Category: Toning

Challenge Accepted Day 14

Normally, we have some excitement in the day, there is truly never a boring day in our household, but today may have come close to being that. We got up, I did some clothes washing, made biscuits and gravy for the husband and two of the kiddos (myself and Madison aren’t huge fans). She had bacon, I had coffe and a yakult (the probiotic drinking yoghurt).

We got ready and went to Costco, I did my morning regimen beforehand of course but left the T25 stretching until tonight. I do have to mention something else I’ve been doing religiously for the past 14 days and that is moisturizing. When I get out of the shower, I really massage the tops of my thighs and buttocks with moisturizer, I also pay special attention to that little flappy bit under each arm (aka ‘bat wings’). I’m fairly muscular in my upper arms, always have been, people always thought I was a swimmer, but I’m getting older and need to take care of them now, before it’s too late. Anyway, back to the moisturizing, in a roundabout way of course; I’ve spoken a lot about my hoarding but haven’t really gone into detail, one of the things I have done throughout my life is collect shampoo bottles, moisturizer, conditioner, shower caps (you name it) but anything that says the name of a cool hotel I’ve ever stayed at. I was a flight attendant for a while so I got to stay at some wonderful hotels throughout the world. I’ve left these in baskets in our guest rooms or guest bathrooms over the years but they never got used and I’ve consistently packed them and brought them with us everywhere. It was like a link to my cool traveling days or something. Anyway, we’ve moved to a house at least half the size of our previous house, so all the little crap needs to go! And rather than just throwing it away I am slowly but surely using every little bottle, cake of soap, you name it and throwing the empty ones away! And each use feels good, I am finally putting this stuff to use and helping clear my house of all the little shit that is all adding up to be too much! When planning on regularly using this, I thought I could incorporate it into this challenge; every time I have a shower, I get out and I massage those above mentioned bits with the moisturizer and I knead it pretty hard and try to get in the there and help my body circulate and dispose of any extra fatty tissue from problem areas, it can’t hurt can it? And I’m disposing of this other ‘stuff’. 

Ok, back to today, we go to Costco and spend a small fortune, as you do at any Costco upon entering. In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb here and call a conspiracy theory; Costco is using some sort of high range frequency the minute you enter their store to make you buy things, anything, lots of it too! 😉 ok, maybe not, but I find it very hard to walk out of Costco without spending at least $200! Today was even worse! We bought a small island. Not the kind surrounded by water unfortunately, but a small kitchen island. We needed some extra bench space in this little kitchen and I hated using my antique table for anything, so this was our solution, but we got home and hubby put it together only to attach the top and find this:

  
Not happy! So I guess we’ll have to return to Costco on Saturday and see how the Korean Costco return process compares to everywhere else. Here’s hoping it is as exceptional as we’ve experienced before! If not, I’m not going to be happy, as it is it’s going to be a pain in the you know what! And here I was so excited to have at least a tiny little bit more space. We’ll use it until we return I guess, we certainly don’t have anywhere to keep it other than where it is, so, que sera sera! For now anyway.

Alright, hubby and I went up to do the stretch video, two daughters went out to play and son was happily playing downstairs (so we thought) until he came up asking for pavlova. I told him we would all have some after dinner, but I had left it sitting on the aforementioned island, not yet covered in anything, including protection from little fingers. We came downstairs to start food prep when we spotted the pavlova which had a little finger poke in it that had acted like a tiny tremor precluding a cataclysmic event sending solid cracks all over one half of the pav (Australian for pavlova of course). I tried to rectify the damage using a lot of cream but it didn’t quite work out the way I intended it to and the cool whip wasn’t a huge hit with the girls and I (we prefer real cream whipped up, but hubby prefers that rubbish so I gave in to his wishes given it is his birthday week. 

   
 
  
I took that last photo to try to show you what it looks like inside, this one unfortunately got a little too cooked underneath but we have this super hot, tiny gas oven so I’m trying to think of anything I can do differently on Tuesday when I make another pav to prevent it from getting too cooked on the bottom, it shouldn’t even be brown, it should be a light malt colour and it does affect the flavour. 

My one success tonight was an amazing smoothie, strawberries, mango, chia seeds (a Costco purchase from today as was the organic, frozen mango) & cranberry juice – that’s about the only good healthy thing I had today, but at least I did that! 

Tonight, I am drinking my ‘sleepy time’ tea and I’m about to go and do my Sunday night Rodan + Fields regimen which includes the macro exfoliating! Yay! Well, have a great night/day and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

Challenge Accepted Day 13

It has been a long day and I’m not going to lie, I haven’t been feeling very well; self inflicted unfortunately. Far too much wine last night, but an amazing conversation with one of my dearest friends until 3:30am! 

Hubby had a work thing followed by a barbecue and we all had to attend – well we didn’t have to but it’s complicated. Nonetheless, I woke up to the doorbell at 8am (kids aren’t allowed to answer it unless I’m there) & was feeling like death. Couldn’t really move, yet I knew all of my kids were up! Summed up some sort of super hangover power and managed to fall out of bed. I even made them all milos (pronounced /ˈmaɪloʊ/ – an Australian malted milk drink created by Thomas Mayne in Sydney in 1934) they did have to get their own cereal and I quickly lost my superpower and laid down on the couch where I could not move from for the next few hours. 

Hubby called to say he was on his way home and I was nowhere near being ready! Crap. I got into the shower as quickly as I could, which given the circumstances, was rather more at the pace of a tortoise not trying to win any race. I was slow-moving in both physical action and mental agility. I showered as quickly as I could and did my morning Rodan + Fields regimen of course (a little later than normal though) I asked hubby what the weather was doing and he told me it was quite a nice day – 15C and sunny. I dressed in 3/4 pants and a light shirt and very light cardigan. It wasn’t enough as I later found out when I stood shivering at the bbq! 

Hubby hasn’t yet gone into his job so he’s sort of living in limbo at work and feels a little like a third wheel. This is where it got a bit weird today, we wanted to talk and establish relationships with soldiers and their families but the person that hubby is replacing is still there and we felt like it should have been a little more about him than us and there’s 5 of us, it’s not like we don’t immediately have presence when we go anywhere – 3 kids who have two volumes; loud and asleep! So we went then sort of left quietly because they were doing speeches and presentations and it was time. We felt bad about leaving and bad about staying. But I will tell you one funny story, we got out of the car upon arring and started walking to where everyone was standing when I looked down and realised that I had the hairiest legs! That doesn’t help when you’re going to meet lots of new people! To say I was mortified was putting it lightly! From then on I just wanted to hide my legs and the goosebumps were not helping at all! 

We grabbed some items from the store (which is when our boy fell sound asleep – Who knew driving through the supermarket could be so exhausting) and came home where kids and I made chocolate brownies, salsa and a pavlova. Yum! Had to practice for hubby’s birthday on Tuesday, pavlova is his favourite. This is an Australian dessert (though there is some controversy from New Zealanders saying it originated there) that tastes like marshmallows stuffed inside of meringue shell. It’s heavenly. Here is the product from the oven, I’ll decorate it tomorrow.

  
Well, that’s all from me for today. It’s time to have a turmeric latte, do my evening regimen and fall into bed. By the way, today was the rest day for T25, thank goodness, & no, there wasn’t any running happening today! Sweet dreams! 

Challenge Accepted Day 12

Oh what a difference a day makes! By the end of last night, I was in tears and ready to leave South Korea! Things went from bad to worse after I posted yesterday’s blog, but I am happy to say that today has been fantastic. 

Let me give you a rundown on the happenings of last night, right after I posted my blog; I went outside to locate my daughters and tell them it was time to come in (love that they can play on the streets with their friends in our little neighbourhood) I found them, only three of them were outside playing and told them it was time to come in, they went to collect their scooters and were to follow me back to the house shortly, except the 7yo’s scooter was nowhere to be found. She’s OCD combined with lack of common sense at times, so I asked her if she remembered where she left it, she and Ally (eldest daughter) both tell me she left it on the other side of the pole where Ally left hers, I tell them they had better find it. They do, in the garbage! Seriously? So I put a note on the village neighbourhood FB page summing up how unimpressed I am. It read like this:

“To whomever threw my daughter’s scooter in the garbage, thank you. That was a really nice welcome to the neighborhood! She is a good kid. She got reprimanded for leaving it leaning up against a pole but the fact that you thought you would teach her a lesson by throwing it into the trash was really, really thoughtful and kind and considerate of you! Well done! You just won the neighbor of the year award! Oh and what a good way to teach a 7 yr old a lesson, not.”

So, perhaps I was a little passive aggressive, but I was really angry and thought this was the best I could do since I seriously wanted to punch whoever did that. I know, little things, but I was at the end of my wits yesterday, it was not a good day for that to happen! On top of that, the workmen left my bathroom sink clogged, the bathroom floor tiles covered in crap, the towels I laid out for them filled with crap, crap all over my floor leading to and from the bathroom, the sink plug stuck because the grout had glued it down and various other little annoying things. I made them coffee! 😩 there were other little things too including the fact that my painting looks like crap! By the time I sat down to watch He Named Me Malala, i was feeling very sorry for myself! What a great movie to watch when you’re in that state! Um, excuse me, I’ve been shot in the head by the Taliban just for being a girl and you want to complain about your problems? No, I don’t, I just needed perspective and you gave it to me, thank you!

Today: I wake up realizing just how lucky I am to wake up and be me! I get the kids off to school and I do both my workouts! Yes! Both! Yay me! The run however, doesn’t work out quite as successful, by the time I run half a mile my legs are done! (It was abs and lower focus today). I’m ok with that. And I’ve definitely made up for it throughout the day, so I’m not going to feel bad. 

At 10 am we head out on our adventure, 3 girls (ok ladies) & a boy! What a fun day! Thank you to my new friend and neighbour for taking both myself and another new neighbour! And what a great introductuction it was! I am Australian, I have lived all over the world, I have travelled to over 100 countries, yet here I am, stating it blatantly, I am not quite au fait with the Korean culture and I am very thankful for any help I can get! And these ladies gave me my first real introduction to it. I was mesmerized walking down the street of the market, all those fresh fruit and vegetables I have been longing to see were here. All the fresh seafood I have heard about is here, my son was so taken with the octopus in a bucket that we literally stopped and stared at them for what seemed like an eternity. My new friend Leigh-Ann then shared with him the intelligence of the octopus and it was wonderful to take a step back and see him learn from someone else! In fact, my entire day was spent both wondering at the new Korean cultural experience and seeing other mothers with my little boy and them sharing with him their knowledge! Listening to his conversation with my other new found friend Sara, who was so obliging and sat in the back so willingly after me saying I was too old to sit there and then so willingly kept up conversation with my son about anything and everything throughout our entire day – the kid constantly talks!! It was truly wonderful on so many levels!

To top it all off we headed for Korean BBQ, something I thought I was familiar with, but hell no! It was wonderful and an entirely new world. I am so glad I went with two ladies who were familiar so I can take my family there – then others later- and we can all become familiar with it. Here are a few photos to try to share with you the experience:

   
   
Oh how wonderful it was having people there who knew a little of what to do, oh how disastrous it could have been having no one who knew anything! Thank goodness I was with the former not the latter! Needless to say, this is a meal of trust; you trust the beef is beef (once you taste it you know), you trust the sauce is going to be palatable, you trust the beef wrapped in lettuce will taste good,  you trust the bean sprouts will be in a nice sauce, you trust the green onions will be ok and you throw them all together and you trust your mouth is going to be big enough to fit that entire lettuce stuffed with beef and everything else inside of it! And somehow it is! Not only is there all of that trust, but somehow when it is all thrust together, it’s wonderful! Ok, so my lunch was fantastic but there’s more….. As we were walking get through the market earlier, one friend mentioned how incredible Korean sweet potatoes were; seriously? I hate sweet potatoes! She bought them, hot out of the oven, I was curious. The were six or seven in a bag, I wasn’t that curious. Eventually I asked a tad more about them, she offered me one.

   Oh My  God! Those are the most incredible roasted thing I have ever tasted! Wow! My parents have always loved sweet potatoes, they used to go on and on about cow-cow! I don’t ever remember being a fan, but tonight I do remember something; banana frittas! Korean sweet potato, cooked like it is in the market is exactly like the taste my mum used to make when she made banana frittas! I tried to explain this to my kids, but there is no comparison. I wish my Mum and Dad were here to share this taste with me because it is so amazingly similar to when my Mum would make banana frittas! I’m not sure how much I can inference this taste and if any American has ever tasted it, other than here, but it took me until I got home and tried another one, that I really understood it. 

  
Wow! Wow! Wow! 

This isn’t even half of my day, yet I know I’m infringing on your time. There is a tad more to say of importance, but I shan’t keep you for too much longer, I promise! 

So, I had this amazing lunch, then came home to our village ‘maintenance’ guy trying to clean up the mess these silly people had made, then went  to pick up my children, then to go and meet another lady with whom  I had volunteered to look after her cats (online), only to find that she seems like this awesome person that my kids and I all immediately liked immensely and I was like, “Well you said you would pay in wine and now I want wine and your company because you’re pretty damn cool & I think we could actually be friends!” Then to find myself out on our little deck writing my blog, to be greeted by my neighbour from yesterday, who wanted to bring her children over and play and with whom I also took an immediate liking to and no, I don’t regret it it, anyway, she came over, hung out, had a sangria, ok, maybe two (or a tad more) and we discussed yesterday’s happenings, and it was all a misunderstanding! Yay, I’m not going crazy! It seriously was a misunderstanding! I love just being open and honest with people. It always makes things better! Seriously! 

Anyway, my day has ended on a positive note. I’m happy. I wish you all such happiness. May we all look at Malala and realize just how good we’ve got it! 

PS: I’m still yet to do tonight’s regimen, it will happen.. Have an amazing night!

Challenge Accepted Day 11

I’ve got to say I didn’t feel like writing today. It has been one of those days and I am in one of those moods! I got up ready to start a new day and found myself finishing it on a not-so-high note. My workout (cardio) was fabulous! I enjoyed it and only needed Tania’s assistance on one thing! Yay me! I even enjoyed myself whilst doing it! 

Hubby left shortly after I finished the T25 workout and I was ready to have a quick run before heading out to a potential school for dear son, with my neighbour at 10. The phone rang just as I was getting set up to run and it was my brother-in-law giving me an update on the situation there – the water has risen to its highest peak and he is good as long as the don’t open the floodgates from another dam (that would put him plum out of luck), I’m not sure why there’s talk of opening another gate opening from a dam but I guess the water is that high that they are looking at every option, all we can do is keep our fingers crossed that there is no need to do so. But we’ll take a victory for now! He is safe, our niece is safe, his house is safe, hubby’s truck is just fine, his car is just fine and all goods contained within the house/garage are just fine too! Let’s hope it stays that way! 

Ok, so got off the phone to him and thought I’d better have a shower and get ready as it was 9:15, phone rang again, it was our realtor (Korea is weird, but when you’re an expat, your realtor pretty much takes care of everything for you – bills, parking tickets, you name it) anyway, she said the men working on our patio needed access to water and electricity so could I open the upstairs door? Fine, no probs. Then they needed something on the floor to protect it so I found old towels and said they would have to figure the rest out, looked at time again, crap, need to rush now. I race around to get ready, hubby calls, I fill him in on what his brother has said. Get the son ready and run over to the neighbour’s house because we had talked about 10. Well, I guess it was only me who thought we had plans. Because she wasn’t home. She got back just after two with her husband and they had gone for a drive and visited a naval station and had a lovely day out. Just me then! Weird. 

Tried to call the doctor to get my son in for an appointment as we think he is developing asthma because of the pollution here. I have exercise induced asthma (yes, I know that’s weird too, but it only happens if I really exert myself and because I got fairly fit in Hawaii then Colorado (where the elevation is over a mile above sea level) I’m pretty good with it, I know what my triggers are and when I need to slow down, but it’s a bit scary to think he might have it because of the dirty air here. Honestly, it’s awful! The smells, the pollution! Yuck! I ordered an air purifier today and an infuser because I need to do what I can to protect my kids and apparently it’s only going to get worse over the next few weeks when the red dust comes in??? Seriously? So, I’m also keeping an eye out for a couple of air purifiers on secondhand websites here. Back to the call to the doctor; I ask for an appointment, not urgently, but sooner, rather than later and was told that the next available ‘same day’ appointment is on March 22nd but I won’t be able to book it until March 21st, right…. All makes perfect sense to someone!

Then, it was quite a nice day, no wind, so I collected all my painting stuff and about 30 minutes later, had everything set up outside ready to go, it was as I took my seat, the wind decided to blow and blew my canvas away! Then knocked over my water cup holding my brushes then calmed down for a bit, just long enough for me to put a first layer down before blowing again, this time blowing my wet canvas onto me! Crap! I possibly swore a little. The small boy then decided it was the perfect time to go number two. 

“Mummy, can you wipe my bottom?”

Oh, your timing is perfect child! Just perfect! Then another neighbour’s dog got loose and came running to our fence where my dog went ballistic knocking over all of my paints! Some would call it comical, something the three stooges might have gone through. The painting really wasn’t going so well anyway and clouds had come over my once beautiful day, so I proceeded to move everything back inside, only to see the time was nearing bus pick up. Needless to say, my kitchen is filled with painting stuff, because upstairs is filled with all the stuff from outside where they are re-tiling, and we have too much stuff for this little house as it is and now I have to somehow make dinner but I would really like to accomplish something with my painting, but I think I’ve taken on more than I can chew and I’m frustrated and just plain worn out! 

  
On the up side. My face actually looked a little bit better for the first time this morning. I’m not going to lie, I was starting to wonder if the products were actually going to do Anything this time round, when I saw a small glimmer of difference! I know, I know, you want an up close and personal photo, you’ll get one, I promise. I just don’t know when, as I want you to understand the small changes that are taking place but before and afters only look dramatic when you see huge differences! So you may just have to wait. Patience is a virtue and all that! I tell you what, I’ll even post a picture of my painting if it ever comes out ok! 

That’s all for me on this St Patrick’s Day, I’m off to drink some green wine (just kidding, can’t do it!) some red wine and see if grapes can assist in my art endeavors. Ciao for now! 

Challenge Accepted Day 10 – round 2

Ok, so I just wrote my entire blog, and it’s all gone! Gone! Hubby just proofread it and it was all good to go but for some reason, the pics weren’t uploading so I chose to delete media and that in turn deleted my entire blog! To say it has been that sort of day, I think sums it up. 

So, now it shall definitely be short and sweet! We’ve not had much news from my brother-in-law, awaiting for the time to hit a decent hour so we can call him and hope that all is well.

My workout this morning was the absolute worst, I was tired, due to no sleep once again and do not even think about buying this rubbish:

  
It doesn’t work in the slightest, well it didn’t for me, I should say. On top of being tired, I drank some bottled white wine last night that obviously went straight to my head and I ate chocolate, lots of chocolate! Naughty me! It was even the good kind of chocolate; dark with pumpkin seeds, but still my body betrayed me this morning during Speed 1.0! It was awful. I truly struggled. I did however force myself to slow jog a mile afterwards so we shall call that a little victory!

Another victory for us today as a family was for our daughter’s parent teacher conference, not only is she doing so well on a social level, in the words of her teacher, “She is the sweetest, most polite student, and a joy to have in my class.” She picks up on new math concepts and strategies , is on grade par with her writing, reading and comprehension and is just a well-rounded kid! Such a huge leap from where we were just a few years ago and especially given she has just gone through her first change of schools and to top it all off, it was a mid-year move! This kid has been through hospital stays, physical challenges, years of pain and crippling (at times) illness, yet here she is, almost at 100% good health and such a beautiful soul! We couldn’t be prouder! 

Hunter and I had a great brunch, he had the fruit, I had the chicken/avocado/spinach salad, we cleansed the house of much useless paperwork, the girls actually got to play out side for almost 2 hours!!! All in all, though my challenges felt at times overwhelming, the day was a success, now all we can do is hope that my brother-in-law had a similar night. May your day or night, be filled with only good challenges and may you stay safe and dry!

   
 On a side note: My skin is feeling amazing, I have just done my nightly regimen and am feeling like my skin is growing younger daily. Seriously! You will see 😊 Au revoir for now, tomorrow shall be a new day! 

Challenge Accepted Day 9

Well, what a day! It all started with a message from my brother-in-law this morning upon waking; “call me asap!” Ok, what is going on? This cannot be good. So hubby calls him, asap! The news isn’t good. Parts of Texas are expecting massive flooding by Wednesday, they’re expecting to have to evacuate. He is raising everything in the house to ensure it stays as dry as possible, and he won’t leave until the last possible minute in case there’s looters, but it’s not looking good. He has hubby’s truck, so will drive that out of there but will leave behind his own car (shit)! Hubby offered to pay for him to drive his car somewhere to high ground just in case, but I think he said no (I’m not really sure to be honest, I’m hoping he has got a plan for it)! The other thing is he’s got some boxes of ours filled with some crap plus three or four special bottles of wine I’ve been collecting over the years, plus he has two paintings of ours, that were only just delivered to him last week after months of bullshit going back and forth between us and the stupid gallery! More about that in a minute. So the plan is to put those on besser blocks as high as he can, if he does have to evacuate. The worst part about it is that he’s got his own stuff to look after as well as ensuring he and his daughter fair safely through the next couple of days and we are nowhere near him to be able to help! Shit! 

Alright, back to the paintings: Hubby and I picked up a beautiful oil painting at an art auction in Hawaii, we got it for so cheap and it’s stunning! Since then we’ve had it valued and it’s worth a lot more than we paid for it, and we feel like we appreciate paintings a little more. In the meantime, I started painting with acrylics, not oils unfortunately, and I’m not great, but I really enjoy it when I have free time. Whilst we were on our cruise, we purchased two more paintings and we feel like we got a great deal, unfortunately though, the art director, Boris, blatantly lied to us when he told us they would deliver it to an APO address (we were mid move, so didn’t actually have our new address at the time). The minute we got an address here, we called the bastards at Park West Gallery who did nothing but give us the runaround for the last 6 weeks! Finally, I said to hubby to ask his brother if we could just send them to him and the paintings arrived there last Wednesday! Timing couldn’t be worse as it now seems, just one more thing for him to worry about that doesn’t belong to him. To say we are frustrated is an understatement, to say we are concerned about his and our nieces safety, is to put it mildly, all in all, not good. To the people of Texas and Louisiana who are already enduring or are about to endure flooding and more devastation, my heart goes out to you! We lived in Texas during Katrina, in San Antonio, so well away from it, but we saw the devastation close enough and had family in Southeastrn Texas who were effected by hurricane’s Rita and Humberto. One of whom was my brother in law! It’s like enough is enough! Let these people be would you! 

Alright, I know I’ve said this is more than a blog about an exercise and skincare product challenge, it’s about all the craziness that goes on in our lives at any given time! But getting back to the exercise side of it. Total Body Circuit was a killer again today! When will it get easier my body keeps asking!  But I did manage to the run a mile with a 5 minute warmup and 6 minute cooldown afterwards, so I felt like I pushed myself beyond this morning!  Here is a photo I took just having completed today’s work out but before doing the cooldown part of it then jumping on the treadmill:

  
It’s the only selfie that’s happening today! I took another one after I had showered and thought I was ok, but my face was still so red in it from the work out, then I had to go out so threw on just a little bit of loose powder but didn’t want a photo like that and here I am, have to go and pick hubby up shortly, dinner is on (it’s spaghetti night, we alternate from taco Tuesday to spaghetti Tuesday and tonight’s the latter) I was planning on having a nice healthy chicken salad once again for lunch today but my little man asked for a cheeseburger when we were out and both girls were having school lunch – something that happens once a fortnight (every two weeks) so I said yes and he didn’t eat half of it because they piled it with mustard and I was hungry so I ate it. Big mistake for us Mummy’s! We seem to do that a lot. Then we wonder where the extra calories came from, so even though I wasn’t satisfied with my half of a kid’s cheeseburger, I knew that the calorie count would be high and thought I probably shouldn’t eat anything else but some fruit until dinner. Needless to say, we shall be having an early dinner tonight because I’m hungry! 

As far as my skin and skincare regimen is concerned, I wanted to let you know that I did start one other thing last night and it was very last minute  (literally as I was lying in bed, I spotted my brand new box that I had found during my big cleanup yesterday) Redefine Acute Care. 

  
Now I’ve used these before but never properly (if I’m totally honest, I cut them in half and tried to skimp and save but never got the results that I did even just this morning – obviously because I wasn’t following directions) so if I’m adamant about removing the line that runs vertically between my brows then I should probably throw everything at it I’ve got, right? Anyway, these patches are Rodan + Fields’ solution to injectable fillers. With people reporting similar results to using injectables without having to worry about any of the other side effects. They erase lines whilst you sleep and the results last for about the same time as Botox. So let’s give it a try and you can experience this with me too. I am really excited about sharing this experience with you.

On the up side weather wise here, it was actually quite a lovely day in South Korea, with the temperature gauge hitting 10C! That’s huge! I actually took off my big coat and walked around for a little while with just a long sleeved shirt on! The sun was shining, the birds were singing, it was like Mother Nature was saying, well, I’m shitting on other people, but you should be happy because I’ve finally brought my winter wrath to an end here! 

I guess today has ended on a note of impending unsuredness. The only thing that matters at the end of the day are human lives and we especially favour my husband’s brother and our niece and our other family members in the area. May everyone in the region get out safely or, even better, let’s just hope those flood waters dissipate somehow! My challenge, our paintings, every other material possession, all mean nothing when compared to loss of human life but I am hopeful all can be saved including (selfish me) stuff! 

Keep them in your thoughts….

Challenge Accepted Day 8

Well today has been a little bit odd and I haven’t taken a closeup bare naked photo of my face for you to compare with last week (hopefully you’re not looking for a miracle, just a realistic product that works to assist in the defying of revealing our true age right?) that’s all I’m looking for, though on some days a miracle would be lovely too! 😜 anyway, the maintenance guy turned up with someone else this morning and they spent the next 5 hours jack hammering my balcony and in the process ensured my shower rod and curtain fell off, rendering my shower disabled until the hubby comes home, ergo, no shower for mwa! And I’ve had to put up with my own stinkiness after doing T25 cardio this morning, so I’m certainly not going to assist in further torture to myself by taking a selfie (& I hate those on a good day so it doesn’t take much to turn them down when I have no make up on and am doing a challenge with myself revealing every flaw I dislike about me! 😉). 

Anyway, the workout was a little better this morning, though that little voice in my head did keep wanting me to stop and do nada! Strong will prevailed and I kept going! I will be in shape! Something has to give! Just saw some photos from our cruise and I definitely have a belly in those too. Probably from drinking too much wine as well as doing nothing for the last few months. 

Alright, so I do have some good before and after photos to show you of bits of my bedroom! Every morning, I have gotten up in this little tiny room and been miserable because there has been too much stuff! I can’t even get out of my side of the bed because we have to have our bed against the wall in order for it to fit (yes we have a big bed in a little room). Anyway it has meant that I have learnt to catapault myself out of the end of the bed if ever I have to go for a midnight toilet break and I’ve gotten so good at it over the last two weeks that hubby no longer hears me, well until I trip over one of the numerous items on the floor that just keep piling up because I am yet to find a home for them!

  
  
Oh and here’s a before one of the main blog photo:

  
  
Looks and feels wonderful! I may wake up happy tomorrow morning and not all grumpy! It’s amazing what one’s surrounding can do to one’s mood! Speaking of mood, I have to share another funny story but this time from my 7yr old daughter, Madison; we were putting our shoes on ready to walk out the door to go to the bus stop to get my eldest DD when she started singing a song something like this:

One day Max and Ruby’s parents got on a bus and they told their kids they would be going away for a day, 

But they never came back! Max and Ruby didn’t know why, but their parents never came back! 

Now, I know it doesn’t sound funny like it is, but if you’ve ever seen the show ‘Max and Ruby’ you would know that the parents are never seen! Only the Grandma and the Bunny Scout Leader. Now I’m not purposely being un-PC, I just find it weird that there’s never any mention of anyone other than those two grown ups and they don’t live with their Grandma, and my daughter has obviously picked up on the same thing. Please don’t look at this in a tragic way, it is purely the innocent mind of a 7 year old, and it’s funny in this instance. Don’t get too deep and meaningful will you! 

Ok, it’s noodle Monday, which means the kids get ramen noodles (aka two minute noodles, aka one of the unhealthiest foods known to man but one that all kids love), I try to mix it up a tad so that it’s not just plain noodles and tonight it’s beef stroganoff and noodles. One of the easiest, but most delicious meals I’ve ever made. I would always get so excited when my Mum or oldest sister would make beef stroganoff! Here’s our way of doing it and I can’t give you quantities because I really don’t do quantities in recipes, I just guesstimate:

  • Whatever beef you’re using, in this case today, I’ve got a family pack or 2.21lbs of top loin steak – but it looks like it has a lot of fat on it, so I’ll trim it down and see how much I’ve got left!
  • Olive oil to cook beef in or coconut oil or butter, I actually used a little bit of coconut oil and olive oil missed tonight.
  • 1 small can tomato paste (6oz or 170gms or thereabouts, it’s ok if you have a little more or a little less)
  • Some onion, because my eldest daughter is really fussy about onion, I like to use the  Kirkland chopped onion flakes and just sprinkle them in after I’ve browned the beef.
  • Beef stock also, more rather than less, if that makes sense. 

 So when I say more rather than less, I mean that for every cup full of water you have a bit more than what the container recipe calls for you to have, per cup of water. 

  • Corn flour (aka corn starch in the States)
  • Water to mix with your beef stock. 
  • Sour cream
  • And I think that’s about all.  

I’m terrible at recipe writing obviously, but I’ll get better especially if I find you are slightly interested in reading this sort of stuff! I must also share a little side victory about my success with all three children over the last seven days and them all eating every single dinner I’ve made and actually really liking 6/7! Ok back to the next step:

  • Cube and brown beef
  • Add onion
  • Add tomato paste
  • Add beef stock mixed with boiling water (1 big heaped teaspoon per US cup water as per photo)
  • Let simmer for at least 20 minutes until beef tender, then add a couple of teaspoons of cornflour mixed in with cold water and add to beef until thicker. Add sour cream. My mum used to make her own by mixing regular cream with vinegar but for some reason in the States, regular cream is really expensive and sour cream isn’t. Anyway, if you can afford, I’d go organic, if not then I use Daisy light sour cream  1lb (454gms) + one half so if I was in Australia or NZ or UK, I’d use a 750gm tub if there is such a thing or about 1/4 less than Costco’s kilo tub.
  •  Add sour cream. My mum used to make her own by mixing regular cream with vinegar but for some reason in the States, regular cream is really expensive and sour cream isn’t. Anyway, if you can afford, I’d go organic, if not then I use Daisy light sour cream 1lb (454gms) + one half so if I was in Australia or NZ or UK, I’d use a 750gm tub if there is such a thing or about 1/4 less than Costco’s kilo tub….And wallah! Cook your two minute noodles and strain, then pour this amazing sauce over the top or have your noodles on the side and have this as a side or do whatever you like! Hubby prefers this with pasta but I mix it up every now and then and throw it into noodle night so the kids are getting more than all the crap that make ramen (2 minute) noodles, what they are!

  

  
The final product was magnificent as usual! And one of the easiest weekday meals to make! Let me know if you try it and enjoy it and if you want more from me. Otherwise, happy Monday, it’s not as bad as you think, it’s just the beginning of another week we get to celebrate being here! 

    Challenge Accepted Day 7

    Good Sunday to you! How is it Sunday night already? Feels like my weekend flew by as per usual! I hope you have made the most of yours. I’ve been doing quite a few different things this weekend, trying to really get into my new life here as well as my want to treat my body somewhat better, nonetheless, I have an Aussie friend who lives in England and has been drinking a turmeric hot drink for a very long time, she has told me about it before and I’ve thought about making it but never actually gotten there, until today. I made the base for it late last night then drank the turmeric latte this morning. It was actually quite lovely. I can assure you, I was very skeptical given the ingredients and I over compensated on the honey, try it with only one teaspoon full of honey before you add a second. I also used regular ground turmeric (that was all I had) but I did have organic coconut oil so used that. No non-dairy milk either, so regular cows milk it was. I’m going to look next weekend at Costco to see if they have any cashew milk so I can just drink it with this drink, but I wasn’t too concerned, it was really the health benefits of the turmeric I was looking for. It is also known as golden milk or turmeric tea and you can find a great recipe for it here:

    http://kellybroganmd.com/so-long-coffee-hello-turmeric-latte/

    And here’s my cup this morning:

      
    There are plenty of recipes out there though and as I was searching for my cardamom this morning, I came across ginger and thought oh I bet that would be a lovely addition to it also, I think the key thing is to get the incredible benefits of the polyphenol antioxidant curcumin that is known to help many different ailments and what is also the key factor in giving turmeric its golden colour. 

    Whilst on my turmeric kick, another recipe came across my newsfeed for turmeric toothpaste (isn’t it weird when Facebook reads your mind like that). Apparently Indian dentists swear by it so I thought why not give that a try too? Here’s a link to that recipe:

    Turmeric toothpaste
      
    It doesn’t look pretty, but it didn’t taste too bad when I used it this morning, I followed it with my regular toothpaste brushing as I didn’t see the harm in using both methods either, so we’ll wait and see. I will take my 1 week photo tomorrow smiling so we can look at how my teeth are in another week after using this method. 

    Okay, let’s get to talking about my favourite thing I’ve done today, macro exfoliation! Rodan + Fields have this amazing tool called the Redefine Macro Exfoliator and I LOVE it! It is honestly the best 5 minutes of my skincare regimen all week, especially when I haven’t done it in over two months! Anyway, I think last Monday I had mentioned that I had found the empty box but not the tool, well I found the tool a couple of days later and had to charge it up so I decided Sunday night was going to be my macro night. 

    How does it work? Well it’s this handheld personal tool (it’s the main photo for this article) that works using some great patent-pending technology called DOC-SMART, where the level  and length of time varies depending on which part of your face you are exfoliating. It is basically like your at-home microdermabrasion but with med spa quality results and all for a fraction of the price. It is a big investment to start with, retailing for $279 + tax & shipping but it is so worth it in my humble opinion. I seriously love this product. I used it tonight and my face feels amazing, I almost took a photo of all the yucky dead skin and crap that came off my face into the filter but I couldn’t bring myself to, it really wasn’t a pretty site! Instead I took a couple of close ups for you of the diamond tip head and the little picture on it that shows you how the DOC-SMART technology works, she literally shows you where to go next with the force of the exfoliation adjusted to the sensitivity of that area of your face and neck. I do go against her recommendation when it comes to the neck and I go with upwards strokes rather than downward and then I switch it to manual to use on the back of my hands every now and again, and it really shows when I do.  Everything just feels much softer and lighter and happier! 
     
      
    Now onto the T25 side of the challenge, I must say that both hubby and I really enjoyed the stretching today! It was amazing how it felt to relieve some of the tension in your body after working it so hard! I have never done that side of it before and I should have, it definitely gives you hope that the week to come will not be anywhere near as hellish as last week! I did want to do more exercise today as I felt I was slacking off a little but I also knew my body had worked hard all week and it was ok to give it some rest today. Our original plan was that the  family would bike ride through the rice paddies but it was overcast and cold and hubby hurt his back last night so it just seemed like the best idea was to hang out with each other and watch movies (well the kids and hubby did this afternoon whilst I pottered about). We had a really nice pot roast beef for dinner tonight but I’m feeling a bit blah right now as I definitely ate too much! And I have to do a personal weigh-in in the morning 😩 oh well, them’s the breaks right?

    Have an amazing day/night, no matter where in the world you are and I’ll see you on Monday for another great week of challenge fun! 

    Challenge Accepted Day 6

    Super short and sweet today. My skin felt amazing this morning when I did my morning regimen, so my break from the Amp MD roller did me the world of good, it also felt quite lovely and velvety, so I’m definitely happy with how it’s feeling. I’m also looking forward to doing the macro exfoliation tomorrow night, more on that to come.

    It warmed up here to a balmy 3C so it was actually warm enough to go for a quick run with my darling eldest daughter (who did nothing but complain the entire time) & my crazy, lovable puppy dog, you know the ‘golden doodle’, who thinks that anything short of a three minute mile is slow, therefore pretty much ripped my arm out of its socket throughout the run! Anyway it was a short but sweet run, maybe 3/4 mile, I’ll have to borrow hubby’s Fitbit equivalent and see what it says as far as distance goes. It was a day off from T25 (YES) so my body has been thanking me all day! 😜

    I went out with the family and did some grocery shopping and finally got some potting mix so I could repot some plants we bought when first got here. Cannot wait until it starts really warming up and we can spend some more time outside. I also started a little project I saw on Pinterest, spray painting any tin cans we use so we can line them all up on the railing interspersed with spaghetti sauce mason jars with tea candles in them so we can give a little bit of colour and life to our little patio (photos to come when that project is finished). I think it will look really cute and if it means I can upcycle and stop the copious amounts of waste we seem to be putting out along with everyone else here in South Korea, then that will be something. I’m not going to be taking any of it with me when we leave but I can always just try to give them to someone else can’t I. It’ll be really nice to see it all come together. 

      
    Alright, it’s pizza night tonight, I told you guys I wasn’t dieting right? I’m too old for that, but I do need to get into shape again so that’s the whole point of this. Normally our pizza night is Sunday night, but we didn’t have a roast in the freezer so we did a swap (I bought a roast today) so I can get the roast on early tomorrow in the crock pot so it literally melts in your mouth. We’ll do a salad with pizza I think too. Otherwise, it’s all about trying to put this never-ending mess of a house together. I feel like we take two steps forward and three steps back on some days! I just want everything to have a place and I have done such an amazing job of throwing so many things out and still the crap seems to be everywhere! Yes, my hoarding problem has had to come to an end and I’m pretty sure I’ve already gotten rid of at least 400 pounds of extra stuff and I have at least another 200 pounds ready to sell at a garage sale in the near future! So everything is a big thumbs up from my hubby at the moment. Again, we’ll have a deep & meaningful (D&M) about my real hoarding problem that I’ve had to deal with over these past few weeks on another day. 

    We are going to go for a family bike ride tomorrow through the rice paddies, so that will be really fun! I’ll make sure to take some photos so you can get an idea of what I’m seeing. Have a great night/morning, whatever the time may be in your neck of the woods! 

    Challenge Accepted Day 5

    I am smoked! Today’s workout has been a killer. Not one but two! Legs and cardio! Seriously! I’m not sure which one should be done first, today I did lower focus followed by cardio but when good old Shawn T asked me to do some outrageous squats in the cardio routine, my legs started screaming in pain! So next Friday, I shall switch it around and let you know how that goes. I even managed to do a mile run afterwards, there wasn’t much of a warm-up or cool-down for the run, but I was already pretty warm so I didn’t feel too badly. 😜

    As for the regimen, well my neck is feeling great but I think I’ve pushed it too soon by using the Amp MP daily so quickly, I should have heeded the Doctor’s advice (Dr Katie Rodan & Dr Kathy Fields) and started out a little slower, so tonight I’m going to give the roller a miss and go back to it tomorrow night. I’m still not seeing any radical changes but I’ll do a photo on Monday side by side with my first photo and we can have a looksy, I really want to share this journey with you, so let’s see if we can find any difference already & if not, then that’s ok too, I’m not expecting anything radical just yet.

    I did realize that I should have had my eyebrows done before I took my first ‘before’ photo but I’ve had such a hard time finding somewhere that does threading (something I fell in love with in the Middle East and have managed to find in Italy, Texas, Hawaii and Colorado Springs, but not here in South Korea (apparently there was a spa at the first hotel that we stayed in upon arrival in Seoul that did it, but I was jet-lagged, concerned about my animals, absolutely freezing – the temperature ranged from -28 to -32C when we first arrived here, that’s -18.4F to -25.6F! Aka: hell freezing over! So I didn’t do a whole lot). Anyway, I gave up yesterday after searching and ended up having my brows waxed at a little salon outside of Osan AFB. It was ok, my brows looked wonderful, but then again any grooming they had would have been marvelous and my mono brow – after 2 months of no grooming, was definitely asking to see a professional! My apologies for the shock brow photo, they will look a tad better upon Monday’s photo release, I promise.

    I also have to tell you about another area I dilly dally in, and that is being a Bzz Agent. What is a Bzz Agent I hear you ask? Well, it’s this fantastic job where you get to test products for free or almost free and share your opinions online and in person. So I just got my first product, Covergirl Lashblast Volume mascara in very black. My first impression when opening the packaging was a little disappointing because they use a plastic bottle cap that is to be disposed of as soon as you open it, the environmentalist in me, doesn’t like such waste when the brush has worked just fine thus far for so many previous products. I do like the thickness of the mascara though as it goes on smoothly without clumping. And the color is a nice black, black, sounds weird I know, but it’s not a blue-black, or a brown-black, it’s exactly what it says it is. The brush is possibly not quite pointy enough for my liking, I have sort of squinty eyes and found when nearing the end of my eyes where they meet my nose, I ended up with a little dollop of mascara on my nose, so I had to be more careful on the other side. I really like the texture of the mascara though and all in all would have to say that it goes on nicely, doesn’t clump and makes my lashes look a little more voluminous.

    Ok, funny thing for the day and once again it is my son who just cracked me up; his favourite movie is Pixels and the character Ludlow gets the girl, Lady Lisa, in the end. Hunter has just finished watching it for the umpteenth time and came over to me very seriously and said, “She’s a lovely girl, I want to be Ludlow so I get the girl!” Three and a half years old! There’s probably going to be a lot of Hunterisms throughout this blog as he cracks me up daily! You have to watch the movie to understand why that’s hilarious! 

    So my afternoon has been interesting, my new neighbor came over and asked if I wanted to go for a walk with her through the rice paddies (everyone has told me that it’s a great walk with the kids and dog) unfortunately, given my double work out earlier this morning, the last thing I could think about was doing more walking! As I was heading to the bus stop a couple of hours later though, I decided to call in there and see if she wanted to come over for a glass of wine and yay, she did. It was really nice to have some female conversation, she seems like my sort of person too, sadly, she’s leaving in May, but that’s ok, I’ll enjoy her company whilst I can and she has a lot of knowledge about local things so we’re going shopping next week to a local market where I can finally get some nice fresh fruit and vegetables, I was starting to wonder where the good, fresh produce was hiding, as it certainly isn’t at the commissary, or even Costco, or Emart. Anyway, to say I’m excited is a little bit of an understatement, we’re going to get lunch at a local Korean restaurant she knows and just enjoy getting out of the house. I don’t get to do that very often now given the one car situation, so it will be really nice! 

    Alright, well it’s  Friday night here, the family have all started watching The Good Dinosaur – let me just digress a little about that movie; not what I was expecting at all! Hubby bought it when he went back to the States a couple of weeks ago thinking it was going to be this great feel good movie for us all (& there might be a spoiler alert here if you haven’t seen it) but wow! Not what I was expecting at all! I like the different take on the human, just wasn’t quite ready for it, but I wasn’t expecting so much sadness, nor the tripping out on whatever those berries were! Anyway, can’t wait to see Finding Dory, that one will definitely be worth it’s wait! 

    Ok, I’m going to say sayonara. Have a great day or night depending on where you are and don’t forget to share your thoughts with me on my blog. I’ll give you details next week on my website if you’re looking to take the Rodan + Fields challenge with me, there is a 60 day money back guarantee, so spend your weekend giving it some serious thought, oh and my Aussie friends, I know a few of you loved Proactiv and these products were created by those same two doctors who created those amazing products, they just decided to move to an age group reflecting their own ages, ie, anyone over the age of 20! 😉 nonetheless, they are launching the Rodan and Fields line in Australia, so if you’re interested, it will soon be there.

     Happy travels