smalltownhealthyliving

A little peek into my life as a midwest mom, wife, and chiropractor…

Still Undefeated!!

Just got home from softball, and as the title mentions- we’re still undefeated.  Our toughest game will be next week, guess we better bring our A game.  Definitely played better tonight, no errors and way better hits.  Don’t know what the hell happened last week.

 

Before I do my food recap, I promised a little “ode to Dad” on the blog tonight.  I had so much to recap on Father’s Day that I didn’t get around to actually saying Happy Father’s Day. 

 

Thank you Dad, for being such a great role model and support system.  You are partly responsible for many of my achievements over the years.  My goal was always to make you proud, whether it was sports or academics or whatever.  I know I’ve had my moments where I let you down and it was absolutely crushing to me to think about disappointing you. 

 

Thank you for being such an awesome grandpa to Tyler.  Tyler loves all of his grandparents, but he has a special attachment to Grandpa Terry.  Whenever he’s around Grandpa, he always reaches out to him and wants to go to him.  We think that’s pretty neat.  Smile

 

Since I posted the old pics on Tuesday, better carry on and post a couple more old nostalgic pics.

 

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And of course happy belated Father’s Day to Hubby!  It’s his second Father’s Day ever.  He’s such a great dad and there’s no one else I’d rather be raising a kid with.  Hope he enjoyed his Father’s Day gift… got him a new glove so no excuses on dropping any fly balls now!

 

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Ok, new business.  Food business.  Yesterday was Mexican day.  Except for breakfast, that was a raspberry Chobani and a couple handfuls of Tyler’s Cheerios.  No pics.

 

Lunch was Hubby’s latest favorite, double-decker tacos.  Hard shell taco stuffed in a softshell.  We added cheese, taco sauce, plain Greek yogurt and spinach.  He uses refried beans spread on the softshell to keep it together, but I hate that stuff, so I use the smallest amount possible, to get it to stick somewhat.  I just thought of something, why don’t I just use the yogurt on the outside to help it stick? 

 

I had a fail though.  I put the two hardshells in the toaster oven and I guess I left them in too long.  Sad smile  Good thing we had extra.

 

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Here’s the good stuff:

 

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We were crazy busy in the clinic yesterday so I didn’t feel like putting a lot of effort into supper.  So I probably made a poor decision but oh well it was tasty.  I combined some leftover cut-up chicken with a couple scoops of queso blanco, some black beans and a couple scoops of salsa.  Nuked it until it was runny then used some blue corn tortilla chips to sop it up.

 

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Today started off with some lemon Chobani with a little unsweetened shredded coconut sprinkled on top.

 

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Lots of snacking today, because I knew we were heading to Cedar Rapids to run errands and would probably eat there.  We were in Cedar Rapids pretty much all afternoon so about 5 o’clock we finally stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings for some din-din.  I got the buffalo chicken wrap and 4 boneless wings thinking Tyler would have some after he finished his meal, but he didn’t like the honey bbq, so I just ate them all.  Smile  Didn’t eat all my chips though, and didn’t finish my wrap so hopefully that counts for something. 

 

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Came home and it was off to softball.  I’ll leave you with a Tyler pic, he really enjoys sitting in his Jayhawks chair, eating cheese and watching The Backyardigans. 

 

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Back on the Highway

To the Health Zone, that is.

 

We finally went grocery shopping last night, which was much needed because I think I had a granola bar for breakfast yesterday and some frozen sausage and corn Glory Days pizza for lunch.

 

Stocked up on tons of good stuff, so for supper last night Hubby grilled some chicken that I promptly cut up and put on a spinach salad.  Along with the chicken and spinach, I had cucumber, carrots, feta cheese, and some of these:

 

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Instead of dried cranberries or cherries, try some dried plums.  Good for the digestive tract and less sugar.

 

I topped off my salad with some Newman’s Own Sesame Ginger dressing (not shown).

 

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This morning was started off with a whole wheat English muffin with natural peanut butter, low sugar strawberry rhubarb jam and a side of my daily multivitamins.  I thought I’d throw those in, since I never really mention the fact that I take one.  I take a Designs for Health multi, which is one of the lines of supplements that I carry in my office.  I like their philosophy as well as their commitment to developing high quality supplements that are effective.

 

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I think traveling so much really threw our little guy’s schedule off.  He climbed up onto my lap at 9:30 this morning and slept until almost 12:30, which is what time he is usually starting to take his nap.  I felt so bad for him that I didn’t wake him up to go to our Kindermusik class.  Sorry Cathy!

 

Lunch was a repeat of the exact same salad as last night, so no picture needed.

 

Tonight Hubby grilled up yet more chicken, marinated in Italian dressing.  I assembled a grilled veggie basket of sweet potato, baby carrots, broccoli and grape tomatoes.  I steamed the sweet potato, broccoli and carrots before putting them in my grill basket so that they wouldn’t be so crunchy.

 

Delish.

 

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I decided I’m not going to do a full recap of last weekend, food-wise, since I didn’t take any pictures.  Just know I ate lots of yummy but not-so-good-for-you food.  Like two platters of meat and cheese nachos from the Taco House.  Yum.  Smile

 

I did, however, want to say a little something about my brothers.  My twin brothers played the part of best men for my youngest brother’s wedding, so I got to observe some touching moments during the weekend (minus the part of the toast that was mostly about farting).  I’m not sure when this happened, but at some point my little bratty brothers grew up to be such strong, confident, and respectable adults. 

 

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It’s obvious they value family and friends, and have really taken time to form very solid relationships with their significant others who fit in with the family perfectly.  They are all such great uncles to Tyler, and it really touches my heart to see them play with him and cuddle with him.  They also have accepted Lee (otherwise known as Hubby) into their little brother triangle, which I love because he didn’t have a brother growing up and now he has three. 

 

So little brothers, just wanted to say that you make me proud to be your sister, and I love you all.

 

Being so sappy reminds me that I owe a Father’s Day dedication to my dad since I missed out on that on the actual Father’s Day.  I’ll save that for Thursday.  Smile

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Kyle’s Wedding and Beau’s First Birthday

I’m back.  First off, thank you SOOOO much Melissa for the wonderful guest post on Thursday.  I especially loved the picture of Keevan stretching.  What a good boy.  Smile

 

And she was right, I am way too tired to give you a recap of the last 4 days or so.  I did a horrible job of taking pictures of food, and sad to say I did a horrible job taking pictures on the actual wedding day.  My little brother Kyle got married in Okoboji on Friday evening.  It was a perfect day and perfect wedding.  Then today we celebrated my nephew Beau’s first birthday. 

 

The weekend just seemed to fly by.  So I’m just going to leave you with a couple of the best pictures of the weekend.  And c’mon… did anyone really think I would wear my hair down??

 

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Truths out….

Let’s get right to the facts here friends; we all know Leah was dying to ride the mechanical bull at rodeo days, she probably whined, until they moved softball to Tuesday, so she could get her riding in before taking off for the wedding. Additionally, she was too busy trying to decide which cowboy hat and boots to wear for her big ride, which is why she suddenly forgot how to play softball, it was NOT the potato chips…She was too busy worrying about what to wear and which hand to wave around in the air. Sorry friend, your days of being a closet mechanical bull rider are now over.

I know your all speculating what it feels like to be a guest blogger…well I can tell you it’s an honor. I can only imagine it’s the same excitement that is felt by all those celebrities when their names are finally placed next to that gold colored star on the walk of fame. Before I start handing out autographs I guess you’re probably wondering, who’s the crazy person that’s hijacked Leah’s blog…I can tell you it’s NOT the hubby or the childy, they too would be wedding goers. I don’t know that anything I have to say would be as insightful as the normal guest blogger, you know he does have a slew of important information, but I’ll try to channel my inner Lee with a hint of Leah, since it is her blog and all.Occasionally you’ll see me flip Leah some crap down in the comment section under the name Melissa, to avoid the paparazzi’s starting to follow me we’ll keep with that cover name. Just for a quick background I’ve got a six, almost seven year old son and a 17 month old daughter who enjoys chillin’ with Tyler at daycare when I am at work.

I think we all know what summer means… ROAD CONSTRUCTION! I’ve got to admit the hot temps the last few days have put a pretty long detour in my travels on the “Highway to Health Zone”. Have no fear fellow readers, I think I’ve made it through the “construction”.  I scrambled up a couple of eggs Wednesday morning before dropping Emmalyn off at daycare for some play time. She ate most of them. Since I didn’t know I was being held accountable for my food habits until my trip to my FAVORITE chiropractic office I don’t have any picture to post of breakfast. BUT I did snap a picture of lunch, a couple of tacos and a smoothie. I’m sure the shell wasn’t so healthy, but I needed some crunch today.

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I know I know you all probably sitting there thinking the same thing I did “spinach in a fruit smoothie? Do your taste buds even work Leah?”. Along with tacos, my kiddo’s wanted a smoothie for their fruit. So you guess it, I threw in some spinach, and you really can’t taste it. It’s become a habit around here as long as Keevan (the 6 year old) doesn’t see me do it. It was strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, a little yogurt, and a banana, I only had frozen fruit so I did need to add a little water and of course I snuck in the spinach. I was a slacker Wednesday when it came to getting any exercise in; I did get in a short walk with a friend and Emmalyn after supper, which was totally yummy! I had a spinach salad, and open face beef. I’d made a roast late last week and this is generally what the left overs turn into. I used whole wheat toast, and resisted the urge to pile on the mashed potatoes and gravy.

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I told Kelly, the office manager, Wednesday she could help me with the blogging. She declined, so I told her I would make sure I wrote something about her. She doesn’t read blogs, Facebook, or pin on Pintrest…clearly she gets far more done than a good portion of the population right now! I could really write just about anything and unless Leah ratted me out she’d never know. But just in case she decides to read my debut as a blogger…HEY KELLY!! 

This is supposed to be a health blog, Leah does a fabulous job posting work outs, food ideas and other healthy stuff, but what she (and her hubby) neglects to talk about is what they do for everyone else around these parts. I mentioned I made a trip to the chiropractor yesterday. They are dedicated to making sure their patients feel their best! They don’t just adjust you and send you on your merry way, they give you suggestions on how to prevent reinjuring areas, better ways to lift, move or whatever it is you might have done to bring you in to the office. Ice, stretching and water should be your best friend! I informed our friendly doctor yesterday I was doing the door way stretches she told me to( at work I’m on the computer, also am a full time college student= more computer time) So needless to say my posture sucks. Surprised I actually listen to her she sent me home with several more stretches and icing ideas to help keep me feeling top notch. To prove I did them Keevan snapped a couple of pictures, and he wanted to make sure she knew he was doing his stretches to…SEE we listen!!!

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Keevan doing his stretches. Emmalyn’s starting to feel left out, she’s never given any stretches.Image

French toast was requested for breakfast today, just your everyday no fancy recipe needed French toast made with whole wheat bread. I’d already had a protein shake so I just had one piece. We are working on cleaning out the fridge here so it was taco meat again today, I made a taco salad …I think we all know what a taco salad looks like, mine was pretty boring. Spinach, meat, and a little cheese, I also had a couple bites of the fruit salsa I’d made on Father’s day. Pretty easy, 10-15 strawberries, 2 kiwi(no skin) and 1 green apple(Core removed). Toss it in a blender, food processer; whatever you have that will cut/mix up fruit well. We use cinnamon graham crackers to dip with.

My morning workout is probably one you all do but don’t realize you’re doing. First I did laundry squats, this is what do you when you squat down to dig the laundry out of the washer and drier (if you have front loading machines) then you squat down again to put it away in those bottom dresser drawers…let’s see 4 loads of laundry, 3 people’s dressers…I’m sure I did oh at least 20 today since my darling daughter wanted to help take out clothes vs put them away. These are also known to many moms as toy squats you know when it seems like Toys R Us threw up in your living room and you end up being the one who squats down to pick up each and every toy…. Next it was on to the vacuum lunges! My house is a pretty long ranch style house so I’m sure my legs will hurt tomorrow with each time you push the vacuum out go down in a lunge…I’m sure this totally would count as a leg work out. Then the move I dread the most…any one short like me will understand…putting the dishes away stretch…yep you know what I’m talking about when you have those dishes that have to go CLEAR up on the top shelve but you can’t just reach so you have to stretch out as far as you can often resorting to standing on your tip toes. I would say this move is half of a burpee, minus going down into a plank position, I’m sure you could, but watch out so you don’t hit the cupboard on your way down.

 

I realized last night something was missing from dinner then I remember what it was! I didn’t have an adult beverage! So tonight I’ve got this down!  I put the chicken on the grill and had a nice cold glass of UV blue and 7Image.

 

I don’t have a deck to stand on to get the full effect but hey you work with whatcha got right?! I toasted the whole wheat bun, put a tiny bit of lite mayo on it and some spinach and then had some raw veggies.Image

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For all you Twilight fans, there’s a new trailer out for Breaking Dawn Part 2! I’m pretty sure half the female population (in this area anyways) is counting down the day’s till the movie Magic Mike, staring Channing Tatum starts playing. I can’t comment on books because the only books I’ve been reading lately are textbooks but two movies totally makes up for that right….let’s see what else am I forgetting…..

Out Leah as a bull rider -check

Food pics –check

Recipe-Check

Work out ideas-check

Give Leah a hard time-DOUBLE CHECK

Comment on new books and movies- check

Channel my inner Lee and the highway to health zone- Check

Tyler-Check

 

In the event there’s some lame excuse and no Sunday night posting I tried to make this lengthy enough to get you all your blog fix until Tuesday…just in case. Friday’s are normally my walking/ running mornings so I’d better hit the hay. Several of us also decided swimming laps at 6am was a GRAND idea…either I’ll get in a good cardio work out tomorrow or die trying…we’ll see J

Let me leave you with some thoughts to pounder.

Does anyone else think Tyler’s girlfriends will enjoy looking up these posts and seeing all these cute pictures of him when he gets older? Do you think he will grow up thinking everyone takes pictures of their food before they eat it? Anyone else wonder what Tyler eats, I mean I read about what he has for breakfast once in a while but after that… no idea! All kidding aside, ever notice how it always seems like Lee is cooking/grilling? No wonder the guy needs to take a nap occasionally… Perhaps I need to start sneaking up to softball, volleyball or the gym and snapping some pictures of the pop flies and the errors someone’s making in the outfield or these work outs we always hear about…Could be fun! Most importantly…anyone wanna make bets on if Leah wore her hair up or down for the wedding!?  I guess since the cilantro plant didn’t survive the last weekend away, there’s nothing left for me tell you other than, I will have to conspire with the other guest blogger  and we’ll have to start getting pictures up of Leah napping, cooking, and whatever else we can come up with.  Oh, and for you publisher’s looking to offer me a writing contract, please contact the owner of this blog, she has my contact information.

Oh…by the way…I took the liberty of signing you up for a 5K in October Leah…SURPRISE!!

 

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Ugh.

That’s all I have to say about the last two days.  Since coming home from the Kansas trip, I haven’t been able to talk because of the cold/allergies I contracted while down there, and I’ve been super tired.  Getting 4 hours of sleep every night this weekend probably didn’t help.  Hopefully I’ll be all caught up soon so I can do it again this weekend.

 

I just got home from our weekly softball game, which was moved up to Tuesday this week because of the rodeo.  Yes, the rodeo.  Remember the title of this blog…small town.  Anyway, we played horrible and deserved to lose, but we pulled it out at the end.  It was like I forgot how to play softball, dropping easy plays and hitting pop-ups and easy grounders.  Glad that’s over.

 

Since we have a short week at work, we vowed not to do any grocery shopping this week.  So we’re playing “let’s see what we can scrounge up for a meal”.

 

Before I get started, look what I came home to on Sunday evening:

 

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My poor cilantro.  That’s the end of that.

 

Yesterday morning I finished off my last Chobani.  Lemon with some unsweetened shredded coconut and frozen blueberries.

 

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Lunch was a six inch Subway Club that I picked up Sunday night on our way home.  Along with the turkey, ham, roast beef and pepper jack cheese, I added spinach, cucumbers and banana peppers.  Also a little spicy mustard and light Miracle Whip.

 

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Last night after work we decided to go support our local high school softball team.  They were playing a pretty good team, and unfortunately couldn’t finish them off and lost 5-3.  Guess they lost the next game too, but we didn’t stick around.  We ate our supper there, a plain chicken sandwich and shared some nachos.  No picture because I didn’t bring my phone.

 

This morning I had the last whole wheat English muffin and added natural peanut butter and low sugar strawberry rhubarb jam.

 

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I had the morning off, so I finished up charts and hauled my butt to the gym.  Got a nice little workout in.

 

Lunch was the last of some turkey meat and the last of some sharp cheddar cheese.  And a handful of carrots.  Our fridge is starting to look like a bachelor lives here.

 

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Supper was some leftover smoked pulled pork on a piece of whole wheat bread with some potato chips and baked beans.  Maybe that’s what slowed me down at softball tonight.  Darn potato chips, can’t have just one.

 

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You’re probably wondering where the heck is Tyler in all this.  Sunday night we dropped him off with my parents so they could spend a little time with him before the wedding this week.  He’s being spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa instead of going to daycare.  Gives us some free time to get stuff done, but we sure miss him.

 

I just can’t resist this picture… this is him enjoying the easy life on the farm.  My mom took it the other day when she was pulling him in the wagon.

 

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Can’t wait to see the little guy tomorrow!

 

Oh, and because of the wedding festitivites, don’t expect a blog on Thursday, unless someone wants to volunteer to do a guest post?!!

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