best?

That's it for me this week.

Happy Friday peeps!!

My left hand : My daughters story

I never wrote about this before. I never felt the need to. But I thought it would be nice to share it for anyone who is going through it. It's rare but it does happen. It happened to my Daughter.

All through my pregnancy I had a feeling. Well I had two. The first was that I was having a girl. I just knew. Don't ask me how but I did. A gut feeling. The second is that there was something different about this baby. I was worried that my baby was going to be born with DS, or spina bifida or worse. But every Mother to be has those feelings. Right?

I had my scans and everything was fine. No signs of DS, the spine was perfect. Everything looked perfect. A tiny little perfect human inside me. But that feeling never went away. That feeling that something was different about my baby. 

Fast forward to my labor. It was the best I could have asked for. My midwife was amazing. She did everything I asked . We had music on, the lights were low, she entertained my husband. She made everything so relaxed. My labor was easy. Only gas and air and I was doing great. When my daughter finally came into the world, she was perfect. I was right, it was a girl... and I was right about the other thing too... She was missing part of her left hand.

You can see the little fingers here when she was a few months old. Cute, right?

The midwife gave me my baby. I looked at her. Her dark hair. Her big beautiful eyes. Her little left hand. She was perfect. I had her for a few minutes and then the room was full of doctors. They looked, poked and prodded her. They handed her back to me and said she was a happy, healthy baby just missing a little bit of her hand. That was it. I wasn't crying. I wasn't in shock. I was relived. I was imagining much worse things for my baby.

The next couple of days were a mix of x-rays, blood tests, every doctor coming to have a look at her. I didn't mind. They were checking to see if she was ok. My family were asking if I was ok. I was fine. I wasn't upset. They were all saying "the poor little thing". That made me upset. In my eyes there was nothing wrong with her. 

A few days passed. I was kept in hospital a bit longer than normal. They were waiting for test results and I liked the quite time with her. And then it hit me. It hit me like a tonne of bricks. I just started crying. All the emotions since the birth burst out of me. I was sitting on the bed with my little girl in my arms and all I could do was cry. I was a mixture of sadness, joy, tiredness, anger, worry. Why did this happen ? Why us? Why this little girl? I just had to let it out. What was ahead of my daughter. Would she be ok? Would she need surgery? Would she need a prosthetic?

I didn't know what lay ahead of us. We ended up having to go to Cappagh Orthopedic Hospital in Dublin. More x-rays, more tests. I still didn't know what caused this. Why did it happen? They said it was one of those things. I did nothing wrong. It wasn't something I took or ate. I wasn't something I did. There was no reason for this. They said it could happen again. They said it might not. They said that if I had another child it could be worse. They said it might not. I was confused.

My daughter is 5 and a half now. She is amazing. Nothing stops her. Her hand has never been an issue. If anything it makes her more determinate to do things. I have never stopped her from doing anything. If she wants to try something, she goes for it. I thought she would find it hard to crawl... Wrong! I thought she would find it hard tying buttons and zips... Wrong!! She had that down at 2 and a half. I never thought she would ride a bike... Wrong again!!! She amazes me everyday. She ride horses, bikes, climbs up on things that I never thought she would be able to. She is amazing. She is always smiling. Never complains. Never uses her hand as an excuse. I'd kick her butt if she did. 

I now know that I was right. There is something different about my baby girl. And it's not just her hand. It's her. She is going to do amazing things. I just know it.

If I have any advise for Moms and Dads who find themselves in this position, it's to never give up hope, never let it hold your child back, never let anyone tell you that your child can't do something. 

Because this little girl proved to me that you can do anything you want and nothing can hold you back. Not even missing part of your left hand.

Mid-week Brain Dump

A little later than I had hoped but I spent all day outside with the crazies and forgot about all the house work I had to do. Go figure.

Saturday, I took advantage of the dry morning and took the crazies to the town park. It was the first time the little guy got to go it on his own. He went crazy!! Climbing up the steps to the slide on his own and going down ( much to my horror) on is own too. He is seriously getting big too quick. SLOW DOWN!!!

The Holy Communion was on in town on Saturday. All the boys and girls looked so fab all suited and booted. But there was one bigger than life star of the show. This...

I think it's fab. Maybe a little over to top for a communion but fab. I don't have a problem with Traveller's or their traditions but there was a huge debate, well more like a bitch fest on Facebook about them taking over the day and ruining it for everyone else. This kind of thing has happened for years and it never ruined it for anyone so far. I say live and let live.

I spent all day Sunday on the couch. My head felt like my brain was trying to break out of my head. My eyes hurt if they weren't covered with something. I have suffered from migraines for years but have been lucky that I haven't had a bad one in a long time. This one made up for it. 

But I felt much better when my little woman came and gave me these.

Bluebells, My favourite picked from Nana's garden.

I really need to get out and get more run's in. If I'm ever going to run a sub 30 minute 5k I better start pounding the roads. My sister has started to train with me. I think the slower pace will be good for me for a while. Help me get a better rhythm.

That's it for now.

Health and Fitness Friday.

It's my favourite post of the week again.

Linking up with Jen for Health and Fitness Friday.

Fitness

Friday was Beach Body Bootcamp day. I love this workout. It's pushes me the the edge of nearly giving up but I love it and I know that I can't. I'm having a little trouble with my tricep dips. I can't do them. Our trainer brings out this huge tractor tyre and I hate that thing. I've been known to give it a good kick when I'm finished my reps. It hurts me so bad to do them. And not like "I feel the burn" pain. It's more like" Stop putting us through the ring of hell" pain. I my need to do some stretching in that area.

Jen this is for you. I too have baled on the squat challenge. Same reasons as you. I need to keep my legs strong and fresh. I need to get more runs in. And I'm doing plenty of leg work in Beach Body Bootcamp.

In case any of you want to try it, this is the 30 day squat challenge.

Good Luck!!!

Saturday I headed to limerick for the Pieta House, Darkness into Light 5k. It was AMAZING. You can read all about that here. I ran it in 33 minutes which is a whole two minutes faster than my last race. New PR for me!! Woo hoo! Now to beat it. Ha! 

Monday I was back to Beach Body Bootcamp. I got to class earlier than normal or so I though but I turned out I was the only one there. No one else turned up. Just little old me and my army drill Sargent trainer. Turned out to be one of my best workouts. I had no where to hind. I had to give it 110%. I was still sore Wednesday.

The rest of the week sucked. Between Mother Nature forgetting to take her pills and giving me hailstone showers in May and my heating in my house being a pain in the ass, I got no run in. This has to change. NOW!!

Plan for the week

Friday : Beach Body Bootcamp 

Saturday : Run

Sunday : Cycle

Monday : Beach Body Bootcamp

Tuesday : Run

Wednesday : Cycle 

Thursday : 

Health

I started cutting out sugar in my diet and I'm weaning myself off bit by bit. Let me tell you it's not pretty. I'm pretty sure I'm acting like a crack head looking for her fix. Not a great comparison but that's how it feels. I made a new cake this week. It's a Gluten-free,Wheat-free,Yeast-free,Dairy free Dark chocolate and buttercream cake. I made it for my cousin for her 30th birthday. She loved it and it didn't taste all that bad either.

That's it for me this week.

Happy Friday peeps!!

Gluten free, Wheat free, Yeast free, Dairy free - Dark chocolate and Butter-cream cake

My cousin turned 30 last week. Sssh! Don't tell anyone.

As a gift to her I offered to bake her a birthday cake.

Simple enough you would think.

The thing about this lady is that her diet HAS to be Gluten, wheat, yeast and dairy FREE.

After a bit of research and help from the lovely ladies over at the Irish Parenting Bloggers group I decided to go for this.

A chocolate sponge with buttercream filling covered with melted dark chocolate.

What you'll need:

125g/5oz sugar

6tbsp Sunflower oil

1tbsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 Ripe Banana

150g/6oz Gluten free self raising flour

1tsp of cocoa powder

4tbsp Water

1. Lightly oil or grease proof line a 7" round cake tin.

2. In a bowl, beat together the sugar oil and vanilla.

3. Peel and mash half a ripe banana. Beat it into the sugar mixture.

4. Add the flour, cocoa powder and water and mix well.

5. Pour into you prepared tin and smooth the top.

6. Bake in a preheated oven at 190c/fan170C for 35 minutes.

7. Coll on a wire rack.

The above ingredients are enough to make one sponge. The recipe told me to cut the sponge in half but it didn't rise enough. I baked another one and sandwiched them together with butter cream.

Butter cream recipe.

125g margarine

3tbsp vanilla extract

650g icing sugar

3 tbsp milk (opt)

1. beat the margarine for about 5 minutes. Don't cut on this. You really need to beat the margarine until it's pale and creamy.

2. Add half of the icing sugar and mix.

3. Add the Vanilla. Mix until it is absorbed into the mixture.

4. Add the milk if you are using it now. Mix until it is absorbed.

5. Add the remaining icing sugar and mix for a further 5 minutes. The longer you mix it the better you results will be.

And here is the finished product.

She loved it and it tasted fantastic. 

Her boyfriend didn't even know it was made for her special diet.

Not bad for my first special diet bake.

Darkness into Light 5k

What can I say.

It was AMAZING!!

I never thought getting up at 1.30am would be so easy but it was.

I never thought I would be able to run 5k at 4 in the morning but I did and it was the best I've ever run.

Got up at 1.30am. Crazy right? But this was for such an amazing cause to run for. Nearly 5000 people and a lot of dogs turned up to run and walk this 5k for Pieta House. It rained the whole time we were there but I didn't dampen the spirits of anyone there.

I managed to run the first 3k non stop and I was surprised because I'm only back training after being sick for a month. No running done in 5 weeks but I did ok. I had to walk for some of the 4k because it rained so much I couldn't see where I was going. When I took off my glass and tried to run without them I ended up in a big puddle of water. I decided it was safer all round if I walked until I could see again.

The rain finally lightened off and I was able to jog home. I finished in a time of 33 minutes which was a whole two minutes faster that my last run. I am so happy with my time and even happier that I got up to run this race.

Me, My mom, Sister and her boyfriend after the race.

After the race, I wrote the names of some people that are not with us any more. They sadly took their live through suicide. It was so sad to see so many names on the "Banner of Hope". But if this run proved anything, it proved there is a huge group of people around the country who haven't given up hope yet.

Nearly 30,000 people all around the country took part and I'm glad that I was one of those.

RIP Paul, Caroline, Aine and Fionnula. 

Gone but never forgotten.

Happy Monday everyone!

Never give up hope.

Health and Fitness Friday

It's my favourite post of the week again.

Linking up with Jen for Health and Fitness Friday.

Fitness

Friday I went back to Beach Body Bootcamp. It went much better time time. Didn't need the sick bucket at all. I'm loving this work out. It's challenging me so much. It's working every part of my body. 

Did my squats too didn't find them too hard but they are getting harder to do. I think i@m going to have to play these squats by ear. I don't want to push my legs too hard and not be able to run or do my BB Bootcamp. I'm doing lots of legs and butt exercises in my class so I'm not too worried.

In case you missed it lat week, this is the 30 day squat challenge.

Didn't have a class on Monday because of the Bank holiday but I got plenty of exercise cleaning out horse. Plenty of cardio and a good arm workout.

Wednesday was BB Bootcamp again and this time I rocked it. I gave it everything I had. I sweat like real women do. Thought me and another girl would need the sick bucket but we survived. 3 circuits with 8 stations again. The time in these classes go really fast. You have a 45 minute workout done before you know it.

Thought I would get to go for a cycle or run this week but the weather is just awful here. Rain and wind in MAY?? I'm totally sick of it. I may have to sweet talk the hubs into getting a treadmill so I can get in my runs. 

A girl can only try, right??

Today, I'm heading back to Beach Body Bootcamp. I just hope I won't need the sick bucket.Ha!

Tomorrow Morning at 4am I'm running a 5k. Thats right...4AM!

A small bit crazy but it's for an amazing foundation, Pieta House, Suicide Crisis Centre.

I have know way to many people who have taken their live through suicide and even writing this and thinking about them is making me well up. So, if getting up at 2am to go running at 4am makes even a little difference and helps someone who is suffering, then count me in. 

Plan for the week

Friday : Beach Body Bootcamp 

Saturday : Darkness into light 5k

Sunday : Couch to 5k training + 130 squats

Monday : Beach Body Bootcamp + 135 squats

Tuesday : 140 Squats

Wednesday : Cycle + rest

Thursday : 145 Squats

Health

Health wise I'm good. Still need to lower my sugar intake but I'm working on that. I found out that bread is my enemy. I went a whole month without bread and didn't think anything about it. But I got a major craving for it last weekend and had toast every morning and even through out the day. Fast-forward to Tuesday and I am a bloated mess. Jeans that were fitting me 10 days ago were now really tight on me. My stomach was sore to touch and really bloated and I'm blaming the bread. I'm now on a bread boycott and hoping that fixes the problem. Does anyone else have that problem with bread? Would love to know how you cope?

That's it for me this week.

Please pray that I manage to get up out of bed at 2am. Not going to be easy.

Happy Friday peeps!!

Little things!

There have been loads of little things going in our lives lately. 

Nothing too exciting but important all the same.

First off my little guy got his first pair of big boy shoes and he love them. He loves pounding his feet into the wood floor and hearing the noise he can make. He loves showing anyone who pays him attention his new shoes. He's growing up so fast.

P also started getting his molars. I didn't even know he was teething. He was so good. It wasn't until I was trying to get something he wasn't meant to be eating out of his mouth and he bit me that I realized they were there. He is such a good child. I really am blessed with him.

Jasmin is doing so well at school. She is getting 10 out of 10 in her mini assessments. I couldn't be prouder of her. I hope she finds school this easy for the rest of her life. Sure would help this Mama.

My luck must be on the way up. I'm not lucky. I don't win money on scratch cards or lotto tickets. But I entered a draw in the local charity shop and low and behold I won. What was the prize you ask?...

This!!

Amazing, right?

Jasmin LOVES IT!!

Think if it survives the crazies in my house it might be a family hand me down.

I signed up for my next 5k. It on this Saturday morning at 4am. Yes, I said 4AM. It's for Pieta house and I can't wait. I wanted to do it last year but I had no training done. My mom, sister and her boyfriend are doing it with me. It also knocks one of my30 things before I'm 30 so that is brilliant too.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

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Health and Fitness Friday!

It's my favourite post of the week again.

Linking up with Jen for Health and Fitness Friday.

Fitness

Monday, I got back into the swing of things and headed to Beach Body Bootcamp. I thought it was going to be tough seeing that I was out for a month. I started out great. Nearly 2 circuits of 8 stations done and I was still standing. Started the 3rd circuit and the burn really started to hit. I didn't think I was going to finish. I was sure I was going to have to run to the bathroom and throw up but I held my sh#t together and finished strong. 

I also started the 30 day squat challenge on Monday. It's going to be tough but I excited to see the results. I'm going to take measurements and tell you guys if it really worth it. Not sure if I'm ever going to be able to do 250 squats but only time will tell. Any of you fitness girls wanna join me? We can keep an eye on each other through Twitter.

Wednesday, I went for a cycle. Now the last time I was on a bike was about 12 years ago. I didn't even know if I could ride a bike anymore. I wanted to change up my workout routine. Did I mention that the last time I rode a bike there was no such thing as having to wear a helmet. I thought I looked like a hot mess but I'm glad I wore it cos I very nearly fell off the bike when I met the first car on the road. Ha! I clocked up 7k and it felt good.

Thursday was my rest day and I sure needed it. I am having a real hard time sleeping at night .Any tips for getting a good nights sleep?

Today, I'm heading back to Beach Body Bootcamp. I just hope I won't need the sick bucket.Ha!

Plan for the week

Friday : Beach Body Bootcamp + squats

Saturday : Couch to 5k training + squats

Sunday :  Hike + squats

Monday :  Beach Body Bootcamp 

Tuesday : Squats

Wednesday : Cycle + squats

Thursday : Squats

Health

My health is back on track again. I'm finally over the flu and I starting to feel better again. My diet isn't great. In fact it kinda sucks. I'm eating was too must sugar in my food. I'm going to have to find a way of cutting it out of my diet without sending myself into a sugar crashing spiral. It would not be pretty. Trust me.

My dinners are good though. My portions are better and I'm eating more veggies. Need to up my water intake. I have this feeling all these headaches I'm getting could be down to lack of water. 

Any who that's it for me this week. 

Oh!

A question for all you amazing runners who link up.

What is you favourite running shoe and why?

I'm in need of a new pair and have no clue where to start. Any feedback would be great.

Happy Friday peeps!!

First day of Summer!

Yesterday was the first day of Summer and Mother Nature didn't disappoint. 

This little guy got to go outside in his first pair of big boy shoes and he had a blast.

 He got to play with his big sister. How cute is this? My heart was melting!

 This is her "I'm a cool big girl" look.

Nana Got a little more than she bargained for when she tried to get P to pose for a photo. That boy just hates the camera. This was the best I could get.

Remember how I said P like his food. Well he thought he'd try to eat some stones too. He didn't like them too much though.

I just hope the we get the summer that we're promised because 3 months of rain and kids stuck inside and I'll be in the mad house.

Go outside with your kids and enjoy the weather. Those dishes will be fine until later.