Because Everyone Loves Ferns

Food Log Day #3 (Thursday)

BF- turkey pepperoni & Mozz cheese stick (I ate my snack b/c I forgot to bring my breakfast to work)
       french vanilla cappucino kcup

lunch ( had a super late lunch today)- Chic - fil- A cobb salad

-Drank my normal 80-100 oz of water and a lemon- lime sparkling water

and then I had a gigantic bowl of Fit & Active Vanilla Almond cereal with unsweetened almond milk

I totally meant to post this on Thursday, but forgot.


Weekend recap.....

We were pretty busy.  We have a yard mowing system at our house- mostly b/c I'm psychotic and need a system for almost everything.  Martinez mows the parts of the back that are newly added to our yard (meaning the mess that was just cleared b/c I just drive over stuff and stir up sand and tear things up) and the ditch b/c my yoga pants just slide right off the lawn mower seat while driving diagonal up a hill and then I freak out and imagine the mower turning over on me and then snakes emerging from the big circle thing (maybe the drain??) in the ditch and sucking my blood out while the lawn mower holds me down....if snakes suck blood out that is....and then I mow the "regular" yard with LG.  So, I've provided you all of those details just to tell you that LG and I mowed the yard.  (Do Oklahomans say yard or lawn??? I'll have to start paying attention).
Then, we did some more gardening.  The DeShazo and I located purslanes at Lowes (I'm secretly a Lowes hater and a Home Depot fan and I'm not sure what that has to do with this conversation), so my flower bed is complete.....with the addition of some kind of pear tree b/c my crepe myrtle bit the dust.

I'm sure you are so interested in this conversation about my flowerbed, that you can't wait for me to report that I do not have a photo of my new pear tree thing.

And now, for the moment you've all be waiting for......

More fern photos as promised:)

I'd say Martinez did an incredible job building my planters this weekend and I'm pumped!

Just to update about the ferns....I'm pretty sure I'm getting new ones......and probably from Lowes b/c I've been in Home Depot about 27 times lately and the ferns keep on looking like scrubs....and I don't want to buy them from Lowes.


We skipped church yesterday (gasp).

Today started off rough around our house this morning.  I try to get up early in the mornings so that I can do some cleaning before we leave.  That did not happen.  I spent my extra minutes drinking pepto bismol and eating Zantac to fight heart burn, while jumping up and down to get my yoga pants on.
It didn't stop there.  I had a cute outfit picked out for today-which I scratched to wear yoga pants, because after all, I had heartburn.  Anyway, I had blue eye shadow on to compliment the top I was gonna wear....which then limited what top I could wear with my yoga pants b/c ain't nobody got time to redo makeup.  I had to raid Martinez's tshirts once again....and then I realized that the paint I clumsily got all in my hair yesterday while painting my planters was still half in there....which led to a hat....which has already been happening all the time b/c I'm giving my hair a break from heat (which is a whole other post for later) and I've been wearing it curly.
The bar wasn't set very high today.

Photos from the weekend...

And my sweethearts today..

Food log day #4

bf- boiled egg and 4 slices of turkey bacon
      french vanilla cappuccino kcup

snack- turkey pepperoni and mozz cheese stick

lunch- salad- taco meat, spinach, black beans, salsa, sour cream, chopped jalapeno

snack- apple with peanut butter

dinner- bunless burger (lean meat) with an avocado and pickle for a side

Drank my normal 80-100oz of water, along with half a sparkling water

and then I ate a tootsie roll


(My PIC made me exercise tonight.  More details on that later:))


Until Next Time,



Ma'dam Martinez

Treat Bag Rant

Two days in a row with keeping up with the food log challenge....I know, impressive.


I'm SO excited about my new head band from my PIC!

I'm pretty sure it made my week!

I've made a decision.
I'm not practicing making LG's birthday cake anymore.  If you missed that post, you can read about it here.
I've decided to buy it.  About two weeks ago, I was in Buy for Less getting a cookie cake for a friend's birthday.  (I promise that's not code for " I was getting a cookie cake for myself").
While I was waiting to have the cookie cake written on, I just happen to look down and see this beauty.

It looks better than the cake I found on Pinterest...and when it's blue, it'll be perfect.

I'm ordering it.  I love Buy for Less cakes.....and so do most people around us.   So, I'm caving and taking the easy way out.....I suppose this will also keep me from eating a whole lot of practice icing:)

Speaking of birthdays..... I'm just gonna put it out there.  For those who attend any of LG's parties/celebrations, don't expect treat bags.  Here's the deal.... I'm not sure who's idea it was long ago to give out treat bags.....but I just don't get it.  It's not the other kids' birthdays!  I realize that it's supposed to be a form of a "thank you for taking your time to come celebrate my child"- But- why can't saying thank you just be enough?  I mean, a thank you in return for attending your child's party is just fine for us.  Why do we have to go all out and do treat bags?  It just gets ridiculous when you are buying gender respective toys for treat bags!  We should just be content to celebrate with one another without expectations.(except the expectation of cake, of course:))

  

I will say that Pinterest provided me with some super cute ideas for a treat cup/prizes for a Cinderella theme... I even had the different prizes in my Amazon cart...but I removed them.  I'm just not going to do this.  At least I'm saying I'm not for now....if LG ends up pleading with me to do them when she's old enough to realize the meaning....I'll consider it.  I think it's ridiculous.(I don't think that any of my fellow friend moms are ridiculous if they do them- so don't get mad at me! I would just rather spend that $20 bucks on something like..cake....more cake.... or something more for LG, since after all, it is her birthday). 

Now that my treat bag rant is over, my food confessions for today:

BF- 2 sausage/egg muffin cups

       french vanilla cappuccino kcup

Lunch- double chicken chopped salad from subway & a bag of baked sour cream chips

Dinner- crockpot Mexican Lasagna with sour cream- no side for me

 

No time to snack today....super....busy!

 

-Drank my normal 80-100 oz of water and black raspberry sparkling water

 

 

Until Next Time,

 

 

 

Ma'dam Martinez

Challenge & Ferns

Well...My PIC and I may or may not be back to doing challenges- some of which we can't exactly post about on our blogs.
One we can post about..... telling our 5 readers combined what we are eating....for two work weeks. Like everything. We were actually supposed to start yesterday, but I didn't want to confess the Easter candy I consumed- or the beverages I had- which I suppose I technically just confessed.
I just get to talking and the secrets just roll out.

Yesterday was just a stressful day all around.  In fact, when I got home and changed into my normal yoga pants/tee (surprisingly, that wasn't what I wore to work), I realized that I put my yoga pants on backwards.
I left them that way.  I mean, I don't want to set the standard too high or anything.

Anyway, my PIC and I have enjoyed Easter....and the days 4 weeks leading up to Easter a little too much. If only we didn't enjoy sweets.
Before I confess my eating habits of today, I'll update on what's been going on lately.

We are still working to clear this mess....like all the time...

Although you can't tell from the photos, there is tin, fence parts, car parts, glass, boat parts, etc underneath all this sand/dirt.  I'm not sure what this land was before it became "developed", but I know that the crap was apparently buried and we are now cleaning it.  I'm not really sure how many cans of crap we've actually picked up....but it's not ending soon. ( and I'm not complaining- I'm happy to actually have space to clear that Martinez and I have paid/worked for ourselves- and I'm happy to be able-bodied enough to work out there)

This is also happening....

It's time to get my flowerbed in order.  I'm still waiting on the purslanes at Home Depot to come out.  I've got two more weeks to wait and then I can finish this thing.

.....and since I'm turning into my mother......I had to get some ferns.
I need therapy (you already know this), as I've been able to think of nothing but ferns for weeks.

What I should confess now, is that less than 24 hours after owning them they started looking quite scraggly. They've been re-potted and super tended to....so I'm gonna give them another week before I throw them out and get new ones.  I need nice, fluffy ferns....and if the wind here wasn't so bad, they'd be hanging like my mother's ferns do.  

If I start hiding miniature candy bars around the house in random places, I suppose I'll officially be my mother.............oh wait...

Back to the ferns (because everyone loves to hear about ferns, right? I need a life), LG was less than impressed with my fern selection on Friday.  I examined every fern they had. I removed them from where they were hung and compared them to each other right out in the open with people waiting until I found the best two.

All that being said, if I have to go back, it's gonna be tortuous for my almost 3 year old.

She decided to kill time Friday by plucking the blooms off other flowers....and I'd rather not get any more disapproving glances from fellow flower shoppers.

(Just so you have fair warning, when Martinez gets my planters built, hopefully this weekend (that will be painted with a nice Almond Whip color), you'll get another post about ferns.)

Easter was fabulous.  While I missed being at my mom's with my family, I enjoyed not having to go anywhere and relaxing at home with my hubs and LG. 

I'm quite partial- but I do believe I have a little cutie.

More Easter pics....

We may never dye eggs again.  LG was a little bored by that process.  Painting, however, is where it's at.

And now for my food confessions today:

BF- 2 sausage/egg muffin cups

         french vanilla cappuccino kcup

Snack-  A few turkey pepperoni's and a mozz cheese stick

Lunch- salad with turkey bacon, egg, mozz cheese, spinach and avocado- ranch dressing

no afternoon snack b/c I was too busy to eat

Dinner- saucy crockpot pork chop and a small baked tater with sour cream & pepper

 

Dessert -3 miniature candy bars (THEY WERE MINI- I worked out today....Gosh folks, get off my back about the chocolates!!!!)

I drank my normal 80-100 oz of water, along with a sparkling lemon-lime water.

Until next time.....

Ma'dam Martinez

It's GONE!

Now you see it....

Now you don't...

and that's now how my bank account appears :)

Now we just have to wait for the brush hogging to be done and it'll be so much better!

LG is getting a swing set for her birthday (which is supposed to be here next week!!!!)- so this mama is thankful the snake pit is GONE so she can play out back!

 

 

and with that.... I have nothing else to say. I'm drained today.

 

 

Oh wait.... more news.... I have an ingrown toenail that led me to the doc today.  Let's just say that cutting it with hair shears and pulling it up with unfolded paperclips for 10 days isn't smart and may or may not cause infection that may or may not result in antibiotics to kill it. 

 

You are welcome for this enlightening news, because I'm sure everyone uses hair shears and paperclips. 

 

 

Until Next Time......

 

 

 

 

Ma'dam Martinez

The Time I Thought I Could Decorate a Cake

It's been quite the week at the Martinez household.

First off....I'm still mourning the loss of Will Gardner.  If you haven't watched The Good Wife...I'm not sure you should catch it up now.  You can read about my obsession with it here.

I sat in bed and cried when I realized Will was killed and bawled my eyes.  Meanwhile, Martinez looked at me like I was a complete lunatic.
The look intensified when I was crying out "How will Diane move on?" ..."Alicia's heart will be broken forever!"...and when I was frantically texting The DeShazo about this devastation.

The week also resulted in the dreaded, horrid, terrible, "yearly" appointment.  For those three for sure people that have kept up with my rambling, you may remember my awful "surprise" at last year's visit.  If not, feel free to bring those memories back here.

For the record, it happened again...and I still didn't have the nerve to confront her about this.  It's so completely humiliating that I lose my speaking capabilities.

Ok, so I am planning a simple, Cinderella birthday party for LG.  She loves Cinderella.
I have my heart set on  this cake.

I also have my heart set on making it myself.

I've discovered that it's a good thing I've decided to start practicing making it 8 weeks in advance.....because the first trial run = horrid !!!

I started out super excited and pleased with how my icing turned out.  It's a fabulous buttercream...fabulous. Since I have to be in bed by 9 every night, I had to make the cake/icing one day and decorate the next.  

Phase 1 & 2 complete...

Yesterday was "decorating" day.  It was a  failed attempt.  Not only did I not have the right tip....I didn't have a clue on the "technique".  After two hours of attempts/wiping it off/starting over/watching youtube videos, I gave up for this trial run....and I was even more annoyed when I looked down and realized that apparently I didn't twist my pastry bag together good enough and icing came out of it and all down my shirt...when meant it was also all over cabinets and well....everywhere else too.

I did the honorable thing.

I shoved the biggest spoonful of icing in my mouth and savored it (Jen A., if you just read that....please exhale)....

and then I got angry because that probably will cause a pound weight gain....

so I did another honorable thing.....

I stabbed the cake with my spatula, while Martinez's eyes quickly dart to the ceiling and back to see if cake splattered on it before focusing on me as if I was a lunatic for the second time this week.

I then came to my senses and put the portion of cake that was damaged in the drain and then sent a ton of cake over to the neighbors so that I wouldn't continue to shove anymore down my throat.

First attempt resulted in a lot of lessons...most of all... I learned I can make a mean buttercream icing....

and this little one enjoyed it.....

I've also learned this week that my PIC can't eat apples without an apple slicer....and when she had to improvise....this was the result.....

Until Next Time,

Ma'dam Martinez

Randomness

It's been like three months since I've posted.


For the last few months, I've been incredibly homesick. That's never happened to me like this in the nearly 7 years I've been away.  Sure, for holidays when I know my family is grilling out or celebrating I wish I was there...but never really homesick...and the things I've been homesick for were specific. Like.....fishing, four-wheeler riding with my family, eating my mom's and sister- law's baked goods (even though the whole time I eat them now I worry about the pounds I gain - but the apple dumplings may be worth it...), and watching my kiddo and nephew interact with one another.  The love between the two of them is nothing like I've ever seen before. Literally, two peas in a pod.

Ty is the most selfless kid I know with the biggest heart for other people- and it's sad that they won't grow up together.

The wish for all of those things has somehow put me in a funk...one that even Steven Tyler can't get me out of....and I'm still climbing out of that funk. Our trip to AR a few weeks ago seemed to help the homesickness in some ways....but made it worse in others.  Not only did I come back with a craving for Vanilla Coke Zero that I can't get here, but a longing for land (which I want to be woods that needs no maintenance:)) and family closer.

And no... I'm never  hopefully never moving again.  (Every time I say never, God gives me the opposite.   True story.  I say I will never marry a military man- God deems otherwise..... I say I'll never a city man....God deems otherwise...you get the idea).  HE's always right, though:)

Anyway, my rambling leads me to this....

When Martinez and I moved this summer, this enormous, ugly, snake infested brush pile was not too much on our radar.  We couldn't see it sooooo clearly b/c there were other trees/shrubbery in front of it that have now been removed.
It's time for it to go.  There is an gigantic tree in the midst of the pile....apparently our builder decided to just push everything together and leave it...and apparently we were not smart enough to fully investigate the pile beforehand.
As usual, I have a deadline.... I need the pile gone before summer (which really means yesterday) so that LG can play outside without me going psycho over the fact that snakes are going to emerge from the pile and eat her and the sitter alive. (And yes, I've played that scenario out in my head....several times.)
Between the winds of Oklahoma sweeping through the plains and our work schedules, burning it is not exactly an option.  I don't want the Martinez family on the news for burning down an entire neighborhood.
We have some people coming out to look at the pile and give us a quote for hauling it off- so I'm hopeful someone can get rid of it...affordably. You guys might want to send some good thoughts Martinez's way.....it may be possible that I'm driving him nuts everyday about the pile.

More Randomness....

I discovered this photo while trying to get Google+ to do an update of my photos.....

It made me laugh... Oh Vic....we miss you up here! (And in case anyone is wondering.... I still can't do a push up.... and I've decided it's gonna go on the list of things I have no will to be subject to, along with camping and watching The Sound of Music.)
Our office was trashed in this photo. (Another random thought).

Since this blog was originally here to talk about my weight loss... here goes...

I was 162 before going to AR.  When I came back, I weighed 168.  Gasp.
I'm not gonna lie.... I ate 6 out of the 16 apple dumplings.  It just happened.
I also consumed about 2 lbs worth of peanut butter cake....and wanted more. (Mamaw has a super winner of a recipe with this dessert!)  Again, it just happened.

Before the trip, I was eating "real" foods.  This is totally opposite what I did to lose my 65 pounds.  I was eating high fat foods like cashews, avocados, ect., and I felt GREAT.  Jen A is a pimp, and she helped The DeShazo and I out with a new way of looking/thinking about food.

I've managed to lose only 3 pounds since being back home- so I'm at 165- and getting back to eating real foods the way I was before the trip.  It's crazy how one week of not paying attention or caring and eating whatever you want can be such a set back...and I totally lost control.

I'm working on getting that control back.  I know I'm not gonna gain back to 225lbs like I did from 2009-2012, because I freak out if I get over 164... and then try to reign in back in.  I've just got to get myself back in the head space I need to be in so I can get to 150.


I suppose I've rambled enough.




Until Next Time......






Ma'dam Martinez

Love/Hate Relationships

It's been so long since I've written that I cannot even imagine trying to catch up.
So I won't.
I've had lots of things to say, but I just haven't been in the mood to write them....until now.

I'm annoyed about Elf on the Shelf.
There.
I said it.





Would it be wrong to create an elf funeral seen?

Here's the deal, I read an article that's floating around Facebook about some parents who stuck their elf in the freezer...which led to the mom saying that some mom's are overachieving with elf scenarios and making them look bad.
This made me analyze my own elf thoughts.
I have a love/hate relationship with Elf.....and yes, Elf is what sweet LG has named hers.   Don't ya just love her originality?

Let me begin by saying that I purchased Elf because I didn't want LG to be "left out" or for her to "miss out" on something.
Of course I went to Pinterest for elf on the shelf ideas and made a note in my phone of ones that I liked or that LG could understand.
The first two days, it was fun.
It then became a chore.

I feel as though it's difficult to find appropriate ideas for a 2 1/2 old to understand, while also not being too messy:)
Combine that with having to make sure it's done before she wakes and getting appropriate pictures is almost too much pressure!!

The article I read referenced the picture taking portion.  Anyone who knows me or that has stalked my Facebook or anyone who reads this blog for that matter knows that I take more pictures than necessary.  I take them constantly...and while I know it's annoying to some people....I continue to post them b/c they are for us and for our family and friends that live away so they can watch her grow.  I want to have the memories of her growing up for years to come....so I'll take them until I no longer have a camera:)

Anyway, I'm tired of Elf.  The DeShazo has informed me that as LG gets older, I won't have to work as hard and then I can just move her around.
I think this is her attempt to keep me from cutting Elf into pieces with a butcher knife.
She handed out candy bags today.....which I'm totally gonna "re-gift" to LG from Elf tomorrow.  I know, I'm being a baby.

My last thought about this whole thing....I've seen some people say things like " We don't do elf on the shelf because we want to teach our kid the real meaning of Christmas".....this makes me want have five elfs....I know...I'm totally contradicting myself.
It's no different than Santa....and you can still teach your child the true meaning.

I've so gained four pounds since my last post.  I hate yummy holiday food.
My solution to this?  Starting January, my friend D will be "teaching" me to run.  Let's see how this goes.  I'm worried, I'm scared....and desperately trying to think of ways to get out of this.  I'm a champ of getting out of things that require any sort of exercise.  I've got a few excuses up me sleeve.....and yes, I'm being ridiculous and realize it.







I leave you with this...

Att-it-tude:)


Until Next Time....


Ma'dam Martinez

** excuse the typos***