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Archive for December, 2014

Katrina’s Coupon Tip #1 – Don’t Be Greedy

Katrina’s Coupon Tip #1 – Don’t Be Greedy

CT1_DontBeGreedyDon’t become greedy by not letting any coupon you have to go waste.  Just because it’s on sale, and you have coupon, doesn’t mean you actually need it.  If you can’t use, don’t need it, or know someone who does need it, then don’t buy it.  Leave it for someone who actually needs it to purchase it.

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December 29, 20140 commentsRead More
Are You A Stress Eater?

Are You A Stress Eater?

browniesI love to run. I’m not great at it, but I love it.  I also love to eat, I love food so so sooo much – I love mexican food, salsa and chips, hamburgers, sourdough bread and most of all, BROWNIES!  When I have a really stressful day, either with my kids, or with work, I have a choice between eating a huge, chewy, chocolate brownie (which I love more than you will ever know), or jumping on my treadmill and running a couple miles.  I hate to admit it but, more often than it should, the brownie wins.

It’s so crazy because I’ll catch myself pulling a box of brownie mix from my stockpile whenever I’ve had an unexceptionally stressful day.  It’s like I’m on auto pilot; if I have a misunderstanding with a good friend, or too many arguments with my oldest son over his homework, or if my youngest (who is potty training), has repeated accidents, I automatically reach for a box of brownies to fix it and make it all better. That’s how I know that I’m absolutely a Stress-Eater.

Yesterday was one of those days where it seemed like every corner I turned I was putting out a fire or getting frustrated at my kids. I was trying so hard to be patient and “super-mom” all at the same time and I failed miserably!  Me and the kids has just spent the last hour trying to make glitter-snow playdough that left cornstartch all over the kitchen and the all over the kids, and don’t even get me started with where the glitter ended up.  By 5pm I Kat_Run2was about to chow down on every Christmas cookie that I could stuff into my mouth! I was exhausted and totally ready for a break.  I was stressed to the max and ready to indulge! But, You would be proud, I laced up my running shoes and hopped on my treadmill and ran a couple miles instead.

I’ve just recently been able to recognize that one of my poor food habit triggers is stress.  Now that I know this, I’m trying to replace the desire to eat something that I may regret later, with an activity that can relieve my stress instead. Tada! Running is perfect for this! It’s a great was to melt stress off my body and it’s great for my mood!  It’s not rocket science, but it’s hard to make a good choice when you want that instant gratification that comes from indulging in a yummy treat!  I’m trying to be better at this and recognizing my triggers is the first step!

What are your triggers? How do you deal with stress?  If you are anything like me and tend to turn to food when you are stressed, tired, exhausted, or emotional then consider these tips before you take your next bite:

  • Identify your triggers
  • Make a list of your top triggers
  • Find some type of exercise that you enjoy – walking, running, dancing, zumba, exercise video, karate, etc.
  • Make a list of the exercises you enjoy
  • Hang that list on your refrigerator where you can see it every time you are about to “stress-eat”
  • Actively choose one of exercises from your list next time you are stressed instead of indulging in a treat

It sounds really simple, but it’s actually really hard – for me at least! But I know you can do it!  Let me know how it goes! Good luck!

 

 

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December 22, 20140 commentsRead More
Stop Expecting Your Family To Be Perfect

Stop Expecting Your Family To Be Perfect

PerfectFamilyThis is the time of year when I just want everyone to get along. Wow, that sounded so cliché’, but really, I just want everyone to get along! Even in my own house. Our little family of five – I want all of us to just get along and when we don’t, I literally feel like screaming and throwing my own adult tantrum. Let me guess, your family makes you crazy, especially around Christmastime? Am I right? It seems like more family fights are hatched about really silly stuff this time of year. There are misunderstandings, hurt feelings and tears. It’s hard to keep your own family happy as well as the in-laws, and if you are like a lot of families you may have more than just two sets of in-laws to keep happy. I have one friend that has five different houses and five separate family get-together’s that she has to attend on Christmas day alone. How completely exhausting!

There are no perfect families. Every single one is messed up in one way or another, but they are your family. God perfectly designed you to be in that family to teach you something about yourself and for you to teach others in your family something. There is a plan – it’s not an oversight that the Lord made you and planted you exactly where you are. He knows you, He created every single person in your family and He knows all the inner-workings of how your family relates with each other. No one is perfect and a lot of times if you keep looking for the perfect family and don’t just LOVE the one you have, you are going to miss out on a lot of fun, love, and life.

Let me say it again – There are NO perfect families – the only perfect family is the one the that doesn’t exist on this side of Heaven. If you keep expecting everything to be perfect and then get angry when it isn’t, you are going to find yourself just plain unhappy. Most likely your family dynamics are not going to change – but your attitude can.   Your attitude of love and acceptance and remembering that we all have your issues, we all mess up, we all have people that we don’t get along with very well, but you are still a family. You can walk away from your friends and bad relationships, but you can’t just walk away from your family. Your family is special and important and if it’s just a simple thing you are frustrated about, get over it and realize that it’s not worth it.

Here are a few tips on how to survive Christmastime with your imperfect family:

  1. Your attitude is your choice – the smallest adjustment on your part can totally change your experience.
  2. Forget the little things that drive you crazy and focus on offering grace to others instead.
  3. For the person you have the hardest time getting along with, find and focus on at least one thing about them that you like – instead of the many things that you don’t like about them. I promise your outlook on that person will eventually change.
  4. Take a moment to tune out all the chaos and focus on Christ and all that makes Christmastime amazing!
  5. Remember Christmas is what you make of it!

PerfectFamily

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December 17, 20140 commentsRead More
No One Noticed My Shoes

No One Noticed My Shoes

NoOneNoticedMyShoesDoes this time of year make you feel like you are living in a blizzard of people, parties, gifts, cookies, and no one really even notices that you exist?  This is a perfect example: Today, my daughter was very sad when I picked her up early from school (which she knew was going to happen and was soooo excited about before she went to school).  She would not tell me what was wrong until much later that evening, but all day she was not being her normal, sweet, bubbly self. I figured she was just tired because we had a very busy Christmassy weekend of Christmas lights, church events, family events, dinner with friends and ended it all with a ride on a train, hot cocoa and lots of cookies (it was a really FUN, but busy weekend). I assumed she was just tired from all of that. After a full afternoon of her snapping and being short with both her brothers, she finally dissolved into tears and said she was so sad because no one at school noticed her new shoes. We had a nice talk about how it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks and it only matters what God thinks, and that she can’t let something like shoes put her in a bad mood. I also told her that her attitude is her choice and she was choosing to let the fact that no one oooohhhed and aaaahhhed over her shoes to dictate how she treated others. I also told her that I liked her shoes! She smiled and we laughed and we moved on.

But isn’t that true of us? You want someone to notice your shoes? Or your new outfit? Or that you just cleaned your bathroom? Or did five loads of laundry?   Or that you made an amazing lunch of chicken nuggets and Cheetos? Or that you single-handedly answered a work phone call while changing a poopy diaper on a squirmy toddler who really should be using the potty? I’m 100% guilty of this. I like to be noticed. I want someone to say “good job”. Let’s be honest, being a stay-at-home-mom, you very rarely hear from your 3 year old that you just did a really good job mopping your kitchen floor.   Often when no one notices all that we do, we feel unloved and unappreciated and then we are guilty of seeking approval from a cup that won’t ever be filled. We are seeking worth from men, who are just as unworthy as we are. WeNoOneNoticedMyShoes2 should instead be seeking worth and approval from the Lord who gives it willingly.  He has a plan for your life, you are unique to Him and your purpose is to serve Him using all the talents He gave you with a sense of JOY.  That’s the key – Joy. Find joy in all the small tasks you are blessed to have to do each day for your kids and family.  The joy is there, you just have to look for it.

“God’s kingdom isn’t a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness’ sake. It’s what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy. Your task is to single-mindedly serve Christ. Do that and you’ll kill two birds with one stone: pleasing the God above you and proving your worth to the people around you.” — Romans 14:17 (The Message)

So when no one notices your shoes, it’s no big deal – your worth is not found in your shoes, it’s found in the Lord.  He loves you more than you will ever grasp and longs to fill your cup everyday with JOY!

If you ever have any questions about whom the Lord is and what He means to me or can mean to you, please ask. I’d be more than happy to share more about the Lord of my life.
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December 9, 20140 commentsRead More
Exercise Is Hard

Exercise Is Hard

Fact: Exercise is hard.

I totally agree. I don’t wake up every morning and bound out of bed because I’m so excited to kick my butt and get all sweaty. Nope. Not at all. Every time my alarm goes off, I’m 100% tempted to stay in bed and I have all sorts of ideas going through my head about how I can get out of exercising. No joke, it’s a total mental struggle I have – every single morning. I try to reorganize the day and figure out how I can work in my exercise to some other part of the day like right before dinner when the kids are screaming at me because they are hungry. Perfect timing right? Uh, no. That would never happen! But it sure sounds tempting at 5:45 in the morning when I’m still tired from getting up in the middle of the night – twice – because my potty-training son had to go poop (who does that in the middle of the night? I think he just wanted some candy…oh well).  ExerciseIsHard

I am not one of those super-fit chicks, you know, the ones who can do one-handed handstands and have abs of steel (and they do these on the beach, I can’t even do that against a wall, let alone the beautiful beach…)? Deep down I wish I were. Really, I wish I was, and at one point in my life, right before I got married, I was probably the fittest I will ever be. I look back at those pictures fondly – and I reminisce about how great my arms looked in sleeveless shirts (I was really proud of my arms and shoulders – so silly of me, but I was – just being honest). I was also in my early 20’s, in my last year of college, and had tons of time on my hands to worry only about me. There was no late night feedings of a baby, there were no diapers to change, there was no school pick-up line to sit and wait in – three times a day, there was no daily dinner to cook to for five people, there was no grocery shopping trips with a toddler, or piles and piles of laundry to do every week. I had time back them to devote to myself and work on my appearance, and the funny thing is, back then I thought I didn’t have any time at all to do anything! I thought I was “soooo” busy! Isn’t it funny how we think, how our reality changes?

Now my everyday reality is that I’m getting older, have had three kids and my weight has gone up and down and up and down since the day I said, “I do.” I know one thing about myself; I’m a very planned person. I’m regimented and organized, I make lists and I really do follow them. When I decide something, I go for it, and I have an uncanny ability to stick with it and complete the job no matter how hard or how long it takes to do it. This proves why I can train for a half marathon for 16 weeks without missing even one workout. I know it’s only a half marathon, but it was so hard – oh let me tell you. But that’s another post in itself that I’m sure I’ll write about soon.

Back to my reality – so, as I was saying, I’m a fairly organized person that likes to compete with myself. This is helpful when dieting and with exercise, because I won’t quit, I’ll see it through, and I’ll stick to the plan. Throw in everyday life, kids, potty-training toddlers, sickness, and the fact that I had 2 surgeries last year, I know I’m just not the same person I was 15 years ago. I’m trying to accept my new reality and give myself a break. When you have a bad day and you don’t get up early like you had planned to exercise, it’s not big deal. It’s not going instantly make you gain 5 pounds instead. If you are a control freak like me, it’s tends to totally ruin my day – I will beat myself up for not getting up when in reality it’s just one day. Give yourself some grace. Who knows, maybe you will find the time later that day to exercise.

Some days, you just need a break too. Which was my day today. The hubs and I had totally planned to get up early like we always do to do T25, but I woke up with a pounding headache and he was just plain exhausted. Needless to say we skipped our workout. Instead of going back to sleep though, I got up and made a cup of coffee and curled up on the couch with my Bible and spent the next 30 minutes with the Lord. Was an excellent way to start the day even though I didn’t get to exercise. It’s a huge step for me to not beat myself up and realize that tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to exercise. Hopefully tomorrow morning is better and I’ll be right back to my routine.

See what I mean? Exercise is hard.

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December 3, 20140 commentsRead More