Normalcy (or something like it)

Good morning everyone!!!!

Well, things are as close to normal as it gets for the HC family. At least for now. You know we're gonna get bored pretty soon and feel the need to change things up a bit. That's just how we roll. I'm actually fine with that, I mean, how many fathers tell their daughters to shut up (in a joking, nice way, of course) and vice versa? Or joke about stuff constantly, or make fun of each other? I honestly don't know how Mom puts up with my Dad, sister, and me. Of course, we joke around with her too, and she does the same with us. Anyway, I love my family's unique dynamic.

To answer questions on whether or not I cooked and/or worked out, I did get a workout in, but haven't cooked anything yet. Unless instant grits count as cooking. I don't think so.

My workout, however was pretty good for a spur-of-the-moment decision. I did my typical jump rope cardio (I need a new cardio video! =D) and a new strength interval from ExerciseTV.

Here's the link:

 http://www.exercisetv.tv/workout-videos/cardio/strength-interval-4525

This was actually a decent workout. There is a little more cardio to it than I expected, but as for the strength part, you work your whole body without feeling exhausted afterwards, which is great if you're already kind of tired and don't want a workout so hard that you have to have an instruction manual to do some of the moves. The moves were simple stuff, like lunges, squats, side lunges w/ dumbbell raises, etc, but the trainer was great and at the end of it, I felt like I had gotten a pretty good workout.

Another thing, I'm asking ya'll to pray for my grandmother. She is on oxygen all of the time, and came down with a cold. She was having major trouble breathing, and went to the hospital this morning. My mom and aunt are there with her.

Well that's all, folks!!



EDIT: I just found out that Anne over at FAnnetastic Food is having a greek yogurt giveaway!!!! Go check it out: http://www.fannetasticfood.com/2010/12/01/stonyfield-oikos-greek-yogurt-giveaway/!!!!!

Toodles!

Home again, Home again

As you're reading this, we are probably headed home!!!!!!!! This time on the road has been great to see friends and family, but I'm pretty sure that we are all kind of tired.

Sorry, I just wanted to throw that in here....guess I'm more tired than I realized.

Anyway, depending on the time we get home, I'm planning on working out, but I don't know exactly what I'll do. I'll tell you tomorrow. I mean, I figure that if we get in fairly early, its not like I'll be doing anything besides unpacking anyway. I'll do most of the day's schoolwork in the car, so why not workout? Lord knows I need too. =D I miss it and start to get grumpy if I go too long without a good, relaxing workout. Of course, I also get grumpy if I go too long without cooking...so that may be the cause of my general grumpiness.

I would like to thank those who commented yesterday with some awesome recipes!!!! Pumpkin-turkey meatballs, turkey-chickpea stew and more???? This is why I loooove food blogs and food bloggers. Great recipes, and lots of creativity. I just don't know which to choose.  I even got a recipe for my chocolates: a gingerbread ganache filling for truffles!!!! Doesn't that sound amazing??????  

Well, I hope you all had a good start to your week yesterday....

For now, I'll have to go!

On the Road Once More

Yep we're sitting in the car again. I had an awesome time in WV visiting family! I can't believe its been 5 years since I've seen some of them. One thing that I won't miss however, is the extreme cold. At least, I think that it's extremely cold. Which is why I've had a cup of coffee with every meal so far, something that I don't usually do, by the way. But it was soooo worth it to get to spend time with my family!!!!

Anyway, now we're headed to Ohio to visit some more friends. We're just gonna be there tonight, and head home tomorrow morning. It's really perfect, because, as I've said, its a halfway point between West Virginia and home.

I am actually doing school in the back of the car. Its a Monday, so school as usual for me. Except for Algebra, which I absolutely cannot do in the car. See, my "book" is on a CD, which makes it had to work with in the back seat. I think that I still have 2 lessons from last week to do, 3 from this week, and 2 tests to take. I think that I'll just do a lot of the other classes today and tomorrow, and spend the rest of my week on Algebra II. Ugh.

Folks, I need new recipes!!!! I actually have a ton written down in my little recipe notebook, but none of them are calling to me right now. Sad, huh? I've been wanting to buy some ground turkey and do something with it, that doesn't require a whole lot of work, but still tastes yummy. I've been eyeing a ground turkey chili recipe, but I sort of want something a little more creative. Maybe I'm just too picky???? Well, if anyone has a recipe that has anything to do with ground turkey, could you please comment and tell me what it is??? Or email me the recipe at healthychocoholic@yahoo.com. Whichever you want. I need some inspiration!!!!! =D I promise that if I make someone's recipe, I'll give them credit for it!!!! =D

Oh and this week, I will begin my holiday candy box trial period. What is this you ask? I'm planning on making boxes of chocolates to give out for Christmas, but of course I need to make everything before I just give it to my friends. So far, I've got peppermint bark, chocolate covered cherries, chocolate pretzel rods, pb truffles, and chewey caramels on my list. Anyone have any other ideas? Is there anything that I should take off???? Please help me!

Well, I know that you are all busy with your own lives and all, so I'll let you get back to them!!! Happy Monday!

Last Full Day in WV

As you probably guessed from the title, today is our last full day visiting our family in West Virginia. We're going to church this morning, and then having lunch at the house where we're staying. Seems like all we do when we get together is eat! Not complaining, though.

Anyway, we're definitely going to spend a lot of time chatting, since we'll be leaving tomorrow. We're actually going to somewhere in Ohio to spend the night. We have some friends there that we haven't seen in forever, and its about halfway home, so its perfect!

Things have been going really well; I've even gotten some of the school that I blew off Thursday and Friday done!!!! I'm actually pretty proud of that fact. =D

So I have a random question.....is 2500 calories enough for an adult to lose weight????? I think that it should be, if the person has been eating more than that. A decrease in calories should lead to weight loss, along with exercise, but I'm not completely sure.  After all, I've been eating more than I was for the past month or two and have only gained like 6 pounds, which according to the mathematics that I've found, is less than I should have gained.

Tomorrow school goes back to normal, or as normal as it can possibly be on the road. So there's that to look forward to during the car rides. Wish I had a book to read.

I've got to be off....

Have a great Sunday!

Its Snowing!!!!

There's snow on the ground in West Virginia!!!! Brrrrr. I haven't seen snow in 7 years!!!!

We got here yesterday afternoon, and have had a wonderful time so far. Its so great to see my family and spend some quality time with them.

As for yesterday's post, it was hard to write originally, but after I had finished, I felt so much better. Even now, I still avoid talking about it, even with my family. My family and friends have been so amazing. I thank God for them every day.

Anyway, we've been super busy, which is why I haven't posted earlier. We left our house on Thursday, and got into our hotel, which was the halfway point of our trip, just as it started to snow. We were worried that we wouldn't be able to leave the next morning, but it was all fine. We even got in earlier than expected!!!! Last night, we had this wonderful soup made with leftover turkey, rice, and fresh veggies!!!! It was an amazing and creative way to use up those Thanksgiving leftovers. We then spent time just chatting and visiting about what all has been going on. It was so much fun!!!!

We then got up this morning, and went out to set up some Christmas trees. When do you set up your Christmas trees? Right after Thanksgiving or right before Christmas?

We just got back from some of my other cousins' house, where we had sandwiches for lunch. We watched home videos, and some of us played a game called Don't break the chain. It was pretty funny!!!!! Now, there's an Arkansas game going on and some of the guys are watching that. We're all going to get together again tonight for fajitas!!!! Yummy!!!

That's really all that's going on right now...

I hope you all are nice and warm!!!!!

My Journey to Healthfulness

Hey everyone! Today's post is a little more serious than usual.

I've mentioned my eating disorder a couple of times, but never really talked about it.  I'm still fighting it right now, and there are definitely times when I just sit down and cry over anything. I'm a perfectionist by nature, and I also have always had a low self esteem. I originally wanted to lose like 10 lbs when I started exercising and changed my diet. But, losing weight was something that I felt I had control over, and something that I felt that I could do. Whenever I was having a bad day, I would think to myself: "I may not be able to control whatever is making me upset, but I can control what I eat." It got to the point where I was eating around 800 calories a day, but was in denial about the whole thing. I looked gaunt, and weighed about 96 lbs. I had no energy to be a good daughter, sister, or friend. I know that by myself, I wouldn't have made the decision to fight my disordered eating. It was God, working through my family and friends, especially my mother, who showed me that what I was doing was wrong. As of right now, I cannot say that I am completely healed. I am definitely better, but I still have a  long way to go. This holiday season, I want to give thanks for  the family and friends who have always been there for me.

Here's an awesome video of one of my favorite bands:



Well, sorry for the super serious post, but this is something that I felt I should talk about.

Have a wonderful day!!!!

Hotel

Lunch was good, got to see everyone who lives in the area. We left our house at 5:30 PM.

We're in the hotel now. It's late. I'm tired. My cold got worse. It's snowing. We don't know if we're going to be able to leave tomorrow morning. I hope that we can. If not, I'm making myself a big, huge breakfast. Actually, I'll probably do that anyway.

Goodnight and Happy Thanksgiving again.

Thanksgiving Day Cold

Yep, I have a cold. I'm not going to spend the entire post whining about it, just wanted tosay just how much it stinks having a cold on Thanksgiving. Or pretty much any time of the year. All I really want is a huge, hot bowl of soup, but we're having a Thanksgiving feast with all the fixin's. Oh well, life could definitely be worse, don't you think?

Anyway, the reason this post is so early is that I still have my workout(yes, I'm working out on Thanksgiving) and I'm cooking that wild rice dish. We're leaving here at about 10 to go to my grandmother's, which is about an hour away. At least I don't have to do any school!!!!!!!!!!  Because school on Thanksgiving would really stink.

What are ya'lls Thanksgiving plans????

Soo, today I'm doing that same cardio routine from Tuesday, but a different strength training one.

So here's the link to that one:

http://www.exercisetv.tv/workout-videos/body-sculpting/10-10-10-beginner-fat-burner-formula-2346

Its called 10-10-10, which I have yet to discover the meaning of.......but I'm hoping its a good workout, I'll let you know.

Oh guess what? We're not leaving tomorrow to go on our trip to visit family, we're leaving tonight! We've booked a hotel about 6 hours away from here, and tomorrow we'll have about 6 more hours to go.

So, as you can see, the HC family has a lot going on. I'll try to pre-write some posts, but if there is a day that I don't post anything, know that I haven't forgotten about the blog, I'm just spending time with my family. And freezing. But I will try to keep up as much as possible, plus we'll be back on Tuesday, so its not a terribly long trip.

Well, I really have to get movin'

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! I'm so thankful for ya'll!!!!

Special Member of the HC Family

Good morning, everyone!!!!!!!!!! Happy Wednesday!! Can you believe that tomorrow's Thanksgiving? I know I can't! This home ministry assignment has flown by! (I don't know if I've said this, but we're missionaries in South America, but we're in the States until Jan.)

I'd just like to thank everyone who visited the blog yesterday! Seeing the number of visits literally made my day (again)!

So has anyone here ever been to Gigi's cupcakes? They're absolutely wonderful, and have tons of fun cupcake flavors. There are flavors of the day and seasonal flavors also. So far, my family has bought Midnight Magic Chocolate Chip, Wedding Cake, Peanut Butter Cup, Banana Cream Pie, Hunka Chunka Banana Love, Miss Princess, Raspberry (flavor of the day), and Blueberry (flavor of the day). And we still have a buy 3, get 1 free. These cupcakes cost like $3, but there is soo much frosting that we usually just quarter them and eat off of them for days. My personal favorites have been Peanut Butter Cup in first place and Midnight Magic Chocolate Chip, which is basicaly dark chocolate cake with chocolate chips baked in, topped with chocolate buttercream and more chocolate chips. Yum. Seriously though, I'd kill for the recipe for peanut butter buttercream that was used on the pb cup cupcake. It was fabulous!

Its looking like today is going to be a pretty quiet day. I am going to do extra school, both because tomorrow is Thanksgiving and because we're going out of town Friday. This is the reason that I've been blogging earlier in the morning: I can take my time and write a post without feeling rushed, and I have something to do besides school when I'm the only one awake. So you all get to read my half-awake ramblings. Lucky, aren't ya? Well, at least I don't blog after my Algebra II lesson, you'd be getting grumpy, sarcastic posts instead of just the sarcastic ones.

Oh, I would like to introduce ya'll to a veery special member of my family:

the HC cat!!!!!



the HC cat

 Cute isn't he? Although not necessarily healthy, he is in fact a chocoholic! He prefers ganache over milk! Of course, he also likes peanuts and lunchmeat better than cheese, which just makes him plain weird. He's about 2 years old and weighs 12-15 pounds, I think.

Do any of ya'll have pets? If so, could you tell us a little more about them?

Oh! Whaddya think of the new header? Keep it or leave it?

Well, that's about all I've got for now.......

See ya!

The Daily Grind

Hey everyone!! Everything is as back to normal as it gets for the HC family, for a little while at least. We're home for today, and I'm starting the day off right with a good 30-min workout. I'm already pretty small (like 100lb and i'm 5'3), so my parents don't want me exercising any longer than 30 min at a time, twice a week until I put on some weight. My ultimate goal is to be able to run distances, which motivates me to eat more. With the holidays coming up, I don't think that I'll have a problem with that.

 

Anyway, back to the workout. Its off Exercise TV and Youtube (classy, right?). The Exercise TV portion is 20 minutes long, and today's video is a new bootcamp one and the trainer is Amy Dixon. Usually I go for more strength-training related videos from Exercise TV because I want it to be the greater portion of my workouts for now. The Youtube portion is a quick , 10 min cardio workout. I usually use SparkPeople videos, such as the 10-minute Jump Rope Cardio Workout, which is today's. It's a pretty good interval jump rope workout and manages to get your heart rate up in 10 minutes and still finish off with a nice stretching routine.

Here are the links:

Exercise TV Bootcamp Body Makeover (Note: I haven't yet tried this one, so I don't know how hard it is or how great a workout it is.):

http://www.exercisetv.tv/workout-videos/bootcamp-body-makeover-advanced-5895

10 Minute Jump Rope Cardio Workout:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY0lZTWlBAg

What types of workouts do ya'll do the most? Any online videos that you watch? If so, please post the links. If not, what does your typical workout look like?

After I workout, I get to start on today's schoolwork. Super fun! Not really. I'm actually hoping that mom will forget all about that pesky Algebra II test leftover from last week (I had had a very long Friday, and she let me postpone it).

Well, I'm off to start my day....

The HC Family Winter '10 Tour

So, we're at our friend's house right now.....gonna head out at about 11, to meet up with my old youth pastor. Then, we head back home, and have dinner tonight with some friends from church.

Oh, and guess what? I'm still doing my school. Super. Just try doing your algebra out of the back of your car. I dare you. Or better yet, take a test. Then try to say that homeschooling is easy. Granted, there are perks, such as having a super flexible schedule and getting to take different classes, and I really don't mind it at all. But still, sometimes its just fun to rant. =DOh yeah!

So yesterday, I got my first comment from someone who isn't a family member!!!! Whooooo!!!!!! Thank you soo much! It seriously made my day. Yes, I am easily entertained.   And no, I am not ashamed to say that.

Well, I guess that today is actually turning out to be a pretty good Monday. Which has never, ever happened before. Except for the time we went shopping instead of school. I've got my priorities straight. Shopping trumps school every time. It's been scientifically proven.

So, what have you all got on your schedules for the week? Any big trips coming up for Thanksgiving?

EDIT: Ya'll go check out the awesome Magic Bullet giveaway over at Chocolate-Covered Katie!!!! Here's the link:

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2010/11/22/magic-bullet-thanks-giveaway/

Catch ya'll later!!

On the road again

Hey folks!

Well this post is being published as I'm in the car, on my way to Nasville to visit friends. We went to church, had lunch and headed out. It's only for today though, we head back tomorrow morning. Which means, I get to do as little school as possible on a Monday!!!!!!! Whooo! I absolutely hate Mondays! Am I the only one???? I hope not.....=D

So anyway, the people we're going to visit with are friends of ours that we haven't been able to see in like 3 years. Actually, this whole week is going to include traveling. Friday we leave for West Virginia, where its cold and where some of my cousins live. I love my family and am soooooooooo incredibly excited to see them!!!!!!!!! But, let me just say that I really, really don't like cold weather. At all. I freeze when its like 60 degrees out. I don't wear turtlenecks because I feel choked, but I do like to look at snow. Its so pretty and white. =D Living in South America means no snow, and the coldest it gets is 70 degrees. At which time all of the nationals are whipping out their long sleeve coats and shivering. Heck, who am I kidding? Its not just the nationals, I do that too. I'm such a wimp. I am really excited about seeing my family, though. I haven't seen some of them for 5 years or something like that. So that part's cool, and I'll just have to live with the cold weather. If I suddenly quit posting on the blog, its because the cold makes me tired, and when I'm tired all I want to do is drink hot chocolate all day long and stay inside where its relatively warm.

 

Happiness in a mug.

Anywho, this is probably our last big, long trip for a while. Over the past few months, we've been to Florida twice, South Carolina twice, Alabama, and Arkansas. Its like the HC(healthy chocoholic) family tour 2010. =D

Well, I'd better skeedaddle....have an awesome Sunday and rest up before work tomorrow!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Yep, today is my dad's birthday!!!!!!! Gettin' ooooold now.....=D!  We're just going to relax today, and later we're going to a friend's house so dad can watch a football game. So really, just a nice, relaxing day! Yesterday we stopped by Gigi's cupcakes and picked out 4 of them. Mom and I were going to go today and surprise Dad, but he ended up going there himself! Oh well....we still have his presents!!!!!!!

    Well anyway, I've been in a breakfast rut lately. Not so much food, (I do switch around my oats, grits and nutrigrain waffles =D), but I've been drinking the same coffee protein "shake" every day. I just pour some freshly brewed coffe into my gargantuan mug (It holds like more than two cups!!!) and add a serving of protein powder. Right now, I happen to have Aria chocolate protein, which isn't too bad in coffee. Alone, its yucky. Anyhow, coffee and chocolate? I'm so there.

Oh, 1 question. I absolutely love Larabars, but they're sooooo expensive. Anyone have a good recipe to make homemade ones that I could use?

Well, that's about all I've got for now............

Ya'll have a great Saturday!!!!

Big. Day.

Good morning everyone!

I'm up and about early today (which I usually am), but instead of just sitting on the couch reading other people's blogs, I have to go ahead and get started on school.  This is because tomorrow is dad's birthday, so naturally we began celebrating it yesterday by bringing him some baklava, which he loves. Anyway, on today's agenda is lunch at a restaurant called Texas de Brazil. Its a steakhouse where they bring the meat around to your table and you pick which cuts you want to eat. So, I have to do more school in the morning so that I don't come back from lunch with TONS of work.

In completely unrelated news, I might actually be cooking something for Thanksgiving. A wild rice "stuffing". I've never made it before, and it looks pretty good. Here's the recipe:

Wild Rice Stuffing

• 1/4 C Wild rice


• 1 3/4 C Water


• 1/4 C Brown Rice


• 1 tsp Chicken Bouillon


• 2 C sliced mushrooms


• 1/2 cup sliced celery


• 3 sliced green onions

Rinse wild rice in cold water for about a minute. Combine wild rice, brown rice, water, and bouillon in a medium saucepan. Bring to boiling, reduce heat, cover, and simmer about 20 minutes. Add mushrooms, celery, and onions. Cover, cook over medium-low heat for 25 minutes, stirring frequently.

Here's what it might look like (minus the carrots):

 Yummy. 

Also I've recently come across an AMAZING looking dessert recipe at How Sweet it is. Anyway, its a Chocolate Cobbler, and here's the link: http://www.howsweeteats.com/2010/08/03/chocolate-cobbler/.

Anyone who visits that site should know that there are TONS of awesome looking baked goods on there and that you WILL bookmark several recipes. At least I did.

Question time!!!

Are you cooking something for Thanksgiving that you're excited about? If so, please share!!!!

Also, I exercise  and believe its a major part of a healthy chocoholic lifestyle. However,it is harder to exercise during the holidays, because its cold, and you're visiting with friends and family. What are your holiday exercise plans????

Please comment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sooo looking forward to reading your answers.

Well, gotta run!

See ya'll later!!!!

EDIT: Maybe I shouldn't be allowed to blog in the morning. After publishing this post, I found like 5 spelling mistakes. Whoops. Going to go study basic grammar now.

Heey! First Post!

Well, first of all, welcome to the blog.

I'm first and foremost, a Christian. That doesn't mean that I'm perfect, far from it, actually. It also doesn't mean that I always "walk my talk" and live out the gospel. I try to, but there are definitely times when it gets pretty hard.

As you can probably tell, I have a bit of a chocolate problem. Actually, I don't. I have a problem without chocolate. I  also absolutely loooove to cook, so you can bet on seeing some recipes on here!!! I also enjoy living a healthy lifestyle. Sometimes I can take it to extremes, which is very, very bad. Really. I've even gone days without eating chocolate, or really much of anything. I'm working on that though, and while I still have some "not so good" (read:really, really bad) days, my family is always with me, praying with me, and just helping me in general.

I'm thinking about either becoming a dietitian or a journalist (which are actually nothing alike), but I don't have any major college plans yet.

Sorry about the random topics in this post, I'm just trying to put all the basic information out there!

Anyway, I'm super excited about starting this blog and I hope that I'll actually get followers! =D