A Mom's Year

Creating a comfortable life one moment at a time

Weight Loss Pilates with Kristin McGee

I’m so sore after two days of doing Acacia’s Weight Loss Pilates DVD. But the good news is that I’m sore in places that really need tightening up. Does anyone actually think that Pilates is a “girly” workout? If so, then he or she needs to give this DVD a try.

I haven’t done a lot of Pilates (being more of a yoga person), but what seems to be different about this DVD is that the workouts contain some cardio. The instructor, Kristin McGee, leads you through traditional mat exercises then revs it up a little to get your heart rate moving.

The DVD contains two 20-minute workouts. If you do them with the warm-up and cool-down, each workout is 33 minutes. If you want a longer workout (which I never do), you could do them both at once. It would take you less than an hour and you’d be doubly sore the next day. Bonus!

The mat workout section features Pilates classics like the 100s and double-leg pulls. Two moves in particular are really effective (read: painful). One involves standing in a wide squat with your hands behind your head moving quickly from side-to-side. It wasn’t that bad at the time, but the next day—oy! I could really feel it. Which is a good thing because it’s hitting that dratted muffin-top area. The one that made me beg for mercy has you sitting on the floor in what Kristin referred to as “mermaid” position. You then lift your top leg up and down and back and forth. Ouch! But I kept going by envisioning that little dent you can get in the gluteus maximus area.

I like the cardio sections a lot. And not just because they’re a welcome relief from the mat exercises. Which they are. Your secret inner dancer will enjoy the plies. There are jumping plies and grand plies, as well as Pilates jumping jacks and running planks. My heart rate went up and my legs burned. Mission accomplished.

Kristin’s instructions are easy to follow. She provides the right amount of encouragement in a tone that’s mellow and not too chirpy.

As usual, I rented this DVD from Netflix to check it out. It’s definitely one that I will purchase for the permanent collection. You can go here to buy the DVD at Amazon. Give it a peek and see what you think here:

Grandma’s Yum-Yum Bars

One of the very nicest things about grandmothers is that they can be counted on for recipes that never let you down. One of my favorite treats in the world are my Grandma Campobasso’s Yum-Yum bars. How can anything be so good? Grandma would say it’s the butter. Land-O-Lakes, of course, which she’s used for as long as I can remember. Just like Julia.

Here’s the recipe. Like everything around here, they’re easy to make. The bars are really rich, so I don’t think you could eat them all at once even if you wanted to. Which you will.

Grandma Campobasso’s Yum-Yum Bars

Ingredients:

18-ounce package German chocolate cake mix

3/4 cup melted butter or margarine

1 can evaporated milk

6 ounces chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

50 Kraft caramels

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the cake mix, melted butter, and 1/3 cup of the evaporated milk together and spread half of the mixture in a lightly greased 9 X 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for six minutes. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and chopped nuts. Unwrap the caramels and melt in 1/3 cup of evaporated milk. You can do this in the microwave. Pour over the chocolate chips and nuts. Crumble the remaining cake mixture and pat on top. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool completely before cutting. And then dig in.

  • Did you know that tomorrow (March 1) is IHOP’s National Pancake Day? Looks like we’ll be having a brinner (breakfast + dinner) of pancakes. It’s the perfect time to try out Michelle at One Ordinary Day‘s Rainbow Pancakes.
  • Here’s a DIY Design Felt Board for Babies at Made by Joel. He’s the coolest dad ever.
  • Enchanted Mama posted a powerful video about creativity here. You will be inspired.
  • A Mom’s Year got its first blogosphere shout-out at Blog in France: Life, Love and Llamas in Limousin. Stephanie Dagg is an Irish writer who moved to France with her family to raise llamas. To be mentioned in the same breath as DesignMom gives me palpitations. Thank you, Stephanie, and I’ll continue to enjoy reading about your adventures.
  • Day 59 of the 100 Push-Ups Challenge.

Countdown to Christmas: Part Two

It’s the 25th, which means that once again it’s time for Countdown to Christmas. This year I’m trying to knock out as many things as I can before December rolls around so the holidays will be a little more peaceful. Don’t run away! I know it’s hard to think about Christmas in February, but I’m hoping that a little preparation now will make life a lot more pleasant later.

So here are a couple of things I’m working on right now. Very simple! Nothing too crazy or overwhelming.

Gift Wrapping

I love this packaging by Sharilyn at lovelydesign. So simple yet festive. She’s also designed really beautiful gift tags to accompany the packages. You can download those here.

There’s a Dick Blick by Tim’s office that sells brown kraft paper. Red wrapping paper is here. Or maybe I can pick some up at Target. Red seems like a year-round kind of color. For the tags, Sharilyn recommends Strathmore Acrylic linen canvas. Dick Blick has that, too. The paper is heavy, but she says you can get great results with a regular printer. Sharilyn recommends manually feeding the sheets through the printer one at a time.

I’m okay on red ribbons, but I’ll pop into JoAnn Fabrics for some white ribbons in various widths. And then I’ll tuck it all away until I’m ready to start wrapping. I think a mound of presents wrapped like this would look amazing under the tree.

Bath Fizzies

I clipped this Bath Fizzies how-to out of Martha Stewart Living years ago, but I’ve never managed to make them because a couple of the materials require a little extra effort to find. And of course I never have time to track them down in December. You need citric acid, which is sold at wine supply stores like the Northern Brewer in St. Paul, and a silicone ice-cube tray. Which was surprisingly hard to find, so I’m just ordering one online. I’ll thank myself later if I round up the jars and vellum tags now. Don’t the fizzies look like homemade marshmallows? I think these would be a great gift for friends.

  • Have you ever made your own postage stamps? Lily drew a Christmas tree last year that would make a cute stamp. Or maybe ours will feature Gunther (our golden retriever).
  • Here’s a DIY CD sleeve tutorial at Marta Writes if you’d like to give a merry mix CD or a bunch of photos on a CD as gifts.
  • These Snowglobe Soaps could be fun gifts for the kids to make if I can find toys cute and small enough to fit inside ice-cube sized soaps.

So just a few ideas to work on this month. Please share anything you do early on to make Christmas more sane for yourself and your family.

We have a half-day of school and I’m subbing in the Early Childhood classroom this morning, so I’m off. I’m thinking a trip to the bookstore with the kids this afternoon would be nice. I have to pick up a copy of The Black Dahlia for next month’s book club meeting. I hear it’s pretty dark.

A Vintage Poster dot Com

We’re in the fun planning stages of redecorating the girls’ bedroom. So many ideas! I like these posters from A Vintage Poster. At about $14 a pop, they’re in our budget, plus they come in lots of different colors. Once we’ve selected the comforters and paint color, I’m going to let each girl pick out a poster or two in customized colors. I should probably get moving on this because right now it’s buy three or more posters, get 25 percent off.

Check out how one mom used the “Good Morning Sunshine” poster in her modern yet cozy nursery here. I also spotted the Take Me for a Walk print from my favorite Sarah Jane Studios on her wall.

  • I’m hoping this very detailed tutorial on how to ice a cake can help me.
  • Design*Sponge makes great city guides. Is your city here?
  • Have the Angry Birds showed up in your house? Playable Angry Birds Cake and Angry Birds Roundup. What a great dad to make a cake like that for his 6-year-old!
  • This homemade body scrub looks like just the cure for dry winter skin. It could also make a nice gift.
  • Day 54 of the 100 Push-Ups Challenge.

Fun Standing Abs Workout

I think it was FlyLady, the original organizing blogger, who said, “If it isn’t fun, it won’t get done.” I know life isn’t all fun and games, but if we can inject a little enjoyment into things like working out, why not?

I was reading about the Tracy Anderson workout method online one day when I came across this video. Set to Shakira’s “Did It Again,” it’s a quick and fun way to work your core. The instructor, Anna, calls the video “Get a V for Valentine’s Day.” I think the “V” she’s referring to is a tapered waist. All I know is that she looks great and my secret inner dancer loves routines like this.

So if you’re looking for a break from crunches, give this a try and let your inner Shakira out.

  • Could homemade microwave popcorn really be this simple? I’ll give it a try after school.
  • I think it would be fun to make our own birthday candles.
  • Bacon toothpaste? Seriously? Cupcake toothpaste is a little more up my alley.
  • What do you think of frame walls like this that combine kids’ art and other art?
  • This travel guide focuses on how you travel, not where. Interesting. This could be handy for keeping kids entertained on trips, especially during the tricky getting from here to there parts.
  • Day 53 of the 100 Push-Ups Challenge.