Fitness & In-laws

So this post is another one about some of my exercise moves.
Since we finished the fire place I had to move my TBG (total body Gym) to the bedroom...where there isn't room for it to be set up. :( I'm really sad about that because I haven't been able to work out on it in a week now.
I use to do these exercises before I bought the TBG.. (now I'm back to doing these, I usually do them right before I take a bath. Like literally right before, while the tub is filling up.)
25 jumping jacks (land in a squat each rep)
25 side lunges of both sides
25 regular lunges (I try to add in the "back leg kick" to help tone my butt too)
50 crunches (front & both sides 50 each)
25 squats
25 hold       Hold the squat as low as possible BURN
and that's were I end because i'm usually light headed lol.

FACE
Since my Murad stuff wasn't really working I decided to try a more natural approach to improve my skin.
Oil Cleansing Method

Here is the link to the recipe. I did add tea tree oil to mine since it helps acne.
It's still very strange for me to put oil on my face but heck I'll try anything.

Now I'm researching food's that help your skin overall. I of course am just enjoying learning about it all. In EMT school we learned a lot about skin because it is the largest organ in our body and very susceptible to bacteria's,  diseases and so on.

I also read that people like myself should change there pillow case as often as every other night! I usually change mine with the sheets on Sundays BUT now i'm going to try to every couple of days.

SCRUBs / peal
An all natural chemical peal type scrub I came across sounds really promising.
I plan on trying it this week since I just read about it today.

I did decorate the house for Christmas but haven't taken a picture yet. One set of lights on the tree is completely dead and I have to purchase a whole new strand :(.
I'll try to do that in the next day or two.


Use natural/organic lemon juice (can be in the little container of already squeezed juice) on a cotton pad then add about a tsp of granulated sugar...then scrub.
It helps with Age spots, ACNE, scars, discolorations, freckles, and much more.



Madinna and Patrick are in town for a few days. We had a good time last night at dinner and are meeting again tonight after work. Here is a pic of the boys watching youtube video of some awesome guitar pickin!

And here is Nana sleeping while Jacie watches Barney lol

Fireplace = CHECK :)

So remember that the fireplace was one project on our list.. 

There were a lot of steps to complete, to mark this one off : Rock, Mantel, Crown, Base, Paint, TV

Well it is all DONE! As of yesterday we have a fireplace with a nice brand new 46" TV above it. 

Merry Christmas to us. lol That is our gift to each other!

SO here are a few pictures of the process/progress.

1. sheetrock keeping our nice ac/heat inside the house

2. Jon ripped the sheetrock off so Derrick could make the mount for the huge mantel

3. Jon putting plywood and "frame" up

4. LATH ouch this stuff always cuts him up...but it holds the rock on lol

5. Jon is spraying rock on 

6. Big David handing Jon the hopper with rock in it. (Iphone pictures)

7. Big David carving out the rock pattern.

TAAADAAAA!

It got to late yesterday and the paint was still wet on the base board so I didn't get to sweep and mop the floor. The surround needs to be cleaned as well. 

And here is the sample TILES I went and chose my tile from for the shower last week. 

I'm waiting on the tile guy to come by and measure so I can get the tile ordered!

Job check! & House update!

Jon got hired on full time! This is such a big deal....for the last 2 weeks people at Trinity Bay have been raising hell about Jon working under big David. At first I got angry and then I just decided to pray that these people would see what a hard worker he is. There was one jealous employee that started this (we think) because Jon and Cory make him look bad because he's a slacker when it comes to working all day and not be lazy. WELL enough about that today was hiring day and his Dad called before Jon did lol. We were very stressed about this and its a huge burden lifted off our shoulders. Now Jon has BENEFITS. Never in his life has he had a permanent job.  Full time job CHECK,  Medical insurance CHECK, Retirement CHECK.

Also this past weekend Derrick Leblanc (you all know the "boys") came and hung my... MANTEL. It looks so crazy having a mantel hug above our fireplace. The goal for Jon boy is to put the rock up before Thanksgiving. That's scary since that is exactly one week away.

Bunch of Randomness

Weird looking huh? WELL it is the coolest thing ever. It's a vacuum sealer that I got at HEB on the meal deal probably a year or so ago lol. Yes we are still moving in. So all I had to do was buy the ziplock bags (prob like $3-$6) and get the sealer FREE. So I figured I'd give it a try.  It works so good. I haven't seen the sealer in stores in a long time but they have a new manual one that probably works just as well. So I use this a lot because the larger amount of meat you buy at our local market the more $ you save. It's just me and Jon boy anyways so I split all meats up in freezer bags. I put 2-3 chicken breast in each bag and the same for pork-chops.

Here's a little pic of what dad did a few weeks or maybe a month ago lol. I have to texture a spot next to the tub and touch up the paint AND put the clear over the beadboard ...then I'll show the final picture. I want the tile done so bad but we're still saving for that one. 

And here is a sneak peak of a DIY project I made! I'll show a picture with a shoe on soon. That is my hand in there but it's made for your boots. BOOTS WITH THA FURRRR lol

<3 Andie

THE closet

When I do retail therapy I usually head straight to the shoe department :) YES shoes are my weakness. I also love a good bargain on clothes. SO with that being said my favorite room in our house is the CLOSET!!! :) I'm smiling thinking about it. (except for it's a disaster right now)
Here is half of my shoe shelf/wall! Thanks dad for making this bad a$$ shelf for me :) Of course I have filled it up and bought a hanging shoe organizer for Jon's shoes lol.

On the other side of the closet next to my washer and dryer...yes they are in the master closet and I love it...there was space I was wanting more shelf room for linens. And here is what dad built for that space!

And here is him installing it. Excuse the bra hanging there lol. You don't notice these things until you look at a picture.

 I will put a finished picture of the closet when it is 100% complete :/ grr seams like nothing is finished in that house.

<3 Andie

FOOD

What I love most! lol

It's sad that I love food that much. Well I love to cook and bake.

Here is a recent new fav around our miniature mansion...

Mini Meatloaf's!

So you take your favorite meatloaf recipe and bake it in the muffin pans. It saves a ton of time. On this particular one I used a Mexican Meatloaf recipe. I DID not line the pan with muffin cups/liners. 

<3 Andie

My everyday workout!

So I've been meaning to show you all my very sophisticated workout area :)

So here it is...

 Pretty intense huh? lol 

Ok let me just explain my exercises..

1st you notice the blow dryer right? Well that is my main work out :)

I sit right there where the blow dryer is with my legs hanging down (so my back would be to the camera right now) and I lean back as far as I can and start drying my hair. Sounds easy huh? WRONG It works your abs like none other. I will hold that position for a while then I'll start pulsating?....that word always makes me cringe but whatever.  If I get tired I use this opportunity to flip my hair over and do the other side while I sit up and relax a min.

NEXT you see the yoga mat? Thank you Ross for having el cheapo stuff!

Anywho I'll also squat for a while, while I dry my hair. 

(I have that much hair that I can have a very good ab and leg/butt workout)

On the Yoga mat beside cushioning my feet while I squat OR lundge, I do the plank move.

Get on your toes and elbows and make your body as straight as possible.
(On nights I don't wash my hair I'll do the Core Plank move for like 50 counts) OUCH 

I'll also lay on my back and do regular crunches to the front and to both sides. Around 25-50 each position. Depending on how much time I have.

These are my basic everyday moves like jager! 

I will post on another day with my other workout exercises.

In the mean time here are my must have daily drugssss.

Self explanatory I believe. 

Vitamin D & B12

Here are some of my diet tips/routines

WATER - yes I know everyone says "drink more water"

Well, that is ALL I drink. No lie. I drink orange juice when I splurge and buy some but literally all day at work I keep filling my glass up with water and drink it constantly. When I get home I drink that with dinner as well.

Eat often. It sounds like a oxymoron I know. I want to loose weight so I should eat more often?

Yes small meals/snacks.

I have to eat every 3 hours or I feel very sick. 

Snacks - almond YUMMMM brain food as my Nana says.

Rice Cakes - there really is some good ones out there. Try the white cheddar flavor.

Peanut butter - I eat it alone or on some almonds. Great protein. I keep peanut butter crackers in my truck and in my purse/camera bag.

Celery (burns more calories then it has in it)

Ok one more tip for tonight. Tighten your abs all the time. It's like a crunch while you are standing up. 

I tighten mine while I'm pumping diesel, waiting to pay for groceries, talking to a customer, even while I drive. 

Thanks for stopping by!

<3 Andie

My 1st sewing project (all by myself ... well with a little help from mom)

So mom has been teaching me how to sew...... well we started a dress a few months ago and just finished it this weekend. It's really cute and came out pretty dang good. I'll have to take a picture of mom in it and upload it. Anywho, I decided I wanted to make something all on my own. A NOOK slip COVER!!!!

Murad Journey.....road to smoooooooth skin! (Lord I hope)

Another journey I am traveling on is what I'm calling the "Murad Jouney". 

I have struggled with acne since I was younger. A precious new friend (Danae) told me about

this product/line called Murad. It helps with adult acne and ageing due to 

everyday adult stress and hormones. Well it sounded like a miracle in a bottle to me.

Right now with money being tight I am only able to use a few of the products. 

The daily vitamins (4 a day), the cleanser (2 times a day), & the toner(2 times a day).

I believe I noticed my face looking better after 2 weeks but nothing too fantastic.

Don't get me wrong I am still extremely excited about the product and am sticking to it....

It's just I know it would work even better if I had the acne spot treatment cream grrr but it's like $60 at ulta! WOW nope can't risk paying that and it maybe or maybe not work, ya know!?!

I have been on this journey for one month now. I do think if I continue to use it my face will improve.

medical insurance....half a CHECK mark

Monday 8/8/2011 was a pretty exciting day in the Hoyt House!

 Here is a cute picture of Johnny about to leave for.... 

his NEW JOB!!!!!

Soon the *Medical Insurance/Retirement line will be marked off THE list. 

He has a little bit before it goes into effect of course because to hurry and get him hired they said it's a "temp" job until the next project starts. On this next project he will be trained to be the foreman and run the whole crew. So he's hoping in the next month he'll be permanent and be moving up fast. 

I told Jon and Big David, "y'all better slow down on this goal list" lol. I guess the man up stairs has bigger plans then I'd hoped for.  :)

&

I MISS YOU ALLEY! 

soon there will be check marks everywhere!!!

SO as most of you know I DO NOT want children of my own. This caused a huge argument between me and Jon boy..... needless to say if I didn't give in then there would be no more 2 peas in a really small pod... 

So I begin to pray and say Lord if Jon and I are suppose to have a child I'm gonna need some help in the "want" department. I already know that we would be great parents. With all this being said I went to Jon 2 weeks ago and said if you are serious about children then there are a couple of things we need to get done/have before we even TRY to get pregnant. So we made THE list.  Drum role.... 

The list continues on the back of the page because of course I'm racking my brain to drag this out as long as possible haha. SO one thing is checked off our list ALREADY. Insulation is checked off woop woop. I told Jon you better slow down. :)  There is another one half way checked as well.... I will post about that tomorrow. 

Let it snow.... INSULATION

So we have this "LIST" going of things that need to get done in our miniature mansion. One well TWO major things we need(ed) are insulation over the living room/kitchen & the big AC unit outside. WELL look who got some insulation yesterday!! I am beyond excited. Here is a pic of the "snow" as I like to call it. The big area is the living room/kitchen and then the smaller part is a area in the back of the house that needed a little more fluff. 

  Next on our list is of course like I said the AC then after that is the fireplace. We did have a dead line for the insulation and the date was August 3rd. We are also trying to have the AC and fireplace done by that date too but it all depends on the government sending our income-tax $. Keeping our fingers crossed.