Abs.

I hate having a pooch. It's always there haunting my sanity and blocking the view of my toes... OK it's not that bad but I do have a little belly bulge that needs to be conquered. When I do run (rare occasion), I like to do some ab work-outs after, that way I don't feel as guilty when I stuff my face with chocolate cake. These are my favorites (I made up the names because I'm awesome and totally qualified to do that):

Bicycle:
-Laying with your back on the floor, hands holding your head, twist your elbow toward the opposite knee. Repeat with the opposite arm and leg. I think this one works best if you hold it for 1 second.

Regular:
Ya know... up, down, up, down, up down... one hundred, thousand times...

Twist and Shout:
Sit with your legs out in front of you. Raise your legs so your body is in a "crunching" position. Twist your arms from side to side, keeping your legs raised.

FEEL THE BURN!!!

Do you have any good ab workouts I can add?

Burgers and Shrimp Salad

Oh you just gotta love summer BBQ's. In honor of their arrival, I have dedicated this post to them. We'll with every good BBQ you have some yummy pasta salad's and that is my tasty treat for today. This is super easy and if I could I would eat this everyday for every meal for the rest of my life.

Shrimp Salad:

• 1 box of bow tie pasta
• 1 bottle of thousand island dressing
• 1 can of shrimp
• 1 diced cucumber (optional)

Cook pasta as directed. Run under cold water and drain. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. ENJOY!

Like I said very VERY easy and very delicious! Happy Tuesday, friends!


Are you salivating yet?



Freebies

I don't know about you but I love getting free things. Did you ever go to a fair and just take all of the free swag that business give out to lure young children to your booth. LOVE THAT! I'm in the making for becoming a hoarder. Anyway, Austin and I are trying to save some $$$ and that gets hard when you just want to splurge on something with your hard earned cash. Introducing

FREEBIES!

They are mostly samples of a product that the company wants you to try out. I started doing this back when I posted about getting the magazines. Then, I looked into it more. I found websites like Money Saving Mom and Freebies 2 Deals. If you "like" them on Facebook they post updates about great deals and freebies. So far I've only gotten shampoo samples but it takes 4 to 6 weeks for them to come in the mail and I'm just getting started. Most of the deals come from the companies directly but Walmart and Target have a "samples" page on their website that you can get samples through as well.



Just love seeing these when I open my mailbox.



Today.

I think this is a good summer quote. I love summer and everyday in it. Even though I love going to school and learning, it's wonderful to just LIVE during summer.

"No matter what looms ahead, if you can eat today, enjoy the sunlight today, mix good cheer with friends today, then enjoy it and bless God for it. Do not look back on happiness or dream of it in the future. You are only sure of today; do not let yourself be cheated of it." - Henry Ward Beecher

We're dorks.

Shopping Trip! Part I

Hello there everybody! Well for today's dose of thriftiness I've decided to post about my recent shopping trip. I bought a whole month's worth of groceries for $147! That may not seem great to you but it was awesome for me. I ended up saving about $15 using price matches and coupons. Have you ever watched the show 'Extreme Couponers'? These folks are crazy about getting lots of stuff for practically nothing. I'm not one to coupon, price match, or play the drug store game but I thought I'd give it a go. Here's the first step in the master plan (I know that it's a lot like the last 'Money Monday but hang with me):

• Create a Meal Calendar for the whole month. At first this is really daunting. I thought "How in the world am I supposed to come up with 30 meals?" But you don't have to do that at all. I just came up with a few meals that are easy and that we like and just made the schedule off that. My meal calendar is this:

Sunday = Dinner at Parents House

(Need I explain?)

Monday = Brinner

( Breakfast for Dinner. I have muffins and eggs, french toast, omelets, and breakfast burritos)

Tuesday = Tastes like Chicken

(Just an easy chicken meal. There's chicken casserole, chicken rolls, BBQ chicken, and crockpot chicken.)

Wednesday = Hamburger Helper

(Select varieties of everybody's 30 minute meal.)

Thursday = Pasta Pleasers

(Had to have this somewhere saying as we are both Italian. There's shrimp salad w/ hamburgers, bowtie pasta with Italian Dressing, and classic Spaghetti.)

Friday = Leftover Clean-out

(Waste not, want not)

Saturday = Something New

(I left this day for something exciting to try. Recipes include porkchops with potatoes, pulled pork sandwiches, and yummy desserts!)

Pretty simple, eh? I pretty much did the same thing for lunches, I thought of 4 lunches that are easy (sandwiches, smoothies, etc.) and rotated them every four days. For breakfasts we pretty much only eat cereal so that was a sinch. Remember that you don't have to stick to a schedule when making the meals, this step is just to help you prepare your list. I go to the grocery store once a month for the big trip and then little trips for milk, bread, eggs, etc. I've found that it saves me money to do less trips but you should always do what works for you.

Next Thrify Thursday I will be talking about making 'the list'....you know the one.

Stadium Mile

Austin, Me, Mandy (sister), Dad, Dan (brother), Gracie (niece), Sammy (nephew) at the Ogden Marathon. We did the relay together and finished 47th out of 117 teams. I think it was rigged...

Happy Wednesday! Sorry for the lack of posts in the last week....I was busy with...life. Anyway this one is just a short and sweet work-out. It's a really good one for running that gets your footwork down while conditioning. A stadium mile is usually done on a standard football stadium track. You run the curves and when you get to the stairs you go up and down. Continue this for the four laps.
    I like to change up what I do on each lap for the stairs. The first lap I just run straight up. The second lap I hop on the just right foot, run down, hop on just the left foot, run down, and hop on both feet. This really pushes your calves (ye be warned!). The third lap I like to "ski hop" up the stairs. To do this, you keep both feet together and start on the right side of the step. When you jump up, you will aim for the left side of the next step. You alternate sides with each step keeping your feet together looking like a skier, thus the "ski hop". For the last lap, I like to push myself and sprint up the stairs as fast as I can. It really makes you feel good when you finish!

Happy running to you!