I'm bad at keeping up on a blog, but I'm great at finishing projects!

Update: I moved (just across town to get the Doodle into her old school district), I started dating a wonderful man and I got busy (see also : lazy) and stopped getting my daily Jillian ass kicking shred. I moved where I no longer have easy access to a treadmill and my motivation has gone into other things such as home upkeep, parenting and DIY projects!!! As I will tell you about here now.

The tree is up - The house is decorated - The presents are wrapped and under the tree.

I am so ahead of schedule!

In the interest of getting something for everyone and not having the funds to spend more than about $3 on each person I decided to make homemade gifts with love.....

All You need is cheap solid colored coffee mugs - I got mine at the dollar tree because they were bigger and I wanted them all to match - They certainly do not have to. Plus the bigger ones can be used for soup and other things as well. Thrifts stores sell them 25¢ to 50¢ a piece.

  I got vinyl letters from Walmart - You can find all kinds of different alphabet stickers at Hobby Lobby, Michael's and other craft stores, but they are more expensive and you can't really peel and re stick like you can with the vinyl kind. (Other ways to do this is to cut your stencil into contact paper, stick on and paint OR stencil your letters on with graphite tracing paper and free-hand with your paint marker. I find that my freehand SUCKS so this was the easiest, cheapest and least time consuming way for me to go about this particular project.)

Outline your letter.

 Peel it off. There may be some paint residue that has gotten under the vinyl - Don't worry about it, it will look fine when you are done.

 Draw lines through or color in your letter. Design it however you wish...

 I free-handed some holly on mine to make them them more "Christmas-y"
Bake the mugs in the oven (a.k.a. redneck kiln) at 300 for about an a half hour to an hour to set the paint so that it be permanent.

 Now for the filling: I bought holiday recipe cards and I wrote the recipe for a Brownie in a mug - Just another thing they can do with their personalized mug. (I am going to mix the dry ingredients for this and put it in the cup attached to these cards.) My handwriting is horrendous, but I thought typing would make this gift a little impersonal and Personal is totally what I am going for.

 The Doodle made baggies of Peppermint Hot Cocoa (I wanted to make homemade hot chocolate, but I went the lazy route and got Swiss Miss) We put two packets of cocoa mix (because they are larger mugs), threw in a handful of mini marshmallows and a soft peppermint stick. I chose soft sticks because they are larger and will melt into the cocoa faster when the gift recipients are stirring with it.

 Doodle bug tied the bags with ribbon and curled. I bought a pack of 12 small plastic ornaments for $1 (Again Dollar Tree - LOVE THAT PLACE!) We used a Sharpie pen and wrote the To: and From: on the ornaments and attached to the bags as name tags.

 Finished Product: (Minus the brownie mix that I am going to add) I threw a little chocolate snowman in to add some cuteness.

 

 Total cost: $40 - That's $3.33 a piece.

Dollar Tree: $21

12 Cups: $12

Pack 12 ornaments for name tags: $1

2 packs of 6 chocolate snowmen : $2

Hot cocoa mix 4 : $4

Mini marshmallows : $1

Package of 12 peppermint sticks: $1

Walmart: $4

2" Vinyl Stick letters : $3.74

3 Porcelain Paint Markers $4.92 each: $14.85
Buy paint markers here.

These are so awesome I stayed up last night until after midnight making them and I wake up at 6am. Anyone that knows me will tell you that I love my sleep and anything less than 8 hours makes me a USELESS and CRANKY  See You Next Tuesday, but for some reason I am in a great mood and full of energy today. I am so excited to go home and finish the rest of them tonight! Yay!

I fell off the wagon, but I called a cab and will catch back up!

OK so last night I had key lime pie. It's my 2nd favorite (running just behind cheesecake). I blame the waitress at Outback (because I'm not going to take responsibility!)

I had a small issue with my dinner - which wasn't a big deal at all. Honestly I didn't even care about what happened. The rubber band from my crab legs was on my plate. So what?!?! ( Just so you know, you can get a 5 oz filet mignon, 1/2 lb of steamed snow crab legs, and a double side of grilled asparagus - Well under 500 calories! YUM!)

To make up for the mishap (which I told her repeatedly she didn't need to) she brought me a complimentary slice of mouth watering, delicious, in season, beautiful, delectable and to die for - there is NO WAY I'm not eating this when it's sitting in front of me key lime pie.

Would you be able to push this away when you haven't allowed yourself a cheat in 2 weeks?

I went home and started Level 2 of the Shred to make up for it. I screamed at Jillian "I'm gonna shred this key lime pie!" And then I did.

Level 2 by the way - a lot harder than level one. My core strength is NOT there yet.

My 2nd stumble on my work-out, lose weight and tone my body so it's suitable for a bikini journey was that I was SUPPOSED to get up and Shred this morning before work. Well, I am going fishing after work today, directly from work. I won't be home to Shred tonight.

I woke up a little later than I had planned and didn't have time. So I did about 5 minutes of double crunch leg raises. (Enjoy the hot guy on that web page) I figured what with level 2 last night and the crunches this morning I could call it good for today...

Except..... I can not go fishing and not drink beer! So I have also not had a drop of beer for 2 weeks - Well 1 week and  5 days to be exact. SO that may impact my progress slightly to say the least. However I will continue my quest and take this little set back as a reward for my efforts. Tomorrow I will be back on the routine and on my way to further toning and weight loss!

Extra Extra read all about it - Shredding takes over life!

I have been a good girl. I've stuck with the meal plans, stayed in my calorie count and haven't missed one day of Jillian.

I started Jillain at 162 lbs. Today is 1 week - 7 days that I have been doing "The Shred". I weighed in this morning at 157lbs.

Ok Gina, deep breath...... Here are my before and after photos for week 1. I can see a definite difference and I have 3 weeks to go...

 

I will try to stay in the same post for the rest of the pictures, I didn't realize until I put them side by side for comparison. 

I can't believe that I can see such a difference in just 1 week! This shred is awesome. When I want to stop I just tell myself it's only 20 mins, so the pain won't last forever..Next thing you know it's done!!

I have 3 more days on level 1 and then I move to level 2. I am going to admit that I'm a little scared, but when you see the results you want to keep it up!

Oh, I am starting a gang. The "Shred Gang". Sounds terrifying doesn't it? You know you wanna join. Not only am I the Shred Gang President, but I'm also a member! Hahaha

Sticking with the shred

Day 2 was a little harder than day 1 due to my sore muscles. Man, for a 20 minute workout it is intense and really packs a punch!

Day 2 I was already down to 159.6 - I made it under the 160 mark! Woo-Hoo!

Day 3 was a little better, I read that it would be the hardest to get through, but I did a lot more stretching out of my sore muscles than the video has you do and Day 3 was much easier than I expected I even followed the advanced moves. Today I weighed in at 159.4.

If anyone is following along and decides to give the shred a try - my only suggestion to you is to drinks A LOT of water and stretch out more than Jillian has you stretch. This will help the sore muscles so that the following days won't be so hard to get through.

Day 4 tonight......

By the way, if you are looking to get the video - the cheapest I found was at Wal-mart for $6.96 (on-line and in stores). If your store does not have it, they will ship it to the store free and you can pick it up there.

Or you can go to the links below and watch it free on youtube.

Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred

Level 1
Level 2
Level 3

You need 3lb hand weights and a mat (If you are working out on a hard floor). May I also suggest having a towel nearby as you will sweat your ASS off..and your flabby arms, and your gut etc.... You get the point.

Day 1 of the Shred

Well, I did it. The whole 20 minutes. I wanted to stop. At one point I wanted to throw up, but I kept on truckin' and completed day 1. I don't have measuring tape so I can't take my measurements, but I did take my day 1 before picture...

Ok, it's not that far off, but I think that I will wait until next week when I take my week one picture and put them side by side for comparison.

Tomorrow I work at 4 at my 2nd job so I will have to do Day 2 in the early afternoon. Me thinks I may not be able to walk. My legs were all jelly like for about an hour after today's Jillian beating...I shall see what tomorrow will bring (hopefully a scale weighing in my favor and not too much pain).

My Weight and Other Atrocities

Well, I haven't given up on my blog completely. I've just got life settled down (Back in the Midwest) and decided to get back into the habit of blogging now that I have time to form a habit while Doodle is visiting her Dad for the summer.

I unfortunately let myself go while in Florida - You would think that was when I would get in better shape what with being at the pool/beach and all.

I went to Florida around 145 lbs. I know, I know. I just threw my weight right out there, but wait, it gets worse. I left Florida around 180 lbs!!

I had what I liked to refer to as the chocolate donut - I was REALLY tan and my belly was the shape of a bagel...see photo below...

Yeah, that's my donut on the left above...Still not convinced of my donut theory? Oh look, there it is cropped and magnified...

My donut

A real donut

So I decided that once I got up to 180, which I can't find a picture of at the moment...It was time to do something about it. Yeah, I know, I caught on quick huh?

I started to watch my calories about 2 months ago, That went decent, I got down to about 167, losing about 13 lbs that way. That wasn't good enough though, so now I am on the first 2 weeks of south beach. I am 5 days in and have lost another 5lbs so far.

So today I weighed in at 162 lbs. My size 14's are very loose now. I can wear a size 12 comfortably. I can squeeze my butt into a size 10 on a good day.

My goal is to be down to a size 7/8 by the annual float trip this summer. which is July 20th. Here is my plan; I am going to post pictures that make me cringe, however I believe that posting these will motivate me to redeem myself and show off a hot bod by the end of summer.

Tonight I start the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. I will take a picture before and after and maybe even a few in between.This will be a 29 shred due to the fact that the float trip is on the 20th...

So I will take my before picture tonight before the first work out and get to working on this pastry gut!

More to come....or go as the case may be...