McFatty Friday - No Numbers

This week has been my first successful full week of reaching my health goals. I not saying weight goals, because weight and numbers discourages people. All I want to do is get healthy once again. We all want to be our high school weight, because who wouldn't. I was in the best shape in my life and in my prime. Sometimes being skinny like you once were just isn't an obtainable goal. If you work hard to being healthy you will get there eventually. 

This week I went to the gym everyday on my lunch and I will be going today. It's nice to get a nice workout on my lunch. I feel so much better afterwards. I'm more awake, sweaty, but awake. I have a friend at work Kate, that is going to the gym with me. So, that helps when I'm hitting the gym to have someone else sweating and enduring the pain with me. Plus, we motivate and laugh at eachother. I've also, been going to yoga twice a week. You might not think it's a workout, but man you can feel the burn. 

I'm going to tell you about my milestones at the gym and yoga, no numbers. 

For Example: Last night I almost did a hand stand with my elbows on the ground, I fell, but I almost did it. I will let you know stuff like that. 

Also, I'm skipping the coffee and trading it in for a protein or superfood shake. I'm eating fiber toast for breaky and a shake for dinner, or a salad. 

Cheers to Health!

Want to join my health regime. We can share our stories, recipes and milestones together. Link up. 

Thankful Thursday - My Dad

My dad was as strict as they come when I was growing up. He was a hard ass and he knew it. Although, he was a tough dad I still didn't go without, I was taken care of, and because him I am who I am today. 

A little background on my dad...

My dad was born in raised in Kent, Washington. His dad (my grandpa) was the hardest hard ass as they can possibly come. My grandpa is old school. Although, my grandpa was very financially stable, you wouldn't know it by the car my dad drove and the hideous rugby shorts and striped shirts he wore. My dad's first car was a nova with a chain that was attached to the hood. (Kinda like tommy boy, after they destroyed the car). Although, my grandpa was a tough parent and a pain in the ass to my dad I'm sure at the time.. my dad wouldn't be who he is today if it weren't for his dad.

Of course we parents always take a piece of our parent's traits and practice them on our own kids. 

Even though we swore we would never do those things that our parents did to us to our kids, we do and shake our heads after we realized what we just did and say. .... " I sound like my dad..." 

My dad was always there for me. He was a neat freak. I mean a NEAT FREAK. If there was a piece of paper on the floor of our rooms, there would be hell to pay. I mean my dad told me that the dishwasher was for sterilizing only, and that the dishes had to be cleaner going in then they would coming out. That meant not a piece of food on the plate before it went into the dishwasher. 

I remember when I would get upset and would be yelling or raising my voice to get my point across, my dad wouldn't speak to me until I could talk like an adult. Sometimes, I could just rip his head off, but eventually I would calm down. 

I have so much to thank my dad for. We went on vacations to Mexico, Alaska, camping and soccer tournaments together. My dad was the number one dad and soccer fan. Yes my dad was my soccer fan. Every says soccer mom, so for Christmas one year, I got a license mat made that said #1 Fan Soccer Dad. He even went to my first gynecologist appointment, how many dad's would do that. 

As much as I couldn't stand my dad's rules, and his OCD on cleaning, and his silly sayings that use to drive me nuts. I can respect them now as an adult, because I find myself trailing in my dad's footsteps. 

For Example: As a kid I wasn't allowed to have sugar soda, or it just wasn't in the house. So, If I wanted a soda I had to drink my dad's diet coke or diet pepsi. I blame my serious addiction to diet coke on my dad, and I can't really stand the taste of sugar soda's.. thanks dad. Our Halloween candy lasted an entire year or more in the freezer. We were allowed to a piece once in awhile. 

Now I can't do the dishes without the dishes being completely clean before I put them in the dishwasher. I mean come on now... I used to hate that as a kid, but I just can't seem to help myself. 

My dad was a hard ass, he called me McFly, he was a pretty cool dad when my friends were over (sometimes embarrassing). Parents can be embarrassing, I feel like its their job. Even though my dad wore the same black sweater from my grandpa's gold mine, that had hole's in it might I add, and dropped us off to school, my dad was still a great dad. 

He loved me no matter what. He was my biggest fan on and off the field. He treated me like an adult if I acted liked one. He gave me the best childhood a kid could ask for. Even though, I made my dad a grandpa younger than he probably wanted, he still was there for me. 

I'm thankful for a great dad. 

Love,

McFly

What are you Thankful for this week?

70. My Dad

71. My Friends

72. Pumpkins

73. Rain and Wind

74. Snow

75. Firewood 

76. San Francisco Giants in World Series

77. Coffee & of course Diet Coke

Wordless Wednesday

This is my cute little spider last year. It was a great first costume, because we live in the mountains. When Halloween comes around these parts, we are sometimes lucky to have no snow yet and sometimes oh so unlucky. This year it's forecasted to rain and have some snow showers. Mackenna is going to be Tinker Bell this year, and it's not as warm as last years costume, so I hope the weather cooperates. 

Mackenna: You were so cute last year, this year you will be even cuter I'm sure. 

One child is easier

Yesterday, I ventured off to Reno, Nevada to get some grocery shopping done. I live in Lake Tahoe, Ca...yes, but if you want to go to Target, Walmart, Trader Joe's or Whole Food's, I have to drive down the hill 30 or so minutes, depending on weather and shitty drivers, to get down there from my house. So, the dreaded shopping trip can consume a whole weekend day, or the whole evening after work.

Anyway, I had to pick up Mackenna's friend Braeden at preschool as well yesterday. I just had to get some groceries and some things for the house yesterday. I thought to myself, I will just take both kids with me and get this done tonight.

Driving, from store to store and to and from home was the easiest part of the trip.

I was thinking a little bit during this mission with a 2 year old and a 3 year old, that it would be best that we stopped and had dinner first. I hate feeding my kid fast food, but it sometimes is the only option. Yes, we went to McDonald's. They were pretty happy, and they got a cool Halloween bucket. My first stop was Trader Joe's. I'm used to just whipping around that store in about 20 or so minutes, because I know where everything is. However, last night, that just did not happen. I was so busy dealing with the kids that I kept forgetting what I was getting, or what I didn't get and it was just crazy. 

We then went to WalMart, my lease favorite store, maybe it's just weird and creepy in Reno. I was zipping away in the store, again it took much longer than usual with 2 bubs in the cart. 

Where am I getting at with this?

I thought I was so ready for another child, but the thought of that being a issue, no matter where I go and what I do. It just made me think.... Having a second child is going to be hard. I commend all mama's out there with 2, 3 and even 4 kids. You are hero's in my eyes. I'm a little intimidated with 2 kids last night, but I did it and I was exhausted last night. I just wanted to sit in total silence. 

One child completely changed my life, and I'm now I can only imagine how a second child could change my life just as much. Or does it really change?

Meal Plan Monday

I didn't do a whole lot this weekend, which is nice once in awhile. The weather was wet and rainy. I did some domestic hate cleaning, like the bathrooms and the floors and dusting. Here is our Meal Plan for the week. 

Monday -

Shopping Day (TBD)

Something Easy

Tuesday -

Crock Pot Stew, Bagget Bread

Wednesday - 

Taco's

(Ian's lease favorite, but my favorite)

Thursday - 

Roasted Chicken, Potato's and Salad

Friday -

BLTA's (Ian's Favorite)

Saturday -

Breakfast - Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Dinner -  Chicken Soup

Sunday -

Halloween!! (Candy!)

Pizza

Halloween - for tricks or treats? - Guest Blogger Amanda

Guest Blogger Today!

Please meet my friend Amanda from The Forever Endeavor.  I've known Amanda since high school. She is very loving and kind person. I don't think I've met anyone else in this world that has a bigger heart than this lady. She is a Newly Wed and married her high school sweat heart. I even went to homecoming with them on their first date. She has the cutest new blog and a new blogger. Although, not a mother yet, she plans on making babies in the next year or so. Don't give her too many baby horror stories. Since it's coming up on Halloween, she had a great cute post, and I asked her if I could have her as a guest on Mountain Mum. 

Please welcome Amanda to the blogging world and leave her some love @ The Forever Endeavor

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This year the discussion of dressing up has come up again between my husband and me. He really wants us both to go as 80's prom zombies. And every time he brings it up I can't help but to have the same image in my head every single time.

I don't know how many of you have seen the movie "Mean Girls" but it's one of my all time faves. It's got some of the greatest one liners EVER!

Boo, you whore!

I'm sorry that people are so jealous of me... but I can't help it that I'm so popular.

And my personal favorite

Calling somebody else fat won't make you any skinnier. Calling someone stupid doesn't make you any smarter. And ruining Regina George's life definitely didn't make me any happier. All you can do in life is try to solve the problem in front of you.

Well it just so happens that when I think of Halloween and dressing up, I also always think of this scene; where Cady(played by Lindsay Lohan), the new student who has lived in Africa her whole life and has been home schooled up until now, walks into her new friend's party looking like this:

Because her new "friends" neglected to tell her that once you reach a certain age, dressing up for Halloween isn't about being scary and most creative anymore, it's about who can out skank each other. In fact, her exact words are:

In the real world, Halloween is when kids dress up in costumes and beg for candy. In Girl World, Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it.

Please don't get me wrong, I'm guilty of it! I have a picture to prove it

Not my finest moment, but for that night, it was fun. Bryan bought it for me, and I'm not sure if it was supposed to be some kind of nurse or dominatrix woman? In 2005 we weren't even old enough to go out to the bars, so we went to a local house party, and even though I felt like I looked good, I still felt completely ridiculous. I mean, what would my parents say if they saw me like this?!

Now, flash forward four years, and this is what I wore last year

[please don't mind the creeper to my left, that's my husband, dressed up like a crazy psycho killer clown that just escaped from jail]

This costume was the product of a last minute decision to go out to the local bars for Halloween and not feeling comfortable enough to wear something skimpy like I did once before. And if you're wondering I was a Seahawks fan... lame.

I guess my point to all of this is, if you've got it, flaunt it, but is it necessary to show alllllll your secrets? Since it's not so cool to dress like a "ex wife" as Lindsay calls herself in the movie, it's totally fun and acceptable to feel pretty and sexy, but some of the outfits have just gone so incredibly overboard. I don't want this come across like I am judging, and I'm sure the argument will be made that it's just one night, but I guess I just don't get it. I just find it humorous that the movie is completely right in saying that this is the one night that girls can dress like complete - ahem- sluts, and no other girls can say anything about it.

With that being said, this post was not meant to step on any one's toes, I'm just simply expressing my personal opinion. I hope that my costume this year is super cute and still tasteful, something in between my nurse outfit and half-assed attempt last year. If everything goes according to plan and I'm able to find every part of the costume that I need, here's a hint :) Stay tuned for pictures from Halloween weekend, we will be attending a wedding reception that is being held on October 30th and is costume themed. I'm kind of excited for this one!

<3 Amanda

My butt hurts

Got back into yoga today. My butt hurts but im feeling good. Cheers to all the mamas out there getting in shape.

Tomorrow guest blogger from the forever endeavor. Its a great post. Stop by tomorrow.

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Wordless Wednesday

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Meal Plan Monday

Sunday: 

Isabel's 3rd Birthday (Mack's Cousin)

Monday:

Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs

Tuesday:

BLTA's and Salad

Wednesday:

Beef Stew and Bread

Thursday: 

Steak, potatoes, and Salad

Friday:

Pizza

Saturday:

Bake M&M Cookies for Bake Sale and Mack's

Preschool

Leftovers

Sunday: Fish N Chips w/ Salad

Busy, Busy weekend. I'm sorting through all of the photos tonight from the weekend. We went to a pumpkin patch on Saturday, (local elementary school). Mack's cousin's 3rd birthday party was on Sunday. All of the kids had so much fun. I have tons of photos that I will be posting of the party. 

Thankful Thursday - My Cousin an Addiction Survivor

My cousin is 3 1/2 years older than me. His name is Michael James Ruth. He was like my big brother growing up. He used to make me do the craziest things that would make my mother freak out. For insistence, my cousin thought it would be a brilliant idea to take my training wheels off at the age of two and push me down the street and let go. My mom would freak, and little mikey would say, "It's ok aunty Teri, Kristina can do it watch." I would go for awhile and then crash. 

When we got older he moved away to oak harbor in puget sound of Washington. I didn't see his as much, but when I did see him it was so fun. We would wrestle to the point where I might of been crying and yelling uncle. Besides that we had a lot of fun together. 

When they moved to Washington to California, I begged and pleaded my dad if I could go and visit. They were living in Incline Village at the time in Lake Tahoe. When I first came to Tahoe I fell in love. I knew that I wanted to move here. From there on out, I came for several years leading to the ending of my senior year. I decided then that I would be moving to Lake Tahoe, California and go to college there. My Aunt Dee and Uncle Bruce and cousin Mike came up for my high school graduation and my cousin Mike and I would be making the drive down with my car full to California. This was in 2005.

A year or so later, my cousin Mike had a back injury at work. He went to the doctor as any of us would and he was prescribed oxy cotton and other severe pain meds. I think the other one was methadone. (ya the drug they wean you off heroin with.) Mike took those for a year or so and it turned to something even harder, cocaine and eventually the death drug I call it, heroin. 

It was scrarey to see my cousin all dopped up on heroin, because you knew he was gone for awhile and it was heroin, so to speak, that was talking to you. It wasn't my cousin Mike. My cousin lied, stole, and hurt his family over the drug heroin. However, there was still some of him there left. Even if he was doped up and I needed help, he would be there if I called. He would pull me out of the snow or if I needed anything. Moving a couple of boxes.

Mike was eventually entered and exited rehab several times in the last couple of years due to his addiction. One of the times he came out clean and then he doped himself up so much that he overdosed and was brought back to life by CPR. By this point it was clear that none of us could watch him, my aunt and uncle's marriage would be shattered, he just needed help that none of us could give him. 

He then was packed up and shipped off to this rehab in Honduras. HONDURAS! Ya kinda of out there. However, I know my cousin says it's not the best place, and it sucked. I believe this place really did change him and make him better. I know it was a shady place, and it wasn't ideal, but when he came back he was clean, healthy looking, and starting to look like Mike again.

My cousin was never encouraged as much as he should have been. He was always told he was a fuck up and that he would never amount to anything. He proved everyone wrong, when he came back rehab. He took him awhile to figure out what he really wanted to do. He decided that he wanted to go to culinary school, (my cuz is the best damn cook), and pursue a career in the kitchen and be a chief one day.  He studied hard, despite what every thought if he could do it or not, and in October 2009 he graduated culinary school and was so close to being a valedictorian of his class. He still graduated with his class with honors and attendance awards.

Me and the cousin after graduation ceremony

All in all, my cousin is doing great. It's been 2 years since he has came back from rehab in Honduras, and he is still clean. 

Cousin receiving his diploma from culinary school

My cousin is an addiction survivor and I'm proud of him.

I have my cousin back.  

62.. My cousin's addiction survival 

63. My cousin's presence back in my life

64. Sobriety 

65. Family Bonds

66. Diet coke

67. Fall leaves 

68. Pumpkin pie

69. Glass of Red Wine

Wordless Wednesday

I love being a mom and going to a place to just play with Mackenna. This is from this last weekend. We go to this place called the Kidzone. It's an indoor facility for your kids to just go and play. It's great for us since we live in the mountains for a snowy day and we get bored at home. Here are a couple of quick snaps I got with my phone. 

First Ever Giveaway... Hot Mama Handbags

* Closed *
Hot Mama Handbags by Maranda 

I ran into Maranda's Hot Mama Handbags through a fellow blogger and just fell in love with her Etsy shop. She does awesome work. I bought my hot mama bag in August and just love it. I dumped the diaper bag and now using just my hot mama bag. When I received my hot mama bag in the mail, I first looked at it and said to myself that this could not be hand made. It is so well stitched and it holds all of my crap.

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My Hot Mama Bag

Inside

My stuff

Mackenna's stuff

You can fit a lot into this little hot mama bag and still look stylish without lugging around that large diaper bag.

Giveaway

Maranda has a great offer to my readers. She is offering free shipping and a wipee dipee clutch with an order over $50. Which is such a good deal. Please make sure to stop by her Etsy Shop and start to drool over her stuff. If you want to take part in this awesome offer, please make sure that you mention you are from Mountain Mum. This special giveaway to my readers has a 1 week time limit and closes Monday 9pm PST 10/18. 

Free with $50 purchase. 

While you are here, please vote for me and make sure to follow me if you are new.

McFatty Monday

I know, I know this is just silly. But, hey I'm fat and I'm not going to lie about it. (I'm laughing my ass off as I write this) I'm being serious now.... I'm not laughing anymore. I starting this and jumping on the band wagon to regain my healthy lifestyle I used to have. I was fit, athletic and all my clothes fit. Then I had a baby, well she is 2 now. I don't have an excuse anymore time to get back in shape.

I'm too shy, so I won't be posting a photo of my sexy body. (don't be too disappointed). I'm starting McFatty Monday's because I want to join in with the other mom's out there that are also wanting to be their old selves again.

I want to be able to post my progress, maybe as I get braver I will post my photos of my progress, but for now I will just state the facts and the number of lbs or clothes sizes I'm dropping. ha!

I'm going to keep the first post short, because I'm also posting my first giveaway ever on my blog tomorrow 10/12.

Please feel free to give me some advice, what worked for you. Also, feel free to leave me a link to your McFatty Monday's.

Thankful on a Thursday - Mack goes to Preschool

I've been really lucky to have my Mom, Sister-In-Law and my friend Kieara watch Mackenna the first two years of her life. However, my daughter is ready for new challenges and she will be starting her very first day at pre-school next week. I'm so excited for her, because she is going to have so much fun with other kids and playing all day.

Side note: I'm a little freaked out, but it will all work out.

There is also another big change for me. I will be saying good bye to my 6-3pm shift at work that I've been working for the last 4 years. I will be changing to a more realistic shift for Mackenna my daughter of 8-5pm and will be getting her ready in the morning and getting her to and from school. I'm used to leaving the house so early that A. it's still dark outside and B. everyone is still sleeping. So I'm excited to be to get her ready in the morning and head to school and work. Working 8-5 will be weird at first I'm sure, but its for the best for Mackenna right now.


What are you Thankful for this week....

54. Mackenna going to preschool

55. cool and crisp late afternoon walks with hubbs and Mack. 

56. Pumpkin pie

57. A great support system, social, family and friends

58. My friend Amber moving back to CA from WA state. 

59. Diet coke

60. Happy Birthday to "FarFar" (my grandpa) He turned 27 this year. ;)

61. Getting back in touch with the lord.

Link up with me...

100th Post - Let's Celebrate

So yesterday I didn't even realize that my post marked the 100th post of my blog. I've been blogging since May of 2009. I really enjoy it, and the people I meet. I think it's fun to read and learn from each other. I really hope that everyone has enjoyed my blog over the past 5 months or so.

Thanks for all my follower's, readers and tweeter's. All of you have been a great addition to my blog since I started.


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Wordless Wednesday

I found this photo this morning, and it's one of my favorites. 

I love Fall... cold/flu and all.

I was sick all weekend with the cold and flu, so I'm sorry for the lack of a post today. However, check back tomorrow for the Hot Mama Bag's review and giveaway. They are awesome bag's and also the owner Maranda has an awesome offer to my readers.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was relaxing, but tough with being sick. Also, the Seahawks lost.

Rain, wood burning fire and football. Taken from the couch. :)

What did you do this weekend. I hope it didn't involve being sick.

Follow Friday

I love participating in twitter follow friday's, but I would like to have more traffic through my blog and I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that would like that too.

So, link up with me for blog follow friday.