Sunday

This is what Sunday looked like around our house:

Laundry actually happens on a daily basis but more so on Sundays.

I also used these today:

 I LOVE my Dyson so much btw....

So after a little bit of cleaning and laundry we headed outside to enjoy the sunshine and warmer weather (a rarity around here for Winter)

Lilah's planting veggies in the veggie patch.

A little while after we went out, Eve said she wasn't feeling well so she went in to lay down.

We went for dinner to my mother-in-laws and had a delicious leg of Lamb with all the fixings.  

My day finished off with this

me attempting to make my skin look like I'm an adult not a teenager with a face full of acne.

What did your Sunday entail?

Brag About It's Winner!

This has been my biggest giveaway yet on Miss Mommy.

I am SO happy to announce a winner.

Without further adieu, the winner of the $50 dollar gift certificate to Brag About It's Etsy shop is:

Shannon Pate said...

I'm following and I like Brag About it on FB :-)

26 July, 2011

Random Number Generator chose number 33 - and that was you Shannon.

CONGRATULATIONS Shannon!!!.  Go ahead and BRAG ABOUT IT!!!  Please e-mail me at nwellon@live.ca to claim your prize :)

But wait!......Melissa from Brag About It is still offering a whopping 25% off in her shop.  Go ahead and take advantage of this.  I know I did!

The Inevitable

It's Friday here which means that it's my day off.  I went shopping with Lilah today to AirPort West Shopping Centre and Target was our first stop.

Before we even walked in I knew I was headed for trouble.  Through the glass was a display climbing contraption smack dab in the middle of the Ladies clothing.  Ofcourse it had a sign on it that read "Please do not climb".  This thing was right as you walk in the door and could not be missed by any toddler.  And ofcourse, my toddler didn't miss it.  

Lilah ran straight for it and kept saying 'slide slide".   I reluctantly let her play on it for a few minutes.  I stood there in the middle of the ladies clothing section preparing myself for the screaming, and back arching when I told her it was time to go and to get off the apparatus.  

I said in a nice voice "ok, come on now Lulu, it's time to go" - she ignored me.  I said it again in a nice tone of voice and attempted to grab her hand, but it she quickly flung it away and kept on going.  I knew.  I knew I was in for a fight...in Target, close to the entrance where people are walking in and out and would be staring at me.  Also, remember that this climbing structure is in front of the glass so all the people outside Target that are sitting down at the coffee place enjoying their cuppa will be seeing my toddler screaming and flailing herself all over the place.  

So I stood there for another few minutes because I just wasn't ready to have this fight with my 21 month old.  

I finally grabbed her hand and just as she's about to fling it away and say "Noooooo", I grabbed it a little tighter and tried re-directing her away from the structure.  She then turned into this pasta noodle flopping all over the floor and screaming.  

I'd say that i'm relatively new to this toddler tantrum throwing thing because Eve never did this type of thing.  She was always so good, and I could coax her into leaving something like this without a fight.  Lilah is such a different child and I knew the inevitable was going to happen when I attempted to take her away from playing.  

I am that mom now.  I'm that mom in Target and the supermarket with the screaming child.  

What do you do when your child throws a fit in public??

If you haven't yet, please check out my current giveaway

Click HERE  Giveaway will be closing tomorrow!!!!

Growing

I feel as though lately I'm growing.  I'm growing as a person.  I'm finding my niche.  (Is this normal at the age of 27??)

I'm finding as though i'm interested in things I didn't even know I would be.

I love where I am right now.  I'm in a good place & I'm happy.

I have 2 beautiful & healthy children.  An amazing husband that loves me and a job that I love. 

I also have you.  I have all of you readers.  I look forward to each and every single comment.  I have gotten so inspired by all of you and all of your lovely blogs.  So inspired in fact that I am opening my very own Etsy shop :)

I have also purchased my own domain name for my blog as part of my branding strategy.

I want to thank all of you for sticking by me and growing with me.  I hope you'll stick around cause i'm just getting started!

Tell me what inspires YOU???

If you haven't yet, please check out my current giveaway

Click HERE

Peace

I got home from work and was so excited and I mean *so* excited when I opened the mail box and saw a package for me.  

I was even MORE excited when I saw it was from Little Miss Momma.  I knew exactly what was in there and couldn't wait to get it onto my bed.

Don't the girls look peaceful?.  Doesn't it look like we live in harmony all the time by the smiles on their faces?.  Don't let them fool you!.  Lets hope my new Peace Pillow will bring a bit more Peace between these 2 sisters ;)

Thanks Ashley!.  I love it :)

You can get to Ashley's shop HERE 




If you haven't yet entered my current giveaway, do so HERE

Finding Time for Fitness: It’s All About Multi-tasking

Helllooooo, Melbourne!!! (and everybody else too…that was just fun to write).  I want to thank Nicole for inviting me Down Under to share with you my love of fitness.  My name is Abbie, and I blog over at Five days…5 ways where every Monday (I call it “Move-it Monday”), I employ some of my fitness instructor know-how to help motivate others (and myself) to commit to a healthy start to each week.  But even though I looooooove teaching group finess, I definitely still have those days when the last thing in the world I want to do is a) go anywhere near a gym or b) motivate others to do the same.

 This is me, right after our Body Pump 4th-of-July-themed launch earlier this month

I can relate to the the mamas and busy professionals who say things like, “I would love to be fitter, but I just don’t have time.”  I have three children, the youngest of whom is a learning-to-crawl baby, and the oldest of whom is just now school-age, which means home-schooling for me. I have a house to clean, dinner to get ready, a husband to smile at (obviously the most time-consuming thing on this list), projects to finish, a blog to write, and a life to live. Oh yeah, and fitness classes to teach. 

But even though I may not always be motivated, I know it’s important that I make time for some kind of regular exercise, if for no other reason than that I want to be able to outrun these little guys—

and this sweetness—

for another good long while.

So, how do you get fitter, without losing your sanity, your family, or your Kindle time?

In a word: multitasking.

Here are some suggestions of what that might look like:

While you’re playing with your kids…

• run suicides—if you aren’t familiar with these, it’s probably because you blocked them out of your mind from a traumatic junior high gym class experience. But you don’t have to literally want to kill yourself when you’re done to get something beneficial out of this exercise.  If you’ve got little (or even big) tykes, set up a mark 20-30 feet away (you can use anything—a football, a cone, an Ironman action figure…can you tell I have boys?), and then challenge your kids to a race.  Sprint (or jog…whatever is difficult for you) toward the mark and then back to your starting point three times, then, once your kids catch up (assuming they didn’t outrun you! : )), challenge them to a “walk-off” to see who can do the same distance walking the fastest. Wash, rinse, repeat. The benefit: interval training (alternating high/low activities to vary your heart-rate), which is the most effective form of calorie/fat burning. Try to make your playtime last for at least 15 minutes.
   
• give horsey rides: having a wiggly sack of potatoes on your back will add extra resistance and the crawling motion will force you to use most muscles in your body, including those all-important ab muscles everyone is so eager to tighten.  The benefit: elevated heart rate for fat-burning and resistance for muscle tone. Try for 3-4 rounds of horsey rides that last 5 minutes each throughout your day.

While you’re watching tv…

• Alternate between push-ups, dips, and squats. Grab a chair for the tricep dips, and then knock out sets of 5 each, moving from dips (see video tutorial here)  to squats (check out this body-weight squat tutorial) to push-ups (you can read my push-up tutorial for the standard variety), circuit-style (which just means that you repeat the same sequence of exercises once you’ve completed one round). The benefit: elevated heart-rate for fat-burning and multiple reps for conditioning/muscle tone. Try to do 3 circuits (dips, squats, push-ups = 1 circuit) with a 2 minute break in between for the length of a 30 minute TV show.   
•  Do yoga/pilates: you can Google any number of simple poses/stretches (lots of tutorials on youtube) and then use your tv/movie-watching time to get acquainted with your inner yogi. The benefits: stress reduction (especially if you practice taking deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth), increased flexibility—which decreases your chances of injury and improves the appearance of your muscles—and increased muscle tone.  Try to learn a simple vinyasa flow sequence (Google this phrase) and complete it as many times as possible with a 1 minute break between each sequence during the length of a 30 minute TV show.

While you’re Kindling it up…

• Find a step/stair of some kind (even a very low stool will work if you’re careful) and do calf-raises while you read.  You’ll be toning your legs while you distract your mind, and the smooth movement won’t distract your eyes from the words on the page, electronic or paper. The benefit: toned calf muscles, stronger lower body.  Try to do at least 10 sets of 10 at varying speeds (singles= up 1, down 1, pulses=same idea, but faster, 2-2’s=up for 2 counts, and down for 2 counts, 3-1’s= up for 3, down for 1, etc.).  If your calves haven’t burst into flame yet, try a simple up-up, down-down step sequence to work out the burn and get the heart-rate up a little.
• It may seem too obvious to mention, but Kindles or large-print books are also ideal companions for that treadmill or elliptical you’ve been using as hat-rack in your garage for the last two years.

While you’re being the maid…

• Turn up the tunes, and scrub with a sense of purpose. Sweeping and mopping floors is very few folks’ idea of a good time, but if you dial up the volume on your radio or mp3 player, you’re much more likely to get after that dried-on cereal on the tile floor.  Music with a driving beat (even if it’s just a bee-boppy number from the Go Fish Guys that your three-year-old will love too) has been proven to make you work harder and get your heart-rate higher.  The benefit: besides making chores more fun?—an elevated heart-rate for fat-burning. Try to scrub, sweep, bend down for, polish, and dust with twice your normal speed and vigor for about an hour. You’ll have seared off at least 200 cals.
• Run the stairs between laundry loads.  Keep your music blasting and sprint/jog/power-walk your stairs (if you have them) or take a lap around your living room (if you don’t) after you sort your laundry, then after you load it, then after you put the soap in, then…well, you get the idea. The benefit: increased heart-rate for fat-burning, with the added benefit of interval training.

These simple tips may not get you ready for the 2012 Olympics, but if you manage to consistently implement even two of them during your daily routine, you’re likely to notice a change in not only your body and your energy, but also your attitude about exercising.

Here’s to moving it!

Oh, and come on back tomorrow for Try-it Tuesday (it involves the words “closet” and “makeover”). If all goes as planned, it’s going to big!

Wow!.  Great Post Abbie!!!
Now lets all go show Abbie some love shall we?
Click HERE to see her fabulous blog :)

You don't want to miss this - MUST READ!!

I'm having ANOTHER Giveaway!!!!

This one is BIG and I mean BIIIIIIIG.

A while back I ordered a custom hand stamped necklace from a shop on Etsy.  I picked this particular shop because her stuff was AMAZING!!!.  As it turns out, the shop owner actually lives 25 minutes from where I used to live in Hamilton, Ontario Canada.  How funny is that?!. 

The shop is called Brag about it and is owned by Melissa. 

Melissa is offering a giveaway of a whopping  $50.00 dollar gift certificate to anything in her shop!!!!!

AND...for a limited time she's offering a 25% discount to anything in her shop using CHRISTMASINJULY25 at checkout. 

Giveaway Rules:

MANDATORY: Be a public follower of Miss Mommy

Like Brag About It on Facebook

Additional Entries:

Like Miss Mommy on Facebook & Facebook about this Giveaway

Follow Miss Mommy on Twitter and Tweet about this Giveaway

Purchase something from Brag About It's shop and receive an addition 5 entries!!!

**Please come back and comment for each thing you do**

10 Random Musings

It's Sunday morning and i'm feeling & thinking all these random things today so I thought i'd share them with all of you.  

Oh and ofcourse i'm linking this up to Ten on Tuesday at It's a Crafty Life ;)

1.  I get so annoyed and I mean REALLY irritated when it says that the Orange I'm eating will be seedless and I break it open and it has seeds in it!.  If a piece has a seed, I throw it out.  Wasteful - I know, but I can't stand seeds and I get super duper annoyed.  I've already gone through the trouble of peeling it, breaking it open, taking all the stringy bits out, and then to have to work that much harder to get seeds out is a pain in the you know what.  

2.  When I opened Pinterest this morning I saw an abundance of Christmas stuff!.  It's only

 July - I'm not ready to think about Christmas yet.

3.  I just poured myself and Eve a bowl of cereal and for some reason i'm eating it with a very small spoon!.  


4.  It's winter here and raining, foggy and cold.  Everyone else is experiencing Summer and I'm seeing all these amazing posts with these beautiful summery outfits and I have to keep putting on my jacket & scarf.  I'm officially sick of winter and can't wait until Summer.  In fact, I've been so sick of it for a while I actually blogged about it HERE


5.  It's 8:16 am on Sunday morning and Lilah is still asleep.  She's usually the first one up.


6.  I REALLY REALLY want to win the Giveaway thats happening over at I Heart Naptime.
Lindsay from The Pleated Poppy is giving away a 50$ gift certificate for her shop.  I really want one of these

OR

how gorgeous is the Bloom Belt and the Bloom Bags?.  You should seriously check out her shop for her other products - they're amazing.  I'd also love an iPad case!!!.

7.  Hubs spent the morning yesterday washing and detailing my car....today it's raining.  What a waste.

8.   I'm 4 followers away from 100!.  That makes me really happy :).  Wonder when i'll hit 100??

9.  I have all these ideas swirling around in my  head and just not enough time to execute them.  I have started re-doing my kitchen table and chairs and did 1 chair the other day and it took FOREVER!!.  I was wondering why at that point no one talked me out of it.  It's going to take ages for me to finish it.  

10.  I purchased The Pioneer Womans cook book a few weeks ago from Amazon and haven't gotten it yet.  I can't wait to get it!.  Wish I had it today so I could skim through it and decide what to make for dinner.  Steak?,  hrmmmm.

Well how was that for random?!?!.  These are only a few things that are swirling around in my head on a Sunday morning.  It's 8:36am now and Lilah is still not awake yet.  I might have to go and wake her up because i'm feeling like I need to soak up all her goodness today before I have to leave her at daycare tomorrow to go to work.  

Shine Necklace Winners!!

I had so much fun having Ashley over on my blog the other day.  Thank you again Ashley for having this giveaway!

The winner of the first necklace is:

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:20Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Cerrisse said...

I liked you on facebook and shared this giveaway!

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1399977987

curtishascerrisse07@yahoo.com

21 July, 2011 

Congratulations Cerrisse!.  I'll e-mail you!

The next winner is:

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:41Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Chrissy said...

AND I emailed to order a necklace (LOVE THEM!)

22 July, 2011

Congratulations Chrissy!.  Can you e-mail me please and let me know which necklace you want.  I'll be purchasing this necklace for you as a donation to the Shine Project :)

Thank you all for participating and stay tuned for another giveaway for a $50.00 gift certificate to one of my favourite Etsy shops :)

If you just came over here for the giveaway, I hope you'll stay :)

The Shine Project is here!. GIVEAWAY!!!

We have a Celebrity here today.  That's how I feel about Ashley from The Shine Project.  I read each and every single one of her blog posts and truly admire the work she's doing.  Also not to mention how fashionable and beautiful she is. I have my very own Shine necklace that's on it's way to me and can not wait to put it on and show it off :)

Not only is Ashley adorable, fashionable, beautiful, hard-working & devoted but she's nice!  I contacted Ashley asking her if she would guest post here on my little blog and she graciously said Yes... and is giving away one of her Shine Necklaces to 1 very lucky Miss Mommy reader.  How nice is that?!.  I feel so honored to have her here today.
Take it away Ashley:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello lover-ly readers! Okay, I think I made lover-ly up, but I'm feelin it!
Here's me, just so we're a little more aquainted:

And I run a blog called The Shine Project.
I give daily motivation so we can all SHINE in our lives, and give weekly challenges to push us out of our comfort zones to lift those around us who need a little light!
I've taken on a big project. I'm trying to raise $20,000 by the end of the year for inner city high school students at a school that I used to work at. I started something called CHANGE for CHANGE

I'm asking people to pledge to raise $100 by October to send in to the scholarship fund. If 100 people do this, that's $10,000. To get the next 10,000, im throwing a big silent auction fundraiser in October, with all proceeds going to the event! If you have any items you'd like to donate, or if you would like to pledge, please email me at ashley.theshineproject@gmail.com. I KNOW we can make a difference!


I sell these necklaces to help remind us of our daily purpose to shine! $1 of each one sold goes into the scholarship fund...
THE GIVEAWAY WINNER WILL RECEIVE A NECKLACE OF THEIR CHOICE.
Come follow me HERE, and come back and leave a comment!
And go ahead, let the world see you SHINE!

GIVEAWAY RULES:

MANDATORY - Must be a Miss Mommy & The Shine Project Follower

Extra Entries:

"like" me on Facebook HERE & Facebook about this Giveaway

follow me on Twitter HERE & tweet about this Giveaway

Purchase a Shine necklace and receive and extra 5 entries!!!

Come back and comment for each one you do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Guess what? - I've been thinking about this and since Ashley is doing such a great job and I am so proud of her, I want to offer 2 Giveaways!.  Yes 2!!!.  I'll purchase a Shine necklace to another lucky Miss Mommy reader of your choice!!!!
So tell everyone about it for their chance to win!.  you've got 2 chances now :)