Do you want to see some pictures from our party?

Yeah, I thought so!

The star of the party arrived early on. Look at this proud daddy. Mrs. M gave birth to baby Kaleb on the 20th and she brought him to the party! Did you notice the adorable Santa outfit? As you can imagine, a 2-week old baby did not lack for arms to hold him.


Miss Sue got him first. (If you look at the first picture, she barely let Mr. M get into the house...see? She's peeking right at the baby as Mr. M walks in and she's sitting on the stairs with Kaleb.)

Then Angela got him (she was the other one who ambushed Mr. M when he first walked in, but she had to get that darned jacket off, costing her valuable time in the baby race!). Joy made Angela give him up so she could have her turn while she joined in the reindeer games. She kept Kaleb while Mrs. M looked on. (Wasn't she awesome to even come to the party 2 weeks after giving birth? I think the fact that we live one block from each other helped!)


Finally, finally, I got my turn and my friend Mrs. R. got a picture when I was blurting out a guess in our annual Men vs. Women Pictionary game. (Look how little he is!)

This is what the table with the gingerbread houses looked like when it was surrounded by children.

Did I mention the Men won the Pictionary Game this year? As you can see, they weren't having any fun at all.
(This is James attempting to get someone on the Men's side to guess "The World's Fair" - it didn't take long.) Doesn't Superman make a good easel?

Serious thought is going on here!

P.S. Tricia, don't doubt it for a minute: if you'd been here, you'd have been at the party!

30 Day Shred Challenge - Day 22 (Manic Monday Edition!)

I cannot believe we're already 22 days into our 30 Day Shred Challenge. Valiant has kept up with me the entire way and is now my official workout buddy. Monday always finds the Nagle5 doing chores and returning the house to a state of order after the weekend. This Monday was no different. What was different, however, was that we could hardly wait to get done with our chores and get to our exercise. Seriously.

We love Level 3! If you're even considering jumping on board and committing to doing this video, all we can say is that you need to push through Level 2 to get to Level 3. Level 1 is hard...it gets you used to working after no working for years (!), but Level 2 just seem tedious. When you get to Level 3, it is like the sun has finally come out.

Don't misunderstand me. Level 3 is really challenging, but the truth is that it leaves you so invigorated when you're done. I told Superman Level 3 reminded me of aerobics classes I took when I was younger. Back then, I'd pick my classes based on the teacher. The hardest classes that managed to be fun were the ones I picked. I wanted to feel like I worked, I wanted to be tired, but I didn't want it to feel like drudgery.

So, there you have it...Day 22 is done and we have only 8 more days to go until Valiant and I can say, "We did it!". Pretty cool, isn't it?

A clean house, enthusiastic exercise, and a husband who did his first day of Level 2...that is what made me proud today!

Oops, I Made Butter!

I've been meaning to tell you all about this for a week now, but life has a habit of moving faster than I notice! On Thanksgiving, I decided I absolutely had to serve home-made whipped cream rather than store-bought with my home-made pies, so I pulled out my food processor, added a bit of vanilla and a bit of powdered sugar to the whipping cream and turned it on. I was so excited as this was the first time I'd done this. Unfortunately, I didn't pay close enough attention to what was going on and, in the blink of an eye, I'd made butter!


Seriously. It is that easy. Obviously I didn't have a butter mold and if I'd known I was going to make butter, I wouldn't have added sugar and vanilla, but still, this took no more than 2 minutes.

Since I'd added the vanilla and powdered sugar, we saved it and used on on our French toast the next day and it was fabulous!

So, am I the only one who didn't know it was this easy to make my own butter? Seriously? Why didn't you all tell me? This was fabulous. I can hardly wait to do it again!

30 Day Shred - Days 19, 20, and 21 (Christmas Party Edition!)

You'll have to take my word for it, but I really did do the 30 Day Shred on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I spent much of Friday whining to Generations Gone By about how much I loathed Level 2, but when Superman called at 2:45 p.m. and told me he was leaving work at 3:30 p.m., I got my butt in gear and did my time on the LifeCycle and did my 20 minutes so I could be done before he got home from work. The rest of the evening was spent in preparation for our annual Christmas party being held the following day. Bathrooms were cleaned, the coat closet was emptied to make room for the coats of our guests, and the boot caddies were put out. We got the meat cooked for our wontons, the gingerbread cookie dough was made and put in the refrigerator to chill, the sugar cookie dough joined the gingerbread cookies in the frig, and the Santa cookies got their hats. We even found time to hit the grocery store for the last minute ingredients we needed.


Saturday was crazy busy. We got up and got cleaning. Vacuuming, dusting, and getting ready. The "gingerbread" houses were assembled and placed on the plates that we'd threaded with ribbon and tied an ornament to, the royal icing was placed in squeeze bottles for the kids to use, and the candy decorations were placed in bowl. The gingerbread cookies were baked and cooled, so the kids could decorate those, too. The tortillas were cut and fried for tortilla chips, and the wontons were assembled and fried, too. The serving table were laid out with napkins, paper plates, and cups.

In between all that, we all did our exercise...Valiant and I did our last loathsome day of Level 2, as well as getting in our 25 minutes of additional cardio. Superman did Day 9 of Level 9 and his cardio.

All that planning made me feel like we were ahead of the game, but...apparently I was the only one who thought our Christmas party started at 6:30 p.m. Everyone else received invitations that said 6:00 p.m.!! You guessed it...our guests were arriving while we were putting finishing touches on everything. Thank goodness I'd showered and gotten dressed and ready early! Lesson learned.

Today? Today was our day to take a deep breath. Still, Valiant and I were excited to try Day 1 of Level 3 and we loved it! Seriously, we actually felt invigorated when we were done. Superman finished Day 10 of Level 1 and is unenthusiastically anticipating doing Day 1 of Level 2 tomorrow. ( Guess we should have kept our dissatisfaction to ourselves!)

Andrea at The Train to Crazy commented that she is maintaining order in a house full of little girls and wonders if that counts as doing something that makes you feel proud? Oh, yeah! There is no way I could be doing this if my kids were younger. Truly. You can have everything you want in this world, but you can't have it all at the same time. Pat yourself on the back Andrea! Getting your house cleaned with toddlers is something to be proud of!

Melissa at 365 Days of Exercise is struggling to figure out how you balance life as a wife, mother of a toddler, and full-time worker with a burning desire to transform your body. She posted that she slipped up a bit this month and her measurements reflect her split focus. You can clearly see the effects of all those steps she's taking at work, however, as those calves are getting smaller and smaller. Melissa, after much reflection, I've come to the conclusion that you can only devote yourself to "x" number of things at a time. Why am I now getting back into shape? Because my youngest child is 10, not 2! I feel less torn when I spend time on myself now than I did even 3 years ago. Cut yourself some slack, celebrate your successes, and view the situation with honesty. You've done a fabulous job this year and you have a super cute haircut! What else does a girl need?

30 Day Shred Challenge - Day 18 (Church Supper Edition)

Sorry for the late post, but my day ran away with me and by the time I could get to the computer, it was time for me to leave for a Ladies' Dinner at the church of my friend, Joy. She kindly invited me to join her for this holiday dinner and it was wonderful. There must have been 20 different kinds of soup to choose from, salad, bread, and cheesecake for dessert. There was a wonderful story to remind us of the power of human kindness and service to others, prayer, and hymns. It was a wonderful welcome to the season.

When I inquired about the dress code for this dinner, Joy laughed and said, "No workout clothes and you have to be done being sweaty. A shower would be appropriate!" That tells you how everyone sees me these days. Everyone understands I'm committed to getting fit and that means most weekdays finds me in workout clothes most of the day. (I don't think she really thought I'd attempt to show up in workout clothes, however!)

So, about the Challenge. Day 18 was our 8th day of Level 2 and I still don't like this level. It is actually a bit easier than Level 1, but it seems a bit boring to me. Valiant and Buttercup feel the same way. I know it is working my legs, though, because they are feeling super tired at the end of the day. Today I did my other exercise (24 minutes on the LifeCycle and 25 minutes on the treadmill -- than translates to 8.7 miles on the bike and 2.3 miles on the treadmill) before the video because the video just wipes me out. Valiant agrees that this was the way to arrange our exercise, so I think we'll be doing it this way going forward (at least until we're done with Level 2).

Checking in with everyone else: Superman is still going strong and finished Day 7 of the Challenge. LoveAphid is back in the game and did Day 11, which means she did Day 1 of Level 2. She has to stay with the program because she's traveling for the holidays, so she's got to get done by the 23rd. My friend Tricia is trying to talk the Pilot into joining her when she starts the challenge after December 7. Joy is trying to get her 20 minutes in each day and staving off her husband's requests that she take up running. She says she's finding herself tempted to try the video when I'm done with it. (As soon as I told her it was pulling in the lower abdominal pouch that seems impervious to exercise, it was all over!) Generations Gone By is getting 20-30 minutes in on the Wii each day, despite have her house torn up with remodeling projects that must be done before her holiday guests arrive on the 19th. Melissa at 365 Days of Exercise is focused on her challenge to lose 10 pounds in December and end the first year of her challenge to herself on a "low" note (pun definitely intended!).

I can't believe how much everyone is doing to take care of themselves. It makes my heart happy to see it.

So, what about you? What did you do today to make yourself proud?

30 Day Challenge - Day 17 (Museum Day Edition)

Well, it is Day 17 and Museum Day. What does that mean? It means we had to get our workouts done in time for us to leave the house before noon. Since we figured people would be more inclined to sit near us if we showered before we headed out, that had to be scheduled in as well. That makes for a hectic morning.


So, here it is 11:27 and Valiant is in the shower. Day 17 is done. The video wasn't a problem, but I am so tired today. Seriously dragging. I'd say I was tired enough to skip it, but that never occurred to me. Instead, I was wishing I could have two or three more hours before I did it. The bike nearly killed me. Today's workout was one of those where all I can say is, "It is done and I am done and that is all there is to it." So, there.

Day 17 is finished... no whining, no complaining, but not exactly exhilarating.

My friend at Generations Gone By got in her 30 minutes on the Wii yesterday (yes, she did extra) and my sister LoveAphid swears she'll be starting up again today. She hasn't done it since the 24th...you today is going to be a humbling experience! In the meantime, you should head over to Gens and see if you can't help her find Baby Jesus...he's gone missing. Also, my friend Melissa is back on track after a difficult few weeks...go say, "Hi"...she's got less than a month until she's done 365 Days of Exercise and she's starting a push to lose 10 pounds by the end of the year...pretty impressive, don't you think?

Okay, I'm headed for the showers...see you later...

What will you do to make yourself feel proud?

A Win- Win Trade

I traded this:

for one of these:


Isn't that super cool? My friend, A, had an apple peeler, corer, slicer she wasn't using. When I mentioned last year that I'd started making my own apple pies for Superman but that I had borrowed an apple peeler, corer, slicer, she offered me hers in exchange for a pie for her husband. By the time we did the trade, however, everyone was sick of baked goods and the kitchen tool sat in my cupboard until Thanksgiving.

Today is Museum Day and A will be there, so that beautiful apple pie is coming with me. Do you think she'll like it? I think it is beautiful. (The pies I made for Thanksgiving were just warm-ups for this beauty!)

This trade was win-win for both of us!

P.S. If you want to make a perfect apple pie every time, check out this site: www.myhomecooking.net. Step-by-step directions with pictures the entire way. I've been making these pies for two years now and have never had one fail. The crusts are perfect, the fillings are perfect and I feel like a star. (Her pumpkin pies are terrific, too!)

30 Day Shred Challenge - Day 16 (Did you think I forgot? Edition)

I didn't forget, I promise! We had a power outage right at dinner time and posting took a back seat to panicking over bread rising with no oven to put it into and worrying about what we'd do if the power didn't come back on. (Hey, nights under 30 degrees means you care about your heater!)

Anyway, today was Day 16 of this 30 Day Shred Challenge! Day 16! Can you believe it? I am so proud of myself and my family. Valiant has kept right up with me, Buttercup has just finished her first day of Level 2 (so Day 11) and even Superman has already completed his Day 5. I can't tell you how much it makes me smile to see my family trying to get fit right along with me.

You might have noticed that I haven't mentioned weight or dieting at all during this challenge and that was deliberate on my part. Did you know we don't own a scale at our house? Seriously, we don't own a scale. Why? The numbers can make you crazy. Did you lose 2 pounds or gain a pound? Up and down all month long and having your mood determined by an arbitrary number. The truth is that you know when you're carrying to much weight and you don't need validation of your success by a scale. How many times have your heard someone say (or felt yourself) that they were in a really good mood and feeling fit until they stepped on the scale and discovered they didn't lose any weight or they gained a pound? A pound! Water weight, hormones, whatever...a pound on a scale sends their mood plummeting. Why? If you need measurements, use a tape measure. It will tell you what kind of progress you're really making without making you crazy day in and day out.

So, now you know...you'll never hear me mention weight. I don't really care what I weigh because it isn't really relevant.

Day 16 is done!