Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Resolution # 2 to workout/be more active

Yay! I have updated my blog within a week. I'm doing good with this New Years' Resolution thing. :-)

Also, I have re-visited one of the places that I haven't visited in a while.....Our home gym!!

I really want to make working out as important as going to church every week. I just think, God gave us these perfect bodies, and we don't take care of them.

On Monday, I was going to get on the elliptical, but when I got home from work, my hubby was already on it (with his dedicated self - love him!). He was running a marathon or something on the elliptical because he was on it forrrr-everrrr hahahah. Just kidding, but he actually did 4 miles in 30 minutes.

Since the elliptical was "occupied", I did the P90x disk - Legs and Back. I'm always more interested in working out my legs because I can usually see the results quicker. Also, I love to wear shorts and summer and swim suit weather will be here in no time. Not only did I do P90x Legs and Back, but I also did ab ripper X which as at the end of the legs and back disk (ab ripper x  is 343 reps of ab exercises). I got pretty winded through the workout. .I could tell I was really out of shape. It astonished me how a person can get out of shape so quickly. I remember when I could pretty much complete the ab ripper X entirely....not so much now.

Let's just say that the next day (Tuesday) I was in PAIN from Monday's workout. I think I may have pushed it a little bit too far for my first workout. I got home from work a little early on Tuesday and really did not feel like working out, but my muscles hurt so much that I felt I needed to at least stretch. So, to the workout room I went. After stretching, I felt a lot better. I decided I could do today's workout, and I wasn't going to let this soreness stop me.

I jumped on the elliptical for 10 minutes while hubby did some weight training on his weight machine thingy (its kinda like a bo flex machine). I did pretty good, but I was definitely feeling tired toward the end.After the elliptical, I put in the Arms and Shoulders P90x disk.

I was really impressed with myself! I have to admit working out has made me feel pretty good from the endorphins.

Next, I might... just might try going to the free Ladies bootcamp in our neighborhood on Wednesday mornings.....but 5:45 am....ummm I don't know....but I will try one Wednesday, but not tomorrow lol.


Below are pics of our workout room. Its pretty bare bones....so its a work in progress. I want to get it painted, but once we have a baby, "baby X" as we call it, the workout equipment will be moved to Jerry's man cave. So, we won't paint it for now. Although, a nice yellow or orange color or light green  could be appropriate for either sex for nursery, huh? hmmm, I will have to think about that.

I want to get a sign like this to put in the room
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Break down of amount spent on workout room
$100 elliptical (on craigslist...it was our first purchase after we closed on our house. Luckily the person we bought it from lived near our area in a beautiful subdivision called "Long Meadow Farms"
$60 Bo-flex type machine (craigslist)
$20 Mirror (dollar general store)
$5 Aerobic Step (from Katy Christian Store)
$20 Pull up bar (walgreens or Ross)
$40 dumbells (various places)
$15 Dry Erase Board Calendar (from Home Goods)...to make workout schedule

Total cost is less than paying for gym memberships for a year for two people!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!

Everything else was pretty much given to us by family. Including the flat screen TV from my sister. LOVE HER!!!

Below are pics of our workout room (and me after my workout)
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Photobucket So how are you coming with your new year's resolutions? What are some things you picked to resolve?

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

2012 look back at 2011

My resolution for 2012 is to be a better blogger, workout more/be more active, and eat better.

So, for my first blog of 2012, I would like to do a look back at 2011 and some of the things that I didn't post about.

1st up - some home decor/updates that we did to our home
We installed hardwood floors...real hardwood. I always wanted hardwood flooring in our home, but since we built our home from ground up it was not very wise to buy the flooring from the builder as I hear that they mark the price up tremendously. Plus, who wants to pay 30 years for their flooring (i.e.rolled into their mortgage).

Hubby promised me we would get hardwood eventually. Well, finally after several budget meetings, it fit into our budget. YAY!  We searched so many places and online and finally found EZ floors. They were the best place to buy flooring, economically and yet still have the quality that I wanted. After some online searching I found someone that recommend Mustafa at an EZ floors location in Cypress. Granted, there is a EZ floors near our neighborhood in Katy, we found Mustafa's store to be more friendly and helpful. So, after many and I mean many trips to the store we finally settled on our flooring. From my research, I DEFINITELY wanted an American based company (as many of the chinese companies are said to be sketchy) The chinese brands are cheaper but lack in quality and customer service after the sale, in my opinion. I read some of the brands even begin to peel.

 I also wanted a DARK hardwood. For me, it looks richer, more expensive, and less like laminate. Plus, to me, it is so much more cozy and calmer after a hard days work. I want to come home from work and my home feel like an oasis. MOST importantly, it HAD to be in our budget, or my husband would freaking flip and cancel the whole thing lol.

 In addition, I did not want a smooth floor, I wanted a handscraped/hand sculpted look. To me, this was better in the event that there was future damage to the floors....God forbid scratches and such (although in our home we have a shoes off policy) , the handscraped floor will hide the infamous accident (i.e. dropping a glass, etc) .

 Lastly, we wanted a material that was hard and durable. I researched all the brands of trees and their hardness factor.  You can find this online if you are ever in the market for flooring.

And Ta-da, Mustafa brought out Andersen's Applachian flooring - Black Hills is the color. I loooooooved it!!!!!!

So, to stop all my rambling, here are pics of our flooring being installed back in June - July 2011-ish. We got it installed in the living and dining room. I LOVEhow it turned out. Wish we could afford to get it installed all over the downstairs (except for the bedroom) , but that will NEVER happen.



You can see my dining room curtains here, talked about later

The workers put my furniture back exactly. It was weird that they knew where to place it without me telling them.

They are working hard



Before the flooring was installed, indecisive me started freaking out....worried the color wasnt dark enough....HA, I am so silly.  I sent this pic to Hubby at work screaming...I dont like. hahahha


Next up, we finally got Curtains in our 2 Story living room. Before I say anything else, I have to say Drapery Montage is AWESOME!!!!! They are located in Houston on fondren road and I have been stalking their website for a while. They have done 25 foot ceiling curtains in the past so I knew I could trust them. The owner, Edith, is very nice and patient (especially with an indecisive person like myself). She helped me pick out a cohesive color that went with my furnishings, that went with the Tiffany blue curtains that I already had in the dining room (since my first floor is an open concept floor plan....things need to "go together".

 She helped me pick out Living room curtains and tied those into the Kitchen Nooks curtains that she made, which then tied to the Tiffany Blue Curtains that I already head up in the dining room.  Let's let the pics speak for themselves.



Igonore my slippers on the floor..HA! Sorry, Messy me

I will post the kitchen nook pics a little later....sorry to tease you, but drapery montage, made pillows for my couch that matches the kitchen nook curtains.....as a surprise to me. I loved it!!!! You can see the color in the above pics (a tiffany blue and brown color.

So, how has everyone been? Any new an interesting home updates? Please update me via email or comment.