smALL Things!

The past few weeks and days have been super busy, but that's the Savage Life! This week the Monroe County Fair is going on, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is visiting Tompkinsville today, and my Weight the Reality Series program started yesterday. Needless to say life is full speed ahead, so here is a quick update on the Savage Girl... 

• I've tracked my DAILY food and physical activity since my last posting using my WW app on my mobile device! 
• I've made a point to MOVE more and DIG deeper. So far this week I've moved 60+ minutes each day since the last posting and I've spent the majority of that time letting His word talk to me while I've been moving at the gym. I'm a couple of weeks behind on my daily bible reading because I've been super busy and my daily devotional email reminder stopped coming (sad), BUT I think I'm about caught back up to where I should be if I was still within the plan to read the Bible in a year. According to my Kindle app I'm 50% through the Bible now! My goal is to read it cover to cover this year... Tomorrow I'm going to try to get back in my daily DIG routine of letting His word talk to me before my feet hit the ground. If only I could get motivated to get up early and MOVE before work. I'm still working on this one, but for now my MOVEment comes after work!  
• I've not ate anything after 8:00 p.m. since the last posting! I'm a sucker for late night snacks, so this has been hard! 
• 35 people signed up for the WTRS program I'm conducting, 30 showed up the first night...and collectively lost 35.6 pounds since they registered last week! 
• The only 3 beverages I've consumed in the last few days have been water, coffee, and green tea. I cut out carbonated beverages (my Diet Coke addiction) something like 6 months ago! I read somewhere that green tea helps with weight loss, diabetes control, heart disease prevention and much more, so maybe my consumption will help ward off my extra baggage and prevent diabetes & heart disease from entering my life.
• I'm currently caught up with my daily work record keeping...thanks to a co-worker's advice on a new book idea to record my statisticals prior to my end of the month reports.

Everyone should celebrate ALL the smALL successes in life no matter the size...right? This has been my motivation for the last 6+ months...smALL life things hence the blog!    

Anyways this is enough ramblings for one day! Now off to my day job...please pray that I can get my creative juices flowing quickly this morning because I'm going to need them! 

Sources of graphics: 

http://media-cache-ak1.pinimg.com/originals/e6/98/e5/e698e54e7b073a44a6b65938cc680f13.jpg

http://pinterest.com/pin/383509724488814649/

http://living4zachary.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html

The Savage Girl Challenge

I have chosen TODAY the 21st day of July 2013 to reevaluate my healthy living goals, create a new game plan and challenge myself more in order to take off the last 25 pounds off so I can meet my goal weight.

To be 100% honest here lately I've been slacking in the department of physical activity, drinking more water, and portion control! We are at the peak of the summer and the humidity & heat are killers to my will power. I've used the excuses of having the lack of time and the extreme weather when in reality I've had a lack of will power A LOT here lately. This has become a road block in my weight loss success and today this has to STOP. So I'm challenging myself to reevaluate and set a few new goals for myself! My Weight the Reality Series (Take 2) program at work starts on Tuesday and I expect my participants to help hold me accountable to my goals and I will do the same for you...If you want to join my program the information is located in the post called "Upcoming program the Savage Girl is hosting through work...WTRS!"

So here are my new goals:

1. Measure my portion sizes. 
2. Start tracking my daily food intake (again) including my water intake. 
3. Aim for 4 to 5 days of 30-60 minutes of exercise a week. Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday are my best days to achieve this because of my schedule at work...so if you see me out and about on one of these days please ASK me if I've moved yet!
4. Get back in the habit of packing a healthy lunch and snacks to work.
5. No food after 8 p.m. in the Savage Girl household. 

So you now know my new goals. I will keep you posted on my success, challenges, and failures on this blog, so stay tuned. I will try to reevaluate each week and keep you posted...

Is there anyone out there in the blogging world having the same problem as me? Or am I am the lone ranger out there with these challenges? Well join the Savage Girl Challenge and set a few new healthy living goals and game plan for yourself. If you want to join The Savage Girl Challenge "like" the post, leave me a comment, or send me a message...please tell me (and other readers of the blog) what your new goals are. I'll help keep you accountable if you replicate for me! If it takes a village to raise a child it is going to take an entire online virtual community of family and friends to help the Savage Girl meet her goal weight.

Keep in mind I am not on a diet. I'm trying to live a healthy lifestyle for a healthier body in order to prevent the onset of a family history of chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. So far I've done pretty well except for the roadblock I've recently experienced. I've lost 50 pounds thus far and would love to shave 25 more pounds off. Losing 10% of your body weight can help reduce your risk factors associated the disease and hopefully delay and or indefinitely postpone the onset of the disease. Let me know if you have any questions...      

Baking with the Savage Mama

Nothing tastes better than something made out of a mother's kitchen or baking with them! Personally I think the Savage Mama is the best cook ever, but I'm sure you believe your mama or granny is better than mine...that's OK because I don't want to start any arguments! All I know is that we each grow accustomed to the taste of the one whose cooking we grew up eating and we should show our love, appreciation, and admiration to them! 

I hope your mama or granny was like mine. They both passed on the skill and love for cooking & baking and sharing food with others. I learned to cook & bake in my mama's and my granny's kitchen from the time I was old enough to stand-up in the chair beside them. From a very early age they both let my sister and I get our hands dirty and help cook & bake in their kitchens. My hope and desire is that one day they might get to continue this tradition with the next generation! Any young, single, Christian men out there reading my blog? LOL.  That's another story and post for another day...

I love the bounty the warm summer weather and garden brings to help out family meal times! My family always plants plenty of zucchini in the garden so that the Savage Mama can have enough on hand throughout the summer to make Chocolate Zucchini Brownies, grilled and/or sauteed zucchini, and these yummy delicious Chocolate Zucchini Muffins. So now I give you "Baking with the Savage Mama" guest writer and photographer Leah Savage the "Savage Mama"...in her own words...    

This is one of those recipes that’s made from basic ingredients in a kitchen and all you have to add is a zucchini- fresh from the garden.  I found the recipe on Penzeys website several years ago and have been enjoying it ever since.  The only thing I do different is to use rounded spoons of cocoa powder (I love Chocolate) and I use a pampered chef large scoop that is a size # 20 ( the # 20 is located on the vane that cleans the bowl of the scoop and means you can get 20 level scoops from a quart of batter).  I round this scoop up and it makes 30 muffins for me without running over my pan and making a mess.  I also use my kitchen aid mixer to totally mix the entire recipe.  The mixer cuts the zucchini up to the point you can’t even see that it is there.  I think this recipe will become a favorite of yours also.  Enjoy. 

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

1/2 Cup milk

1/4 tsp. white vinegar

1/2 Cup room temperature butter (1 stick)

1/2 Cup vegetable oil

1 3/4 Cups white sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. PURE VANILLA EXTRACT

2 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour

4 TB. NATURAL COCOA POWDER

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 - 1/2 tsp. CINNAMON

1/2 tsp. salt

2 Cups peeled and finely grated zucchini - 3 small zucchini
1 Cup chocolate chips

1/4 Cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325°. Line 2 standard muffin pans with papers. Mix together the milk and vinegar and set aside (if a recipe calls for sour milk, this is how you make it).

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, oil and sugar until creamy.

Add eggs, VANILLA EXTRACT and milk/vinegar mix. Blend well.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, COCOA POWDER, baking soda, CINNAMON and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir by hand or mixer to combine.

Add grated zucchini and half the chocolate chips and stir well.

Spoon the batter evenly into the pans, filling each paper 2/3 full.

Sprinkle the other half of the chocolate chips and nuts (if using), on top and bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or the muffins spring back when lightly touched (don't touch the melted chocolate, though).

Prep. time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 20-25 minutes
Yield: 24 muffins

(Penzey’s spice company recipe taken from their website.)

So get off the computer now...go find some zucchini and make these yummy muffins. They are too delicious to just look at! Try your hand at making them today. If you need any help let the Savage Girl know and she or her mama can help. We're both good at giving tips and pointers when it comes to cooking & baking. The Savage Mama is more of an expert though since she is the Culinary Arts Instructor at the Tri-County Extension Campus of Tennessee College of Applied Technology Hartsville! Happy Baking...

Links & More Savage Girl Connections!

This week marked 6 months of blogging for the Savage Girl!

The 6 Most Visited Posts within the last 6 months:

1. The Bull and Thistle on March 31, 2013
2. My thoughts on "Muscle and a Shovel" by Michael Shank on March 16, 2013
3. Work + Life = ME on January 15, 2013
4. Life's Bumps and Signs on March 4, 2013
5. Projects versus Partners on April 17, 2013
6. Life's Bump and Signs Take 2 on March 10, 2013

6 articles you don't want to miss out reading within the last 6 months:

1. My Family Legacy on March 18, 2013
2. Country Living on May 27, 2013
3. 3 Things I Know for Sure (That You Should Too!) on July 6, 2013
4. Life is Good on June 23, 2013
5. Spring Cleaning on April 9, 2013
6. Making Whoopie Pies on June 6, 2013

Ella Mae's Top 3 Tips for Living a Long Successful Life

Today I got the privilege of celebrating Ella Mae's birthday after morning worship services. Ella Mae is 98 years young this week and she is such an inspiration to so many. I first got to meet Ella Mae at church almost four years ago and since then I have enjoyed many meals at her house on Sunday afternoons. She loves sweets, so when I get in a baking mood she gets a few treats from my kitchen. If she had her way she would eat dessert first and skip all the vegetables. In hopes of gaining a little knowledge and wisdom from Ella Mae I asked her for her secret to living a long life. I know the Savage Girl could use a little knowledge and wisdom so I listened carefully to her talk and reminisce about the secrets to living a long life. So to summarize her tips and pointers for all of us "younger generations", here are Ella Mae's Top 3 Tips for Living a Long Successful Life:

1. Enjoy life.
2. Keep going no matter what.
3. Word hard.

 

Her tips were simple and sweet but so true and from the heart! A little food for thought...Ella Mae grew up in the country, then she married a farmer, and she claims that she never really went anywhere or did anything but farm, enjoy the simple things in life, and work hard laboring in the fields until she was in her later years. In her later years she moved to town and began to travel seeing places, people, and things around the community, county, state, and occasionally outside of Kentucky. When Ella Mae said everyone should "keep going" she was meaning that we should keep traveling and seeing places, but I also believe that she meant that we should never give up no matter what adversity or challenges that we might come across in life. Ella Mae is a "go getter" with lots of fire and spunk within her small frame and she is not afraid to speak the truth whenever needed.

 

We all could use a little Ella Mae in our life! I challenge you to find your own Ella Mae. Stop and ask questions about his or her life. Listen to the stories. Then be open and willingly apply something you learn within your daily life. There is wisdom and knowledge out there, but we need to seek it out and find it amongst the golden diamond, ruby, sapphire, and emerald generations who are waiting to tell us a few stories when we give them a little of our precious time. Unplug from your crazy life and go visit your own Ella Mae today, because a little dose might be the best medicine you receive all day!