Working Out and Couponing

As I started my Saturday, I sat around feeling a little down, groggy, blah.... I made coffee, let Chester out, and turned the computer on. I sat in front of the computer checking Facebook's latest updates and photos, and a couple of things kept popping up on my screen: Turbo Jam and Couponing.

For those of you who don't know what Turbo Jam is, it's an at home workout program, which is a mix of kickboxing and body sculpting to fast-paced, dance music. Chalene Johnson, the creator of Turbo Jam/Turbo Kick/Turbo Fire/Chalene Extreme, is a fitness guru and grew up going with her mom (who was an aerobics instructor) to the gym. Chalene is amazing. She is such an inspiration to me and to others.

I recently purchased Turbo Jam a few months ago from the main site www.beachbody.com. When I first purchased it, I used it only for a few weeks then stopped. I don't know why I stopped but did. Since summer began, I've been wanting to start it up again and continue on with it through the entire summer. If I'm able to do this, it will be interesting to see what my results will be!

Couponing....... Ever since the show Extreme Couponing came out on the channel TLC, I've been wanting to try my hand at using coupons successfully. Plus, with the way gas prices and food prices are going, it's cheaper to stay at home! Because of the rising cost of living with my salary not going anywhere these days, I have to think creatively on how we can change our situation. The creative idea is COUPONS! I've always loved getting things for free and/or discounted. One of my favorite sites is the Krazy Coupon Lady. There's tutorials on how to save money through couponing. Love love love it! You need to check it out!

Have a fun and safe weekend! Oh, and remember the sunscreen!

The Summer of Baking

I love to bake. I love to cook. There's this warm fuzzy feeling I get inside when I get all my ingredients out, start the baking process, and get to enjoy the end product. There's nothing else like it. 


Baking was on my mind yesterday, and I was longing for the fall to be here because that's when I tend to bake more. First off, shame shame on me for wishing my summer away!!!! Secondly, I'm at home all summer. Why can't I bake in the summer?!?! So, that got me to thinking about my summer baking adventures, and I got really excited!


One of my favorite recipe websites is allrecipes.com. I've used that site for a long time now for anything and everything. Recently, I've discovered a new site, www.joyofbaking.com.  It's amazing. You need to check it out! Also, one of my favorite cookbooks is Better Homes and Garden Cookbook. Again, lots of great ideas to bake and cook!


All this baking buzz in my mind got me to creating a "list" in my mind about the foods that I wanted to bake, and here it is:

Cookies

Chocolate Chip

Peanut Butter

Snickerdoodles

Oatmeal

Breads

Banana

Zuchinni

Chocolate Zuchini

Lemon Blueberry

Lemon Poppy

Cakes

Chocolate

Cheesecake

Tiramisu

Red Velvet

Neopolitan 

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Vanilla Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes

Apple Streusel Cake

Lemon Frosted Lemon Cake

Pies

Apple

Boston Cream

Fruit Tart

Okay, it's not enough that I created this list. Anyone can bake. All you have to do is go buy the box/container stuff and throw the items together. From my entire list, I am going to bake everything from scratch. You got it! FROM SCRATCH! 


As I go throughout this adventure, I'm taking you along as well (that's if you read this). You will find my creations under the label Baking. One more thing before I go, if you have any suggestions on more baking ideas, send them my way!