Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Formerly Hot Home

Formerly Hot Home

I just came across this blog and love it. I've been reading Stephanie's articles in Fitness magazine for years and finally looked up her blog. Hope you like it too.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

30 Minutes to Fitness

I am a girl who really likes to get the most bang-for-her-buck, especially when it comes to exercise.

I normally don't have a spare hour to devote to exercise, so I am very appreciative for those awesome 30 -45 minute workouts.

The other day, I submitted myself to 30 minutes of a totally awesome workout. Kelly Coffey-Meyers' 30 Minutes to Fitness Cardio Burn. I was looking for a quick but completely effective shorter workout because once again I woke up late and felt I needed to do something.

I found Circuit Burn in a pile of exercise DVDs I hadn't done for quite sometime. I dusted off the DVD and put it in the player. I was on my way.

I chose to do a 'Pre-Mix', which is not normal, as I don't generally care for them, but this was good. Really good. I got a total body workout (including warm-up and cool-down) in under 33 minutes and I was pumped for the day.

The 'Pre-Mix' inspired me. I remembered how much I absolutely love working out with Kelly, so my next workout I did Workout 1 on the DVD. I think with warm-up and cool-down it was a bit shorter than the Pre-Mix, but still totally worth the effort.

Workout 1 takes you through a series of interval training. Kelly has you doing jumping jacks, boxing moves and heavy & lighter weight work. The moves are all pretty basic, but the combination of moves with different tempos really works the body.

Workout 2 (which I did this morning) is similar to Workout 1, but I thought it was not quite as high-impact and there was more lower body focus.

These workouts were definitely worth the time invested. They really came through in providing a quick yet effective workout.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Pilates

I am sure many of you have given Pilates a try. I am still unsure if I like it.

I have many Pilates exercise videos. I have given them all a try. But, I don't seem to be able to get my head into the program.

Every time I attempt to do the workout, I get down on myself. Things like this run through my mind: I'm quite sure that I haven't performed the move correctly. I don't look like the girl on the TV. Where am I supposed to be feeling this?

Even though, I don't quite enjoy the whole mind-breath-movement thing, I keep trying different Pilates workouts.

I tried it again this morning. I pulled out my 10 Minute Solution Quick Sculpt Pilates with Ball workout because it was only 10 minutes and that's really all the time I had. Quick Pilates Sculpt uses a small inflatable ball to help mimick a Pilates Reformer the instructor tell us.

I started with the Total Body Sculpt. Thinking I only had 10 minutes I wanted the most bang for my buck. My ball was a bit deflated so I had to inflate the ball in order to do the workout. I inflated the ball so it was firmer than it had been even before it became deflated and I feel the work more than I had previously.

It was encouraging. I decided that I had another 10 minutes to spare on a workout so I moved to the Standing Pilates section. I enjoyed this segment too. Today, it really challenged my balance.

20 minutes of workouts using the Pilates techinque and I felt like I did a good workout.

Customer Service

A few weeks ago I placed an order over the internet. The placement of the order went off without a hitch. I got my order confirmation and an expected to ship date in an email.

I thought; 'Awesome. I'm getting a great deal on product that I really like and I should have it in about 2 weeks.' I was excited to say the least.

As my luck would have it, I get an email from said company telling me they've cancelled my order due to some of the product I ordered being out-of-stock. I was sad. But there was light at the end of the tunnel, they sent another email indicating they re-entered my order and would be shipping the productst that were still in stock. I was happy. Didn't give it another thought.

2 weeks later, I still have not received my order. I have gotten no other emails letting me know that my product has shipped. I am still hopeful. A few more days go by and still nothing.

I decided to be proactive. I called said company asking if my order did indeed ship. I get this really nice girl on the other end of the line. She looks up my order information and proceeds to tell me that my order was cancelled. I explain that I knew that my 'original' order was cancelled, but that I had received another email telling me that a new order was entered for the other products and that my order would ship. The girl then tells me that she sees these transactions, but that she will need to check with her manager to find out if they will be shipping my order. What?!

I am not the happiest of people at this moment. I get a little huffy (at least in my brain I did). The girl tells me she will get back to me as soon as finds out what is happening with my order. I tell her that is fine. Now, I am expecting to be contacted (in a timely manner - say, same day) by either phone call or email. Nope.

2 days later I receive a phone call from the girl at said company to tell me that the items on my order have all been discontinued and are now out of stock and they will not be shipping. Fine. But here's the best part. In order to compensate me for the inconvenience, they are willing to offer me 'Free Expedited Shipping' if I want to order comparable, but brand new items. Now, I'm floored. I shake my head in disbelief and kindly tell the girl that I don't want to order right now and bid good-bye.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

What is a Hapless Homemaker

The other day as I was doing research for work, I happened upon a very cute blog A Slob Comes Clean (http://www.aslobcomesclean.com/).

As I read through some of her posts, I thought: 'Wow! I can so relate.' That one thought inspired me to creat my own blog chronicling my unique approach to life and homemaking.

My take on homemaking can be related to this quote: 'Cleaning house with children at home is like shoveling the driveway while it's still snowing.'

I am hapless in that I don't think of myself as lucky or fortunate when it comes to being organized and clutter-free. I don't think I exemplify a good homemaker. I can clean and organize with the best of them, I just don't do it often enough. I feel as though I run out of time or more honestly, it can wait until tomorrow. This attitude lets me down. a lot. I am often embarrassed when people show up on my doorstep unannounced. I don't want people to come over and because I am embarrassed it's much easier to be gone than to deal with guilt. If I'm not home then no one can fault me for being messy.

Why?

I plan to use this blog to share my struggles and sucesses in managing my life and my home. I will share my thoughts and feeling about things that matter a lot to me and those that don't. I will share tidbits from a wide array of topics; from dinner to cleaning and everything in between (well, almost everything).

I am involved in a lot of things and that sometimes makes for very poor time management. That means that sometimes my life and housework suffer.

I am not a writer (or blogger for matter), but, hopefully, I'll be able to make you laugh along the way as you read through my interesting way of life.


Enjoy!