Family Food Budget

With school summer vacation fast approaching I am preparing for the onslaught of mindless eating my 3 teenage boys will do now that they will be home all summer long. I know they will get bored and just eat everything and anything they can leaving a wake of cups and dishes in their paths. Thank God for dishwashers!.

I know once summer vacation comes my budget will double if not tripple and I have not proactively done anything about it. I am in full panic mode. Why oh why didn’t I coupon for snacks and other unhealthy prepackaged foods that will keep my 3 adorable garbage disposals mindlessly eating till I get home from work?  Now I have been scouring sights like Southern Savers and following all the deals on Sophiecoupons on Instagram trying to see what I can stock up on before June 9th.

I also find myself using my Amazon prime account to buy snacks that are good  deals and can be delivered to my door. I wish Amazon fresh was available in my are a but it is not yet. If it is available in your area and you have tried it let me know how it was.  I want to try if it comes to South Florida.

 

So if anyone knows of any deals at Publix in the next few weeks or sees any Amazon deals let me know. I am in full stock up mode for the summer.

The Journey Continues

20150622_072901-1So I have been doing well eating healthy and getting regular exercise.  I have been feeling better, more energy and less headaches. I can’t wait to kick it into high gear when the kids get out of school in just a few short weeks.  I know I won’t be summer beach body ready but as long as I can feel comfortable on my cruise in September I will be happy.

I have tried may diets, workouts, “lifestyles”, and the only one to really work was Quick Weight Loss .  I really don’t want to spend that kind of money on bars and pills so I’m asking for some help…..what have you tried?  What didn’t work?  and more importantly what worked?

Send me a comment, maybe I’ll give it a try.

New Goals

So if your following from my old blog you will remember I set some 2016 goals. One of them was getting healthier.  I am continuing that goal and have lost some weight but really feel a desire to kick it up a notch.  I feel really comfortable now with where my life is and want to get that happiness back from last year.  I was so happy losing weight and getting healthy.  I had so much energy and loved being outside exercising.  I was finally loving my body and looking like I wanted to in my clothes.  I need that back now. I’m ready to have that back now.

So my plan is to join a gym when the kids end school.  I will have the time to go then as the weeks that I have them I will not be rushing home to pick them up and feed them only to either rush off to an activity or get ready for bed for school the next morning.  I hope to work hard throughout the summer and feel comfortable adapting my schedule when school starts at the end of summer.

During the next few weeks before school gets out I am committing to working out at home on my own.  I also had written down a healthy eating plan that cuts out my beloved Starbucks over the next 2 weeks. Eating more frequently to keep my energy and sugar levels up will be the hardest part for me. I am usually so busy  I forget to eat or even drink my water. I know I need to change that as last year when I had all the success with getting healthy it was that consistent regimen of eating healthy on a schedule and getting my water in that really made it a success.

Although I will not share my weight with you all I will post the most recent full body pic I have and post updates with pics every 2 weeks as I need to be accountable to not only myself but to others.  The kids are supportive and I know will keep me on track, anything to be able to call me out when I am doing something wrong.

Women and Car maintenance

Ashton4I am not sure if it’s woman thing… ok so I have been told on numerous occasions it is but I am not savvy on the whole auto maintenance situation.  I know, I know oil changes every 3,000 miles or 3 months but its so much more than that I am finding out.  And to be honest I have not even kept up with the oil changes like I should be for driving a 2002 SUV with 199,000 miles. …….Ugh ok I hardly ever even put gas in before the gas light comes on. But I have learned some things this past year about keeping my car going till I can get a new one.

I, with the help of Youtube have now changed my windshield wipers on my own. Yes I did buy the wrong ones at first even after reading the little book and finding my make and model of vehicle. But once I found the correct ones it was fairly easy to do.  I also have learned how to check my oil level and where to add more.  The trickiest part for me is choosing the correct type of oil, numbers – letters, I consulted my manual every time at first. I also, due to necessity for a short amount of time, had to learn how to add coolant to the car.

I recently started having some more car troubles and have committed to taking better care of my car.  I want to buy a new one in January and need this one to last and not just till I get the new one but hopefully longer so the boys can have a car to drive. So I will be getting my oil changed this weekend. I will also be getting the a/c charged and have air put in my tires. Hopefully I will learn some more things I can do on my own so I don’t end up stranded like today waiting for AAA.

Oh on a side note… Alex from AAA was great, super helpful!

 

5 things I can’t live without

20160220_093653 (2)So now that I have been on my own in my apartment for a few months and I am all settled in I have found a few things that you may not see as necessities but I can’t live without.  They just make my every day life easier and more enjoyable.

1.Rave Portable Rechargeable Wireless Speaker – This item I received as a Mother’s Day gift from my boys and I can no longer live without.  It has been such a great item. I can have it in my living room while I work listen to my music, in the kitchen while I’m cooking, in the bathroom while I shower or in my room when I am relaxing before bed. I can’t live without it. It makes me
happy.

2.Bath and Body Works Aroma Therapy Candles – I love the Eucalyptus and Spearmint scented one. It is for stress relief but I love the smell.  It is relaxing and nice addition some nights listening to my music with the candle burning.  It makes me feel at peace.

3.Keurig coffee maker – Yes I was spending more than I would like to share stopping at Starbucks (and I still do sometimes) but having a Keurig at home and being able to sit on the couch on a Sunday morning with a fresh cup of coffee is the best feeling. I don’t have to go out just to get a coffee. I can stay home and enjoy my morning.

4.Key Hook Organizer – Now when I have the kids they can sometimes get me so frazzled I don’t know what I did with anything especially my keys.  We will be running around all morning trying to get out the door so I can get them all to school on time and the last thing I need is to be looking through my purse for my keys or trying to remember where I left them.  This way when I walk in the door I hang them up and put anything in the basket we don’t want to forget like lunch money or permission slips and we are ready to go in the morning.

5.Dirt Devil Stick Vac – Living in an apartment there is no entry way and when I have the kids they walk right in the house int the living room and right through the whole house to their room or the kitchen tracking dirt.  I hate to sweep feeling I don’t get it all up and I have a few area rugs so this is the best thing. Twice a week I get out my stick vac and do the whole place rugs and then I just have to take out my Swiffer and my floors are done! The Dirt Devil one is nice because it comes apart and can be used in the car or on the couch as a Dustbuster.

Well there are mine.  What are yours? Comment below and we can all be prepared next time we move.

Sporty Kids

camHaving a child that some have called gifted as sports has its pitfalls.  My other 2 kids have always thought of career paths.  They have had to work hard for their grades. Kevin and Ashton have had many life experiences that have led to their decisions on what they want to be when they “grow up”.  Not that Cameron has not had just as many life experiences but his daily focus has always been football.

I think every young boy that is playing a sport has dreams of growing up and being a super star in that sport. Cameron was no different.  When I would ask Cameron what he wanted to be when he grew up he always said “I want to play in the NFL!” Later when we would ask him what his back up plan was he would politely reply “Oh the NBA.” Really!  Your backup is some peoples dreams.  I just kept thinking, how do I get this kid into reality….

It finally happened, yup it too until the end of 8th grade. Heading into high school. The high school football coach took Cameron aside during school one day and asked him what he wanted to study in college and my son actually came up with a career choice. Now don’t get me wrong, he is extremely talented when it comes to Football even dabbling in Basketball and playing varsity Lacrosse while in middle school but your child not having a grip on reality when talking about a practical future is scary.  So my son told the coach he wanted to go study sports medicine in college.

Now I have to say I am very impressed with the support system my child has at his school.  For them to take the time and not just talk about what position he wants to play in the upcoming season, or what an asset he will be to the team. They took the time to not only help him realize a great career path but also looked online at colleges that would support both his love of the game and his career choice.

Now I never put down his dreams and goals of being in the NFL.  I actually buy into that dream with him. I invest in him with time and money to get the training and go to the practices to make sure he knows I believe he can do it. But there is something calming about knowing your child has a career choice in his head that will bring him to college and beyond. Raising a sporty kid is more challenging than you would think. They need to balance their training with school and their social and family life.  They often have no time to do much besides train and play so you know they have the drive, the commitment, the will to succeed. That alone is why they will always be great at what ever they choose to do in life.

New Beginings

12741912_10206048008573804_4865114149585565386_n(1)I am not quite sure how but my last blog is lost.  I have no idea where it went but I thought it was a good time to start fresh just like in my life.  So join me on my journey as I navigate being a single mom to three teenage boys, learning to live on my own, find love again, and invest in myself.