300/30 day challenge

ok so this one is actually about a fitness challenge failure.  I don't like to quit these things but I can barely sit up today.  I started this 300 for 30 days ab challenge 4 days ago.  I just can't do another day of it.  It is so painful.  The exercises are great, and I will be adding them to my regular workouts but the number and rep counts are way to high.   How useful is a workout if you have to spend the rest of the day in recovery?  This morning I read through the comment section of the blog post and as it turns out this is actually just ab ripper ( I think it's from the P90x series) and if you do it every day you are at risk for actually ripping your abs.  My abs have survived 2 pregnancies so I'm not going to tempt the ab gods.

Ok so I'm not going to be finishing my 30 day challenge, but I do like the exercises demonstrated and I'll add them to my workout rotation.  So I guess there is a good thing that came from this failure.

Not so fast

I was pretty excited when I first tried this homemade dishwasher soap 6 weeks ago, but I have steadily become disenchanted with it.  It started with a few dishes being a little spotty and then steadily progressed into not being able to tell the difference between clean and dirty dishes.  This one lasted a long time and if it had actually worked long term it would have been amazing but I've given it all the time I can and now it is time to eat off of clean dishes.

******UPDATE***** I mixed it with water into a paste and used it as cleanser for my tub.  So all is not lost, it works great as a mild bathroom and kitchen cleaner :)

Make your own green glitter....or the case of the crusty pile of green salt

I still don't have my camera back...ummm Mom...I kind of use that a lot.  I tried to make my own glitter because I was making my own 

Calm Down Jar for the girls and I needed more glitter because I had used most of my glitter supply to make glittery letters to go over my piano that spelled 

Joy.

So I was really excited when I saw this picture on Pinterest 

MAKE YOUR OWN GLITTER!!!

Awesome!!! Now I can avoid one more trip to JoAnns...it get's a little weird when more than one employee recognizes you because you have been in more than 3 or 4 times that week.

Ok so the recipe says to mix up some salt with some food coloring and bake it on a tin foil lined baking sheet, and 10 minutes later you will have a 1/4 cup of gorgeous glitter.  

well I decided to make green glitter cause it's my favorite color and I thought it would work well in the purple calm down jar I was making...sounds cool huh?

Well what I got was a sheet of crusty green salt, not sparkly at all.  I used gel food coloring so maybe that was it.  I'm willing to try this one again with liquid food color but for now my calm down jar is just a little less fabulous than I want it to be.  That's ok it doesn't calm the kids down at all it makes them run around screaming SPARKLES!!! SPARKLES MOMMY!!!!

Love it but throwing away the recipe

Make your own Peanut butter egg.  Some things start out as a brilliant idea.  Making your own peanut butter eggs!  I was super excited because I LOVE peanut butter eggs.  Now before you think this is a bad recipe let me just say that this is a super easy, delicious substitute for peanut butter eggs....and that is exactly my problem with it.

I have a theory on desert.

 #1 It should take as long to make as you will spend in the gym to work it off.  So deserts that that take less than an hour to make are just plain dangerous.

#2 you should not be able to make desert from things you ALWAYS have on hand.  Desert should require pre planning and the search for things in the grocery store that you generally won't find in your pantry

#3 you should not be able to buy the ingredients in BULK....well at least all of them.

So sorry that is 3 strikes against this delicious recipe
1. It is quick and super easy
2.  I always have Peanut butter, and butter on hand and powdered sugar and chocolate chips are in my cupboard often enough to consider them "on hand" ingredients
3. All of the necessary ingredients can be bought at Costco in "year supply" quantities.

So it is a great treat, but I generally run screaming from recipes that say quick and easy deserts!   I don't want desert to be quick and easy! I want it to be a conscious choice that I have to go out of my way to make.  It should take preplanning, not just wandering into my kitchen opening the cupboards and ten minutes later I have an elastic waistband inducing confection.

ok I'm done...I'll go eat my halloween candy now :)  hey...I carried a toddler around the neighborhood to earn these Reese's peanut butter cups :)