Recipe: Jalapeno Dip

Ingredients:

1 can diced green chilies

1 brick cream cheese

sliced jalapenos

colby jack cheese

Wheat Thins for dipping

Instructions:

• Place cream cheese in microwaveable bowl.
• Pour can of diced green chilies over cream cheese - do not drain the chilies
• Chop some jalapenos - use as much, or as little as you like, pour these over the cream cheese
• Pour some jalapeno juice into bowl - I would guess I typically use 1-2 tablespoons of jalapeno juice

• Sprinkle a handful of colby jack cheese over the mixture in bowl

• Microwave for about 3 minutes, stirring every 45 seconds. Adjust time as needed until cream cheese is fully melted and everything is mixed together well.

• Grab some Wheat Thins for dipping and enjoy!

Recipe: Crack Corn

This is a recipe that I got from my mom, who I believe got from her friend. I made it to bring to work one day and that is where it got the name Crack Corn, cause once you start eating it you can't stop!

Ingredients:

2 bags of microwaveable butter popcorn (do not use extra butter popcorn)

3 bricks of almond bark

Instructions:

• Pop both bags of popcorn, dump one bag of popcorn into large mixing bowl. Set the other bag aside.
• Melt the almond bark in the microwave. I usually start with a minute and a half, then stir. Then continue microwaving at 30 second intervals and stirring in between until the almond bark is fully melted. Note... never put any liquid in almond bark, not even food coloring, this causes it to separate and then you won't be able to use it.
• Once the almond bark is melted pour half of it over the bag of popcorn you placed in the bowl and mix well.

• Now dump your second bag of popcorn into the large mixing bowl, add the remaining almond bark and stir well. Another method that works well - if you have a large bowl that has a lid you can shake it all up rather than stirring it.
• Let the almond bark cool over the popcorn and Enjoy!!

The 30 Day Shred. Day 26.

Day 26 is D-O-N-E!! I managed to get out of bed this morning and Shred before coming to work, which means I don't have to do it tonight.. woohoo! Today was day #5 of Level 3 and I am still enjoying it. I am thinking of going back to level 2 and trying it again to see if I can handle it any better.

Last night I joined Gold's Gym. It is close enough to my house that I could walk there if I wanted to. They had a deal for $20.10/month membership, and I get reimbursed through my health insurance $20.00/month as long as I go 8 times. I would have loved to have picked this option but there was a $319 enrollment fee, and we all know that I don't have $319 laying around. So instead I went with the $39.95/month, no enrollment fee, but $69 processing fee... they always get you on something! I really, really wish I could have went with the $20.10/month since they will never raise your monthly fee from what it was when you enrolled, but oh well. They have childcare, a cardio theater where its like a movie theater and they play a movie on the big screen and have cardio equipment.. so you can watch a movie while you work out, they have a TON of classes that are included with membership, a separate women's area with weights, a pool, a basketball court, and I get a couple consultations with a personal trainer!! Woohoo, I am really hoping they can show me lots of stuff to get me motivated... I am really excited about joining this gym, now I just need to figure out a schedule so I can make time to get there and make it count.

Stay tuned for more information about my 'ShredThis' silk screen T-shirt project!!

A side note.... tonight we are having girls night at my moms friends house. There will be wine, appetizers and JustDance for the Wii.... pretty excited for the wine, appetizers and the dance!

The 30 Day Shred. Day 25...

Today will be day 25!! Holy amazingness! Somehow my phone alarm was turned off last night, so I didn't get out of bed in time to workout this morning, so I guess I will need to squeeze a workout in tonight.

I moved up to level 3 on Sunday, which would have been day 21. I cannot tell you how much more I enjoy level 3 than I did level 2! Don't get me wrong, its no walk in the park, but I can actually get through it. It is a serious workout for your core - big time! Level 3 consists of Supermans, scissor crunches, jumping lunges, sumo squat hops, and traveling pushups...just to name a few of the fabulous things it has to offer. I really think the traveling pushups are one of my favorite parts of level 3, and yes, I am serious.

Results: Kinda frustrating, but still at about 5-6 pounds of weight loss. I really think I am seeing inches drop faster than pounds, but I would like the pounds to be dropping too! I can tell where I am gaining muscle, but I still have a long way to go!

Only 6 workouts left(since I still have to get #25 in today).... After my 30 days are up I will definitely be continuing with this dvd. It combines strength, cardio and abs into a 25 minute workout, and we all know I won't be "Shredded" after just 30 days... I am also going to check out Gold's Gym tonight and might get a membership there. I currently have a membership at the U's Rec Center, but really going there and 'Sweating to the Oldies' as we call it for 20 minutes just ain't gonna do it for me!

My Fellow Shredders:
Carly - Day 27!!
Amy - Day 14!!
Kim - Day 11!!
Michelle and Dre - Day 7!!
Karen - Day 2!!
Lisa
Becky
Mom?? did you jump on the bandwagon?
Also, a few other peeps on FB that have said they have started it after seeing all of my updates!

Good luck everyone!! Keep on Shredding!

18 Months!

On February 1st Kara turned 18 months old. It is really hard to believe that in another 6 months I will have a 2 year old!!

We finally went out and bought her a potty chair, she still hasn't used it, but I don't think it will be long! There have been a couple of times where she has ran over to the bathroom door while saying "potty" and trying to pull down her pants. So far she thinks the potty chair makes a really cool hat, or is an awesome new hiding spot for her toys... we will need to break these habits once she starts actually using it as a potty chair!

Kara is still a wonderful mommy to her baby dolls. There is one in particular that she loves the most right now. She carries her baby around with her EVERYWHERE! Lately she likes to pretend to change its diaper, or have it swaddled up in a blanky.

Her current favorite books are:
The Night Before Christmas
an Elmo coloring book(and yes, she does expect you to read it to her even though there are no words)
A New Parent Magazine(it has lots of pictures of babys in it, so she calls it the baby book)

Her favorite songs are:
Elmo's Song(when Kara sings it it sounds like she is saying Elmo's sock... close enough)
ABC's
Happy Birthday(Kara will request who we sing happy birthday to by saying "Happy baby", or "Happy Kara" or "Happy Auntie Chelle"

We typically sing these songs over and over anytime we are in the car!

I will work on getting some more recent pictures of Kara added to the blog. Lately whenever we take out the camera Kara says "I see", so she just wants to look at the pictures on the camera and gets pissed whenever we try to take a picture of her. I will have to be very sneaky... or maybe its time for another photo shoot with Auntie Em :)