Easy Workout Routine for Busy Women
Raise your hand if you need an easy workout routine that doesn't take long but still provides great benefits to your body.
Are you in bad shape, know you need to get started exercising again, but need something that's not too much for just starting out?
Here is the workout routine that I was doing before I got pregnant and which I will probably start back with after the baby is born.
Do the following for one minute each:
- Walk in place
- High Knees
- Jumping Jacks
- Front Kicks
- Jumping Jacks
- Run in place
- Walk in place
- Lunges
- Hip Raises
- Pushups
- Squats
- Hip Raises
- Lunges
- Walk in place
- Calf Stretches
When I get my strength built up, I will probably repeat this 2 times and do 30 minutes worth. To make it easy to time each thing for 1 minute, I set this online timer for 15 minutes. When it gets down to 14 minutes, I start on the next thing; at 13 minutes I do the next thing, and so on and so forth.
Can You Keep a Secret?
Remember that book I'm writing? I plan to officially launch it at the beginning of 2014. However, in November there will be an incredible ebook sale that is like no other, and my book will be available exclusively as a part of that sale.
I am not allowed to tell you the complete details of the sale at this time, but I will say that it is going to be a NO-BRAINER as to whether or not you should purchase it. If you need to start saving up a little extra money for it, this is your heads up!
The value of just the bonuses you will receive (including $26 of eco-friendly laundry detergent, $15 of natural soap and skincare, and $15 of herbal remedies) far exceeds the cost of the bundle itself.
Here's what the bundle will include:
- Over 80 healthy living ebooks on a wide variety of topics – I know who some of the authors are, and I am so eager to glean from their knowledge!
- Healthy Living Mentorship Program –Â you will receive access to a 1-hour podcast each week for 12 weeks where a panel of mentors will be giving instruction on various health topics. Additionally, you will receive access to a private Facebook group where you will be able to personally ask questions of your mentors.
- $150 worth of free bonuses simply as a thank you for purchasing the bundle.
This sale begins November 4th, so be sure to think it over and save your money before then!
I am so excited about this, and I know it will be an incredible help to so many of you who are trying to learn more about healthy living!
Coming Soon…
I know I have been quiet around here, and I really appreciate your patience with me. I thought it would be only fair to show you what I've been so busy working on…
Update! My book is finished! Although it won't be officially released until December 31, it is available exclusively as part of The Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle sale. Get it here!
I have come SO FAR in my journey with chronic fatigue, and I can't NOT share with you what I have learned! I have found that SO MANY women are dealing with the same kinds of issues that I fought for so long, and it has been my desire to tell you all the things that have helped me so much. That was honestly an overwhelming task, and I didn't quite know where to start. That's why it is all going into an ebook.
I give all the credit to my Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, because it is ultimately He who has healed me.
In this book I am sharing the specific answers to which he so clearly directed me.
I plan to be finished within the next couple weeks, so if you will bear with my quietness a little longer, you will get a resource from it that I hope will be huge help to so many of you.
It is possible I may be able to make this available in a print format as well. Please let me know if you would be interested in that so I can check into the logistics of it.
I know many of you have prayed for me when I was struggling, and without YOU this project would never have come about! Thank you for your prayers, your concern, and your support! I appreciate every single one of you!
It’s Gonna Be a Quiet Week
You all are the BEST blog readers!
You seem to get the fact that I don't consider myself a blogger; I'm just a mom and a homemaker who happens to have a blog.
I don't hang out in this space unless my home responsibilities are complete.
I would be a really big hypocrite to have a blog encouraging you to be a more intentional homemaker if I were here blogging all the time rather than taking care of my home and family.
I usually find time during my kids naps to write some blog posts, answer emails, and visit with you on Facebook, but this week will be different.
I have a REALLY big behind-the-scenes project that I need to finish up this week. Something I hope will be a huge help to many of you.
But since my blogging time is very limited, I have to let something else go. That means all the fun stuff, like posting new things and interacting with you all.
I'm here. I really am. I just need to finish this project.
Will you wait for me?
The Internet: A Tool…Or a Trap?
As the world of technology progresses, it seems that it's almost impossible to even live without the internet. I know very few people who do not have internet access at their home, and even so there are occasions when they must go to a friend's house or to the library to get online.
You almost cannot complete paperwork anywhere without having a valid email address. And many times crucial information is sent to that email address that you will never receive unless you actually get online and check it.
Companies are trying their best to eliminate paper bills and move to all online systems.
Printed research material is becoming outdated, and new information is available mostly online.
Friends and family members may only be accessible to contact through Facebook or email.
Even missionaries for whom you would like to pray may only send their updates via email.
If you are going to stay on top of some of these tasks which are necessary for living, you're pretty much forced to have internet access.
The internet is a wonderful tool. Many aspects of life have become much more convenient because of it.
Prayer requests shared on Facebook can spread around the world in a matter of minutes.
God's Word can be shared on blogs and social media and reach into areas of the world where it is normally suppressed.
Research material on any topic imaginable has become readily accessible.
Bills can be paid without cluttering your house with papers and without any money spent on postage.
Shopping can be done conveniently from home, saving gas money and time.
But as convenient and as great of a tool as the internet is, it also has the potential to be a deadly trap.
Although your goal may be to use it as a tool to spread God's Word, keep up with missionaries, pray for the needs of others, or save time on essential tasks, the devil's goal is to use it for your destruction.
He may do this blatantly by throwing pornographic advertisements in your face when you least expect it. Or he may take a more subtle approach by leading you to more and more interesting (although entirely appropriate) content which slowly sucks away your time. Both tactics can result in the destruction of homes, families, and individual lives.
Men, Satan would love for you to become addicted to pornography even though you came across it completely by accident.
Ladies, he would love for you to frustrate your husband and children by neglecting your household duties because you were glued to your Facebook feed or Pinterest account.
Parents, he would love to expose your sons and daughters to perverse material that will forever be etched into their minds.
He wants to destroy your home and Christian testimony however he can.
You must not be blind to his tactics, and you must arm yourself against them.
Ephesians 6:11-18 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints…
In the previous passage, you find instruction in the use of the spiritual weapons with which God has provided us to withstand the devil. They are useless unless you take advantage of them!
Daily infiltrating our minds with God's Word, a lifestyle of prayer, and yielding to the Holy Spirit should be our first line of defense against the devil's tactics.
But I am also thankful for practical tools to help us protect ourselves as well.
It would be foolish to delve into the online world without any type of protection against the traps that are embedded there.
Covenant Eyes is a wonderful place to find that protection.  My husband and I have invested in a subscription each year because we both know that our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). Although we had the standard internet filters set up on our computer, we knew that we are capable of any type of sin and we figured, “Why take the risk? Why even give ourselves room to be tempted? Why let the thought remain in the back of our minds that we have the possibility of accessing any type of material our lustful flesh desires?”
Here are some reasons I think Covenant Eyes is an excellent choice for families:
- Separate users – you can add different members of your family and configure the settings to be most suitable for them. For example – for young children, you could set it up for them to be allowed on one or two websites to play educational games. For teenagers, you could select the strongest filtering so that they can browse and do school research without the ability to accidentally land on an inappropriate website. The administrator can enter their password to allow access to a website that has been blocked but doesn't necessarily need to be.
- Internet Filtering – select as strong or weak of a filter as you feel you need, and make the strength different depending on the user.
- Internet Accountability – Besides filtering out content that could potentially cause you to stumble in your Christian walk, you can also ask a friend or relative to be your accountability partner. Covenant Eyes will send regular reports via email of your online activity to the partner(s) of your choice. You can have as many accountability partners as you wish and choose the frequency of the report (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.). The report will show your accountability partner how much time you've spent online, what webpages you visited or attempted to visit, the search terms you used, and even whether you tried to uninstall Covenant Eyes from your computer.
- Time filtering – one of the more subtle ways the devil uses the internet against us is by tempting us to use it to waste time. If you struggle with wasting time on the internet, you can take advantage of the time filters on Covenant Eyes. You can restrict internet usage to a certain number of hours per week or day or you can choose to block internet usage during certain times of the day.
- Resources for families and churches – Covenant Eyes offers free e-books on topics relating to Family Protection, Pornography Use and Recovery, and Helps for Churches to address the subject of pornography. They also have a great blog with many informative and thought-provoking posts.
Covenant Eyes pricing starts at $9.99 per month and goes up depending on how many users you have and which services you select (accountability, filtering, or both). Â You can also use the Covenant Eyes browser on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad or use the accountability app for Android.
I am determined to do all that I can to make sure the internet remains a tool and not a trap. How about you?
Back to School With Crayola {Win a $25 Gift Card!}
Disclosure: The Crayola product, information, and additional gift pack have been provided by Crayola.  As always, all opinions are 100% my own.
I was contacted recently by Crayola to see if I would like to shop for Crayola products during our back-to-school shopping. Of course I said yes!
I thought back to my own childhood and the fond memories of being so excited to get that 64-count box of crayons with the sharpener on the back. Then there was the day I was given an entire box full of paper and various types of Crayola markers, pencils, and crayons (some of them were even glittery!) Yes, those were exciting times, and I thought I could expect the same thing when I headed out for our big shopping trip.
I was right…but I was also wrong! Not only does Crayola still make all those same great products from my childhood, but they have also added so much more!
I did my shopping at good old Walmart. With 3 small children to get in and out of the car, I try to consolidate my shopping to one store as much as possible. Not only were there various Crayola products interspersed throughout the school supply aisles, there was also an entire aisle in the craft section that was chock full of Crayola products. My jaw just about dropped when I turned the corner and saw it.
Our Walmart trip was cut short before I could look at and purchase everything I was hoping to. This pregnant mama just got completely worn out from walking, so I decided to head home and finish my shopping online.
Here's what I ended up with before we left Walmart, though:
- Paint and paintbrushes
- Supertips washable markers
- A good old-fashioned package of crayons
- A dry-erase board
- 2 packs of fine tip dry erase markers
- A 12-pack of washable dry erase markers
- Dry erase crayons
All of these are practical supplies that we will use regularly in our home school. The paint, paintbrushes, and markers are for art class. The crayons are for my daughter's pre-school activity sheets. (And you can't beat 50 cents! I'd rather pay 50 cents for Crayola than 25 cents for the off-brand. There's a big difference.) My son already had his own dry erase board for various activities, but when I saw that Crayola had this purple one, I got it for my daughter (she loves purple!) The washable dry erase markers are for my own sanity (as opposed to non-washable.) Since I was at Walmart, I was able to price-match those for a lower price. I also used a coupon for $1 off 2 dry erase products that Crayola had on their Facebook page. (They have had a number of different printable coupons available throughout the back-to-school season.) The fine tip dry erase markers are for worksheets that I want the kids to re-use. I put the worksheets in sheet protectors and they do them with the dry erase markers so they can erase them and do them again later. The dry erase crayons are for my 2 year old. That way he can do work on his dry erase board like the big kids, but I won't have to worry about him drawing all over his clothes with markers.
When I got home I hopped on to Walmart.com to finish the rest of my shopping.
Crayola Wild Notes Notebook set – the pens change color as you write! How fun!
Fingerpaint – more art class fun
Construction paper – my kids go through this stuff like crazy!
Yup – the 64 pack with the sharpener on the back. My kids need to know how fun it is to have this! 🙂
You can see I'm a very practical person, and don't really go for the gadgety type stuff, but it is amazing to see all the cool stuff Crayola has come up with! Just take a look at all their newest products and you'll see what I mean!
It also wouldn't be a bad idea to follow them on Facebook and Twitter. (Remember those coupons I was talking about?)
Win a $25 Visa Gift Card to purchase your own Crayola products!
Entering is easy as pie! Just click the enter button in the rafflecopter form below!