If there was no such thing as bad luck...

...then I would have no luck at all.

Famous line.

This is definitely how I am feeling right now.

This blog may be long (I need to vent) so if you want to just get to the life lessons learned, scroll to the bottom.

If you want to hear my ranting brigade please continue to read.

OOOOh my house...

Should I start with the positives of it so it doesn’t sound like a giant mess?

Why I bought my 24 year old home...

1. Not only do I have an attached 3 car garage but I have a huge driveway.  Four vehicles, the horse trailer and utility trailer all can be parked on it and each car pull out comfortably.

2. Upgraded kitchen, honestly this is what set my heart into the house.

3. Semi upgraded bathrooms, I say semi because of the granite.

4. The layout of not just the home, but the property.

5. I can't touch my neighbors with a light pole, or two or three... none of them. Very rare in Las Vegas. Most homes are literally built on top of each other here.

6. Main reason, I can keep my horses on property and have a place to ride/work them in my yard.

.     .     .     .  

 Sounds great right?

I have something that is rare and hard to find in this city, and I know this.

I know how lucky I am; however, everyone has bad days where they have that thought crosses their mind, "what was I thinking".

We have had A LOT...really...a lot of "What’s broken now!” moments since we moved in. I know it's a part of being a home owner, I get it, but if I gave the list, it is a bit much for two people to handle in a short 5 month period.

I am not even going to list it out because the problems we did have are fixed now, and we are moving on, but yes last night was another "what now!" moment.

Besides Matt hurting himself and the alternator on his pickup breaking, we found out we have another issue.

I have been noticing my baseboards in my kitchen were starting to look funny.

I have noticed it for about two months and put it in the back of my head because I knew what was wrong, I just didn't want to deal with it.

Matt finally picked up on it and decided to rip the baseboards off.

Loan and behold...mold!

UGH... there is a leak in the walls somewhere.

Luckily, I have a warranty and homeowners insurance, meaning it’s covered.

However, it’s still the stress that goes along with it.

Having workers in and out of your house watching them cut holes in every wall in every room is hard to deal with at moments.

The mold guy came out yesterday and the plumber comes today and now I am just waiting for my insurance to send someone out to do my baseboards and wall repairs.

How long will all this take?

Who knows...

All I know is that it has been about a month since our last break, which resulted in us needing all our pipes to be rerouted through the attic.

I would like for 3 - 6 months go by and not have something break.

What do they call this? oh yeah...life.

So now that all my negative mum-bo-jum-bo is finished...on to the life lessons....

Dana's Life Take-Aways

1. Everyone should have a home warranty. Guess what it costs me each time something breaks. $60. That is it. No matter the problem (as long as it’s covered by your policy)

2. Home owner's insurance is a must, must, must! I have to be honest. I am very happy with Statefarm, best prices and good service.

3. Try to not let the things that you have absolutely no control over run your emotions.

4. Be kind to your husband, boyfriend, significant other or whoever is by your side during the tough times. Read the first two words again, BE KIND. They want nothing but to help you; be grateful for that.

5. If you're overwhelmed, cry. I did last night! Guess what, I feel so much better and am ready to tackle this.

6. Look at the bright side of every storm. There is always one. Mine is I am treating myself to get my kitchen repainted, steam cleaning the tile throughout the house and possibly crown molding in the kitchen. Giving it a fresh new look will help overcome the negative.

7. Last, and certainly not least, stop...and breathe. Yesterday my mind was racing "omg we have mold, omg we have a leak, we need new baseboards and pantry is going to be ripped out..." and so on. Stop. Breathe. This is the hardest thing to do, believe me! I get anxiety over everything and I am obsessed with the condition and cleanliness of my home, so I bet you can imagine what is going through my head right now. My house isn't the first to have this happen to, it can be fixed. I just keep telling myself that.

So when you are feeling over whelmed with life, a current situation, or something that you think is a disaster at the time being, find the strength to overcome the negative emotions that are flooding your mind and force yourself to just...breathe.

I know I will be stressed for the next couple of weeks until the issue is resolved, but in a month or so when I look back I know I will think, that wasn't so bad.

There are so many other things in life to be upset about, and this isn't really worth the energy.

Negativity is poison to the heart, mind and soul!

.     .     .     .    

However, if I didn't have a warranty and homeowner's insurance I might be singing a different tune ;)

Superfood Drugs

Still going  strong everyone!

I haven't lost weight but I am starting to see CHANGES!

My belly looks smaller each morning.

I am so addicted to the Insanity Workout!

Last night I made a quick and easy salad that I am now also enjoying for breakfast.

It's so light, easy and delicious! (did I mention delicious)

Oh, Paleo and Gluten Free as well. : )

(Photo by brunchphilly.blogspot.com)

Whats in it?

Well the one I made last night was...

2 Avocados

4 Romaine tomatoes

Lime Juice

A Little Olive Oil

S&P

How to make it?

Throw in a bowl, mix together and ENJOY!

Simple right?

Well, the title of this blog is Superfood Drugs...

Why?

Avocados

1. Oral Cancer Defense

2. Breast Cancer Protection

3. Eye Health

4. Lower Cholesterol

5. Heart Health

Tomatoes

1. Ward off Cancer

2. Prevent DNA Damage

3. Reduce the Risk of Heart Disease

4. Protect Against Thrombosis

5. Ward off Inflammation

Who knew that those two little fruits could be so POWERFUL. Always remember, what you put into your body is exactly  what you get out of it!

Almond Flour Lemon Cup-ffins

I have a HUGE sweet tooth.

There is no reason to try and deny that!

The only Paleo or clean dessert I have attempted to make is my Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding :)

Which is amazing btw...

However, this weekend I felt wild and crazy and wanted to try and make something different!

So I attempted to make Paleo Cupcakes, which ended up coming out more like muffins, thus the Almond Flour Lemon Cup-ffins being born.

Even though I was trying to make something and it ended up coming out as something else...it totally worked in my favor!

Now I have an on the go breakfast!

Ingredients

3 cups  almond flour

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1/2 cup  honey (I used local honey because my allergies have been horrible lately)

3 eggs

2 tbs. vanilla extract

2 tbs. lemon extract

2 tbs. lemon zest

1/2 tbs. salt

1/2 tbs. baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 325* and position a rack in the center. Line a cupcake pan with 10 cupcake liners.

2. In a large bowl, mix almond flour, salt and baking soda.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, melted coconut oil, vanilla extract, lemon extract, and lemon zest until smooth.

4. Combine the Almond flour mix to eggs and honey mix and stir until ingredients form a batter (it will be thick).

5. Empty batter evenly into the lined cupcake tin.

6. Bake for 23-27min, until a toothpick comes out clean and they are golden brown on top.

Almond Flour Lemon CUP-FFINS!

Enjoy!

 If you make these please share feedback, opinion, recommendations...anything!

Bison Burgers

Ah, spring in Las Vegas...

Winds at 40 mph all day....in the desert, joy.

With that being said, I am cooped up inside.

Which I really won't complain about because my insanity work out has made it difficult to walk and sit.

You guessed it! I have TSS (toilet seat syndrome).

I know you other fitness junkies have been there.

Signs of a good work out!

. . . .

Anyways...

Bison meat. AMAZING! Can I give you a tip? Buy it from Costco! What you pay for one pack at your local grocery store you can get two at Costco!

When we do our burgers we normally wrap them in lettuce, but this time we changed it up by putting on it Paleo bread.

Yep, you read that right! Paleo. Bread.

                       

I don't have the best food picture taking skills.

Despite the lack of photogenically (word?) this burger was nothing short of delicious!

Ingredients

1 pkg. Bison meat (will make four burgers)

1 Tbs. Onion Powder

1 Tbs. Garlic Powder

1 Tbs. Almond Flower (helps hold the meat together)

1 Cup chopped Spinach

1/2 cup diced peppers

S&P

Toppings...

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Avocado

Paleo Almond Flour Bread

What to do

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl, best to just use your hands! : )

2. Divide meat mixture into four sections, roll and flatten to make patties.

3. Throw on the grill (or on a skillet over the stove, whatever suites your fancy!)

4. Toast two pieces of the Paleo bread; add meat patty and whatever PALEO toppings you want! Mine are listed above.

Opinion on Paleo bread....

Has a bit of a funny smell, but it’s not bad! I am so happy Johnny found this for us because now I can make sandwiches for an easy lunch!

I'm finding less and less excuses to not get my diet in clean action!

Let me know how you like Bison meat! Trust me you will never buy ground beef again!

A new beginning...

Alright, I'm going to do it...

I will be posting before pics!

Not TOO stoked on the idea, buuuuut I want to influence people and inspire others, so how will I do that? By showing what a clean diet and exercise can do for you!

Since Matt is on strict bed rest for a few weeks, this is a PERFECT time for me to commit to myself, by myself!

Matt is obviously in good hands that he can let me step away for some cardio time : )

And when I say cardio I mean INSANITY.

Matt has been my gym buddy for the past couple months so I got so comfortable going with him that I don't want to go with out him.

So while he's resting and hopefully will make a speedy recovery I will be doing my 6 days a week video for at least one month. Insanity calls for two months but Matt isn't crazy about it so he'll want to get back in the gym ASAP!

Stay tuned for my post tonight! I will be showing my before from three weeks ago, will post what I look like now AND a bison PALEO recipe tonight! I am so excited because we are going to eat it on Paleo bread that my FAB friend Johnny gave to us. I seriously have some awesome people in my life.

We are about to get personal people.

Get ready for it!...

P.S. You readers out there (and I know of TWO (you know who you are)) you guys have before and after pics of what paleo and crossfit can do for you, I would LOVE a guest blogger to share your success story! even if I dont know you! send it to me and I will post it you will be a INSPIRATION to me and many others. You should want the world to know about how hard you worked (and continue to) to have reached your dream body!

So much for a challenge!

I dont' need to say it, I know you know where this is going...

yes I cheated.

With what...pizza, what else.

ugh!

Do I feel bad?

A little (not really)

Life has really gotten the best of me.

I can honestly say that I cracked under pressure.

The project that I had planned for me and Matt was going great, but broken this and that happened and over budget (VERY over budget), well....just life.

.     .     .     .

Due to a horrible event last night, we probably will not be doing grass in the time frame we had planned. Let alone yard clean up.

In the mean time, I am getting back on track by starting my evening with Insanity (SOOO addicted)...and even maybe two videos. We'll see ; )

I will be busy trying to get my clean eating back on track and playing nurse till my hubs to be is better again.

I would share what happened, but got a big fat NO from the man of the house.

.      .     .     .

Life is an amazing thing.  You grow up, you grow old, you find love, you loose love, you find THE love, you have children, your children grow up, you loose pets, you make new friends, you cry, you laugh, you get angry, you smile, you live. As quick as a blink of an eye it can change. So enjoy every single moment doing everything with everyone, appreciate them being in your life and remind them why you WANT them in your life. You never realize how precious something is to you until it isn't there any more. Don't take a single person, moment or second for granted.

xo

Enough about me...

Now that spring in Las Vegas is almost over (we only have two seasons ya know...)

I have been thinking to myself…my hubs to be has to be hot hot hot out in the yard.

I wanted to write him a blog to let him know I do take notice to his hard work and how much I appreciate him.

He works 12 hr days at his job and then on his days off he does whatever project I was able to come up with during the week.

You'll never see this man lying around.

Seriously guys, we bought our home 4 short months ago and in that time he has built the horse stalls, ripped out all the weeds in our back yard (and trust me...there was A LOT) tore down a random wood shadder and posts that were in our now arena, dug up the entire arena ground, shoveled the arena ground onto a screen to pull out all the rocks (yes by hand) built a wash rack and this is all excluding all the pipe repair and replacement he has done throughout the house and other things.

And right now, as I'm writing this, he's adding irrigation and lighting to our soon to be lawn and arena.

I told him what I saw in that yard the day we moved in and I can't believe how fast he is making it happen.

He is just amazing.

Hard working.

And just wants me happy.

 I needed to write this because I tend to focus on the "uh ohs" that took place during our renovations.

Like...

Knocking down our neighbor’s wall when taking down the wood shadder.

Causing our neighbors (all three) to not have water for 10 hrs when trying to fix our main water line (we are on a community well)

Buying the wrong stucco color when he had to patch a hole on the outside of our home (don't worry its spray painted a completely different white o.O)

Cutting three electrical lines while digging for our sprinklers.

and some other moments but I will stop here.

Although when these.....accidents happened I was frustrated and annoyed I now laughed as I wrote them down.

At the time instead of getting angry I should have thought to myself "will this matter 5 years from now, let alone a few months...or weeks!"

I love him dearly and I can honestly say I have never had someone in my life work so hard on the account of MY happiness and MY dreams.

Yes, he has his heart set on a horse property, but he's doing everything the exact way I said I wanted it when he asked.

What does he get in return?

The random casita that is in our yard.

Currently there is a Jacuzzi inside.

We could make this a gym...possibly a play house for future baby cowboys and cowgirls

But no...it is going to be...and I quote "the rockin' MAD saloon"

Yep.

A bar.

Joy.

I prayed one day I would find the perfect man that supported my dreams of riding and enjoying the rodeo life with me and that is exactly what I got.

He may have retired his rodeo boots but he knows I only just begun.

He's my number one fan, the patience that I don't have, the believer in me when I don't in myself some times, my best friend

This post is to you my love.

Thank you for all you do for me, the horses and dogs...oh and lil' bill!

I love you! xo

Getting our Spring on!

I haven't had a recipe worthy of posting.

Just kinda been cooking simple (paleo) things.

How's my challenge?

EH.....diet wise...FABULOUS...gym? ha.

I have every odd going against my motivation right now.

One, day light savings is the greatest day ever for those with horses.

Perfect riding weather when I get home.

Two, the weather being so nice has made it perfect timing for us to say bye bye dirt lot hello greenery!

In order to get sprinklers to our back yard we are having to tap the line in the front yard.

I wasn't the happiest camper digging a trench for our wash rack so we decided to rent something to make it a little easier....

Has this made the process easier?

The digging part...yes, but over all...no.

Matt not only cut one, or two BUT three electrical lines.

Oy vey! We are that couple that something else always breaks or goes wrong during renovations.

Can I blame him? Not really, he didn't lay any of the lines in the yard so it’s not like he knew where they were, did I blame him? Yes.

I'm an accountant, I have a budget, and I want to stick to it.

Matt's a true cowboy and knows that it's life, and it will never be perfect.

We are set back a little on time line for when we wanted this done...HOWEVER...trenches are dug for our grass, sprinklers for the arena AND lights for the arena.

It has been a stressful weekend, full of go wrongs, accidents and young couple bickering, but after sitting together on our porch last night, it will be worth it.

(Notice my succulents are still alive : )  Notice they also have a barrier around them. Why? because I own a puggle that eats everything....everything!)

Holy Easy and OMG Delicious!

Week one completed!

NO CHEATING!!

Well....I had vodka with soda water : (

No beer or wine though!

I went to a Mexican restaurant, NOT ONE CHIP, and went to an Italian restaurant, NOT ONE BITE OF BREAD.

I feel great!

Update: weigh in at 119 lbs!

How's my gym commitment?...still lacking

Only made it to the gym three times last week out of the 4 I was shooting for.

So hard when I have horses that I, not only want to ride, but NEED to.

They are athletes too ya know ; )

ANYWAYS! On to the good stuff.

Matthew and I stocked up on Friday on meat and produce and spent $400 at Costco, how is that even possible!

I have to admit I left a little mad at myself for not paying attention.

Even though we bought a TON of food, I didn't want to cook that night.

We decided to pick up a rotisserie chicken and eat that with some veggies.

Where am I going with this?...there is a point I promise.

Well last night, when trying to figure out what on earth to create (that was Paleo), I was adamant about making what we had in the fridge work since we exceed our monthly food budget in one day.

I literally threw this meal together and SHOCKED Matthew with how incredibly delicious it was!

This meal was created from left over’s of two other meals we made.

Bell peppers from this recipe:

Chicken Kale and bell peppers

and capers from this recipe:

Mediterranean Chicken

I took NO pictures because I wasn't hopeful of this turning out as fabulous as it did.

What should I call this?

For the sake of this blog let's just say

Left Over Rotisserie Chicken and Random refrigerator items (a pretty accurate title)

Ingredients:

3 Bell peppers

Left over Rotisserie Chicken

Capers

1 cup Mushrooms

1/2 jar of Marinara Sauce (White Linen Collection) **

1 tbs Mined Garlic

S&P

**IMPORTANT** okay seriously White Linen Collection Marinara Sauce from Costco is the most DELICIOUS canned sauce I have ever had. It's my entire family's choice of sauce. AND its 100% Paleo! Can it get any better?

Check it out for yourself!

White Linen Marinara Sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut tops of bell peppers off and clean out the seeds

3. Place peppers on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper with the cut off top facing up.

4. Bake peppers for 15 mins.

5. In the meantime, mix left over rotisserie chicken, marinara sauce (recommend White Linen brand), minced garlic, and S&P in a bowl

6. After the bell peppers have baked for 15 min, take out the baking sheet fill the peppers with chicken and marinara mix.

7. Once all the bell peppers are filled top with capers.

8. Put now the stuffed peppers back in the oven and bake for another 15 min.

The ONLY picture I have are my left over’s that I am enjoying for breakfast.

Simply Amazing!!

If you make this please let me know what you think!

XO