Finally!

Hello blogsters and blogettes. How is everyone on this fine Wednesday? I'm fabulous, and I'll tell you why. For the past 3 days I haven't gotten a chance to do my work out. Today I had planned on getting a good 30-45 minutes in, but as my daughter woke up from her nap I discovered that we were out of milk! If you have an infant you know how critical it is to have milk in the house, especially before or after naptime! So, even though it was a rainy shitty day, I bundled her up and we ran to the store. I managed to keep the groceries for the rest of the month at only $50. I'm pretty stoked about that.

After I returned home, I realized that there was in fact NO WHERE to put all the groceries I'd just bought. The men of the house tend to just shove whatever they can into whichever cabinet they can. I wound up cleaning and rearranging all 6 cupboards. Oops. When I glanced at the clock it was flippin SIX THIRTY. Woah! I started to make dinner so that it would be ready when Andrew and his dad got home, and of course in the midst of my cooking his dad came home. There went my chances at a workout.

For dinner, I made hearty chicken and noodle casserole. It was DELICIOUS. I wish the recipe had made more, but it fed all 4 of us. I'll post the recipe down below.

Anyways, onto the WORKING out portion of my work out blog. Heh. After watching a few episodes of DH and another few episodes of NCIS I decided that I was going to get off my ass and go do some quiet yoga. I was feeling crappy about not having worked out for the past few days, so I put on my workout attire and retreated into the living room.

When I turned on my wii I was reminded it was my 9th workout. This means I was retested in all of my areas, and I was able to change my current and ideal weights. Well, since I started the game without a scale I guessed 199. (which is what I am NOW, because I was 10 pounds more than that when I guessed. Whoops.) As I was saying-I guessed 199, so when I went to change my weight, I just left it the same. That made me feel bad, but I KNOW I've lost 9 pounds. I just wish the game knew. Dang. Anyways, I did a 20 minute work out and burned 200 calories. I would have done more but for the first time ever, his dad actually walked out into the living room while I was in the middle of my grapevine workout. I felt embarrassed, paused the game, and sat down until he went back to bed with his bottled water. I managed to do a fairly good workout barefoot, and trying to be ultra quiet so as not to wake the baby. After I finished my workout, was graded on my first 9 workouts (B+) and did my stretches, I was asked if I wanted to do my physical challenge. In reality, I should have said no so that I could have done it with shoes on, and given it my all...but I said yes.

I wound up doing my physical challenge, and scoring an 83%. My worst score was on lower body because my knees hurt so badly when I work out thanks to an old high school gym injury. WOW, I sound old saying that. Ugh. I did great on all of my other aspects. I think my lowest score was around 60% and my highest was in the 90%. Overall, I was pretty happy with my results. I actually did a BETTER physical challenge now, than I had with my first challenge. That means Im making progress. Even better, I was half assing it just now, and still did better than before. I'm pretty happy about that.

Strangely, when it rescanned my body for my body image I came out looking a LOT thinner than I did last time. I mean, more so than I actually am. I think that the black shirt and low lighting didnt help much, but its just a silhouette and I'll take what I can get. I have decided that I'm going to try to work out as much as I can, when I can. I'm going to try my best not to feel so guilty If I don't get a work out in, because I'm going to try and make this long term. Sure the 6 week challenge is fun, and it's all about starting to live a healthier lifestyle, but in the long run I want to maintain this. So what If I eat out once in a while after the challenge is over, as long as I come home and work my ass off to kill whatever it was I just ate. Will I be bloated for three days? Sure I will, but sometimes it's just worth it.

So far this six week challenge, and the 2 people who are my constant go to gals (Quinn and Nathalie) are making this a lot easier on me. If I had to go this alone I probably would have given up, but you two girls really help me out0, alongside our fellow weight loss blogger Brooke. (www.brookenotonadiet.blogspot.com) I know a lot of other people read my blog because I get commented on it a lot via facebook. So thanks to all you guys who are reading it too. I'm trying my best to become happy with who I am, and live a better lifestyle. The 6 week challenge has shown me that I can sleep better at night without my daily dose of dr. peppers. (yes, plural.) It has shown me that learning to cook new meals can be fun, exciting, and a lot better tasting than eating frozen dinners every night. It has also shown me, that I'm not alone in my struggles.

Peace, Love, and Sore Knees
Sarah V.

RECIPE FOR CHICKEN & NOODLE CASSEROLE:
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup  (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
1/2 cup milk
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
2 cups medium egg noodles, cooked and drained
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

• Heat the oven to 400°F.  Stir the soup, milk, vegetables, chicken, noodles, Parmesan cheese and black pepper in a 1 1/2-quart casserole.
• Bake for 25 minutes or until the chicken mixture is hot and bubbling. Stir the chicken mixture. Top with the cheese.  Let stand until the cheese is melted.
• Serving Suggestion: Serve with a steamed vegetable blend: broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, and a Caesar salad. For dessert serve fresh strawberries topped with whipped topping.
• For Golden Onion Chicken & Noodle Casserole, substitute 1/2 cup crushed French fried onions for the Cheddar cheese.
  
• For Hearty Chicken Casserole with a Twist, substitute 2 cups cooked corkscrew-shaped pasta for the egg noodles.

**DAYS WITHOUT DR. PEPPER**

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Please feel free to share/post any recipes or email them to me at Cyanidesarah@live.com

LOVE. <3