Exercise....blah

Getting in the habit of exercising is hard.  We did not grow up in a family who thought exercise was important. I would like that to be different for my kids, but it's SO hard!
I pin exercise stuff on Pinterest, but I don't do it.

Here's why...

1. I don't like to sweat. That is why there is a fan that I stood in front of today.

2. It's boring. I bought an elliptical & put it in our room.  I figured I could watch How I Met Your Mother reruns and do the elliptical for 30 minutes.  BORING!!  I resold the used boring machine quickly.

3. I can't use the "I don't have time excuse". I have time, I would just rather do other things.

4. We enjoyed running...but it's easy to make excuses. Mostly--it's too cold or too hot.

Last weekend, my sister & I found some Jillian Michaels DVDs at a yard sale for $1!  She took the regular "Shred" DVD & I took the one that incorporated weights. 

I tried it today.

Now I kinda knew what to expect.  I watch the Biggest Loser, I've seen Jillian in action. I've heard other people's experiences of trying her DVDs. But I did it anyway.

It started out great. At 7 minutes in, I was thinking "Jillian is not bad at all!" I can do this!  Yeah...that was just the warm up.... At 14 minutes in I paused it to get a drink.  I also mumbled to Jillian about how she sucks.  Even at this point, I'm still thinking she isn't that bad.  She wasn't yelling, it was just hard because I'm not in shape & I hate exercising. 

At 20 minutes the DVD froze.  A sign I should quit!! :) But I didn't (yet). I ejected, cleaned it off & put the mean woman back in the DVD player. THEN she started getting louder! 

Ahhh...the Biggest Loser Jillian had shown up. AND she was trying to get me to do something called a Turkish Get-up.

I mumbled an "Uh, No" and got another drink of water while she finished her get-ups.

She didn't have much time to be mean, though. Time for cool down.  Thank goodness!!

By then, she's trying to be all sugary sweet.  Woman, please! You were just yelling and I know how  you treat those BL contestants, you can't do sugary. 

"Are you feeling Awesome? Well you should because you are Awesome!"  Big fat smile. PUHLEEZE!

I know it was my first day. I did enjoy the weight part, even if I was scared I would let go & it would hit the TV. 

I think tomorrow I will do the Pilates DVD tomorrow.

It hurts but she's nice.

MAYBE, just maybe,  I will try Jillian again on Wednesday. Maybe, we will actually start running again like we keep talking about...

But like I said, I'm horrible at exercising so no one hold your breath about it. 

Organizing School Papers & Art

This is one of my favorite Pinterest pins that I have made.

You can find the idea here. 

I found the plastic file boxes at Wal-mart for about $6 each.

A box of letter sized file folders was nearly enough for both boxes.  The neat things about these boxes is you can use either letter or legal sized folders.

I finished Landon's awhile back, just needed to finish up Savannah's box. Since she's in pre-school and bringing home keepsake papers & art, I figured I should finish hers.

The blog linked above has a link to labels you can download for the folders. I created my own since our school has JrK & SrK. They are fairly easy to create based on what you need for your child. I can email you a copy of mine if you would like to use them or edit for your specific needs.

There is a space for name, year, school and teacher.

The smaller papers on the left (above) are my file folder tabs. I like to type mine to make them pretty :).

Here are all of Landon's folders so far. He's getting so big!

Makes me a little teary eyed...

Here are the finished boxes. Since this year's pictures are still in frames, I sat them in the middle so Savannah's picture would at least be in the blog post. :)

Next year when the new school pictures come, I will add this year's to the front of the file folder.

I also have a larger Rubbermaid container for bigger art work, baby books, etc. But these file boxes work great for sorting everyday work that comes home. It also forces me to weed through items and only keep the really special items.

I also started this Pinterest idea last year for Landon.

The link/idea is to sign the book at a baby shower for the baby & mom to have as a keepsake. Great idea!!

BUT the description for the pin said to have your child's teachers sign the book each year and give it to them at graduation.  So last year, I bought a book for Landon & played a little catch-up from previous teachers.

I will start one for Savannah next year.

Who knows if my kids will appreciate either of these ideas when they are older.  I hope they will.  I hope they will enjoy looking through stuff they made when they were little.

I know I do...even if it makes me a little teary.

Cinnamon Rolls

I remember making homemade cinnamon rolls with my mom when I was little.  A year or so ago, I decided I wanted to make some.  Unfortunately, no seems to be able to find my mom's recipe...so I turned to Pinterest.

I pinned several recipes. Based on what I can remember, this recipe is the closest to my mom's. I made these last year and they were so yummy!! So I decided to make some more today and write about it.

A few weeks ago I pinned a blog post about making perfect cinnamon rolls.  Turns out it was by the same blog/writer as the recipe I made last year! Find the tips here.

I didn't take many pictures. It's hard to take them with messy, baking hands. 

The recipe is easy to follow. The only thing I didn't like is that it doesn't give exact measurements for the filling. I doubt my mom's recipe did either--I remember just sprinkling it on. BUT I had pinned a couple of different recipes, so I took the measurements for filling from there & made up my own mixture.  

For the filling I used: 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar & 2.5 Tbs cinnamon. Mix well. I spread about 1/2 stick of softened butter on the dough before covering with the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

After cutting the dough into rolls, I took a tip from her tip page and let the cinnamon rolls rise separately before placing them in a pan to bake.  (Last time I placed in the pan to rise like her original recipe called for.) I'm really going to have to take pictures next time...they are huge!!

Also from the tip page--use dental floss to cut the rolls.  Seriously, it's the only way to go.

I ended up with 17 rolls.  It just depends on how thick you cut them. Don't these look awesome?!!?!?!?

The pan on the left has icing, the other doesn't.  I used the recipe from the blog I linked above.  Powdered sugar, butter & vanilla.  I added water rather than milk to get to the consistency I wanted. 

Homemade cinnamon rolls take time to make, but they are so worth it!!  You can make ahead & store in the fridge prior to baking, then bake the following morning. 

OR

You can have them for dinner like we are going to!

Baby Gifts

For those who have missed my Pinterest blog posts, here goes...

The ladies from our small group had a mom's night out/baby shower for our friend Liz who is due to have her 3rd baby (a girl!) in May. What a fun night!!  

We had fun writing silly sayings on diapers for late night changes. I forgot to take a picture of them, but the idea was found here.

I had fun the past week or so making baby gifts for her.  I think she really liked them, so yay!!

On Day 10 of my 40 Days of Pinterest, I made a Cross. Liz commented that she wanted on for Bailey's room so I made her one of those. 

I painted a personalized Owl canvas for her room, too.

She will need some hair bows, of course.  I used tutorials I found on Pinterest. You can find various ones I pinned on my "Kids" board. (or just search hair bows on Pinterest, there are a million tutorials.)

I made a frame for a picture of Bailey & her 2 older brothers.

I used my Chevron frame idea from Day 19.

(it says "me and my brothers" on the bottom)

And probably my favorites were the onesies I made using the Freezer paper stencil idea from Day 34.

Liz had pinned this onesie, so I had to make her one.

And when I found this idea I knew I had to make it!! I also pinned it on my "Super Secret" board so she wouldn't see the idea before I gave it to her.

(The hair bow to match is in the hair bow picture...)

Her husband, Chris loved this one too, so it was a hit! Yay!!

Fun evening with friends and a fun week making baby presents.  Now I need to find some more Pinterest projects to get started on :).