Life is Crazy but only sometimes

I always say man I am boring...I am not a busy person EVER, I just organize time very well or I thought I did.
Then life happens such as a hubster, dwarfs, family, and extended family - WHAM my time is all over the place.
I am not complaining so don't read into this but it is so different when you are going backwards and forwards everyday and all over the board. Dinner? who thinks of dinner? Hell breakfast? what's that? Ohhh coffee? nope been off buying it since I have been trying to get my sleep instead of getting up.
Some nights I am not falling asleep till 3 and 4 in the morning due to my brain NOT shutting up!
I know write it down and forget it but seriously it doesn't work that way for me.
All I can do is embrace the life I have and see the bright side of busy-ness because I am sure it will get busier!
I will say nothing makes me happier then to see the hubster sleeping on the couch
or hearing the dwarfs play happily upstairs.

Life is crazy no doubt and I feel I lose touch with friends because life gets in the way - I am sorry. Just call whenever, if I am busy I will say so ;-)

snow wife

The perfect cup of Joe

Yes I know it is Valentine's Day and who blogs about coffee on such a loving day, well I do.
I think Valentine's is great but I also feel you should do this everyday not just one day such as random flowers, cards and the occasionally breakfast in bed.
This leads me to the perfect cup of Joe aka coffee.

I have never ever been the type of person who would touch instant coffee although in my experience British people will ask for instant because it is standard. It is a better grade the the US instant water garbage but no thanks I prefer the drip coffee at all costs.
We do have a pretty kick ass machine that will grind the beans and go on at a certain time (which I have never read the manual to make it do this yet).

I love flavored coffee. Full Stop.
I love flavored creamers. Full Stop

Can you find this easily? NO NO and NO
Thank goodness for friends and family who can feel my pain and send me flavored coffee and creamers. Even my wonderful hubster knows how much I love flavored coffee and I got some in my stocking that are BEANS so I can grind them...awww heaven.

I am not sure why the British haven't got hip with the idea of flavored creamers considering in London there are coffee shops on every corner - no kidding.
The big names are:
Cosca
Starbucks
Cafe Nero
Pret a Manger
Esquire Coffee
Plus there are a TON of smaller ones everywhere. So obviously the UK does like it's coffee and I am guessing it isn't just flat white coffee. Doesn't anyone see the market for creamers? I sure do.
International Delight makes tons of flavors but a few of my favorite ones are:


So since I don't have access to these beautiful creamers I learn new ways to make some kick butt coffee, yes a cheater way.
I head to a big warehouse store where the coffee shops by the pump syrup and get a bottle of Caramel syrup. I now own a milk frother that you just add milk and pump. You must also have some good coffee to make and I do prefer Taylor's of Harrogate if you can't get the good US stuff.
1. Store your coffee in your fridge in an air tight container
2. Use fresh filtered water
3. Make it fresh each day

1/2 teaspoons of said syrup, frothy no-fat milk and 3/4 cup of coffee = 1 happy camper.
Now this is the simple morning routine but below are a few links to recipes to make your own flavored coffee's as well. (Yes I used to use carnation condensed milk as a creamer but man the fat content in that is INSANE!)

Gingerbread Latte
Spiced Pumpkin Lattee
Make your own Creamer

So go on and try making a flavored cup of coffee oh and a small hint...if you have pumpkin pie spice when you add coffee to the filter sprinkle it on before brewing and it will taste like pumpkin.

What is your secret to a perfect cup of Joe, without going out to buy it?

snow wife
"Love is not love that alters when it alteration finds."
-Shakespeare

Proper attire for working out...

Yeah I don't have proper attire for working out...Those are just excuses really aren't they?
All my life I get all high and mighty and need a pair of Nike training pants, a sweat proof shirt and heck even comfy socks oh and maybe a new pair of trainers...
Not any more

I have these things but honestly I can't be bothered to change into it as it just takes time and I don't want too.

So I exercise in my undies I do. I have my PJ's on maybe with a pair of boy shorts and I grab my sports bra and go.

I stand in my living room and sweat with Bob and Jillian and let me tell you they are ruthless! This makes things simple.
1. Wake up grab sports bra wonder downstairs
2. Make coffee - have a cup or two
3. Drink some water go to the toilet
4. Weigh in with Wii Fit
5. Put in Biggest Loser and sweat your ass off!
6. Drink more water

Tada burned 315 calories in 50 minutes and now I can take a shower and do my day. It sucks to have the apple figure and I swear I have fought with it by whole life and Wii is the only thing I actually like doing. I may join the gym for the classes and to mix it up plus I kinda like the treadmill - we will see.

What is my motivation?
If we want to add more dwarfs to our family I want to drop some weight before adding more on - that is what is motivating me - drop a stone (14 lbs).

What motivates you?
What do you do to fit in a workout?
What do you do to make yourself "move" and "sweat" ?
Sometimes it is sooooo boring but moving is grooving so just do it!

Oh how I wish I liked eggs...Meals and food is a whole other subject

snow wife

I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. ~Rita Rudner

Cuppa Anyone?

You will never believe how much actual tea is consumed in England...Seriously.
If you look at the UK Tea Council (yes there is such a thing) is shows 165,000,000 cups are consumed a day!
UK Tea Council even says:
Q: How many cups a day?
A: The recommended number of cups of tea to drink each day is 4, this gives you optimal benefits.

WOW I never knew it had benefits!

I could never tell the difference between tea bags since tea was tea but now I can totally taste a difference since I do now consume at least 2 cups a day of hot tea. Who the hell am I?
I used to be an iced tea freak with those perfect shaved ice crystals and I would drink this all day long.
Gone are the days of accessible ice since my freezer is 3 drawers the size of a college/university dorm fridge, so I have moved to mucho amounts of water a day. A cuppa aka a cup of tea invades my being at least 2 times a day since I get chilly and think, "yeah a cup of tea will work." Now I was always Mrs. No Sugar in my iced tea and I mean AT ALL if it touched it, I would toss it and get a new one.
Hot Tea? It started out as the same type of love affair just plain brewed...then 1 sugar snuck in, and then this idiot Mr. Milk got involved and now he is part of my tea as well.
Yeah - I am that person - Cuppa with 1 sugar and milk...Who knew?

I like PG Tips only because of the mascot, ok not really but it goes well with our water. I do enjoy a mint tea but not the peppermint tea they have in England as it reminds of something gross. I actually get mint tea from the USA and that is my treat which I drink with no milk - I am weird.

Tea is such a culture thing here that friend and even the hubster joke that tea solves everything.
Doctor: You have XYZ disease.
Patient: Oh
Doctor: Do you want a cuppa?

Watch the shows and when anything goes wrong a cuppa is offered right away. We were watching The Holiday and Jack Black (Miles) and Kate Winslet (Iris) were sitting on the couch after Miles found out his girlfriend was cheating on him and Kate came in with a cuppa and offered it to him (of course he took the vodka). She is British and knows the culture as did the director obviously...you always offer tea - full. stop.

Stop and watch now as you will notice it more and more...
Oh and remember if something goes bad always offer a cuppa and keep the sugar aware from my brewed iced tea.

snow wife
"A husband's last words should always be, OK buy it." -Unknown

Movies = Scam?

So hubster and I had a date night and what do you do on date night as a married couple?
duh
Dinner and a movie

I almost didn't want to do it because it was a rip off! Straight up rip off!

You get assigned seats in the cinema so you best book on line but honestly there were 6 people in the movie theater that late at night and on a weekday so why bother...
*I do like the pick your own seat thing so if you plan you get good seats!
ODEN Cinema - UK
1. Standard Pricing - Adult £8.60
2. Premier Seating - Adult £10.20 * essentially means the center row with a higher headrest.

So it was £17.20 to see a movie on a Monday night? Ohhh the rates go up on PEAK times (weekend).

Alright let's put this in another perspective: £17.20 is $27.50 which is holy crap!

US Awesome Movie Place (not named)
2 tickets - $14.00 = £8.75
2 beers - $6.00 = £3.75
1 Appetizer/Starter - $6.00 = £3.75
Total: $26.00 OR £16.24

I know the exchange rate sucks right now but this felt like highway robbery! The price of the ticket in £'s is still higher then minimum wage here. I am not sure how people can afford trips to the movies with prices this high. I believe our local movie is not quite as expensive but sweet geez I don't want to do this ever again. There are better things to spend money on, trust me.

The movie was good but I am still not sure if it was worth all the money because it's not just the movie is it? There is driving, gas, dinner, two bottles of water, nachos and unexpectedly having to buy a box of tampons just because you don't have one in your bag.

Want a shocking perspective due to shitty exchange rates and being taxed to death?
UK - sells their petrol/gas by the liter so it doesn't look so high in price...
1 US gallon = 3.785 L
1 liter is approx. £1.32 which is $2.12 a liter
So 1 gallon of gas costs £4.99 which is approx. $8.02 a gallon!

And California thought gas prices were high?

Stay home, cuddle and crack a bottle of wine for a much better evening in my opinion.

love conquers stupidness

snow wife

Tea is not a meal

I know I know beating a dead horse...I am going to bitch anyway - sorry.
Meals are the following in *my* world:
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Dessert

NOT
Breakfast
Dinner
Tea
Supper

I despise, detest, hate and every other single bad word to describe a meal as "tea". I flat out refuse on the grounds that "tea" cannot be a meal, it is a drink. My hubster tries very hard to speak what I call normal to me but throw in the dwarfs and man it makes it hard.
I will say this, we went to the school for an event and the teacher was talking to us about one of the dwarfs eating and she called it lunch! LUNCH NOT dinner. I did BEAM just a bit and hubster even saw me smile.

Example #1:
Dwarf: What's for dinner?
Me:Roasted Chicken and Veg
Dwarf: I mean lunch
Me: Oh sandwiches

Then let's add supper *pull hair here*

Dwarf: What's for tea?
Me: You are too young for tea *smile*
Dwarf: *they laugh* and then ask whats for dinner?

After dinner it turns into:
Dwarf: whats for supper?
Me: you just ate 1 hour ago?
Hubster: Go have some cereal

These are not normal sized portions either, since a HUGE bowl of cereal is like 3 portions it is crazy. That is another rant for another day. Too many meals in my opinion as every person should have 3 meals a day and a snack when they get home from school/or midday for people who work.

Calling dinner "tea" will not leave my mouth as it sounds like craziness, maybe I will reply with "yes please, 1 sugar and a little milk"

Want to read about "tea time: in the world check out wikipedia

Anything that drives you batty tell me, I am sure I can relate. Most things I can giggle off and I don't try hard to pick up words but with dwarfs it makes it so much more complicated but I am educating them on using words such as bless you, thank you (NOT TA), My not Me and all those other things that need pronunciation like W A T E R. Heck I still call pants - underwear...I can't stop!

Oh joys a new day but please just don't ask me what's for tea ;-)

snow wife

Its for sleeping and sex ONLY!

Yeah I made you read this didn't I?

That is my new motto 80% of the time unless the hubster wants to cuddle and watch a movie in bed one night.

I have been having a horrible time getting to sleep for the past few months. I thought it was stress, anxiety and slight depression due to the upcoming holidays and maybe it was a combination on all of the above. Leading up to the holidays I was on edge and could get snappy quite quick and then try going to bed at 2:30-3am. I was not a happy camper.

Even though I get about 8 hours of sleep since I just get up around 10 nothing was stopping me from feeling very ass draggin all day. I turned a group of wonderful people for some ideas to help and took all advice and made it work for me.
I have bought a Wii fit and doing at least 30 minutes a day but I aim for an hour of exercise which includes yoga and free jogging up and down my stairs. My lifestyle went from moderately active to straight up sedentary all in a year, the down side, my weight shows it - I say enough is enough.

I started a routine around 11:30ish which includes Chelsea Lately and a cup of Decaf tea to help signal it is almost time for bed! They better not take her off TV like they are doing with John Stewart or it will be gossip E!news crap.

So a few changes have been made like I am not watching TV in bed at ALL. When I go to bed even at 1am I don't turn on the TV but thank god I found my sound machine and I can put on some rain to help put me to sleep. My brain just doesn't shut off which is a problem when you want to sleep and you are tired but can't. I am also setting an alarm and forcing myself to get up at 9am even if I don't want too. This might help reset my internal clock source *crossing fingers*.

I am also tracking everything I eat, not so much for a calorie perspective but for the vitamin perspective. I know I am iron deficient and now I realize I don't get enough fiber or potassium in my diet either and I am sure this doesn't help with the draggin ass syndrome. I started taking a multi vitamin as well as Vitamin C & D. I know I should take iron but it is miserable no matter what time of day I take and with or without food it is MISERABLE! My stomach feels like there is an alien in there trying to get out so I will put that last on my list.

Finally I bought a S.A.D lamp because it is dark so early and so gray during the winter months. I have high hopes for this awesome little lamp that sits on my desk.
What is SAD?
SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is a type of winter depression which affects millions of people every winter between September and April, in particular during December, January and February. SAD is caused by a biochemical imbalance in the hypothalamus due to the shortening of daylight hours and the lack of sunlight in winter.
Symptoms:

• a desire to oversleep and difficulty staying awake, but in some cases, disturbed sleep and early morning wakening;
• feeling fatigue and an inability to carry out normal routine;
• a craving for carbohydrates and sweet foods, usually resulting in weight gain;
• feelings of misery, guilt and loss of self-esteem, sometimes hopelessness and despair, sometimes apathy and loss of feelings;
• an irritability and desire to avoid social contact;
• a tension and inability to tolerate stress;
• a decreased interest in sex and physical contact
• and in some sufferers, extremes of mood and short periods of hypomania (overactivity) in spring and autumn

Now I don't think I have all those symptoms but even just a few and for 50 quid it is worth a shot to get some fake sunlight whilst I work.
I hope this all works and if not then I will just be healthier and fitter and still a night owl ;-)

snow wife
Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?