Sorry.....

Sorry I haven't posted in so long! Sickness hit our house and it hit it hard! All of us have been sick for over two weeks but we are all starting to feel better......thank goodness! There was one good thing that came out of laying in bed for weeks and that is the long list of blog post ideas that I came up with! I will go back to posting two days a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays, next week so stay tuned!  I am excited to get back at it!

Quick Workout

When I am kind of bored with my usual at home workout routines, you can see those here, I like to mix things up by doing a workout I found on Pinterest.

This workout will definitely get your heart rate up, make you sweat, work your muscles and it wont take too totally long to do.

What To Pack For A Day At The Track!

I'm a bit sun burned, totally covered in dirt and my ears are ringing from the buzz of ALL the motocross bikes......race season has officially started! 

My brother-in-law and nephew race motocross and we love going to their races almost every week to cheer them on. But sitting out in the sun all day, getting blasted with dirt and having to use a lovely porta potty when nature calls takes some preparation. After years of going to the track I have come up with my own motocross survival kit filled with MUST have items!

1. Sunscreen is a definite MUST! I cover my whole body before we leave and I reapply all day long and I still get kinda pink. You are in the sun 99% of the time so you have to protect yourself!

2. Garbage bags. They have garbage cans around the pits but they get so full and most of the time they are a ways away from where we are so its just easier to bring a garbage bag to throw all our trash away in.

3. Wet Wipes and Hand Sanitizers are also a MUST! You have to use a nasty dirty porta potty that hundreds of others are also using all day, plus you are surrounded by nothing but dirt. Needless to say your hands get uber dirty and there is no where to wash them so Wet Wipes and Hand Sanitizers will be your best friends on race days.

4. Water is a MUST! Its easy to get dehydrated when we are out walking around in the heat all day so we like to bring a pack of water to keep us hydrated. Plus when your hanging out in 100+ degree weather a cold bottle of water poured over your head feels fantastic. 

5. Toilet Paper. Like I said hundreds of others are using the porta potties so the toilet paper rolls that they supply run out fast and most of the time no one is there to refill them so bringing your own roll is just the smart thing to do!

6. Chairs. There are so many races and our racers don't race them all so we spend a lot of time hanging out in the pit area. To make our pit time more enjoyable, and to give our legs a break, we bring some fold up chairs to relax in. 

7. Reading Material. There is a lot of down time between the races that our racers race so having something to do, like read, really helps pass the time.

8. Cash is a MUST! You need cash to pay to get in and you need cash to pay for the concessions.

9. Camera. Its always fun to snap away as the racers zoom by or fly high over a jump....memories!

10. Cooler. The night before a race I make my family lunches so we don't have to buy food from the concessions since its always pretty over priced. And to keep our food and drinks cold at the track we keep it all in our cooler which is packed full of ice.

11. Snacks. I always pack us a bunch of different snacks because we all get munchy through out the day.

12. Toys. Just like I bring reading material for myself to pass the down time I bring my son toys to play with in the dirt.

13. Umbrella. It is great to have some sort of shade when the sun is beating down on you. Also my brother-in-law has a pop up tent that he brings to most races to give us a place to hide from the sun when we are hanging out at the pit.

14. Sunglasses are a MUST! I don't think I have to explain this one!

Homemade Hummus

I love hummus! I like to put it on my sandwiches instead of mayo or mustard, it makes a yummy addition to my raw vegetable snacks, I have a bunch of recipes that use hummus as an ingredient pinned on Pinterest and to top it all off its pretty darn healthy! So for this Weight Loss Wednesday I thought I would share the hummus recipe I use to make my homemade hummus. This is the recipe I use but I cut the ingredients in half. When I made it for the first time I used all that the recipe called for but since I am the only one in my family that likes hummus it was way to much for just me to eat!

Ingredients: 1 clove minced garlic, 1 - 15oz can garbanzo beans drained and rinsed, 1/3 cup Tahini (you will most likely be able to find this at your local grocery store next to the peanut butter), 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 cup water.

Throw all the ingredients into the food processor and process it until its smooth.

So easy.....and so very yummy!

Cars Party

Like I said in my Dinosaur Party post my son had two birthday parties this year. The second party we threw for him was with my family in my home town and it was Cars themed.

 As usual I dressed my son accordingly in a Cars shirt and red and black shoes. To go with the theme we watched Cars 2.

My mom and I bought almost all the party supplies from The Dollar Tree. That is where we found the checkered flag banner, the race car Happy Birthday banner and the red, black and white balloons. I made the checked sign that we hung on the front door.

We wanted it to feel like you were at the races so we used to-go boxes for plates. I put the white and black plastic wear in a red, yellow and green cup. We found the checkered and red napkins at the grocery store.

We served "race food" which consisted of hot dogs, nachos and pop corn. We had chili, onions, cheese, sweet and regular relish, ketchup and mustard to top the hot dogs. There were banana peppers and jalapenos to top the nachos. For some sweet treats we had red and black licorice, Oreo's and of course the Leaning Tower Of Tires made out of chocolate donuts.

Ways To Work Out At Home

Since I don't have a gym membership I do 98% of my exercising at home. So for this Weight Loss Wednesday I thought I would share 5 ways I work out at home with you.

Cardio

1. Wii Zumba! This is the one exercise I enjoy doing the most and I feel like it is the most effective.

2. Stationary Bike! If Im not really in the mood for a hard work out but I still want to burn some calories I will ride our stationary bike for 30 to 45 minutes. I always make sure I have one of my shows on our DVR to watch before I start.

3. Work Out DVDs! Since I love dance moves (Zumba) more then I like actual work out moves I very rarely use these DVDs but its always great to change things up every once in awhile. Plus Yoga is a great way to exercise without being to totally physical so I like to do this when my body is sore.

Abs & Arms

4. Cross Crunch! I bought this from Goodwill last week and I love it. My tummy is my trouble spot that I really have to concentrate on but sit ups and crunches kill my back so this machine is wonderful. Plus I can use it to do side crunches which is helping me get rid of my lovely love handles.

5. Dumbbells! I hate the way my arms look in tank tops and super short sleeves so I have been doing curls and kick backs with my dumbbells and I have really started to notice a difference.

March Favorites

March was a much better month for my family and I! We celebrated our sons birthday, we went on a trip, I met my new too cute nephew, I got to visit with my family and no one was sick! It was a busy busy month for us but it was fun and exciting. Here is some of my favorite things from March:

Random: I have been obsessed with my Jigsaw Puzzle App! My brother and I have been having jigsaw puzzle competitions to see who is faster.....I am!

Movie/TV Show: I have always been a huge fan of The Wizard Of Oz so I was so SO excited when I saw the previews for Oz The Great And Powerful and of course I loved it! 

Style: I used to never wear skinny jeans, I thought that they looked weird on me, but this winter they are all I wore. March was actually our snowiest month, we had about 4 blizzards, so skinny jeans with boots was a must for me since I hate when the bottom of my pants get cold and wet....problem solved!

Food: I have been making shredded chicken almost every night! Its so good and so easy, I put a couple frozen chicken breasts in my crock pot along with 1 cup fat free low sodium chicken broth and water to cover the breasts then let them cook for 6 hours. I put it on salads, in burritos or just on a plate with a drizzle of BBQ sauce or wing sauce.....yum yum yum!

Music: If this song, Mumford And Sons - I Will Wait, wasn't playing on my iPod then it was playing in my head!

My March Disappointment: We lost our family Easter Candy Hunt to my Mother-In-Law once again!  
Her - 4     Us - Zip

Man we are terrible at this game!