The Funk Phenomena

1. I forgot to mention yesterday about this sort of cool thing. Tyler ate McDonalds. No, that is not the cool thing, but I’m getting to that part. You see, when I’m not in the house around dinner time, Tyler cheats on me. I came home from teaching at the Y last week and I asked if he wanted me to make him a smoothie. He said no, he wasn’t hungry. I asked him if he had any dinner and he said he snuck to McDonalds when I left. My jaw dropped and my head started to shake, but he had what he thought was a legitimate excuse: the Monopoly game was back. AND he won. I asked if he won a McMuffin, which is basically not winning, and he said no, he won 2 free 5×7 prints from snapfish.ca. 

“Ok” I thought to myself, “I can use this!”

So yesterday, I got online (shocker) and ordered two prints. And shipping was free.

2. Naturally, I followed up this venture with a trip to Michael’s for some craft frame project, but I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted. I had a coupon, too! Wahhh.

3. I made these puppies to accommodate dinner last night (which was salad topped with spicy pulled chicken)

 

Cornbread Jalapeno Poppers

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 6 jalapenos
  • cornbread mix (I used the entire box, and baked the rest as muffins to freeze for later)
  • 1 cup corn
  • 1.5 cups shredded cheddar
  • GLOVES

Here’s what you do:

  1. Put on gloves and cut each jalapeno in half (lengthwise). Remove veins and seeds.
  2. Mix the cornbread according to box directions (ugh I always make mine from scratch, or use Jiffy mix, but I couldn’t find Jiffy anywhere here! Another sad face for Canada), mix in the corn and one cup of cheese.
  3. Scoop the mixture and place in each jalapeno. Top with remaining cheese
  4. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

 

(Tyler didn’t like them. I’m thinking he was secretly hoping they were full of cream cheese and wrapped in bacon. That’s for next time!)

4. I had a really sweaty at-home workout last night.

 

(The stability ball followed me into the bathroom, apparently)

I started with about 40 minutes of kickboxing, and rounded out with a 20 minute full body strength session. I started laughing at the beginning of my kickboxing workout, because the first song was The Funk Phenomena (I linked to the YouTube ‘video’ so you can listen to it if you have no idea what I am talking about). I went through the song 2x because I was laughing so hard.

“Jen, why were you laughing?”

“Because he sounds like he’s saying Tha Fu Fa Na Ma Na instead of The Funk Phenomena!” (Leave it to me to make everything childish.) I was also super hyper, so I was adding some crazy hip action to this routine.

5. When I went back home in August, I dedicated a full day to take care of formally important stuff. I had to contact every insurance company I used for car insurance (to provide Tyler’s insurance company with proof that I have been driving x-number of years with 0 claims- so that my payment would be reduced) I had a lot of insurance companies, because I was always reviewing to see who could provide me with the cheapest rate. Oh, and the coverage I had under my parents when I was in college- that company doesn’t even exist anymore, so that was fun trying to track down.

I also had to deal with all the health insurance bills that SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN A PROBLEM. You see, my health coverage from my employer in the states covered one annual physical and one annual ‘lady exam’ (cough cough, yaknowwhatimsayin, cough cough). So, I went for my lady exam in September 2011 and was billed $289. UM THAT’S NOT ACCEPTABLE. So I went to my HR department to bitch about it, and they just told me to call the doctor’s office, who then told me to call the billing office, who then told me to contact my health insurance company…blah blah blah. This went on for almost a year. Finally, I was contacted by someone in HR who said they screwed up and incorrectly entered my social security number. And that’s why I kept getting billed.

I also went in for a routine check up at my doctor and was billed $110. For what? She basically took my blood pressure and asked if I ‘felt safe at home.’ Dumb questions that doctors ask these days.

Long story short, I spent 6 hours on the phone when I was home in August, trying to straighten everything out. I had people send me receipts and confirmation that everything was settled.

And then this weekend, my dad messages me saying I had another bill from them in the mail.

NO, AMERICA. YOU ARE SO SUCKY AT HEALTH INSURANCE.

YAY, CANADA. YOU GIVE ME MEDS FOR FREE AND ARE NICE TO ME.

6. Since I love to tell funny stories, I’ve got another one for you today. You see, I used to be fat.

 

(Source)

Ok, well not ‘fat’ but I ate a lot of calzones and chocolate covered raisins and drank a LOT of beer in college. And I broke my foot junior year which didn’t help, either. My highest weight was just a hair under 200 pounds. I kid you not. So to all you boys out there I made out with in college- you’re welcome. You must have been drinking a lot of beer then, too.

I went through phases of over-exercising, and no exercising, and weight watchers, etc. It wasn’t until after I graduated and moved into my own place did I realize the importance of what I was eating. And it wasn’t until I got certified in group fitness did I get the importance of my fitness.

And now, I am more than 50 pounds lighter than I was in college. Hooray! (And I still drink beer and eat Nutella, imagine that!)

7. My dog is crazy.

 

Tell me something random in the comments!

(Don’t forget to like my facebook page, follow me on instragram and twitter @nutcaseinpoint)

Vacation Burn Workout

Oh Hey.

Just got back from Banff/Lake Louise with Tyler and my parents and the Margarita machine is about to be put into action. BUT FIRST. I thought I would share my latest gym workout with everyone. My arms were a-hunka-hunka-BURNIN’-love afterwards. (Since my parents arrived last week, I have managed to get in a workout about every other day. On days a don’t have an ‘official’ workout, I have been walking walking walking and still sweating sweating sweating.

Vacation Burn Workout

10 minute HIIT workout (90 seconds moderate pace, 30 seconds WORK- this can be either increasing speed or resistance or both. I used the spin bike)

Round 1

  • Single leg hammer curl x12
  • Curtsy lunge with bicep curl x12

(then switch and do the same thing to the other side)

  • Lateral raise x12
  • Front raise x12
  • Overhead press x12
  • Weighted split squat x12

60 seconds of alternating toe taps/jump rope

Round 2

  • Standing hammer curl x12
  • Curtsy lunge with knee and lateral raise x2

(then switch and do the same thing except change legs for curtsy lunge)

  • Lateral raise/front raise combo x12
  • Tricep kickback x12
  • 4 SETS OF WEIGHTED SPLIT SQUATS (2 sets of 12 each leg…and HOLD THE LAST REP OF EACH SET AS LONG AS YOU CAN!!!!)

10 minutes HIIT (same as above- I did the elliptical this time)

…if you REALLY push yourself, this workout will really get you good ‘n sweaty.

I leave you with some pics from the day:

Started with a 5:30am walk/run with the pup

And of course she rolled. And rolled. And rolled. I will only bore you with one of the 5203957 pictures I took of the event:

Now for some pretty mountain pictures. I took more of them on my camera, so I will post them as soon as I am margarita free.

Kinda so pretty it looks fake, huh? And that’s just the side of the road. Wait till you see some of the gorgeous pics of the water!

And last (for this post):

Cocktail time. I’m out.

**PS: I wrote a Guest Post for Athena over at Fitness & Feta which she featured yesterday. Thanks, Athena!